“As was anticipated, Chief Hassan Jawhar Rashid signed a treaty with Israel today, and promised to end all hostilities with that country. The chief made it clear these efforts were singularly the result of his doings, and Rashid insisted he had personally become the guarantor of world stability.”
“Adah’s search of the Scripture certainly proved to be exactly on target,” Jackie said. “The Antichrist has made an agreement with Israel that will prove to be a source of great pain for that nation as well as the world.”
“Now to the major story gripping the entire world tonight,” the announcer continued. “An asteroid has smashed into the Coral Sea off the tip of Papua New Guinea and the east coast of Australia. Estimating the size of the meteor to be somewhere around one kilometer, the collision has shaken the world’s core and has sent tidal waves across New Guinea and down Australia’s coastline beyond Brisbane and down toward Sydney. Coastal towns like Cooktown, Townsville, and Mackay have been completely destroyed. Early estimates indicate at least five million people have been killed, but no one is certain. Conditions in New Guinea prevent estimates of a death toll there yet, but southern coastal towns around the South Cape are completely gone. Probably several million citizens have died. At this time, no one is able to identify how many ships and boats have been lost, but the number remains perilously high.”
“Conditions sound as bad as we feared,” Jackie said. “Bless all those people who died.” She tapped the radio tune bar. “Our reception certainly is badly distorted. I’ve never heard the static so intense.”
“Many countries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East experienced severe earthquakes. In Canada, we have . . .” Suddenly the static completely drowned out all reception.
Graham turned off the radio. “That’s unfortunate! We can’t find out what’s ahead of us, and we need to know.”
“Do you think air travel will be affected?” Jackie asked.
“I don’t know,” Graham said. “Quite possibly. That’s our next big hurdle.”
CHAPTER 74
THE PECKS’ CARAVAN pulled into the parking garage of the Toronto airport at ten o’clock in the morning. The sky remained overcast with black clouds, and the radio reception continued to be somewhat distorted, but it appeared airplanes were flying. Gathering only what they could carry, the family hurried into the terminal to search for the El Al Airlines desk. Graham brought up the rear, carrying his briefcase containing their passports, papers, and documents.
“I know we are leaving many important items behind,” Jackie told the children, “but we must travel light, and we’ll find new toys in Israel.”
“Yeah,” Jeff said. “New stuff!”
“It’s okay,” George said. “I’ve still got my palm-sized transistorized magnifier. We’re just glad to be here.”
“You’ve got fine kids,” Nancy Marks said.
“Absolutely.” Jackie hugged both the boys. “You’re good guys.”
“There it is!” Adah pointed to her left. “There’s El Al!”
The family quickly joined the passenger line. In five minutes Graham stood in front of the agent, presenting passports, payments, the political asylum order, anything needed to purchase a one-way ticket to Israel.
“One way?” Jackie mused. “Sounds so painful.”
Graham hugged her. “Don’t worry. We’re going to be okay. We’ve made it through the dark night. Our problems are over.”
Jackie forced a smile, but her eyes teared. “I—I just find it so hard to leave our home, our country.” She buried her face in Graham’s shirt.
The ticket agent quickly tagged their luggage and slung the pieces onto the slow-moving line of bags. In a matter of minutes their few remaining possessions had been tagged and were drifting down the conveyor belt to disappear into the black hole at the end of the counter.
“I believe everyone is ready,” the agent finally said. “We do not expect any problems after this asteroid collision. Our planes are flying acceptably this morning. You are seated together, and you should board in forty-five minutes at Gate 33.” The woman smiled. “Have a nice trip.”
The family turned away from the desk and started walking, much more slowly than they had come in, toward the escalator that would take them up to the passenger lounges. With a final feeling of nostalgia, Graham turned for one last look at the terminal, the ticket counter, the world they were leaving behind. At that instant, he felt like lightning hit him!
Moving up through the line to the El Al ticket agent was a man he knew all too well. With his sinister eyes locked on the woman ticket agent, the thug would forever and always be terrifying to Graham. They were being followed by Al Meachem!
“Quick!” Graham said, pulling the family close to him. “Don’t look back! Get on this escalator and walk through the security check as fast as you can. We’re being followed!”
“God help us!” Adah exploded. A man going down the escalator turned and looked at her in surprise. “We are so close to escaping!”
“Listen to me carefully,” Graham told the family. “When we get to the top, I’m going back, but you go on. If I’m not there when they load the airplane, you get on that jet and get out of here. Do you understand?”
“We can’t leave without you!” Jackie protested.
“Yes! You must!” Graham insisted. “Matthew, make sure everyone is on that airplane. You got me?”
“Yes sir,” Matt said slowly.
Graham kissed his wife. “I’ll be fine and probably nothing will happen, but keep walking.” He pressed the briefcase into Jackie’s hand, turned, and started back down the escalator.
“Graham . . . ,” Jackie called after him, but he didn’t look back.
CHAPTER 75
GRAHAM PECK didn’t look back at his family as he descended the escalator. He couldn’t let them see in his eyes the apprehension he felt building, but Graham knew that a severe response might be required from him in the next few minutes. He had to resolutely set his face toward the hard task ahead.
The chances were good that he would be forced to confront Meachem, and that would be dangerous. The only way Al could have found them was to trace the nanorobot markings on his daughter’s and Nancy Marks’s foreheads. No question about it! Meacham must have been behind them somewhere when they entered Canada. Unless Graham could stop Meachem, the man would follow them around the world until he killed them. It would be far better to confront Meachem now and let the family escape than to have everyone taken captive by this vicious deputy of the mayor. If nothing else, he would fight Meachem to the death in front of the ticket counter rather than allow him to cause his family harm.
At the bottom of the escalator, Graham ducked his head and quickly walked up behind the ticket line Meachem was standing in. Instantly, Graham realized that a large support pole in front of him ran up to the ceiling. He darted behind the white metal shaft, which would partially conceal him if Meachem looked around. He was still close enough to both see and hear what went on at the ticket counter.
The lady in front of Al Meachem collected her tickets and walked away. Meachem stepped forward and slipped something out of his pocket that he flashed in the agent’s face. The woman looked at what he held and frowned.
“I’m an emissary of the American government,” Meachem said. “I need your help in finding a fugitive fleeing from justice with his family. Graham Peck is the man’s name.”
“I’m sorry,” the agent said. “We just sell tickets.”
Graham saw Meachem lean forward and mumble something Graham couldn’t understand. The agent looked taken aback and didn’t respond.
“I don’t have any time to wait,” Meachem said forcefully. “Don’t fool with me!”
Graham could see that the woman looked angry. She reached out her arm as if fumbling for a signal on the counter. “Please leave,” the ticket agent said forcefully.
“I’m not going anywhere.” Meachem’s voice became more pointed. “You’ll give me assistance, or I’ll have
the police all over you.”
Suddenly two plainclothesmen rushed past Graham and grabbed each side of Meachem, pushing him forward across the top of the ticket counter. The agents started frisking Al before Meachem even realized what was happening.
One of the agents pulled an electronic device out of Meachem’s coat pocket that must have been what he was using to follow Mary. The other man slapped a small handgun taken out of Meachem’s shoulder holster up on the counter. Without saying a word, they pulled Al’s arms behind his back and handcuffed him.
The ticket agent shook her finger in Meachem’s face. “This clown was trying to force me to give out information on passengers,” she charged. “What a jerk!”
“I’m with the United States government!” Meachem shouted back.
“Yeah? Well, we’re plainclothes officers with the RCMP,” one of the men said. “You’d better be able to fully substantiate your claims, or you’re going to be with us for a good long visit.”
The Mounties jerked Meachem around, marched him across the ticket line, and down the hall. Peck slowly slid around the other side of the metal pole and walked up to the woman at the desk.
“Thank you,” Graham said. “I appreciate your help.”
“I read your political asylum form when you picked up the tickets,” the agent said. “And this nut was flashing a card that identified him as working for the mayor of Chicago. That meaningless badge won’t buy him a bag of peanuts up here in Canada.”
Graham shook her hand. “But it may get him a free stay in your slammer for a while.”
“We don’t get one of these thrills every day,” the woman said with a grin. “But it certainly keeps business from getting dull.”
CHAPTER 76
GRAHAM HURRIEDLY CLIMBED the escalator again and rushed down the hall. He struggled to keep a casual demeanor through the security check, but once past the metal detector, Graham ran down the hallway toward Gate 33 as fast as his feet would carry him. He slowed when he saw the family huddled together near the far wall in front of the door leading to the airplane. Obviously they were silently praying.
“Your prayers were answered,” Graham puffed as he walked up. “We’re fine now.”
“What happened?” Matthew frantically asked.
“Al Meachem was taken into custody by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He pushed his luck with the wrong ticket agent.”
Nancy Marks started crying softly. “I was so afraid! That evil man terrorized me in the prison.” She wiped her eyes. “I feared he’d catch me again.”
Adah patted Nancy on her shoulder. “We’re going to board this airplane in a few moments. Once it’s off the ground, we won’t be worrying anymore about those gangsters from Chicago ever again.”
“Dad?” Mary beckoned to Graham to follow her. “Come over here a second.”
Graham followed his daughter to an isolated portion of the passenger lounge. “Yes, Mary?”
“That man followed us because he picked up on the forehead markings that Nancy and I have, didn’t he?”
Graham shook his head. “It doesn’t make any difference now,” he said.
“Yes, it does!” Mary held her ground. “I want to know the truth. That’s how they caught up with us, right?”
Graham nodded slowly. “I’m afraid so.”
“I’ve worried about the marking every since Bridges’ people put it on me.” Mary folded her arms over her chest. “I don’t want to leave this country and take the problem with me to Israel. It has to stop right here.”
“But there isn’t anything we can do.”
“Yes, there is,” Mary insisted. “Remember that device with the red and green buttons that your secretary, Sarah Cates, sneaked out of the mayor’s offices?”
“Yes,” Graham said carefully.
“You used that gadget the night Jake Pemrose was chasing us out of Chicago. When you pressed the red button, it caused the nanorobots to bore into his head, and that’s what caused the car wreck.”
“And?”
“For weeks I’ve been thinking about the green button. Why wouldn’t that disarm the nanorobot markings?”
“Mary, we have no earthly way to know what the green button would do.”
“The gizmo was made by some scientist at the Microfabrication Research Lab. Remember? The green color has to be positive. I want you to try it on me right now.”
“I can’t do that!” Graham protested. “If the red button killed Jake Pemrose, what might the green one do? The results could be devastating.”
“Green is a good color,” Mary argued back. “That button has to stand for something positive, and I want to try it right now.”
“Look,” Graham said dogmatically, “we can’t experiment with something so potentially dangerous in the middle of this airport.”
“You did!” Mary fired back. “You just got through battling on our behalf with that creep from Chicago. That’s no different from my completing an experiment that may once and for all wipe out the curse and stop the chase.”
“But . . .”
Mary kissed him on the cheek. “Dad, let’s not get into one of our infamous fights. In that horrible jail in Chicago, I gave my life to Jesus Christ. I belong to Him. I’m ready to trust Him to take me through this cleansing process, exactly as He freed me of my past mistakes and sins.”
“But Mary!” Graham protested. “What if it kills you?”
“Then I want to die in this airport rather than jeopardize the family in Israel.” Mary held out her hand. “Let’s do it.”
Graham squeezed his eyes shut tightly and took a deep, deep breath. “Mary, I don’t even know where that device is.”
“In your briefcase,” she answered instantly. “I saw it in there when we were loading up to leave back in Prentice.”
Graham sagged. “You’re sure you want to do this?”
“Absolutely.”
“Well . . . I guess the time while you were gone from us taught me that I must respect your decisions more than I did in the past. This is the hardest thing I’ve done in my entire life.” Graham walked over and took the briefcase from Jackie.
Mary beckoned for Nancy Marks to join her. “Nancy and I have talked about this problem,” Mary said, reaching out for Nancy’s hand. “We’re both in agreement. We want to stand together when you push the green button.” Mary and Nancy closed their eyes.
Graham took the small flat device out of the briefcase and held it in his hand. He stared apprehensively at the metal device. “Lord, help us,” he prayed out loud, and pushed the green button.
Nothing happened.
Graham pushed the button again. “Did you feel anything?”
Mary opened her eyes. “Not a solitary thing.”
Nancy rubbed her forehead. “I think they’re gone!”
“We couldn’t see those infinitesimal nanorobots disappear anyway,” Mary said. “Don’t you see? That’s the most positive sign of all.”
“Wait a minute,” George interrupted. “I’ve got that palm-sized transistorized magnifier that Jeff and I play with.” He dug into his backpack. “Maybe it will show something.”
Graham took the magnifier and held it over Nancy’s hand she had used to rub her forehead. He squinted, slowly examining every inch of her fingertips. “My gosh!” Graham exclaimed. “I can barely see them, but there’s a faint line of gray color under this magnifier. The nanorobots did come off!”
The family cheered, and people around them looked up in surprise.
“We are ready to board El Al Flight 324 to Jerusalem,” a voice boomed over the loudspeaker. “Please have your boarding passes out as you prepare to enter the airplane.”
With their boarding passes in hand, the family quickly checked through the gate and hurried down the long hallway into the airplane. Without waiting for further instruction, they piled into their seats in the large Boeing 747 jet, and immediately buckled their seat belts.
Having taken a seat next to her father
, Mary snuggled up to Graham. “We did it, Dad! Who would ever believe that we’d survive such a harrowing time?”
“It’s been a real tribulation!” Graham agreed. “And it’s far from over yet, but we escaped being tagged.”
“I know,” Mary said, “God surely had His hand on us. We’re leaving this hemisphere knowing that the best is ahead.”
Graham looked out the window as the airplane finished filling with passengers. Soon they would be in the air and gone from the chaos they had endured.
The stewardess made her usual announcements, and the airplane started rolling down the runway. The roar of the jet engines increased as the 747 picked up the speed needed for the takeoff. In a few moments, Graham felt the airplane lift off, and then heard the wheels retracting. They were on their way.
Looking out over the lush forests and fields of Ontario, he watched Toronto become smaller and smaller. In the months behind them, the Pecks had lived through the most harrowing demands any family could know, but they had come out together, and their lives had been dramatically touched by a grace beyond anything Graham had ever known. He was ready to live by that power, not only for the rest of his life, but for eternity.
What was ahead? Graham Peck had no idea, but whatever it was, it would happen in Israel.
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