Apocalypse Crucible (54 page)

“Would they come if you did?”

“Possibly,” Icarus said. “Or send a sweeper team in to eliminate me and whatever I might give up.” He paused. “Just talking to you like this, I’ve put your life at risk if they ever find out. So it would be in your best interest to limit who you reveal this conversation to.”

Goose nodded.

“The reason the Mossad was watching the CIA,” Icarus went on, “was due to some intelligence work they were doing in Romania.”

“Romania?”

“Yes. Over the last several years, there has been a push in the intelligence circles around the world. When these new networks could be traced, which wasn’t often, they led back to Romania.”

Goose thought about the way OneWorld NewsNet happened to be on hand when the Turkish military effort as well as the U.S. and U.N. needed them most.

“Romania,” Goose said, “doesn’t seem like it would be a hotbed of international spying. For one thing, what could they hope to gain?”

Icarus was silent for a time. “What about the world, First Sergeant? Would that be enough?”

“This is insane.” Goose tried to wrap his mind around the idea but couldn’t. “How could Romania hope to take over the world?”

“Not Romania,” Icarus said. “One man … no … I mean one being.”

Goose looked at the other man.

“The Rapture has happened, First Sergeant,” Icarus said in a soft voice. “Your son was taken by God, as were all the other children and all those believers who knew He would come and trusted in Him and accepted Him.”

Tears stung Goose’s eyes as he thought of Chris again.

“Don’t feel too sad for your son,” Icarus advised. “He’s safe. No evil can ever touch him. He was an innocent. You need to believe that.” He paused. “The people you have to worry about now are those who were left behind. For the next seven years, they’ll be subjected to trials and tribulations that will kill many of them and put others through the most fearful things that a human can endure.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s the time of the Tribulation, First Sergeant. The time of final decisions of whether to believe or not to believe.”

Goose remembered the times Bill had mentioned the Tribulation. The events that followed the Rapture were supposed to be horrific, but that was all Goose really remembered. Wait … there was something about the four horsemen and seals and trumpets … but he couldn’t remember much else.

“Talk to Corporal Baker,” Icarus advised. “I was raised in the faith of my country. The concept of Christianity as Baker follows it remains new to me. I am trying to learn, though.”

“This can’t be possible,” Goose objected.

“Talk to him. He will be able to explain it better.”

“You said the CIA alerted the PKK that you were a spy?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I’d discovered the other spyware program in the terrorist networks,” Icarus said. “I wasn’t supposed to do that.”

“Other spyware program?”

“Yes. The one put there by the being in Romania.”

“You keep referring to the person as a
being.
”

Icarus worked his jaw gently. “Yes. That is what he is. While researching the CIA records, I found out that Section Chief Alexander Cody has had extensive dealings with that being.”

“So Cody—”

“Isn’t pursuing a wayward CIA agent.” Icarus smiled. “He wants to kill me before I can reveal what he’s been doing. Though if you told him I was a Mossad agent and he could find the information he needed to make that stick, he’d have all the excuse he needed to get away with my murder.”

Goose struggled with all the concepts that were being dumped on him in addition to the loss of Chris. It was overwhelming.

“First Sergeant.”

Goose shook his head. “I can’t buy what you’re telling me.”

“It’s the truth.”

“If I believe it, I also have to believe that I’ll never see my son again. I can’t do that.” Goose felt selfish as soon as he admitted that.

“Not true,” Icarus said. “You just won’t see him again in this life. Chris is with God, and he’s waiting for the time when you’ll be reunited. All you have to do is listen to the God you believe in before it is too late. He has a plan for you.”

Goose thought of what he’d been through in the past few days. Tears welled in Goose’s eyes. He pulled his knees up and buried his face against his forearms.
It’s too much, God. You’re asking too much. You can’t expect me to give this much.

“First Sergeant,” Icarus said. “Goose.”

Goose ignored him.

“Chris isn’t hurting,” Icarus said. “Everything I’ve talked to Corporal Baker about tells me that your son is in no pain. He’s with God. He is happy. He knows that you will make the right decisions. He can wait, just as you must learn to. Isn’t that what you would want for him? That he is happy and safe?”

A long time passed. Icarus sat beside Goose without speaking.

Gradually, Goose was able to push the pain and confusion away. He knew that Megan was getting through the situation back in Fort Benning, and that it was bad back there, too.

Icarus had a point. Chris wasn’t in the middle of the mess at Benning. But Goose needed his son. He needed him, and he missed him with an ache that just wouldn’t go away.

He had to be strong. For his men. For Chris. And for Megan. She had to know the things he had learned. Together, as they’d always done, they’d grow in their hope.

And in our faith,
Goose thought.
God, please help me with my faith. I’m looking for You. I just can’t seem to find my way to You right now.
Even as he prayed, though, part of him still felt foolish. But he did at least feel like he knew where to start asking questions.

After a time, he lifted his head. “So who is it?” Goose asked.

Icarus gave him a questioning look.

“The
being
in Romania,” Goose said. “Who is it?”

Icarus hesitated. “A man named Nicolae Carpathia. Maybe you’ve heard of him.”

“Yeah,” Goose said. “I’ve heard of him.”

“Are you aware that Carpathia is in New York City right now?”

Goose had heard some of the news talk going on around the reporters. They said Carpathia was a big deal. And Goose knew why Carpathia had pulled the satellite support for the struggling troops in Sanliurfa—so he wouldn’t appear to be taking sides.

“Carpathia is going to address the United Nations,” Icarus said.

“Yeah. So?”

“He has plans—many plans. I’m not privy to them, so I don’t know why he is there. But I do know this. In Revelation in the Christian Bible, a man of power rises after the Rapture and manages to unite what is left of the world. The surviving population believes him at first to be a savior, but he isn’t. He is there to subjugate and confuse those who have lived through the Rapture but still haven’t found their faith. That is what Nicolae Carpathia will eventually do. It is what he
must
do.”

“The Antichrist?” Goose asked, stunned. “You’re saying Nicolae Carpathia is the Antichrist?”

Icarus looked at him for a moment then nodded. “Yes. That is exactly what I am saying.”

“Who else knows this?”

“I’ve told only you—” Icarus hesitated—“but I can’t be the only one who knows. There are others who have been looking for this thing to happen longer than you or I have been alive. Not everyone will be caught off guard. There is hope. Men like Corporal Baker will also rise and be heard, and their voices will sway those who need to be saved.”

“You make it sound like we’re at war. And not just with the Syrians.”

“Make no mistake, Goose,” Icarus said. “We
are
at war. All of us. With an enemy greater than any we have ever faced. And the stakes are our immortal souls.”

“What are we supposed to do?”

“What every other warrior in battle does: we survive, and we pray that God strengthens us so we can make a difference. We pray for God to save our souls and show us the way.”

Goose lowered his head for an instant, unable to believe what he was hearing.
God,
he prayed,
please guide me now. I need Your help. I’ve lost my way in this terrible place. What do I do?
For Icarus’s words, as crazy as they seemed, had the ring of truth behind them.

For just an instant, the peace of God’s presence filled Goose. Then he thought of Chris, lost to him forever. It hurt too much. If Icarus was right, Chris was lost to him as surely as if a war had killed him. Therefore, Icarus couldn’t be right.

And when Goose looked up, Icarus was gone.

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