Chapter one

The sudden silence was frightening.  The rousing gospel choir had stumbled to an

unsetling quiet as the remanants of fifty strong voices disolved into the background

hush.  The audience of almost five thousand, shuffled to their feet, focusing all of

their attention upon the stage as the house lights dimmed to nothing.  Five

thousand people stood quietly in the darkness.  It was time.

In the background a solitary female vioce pierced the silence.  A haunting

rendition of Amazing Grace filled the empty air, sending chills through the

audience.  As the song slowly icreased in volume and emotion, a single white

spotlight filled the centre of the stage and a striking figure of a man emerged from

the darkness .

Dressed in flowing, white robes and clasping a huge golden cross, he stood

before the people.  With slow, measured steps he descended from the stage and

waded into the crowd.  At almost six and a half feet in height and built like a

linbacker,  Jeremy St. James towered over most of those that had come to see

him.  He walked confidently, first to the left then the right. His bright, blue eyes,

highlighted by a California tan and Hollywood good looks stared upwards as if

seeking some divine guidance, all the time oblivious to the people around him, who

parted silently before him. 

"He puts on quiet a show, doesn't he?"

Syna Flynn nudged her cameraman back into realitywith a stiff jab to the ribs.  He

had been caught up in the show like everyone else.  She quietly sighed and rolled

her eyes, five years as the hardened news anchor on the popular Reality Bites, had

given her a good sense of when somebody was trying to pull the wool over her

eyes. If she had learned anything in those years it was that almost everything was

seldom as it seems.

"Can we get any closer , I can't see a thing from here."

Brad Talbot eyed her annoyingly and grunted a non comittal  reply.  Six months

with this bitch was about all he could take. He had been warned about taking this

job, but the money the network was paying was hard to resist.

"The deal was we weren't to leave this doorway under any circumstances, we were

lucky even to be allowed this far."

Brad shouldered his camera and looked back into the crowd, he knew Syna had a

penchant for breaking the rules for a story but he was determined to hold his ground.

Syna growled under her breath.  Jeremy St. James was notorious for not allowing

the media of any kind into his revival meetings.  It had taken months of

negotiations, promises and downright begging to even be considered to be allowed

to do the story.  She had agreed to a long list of conditions concerning what she

could and couldn't film and allowing Jeremy St. James Inc., final editorial approval

over the finished piece.  But, on the other hand what possible problem could they

have with the filming of a very innocent, religious meeting, unless they had

something to hide, and if they had something to hide then that meant there was  a

story here, and then all bets were off.

"There's another five hundred in it for you if you get within twenty feet of him."

Brad caught the larceny in her voice and quickly ran through his options.  He knew

when she could smell a story and she obviously needed him now, still, steady

camera jobs were few and far between, and he would be a fool not to take

advantage of this situation.

"Two year exclusive contract with Reality Bites and my pick of assignments, and I'll

show you the number of freckles on his nose."

Syna turned sharply, she never liked to be one-upped.

"Eighteen months and a pick of three assignments if you can get me something

good"

She was surprised at just how fast he disappeard into the crowd.  Within seconds

he was out of sight in the darkness of the auditorium.  She smiled contendedly and

leaned back against the wall, it may have cost her a little but if there was a story

here she was going to find it.

Brad talbot loved this kind of work.  He thrived on getting the footage nobody else

could get, the thrill of getting right into the action and evading the authorities, was

worth the risk. The auditorium was packed to capacity and moving through the

standing crowd was dificult but not impossible. He side stepped a few people qiuet

easliy at first but was stopped short by a sharp elbow into his stomach.  He

recovered quickly, caught his breath and tried to push his way back through the

crowd.  A sudden fist into the kidneys gave him a second to reconsider the

intelligence of his latest endevour, and before he could make another move he could

feel two vise like hands tighten around his arms, pick him up off of the ground and

nonchalantley usher him from the building.