Deceived (4 page)

“You think that's smart?” Lionel said. “He could be a plant by the GC.”

“He has the mark of the believer. There has to be an explanation.”

“Set up a meeting,” Westin said. “I'll still get him out of here if he wants help.”

Judd phoned Chang's number but there was no answer. He sent an e-mail asking Chang to get in touch as soon as possible.

Vicki climbed out of the van, her heart beating like a locomotive, and followed Colin. She noticed the truck had official GC insignias on its side and on the front license plate.

“What's going on?” Vicki said.

“You'll see,” Colin said, leading her to the front of the truck.

The driver's door opened wide and a brawny man stepped out, his back to Vicki. He shook Colin's hand and patted him on the shoulder. When he turned, Vicki's mouth dropped open and her knees felt like they were going to buckle. “Pete!”

“Surprised to see me?” Pete Davidson said, hugging Vicki tightly.

“I haven't seen you since before our trip west!” Vicki said.

“I read about that on the Web site. You did pretty well for yourself, young lady.”

Vicki explained to Colin how Judd had become friends with Pete after the wrath of the Lamb earthquake.

“I've been driving for Chloe's Trib Force co-op the last few months.”

“How did you—?”

“I'll tell you all about it in the truck,” Pete said. “Hop in.”

Shelly joined Pete and Vicki as they got back on the road. Pete said he had e-mailed the kids and was going to stop at the schoolhouse, but Darrion had called his satellite phone and told him about the situation in Iowa. They had gotten the van and truck together using Jim Dekker's satellite connection.

Vicki wanted to hear the latest from Pete, but she guessed Darrion hadn't told him about Zeke Sr. Since Pete had known the man, he nearly drove off the road when he learned Zeke was dead. He got the rig back under control and drove in silence for a few minutes. The big man's chin quivered when he finally spoke. “I called him Gus just to get on his nerves. His first name was Gustaf, you know. If there was any better man on the face of the earth, I never met him. He and his son took me in and never charged me a Nick for any fuel or supplies.”

As the miles rolled on, Pete told stories about Zeke and how generous he was. “You'd never know it by looking at him, but God made him real tender towards people. First time I met him I told my story of looking for my girlfriend after the earthquake. He listened for the longest time, then put his head down. I thought he had fallen asleep, but he was crying. He'd never met her, and he was sobbing like she was his own daughter.”

After a few more stories, Vicki asked what Pete was hauling in the truck. He smiled and said, “Firewood.”

“Who would need firewood this time of year?”

“The GC. You see, they don't call it firewood, but I do.”

“What do they call it?”

“They call it loyalty silly taters or something like that.”

Shelly gasped. “You mean guillotines?”

Pete nodded. “That and some of the injector thingies. There are trailers full of these head choppers all over the country, but somehow they keep getting destroyed by the Judah-ites. It's the weirdest thing.”

Vicki shook her head. “I should have known when I heard about the missing guillotines that it was something like this.”

“Problem is, they're easy to make. The ones we destroy get replaced by local companies in a few days. We've slowed the GC down a little, but not much.”

“Won't the GC know you're destroying them?” Shelly said.

“Sometimes we change the shipping records so me and my buddies aren't even on the list. Other times, like this one, I borrow the trailer from an official GC driver.”

“You mean steal it?”

“I guess you could call it that. I know some people might think it's wrong, but I figure the only reason these contraptions exist is to kill believers. If I can do something to stop it, I will.”

“What happened to you after you left the schoolhouse and went back east?” Shelly said.

“I actually headed south for several runs to believers down there. Oh, your friend Carl Meninger says to say hello. He's still hiding from the GC in South Carolina with the people on that island.”

“You mean Luke and Tom?” Vicki said.

Pete nodded. “The GC got pretty close to them while they were hunting for Carl, but they've got a good hiding place. And more and more people are becoming believers down there.”

“How did you get official GC stickers for your truck?” Shelly said.

“Zeke Jr. arranged that a while ago. I'm on their official roster of freelance truckers available for ‘sensitive loads' as they call it. I've hauled everything from uniforms to computers to those guillotines back there.”

Pete took Vicki's walkie-talkie and radioed the van to take the next exit. They drove a few miles into the countryside to a long, metal building. Pete flashed his lights twice, a door creeped open, and Pete drove in.

A wrinkled little man wearing a green hat with a deer on the front helped Pete unhook his trailer and put on a new one. They loaded the injector devices into the new trailer and were back on the road in a few minutes.

“What will that guy do with the guillotines?” Vicki said when they reached the interstate.

“He and a couple of friends will unload them, pull them apart, and burn the wood. They'll keep the metal until they can figure out what to do with it.”

Pete asked the latest about the kids, and Vicki detailed the GC chase and the hideout in Wisconsin. Pete was excited to hear about The Cube and asked about Judd.

“He and Lionel were in Israel for a long time, but now—”

“No, what about
Judd and you?”

Shelly rolled her eyes. “She doesn't think anybody knows.”

Pete laughed. “Doesn't take a rocket scientist to see you two were meant for each other.”

Vicki blushed. “This isn't anybody's business.”

Pete playfully socked her shoulder. “When it's my sister, it's my business, you get me? You can deny it all you want, but just the way you're reacting now tells me a lot.”

Vicki smiled. “Can we change the subject?”

While Judd waited for a return message from Chang, Lionel stood in the doorway to the bedroom and watched Z-Van's interview. Lars, the filmmaker, sat with his back to the camera and asked Z-Van about his music, his past, and what attracted him to Carpathia.

“My music was going well, and I suppose everything would have kept going just as it had, but finding something to sing about, to write about, that has so much meaning makes me understand what my life is all about.”

“Explain,” Lars said.

“Well, making money is wonderful, selling lots of recordings, and having fans think you're a god is fantastic, but it's not until you find what your life focus is about that you really understand the meaning of art. The best paintings, the best music, even the best films, don't really come from you, they come from observing something
bigger
than you. When I first heard His Excellency, his speeches blew me away. He has a grasp of every detail of life. He knows how to point people toward a goal, which is peace, and take them there.”

Z-Van talked about Nicolae's resurrection and what it was like to actually see it happen. When the interview was over, Lars turned to his staff and looked at his watch. “We have about two hours to get the equipment to the next site. Let's make it happen.”

Lionel turned to Westin. “What's the next site?”

“Building D. Z-Van's going to be the first civilian to take Carpathia's mark.”

4

LIONEL
and Westin followed Z-Van and the camera crew to Building D. Lionel offered to help move some of the heavy road cases filled with equipment, but the workers wouldn't let him.

It was a festive atmosphere inside with people stepping out of offices or lingering by watercoolers to get a glimpse of one of the most famous musicians in the world. People whispered and pointed when they saw Z-Van, and a few recognized the film director as well. When someone held out a pen and a piece of paper for an autograph, one of Z-Van's bodyguards pushed the person away and Z-Van waved. “Sorry.”

As the camera crew set up, Z-Van and Lars ducked into a private office. A few minutes later, a uniformed Peacekeeper rushed into the room, followed by a full detail of Peacekeepers that stood guard by each entrance.

Lionel recognized Roy Donaldson, the Peacekeeper Judd had met earlier, and walked up to him. “Looks like you'll get to see Z-Van in person.”

Donaldson smiled. “Better than that. I get two for one.”

“What do you mean?”

“The potentate is on his way. He's going to watch Z-Van take the mark.”

Vicki and Shelly talked with Pete as the truck rolled across the Illinois border. Vicki explained how they had met the Iowa group at a college about fifty miles from Des Moines. Though the campus was in ruins, the kids had organized a group to hear Vicki explain the message.

“Did many people believe?” Pete said.

Vicki nodded. “And as we moved west, it seemed like the crowds got bigger. People were desperate to hear the truth.”

“I wish I had had the same success. I went south to tell some friends what happened, thinking they'd want to hear what I had to say, but most of them were either caught up with Carpathia or they just wanted to be left alone.”

“I don't understand that,” Shelly said. “We have something that will give them meaning, purpose, and life that won't end.”

“I guess that's how people felt about me before the vanishings,” Pete said. “They tried to tell me about God, and I labeled them religious nuts.”

Shelly frowned. “I hadn't thought about it that way. I did the same thing.”

Colin radioed from the van ahead that Natalie had traced the captured kids to a GC reeducation facility on the outskirts of Des Moines. Pete pulled over and everyone got in the van.

Colin outlined the plan and everyone received their assignments. Pete would deliver the injector machines after dark that evening, while the others cut a hole in the fence outside the camp. Jim Dekker would put an order in from the fictitious Commander Blakely that all suspected Judah-ites be separated and left outside overnight. That would give the kids a chance to get their friends' attention and free them. “Plus we don't have to set foot inside the camp,” Colin said.

“Any idea when they'll start the mark applications?” Conrad said.

“They can't do a thing as long as I have the goods in the back of my truck,” Pete said.

“Unless they get another shipment from somewhere,” Colin said, “they won't be able to start until tomorrow. That should leave us enough time to get everyone out.”

“How many believers are we talking about?” Pete said.

“The official word is that thirteen Judah-ites were taken into custody,” Colin said.