Arrived (36 page)

Judd had gotten turned around by the advancing Unity Army and ended up on a street he didn't recognize. All this time in Jerusalem, planning and memorizing its layout, and now he was lost. The Old City was only a third of a mile square. This shouldn't have happened. And Vicki was losing lots of blood. She hadn't complained about her injury, but he could tell she was in pain.

She lifted her head from his shoulder, and her red hair fell across her face. “How much farther?”

Judd couldn't help thinking how beautiful Vicki was. Before the disappearances he had been attracted to girls who wore all the right clothes. Vicki had told him the only pair of designer jeans she ever owned had been bought at the thrift store near her trailer. Vicki's inner beauty shone through now, and he couldn't imagine anyone more attractive.

“Almost there,” Judd assured her, though he had no idea where they were. He stopped in a doorway and gently placed her in the shadows to catch his breath and get his bearings. “I'll be right back.”

She caught his arm. “Don't leave.”

“Just going to make sure there's nobody around that corner. Hang tough.”

Judd raced to the end of the street, flexing his arms and stretching his back. Vicki was light, but his arms felt like Jell-O after carrying her for so many blocks.

He reached the end of the street and sneaked a peek around the corner. He recognized a storefront café half a block away. Jamal's apartment was only three or four blocks from it. He heaved a sigh of relief and turned.

Footsteps. Boots on pavement. Someone barking orders.

Had the Unity Army come this far? Or was it the rebels? Judd rushed down a stairwell and peered over the railing. He had to get back to Vicki.

Lionel watched the huge crowd at Petra quiet for Chaim Rosenzweig. The man introduced a sermon given by Dr. Shadrach Meshach Lockridge. The image of the famous black preacher was projected off two white walls of smooth stone. Lionel found some shade in front of a big rock and sat. This preaching reminded him of home, especially when he and his family would visit relatives down South.

Though the sermon took his mind off the advancing army, he knew this was designed to reach unbelievers in the camp. Lionel closed his eyes and listened. Something made him want to pray for Judd and Vicki.

Judd held his breath while a platoon of rebels passed Vicki's position and headed toward him. He rushed up the steps, and a rebel aimed his gun at him.

“No, I'm with you!” Judd shouted.

The man lowered the gun and scowled as the group kept moving. “Get out of here! Unity Army's on its way.”

Judd sprinted back to Vicki and gasped when he saw her limp form draped across the top step.

“What happened?” Judd whispered as he made it to her side.

Vicki opened her eyes. “Didn't know if those were ours or theirs, so I played dead.”

“Good girl. You had me fooled.”

“Where are we?”

“Jamal's place is not far. We're going to be okay, and pretty soon Jesus is going to come through those clouds and we're both going to see him face-to-face.”

“Can't wait.”

Judd pulled her right arm around his shoulder to help her stand, but before he could pick her up, more footsteps sounded behind them. There was no time to move, so Judd tried the door of the building.

Locked.

“This way!” someone yelled from the street.

Judd and Vicki huddled in the shadows, hoping it wouldn't be the Unity Army. Soon he heard their squawking radios and GC leaders giving commands.

As the troops came into view someone said, “We don't want them escaping through the Lion's Gate to the east. After the shelling starts, we'll push them north toward Herod's Gate. They've held it since yesterday, but they'll have to open it to get through and we'll have them trapped.”

The platoon passed quickly without noticing Judd and Vicki. With each heartbeat, more blood oozed from Vicki's wounded leg.

“As soon as they're around the corner, we're out of here,” Judd whispered.

“What time is it?” Vicki asked, her head lolling to one side.

Judd didn't want to move to see his watch. “It's after two thirty.”

“Wrong. It's time for Jesus to come back.”

“Amen to that,” Judd said.

A bomb exploded. Gunfire erupted. Choppers filled the sky. The platoon hurried around the corner.

Judd stood, picked Vicki up, and headed for Jamal's apartment. He cast a glance at the sky and said a simple prayer: “Come, Lord Jesus
.”

Lionel's heart was stirred by the video of the black preacher and the response of people in Petra. He wanted to stay until the end of the message, but he wanted to be at the battle line even more.

He quickly returned to his assigned position and looked for Zeke. Sam told him Zeke was meeting with a Trib Force member. In the past half hour, the ragtag Petra army had fired their DEWs and some bigger guns at Carpathia's vast army.

“Bet those guys are hot in those black uniforms,” Lionel said.

“I wonder if those tanks are air-conditioned,” Sam said, smiling.

“GC casualties,” someone said from ahead. He turned and looked at Lionel and Sam. “You two part of Zeke's crew?”

“Yeah,” Lionel said.

“Then you're up,” the man said. “Four casualties— must be scouts—straight ahead.”

“Got it,” Lionel said. He grabbed a couple of duffel bags and handed one to Sam. “Let's go.”

While some of Zeke's crew rushed across the sand, Lionel and Sam moved cautiously. Their job was to harvest weapons, IDs, and uniforms.

Sam reached the bodies first and tugged at the uniforms. Lionel seized weapons and put them in his duffel bag, keeping a wary eye on the line of horsemen not far away.

“Judah-ite!” a Unity Army soldier yelled. “Leave those weapons or die.”

Lionel stood, clutching the bag in his right hand.

“What happened to your arm?” Another soldier laughed. “Get it caught in the lies of your leader, Ben-Judah?”

Lionel stared at him. Zeke had made Lionel a new arm, but he had left it behind for this mission. He knew it was better to say nothing, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity. He remembered two verses from Matthew and began reciting them. “ ‘Immediately after those horrible days end, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. And then at last, the sign of the coming of the Son of Man will—' ”

“Blah, blah, blah,” the first soldier said. “So you think you can beat us with a few energy weapons? Is that what your God told you? Your God is wrong. We could simply keep moving and trample all of you without even firing a shot.” He leveled a gun at Lionel. “No, your God is wrong. Dead wrong.”

“Don't shoot!” Sam shouted.

The soldier fired his weapon.

Judd ran as fast as he could carrying Vicki, wishing he had stayed in the tunnels. He stuck close to the buildings, moving quietly.

“Just around this corner and we'll be able to see it,” he whispered, saying it as much for himself as for Vicki.

Vicki's injured leg dangled and blood dripped. Judd didn't slow as he rounded the corner. What he saw took his breath away.

Several Unity Army soldiers stood near bodies of rebels. A soldier fired a shot at Vicki and Judd, grazing a stone just above Judd's head.

“Hands up!”

“We're unarmed,” Judd yelled, trying to put Vicki down carefully. “My wife was hurt in one of the blasts near—”

“Shut up!” an officer said. He motioned at another soldier, and the second man moved toward them, his weapon raised.

Vicki turned to Judd. “Go. It's your only chance.”

“Shut up!” the officer repeated.

“Make it to the tunnel,” Vicki whispered. “Go.”

Judd pursed his lips. “We promised each other we'd stick together. I'm not leaving you now.”

“They're unmarked, sir,” the soldier said, circling Judd.

Vicki collapsed and Judd tried to help her, but the soldier hit him in the back of the head with the butt of his rifle. Judd nearly passed out.

“Take them to the holding area,” the officer said. “If they bat an eyelash, shoot them.”

Lionel heard the gunshot as he closed his eyes and flinched. He expected to be lying on the ground with a bullet hole in his chest, but the shot whizzed past him— or
through
him. He turned to see a penny-sized hole in the sand directly behind him, then glanced back at the shooter.

If that bullet landed there, how did it miss me?
Lionel thought.

“Lionel, Sam, get outta there,” someone said behind them. It was Zeke, standing on the crest of a dune.

The soldier fired again while Lionel and Sam turned and walked away.

“Their weapons won't do a thing here,” Zeke said. “Just wastin' their ammo.”

“We'll roll over you and smash you into this desert,” the officer yelled.

“Yeah, I'm sure that's what you think,” Zeke said, helping Lionel and Sam back to the line. “Your guy's a loser. Ours is the true Lord.”