Stung

by Jerry B. Jenkins

  “We’ve been through this before,” Mark said. “I’m going to hear him out.”

  Mark searched for the best route to Kankakee, due south of Chicago. Conrad pulled up the latest news, and the others gathered around.

  The top story highlighted a shiny object in the sky. At first, stargazers considered it a shooting star. It had first been seen during nighttime hours in Asia. But this star didn’t streak across the sky or circle the earth.

  A scientist from a leading university said, “Due to the speed of light and the distance from the earth of even the nearest stars, events such as this actually occurred years before and are just being seen now.”

  But the man had to retract that statement a few hours later. Both amateur and professional astronomers agreed this was no ordinary star and certainly not an event that had happened years before. Though the experts couldn’t identify it, they agreed it was falling directly toward Earth. It seemed to emit its own light, as well as reflect light from stars and the sun, depending on the time of day.

  The head of the Global Community Aeronautics and Space Administration, GCASA, said it posed very little threat. “It has every chance of burning up as it hits our atmosphere. But even if it remains intact, it will probably land harmlessly in water. If it doesn’t vaporize, it will no doubt break apart once it hits the earth.”

  Vicki watched the coverage with interest. She flipped open her Bible, then asked if she could use the computer. She scrolled through the text of Tsion Ben-Judah’s message, looking for a clue.

  “What do you make of this?” Conrad said.

  Vicki whirled around. “Get downstairs. We don’t have much time.”

  Early Wednesday morning Judd and Mr. Stein arrived at the camp of the enemy tribe. They had driven to a river and floated in a small boat with the leader and a few others who came with them.

  After docking, they hiked to the camp. Several times they heard weird bird calls. “Those are the scouts sending signals,” Immen said. “They will be waiting for us.”

  “Are you sure about this?” Judd said to Mr. Stein.

  “God has not called us to be careful. He has called us to give the message.”

  A group from the enemy tribe met Judd and the others at the edge of the camp. Judd noticed freshly dug graves nearby and wondered if these people had died from the freeze.

  “I know even less of this language,” Immen said.

  A fierce-looking man from the tribe yelled at them. The others nodded and spoke in agreement. Judd closed his eyes, sure that they would soon be surrounded and killed. But the next voice Judd heard was Mr. Stein’s.

  “We come on behalf of the Prince of Peace,” Mr. Stein said.

  Judd could tell the men were amazed that someone was speaking their own language. A crowd from the village gathered. Before long, hundreds were listening to the gospel message. When he finished, Mr. Stein invited the tribe to pray with him.

  People knelt and lifted their eyes toward heaven. Many wept. The villagers repeated Mr. Stein’s words, though Judd heard what sounded to him like gibberish. When he was finished, Mr. Stein invited the leader of the first tribe to greet the enemy tribe leader. He pointed out the mark of the true believer on their foreheads, and they were both amazed. Two men who had been sworn enemies only minutes before hugged and smiled. Then they hugged Mr. Stein.

  “You are to take this message of love and forgiveness to all who need to hear it,” Mr. Stein said.

  Lionel kept feeding Sam information and Scripture. Like other new believers he had known, Sam was like a sponge. He couldn’t get enough teaching about Jesus and the Bible. Though Sam talked about his father often, Lionel was able to keep him from going to see the man.

  “I think you’ll be able to see him again,” Lionel said, “but it’s too early right now.”

  Nada met secretly with Lionel. They talked about the falling object from space and what it might mean. Their conversation finally turned to Judd.

  “I am worried that he won’t speak with me,” Nada said, “that he’ll be too concerned about my father.”

  “Judd respects your dad, and he’s grateful for what he’s done for us,” Lionel said. “But I won’t let him leave here without having a talk with you.”

  “I want more than a talk,” Nada said. “I want to go to your country. I feel so trapped here. I want to be a part of the Young Tribulation Force.”

  Lionel smiled. “You don’t have to go back to the States to be part of our group. As a matter of fact, you might wind up being more help to us staying here. If it weren’t for you, we probably wouldn’t have gotten Sam out of his dad’s house.”

  Nada’s father knocked on the door. She put a finger to her lips and stood behind it. The door opened, and Jamal handed the phone to Lionel. “Please speak quickly,” Jamal said, “I am waiting for an important call.”

  Lionel took the phone. It was Judd.

  “You won’t believe what’s happened,” Judd said. He explained the adventure he and Mr. Stein had been through.

  “Where are you now?” Lionel said.

  “We’re spending a couple more days here so Mr. Stein can train the new evangelists,” Judd said. “The guy who flew us here is taking us back to Bamako on Sunday. We’re hoping to get a flight into Israel from there. Can you meet us at the airport?”

  “I’ll be there,” Lionel said.

  “Good. I want us to fly to the States from there. We have to get back to the others.”

  “Sounds great,” Lionel said, “but what about money?”

  “God is working,” Judd said. “If he wants us to get home, we’ll get there.”

  When Lionel hung up, he went to the computer.

  “What are you doing?” Nada said.

  “Maybe there’s some way the others can help us get back,” Lionel said.

  Vicki helped Mark load his backpack onto the motorcycle. He said it would take him a day to get to Kankakee, and he wanted to get there early to scope things out before he met with Carl. “Sorry I can’t help with downstairs,” he said.

  “We’ll manage,” Vicki said. “We’ve got the lower room almost sealed off.”

  “Are you sure about what you’re doing down there?” Mark said.

  “No,” Vicki said, “but if I’m right, all this work will pay off.”

  Mark said good-bye to everyone and rode off. Shelly called the others inside. She had just gotten Lionel’s e-mail.

  Conrad slammed some tools down and said, “That’s it. I’m going to get that safe open if it’s the last thing I do.”

  Vicki met with Lenore briefly to make sure she had what she needed. “What are you doing downstairs?” Lenore said.

  “We’re preparing,” Vicki said. “I don’t want to scare you, but I think this judgment will be even worse than the others.”

  Lenore frowned. “Janie said you people were kind of strange when it came to religion.”

  “I’d like to explain what we believe if you’ll let me,” Vicki said.

  Tolan stirred in his crib and started crying. “I need to feed him right now. Maybe later.”

  Vicki went back to the study room, where the kids watched the latest on the falling object. It had landed without doing any damage. The head of GCASA was back at a news conference to explain.

  “The point of impact is in a remote area near the border of Syria and Iraq,” the man said. “We have not been able to locate the object in our aerial studies. It appears to have slipped past the earth’s surface into a deep crevice.”

  A reporter shot up a hand. “Sir, can’t you get teams in there to find it and study it?”

  “It’s impossible to get a vehicle in that area or even get a team in there on foot. Our main concern is what might have been done to the earth’s crust. We haven’t been able to detect a problem at this point, but we want to make sure.”

  Suddenly Vicki and the others felt a tremor. The schoolhouse shook slightly, and then all was calm. “Did you feel that?” Lenore said
as she ran in with her baby. “It’s not another earthquake, is it?”

  The head of GCASA was handed a piece of paper from an aide. “I’ve just received this report and won’t be able to answer any questions. It says there’s been an eruption near the place where the object fell. We have data from different countries coming in that say their sensors went off the scale a few moments ago. Our pilots monitoring the area were blown off course and forced to escape the area.”

  The GCASA leader quickly exited the news conference with reporters screaming questions. A few minutes later, pictures from a news flight showed the beginning of a mushroom cloud a thousand times bigger than anything seen in history.

  “We are now told,” a news anchor reported, “that this object has somehow triggered volcano-like activity deep beneath the surface of the earth’s crust.”

  Judd and Mr. Stein were in the Land Rover when the thick, black cloud rolled across the desert. There was no wind to speak of, but the cloud moved rapidly, blotting out the sun. The thick cloud almost seemed solid as it rolled over the landscape. As it traveled quickly above them, Judd could tell this wasn’t a smoky cloud that thinned as it moved. It was dense and as black as the base of a gasoline fire. From the radio Judd learned that scientists feared the source of the smoke was a huge fire that would eventually rise and shoot flames miles into the air.

  “We must hurry if we hope to get back to Israel by Sunday,” Mr. Stein said.

  33

  MARK arrived in Kankakee, Illinois, Wednesday night. It had been a grueling ride. He found a cheap hotel by the interstate and fell asleep.

  The next morning, he drove to the airport but saw no Global Community officers. An older man at the information desk told him the Global Community had a temporary post set up outside the terminal. The man had no idea when Carl’s flight might arrive.

  Mark kept his distance from the GC. Though Nicolae Carpathia said everyone could travel as they pleased, Mark knew he had to be careful. He saw one officer walk outside to smoke near a chain-link fence. Mark approached him and said hello.

  The man ignored him. His nameplate said “Kolak.”

  “I’m wondering about the transport flight that’s supposed to be here today,” Mark said.

  “Nobody’s supposed to know about those flights,” the officer said.

  “I don’t know what’s on them,” Mark said quickly. “I’ve got a friend coming in from South Carolina who said he’d be here today. I told him I’d pick him up.”

  Kolak blew smoke in Mark’s face and laughed. “Heard there was a flight from down south that got cancelled because of the cloud. Might be here Saturday.”

  “Saturday!?” Mark said.

  “Could be Sunday,” Kolak said. “What’s your friend’s name?”

  Mark didn’t want to give the man too much information, but he also didn’t want the guy to get suspicious.

  “Carl Meninger,” Mark said.

  Kolak threw his cigarette to the ground and smashed it with his foot. “You mean one of the guys on the sub?”

  “I don’t know,” Mark said. “What sub?”

  “Communications guy on the Peacekeeper 1, right?”

  “I guess so,” Mark said.

  “How do you know him?”

  “I had a cousin on that ship,” Mark said. “Carl wanted to talk to me.”

  “Come with me,” Kolak said. He pointed to the gate in the fence.

  Mark hesitated.

  “Well, come on. I want to make sure you and your buddy get hooked up.”

  Mark followed the man inside the fence to a small building. Inside were three GC officers standing by television monitors.

  Nicolae Carpathia smiled at the camera. “I bid all workers of the Global Community greetings. Your hard work and efforts to bring peace and harmony to people around the globe do not go unnoticed.”

  Carpathia held a piece of paper in his hand. “As you know, a few days ago I gave approval for all those who follow religions other than Enigma Babylon One World Faith to travel about freely. I also cleared them of any wrongdoing in Israel.

  “At the request of people I trust, I am today issuing an order that gives Peter the Second, Supreme Pontiff of Enigma Babylon One World Faith, the authority to handle this situation. Since it is a religious issue that separates the followers of Dr. Ben-Judah from the One World Faith, I am giving him full power to handle this in whatever way he chooses.

  “After Pontiff Mathews looks the matter over, I assume he will make a statement to the media. Until then, be alert for any terrorist acts these followers may attempt. Thank you for your service.”

  The men clapped. One said, “I hope they get those jerks and put them in jail.”

  The head officer turned and looked at Mark. “How long’s he been here?”

  Kolak stepped forward. “This kid says he’s here to meet with Meninger, one of the survivors from the Peacekeeper 1.”

  The officer nodded. “All right. Give us your number and we’ll let you know when he’s supposed to get here.”

  Mark nodded and wrote the number of the hotel on a scrap of paper. As he walked out, he wondered if he had just done something that would come back to haunt him.

  Vicki took some food to Lenore. Tolan had a runny nose and a cough, and the woman seemed upset. Vicki looked for some infant medicine but couldn’t find any.

  She heard a commotion in the study room. When she arrived, everyone was crowded around Conrad. “I did it!” Conrad said when he saw Vicki. “I got it open, and you’re not going to believe what’s in here.”

  Conrad lugged the safe to the computer table. “I took Melinda’s advice and worked on the body instead of the lock. There was a little rust in one corner of the bottom. I got a drill bit through—”

  “Who cares how you got it open,” Janie said. “Just show us what’s inside.”

  Conrad flipped the safe upside down and put his hand through the small opening. He pulled out a gold coin. “It’s full of them. Has to be worth thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands!”

  “We have to call Z,” Vicki said. “If he gives us the okay, we could sell some of them and get the money to Judd and Lionel.”

  “Why do we have to call anybody?” Janie said.

  “This is Z’s property,” Conrad said. “We don’t do anything until we’ve cleared it with him.”

  Vicki dialed the number and explained to Z what had happened.

  “That’s good work,” Z said. “We been lookin’ for that box since I was a kid. Never looked in the bell tower.”

  “We’d like to sell a few of the coins and get the money to Judd and Lionel to get back to the States,” Vicki said.

  “Might take a while to get a buyer,” Z said. “Tell you what I’ll do. I’ll wire the money to Israel. You find out where to send it and all the details. I’ll come pick up the coins on my next run.”

  “Do you have any infant medicine?” Vicki said. She explained about Lenore and how it seemed God was bringing them more and more nonbelievers to live with them.

  Z laughed. “Sounds like he’s throwing a few monkey wrenches into your plans.”

  Vicki sighed. “If this is what God wants us to do, we’ll do it.”

  “I may have some aspirin for the baby,” Z said, “but it might take a few days. Call me if things get worse.”

  Judd awoke in the middle of the night, troubled. The temperatures during the day had risen above a hundred degrees. During the night he tossed and turned inside the Land Rover, trying to figure out what to do. Mr. Stein had said he felt God wanted him to stay and train more people.

  In the morning, Judd walked with Mr. Stein. Yet another encampment of people stood before them. Hundreds milled about with what was left of their flocks and herds.

  “I can’t leave,” Mr. Stein said. “I believe God has called me to this.”

  “I wouldn’t ask you to leave,” Judd said, “but I think I should get back to Lionel and Sam.”

  “I understand,” M
r. Stein said, looking at the people. “Isn’t this amazing? God has prepared their hearts for his message. It is almost as if I don’t need to say anything. They already hunger for God’s forgiveness.”

  Judd looked up at the cloud that didn’t end. God was up to something. He was also working in Judd’s life. Judd had grown spiritually as he watched Mr. Stein speak to the new believers. He had seen God work in a way Judd would never dream of, and it had changed him.

  But Judd also felt a longing to share his experiences with someone. Even with his friends around, he felt lonely. He wanted to share this experience with someone close.

  Judd thought of Nada. She was certainly interested in him. But his thoughts turned to Vicki. Could anything ever work out between us? he thought.

  Mr. Stein handed Judd the rest of his money. “I will see if Immen can get you to the airport in Bamako. You should be able to get a flight to Israel if the planes haven’t been grounded.”

  “What about you?” Judd said.

  Mr. Stein smiled. “God is looking out for both of us. He will show us where to go and what to do.”

  Lionel was excited to hear the news from Vicki that their plane fare could be wired to Israel. Lionel figured it would be safer if the money was wired in Sam’s name, so he gave Vicki the information.

  “Z says the money should be there Saturday afternoon,” Vicki said.

  “Is everybody all right back there?” Lionel asked.

  “We had a pretty big scare through the freeze, but everybody’s pulling together now. Well, almost everybody.”

  “I think I know who you mean,” Lionel said.

  “Have you heard from Judd?”

  Lionel briefly gave Vicki Judd’s report. “I hope we can get back home before the next judgment hits.”

  Mark waited in his hotel room. Friday came and went with no sign of Carl’s plane. Mark watched the TV coverage of the cloud that had enveloped the earth. It looked as dark as night outside, and he wondered how any plane could get through the inky blackness.