The Mark: The Beast Rules The World (32 page)

Walter Moon said, “He is risen.”

Mr. Wong and David responded, “He is risen indeed.” David was startled to hear Chang mutter, “Christ is risen indeed.”

Chang may have considered that godly courage, but David saw it as teenage recklessness. No one else seemed to have heard it.

“Sit, please, gentlemen,” David said. “I’d like to spend time alone with the candidate, but it’s probably just as well you’re both here, Chief Moon and Mr. Wong. I’ve been studying the personnel manual, and frankly, I don’t see any way around the age issue.”

“Age issue?” Mr. Wong said, looking stricken. “What’s that?”

“Good,” Chang said and rose to leave.

“Sit! Mind manners! You guest here and interview for position!”

Chang slowly plopped back, slouching and crossing his feet.

Moon dismissed David’s concern with a gesture. “His Excellency has already waived that, and-”

“The policy allows no exceptions,” David pressed.

“David,” Walter said slowly, reminding him of the way he had just heard Carpathia speak to Moon, “the potentate is policy. If he determines that this young man and his off-the-charts intellect and computer savvy will be valuable to the Global Community, then it’s a done deal.”

David took a breath, deciding to go on the offensive.

But Moon wasn’t finished. “You’re aware that Potentate Carpathia has already cleared Chang to finish his last year of high school here, and of course we then offer college classes as well.”

“I was under the impression the school here was for the benefit of the children of employees,” David tried.

“I don’t think the teachers care who the students’ parents are. Tell Mr. Wong what you are envisioning for Chang, David.”

Mr. Wong, grinning, leaned forward to drink it in.

Here goes nothing, David thought. “I envision him finishing high school in China and at least beginning his career anywhere but here.”

Mr. Wong’s smile disappeared. “What?” he said, turning to Moon.

“David!” Walter said. “What the-”

“Look at him,” David said, and both men turned to see Chang staring at the floor, hands in his pockets.

“Sit up, boy. You know better. You shame me.”

Chang made a halfhearted effort to shift and raised his chin an inch, but he remained a picture of insolence. His father reached to tug at the shoulder of his jacket, and Chang wrenched away. Mr. Wong glowered at him.

“He doesn’t want to work here,” David said. “He’s young, immature, simply not ready. I don’t doubt his credentials or his potential, but let him work out the kinks on someone else’s money.”

“Now, let’s not be hasty, David,” Moon said. “The boy’s just been through a bit of a trauma. He was scared, but he went through with it, and he’s clearly still a little shaken.”

David cocked his head as if willing to consider the excuse. “Oh?”

“Yes,” Mr. Wong said. “He upset. He frightened of needle. Didn’t want injection. Scream. Cry. Try to get away, but we hold him down. He thank me someday. Maybe tomorrow.”

“And he needed an injection for what?”

“Biochip!” Mr. Wong announced proudly. “One of first to get it! See?”

He reached for the boy’s cap, but Chang stood again and turned his back on his father. David fought to maintain composure. Now what? How had he let this happen?

“When?” he blurted. “How?”

“This morning,” Walter said. “I was hoping they’d be ready for him. Took a photo along and everything. But they weren’t, not really. We were going to just wait till later, but they could see I had gone to a lot of trouble, so when the first unit was plugged in and ready to go, they tested it and then made him the first recipient here. Not sure the picture’s much good though. The boy wasn’t any happier there than here.”

David said, “Well, that’s … ah … that’s-” “Something, huh?” Walter said. “I think the boy is glad to have it over with, and if he’s honest he’ll admit it didn’t hurt a bit.”

“I proud! Son will be soon, you’ll see. But he ready for work now. No age problem. No school problem. This is place for him.”

“Global Community maybe,” David said, his voice hollow. How was he going to explain this to Ming? “But not my department.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, David. We just explained his attitude. You and I both know there’s no better place for

him.”

“Then you take him. I don’t want him. I don’t have the energy to try to win him over while training him.”

“I’m of a mind to take him, David. He’s going to make somebody look like a genius. It had might as well be

me.”

David stood and spread his arms, palms up. “Good to

see you all again.”

Chang started to rise, but his father stopped him with a hand. The man looked to Walter. “David, sit down,” Moon said. “Let us give you a few minutes with Chang, let him win you over.”

“There aren’t enough flowers or boxes of candy in the United Asian States.”

“Find out what’s troubling him. If it’s just the trauma of the procedure, he deserves another look. What do you say?”

“I suppose you’ll go running to the potentate if I don’t agree.”

Moon stood and motioned David to do the same. He reached for him across the desk and pulled David’s ear to his mouth. “This is no way for us to conduct ourselves in front of outsiders, particularly a patriotic GC supporter like Mr. Wong. You’re blamed right I’ll take this straight back to the top. Now you know Carp-His Excellency wants this boy on staff, so get with the program.” He let go of David and turned to Mr. Wong. “Let’s give them a few minutes to get acquainted.”

Mr. Wong bent to his son as he left. “You make proud, and I mean it.” But Chang looked away.

As soon as the door was shut, Chang stood and moved to the center chair facing David. He resumed his defiant posture. David sat and rested an elbow on the desk, chin in hand, staring at Chang, who did not meet his gaze. “Are the blinds open behind me?” the kid muttered, still looking away.

“Yes.”

“Close them.”

“That would send a wrong signal, Chang. If they’re watching, I want them to see me not liking you too much, which is exactly what I feel right now.”

“Are they still out there?”

“Yes.”

“Then either shut the blinds or tell me when they’re

gone.”

“They’re leaving.”

“OK, then wait till they’re out of sight so you can close the blinds without sending them the wrong signal but I still don’t have to worry about anyone else coming by and looking in. Or your secretary.”

“Assistant.”

“Whatever. Tiffany, right?”

“Observant.”

“I don’t miss anything, like the fact that she’s not a

believer.”

“I’m trying to figure out a way to work on that.”

It was maddening that Chang still sat slumped, looking down. “You can’t let her in on where you stand for fear she’ll turn you in.”

“Of course.”

“Could you shut the blinds, please?”

“Not till you tell me what in the world you think you’re up to.”

“I’ll wait,” Chang said.

David rose and closed the blinds. “What was I supposed to do, son? I didn’t know-”

As David returned to his side of the desk, Chang straightened up. “Don’t call me son. I hate that.” He whipped off his hat. “Look at me! Look what they did

to me!”

David leaned over the desk to study Chang’s mark of loyalty. It was the first he had seen other than in a drawing. “That is strange,” he said.

“That’s news to me?”

“No, I mean, obviously it looks different to me and will to any fellow believers. We can see both marks. The seal of God is still there, Chang.” David could barely take his eyes off the small, black tattoo that read 30 and was followed by a half-inch pink scar that would fade to a darker line in a few days. “I still haven’t figured the significance of the prefixes,” David added.

“You serious?”

“Always.”

“Don’t tell me you don’t even know why Carpathia is so obsessed with 216.”

“Of course,” David said. “That was rather transparent. Easy.”

“Same basic logic as these. Ten different regions or sub-potentateships, as Carpathia likes to call them. We know them as kingdoms. Ten different prefixes, all related to Carpathia. I mean, the fact that one of them is 216 should have been your first clue.”

“Don’t tell me, Chang. I’ll get it.”

“Should have had it by now.”

“You can lighten up on me. I don’t know how I could have prevented this. Your little charade didn’t help. Your sister is going to kill me. And, assuming you want out of here as badly as Ming wants you out and as badly as the other four believers want out, how did that help?”

“Can you believe my father and Moon thought I pitched a fit because I was afraid of needles?”

“I’m glad you didn’t just scream out that you’re a believer.”

“Well, what am I now, Hassid?”

“You don’t like to be called son-don’t call me Hassid.”

“Sorry. What’s your pleasure?”

“Mr. Hassid or Director Hassid while we’re in here. Once we’re gone, Mr. or Brother will work.”

“You sound like an old guy.”

“That’s because you’re a young guy. As for what you are, with both marks you surely have to be in a special category.”

“But all that stuff Dr. Ben-Judah writes about, choosing between the seal of God and the mark of the beast. I chose, and I got both. Now what?”

David sat shaking his head. Chang cocked his head and pursed his lips. “It isn’t that I really don’t know, Mr. Hassid. I just keep testing you. Are you not as bright as they think you are, or are you just short on sleep? Can’t figure the prefixes, can’t figure-”

“First, I’m not as bright as they think I am, but I might surprise you.”

“I’m not trying to be disrespectful, sir. I’m really not. But you have already surprised me by how long it takes you to make things make sense.”

“I’ve also been under unusual pressure for months, and worse the last couple of weeks.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry about your, ah, were you engaged? Was she your fiancee?”

“Secretly, yes. Thanks.”

“That would put anybody off track for a while. That’s understandable.”

“So, you’re mad you got the mark, but you’ve already made some sense of it?”

Chang sat back and crossed his legs. “You know Ben-Judah personally, huh?” “Haven’t met him, but we work together.” “You have his phone number?” “Of course.”

“Well, you might want to call him to confirm, or let me borrow the number and I’ll talk to him myself. ...” “I don’t think so.”

“Fair enough. You call him then and see if I’m right. I’m a believer. That hasn’t changed. The Bible says nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, and that has to include our own selves. And God says we’re hidden in the hollow of his hand and that no one can pluck us out. I didn’t choose the mark. It was forced on me. I see nothing but benefits.”

“Then why the big scene?”

“I don’t figure everything out immediately. I sure didn’t want the mark. I was trying to figure a way to get out of it right up to the time they stuck me. I don’t have to like it, but what’s done is done, and a smart guy like you ought to be able to see the upside of this.” “Tell me, oh great intellect.”

“So mock me. Forget it. I shouldn’t have to tell you anyway.”

David stood and moved to the front of the desk and sat atop it, his knees inches from Chang’s. “All right, listen. It’s obvious you’re a mental prodigy, mind like a steel trap, all that. I’d heard you were a Bible-memory freak, which is saying something when you can’t risk being caught with one. All that from reading it on the Net?”

Chang nodded.

David continued. “I’m not hung up on being the smartest guy in the room no matter where I am. That didn’t used to be so, especially when I was your age. I enjoyed not only overwhelming older people with my brain but letting them know that we both knew who was the king. You want me on the floor, kissing your feet? Fine. You’re the best. You’re smarter than I am. I’m a journeyman, a plugger compared to you. That what you want to hear? It doesn’t bother me that you’re a few steps ahead of me-it really doesn’t. What bothers me is your assuming it bothers me, because it would bother you if the shoe were on the other foot. Then I get defensive, trying to prove it doesn’t bother me, which only makes it appear that it does. You following this?”

Chang smiled. “Yeah, I got it.”

“So enlighten me and quit trying to rub it in. What are you going to do with this ‘advantage,’ as you call it, being bi-loyal for lack of a better term? And how does acting angry with me help that cause, whatever it is?”

“Glad you asked. May I take it from the top?”

David nodded.

“First, I like the term. Bi-loyal. That’s the way it appears. This forehead is going to really bother fellow believers. They can only assume the seal mark is fake, because no one would fake the mark of the beast. They’re going to take some persuading, and if I were them, I might never trust me.

“But the Carpathia loyalists . . . they can’t see the mark of God, and they have no reason to believe the loyalty mark is anything but what it appears. Therefore, I am free to live among them-buy and sell, come and go, even work here-without suspicion and-if I’m careful-without risk.”

“You’re good, Chang. But that last was very teenage thinking.”

Chang appeared to think about that, then nodded his concession. “Maybe so. Too bad I won’t have an old guy like you around to keep me from being too tempestuous and impulsive.”

“I’m starting to feel ancient.”

“You are, Director. Think about how few years you have left on this earth as we know it.”

“Funny.”

“Question is, how do you and your three friends get out of here, and how do I get your job?”

“You’re not going to get my job.”

“I could do it.”

“Maybe you could, but not even Carpathia is foolhardy enough to risk that. You have to work your way up, and I have an idea who might take my spot anyway. You’d wind up working for him.”

“That’s too bad; if you’re right.”

“I’m right. You’re so smart, have some common sense. They’re not going to put a teenager in a director’s chair.

They’re just not. Think about it. I’m the youngest director now by eight years.” ” Congratulations.”