Decker called the number for Christopher’s phone and then realized when he heard the ringing from Christopher’s suitcase that he had not taken it with him. He called the front desk, but the night desk clerk had not seen him. He called the hotel restaurant, but it was closed. He called the hotel bar, but it too was closed. Reluctantly, he called Jackie Hansen, who was just getting ready for bed in New York, but she had not heard from him. Finally, he called the Italian embassy in Tel Aviv. Decker identified himself to the person in charge and at his insistence, the ambassador was roused from his sleep. The ambassador, who didn’t really appreciate being awakened, said he had not heard from Christopher and was not even aware that he was in the country. He took advantage of the opportunity to point out to Decker that it was proper protocol to notify the embassy whenever a visiting ambassador was in the country. The ambassador recommended calling the police, but Decker said he wanted to wait just a little longer for Christopher to show up before doing that. The ambassador didn’t argue.
Decker went down to the hotel lobby to wait and let the desk clerk know where he was in case any calls came in. Time went by very slowly, but Decker felt he should wait until at least eight o’clock before calling the police. He checked his watch frequently and as soon as eight o’clock came he crossed the lobby to make the call. As he reached into his pocket for the correct change he suddenly felt a presence near him and looked up. Standing there not two feet away was a familiar face he had not seen in more than a year. He was quite a bit thinner than the last time he had seen him, but Decker recognized him immediately. “Secretary Milner?” Decker said, surprised to see him there.
“Hello, Decker,” Milner answered.
“What are you doing here?” Decker asked as he hung up the phone. “Have you seen Christopher?”
“Christopher is safe,” Milner said, not directly answering the question.
“Thank God! Where is he? I thought he might have been taken hostage by the—” Decker stopped himself.
Milner finished his sentence for him. “By the KDP?” Decker did not respond, though he was surprised that Milner knew what he was thinking. “No,” Milner continued, “I have no doubt they’d love to do just that, but Christopher is safe.”
“Well, where is he?”
Milner reached out and touched Decker’s shoulder “Look,” he said. Decker sensed a power flowing from Milner’s hand and suddenly in his mind’s eye, he could see Christopher. The scene was as clear to him as the room around him. Christopher was sitting on a large stone near the mouth of a cave. He was alone and in a mountainous area that could best be described as wilderness. “Is he all right?” asked Decker.
“He’s fine, though by now he’s beginning to grow hungry.” Milner removed his hand from Decker’s shoulder and instantly the vision vanished.
“If you know where he is, take me to him.”
“That’s not possible,” Milner answered. “He must be left alone. This is his time of preparation.”
“Preparation for what?” Decker demanded.
“Mr. Hawthorne, the world is about to undergo a time such as it has never known before. A time so dark and bleak that the destruction of the Russian Federation and what we call the Disaster will seem mild by comparison. Unfortunately there is nothing we can do to prevent its occurrence. But if we as a species are to emerge from it and to go on to our ultimate destiny, it will happen only under Christopher’s leadership. Without that leadership, the world as we know it will utterly perish. I have known this since years before I first saw him, and now you know it as well. What Christopher goes through now will prepare him for that hour.”
Decker was too stunned to respond right away. In the back of his mind he had always wondered if there wasn’t some greater purpose to Christopher’s birth than simply being the product of Harry Goodman’s experiment. After a moment he managed to ask, “What about the KDP?”
“They shall not harm him, though they would relish an opportunity to do so.”
“Who are they?” Decker asked. “Are they a part of this?”
“They are. As you know, when Alice Bernley was alive she headed the Lucius Trust near the UN. That location was not an accident. For years the Trust has been a sort of clearinghouse for thousands of what we call New Age groups from all around the world.” Decker started to speak, but Milner anticipated his response and continued. “The New Age is not just some fad, some passing fancy. It is the result of a maturing, a ripening of the human species in preparation for the final and most glorious step in its evolution. Humanity is on the very threshold of an evolutionary stride that shall place us as far above our present state as we are now above the ants on the forest floor.
“The KDP were to have been the spearhead of that,” Milner continued. “Unfortunately, at the very moment of their inception their course was subverted by the two men who are now their leaders.”
“One of whom is the Apostle John?” Decker asked.
“Yes.” Milner did not appear at all surprised that Decker should know this. “You have heard of the strange ability of the KDP to look into a person’s past?”
“Yes.”
“Such an ability is only a faint precursor of what is to come. Soon that ability shall seem as no more than a firefly in the blazing sun. Such powers should be used to look into the hearts of others, to find those places where compassion is so desperately needed and to offer comfort. Instead, under the leadership of John and another man named Saul Cohen, they use their gift to dredge up what would be better left forgotten and to savagely claw open old wounds and call attention to human frailties. And yet, that is the least of their monstrous inhumanity. Their powers for evil are far greater than anything any sane mind could imagine. This drought Israel has suffered these sixteen months is their work. And they shall do far worse before it is over.”
“What can be done to stop them?”
“By ourselves we can do nothing. The fate of the world and of humankind rests squarely on the shoulders of the one you have raised as your own son. The conclusion is by no means fore-ordained. Let us hope that he is equal to the task.”
For a moment both men were silent. It took Decker a moment to even begin to comprehend the magnitude of what Milner had just told him.
“How long will Christopher have to stay out there?” Decker asked, finally breaking the silence.
“Forty days.”
“Forty days!” Decker blurted out, loud enough for anyone in the lobby to hear him.
“There is no other way,” Milner answered, exaggerating his whisper to quiet Decker.
“But if he doesn’t freeze or die of thirst first, he’ll starve!”
“He will do neither, though the preparation will certainly be brutal and unmerciful. Still, he is there by his own choice. No one could force this upon him. He has chosen it for himself. If he wishes, he may withdraw from the preparation at any time.”
“Then I’ll stay here and wait for him,” Decker said.
“You too must choose of your own will,” Milner said. “But you can do nothing here. If you return to New York you may be able to provide essential information to Christopher upon his return, which will help him in the decisions he must make.”
Obviously there was no real choice; Decker had to return to New York. But just as obvious was his concern about leaving Christopher. He was sure Milner would never let any harm come to him; next to Decker no one was closer to Christopher, and in some respects Milner was probably closer. Still, this could be a matter of life and death. Milner could see the worry in Decker’s eyes and so once more placed his hand on Decker’s shoulder. Suddenly, a peace such as he had never known swept over Decker and his anxiety just seemed to vanish.
“Will you stay here?” Decker asked.
“Yes. I cannot go to him, but I will stay as close to him as I can.”
Decker nodded his approval. “I’ll leave on the next available flight, but I’ll be back in thirty-eight days, before Christopher returns.”
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“Good,” Milner said. “And now I must leave.” Decker shook Milner’s hand firmly and Milner turned to leave, but stopped before he had gone two steps. “Oh, Decker,” he said as he turned halfway back around, “be particularly careful of Ambassador Faure.”
“Is he a part of this somehow?”
“Not exactly,” said Milner. “He’s just a very ambitious man who will stop at nothing to become secretary-general. The forces who oppose us seek out such men as surrogates to accomplish their goals for them.”
27
Stopping at Nothing
New York, New York
“BACK SO SOON?” Jackie Hansen asked as Decker arrived at the Italian Mission in New York. “I expected you two to be gone for at least a week.” Decker showed himself into Christopher’s office and signaled without speaking for Jackie to follow. “What’s up?” she asked after she closed the door. “Where’s Christopher?”
“He’s still in Israel,” Decker answered. “He’s going to be there for about a month and a half.” Decker was hoping to make this explanation as simple as possible, but it wasn’t going to be easy.
“A month and a half!” Jackie exploded. “He can’t do that! He’s got things to do, meetings to attend, speaking engagements.” Decker held up his hands to stop Jackie so he could continue his explanation, but she had never yielded to that ploy in the past, and she wouldn’t now. “I’ll just give him a call and point out a few things to him! What’s the number at his hotel?”
“He’s not at a hotel—”
“Fine. What’s the number where he’s staying?”
“Jackie, it’s just not possible to reach him.”
“Well, I’ll just call him on his private number.”
“Jackie, stop! He doesn’t have his phone with him. Please, just wait a minute.” Jackie crossed her arms and stopped talking. For a moment at least, she was listening. Decker quickly seized the opportunity. “We found Robert Milner.”
Jackie dropped back against the edge of Christopher’s desk. “Is he all right? Is he alive?” she asked. After being missing for sixteen months, nothing could be taken for granted.
“He’s fine. He looks just fine.” The news of Milner had the disarming effect on Jackie that Decker was hoping for. Now perhaps he could try to explain without Jackie interrupting. “Christopher is with him,” he said. It was a little less than the truth, but a lot easier to explain.
“Well, they must be staying somewhere,” Jackie said, getting back to her previous track.
“Yes, of course. But there’s no phone and there’s no way to reach them.”
This understandably made no sense to Jackie. “You mean they’re camping out or something?” she asked, offering the only suggestion she could think of.
“Well, yes. In a manner of speaking, I guess you could put it that way.”
“But it’s the middle of winter. They’ll freeze!”
Decker had run out of simple explanations. “Look, they’ll be fine. You know how I feel about Christopher; he’s like my own son, the only family I’ve had since the Disaster. I wouldn’t leave him there unless I was sure he’d be all right.” As he finished he realized his words had been as much to reassure himself that he’d made the right decision as they were to convince Jackie.
“But why didn’t he at least call?”
“I know it sounds crazy,” Decker said, “but there just wasn’t an opportunity.” Jackie’s expression told him that the part about it sounding crazy had been a correct assessment. “Look, I don’t really understand it either. Milner said it all had to do with some New Age stuff.”
“Oh,” Jackie said, not as though she now understood, but rather as though suddenly she no longer needed to. “Well, uh … then I guess I’d better get to work canceling Christopher’s appointments.”
Decker was dumbfounded by Jackie’s sudden change of attitude but was glad he didn’t need to explain Christopher’s absence any further. Now he could concentrate on his own anxiety about leaving Christopher in Israel in the first place—not a very comforting accomplishment, he realized.
“Jackie, there’s one other thing,” Decker added, “something I need your help with. When Milner and Christopher are finished with whatever it is they’re doing in Israel, I’m supposed to meet them there and brief Christopher on everything that’s happened at the UN while he’s been gone—not just things that concern Italy or Europe, but everything. I’ll have someone in my office compile and index every press release that goes out of the UN Printing Office. I’ll take care of any reports, studies, speeches, white papers, etc. Christopher is especially interested in any information on Ambassador Faure’s activities. I know you’ve got friends in nearly every office—”
“Not in Faure’s office,” Jackie interrupted.
“What about through the Lucius Trust?” Decker suggested.
“Faure doesn’t let anyone from his office associate with the Trust.”
“You’re kidding! Barring free association of employees is against international human rights and labor laws.”
“Well, he doesn’t exactly prohibit it. It’s more a matter of very careful hiring. Secretary Milner looked into it a few years back and apparently didn’t think we could prove anything.”
“Too bad,” Decker said.
“Maybe somebody I know knows someone in Faure’s office,” Jackie suggested. “I’ll try to find out.”
“Great,” Decker said. “But you need to be very careful in how you go about it. It could be very damaging if any of this gets back to Faure.”
“Of course,” Jackie answered.
Two days later Jackie Hansen came up with a contact, a friend from the Lucius Trust who had a friend who was a low-level staffer in Faure’s office. This meant that any information the staffer provided would be limited to what was said around the office, and then further limited by what he remembered and how well he remembered it, and then by what he was willing to tell Jackie’s friend. Finally, it would be passed to Jackie, who would commit it all to paper for Decker. By the time the information reached Decker, it would be in at least its fourth telling. Still, it might help fill in some holes along the way and, as Decker well knew from his days in the press, any bit of information could be important.
The first piece of information to emerge was simply a vague indication that Faure was leaning hard on General Brooks to end the war as swiftly as possible—hardly a major news item. But it did help explain Brooks’ action a week later when he issued an ultimatum to Chinese arms merchants to immediately cease sales to the combatants. The move did not set well with Ambassador Fahd, the Middle East Security Council Primary. The arms from China were not going in the generic sense to the “combatants,” as Brooks described them, but rather to only one of the combatants: Pakistan, a country in Fahd’s region. Stopping the sale of Chinese weapons would only benefit India. And Pakistan was not the only Middle East country with an interest; the Chinese arms were being purchased with oil money.
Fahd attempted to get the Security Council to condemn Brooks’ ultimatum but was supported only by the West African representative. The Security Council was reluctant to interfere with the specific actions of the World Peace Organization. They saw their role as one of setting policy, not regulating tactics. As long as General Brooks’ actions stayed within the conventions established in the WPO charter, the Security Council could be expected not to interfere.
China abstained from the vote. Ambassador Lee felt that voting to condemn General Brooks would be seen as tentative approval of the arms sales from her country. China’s official position had always been that while it opposed the sales of weapons, it was not willing to interfere with the free trade of its citizens. Ambassador Lee, however, did proceed quickly and quite forcefully to prohibit Brooks from crossing into Chinese territory to enforce his ultimatum. Any efforts to interdict the flow of arms from China would have to be at the border with Pakistan. Her motion passed nine to one, with only India opposing the direct
ive.
Coincidentally, it was to be one of Ambassador Lee’s final acts as a member of the Security Council. Two days later, while taking her regular early morning walk, Ambassador Lee was struck by a hit-and-run driver and died on the way to the hospital. Following her death, the Security Council voted to take a two-week recess to allow China to select a replacement. A memorial service was held for Lee in the Hall of the General Assembly before her body was returned to China for burial.
Two weeks later
“Welcome back, Mr. Ambassador.”
“Thank you, Gerard,” Ambassador Faure responded as he hung up his overcoat.
“How was your flight?”
“Too long. We sat at DeGaulle Airport for more than an hour before we even got off the ground.” Faure sat down at his desk and began flipping through a short, neatly stacked pile of papers. “What’s the news from General Brooks?” he asked his chief of staff without looking up.
“Things appear to be going well. As you predicted, the interdiction of Chinese arms into Pakistan has resulted in a distinct advantage for the Indian forces. General Brooks estimates that it will probably take another few weeks before we see the full effect, but I think we can look forward to a swift resolution of the conflict and, more important, to India’s support on your next bid to become secretary-general. I think Ambassador Gandhi will find it difficult indeed to vote against you under the circumstances.”
“Good. And our relations with Ambassador Fahd? Anything new there?”
“No. You’re scheduled to have lunch with him tomorrow, so you should get a clear reading on his thoughts then. So far there has been no indication that he holds you personally responsible for General Brooks’ actions. I think your support for Ambassador Lee’s motion to prohibit UN forces from entering Chinese territory helped delineate you from Brooks in the minds of most of the Security Council.”
In His Image Page 42