Everything and Nothing

Linda Kay Dalton

Description

A story of unswerving faith and daily influence upon close friends. Surprisingly suspenseful, it is also thought provoking, depicting possible scenarios of our future.
Is it by chance or divine destiny that an emergency evacuation brings new friends and an old admirer into Karen Langley’s life? What are the best security measures a department store could adopt to keep itself and its employees safe? Is Karen’s husband missing in action? She’s very much on her own out there on the farm. Are dreams just dreams, or is God trying to tell us something important? New best friend, Donna is desperate to know. And since when could expressing faith in Jesus Christ get a young person thrown into jail? Are miracles a thing of the past or do they still happen? Besides all this, can someone tell us why it seems that so many main-stream denominational churches are dying? Who can tell what the last days may bring or what our heavenly Father could possibly have in store for those who belong to Him? Karen Langley stays focused on her relationship with Jesus and doesn’t fret about the rest of it.

Sujets

• Mentoring
• Dreams
• RFID
• Friendship
• Mentorship
• Radio-frequency identification
• Hostage
• Evacuation
• Mystery
• Radio-identification
• Dream
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 01 mars 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664287815
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

EVERYTHING and NOTHING
 
 
 
 
 
Linda Kay Dalton
 
 
 
 

 
Copyright © 2023 Linda Kay Dalton.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
 
WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6642-8782-2 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-8783-9 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-8781-5 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022923799
 
 
WestBow Press rev. date: 02/21/2023
Contents
Chapter 1     Emergency Meeting of Old Friends
Chapter 2     Stuck in a Motel
Chapter 3     Rise and Shine!
Chapter 4     It’s Back to Work We Go!
Chapter 5     Home on the Farm
Chapter 6     Alone Again, Country Style
Chapter 7     Sunday, Wonderful Sunday!
Chapter 8     Christianity - Everything and Nothing
Chapter 9     The FBI Gets Involved
Chapter 10     Anti-Christ, What Anti-Christ?
Chapter 11     Proselytizing 101
Chapter 12     Friends on the Farm
Chapter 13     Jack’s Job
Chapter 14     Marriage Troubles
Chapter 15     Spiritual Gifts
Chapter 16     Friendly Conspiracies
Chapter 17     House Warming
Chapter 18     The Sins of the Churches
Chapter 19     Lots Going On
Chapter 20     Revive Us Again!
Chapter 21     Of Loss and of Pain
Chapter 22     Dreams and Interpretations
Chapter 23     Botched Train Ride
Chapter 24     The Train… Remote
Chapter 25     Doers or Hearers Only?
Chapter 26     Thanksgiving Comes with a Challenge
Chapter 27     Jack - Undercover
Chapter 28     Arrested at Work
Chapter 29     A Day in Court
Chapter 30     Word of Knowledge
Chapter 31     Adventures: At Church and On the Farm
Chapter 32     And the Grand Prize Will Be…
Chapter 33     Does He Get It?
Chapter 34     Technological Turmoil
Chapter 35     Gotcha!
Chapter 36     An Afternoon With Friends
Chapter 37     It’s the Real Thing!
Chapter 38     Heroes and Victims
Chapter 39     Hostage in the Tunnel!
Chapter 40     Who’s in Control Here Anyway?
No One Like You
Chapter 1
Emergency Meeting of Old Friends
Startled, Karen looked up from the sales terminal to an aisle on her left. A man disappeared from view, hidden now by shelves of tools in the Seeks hardware department. After finishing a customer’s purchase of a battery-powered impact wrench, she headed for the same aisle.
Karen Langley was tall, slender, forty-something – an attractive countrywoman whose lifestyle kept her body fit and toned. She considered her best feature to be her long, wavy hair. It was a natural mix of colors lightened by the sun. These ranged in quantity from the golden-blonde majority to multiple shades of brown, some hints of red, and a few gray strands. Being of Irish descent, her paternal grandmother always looked for the red in her hair. She delighted in seeing this genetic trait passed down to two of her grandchildren, the other being a male cousin. A friend once told Karen she was too old to have hair down the middle of her back. Other friends made her promise never to cut it. At times, even strangers commented on it. The style was simple. She trimmed it herself, keeping it long because that’s the way her husband liked it.
Five months ago, she started working at Seeks for the second time in her life. Twenty-six years earlier, she’d quit working in the store’s accounting office to give birth to her first child. Now she was back, waiting on customers in the hardware department.
The man she thought he might be was a friend of hers during that first stint at the store. Raymond Hardy was the display manager when she met him. Some years later, before Karen left, he was reassigned as manager of the appliance department. Shortly after she quit her office job, he transferred from the local store to parts unknown. From the back, it looked like him, but it was only a fleeting glance.
At the end of the aisle, hearing male voices, she cautiously leaned forward to peek around the corner. She was correct—It was Ray! He was talking with two other men. Standing there, she tried to decide whether it was good to interrupt their conversation. Ray caught a glimpse of her and did a double-take.
“Karen!” he exclaimed. Ray took three long strides in her direction as she stepped from her hiding place, then wrapped his arms around her in a friendly hug.
All the years spanning this present moment and the last time they’d seen each other seemed to disappear instantly – as if it was only yesterday when Ray handed Karen a brush and roller and showed her a wall that needed a coat of paint.
The other men didn’t have any choice but to end their discourse. They each nodded toward Ray, who no longer paid the slightest attention to them. He was holding Karen’s hand and grinning from ear to ear. They turned and walked away, leaving the old friends to become reacquainted.
“I can’t believe it’s you,” Ray said. “How long has it been?”
“Oh my, a lot of years,” Karen said. “Seems like forever… seems like only a few days… How’ve you been?”
She repositioned herself to better view the abandoned cash wrap and keep an eye out for customers. Of her co-workers, Nick was on his break, and Regina was sorting and hanging up a new stock of screwdrivers a couple of aisles over to the left.
The minutes slipped quickly away while Karen and Ray recounted old times, swapping stories about colleagues and events from the past.
Above their heads, the lights throughout the store suddenly dimmed for a few seconds, went completely off, and then came on again. After a brief pause, a siren began to wail. Through the PA system, a clear, sharp, male voice spoke urgently above the clamor , “Attention! Attention, please! No more sales will occur at this time. Sales associates, please finish transactions currently in progress before closing down all terminals. We have a Code Red emergency!
“Attention, all shoppers not involved in a sales transaction. Stop whatever you are doing and walk quickly from the building. We are sorry, but no more purchases can be made at this time. I repeat: This is a Code Red emergency. Please. Exit. The store. Now!”
When the announcement began, Ray turned sharply on his heel, saying, “I’ve gotta go. I’ll try and catch up with you later.”
The loud faceless voice continued to repeat itself. Karen hurried back to the cash wrap. Regina ran alongside, followed by a breathless Nick rushing from the breakroom. The three of them worked quickly, shutting everything down.
With one last glance at the hardware department, Karen wondered what it would look like when she saw it again. Is there a fire? Some kind of an attack? What could be happening here where she spent so many of her days and so much of her energy?
In recent times, acts of terrorism threatened the entire nation’s safety like an impending and unpredictable storm. Dark clouds of violence gradually reached past airports and government buildings to overtake shopping malls, sports arenas, and other civilian venues.
Seeks had an established evacuation plan, and the employees followed its instructions to the letter. After tending to their assigned area duties, they walked briskly from the sales floor, offices, or stock rooms, retrieving coats and other personal belongings on the way. They hurried down the stairs at the back of the store to board a subway train, ready and waiting to carry them away.
Using overhead cameras, specially trained security staff worked via radio contact with partners on foot, locating and removing patrons as yet unconvinced of any real danger. Of course, there could also be a darker criminal element who quickly saw a chance to loot the store. They wouldn’t want to pass up this grand opportunity for the sake of personal safety.
Two managers made a sweep of the windowless restrooms to ensure they were empty before the lights went out, plunging all into total darkness. Once all nonemployees were ejected from the building, the managers locked all exit doors.
Two teams of armed security guards, each holding master keys, worked in tandem to collect the detachable money drawers at the base of each sales terminal. They ran from cash wrap to cash wrap, pushing specially built carts, fitting each removed drawer int