Deceived (16 page)

“What happened?”

“A month ago, I was out looking for work. I had lost my job. I went to his apartment and it was empty. He had left a note with one of my roommates saying that he was moving back in with his family, and that I shouldn't look for him. I felt so alone and betrayed.”

Cheryl put her head in her hands. “My roommates laughed at me for believing Thomas could love me. I laughed along with them at first, but I couldn't take it anymore and decided to leave.”

“Where did you go?”

“I lived on the streets for a while. Ate in soup kitchens and GC shelters. A few days ago I wandered into this grocery store without any money, which was a mistake. I smelled the fresh-baked bread and I had to have a bagel or something. I stuffed a couple in my pockets and I guess somebody saw me. They caught me outside and the GC brought me to that reeducation place. I was glad to have something to eat, but it wasn't much fun.

“That's when those girls started talking about God. I was drawn to them because they seemed to have so much love. Then I wondered if I was believing for the wrong reasons. You know, that I just wanted a family and somebody to love me so much that I'd fall for anything. But when you told me those verses and how God loved me, something happened I can't explain. I knew what you were saying was true.”

Vicki smiled. “When I prayed with you and saw you didn't have the mark, I was really scared. I'm glad you're part of our family now.”

“I want to learn as much as I can and help other people know the truth,” Cheryl said. She paused.

“What is it?”

“I don't want to be a bad influence on your friends.”

“You mean the baby?” Vicki said.

Cheryl nodded.

“We've all made mistakes. Big ones. God loves each of us, and he loves your child too.”

Vicki scooted closer. She had been thinking about Cheryl's baby since she had heard the girl was pregnant. “Have you thought of what you're going to do after the child is born?”

Cheryl winced. “It's all so new. …”

Vicki wanted to tell Cheryl about the two boys she had been thinking of, but she had no idea why the names
Ben
and
Brad
had stuck in her head. “If there were someone who might want to take care of your baby, would you consider it?”

“Who?”

Vicki frowned. “Honestly, I don't know. But would you be open to an adoption?”

Cheryl smiled. “If you think it's a good idea, I'll consider it.”

As the minivan rumbled through the back roads of Iowa, Vicki racked her brain thinking about the two boys. She ran through the faces of everyone she had met in the past few years. From Chloe Williams to Hattie Durham to her teachers at Nicolae High, she could think of no one with those names.

15

JUD
kept watch behind them for signs of Global Community officers, but Sabir knew the roads well and was soon traveling through parts of Israel neither Judd nor Lionel had seen before.

“How did you get out of the airport?” Judd said to Lionel.

“I saw an African-American couple and started up a conversation. I went through the front doors with them, and I hoped security would think I was with them. They weren't checking families.”

Judd explained how he had found the service elevator and eluded the guards. “I don't know what Z-Van said, but they sure seemed anxious to get us.”

“You were with Z-Van?” Sabir said. “The one who screams and calls it music?”

Judd smiled and looked at the man's eyes in the rear-view mirror. He seemed kind and good-humored, and Judd wondered what he had gone through in the past three and a half years. “If you think Z-Van's music is bad, wait until you hear the new tune Leon Fortunato wants you to sing.”

“You mean ‘Hail Carpathia'? I've already heard it and have a different version.”

Lionel chuckled. “You came up with new lyrics?”

In his soft voice, Sabir sang the melody to “Hail Carpathia” with a mocking twist.

Hey, Carpathia, you're not the risen king;
Hey, Carpathia, you don't rule anything.
We'll worship God until we die
And fight against you, Nicolae.
Hey, Carpathia, you're not the risen king
.

Judd laughed. As Sabir sang again, Judd thought about some of his old high school friends and how they had laughed together at television programs and movies. With the death and destruction in the world, that carefree spirit was gone. In fact, Judd couldn't remember when he had laughed this hard. It wasn't the humor in the words, but the tone of Sabir's voice, his perfect imitation of Leon Fortunato, and the way he waved his arm over the steering wheel like he was leading a thousand-voice choir.

One of Judd's favorite phrases, that always angered his father, was “Lighten up!” Judd recalled times when his father's business wasn't going well and his dad appeared weighed down with responsibilities. Now, Judd felt that same weight. He knew there would be a time when he could laugh freely again, and this brief chuckle was a taste of what was to come.

When Sabir finished his concert, Judd asked why he was going to Jerusalem.

The man shrugged. “To take you there, of course.”

“Why were you at the airport?”

Sabir smiled. “I live not far from there. Sometimes I feel God tells me to go there. Other times I park and pray for the people I see and try to find a believer or two and encourage them.”

“What about today?” Lionel said. “Did God tell you to come there?”

Sabir shook his head. “I was listening to coverage of Carpathia's arrival on the radio. It grieved me that so many were going to take his mark of loyalty, and I wanted to pray for them. I drove around the site asking God to show people the truth and wound up at the airport.”

“So you're making a special trip just for us?” Judd said.

“You would do the same for me if I had come to your country, would you not?”

Judd nodded. “I hope I would.”

Sabir pointed out some of the ancient sites as they passed, and Judd was amazed at the history of the country. Finally, he asked how Sabir had become a believer in Jesus Christ.

Sabir winced. “For that story, I have to tell you some terrible things about myself.”

Vicki listened to more of Cheryl's story. The girl seemed hungry to learn about the Bible, and Vicki gave a quick overview of the Scriptures. Cheryl asked Conrad and Shelly to tell their stories, and the two joined the discussion.

When it was Vicki's turn, she described meeting Judd and the others in the Young Tribulation Force after the disappearances. She told Cheryl that it was a pastor, Bruce Barnes, who had explained the truth to her and the other kids.

“Now that I understand what God did for me, I want to tell other people,” Cheryl said. “Did that happen to you?”

Vicki smiled. “Absolutely. I couldn't believe people at Nicolae High couldn't see the truth. One of the first people I talked to about God was …” Vicki stopped and stared off.

“What is it?” Cheryl said.

“I just remembered something. A woman whose husband was a police officer wanted to know why all the children had disappeared.”

Now Vicki had Conrad's attention. “What are you talking about?”

“Fogarty. Josey Fogarty was her name. Her husband was Tom. Judd and I helped him catch a couple of crooks.”

“Did Josey become a believer?” Cheryl said.

Vicki nodded. “I remember I wished Bruce would come and talk with her, but she wanted to pray with me.”

“What about her?” Shelly said.

“She told me she had been into all kinds of religions and some weird stuff when she got divorced from her first husband. She lost custody of her two kids.”

“But why is she important—?”

Vicki put a hand on Shelly's shoulder. “She had two sons who disappeared. Their names were Ben and Brad.”

Judd sat riveted to Sabir's story as they drove toward Jerusalem. Sabir said that before the disappearances, he had been a terrorist.

“I grew up in a community that hates all Jewish people, just like Carpathia. He hates Jews even though he signed the peace treaty with them. Our religious leaders believed that God would reward us for actions against Israelis, and so we plotted terrible acts.”

“You tried to kill them?” Lionel said.

“Yes. Looking back, I can't believe I did some of those things. I actually taught people, some younger than you, how to use explosives and blow themselves up in buses, on sidewalks, or other crowded places. The goal was to kill as many people as possible, and we did it in the name of God.”

Judd had read the history of violence in the Middle East, particularly in Israel. During the time before the Rapture, there had been many attempts at peace, some of which seemed like real breakthroughs, but no sooner was a treaty signed than the violence broke out again and people were killed. But the peace treaty signed by Carpathia brought a new era to the world. Judd knew it was only the lull before the storm of Carpathia's wrath against Jewish people.

“Why did you stop the bombing and violence?” Lionel said.

“Because I learned the truth about God. I love my family and my culture, but I discovered the God who created me is a God of love, and the Jewish people have a special place in his kingdom. Now I love them with all my heart, and I pray that they will turn to their Messiah.”

“How did you go from wanting to blow them up to loving them?” Judd said.

Sabir smiled. “That is a question many in my family continue to ask. Though I have tried to explain, they do not understand.”

Sabir merged with traffic and found the main route between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. “I had never questioned whether I was doing the right thing when I helped plan killings. I was taught to hate from the time I was a boy. We learned songs that glorified violence, we thought God was on our side, and that we would gain special favors in heaven for sacrificing ourselves.”

“You actually planned the killings?” Lionel said.

“I trained many young assassins and helped build explosive devices.” Sabir ran a hand through his hair. “My own son, not much older than you, died in a terrible explosion I planned. Sometimes I have nightmares about him and the others I sent to their deaths.”

“But didn't you feel bad about the people you killed?” Judd said.

“A terrorist cannot afford sympathy. It is the same as being a coward. That's how we were trained.”

“If you were convinced you were right, what changed your mind?” Judd said. “It must have been miraculous.”

Sabir nodded and smiled. “It was about three years ago and I had been having trouble sleeping. My wife—I wish you could meet her—had been reading everything about the disappearances she could find. There were magazine articles and, of course, theories by the Global Community. She was interested in the possibility that God had taken his people to heaven. I told her it was a foolish idea. We were still on earth and we were God's faithful.

“One night, I tossed and turned on my bed, unable to sleep. I went to the roof of our home and sat outside, looking at the stars. I must have dozed off, but I suddenly saw a man in a white robe standing on the other side of a body of water. He motioned for me to come to him and said my religion did not follow the truth.

“Understand, I'm not saying God spoke directly to me. Some people have based their faith on some kind of vision and have been very wrong. This message caused me to investigate Jesus and do something I had never done before—read the Bible.”

“What did your wife think?” Judd said.

“I woke her and told her what had happened. We found a Web site that talked of Jesus. I found a Bible on-line and read the prophecies he fulfilled. We both knelt by our computer and asked God to forgive us. As you can see by the mark on my forehead, he did.”

“What did your friends say?”

Sabir pulled the collar of his shirt down, revealing an ugly scar. “They nearly killed me. My wife and I put everything we owned in this car and drove to the Old City. I had plotted against the lives of so many Jewish people, and I was going into that city looking for help. That's when another great miracle occurred.”