The Left Behind Collection: All 12 Books (394 page)

“The Jewish question?”

“What Dr. Rosenzweig called the ‘worldwide turning to Messiah’?”

“Of course, but that’s been going on since Chaim’s broadcast.”

“And it picked up with the lightning storm.”

“Exactly,” Chang said. “So what’s new?”

“You must come and see.
Massive
doesn’t begin to describe it. There must have been millions still undecided, but no more. They’re all coming to the Lord, and it seems every one of them is letting us know.”

Rayford had never thought about what one wears to meet Jesus. He dug through his closet, finding—also as prophesied—three-and-a-half-year-old but good-as-new khakis, socks, and boots. He was dressed in seconds.

“You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’, Ray?”

“What?”

“That we got no business skedaddlin’ out of here if you’re healthy enough to fight. There’s a battle comin’, and the both of us were supposed to be in it.”

“Don’t do this to me now, Mac.”

“I don’t want to be here any more’n you do, Ray. But Sebastian and Razor and Otto and them are all tryin’ to hold the perimeter.”

“Oh, man! Well, Abdullah’s gone.” Rayford was transported back to his childhood when he would plead his case with his parents. “Why does
he
get to do it?”

“Abdullah can answer to his own conscience.”

“And I’ve got to answer to yours?”

“Just do the right thing, Ray.”

“You staying, either way?”

“Got to. It’s the way I’m made.”

“You
would
have to get parental on me all of a sudden.”

“Do what you got to do, Ray. I’ll understand.”

“I’m not flying without you, Mac. You really think God healed me so I can help in a battle He’s already promised to win?”

Mac shook his head. “I didn’t say it made sense. I just told you what I thought.”

“I’m calling Sebastian.”

“This is Big Dog One!” Sebastian shouted. “Talk to me!” When he heard Rayford’s question he laughed loud and long. “You and Mac get yourselves in the air right now, and if you don’t I’ll come up and shoot you myself.”

He told Rayford where he was and what was happening.

“Then you’ll believe it when I tell you that when the sign appeared, God healed me.”

“I’d believe anything right now, buddy. If it didn’t mean leaving my people, I’d go with you. So you remember every detail, hear?”

Chang had been told enough, by Naomi—whose love for him made him wonder about her objectivity—and by the leadership, that he had served a crucial function not just for the Tribulation Force, but also for the entire remnant in Petra. He was gratified to hear it, and while he was relieved to be out from under the daily pressure of living as a mole in the Antichrist’s own lair at New Babylon, he had found Petra an unusual challenge.

Naomi had been the bright spot, of course. But his work, sometimes fourteen to sixteen hours a day, could be both a grind and invigorating. It motivated him because he was—he couldn’t deny it—somewhat of a prodigy in technical things. Associates told him that was an understatement, and some even held that he might be the leading computer expert in the world, despite his youth.

All well and good, but when he examined himself and tried to decide what was troubling him about his current work, it was the old real-estate agent’s adage: location, location, location.

Computers had come a long way in his lifetime alone, but they still largely had to be housed inside, out of the weather. It seemed to Chang that he was still a mole, living mostly underground—or at least indoors. His forays out were always on breaks or at the end of the day, or when he was stealing a moment or two with Naomi, as he had just done.

Now here it was, just before the Glorious Appearing of Christ, and he was back inside, sitting before a bevy of screens, keeping tabs on the whole world. It was a privilege, sure. Who else was doing it or knew how? And he knew he brought a lot to the table, like the ability to hack into the enemy’s transmissions, both computer and television. And while he would rather be with the rest of the remnant, marshaling outside and being directed to various high places, Chang knew this was where he would sit for the end of the world.

He could cry and moan or he could do his job, and he would do the latter. There would be time to be a frontliner, able to take in every detail of the millennial kingdom. For now he would monitor and coordinate the activities of his compatriots. They had to be kept in touch with each other.

Sebastian was in the midst of the Unity Army’s attempted invasion, as were Razor and Otto and Ree.

Abdullah was in a jet, who knew where?

Chaim was working with the elders to coordinate the people.

Last word Chang had heard was that Rayford had been healed and that he and Mac were looking for four-wheeled ATVs so they could rejoin the fray.

Lionel was in Chang’s same situation, tied to a desk, still managing the far-flung exploits of the International Co-op from Petra with the help of Ming Woo.

And Leah and Hannah were running the infirmary, a polite term for a medical facility as large as most hospitals.

More fell to Chang than he felt should be under his purview, but with the leadership otherwise engaged, he would have to make some executive decisions. Abdullah had radioed in, asking permission to rejoin the masses at Petra.

“I understand the resistance to the Unity Army on the perimeter has already been overrun,” he said. “But they are still safe and protected, and we know extra help is not needed there.”

Chang couldn’t blame Abdullah for asking. It was the very thing he wanted to do and to be—a camper instead of a counselor, for lack of a better description. “Come on ahead,” Chang told him. He also explained why Abdullah was having trouble reaching Rayford and Mac, but a minute later that all changed too.

“Chang,” Rayford said, “Sebastian doesn’t need us and can’t use us. I’ve instructed him to bring his troops in to join the remnant. Their work is done.”

“But won’t they have to come through the Unity Army to get here now?”

“They’re in the middle of ’em already, and the enemy has no power over them. Once Chaim and the elders get everyone in place, the population here can look down on the plains all around Petra. They’ll have a perfect view of the sky and the earth.”

“And you and Mac?”

“Mac’s going to take his chopper and I need an ATV.”

“You sure you want to go back out on one of those?”

“What are the odds, Chang? Gotta climb back on the horse, as they say.”

Chang checked his records and told Rayford where Lionel Whalum kept the best units, “full of fuel, charged up, and ready to go. And where will you go, or do I want to know?”

“I’m going to go where Mac tells me. He’ll be hovering over the Unity Army, trying to spot the leader himself. I want to be close enough to see and hear Carpathia. He’s got to be somewhere out there behind the horde that has swept past Sebastian’s position and is on its way up to our western border.”

Chang filled Rayford in on what everyone else was doing, including Abdullah. “And you know where I’ll be.”

“We couldn’t survive without you, Chang.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Enoch got on his phone, shaking his head. He couldn’t blame his little flock for cutting and running. He’d been scared too, but there was nowhere to go and, really, nothing to fear. That was easy to say but quite another thing to act upon when the powers of heaven had been shaken. But it didn’t seem right to be apart from his people, not now.

How surreal it felt to be stretched out on a chaise lounge in a suburban backyard, trying to reach parishioners on the phone while a cross of lightning miles tall and wide vibrated in the sky. He finally reached Florence, a late middle-aged black woman who seemed to have the most influence with the congregation.

“Florence, where is everybody?”

“About half of us are right here, Pastor. A little embarrassed, but okay.”

“And where’s
her
e
?”

“’Bout three blocks from you, I reckon. We came back to the mall, but your car was gone, so we figured you was at home.”

“I’m home. Why don’t you all come here and be with me when the Lord returns.”

“You told us never to give away your hideout. How we all gonna fit in your cellar, anyway?”

He told her where he was. “Of course we don’t want to draw the attention of the neighbors or the GC, but don’t you think they’re preoccupied with the sky right now?”

“Watch for us. We’ll be comin’. Only a few of us have cars, and we’ll leave those here.”

Mac stood talking with Lionel Whalum while refueling the chopper. “Haven’t been outside all day,” Lionel told him, hands on his hips, studying the cross in the sky. “Except to get Captain Steele his ATV, of course.”

“Not even for the lightning storm? That was something.”

“Heard it. Saw it on a monitor. Tell ya, Mac, you’d think Co-op stuff was over now, but we’ve never been busier.”