The Left Behind Collection: All 12 Books (75 page)

“A double ceremony?” Chloe swiped at her tears. “I’d love it. But do you think Amanda would stand for it?”

Something big was brewing. In a clandestine meeting, Buck went to see American President Gerald Fitzhugh. The president had become a tragic figure, reduced to a mere token. After serving his country for most of two terms in office, he now was relegated to a suite in the Executive Office Building and had lost most of the trappings from his previous role. Now his Secret Service protection consisted of three men rotating every twenty-four hours, and they were financed by the Global Community.

Buck met with Fitzhugh shortly after he proposed to Chloe, two weeks before the scheduled wedding. The president groused that his bodyguards were really there to make sure Carpathia knew his every move. But the most shattering thing, in Fitzhugh’s mind, was that the U.S. public had so easily accepted the president’s demotion. Everyone was enamored of Nicolae Carpathia, and no one else mattered.

Fitzhugh pulled Buck into a secure room and left his Secret Service agent out of earshot. The worm was about to turn, Fitzhugh told Buck. At least two other heads of state believed it was time to throw off the shackles of the Global Community. “I’m risking my life telling this to an employee of Carpathia,” Fitzhugh said.

“Hey, we’re
all
employees of Carpathia,” Buck said.

Fitzhugh confided to Buck that Egypt, England, and patriotic militia forces in the U.S. were determined to take action “before it was too late.”

“What does that mean?” Buck asked.

“It means soon,” Fitzhugh said. “It means stay out of the major East Coast cities.”

“New York?” Buck said, and Fitzhugh nodded. “Washington?”

“Especially Washington.”

“That’s not going to be easy,” Buck said. “My wife and I are going to be living in New York when we’re married.”

“Not for long you’re not.”

“Can you give me an idea of timing?”

“That I cannot do,” Fitzhugh said. “Let’s just say I should be back in the Oval Office within a couple of months.”

Buck desperately wanted to tell Fitzhugh that he was merely playing into Carpathia’s hands. This was all part of the foretold future. The uprising against Antichrist would be crushed and would initiate World War III, from which would come worldwide famine, plagues, and the death of a quarter of the earth’s population.

The double ceremony in Bruce’s office two weeks later was the most private wedding anyone could imagine. Only the five of them were in the room. Bruce Barnes concluded by thanking God for all the smiles, the embraces, the kisses, and the prayer.

Buck asked if he could see the underground shelter Bruce had constructed. “It was barely under way when I moved to New York,” he said.

“It’s the best-kept secret in the church,” Bruce said as they made their way down past the furnace room and through a secret doorway.

“You don’t want church members to use it?” Buck asked.

“You’ll see how small it is,” Bruce said. “I’m encouraging families to build their own. It would be chaos if the church body showed up here in a time of danger.”

Buck was astounded at how small the shelter was, but it seemed to have everything they would need to survive for a few weeks. The Tribulation Force was not made up of people who would hide out for long.

The five huddled to compare schedules and discuss when they might see each other again. Carpathia had devised a minute-by-minute schedule for the next six weeks that would have Rayford flying him all over the world, finally to Washington. Then Rayford would have a few days off before flying back to New Babylon. “Amanda and I could get here from Washington during that break,” he said.

Buck said he and Chloe would come to Chicago then, too. Bruce would be back from a swing through Australia and Indonesia. They set the date, four in the afternoon, six weeks later. They would have a two-hour intensive Bible study in Bruce’s office and then enjoy a nice dinner somewhere.

Before they parted, they held hands in a circle and prayed yet again. “Father,” Bruce whispered, “for this brief flash of joy in a world on the brink of disaster, we thank you and pray your blessing and protection on us all until we meet back here again. Bind our hearts as brothers and sisters in Christ while we are apart.”

Nicolae Carpathia seemed thrilled about Rayford’s marriage and insisted upon meeting his new wife. He took both her hands in greeting and welcomed her and Rayford to his opulent offices, which covered the entire top floor of the Global Community headquarters in New Babylon. The suite also included conference rooms, private living quarters, and an elevator to the helipad. From there, one of Rayford’s crew could ferry the potentate to the new airstrip.

Rayford could tell that Amanda’s heart was in her throat. Her speech was constricted and her smile pasted on. Meeting the most evil man on the face of the earth was clearly out of her sphere of experience, though she had told Rayford she knew a few garment wholesalers who might have fit the bill.

After pleasantries, Nicolae immediately approved Rayford’s request that Amanda accompany them on the next trip to the U.S. to see his daughter and new son-in-law. Rayford did not say who that son-in-law was, not even mentioning that the young newlyweds lived in New York City. He said, truthfully, that he and Amanda would visit the couple in Chicago.

“I will be in Washington at least four days,” Carpathia said. “Enjoy whatever of that time you can. And now I have some news for you and your bride.” Carpathia pulled a tiny remote control from his pocket and pointed it at the intercom on his desk across the room. “Darling, would you join us a moment, please?”

Darling?
Rayford thought.
No pretense anymore.

Hattie Durham knocked and entered. “Yes, sweetie?” she said. Rayford thought he would gag.

Carpathia leaped to his feet and embraced her gently as if she were a porcelain doll. Hattie turned to Rayford. “I’m so happy for you and Amelia,” she said.

“Amanda,” Rayford corrected, noticing his wife stiffen. He had told Amanda all about Hattie Durham, and apparently the two were not going to become soul mates.

“We have an announcement too,” Carpathia said. “Hattie will be leaving the employ of Global Community to prepare for our new arrival.”

Carpathia was beaming, as if expecting a joyous reaction. Rayford did what he could to not betray his disgust and loathing. “A new arrival?” he said. “When’s the big day?”

“We just found out.” Nicolae gave him a broad wink.

“Well, isn’t that something?” Rayford said.

“I didn’t realize you were married,” Amanda said sweetly, and Rayford fought to keep his composure. She knew full well they were not.

“Oh, we will be,” Hattie said, beaming. “He’s going to make an honest woman of me yet.”

Chloe broke down when she read her father’s e-mail about Hattie. “Buck, we have failed that woman. We have all failed her.”

“Don’t I know it,” Buck said. “I introduced her to him.”

“But I know her too, and I know she knows the truth. I was right there when Daddy was sharing it with you, and she was at the same table. He tried, but we have to do more. We have to get to her somehow, talk to her.”

“And have her know that I’m a believer, just like your dad is? It doesn’t seem to matter that Nicolae’s pilot is a Christian, but can you imagine how long I would last as his magazine publisher if he knew I was?”

“One of these days we have to get to Hattie, even if it means going to New Babylon.”

“What are you going to do, Chloe? Tell her she’s carrying the Antichrist’s child and that she ought to leave him?”

“It may come to that.”

Buck stood over Chloe’s shoulder as she tapped out an e-mail message back to Rayford and Amanda. Both couples had taken to writing obscurely, not using names. “Any chance,” Chloe wrote, “that she will come with him on the next trip to the capital?”

It was seven hours later, New Babylon time, when the message was sent, and the next day they received a reply: “None.”

“Someday, somehow,” Chloe told Buck. “And before that baby is born.”

Rayford found it difficult to take in the incredible change in New Babylon since the first time he had visited following the treaty signing in Israel. He had to hand it to Carpathia and his sea of money. A lavish world capital had sprung up out of the ruins, and now it teemed with commerce, industry, and transportation. The center of global activity was moving east, and Rayford’s homeland seemed headed for obsolescence.

The week before his and Amanda’s flight to Washington with Nicolae and his entourage, Rayford e-mailed Bruce at New Hope, welcoming him back from his trip and asking some questions.

He didn’t write
seals
, not wanting to tip off any interloper. Bruce would know what he meant.

Buck and Chloe had settled in Buck’s beautiful Fifth Avenue penthouse, but any joy normal newlyweds might have received from a place like that was lost on them. Chloe kept up her research and study on the Internet, and she and Buck kept in touch with Bruce daily via e-mail. Bruce was lonely and missed his family more than ever, he wrote, but he was thrilled that his four friends had found love and companionship. They all expressed great anticipation of the pleasure they would enjoy in each other’s company at their upcoming reunion.