The Mark: The Beast Rules the World

FOURTEEN

Rayford and the others were invited to listen in as Tsion grilled his former professor and mentor on the history of God's chosen people. Chaim, with the wire finally out of his mouth, slowly worked his jaw and rubbed his face, clearly relieved. He was not animated, however, and hard as it seemed Tsion tried, Chaim appeared still tormented by the same things he had discussed with Rayford a few nights before.

"Come, come, Chaim!" Tsion said. "This is exciting, dramatic, miraculous stuff. This is the greatest story ever told! I know where God has provided a place of refuge for his children, but I am not going to tell you until you are ready. You must be prepared in case God calls you to be a warrior for the Lord, to go into a battle of words and wit. Your knowledge would help carry you, but God would have to be your strength. I believe that if he confirms in your heart that you shall be his vessel, he will empower you with supernatural abilities to fight the satanic miracles of Antichrist. Can you envision the victory, my friend? How I wish I were the one going!"

"How I wish that too," Chaim said.

"No, no! If you are God's man in God's time, you must never want out of this most sacred duty and calling! The history of this country carries much discussion of a manifest destiny. Well, my brother, if ever a people had a manifest destiny, it is our people! Yours and mine! And now we include our Gentile brothers who are grafted into the branch because of their belief in Messiah and his work of grace and sacrifice and forgiveness on the cross. Jesus is Messiah! Jesus is the Christ! He is risen!"

"He is risen indeed," Chaim said, but he did not match Tsion's energy.

"Do you hear yourself?" Tsion mimicked Chaim, mumbling, "He-is-risen-indeed. No! He is risen, indeed! Amen! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! You could go to Jerusalem, a leader of men, a conqueror! You would stand up to the lying, blaspheming enemy of the Lord Most High. You would expose Antichrist to the world as the evil man indwelt by Satan and rally the devout believers to repel the mark of the beast!

"Oh, Chaim, Chaim! You are learning so much. That old brain is still good, still facile, still receptive. You are getting this-I know you are! If not you, who shall go? You seem uniquely qualified, but much as I dream it, I cannot presume to make this assignment. How I wish I were the one and could be there in person to see it! If it is you, I will want every detail. Should the forces of evil come against you and you should be overwhelmed by the power of the enemy, God would provide a way, a place, and you, you my friend, would lead the people to that place. And the Lord God himself would protect you and care for you and watch over you and provide for you. Do you realize, Chaim, that God has promised that it will be as in the days of old? Think of it! Weak and frail and wicked as they were, unfaithful, ignorant, impatient, and dallying with other gods, the God of the universe himself catered to the children of Israel.

"Do you understand what that means? You could lead your people, his people, to a place that will be almost impossible to go into or out from. If you were to be there until the Glorious Appearing of the Christ, what would you eat? What would you wear? The Bible says God himself will provide as he did in the days of old! He will send food, delicious, nourishing, fulfilling food! Manna from heaven! And do you know about your clothes?"

"No, Tsion," Chaim said wearily, a tease in his voice, "whatever you do, do not neglect to tell me about my clothes."

"I won't! And you will be grateful, not to mention amazed. If I amaze you, will you admit it?"

"I will admit it."

"Promise me."

"My word is my bond, my excitable young friend. Amaze me and I will say so."

"Your clothes will not wear out!" Tsion stopped with A flourish, his hands in the air.

"They won't?"

"Are you amazed?"

"Maybe. Tell me more."

"Now you want to hear it?"

"I always want to hear it, Tsion. I am just unworthy. Scared to death, unqualified, unprepared, and unworthy."

"If God calls you, you shall be none of those! You would be Moses! The Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would go before you, and the glory of the Lord would be your rear guard."

"I would need a rear guard? Who would be chasing me?"

"Not Pharaoh's army, I assure you. But if it were, God would make a way for you to escape. Carpathia's hordes would be pursuing you. And for all his talk of peace and disarmament, who has access to the residue of the world's weapons, surrendered willingly to the lying purveyor of peace? But if you needed the Red Sea parted yet again, God would do it! For what have we learned, my little Hebrew schoolchild?"

"Hmm?"

"Hmm? Don't hmm? me, Chaim! Tell the rabbi what you learned about the great stories, the miracles from the Torah."

"That they are not just stories, not just examples, myths for our encouragement."

"Excellent. But rather, what are they? What are they, my star pupil?"

"Truth."

"Truth! Yes!"

"They actually happened."

"Yes, Chaim! They happened because God is all-powerful. He says they happened-they happened. And if he says he will do it again, what?"

"He will."

"He will! Oh, the privilege, Chaim! Deal with your fears. Deal with your doubts. Give them to God. Offer yourself in all your weakness, because in our weakness we are made strong. Moses was weak. Moses was nobody. Moses had a speech impediment! Chaim! Moses, the hero of our faith, had less to offer than you do!"

"He was not a murderer."

"Yes he was! You forget! Did he not kill a man? Chaim, think! Your mind, your conscience, your heart tells you God cannot forgive you. I know the guilt is fresh. I know it is grievous. But you know, down deep, that God's grace is greater than our sin. It has to be! Otherwise we all live in vain! Is anything too hard for God? Anything too big for him? Any sin too great for him to forgive? It would be blasphemy to say so. Chaim! If you are the one who can commit a sin too great for God to forgive, you are above God. That's how we can wallow in our sin and still be guilty of pride. Who do we think we are, the only ones God cannot reach with his gift of love?

"He found you, Chaim! He pulled you from the miry clay! Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up!"

"Back to my clothes," Chaim said. "I could wear clothes from now until Jesus comes again, and they wouldn't wear out?"

Tsion sat back and waved dismissively. "Chaim, if he can save you and me, of all people, forgive us our sins, bring us back from spiritual death, this clothes thing is one of his lesser miracles. Forget the extra buttons, the patches, the thread. Go there with something you like, because you'll still be wearing it when this is all over."

David had pushed the limits of his ability to virtually set up the entire GC compound for his own remote computer monitoring. He breathed a prayer of thanks to God for allowing him to focus and work in spite of his grief. Mac and Abdullah were set to visit him in an hour to finalize the escape plan that included David and Hannah, and all four had agreed to carefully watch for believers they had been unaware of. It was already apparent that the brilliant teenager, Chang Wong, might be tagging along. David just had to figure out how to pull it off.

While waiting word from Ming Toy, David checked his archives for meetings he had recorded but never listened to. In his Carpathia file was the one with Suhail Akbar, Walter Moon, Leon Fortunato, and Jim Hickman the day he himself had chatted with Hickman. David felt a chill as he prepared to eavesdrop, and he did a quick walk-through of his area to make sure everyone was gone for the day. He could close a program and shut down with a single keystroke, but still he didn't want to be surprised by the wrong person.

Something Hannah had asked a few days before haunted him too. She had said, "How do you know there isn't someone just as technically astute as you are who is doing exactly what you're doing?"

"Such as? "he had said.

"Monitoring you, maybe."

He had brushed it off. He had developed antihacking programs, antibugging devices. He had electronic ears everywhere and believed he could hear if someone breathed a word of something like that. It was impossible, wasn't it? Surely the brass wouldn't be so free to speak if they thought he was listening in. And if they were onto him, it seemed they would have shut him down long before this.

David believed the security chips he'd inserted in his phones and E-mail programs were impenetrable, and he had tried to explain it to Hannah.

"I don't pretend to have a clue, David. Maybe you are the top computer genius alive, but ought you not be very careful?"

"Oh, I am."

"You are?"

"You bet."

"But you tell me of phone calls and E-mails between you and your compatriots in the States."

"Not traceable. Not hackable." "But you trace others. You hack others." "I'm good."

"You're living on the edge." "There's no other way to live."

Hannah had dropped it with a shrug. He believed the only reason she raised the issue was because she cared, and she was, after all, a civilian when it came to technology. But he almost wished she hadn't planted the seed of curiosity in his mind. With every message, every transmission, every phone call, he got the niggling feeling that someone somewhere could be looking over his shoulder. Everything he knew told him it couldn't be, but there was no accounting for intuition. He ran continuous checks on his programs, searched for intruders. So far so good, but Hannah had spooked him. If nothing else, it would keep him on his toes.

David had begun the Carpathia meeting recording before he went to see Hickman, so he discovered several minutes of Carpathia alone in his office. The last time he had listened in that way he had heard Nicolae praying to Lucifer. Now, Nicolae was Lucifer. Did Satan pray to himself?

No, but he did talk to himself. At first David merely marveled at the fidelity of the sound. He had merely arranged a simple intercom system to both transmit and receive, based on his commands, but it worked better than he had hoped. He heard when Nicolae sighed, cleared his throat, or even hummed. That was the strangest part. Here was a man who apparently did not sleep. Yet he seemed to exude energy, even when alone. David heard movement, walking, things being arranged. In the background he heard the workers he had encountered just outside Carpathia's office.

"Hmm," Carpathia said softly, as if thinking. "Mirrors. I need mirrors." He chuckled. "Why deprive myself of the joy others luxuriate in? They get to look at me whenever they want."

He pushed the intercom button and his assistant answered immediately. "Excellency?" Sandra said.

"Is that foreman still out there?"

"He is, Lordship. Would you like to speak with him?"

"No, just pass along a message. Better yet, step in a moment."

"My pleasure," she said, as if she meant it with all of her being. Sandra had always seemed so cold and bored to David that he wondered how she interacted with Carpathia. She was more than twenty years his senior. David heard the squeak of a chair, as if Carpathia had sat.

Simultaneous with a soft knock, the door opened and closed. "Your Excellency," she said, to the sound of rustling.

"Sandra," Carpathia said, 'you need not kneel every time you-"

"Pardon me, sir," she said, "but I beg of you not to deprive me the privilege."

"Well, of course not, if you wish, but-"

"I know you don't require it, sir, but to me it is a privilege to worship you."

He sighed without a trace of impatience, David thought.

"What a beautiful sentiment," he said at last. "I accept your devotion with deep satisfaction."

"What may I do for you, my lord?" she said. "Do me the honor of asking anything of me."

"Merely that I want several full-length mirrors in the remodeled office. I will leave it to those in charge of such matters to position them, but I believe it would add a nice touch."

"I couldn't agree more, sir. I shiver at the thought of multiple images of you in here."

"Oh, well, I thank you. Run along and deliver that message now."

"Right away, sir."

"And then you may go for the day."

"But your meeting-"

"I will welcome them. Do not feel obligated."

"As you wish, sir, but you know I would be more than happy-"

"I know."

The door opened and shut, and it sounded as if Carpathia rose once more. Just loud enough for David to hear he said, "I too shiver at the thought of multiple images of me, you homely old wench. But you do know how to make a man feel worshiped."

Now it sounded as if he was moving chairs into position. "Akbar, Fortunato, Hickman, Moon. No, Moon, Akbar, ah… must let Leon wonder about his proximity and access, keep him nimble. Hickman needs assurances. All right."

Back to his intercom. "Are you still out there, Sandra?"

"Yes, sir."

"Before you go, get Mr. McCullum on the phone for me, please."

David froze, then chastised himself. He didn't care that Nicolae communicated with Mac. If David couldn't trust Mac, he couldn't trust anyone.

"Captain McCullum," Carpathia said a few minutes later. "How good to speak with you. You are aware, are you not, that 10 percent of all weapons of war were ceded to the Global Community when we were known as the United Nations?… The rest were destroyed, and I am satisfied that our monitoring has confirmed that this was largely carried out. If any munitions remain, they are few and are likely in the hands of factions so small as to pose little threat. My question to you is, do you know where we stockpiled the armaments we received?… You had nothing to do with that?… Well, yes, of course / know, Captain! The question is merely probative. You are former military, you are a pilot, and you get around. I want to know if the word has leaked out where we inventory our weapons… Good. That is all, Captain."

Clearly, Mac had told Nicolae he had no idea where the weapons were. As far as David knew, that was the truth. But what a massive operation that had to have been, and how was it pulled off without word getting out? And what might Carpathia be planning now?

"Gentlemen!" Carpathia said a few minutes later, welcoming the four visitors. "Please, come in."

"Allow me to be the first to kneel before you," Leon said, "and kiss your hands."

"Thank you, Reverend, but you are hardly the first."

"I meant at this meeting," Fortunato whined.

"And he won't be the last!" Hickman said, and David actually heard the smack of his lips.

"Thank you, Supreme Commander. Thank you. Chief Akbar? Thank you. Chief Moon? My thanks. Oh, Reverend, no, please. I would appreciate it if you would sit here."

"Here?" Leon said, clearly surprised.

"A problem?"

"I will sit anywhere His Excellency wishes, of course. I would even stand, if you asked."

"I'd kneel for the whole meeting," Hickman said.

"Right here, my friend," Carpathia said, devoting much time and energy to putting people where he wanted them.

"Sir?" Leon began when they were settled. "Have you been able to sleep, get some rest?"

"You are worried about me, Reverend?"

"Of course, Excellency."

"Sleep is for mortals, my friend."

"Well spoken, sir."

"I'm sure mortal, boys, er, gents," Hickman said.

"Slept like a rock last night. Out of shape, I guess. Gotta do something about this gut."

An awkward silence.

"May we begin?" Carpathia said. Hickman muttered an apology, but Nicolae was already addressing Intelligence Chief Akbar. "Suhail, I have become convinced that the location of our armaments remains confidential. Would you concur?"

"I would, sir, though I confess it baffles me."

"Baffles is right!" Hickman said. "Seems to me we had hundreds of troops involved in this thing and-oh, my bad, I'm sorry. I'll wait my turn."

David could only imagine the look Carpathia must have given Hickman. He had to have known whom he was putting in such a lofty position. Having Hickman share space with Sandra and become primarily an errand boy with a big title proved Carpathia knew exactly what he was doing.

"Peacekeeping Forces prepared to go on the offensive, Chief Moon?"

"Yes, sir. Ready to deploy, anywhere and everywhere. We can crush any resistance."

"An update, Reverend?"

"On loyalty mark, Jerusalem, religion?"

"Jerusalem, of course," Carpathia said, dripping sarcasm.

Leon was clearly hurt. "On top of it all, Excellency," he said. "Program is prepared, loyalists ready, should be a triumphal entry in every sense of the word."

"Commander Hickman," Carpathia said condescendingly, "you may put down your hand. You need not ask for the floor here."

"I can just jump in then?"

"No, you cannot just jump in. You have each been invited here because I need updates from your areas."

"Well, I'm ready. I have that. I-"

"And when I want your input, I shall call on you. Understood?"

"Yes, sir; sorry, sir."

"No need to apologize."

"Sorry."

"Suhail or Walter, what kind of resistance may we expect in Jerusalem?"

There was a pause, during which, David assumed, the two were looking at each other to avoid interrupting.

"Come, come, gentlemen," Carpathia said. "I have a planet to rule." He chuckled as if joking, but it wasn't funny to David.

Akbar began, slowly and articulately. David thought that in another setting, Suhail could have been an effective intelligence chief. "Frankly, Potentate, I do not believe the Judah-ites will show their faces. I am not discounting the effectiveness of their movement. Their numbers still seem large, but they are an underground cause, networked by computers. You will not likely see the mass public rally similar to the one at Kolleck Stadium when Tsion B-"

"I recall it well, Akbar. Tell me, is part of the reason they are not likely to make a fuss in Jerusalem because many of their ranks have been dissuaded by seeing a real resurrection-one that does not require blind faith?"

Silence, except for the clearing of a throat. David assumed it was Suhail's.

"No?"

"Surprisingly not, sir. That would certainly have persuaded me of your deity, except that I was already convinced of it."

"Me too!" Hickman said. "Sorry."

"Of course," Fortunato said, "I had personal experience that proved it. And now-well, it's not my turn, is it?"

"The truth is, Excellency," Akbar continued carefully, "our monitoring of the Judah-ite Web site reveals they are even more entrenched. They believe, ah, that your resurrection proves the opposite of what is so patently obvious to thinking people."

David flinched when he heard a loud bang on the table, the rolling back of a chair, and a string of expletives from Carpathia. That was something new. The Nicolae of before always kept his composure.

"Forgive me, Holiness," Akbar said. "You understand that I am merely reporting what my best analysts-"

"Yes, I know that!" Carpathia spat. "I just do not understand what it is going to take to prove to these people who is worthy of their devotion!" He swore again, and the others seemed to feel obligated to grumble loudly about the lunacy of the skeptics. "All right!" Carpathia said finally. "You think they will just snipe at us from the comfort of their hiding places."

"Correct."

"That is unfortunate. I was so hopeful of gloating in their faces. Any confirmation that they are harboring Rosenzweig?"

David held his breath through another pause.

"I admit we're stumped," Walter Moon said. "We traced a few leads from people who thought they saw him running, taking a taxi, that kind of a thing. We know for sure that stroke was phony."

"You can say that again," Nicolae said.

"Dang straight!" Hickman offered. "Sorry."

"He deceived me," Nicolae added. "I have to give him that."

"Urn, sir," Moon continued. "I, ah, am not second-guessing you, but…"

"Please, Walter."

"Well, you did pardon your attacker, maybe before you knew who he was."

Carpathia roared with laughter. "You do not think I knew who murdered me? I lift that limp arm of his to start the applause and a few seconds later I lurch away from the sound of a gun, he chops my feet from under me with that infernal chair, and the next thing I know I am in the lap of a madman. Well, I knew instantly what was happening, though I may never know why. But he was no frail old man. There was no stiff arm and no limp arm, no scrawny senior citizen. He rammed that blade into me, and I could hear him gutting my skull. The man was hard as a rock and strong."

"Ought to put out a worldwide all points bulletin and use all our resources to bring him in," Hickman said. "Got him on tape! Show it to the world!"

"In due time," Carpathia said, calmer now, and it sounded to David as if Nicolae had sat and joined them again. "I pardoned him, knowing that a world of loyal subjects would relish avenging me, should he ever show his face. Needless to say, we shall not prosecute a crime when that event occurs."

"Needless to say," Hickman parroted.

"And," Carpathia said, "where are we with the accomplice?"

"The nut with the gun?" Moon said. "We don't think he was Middle Eastern. Found his getup and the weapon. Matches the bullet. No prints. No leads. You're convinced they were working together?"

Carpathia sounded flabbergasted. "Convinced? I am not the law-enforcement expert here, but the timing of those two attacks was just a little too coincidental, would you not agree?"

"I would," Hickman said. "I worked that case and-"

"Proceed," Nicolae said.

"I figure they were hedgin' their bets. If one of 'em didn't get ya, the other one would. Guy with the gun could have been a diversion, but he's lucky he didn't kill anybody."

Akbar cleared his throat. "You're aware there's a connection between Ben-Judah and Rosenzweig?"

"Tell me," Nicolae said.

"Ben-Judah was once a student of Rosenzweig's."

"You don't say," Nicolae said, and it was the first time David had heard him use a contraction. "Hmm. Find Ben-Judah, and you find Rosenzweig."

"That's what I was thinkin'," Hickman said.

"I'm ready for your report, James."

"Me? Mine? You are? Oh, yes, sir. Um, everything's on track. Injector thingies, beheaders, er, um, jes' a minute. Viv, ah, Ms. Ivins gave me the correct terminology here, bear with me. Loyalty confirmation facilitators. Got those comin' or goin', depending. They're on their way here and there and wherever we need 'em. Not all of 'em, certainly. Some are being made as we speak, but we're on schedule. I found a nurse here that has experience shooting biochips into… into… well… dogs, I guess. But she's going to help train. And I've got a lead on your pig."

"My pig?"

"Oh! Not, I mean, if you don't need a pig, they'll just butcher it and use it here. But if you needed a pig, I'm pretty sure we've got a big one ordered."

"What would I want a pig for, James?"

"It's not that I heard… or knew… I mean… that you actually need a pig for anything, really. But if you ever did, just let me know, all right. You need one? For anything?"

"Who has been talking to you, Commander?"

"Um, what?"

"You heard me."

"Talking to me?"

Carpathia was suddenly shouting, cursing again. "Mr. Hickman, what is said in these meetings in my private office is sacred. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir. I would never-"

"Sacred! The security of the Global Community depends on the confidentiality and trustworthiness of the communications in here. You've heard the old expression, 'Loose lips sink ships'?"

"Yeah, I have. I know what you mean."

"Someone told you there was a discussion in this room about my need for a pig."

"Well, I'd rather not-"

"Oh, yes, you had rather, Mr. Hickman! Violating the sacred trust of the potentate of the Global Community is a capital offense, is it not, Mr. Moon?"

"Yes, sir, it is."

"So, James, the next thing out of your mouth had better be the guilty party, or you will pay the ultimate price for the transgression. I'm waiting."

David could hear Hickman whimpering.

"The name, Commander. If I hear that he is your friend or that you'd rather not say or anything other than who he is, you are a dead man."

Still Hickman struggled.

"You have ten seconds, sir."

Hickman took a labored breath and coughed.

"And now five."

"He's-he's-a-"

"Mr. Moon, are you prepared to take Mr. Hickman into custody for the purpose of exec-"

"Ramon Santiago!" Hickman blurted. "But I beg of you, sir, don't-"

"Mr. Moon."

"Please! No!"

David heard Moon on his cell phone. "Moon here. Listen, take Santiago into custody… Right, the one from Peacekeeping… right now… yes. Till I get there." '"You'll let me handle it personally, Walter?"

"As you wish."

"No! Please!"

"James, when it is announced tomorrow that a Peacekeeping deputy commander has been put to death, you at least will understand the gravity of the rules, won't you?"

David heard assent through Hickman's sobs. Apparently that wasn't good enough for Carpathia.

"Won't you, Supreme Commander?"

"Yes!"

"I thought so. And yes, I have need of a pig. A big, fat, juicy, huge-nostriled beast so overfed that it will be too lethargic to throw me, should I choose to ride it through the Via Dolorosa in the Holy City. Tell me, Hickman. Tell me about my pig."

"I haven't actually seen it yet," Hickman said miserably, "but-"

"But you understand my order."

"Yes." His voice was shaky.

"Big, fat, and ugly?"

"Yeah."

"I didn't hear you, James. Stinky? May I have him smelly?"

"Yeah."

"Whatever I want?"

"Yes!"

"Are you angry with me, my loyal servant?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well, thank you for your honesty. Do you understand that I want an animal that could accommodate my fist in either nostril?"

David jumped at the knock on his door. Mac and Abdullah had arrived.