The Left Behind Collection: All 12 Books (166 page)

Tsion reached up and laid a hand on Rosenzweig’s shoulder as if to calm him. Buck could see the blood rise on the back of the old man’s neck and the veins bulge in his temple. “I need not remind you that it was not so long ago that Rabbi Tsion Ben-Judah lost his family for merely expressing his beliefs on television! He was chased from his homeland like a common criminal! . . . Yes, I know how offensive it must have been for the Jews! I am a Jew, Leon! That’s more than I can say for you. . . . Tsion assures me his belief is founded on more than faith but also scholarship, but that is not the point! . . . No! I am not one of them, as you say. But if I find that Nicolae looks upon these devout and passionate seekers of God with the contempt that you do, I might just become one of them!

“Now we are proceeding to the stadium in my well-known vehicle. We will take our chances with the traffic because we know shortcuts, and I also assume Tsion’s followers will make way for us. . . . As a compromise to you, yes, I will use an alternate driver—” Chaim signaled quickly for Jacov and Stefan to switch places—“but we are on our way, and we expect the protection pledged by the potentate himself.

“. . . Am I sorry? Sorry that you make so much of titles, Leon. But no, not sorry that I have offended you. You have offended me, how about that? I have tried to keep my wits about me and have maintained as normal a lifestyle as possible despite the accolades and the wealth that have come with my formula. . . . I am not insisting on some new title or a higher pedestal, and frankly it does not wear well on you either. We are pulling away, Leon, and my new driver seems unaware that I am on a cord phone! Good-bye!”

He laughed. “Stefan, you snake! You nearly pulled the phone away from the cord!”

“I’m a snake?” Stefan said, smiling. “You put me in the target seat!”

Chaim wrenched around in the seat. “Tsion, my son, you know what Leon was saying when we pulled away?”

“I can only imagine.”

“That he would be happy to work on a more appropriate title for a man of my station! Have you ever encountered anyone so out of touch with the point of a conversation?”

“Never,” Tsion said.

Buck was awestruck that such a dangerous ride could turn so festive.

Rayford handled the bulk of the flying across the Atlantic, scheduling his arrival to allow the least amount of time on the ground. Mac had informed him that Carpathia and his entourage were still at the King David, but that the Condor 216 was hangared at Ben Gurion in Tel Aviv. Rayford figured security was tighter at Ben Gurion, but Carpathia was being ferried about on a GC chopper primarily out of Jerusalem Airport.

“You still takin’ chopper duty with me waiting at the airstrip with these turbines hot?” Ken said.

“As long as nobody knows I’m AWOL yet. If the word is out about me and I get spotted absconding with a GC chopper, mission’s over.”

“Well, make up your mind, Ray. I mean, I’m a good soldier, and I’ll do what I’m told. But I gotta be told.”

“Help me out here, Ken. I’ve still got my high-level security ID, but . . .”

“But if they do know and you get caught, how am I going to get our people back to the Gulfstream?”

Rayford shook his head. “I’ve got to try Mac one more time.”

“You fly; I’ll punch in the numbers. I’m going to have way too many flight hours otherwise.”

Ken handed the phone to Rayford. “Man, I’m glad you called,” Mac said. “I got the third degree about you for an hour. They don’t suspect anything on my part, but they think you’re in Jerusalem.”

“As long as they’re not setting up a dragnet in the U.S.”

“I’d rather they were, Ray. They look hard enough in Jerusalem, they’re gonna find you.”

“They won’t think I’d be stupid enough to be at an airport.”

“Maybe not, but stay aboard that Gulfstream.”

“You just answered a very important question for us, Mac. Thanks.”

“What?
You
were going to do the chopper work? Not smart. Anyway, as good as your teacher was, I never thought you got that good at it.”

“This is better anyway. Ken’s been to Rosenzweig’s. If we don’t draw too much attention to ourselves, we should be able to pull this off. Where’s Carpathia going to be?”

“No air plans, and he’s sure not going to crash the stadium party again. He’s staying close to the King David tonight, and I’ve charted a midmorning flight to New Babylon out of Tel Aviv. He’s going to be a long way from here before anything violent goes down.”

“How’re you getting him to Tel Aviv?”

“Helicopter out of Jerusalem Airport.”

“If these choppers are identical, how will I know which one we’re supposed to borrow?”

“They’re supposed to be side by side, facing south. Take the one to the west. Nobody’s standing guard over them like they are the Condor at Gurion.”

“Have you seen the one David had delivered?”

“No, but it’s there. The airport called asking what they were supposed to do with it. You’d have been proud of me, Ray. I adopt this major attitude. I tell the guy, ‘Just what do you think you’re supposed to do with a backup chopper? Stay the blazes away from it! If I find out anybody but my crew lays a finger on it, heads are gonna roll.’ Got his attention.”

“You’re the best, Mac. Here’s what we’ll do then. I’ll land the Gulfstream and play it like I’m there on business, stopping for fuel and a system check. Ken will walk down to the chopper and take off while I’m refueling. Will he be seen?”

“Not if he heads due south, lights off till he’s away from the field. It would be only blind luck if somebody saw him. The tricky part is going to be taking off again, what, twenty minutes later. You don’t want to get cleared too long before he sets down with your passengers or you’ll look suspicious. Obviously you’ll coordinate that by secure phone so the tower can’t eavesdrop. Taxi down to the far end of the runway where it’s darker, and Ken can land, again without lights. Somebody may see all that, but you’re a quarter mile from anyone who can hurt you, so get going. If you’re lucky, nobody will see the chopper go or come. The guy who ferried it down here for me is staying in Haifa. I told him I’d call him if I needed him. Otherwise, he’s taking it back to New Babylon after we leave.”

“Pray for us, Mac. We think we’re ready, but you never know.”

“I will, Ray. Every waking moment. Let me talk to Ken a second.” Ray handed him the phone.

“Well, thank you, sir,” Ken said. “I look forward to meeting you, too, though the way I understand it, that would happen if your tail was in as much trouble as Rayford’s here. You be careful now, and we’ll be in touch.”

Buck was continually amazed at the resourcefulness of his wife. Despite her youth, Chloe knew people. She knew when to act, when to speak, when not to. She waited until they were nearly at the stadium, stuck in traffic, to bring up the missing key.

“You know, Dr. Rosenzweig,” she began, “I was getting our suitcase down from the hall closet and noticed that key you showed me the other day is missing.”

“Oh, it is not missing if I know where it is, is it?”

She laughed. “No. I just wanted to tell you, in case you didn’t know.”

“Were you afraid I would accuse you of having taken it?” he said, his eyes alive with humor.

Chloe shook her head. “I just noticed,” she said. “That’s all.”

“It is in safekeeping,” he said. She shrugged, doing a good job, Buck thought, of pretending it was no concern of hers. “It just seemed foolish of me to leave it hanging right there all these years. A security risk, you know?”

“Oh?” she said. “I should think it would be more of a security risk if you hung it outside.” That tickled the old man so that the car bounced and swayed as he laughed. “In the States,” she continued, “we don’t have many doors that can be key-locked both inside and out.”

“Really? They are common here, especially for doors hardly ever used. I imagine in the embassy days of the compound that door was used frequently and was likely locked or unlocked with a key only on the outside.” Chloe appeared more interested in the teeming crowds outside the van. “Jacov,” Chaim said, “you do still have that key, do you not?”

“I do!” he shouted from the rear next to Buck. “And right now it’s digging into my leg through my pocket!”

Chaim leaned back toward Chloe as if with a secret. “I am certain that is the only key I have for that lock. I can’t imagine needing that exit, but it seems reckless to not have copies made. Jacov will take care of that Monday.”

She nodded and turned to catch Buck’s eye. What was he supposed to do, he wondered, pickpocket it? He did not want Jacov to know of their escape until they were long gone. Rosenzweig either, despite his escalating war of words with Leon Fortunato.

As Stefan was directed into a private parking spot next to the west entrance, Buck found himself grateful that this was the last night of the conference. It had been beyond anything he could have imagined, but where would they put all these people? Every night the crowds grew. Now people were shoulder to shoulder, the stadium full, crowds milling about outside and spilling into traffic. The news media, admittedly controlled by the Global Community, was everywhere. Clearly this was Nicolae’s way of monitoring every detail.

The entourage filed into the staging area, where the local committee waited. Buck was impressed with the authoritative tone Tsion suddenly effected. He must have felt like the shepherd he was and that the tens of thousands inside and outside the stadium were his flock. The previous two days he had deferred to the master of ceremonies and the local committee and merely appeared on stage and preached when it was his turn. Now he seemed to take charge, at least of certain details.

“Buck,” he said, beckoning him with a raise of his chin. As Buck approached, Tsion gripped his elbow and pulled him toward the emcee. “You know Daniel, of course.” Buck nodded and shook hands with him. “Daniel, listen,” Tsion continued, “I want five seats in the reserved section held for my guests. They will include Dr. Rosenzweig, two of his staff members, one of their wives, and Buck’s wife. Understood?”

“Of course.”

“And I would like Buck cleared to be backstage as usual.” He turned to Buck. “Chloe will be all right without you?”

“More than all right, sir. The question is how will I get along without her.”

Tsion was apparently too focused to see the humor. “Daniel, I would like Dr. Rosenzweig recognized in an understated, dignified manner. He has not asked for this. It is merely a courtesy appropriate to his standing within the country.”

“I’ll handle it.”

“After your greeting and welcome, announce the Saturday rally for the local committee at the Temple Mount, recognize Dr. Rosenzweig, pray, lead in a hymn, and get me on. No fanfare this time. They know who I am.”

“But, sir—”

“Please, Daniel. We are on the front lines here, and it is becoming increasingly dangerous. We are enemies of the world system and will have many opportunities to expose them down the road. Making a fuss over me serves no purpose and merely—”

“Begging your pardon, Doctor. Mr. Williams, I’m sure you agree that these people will be eager to express themselves on what may be the last time they have opportunity to see Dr. Ben-Judah in person. Please let me—”

“If they respond spontaneously, I will accept it in the spirit offered. But I want no grand introduction. You should be able to do it without even using my name. Take that as a personal challenge.”

Daniel looked crestfallen. “Oh, sir, are you sure?”

“I know you can handle it.”

Rayford, with nothing but water in view, took a call from Floyd Charles. “What’s up, Doc?” he said.

“Never heard that one before,” Floyd said. “I hate to bother you, but this seemed important. Hattie’s spent a lot of time on the phone with a kid named Ernie, a friend of Ken’s.”

“I met him.”

“She apparently happened onto him when she was trying to reach you out there.”

“Yeah, so?”

“Well, she’d like to see him.”

“Does she know he’s got to be ten years younger than she is?”

“So about the same age difference as Buck and your daughter?”

Rayford paused. “What, you’re worried about a relationship? Have you talked to this kid?”

“Yeah. He’s a believer. Seems nice enough.”

“He’s a mechanical whiz, but him and Hattie? Don’t even worry about it. She’s your patient, Floyd, but she’s also a grown woman. We don’t have any authority over her.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about, Rayford. She’d like him to come here.”

“Whoops!”

“That’s what I thought. We don’t want him knowing where we are, do we?”

“No. He’s a brother and all, but we don’t know who he knows, whether he’s mature enough to keep his mouth shut, that kind of thing.”

“That’s what I thought. Just checking.”

“Don’t let her even hint at where we’re located.”

“Gotcha. I might reward her for good behavior and run her out to Palwaukee in a day or two. She can put a face to a name that way, anyway.”

“We’ll be home before that, Doc. We’ll make a picnic of it. The whole Tribulation Force, except David and Mac, of course, together at last.”

After the group prayed backstage, Tsion stood by himself, head down, eyes closed. Buck couldn’t decide whether Tsion was more or less nervous than usual. He kept an eye on Tsion until Daniel walked past him to the podium. Tsion looked up at Buck and waved him over.