“Carpathia has to know his time is running out,” Judd said.
“Don’t think the guy will ever think logically. He’s trying to convince everyone around him that he’s still king of the world.”
“Even though everybody’s burning up? Chang, this is the perfect time for you to get away. Think of what they’ll do to you if they find out who you really serve.”
“There’s still too much to do with the Tribulation Force. Besides, nobody suspects me.”
“Just don’t make any mistakes. The first could be your last.”
Vicki was pleased with the progress they were making with the cabins. Clemson Stoddard turned out to be a great carpenter. When he wasn’t helping repair old cabins or construct new ones, he was reading Tsion Ben-Judah’s Web site or sitting in on classes Vicki and the others offered newer believers.
Clemson had gone from looking like a hermit to being neatly dressed. He was always polite, and he had as many questions as anyone about the end of the world and what was going to happen next.
Vicki was answering one of his questions by drawing a time line of the Tribulation when she turned and noticed Judd had slipped into the back. She continued, trying to keep her focus on the class.
Marshall called everyone to dinner, and Judd walked with her to the main cabin.
“Don’t do that again,” Vicki said.
“Do what?”
“It makes me nervous when you’re back there.”
Judd stopped her and turned to face her. “You are one of the best teachers I’ve ever seen. I was only in there a few minutes, but the way you explained the time line was incredible.”
Vicki blushed and rolled her eyes.
“I mean it. You don’t know how proud I was when we were in Israel and you showed up on the video screen above the stadium.”
“Bet you were surprised too.”
“You bet and a little bit scared for you. But when ‘Vicki B.’ started talking about God and telling people how to become a believer, I was in awe.”
“So you didn’t think I could do that kind of thing?”
“I didn’t take the time to think about anybody else back then. But it’s clear now that God had something more planned for you, and if I hadn’t gotten out of the way, it might never have happened.”
Vicki smiled. “Care to escort the teacher to dinner?”
“I’d be honored.”
As the sun went down, Judd and Vicki met with Marshall and Zeke. Judd was excited because he knew Marshall had had a phone meeting scheduled with Rayford Steele earlier in the day.
“The Trib Force heard from the group you stayed with in the library, but they haven’t been able to get back in touch with them,” Marshall said. “They’re wondering if you could meet them and help lead them to those people.”
“I’m there,” Judd said.
“Before you agree, you have to understand that we don’t have any idea when this plague will lift. You could be in the air when it gets cool, and the GC could converge on you.”
Judd bit his lip. “In that case, I have one request.”
“What’s that?” Marshall said.
“That Vicki goes with me.”
41
AS SOON as the sun came up two days later, Judd drove Vicki south in the Humvee to meet a Tribulation Force plane. The small airport lay in ruins, skeletons of planes smoldering under the wrecked hangar. The runway was still in good shape though, and it wasn’t long after they arrived that the plane touched down.
Judd had hoped Rayford Steele would be aboard or perhaps another of the higher ranking Trib Force members. Instead, the door opened and Westin Jakes appeared. Judd introduced Vicki, and Westin shook hands with her. “So you’re the reason Judd was so eager to get back to the States.”
Vicki smiled. “And you’re one of the reasons he made it back in one piece.”
“Have a seat. We’ll get in the air, and I’ll explain our mission.”
“This is an awfully big plane for the three of us,” Judd said.
“Hopefully on the way back we’ll have the thing full of your friends from that library,” Westin said. He asked Judd the specific location of the library, and Judd told him.
Westin went to the back of the plane as Judd buckled in behind the pilot’s seat. He told Vicki more about what Westin had been through and the episode in Paris.
“If Judd and Lionel hadn’t been there to help, my head would be in some bread basket in France right now,” Westin said when he returned to the cockpit. “I heard about Lionel’s arm. Tell him I’ve been praying for him.”
“He’ll appreciate that,” Judd said. “Have you heard anything about Z-Van lately?”
Westin smiled. “You didn’t hear about the concert a few days ago?” He held up a hand, taxied the runway, and got them airborne.
When it was safe, he put the plane on autopilot and turned. “Z-Van was doing his pro-Carpathia show, I guess trying to make people think there’s really nothing wrong with the world, when it starts getting hot onstage.”
“This was the day the heat wave started?” Vicki said.
Westin nodded.
“And you were there?” Judd said.
“I was delivering supplies to a group of believers near the event. It was a night job, real secret kind of stuff. I had dropped the supplies off and was heading back to the plane when I found out about Z-Van’s appearance. I couldn’t help myself.”
“Don’t tell me you showed up at the concert!” Judd said.
“I kept a good distance. I was wearing my fake GC outfit, so nobody paid much attention. Normally Z-Van doesn’t perform in the daytime, at least he didn’t while I was with him. But the GC must have convinced him to do this late-morning gig.”
“I don’t guess they needed a warm-up band.” Judd laughed.
“Good one,” Westin said. “I noticed people in the crowd were getting restless way before show time. They were wiping their faces and shielding their eyes from the sun. Some held blankets or umbrellas over them. Well, the music started and Z-Van came out, but people were getting so hot that they couldn’t pay attention.”
“And you probably had no idea what was going on,” Judd said.
“Right. I was a little warm, but these people were going crazy. Z-Van runs out expecting some kind of ovation, and there are nothing but screams. He reaches for the microphone and then drops it on the ground like he’s picked up a poisonous snake. That’s when I noticed something funny about the video screen onstage. Images of Nicolae and Leon Fortunato were flashing when all of a sudden the screen started rippling. Then a big brown spot appeared in the middle, and it burst into flames.”
“I’ll bet that got Z-Van’s attention,” Judd said.
“He was still trying to pick up the microphone, but the thing had melted. He pried it up with a drumstick, but it was fried.”
“What did the crowd do?” Vicki said.
“Everybody panicked. It was as if the heat just descended like a swarm of bees, and they ran for cover. Problem was, they ran over each other. Hundreds were killed from being trampled before the first person ever caught fire.”
“How awful!” Vicki said.
“One of those miracle workers came onstage and tried to calm the crowd. He was wearing a long, black robe and had a lapel microphone on. The speakers started crackling and popping like something was wrong with the lines, but when I looked closer, it was the miracle guy with flames licking at his outfit. He ran screaming to the back with the rest of the band members.”
“You think Z-Van survived?” Judd said.
“The GC hasn’t said he’s dead, but they also didn’t report anything about the concert. There must have been thousands on the ground, their bodies just piles of ashes. The stage, lights, all their instruments—everything went up in smoke.”
As they flew, Westin told them the other things he had experienced while flying for the Co-op. Judd was amazed at all God had accomplished through this man he and Lione
l had reached out to.
When they neared their destination, Westin outlined the plan for the group at the library. He handed Judd a printout of a message the Tribulation Force had received two days earlier.
Dear Captain Steele or anyone else in the Tribulation Force,
A young man named Judd Thompson gave us this address and told us if we felt in danger in any way we should contact you. The power has been spotty in our area, but there have been sightings of GC near us at night. If you could please get back to us with an escape plan, we would be grateful. I don’t feel I should give you our location in case this gets intercepted by the GC. Below you’ll see Judd’s e-mail, and he can tell you where to find us.
The group signed the note, “Waiting in the stacks.” Judd thought of the people he had met at the library. “How are we going to get from wherever you’ll land to the library?”
“Good question. You’ll have to ask God that one. We have people praying about the transportation question right now.”
Westin used his phone to call San Diego and confirm the nearest landing strip that could handle their large airplane. “I was right. The nearest strip is about twenty miles from your friends.” He glanced at his watch. “If everything goes as planned, we can get back to Wisconsin with a couple hours to spare and have your friends at the camp meet you with another vehicle.”
“What if we don’t get back before sundown?” Vicki said.
“That’s why we have people praying,” Westin said.
As they flew close to the ground, Vicki looked out the window at plumes of smoke rising from buildings. There were no other planes in sight, which was an eerie feeling. The earth looked like a shell that had been used and thrown away. The most drastic change had come with the wrath of the Lamb earthquake, but even with that, the GC leaders had found a way to bounce back and restore services. With this plague of heat, the earth had come to a standstill during daylight hours. It was an advantage Vicki had never dreamed of for believers, but she couldn’t help feeling sad for the poor people who had chosen Carpathia.
Westin told her and Judd that the Tribulation Force members were free to come and go as long as they were careful to plan their travel into time zones that kept them in daylight as long as possible. There was news that the polar ice caps were melting faster than at any time in history, and huge weather systems threatened the coasts on every continent. Many coastlines were already buried under massive floods.
“What are you doing after this assignment?” Vicki said.
“We’re trying to coordinate our planes and storehouses. Chang Wong in New Babylon has it all graphed out. If this heat wave continues, we’ll have enough food and supplies for believers for at least a year. That’s what we hope.”
The plane touched down on a runway so short Vicki thought they were going to run off the end. Westin led them off the plane and secured the door, though there was no reason to think anyone would get to it before they returned.
When they were on the ground, Vicki saw the devastation of a more populated city for the first time. What appeared to be million-dollar homes looked like the remains of old campfires. Fencing around the airport had melted from the intense heat.
Vicki noticed a creepy silence. In the woods she had sensed the lack of animals during the day, but here, where there should have been traffic and honking and buses, the only sound was the occasional collapse of a building or the crackling of fires.
“Follow me,” Westin said. He led them to a concrete parking garage. “We haven’t used this airfield as a base of operations, but I’m willing to bet there’s a vehicle—” He paused, staring into the distance. “Would you look at that?”
Vicki glanced to her right at a small bus sitting in front of what was left of the main terminal building. It looked like the kind of bus used to transport disabled children. She was shocked that in the midst of the heat, the vehicle hadn’t caught fire.
“Is this your answer to prayer?” Judd said as they ran to the bus.
“Works for me,” Westin said.
They climbed in and Westin chuckled. “Even has a full tank of gas.”
Though they had found transportation quickly, finding the library proved to be more difficult. It was nearly 3:30 local time when they finally pulled close to the structure. Judd said he had worried that the building wouldn’t be there, but it still stood.
Vicki was glad to retrace some of Judd’s steps. She had heard about the library and pictured it in her mind, but seeing it in person made her feel more a part of his story.
Judd opened the front door and called for his friends. There was no answer. “They’re probably downstairs. Come on.”
Judd took the stairs two at a time and bounded through the lower floor of the darkened library. He flipped on the light switch, but nothing happened.
“They said they were having power problems,” Westin said.
Vicki was immediately hit by the smell of old books. She hadn’t spent that much time in the library as a kid, but the times when she had to do a research project or look up something on the Internet had been fun. Each time she walked through her library in Mount Prospect, she wondered why she didn’t read more.
Westin snagged Judd’s shirt and pulled him back toward the stairwell. “Something’s not right.”
“There can’t be GC here,” Judd said. “The building would have—”
Someone moaned from behind the stacks of books. Vicki was startled when she heard pounding on the window upstairs. The three moved back up the steps cautiously, and Vicki gasped when she saw a face at the window.
Judd hit the front door and rushed outside.
Judd grabbed the leader of the group’s hands and shook furiously. He introduced Vicki and Westin while the man caught his breath.
“Two nights ago … the GC came … we only had a few seconds to get out the back,” the man gasped.
“Where is everyone?” Judd said.
“Scattered. Some of us have hidden in a burned-out building a few blocks away. We prayed you’d come.”
“And there are Peacekeepers hiding downstairs in the library?”
“Some are just citizens, but others are officers. I think they have guns.”
“I don’t get it,” Vicki said. “If everybody in there is loyal to Carpathia, why hasn’t the building burned?”
Westin pursed his lips. “Let’s get the rest of your group and get out of here.”
The man led them to three separate sites and gathered more than twenty people into the bus. All were overjoyed to see Judd, glad they wouldn’t have to spend another night hiding. One of the last to be picked up was a woman in her forties who scanned the bus and turned to Westin. “We can’t leave yet. Howard’s not here.”
“Who’s Howard?” Judd said.
“My son. You probably met him when you were here.”
“I remember a young guy who argued—”
The woman nodded. “That’s him. I don’t know if he made it out of the library. I haven’t seen him since that night.”
“Where else could he be?” Judd said.
“Wait a minute,” Vicki said. “If the library is still standing, maybe Howard’s hiding there.”
Westin looked at his watch. “Listen, people, we’re running out of time. If we don’t get in the air soon—”
“We have to try,” Vicki said, glancing at Judd. “If the GC find him tonight—”
“Who’s to say they haven’t already found him and chopped off his head?” a man behind them said.
Howard’s mother put a hand to her mouth and started crying.
“Don’t worry,” Vicki said. She looked at Judd. “We are going to try, right?”
Judd motioned for Westin to move outside, and the man followed. “I can’t pull rank on you because I don’t have any, but I’d like to go back and see if this kid is inside the library. Vicki’s got a hunch, and usually she’s right.”
“Don’t let your judgment get clouded,” Westin said. “If
we get caught out after dark, we could jeopardize the whole Tribulation Force. If we’re in the air, the GC could launch a missile or track us with radar.”
Judd looked at his watch. “Let us go to the library, and you head to the plane. If we’re not there in an hour, leave.”
“I can’t do that. And you know if Captain Steel or anybody else hears about this, you won’t go on another mission.”
Judd looked at Vicki, who had her arm draped around Howard’s mother. He jumped back inside the bus and called for quiet. “Does anyone know of a vehicle near here?”
An older man raised a hand. “I have an old Beetle in a garage a couple of blocks that way. It was still there yesterday when I checked.”
“Where are the keys?” Judd said.
The man fished in his pocket and threw them at Judd. “Go left at that stop sign, and then two blocks. It’s the only garage still standing.”
“You can’t do this,” Westin said as Judd raced down the stairs.
Judd turned. “One hour. We’ll meet you at the airstrip.” He looked at the distraught woman. “And don’t worry, ma’am. If your son’s there, we’ll find him.”
“Bless you,” she said.
The air brakes sounded behind them while Judd and Vicki hurried toward the garage.
“You think we can make it in an hour?” Vicki said.
“If we don’t, it’s going to be a long night.”
42
THE CAR sputtered and coughed when Judd turned the key. The Volkswagen wasn’t just old—it was ancient, with rust spots on the body, balding tires, and an inch of dust. Vicki coughed as she jumped in the passenger seat. Judd tried to start the engine again, but it wheezed and shook.
“Maybe we should walk to the library,” Vicki said.
“We’ll never make it back to the airport in time,” Judd said, pumping the gas pedal. He turned the ignition again, and blue smoke poured from the exhaust pipe. He revved the engine, put the car in reverse, and backed out.
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