Rise of the Beast (59 page)

It was but a few seconds later that the glow faded and Lusan collapsed to one side, blood spreading across his suit coat. By now, stretchers had been moved onto the stage, and the president and Lusan were placed upon them. The medical staff quickly moved the two dignitaries into two waiting ambulances. The president’s young son and his housekeeper climbed into the ambulance with the president, and within a minute they were off.

The stadium was filled with screaming and crying. The two greatest men of the century might well die tonight. And what was that glow that so many had
seen? Many claimed to have heard the assassin cry “Allah Akbar!” It was the cry of an Islamic suicide assassin.

Within an hour, the word was out that a militant Islamic group associated with Al-Qaeda had called the media, claiming responsibility for the assassination. Yet three hours later, a second phone call, allegedly from the same group, denied that they had anything to do with the attack and expressed sympathy for the families of both leaders.

But people were already reacting to the first message, and a night of violence against those of Muslim descent spread across Europe. By the next morning, it was anyone’s guess as to who the responsible party was. Some theorized that it had been the work of a lone gunman, others a conspiracy.

Yet, the morning brought other news as well. President Deveraux was alive and conscious, speaking with both his doctors and his family. Lusan too had pulled through. The bullet had grazed his stomach, but had missed all of the other major organs.

Yet other rumors were emerging when it came to Lusan. There were stories of abnormalities associated with his anatomy, of too many ribs, an unusual arrangement of his vital organs, and a pair of strange growths on his back. Many dismissed these rumors as the sort of thing tabloid stories were made of, yet they persisted.

Within three days, the doctors announced that President Deveraux was out of danger. He would make a full recovery. So too would Lusan, who had become very quiet and reserved, avoiding the press.

Yet the paramedics who had attended his and the president’s injuries had a great deal to say. They spoke of the incredible things they had seen, and with their testimony, Lusan’s fame grew.

With these announcements also came an announcement as to the identity of the shooter. He was Luis Zapatta, a small-time thug out of Sardinia. He had no connections to the Islamic community. What he did have were shadowy associations with organized crime. There was also a rumor that he had once had some association with the American CIA, an allegation that the CIA flatly denied. Still little by little the story of the assassin was unfolding.

Back in the United States, Leland James followed the story with interest. He didn’t like the direction the story was leading. Could Mr. Pagoni have had anything to do with the assassination attempt on Lusan? The thought disturbed
him, but he couldn’t dismiss it. How could he approach him about it? Should he even do so?

Leland was surprised when Pagoni canceled their regular Wednesday morning meeting. He even refused to see his nephew. It was as if he had shut himself up in his own world high above the street.

It was on the following Monday that the FBI came a calling on Pagoni, and on the next day, he was taken into custody. It was all over the papers; the great New York crime boss, Louie Pagoni, was being charged with masterminding the attempted assassination of the European president and his spiritual advisor. The French wanted him extradited to stand trial on French soil. However, after some days, the U.S. government denied the extradition order. Their view was that this American citizen could not get a fair trial in France or anywhere else in Europe, for that matter. If a trial was to be held, it would be held in America.

Relations between the United States and the European Union had turned distinctly chilly. In desperation, France turned to the United Nations for support of a resolution to extradite Louie Pagoni, yet they faced a threat of veto in the Security Council, not just from the United States, but from the United Kingdom, and the People’s Republic of China as well.

And Leland had his own problems. The FBI considered him a person of interest as well. After all, hadn’t he worked for Lusan? Now he was working with Pagoni. A search of his house turned up the four bugs that Lusan’s people had placed there to monitor him.

In the end, the FBI determined that Leland was just another unwitting victim, not a suspect. He’d been a pawn, played not only by Pagoni, but by Lusan as well. Pagoni had told the FBI as much. In fact, Pagoni leveled countercharges at Lusan, claiming that he had not only been defrauded by him, but had been a target of an attempt by Lusan to take over his organization. Even more, he had the recordings to prove it.

The case was evolving into a murky quagmire of he said, he said. Yes, Pagoni had approved the hit on Lusan, but only to head off a similar operation by Lusan’s people. And Lusan had brainwashed or murdered plenty of people during his stay in New York City. Still, Pagoni came short of calling him the Devil.

The weeks that followed were full of both legal and political maneuvering on the part of both sides. The U.S. attorney general suggested that extraditing
Lusan to face charges in America was warranted. Several cases of accessory to attempted murder could be brought against him, including one involving a police officer. All the while, Pagoni remained locked up, forbidden to have any visitors beyond his immediate family.

Nevertheless, Leland got a visitor, his wife. Krissie’s return to the United States came as quite a surprise. She had resisted leaving Lusan’s side, and Lusan dared not enter America if he had any intention of leaving again.

Leland was to meet Krissie at the airport. She would only be in the United States for a few hours. They met in the back of a little coffee shop. Due to the lateness of the hour, the shop was nearly deserted. It gave them a time and place to talk.

Krissie brought with her two messages, the first of which was that Leland was being dismissed as Lusan’s chief of finance. His involvement with Pagoni had rendered him too high a risk for membership in his organization. Second, she brought a petition for divorce. If Leland was not a part of Lusan’s world, he would not be a part of hers.

In that moment, Leland found a new boldness. “I would be truly upset by this if Krissie herself told me what you just did.”

“And what do you mean by that?” asked Krissie.

“Oh, cut the game, will you?” replied Leland. “You don’t seriously think I don’t know who you really are, do you? And I know what you did to Krissie. And I’m telling you, you won’t get away with it.”

For a moment Krissie sat silently, then she smiled. “Very well, then. Let us dispense with the charade, if that is what you wish. For the record, I already did get away with it. I ripped your wife’s spirit right from her body. You should have seen her. She was crying like a little girl. And she’s not coming back, either. Souls in Hell never do.”

That comment hit a nerve with Leland. He hadn’t really expected her to be so bold. He kept his cool, but it was difficult. “That’s not true,” he said. “Some souls have escaped, and Krissie is going to be one of them.”

“This conversation is over,” said the demon within Krissie, rising to her feet. “Because you have been useful to him, the master has decided to allow you to continue to live; that is his message to you. But let me give you some personal advice. Stay out of our way, human. You’ll live longer that way.”

With those words Krissie departed. Leland didn’t try to follow.

Well, that was it. He’d made a clean break from Lusan and his Divine Light Foundation. The road ahead had always seemed so clear. Well, not anymore. Now Leland had a different master; he wouldn’t have it any other way.

In the months that followed, the old political fabric of the world seemed to unravel, making room for strange new alliances. Lusan’s new faith had unified the people of Europe like no event in their history. Polls showed that fully 67 percent of the people of the continent had converted to this new faith. The churches and synagogues of their former faith became nearly empty and silent reminders of a way of life that had dominated the continent for centuries, but was no more.

The new faith had brought a unity that had even strengthened the bonds that held the nations of the European Union together. No longer would it be only a union of mere economic convenience. It would very soon bond the nations together under a single leader and a unified military. Its once individual nations would become the equivalent of states in the new and greater super nation. And at its head was Julien Deveraux.

Many long-established trade and security agreements between the European Union and the United States were declared null and void. The Americans were viewed as having both hindered and humiliated their spiritual leader. His would-be assassin had been tied to America as well, and now that same America refused to turn over the man who had masterminded the attempt. As a result, all American military bases were to be removed from European soil. They had six months to comply. The dissolution of NATO highlighted the severity of the political climate.

Yet Great Britain refused to abandon its longest and staunchest ally. Neither did the British have a taste for this new breed of what they viewed as European fascism. No, they’d been down this road before. They cut ties with the European Union completely, preferring to apply for membership in NAFTA, an application that was being seriously reviewed by all parties involved.

Across the Pacific, America and China, perceiving a common threat to their security, had signed several important trade and military agreements. Yet fearing the possibility of isolation, Russia had embarked on several new trade and
military agreements with the European Union itself.

Most of the nations of the Middle East had also formed a more binding alliance than they had previously had, so as to secure their own interests. Yet, Egypt and Israel, leery of the growing Islamic fundamentalism gripping the area, and dominating the alliance, preferred to throw in lots with their old and trusted ally, the United States. The world was quickly polarizing, and the resulting fear and paranoia had created indeed strange bedfellows.

In Italy, the Pope’s refusal to acknowledge Lusan as anything but a false prophet had isolated the Vatican from the rest of the new European nation. It had become a tiny nation surrounded on all sides by an almost hostile neighbor. It was a dark time indeed for the Church.

Indeed, just being a Christian of any denomination in the new Europe was a bad career move. It was a good way to find oneself out of a job, and President Deveraux was anything but sympathetic to the Christian plight. From his way of thinking, Christians were blind, intolerant haters of the truth. And his viewpoint was shared by ever more of his fellow citizens.

Lusan was making good on his offer to provide Europe with a new source of virtually unlimited and cheap power. Already 27 new fusion power plants were being planned for different countries in Europe. President Deveraux made sure that the technology remained a carefully guarded secret, for European Union members only. By his way of thinking, it was a gift from God, and it would remain in the hands of God’s people, those who followed the teaching of Lusan.

C
HAPTER
24