Deceived

by Jerry B. Jenkins

  Carpathia swung the microphone to his lips. “That is right! You will rue the day when you dared—”

  “You!” Chaim roared and pointed at Nicolae. “You shall let God’s chosen ones depart before his curse is lifted, lest you face a worse plague in its place.”

  “I have always been willing to listen to reasonable men,” Carpathia said. “I will be at the Knesset,* available to negotiate or to answer honest inquiries from my subjects.”

  Judd stood, amazed, as the crowd parted for Nicolae and his people. As they left, Chaim raised his arms and spoke. “Let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.”

  “Why should we flee?” a man yelled. “We have exposed the potentate as an impotent pretender!”

  “Because God has spoken!” Dr. Rosenzweig said.

  “Now we’re to believe you are God?” the man said.

  “The great I Am has told me. Whatsoever he even thinks comes to pass, and as he purposes, so shall it stand.”

  “Praise God,” Mr. Stein whispered. “Listen to the people. They are calm.”

  “Where shall we go?” someone asked.

  “If you are a believer in Jesus Christ as Messiah,” Chaim said, “leave now for Petra by way of Mizpe Ramon. If you have transportation, take as many with you as you can. Volunteers from around the globe are also here to transport you, and from Mizpe Ramon you will be helicoptered in to Petra. The weak, the elderly, the infirm, find your way to the Mount of Olives, and you will be flown in from there.”

  “And if we do not believe?”

  Chaim paused. “If you have an ear to hear, make your way to Masada, where you will be free to worship God as you once did here at his temple. There I will present the case for Jesus as Messiah. Do not wait! Do not hesitate! Go now, everyone!”

  * Israel’s Parliament

  27

  WHILE Mark phoned their hideout in Wisconsin, Vicki talked with Manny. He apologized for his mistake and said he wouldn’t blame them if they turned around and headed for safety.

  “We decided a long time ago that we would do whatever we could to help people understand the message,” Vicki said. “We want to stay away from Peacekeepers and Morale Monitors, but our first priority is reaching people with the truth.”

  Manny looked out the window. “I’ve been practicing what I’ll say to Hector and the others. I’m not sure I can speak as well as you.”

  “You want me to go with you?”

  “I couldn’t ask that.”

  Mark hung up the cell phone. “Colin is ticked. He wants us to turn around.”

  Manny scratched his head. “Which one is Colin?”

  “Colin Dial, the guy who owns the house where we’re staying. He said we should get out of here and they’d figure out another way to help Claudia.”

  Manny sighed and reached for the door handle. “I guess this is where I get out.”

  “Stay where you are,” Mark barked. “Some of the others were up and I talked to them on the speakerphone. They all thought after Claudia’s latest e-mail that we should—”

  “She wrote again?” Vicki said.

  Mark nodded. “She said she’s leaving her hotel by noon today and wants to know where she should go.”

  “Did they write back?”

  “Yeah. They said they would send her instructions before noon.”

  “Good,” Vicki said. “That makes it sound like we’re going to send a message rather than show up.”

  “The kids voted to make Claudia our priority,” Mark continued. “If we can help Manny meet with his friends and do it safely, they gave us the thumbs-up.”

  Manny smiled and glanced at Vicki. Suddenly his face contorted and he gasped.

  “What is it?” Vicki said.

  “GC squad car!”

  Lionel moved along with Sam and the crowd making its way from the Temple Mount. He kept looking for Judd but couldn’t find him. Many who had Carpathia’s mark were trying to leave for Masada, and Lionel felt sorry for them. Though they didn’t realize it, these people had decided their eternal fate when they had taken Nicolae’s mark.

  As they followed the crowd, Lionel turned to Sam. “You told me about Petra, but what’s Masada?”

  “It is an ancient site revered by the Jews,” Sam said. “It looks like a huge boat in the middle of the desert.”

  “And it’s made out of rock?”

  “Exactly. In the first century, a Jewish uprising threw out the Romans who occupied the fort. Later, the Romans came back and attacked. After a long battle, the Jews realized they would be defeated, so they killed themselves rather than be captured by the Romans.”

  “Now I remember,” Lionel said, still scanning the crowd for any sign of Judd. “What are you going to do?”

  “I will eventually go to Petra, I think,” Sam said, “but I have to go to Masada and see if I can help my fellow countrymen become followers of Messiah.”

  Lionel walked close to Sam, wishing he had stayed with Judd. Now there was no turning back.

  Judd remained with Mr. Stein as the Temple Mount quickly emptied, leaving bodies, splintered wood, and trash. Judd even spotted a few Global Community issued handguns thrown on the ground.

  Judd’s cell phone rang.

  “Where are you?” Chang Wong said.

  Judd told him.

  “I have just communicated to the rest of the Tribulation Force that I’ll be able to let everyone hear exactly what happens between Carpathia and Dr. Rosenzweig at the Knesset.”

  “How did you manage that?” Judd said.

  “Buck Williams is with Chaim and he’s going to keep his cell phone on during the meeting. The sound won’t be perfect, but we’ll be able to hear most of what happens. Would you like to be included?”

  “Yeah, but I don’t have a computer right now—”

  “That’s okay. I’ll patch your phone into the system. I’ll call when they arrive. Would you like to hear my good news?”

  Mr. Stein motioned to Judd that he was going to speak with one of the rabbis and Judd nodded. “Sure.”

  “You know how concerned I was over my dual marks,” Chang said. “When I heard there was a plague of boils, I even felt an itch on my leg and was afraid I was being affected. Now I know for sure what happened to me the morning I received Carpathia’s mark.”

  Vicki whirled and noticed a GC squad car moving slowly toward them, less than a block away. Using its sidemounted searchlight, it illuminated parked cars and checked license plates.

  “Quick decision,” Mark said. “Do we stay or risk pulling out?”

  “It looks like a routine canvas,” Manny said.

  “But if we stay, they’ll see us,” Vicki said.

  “Keep your lights off and ease out,” Manny said. “Don’t touch your brake or the lights will tip them off.”

  Mark started the car and slowly pulled forward, angling toward the street. Vicki rolled down her window slightly and studied the squad car behind them. “I don’t think he’s seen us yet,” she said. Mark leaned over the steering wheel and peered into the dark.

  “Another few blocks and I’ll show you a place you can hide,” Manny said.

  Vicki heard a metal clinking and something darted across the road. “Mark, watch out!”

  Mark slammed on the brakes, narrowly missing a small white dog that rushed in front of them. The dog scampered safely into the night, its tags tinkling as it ran.

  “Move fast,” Manny said. “They saw your brake lights.”

  The squad car turned its searchlight forward. Mark hit the accelerator and sped into the darkness, swerving wildly to miss a giant pothole. Flashing lights swirled and the car raced toward them, its siren blaring.

  “Turn here!” Manny yelled.

  Mark turned sharply and sped down a dark alley. “I have to turn on my lights!”

  “Keep them off. I’ll tel
l you where to go.”

  They passed a fenced-in area and several crumpled buildings. Vicki’s heart raced as the squad car shot past the entrance to the alley. “They didn’t see us turn!”

  “Keep your lights off. They might be—”

  The swirling lights returned as the squad car backed up and entered the alley.

  “Turn left here,” Manny said. “No brakes!”

  Mark careened around the corner, barely missing a telephone pole and smashing into several trash cans. They were on gravel now, and the tires crunched bits of rock as they flew along the darkened side street. Manny leaned forward, struggling to see the next turn.

  “They passed us again,” Vicki said. “Wait, they’re backing up!”

  “Okay, a right turn coming up after an apartment building,” Manny said. “Almost there, but we have to put some distance between us and them.”

  Mark pushed the car faster until Manny screamed. Mark had to hit the brakes and slid within a few inches of a concrete wall. A few yards more and they were back on a paved road. “Where are you taking us?”

  “Just keep going,” Manny said, looking behind them. “If they catch us, we’ll lose our heads.”

  Mark strangled the steering wheel. “You two get out and hide, and I’ll—”

  “No, we’re close,” Manny said. “Keep going.”

  There were no working streetlights, and Vicki couldn’t imagine how Mark drove without hitting something. The road was bumpy and at these speeds there was a chance of blowing a tire. Vicki closed her eyes and prayed. “God, help us get out of this without getting caught.”

  When she opened her eyes, the lights of the squad car seemed closer.

  Lionel followed Sam through the streets of Jerusalem. The uproar of the crowd at the Temple Mount continued as looters smashed windows and knocked over tables outside businesses. Outside bars, drunken men and women celebrated—though Lionel couldn’t figure out why—by dancing and singing. Those who had Carpathia’s mark soon fell behind, wailing in agony at sores that appeared on their feet.

  Lionel saw one man shriek as he tried to wrestle a gun from an equally sick GC Morale Monitor.

  “I can’t go on like this!” the man screamed.

  The Morale Monitor gained control of the weapon, took a step back, and aimed. “Stay where you are or I’ll shoot!”

  The man howled like a hurt animal and lunged wildly. The Morale Monitor fired, and the man crumpled to the ground. Lionel and Sam rushed over with several others. Someone rolled the man on his back, and blood poured from a wound in his chest. He gasped for air as his head lolled to one side. When he saw the Morale Monitor, he smiled slightly. “Thank you …”

  One of the rabbis felt the man’s neck and said he was dead. The Morale Monitor, who looked only slightly older than Lionel, seemed near hysterics. “I didn’t have a choice! I told him to stop!”

  Lionel and Sam left the group huddled around the man’s body and kept following the crowd.

  Judd thought Chang sounded more excited than he had ever heard him. The young man had pieced together video and audio clips from secret recording devices planted throughout buildings in New Babylon.

  “My father and Walter Moon gave me a tranquilizer,” Chang said. “The drug made me forget the whole thing, including a conversation I had with my mother about being a believer.”

  “She’s a believer?”

  “Not yet, but she knows my sister, Ming Toy, and I are followers of Christ.”

  “That sounds like trouble. What if she tells your dad?”

  “I’m praying both of them will see the truth before it’s too late.”

  “What did you find out from the recordings?” Judd said.

  Chang laughed with delight. “You don’t know how relieved I was when I found video from a surveillance camera in one of the hallways. As my father and Walter Moon helped me walk—they pretty much carried me—I made the sign of the cross on my chest!”

  “Incredible,” Judd said.

  “I don’t even know where I got that! And then I pointed toward heaven and tried to say something.”

  “So it’s clear you were resisting.”

  “Yes,” Chang said. “God knew my heart and that they made me take the mark. Now I’m ready to do whatever I can to help the Tribulation Force.”

  Judd described the mayhem at the Temple Mount and asked Chang to call back when he had news from Carpathia’s meeting at the Knesset.

  “Watch for members of Operation Eagle,” Chang said.

  “How will I recognize them?”

  “You’ll know them when you see them.”

  Lionel became more concerned the farther he and Sam walked away from the Temple Mount. Where are we going? How will we reach Judd?

  In the street ahead he noticed several parked vehicles. Men and women stood on top, waving and calling. These weren’t Morale Monitors or Peacekeepers. They didn’t wear uniforms and seemed too energetic.

  As they drew closer, Lionel realized that all the people calling from the tops of their vehicles had the mark of the believer! Some yelled, “He is risen!”

  Believers in the crowd answered, “Christ is risen indeed!”

  Operation Eagle.

  Vicki held on to the backseat as they drove across a deserted parking lot and into a run-down area. The GC squad car continued pursuit but seemed farther behind.

  Manny grabbed the cell phone and punched a few numbers. He screamed something in Spanish and hung up.

  “What was that about?” Mark said.

  Manny ignored him and pointed Mark to a battered brick building in the middle of the block. Mark pulled up to a garage door marked with graffiti, and Manny leaned over and gave the horn two short honks. The door opened and Mark drove inside. As soon as they stopped, the door banged shut behind them.

  Seconds later Vicki heard the squad car siren approach.

  28

  VICKI held her breath. The only light in the garage came from the reflection of the red taillights, which cast an eerie glow about the room. Manny held up a hand for quiet and Mark turned. Vicki had been through many scrapes with Mark, but she had never seen him this frightened.

  The siren grew louder, wailing and warbling, until it screamed outside the building. It surged, then quickly subsided as the car flew past the building.

  “Stay where you are,” Manny whispered. “We have to make sure they’re not coming back.”

  The phone rang and Mark handed it to Manny. “It’s for you.”

  Manny answered and listened. After a few moments he said something in Spanish, hung up, and turned to Mark and Vicki. “The squad car is gone, but I’m afraid we have another problem.”

  “Who were you talking to?” Vicki said.

  “Hector. There’s an observation room in the top floor—”

  Before Manny could finish, a door opened and a shaft of light pierced the darkness. Vicki noticed a rickety staircase in front of them. A man stepped onto the landing above and pointed a gun. “Get out slowly,” he said.

  Lionel rushed to the waiting cars behind a wave of Orthodox Jews, who had neither the mark of Carpathia nor the mark of God. Operation Eagle members waved people farther back, filling up vans, cars, and trucks. One man had brought several ancient school buses, and people filled them in minutes.

  “Lionel!” someone yelled from atop a Humvee ahead. At first, Lionel thought it might be Judd, but as he moved closer he saw Westin Jakes.

  Westin jumped down and Lionel introduced Sam. Lionel explained that Westin was a pilot for the famous singer Z-Van and that he had flown Judd and Lionel to Israel.

  Westin smiled. “Lionel is the one who explained the truth to me after old Nicolae sat up in his glass coffin.”

  “What are you doing here?” Lionel said.

  “Couldn’t miss out on the excitement. I was at the airport, waiting for instructions from the boss, when I saw a lot of small plane activity. There were charters going out and some choppers, so I walked up t
o one of the guys doing his preflight and noticed he had the mark of the believer. He said he was with Operation Eagle. After he described it, I didn’t have to think long. I knew I had to be part of it.”

  “What about Z-Van?” Lionel said.

  Westin rolled his eyes. “I told you there would come a time when I’d have to stop working for him. I left a message at his hotel, but I haven’t heard anything. I think he’s brooding over the fact that he hasn’t been able to perform his new material.”

  Lionel ran a hand along the Humvee. “Where’d you get this?”

  “Airport rental.” Westin winked. “I’m supposed to have it back the day after tomorrow, but I’m not sure where I’ll be the day after tomorrow.”

  Lionel and Sam got in, and Westin fired up the big vehicle. “You guys can help. I’m supposed to find people who can’t get around very well and take them to the Mount of Olives. Then it’s off to Masada.”

  Sam spotted someone in a wheelchair and Westin stopped. For the next few minutes they picked up as many feeble or ailing people as they could cram into the Humvee.

  “Are you flying today?” Lionel asked.

  Westin shook his head. “I’m only doing ground transportation for now. This is one big escape plan. The goal is to get as many people out as we can before Carpathia attacks.”

  “Which way to Masada?” Lionel said.

  “It’s south toward En Gedi,” Sam said, “just a couple of miles off the western shore of the Dead Sea.”

  “Where’s Judd?” Westin said.

  “Good question,” Lionel said.

  Judd watched the evacuation with a mixture of delight and horror. From the frenzy Carpathia had put the people in, Judd hadn’t expected anyone to leave. After all, the crowd had Nicolae trapped. But something Dr. Rosenzweig said—or maybe it was the way he had said it—convinced people there was real danger.