Judd logged on to the official GC Web site and discovered the numbers of prisoners who had been executed in different areas around the world. He checked the States first and recognized Zeke's father's name from the Des Plaines facility. He felt bad for Zeke and wondered where he was.
There were also several prisoners in Arizona, California, and Texas who had decided against taking Carpathia's mark. Judd scrolled through the different regions and, to his surprise, found that many had chosen the guillotine in the former country of Greece, now part of the United Carpathian States.
Judd was stunned when he found Anton Rudja's name on the list of prisoners who had been executed. Anton Rudja's son was Pavel, Judd's friend who had first invited him to New Babylon.
When he recovered, Judd checked back to the kids' Web site and found an e-mail from Buck Williams.
Friends
,
I'm sending this quick note so you can be the first to know that there are now many martyrs for the faith in Greece. I will write further about the specifics in
The Truth
when I can complete the story, but know that the believers there were brave
.
The underground church in Ptolemaïs, Greece, was probably the largest in the United Carpathian States. The Greek believers were careful, even though local GC Peacekeepers seemed to look the other way for a while. Sources tell me the reason for the crackdown was that Carpathia wanted the region that bore his name to have the lowest reports of Christ-followers of the ten global supercommunities. Rather than pretend the rebels didn't exist, many were rounded up from local meetings and forced to make a decision for or against Carpathia
.
I cannot begin to tell you the amount of courage those believers exhibited. GC authorities tried to scare people by carting guillotines through the streets in open trucks. They're ugly contraptions, and there isn't much to them. Just wood, screws, blade, spring, and rope. They will put these at the mark application sites to make people comply, but if others act the way our brothers and sisters in Greece did, they won't back down
.
When prisoners were told they would be taking the mark, people cheered and many young people started chanting and singing about Carpathia. The GC handled the mark application and the biochip injection with great efficiency. It won't surprise me if they take what they learned here and create a fast-moving system that will get people in and out of the process in a few minutes
.
I witnessed the most inhuman treatment of the believers. One woman who knelt to pray was treated savagely by her captors. Though she was beaten and bloody, she did not obey. And as the man who led the group asked for those who would not take the mark, more stepped forward, some of their marks appearing as they raised their hands to change lines
.
When the first woman knelt in front of that ugly machine, the room fell silent. This woman began to sing “My Jesus, I Love Thee” but had only finished a few words when the blade came down to end her life
.
I have never seen such courage, such resolve, and such bravery. I know we will see those women again in heaven, but their deaths, so jarring, have caused me to write you
.
Pray for other believers who may even now be going through the same fate
.
Judd shuddered as he read the rest of Buck's eyewitness account. He wondered how Buck had managed to be inside a prison, but he knew the Tribulation Force had many contacts in many lands.
He also wondered how many in the next few weeks would unknowingly seal their eternal fate by taking Carpathia's mark. The process would be simple. Get in line, take the biochip and tattoo, and go on with your life. Little did they know that taking the mark meant eternal death, and kneeling before the bloody guillotine was the only other option.
Judd returned to a passage in Tsion Ben-Judah's latest e-mail. Tsion had suggested everyone memorize Revelation chapter 20, verse 4:
“I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus, for proclaiming the word of God. And I saw the souls of those who had not worshiped the beast or his statue, nor accepted his mark on their forehead or their hands. They came to life again, and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”
Your loved ones who have been called to what the world would call a gory end shall return with Christ at his Glorious Appearing! They shall live and reign with him for a thousand years! Glory be to God the Father and his Son, Jesus the Christ!
Judd closed his eyes and wondered if he would have to experience the guillotine. The phone rang and he quickly picked it up.
It was Chang. “I need to talk. I'm downstairs in the lobby.”
Judd sneaked past the guests in the suite and hurried downstairs. He found Chang sitting on a plush chair, his back to the elevators. Judd sat across from him and stared at the mark on the boy's forehead.
“Can't help yourself, can you?” Chang said.
“I'm sorry. It's just so weird to see both of those together.”
Chang shook his head. “It's haunting me. I've been trying to remember what happenedâif I resisted or if I just sat down and let them give me the mark. I vaguely remember arguing with my father and a camera flashing in my face, but that's about it.”
“Are your parents still here?” Judd said.
Chang nodded. “They leave tomorrow morning. I've convinced them I'm okay and that working for the GC won't be as bad as I thought.”
Judd inched closer. “Have they taken the mark?”
“Thankfully, no. I think my father was upset by the whole Z-Van spectacle. He wanted to take the mark while he was here, but now he says they will simply do it when they get back home.”
“Are you meeting with Mr. Hassid?”
“We try to talk after hours. We'll be going over the different things he's set up via the computer system here. It looks like I'll be their only contact inside.”
Someone walked past and Chang paused. He put a hand to his forehead and sighed. “I don't know if I can do it.”
“Of course you can. You're as capable as anybodyâ”
“It's not that. I know I can do the job. What I don't know is if I can keep it all together.”
“I don't understand.”
Chang leaned forward and whispered, “These two marks are driving me crazy. When I look in the mirror, all I see is Carpathia's number. I'd like to burn it off or cut it out. I haven't been able to talk with anyone. If I tell Mr. Hassid, he'll think I can't handle the job. If I tell my father, he'll know I'm not loyal to Carpathia and he'll report me.”
“What about your mother?”
Chang lowered his head. “I don't know if I should trust her. There are things I can't remember. I think we talked about Ming and me being followers of Ben-Judah, but I'm not sure.”
“Your sister is still working inside too?”
Chang shook his head. “She has escaped to the Tribulation Force. How I wish I could be there. I would sit down and talk with Dr. Ben-Judah.”
“You'll get your chance,” Judd said.
Chang told Judd the inside information he had learned about Carpathia and how angry the potentate was about the Judah-ites. “What about you?” Chang said. “Do you have a safe place to hide?”
“We're not sure it's so safe, but we're going back to Israel with Z-Van's crew.”
Chang frowned when Judd told him Lionel's story of Z-Van taking the mark. He looked at his watch and rose to leave.
Judd wanted to say something that would comfort and encourage the boy, but nothing came to mind. He put a hand on Chang's arm. “The only thing I know to tell you is that we'll be praying for you. God keeps his promises, and if you have his mark, he's not going to reject you.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Judd watched Chang walk out of the lobby and into the darkened streets. If Chang stayed in New Babylon, he would likely be the only believer there. It would be one of the loneliest assignments of any in the Tribulation Force.
VICKI
awoke the next morning in the basement of a strange house. She felt something crackle as she rolled to a sitting position and found Pete's letter still folded in her front pocket.
Seven kids were staying at this house. Conrad, Mark, and Shelly had joined Vicki in the green minivan after Pete had driven away. Vicki knew the name of only one of the three girls thereâCheryl, the new believer.
Someone coughed in the bathroom nearby. Whoever it was sounded ill. A few minutes later, Cheryl came out of the bathroom holding her stomach. “Must have been something I ate.”
Vicki crept upstairs to find medicine for Cheryl and found a group of adults sitting around the kitchen table, all with the mark of the believer. They stopped talking when Vicki walked in. She explained what she was looking for, and a woman hurried to a nearby pantry.
The others stared at Vicki until a younger man standing against the kitchen counter broke the silence. He looked about twenty, was tall and thin, with dark hair. He sipped from a coffee mug and studied Vicki. “I heard we had a celebrity in the house. Aren't you the one from the satellite broadcast?”
Vicki extended a hand. “I'm Vicki Byrne.”
The man smiled and shook Vicki's hand warmly. “Chad Harris. Nice to meet you.”
“You saw the satellite broadcast?”
“In Des Moines. We drove some believers there to hand out copies of
The Truth
. I assume you know about Buck Williams's reporting?”
Vicki nodded.
“It was impressive what you were able to do. We saw a lot of kids actually get the mark of the believer after your presentation.”
Vicki told them about the satellite truck and how Carl Meninger had risked his life in Florida to help them beam the signal to Israel and around the world.
The woman came back with some medicine and said she would go downstairs to help Cheryl.
“Is the Global Community looking for us?” Vicki said nervously.
Chad laughed. “I'd say that's a pretty good guess.”
Vicki gritted her teeth. “What I mean is, are there reports about us in the media?”
Chad sobered. “It's been pretty silent about you kids. I don't think the GC wants anybody to know they let you get away.”
“What about the others?”
“We have you split up in different houses. You're all safe.”
“And Pete? He's the guy who drove the vanâ”
An older man at the table sat forward. “Haven't heard anything about him yet. We'll let you know if we do. Right now, you need to get back downstairs and relax. We'll take care of you.”
Vicki thanked them, and Chad lifted his coffee mug toward her. “If you need anything, just let us know.”
Vicki went downstairs to find Mark on the phone with Jim Dekker in Illinois. Mark's face showed the strain of the past two days when he hung up. “Jim was able to keep the power off in the building until the van was hidden. A couple hours later the GC spotted the van heading west and caught up to it before nightfall.”
“They have Pete?” Vicki gasped.
“Jim doesn't know. He needs to talk with Natalie to get the information.”
“Let's e-mail her.”
“He's done that. No answer.”
“If they have the van, they'll trace it to Wisconsin, right?”
“Colin took care of that a long time ago. But there's another problem.” Mark sat on a couch.
The television was on in the background, and two of the girls from the reeducation facility were watching the latest news. Thousands had gathered near a statue of Nicolae Carpathia in Spain and knelt before it. The report switched to Australia, then to a city in South Africa, where more people worshiped Carpathia.
Mark turned back to Vicki and pursed his lips. “Dekker was supposed to have returned the commander's uniform that Colin's been wearing. Because of this trip, he couldn't.”
“So Jim's in trouble,” Vicki said, sitting next to Mark.
“They haven't accused him yet, but the operator of the cleaners in Jim's building was taken in for questioning. They must have found out Colin's Commander Blakely was fake and traced the missing uniform.”
“Is the guy a believer?”
Mark shook his head. “No, but Jim says he won't let the guy hang for something that's Jim's fault. If he's not released soon, Jim may turn himself in.”
Vicki put her head back on the couch and sighed. “That means they'll search Jim's house. Are the Shairtons and the others still there?”
“They were supposed to be on their way to Wisconsin overnight. I checked with Darrion and she said they hadn't made it yet.”
Vicki put a hand to her forehead. “Everything's falling apart.”
Cheryl came out of the bathroom with Shelly. Shelly gave Vicki a strange look.
“Feel any better?” Vicki said.
“A little. I'm going to rest some more.”
When Shelly joined them, Vicki asked her what the look was for. “I'll tell you later,” Shelly said.
Conrad called them over to a computer stacked on top of a pool table.
Mark told Vicki that he'd learned something about this house where they were staying. Before the Rapture the people who owned it had several children, one of whom was left behind during the global disappearances. “He opened the house to some of his uncles and cousins. They've been reading Tsion's Web site every day.”
“Is Chad the son who was left behind?” Vicki said.
Mark nodded.
“He's pretty cute,” Shelly said playfully.
“Watch it,” Conrad said. He turned the computer screen where everyone could see it. “I was doing some research too. Look at this information I found buried on the official GC Web site.”
A picture showed several people standing in front of a fire, with what looked like a huge church in the background. Vicki inched closer and saw it was the Vatican.