Shaken

by Jerry B. Jenkins

  Carl asked to be put on the schoolhouse speakerphone. He praised Vicki for her poise. “You’re a natural at this. Ought to have your own show.”

  “But I didn’t get to what I really wanted to say.”

  “You will,” Carl said. “When you come back on, you’ll have the whole place in the palm of your hand. Damosa’s supposed to speak for about twenty minutes and then bring the band back. Listen to what he says, and we’ll cut to you before he introduces the band.”

  “I’ll be ready,” Vicki said.

  Lionel was stunned at what the kids back home had accomplished. How they had tapped into the international satellite feed, he couldn’t tell. But they had done it.

  Dr. Damosa cleared his throat and gave a nervous smile. “Well, that was an interesting perspective. I’m not sure who Vicki B. is, but we’ll have to have a talk with her.”

  Lionel whispered to Sam, “Sounds like the GC have no idea what’s up.”

  Carl watched the control room on his monitor and listened closely for anyone moving outside his own satellite truck. He wanted to give Vicki one more chance on the air.

  A phone rang in the control room. “We didn’t put her on!” the engineer yelled. When he hung up, he said, “Here’s the scoop. Headquarters says a Morale Monitor in Illinois recognized this Vicki B. character. She’s one of those Ben-Judah followers.”

  “How could she hack into our satellite?”

  “She stole a sat truck in Illinois.”

  “But that still doesn’t explain—”

  “Look, I don’t know!” the engineer said as he checked connections and wires. “That’s what we have to figure out.”

  “Maybe she really is in Israel and they’re tapping in from there.”

  The engineer shook his head. “She stole the thing in Illinois. You think they floated to Israel?”

  “Better call Meninger.”

  “Yeah, Carl will trace it.”

  Carl’s cell phone beeped. He let the engineer leave a message. “Things are getting hot down here,” Carl said to the kids. “We’ve got one more chance. Let’s roll.”

  “Now?” Mark said. “In the middle of Damosa’s speech?”

  “Right now.”

  Vicki took her place and watched Dr. Damosa walk back and forth on the dove stage. “Peace comes with a price, and that price must be paid by those who enjoy it. There are some of you who think what I’m saying doesn’t apply to you. You just want the band to come back. That’s okay. I want to hear them again too.”

  Damosa paused for dramatic effect, and the camera zoomed out. It panned the crowd and got tight shots of those in attendance.

  “If you want peace, you must commit to it. You can’t say you follow the Global Community or that you like Potentate Carpathia. You must join us.”

  Conrad held up a hand, then pointed to Vicki. The screen switched from the stadium to Vicki. “Go!”

  “Hi, it’s Vicki B. again. Sorry to have to break into Dr. Damosa’s speech, but he’s making a good point. If you want to be part of something, you’ve got to do more than just talk about it. That’s what I want to challenge you to do right now.”

  Conrad hit a button, and on the bottom of the screen flashed the kids’ Web site, “www.theundergroundonline.com.”

  “I told you earlier how many of the Bible’s predictions have come true. If you read Tsion Ben-Judah’s words on our Web site, you’ll see this ’t some loony guy looking for attention. If you’re skeptical, read it.”

  Vicki stood and leaned against a table. Mark zoomed in tight on Vicki’s face. “But many of you know the stuff the Global Community is throwing at you is hollow. You don’t have peace with God. Every time something terrible happens—an earthquake, stinging locusts, meteors, whatever—you’re scared. You’re afraid you might be the next one whose name shows up on the death list.

  “I want you to know you don’t have to be scared. You don’t have to be afraid that God’s going to zap you. You can have real peace with him today.

  “Dr. Damosa was right about there being a cost to peace. It cost God the death of his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus gave his life as a sacrifice for you and me, so that we could be forgiven and made right with God. If you want to commit your life to a peace that will be in your heart and will last not only a lifetime, but even after you die, you should pray with me right now.”

  Lionel watched people outside the stadium talking and calling for the return of The Four Horsemen. But when Vicki started her message, they became quiet.

  “I think this girl is one of the Judah-ites,” someone nearby said.

  “Shut up,” someone else said. “I want to hear this.”

  Carl watched the control room closely as Vicki continued her prayer. The engineer and others frantically searched the room.

  “Where’s Meninger?” the engineer screamed.

  Carl turned down his monitors and dialed the control room. “I got your message. What’s up?”

  “Get in here now! Somebody’s pirated our signal, and we can’t find the source.”

  “What!?”

  “It’s the Judah-ites. Instead of the live feed from Jerusalem, we’ve got some girl praying.”

  Another phone rang. “It’s Damosa!” someone screamed.

  “How soon can you get here, Carl?”

  Carl noticed Vicki was about to end her prayer. She looked at the camera, smiled, then gave the Web site address again.

  “There’s no time,” Carl said. “Cut the main power grid for the entire facility. That’ll cut out the satellite feed, but it’ll also cut off the girl. I’ll be there as soon as I can. ” Lionel heard Vicki’s last words before the screen went blank. Sam looked at him and said, “Incredible.”

  A boy about Sam’s age walked up and stared. “Why do you guys have that funny looking thing on your foreheads?”

  23

  VICKI collapsed in a chair and sighed. Conrad smiled and nodded at her. “Told you.”

  “What?” Vicki said.

  “That you’d be even better live.”

  Janie ran in. “You were awesome!”

  Lenore carried Tolan in and hugged Vicki. “God used you today, young lady. He was bringing people to himself through you.”

  Vicki wiped sweat from her forehead. “I was really nervous when I thought of all those people watching. Then I remembered my speech teacher. She said I should focus on one person and talk to him. So I pictured somebody sitting there by the camera.”

  “Who?” Lenore said.

  “You don’t know him. His name was Ryan Daley. He was one of the original members of the Young Trib Force who died in the wrath of the Lamb earthquake.”

  After Vicki’s transmission had been cut, Lionel and Sam wandered into the stadium to see if they could find any more new believers. When they reached the top of the runway, the lights went out and The Four Horsemen came back onstage. As fire flashed behind the group, Lionel scanned the crowd. Every few rows he saw kids with the mark of the believer. As the music began, many of them made their way out of the stadium.

  “Come on,” Lionel said. As new believers filed out, Lionel and Sam handed them invitations to General Zimmerman’s home. Sam and Lionel split up as more believers left the concert.

  “How did you know I’d prayed that prayer?” one girl asked Lionel.

  He pointed to his forehead and explained the mark. The girl said she was going right home to look up the Web site of the Young Tribulation Force.

  When Sam and Lionel finally got back together, they had both run out of flyers. Sam said he had written the General’s address on scraps of paper and even on people’s hands. “I lost count at about seventy.”

  “I talked to around a hundred,” Lionel said.

  The music still rocked the stadium. Lionel and Sam headed back to give the others the good news.

  Vicki wanted to thank Carl for his work, but he didn’t answer his phone. The kids gathered to watch a recording of Vicki’s message, but Mark interrupt
ed and called everyone upstairs.

  Lionel and his friend Sam were on the computer screen when Vicki walked into the room. When they spotted her, they clapped. Judd was in the background giving her a thumbs-up.

  “I don’t know how you did that, but it was beautiful!” Lionel said. He explained what had happened outside the stadium after her broadcast. “We didn’t see any believers beforehand, but we counted almost two hundred coming out of the stadium.”

  “And think of all the other locations that aired you,” Sam said.

  “You’d better get ready for a lot of hits on the Web site,” Lionel said.

  “I’m behind on one of Tsion’s letters,” Mark said. “If somebody else can handle that, I’ll write something for people who prayed today.”

  “Call it the Vicki B. File,” Lionel said.

  Vicki smiled. “I’ll take a shot at Tsion’s letter, if that’s okay.”

  Mark agreed, and Lionel and Sam said good-bye. Judd stepped closer to the camera. “Wish I could have seen you tonight, Vick. Sounds like a pretty good show.”

  “It was a team effort. What’s up with you?”

  Judd gave the kids an update on General Zimmerman and Mr. Stein’s meetings. “Hopefully a lot of kids who saw the broadcast will come.”

  “Anything we can pray about?” Conrad said.

  Judd hesitated. “There is something. A believer I know is about to get into trouble.”

  “With the GC?” Conrad said.

  “Yeah. And it could put the rest of us in a tight spot. Pray that I’ll know what to do when the time comes.”

  All the kids said they would pray. Tolan toddled into the room and waved at Judd on the camera. Everyone laughed.

  Vicki went to her room to read the letter from Tsion Ben-Judah. Vicki loved everything Tsion wrote. This letter dealt with the Global Gala that was coming up quickly. Vicki shook her head. With all the death and grief in the world, Nicolae Carpathia wanted to throw a party.

  Tsion said he would not attend the Global Gala, even though he had been invited as an international statesman. An earthquake is prophesied that will wipe out a tenth of that city, Tsion had written.

  Vicki thought of Judd, Lionel, and the others. Would they be safe from the earthquake? Would other believers be hurt?

  Vicki read the rest of the letter and tried to rewrite it in a way anyone could understand. At first it felt weird to change any of the letter. But she knew some kids wouldn’t be able to understand all the words.

  She wrote:

  Because death will be in the air in Jerusalem next month, I will not attend this outrage. This festival is an excuse to bring about the evil plans of Satan himself.

  I will follow the Gala on the Internet or television, like the rest of the world. But I believe this event will begin the second half of the Tribulation, called the Great Tribulation, which will make these days seem relaxing.

  If you watch the GC newscasts, you know how bad things have become. Crime and sin are beyond control. The food and supplies we need to live on are in short supply because many workers who make and distribute them have died. Life is cheap, and our neighbors die every day at the hand of criminals who steal things from them. Many Peacekeepers have died, and the ones left are either overwhelmed with their jobs or are crooks themselves.

  Vicki moved through the rest of the letter, highlighting Tsion’s belief that evil would become worse and worse.

  I urge you to prepare for the day when it is illegal not just to read this Web site or call yourself a believer. One day you will be required to take the terrible mark of the beast on your forehead or your hand in order to buy or sell anything.

  Don’t make the fatal mistake of thinking you can take that mark and privately believe in Christ. Jesus has made it plain that those who deny him before men, he will deny before God. I will talk more later about why anyone who takes the mark of the beast will not be able to change their minds.

  Vicki thought of Lionel and Judd. They had called themselves Christians before the Rapture. Playing church wasn’t an option now.

  If you have asked God to forgive your sins and have trusted Christ for your salvation, you have the seal of God on your forehead. This mark is also not reversible, so you don’t have to be afraid of God turning away from you.

  Tsion quoted a verse from Romans and Vicki opened her own Bible. She had read the passage before, but thinking about the current world situation brought tears to her eyes. She read: If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Vicki smiled. That verse said it all.

  Tsion’s letter continued to quote Scripture.

  Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

  With the apostle Paul, I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

  Vicki closed her eyes. She didn’t know whether any of the new believers would understand the word principalities, so she cut it, but left the rest in. Tsion closed by urging every believer to give thanks to God for every victory he gives. He ended with Steadfast in love for you all, your friend, Tsion Ben-Judah.

  Vicki thanked God for those around the world who had watched the satellite broadcast and had become believers. She thanked him for Janie and Melinda, whose lives had radically changed. She prayed for Judd and the situation with his friend, and for Carl in Florida.

  When she had finished praying, Vicki felt troubled but couldn’t figure out why. A few rooms away Tolan whimpered and cried, and Vicki realized why she felt so uneasy. If the kids had to run, there wouldn’t be enough room for everyone in the satellite truck.

  Carl Meninger sat in his office in Florida waiting for a call he didn’t want to take, and hating himself. He had screamed at the people in the control room and blamed them for something he was secretly responsible for— Vicki’s satellite broadcast.

  “Don’t you realize this could mean my job?” Carl had yelled.

  The engineer and the others had looked at the floor while Carl ranted and raved. When Carl was finished, the engineer said, “There’s no way they could have done what they did unless they had help on the inside. It could be in New Babylon or Jerusalem or it could be here.”

  “And who do you suppose it is?” Carl said. “Look around. Who’s the mole who helped the Judah-ites?”

  No one in the room spoke. Carl finally told them to search “every inch of the compound” to make sure the problem wasn’t in-house.

  Carl felt isolated from the rest of the Young Trib Force. It had been his decision to go back to the Global Community and work from the inside, but he had had no idea how alone he would feel. There wasn’t another believer in the entire compound, and Carl missed talking to Vicki, Mark, and the others.

  He read Tsion Ben-Judah’s e-mails religiously in his apartment. The rabbi’s Web site, along with www.theunderground-online.com, was his lifeline to other believers.

  The phone startled Carl. He checked the readout and sighed. His supervisor was a foulmouthed man who could make anyone feel worthless. He picked up the phone, and the man screamed at him. Carl held the phone away from his ear as his boss cursed and threatened Carl if Vicki ever got on the air again.

  “I understand, sir,” Carl said. “We’re working to find out how it happened.”

  “Work faster,” the supervisor said. “I’ve got Damosa and his people, and even Fortunato, busting my chops.”

  “I heard Fortunato was traveling,” Carl said.

  “He is. Called me from Africa or wherever he is this week and said if we didn’t find this nest of Judah-ites, he would personally see there would be GC personnel executed.”

  “Executed
?”

  “Yeah, so make sure no one’s working on the inside.

  We think we know where this girl and her cohorts are.”

  “Where?” Carl said.

  “Illinois. A Morale Monitor got kidnapped by these crazies. Choppers are looking for a stolen satellite truck.”

  “Any luck?”

  “Not yet, but we’ll find them.”

  “I’m sure you will, sir.”

  “I want a full report on anything suspicious. Oh, and one more thing.”

  “Yes?”

  “Dr. Damosa has called another satellite school uplink for this Saturday to make up for this fiasco. The Global Gala starts Monday. I don’t have to tell you how important it is that this goes as planned.”

  “Yes, sir,” Carl said.

  Carl hung up and turned on his cell phone. He had turned it off to make sure no one from the Young Trib Force called him while he was talking to the others. Now he couldn’t wait to talk with Vicki and Mark. It was time for an encore.

  24

  WHEN Mark told her what Carl had said, Vicki called a meeting of the Young Trib Force. Everyone crowded into the computer room. Conrad held Tolan to give Lenore a break.

  “Marjorie told the GC everything she knows,” Vicki said. “We need a twenty-four-hour lookout in the bell tower.”

  Darrion volunteered for the first shift.

  Shelly raised a hand. “Why don’t we all just leave? Wouldn’t that be safer?”

  Mark stood. “Because Damosa’s called another satellite meeting for this Saturday.”

  Vicki nodded. “The reports from around the country and a couple of sites overseas tell us we’ve had incredible results. The truth is changing these pro-Carpathia kids. We estimate there were one to two hundred decisions made at each site.”

  “That means there are thousands who are now believers,” Charlie said.