Hunted (12 page)

“And draw every bounty hunter in the county to us?” Luke said.

“I'd like to hear more about your story,” Lionel said. “Keep going.”

Brooke nodded. “After the divorce I went to live with Mom and Lee went with Dad. Dad got some kind of religion after the divorce so Mom tried to get Lee back, but that's when the disappearances happened. We all freaked. A lot of our high school was just gone. Dad disappeared, and Mom started drinking. She got killed in the earthquake.”

Judd shook his head as Luke drilled Brooke with another question. “What have you been doing since then?”

“We went to live with an uncle and then some friends,” Lee said. “We've pretty much just tried to exist.”

“I'll ask again. Why didn't you take Carpathia's mark? It would have been a lot easier for you.”

Brooke hung her head. Lee glanced at her and sighed. “Dad kept a diary of sorts on his computer. He tried to get me to go with him to church and Bible studies, but I didn't want any part of it. Brooke and I read the journal or whatever he was keeping. He'd been writing out prayers for us, asking God to save our souls and show us the truth.”

Brooke looked up. “He said the Lord was coming back for his own and that Satan was going to take control of the earth. My dad wrote that the Antichrist would one day make everyone take a mark and that he hoped his kids would never have to go through that.”

“I guess your dad's worst fears came true,” Luke said.

“If you've known all that, why didn't you believe like your dad?” Tom said.

“How do you know we haven't?” Brooke said.

“We know,” Luke said.

Lee sighed. “I guess if we have to take the mark, we will. We've been avoiding it this whole time—”

“Even though you know they'll kill you if you don't take it?” Luke said.

“We felt like we'd be betraying our dad to take the mark, and we'd betray Mom if we believed what Dad was saying.”

“So you're caught in the middle, just like when your mom and dad split up,” Lionel said.

“Yeah,” Brooke said.

Lionel stayed with Lee and Brooke while Judd and the others went into the next room. Carl Meninger joined them and said he had listened to their conversation through the intercom and had looked up the information Lee and Brooke had given.

“It all checks out,” Carl said. “The high school, the teacher she mentioned. Her mom was arrested for drunk driving twice, and there's a Linda McCarty listed among the dead after the earthquake.”

Luke scratched his head. “How did they just happen to stumble onto us out here?”

“Maybe it was God leading them,” Tom said. “Anyway, all we have to do is explain the truth, and they'll be part of the group.”

“You think it'll be that easy?” Luke said.

“There's something else I haven't told you,” Carl said, handing Luke a piece of paper. “Chang Wong just sent this. It's a list of the names and locations of every bounty hunter working for the Global Community. With this, Judd and Lionel have a better shot at going north.”

Luke nodded. “Okay, but first we explain our beliefs to these two.”

“Let Lionel try,” Judd said. “I think they kind of connected with him.”

“Good. Judd, take him aside and explain. We'll see how they respond. Tom, watch the perimeter from the tower. We're not taking any chances.”

Lionel pulled the regular chairs from the storage area and sat at the table next to Lee and Brooke. Brooke asked how Lionel had gotten to the South Carolina hideout and he smiled. “It's a long story.”

“We've got time,” Lee said.

“Well, I can tell you what happened right after the disappearances.” Lionel began there and described what happened to his family. He told them how he had met Judd, Vicki, Ryan, and Pastor Bruce Barnes. “Bruce showed us a video of the former pastor of the church talking about how believers in Christ would one day be taken away or raptured. That's what happened to my family.”

“And our dad,” Brooke said.

“Right.” Lionel explained what the Bible said about God's forgiveness and that a person couldn't work their way to heaven. “God already loves you enough to die for you, and he did that when Christ died on the cross.”

Lee nodded. “I get it. If we ask God to forgive us, he will, not because of anything we've done, but because he sacrificed himself.”

“Right. It's a good thing you didn't take the mark of Carpathia because that would keep you from becoming a believer.”

“Why is that?” Brooke said.

Lionel explained that taking the mark and worshiping Carpathia meant you had chosen once and for all against God. When that decision was made, there was no changing your mind.

As Lionel explained more, he got the feeling that they had already been exposed to the message. They both said it was new to them, except for what their father had written, but they seemed to understand things quickly and didn't ask as many questions as others who had become believers. It almost felt too easy when they asked Lionel if he would pray with them.

“Sure,” Lionel said. He closed his eyes and began. Lee and Brooke prayed out loud with him. At one point, Brooke choked up and had to whisper the words. When Lionel finished, he looked at them and they both smiled.

“I feel a lot better, don't you?” Brooke said to her brother.

“Yeah. I'd never have believed just saying a prayer could change things so much. Mom was wrong and Dad was right.”

Lionel shook hands with Lee and hugged Brooke. He was about to take them into the next room to tell the others when he noticed something that made his heart drop.

“You guys wait here,” Lionel said. “I want to bring Judd and the others in so you can tell them the good news.”

“Great!” Brooke said.

Lionel closed the kitchen door behind him and found Judd, Tom, and Luke in the next room talking to Carl.

“How'd it go in there?” Tom said.

Lionel took a breath. “They listened, then prayed. Everything was fine until I looked at their foreheads. They don't have the mark of the believer.”

12

JUDD
moved toward the room where Lee and Brooke sat, but Lionel stopped him. “We have to figure out what we're going to say.”

“Maybe they didn't understand,” Judd suggested. “They might be mixed up.”

“They understood,” Lionel said. “The way they acted after they prayed seemed calculated.”

“But if it's a trap,” Judd said, “wouldn't they know about the mark of the believer?”

“Maybe they think that's a hoax and we don't have any mark,” Tom said.

“I'll bet you anything they have some kind of transmitter,” Lionel said.

“We should take care of them now,” Luke whispered.

“What do you mean?” Judd said.

“What I said.”

“We can't kill these people. I don't care if they aren't who they say they are. We can't take the chance that they're two innocent—”

“All right. Then we tie them up until we figure out what to do,” Luke said.

“We have to go back in soon or they're going to get suspicious,” Lionel said.

“Play it like they're part of our family now,” Judd said. “We'll keep the others hidden.”

“I've got an idea how we can stall whoever they're working with,” Lionel said. “Follow my lead.”

As the four walked into the room, Lionel beamed and gestured with a hand. “I want you guys to meet our newest members. They're true believers now.”

Judd, Luke, and Tom shook hands with Lee. Brooke hugged Judd and said, “I'm so glad we found this place. I can feel the Lord working in my heart already.”

“Are there other believers here?” Lee said.

“No, we're the only ones,” Luke said quickly.

“But there's something we need to tell you,” Lionel said. “A group of believers is supposed to show up in the next couple of days. We've been in contact with them.”

“How many?” Lee said.

“A dozen, maybe more. We'll be in touch tonight.”

“How do you guys contact each other?” Brooke said.

Judd was sure the two were searching for information, and he was glad Lionel had thought of his plan. The others could get away while the GC or whomever Lee and Brooke were working with got ready to pounce.

“We have a cell phone,” Lionel said. “We try to limit our calls to make sure the GC doesn't track us.”

“That's smart,” Brooke said. “I hate the way the GC operate.”

“Me too,” Lee said.

“I'll show you around the place,” Lionel said. “Let me take you outside first.”

Judd, Tom, and Luke quickly met with the others in the cellar while Lionel kept Lee and Brooke occupied. Carl got in touch with Chang Wong in New Babylon with his hastily constructed communications center and asked if there were any GC programs using agents without the mark.

I'm not aware of any
, Chang wrote,
but I wouldn't put it past that Kruno Fulcire guy. Let me check it out
.

When Carl asked Chang for a place to escape, Chang suggested talking with Chloe Williams. “She has a better idea of the safe houses and Co-op facilities in your area.”

“Vicki can help us,” Judd said. “She talked with Chloe a few days ago.”

Lionel took Lee and Brooke outside, telling them the history of the property and making up the rest. He could tell they wanted to go inside and explore, but he knew that would lead to more questions and possibly discovering the other believers. “It's time for our teaching,” Lionel said, leading them back to the kitchen.

“But we're already believers,” Brooke said. “We need to listen to more stuff?”

“Yeah, when you receive God's forgiveness, he puts a hunger in your heart to know more about him. Do you feel that?”

Lee cocked his head. “As a matter of fact, I do have a lot of questions.”

Lionel gave them more water and called for Judd. “We're going to have our teaching now. You want to tell the others?”

“Yeah, I'll go get them,” Judd said.

Lionel thought of people in one of three camps: believers in God, followers of Carpathia who had no chance of responding to the truth, or people with neither the mark of God nor Carpathia who could still respond. A thought flashed in his mind as he handed Bibles to Lee and Brooke.
If they don't have Carpathia's mark, maybe the truth will get to them. Even if they are Global Community or helping bounty hunters, if God's Word reaches their hearts, they could become believers!

The thought excited Lionel, and he couldn't wait to go through the material he had chosen. He had them turn to the Gospel of John.

“Why don't you read?” Lionel said.

“ ‘In the beginning the Word already existed,' ” Lee read. “ ‘He was with God, and he was God. He was in the beginning with God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn't make. Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone.' ”

“Any idea who John is talking about?” Lionel said.

“I don't even know who John is, let alone who this ‘he' is who was with God,” Brooke said.

“He's talking about Jesus,” Lionel said. “The Trinity is made up of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.”

“Why are there three of them?” Brooke said.

Lionel paused and said a brief prayer for them, asking God to take away their blindness.