Sarah looked down at her hands and felt a droplet of sweat trace the course of her spine. She had read more of Revelation than Isaac, and though there were many things she did not yet understand, she knew things he did not. The two witnesses would not be the only ones to suffer and die.
“Why would God allow this?” A tremor touched Isaac’s lips, and Sarah knew he was thinking of far more than their present situation. “Why would an all-powerful God allow such pain and suffering and evil?”
Moses lifted his gaze to Isaac’s face in an oddly keen, swift look. “Who are you, a mere man, to question God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who made it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’” The prophet’s eyes narrowed in a calculating expression. “The Lord says, ‘My thoughts are completely different from yours, and my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.’”
Elijah looked at Sarah, his face displaying an uncanny awareness. “The rains and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with God’s Word. He sends it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all God wants it to, and it prospers everywhere he sends it. God will use every person—even Adrian Romulus—to demonstrate his glory. Do not doubt it.”
Sarah looked at Isaac, who was staring blankly at the prophet with his mouth open. He was trying to use human logic to understand, she realized, and human understanding had nothing to do with the situation these men were describing.
“Have you a warning or a word of advice for us?” She reached out, daring to place her hand on Elijah’s bony arm. “We have decided not to cooperate with Romulus and his Universal Faith Movement, and we know the days ahead will be dangerous.”
Elijah pinched his lower lip with his teeth, then reached out to pat her hand. “I encourage God’s holy people to endure persecution patiently. Remain firm to the end, obeying God’s commands and trusting in Jesus.”
“Jesus?” The word slipped from Isaac’s lips.
Moses ignored Isaac, but fixed Sarah in his gaze. “Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from all their toils and trials; for their good deeds follow them!”
“What does Jesus have to do with it?” Isaac asked, turning to Moses with a petulant look on his face. “All my life I’ve been taught that he was nothing but a madman, if he even existed.”
“My son,” Moses answered, rising, “he is the Lamb, the Judge, the Beginning and the End. Blessed are those who put their trust in him.”
Without another word, Elijah rose, too. The two prophets walked away, their odd appearance parting the tourists at the windmill as effortlessly as another Moses had parted the Red Sea.
“I’m beginning to see why Romulus hates them,” Isaac remarked, watching them go. “They never once gave me a direct answer to my questions.”
“Yes, husband,” Sarah whispered, her vision blurring as her eyes filled with tears. “They did.”
Isaac and Sarah planned to spend a second night at Melman’s apartment, but Isaac knew they could not stay longer. If Romulus had begun to search for him—and Isaac was certain he had, though probably through clandestine channels—the Universal Force would have agents sitting outside Sarah’s house. Soon they would report that Sarah Ben-David had not returned, then they would check phone records and discover an alarming lack of calls between Sarah and Melman.
Along the way, Isaac had taken steps to secure his safety. Soon after receiving the summoning page from Archer, he called the airport from a pay phone in a busy area of the city and told the general to return to Paris without him. Archer seemed to accept the story that Isaac needed to spend some personal time with his father and that telephone call probably bought them twenty-four hours.
But if Romulus’s people had watched his father’s house, they would know something was amiss. So he and Sarah would have to move on, and it would be best if they left Melman’s apartment before sunrise. Though as a deputy director Melman had power within the Shin Bet, Romulus had an international security force at his disposal.
While Sarah fretted at Melman’s computer, searching for outmoded airports and train stations through which they might be able to slip without having their identification chips scanned, Isaac sat with his elbows propped on Melman’s desk, an open Bible spread before him. He had been reading for several hours, and very little of what he read made any sense at all.
In the last few days, the world had turned itself inside out. As a Jewish boy, he had grown up doubting whether Jesus of Nazareth even existed. Even if he had, and if the Christian Scriptures were reliable—a matter open to speculation—one thing was undeniably clear: Jesus did not do many of the things that the mashiach was supposed to do. He did not establish a world government in Israel. He did not bring about the political and spiritual redemption of the Jewish people. He did not establish Jewish law as the law of the land; in fact, on several occasions he seemed to flout it.
If pressed to pick a messiah from the ancient times, Isaac would have chosen Shimeon bar Kochba, who lived nearly a century after Jesus of Nazareth. Bar Kochba fought a war against the Roman Empire and took Jerusalem from the invaders. He resumed sacrifices at the Temple site and outlined plans to rebuild the Temple. He established a provisional government and even began to distribute coins bearing its name. If his plans had been successful, he would have undoubtedly been hailed as the mashiach. But the Roman Empire rose and crushed his revolt.
Isaac had long ignored the Christian Jesus, considering him less than nothing, but since this afternoon, the two prophets and the Revelation of John had confirmed that Jesus was everything. The truth and the life. The beginning and the end.
What in the world was that supposed to mean?
During their lunch after the telecast, Thomas Parker had suggested that Isaac read the book of Daniel in conjunction with his study of Revelation, but Isaac felt himself resisting that instruction. Judaism did not even consider Daniel a prophet! His writing included visions of the future, but God chose prophets to convey a message or teaching to his people. Daniel’s book contained writings that had nothing to do with the people of his day; they were intended for future generations . . . people Isaac had always thought of as living in a distant century. And yet, here he sat, his hands pressed to his forehead, reading words from Daniel that sent a thin, cold blade of foreboding into his heart.
The king will do as he pleases, exalting himself and claiming to be greater than every god there is, even blaspheming the God of gods. He will succeed—until the time of wrath is completed. For what has been determined will surely take place. . . . His army will take over the Temple fortress, polluting the sanctuary, putting a stop to the daily sacrifices, and setting up the sacrilegious object that causes desecration. He will flatter those who have violated the covenant and win them over to his side. But the people who know their God will be strong and will resist him.
Was Romulus the king Daniel described? And was Daniel trustworthy? Thomas Parker certainly seemed to think so, and Sarah now accepted everything she read in the Bible at face value. She had spent most of the afternoon on the computer, pulling up Web pages that had been floating in cyberspace since before the Disruption. Piles of printed pages now littered the floor of Melman’s small study, and nearly all of them carried dire warnings about a man who would rise after a bizarre global event called the Resurrection or Rapture. The Web sites predicted that this man would institute a one-world government, an international economy, and a global religion. This man would be the Antichrist, for he would be arrogant and crave power with ruthless ambition.
Isaac picked up one of the pages he’d been studying earlier and glumly compared its quotes to the Scripture he’d just read. They matched perfectly; someone
had written about the very chapter he was trying to understand. According to the author of the Web page, all these signs pointed to the day when Satan himself would empower his human puppet on earth . . .
“It can’t be,” Isaac murmured, dropping the page.
Sarah looked up from the computer monitor. “Did you say something?”
“It wasn’t important.” Isaac closed the Bible, then leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms, trying to think. In twenty-nine days, anyone caught in Israel without the Universal Chip would be arrested and subject to imprisonment and execution. Leaving Israel would be next to impossible. Though many nations still operated old-fashioned airports without identity-chip scanners, Israeli airports were state-of-the-art. There’d be no leaving Jerusalem by air or train or bus. The highway checkpoints would be manned with Universal Force guards, too, if they weren’t already. If he and Sarah tried to drive out, they’d be as helpless as doves caught in the coils of a snake.
Twenty-nine days. A man could do a lot in twenty-nine days. Write a book, plant a garden, plan an escape . . . or plot a murder.
If Romulus planned to rule the world through evil, why not rid the world of evil by killing Romulus? Isaac closed his eyes, mentally chewing on the thought. He was a soldier. He had taken life before in the defense of his country, and he could do it again. And even if he had somehow mis-understood the Scriptures, his memory of the night when Romulus took the spear was enough to convince him that the man intended to dominate the world through evil.
The thought of destroying Romulus gave Isaac a dark little pleasure. He’d have to resign his position with the Israeli Defense Force, of course. The IDF wouldn’t understand, and they didn’t approve of career liaison officers murdering the officials they’d been assigned to assist. But those in the IDF high command had already demonstrated blind weakness. In their effort to appease Romulus, they had done nothing to stop his requirement of the Universal Chip, so in twenty-nine days he would be unwelcome even among his Israeli comrades.
He’d have to distance himself from his friends and his father, and even from Sarah . . . unless she was willing to follow him into exile.
Opening his eyes, he looked over at her. With her gaze focused on the computer screen, a pencil clenched between her teeth, and a pair of Melman’s reading glasses perched on the end of her nose, she seemed the most intelligent and beautiful woman he had ever seen. Love for her welled within his breast, temporarily cutting off his power of speech. Could he leave her? Would he have to?
If he did not make this attempt, both of their lives were already over. Sarah would rather commit hara-kiri than work for Romulus’s puppet regime, so both of them would be outlaws in twenty-nine days. But if Isaac made the attempt and succeeded . . . life just might return to normal.
The thought gave him courage to continue his deliberation.
By mid-March, Isaac had a reasonably good idea of how he could approach Romulus. Security might be a challenge, but not an insurmountable one as long as Romulus believed that Isaac remained loyal to his cause. That assumption was risky, but as the deadline for the ID chip and UFM code approached, life itself was a risk.
Isaac could do nothing until Romulus returned to Jerusalem, but he knew that day would not be long in coming. Through news reports and quiet messages from friends who still worked within the system, Isaac learned that Romulus intended to open an affiliate branch of the Universal Faith Movement in Jerusalem. Though that news stunned Sarah’s father and other religious leaders who believed Romulus would honor the peace treaty and exemption for religious Jews, Isaac wasn’t at all surprised. The Scripture predicted such a move, and it also spoke of the statue that Thomas Parker had learned of in his friend’s office. If Isaac understood Scripture correctly, more atrocities were yet to come, but Isaac would not speak of them to his loved ones. If all went according to his plan, he might be able to spare them from future horrors. Didn’t Abraham save the righteous of Sodom and Gomorrah by his fervent prayer? If Abraham could persuade God to spare his loved ones, Isaac prayed that God would strengthen his arm to spare the nation.
Shortly after sundown on April 5, exactly one month after the Jerusalem telecast, the arrests began. People who had been brazen enough to refuse Romulus’s order and naïve enough to remain in their homes were forcibly drawn out by armed militia and taken to desert prison camps surrounded by razor-wire fences. “For a period of twenty-four hours,” a loudspeaker blared to all new arrivals, “President Romulus will grant mercy to all who will join the Universal Faith Movement. Those who accept the Universal Chip and the UFM code will be allowed to return to their homes. Those who refuse will be imprisoned and set to hard labor.”
Most of those arrested in the first assault wave capitulated immediately, for they believed living with a Universal Chip was infinitely preferable to sweating in a desert labor camp. But when faced with the shining desert sun and the implacable faces of prison guards, most of the Orthodox Jews who had stubbornly refused to accept the ID chip clung just as tenaciously to their resistance.
From the Shin-Bet safe house where Melman had hidden them, Isaac and Sarah could hear the screams of agonized Israelis who watched as their loved ones were dragged away. Lily paced the room in consternation, confused by the screams and the dreadful ululations of mourning. Sarah worried about her father, who had abandoned his apartment, and Isaac wondered what would become of men like Rabbi Baram Cohen.
The morning newspaper said it all: Ten thousand arrested in Jerusalem, with an estimated 900,000 Israelis unaccounted for. Thousands had fled in the night, running like rats from a sinking ship.
“Where are they going?” Isaac murmured, shaking out the paper he had picked out of a trash bin. Sarah, who lay beside, stirred uneasily.
“Isaac?” she murmured, her voice husky with sleep.
He dropped his hand protectively to her head. “Right here, love.”
The shadow of a smile flickered across her lips. “Did we make it through the night?”
Isaac stroked her hair. “We did.”
She made a soft sound of agreement, then curled tighter into a ball, pulling the thin blanket over her shoulders. Isaac heard his stomach growl and reflexively tightened his abdomen, not wanting the noise to bother Sarah. Yesterday, they had shared a bunch of carrots, and the day before the only food they could find was a stale loaf of bread. As Romulus’s deadline approached, Isaac had purposefully distanced himself from friends who had taken the ID chip, knowing that Romulus would not easily forgive the crime of hiding a fugitive. But now he and Sarah had no means of legally obtaining food. Though they had Universal Chips, by now their numbers had undoubtedly been entered into the Universal Criminal Registry. If they visited even a simple grocery store, the alarm would flash and alert every Universal Force patrol within a five-mile radius.
In time, when this initial manhunt had abated, he might dare to renew some trustworthy friendships. But right now, while Romulus sought desperately to cleanse the city of anyone who might oppose his increasing control, Isaac didn’t want to put any of his loved ones at risk.
The sharp sound of a footstep upon gravel made him straighten. Leaving Sarah, he rose to his feet and walked in a crouch to a window that looked out onto a nearly deserted street. A man in a beige overcoat and hat stood there, a shopping bag in his hand. The man walked slowly forward, peering up and down the street, one hand holding the edge of his coat back as if he night need to reach for a weapon . . .
Isaac hurried toward the door as he recognized Danny Melman. He had come here today either to betray Isaac or to help him.
Trusting the man’s love for Sarah, if nothing else, Isaac stepped out of the deserted apartment. Melman had moved farther down the block, in order to draw attention away from the safe house, and Isaac lengthened his stride to catch up with him. The sound of Isaac’s footfalls made Melman turn abruptly, his hand ready to draw his weapon, and his expression relaxed only slightly when he recognized Isaac.
&nb
sp; Stopping on the sidewalk, Isaac crossed his arms. “You wanted to see me?”
Melman held out the shopping bag, his face as blank as stone. “I knew you’d be needing some provisions.”
Isaac stared at the bag with one eye halfway closed, as if it were a bomb that might explode.
“Go on, take it.” A note of exasperation filled Melman’s voice. “If I were going to turn you in, I’d have done it long before this.”
“How do I know,” Isaac said, deeply inhaling a delicious aroma that came from the bag, “that you don’t want to remove me so you can have Sarah?”
“Because Sarah doesn’t want me.” Melman set the bag on the sidewalk and stepped back as if Isaac’s reluctance bored him. “Despite what you may think, Major, not everyone who still works for the government is evil. Some of us are just trying to do our jobs.”
Isaac bit his lower lip. “I’m not sure we should stay here any longer. Romulus has spies everywhere, and someone in Shabak may discover we are hiding here—”
“I was going to suggest that you move on today. But first, take these things—I want to help you and Sarah. If you’ll let me, I will.”
Isaac stepped forward and peered into the shopping bag. The tantalizing aroma came from a loaf of freshly baked wheat bread, accompanied by a generous slab of cheese, some packets of dried beef, and a half-dozen bottles of water.
Before lifting the bag, however, he looked up and caught Melman’s eye. “Thanks. From me and Sarah.”
Melman shrugged. “We’re both military men, Isaac. You would do the same for me if the situation were reversed.” He took another half-step back, talking as he moved. “Enjoy what I’ve brought, and be careful. The crackdown is scheduled to continue for several weeks, so you’ll have to be cautious in everything you do.”
The Spear of Tyranny Page 22