Great White Throne (25 page)

EVERYTHING FELL QUIET, motionless. Through the bag over my head I heard heavy breathing from one of the men beside me, then Chris’s calm voice further away.

“You’re safe,” he said. “Calm down, it’s—”

“No!” Naomi shouted. “I will NOT calm down. They took my baby. They want to kill him!”

“The child must die,” Zafar growled. “We have agreed.”

Boots shuffled around me. I twisted on the ground, trying to get someone’s attention, writhing as the cords cut into my wrists and ankles. I couldn’t see, couldn’t speak.

“Hold!” Chris ordered. “Hold. We did not agree to this. Akil is coming. Akil will decide.”
 

Zafar said something I couldn’t understand. The movement stopped.

“We agreed the child was a danger,” Chris said, “and that it would likely die. I never agreed 
we 
would kill it. Enough innocent blood is spilling.”

“Innocent?” Zafar scoffed.

“All mankind is fallen, but this is a son of man, not of the devil. We have tested it.”

“Your tests know nothing of the spirit, the 
ro’eh
.”

Roeh. 
My middle name, my mother’s maiden name. I heard the shuffle of more movement, then a new voice. It had an Arabic accent, but it sounded older, wiser.
 

“All of you, sit.”

No one protested. More movement—like chairs sliding across the floor.

“Zafar, hand the child back to his mother.”
 

He grunted in protest, but then I heard Naomi’s sigh of relief. She seemed to have forgotten completely about me. I tried twisting again, banging my arms against the floor. A boot slammed into my side with a dull thud. I lay still, gagged and hurting and listening in the dark.

“When the greatest evil arises, even enemies must unite against it.” It was the old man’s voice. Akil. I imagined him with a thick gray beard and a turban high on his head. “Chris and I have agreed in these last days. We cannot take the child if our partners do not consent. Chris?”

“We fight against Don Cristo,” Chris said. “There is no trace of evil in this baby. The order, the Mahdi’s people, and the true Israelis will make this last stand together.”

“You made a deal with 
them
?” Naomi’s voice was calmer, but I knew her, and her purity would not stand for this. “Do you know how many have died at the Mahdi’s hands?”

“Quiet, girl,” Zafar growled.

“Millions! That’s how many have died because of
you
.”

“Please, both of you,” Chris said. “Naomi, they have protected me. Remember our call to love even our enemies.”

“With limits!” Naomi gasped. “Do you love Don Cristo, the man who killed your children? Do you love the Mahdi, the man who bombed the innocent? Do you love the devil himself?”

A gunshot cracked into the air.
 

“Silence!” Zafar shouted. “No one says
Mahdi
in the same breath as 
Dajjal
. Do it again and your friend dies, along with the child.”

“Friend?” Chris asked. “Who?”

A shuffle of feet near me.
 

“Bring him here,” Akil said. “Untie him.”

Suddenly men were dragging me across the floor. Someone put me in a chair and cut the bindings on my wrists and feet. The bag lifted off my head.

The first thing I saw was Chris’s shocked, smiling face. “I thought we’d lost you,” he said.

Before me, standing tense around a table, were Chris, Naomi, Zafar, and four other men. One of them was older—gray beard but no turban. Everyone but Chris and Akil held a gun. I noticed Aisha, looking defeated, in a chair behind the others. Everyone’s eyes were on me, but my gaze moved on, to a light, to a man sitting on the windowsill. 

It was Gabriel.

“What do you see?” Naomi asked.

“
Gabriel
,” I said, keeping my eyes on the angel. “You survived?”

He nodded. His eyes hinted at a smile on his flawless face. But he didn’t speak. He didn’t budge.

“So this is the seer?” Zafar said. “The boy with the visions?”

I ignored him. “Can you help us?” I asked the angel.

He held up his palms to me and mouthed the word, 
Stay. 
More words filled my mind. 
Love your enemies. Give up what you hold tightest.

“He speaks to the air,” mocked one of the men. “We never should have partnered with these 
Nasraneyin
.”

I turned to the man who had spoken. His mouth was mostly hidden behind a long black beard, but it looked like a snarl.
 

“You cannot see what I can.” I stepped forward, feeling a great energy rising in my core. “I have seen 
Dajjal 
in his true form. I have seen the Messiah. I have seen the end, and now I see the angel Gabriel.” I turned back to the window. But Gabriel was gone. My mouth fell open as I faced the group at the table again.

The man scoffed, “I say we kill the baby 
and
 this lunatic.” His face flickered, then was normal. I’d seen that before. On Gregory’s face. On Vicente’s. 

“Demon.” I pointed at him. 

“You doubt me?” the man said to the others. “Listen to this 
Yahoudy
.” 

“Quiet.” Akil’s voice commanded attention. “I had wondered …” The old man’s eyes were fixed on me. They held wisdom and wonder and not a trace of fear. “We must have dignity, especially now. If our enemy drives us to this, he has won.” He turned to the man whose face had changed. “Zafar, take Ifrit away. Lock him up. He is no longer one of us.”

“What?” The man surged to his feet, but Zafar had already leveled a gun at him.

Zafar shrugged. “Akil’s orders. Let’s go.”

“If not for your guardian,” the man growled, glancing to the window and then glaring at me, “you would be dead now.” But he did not resist as Zafar guided him away at gunpoint. Another man lifted a hatch on the floor, revealing stairs. They walked down them and out of sight.

Chris stood beside Akil, placing his hand on the man’s shoulder. “We must hold whatever bonds remain. We cannot divide like this.”

“What do you suggest?” Akil asked.

“I know what to do,” I said. They all turned to me. “Your people want the child to die?”

Akil nodded. “Many wish this.”

I turned to Naomi.
Trust me
, I tried to say with my eyes. “And we know you hold him close, he’s your son. So we use him as a decoy.”

“What are you doing?” Naomi whispered.

“We don’t have much choice.”

“A decoy,” Akil mused. “Tell us more.”

“Don Cristo wants the baby more than anything,” I said. “We can use that to our advantage.”

Chris was nodding. “We have our position near the Dome, hidden like before. So if we set the child somewhere out in the open, away from the Dome, Don’s androids will come for it. They will bring a force, thinking we would defend that position. But instead we attack the Dome. One final onslaught, with all the firepower we have, against Don’s headquarters.”

“I like it,” Akil said. “Zafar can lead our men.”

“You can’t take Adam from me.” Naomi sounded uncertain.

“We won’t,” Chris said. “You stay with your son, as Don would expect. If we succeed, you might be safe for a while.”

“I will call our forces,” Akil said. “We will develop the plan. Let’s meet again in an hour.” He motioned for his men to leave. They stormed out of the room, but one of them stopped and lifted Aisha. Her legs dangled uselessly from his arms.

“Eli,” Aisha said, “I believe you. I’ll stay with you.” 

The man holding her looked to Akil, as if for permission.

“So it will be,” Akil said. “But first, Aisha, let us take you to our people. This may be goodbye.” Aisha nodded, and their group made its way down the stairs.

CHRIS, NAOMI, AND I sat alone around the table. Now that the bag was off my head and no one held a gun, I could take in the room. It looked ancient. The walls were pale, dusty stone, probably placed there a thousand years ago. The plain brown rug on the wood floor covered the stairs the Mahdi’s men and Aisha had gone down, the stairs I felt sure led their way to Don.
 

“Tell me how you made it here,” Chris said.

Naomi and I gave him the story. We described Don’s palace, the fight in Tehran, and how the angels had brought us to the order. I told him what Brie had said.
I just want to see him one more time before it’s over
. Then I gave him the ring.

“Thank you.” His eyes were moist as he slipped it over his thumb. “I fear Brie and I won’t see each other again. But I feel her close. Our love gives me strength.” He looked from me to Naomi. “As yours does. You’ll need that for what lies ahead.”

“And what’s that?” Naomi asked, her voice quiet as she nursed her baby.

“I wish I knew,” Chris said. “Elijah probably knows better than any of us. But here’s what I know. We must have faith, now more than ever, in the darkest hour. We are going to suffer. Evil grows and crowds out the light.”

“If faith is so important,” I said, “why do you fight when others pray instead?”

“The body of Christ has many parts. I’m only a finger, pushing forward in his service. Others are the heart.”

“Maybe I’m the womb,” Naomi mused.

“You’re more than that,” Chris said. “You helped Elijah see and believe, and he has been the eyes. Elijah, why do you think Don wanted you to fight with him?” 

“He said it was because of my ability, but I know that’s not it. I think he wanted my visions, or maybe he didn’t even know what he wanted.” I paused, thinking of Chris’s words. “I haven’t done anything for these visions. I don’t know why I have them, and I bet Don doesn’t either. It frustrates him. He probably thinks I’m a prophet, a chosen one of God. Remember how the order said the devil wants to twist everything in God’s plan?”

Chris nodded.

“Don thinks I’m part of that plan. Naomi, too, of course. He’s been trying to get me on his side.”

“He has ways to do that against your will,” Chris said.

“I know.” I shuddered at the memory of Azazel in my thoughts, and of my feelings at the sight of Jezebel. “Don has tried. He has done it, for a time at least. I’m still flawed.” 

“Praise God for the solar flare,” Naomi said. She was patting the baby on the back, burping him. “Don might have seized Elijah’s mind if not for that. His demons can somehow work inside the machines. The lines between spirit and matter are weakening.”

“Then we must pray for help,” Chris said. “Tell me more about these angels who helped you. How many have you seen?”

“Hundreds.”

Naomi nodded. “They’re fighting Don’s demons. Some look human. Some I can’t see at all. But Elijah can.”

“I see only what God shows me. I’ve seen the spiritual forces collide, and our side is not always winning. Demons overwhelmed the angels who brought us into the city. If not for Aisha shooting Alexi, we’d be in Don’s hands right now.”

“Some of the Muslim people have proven themselves to be allies,” Chris said. “Akil is a wise man, a good man. Your friend Aisha is sharp. Zafar, hard as he is, saved my life a few days ago. This battle has many layers. Good and evil are sifting, separating. Old lines are fracturing. New ones are forming. We’ll attack, but it won’t go well. Not even the angels can prevail without the Lord’s return.”