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Chapter Sixteen: The Man in Seat 34C


Airbus 0718 continued westward through calm skies.
Thirty-seven thousand feet above the Atlantic Ocean...
Everything appeared perfectly ordinary.
The gentle hum of the engines.
The occasional laughter of passengers.
The soft clink of coffee cups.
A baby cried somewhere near the rear of the aircraft before quickly settling again.
Outside...
The clouds drifted peacefully beneath the wings.
Inside...
Evil patiently waited.

The man sitting in Seat 34C had boarded without attracting the slightest attention.
He wore faded jeans.
An ordinary grey jacket.
Unshaven.
His eyes remained fixed upon the floor for most of the flight.
To every passenger...
He looked exhausted.
Broken.
Forgettable.
Exactly as planned.
No one knew his name.
No one knew his story.
But Heaven did.
And Hell certainly did.

Years ago...
He had been an ordinary husband.
An ordinary father.
He once believed life would improve.
Instead...
Everything collapsed.
His business failed.
His wife left.
The courts granted custody of his children to someone else.
Alcohol became his closest companion.
Soon after...
drugs followed.
Debt collectors came.
Then the loan sharks.
Eventually...
He discovered there were people who offered desperate men one final purpose.
They promised him justice.
Meaning.
Revenge against a world that had abandoned him.
They told him that history remembered martyrs.
No one remembered failures.
His broken heart slowly became poisoned.
Until finally...
he agreed.

Unknown to him...
every decision had been quietly encouraged.
Every hopeless thought whispered.
Every angry impulse magnified.
The frog-eyed demons had never forced him.
They merely kept suggesting.
"Nobody loves you..."
"You're already dead..."
"Take them with you..."
"Make the world remember your name..."
Eventually...
he stopped recognising which thoughts were his own.

Beneath his loose jacket...
carefully concealed beneath specially altered clothing...
rested several sealed containers.
Each contained highly unstable industrial chemicals.
Individually...
they posed little danger.
Combined...
they would become a firestorm.
One final ingredient remained missing.
The second compound.
The package.
Tom carried it.

Far beneath Paris...
inside Satan's underground palace...
The serpent watched the aircraft.
One frog-eyed general stepped forward.
"Our servant grows impatient."
Satan smiled.
"Good."
"Desperate people make predictable decisions."
"The package?"
"Still beneath Tom's seat."
"And the delivery?"
"It will happen soon."
The great serpent slowly narrowed his eyes.
"See that it does."

Back aboard the aircraft...
Tom sat motionless.
His foot rested against the small black package beneath the seat before him.
It felt unusually heavy.
He still hadn't opened it.
Curiosity tempted him.
Fear stopped him.
His instructions echoed continually inside his mind.
Deliver it.
Ask no questions.
He glanced around the cabin.
Families.
Children.
An elderly couple quietly holding hands.
Two young brothers excitedly playing cards.
For reasons he couldn't explain...
guilt settled heavily upon him.

Across the aisle...
Archto watched silently.
For the first time...
he fully understood the crushing burden Tom carried.
Not merely criminal debt.
Fear.
Shame.
Loneliness.
The constant exhaustion of living behind lies.
Archto quietly prayed before the throne of God.
Not with human words.
But with the silent obedience known only among Heaven's servants.

Several rows ahead...
Rachel suddenly looked up.
A strange uneasiness washed over her.
She slowly closed her Bible.
Something...
felt wrong.
She couldn't explain it.
Archrac immediately recognised the change.
He turned toward the rear of the aircraft.


Farther forward...
Tim noticed something else.
Years of investigative journalism had sharpened his instincts.
The man in the grey jacket.
He hadn't eaten.
Had barely moved.
Kept glancing toward the aisles.
His hands trembled.
Tim quietly reached into his notebook.
He wrote only three words.
Watch Seat 34C.

Daniel noticed Tom.
Not because he recognised him...
but because Tom seemed unusually anxious.
Constantly checking beneath his seat.
Constantly looking over his shoulder.
Daniel assumed he feared airport customs.
He returned to reading conference notes.

Cathy gazed peacefully out of the window.
Her thoughts remained fixed upon Disclosure.
Soon...
she believed...
humanity would finally meet its neighbours among the stars.
Invisible beside her...
Archca looked sadly toward the heavens.
If only she knew...
she thought.

Sidney continued recording short videos.
"This flight feels..."
He laughed awkwardly.
"I don't know..."
"...tense somehow."
He stopped recording.
Even he could feel it.
Something had changed.

Then...
without warning...
A very dark presence appeared around Seat 34C
Not physically.
Spiritually.

Three frog-eyed demons slowly surrounded the desperate man.
One leaned close to his ear.
"It's time."
Another whispered,
"Don't lose your courage."
The third smiled hideously.
"History is waiting."
The man's breathing became faster.
Sweat formed across his forehead.
His fingers tightened around the armrests.

At exactly that moment...
Archrac stepped into the aisle.
So did Archdan.

The seven guardian angels now stood throughout the cabin.
Invisible to every human eye.
A silent line of Heaven.
Watching.
Waiting.
Prepared.

Far above all created things...
Michael remained standing before the throne.
His gaze never left the aircraft.
One mighty angel quietly asked,
"Shall we move now?"
Michael listened.
As though hearing a command no other angel could yet hear.
Then...
he answered.
"Not yet."
"The Almighty is allowing every heart to reveal itself."

Back inside the aircraft...
the seatbelt sign suddenly illuminated.
A calm voice came over the intercom.
"Ladies and gentlemen...
we're expecting a small area of turbulence."
"Please return to your seats."
Passengers obeyed without concern.
The aircraft gently shook.
Coffee cups rattled.
Overhead lockers creaked softly.
Nothing unusual.
Nothing alarming.
Except...
the man in Seat 34C slowly reached beneath his jacket.
His fingers closed around something hidden there.
He whispered under his breath,
"It's time."