Nicolae: The Rise Of The Antichrist (35 page)

Another said, “I wouldn’t have dreamed people still believe this malarkey. That you could dig up that many weirdos to contribute to one story is a tribute to investigative journalism. Thanks for exposing them to the light and showing them what fools they really are.”

Only the occasional call carried the tone of this one from a woman in Florida: “Why didn’t somebody tell me about this before? I’ve been reading Revelation since the minute this magazine hit my doorstep, and I’m scared to death. What am I supposed to do now?”

Buck hoped she would read deep enough into the article to discover what a converted Jew from Norway said was the only protection from the coming earthquake: “No one should assume there will be shelter. If you believe, as I do, that Jesus Christ is the only hope for salvation, you should repent of your sins and receive him before the threat of death visits you.”

Buck’s personal phone buzzed. It was Verna.

“Buck, I’m keeping your secret, so I hope you’re keeping your end of the bargain.”

“I am. What’s got you so agitated this morning?”

“Your cover story, of course. I knew it was coming, but I didn’t expect it to be so overt. Do you think you’ve hidden behind your objectivity? Don’t you think this exposes you as a proponent?”

“I don’t know. I hope not. Even if Carpathia didn’t own this magazine, I would want to come across as objective.”

“You’re deluding yourself.”

Buck scrambled mentally for an answer. In one way, he appreciated the warning. In another, this was old news. Maybe Verna was just trying to find some point of contact, some reason to start a dialogue again. “Verna, I urge you to keep thinking about what you heard from Loretta, Chloe, and Amanda.”

“And from you. Don’t leave yourself out.” Her tone was mocking and sarcastic.

“I mean it, Verna. If you ever want to talk about this stuff, you can come to me.”

“With what your religion says about homosexuals, are you kidding?”

“My Bible doesn’t differentiate between homosexuals and heterosexuals,” Buck said.

“It may call practicing homosexuals sinners, but it also calls heterosexual sex outside of marriage sinful.”

“Semantics, Buck. Semantics.”

“Just remember what I said, Verna. I don’t want our personality conflict to get in the way of what’s real and true. You were right when you said the outbreak of the war made our skirmishes petty. I’m willing to put those behind us.”

She was silent for a moment. Then she sounded almost impressed. “Well, thank you, Buck. I’ll keep that in mind.”

By late morning Chicago time it was early evening in Iraq. Rayford and McCullum were flying Carpathia, Fortunate, and Dr. Kline to Rome to pick up One World Faith supreme pontiff Peter Mathews. Rayford knew Carpathia wanted to pave the way for the apostate union of religions to move to New Babylon, but he wasn’t sure how Dr. Kline fit into this meeting. By listening in on his bugging device, he soon found out.

As was his usual custom, Rayford took off, quickly reached cruising altitude, put the plane on autopilot, and turned over control to Mac McCullum. “I feel like I’ve been on a plane all day,” he said, leaning back in his seat, pulling the bill of his cap down over his eyes, applying his headphones, and appearing to drift off to sleep. In the approximately two hours it took to fly from New Babylon to Rome, Rayford would get a lesson in new-

world-order international diplomacy. But before they got down to business, Carpathia checked with Fortunate on the flight plans of Hattie Durham.

Fortunate told him, “She is on some kind of a multi-leg journey that has a long layover in Milwaukee, then heads for Boston. She’ll fly nonstop from Boston to Baghdad.

She’ll lose several hours coming this way, but I think we can expect her tomorrow morning.”

Carpathia sounded peeved. “How long before we get the international terminal finished in New Babylon? I am tired of everything having to come through Baghdad.”

“They’re telling us a couple of months now.”

“And these are the same building engineers who tell us everything else in New Babylon is state of the art?”

“Yes, sir. Have you noticed problems?”

“No, but it almost makes me wish this ‘wrath of the Lamb’ business was more than a myth. I would like to put the true test to their earthquake-proof claims.”

“I saw that piece today,” Dr. Kline said. “Interesting bit of fiction. That Williams can make an interesting story out of anything, can’t he?”

“Yes,” Carpathia said solemnly. “I suspect he has made an interesting story of his own background.”

“I don’t follow.”

“I do not follow either,” Carpathia said. “Our intelligence forces link him to the disappearance of Rabbi Ben-Judah.”

Rayford straightened and listened more closely. He didn’t want McCullum to realize he was listening on a different frequency, but neither did he want to miss anything.

“We are learning more and more about our brilliant young journalist,” Carpathia said.

“He has never been forthcoming about his ties to my own pilot, but then neither has Captain Steele. I still do not mind having them around. They may think they are in strategy proximity to me, but I am also able to learn much about the opposition through them.”

So there it is, Rayford thought. The gauntlet is down.

“Leon, what is the latest on those two crazy men in Jerusalem?”

Fortunate sounded disgusted. “They’ve got the whole nation of Israel up in arms again,” he said. “You know it hasn’t rained there since they began all that preaching. And that trick they pulled on the water supply-turning it to blood-during the temple ceremonies, they’re doing that again.”

“What has set them off this time?”

“I think you know.”

“I have asked you not to be circumspect with me, Leon. When I ask you a question, I expect-”

“Forgive me, Potentate. They have been carrying on about the arrest and torture of people associated with Dr. Ben-Judah. They are saying that until those suspects have been released and the search has been called off, all water supplies will be polluted by blood.”

“How do they do that?”

“No one knows, but it’s very real, isn’t it Dr. Kline?”

“Oh yes,” he said. “I have been sent samples. There is a high water content, but it is mostly blood.”

“Human blood?”

“It has all the characteristics of human blood, although the type is difficult to determine. It borders on some cross between human and animal blood.”

“How is morale in Israel?” Carpathia asked.

“The people are angry with the two preachers. They want to kill them.”

“That is not all bad,” Carpathia said. “Can we not get that done?”

“No one dares. The death count on those who’ve made attacks on them is over a dozen by now. You learn your lesson after a while.”

“We are going to find a way,” Carpathia said. “Meanwhile, let the suspects go. Ben-

Judah cannot get far. Anyway, without being able to show his face in public, he cannot do us much harm. If those two rascals do not immediately purify the water supply, we will see how they stand up to an atomic blast.”

“You’re not serious, are you?” Dr. Kline said.

“Why would I not be?”

“You would drop an atomic bomb on a sacred site in the Holy City?”

“Frankly, I do not worry about the Wailing Wall or the Temple Mount or the new temple. Those two are giving me no end of grief, so mark my word: The day will come when they push me too far.”

“It would be good to get Pontiff Mathews’s opinion of all of this.”

“We have enough of an agenda with him,” Carpathia said. “In fact, I am sure he has an agenda for me as well, though perhaps a hidden one.”

Later, after someone switched on the TV and the three men caught up on the international coverage of the war cleanup effort, Carpathia turned his attention to Dr.

Kline.

“As you know, the ten ambassadors voted unanimously to fund abortions for women in underprivileged countries. I have made an executive decision to make that unilateral.

Every continent has suffered from the war, so all could be considered underprivileged. I do not anticipate a problem from Mathews on this, the way he might have protested were he still pope. However, should he express some opposition, are you prepared to discuss the long-term benefits?”

“Of course.”

“And where are we on the technology for predetermineing the health and viability of a fetus?”

“Amniocentesis can now tell us everything we want to know. Its benefits are so far-

reaching that it is worth any risk the procedure might afford.”

“And Leon,” Carpathia said, “are we at a point where we can announce sanctions requiring amniocentesis on every pregnancy, along with an abortion requirement for any fetal tissue determined to result in a deformed or handicapped fetus?”

“Everything is in place,” Fortunato said. “However, you are going to want as broad a base of support as possible before going public with that.”

“Of course. That is one of the reasons for this meeting with Mathews.”

“Are you optimistic?” Fortunato asked.

“Should I not be? Is Mathews not aware that I put him where he is today?”

“That’s a question I ask myself all the time, Potentate. Surely you notice his lack of deference and respect. I don’t like the way he treats you as if he’s an equal.”

“For the time being, he can be as pushy as he wants. He can be of great value to the cause because of his following. I know he is having financial difficulty because he cannot sell surplus churches. They are single-use facilities, so he will no doubt be pleading his case for more of an allotment from the Global Community. The ambassadors are already upset about this. For right now, though, I do not mind having the upper hand financially.

Maybe we can strike a deal.”

BUCK
was amused that his cover story was the hottest topic of the day. Every talk show, news show, and even some variety shows mentioned it. One comedy featured an animated short of a woolly lamb going on the rampage. They called it “Our View of the ‘Wrath of the Lamb.’”

Glancing at the magazine before him, Buck suddenly realized that when he was exposed, when he would have to step down, when he possibly became a fugitive, it would be impossible to match the distribution of a magazine so well-established around the world. He might have a larger audience via television and the Internet, but he wondered if he would ever have the influence again that he had right now.

He looked at his watch. It was almost time to head for the safe house and the luncheon with Hattie.

Rayford and Mac McCullum had about an hour’s break after they hit the ground in Rome and before they were to head back to New Babylon. They passed Peter Mathews and one of his aides boarding the plane. Rayford was nauseated by Carpathia’s obsequious deference to Mathews. He heard the potentate say, “How good of you to allow us to come and collect you, Pontiff. I am hoping we can have meaningful dialogue, profitable to the good of the Global Community.”

Just before Rayford stepped out of earshot, Mathews told Carpathia, “As long as it’s profitable to the One World Faith, I don’t much care whether you benefit or not.”

Rayford found reasons to excuse himself from McCullum and hurry back to the plane and into the cockpit. He apologized to Fortunate for “having to check on a few things”

and was soon back in his customary spot. The door was locked. The reverse intercom was on, and Rayford was listening.

Buck had not seen Hattie Durham in real distress since the night of the Rapture. He, like most other men, usually saw her only as striking. Now the kindest term he could think of for her was disheveled. She carried an oversized purse stuffed mostly with tissues, and she made use of every last one. Loretta pointed her to the head of the table, and when lunch was served, they all sat awkwardly, seeming to try to avoid meaningful conversation.

Buck said, “Amanda, would you pray for us?”

Hattie quickly entwined her fingers under her chin, like a little girl kneeling at her bedside. Amanda said, “Father, sometimes in the situations we find ourselves, it’s difficult to know what to say to you. Sometimes we’re unhappy. Sometimes we’re distraught. Sometimes we have no idea where to turn. The world seems in such chaos.

However, we know we can thank you for who you are. We thank you that you’re a good God. That you care about us and love us. We thank you that you’re sovereign and that you hold the world in your hands. We thank you for friends, especially old friends like Hattie. Give us words to say that might help her in whatever decision making she must do, and thank you for the provision of this food. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

They ate in silence, Buck noticing that Hattie’s eyes were full of tears. Despite that, she ate quickly and was done before the rest. She grabbed yet another tissue and blew her nose.

“Well,” she said, “Rayford insisted that I drop in on you on my way back. I’m sorry I missed him, but I think he really wanted me to talk to you anyway. Or maybe he wanted you to talk to me.”

The women looked as puzzled as Buck felt. That was it? The floor was theirs? What were they supposed to do? It was hard to meet this woman at her point of need if she wasn’t going to share that need.

Loretta began. “Hattie, what’s troubling you the most just now?”

Either what Loretta said or how she said it unleashed a torrent of tears. “Fact is,”

Hattie managed, “I want an abortion. My family is encouraging me that way. I don’t know what Nicolae will say, but if there’s no change in our relationship when I get back there, I’m going to want an abortion for sure. I suppose I’m here because I know you’ll try to talk me out of it, and I guess I need to hear both sides. Rayford already gave me the standard right-wing, pro-life position. I don’t guess I need to hear that again.”

“What do you need to hear?” Buck said, feeling very male and very insensitive just then.

Chloe gave him a look that implied he should not push. “Hattie,” she said, “you know where we stand. That’s not why you’re here. If you want to be talked out of it, we can do that. If you won’t be talked out of it, nothing we say will make any difference.”