“His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. Come to him this day, this hour! God is not willing that any should perish but that all come to repentance. Thus saith the Lord.”
Now the two prophets stood shoulder to shoulder and spoke in unison. “We have served the Lord God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son. Lo, we have fulfilled our duty and finished our task until the due time. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem …”
The two stood before the fence and stared at the crowd, not moving or even blinking. Soon people grew restless and called for more preaching. Others yelled insults at them. One man near Lionel shouted, “Carpathia’s coming tonight. He promised to shut you up and he has!”
Lionel tugged at Sam’s shirt and they walked away. “I think we just heard the last words of Eli and Moishe.”
Vicki and the others arrived at the Wisconsin hideout midmorning on Monday. The roads were terrible as they neared Lake Geneva, and several times Mark had to backtrack and try another route.
Darrion had referred to the place as the family’s cottage, but to Vicki it looked like a palace. It was built into the hillside in the shape of an A. Mark parked as close as he could, but downed trees prevented them from going up the driveway.
The kids inspected the doors and found all the locks secure. A huge pane of glass had broken on the second floor, but it didn’t appear that any looters had ransacked the place.
Since Darrion didn’t have the key, the kids propped a dead tree against the side of the house. Conrad crawled through the second-floor window and let the others in through the front door.
Sheets covered the furniture and there was dust everywhere. Mark noticed cracks in several walls, but the cottage looked safe.
“You didn’t tell us there was a basement!” Shelly said.
“I’ll give you a tour,” Darrion said.
She took them through the cottage, showing them the things her father had built into the home. “My dad designed the whole thing. There’s a lot of hidden stuff.” She opened a door in the living-room wall, revealing a huge television screen.
“The Gala should start soon,” Conrad said.
Mark flicked a few switches and shook his head. “Nothing works.”
“It’s solar powered,” Darrion said. “My dad unhooked it when we were gone.”
Conrad found the brains of the solar contraption and hooked up the cells. “It’ll probably take a day or two to store up enough energy. We’ll have to watch on the laptop or listen in the car.”
Judd stood at the back of the tent and listened as Mr. Stein told his story to the crowd. A few still clutched invitations, but most thought the tent was part of the Gala and wandered inside.
Judd had rushed to Kasim’s building earlier that morning and buzzed his apartment. When no one answered, Judd tried to force the front door open, but people came into the hall and yelled at him, so Judd left.
He walked onto the plaza and watched Kasim’s window. There was no movement inside, and Judd worried that the men from the black market had returned. He was also concerned about the stolen sword. Would Kasim try to use it on Carpathia? Judd tried the apartment several times throughout the morning but didn’t get an answer.
At the end of Mr. Stein’s talk, a few came forward to pray. Many left muttering about “the crazy Judah-ites.” Mr. Stein asked Lionel and Sam to take the new believers back to General Zimmerman’s home. Judd excused himself and walked toward the main stage. Huge towers held giant speakers that would boom the music and speeches to an expected two million people.
Judd noticed metal detectors on both sides of the stage and GC security guards milling along the sides, watching the crowd. Sound technicians and camera operators ran across the stage checking cables and microphones.
Judd walked through the crowd to the front and spotted someone underneath the stage. The man moved slowly toward the back. Judd shielded his eyes from the sun and shouted, “Kasim!”
The man turned and Judd cringed. It was a member of the GC sound crew. “Sorry. Thought you were somebody else.”
Judd went back through the crowd to Kasim’s apartment. He buzzed again, but there was still no answer.
Lionel and Sam were amazed at the new believers. Each had been searching for the truth and had prayed that God would show it to them at the Gala. When they arrived at General Zimmerman’s house, the General offered to let them stay and learn about God while they were in Jerusalem.
As Lionel and Sam were about to go, the General pulled them aside. “You’ve probably heard what happened to my famous neighbor.”
“Dr. Rosenzweig?” Lionel said.
“Yes. He was taken away by ambulance yesterday morning. He could not get out of bed. Couldn’t speak. He is better, but they think it was a stroke.”
“That’s awful,” Lionel said. “What’ll happen to him?”
“He may be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.”
Judd found a place where he could see the stage and Kasim’s apartment window. The first act of the Gala opening was a Latin band. Dancers in tight costumes writhed to the earsplitting music. When the band finished, a man in GC garb rushed to a microphone and screamed the motto printed behind him: “One World, One Truth: Individual Freedom for All!”
The crowd repeated the sentence again and again, and people jumped into each other. The man at the microphone said, “Potentate Carpathia is scheduled to arrive within the hour!” People screamed and shouted, and Judd had to hold his ears.
“Would you please help me welcome The Four Horsemen!”
Judd watched a huge video monitor to his left as the popular rock ’n’ roll band ran onstage. People filled the plaza and spilled around behind the stage and into alleys and empty parking lots. The crowd was like an ocean, rising and falling with movement. Some at the front held up their hands and started a wave, and quickly those behind them picked up the cue and continued it to the back.
As the sky gradually darkened, Judd watched Peacekeepers moving around the edges of the crowd. How could they possibly keep control of this many people? Security at the side of the stage sent each musician and dancer through metal detectors.
When Z-Van and The Four Horsemen finished, Judd noticed a weird sound. At first he thought it was coming from the speakers; then he saw paper flying in circles atop the crowd. A line of helicopters appeared over the buildings, and the people erupted. The choppers landed on either end of the stage, and all ten regional potentates and several other dignitaries trotted onstage.
Carpathia was an evil, but brilliant man. He had divided the world into ten regions, each with its own supreme leader, or potentate. With the increasing death and destruction around the world, Carpathia looked to these leaders to keep their regions under control.
As the potentates hurried to their spots onstage, GC security forces followed and formed a half circle around the podium.
When everyone was in place, a final chopper arrived, carrying Nicolae Carpathia. The crowd went wild as he walked onstage and shook hands with the invited guests. When he sat in a chair that looked like a throne, the others sat.
Carpathia rose again and again as the applause and cheers continued. Judd noticed the security staff standing straight, eyes forward, not smiling or talking. They were focused on protecting their leader with their very lives.
To conserve the laptop battery, Vicki and the others listened to the radio in the Suburban. They searched for the clearest signal and found that every station aired what came from Jerusalem.
Leon Fortunato spoke first. “Welcome, fellow citizens of the new world.” The crowd screamed with delight.
Darrion shook her head. “The population’s been cut in half and we’re supposed to party.”
Fortunato said he would introduce each regional potentate. “But first, to seek the blessing of the great god of nature, I call upon the assistant to the supreme pontiff of Eni
gma Babylon One World Faith, who also has an announcement. Please welcome Deputy Pontiff Francesca D’Angelo.”
“You think this woman dresses as silly as Peter Mathews?” Shelly said.
The crowd grew deathly quiet, and the kids strained to hear what would come next. It was the voice of Nicolae Carpathia. “You will not remember that I have interrupted,” Nicolae said.
Vicki shivered.
Carpathia’s voice sounded hypnotic. “You are about to hear of a death that will surprise you. It will strike you as old news. You will not care.”
“What’s this all about?” Mark said. “Who died?”
Vicki shook her head. “I wish we could see what’s happening.”
Judd couldn’t believe Carpathia was using his mind-control powers on two million people. He wondered if those watching by satellite would react the same way.
Carpathia sat and Ms. D’Angelo said, “Before I pray to the great one-gender deity in whom we all rest and who also rests in all of us, I have an announcement. Pontifex Maximus Peter the Second died suddenly earlier today. He was overtaken by a highly contagious virus that made it necessary that he be cremated. Our condolences to his loved ones. A memorial service will be held tomorrow morning at this site. Now let us pray.”
Judd couldn’t move. Peter the Second was dead? So Mac McCullum had been right. Carpathia had somehow killed Mathews.
The people around Judd acted as if nothing had happened. The crowd politely applauded Ms. D’Angelo’s prayer, then cheered each subpotentate and their speeches—which all seemed the same to Judd. Finally, Leon Fortunato introduced the man of the hour, Nicolae Carpathia.
The roar from the crowd was the biggest yet as Carpathia waved at the masses with both hands and walked back and forth onstage. Judd shook his head and looked away. He spotted someone near a stairway that led to metal detectors. As the crowd cheered on, the man turned. It was Kasim.
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JUDD did a double take. The man near the stage wore a robe and a turban over his head, but Judd was sure it was Kasim. Judd didn’t see the laser, but the robe was roomy enough to easily hide it.
Judd hustled into the cheering crowd. Onstage, Carpathia moved back and forth, making sure the cameras caught his smile. Nicolae was now thirty-six, and if Judd didn’t know who he really was, he would have thought him charming.
Judd looked over the heads of those in front of him, trying to keep an eye on Kasim. The ovation for Carpathia lasted several minutes. He calmed the crowd just as Judd made it to the edge of the stage.
Kasim was gone.
Vicki couldn’t believe how one man could talk so effortlessly for forty-five minutes. She thought listening to the radio would be boring, but he was able to keep their attention with only his voice.
Carpathia spoke about the difficulties of living in a world that faced death and catastrophe and “nature’s worst.” He became emotional when he talked about the many who had died, and he expressed grief for those who had lost friends and family members.
“Give me a break,” Mark grumbled.
The crowd responded to every sentence, every phrase with long periods of applause and shouts of support. As the speech continued, Carpathia seemed to get more and more energized.
“Around this vast plaza you see these words on lampposts and walls and fences: ‘Today Is the First Day of the Rest of Utopia.’ I commit to you here tonight that I will do everything in my power to bring you Utopia. We will see perfection in society, in politics, and in everyday life.”
The crowd went into a frenzy and Carpathia again called for quiet. “Our goal over the last three and one half years has been to unite the world. We have done that with our currency. We have built a one-world communications system. We have even brought people of different faiths together under one banner of religious thought.
“Look behind me. ‘One World, One Truth: Individual Freedom for All’ is not just a slogan. We have made it a living, breathing reality.”
Judd frantically looked around for Kasim. He squinted into the darkness under the stage. It was ten feet high and there was plenty of room to hide, but GC Peacekeepers stood nearby.
Judd moved a few paces and noticed a Peacekeeper watching him, so when Carpathia finished a sentence, Judd clapped and whistled with the rest of the crowd.
As Nicolae neared the end of his speech, he leaned against the side of the podium with one hand, crossed his feet at the ankles, and put his other fist on his hip. When the camera zoomed in on the man’s face, the crowd reacted to his arrogant look with whistles and more applause. They knew he was about to make a bold statement.
Carpathia held the pose for almost a minute, then stepped behind the podium and gripped it with both hands. “Tomorrow morning, as you can see on your program, we will reassemble near the Temple Mount. There we shall establish the authority of the Global Community over ev-er-y geographic location.”
As cheers rose behind him, Judd slipped back into the crowd and moved to his left. He had to find Kasim.
“Regardless who is proclaiming this or warning that or taking credit for all manner of attacks on this city, this area, this state … I will personally put an end to the religious terrorism perpetrated by two murderous impostors. I, for one, am tired of superstitious oppression, tired of drought, tired of bloody water. I am tired of pompous so-called prophecies, of gloom and doom, and of pie in the sky by and by!”
The crowd reacted to Carpathia’s energy and seemed to gain momentum as the evil world leader continued. Judd pushed and shoved the cheering people and scanned faces. He stood on the edge of the sidewalk and spotted Kasim thirty feet away, staring straight at Carpathia. Kasim didn’t cheer, clap, or respond in any way. Judd rushed toward his friend.
As the noise died, Carpathia roared, “If the Jerusalem Twosome does not cease and desist tomorrow, I shall not rest until I have personally dealt with them. And once that is accomplished, we shall dance in the streets!”
Only two people now stood between Judd and Kasim. Judd pushed a man out of the way as the crowd rushed toward the stage. Two million voices rose as one. “Nicolae, Nicolae, Nicolae!”
Kasim reached inside his robe.
“Have fun tonight!” Nicolae shouted over the noise. “Indulge yourselves! But sleep well so tomorrow we can enjoy the party that shall have no end!” Carpathia stood near the edge of the stage, waving, smiling, and soaking in the praise of the crowd.
A few feet from him, Kasim wrestled to break free of the surging mob. Several people screaming Nicolae’s name pushed Judd forward. As Kasim pulled a metal object from his robe, Judd jumped on him, and the two rolled beneath the stage. Kasim struggled to stand, but Judd held him down.
Kasim was alive with rage. “You’re trying to save that madman’s life?”
Judd clamped his hand over Kasim’s mouth and whispered, “I’m trying to save your life. Put that away.”
Peacekeepers tried to push the crowd back from the stage. Judd grabbed Kasim’s robe and the two ran out the back of the stage. The thwock, thwock, thwock of helicopters sounded in the distance.
Carpathia walked down the steps to the landing area. Leon Fortunato quickly knelt and waved his arms at Carpathia as if in worship. Thousands in the crowd did the same. They dropped to the ground and acted like Carpathia was a god.
“Are you happy?” Kasim said. “You’re letting him get away!”
“What were you going to do? Throw that laser at him?”
Kasim put his hand on the sword’s handle. “This weapon will fulfill the prophecy.”
Judd shook his head. “No, it won’t. You’re going to give it to me right now.”
“You know what’s going to happen tomorrow?
” Kasim seethed. “He’s going to kill Eli and Moishe!”
“Give it to me!”
Kasim pulled the silver handle from his robe and let it drop to the ground with a clank. Judd stooped to pick it up. When he stood, Kasim had run into the swarm of people.
/> Lionel and Sam helped with the new believers until late in the evening. Three teenagers had prayed with Mr. Stein, and Lionel made sure they knew about the Young Tribulation Force and their Web site. “You’ll really grow if you check in with us daily and read your Bible.”
Judd came in the back door and went up the stairs. Lionel excused himself and followed. He found Judd in General Zimmerman’s weapon room.
Judd told Lionel what had happened with Kasim and pulled out the laser. Before he put it in the empty glass case, he held it out and told Lionel to stand back.
“It looks like something out of a sci-fi movie,” Lionel said.
Judd turned the laser on, and immediately a thin beam of orange light appeared. Judd grabbed a cloth from a nearby table and tossed it in the air. He let it land on the beam, but the cloth tore in half and fell to the floor, the edges burned.
“Wow, this would have put an end to Carpathia,” Judd said. He turned off the laser and put it in its case.
Sam ran into the room. “Meeting downstairs. Mr. Stein wants to see us all.”
Mr. Stein welcomed the new believers and had everyone introduce themselves and tell where they were from. When they were finished, Mr. Stein led in prayer and thanked God for their new friends.
“I have asked God for wisdom about tomorrow. This will be a very difficult experience for all of us, and I would not require you to attend, but I believe it is important that we witness what happens at the Wailing Wall.
“To understand the grace and goodness of God, we must consider the suffering of his followers. If Jesus had not been crucified, there would be no resurrection. And the same goes for our beloved Eli and Moishe.”
Mr. Stein took Judd, Lionel, and Sam aside later. “I am going to go to the Wailing Wall tonight and stand watch with the witnesses. You are welcome to come.”
Vicki was exhausted after their day at the new hideout. Mark had found a large piece of plywood and nailed it over the broken window. Conrad had worked on the solar panels after Carpathia’s opening message. “The broadcast from the Wailing Wall won’t begin until early in the morning. We should have enough power to watch it on TV.”
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