The Left Behind Collection: All 12 Books (49 page)

“The U.N. is that flush?”

“Buck, let me tell you something that few others know, and because I trust you, I know you will keep my confidence. Jonathan Stonagal named me the sole beneficiary of his estate.”

Buck could not hide his surprise. That Carpathia might be named in the multibillionaire’s will would have shocked no one, but sole beneficiary? That meant Carpathia now owned the major banks and financial institutions in the world.

“But, but, his family . . . ,” Buck managed.

“I have already settled out of court with them. They pledge to keep silence and never again contest the will, and they get 100 million dollars each.”

“That would silence me,” Buck said. “But how much did they sacrifice by not getting their fair share?”

Carpathia smiled. “And you wonder why I admire you? You know that Jonathan was the wealthiest man in history. To him money was simply a commodity. He did not even carry a wallet. In his own charming way, he was frugal. He would let a lesser man pick up a dinner check, and in the next breath buy a company for hundreds of millions. It was just numbers to him.”

“And what will it be for you?”

“Buck, I say this from the bottom of my heart. What this tremendous resource gives me is the opportunity to achieve my lifelong dream. I want peace. I want global disarmament. I want the peoples of the world to live as one. The world should have seen itself as one village as soon as air travel and satellite communications brought us all together decades ago. But it took the vanishings—which may have been the best thing that ever happened to this planet—to finally bring us together. When I speak, I am heard and seen nearly all over the world.

“I am not interested in personal wealth,” Nicolae continued. “My history proves that. I know the value of money. I do not mind using it as a form of persuasion, if it is what motivates a person. But all I care about is mankind.” Buck was sick to his stomach, and his mind was flooded with images. Carpathia staged Stonagal’s “suicide” and manufactured more witnesses than any court would ever need. Now was the man trying to impress him with his altruism, his largesse?

Buck’s mind flew to Chicago, and he suddenly missed Chloe. What was this? Something in him longed to simply talk with her. Of all the times for it to become crystal clear that he did not want to be “just friends,” this was the worst. Was it merely Carpathia’s shocking admission that made him long for something or someone comfortable and safe? There was a purity, a freshness about Chloe. How had he mistaken his feelings for her as mere fascination with a younger woman?

Carpathia stared at him. “Buck, you will never tell a living soul what I have told you today. No one must ever know. You will work for me, and you will enjoy privileges and opportunities beyond your imagination. You will think about it, but you will say yes in the end.”

Buck fought to keep his mind on Chloe. He admired her father, and he was developing a deep bond with Bruce Barnes, a person with whom he would never have had anything in common before becoming a follower of Christ. But Chloe was the object of his attention, and he realized that God had planted these thoughts to help him resist the hypnotic, persuasive power of Nicolae Carpathia.

Did he love Chloe Steele? He couldn’t say. He hardly knew her. Was he attracted to her? Of course. Did he want to date her, to begin a relationship with her? Absolutely.

“Buck, if you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?”

Buck heard the question and stalled, pursing his lips to appear to be thinking about it. All he could think of was Chloe. What would she think if she knew this? Here he sat as the most-talked-about man in the world offered him a blank check, and all he could think about was a twenty-year-old college dropout from Chicago.

“Where, Buck?”

“I’m living there now,” Buck said.

“Chicago?”

“Chicago.”

In truth, he suddenly couldn’t imagine living apart from Chloe. Her body language and responses the last couple of days told him he had alienated her somehow, but he had to believe it was not too late to turn that around. When he showed interest, she had too. When he gave an unclear signal, so did she. He would clarify his interest and hope for the best. There were still serious questions to consider, but for now all he knew was that he missed her terribly.

“Why would anyone want to live in Chicago?” Carpathia asked. “I know the airport is central, but what else does it offer? I am asking you to expand your horizons, Buck. Think Washington, London, Paris, Rome, New Babylon. You have lived here for years, and you know it is the capital of the world—at least until we relocate our headquarters.”

“You asked me where I would like to live if I could live anywhere,” Buck said. “Frankly, I
could
live anywhere. With wireless Internet, I can file a story from the North Pole. I did not choose Chicago, but now I would not want to leave there.”

“What if I offered you millions to relocate?”

Buck shrugged and chuckled. “You have a corner on the wealth of the world, and you say you are not motivated by money. Well, I have very little, and I am truly not motivated by it.”

“What motivates you?”

Buck prayed quickly and silently. God, Christ, salvation, the Tribulation, love, friends, lost souls, the Bible, learning, preparing for the Glorious Appearing, New Hope Village Church, Chloe. Those were the things that motivated him, but could he say that? Should he?
God, give me the words!

“I am motivated by truth and justice,” Buck said flatly.

“Ah, and the American way!” Carpathia said. “Just like Superman!”

“More like Clark Kent,” Buck said. “I’m just a reporter for a great metropolitan weekly.”

“All right, you want to live in Chicago. What would you like to do, if you could do anything you wanted?”

Suddenly Buck snapped back to reality. He wished he could retreat to his private thoughts of Chloe, but he felt the pressure of the clock. This trip, strange as it had been, had been worth the grief just for that morsel about Carpathia’s inheritance from Stonagal. He didn’t like sparring with Nicolae, and he worried about the minefield represented by this latest question.

“Anything I wanted? I suppose I used to see myself one day in a publisher’s role, you know, when I’m a little long in the tooth to be running all over the world chasing down stories. It would have been fun to have a great team of talented people and assign them, coach them, and put together a publication that showcased their abilities. I’d miss the legwork though, the research, the interviewing, and the writing.”

“What if you could do both? Have the authority and the staff and the publication, and also give yourself some of the best assignments?”

“I suppose that would have been the ultimate.”

“Buck, before I tell you how I can make that happen, tell me why you talk about your dreams in the past tense, as if you no longer have them.”

Buck had not been careful. When he had relied on God for an answer, he had been given one. When he ventured out on his own, he had slipped. He knew the world had only seven more years, once the treaty was signed between Carpathia and Israel.

“I guess I just wonder how long this old world has,” Buck said. “We’re still digging out from the devastation of the disappearances, and—”

“Buck! You insult me! We are closer to world peace now than we have been in a hundred years! My humble proposals have found such receptive ears that I believe we are about to usher in an almost utopian global society! Trust me! Stay with me! Join me! You can fulfill all your dreams! You are not motivated by money? Good! Neither am I. Let me offer you resources that will allow you to never think or worry about money again.

“I can offer you a position, a publication, a staff, a headquarters, and even a retreat, that will allow you to do all you have ever wanted to do and even live in Chicago.”

Carpathia paused, as he always did, waiting for Buck to bite. And Buck bit.

“This I’ve got to hear,” he said.

“Excuse me one moment, Buck,” Carpathia said, and he buzzed Hattie. Apparently he signaled her in a different way than usual, because rather than answering on the intercom, she appeared at the door behind Buck. He turned to acknowledge her, and she winked at him.

“Ms. Durham,” Carpathia said, “would you inform Dr. Rosenzweig, Mr. Plank, and President Fitzhugh that I am running a bit behind schedule. I am estimating ten more minutes here, another ten with Chaim and Steve, and then we will be in Washington by five.”

“Very good, sir.”

Rayford parked at O’Hare and hurried through the terminal to the underground control center and Earl Halliday’s office. Earl had been his chief pilot for years, and Rayford had grown from being one of his best young pilots to one of his veteran stars. Rayford felt fortunate to be at a place now where he and Earl could speak in shorthand, cutting through the bureaucratic red tape and getting to the heart of matters.

Earl was waiting outside his office door and looking at his watch when Rayford approached. “Good,” Earl said. “C’mon in.”

“Nice to see you, too,” Rayford said, tucking his cap under his arm as he sat.

Earl sat in the only other chair in his cluttered office, the one behind his desk. “We’ve got a problem,” he began.

“Thanks for easing into it,” Rayford said. “Did Edwards write me up for, what did you call it, proselytizing?”

“That’s only one part of the problem. If it wasn’t for that, I’d be sitting here giving you some incredible news.”

“Such as?”

“First tell me if I misunderstood you. When I first came down on you about talking about God on the job, you said you had to think about it. I said if you’d just assure me you’d back off, I’d make the write-up by Edwards go away. Right?”

“Right.”

“Now, when you agreed to go to Dallas today to recertify, shouldn’t I have been able to assume that meant you were going to play ball?”

“Not entirely. And I suppose you’re wondering how my recert went.”

“I already know how it went, Ray!” Earl snapped. “Now answer my question! Are you saying you went down there to get your papers on the ’seven-seven and all the while you had no intention of backing off from sounding so religious on the job?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Say what you mean, then, Ray! You’ve never played games with me, and I’m too old for this. You hit
me
with all that church and Rapture stuff, and
I
was polite, wasn’t I?”

“A little too polite.”

“But I took it as a friend, just like you listen to me when I brag about my kids, right?”

“I wasn’t bragging about anything.”

“No, but you were excited about it. You found something that gave you comfort and helped explain your losses, and I say, great, whatever makes your boat float. You started pressing me about coming to church and reading my Bible and all that, and I told you, kindly I hope, that I considered that personal and that I would appreciate it if you’d lay off.”

“And I did. Though I still pray for you.”

“Well, hey, thanks. I also told you to watch it on the job, but no, you were still too new to it, still flush with the novelty of it, high as a guy who’s just found the latest get-rich-quick scheme. So what do you do? You start pushing Nick Edwards, of all people. He’s a comer, Ray, and people in high places here like him.”

“I like him, too. That’s why I care about him and his future.”

“Yeah, all right, but he made it pretty clear he didn’t want to hear any more, just like I did. You let up on me, so why couldn’t you let up on him?”

“I thought I did.”

“You thought you did.” Earl pulled a file from his drawer and fingered his way to a certain page. “Then you deny telling him, and I quote, ‘I don’t care what you think of me’?”

“That’s a little out of context, but, no, I wouldn’t deny the spirit of that. All I was saying was that—”

“I know what you were saying, Ray, all right, because you said it to me, too! I told you I didn’t want to see you become one of these wild-eyed fanatics who thinks he’s better than everybody else and tries to get ’em saved. You said you just cared about me, which I appreciate, but I said you were getting close to losing my respect.”

“And I said I didn’t care.”

“Well, can’t you see how insulting that is?”

“Earl, how can I insult you when I care enough about your eternal soul to risk our friendship? I told Nick the same thing I told you, that what people feel about me isn’t that important anymore. Part of me still cares, sure. Nobody wants to be seen as a fool. But if I don’t tell you about Christ just because I’m worried about what you’ll think of me, what kind of friend would I be?”

Earl sighed and shook his head, staring at the file again. “So, you contend that Nick took you out of context, but everything you just said is right here in this report.”

“It is?”

“It is.”

Rayford cocked his head. “What do you know about that? He heard me. He got the point.”

“He certainly must not have agreed with the point. Otherwise, why this?” Earl shut the folder and slapped it.

“Earl, I was right where you and Nick are the night before the disappearances. I—”