by Tim LaHaye
The news anchor intoned that further investigation revealed pilot error on the part of Captain Mac McCullum and that a New Babylon–based loadmaster had warned the crew of a cargo weight-and-balance problem and had begged them not to take off.
Buck knew he should dread what was coming, but having felt the presence of God at the King David, he was filled with courage. He didn’t know how he and Chaim were going to avoid detection or what might happen once Carpathia had initiated his awful deed. He only wished he detected some evidence that Chaim had derived the same confidence from what had happened while they were on their knees.
David and the others in the van listened to Suhail Akbar’s conclusions on the radio as Leah followed careful directions and pulled to within sight of the landing strip outside Mizpe Ramon. David was moved by the shock and sadness in the voice of Tiffany, his assistant, as she was interviewed about him. He wished he could tell her he was all right, but he feared some might already suspect that.
He embraced Rayford, shook hands with Albie, and introduced Hannah all around. As the rest were briefed on plans wholly dependent on the unpredictable Carpathia, David was pointed to Rayford’s quarters, where he cleared a table and set up his computer to monitor Chang Wong’s success at keeping up with the potentate.
The young man had succeeded in getting the latest copy of Carpathia’s itinerary. It showed a meeting including NC, LF, WM, SA, and LH on the FX at 1000 hours. “I know that’s now,” Chang reported, “but I’m lost after the initials for the four we know. Help?”
“I don’t know LH either,” David wrote back, “but come on, smart boy. Go phonetic and assume FX is the Phoenix and patch me in there.”
“I’ve got the Akbar press conference downloaded. You want that first?”
“Priorities, man! The press conference was broadcast internationally.”
David rustled through his bag for earphones and was slipping them on just as Chang made the connection to the Phoenix. He felt the ambience of the idle plane, and Chang transmitted an inset screen listing GC replacements for David, Mac, and Abdullah. “A. Figueroa for you,” Chang wrote. “Know him? Apparently they’re not replacing Nurse Palemoon. Still no idea who LH is.”
“No need to prolong this meeting with Hut.” That was clearly Carpathia. “Get on with it.”
“Right away, Excellency,” Moon said. “Leon, uh, Reverend Fortunato would like to update you on the image and the animal.”
“I just saw him. Where is he?”
“The head, sir. Feeling some discomfort.”
“What is the problem?”
“I don’t know.”
“He was sitting right here a moment ago, Walter.”
“Squirming.”
“About what?”
“I’m sorry, sir. I—”
“Well, find out, would you? And get Akbar and Hut in here now.”
David heard Moon on a walkie-talkie, directing someone to “let Akbar and Hut board. And have the purser check on Reverend Fortunato.”
“Come back?”
“Fortunato. First-class can.”
Carpathia roared with laughter in the background. “An apt description, Mr. Moon!”
“I didn’t mean that, sir. I was just—”
“Can we get on with this, Walter? Should Fortunato not find his way back here, what is he going to tell me about the image and the animal?”
“He didn’t tell me, Lordship, but he seemed very excited.”
“Until he went to the bathroom in discomfort.”
“Exactly.”
After a few seconds of silence, Carpathia barked, “Walter, tell Suhail if he does not have his new man aboard in thirty seconds—”
“Supreme Potentate Carpathia, sir, Security and Intelligence Director Suhail Akbar of Pakistan and Global Community Morale Monitor Chief Loren Hut of Canada.”
Akbar said, “Forgive the delay, Potentate, but—”
“Sit, both of you. Director Akbar, where did you find this tall specimen and why is he not still a rodeo cowboy in Calgary?”
David noticed that Carpathia had pronounced the city with emphasis on the second syllable, just like the locals.
“I enjoy ropin’ dissidents more,” the young man said.
Carpathia laughed. “I was not speaking to you, Chief Hut, but—”
“Sorry.”
“—you saved yourself with that answer. Got everything you need?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Yes, Potentate,” Carpathia corrected. “Sir will not cut it when addressing your risen—”
“Absolutely, Excellency, Lordship, Potentate. I was told. I just misspoke there.”
“You would mock me?”
“No, sir! Potentate!”
“I asked you a question.”
“I would not mock—”
“Whether you have what you need, imbecile! Honestly, Director Akbar, this is the best we could do?”
“He is quite accomplished and decorated, Excellency, and merely too intimidated in your presence to exhibit the loyalty he’s known for.”
“Indeed?”
“Yes, sir, Potentate. I’m loyal to you and always have been.”
“And you worship me?”
“Whenever I can.”
Carpathia chuckled. “Is every Morale Monitor armed, Hut?”
“Here in Israel, yes, they are. And everywhere else, they will be by the end of next week.”
“Why the delay?”
“The sheer numbers. But we have the weapons. It’s just a matter of getting ’em to everyone.”
“Your top priority is here, Hut. You understand that.”
“Absolutely.”
“And then it is to arm every one of your troops.”
“Yes.”
“What is the male-female ratio among the monitors?”
“About sixty-forty males, Excellency.”
“About?”
“It’s almost exactly fifty-eight to forty-two.”
“Excellent. Leon! You are back!”
“Forgive me, Lordship.”
“Sit, please. Meet—”
“I’d rather stand, if you don’t mind, Excellency. And I have met Mr. Hut. Impressive young man.”
“Yes, well, I am glad you find him so. I will decide for myself by the end of next week when I learn whether he has accomplished his task. And I will be interested to know how he handles incorrigibles here.”
“In Israel, sir, Potentate?” Hut said.
“That is what ‘here’ would mean, yes.”
“I just can’t imagine anybody givin’ you a problem here, but if they do—”
David heard Carpathia suck in a breath. “Yes!” he hissed. “Tell me, Hut, what you have in store for people who would be so impudent as to oppose me here in the Holy City.”
“They would be immediately apprehended and incarcerated!”
“Wrong!” Carpathia shouted. “Wrong answer! Akbar, I swear, if you do not—”
David could hear Akbar whispering urgently. Then an earnest Loren Hut: “I would have them killed, Potentate. On the spot. Or I would kill them myself!”
“And how would you do this?”
“Probably shoot them.”
“Where?”
“In the street. In public. In front of everybody.”
“I mean, where on their body?”
“Their body?”
“Where would you shoot them?” Carpathia was speaking quickly now, his delivery liquid, as if savoring the mere thought.
“In the heart or in the head, Potentate, for a sure kill.”
“Yes! No! You have how many rounds in your personal side arm?”
“Me? I’m carryin’ a semiautomatic handgun with a nine-round clip.”
“Use it all!”
“All?”
“Start with the hands. First one, and when they grab it, the other. As they scream and dance and turn and try to flee, shoot first one foot, then the other.”
“I
see.”
“Do you? As they lie howling and others abandon them in fear, you still have five rounds, do you not?”
“Yes.” Hut sounded terrified.
“Both knees, each shoulder. Particularly painful. Make them change their mind, Hut. Make them say they love me and that they are sorry they opposed me. And you know what to do with the final round.”
“Heart?”
“A cliché! No creativity!” David heard the leather seat squeak and imagined Carpathia shifting to act this out. “You put the hot muzzle of the weapon to their forehead, right where their mark should be. And you ask if they are prepared to pledge their loyalty. And even if they scream to the heavens that they have seen the light, you give them their own mark. It will be the only round they do not hear or feel. And then what?”
“And then?”
“What do you do, Hut? With a dead victim at your feet, nine rounds in or through the body, surely you do not leave the carcass in the street.”
“No, I’d have him hauled off.”
“To the guillotine!”
“Sir? Potentate?”
“The price of disloyalty is the head, Hut!”
“But they are—”
“Already dead, of course. But the world is clear on the choice and the consequence, friend. Dead or not, a disloyal citizen sacrifices his head.”
“All right.”
“Did you know, Hut, that when a live victim is beheaded, the heart can continue to beat for more than half an hour?”
Apparently Hut was stunned to silence.
“It is true. That is a medical fact. Well, we would not be able to test it with a victim you riddled with bullets, would we?”
“No.”
“But one day we will get the chance. I look forward to it. Do you?”
“No.”
“You do not? I hope you are not too timid for your job, son.”
“I’m not. I’ll shoot your bad guys and chop their heads off, but I don’t need to check the other victims to see if their—”
“Do you not? I do! This is life and death, Hut! Nothing is purer! I have come to give life! But to the one who chooses to place his loyalty elsewhere? Well, he has chosen death. What could be so stark, so clear, so black-and-white?”
“I understand, Potentate.”
“Do you?”
“I think so.”
“You will.”
“Yes.”
“Now go. Big week ahead. Be prepared.”
David, chilled and disgusted, scribbled himself a note. It would be just like Carpathia to milk this for days.
He heard Carpathia tell Moon to see Akbar and Hut out and to leave him alone with Fortunato. “Excuse us for a moment, would you?” he said to others apparently attending to them in the cabin. After a beat, “Leon, do you not agree that fear is a form of worship?”
“In your case, certainly, Excellency. The fear of our god is the beginning of wisdom.”
“I like that. Biblical, is it not?”
“Yes, Lordship.”
“Sit, Leon, please!”
“I’d like to, but—well, all right.”
Leon let out a tiny cry as he settled.
“What is it, my friend? Food disagreeing with you?”
“No, excuse me, but—”
Carpathia snickered. “A true friend feels free to scratch himself in front of his risen potentate.”
“I am so sorry, Excellency.”
“Think nothing of it. You are in such discomfort because your hip itches?”
“I’m afraid it’s more than that, sir. But I’d rather not—”
“Bring me up-to-date on your assignments, then.”
“The animal is in place.”
“You may feel free to call it what it is, Leon.”
“The pig.”
“Oh, I hear it is much more than a pig. A hog! A sow! A huge, ugly, snorting, smelly beast.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I cannot wait to see it.”
“Anytime you wish.”
“Well, I am due aboard her not long from now, am I not?”
“Yes, sir. But you would have slipped off.”
“Would have?”
“I had a saddle made for you, Excellency.”
“Leon! You do not say! A saddle for a pig?”
“And the biggest pig I’ve ever seen.”
“I should hope so! How did you do it?”
“People are happy to serve you, Potentate.”
“It must be wide.”
“I worry you will feel as if you are doing the splits.”
“You look as if you would like to, Leon. Stand if you must. There you go! And yes! Scratch if you must!”
“I’m so sorry, Excellency.”
“Why, you are wriggling like a schoolboy at his first dance!”
“Forgive me, I’d better head back to the—”
“Go then, by all means. What is it? A bite? An itch can be terribly annoying.”
“I wish that’s all it was, Excellency. It’s quite painful too. When I scratch it, it hurts worse. I am miserable.”
“You must have been bitten.”
“Perhaps. Excuse me.”
“Go!”
“I wanted to tell you about the image.”
“And I want to hear it, but I cannot stand to see you in such agony.”
“I will return before you must leave and tell you about it.”
David sat shaking his head. How he wished he could see what was going on. But the theater of the mind was that much better anyway. Carpathia called someone to fetch Walter Moon, and then he had Moon “bring me that costume.”
Moon told him the caravan to Pilate’s court would be leaving inside ten minutes. “Did Reverend Fortunato run down the sites for you?”
“No. He seems to be in considerable discomfort.”
“Still? Well, we go from Pilate’s court to the street. A ways down we have Viv Ivins in place to meet with you as a stand-in for your mother.” David heard the rustle of paper—a map, he assumed. “Here’s where we have a young woman come out and wipe your face; then two stops later you exhort the women of Jerusalem. And then, after Golgotha, you see Viv again, playing your mother. Then it’s on to the Garden Tomb.”
Someone seemed to be making a sound through his teeth, and David couldn’t imagine Moon doing that in front of Carpathia. Finally Nicolae said, “All right, cut out half of these. This part, and that one with Viv, and this, and the one with the young woman and the speech to the women, this one, and the last one with Viv.”
“May I ask—”
“The point is reenacting, Walter. Half of these never happened.”
“We don’t know that. They’re tradi—”
“They never happened. Believe me. I know.”
“You’ll want to change clothes now?”
“As soon as Leon is finished in the—ah, Leon! Feeling better?”
“Sadly, no.”
“So what is it?”
“I’d rather not talk about this with you, sir.”
“Nonsense! So is it a bite?”
“I don’t think so, sir. But it’s large and painful and infected.”
“And it is right there?”
“Yes.” Leon sounded miserable.
“Poor man! A sore on your left—”
“Yes. On my, uh—on my behind.”
Carpathia seemed to be stifling a giggle. “You must tell me about the image.”
“On the way, sir. I was hoping you’d notice.”
“Notice?”
“My mark.”
“Let me see! On your hand! Striking! Two-one-six! Excellent. Thank you, my friend. Does it hurt?”
“I wouldn’t know. Because of the, uh—”
“Yes, well . . .”
“Anyway, I’ll show you the chosen image. It’s life-size and gold and beautiful. And when I had taken the mark of loyalty, I fell before it and worshiped.”
“Bless you, Leon. And
may you heal quickly.”
CHAPTER 3
Hattie knelt in her hotel room in Tel Aviv, thanking God for all she had learned from Tsion Ben-Judah in such a short time. She thanked him for Leah and for Chaim and especially for Buck, whom she had met even before he became a believer. She thanked God for Rayford, who first told her about Christ. She thanked him for Albie who, for some reason, cared so much for her.
As she prayed, she became aware of someone standing in her room. Here she was, one who always checked everywhere before locking herself in. No one else could have been there. Yet the sound of his words made her lower her face to the floor as if in a deep sleep. Suddenly a hand touched her, which made her tremble. And a voice said, “O daughter, you are greatly beloved of God. Understand the words I speak to you, and stand upright, for I have been sent to you.”
Hattie had read Dr. Ben-Judah’s story of being spoken to in a dream, and she stood, shaking. The voice said, “Do not fear, for from the first day you humbled yourself before your God, your words were heard. I have come because of your words.”
“May I know who speaks to me?” Hattie managed.
“I am Michael.”
Hattie was too terrified to say anything eloquent. She said, “What are you supposed to tell me?”
He said, “I have come to make you understand what will happen in these latter days.” Hattie felt so privileged she couldn’t say anything. And Michael added, “O daughter greatly beloved, fear not! Peace be to you; be strong, yes, be strong! Accept not the blasphemy of the evil one and his false prophet. If you are wise, you shall shine like the brightness of the firmament. Those who turn many to righteousness shall shine like the stars forever and ever. Many shall be purified, and made white and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.”
Hattie sat panting. She took the message to mean she was to speak out against the lies of Antichrist. She prayed that God would give her the courage, because she could only imagine what would happen. She couldn’t sleep and asked God if she was deluded. “Why me?” she said. “There are so many older in the faith and better equipped to do such a thing.”
Hattie went to her computer and e-mailed Dr. Tsion Ben-Judah, relaying the entire incident. She set the message to be delivered to him after she would have a chance to confront Carpathia the next day, along the Via Dolorosa, she assumed. She concluded,