Prism - By Rachel Moschell Page 0,98
and have an ostrich farm. Why would a gringo want to live all the way out here?”
Rupert scoffed and raised one eyebrow. “Don’t let my pale face fool you. My parents were American, but I never applied for my American citizenship after the age of eighteen.”
“Where did you grow up then?”
Rupert grinned and raised one fuzzy eyebrow at Alejo. ”Would you be at all shocked if I told you my parents were missionaries in Morocco? The man you are looking at is one hundred percent Moroccan, heart and soul.”
Alejo looked over at him and whistled. “Wow. A missionary kid. Morocco. It’s a very nice country. So, would you be at all shocked if I told you I ‘m a pastor’s son?”
Rupert’s calm eyes did, indeed, widen. He recovered quickly and cleared his throat. “Uh, yes, actually, I would!” A grin spread across his face. “We make a fine pair, hmm?”
“Yeah, well you at least have been following the path of your parents. The example my parents gave me when I was young was not one I wanted to follow.”
There was a long pause, and then Rupert said, “I haven’t always been on the straight and narrow path, walking in the light. I’m sure you wouldn’t be shocked if I told you I used to be CIA. I worked at the top levels for ten years, with the CIA for a total of twenty-five years. I was mean, ornery, and I would do anything to get the job done. By the time I was fifty I was on my third wife.”
Alejo pressed his lips together, staring straight ahead.
“Ten years ago, the Lord found me and called me into his kingdom---just like that, from right in the middle of the places of power of the kingdom of this world. I became his disciple—and everything changed. I had a new boss, and I could no longer do whatever the powers-that-be above me ordered me to do, when it was against the orders of Jesus. You know what I mean?”
Alejo nodded, seriously.
“Well, Alejo, I realized I couldn’t continue in the CIA and follow Jesus. When I emptied out my retirement account to give to the poor, my third wife, Ellie, left me. So now, here I am, alone and with all the time in the world to do what the Lord brings my way. For now, it is this organization.”
Rupert’s voice drawled lazily, but his tone was intense. They had reached the far corner of the property now, and Rupert led them into a small grape arbor. He lowered himself with a grunt onto the grass under the tangled mass of vines, and Alejo followed him, sitting cross-legged on the cool ground. He now knew about Rupert’s past: missionary kid from Morocco, CIA, three failed marriages. What he didn’t know was what was going on now, in the present.
What am I doing here?
“I guess you brought me here for the recruitment speech,” he said, measuring Rupert with his eyes. Rupert smiled lazily.
“I guess I did. Like I said, I want to help you. But the fact you were recommended to me in a dream makes me think God brought you here for the recruitment speech.”
Alejo scrunched up his face, surprised by the thought.
“We’re called CI,” Rupert told him. “Short for Cole, Inc, the shipping company here in Morocco my grandfather owned and gave to me. We’ve transformed the company into something a little different. The agents who work with us are called lukes. There’s a verse in the Bible we believe in, and it says, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, to bring liberty to the captives.’ We believe in that, bringing God’s kingdom to earth.”
So Rupert wants me to work with him and become a luke.
“Most of us in CI may not have come by our special skills in the best of ways,” Rupert continued explaining. “But now that we belong to Jesus we want to use our talents to obey him, not give power and riches to the kingdoms of this world. We work to save those who are in prison or in danger for their belief in Jesus or their defense of human rights.”
Alejo’s temple throbbed and he felt himself grimacing. Of course, this was what he wanted to do. When he worked with the Prism, hadn’t it been to bring justice to the world, to help those in need?
He could do this, work with Rupert in