Chapter No.8 Danger.

Janet had gone back to work at the Generation Credit Union and James went back to Madison High School, leaving Robert alone at home. He assumed that things would be quiet, but it wasn't to be.

When he saw the Breaking News story on TV, he knew it was another test. Armed men were holding students and teachers hostage at Madison High, the same school his son attended. When he appeared at the location, he saw a number of police cars and officers outside the main building.

He calmly walked over to the police presence near the main entrance, crossing past the warning tapes as if they weren't there.

"Sir!" an officer yelled. "Stay back."

"What seems to be the problem here?" Robert asked him.

"This's a hostage situation. You must go back."

"I think I can handle this, gentlemen."

The officers stared at him in disbelief.

"They are heavily armed. You wouldn't stand a chance."

Robert smiled. "Guns are superfluous."

They watched in total amazement as he nonchalantly walked into the entrance. Robert had stopped them from interfering with his mission of salvation.

Once inside the building Robert found it eerily quiet. As he moved down a hallway, two armed men dressed in camouflaged fatigues came out of a doorway with their rifles at ready. They began shooting at him, but the bullets just passed through him without causing damage. One of the men tossed a grenade at him. He caught it and dropped it on the floor. It didn't detonate.

The men reentered the room they had emerged from. A few minutes later another man dressed the same as the previous two appeared with James who was obviously frightened out of his wits. The man held an automatic to his son's head.

The two opponents stared at each other for several minutes as if they were discerning their strengths like two boxers before the main event.

"I will kill him," the man said, sounding ominous.

"I can resurrect him."

The man turned the gun on Robert. "I will kill you."

"Sorry, guns are ineffective."

The staring continued for several minutes before the man let James go to his father.

"I will be back," his adversary growled before he disappeared.

James ran to his father with tears running down his face.

"I know," Robert told him, giving him a reassuring hug.

Robert walked out of the high school with his son. Other students and teachers began pouring out behind them.

"What happened?" the officer in charge asked, his eyes wide with surprise.

"I'm not sure," Robert replied. "I think they realized how stupid this was."

The officers ran into the entrance, but they would not find any armed men. Robert and James would be gone before they were done searching the building.

Janet had heard about the high school siege and was at home when Robert and James returned.

"What happened?"

"The fool assumed he could use army weapons to foil me," Robert told her. "I'm not sure why he thinks threatening me is effective. I can sense what's happening and simply mitigate the methods he could use to destroy me."

"Why didn't you destroy him?" James asked.

"I can't do that. It would be murder and I can not kill anyone or anything, at least not by my own hands,"

"How are you going to stop him then?"

"Good question. As Father Johns said, I must allow him to put me in a deathly situation in which he could make a mistake and be destroyed."

"That sounds like trying to juggle balls with your hands tied behind your back."

Robert smiled. "Pretty much."

"How could you be so nonchalant about this?" Janet asked him, her face twisted with disgust.

"There's no use for me to get angry or be tricked into doing something stupid. I need to stay calm and use reason in this struggle. I'm being challenged by a devil who has a lot more experience than I do."

"I don't know if I could take any more of this!" Janet exclaimed her cute face twisted with disgust.

"I have this feeling that he's about to attempt the final trial and I don't think that either of you will be involved."

That didn't make them feel better about any of it, and Robert realized that they were at their wit's end.