The Left Behind Collection: All 12 Books (233 page)

He left the jet whining on the tarmac, knowing how conspicuous that would look to ground control, and sprinted into the terminal. “Donna!” he said, as he approached. “Donna Clendenon!”

She jumped and squinted at him. “Do I know you?” she said, clearly terrified.

“Marv Berry,” he said, grabbing her bag. “We’ve got to go.”

“Hi, Marv,” she whispered. “You’ve got to tell a girl when you get a makeover.”

Rayford heard some kind of warning through the PA system, and a couple of orange-vested officials started his way. He ignored them and was airborne quickly, certain that Kankakee had no GC pursuit craft and little interest in a small jet flyer that had boorishly violated their protocols.

He told Leah, “All I get out of Palwaukee is a tower guy who says T is not there and won’t be back until tomorrow, and that he’s not at liberty to say where he went.”

“I got the same. What do you make of it?”

“I don’t know. Wish there was someone in his church I could ask. But T and I have never needed to communicate through third parties. He’s usually reachable by cell. He’s always wanted to be in on the action, and I need someone to go and ferry Buck and Chaim over here. I’m tempted to call Albie and see if he can find someone.”

“Now there’s a name I haven’t heard,” Leah said.

“Albie? Long story. Good guy.”

“So tell me.”

“Not until you and I clear up a few things.”

“Until you do, you mean,” she said.

Rayford told her what had happened to him in Israel, on the flight to Greece, and in Greece. “I know that sounds a little too convenient,” he said, “and I wouldn’t blame you if you thought I just made it up to—”

“Made it up?” she said, obviously emotional. “If you made that up, you’d burn in hell.”

“So, will you be the first to forgive me?”

“Of course. And I need to apologize too. I—”

“You’ve done nothing close to what I did,” Rayford said. “Forget it.”

“Don’t brush me off, Rayford. I feel awful about how I’ve responded to you.”

“Fair enough. We’re even.”

“Don’t be flippant.”

“I’m not. You can imagine how I feel about—”

“I’m not saying I was as terrible as you,” she said wryly.

David responded to an announcement that all GC management personnel from director level and above were to report immediately to the small theater in the education wing. What now?

As dozens crowded into the room, Fortunato stood at the lectern like a professor. “Quickly now, quickly please, find your seats. I’ve been informed that more than a million people are in New Babylon already with probably at least two million more to come. Our social services are being taxed to their limits, and these people have no outlet for their grief. I want to know if there is any reason we cannot put the body of the potentate in position even this evening and begin the procession past the bier. We’re estimating that not half the mourners will stay for the burial, which may have to be postponed as well. Do we have adequate lighting?”

Someone shouted yes.

“And concessions? Stations with water, food, medical services?”

“Could be in place within an hour!” someone said.

“Good. The bier itself and its pedestal?”

“Pedestal is finished and waiting.”

“Bier is finished! Per specifications.”

“Really?” Fortunato said. “I was told there was some question whether it could be vacuum sealed—”

“Solved, with a little help. Once the body is, ah, placed inside, the air can be quickly removed and the hole secured. The stopper is a hard rubber compound that will be screwed into the Plexiglas—”

“Thank you, we can skip the details. The entire container is transparent?”

“Yes, sir. And on the pedestal it will sit nearly fifteen feet off the ground.”

“Yet the mourners will have access . . . ?”

“Via stairs leading up one side and down the other. They will, of course, be unable to touch the glass, as they will be separated from it by approximately five feet with velvet ropes and, um, armed security.”

“Thank you,” Fortunato said. “Now there are certain details I would like us all to hear, except those of you who need to supervise construction of the restoring stations. You may be excused now, and let’s shoot for an 8:00 p.m. start time. Let’s get the word out to the people so they can begin assembling. Yes, Mr. Blod.”

Guy had been waving and now stood.

“I’m afraid my statue will not be ready until dawn, as originally planned. We’re making progress, and I believe it will be stunning, but even the initial goal was nearly impossible.”

“No problem. You may go now too, and we’ll all look forward to your handiwork.”

As Guy rushed from the room, Leon called upon Dr. Eikenberry to come to the microphone. “It has been her difficult duty to prepare for burial the body of our beloved leader. As she is a loyal citizen of the Global Community and was a great admirer of the potentate, you can imagine what an emotional task this was. I have asked her to report on her findings and summarize the challenges she faced to allow the mourners to have one last encounter with His Excellency in as dignified and memorable a manner as possible, under the circumstances.”

Dr. Eikenberry had lost the severe look David had seen when he first met her. Her white coat was gone, and she seemed to have applied fresh makeup and had her hairdo softened. He wondered when she had had time for that.

“Thank you, Supreme Commander,” she began. “This has indeed been a most difficult and emotional day for me and my assistants, Pietr Berger and Kiersten Scholten. We treated the body of Nicolae Carpathia with utmost reverence and respect. As expected, the cause of death was severe brain trauma caused by a single bullet from a Saber handgun. The projectile entered the potentate’s body just below the nape of his neck in the posteri—in the back and exited through the top of the crani—through the top of his head. The particularly devastating power of this type of projectile destroyed two vertebrae, severed the spinal cord, obliterated the brain stem and posterior of the brain, and left residual damage to the carotid artery and much of the soft tissue in the throat.

“Because of the spinning bullet, the back of the neck and head were laid open, causing the greatest challenge for repair and reconstruction. Without getting into the details, the gaping wound has been stapled and stitched, camouflaged with wax and putty and coloring and a minimum of artificial hair. If the result contributes to an appropriate farewell to the greatest leader the world has ever known, I am grateful and consider it a privilege to have served the Global Community this way.”

Amid tears and sustained applause, Dr. Eikenberry began to leave, then returned to the podium with an index finger raised. “If I may add one thing,” she said. “There is recorded evidence that His Excellency’s last words were an expression of forgiveness to the perpetrator of this heinous crime. Forgiveness has long been ascribed to the divine, and as a medical professional, I must tell you why I concur with this assessment. Besides the
sentiment
of those last words, I can tell you that there is no human explanation for the potentate’s ability to speak at all, given the physical damage. Truly this was a righteous man. Truly this was the son of god.”

At Palwaukee Rayford tried in person to get more information out of the tower fill-in. “I’m sorry, sir,” the man said. “But not only am I not at liberty to tell you, I couldn’t if I wanted to. He didn’t tell me where he was going but only when he expected to return.”

“Do you know who I am?”

“No, sir.”

“You haven’t seen me around here, don’t know I’m a friend of T’s?”

The man squinted at Rayford, and Leah cleared her throat. “He, ah, may not recognize you.”

Rayford couldn’t believe his own stupidity. “Listen, son, I have permission to take an associate’s vehicle, but he neglected to leave the keys with me. I need to know you won’t feel obligated to phone any authorities if I were to hot-wire the car.”

The man’s look was not as reassuring as his words. “I won’t even be looking your direction.”

“He doesn’t trust you,” Leah said as they strode to the Land Rover.

“Why should he? I wouldn’t either. See? Even forgiven sin has its consequences.”

“Do we have to spiritualize everything?” Leah said, but Rayford could tell she was bemused. Once they were on the road, she said, “We’re not going straight to the safe house in broad daylight, are we?”

“Of course not. We have a stop first.”

He drove to Des Plaines and the one-pump gas station run by Zeke and Zeke Jr. Zeke emerged quickly but hesitated when he saw Rayford. He looked past him to Leah. “I recognize the vehicle,” he said. “But not the occupants.”

“It’s me, Zeke. And this is Leah.”

“That wasn’t Z’s handiwork, was it?”

“Hers was.”

“Humph. Not bad. Yours either. Need auto work?”

“Yup.”

Zeke ignored the pump and opened the ancient garage door. Rayford pulled in, and he and Leah got out so Zeke could raise the car on the rack. Then the three of them took a hidden staircase to the basement, where Zeke Jr. looked up expectantly. “’sup?” he said.

“You know me?” Rayford said.

“Not till you spoke, but I woulda got it. Wha’dya need?”

“New ID for her.”

Zeke Jr. stood, rolls of fat jiggling under his black vest and shirt. “Gerri Seaver,” he said.

“Excuse me?”

“How’s Gerri Seaver sound?”

“How does she look?” Leah said.

Zeke grabbed a file. “Like this.”

“You’re a genius,” she said. The blonde was roughly her age, height, and weight. “I don’t know how you do it.”

“Lots more to choose from these days,” he said shyly. He directed her to a sink and gave her the chemicals necessary to make her a blonde. She and Rayford drove off two hours later with foodstuffs, a full tank, and Leah in a scarf over wet, freshly bleached hair. Her dental appliance had been changed, as had the color of her contacts. In her purse was a wallet with documents to match.

“I’m going to take the northern route,” Rayford said. “That’ll give us a good look at any other traffic.”

“Unless they’re hidden.”

“Not too many places to do that,” he said. “Shall we wait till dark too?”

“You’re asking me?”

“We both live or die by the decision,” he said.

“That helps.”

He phoned the safe house. Tsion answered. “She’s where? . . . Tell me she’s not! . . . Oh, Tsion! What about the radiation, the—”

Tsion told him what David had told them about the radiation. Rayford pulled over and covered the mouthpiece. “We’re waiting till dark,” he said, popping a U-turn.

“Where to till then?”

“Chicago, and watch our backs in case you were right about tower boy.”

Rayford phoned Chloe and eschewed any pleasantries. “Where are you?” he said.

“Palos area,” she said. “I’m guessing, where the Tri-State used to intersect Harlem.”

“Ninety-fifth Street?”

“Uh-huh.”

“What now? You going the rest of the way on foot?”

“I may have to.”

“That’ll take hours!”

“What else have I got to do, Dad?”

“At least wait for us. You’re more likely to give us away than Hattie is. We’ve got both vehicles out in the daytime. On foot you’ll stick out like a sore thumb. We’re as exposed as we’ve ever been.”

“Just tell her what to do, Rayford,” Leah said. “You’re back in charge, remember?”

“What?” Chloe said.

Rayford covered the phone. “She’s a married adult, Leah, not my little girl anymore.”

“But she’s subordinate to you in the Trib Force. Do what you have to do.”

“Chloe?”

“Yes.”

“Stay put until we can find you. We’re not doing this thing until after dark.”

Buck was having a crisis of conscience. It would have been one thing to be harboring Carpathia’s assassin, had it been Rayford or another misguided believer for whom the deed could have at least been rationalized as an act of war. But Chaim?

He professed no faith, no acrimony toward Carpathia from a spiritual standpoint. The man had committed first-degree murder, and regardless of what Buck thought about the victim, it was a crime.

“So, what are you going to do?” Chaim pressed him as they languished at the Night Visitors hotel in Jerusalem. “Turn me in? Abandon me? Your conscience can’t take what I did to your worst enemy. I cannot abide what I have done to my dearest friends. They died for me.”

“Greater love hath no man . . .”

“You’ve quoted that before, Cameron, and I know where you want to go with it. But they had no choice. Perhaps they would have died for me voluntarily, but this was my doing. I forced their deaths.”

“Would you have done the same for them? Would you have died for them?”

“I’d like to think I would. I should now.”

“Stop talking like that.”

“You think I am not sincere? The only things standing in the way are you and my cowardice.”

“Cowardice? You planned the assassination for months, virtually told me you were going to do it by showing me your blade making—I don’t know where my head was—and you pulled it off according to plan. Right or wrong, it was hardly evidence of cowardice.”

“Ach!” Chaim waved him off. “I am a fool and a coward, and the blood of my people is on my hands.”

Buck paced. “Because the GC are already announcing that you’re dead, they can kill you without explanation.”

“Let them. I deserve it. I’m a murderer.”

Buck turned the chair backward and straddled it. “What happens when your victim comes back to life? Then what is your crime? Attempted murder? What if there is no evidence of the wound you inflicted?”

“You’re talking crazy now, Cameron.”

“It’s going to happen, Chaim.”

“I know you say that, and Tsion says that. But come now. The man was in my lap when I thrust the blade into his brain. For all practical purposes, he was dead before he hit the floor. He could not have survived it. You can’t really believe he is coming back to life.”

“What if he does?”

Chaim waved him off again.

“Don’t do that. You’re an intellectual, a lifelong student and teacher and scientist. Humor the debate. What if Carpathia comes back to life?”

Chaim rolled on the bed and turned his back to Buck. “Then I guess you’ll all be right; I’ll be wrong. You’ll win.”

“You’re not pretending that it has actually happened.”

“You said yourself I have a thinking man’s brain. I find it impossible to consider impossibilities.”

“That’s why we’ve never gotten through to you? All our arguing and pleading . . . ?”

“You’ve gotten through more than you know, Cameron. I have come from atheism to agnosticism and finally to belief in God.”

“You believe?”

“In God, yes. I told you that. Too many things have happened that can be explained no other way.”

“Then why not Carpathia’s resurrection?”

“You can’t tell me that you yourself actually believe this,” Chaim said.

“Oh, yes, I can. And I do. You forget I was there when Eli and Moishe came back to life after three days in the hot sun.”

“You believe what you want to believe.”

Buck looked at his watch. “I wish it would get dark. I want out of here.”

“You should leave me, young friend. Distance yourself from me. Pretend you never met me.”

Buck shook his head, though Chaim was still turned away from him. “Can’t do that,” he said. “We go back way too far.”

“I was merely the subject of an article. We didn’t have to become friends.”

“But we did. And now I love you and can’t let you go. You think you have nothing else to live for—”

“True enough.”

“But you do. You do! You know what I fear for you, Chaim?”

“You’re afraid I will die in unbelief and go to hell.”

“There’s something more frightening. What if you wait too long to change your mind and God hardens your heart?”

“Meaning?” Chaim rolled over to face him.

“Meaning that you finally decide it’s true and want to give yourself to Christ, but you had already pushed God past where he would allow you to come back.”

“Explain to me how that fits with your view of a loving God who is not willing that any should perish.”

“I don’t understand it myself, Chaim. I’m new at this. But Dr. Ben-Judah teaches that the Bible warns about just that during the end times. Be careful that you don’t go too far, that you ignore too many warnings and signs.”

“God would do that?”

“I believe so.”

“To me?”

“Why not?”

Chaim let his head rest on the mattress, then covered his face with his arms.

“Ready to engage in the debate?” Buck pressed.

“I’m tired, Cameron.”

“You slept well.”

“I slept. Not well. How could I?”

“I can’t imagine. But this is too important for you to brush aside.”

“You have pleaded with me before! I have heard every argument from you and from Tsion. I could make your case for you!”

“Then think about what may happen to you. Say I get cold feet and abandon you. Even if you are a coward and unable to take your own life, someone is going to take it for you. Then what?”

“I like to believe death is the end.”

“It’s not,” Buck said.

“Listen to the new believer, full of knowledge. You can’t know.”

“Chaim. If all this stuff that has amazed you and made you believe God is real, why shouldn’t heaven and hell be real? If there’s a God, why would he want you to die and disappear into nothingness? It makes no sense.”

“You’re repeating yourself.”

“You’re holding out, Chaim. You’re like the fainthearted who want one more sign. I just don’t want you to wait past the point of no return.”

“Ach!”

“Just think about it, will you? What it would mean if the prophecy were fulfilled, Nicolae was the Antichrist, and he resurrected from the dead.”

“I don’t want to think about it. I want to die.”

“You wouldn’t if you believed what I believe.”

“That, I agree with.”

“You do?”

“Of course. Who would want to go to hell?”

“You don’t have to, Chaim! God has—”

“I know! All right? I know! Stop talking.”

“I will, but just consider—”

“Please!”

“—how you would feel if Nicolae—”

“For the love of—”

“I’ll shut up now, Chaim. But—”

Buck’s phone rang.

“Maybe there is a God,” Chaim said. “The patron saint of phones has saved me.”

“This is Buck.”

“Buck, is it really you?”

“Hattie!” Buck stood so quickly his chair bounced away. “Where are you?”

“Colorado,” she said.

“You’re on a secure phone?”

“One thing I absconded with, one of those from your friend on the inside.”

“I’m listening.”

“The GC think I’m dumber than I am. They released me from prison, gave me money, and then followed me here. I know they were disappointed I didn’t go to Israel, but I wanted to see if any of my family was left.”

“And?”

Her voice caught. “No. Not for a while. But you know where they hope I’ll go now.”

“Exactly where I hope you won’t go.”

“Buck, I have nowhere else to turn.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “I’d love to help you, Hattie, but I—”

“I understand. I had my chance.”

“That’s not it. I—”

“It’s all right, Buck. You owe me nothing.”

“It has nothing to do with owing you anything, Hattie. I’m in the middle of a situation myself, and until you can shake the GC, I can’t advise that you head back to the safe house. Everybody’s welfare is at stake.”

“I know,” she said, and he heard the terror in her voice. “Would you please tell everyone that I never told anyone where they were?”

“Hattie. You as much as put Bo and Ernie on our doorstep.”

“They couldn’t have found their way back there. Anyway, they’re both dead, and if they had told anyone, you’d have been raided by now.”

“What will you do, Hattie?”

“I don’t know,” she said wearily. “Maybe I’ll just run these goons on a wild-goose chase until they get tired of me. Heaven knows they gave me enough money.”

“They’re not going to let you out of their sight. And don’t think they couldn’t patch in even to this call.”

“They’re watching my car. They think I’m eating.”

“Good time to slip away?”

“Too open. I’ve got to get them to somewhere more densely populated. Maybe Denver.”

“Be careful.”

“Thanks for nothing.”

“Hattie, I’m sorry. I—”

“I didn’t mean that, Buck. I was trying to be funny. Nothing’s funny anymore, is it?”

“If you shake them and are sure, try me again. We may not be at the same place, but if we can accommodate you . . .”

“You would, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course we would. You know us.”

“Yes, I do. You all were better than I deserved. I’d better get off.”

“Yeah. I s’pose you’ve heard they’re trying to pin the assassination on Rayford.”

“I heard. Has to be a frame-up. He probably wasn’t even there.”

“He was there, but he didn’t do it.”

“You don’t have to convince me. Rayford kill somebody? Not in a million years. I know him better than that. Listen, just tell everybody I’m safe and so are they and thanks for everything I didn’t deserve.”

“Hattie, we all love you and are praying for you.”

“I know you are, Buck.”

David, stunned at the difference between Dr. Eikenberry’s public pronouncements and the autopsy, frantically searched his database for a meeting between her and Fortunato prior to the meeting with management. He had to know what approach Leon had used, in case Leon tried the same with him. Via his hard drive, he bounced all over the compound but had no luck. He did, however, come upon a private meeting between Leon and an unidentified male in a conference room near Carpathia’s office.

“. . . and how long have you been working for us, sir?”

“Almost from the beginning, Mr. For—Supreme Commander.”

“And you’re from?”

“Greenland.”

“You enjoy your work?”

“Until the assassination, yes.”

“The shooting?”

“Well, I meant the stabbing. The assassination of those two guys at the Temple Mount, that was exciting. I mean, to see His Excellency put them in their place . . .”

“But you didn’t enjoy your job so much when you saw the potentate himself murdered.”

“No, sir. I kept the camera right on him, but it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

“You know the autopsy is finished, and it was the gunshot that killed the potentate.”

David could not decipher the response, but it sounded like a snort.

“But there was only one gunshot, Commander—”

“There was only one needed, son. It was a weapon identical to the one His Excellency used on the troublemakers at the Wailing Wall.”

“I understand that, but from where I sat, above stage left, I saw the wood speaker’s thing—”

“The lectern.”

“Yeah, that. I saw that get hit and the curtain go flying. No way that bullet also hit the potentate. He was closer to me.”

“Nevertheless, it has been determined that—”

“Excuse me, Commander, but the real murder happened right below me, and I saw it happen.”

“And you have reviewed this?”

“Watched it over and over. Couldn’t believe it.”

“And you discussed it with whom?”

“Just my boss.”

“That would be Mr. Bakar?”

“Yes, sir.”

Footsteps. A door opening. More faintly: “Margaret, would you have Mr. Bakar join us, please? Thank you.”

The door shut and David heard Leon’s chair. “Look into my eyes, son. There, yes. You trust me, do you not?”

“Of course.”

“When your superior gets here, I am going to tell you both what you saw and what you will remember.”

“Excuse me?”

“I am going to tell you what you saw and what you will remember.”

“But, sir, I know what I—”

“You understand that I will soon become the new potentate, don’t you?”

“I assumed that, yes, sir.”

“You did?”

“I think most people assume that.”

“Do they?”

No response.

“Do they?” Leon repeated. “Don’t just nod. Tell me.”

The young man’s voice sounded hollow. “Yes.”

“You understand that my new title will be Supreme Potentate and that I must also be addressed as Excellency?”

“Yes, Commander.”

“You may try out the new title now.”

“Yes, Excellency.”

“And you realize that I will not only be worthy of worship, but also that worship of me will be mandatory.”

“Yes, Excellency.”

“Call me Potentate. Supreme Potentate.”

“Yes, Supreme Potentate.”

“Would you like to kneel before me?”

Silence. Then a knock and a loud sigh from Leon. The door opening. “Excuse me, Commander, but Mr. Bakar is currently engaged in—”