Arrived (11 page)

Judd led them in a prayer, much like the one he had prayed with Zvi the day before. Several received the mark of the believer. They were shaking hands with each other, slapping each other's backs, and praising God. Others who stood nearby asked why they were so happy, and the men told them they could see.

Westin walked up to Judd and pointed to the transport trucks. Judd told the new believers to follow Westin and said if any more were interested, they should grab on to him and follow. Like a winding kindergarten group, the men trudged through the darkness clinging to Judd.

If only Vicki could see this
, Judd thought.

11

JUDD
stared at the odd mix of believers in the parking lot of the hotel. It was morning and they were all together now. Those who weren't believers when they left the prison had since become convinced of the claims of Jesus. Judd wandered through the group while they ate breakfast or rested, catching the smiles of the men he had helped.

Westin and Gunther knelt together by the front of the transport truck. Judd walked up as Gunther patted Westin on the shoulder. “It's decided then.”

“What's decided?” Judd said.

“We're going to take advantage of this new manpower and put the Global Community on its heels,” Gunther said.

“What are you talking about?” Judd said. “We have to get back to the airport and get to Petra.”

Gunther stood and put an arm on Judd's shoulder. “I understand, but we have pressing matters here.”

Westin stood. “There are a lot more guillotines to destroy, and if we can get in Nicolae's palace before this darkness lifts—”

“But you can't do that,” Judd said. “You might destroy valuable stuff the Trib Force needs.”

“I don't understand,” Gunther said.

“We've had a guy on the inside for a long time, giving us information. You destroy their computer network and you've hurt the GC for maybe a week. But you'll cripple the Trib Force's efforts to know what's going on.”

“I had no idea there was someone on the inside,” Gunther said.

Judd looked at his watch. “And he's supposed to fly out of here sometime today.”

Westin pursed his lips. “I still like the idea of staying and doing as much harm as we can while the lights are out.”

“Agreed,” Gunther said.

Judd rubbed his eyes and sighed. This trip to New Babylon was supposed to have been quick, in and out, but here he was, days after he had first arrived. He had helped men escape the clutches of the GC, and some had become believers, but he couldn't help thinking about the safety of Petra.

“I understand your need to get to Petra,” Westin said. “If you want to head to the airport, I'll help.”

Judd hadn't talked with Chang since the day before and wondered how he was doing. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed as a rumble shattered the darkness.

“Who could be flying an airplane in this darkness?” Gunther said.

Judd's heart sank. “Rayford Steele.”

Chang picked up on the second ring, and Judd asked him where he was.

“We just took off from New Babylon. And you should have seen Nicolae.”

“He was at the airport?”

“Yes, and believe it or not, there's a glow about him.”

“So you're headed to Petra?” Judd said.

“We had to get out of here. I haven't had a chance to tell Captain Steele about your situation. Where are you?”

Judd told him and Chang groaned. “I know that hotel. We could have waited another few minutes, I suppose, but not long enough for you to reach us. What happened at the concentration camp?”

Judd told him and Chang was overjoyed. He finally handed the phone to Rayford Steele, and Judd told the pilot what had happened over the past few days.

“Looks like you have two options, Judd,” Rayford said. “You can find our contact there—his name is Otto Weser—and wait for the next airlift out, or you can hop in that truck and head across the desert. Both scenarios have their problems.”

“I understand,” Judd said. “Did you learn anything in New Babylon?”

“Plenty,” Rayford said. “I made a contact inside the palace, met this Otto character, and we crashed a meeting of Carpathia's.”

“You were actually in the room with Nicolae?”

“He didn't know we were there, but yes. We overheard him telling his people he's going to put an end to the ‘Jew- ish problem' and he's calling a meeting of all ten heads of the global regions. They're going to meet in Baghdad to map out their strategy. And we found out Nicolae's storehouse of nuclear weapons is hidden at Al Hillah.”

“The nukes the world gave up and he was supposed to destroy?”

“Right. He's moving his operation there, though the palace will still hold his staff.” Rayford's phone chirped. “I've got a call from San Diego. I'd better take this. Take care, Judd. Hope to see you in Petra soon.”

“Me too,” Judd said.

Vicki knew Judd was trying to put a good face on the situation, but she could tell he was disappointed to still be in New Babylon.

“I feel like I've failed you,” Judd said. “I promised I'd be careful, and I'm still in one of the most dangerous spots in the world.”

“Not if this is what God wants,” Vicki said. “I'm disappointed too, but look how God's used you. We've prayed that we could reach more people, and that's what happened.”

“We've made the decision to find this German guy, Otto Weser. Our group and Otto's separated because of a disagreement, but maybe we'll all get out of this and get to Petra.”

Vicki kept her composure until after she was off the phone with Judd. Then she ran to her cabin, buried her face in her pillow, and wept.

Two days later Vicki found herself among her friends, praying for Judd and asking God to protect him and the other believers in New Babylon. Judd had called twice and updated her on their progress. They had found Otto Weser and what Judd termed a safe place to stay and perform their operations against the GC. Judd also said they had an option of driving into the desert to hide, but that for the moment they were staying in New Babylon.

What happened next took Vicki's breath away. Mark was monitoring different news feeds and came upon Anika Janssen anchoring live from Detroit. “On the preview they mentioned something about an important arrest,” Mark said.

“Where?” Vicki said.

Mark pointed at the screen and turned up the volume.

“Good evening,” Anika Janssen said. “Darkness continues to plague Global Community International Headquarters in New Babylon at this hour. It is confined to the borders of the city and is believed to be an act of aggression on the part of dissidents against the New World Order.

“GC Chief of Security and Intelligence Suhail Akbar spoke with us by phone earlier from the beleaguered capital. In spite of the turmoil there, he reports good news, constituting our top story tonight.”

The screen showed an outline of the New Babylon skyline and a picture of Suhail Akbar. “Yes, Anika,” Akbar said, “following months of careful planning and cooperation between the various law-enforcement branches of the Global Community, we are happy to report that a combined task force of crack agents from both our Peacekeeping and Morale Monitor divisions has succeeded in apprehending one of the top Judah-ite terrorists in the world.

“The arrest was made before dawn today in San Diego after months of planning.”

“San Diego!” Vicki said.

“I'd rather not go into the details of the operation,” Akbar continued, “but the suspect was disarmed and arrested without incident. Her name is Chloe Steele Williams, twenty-six, a former campus radical at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, from which she was expelled six years ago after making threats on the lives of the administration.”

“Thank you, Chief Akbar. We have further learned that Mrs. Williams is the daughter of Rayford Steele, who once served as pilot for Global Community Supreme Potentate Nicolae Carpathia. He was fired some years ago for insubordination and drinking while on duty, and GC intelligence believes his resentment led to his current role as an international terrorist.”

“I don't believe this,” Mark said. “Those are such lies!”

“Mrs. Williams is the wife of Cameron Williams, formerly a celebrated American journalist who also worked directly for the potentate before losing his job due to differences in management style. He edits a subversive cyber and printed magazine with a limited circulation.

“Williams, his wife, and her father are international fugitives in exile, wanted for more than three dozen murders around the world. Mrs. Williams herself heads a black-market operation suspected of hijacking billions of Nicks' worth of goods around the world and selling them for obscene profits to others who cannot legally buy and sell due to their refusal to pledge loyalty to the potentate.

“The Williamses, who have amassed a fortune on the black market, have one child remaining after Mrs. Williams apparently aborted two fetuses and an older daughter died under questionable circumstances. The son, whom they have named Jesus Savior Williams, pictured here, is two years old. Acquaintances report that the Williamses believe he is the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, who will one day conquer Nicolae Carpathia and return the globe to Christianity.”

The screen filled with a picture of a toddler wearing a T-shirt that read “Kill Carpathia!”

“That can't be Kenny,” Vicki said.

“There are so many lies in that report,” Conrad said, “I wouldn't be surprised if Carpathia wrote it himself.”

“Do you think they really arrested Chloe?” Vicki said.

Mark held up a hand as the report switched to a reporter in San Diego who stood by the man who was said to be interrogating Chloe.

Colonel Jonathan “Jock” Ashmore said the arrest was very important. He nervously tugged at his uniform jacket. “Mrs. Williams has proved to be the typical terrorist who knows when it's time to bargain. When the reality hit her that she had been positively identified and we informed her of the overwhelming charges against her, it was only a matter of minutes before she began offering various deals to save her skin.”

“Are you at liberty to say what some of those might be?”

“Not entirely, though she has already pledged to enroll her son in Junior GC as soon as possible.”

“I've seen enough,” Vicki said. “There's no way Chloe would have talked, and there's certainly no way she would have agreed to enroll Kenny in a Junior GC program.”

Vicki walked away from the video feed, shaken and confused. She pictured Chloe being tortured and questioned by her GC captors.

In a response written to Dr. Ben-Judah's Web site, Mark received the answers the people in Petra were sending out to counteract the lies of the GC.

The only thing the news seemed to get right was Chloe's name and age and the fact that she is the daughter of Rayford and the wife of Cameron “Buck” Williams. While it's true she attended Stanford University, neither was she a campus radical nor was she expelled. She dropped out after the Rapture but had a grade point average of 3.4 and had been active in student affairs
.

Rayford Steele did serve, while already a believer, as pilot on the staff of Nicolae Carpathia, providing invaluable information to the cause of Christ's followers everywhere. He was never fired and never charged with insubordination or drinking while on duty. He left after his second wife was killed in a plane crash
.

The Judah-ites are anything but “the last holdouts in opposition to the New World Order.” Many Jewish and Muslim factions, as well as former militia groups primarily in the United North American States, still have refused to accept the mark of loyalty to the Supreme Potentate and must hide in fear for their lives
.

Cameron Williams was indeed formerly a celebrated American journalist who also worked directly for the potentate, but he also quit, rather than “losing his job due to differences in management style.” As for his subversive cyber and printed magazine's “limited circulation,” that, of course, is a matter of opinion. The Truth is circulated to the same audience that is ministered to daily by Dr. Tsion Ben-Judah, at last count still more than a billion
.