Stung

by Jerry B. Jenkins

  It was afternoon in Illinois, but the kids were exhausted. Vicki and the others went to their rooms. She couldn’t get the e-mail out of her mind. Had the GC found them? Was Mark in some kind of trouble?

  Before she went to sleep, Vicki opened her Bible. Her hands trembled as she read.

  Judd awoke early Friday and spent the day in a blur of activity. The all-day meetings focused on the importance of the message and gave specific texts of Scripture to memorize. “These are the words of God,” one speaker said, “and God’s words are effective. Use them well.”

  Late in the afternoon, Judd and Lionel walked to the stadium early to make sure they got seats. At the east entrance they were amazed to see the crowds already standing shoulder to shoulder. Most were Jewish believers, but many were also skeptics and seekers who had seen the coverage and wanted to view Dr. Ben-Judah themselves.

  “Can you believe Carpathia’s news media has covered this whole thing?” Lionel said.

  “Probably Nick’s way of keeping track of everything they say,” Judd said.

  Again, Judd looked for the GC guard but couldn’t find him. He and Lionel made their way into the already packed stadium. As darkness fell, Judd spotted the guard near the stage. “Save my seat. I’ll be right back.”

  “I can’t talk to you,” the guard said as Judd approached, his eyes darting toward the stage.

  Judd turned his back and kept talking. “Why not?”

  “Get out of here—”

  “Just answer this,” Judd said. “You’ve listened the last two nights. Does Tsion’s message make sense?”

  “I’m telling you, I can’t talk,” the guard said.

  “Tell me, is any of it getting through?”

  The guard looked down and whispered, “Last night I listened and wondered what would have happened … if those two preachers had zapped me instead of my friend.”

  Judd felt a ray of hope for the guard.

  “At first, I thought you people were crazy, all the praying and singing. Last night I was ready to kill everyone on the stage. Now, I don’t know. I wonder if I’ve done something wrong.”

  “We all have,” Judd said. “That’s the point. But God’s trying to get our attention. Let me tell you what we believe. I can help.”

  The guard stole a glance around the stage. “You have to go. The other guards will see us.”

  “If you ask God to forgive you, he will,” Judd said. “You can become one of us.”

  “How would you know I wasn’t a GC spy?”

  Judd smiled. “Trust me, I’ll know.” Judd quickly explained what it meant to be a believer. The guard listened. Suddenly the man’s radio squawked.

  “I have to go,” the guard said, “but I want to talk again afterward. Meet me here by the stage when everyone is gone.”

  Judd walked away. He prayed Tsion would say something tonight to get through to the guard.

  Judd made it back to his seat as Daniel announced a rally at the Temple Mount the following day. “What’s that about?” Judd said.

  “A thank-you to the local committee,” Lionel said. “We ought to go.”

  A few moments later Daniel said, “And now I invite you to listen to a message from the Word of God.”

  As Tsion Ben-Judah walked to the podium, the crowd rose and clapped. There was no shouting, cheering, or whistling. The response overwhelmed Tsion. He put his notes on the lectern and waited for the applause to end.

  “God has put something on my heart tonight,” Tsion said. “Even before I open his Word, I feel led to invite seekers to come forward and receive Christ.”

  Immediately, from all over the stadium and even outside, lines of people, many weeping, began streaming forward, causing another burst of applause. Judd couldn’t believe how many were coming. He wondered if those watching over the Global Community’s outlets were praying as well.

  Tsion said, “You do not have to be with us physically to receive Christ tonight. All you need to do is tell God you are a sinner and separated from him. Tell him you know that nothing you can do will earn your way to him. Tell him you believe that he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for your sins, that Jesus was raised from the dead, and that he is coming again to the earth. Receive him as your Savior right where you are.”

  After nearly an hour, the people who had come forward headed back to their seats. Tsion looked tired. His shoulders sagged. When he spoke, his voice was weak.

  “My text tonight is Revelation 8:13.” Tens of thousands of Bibles opened around the stadium. “This passage warns that once the earth has been darkened by one-third, three terrible woes will follow. These are so horrible that they will be announced from heaven in advance.”

  Lionel grabbed Judd’s arm. “Look!”

  Emerging from the shadows of the stage behind Tsion were Eli and Moishe. They walked to the front as the crowd pointed and leaned forward to hear them.

  Moishe said, “My beloved brethren, the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you.”

  Then Moishe loudly quoted Tsion’s passage for everyone to hear. “‘And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!”’”

  GC guards engaged their rifles, but no one fired. Judd wanted to run to the guard he knew and hold him back. Judd closed his eyes, ready for the gunfire, but when he opened them he saw Eli and Moishe were gone. Guards scrambled everywhere.

  Tsion shook. Whether from fear or excitement, Judd couldn’t say. To Judd’s surprise, Tsion said, “If we never meet again this side of heaven or in the millennial kingdom our Savior sets up on earth, I shall greet you on the Internet and teach from Revelation 9! Godspeed as you share the gospel of Christ with the whole world!”

  The Meeting of the Witnesses was over. Tsion disappeared into the shadows. Judd leaped to his feet, while the aisle was clear, and ran toward the front.

  “They’re ending early,” Vicki said as the kids watched the wrap-up of the final session.

  Conrad was deep in thought. “If Tsion’s right, we’re going to spend the rest of our lives as criminals. We won’t be able to trust anyone.”

  “With the GC in control of everything,” Shelly said, “we’ll have to scramble just to stay alive.”

  Vicki heard a noise. Scratching. She opened the front door but didn’t see anything. The noise was coming from the back of the house. She rushed into the kitchen. The noise got louder. She checked the back door.

  Nothing.

  Then Vicki realized the noise was coming from Melinda’s room.

  Before Judd could get past, the crowd filed into the aisles. He pushed his way around the last person and rushed toward the front.

  “Let’s figure out a place to meet,” Judd said as he made it to the guard. The man turned. It was a different guard. “Sorry,” Judd said.

  Judd moved along the front of the stage. People craned their necks to get a glimpse of Tsion. Others knelt and wept.

  Judd finally located the guard, but he could tell something was different. The guard held his gun high, his helmet pulled low. When he saw Judd he put a finger to his lips. He touched his ear piece and said something into the microphone on his shoulder.

  “You have to leave,” the guard said.

  “I’m not going until I talk with you,” Judd said.

  “You don’t understand,” the guard said. “People are going to be killed here tonight. Leave!”

  “What people?” Judd said. “Who?”

  The guard lowered his voice. “My job is to keep everyone away from the backstage area. You’re not safe here. Meet me at the east entrance in an hour.”

  “Tell me—”

  The guard pushed his helmet up so Judd could see his forehead. Judd gasped as he saw the mar
k of the true believer.

  “Go now,” the guard said.

  Judd rushed back to Lionel and told him about the guard. “I have to hear his story!” Lionel said. They looked for Mr. Stein but couldn’t find him. Slowly they filed out behind the thousands who would take the message of the gospel to the ends of the earth.

  As they reached the top of the stairs, Judd looked down on the infield. The guard was talking to someone. Suddenly, the man bolted onto the stage. The guard yelled, “Wait! Stop! Assistance!”

  “That’s Buck Williams!” Lionel shouted.

  The guard aimed his rifle and fired.

  “He’s going to kill him!” Lionel shouted.

  At the sound of the gunfire, frightened people pushed toward the exit. Some fell in the panic. Others tried to help them but were pushed along with the crowd.

  “I’ve got to get down there,” Judd yelled.

  Vicki opened Melinda’s door. Phoenix whimpered on the floor, his legs taped together. Around his snout was another wide band of tape.

  “How long have you been here, boy?” Vicki said as she struggled to free the dog.

  Vicki looked out the window. She had been so engrossed in the teaching of Dr. Ben-Judah that she had forgotten about Melinda.

  Vicki shook her head. “Where’s she going?”

  Judd led Lionel toward the infield, walking on the backs of seats. Several times Judd nearly lost his balance, but they finally made it to the infield and sprinted toward the guard. The man’s gun was still smoking. Judd shouted. The guard turned, saw Judd, and waved his hands. “Get down!” the guard yelled.

  Judd and Lionel hit the ground just as another round of gunfire erupted. People screamed as the pop pop pop of shots rang out near the stage.

  On his knees, Judd looked for the guard. The man lay in a pool of blood. Three bullet holes had pierced his chest. Judd lifted the man’s head.

  The guard gasped for air. “I prayed tonight. I asked God to forgive me. Thank you for helping me see the truth.”

  “Why did you shoot at that man?” Judd said. “He’s one of us!”

  “I know,” the guard choked. “We had orders to shoot the rabbi. I shot over Mr. Williams’s head to distract the other guards. They must have figured it out and turned their guns on me.”

  The guard closed his eyes. “What happens to me now? Where will I—”

  “You’ll see God,” Judd said. “When you wake up, you’ll be in heaven.”

  The guard smiled. He grabbed Judd’s arm. “Get out while you can.”

  Judd felt for a pulse. The guard was dead. Above them came the pounding of footsteps. The other guards were on the stage searching for Tsion Ben-Judah.

  13

  JUDD gently lowered the guard’s head to the ground, knowing the man had died trying to protect Buck Williams and the others in the Tribulation Force. Footsteps continued to pound on the stage above them.

  Lionel grabbed the guard’s walkie-talkie. “Come on. We have to get out of here!”

  Judd and Lionel rolled under the stage and held their breath. The radio squawked in Lionel’s hand. He turned it down.

  Two guards jumped from the stage and felt for a pulse on the downed guard. One barked into his radio, “He’s dead, sir.”

  A voice shot back, “Find the rabbi and those others. I want them dead before they get out of the stadium!”

  Judd whispered to Lionel, “We’ve got to stop them!”

  But before Judd could move, another voice blared on the guard’s radio. “We’ve spotted them in a Mercedes a few blocks from the stadium, sir.”

  “Probably headed to the Rosenzweig estate,” another voice said. “After them!”

  Judd sighed. “Nothing we can do now.”

  The stadium was nearly empty. A few stragglers knelt near the stage, praying. Medical personnel attended to the injured.

  Judd and Lionel watched from the shadows as GC peacekeepers dragged the dead guard away. A cameraman flipped on a light, and a reporter stepped in front of it. “We are live at Teddy Kollek Stadium,” the reporter said. “Just moments ago, this Global Community peacekeeper was murdered at the conference called the Meeting of the Witnesses. Those in the audience listened to a message of love and peace, but it seems someone did not follow their leader’s teaching.”

  “No way one of the witnesses shot that guard,” Lionel said.

  Judd gritted his teeth. “Carpathia will make Tsion look—”

  “What?” Lionel said.

  Judd spied a heavyset boy near the front row. “I know that kid,” he said.

  When the Global Community guards were gone, Judd and Lionel crept from under the stage and approached the boy.

  The boy’s mouth dropped open. “Judd,” the boy said, “what are you doing here?”

  “How do I know you?” Judd said.

  “I’m Samuel. Nina and Dan Ben-Judah were my neighbors.” Samuel had given Judd the video of the murders of Tsion’s family.

  “I wondered what happened to you,” Judd said. “They took the video you gave me and—”

  “We should not stay here,” Samuel interrupted. “Come with me.”

  “We have to find our friend,” Lionel said.

  “You can find him later,” Samuel said. “The followers of the rabbi are in danger. Come to my house.”

  Judd told Samuel their things were at the university. Samuel said, “We will go there on the way. Quickly! My father must not see you.”

  “Why not?” Judd said.

  “He is working with the Global Community!”

  Vicki ran to the others to tell them about Melinda. Phoenix ran beside her, clearly glad to be free from the tape Melinda had wrapped around his legs. When Vicki entered, Darrion held up a hand.

  “Just a minute,” Vicki said, “I need to talk to you all.”

  “But something terrible’s happened!” Darrion said.

  Vicki yelled. “Please! Melinda’s gone! She taped Phoenix up and left.”

  Conrad said, “How long ago?”

  “I can’t tell,” Vicki said. “Let’s search the house and the woods.”

  “I’ll check the shed for the motorcycle,” Conrad said.

  “Sorry, Darrion,” Vicki said, “but this is important.”

  Darrion hung her head. “I thought you’d be concerned about Judd and Lionel and Mr. Stein.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Shots were fired at the stadium.”

  Vicki put a hand over her mouth. “The GC is shooting at the witnesses?”

  Darrion shook. “I’m scared, Vick.”

  “Judd and Lionel can take care of themselves,” Vicki said, hugging Darrion.

  The kids found no trace of Melinda in the house. Conrad said, “At least she didn’t take the last motorcycle. She has to be on foot.”

  Vicki looked at her watch. “Plenty of daylight left, but we have to spread out.”

  Conrad and Darrion roared off on the motorcycle toward the main road. The others split up on foot. Vicki prayed as she ran into the woods.

  GC emergency vehicles stopped traffic as Judd walked with Lionel and Samuel to the university. Lionel turned up the walkie-talkie and heard peacekeepers relaying information.

  “They must be checking every car,” Judd said.

  “The GC are very upset about the rabbi and what he has done,” Samuel said.

  Judd turned. “Why are you helping us? You’re not a follower of Dr. Ben-Judah.”

  “How do you know?” Samuel said.

  Judd glanced at Lionel. “We can tell.”

  “Nina and Dan were my friends,” Samuel said. “I feel terrible about what happened to them. I would not want to see the same thing happen to you.”

  Hundreds of witnesses gathered outside the gymnasium. A commotion at the front caught Judd’s attention. GC guards led a dozen people from the building.

  “What’s going on?” Judd asked a man nearby.

  “They are arresting the local committee,” the ma
n said.

  Yitzhak Weizmann, the man who had given them shelter before the meetings began, was being led away in handcuffs. Behind him stood other committee members, including the meeting emcee.

  The man next to Judd said, “They suspect the group is hiding the rabbi.”

  Judd gasped. The last man out the door was Mr. Stein. Judd shouted and waved and pushed his way to the front, but a uniformed officer appeared at the door with a bullhorn. “Attention, everyone who was using this gymnasium for shelter!” The officer passed the bullhorn to another man, who repeated his statement in several different languages.

  “This is a crime scene,” the man continued. “We have your belongings, and we will keep them until this situation is resolved.”

  “Mr. Stein’s money!” Lionel whispered. “That’s the only way we’re getting home.”

  “Form a single line to register for your belongings,” the officer said.

  People lined up, but Samuel pulled Judd and Lionel away. “Do not give them your names. Come with me.”

  “We have to help Mr. Stein,” Judd said.

  “I can help you get him out,” Samuel said, “but you must come with me.”

  Judd and Lionel followed Samuel back into the traffic near the stadium. They got in a cab, but the driver yelled at Samuel in Hebrew, and the three got back out.

  “What did he say?” Judd said.

  “He cursed at us,” Samuel said. “Because of the traffic, he cannot move.”

  They walked through the congested streets. “You have heard about the meeting at the Wailing Wall tomorrow?” Samuel said.

  “We’ll be there,” Judd said.

  “Don’t,” Samuel said. “The GC are planning to execute Dr. Ben-Judah.”

  “Carpathia promised he wasn’t going to hurt anybody,” Lionel said.

  “They’re going to make it look like a terrorist attack,” Samuel said.

  “You know this because of your father?” Judd said. Samuel nodded.

  “Why did he let you go to that meeting?” Lionel said.

  “He didn’t know,” Samuel said. “I came on my own.”

  They passed a crowded bar, and a photo of the guard Judd had met flashed on a big-screen television inside. Beneath his photo were the years of his birth and death.