The Left Behind Collection: All 12 Books (268 page)

“Yes, sir.”

“Before you go, get Mr. McCullum on the phone for me, please.”

David froze, then chastised himself. He didn’t care that Nicolae communicated with Mac. If David couldn’t trust Mac, he couldn’t trust anyone.

“Captain McCullum,” Carpathia said a few minutes later. “How good to speak with you. You are aware, are you not, that 10 percent of all weapons of war were ceded to the Global Community when we were known as the United Nations? . . . The rest were destroyed, and I am satisfied that our monitoring has confirmed that this was largely carried out. If any munitions remain, they are few and are likely in the hands of factions so small as to pose little threat. My question to you is, do you know where we stockpiled the armaments we received? . . . You had nothing to do with that? . . . Well, yes, of course
I
know, Captain! The question is merely probative. You are former military, you are a pilot, and you get around. I want to know if the word has leaked out where we inventory our weapons. . . . Good. That is all, Captain.”

Clearly, Mac had told Nicolae he had no idea where the weapons were. As far as David knew, that was the truth. But what a massive operation that had to have been, and how was it pulled off without word getting out? And what might Carpathia be planning now?

“Gentlemen!” Carpathia said a few minutes later, welcoming the four visitors. “Please, come in.”

“Allow me to be the first to kneel before you,” Leon said, “and kiss your hands.”

“Thank you, Reverend, but you are hardly the first.”

“I meant at this meeting,” Fortunato whined.

“And he won’t be the last!” Hickman said, and David actually heard the smack of his lips.

“Thank you, Supreme Commander. Thank you. Chief Akbar? Thank you. Chief Moon? My thanks. Oh, Reverend, no, please. I would appreciate it if you would sit here.”

“Here?” Leon said, clearly surprised.

“A problem?”

“I will sit anywhere His Excellency wishes, of course. I would even stand, if you asked.”

“I’d kneel for the whole meeting,” Hickman said.

“Right here, my friend,” Carpathia said, devoting much time and energy to putting people where he wanted them.

“Sir?” Leon began when they were settled. “Have you been able to sleep, get some rest?”

“You are worried about me, Reverend?”

“Of course, Excellency.”

“Sleep is for mortals, my friend.”

“Well spoken, sir.”

“
I’m
sure mortal, boys, er, gents,” Hickman said. “Slept like a rock last night. Out of shape, I guess. Gotta do something about this gut.”

An awkward silence.

“May we begin?” Carpathia said. Hickman muttered an apology, but Nicolae was already addressing Intelligence Chief Akbar. “Suhail, I have become convinced that the location of our armaments remains confidential. Would you concur?”

“I would, sir, though I confess it baffles me.”

“Baffles is right!” Hickman said. “Seems to me we had hundreds of troops involved in this thing and—oh, my bad, I’m sorry. I’ll wait my turn.”

David could only imagine the look Carpathia must have given Hickman. He had to have known whom he was putting in such a lofty position. Having Hickman share space with Sandra and become primarily an errand boy with a big title proved Carpathia knew exactly what he was doing.

“Peacekeeping Forces prepared to go on the offensive, Chief Moon?”

“Yes, sir. Ready to deploy, anywhere and everywhere. We can crush any resistance.”

“An update, Reverend?”

“On loyalty mark, Jerusalem, religion?”

“Jerusalem, of course,” Carpathia said, dripping sarcasm.

Leon was clearly hurt. “On top of it all, Excellency,” he said. “Program is prepared, loyalists ready, should be a triumphal entry in every sense of the word.”

“Commander Hickman,” Carpathia said condescendingly, “you may put down your hand. You need not ask for the floor here.”

“I can just jump in then?”

“No, you cannot just
jump in.
You have each been invited here because I need updates from your areas.”

“Well, I’m ready. I have that. I—”

“And when I want your input, I shall call on you. Understood?”

“Yes, sir; sorry, sir.”

“No need to apologize.”

“Sorry.”

“Suhail or Walter, what kind of resistance may we expect in Jerusalem?”

There was a pause, during which, David assumed, the two were looking at each other to avoid interrupting.

“Come, come, gentlemen,” Carpathia said. “I have a planet to rule.” He chuckled as if joking, but it wasn’t funny to David.

Akbar began, slowly and articulately. David thought that in another setting, Suhail could have been an effective intelligence chief. “Frankly, Potentate, I do not believe the Judah-ites will show their faces. I am not discounting the effectiveness of their movement. Their numbers still seem large, but they are an underground cause, networked by computers. You will not likely see the mass public rally similar to the one at Kolleck Stadium when Tsion B—”

“I recall it well, Akbar. Tell me, is part of the reason they are not likely to make a fuss in Jerusalem because many of their ranks have been dissuaded by seeing a
real
resurrection—one that does not require blind faith?”

Silence, except for the clearing of a throat. David assumed it was Suhail’s.

“No?”

“Surprisingly not, sir. That would certainly have persuaded me of your deity, except that I was already convinced of it.”

“Me too!” Hickman said. “Sorry.”

“Of course,” Fortunato said, “I had personal experience that proved it. And now—well, it’s not my turn, is it?”

“The truth is, Excellency,” Akbar continued carefully, “our monitoring of the Judah-ite Web site reveals they are even more entrenched. They believe, ah, that your resurrection proves the opposite of what is so patently obvious to thinking people.”

David flinched when he heard a loud bang on the table, the rolling back of a chair, and a string of expletives from Carpathia. That was something new. The Nicolae of before always kept his composure.

“Forgive me, Holiness,” Akbar said. “You understand that I am merely reporting what my best analysts—”

“Yes, I know that!” Carpathia spat. “I just do not understand what it is going to take to prove to these people who is worthy of their devotion!” He swore again, and the others seemed to feel obligated to grumble loudly about the lunacy of the skeptics. “All right!” Carpathia said finally. “You think they will just snipe at us from the comfort of their hiding places.”

“Correct.”

“That is unfortunate. I was so hopeful of gloating in their faces. Any confirmation that they are harboring Rosenzweig?”

David held his breath through another pause.

“I admit we’re stumped,” Walter Moon said. “We traced a few leads from people who thought they saw him running, taking a taxi, that kind of a thing. We know for sure that stroke was phony.”

“You can say that again,” Nicolae said.

“Dang straight!” Hickman offered. “Sorry.”

“He deceived me,” Nicolae added. “I have to give him that.”

“Um, sir,” Moon continued. “I, ah, am not second-guessing you, but . . .”

“Please, Walter.”

“Well, you did pardon your attacker, maybe before you knew who he was.”

Carpathia roared with laughter. “You do not think I knew who murdered me? I lift that limp arm of his to start the applause and a few seconds later I lurch away from the sound of a gun, he chops my feet from under me with that infernal chair, and the next thing I know I am in the lap of a madman. Well, I knew instantly what was happening, though I may never know why. But he was no frail old man. There was no stiff arm and no limp arm, no scrawny senior citizen. He rammed that blade into me, and I could hear him gutting my skull. The man was hard as a rock and strong.”

“Ought to put out a worldwide all points bulletin and use all our resources to bring him in,” Hickman said. “Got him on DVD! Show it to the world!”

“In due time,” Carpathia said, calmer now, and it sounded to David as if Nicolae had sat and joined them again. “I pardoned him, knowing that a world of loyal subjects would relish avenging me, should he ever show his face. Needless to say, we shall not prosecute a crime when that event occurs.”

“Needless to say,” Hickman parroted.

“And,” Carpathia said, “where are we with the accomplice?”

“The nut with the gun?” Moon said. “We don’t think he was Middle Eastern. Found his getup and the weapon. Matches the bullet. No prints. No leads. You’re convinced they were working together?”

Carpathia sounded flabbergasted. “Convinced? I am not the law-enforcement expert here, but the timing of those two attacks was just a little too coincidental, would you not agree?”

“I would,” Hickman said. “I worked that case and—”

“Proceed,” Nicolae said.

“I figure they were hedgin’ their bets. If one of ’em didn’t get ya, the other one would. Guy with the gun could have been a diversion, but he’s lucky he didn’t kill anybody.”

Akbar cleared his throat. “You’re aware there’s a connection between Ben-Judah and Rosenzweig?”

“Tell me,” Nicolae said.

“Ben-Judah was once a student of Rosenzweig’s.”

“You don’t say,” Nicolae said, and it was the first time David had heard him use a contraction. “Hmm. Find Ben-Judah, and you find Rosenzweig.”

“That’s what I was thinkin’,” Hickman said.

“I am ready for your report, James.”

“Me? Mine? You are? Oh, yes, sir. Um, everything’s on track. Injector thingies, beheaders, er, um, jes’ a minute. Viv, ah, Ms. Ivins gave me the correct terminology here, bear with me. Loyalty confirmation facilitators. Got those comin’ or goin’, depending. They’re on their way here and there and wherever we need ’em. Not all of ’em, certainly. Some are being made as we speak, but we’re on schedule. I found a nurse here that has experience shooting biochips into . . . into . . . well . . . dogs, I guess. But she’s going to help train. And I’ve got a lead on your pig.”

“My pig?”

“Oh! Not, I mean, if you don’t need a pig, they’ll just butcher it and use it here. But if you needed a pig, I’m pretty sure we’ve got a big one ordered.”

“What would I want a pig for, James?”

“It’s not that I heard . . . or knew . . . I mean . . . that you actually need a pig for anything, really. But if you ever did, just let me know, all right. You need one? For anything?”

“Who has been talking to you, Commander?”

“Um, what?”

“You heard me.”

“Talking to me?”

Carpathia was suddenly shouting, cursing again. “Mr. Hickman, what is said in these meetings in my private office is sacred. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir. I would never—”

“Sacred! The security of the Global Community depends on the confidentiality and trustworthiness of the communications in here. You have heard the old expression, ‘Loose lips sink ships’?”

“Yeah, I have. I know what you mean.”

“Someone told you there was a discussion in this room about my need for a pig.”

“Well, I’d rather not—”

“Oh, yes, you had rather, Mr. Hickman! Violating the sacred trust of the potentate of the Global Community is a capital offense, is it not, Mr. Moon?”

“Yes, sir, it is.”

“So, James, the next thing out of your mouth had better be the guilty party, or
you
will pay the ultimate price for the transgression. I am waiting.”

David could hear Hickman whimpering.

“The name, Commander. If I hear that he is your friend or that you would rather not say or anything other than who he is, you are a dead man.”

Still Hickman struggled.

“You have ten seconds, sir.”

Hickman took a labored breath and coughed.

“And now five.”

“He’s—he’s—a—”

“Mr. Moon, are you prepared to take Mr. Hickman into custody for the purpose of exec—”

“Ramon Santiago!” Hickman blurted. “But I beg of you, sir, don’t—”

“Mr. Moon.”

“Please! No!”

David heard Moon on his cell phone. “Moon here. Listen, take Santiago into custody. . . . Right, the one from Peacekeeping . . . right now . . . yes. Till I get there.”

“You’ll let me handle it personally, Walter?”

“As you wish.”

“No! Please!”

“James, when it is announced tomorrow that a Peacekeeping deputy commander has been put to death, you at least will understand the gravity of the rules, won’t you?”

David heard assent through Hickman’s sobs. Apparently that wasn’t good enough for Carpathia.

“Won’t you,
Supreme
Commander?”

“Yes!”

“I thought so. And yes, I have need of a pig. A big, fat, juicy, huge-nostriled beast so overfed that it will be too lethargic to throw me, should I choose to ride it through the Via Dolorosa in the
Holy
City. Tell me, Hickman. Tell me about my pig.”

“I haven’t actually seen it yet,” Hickman said miserably, “but—”

“But you understand my order.”

“Yes.” His voice was shaky.

“Big, fat, and ugly?”

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t hear you, James. Stinky? May I have him smelly?”

“Yeah.”

“Whatever I want?”

“Yes!”

“Are you angry with me, my loyal servant?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Well, thank you for your honesty. Do you understand that I want an animal that could accommodate my fist in either nostril?”

David jumped at the knock on his door. Mac and Abdullah had arrived.

Buck felt his age and was embarrassed to disembark in Kozani, Greece, with a severe case of jet lag that didn’t seem to bother the older Albie. And Albie, of course, had done all the flying.

“Use it to your advantage,” Albie said.

“How so?”

“It should make you cranky.”

“I’m pretty even.”

“Well, quit that. You’re just being polite. Your natural instinct, when you’d rather be in bed, is to be testy, short, irritable. Go with it. GC Peacekeepers are macho, in charge. They have an attitude.”

“So I’ve noticed.”

“Don’t ask—don’t apologize. You’re a busy man, on assignment, with things to do.”

“Got it.”

“Do you?”

“I think so.”

“That didn’t sound so macho.”

“I’ve got to be that way with you too?”

“At least practice, Buck. You Americans, I swear. I had to shame your father-in-law into being the leader he was born to be. You’re an international journalist and you can’t playact to get things done?”

“I think I can.”

“Well, show me. How did you get the big stories, get access to the best interview subjects?”

“I used the power of my position.”

“Exactly.”

“But I was working for
Global Weekly
.”

“More than that. You were Buck Williams,
the
Buck Williams of
Global Weekly.
It may have been your talent and your writing that made you
the
Buck Williams, but once you were him, you walked with confidence, didn’t you?”

“I guess.”

“I guess,” Albie mocked. “Come on, Buck! You strutted!”

“You want me to strut?”

“I want you to get us a vehicle to drive to the detention center where Pastor Demeter and Mrs. Miklos and several others from their church are incarcerated.”

“But wouldn’t it be easier for you?”

“Why?”

“You’re the superior officer. You outrank everybody we’ll run into.”

“Then take advantage of that. I’ll be the one everybody sees but no one mentions. They will only salute. You speak with my authority. And you’re wearing that beautiful uniform, tailored at
Chez Zeke
.”

“I’ll try.”

“You’re hopeless.”

“I can do this.”

“You’re not giving me confidence.”

“Watch me.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of. I’ll be watching you get found out. Prove me wrong, Buck.”

“Outta my way, old man.”

“That’s the spirit.”

“You going to have them refuel us while we’re in Ptolemaïs?”

“No, Buck, you are.”

“C’mon. I don’t know all that plane stuff.”

“Just do it. From this point on, I am an angry, jet-lagged, ill-tempered deputy commander, and I don’t want to speak.”

“So it’s all on me?”

“Don’t ask me. I’m mute.”

“Are you serious?”

But Albie wouldn’t answer. The twinkle faded from his eyes and he set his jaw, scowling as they marched from the jet to the terminal, about twenty-five miles south of their destination. Buck accosted the first corporal he saw. “English?” he asked the young man.

“’Course. ’Sup?”

“I need you to hangar that aircraft and refuel it while my commanding officer and I are on assignment up the road.”

“Yeah? Well, I want you to shine my boots while I’m sleeping.”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that, son.”

“Yeah, good. Me too.”

He started to leave and Buck swung him around with a grab of his shoulder. “Do it.”

“You think I know how to jockey a plane? I’m ground forces, pal. Get some other lackey to do it.”

“I’m telling you. Find someone who knows how to do it and have it done by the time we get back, or suffer the consequences.”

“You gotta be kiddin’ me!”

Albie had kept his back to the conversation, and Buck was convinced he was trying not to laugh aloud.

“You got that, son?” Buck said.

“I’m outta here. I’ll take my chances. You don’t even know my name.”

“Well,
I
do,” Albie said, spinning to face the boy, suddenly ashen. “And you’ll do what you’re told or you’ll be walking back to your hometown in civilian clothes.”

“Yes, sir,” the boy said, saluting. “Right away, sir.”

“Don’t let me down, boy,” Albie called after him.

Buck gave Albie a look. “Thought you were mute.”

“Somebody had to bail you out.”

“He was my own rank!”

“That’s why you refer to me! I’ve got the clout, but you’ve got to use it. Try again.”

“What now?”

“I told you. We need a vehicle.”

“Ach!”

Buck strode into the terminal, which was crawling with GC. With the crackdown on the underground churches, it would be a noisy area for a while. “Give me your papers,” he told Albie.

“What for?”

“Just do it! Hand ’em over!”

“Now you’re talking.”

Buck stepped to the front of a line of GC Peacekeepers. “Hey!” the first in line shouted.

“Hey yourself,” Buck said. “You a deputy commander or are you escorting one? Because if you’re not, I’d appreciate your standing down.”

“Yes, sir.”

Buck raised an eyebrow at Albie, then spoke to the GC officer at a desk behind a window. “Corporal Jack Jensen on behalf of Deputy Commander Marcus Elbaz, here on assignment from the USNA. Need a vehicle for transport to Ptolemaïs.”

“Yeah, you and a thousand other guys,” the officer said, lazily looking over their IDs. “Seriously, you’re about two hundredth in line.”

“Seems to me we’re near the top, sir, begging your pardon.”

“How come your superior officer is USNA? He looks Middle Eastern.”

“I don’t do the assigning, pal. And I wouldn’t recommend getting into it with him. No, better yet, it would be fun. Tell
him
he looks Middle Eastern and that you’re questioning his base of operations. Go ahead. Really.”

The officer pursed his lips and slid the IDs back under the window. “Something basic do ya?”

“Anything. I could push for something fancy, but we just want to get in and get out. Anyway, tell you the truth, Elbaz has been so touchy today, I don’t think he deserves a nicer ride. We’ll take whatever you’ve got.”

The officer slid Buck a set of keys attached to a manila ticket. “Show this at the temporary motor pool behind the exit gate.”

As they headed that way, Albie mimicked Buck. “He’s been so touchy today, I don’t think he deserves a nicer ride. I oughta bust you down to Boy Scout.”

“You do and
you’ll
be walking home in civilian clothes.”

“Carpathia’s up to something,” Mac said, sitting next to Abdullah in David’s office.

“I am going to be so glad to say good-bye to this place,” Abdullah said.

David shifted in his chair. “Tell me about it.”

“Well, don’t you want to get out of here too?”

“I’m sorry, Smitty,” David said. “I was talking to Mac.”

“Oh! A thousand pardons.”

“Watch him now,” Mac said. “He’ll be pout in a New Babylon second.”

“I am not pout! Now stop teasing!”

Mac smacked Abdullah on the shoulder and the Jordanian smiled. “Anyway,” Mac said, turning back to David, “Carpathia calls me a little while ago and asks me do I know where his weapons are. ’Course, I don’t, but I’d sure like to. Tell you somethin’, guys, people can talk all they want about the miraculous rebuilding Carpathia did all over the world. But nothin’, and I mean nothin’, compares to him getting all those countries to destroy 90 percent of their weapons and give him the other 10, and then him storin’ ’em somewhere that nobody ever talks about.”

“Loose lips sink ships,” David repeated.

“You think people know but won’t say?”

“Obviously.”

“How does he keep a secret that big among so many people?”

“I think I just heard how,” David said, and he briefed Mac and Abdullah on it.

Abdullah sat shaking his head. “Nicolae Carpathia is a bad man.”

Mac looked at Abdullah and then at David. “Well, yeah! I mean, come on, Smitty. You just come to that conclusion, or have you known all along and just been keeping it from us?”

“I know you are teasing me,” Abdullah said. “Just wait until I know your language good.”

“You’ll be dangerous; that’s a fact.”

David’s cell phone rang. He flipped it open and held up an apologetic finger. “It’s Ming,” he said.

“Should we go?” Mac said.

David shook his head.

“They were fighting over what you assumed they were fighting over,” she said. “My father wants Chang to take a job right away with the GC and be among the first to take the mark. Chang swears he will never take the mark.”

“Did he tell your father why?”

“No, and I am coming to see that he never can unless my father himself somehow becomes a believer. I have not lost faith and I keep praying, but until that happens, Chang cannot tell him. He would expose us.”

“Does your mother know?”

“No! She would eventually tell him. I’m afraid she is so intimidated that she would not be able to stand up to him in the end. David, you cannot let Chang get a job there, especially if new employees are the first to get the mark.”

“It appears that prisoners are going to be first, but yes, new employees soon. As they are hired, apparently. And even the rest of us within a couple of weeks.”

“What are you going to do, David? You and your friends?”

“We’re talking about that now. Obviously, we run or we die.”

“Can you take Chang with you?”

“Kidnap him?”

Ming was silent. Then, “Did you hear yourself, David? You want to leave him to take the mark or be beheaded for refusing so you won’t run the risk of kidnapping him? Please! Kidnap him! For one thing, he will go willingly.”

“I’m supposed to interview him for a job tomorrow.”

“Then either find a way to eliminate him, discredit him as a potential employee, or tell him where to meet you when you escape.”

“The latter is more likely. What could possibly disqualify him? He looks like a gold mine to any department, especially mine.”

“Make something up. Say he has AIDS.”

“And let your father kill him himself?”

“Well, how about a genetic defect?”

“Does he have one?”

“No! But work with me.”

“I’m not a doctor, Ming. It would just stall things.”

“That’s better than nothing.”

“Not if it makes me look suspicious. We’re hoping to get out of here without their suspecting we are subversives.”

“Great idea. Tell them you want to take Chang with you to check him out before hiring. Then, whatever happens to you happens to him. He’s free and he can help you wherever you go.”

“Maybe.”

“It
has
to work, David. What choice is there?”

“What if they don’t go for it? What if they say no, just hire him, give him the mark, and
then
take him on assignment?”

“You have to try. He’s brilliant, but he’s a child. He can’t fend for himself. He can’t even defend himself against my father.”

“I’ll do the best I can, Ming.”

“That sounds like an excuse after everything fails.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do better than the best I can do.”

“David, he’s my brother! I know he’s not your flesh, but can you pretend? If it was Annie, would you do your best? Or would you do whatever you had to do to save her?”

David couldn’t speak.

“Oh, David! Forgive me! That was so wrong of me! Please! That was cruel.”

“No. I—”

“David, please blame that on my fear and my situation.”

“It’s all right, M—”

“Please tell me you forgive me. I didn’t mean that.”

“Ming, it’s all right. You’re right. I understand. You put it in perspective for me. Count on me. I will do whatever I have to do to protect Chang, all right?”

“David. Do you accept my apology?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you. I’ll be praying for you and loving you in the Lord.”

When David rang off, Mac said, “What in the world did she say, man? You looked more like me than like an Israeli there for a second.”

David told him.

“Tell you what,” Mac said, “and Smitty you speak for yourself on this, but if that boy’s a believer and he’s got the mark to prove it, he’s with us. And anybody else we can find before we get out of here. Right, Smitty?”

“Right, I think. If I understand. Other believers here all go with us, yes. Of course. Right?”

“That’s what we’re saying.”

“Mac, a question. Who else would speak for me?”