Riven - Jerry B. Jenkins [173]
But he sure didn’t want to go to hell.
He asked for a chaplain’s visit request form.
Administrative Wing
Ten days later, Gladys buzzed Thomas on the intercom. “Warden would like to see you, sir.”
As he walked past her to knock at Frank LeRoy’s door, Thomas mouthed, “What’s up?”
“Darby.”
“No need to even sit, Rev,” Yanno said as he entered. The warden was peering at a single sheet of paper. “Review board’s been sitting on this and wanted your input. This Darby guy’s requested a private meeting with you. After you saw him last, he pulled that toilet stunt and got himself Ad Seg-ed.”
“How long ago was this request?”
“Just after he got back to his cell.”
“What, they’re punishing him more than the seventy-two hours he spent in intake? Why wasn’t this green-lighted?”
“Letting him cool his heels. These aren’t automatic, you know.”
“If it’s up to me, I’d meet with him immediately. This is a man in crisis, sir. It’s what I’m here for.”
“All right, no need to overreact.”
“Well, how long do I have to wait now?”
“I said all right, didn’t I? How many times I gotta tell ya, I’m captain of this ship. When do you want to see him?”
“As soon as possible.”
Yanno pressed his intercom. “Gladys, get word to somebody to have Darby delivered to an isolation room immediately.” He looked up at Thomas. “All right, Mr. All-Business? See if you can beat him there.”
Thomas rushed back to his office and grabbed his Bible, a book on basic Christianity, a booklet on personal salvation, an easy-reading New Testament, and a legal pad. As he hurried through all the prison checkpoints, he scribbled Bible references on the pad.
He should have remembered that no prisoner had ever beaten him to the isolation rooms. When Thomas arrived, the coordinating officer already knew whom he was there to see and in which room. “You know you can’t give him anything but a single sheet that passes through the—”
“How long have you worked here, officer?”
“Coming up on six years.”
“More than fourteen for me. I know the drill.”
“Well, I have to see what you’re planning on sliding through the slot.”
Thomas showed him the list.
“What’s this, some kind of a code?”
“Yeah. Tells him how to break out of this place in less than a minute.”
“No, seriously, I can’t let you give him this unless I know what it is.”
“These are references to Bible verses. I have my Bible here. You want to look them all up, be sure I’m not trying to give him secret information?”
“Just doing my job, Reverend.”
“So am I.”
When Darby finally showed up and noisily sat on the other side of the window, chains rattling, Thomas was stunned at how a man could age in so little time. Every time he saw this guy, he looked worse. It was plain he was not exercising, not eating much, and likely not getting more than a few hours’ sleep each night.
“You don’t look so good, son.”
“Yeah, fine, okay, listen, can we cut right to it? You know all about me and I think I know what you’re about. I don’t mind dying, I really don’t. I know I deserve it and everybody else knows it too, you included. I heard what you said about God loving me, which is a laugh because He’s had a strange way of showing it all my life, but here’s the thing: I don’t want to go to hell. Call me selfish, say I’m only thinking of myself, and you don’t have to remind me that I’m never going to be forgiven by Katie’s family or anyone else who cares. But I don’t think I could feel worse about what I did, and if I could, I’d do anything to make it so it never happened. But it did and here I am. Does God still love me, and if He does, can He keep me out of hell?”
Thomas sat back and studied the man. “My, you do get right after it, don’t you?”
“Just don’t waste my time, Chaplain.”
“You in a hurry?”
“I’m done fooling around. I can’t change what I did, and I’m not trying to get