Arrived (35 page)

Lionel watched Unity Army riders get their horses under control. The vast army had moved toward Petra like an endless swarm of bees and had overcome whatever had spooked the horses.

Sam Goldberg scrambled up an incline toward Lionel and knelt beside him. “You ready for this?”

“How can I be?” Lionel said. “This is David versus Goliath times a million.”

“Yeah, but you know who won that fight.” Sam shook his head. “I'm not sure why we're out here, though. Can you imagine going into the middle of that army and trying to bring back anything?”

The order came for another round of DEWs, which Sam called ray guns. The Unity Army's front line fell back, and troops shifted and rippled like a human ocean. Lionel wondered if the GC would respond with an attack, but nothing came.

“Where's Mr. Stein?” Lionel said.

“Praying with some of the elders,” Sam said. “He's upset he couldn't be in Jerusalem.”

“I know how he feels.”

“What, this isn't enough excitement for you?”

Judd sat by Vicki, listening to the battle above them and wondering if he had been wrong about not fighting with these brave men and women. After all, Jesus was coming back any minute—or at least within the next day. He was as sure of that as the mark on his forehead.

Sitting in the tunnel near a stairwell, it was all he could do to resist grabbing a rifle and heading up. But his promise to Vicki meant that if he went to the fight, she would have to go as well, and Judd didn't want that.

Finally the noise died a little and Vicki spoke. “I think we should go up. Maybe there are people who need more ammo or need to hear the message.”

Judd nodded. “Okay, stay here and I'll check it out.”

He flew up the stairs and carefully opened the door. The sight turned his stomach. Weapons and bodies of rebels littered the street. He inched out and closed the door to see if the Unity Army was near.

A
kerthunk
sounded some distance away, and Judd instinctively ducked. A shell struck the building behind him, sending debris flying. He stayed on the ground, coughing and waving a hand.

When the dust cleared, he saw a hole the size of a small car in the wall behind him.

The hole was right next to the stairwell.

“Vicki!” Judd screamed.

Lionel took a walk along the edge of the Petra defensive line, passing a man holding a DEW in one hand and a small television in the other. Lionel stopped and squinted at the screen.

“You want to see?” the man said, holding the screen higher.

Lionel thanked him and sat.

“This is a GCNN report about the war,” the man said. The screen showed an aerial view of the One World Unity Army shot before sundown. The reporter explained that one-third of Carpathia's forces had surrounded Petra and that rebel leader Tsion Ben-Judah was hiding there.

“They don't have a clue,” Lionel muttered.

“The other two-thirds of the Unity Army is poised to overtake the city of Jerusalem,” the reporter said. “Potentate Carpathia himself reports that nearly half the city has been occupied and that it is just a matter of time before the Old City is overrun.”

The report switched to a press conference with Carpathia recorded earlier. “We are confident that these are the last two rebel enclaves in the world,” he said, “and that once they have been thoroughly defeated and our enemies scattered, we will realize what we have so long dreamed of: an entire world of peace and harmony. There is no place in a true global community for rebellion. If our government was anything but benevolent or did not have the attitude of ‘citizen first,' there might be cause for dissention. But all we have ever attempted to do was create a utopia for society.

“It is most unfortunate that it comes to this, that we have to resort to bloodshed to achieve our goals. But we will do what we have to do.”

A reporter asked about the huge army fighting against so few.

Carpathia said no effort in the cause of world peace was wasted. Then he chuckled when another reporter asked if the GC was afraid of the rebels' God.

“I do not worry about fairy tales,” Carpathia answered, “but even if they did have supernatural help, they would be no match for our fighting machine. …”

Lionel gritted his teeth. “You're going down, Nicolae.”

“Why not win this war all at once?” a reporter said.

“What's the delay?”

“I am a man of peace. I always believe first in diplomacy and negotiation. The window of opportunity for settling this peacefully is always open. I had hoped that the enemies of peace would be persuaded by our size and would come to the bargaining table. But our patience is running out. They seem markedly uninterested in any reasonable solution, and we are prepared to use any means necessary. So it is just a matter of time now.”

Lionel thanked the rebel for letting him watch and asked Zeke if he could spare him for a few minutes. Lionel wanted to see the reaction of the remnant.

Judd didn't care if the Unity Army was coming—he had to get to Vicki. The door to the stairwell was blocked by stones, so he went through the hole opened by the shell. He checked the street and saw a few rebels but no GC.
Must have been a stray shot
, he thought.

It was hard to breathe inside. He called for Vicki, but there was no answer. Finding the way blocked, he dashed back outside and yelled at a few passing rebels. “My wife is trapped! Can you help me?”

“I'm headed to Herod's Gate,” one said. “Can't stop.”

“Please,” Judd said. “It'll only take a minute.”

“In another minute the Unity Army might be over the wall!” The men ran on.

Finally, Judd saw a believer, and the husky man helped Judd move debris in front of the door. When they had cleared it, Judd tried the doorknob but it wouldn't open.

“Stand back,” the man said. He raised his gun and blew the knob to pieces. Judd pried the door open and turned to thank the man, but he was already running away. “I hope you find your wife,” he called, raising a fist. “I'll see you after Messiah comes.”

Judd raced through the dust to the bottom of the steps. The tunnel wasn't as damaged as the wall outside, but there were still huge stones on the floor.

“Over here,” Vicki said, coughing. She lay on the floor with a stone on her leg. “I tried to move it.”

Judd's heart beat furiously as he struggled to free Vicki. The stone wouldn't budge. He snagged a gun propped against the wall and used it to pry the stone up a few inches, but Vicki's leg was still pinned. He was afraid the stone would fall and injure her worse if he tipped it farther. His arms ached as he yelled for help.

A young rebel came toward them from the other side of the tunnel. He put his gun under the stone, and together he and Judd lifted it enough for Vicki to scoot out. The stone crashed to the floor with a tremendous
thud!

“Thank you,” Vicki said, holding her leg.

Kneeling, the young man took out a knife, slit Vicki's pant leg at the bottom, and tore it until he reached her kneecap. Judd gasped at the gash in her leg. The wound was to the bone, and blood gushed out.

The young man unzipped a pocket on his jacket and pulled out some gauze and antiseptic. He poured it on the wound, and Vicki yelped in pain. When he had wrapped her leg, he said, “It doesn't look like it's broken, but someone should look at it soon.”

“I'll take her to our friend's apartment right now,” Judd said.

“You don't believe in Messiah,” Vicki said, putting a hand on the man's arm.

The young man frowned. “Judah-ites,” he muttered.

“Jesus is coming soon. You need to be ready.”

“The Unity Army is coming sooner,” the man said, grabbing his gun and racing up the stairs.

Judd picked Vicki up and climbed the stairs. “We'll make it to Jamal's place quicker through the street than the tunnel.”

He struggled up the last steps, then was outside. Vicki buried her head in his chest as they passed rebel bodies. The sun was high in the sky now.

“How does it feel?” Judd said, looking at the bloody bandage.

“I'm okay. It's just throbbing.”

“We'll get some medicine back at—” Judd stopped in the street and stared.

“What's wrong?” Vicki said.

“Over there, the guy at the edge of the curb. Is that … ?”

“Judd, it is! Oh, Judd, it's Tsion!”

Judd walked over to the body and put Vicki down gently. Tsion's eyes were closed, his hands together at the waist. Someone had smoothed his hair and closed his jacket over a chest wound.

Vicki wept softly, saying the man's name over and over.

“Vick, we have to go. Someone's coming.”

Several rebels passed. One slowed and studied the body. “Is that who I think it is?”

Judd nodded. “The rabbi.”

The man yelled at his friends, who returned. “This is our leader. We must take him.”

“Take him where?” another said.

“Anywhere but here. If the Unity Army finds him, they'll give the body to Carpathia.”

“We'll build a shrine for him!” another said.

“No,” Judd said, “he wouldn't want that.”

But two of them picked up Tsion's body and hustled down the street.

Judd gathered Vicki in his arms and neared Herod's Gate.

“They're coming!” someone shouted. Then a terrific explosion rocked the area. Judd ran the other way, looking for an escape.

35

LIONEL
glanced at his sweat-soaked watch. It was a little after one in the afternoon, and the sun had heated the desert up past one hundred degrees. Shells had fallen on Petra in the past few minutes, and though Lionel hadn't seen anyone killed or injured, the bombs had landed. Had God lifted his protection?

The million-plus inside Petra were clearly antsy as they streamed toward the meeting place. Lionel saw Mr. Stein and asked what was happening.

“Dr. Rosenzweig is about to speak,” Mr. Stein said.