The Left Behind Collection: All 12 Books (207 page)

David wasn’t getting a busy signal anymore. He carefully redialed to be certain he hadn’t erred. The number was right. Either Rayford could not hear the ring, or the phone had been shut off. David called Tsion and woke him. Someone was going to have to contact that plane on an open frequency. And fast.

Buck suffered from jet lag and the decision to stay up late with Dr. Rosenzweig. He had spent much of the night pleading with Chaim to come to Christ. “It’s the reason I’m here,” Buck told his old friend. “You must not put it off any longer. You’re not getting younger. The judgments and woes get worse now until the end. Odds are you will not survive.”

Chaim had nearly dozed off several times, lounging on the couch across from Buck. “I am at a crossroads, Cameron. I can tell you this: I am no longer an agnostic. Anyone who tells you he still is is a liar. I recognize the great supernatural war between good and evil.”

Buck leaned forward. “What, then, Doctor? Can you remain neutral? Neutrality is death. Neutrality is a no vote. You pretend to leave the issue to others, but in the end you lose.”

“There is so much I don’t understand.”

“Who, besides perhaps Tsion, understands much of anything? We’re all new at this, just feeling our way. You don’t have to be a theologian. You just need to know the basics, and you do. The question now is what you do with what you know? What do you do with Jesus? He has staked a claim on your soul. He wants you, and he has tried everything to convince you of that. What will it take, Chaim? Do you need to be trampled by the horses? Do they need to suffocate you with sulfur, set you afire? Do you have to be in terror for your life?”

Chaim sat shaking his head sadly.

“Doctor, let me be clear. Life will not get easier. We all missed that bus. It will get worse for all of us. But for believers it will be even worse than for unbelievers, because the day is coming—”

“I know this part, Cameron. I know what Tsion says about the mark necessary to buy or sell. So you are calling me to a life worse than the wretched existence mine has already come to be.”

“I’m calling you to the truth. Your life may get worse, but your death will be the best! No matter how you die, you will wake up in heaven. If you survive until the Glorious Appearing . . . imagine! Those are the believer’s options, Doctor. Die and be with Christ, only to return when he does. Or survive until his appearing.

“Chaim, we want you with us. We want you to be our brother, now and forever. We can’t imagine losing you, knowing you are separated for eternity from the God who loves you.” Buck could not hold back the tears. “Sir, if only I could trade places with you! Do you not know how we feel about you, how God feels about you? Jesus took your place so you don’t have to pay the price.”

Chaim looked up in surprise at the tears in Buck’s voice. The alarm appeared to give way to some realization. Perhaps the old man had
not
known the depth of their feeling for him. Buck felt as if he were pleading God’s case in God’s absence. God was there, of course, but he apparently seemed distant to Chaim.

“I pledge this to you as I did once before to Tsion,” Chaim said. “I will not take the mark of Nicolae Carpathia. If I should starve to death for taking that stand, I shall not be forced to bear a mark in order to live as a free man in this society.”

That was a step, Buck decided. But it wasn’t enough. In the guest room Buck had wept until he fell asleep, praying for Chaim. At nine in the morning he was still exhausted. He had hoped to get another firsthand look at the two witnesses, but he promised Chloe he would stay on schedule and visit Lukas Miklos in Greece on his way back. The new friend they called Laslos would be the key contact in that part of the world for the co-op.

It was 7 a.m. in Le Havre when Rayford and the Tuttles bluffed their way through customs as Thomas Agee and Ian and Elva Hill. Trudy was to rent a car and check into two rooms they had reserved at Le Petit Hotel south of the city. It was an expensive, secluded place unlikely to draw curious eyes.

Dwayne would use another rental car to drop Rayford off a couple of blocks from the address on Rue Marguerite where Bo Hanson had said his brother and Hattie were hiding out under assumed names. Rayford planned to simply show up at their apartment and talk them into opening the door by warning them that the GC was onto them and that they had to move. Rayford believed Hattie would deduce that Bo had led him to them and that thus the GC story must be true. Rayford would offer them a ride and to put them up in an obscure hotel if they were prepared to flee immediately.

The three would rendezvous with Dwayne and improvise. Either in the process of getting into the car or by some scheme along the way, Rayford and Dwayne would ditch Samuel Hanson and let him fend for himself. He was the one with a plane. They could sort out their differences back in the States.

Rayford wanted to surprise Hattie and Samuel as early in the day as possible, so he and Dwayne took the first available rental car. With a quick farewell to Trudy, who was to load all their bags into her car, they were off. Dwayne bubbled with ideas of how to outwit Samuel.

“Are you sure you want to insert yourself this far into a Tribulation Force operation?” Rayford said.

“Are you kiddin’ me? I’ve been itchin’ for some action ever since I got saved. Now listen, we can ditch this boy soon’s we get in the car. You could tell him to step outside with you for a minute because, like, you’ve got a private message for him. Like from his brother. You get out and walk him behind the car, and then you tell him you forgot the note in the car. You jump back in, I take off, and there we go.”

“Could work,” Rayford said.

“Or how ’bout this one?” Dwayne said, following Rayford’s directions as he sped through town. “When you first bring ’em to the car, I get out all mannerly and such and we do the formal introductions. I open the door for the lady and get her inside. Then I give this Hanson character a big ol’ Oklahoma shove. He’ll roll twenty feet, but it won’t hurt him. By the time his head clears, we’ll be long gone.”

Rayford studied a city map and the note from Bo. “They’re using the names James Dykes and Mae Willie. Sometimes you have to wonder. . . .”

“Here’s another idea,” Dwayne said, but Rayford cut him off.

“No offense, Dwayne, but I don’t much care how we do it, as long as we get it done.”

“You gotta have a plan.”

“We have plenty. If it doesn’t feel right for me to invite him out of the car, you know what to do.”

“You got it, pardner.”

By now David was despairing. It was midmorning in New Babylon, and he and Mac were huddled in Mac’s office. David had programmed his own secure phone to dial Rayford’s every sixty seconds and to leave a digital message that simply read ABORT and gave David’s number.

“If I’d known it was gonna be this way,” Mac said, “I could’ve flown to France and intercepted him myself by now.”

David, feeling helpless, brought up on his computer phone calls between Leon and his intelligence enforcement chief, Walter Moon, the day before, the day of, and the day after the announcement of Hattie’s death. When David finally hit pay dirt and heard something that would help Rayford, he felt even worse.

“This’ll make your day, Mac,” he said. “Listen to this. It’s Leon and Moon.”

“It’s done, Commander. She made it so easy. How long we been looking for that—”

“Too long. Now what’s done? What did you do?”

“Like we said, we got rid of the pilot. He was usin’ the name Dykes, but we traced the plane to Sam Hanson out of Louisiana.”

“By got rid of . . .”

“You want to know or you want to not know? Let’s just say Sam’s had his last bowl o’ gumbo. We put the filly in the Brussels lockup. She was usin’ the name Mae Willie, so we booked her under that so she could hide out even inside if she wanted. I know the big boss—’scuse me, the Excell—,
His
Excellency doesn’t want anything noisy.”

“Right, and anyway, who’d believe she’s Hattie Durham? She’s been reported dead.”

“And she’s the one who did it. We could leave her in Belgium forever.”

“And we’re taking advantage of this how?”

“We informed the pilot’s only living kin, his brother, in a note that looks like it’s from Sam, that Sam would be holing up in France for a while, so don’t expect to hear from him. We figure the brother will eventually get suspicious or run out of patience and come looking for him. We just hope her Judah-ite friends will find her through the brother first, because we have a surprise for them.

“I’m listening.”

“We’ve got a look-alike staying at the apartment, claiming to be Dykes. He plays coy but then promises to take any snoops to Hattie. They wind up in the same situation as the Cajun, if you get my drift.”

“Excellent, Wally.”

Mac shook his head. “You keeping Tsion informed? Rayford’s walking into a hornet’s nest, and those people over there, particularly his daughter, ought to be prepared, in case he never comes back.”

David nodded and reached for his phone, but it was ringing. He zeroed in on the caller ID. “It’s him!”

Mac leaned over to listen in, and David hit the button. “Captain Steele, where are you, man? I’ve been trying to call you for—”

“Excuse me, sir. This is Mrs. Dwayne Tuttle. You can call me Trudy. My husband and Captain Steele left me to arrange for hotel rooms and take care of the luggage. I saw this phone in the captain’s bag, and I’m sorry but I turned it on out of curiosity. Well, just dozens and dozens of messages have been scrollin’ by, all with your number and this abort message, and I thought I ought to call.”

“Ma’am, thank you. Where is Rayf—Captain Steele right now?”

“He and my husband are on their way to try to find Miss Durham.”

“Does your husband have a phone?”

“Sure, but last time I talked to him his battery died.”

“Is there any way we can reach them?”

“I have the address where they’re going, if you’d like to call the young lady.”

Mac grabbed the phone. “Ma’am, this is Mac McCullum. Remember meeting me in Africa?”

“Yes, sir, how are you feel—”

“Trudy, listen to me and do exactly what I say. It’s a matter of life and death. Do you know that town?”

“Just from the airport to here.”

“Get yourself a map at the desk and have them tell you the fastest way to Hattie’s address. Drive there as fast as you can. If anyone tries to stop you, don’t let them and explain later. At all costs, you must tell Captain Steele to abort. He’ll take it from there.”

“Abort, yessir.”

“Any questions?”

“No, sir.”

“Then do it right now, Trudy. And call us to let us know what happens.”

Dwayne drove past the address on Rue Marguerite and stopped a block and a half away.

“Seedy little dump, idn’t it?” Dwayne said.

“It’s perfect, really,” Rayford said. “I’m impressed. This may be the best choice they made in the whole fiasco. Let’s watch awhile and see if she comes or goes.”

Rayford got antsy after ten minutes when only two people left the building, neither Hattie. “If I’m not back in five minutes, come looking for me.”

“They armed?”

“Doubt it. If Sam’s as bright as his brother, he wouldn’t know which end to aim. Hattie would worry about breaking a nail.”

Still, Rayford wished he was carrying the weapon Albie had described. He could never shoot Hattie, and he wouldn’t risk the consequences for a small-time goon like Bo Hanson’s brother. This shouldn’t be that risky, he decided. Hattie would let him in. If she didn’t, he had a story in mind to use on Sam Hanson.