The Left Behind Collection: All 12 Books (358 page)

“When we heard that the renowned biblical scholar, Dr. Tsion Ben-Judah, was going to speak on international television about his conclusion about Messiah from the Bible prophecies, we watched it together. The next day everyone was talking about the trouble Dr. Ben-Judah had gotten himself into by declaring that Messiah had already come, but my dad and I were excited about more than that. He found a New Testament, and we began reading it every night.

“When we got to the story of the Jewish man Saul, who became Paul, my father was overwhelmed. We read faster and faster and more and more, and we came to believe that Jesus was Messiah and that he could save us from our sins. We memorized First Corinthians 15:1-4: ‘Brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.’

“All my father and I wanted to do was what Paul had done. Receive. Receive that truth by which Paul said we could be saved. We didn’t know what to say or do, so we just prayed and told God we believed it and wanted to receive it. It was weeks before we read enough and knew enough to understand what we had done and what it all meant. Father finally found in the back of the New Testament a guide to salvation that talked about accepting and believing and confessing. We studied what it called the road to salvation—all those verses that tell that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, that the wages of sin is death, but that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Chang sat looking at her. “It’s always something different,” he said. “I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve heard about people becoming believers, and each one is unique. I mean, they all get to the same place, but for some it was the disappearances. For you, it was your mother, really.”

“We just can’t wait to see her again, Chang. And it won’t be long.”

Chloe couldn’t tell whether she had actually been dozing or was just zoned out when Florence made a loud entrance about midnight. She unceremoniously poked the energy bar through the cage and let it drop. Chloe wanted to leap on it, tear it open, and gobble it down, but her pride was still working. She turned to look, but she didn’t move.

“Dinner, honey,” Florence said. “I recommend a white wine, like tap water.”

Chloe didn’t move until she left. She ate half the bar, which was flat and tasteless. But Chloe had always been told the greatest seasoning was hunger. She wrapped the rest, determined to save it for breakfast. But the few calories she had just ingested merely triggered her appetite. She was able to hold out for about another half hour, then ate the rest.

Though she was still hungry, the bar had taken enough of the edge off that she was able to doze. She dreamed first of her family. Buck and Kenny were close enough to smell, but she couldn’t reach to hold them, to touch or kiss them. Then images danced of their horrified faces, repulsed by her. Did she have the mark? Was she hideously ugly? They grimaced and turned away.

Chloe ran to a mirror and found herself headless. She fainted, and when she hit the floor, she woke up. She sat on the cot, her face in her hands, rocking. This was going to be harder than she had ever imagined. She would not for an instant be fooled or even tortured into giving the GC an iota of what they wanted. She just prayed that if she was not going to be sprung somehow—and she couldn’t imagine how anyone could pull that off—her execution would be quick.

“I’ve come to a hard decision, Buck,” Rayford said. It was two o’clock in the morning in the underground compound. Rayford sat with Buck in Rayford’s quarters, where Buck would spend the night. Ming was staying at his and Chloe’s place so Kenny could be in his own bed. Sebastian and a young associate were on watch.

“I don’t want to hear it, do I?” Buck said.

“Probably not. But for some reason God put me in this position, and even though I’m biased and have almost as much vested interest as you do, I need to take leadership on this one. Mac is asleep. When he is fully rested, he’s going to Wisconsin to pick up Zeke. He’ll drop him in Petra to start work on our next assignment.”

Buck hung his head. “Our next assignment is not right here?”

“Hear me out. Mac is going to go on to clear out of Al Basrah and move to Petra. On the way I’ll have him call Otto Weser, the guy I told you about. He’ll be in the palace and should be able to dig up what’s going on in Al Hillah. Carpathia’s assistant knows Nicolae’s planning a meeting in Baghdad of the ten heads of state from around the world. We believe that’s when he’ll add all the other regions’ manpower to the armies he’s already marshaling in Israel.”

“Dad, I’m sorry, but I don’t really care about anywhere but right here at the moment. It looks like everything is coming together for all kinds of activity over there, but meanwhile, we’re hanging Chloe out to dry.”

“Buck, we’ve both been without sleep way too long. Believe me, I’ve done as much crying and praying and worrying as you have, which is—”

“I doubt that.”

“—exhausting. I need to rest, and so do you.”

“Dad, I’m not going to be able to sleep.”

“I didn’t say anything about sleeping. Get your clothes off, stretch out, put your feet up. Give your body a break even if you can’t turn your brain off. We need you sharp, Buck.”

“You’re telling me I’m not going out with George tonight.”

“I’m not even letting George go, Buck. Talk about somebody we don’t want to burn out. He’s got a good team that can track the GC if they show tonight. All we want to know is where they’re starting their canvasing. I’m impressed that people have already started packing, getting ready to go. Lionel’s got planes and pilots lined up. We have to be ready to go at a moment’s notice.”

Buck leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “I trust you, Dad, and I know you have Chloe’s and my best interests at heart. But I don’t get this. When do we start scoping out headquarters, figuring how to get in there or how to get next to somebody who would know something about the place?”

“You and I can see how close we can get tomorrow night. If George is available, we’ll take him.”

“But time’s wasting.”

Rayford sat back and sighed. “Job one with me is conserving resources, and that includes human ones. Our minds tell us we have energy because we can think of nothing else, but running on adrenaline like that will wear us down quicker, make us rash, ineffective. Trust me on this, Buck. I want her out of there as much as you do, but she’s not the only person we’re accountable for.”

“But I want to know as soon as the reconnaissance party knows anything about—”

“No, now I’ve left word that we are not to be disturbed until midmorning except in an emergency.”

“Dad!”

“Knowing something you can’t act on right away anyway is no help. Now no more talk. Let’s get some rest.”

Like everyone else in Petra at high noon, Chang preferred working inside. He had discovered, through much trial and error, that he was able to tap into everything in New Babylon from where he was. The problem was, all the decision makers were gone to Al Hillah. When the plan to beat them there and bug the place had fizzled, he had been assigned to come up with a way that Otto Weser could feed him information. That all depended on what hardware might have been left that could be tapped from Petra.

Chang worried that he might have become too obvious in his interest in Naomi, wanting to spend every spare minute with her. He decided not to assume anything and stayed at his computer over lunchtime. He was hungry, but he could also wait for the evening manna.

Chang was thrilled when Naomi approached shyly with a basket. “Hey, workaholic,” she said. “Don’t go starving on me.”

“Hi,” he said.

“Brought you some honey wafers.”

“Hail Carpathia” had become just part of the background for Chloe by now. She guessed it was about four o’clock in the morning. She had tried to keep her ears covered as she dozed, but when she drifted off, her hands fell away. That was why she heard the door and held her breath.

From the heavy footsteps and the jangling keys, she could tell it was Florence. What could she want? It sounded as if she was close to the cage, and Chloe smelled food. A burger with all the trimmings. And the sound of a straw, probably in a cold soft drink. Right then it all hit Chloe as the nectar of the gods.

She slowly turned and in the low light saw Florence sit on the floor and lean back against the cage. Chloe rested on one elbow and let out her breath.

“You awake?” Florence said.

“’Fraid so.”

“Want me to turn off that music?”

“Do you care what I want?”

“Don’t be sassin’ me again.”

“If you really want to know what I want, yes, I want the music off.”

“I’m not all bad, you know,” Florence said.

She set next to the cage her half-eaten burger and soft drink and another tall paper cup with a lid and moved to the door. The music stopped.

When Florence returned, Chloe said, “Thank you.”

“Mm-hm,” she said, sliding to the floor again. “Just having a burger.”

“So I gathered.”

“Brought you something.”