The Mark: The Beast Rules the World

by Tyndale House

  "Why?" And why had she asked about the lightning? Was Annie a victim, and did they somehow connect him with her? He didn't want his mind to run away with him.

  "I don't know, sir. I just do what I'm told. Six nurses and two aides are handling this whole floor, and some floors have fewer staff than that, so-"

  "I need to know where my phone is. I carry it with me, and it's not in my uniform. I know you're going to tell me to stay away from my uniform anyway, but-"

  "On the contrary, sir. You were sponge bathed when you were brought here, and if you're ambulatory, I think you're supposed to get dressed."

  "You think?" This couldn't be right. Something was wrong. David had been sure he'd have to sneak out, but now he was being given the bum's rush?

  "I'll get my supervisor, but you might as well start getting dressed. Can you do it yourself?" "Of course, but-"

  "Get started then. I'll be right back. Or she will." David had overestimated his strength. He pulled his stuff from the closet and sat in a chair to dress, but he was soon short of breath and dizzier than ever. His whole head felt afire, and it seemed his wound was oozing over both ears, but when he felt under the bandaging, he felt nothing. He didn't want to think about the first time that dressing came off.

  With his uniform on and only socks and shoes to go, David opened the door wider to get light from the hall. He peered into the mirror and shuddered. Still in his mid-twenties with smooth, clear, dark skin and nearly black hair and eyes, he had often been mistaken for a teenager. Never again. When had he aged so?

  His face looked thin and drawn and, yes, his color lighter. He lowered his head and peeked atop it where the bandaging evidenced blood and ooze. The outer wrapping extended over his ears and beneath his chin, reminding him of dental patients from old movies. David's head seemed to push against the tight wrapping, and when he gingerly put on his uniform cap, he knew it was more than his imagination. He couldn't be sure how thick the bandages were, but between that and the swelling of his head, his cap rode atop him as if several sizes too small. Any thought of covering the effects of his stitching to avoid attention was hopeless. Maybe he could find a bigger-much bigger-cap, but there was no way to hide the wrap that extended under his chin anyway.

  The supervising nurse knocked gently and stepped in as David was pulling on his socks. She was a bottle blonde, tall and thin, about twice his age. He had to straighten up to breathe and let the pain subside every few seconds.

  "Let me help you," she said, clearly Scandinavian, kneeling and putting on his socks and shoes and tying them. David was so overwhelmed he nearly wept. Could she be a Christian? He wanted to ask. Anyone with a servant spirit like that was either a believer or a candidate. "Ma'am," he said, trying to remember to talk softly. She looked up at him and he studied her forehead, searching, hoping for the mark of the believer. None. "Thank you."

  "You're welcome," she said quickly. "Happy to help and wish I could help more. If I had my way, you would be with us a couple more days at least, maybe more." "I'd just as soon leave. I-"

  "Oh, I'm sure you would. No one wants to stay, and who can blame them? All the excitement, the resurrection, and all. But the potentate has called a meeting of directors and above, his office, at 2200 hours. You are expected." "I am?"

  "When his office was told you had succumbed to the heat and had been injured and operated on, we were informed that if you were alive and ambulatory, you were to be there." "I see."

  "I'm glad someone does. You, sir, should be a patient. I wouldn't be running around so soon-"

  "I was told this was superficial, minor surgery."

  "Minor surgery is an operation on someone else. You've heard that, I'm sure. You know a nurse did the procedure, and good as she was, she was pressed into duty-"

  "Do you know who that was? I'm pretty sure she was Native-"

  "Hannah Palemoon," she said.

  "I wonder if she's got my phone. It was in my-"

  "I doubt it, Director. You'll find your wallet and keys and ID unmolested. We know better than to confiscate things from someone at your level."

  "I appreciate that, but-"

  "No one took your phone, sir. Could you have dropped it where you fell, left it in your vehicle?"

  David cocked his head. Possible, but unlikely. He had not been talking on the phone when he fell, best he could remember, so it would have been in his pocket. "Where would I find Nurse Palem-"

  "I told you, Director. She would not have your phone, and I'm not going to tell you where she is. We're working twenty-four on and twenty-four off here, and she's off. If she's like me, she sleeps the first twelve of those twenty-four hours off, and she ought to be allowed to."

  David nodded, but he couldn't wait to get back to his computer and look her up in the personnel directory. "Ma'am, I have to find an employee I'm worried about. Name's Annie Christopher. Cargo chief of the Phoenix but assigned crowd control at sector 53 today."

  "That's not good."

  "So I've heard. Lightning there?"

  "Bad. Several deaths and injuries. I can check to see if she's in our system. You might check the morgue." David flinched. "I'd appreciate it if you'd check your system."

  "I will, sir. Then you had better get to your quarters and relax before your meeting. You know as well as I do you're in no condition to be sitting at a table, thrilling as it may be to meet with a man who was dead this morning and is alive tonight. Follow me." She led him to the nurses' station, where she searched the computer. "No Christopher," she said, "but our entries have been hopelessly delayed."

  "She would have had an employee badge," David said. "And it should have been swiped by a wand." "So the morgue?" he said, again trying to cover his emotion.

  "Look on the bright side," she said. "Maybe she wasn't a victim at all."

  That would almost be worse, David decided. Why could he not reach her, and why would she not have tried to reach him? Well, maybe she had. He had to find his phone before the meeting.

  "Nothing," Rayford said. "David hasn't accessed his computer for hours, and I'm getting no answer on his phone. Now it's not even letting me leave a message, as it he's turned it off."

  "Strange," Albie said. "So Pueblo doesn't even know we're coming."

  "And we're not going if we don't know where it is."

  "We'll find out."

  "You're a resourceful guy, Albie, but-"

  "I love the impossible. But you're the boss. I need your permission."

  "What's your plan?"

  "To find out if your new look and ID work."

  "Oh, boy."

  "C'mon, man. Confidence."

  "The plan, Albie."

  "I'll be the ranking officer down there. I blame the computer delay on all the excitement or the incompetence in New Babylon. Who can argue that? You're with me. If they demand ID, you've got it. You're no longer just a civilian helping out, though. You're a recruit, a trainee."

  "Uh-huh."

  "Not only do I insist on a car, but I'll get out of them the location of the bunker."

  "This I've got to see."

  "I love showing off."

  Rayford slapped Albie's computer shut. "Tell me about it."

  Kenny Bruce tried to tug Buck toward the barrier, as if knowing his dad could get him past it. But Buck was anchored to the bed. He felt as if he'd survived a plane crash. Or hadn't. It was as if his spine were compacted, every muscle, bone, joint, and tendon tender. He sat there trying to muster the strength to rise and stretch and make his way to his wife and the others.

  Kenny, apparently resigned to patience, climbed onto his father's lap and put a hand on each side of his face. He looked into Buck's eyes and said, "Mama?"

  "We'll see Mama in a minute, hon," Buck said. Kenny traced Buck's deep facial scars with his stubby fingers. "They don't bother you, do they, bud." "Da-da," Kenny said. "Mama."

  Presently Buck rose, lifting Kenny as he went. The boy spread his legs and settled in over Buck's hip, his arms aro
und him, head on Buck's chest. "Wish I could take you with me everywhere I go," Buck said, limping, stiff legged, and gimpy. "Mama, Da-da." "Yep. We're goin', bud."

  Buck prepared himself for the always embarrassing welcome saved for the last person to rise, but when he came into view of everyone else in the safe house, he was virtually ignored. Leah sat bundled in a robe, leaning back against a wall, dozing, her bleached-blonde hair with red roots wrapped in a towel. Chaim stared at the tabletop before him, his head in his hands, a straw in his coffee cup. Tsion stood beside a window, out of view from the outside just in case, head bowed, softly praying.

  Chloe paced, phone pressed to her ear, tears streaming. She looked directly into Buck's eyes as if to let him know she was aware he was there, and when Kenny tried to wriggle down to get to her, Buck whispered, "Stay with Daddy a minute, hmm?"

  Chloe was saying, "I understand, Zeke… I know, sweetie, I know. God knows… It'll be all right. We'll come get you, don't you worry… Zeke, God knows…, It'll be after dark, but you stay strong, hear?"

  She finally rang off, and everyone looked to her. "Big Zeke was busted," she said.

  "Zeke Sr.?" Tsion asked. Zeke Jr. was much bigger than his father, but still they were known as Big Zeke and Little Zeke.

  She nodded. "GC goons got him this morning, cuffed him, charged him with subversion, took him away."

  "How'd they miss Zeke Jr.?" Buck asked, finally letting Kenny down.

  "Zeke!" Kenny said, giggling.

  Chloe shrugged. "Their underground was better hidden than ours, and I don't think Little Zeke ever showed his face outside." "Zeke! "Kenny said. "Little Zeke coming here?" Leah said. "Where else would he go? He says GC is staking out the place, picking up people who stop for gas." "How's he know?"

  "He's got some kind of a monitor rigged up that he used to keep track of his dad. That's how he knew Big Zeke had been arrested. He knows his dad won't give him up, but he also knows he can't stay there. He's packing."

  "Yeah," Buck said, "all he'd need is for the GC to find all his files and document-making paraphernalia." "It will be good to have him here," Tsion said. "He will be safe and can do so much for so many. Cameron, how are you feeling?"

  "Better than Chaim, apparently." The old man lifted his head and tried to smile. "I'll be OK," he mouthed through his clenched jaw. "No capers for me. Eager to study and learn."

  Tsion moved away from the window. "And me with a student who cannot talk. You must listen and read. You will be an expert about our own people before you know it. God's chosen people. What a thrill to teach it. I will use the same material in my cyberlesson, wherein I expose Carpathia as the Antichrist."

  "Coming right out with it, are you?" Buck said. "Absolutely," the rabbi said. "The gloves are off, as you Americans so like to say. There is no longer any question about him, nor should there be. I am persuaded that Leon is his false prophet, and I will say that too. Those who have ears will not be deceived. It will not be long before the Satan-indwelt beast will take out his rage against the Jews."

  Chaim held up a hand. Buck could barely make out the labored, muffled question. "And what are we to do? We are no match for him."

  "You will see, my friend," Tsion said. "You will learn today not only the history of the Jews, but their future as well. God will protect his people, now and forevermore." "I like being a believer already," Chaim managed. "Buck," Chloe said, stepping close to embrace him, "we have to plan Zeke's rescue."

  "Just what I need today, another mission."

  "You slept, didn't you?"

  "Like a dead man."

  "Don't say that."

  "Well…"

  "It's you or me, pal," Chloe said. "If you need another day of recup-"

  "I'll be ready," Buck said.

  "I can help," Leah said. "I'm fit."

  "Maybe the two of you, then," Chloe said. "I've got to get news to the co-op, keep everybody working together."

  "We're going to need a pilot," Buck said. "Put the GC chopper down right in the middle of their stakeout, chide 'em for missing a suspect, and we arrest Zeke Jr. and bring him here. What? What's with all the looks?"

  "We don't have a chopper today or tonight, hon," Chloe said. "Probably not until tomorrow night, and we don't dare risk making Zeke wait that long."

  "OK, so where's the helicopter and your dad? And Albie?"

  FOUR

  David hurried to his office and phoned Annie. No answer. Then he called the motor pool. The man who had originally brought him his cart was off duty, but the one he reached told him, "No, sir, no phone. Nothing was left in there. We found the cart but not you, and my boss was pretty mad until he traced you to Medical Services. You OK?" "Fine."

  "Need the cart?" "No."

  "Anything I can do fo-"

  But David had hung up. He flipped open his computer and saw urgent messages flashing from the code words and numbers he knew belonged to his comrades in the Tribulation Force. He would get to those when he could, but for now, before the infernal meeting, he had to get his phone back and find out where Annie was.

  His watch read 2135. He searched the GC database for Personnel, Medical, Nursing, Female, under P. There it was: "Palemoon, Hannah L., room and extension 4223." A groggy hello greeted the fifth ring.

  "Nurse Palemoon?"

  "Yeah, who's this?"

  "I am so sorry to be calling so late and sorry to wake you, but-" "Hassid?"

  "Yes, forgive me, but-" "I have your phone." "Oh, thank G-goodness! Is it on?" "No, sir, I turned it off. Now are you coming to get it so I can get back to sleep?"

  "Could I? If you don't mind terribly, I-" "I gotta show you something anyway." What in the world? Was he being set up? Why would she be so willing to have him come and get it? And why did she take it in the first place? To be safe, he jumped back on the computer and fired up the bugging device that would record their conversation in the corridor outside her room. As he backed out of that program he saw the blinking signals for his urgent messages again. Looked like Rayford and Albie had been desperately trying to reach him. He didn't have time to deal with them, but what if they had heard from Annie? He had to peek.

  The requests stunned him. He was way late for helping Albie and Rayford in Colorado, but his fingers flew over the keyboard anyway. His head ached, his wound oozed, and he blinked furiously. He entered the numbers to over-ride the Peacekeeping security codes. Under his phony name as a high-level GC unit commander in New Babylon, he assigned Marcus Elbaz to Carpathia Memorial Airstrip in Colorado Springs. He also authorized him to temporarily appropriate a vehicle with which to take custody of an escapee from the Belgium Facility for Female Rehabilitation, currently incarcerated at a bunker on the north end of Pueblo. A few more keystrokes derived the exact coordinates of that facility and the name of the deputy director in charge-Pinkerton Stephens. Fortunately, Stephens was lower ranked than Deputy Commander Elbaz.

  David would work on name, rank, and serial number for Rayford later, hoping the two of them could bluff their way past the GC in the meantime. It was 2150, Hannah Palemoon was waiting, and he couldn't be late for the big meeting. Healthy and in shape it would have been a challenge to get to her room, retrieve his phone, and get to Carpathia's office in time, but wounded as he was, he couldn't imagine it.

  He could phone Fortunato at the last minute and explain he would be a few minutes late, coming from his hospital bed. But neither did he want to miss any of that meeting. As he locked his door and strode quickly toward the elevator, he wobbled and had to grab the wall. Catch your breath, he told himself. Late is better than not there at all.

  "Give me my razor," Albie said. "It's going to be hard to pull this off if I'm out of regulation."

  "You'll be on the ground in less than a minute," Rayford said.

  "I have a copilot, do I not?"

  Rayford pulled Albie's electric razor from his bag and took over the landing as Albie shaved and tightened his tie. When the tower confirmed the landing, Albie res
ponded, then whipped off the headphones and put on his uniform cap. When they disembarked, Rayford was struck again how the diminutive Middle Easterner seemed taller, more commanding.

  "I can point you to the refueling area so you can tank up before takeoff, Commander Elbaz."

  "You can't do it for me while I'm on assignment?"

  "Sorry, sir, we're shorthan-"

  "I know. Carry on."

  Rayford stayed a step behind Albie as they made their way to the offices, hoping that once David got him enlisted as a GC Peacekeeper, he would give him an even higher rank. How could he supervise a man who outranked him in disguise?

  The officer at the desk saluted and said, "I told my chief you weren't in the computer, so you're on your own for ground transportation. If you'll give me your fueling order number, however, I can clear you for that when-"

  "Excuse me?" Albie said.

  "You'll have to refuel yourself, because-"

  "I know all that. I need a vehicle for an important assignment, and I need it now. You expect me to rent a car?"

  "Sir, I'm just telling you what my chief said. I – "

  "Get him out here."

  "He's a her, sir."

  "I don't care if he's a gorilla. Get him, or her, out here."

  The airstrip chief appeared before the deskman buzzed her. She saluted but did not smile. "Judy Hamilton at your service, Commander."

  "Not enough at my service, I'm afraid."

  "I can do only what I can do, sir, but I'm open to suggestions."

  "Do you have a vehicle?"

  "None available, sir."

  "I need it for half a day, tops."

  "None, sir."

  "You personally?"

  "Me, sir?"

  Albie sighed loudly through his nose. "You understand English, Hamilton? Do-you-personally-have-a-vehicle?",

  "I have not been issued GC wheels, sir."

  "I didn't ask you that. How do you get to work?"

  "I drive."

  "Then you must have a vehicle."

  "My own, yes, sir."

  "That would be what personal means, Judy. I will be borrowing your personal vehicle this afternoon, and the Global Community will be indebted to you. In fact, we will be indebted at the rate of one Nick per mile."