Free The Gates of Babylon by Michael Wallace Page A

basic medical care. He told them about the hydro turbine for the reservoir and got updates about the installation of solar panels. He asked for volunteers to haul out two hundred more cords of wood from church land in the Ghost Cliffs, so that if propane shipments halted, they wouldn’t freeze to death this winter.
    Finally, he stood. “One more thing. I’m leaving Blister Creek tomorrow and delegating authority while I’m gone.”
    “Where are you going?” Elder Smoot asked.
    “Las Vegas.”
    He let the words sit in the air. Babylon. The belly of the beast. Most church members feared and hated the place from pure instinct, but lately it held new meaning besides sin and degradation. It represented a descent into anarchy.
    “I’ve been asked for help,” Jacob said. “Not by one of the Saints, but by a friend of the church. And if I succeed, there are huge rewards for Blister Creek. It might even mean the difference between life and death.
    “I’m not going alone, though,” he continued. “My brother knows the city. Sister Miriam and Steve Krantz are former FBI agents and I want their help in case things get ugly.”
    Elder Smoot tapped his cane against the floor. “So you, David, Sister Miriam, and the gentile.”
    “Krantz isn’t a gentile anymore, but yes. The four of us.”
    Smoot had a calculating look. “So if Stephen Paul leads the cattle drive, that leaves me in charge of Blister Creek until you return.”
    “You’ll be in charge of the men. But half the quorum will be gone, and the rest of you will be busy hauling wood.” Jacob hesitated then let it fall. “The women will make the decisions on behalf of Blister Creek until I’m back.”
    Smoot rose to his feet. “Is this some kind of joke?”
    “Not a joke. Sister Eliza will be in charge, in consultation with the Women’s Council.”
    “A council of women? And your sister. Twenty-four years old is she? Unmarried, no children.”
    He moved into Jacob’s space, twisting his cane between his hands. Jacob didn’t back down. For a moment he thought Smoot would take a swing, but Stephen Paul sprang to his feet and interposed himself between the two men.
    “Easy,” Stephen Paul told Smoot, voice low and dangerous. “Don’t do anything you’ll regret, Brother.”
    The older man spoke past Stephen Paul. “What would Brother Abraham say?”
    “My father is dead. He chooses not to advise me from beyond the grave.”
    “But you think he’d go for this? Put a girl in charge of Blister Creek, emasculate us all?”
    “Eliza destroyed two of our greatest enemies,” Stephen Paul said. “You don’t think that earns her respect? The right to be called a woman, at least, not a girl?”
    “I say she’s not a woman until she’s married. But fine, I’ll give her respect. She’ll make a fine wife and mother, if this Krantz can tame her. A few babies should stimulate the right maternal attitude.”
    Jacob felt his blood pressure rising. “Be very careful with your words, Elder Smoot. The last man who attacked my sister is dead.”
    Smoot drew back a pace and the sneer dropped from his tone. “No insults intended, brother. You know I respect your family. Your father was a lion of the Lord. I can see that in you, and in your sister, too. But God gave the priesthood to
men
,” he said, with a sweep of his cane handle to indicate the elders in the room. “Put the keys to the kingdom in
our
hands. Not the hands of our wives and daughters.”
    Jacob waited to see if Smoot had anything to add, but the man stopped with a nod and firm set of the jaw, as if he had offered the definitive argument and now dared Jacob to rebut.
    “Thank you for your input,” Jacob said. “All of you. There won’t be a sustaining vote. I have made my decision.”
    He turned to the door. As he left, he felt eyes boring into the back of his head.

    Fernie and Miriam were riding up on horseback from Yellow Flats as Jacob returned to the house on foot from the temple. For a