Stung (19 page)

As he stuck his head out, someone jumped into the water nearby. “I found you!” a girl shouted and nearly knocked Mark into the water. “I've heard that knocking sound all day.”

The girl peered under the bridge and spotted Melinda. “Why's she got handcuffs on?”

Mark ignored her. “Who are you?”

“You first,” the girl said.

Mark noticed the girl was wearing a jumpsuit that looked like it had come from a prison. But he couldn't keep from studying her face, which looked somehow familiar.

“Those are GC clothes,” Melinda said.

The girl scowled. “I've been staying with my uncle on his farm for a few days. He gave me these.”

Finally, Mark remembered. “Janie!”

“How'd you know my name?” Janie shouted.

“You were being held at the GC reeducation camp,” Mark said. “What are you doing out here?”

“A few of us got out last night,” Janie said. “I got separated this morning. Then I saw all those GC cars. Decided I'd stay put until tonight.” Janie eyed the motorcycle. “Is that yours?”

Mark nodded.

“Let me have it, and I won't tell anybody you're down here,” Janie said.

“You won't get very far—,” Melinda said, but Mark interrupted her.

“We were going to leave on foot anyway,” Mark said. “You headed to Chicago?”

Janie nodded. “I got some friends back there who might help me.”

Mark handed her the keys to the cycle. Janie turned. “You look familiar to me, too. How do I know you?”

“I went to Nicolae High,” Mark said. “You were staying with a girl I knew.”

“Vicki?” Janie said.

Mark nodded.

“She's the one I'm looking for,” Janie said. “Best friend I ever had. I've changed a lot since I last saw her.”

“How?” Mark said.

“I've gotten more religious,” Janie said. “You know where I can find her?”

Mark strained to see Janie's forehead, but couldn't. He wasn't sure Janie could be trusted. She had lied about staying with her uncle, but he might have done the same thing talking to strangers. He was going to let her take the cycle and lead the GC away from their hideout, but since she was looking for Vicki, he felt guilty letting her go.

“I can take you where she is,” Mark said, “but we'll have to ditch the cycle.” Mark explained their run-in with the GC and that Melinda was wanted by the GC as well.

“I hate to lose good wheels,” Janie said, “but if you can help me find Vicki, let's go.”

Mark rolled the motorcycle to a hill near a lake and pushed it over the edge. The cycle splashed into the water and disappeared. The kids stole into the night, staying close enough to follow the road, then hiding when a car passed.

In the distance they saw the lights of the small town. Dogs barked. A squad car drove by on the interstate, its lights flashing. Mark motioned for the girls to follow as they entered the woods.

Judd and Lionel had slept so late in the day that they couldn't get to sleep that night. They sat in their room talking about Mr. Stein and wondering what had happened.

They had eaten dinner with several other witnesses and heard their fantastic stories of how God had convinced them that Jesus was the Messiah of the Jewish people. They talked about the Meeting of the Witnesses, how encouraging it had been, and what a fool Nicolae Carpathia had made of himself.

When Judd explained about Mr. Stein, several of the witnesses gathered to pray. Others came from the nearby rooms, and soon people were praying in different languages for Mr. Stein's safety.

Later, while Judd and Lionel went over the day's events, a beautiful girl with dark skin and brown eyes knocked on their door and entered. “Are you Judd?” she said.

Judd nodded.

“There is a phone call for you.”

Judd went into the next room and found Jamal and his wife. Jamal looked sternly at Judd. “I do not like calls in the middle of the night.”

Judd nodded and picked up the phone. It was Samuel.

“I called as quickly as I could,” Samuel said, out of breath.

“What's wrong?” Judd said.

“Your friend, Mr. Stein,” Samuel said. “Something has happened. I think he may have been released.”

“Where can we find him?” Judd said.

“I don't know,” Samuel said. “My father rushed from the house, very upset. I came to this pay phone immediately.”

Judd thanked Samuel and told Jamal what had happened.

“Tomorrow I will call my contacts about him,” Jamal said. “Get some rest.”

Judd nodded. As he closed the door he noticed the girl smiling at him.

17

CONRAD
sat in the tower, watching for any sign of the Global Community. He used a flashlight to read a printout of Tsion Ben-Judah's latest teaching. The teaching was so interesting, he had to be careful not to get too absorbed.

Late that night he took a break and closed his eyes for a moment. He ran his hand along the floor and felt a weird bump. A piece of wood stuck up about an inch. He placed his hand on the other side of the plank and pushed. The board gave an inch or two, and Conrad was able to get his fingers underneath.

As he pulled, other boards lifted. Conrad put his flashlight near the hole. Some sort of box fit perfectly inside.

Conrad tried to lift the board, but it wouldn't budge. The box was decorated with fancy etchings. He shifted his weight to try again, but just then something moved in the woods.

Phoenix growled below. Conrad peered into the darkness and took out his pistol. He quickly ran downstairs and woke Vicki. Vicki let Phoenix loose, and the dog headed for the road, then quickly darted into the woods, barking.

Conrad listened closely. The barking stopped. Footsteps. Had something or someone killed Phoenix? Conrad cocked his pistol and waited.

Three figures moved out of the woods. Conrad lifted the gun and pointed it as he clicked on the flashlight.

“Don't shoot!” Mark said, squinting into the light.

“Mark!” Vicki screamed. “You're back!”

Conrad shone the flashlight on the other two. Melinda and another girl were right behind Mark.

The girl raced toward them. “Vicki!” she shouted.

Vicki stepped back, then hugged the girl and yelled, “Janie!” Vicki looked at Mark. “How did you—?”

“Let's go inside,” Mark said, “and we'll tell you all about it.”

When Judd awoke the next morning, Lionel was talking with the girl he had seen the night before. Jamal was on the phone speaking in a different language.

“This is Jamal's daughter, Nada,” Lionel said.

Judd nodded. Nada smiled and shook his hand.

“Any news on Mr. Stein?” Judd said.

“Haven't been able to understand a word,” Lionel said.

Nada spoke with an Arabic accent. “My father still searches for your friend. If anyone can find him, he can.”

“How did you become believers?” Judd said.

“My mother was first,” Nada said. “When people disappeared around the world, she began reading the theories. Then, when the rabbi spoke on television, she was convinced that Jesus had returned for his true followers.”

“Did you know much about Christianity before that?” Lionel said.

Nada shook her head. “We had read the Old Testament that spoke of Abraham. But to us, Christians were unbelievers. When my mother predicted a great earthquake would strike and it happened, my father finally read the rabbi's Web page and received the mark of the believer.”

Jamal hung up the phone and quickly dialed another number.

“Who is he calling now?” Lionel said.

Nada listened. “It is a funeral home.”

Vicki talked with Janie while Conrad and Mark worked to get Melinda's cuffs off. Melinda seemed happy to be back, but cautious. Vicki hoped to talk with her later. Mark's return was a miracle to Vicki. She was dying to talk with him but knew that would best be done in private.

Vicki looked closely at Janie's forehead. Mark had brought someone who wasn't a believer. She would have to ask him why, but first she wanted to hear Janie's story.

“The last I heard from you,” Vicki said, “you'd been taken downstate.”

Janie nodded. “I know I gave you and your adoptive dad a hard time after you took me in. I'm really sorry. Where is Bruce?”

Vicki sighed and told Janie that Bruce had died just as the bombs started falling during World War III. “He may have died from a virus he caught overseas, or it could have been the bombing.”

“No matter how it happened,” Janie said, “he's dead. I'm sorry.”

“What happened after you left Chicago?”

Janie said the Global Community had treated her harshly at the first facility, then moved her to one with less security. There she came in contact with the nurse who had helped Vicki take Ryan's body from the makeshift hospital.

“They had her on some kind of charge,” Janie said. “We talked a lot about you and religion.”

“Religion?” Vicki said.

“Enigma Babylon is what they taught us, and it really turned me around.”

Vicki frowned.

“I don't know how I'd have gotten through it without my faith guide,” Janie said.

“Your what?”

“We had our own faith guide at the reeducation facility,” Janie said. “He taught us that God's within us and we have the power to do anything we want to do.”

“What did he say about the Bible?” Vicki said.

Janie shrugged. “We didn't talk about it that much. I guess there are some good stories in there, and some nice teachings, but you really have to follow your own heart if you want to be happy.”

Vicki decided not to go further into the Enigma Babylon teaching, but Janie drew close. “That's one reason I wanted to find you. I know you and that Bruce guy, God rest him, follow the Bible. Our faith guide told us how the thing about Adam and Eve, the Flood with Noah, all that stuff's just a myth.”

Vicki bit her lip. “What about the prophecies?”

Janie squinted. “What's that?”

“The predictions in the Bible that there would be a worldwide earthquake. The meteors. Wormwood. All that's in the Bible.”

“Like I said, we didn't talk much about it,” Janie said. “We just learned that God is an idea that lives inside all of us.”

“What about heaven and hell?” Vicki said.

“We get what we deserve right here,” Janie said. “Heaven's in your head. Besides, why would a God who's supposed to care about us cause all these bad things?”

“Because he wants to get your attention,” Vicki said.

“Well, I let my god guide me, and he got me out of that prison.”

Vicki got Janie a hot drink and asked Mark to step into the next room. Mark explained what had happened with his aunt and finding Melinda. “I couldn't tell whether Janie was a true believer, but when she mentioned she was trying to find you, I couldn't let her fall into the GC's hands.”

Vicki nodded.