Stung (11 page)

“Woe!” Eli and Moishe thundered, silencing Carpathia. “Woe to the impostor who would dare threaten the chosen ones before the due time! Sealed followers of the Messiah, drink deeply and be refreshed!”

A man beside Lionel took a long drink from a small bottle of water. He wiped his mouth and handed it to Lionel. “You drink now,” he said.

The bottle was ice-cold and full. Lionel took a long drink. He handed it back to the man. Again, it was full. Throughout the stadium people sighed with pleasure at the taste. A few others tried to drink, but like Nicolae's bottle, the water turned to blood.

Lionel glanced at the stage. The chopper blades whirred to life, and Tsion was again alone. His notes flew around the stage like a tornado, then settled. People leaped to retrieve them. Tsion remained motionless, having ignored the entire episode with Carpathia.

Lionel looked around for the two witnesses, but they were gone.

Judd pleaded, but when the helicopter prepared for liftoff, Taylor picked up his weapon and placed it against his shoulder. The white chopper appeared over the top of the stadium and flew directly overhead.

Taylor aimed. Judd started to rush him, but before he did, Taylor dropped to the ground with the gun.

“It's them,” Taylor gasped, his mouth hanging open.

Judd turned and saw Eli and Moishe walking toward them. They didn't say a word or even glance up as the helicopter passed. When they were gone, Taylor said, “I thought I was dead.”

Judd helped him up. “You have to understand who you're dealing with. If you shot Carpathia down, the GC would blame the followers of Ben-Judah. They'd make us all martyrs tonight.”

“I don't care. If that chopper returns, it's going down.”

“Then I'll have to do what I have to do,” Judd said, walking away.

“Which is what?” Taylor said.

The crowd around Lionel took their seats. Tsion was back at the lectern. As if nothing had happened since he began quoting John 3:16, Tsion continued:

“'—begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.'”

Tsion stepped back and repeated the verse louder as the helicopter flew away. “‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.'”

A man near Lionel fell to his knees. The man was holding a bottle filled with blood. Tsion said, “There may be some here, inside or outside, who want to receive Christ. I urge you to pray after me: ‘Dear God, I know I am a sinner. Forgive me and pardon me for waiting so long. I receive your love and salvation and ask you to live your life through me. I accept you as my Savior and resolve to live for you until you come again.'”

As the man near Lionel repeated the prayer, the blood in the bottle changed to ice-cold water. The man stood. Lionel pointed at the bottle. The man raised it over his head, laughing, and let the liquid pour over him.

“I can see it,” the man yelled, looking from one face to the next. “The cross on your foreheads. I see it!”

Others shouted, “Praise God!” and embraced one another.

Tsion stood at the lectern, his eyes brimming with tears, his hands clasped in front of his face in a posture of prayer.

Judd knew he had to tell someone about Taylor's plan. He pushed his way into the stadium and found a young guard with “Kudrick” on his name tag.

At first the guard told Judd to move along, but when Judd mentioned the high-powered weapon, the man radioed other guards and followed Judd outside. When they reached the area, Taylor was gone.

The guard pulled out a handheld computer and entered some data. Judd was sketchy about Taylor. “All I know is that this guy had a bazooka ready to fire at the potentate's helicopter, and the thing that stopped him was those two fire-breathing guys from the Wailing Wall.”

The guard studied Judd. “Why are you here?”

“Curious,” Judd said.

The guard put his computer away. “Do you know anything about the teaching of this Ben-Judah?”

“Are you asking for your report or because you're interested personally?”

The guard crossed his arms. “Does it matter?”

Suddenly an alarm went off on the guard's communication device. The guard plugged in his earphone, then pulled out his pistol and released the safety lock. He gave Judd a frantic look and ran back toward the stadium.

“Meet me right here tomorrow night,” Judd yelled.

Judd wondered if he had just hurt the Young Trib Force by giving the GC information. Or had he made contact with a future follower of Christ?

Lionel waited for Judd. Though Dr. Ben-Judah had left the stage, people stood at the front, weeping, kneeling, and praying. As he watched, Lionel saw Mr. Stein walk across the stage and jump to the infield.

Lionel got Mr. Stein's attention, and the two embraced. Mr. Stein glowed with excitement. “I am overwhelmed. I had hoped you and Judd would be able to get inside.”

“What happened to you?” Lionel said.

“You will not believe it. Yitzhak asked me to accompany him backstage as the group met for prayer before the message. I actually met Tsion Ben-Judah face-to-face.”

“I bet he was surprised you were here in person.”

“Very,” Mr. Stein said. “I saw Buck and Chloe Williams backstage as well.”

Nicolae Carpathia's helicopter appeared again. Judd rushed up and explained what had happened with Taylor Graham.

“You did the right thing,” Mr. Stein said. “Taylor must be stopped.”

“Something's wrong,” Judd said. “The guard took off with his gun drawn.”

“You don't think they're going to kill people, do you?” Lionel said.

Mr. Stein grabbed their arms. “Let's not give them the chance.” The three raced for the nearest exit.

Above them, Leon Fortunato's voice boomed over the helicopter's loudspeakers. “We have been asked by Global Community ground security forces at the stadium to help clear this area! Please translate this message to others if at all possible! We appreciate your cooperation!”

Lionel ran ahead of Judd and Mr. Stein. The crowd did not obey. Hundreds of people moved to the corner of the stadium where the helicopter hovered.

As Lionel reached the stairs that would lead them outside, a machine gun fired outside the stadium. People screamed and dived for cover. Lionel kept moving, stepping over those on the ground. As the three made it outside, more shots filled the air.

10

VICKI
switched the laptop to the sleep mode and sat back.

“I wonder how Carpathia's going to work this to his advantage.” Conrad said. “I can't believe he lost his cool and cursed like that on live television.”

“Can you imagine what the press will do with the water-to-blood thing?” Shelly said. “It's going to be plastered all over the headlines.”

“Yeah, but the publicity will make everybody want to watch,” Vicki said. “The meeting will be the biggest thing in TV history.”

“If they let them continue,” Conrad said.

Vicki sighed. An idea had been brewing since the beginning of Tsion's message. “I think we should change our clocks to Jerusalem time.”

“What for?” Shelly said.

“The all-day meetings will begin just after midnight,” Vicki said. “I know it's the middle of the afternoon, but if we get some sleep now, we can get up and watch the whole thing live.”

The kids all agreed to try it. Vicki went to the kitchen to prepare what would be a midnight breakfast. Conrad said, “I want to see what Carpathia says about all this.”

Vicki looked in on Melinda. Her door was slightly open. Vicki knocked and entered. “What did you think?”

Melinda shrugged. “Interesting. I've never seen the potentate that upset.”

“What about the rabbi?” Vicki said.

“I guess he made some sense. A lot more than that Peter guy. But there's a lot I don't understand.”

“Like what?”

“The stuff about the sheep,” Melinda said.

“You mean the lamb?”

“Whatever.”

Vicki sat on the bed. She explained that Jesus was the Lamb of God. “In the days before Jesus, God asked for a sacrifice for sins. I don't understand everything about it, but basically the people had to take a perfect lamb, kill it, then sprinkle its blood on an altar.”

Melinda scowled. “That sounds weird. Why does God have to kill something? Can't he just look the other way?”

“The sacrifice reminded the people how bad sin is. Because God is holy, there has to be some kind of payment. That ceremony was sort of a picture of Jesus' sacrifice. He was the perfect Lamb who gave his life for us.”

“I got it,” Melinda said, “but I still think it's pretty weird.”

Conrad knocked at the door. “You oughta come see this.”

“We'll talk later,” Vicki said.

The voice of Leon Fortunato echoed down the hall. “The supreme commander's introducing Nicolae,” Conrad said.

“I don't believe this,” Shelly groaned as Vicki came into the room. “This is the ultimate setup guy.”

Fortunato looked calm and collected. He said there were still pockets of resistance to the progress of the Global Community. “One of those movements revealed its true nature earlier this evening before the eyes of the world.”

“Yeah, they turned his drinking water to blood,” Darrion said.

“His Excellency has the power to use extreme measures because of this action, but in the spirit of the new society he has built, His Excellency has a different response he wishes to share with you.

“Before he does that, however, I would like to share a personal story.”

“Uh-oh,” Conrad said, “here it comes.”

Fortunato told the world that after the earthquake, Nicolae Carpathia had raised him from the dead. He finished with, “And now, without further ado, your potentate and—may I say, my deity—His Excellency, Nicolae Carpathia.”

“My deity?” Shelly said. “He thinks Carpathia's God?”

“Tsion said this would happen,” Vicki said.