Call Me Joe

Martin van Es

Description

Mankind is on the brink of self-destruction. Twelve of the most creative thinkers in the world are working to come up with a solution in time. It means changing the way everything has been done in the past - and there are powerful people/forces who will do anything they can to maintain the status quo. The Twelve need a leader that the whole world will follow. A man called Joe, who claims to be the returned Son of God, may be the answer to their problems, but is he who he says he is? Will the world be convinced to follow him before he is silenced by those in power? This story is the exciting first step in the world-changing Joe Project.

Informations

• Publié par: RedDoor Press
• Date de parution: 04 juin 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781839780387
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

CALL
Martin van Es
ME
Andrew Crofts
JOE

Published by RedDoor
www.reddoorpress.co.uk
© 2020 Martin van Es
The right of Martin van Es to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the author
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Cover design: Rawshock Design
Typesetting: Jen Parker, Fuzzy Flamingo
For Sis, who I love so much

Contents
Contents
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
Thirty-One
Thirty-Two
Thirty-Three
Thirty-Four
Thirty-Five
Thirty-Six
Thirty-Seven
Thirty-Eight
Thirty-Nine
Forty
Forty-One
Forty-Two
Forty-Three
Forty-Four
Forty-Five
Forty-Six
Forty-Seven
Forty-Eight
Forty-Nine
Fifty
Fifty-One
Fifty-Two
Fifty-Three
Fifty-Four
Fifty-Five
Sign up to the Joe Project
About the authors
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world”
Mahatma Gandhi

One

At the moment when the sun went down, Sophie was staring fixedly out of the window, only half listening to the headmaster’s voice.
Job etiquette required that she should have been looking him in the eye and listening to him as he reminded her yet again of her responsibilities, both to the school and to the parents who entrusted the care of their children to her, but she had heard what he had to say so often she was worried she would end up laughing if she caught his eye.
“We have a sacred duty to safeguard these children,” he was saying, “not just protecting them from physical harm, but from anything that might jeopardise their mental and emotional development as well.”
Wanting to continue to show him the respect that his position and reputation deserved, she remained politely quiet, refusing to be drawn into an open argument which might give him an opportunity to sack her. Rather than answering back to the patronising way in which he was now addressing her about her “duties” and “moral responsibilities”, she had been staring out of the window at her class as they played their various sports among the children from other year groups.
It was a particularly idyllic day and she was cross with him for spoiling her previously benign mood by summoning her to his office to tell her yet again that she was too friendly with the pupils. It had been a long struggle to get to this comfortable point in her life and she did not intend to let anyone take it away from her.
The sun had bathed the school grounds in a warm golden light as the boys spread out across the vivid green of the cricket pitches at what looked from above like a leisurely pace, and the girls filled the crowded netball courts with swirling bursts of activity. Even the security personnel seemed to have relaxed in their various posts around the edges of the premises, their faces inscrutable and their eyes invisible behind their dark glasses. Lulled by the warmth, they had momentarily become spectators to the scene like her, rather than the guardians of its safety, which was what they had been employed to do. It had been a while since there had been any sort of real threat to the school’s security and no one could realistically be expected to stay on high alert indefinitely, however much military-style training they might have received when first recruited.
“You need to maintain a distance,” the headmaster was droning on, “they are your pupils, your charges; they are not your friends…”
The relative tranquillity of the cricket field was a sharp contrast to the excited shouts and cheers of the girls as goals were scored on the netball courts. Sophie felt a fierce sense of pride flicker inside her as she watched. She didn’t care what the headmaster said; the children did feel like her friends. She had certainly grown to know them better than any class she had ever taught before, or any peer group she had ever been part of for that matter. They seemed to her to be an exceptional bunch of young people and she took credit for much of the progress they were making, both academically and emotionally.
Through the window she saw that Hugo had been sent to field at the furthest corner of the cricket pitch. He didn’t seem to be concerned at being sidelined from the action going on around the wickets. He was gazing about him through his oversized Harry Potter glasses like he wasn’t part of anything that was happening with the ball, his mind apparently a thousand miles away. Sophie hoped that the batsman wouldn’t hit the ball in that direction while Hugo was staring dreamily up at the sky, partly because she knew the other boys were always looking for excuses to shout at the poor little chap, and partly because she feared that an unexpected blow from a hard cricket ball to the back of his head could easily prove fatal.
For a moment she feared she had gone blind, or perhaps been struck unconscious. Then she realised she was not in any pain and the exclamations from the headmaster told her that she wasn’t alone in the sudden darkness.
“What’s going on?” the headmaster shouted. “Sophie, are you there?”
“I’m here,” Sophie said, unsure exactly where she was in the inky blackness. “What’s happened?”
“Is it some sort of eclipse?” the headmaster asked. “Was there a warning? There was nothing on the radio this morning.”
Outside the window she could hear the frightened screams of the children and the shouts of the now alert security guards and sports teachers as they tried to work out what had happened and what they should do about it. There had never been any sort of safety drill as to what to do in a situation like this. They all knew what to do if the school was attacked by a lone gunman or a suicide bomber or if a fire should break out, but no one had ever foreseen a need to work out a drill for the arrival of total darkness in the middle of a sunny afternoon.
Within a few moments the screams had transformed into nervous laughter as people realised they were unhurt and bumped into one another as they tried to feel their way to some place of safety.
“I’ve never seen an eclipse like this,” Sophie replied.
The light snapped on in the room as the headmaster found his way to the switch and outside the security lights started creating pools of light around the buildings which the children could make their way towards. Some of the guards had produced torches from their pockets and were moving around the children like sheep dogs, attempting to make sure that there were no stragglers, shouting instructions to one another, using military jargon they had never before had a chance to try out in a real situation.
The lights in the room flickered momentarily, threatening a return to darkness.
“There’s probably been a huge surge in demand,” the headmaster said.
Sophie was struck by how calm his voice had become. He certainly did have impressive leadership qualities when it came to a crisis. A lot of people said that the remarkable success of the school was in large part down to his personality and she had to admit that was probably true however annoying it was when he lectured her on her pastoral care techniques.
“We had better go to the children,” he said. “Let’s get them back into their classrooms until we know exactly what is going on. That way we can do a headcount.”
By the time they reached the ground floor, most of the children were already crowding back inside the building which was now lit just as it would be on a winter’s night. They were milling around in the communal areas, high and noisy on adrenaline, enjoying the interruption of normal school-day routines. The flickering of the electricity supply was becoming less pronounced as the power stations regained control of the supplies and demand became steadier.
“Everyone to their own classrooms,” she and the headmaster shouted, adding to the noise levels, and other teachers followed their lead.
Sophie stepped out through one of the exits for a few moments, to check that there was no one left behind. The excited babble of the voices thronging the corridors inside was masking the total stillness which had enveloped the world outside. There was not a breath of wind, and only the distant stars to break up the vast black emptiness beyond the school lights, seeming to stretch away from the Earth for ever.
“Is this the end of the world, Miss?” The small voice sounded more curious than scared.
“No, Hugo,” she said, surprised by her own calmness. “I don’t think so.”
“What is it then?”
“I have no idea. I’m sure we will find out soon. Go to the classroom with the others for the moment while we work out what to do next.”
“Get that child inside,” a security guard barked, his voice sounding more frightened than Hugo’s. Sophie noticed that he was brandishing a gun. “We’re putting the whole premises on lockdown.”