Stung (37 page)

“I know even less of this language,” Immen said.

A fierce-looking man from the tribe yelled at them. The others nodded and spoke in agreement. Judd closed his eyes, sure that they would soon be surrounded and killed. But the next voice Judd heard was Mr. Stein's.

“We come on behalf of the Prince of Peace,” Mr. Stein said.

Judd could tell the men were amazed that someone was speaking their own language. A crowd from the village gathered. Before long, hundreds were listening to the gospel message. When he finished, Mr. Stein invited the tribe to pray with him.

People knelt and lifted their eyes toward heaven. Many wept. The villagers repeated Mr. Stein's words, though Judd heard what sounded to him like gibberish. When he was finished, Mr. Stein invited the leader of the first tribe to greet the enemy tribe leader. He pointed out the mark of the true believer on their foreheads, and they were both amazed. Two men who had been sworn enemies only minutes before hugged and smiled. Then they hugged Mr. Stein.

“You are to take this message of love and forgiveness to all who need to hear it,” Mr. Stein said.

Lionel kept feeding Sam information and Scripture. Like other new believers he had known, Sam was like a sponge. He couldn't get enough teaching about Jesus and the Bible. Though Sam talked about his father often, Lionel was able to keep him from going to see the man.

“I think you'll be able to see him again,” Lionel said, “but it's too early right now.”

Nada met secretly with Lionel. They talked about the falling object from space and what it might mean. Their conversation finally turned to Judd.

“I am worried that he won't speak with me,” Nada said, “that he'll be too concerned about my father.”

“Judd respects your dad, and he's grateful for what he's done for us,” Lionel said. “But I won't let him leave here without having a talk with you.”

“I want more than a talk,” Nada said. “I want to go to your country. I feel so trapped here. I want to be a part of the Young Tribulation Force.”

Lionel smiled. “You don't have to go back to the States to be part of our group. As a matter of fact, you might wind up being more help to us staying here. If it weren't for you, we probably wouldn't have gotten Sam out of his dad's house.”

Nada's father knocked on the door. She put a finger to her lips and stood behind it. The door opened, and Jamal handed the phone to Lionel. “Please speak quickly,” Jamal said, “I am waiting for an important call.”

Lionel took the phone. It was Judd.

“You won't believe what's happened,” Judd said. He explained the adventure he and Mr. Stein had been through.

“Where are you now?” Lionel said.

“We're spending a couple more days here so Mr. Stein can train the new evangelists,” Judd said. “The guy who flew us here is taking us back to Bamako on Sunday. We're hoping to get a flight into Israel from there. Can you meet us at the airport?”

“I'll be there,” Lionel said.

“Good. I want us to fly to the States from there. We have to get back to the others.”

“Sounds great,” Lionel said, “but what about money?”

“God is working,” Judd said. “If he wants us to get home, we'll get there.”

When Lionel hung up, he went to the computer.

“What are you doing?” Nada said.

“Maybe there's some way the others can help us get back,” Lionel said.

Vicki helped Mark load his backpack onto the motorcycle. He said it would take him a day to get to Kankakee, and he wanted to get there early to scope things out before he met with Carl. “Sorry I can't help with downstairs,” he said.

“We'll manage,” Vicki said. “We've got the lower room almost sealed off.”

“Are you sure about what you're doing down there?” Mark said.

“No,” Vicki said, “but if I'm right, all this work will pay off.”

Mark said good-bye to everyone and rode off. Shelly called the others inside. She had just gotten Lionel's e-mail.

Conrad slammed some tools down and said, “That's it. I'm going to get that safe open if it's the last thing I do.”

Vicki met with Lenore briefly to make sure she had what she needed. “What are you doing downstairs?” Lenore said.

“We're preparing,” Vicki said. “I don't want to scare you, but I think this judgment will be even worse than the others.”

Lenore frowned. “Janie said you people were kind of strange when it came to religion.”

“I'd like to explain what we believe if you'll let me,” Vicki said.

Tolan stirred in his crib and started crying. “I need to feed him right now. Maybe later.”

Vicki went back to the study room, where the kids watched the latest on the falling object. It had landed without doing any damage. The head of GCASA was back at a news conference to explain.

“The point of impact is in a remote area near the border of Syria and Iraq,” the man said. “We have not been able to locate the object in our aerial studies. It appears to have slipped past the earth's surface into a deep crevice.”

A reporter shot up a hand. “Sir, can't you get teams in there to find it and study it?”

“It's impossible to get a vehicle in that area or even get a team in there on foot. Our main concern is what might have been done to the earth's crust. We haven't been able to detect a problem at this point, but we want to make sure.”

Suddenly Vicki and the others felt a tremor. The schoolhouse shook slightly, and then all was calm. “Did you feel that?” Lenore said as she ran in with her baby. “It's not another earthquake, is it?”

The head of GCASA was handed a piece of paper from an aide. “I've just received this report and won't be able to answer any questions. It says there's been an eruption near the place where the object fell. We have data from different countries coming in that say their sensors went off the scale a few moments ago. Our pilots monitoring the area were blown off course and forced to escape the area.”

The GCASA leader quickly exited the news conference with reporters screaming questions. A few minutes later, pictures from a news flight showed the beginning of a mushroom cloud a thousand times bigger than anything seen in history.

“We are now told,” a news anchor reported, “that this object has somehow triggered volcano-like activity deep beneath the surface of the earth's crust.”

Judd and Mr. Stein were in the Land Rover when the thick, black cloud rolled across the desert. There was no wind to speak of, but the cloud moved rapidly, blotting out the sun. The thick cloud almost seemed solid as it rolled over the landscape. As it traveled quickly above them, Judd could tell this wasn't a smoky cloud that thinned as it moved. It was dense and as black as the base of a gasoline fire. From the radio Judd learned that scientists feared the source of the smoke was a huge fire that would eventually rise and shoot flames miles into the air.

“We must hurry if we hope to get back to Israel by Sunday,” Mr. Stein said.

33

MARK
arrived in Kankakee, Illinois, Wednesday night. It had been a grueling ride. He found a cheap hotel by the interstate and fell asleep.

The next morning, he drove to the airport but saw no Global Community officers. An older man at the information desk told him the Global Community had a temporary post set up outside the terminal. The man had no idea when Carl's flight might arrive.

Mark kept his distance from the GC. Though Nicolae Carpathia said everyone could travel as they pleased, Mark knew he had to be careful. He saw one officer walk outside to smoke near a chain-link fence. Mark approached him and said hello.

The man ignored him. His nameplate said “Kolak.”

“I'm wondering about the transport flight that's supposed to be here today,” Mark said.

“Nobody's supposed to know about those flights,” the officer said.

“I don't know what's on them,” Mark said quickly. “I've got a friend coming in from South Carolina who said he'd be here today. I told him I'd pick him up.”

Kolak blew smoke in Mark's face and laughed. “Heard there was a flight from down south that got cancelled because of the cloud. Might be here Saturday.”

“Saturday!?” Mark said.

“Could be Sunday,” Kolak said. “What's your friend's name?”

Mark didn't want to give the man too much information, but he also didn't want the guy to get suspicious.

“Carl Meninger,” Mark said.

Kolak threw his cigarette to the ground and smashed it with his foot. “You mean one of the guys on the sub?”

“I don't know,” Mark said. “What sub?”

“Communications guy on the
Peacekeeper 1
, right?”

“I guess so,” Mark said.

“How do you know him?”

“I had a cousin on that ship,” Mark said. “Carl wanted to talk to me.”

“Come with me,” Kolak said. He pointed to the gate in the fence.

Mark hesitated.

“Well, come on. I want to make sure you and your buddy get hooked up.”

Mark followed the man inside the fence to a small building. Inside were three GC officers standing by television monitors.

Nicolae Carpathia smiled at the camera. “I bid all workers of the Global Community greetings. Your hard work and efforts to bring peace and harmony to people around the globe do not go unnoticed.”

Carpathia held a piece of paper in his hand. “As you know, a few days ago I gave approval for all those who follow religions other than Enigma Babylon One World Faith to travel about freely. I also cleared them of any wrongdoing in Israel.

“At the request of people I trust, I am today issuing an order that gives Peter the Second, Supreme Pontiff of Enigma Babylon One World Faith, the authority to handle this situation. Since it is a religious issue that separates the followers of Dr. Ben-Judah from the One World Faith, I am giving him full power to handle this in whatever way he chooses.

“After Pontiff Mathews looks the matter over, I assume he will make a statement to the media. Until then, be alert for any terrorist acts these followers may attempt. Thank you for your service.”

The men clapped. One said, “I hope they get those jerks and put them in jail.”

The head officer turned and looked at Mark. “How long's he been here?”

Kolak stepped forward. “This kid says he's here to meet with Meninger, one of the survivors from the
Peacekeeper 1.”

The officer nodded. “All right. Give us your number and we'll let you know when he's supposed to get here.”

Mark nodded and wrote the number of the hotel on a scrap of paper. As he walked out, he wondered if he had just done something that would come back to haunt him.