The Last Train to Heaven

By D. R. Hintz

THE LAST TRAIN TO HEAVEN, is a story for kids from teens to 99. Like a slow starting train, leaving the station, the story accelerates to an earth-shattering conclusion.

Justin Mann is graduating from High School. Events have guaranteed that, to say the least, this will be memorable event. He has no idea that events put in motion on the other side of the world will dictate the outcome of this special evening.

Vassily Provotich and three of his friends have been recruited into an extremely secretive project. They were only told that the task they are about to complete was essential to saving the Russian space program. How will four graduate engineering students and a prophet of doom contribute to this otherwise seemingly innocuous night and how many of Justins friends will actually get to ride that last train to heaven? What will Justin do when he discovers that the old saying, Seeing is believing, is backwards?

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Aug 17, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462008896

D. R. Hintz

The Author, DuWayne Hintz, was born in Elgin, North Dakota. The family moved to California when he was eleven and eventually settled in Fresno. He attended Fresno State University where he majored in Music and Education, with a minor in Speech Drama. He then taught for a couple of years in the California public schools before continuing his education at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He has worked in California, Montana, Wyoming, Texas, Kansas, Illinois and Indiana. He presently resides in Indianapolis, Indiana. He enjoys travel and has visited in the majority of the continental United States, Canada, and selected European and Latin American countries. Encouraged by his wife, a Librarian, he has become acquainted with all types of literature. Fantasy, Science Fiction, Historical Fiction, and Children’s Literature remain his favorite venues.

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The Last Train To Heaven

D. R. Hintz

iUniverse, Inc.

Bloomington

The Last Train To Heaven

Copyright © 2011 by D. R. Hintz

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 publisher 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.

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4620-2838-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4620-0889-6 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

iUniverse rev. date: 08/09/2011

Contents

CHAPTER 1

7:05 AM GRADUATION DAY AT LAST

CHAPTER 2

7:10 AM THE QUEEN ARISES

CHAPTER 3

12:15 PM FINALIZING PLANS

CHAPTER 4

6:10 PM DINNER TIME NEWS

CHAPTER 5

7:45 PM GRADUATING FROGS

CHAPTER 6

5:35 AM HALFWAY AROUND THE WORLD

CHAPTER 7

10:15 PM PARTY TIME

CHAPTER 8

6:10 AM VASSILY’S FINAL PREPARATIONS

CHAPTER 9

1:50 AM THE PIZZA PALACE

CHAPTER 10

7:00 AM COUNTDOWN TO THE LAUNCH

CHAPTER 11

3:45 AM PROPHET OF DOOM

CHAPTER 12

4:01 AM DOINGS AT THE DEPOT

CHAPTER 13

4:12 AM TRIALS AT THE TRAIN STATION

CHAPTER 14

4:20 AM THE QUEEN OPTS OUT

CHAPTER 15

4:23 AM RICK IS TARDY

CHAPTER 16

4:24 AM LIFE IN A BLUE COUPE

CHAPTER 17

12:08 PM ROCKETS AWAY, ROCKETS ASTRAY!

CHAPTER 18

4:28 AM BELIEVING IS SEEING

CHAPTER 19

4:54 AM THE DECEPTION

CHAPTER 20

4:28 AM MEANWHILE, TONY PLAYS CATCH-UP

CHAPTER 21

4:54 AM OFFICER TOMPKINS

CHAPTER 22

4:56 AM THE BLUE COUPE IS FOUND

CHAPTER 23

4:58 AM SHOWDOWN BEFORE SUNRISE

CHAPTER 24

4:59 AM THE BLUE, BLUE SKIES OF HEAVEN

Forword

Sometimes time seems to fly, sometimes it seems to drag and for some people it may stop altogether. You are about to embark on a twenty-two hour journey. You will be transported back and forth between Kiev and other locations in Southern Russia and the city of Battonhoven in the United States. Fortunately the travel time has been condensed. You can make the trip in no more time than it takes to turn a page.

Life is full of mysteries. We never know what the coming day will bring. An old man awakens in the night and thinks he smells gas. He goes to the kitchen to check if a burner on the stove was left on. As he enters the kitchen he flips on the light switch so he can see the stove. The small contact spark from the light switch sets off an explosion that destroys his house. A soldier on his last patrol assignment before rotating back home from the war is riding in a Humvee, which hits a land mine and the soldier loses both his legs in the blast. A young lady dives off the wooden platform 20 yards out in the lake and strikes her head on a hidden submerged object. The accident leaves her a quadriplegic for the rest of her life. Where one person’s life is destroyed by such a catastrophic event, another is able to use the event as a stepping-stone to greater accomplishments.

In The Last Train To Heaven, the four Russian graduate engineering students have no idea that their flipping of a switch, so to speak, will produce tragic consequences for thousands of unsuspecting people halfway around the world. Four High School graduates have no idea that their response to a strangely dressed character that they meet on the street will be a matter of life and death.

Sincerely, D.R. Hintz

Preface

I began this story over twenty years ago and cannot really explain why it has taken me so long to bring it to print. However in looking back, I want to thank several people who have been instrumental in molding the shape and tone of the final version. First and foremost I want to thank my wife for her encouragement in the final drafts, to keep the characters as human as possible in this short, twenty-two hour span of their lives.

I want to recognize also the life lessons I learned under Dr David Allen Hubbard, first at Westmont College, where he gave me an appreciation for the Old Testament Prophets, and later at Fuller Seminary where I learned that my relationship with my new bride was more important than getting A’s in my course work.

I want also to thank author and psychologist, Dr. Larry Crabb, for helping me to begin to look deeper in my spiritual and personal relationships. In doing so, I believe he has helped me to create some characters that are believable and engaging in spite of the wide differences in their lives and life styles.

CHAPTER 1

7:05 AM GRADUATION DAY AT LAST

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Justin Mann opened the back door and stepped out onto the patio. It was quite dark and from the look of the quarter moon near the western horizon, it was also quite late. He sat down in one of the three lawn chairs, leaned back and looked up at the starry night sky. It was very quiet and the night sounds of a few chirping crickets were plainly discerned. A movement in the center of the yard caught his attention and as he watched, a rabbit scurried across the yard and disappeared around the corner of the garage.

Justin looked back at the stars as he debated whether he should follow the rabbit to see where it went. Maybe if it had been white, he would have decided to check it out. Suddenly a half dozen red five pointed stars emerged from behind the roofline of the house, high in the overhead sky and slightly to his right, traveling at a high rate of speed. Then one more appeared trailing a little behind the others. It seemed to be moving slower than the rest. As he watched, it began to drop from the sky. It reminded him of a meteor. He returned his gaze to the small group of stars as they raced for the horizon but then the falling star exploded shaking the ground and lighting up the sky as if it were daylight.

Justin bolted upright; his eyes wide and the hair on the back of his neck were standing straight up. He barely managed to stifle the scream that was forming in his throat as he realized that he was sitting up in his own bed. It had only been a bad dream. But it had been so vivid, so real. He had even felt the patio trembling after the explosion. Was it just a dream? Justin thought back to another vivid dream that he had when he was only about eight years old. In that dream the family had been involved in an automobile accident. It was not a serious accident, but in the dream he had experienced a broken arm when he was thrown into the front seat because he had forgotten to fasten his seat belt. That dream had also awakened him and his accompanying scream had attracted the attention of the whole family.

It was funny though. A few days after the dream, they did have a minor accident and fortunately, perhaps because of the dream, he had remembered to fasten his seat belt. No one had more than a few sore muscles from that accident. He had accepted, as fact, that the dream had been a warning. Was this new dream also a warning of some kind? If so, what did it mean? Was he to watch out for meteors or was there some other significance?

Justin looked over at the clock. The Alarm was due to go off any minute. He might as well get up now since he was thoroughly awake. He threw back the covers and bounded out of bed. He explored the depths of his closet, grabbed a pair of jeans, and began dressing for breakfast. The big day had finally arrived, Graduation, the final day of school and then the graduation party. Life was getting interesting. Look out world, here I come!

The world was waiting. His generation was coming of age, willing and ready to tackle anything. They surely couldn’t do any worse than the preceding generation.

He set about getting ready for the last day of school. Justin and dozens of his friends were ready to set the world on fire. What a day, what a night, graduation party starting at ten P.M. in the high school cafeteria and Jenny Johnson was his date. Jenny was one of the most popular and beautiful girls in the school. The election for Homecoming Queen had not even been close. She had gotten 60% of the votes in spite of there being three other candidates. He’d only asked her to go with him on a dare, almost backing down out of fear of rejection. He really didn’t think he had a chance, but she had accepted. Yeah, look out world. His dream was already forgotten.

He picked up his shoes and carried them down stairs with him, taking the stairs two and three at a time. He enjoyed the feel of the soft carpet pile as he curled his toes around the edge of each step. He remembered the time he’d missed a step and rolled all the way to the living-room floor. There had been no soft carpet then. He winced a little remembering the bruises, but that had been over … ten years ago. Today was a new day, a new time. He dropped his shoes by the door to the hall and trotted to the kitchen. The kitchen tiles were slick beneath his stocking feet. He locked his knees and slid a half-dozen feet to the edge of the kitchen table.

Watch it, Bozo. was the greeting he received from his sister, Shannon, who was already seated at the breakfast table, buttering a piece of toast.

Ignoring his sister’s name calling, Justin surveyed the table as he asked, Dad left already?

About ten minutes ago. Mom’s not feeling well so keep it down.

Oh! Yes, Your Majesty, he responded bowing in her direction. Any other orders this morning, Your Majesty? For the ten-thousandth time he thought, why’d she have to be a girl? A brother would have been a whole lot more fun, interesting, compatible, and– Oh well, for a girl she wasn’t too bad, even kind of cute when she stuck her tongue out at him the way she was doing now. Justin turned toward the cupboard and again marveled at the beauty of the stained glass lion hanging in the window with the morning sunlight streaming through his majestic outline. They called him Aslan. He proceeded to the cupboard on the right side of the lion, grabbed a box of cereal and returned to the table. He sat down and poured himself a bowl of the new, improved cereal with 20% less sodium. It only took one bite to be convinced it tasted like the same old thing. In fact, he was tempted to add a little bit of salt. He turned his attention back to Shannon. You need to be more respectful to your elders, sis. After all, this is my graduation day.

My elders? Shannon replied. You’re only two years older than me. Besides, age is not necessarily a sign of maturity. She gave special emphasis to the word ma-tur-i-ty.

At least, I don’t go around sticking my tongue out at people. Oh well, Justin continued, It’s too great a day to let my sweet little sister spoil it for me.

Justin’s father often had to go away on short business trips like the one he’d left for that morning. This time his business took him to McCormick Place in Chicago and he would miss Justin’s graduation. When Justin was younger, he used to excuse his dad’s absence by imagining that his father was really a secret agent and was needed to complete some dangerous and exciting mission for the protection of his home and his country. Although his father did experience some international travel, he was only a sales representative for an international company; at least that is what he told his family. Justin missed having his dad around. Oh well, perhaps someday he would have more time for his family. He hoped it would be before he got a job and moved away from home.

Justin reached for the newspaper that his father had left folded on the table. He ought to have time for the comics. The headlines on the front page caught his eye. Russians to Disarm.

So, he thought, what’s the big deal? They’d been talking about that for months. Since the break up of the Soviet Union was there any threat left? He scanned the first paragraph. The Russians were vowing to eliminate 50% of their nuclear arsenal. What were they hoping to gain by that? A second headline read, Do Rockets Threaten Sol? He read on. The big question being batted around in Washington today is: ‘do the Russian rockets threaten our sun?’ Why would their rockets threaten the sun? Halfway down the page another headline caught his eye. Drug use in the county continues to rise. It was quite a world his generation was inheriting, he thought as he turned to the comic section. He made a mental note to check into that rocket matter after school. He should have plenty of time before graduation.

They ate for a moment in silence. Then Shannon, with a hint of mischief playing around the corners of her mouth said, I hear you’re taking Jenny Johnson to the graduation party.

Uh huh, he said nodding his head. Are you jealous? Maybe that ‘no sophomores allowed’ rule isn’t so bad after all.

Me jealous! Ha! What have I got to be jealous about?

Jenny is only the most popular girl in school.

Don’t pop the buttons off your shirt, Shannon shot back. Besides, I heard Jenny is only going out with you because she had a fight with her boy friend and wants to make him jealous.

Justin bristled, Where did you hear that?

Oh, I’ve got my sources. Besides, the whole school knows that something happened between them.

Justin had to admit to himself that Shannon was too close to the truth for comfort. He had heard that Tony didn’t like anyone messing with his girl. It was only because Jenny and Tony had broken up