Stung

by Jerry B. Jenkins

  Love,

  Nada

  Judd handed the note to Lionel. Lionel read it and shook his head.

  “Don’t say it,” Judd said.

  “Man, I told you—”

  Judd grabbed the note and stuck it in his pocket. “I don’t need that right now.”

  The door opened and Jamal stepped in. His face was grim. “I have made a difficult decision. Your presence here is not good for my family. I will have to ask you to leave.”

  “Can’t we talk about this?” Judd said.

  Jamal held up a hand. “I have made my decision.”

  28

  VICKI and the others were amazed by how fast the snow melted. The river rose just as quickly. Conrad sealed the outside entrance to the underground tunnel. Shelly asked if they should move to higher ground.

  “It would have to rise another ten feet before we’d have to move,” Mark said.

  The generator finally began working late Saturday night. Mark checked their e-mail messages. There was nothing from Judd or Lionel, but he did find two messages from Carl Meninger. Mark opened the first, the one he had been reading when the computer had gone dead.

  Carl wrote that he had been released from the hospital in South Carolina and was ready to visit Mark. “I’ll take a military transport and get as close to Chicago as I can. Just give me the word.”

  Mark opened the second e-mail, which had been written the night before. I want to take a flight soon, but I haven’t heard from you, Carl wrote. Are you still alive? Has something happened? Please contact me as soon as possible. Carl included a phone number at the bottom of the e-mail.

  Mark picked up the phone, but Conrad stopped him. “I still don’t like this,” Conrad said. “I know you want to hear about John, but this might be a GC trap.”

  “I told you I was going to be careful,” Mark said. “I’ll drive a cycle to meet him somewhere away from here. Maybe Indiana.”

  “I think it’s a good idea,” Vicki said. “If this guy Carl isn’t on the level, Mark can find out and get away.”

  Mark dialed the number and asked for Carl. He went into the next room to talk and returned in a few minutes.

  “Carl’s not there,” Mark said. “His roommate said he took a transport flight early this morning. He thought something had happened and wanted to find me.”

  “Just what we need,” Conrad said, “the GC looking for our hideout.”

  “Did he say where he was headed?” Vicki said.

  Mark shook his head. “It could take him a while and a few different planes to get close. One thing’s for sure: he’s not coming to Chicago.”

  “Why not?” Vicki said.

  “There are reports of big-time radiation downtown,” Mark said.

  Vicki gasped. “Nuclear?”

  Conrad scratched his head. “I don’t remember Chicago getting hit with any nukes.”

  “Whether they did or didn’t isn’t the point,” Mark said. “The GC and everybody else are staying as far away from it as they can.” Mark typed a response on e-mail. “Carl’s supposed to check this every day.”

  “What are you telling him?” Vicki said.

  “As soon as he gets close, I’m on my way.”

  Judd, Lionel, and Samuel ate breakfast Sunday morning and waited.

  Samuel talked about his father and the possibility of seeing him again. “I want you to call me Sam. It’s what my friends call me.”

  Lionel brought Judd up to date on the warming center Jamal had set up downstairs. “A lot of those people seem interested in learning more,” Lionel said, “but Jamal is cautious. He doesn’t want to alert the GC.”

  Jamal’s wife brought them food and gave Judd a pained look when he tried to talk with her.

  “We don’t have money,” Judd said. “Where are we supposed to go?”

  Jamal’s wife shook her head but didn’t speak.

  Judd wrote a quick note to the kids in Illinois. He explained their situation, leaving out the part about Nada.

  “What are we going to do when he kicks us out?” Lionel said.

  “He can’t kick us out,” Judd said.

  Sam said, “You have to understand how important family is to Jamal. You have offended him.”

  “But we’re spiritual brothers,” Judd said.

  “True,” Sam said, “and I’m new to this so I don’t understand everything, but you have offended him. You have come between him and his daughter. That is not good.”

  Judd felt helpless. Since the disappearances he had been a take-charge person. When a problem came up, he solved it. Sometimes not the best way, but he acted. Now he was at the mercy of someone else. Someone who didn’t trust him.

  “You have to tell me,” Lionel said when he got Judd alone. “Do you have feelings for Nada?”

  Judd looked down. “I don’t know. I mean, she’s easy to talk to. I like her as a friend. She’s got a heart for God—”

  “And she’s a knockout,” Lionel added, “but that has nothing to do with it.”

  Judd blushed. “Jamal has been good to us. I can’t go against him. Besides, I don’t think this is the time to start a romance.”

  “Especially when there’s someone waiting back in the States.”

  “What do you mean?” Judd said.

  Lionel frowned. “You know exactly what and who I mean. Vicki.”

  “No way,” Judd said. “We fight too much.”

  “You’re different from her,” Lionel said. “You’re supposed to be.”

  Judd put a finger to his lips. Voices in the next room. The phone rang. Lots of activity.

  “I’ve got a feeling we’re moving,” Lionel said. “And you’d better write a note to Nada.”

  Vicki and the others were up early Sunday morning. Mark packed food and a change of clothes and checked on the motorcycles. Only one worked since the freeze. The rest of the morning was spent preparing for the worship service. The kids didn’t know many songs, but they typed up the ones they knew and put them on the computer screen.

  They took turns reading verses from the Bible and telling what God was teaching them. Melinda and Charlie seemed to listen closely. Janie sighed a lot and stared out the window.

  When it was Vicki’s turn, she pulled up news coverage the kids hadn’t seen. “I got up early to find out what happened with Nicolae and the witnesses. Carpathia made a deal and promised safety for those who believe the message of Tsion Ben-Judah.”

  “So it was Nicolae that made it happen,” Janie said.

  Vicki smiled. “He may have made a deal, but it was God who lifted the judgment from us.”

  Janie rolled her eyes.

  Vicki pulled out a sheet of paper. “I found something interesting on Tsion’s Web site this morning. It proves my point that we have a lot to learn from the Bible, but we also have to be students of what’s happening around us. Tsion says the next judgment from God will be the most dramatic yet.”

  “How could it get more dramatic than a worldwide earthquake?” Darrion said.

  “I’ll read you what Tsion says,” Vicki said. “Because of the proven truth of Luke 21, I urge all, believers and unbelievers alike, to train your eyes on the skies. I believe this is the message from the two witnesses.”

  “I don’t get it,” Shelly said.

  Vicki pulled up the computer video of the Meeting of the Witnesses. Tsion Ben-Judah cleared his throat and began. “This passage warns that once the earth has been darkened by a third, three terrible woes will follow. These are particularly ominous, so much so that they will be announced from heaven in advance.”

  Vicki moved the video forward and said, “We’ve just been through that judgment. Now Eli and Moishe come up from behind him and read the Scripture Tsion had picked out.”

  Vicki’s voice caught when she saw the two prophets standing directly behind Tsion. It was like watching something from a biblical movie, only this was real.

  Moishe recited the text without looking at a Bible. “‘And I
beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!’”

  Vicki paused the clip.

  “What does all that mean?” Melinda said.

  “It means you don’t want to wait another minute to make your decision about God,” Shelly said. “This next thing that’s coming is going to be awful.”

  “You’re just trying to scare us,” Janie said.

  Melinda looked hard at Janie. “I don’t think so. They’ve been right about everything so far.”

  Judd gave Sam the note and asked him to slip it under Nada’s door when no one was looking. Sam returned, shaking his head. Jamal walked in behind him.

  “Come with me,” Jamal said.

  “Do you want us to get our stuff together?” Lionel said.

  Jamal turned. “Just follow me.”

  “Wait,” Judd said. “Before we go I’d like to speak with your daughter.”

  Jamal stared at Judd.

  “I know how you feel,” Judd said, “but this might be my last chance to talk with her.”

  Jamal opened the door to Nada’s room and called her. Nada walked out, her head down. “Two minutes,” he said sternly.

  Judd looked at Sam and Lionel. The two walked into the hallway.

  “I got your note,” Judd said.

  “It was foolish of me,” Nada said. “I should never—”

  “It was sweet,” Judd said. “You’re so easy to talk to. It was like instant friendship between us.”

  “But you don’t feel the same for me?” Nada said, finally looking at Judd. Nada had deep brown eyes and brown hair that touched her shoulders.

  “I don’t know how I feel, especially if your dad is making us go away,” Judd said.

  “I’ll go with you,” Nada said.

  “We only have a minute,” Judd said. “I just wanted to let you know I care about you. I’m not sure if this goes deeper than friendship or not, or if this is the time to—”

  “You don’t have to say anything more,” Nada interrupted.

  “Please,” Judd said, “I want you as part of the Young Trib Force no matter what happens.”

  “How can you hope to fight the Global Community when you won’t even stand up to my father?”

  Judd rubbed his forehead. “Right now the best thing for me to do is honor your father’s wishes. Then, at some point, I hope—”

  “Go,” Nada said. “Just go.”

  Nada turned and retreated to her room, crying.

  Jamal took him by the arm and led him into the hall. “You will have no further contact with her,” he said.

  Judd didn’t argue. He followed the others to the small car and got in the backseat. They stopped at a house that looked familiar. When the front door opened, Judd realized it was the home of Yitzhak, the man who had first helped them when they had arrived in Jerusalem. Yitzhak warmly greeted them, hugged Sam tightly, and ushered them into the dimly lit living room.

  A bearded man sat in the shadows. His face seemed to glow.

  “It is good to see you,” the man said.

  “Mr. Stein?” Lionel said, moving closer.

  “Yes, it is me,” Mr. Stein said, and he hugged Judd and Lionel. Judd introduced Sam and told Mr. Stein what had happened with Sam’s father.

  Mr. Stein put a hand on Sam’s shoulder. “We will be your family now. Perhaps your father will come around. We will leave that to God.”

  “Would you speak with him, sir?” Sam said.

  “When the chance comes, I will speak with him.”

  Mr. Stein asked them to sit. “My time away was incredible. Yitzhak and I were up until all hours of the night studying, praying. I would wake up after only two or three hours of sleep and be ready to go again.”

  Yitzhak laughed. “I wanted to give him sleeping pills.”

  “Were you affected by the cold?” Lionel said.

  Mr. Stein smiled. “It was like living in a refrigerator, but God kept our hearts warm. He has confirmed to me that I am one of his witnesses. I believe I have been given a special mission.”

  Judd looked at Yitzhak. Had Mr. Stein gone over the edge? “What kind of mission?”

  “In our cabin was a huge map of the world,” Mr. Stein said. “I was drawn to it. I kept looking at the different countries, wondering what God was saying to me.

  “I believe God has selected me to travel to a group of people I have never heard of and have never seen.”

  “What?” Judd said.

  “I prayed in front of that map every day. Sometimes for hours. Last night I had a dream. I was floating toward the ground. A huge desert stretched before me. And then I saw a river and people, hundreds of them, thousands who had no contact with the outside world.

  “They wore strange clothing and talked in a language I have never heard. I asked, ‘Who are these people?’ I sensed I was being called to tell them the gospel.”

  “What country is it?” Lionel said.

  Mr. Stein smiled. “I don’t know. I can only surmise it is somewhere in Africa. I am leaving tomorrow.”

  “What?” Judd said. “How are you going to go if you don’t know what country they’re in? How will you talk without an interpreter? A trip like that could take weeks, even months.”

  Mr. Stein stroked his beard. “I gave my word to God that I would make myself available. If this is what he wants me to do, I know he will make the way clear to me.”

  “The GC took all your cash!” Judd said. “How will you—”

  “I have some,” Yitzhak said. “It should be enough to at least get you there.”

  “Wait,” Judd said. “You need to plan this better.”

  “I do not know how much longer before the next judgment,” Mr. Stein said. “I must go as soon as possible.”

  Jamal looked at Mr. Stein. “There is one other thing, correct?”

  “Oh yes,” Mr. Stein said. “In the vision I was not alone. There was someone beside me the whole time.”

  “Who?” Lionel said.

  Mr. Stein turned. “It was you, Judd. I believe God wants you to come with me.”

  29

  JUDD blinked. It was one thing for Mr. Stein to go off the deep end, but another to drag him along. “You want me to go?” Judd said.

  Mr. Stein turned to Jamal. “I understand from Yitzhak that my friends have caused trouble in your home.”

  Jamal looked at the floor. “My daughter won’t speak to me. My wife is upset. I am in a difficult position.”

  “If you will care for Lionel and Samuel while we are gone, I promise to take full responsibility when I return.”

  “And when would that be?” Jamal said.

  Mr. Stein sighed. “I do not even know where I am going, much less when I will return. I suppose we could find another—”

  “No,” Jamal said, “leave them with me. Before we came here I heard about an important job. I think they can help.” He put out his hand. “We will pray for your safety and that God will be glorified through this.”

  “Thank you,” Mr. Stein said. He turned to Judd. “Are you willing to go?”

  Judd closed his eyes and breathed a prayer. “If this is really what God wants you to do, and I’m supposed to be part of it, I’ll go.”

  Judd slept at Yitzhak’s home and awakened early the next day. Though Nicolae Carpathia had promised that believers in Christ could move about freely, they didn’t want to take any chances. Mr. Stein had his photo taken, and a new fake passport was made for him.

  Monday afternoon they pooled the money they needed and traveled to the airport. Yitzhak drove Mr. Stein and Judd and hugged them both.

  “May you have great success!” Yitzhak shouted over the roar of a jet engine.

  Judd and Mr. Stein waved and walked through the GC security.

  Monday morning in Illinois, Vicki set up the room for the first day of classes since t
he judgment. Melinda hobbled into the room and put her foot on a chair. “Figured I’d get here early to get a good seat,” Melinda said.

  Conrad came into the room, shaking his head.

  “What’s up?” Vicki said.

  “It’s that safe I found in the bell tower,” Conrad said. “I poured water in the lock and left it outside in the cold. Thought the freeze might bust it. Nothing. I’ve drilled a hole in the lock, tried to saw it off. It simply won’t open.”

  “Forget the lock and work on the box,” Melinda said.

  “It’s solid steel,” Conrad said. “This thing was made more than a hundred years ago, and it was made to last.”

  Vicki counted heads as the others came into the room. “Where’s Janie?”

  “I saw her after breakfast,” Shelly said. “Said she was going for a walk to meditate.”

  “Okay,” Vicki said, “we’d better get started.”

  Vicki pulled together material from Tsion Ben-Judah’s Web site. She also included much of the daytime teaching the kids had recorded from the Meeting of the Witnesses.

  When lunchtime came, the kids took a break. Mark checked for a message from Carl but found none. While the others ate, he went outside. A few minutes later he returned out of breath and took Vicki aside. “Janie’s not back, and I’ve looked all around the house and by the river.”

  “This is her choice,” Vicki said. “I can’t make her study with us. Besides, the class went better without her. Charlie and Melinda are actually paying attention.”

  “That’s not the point,” Mark said. “What if she wanders off and the GC find her?”

  “We can’t baby-sit her—”

  “But she could lead them back here,” Mark said. “You know she’d trade her freedom for a chance to watch some music videos.”

  Vicki stared out the window. She had known it would be a risk allowing Janie into the schoolhouse. She had hoped the girl would be a believer by now.

  “I feel like this is my responsibility,” Mark said. “I was the one who brought her here.”