Book of Days_ A Novel - James L. Rubart [121]
And unfathomable love. He felt it. He was immersed in it . . . He opened his mouth and drank in this Presence . . . now inside him, filling him, overflowing . . . A Being so magnificent he would follow Him anywhere.
A moment later everything vanished.
The weight.
The light.
The Presence.
Cameron sat in the aftermath for what might have been minutes, or might have been hours. All he wanted was for the light to return.
Taylor sat cross-legged, looking like he'd been caught up in an F5 tornado and loved every moment of it.
"What was that?" Cameron said.
"This is a holy place."
"I felt Him." He frowned at Taylor, then smiled. "I felt God. He was . . . in me."
"Yes."
Cameron shuddered. "I . . . I don't know how to explain it."
"You don't have to."
"He's real." Cameron covered his face with his hands and blew out a long breath. "He's found me."
Taylor yanked Cameron into his chest. "Welcome to life."
After their embrace Cameron glanced around the lake, still swimming in the intensity of the moment. "Did this happen last time you were here?"
"It was different, but also the same. I'm not sure I can explain it. And it lasted much longer last time. And didn't vanish so suddenly." Taylor frowned, then smiled. "But that's okay. I'm not sure I could have taken much more anyway."
A moment later his smile vanished and his face hardened into flint as he stared over Cameron's shoulder. "We have a problem."
A voice rang out from behind Cameron along with the cocking of a gun. "Yes, you do." Laughter. "I would say you most certainly do."
Cameron spun as the figure above them twirled a knife around the fingers of his left hand and held a gun in his right as he tramped down the slope toward Cameron and Taylor.
"You're going to teach me all about the Book of Days, Stone. Then you and Mr. Vaux will unfortunately need to die."
It was Kirk Gillum.
CHAPTER 46
Kirk Gillum gazed around the valley and grinned before focusing on Cameron and Taylor. "I appreciate you two. Truly." He winked at them.
Cameron glanced at Taylor. If he was surprised at Kirk's appearance, it didn't show. Where was Jason?
"First, thank you for validating the belief I've had in a real book all these years. Not even Jason believed me till you came along, young Cameron. And second, thank you for leading me right to it; although I admit it took me a while to follow your tracks through that last part." He bowed and laughed.
"The book is the lake, right?" Kirk scratched the underside of his chin with the barrel of his Glock. "It makes sense. While I always thought a genuine book existed, I never thought it would be literal paper and ink. That's much too prosaic for God, don't you think?" He raised both eyebrows and jutted his head back and forth, as if to taunt them with the question.
"Give the idea even the slightest consideration and you realize it would have to be an immensely large book to contain the story of all the lives that have lived and are still to live, hmm? And when Jason gave me the full report on the adventure in your basement, well, that seemed awfully convenient to me."
Kirk had been speaking in a singsong voice, as if talking to children, but suddenly he leveled the gun at Taylor's head and spoke in a monotone. "Okay, playtime is over. I'm ready to dance. Back away, Stone. I'd like to take a good long look at the future."
Kirk stepped up to the edge of the lake's shimmering surface and glared at Cameron. "We could have shared this, you know. Jason never lied to you like Stone did. He even offered you friendship. Truly, I did originally consider sharing it with you, but you've clearly sided with Stone, so now the book will be mine alone."
"Yours alone?" Cameron said.
"You thought I would share this with Jason? Really?" Kirk laughed and wagged his finger. "No, no, no. He wanted the book for the wrong reasons. Besides, toward the end of this little jaunt, he got downright pushy with his opinions and that was unacceptable. In any case, it would be impossible to share the book with him at this point since he's no longer