The Mark: The Beast Rules The World (16 page)

“Please,” David said, “come in.” He enjoyed the brass of having someone so close to Carpathia sitting in his office, not six feet from the computer he used to subvert the potentate’s efforts.

His assistant greeted him with a concerned look as he passed. David merely said, “Good morning,” but she slowed him with, “Are you all right?” “Better, Tiffany, thanks,” he said. When she noticed his visitor, she lurched to her feet. “Ms. Ivins,” she said. Viv merely nodded. David held the door for her, and once she was inside and he shut it, she stood waiting for him to pull out a chair for her. He imagined saying, “Is your arm broken?” But there was almost as much feminist power in her expecting his chivalry as there would have been in her not doing so.

“I heard you say you were feeling better,” she said, opening a folder in her lap and pulling a pencil from behind her ear. “So I won’t belabor that. I trust you’re able to get past your unfortunate incident with His Excellency?”

“Throwing up on the leader of the world, you mean?” he said, eliciting a grimace from her. “Except that such news travels fast and I doubt there is an employee in New Babylon not aware of it, yes, I try not to dwell on it.”

“Senior management understands,” she said.

He wanted to ask if they understood that barfing on the big boss was actually an answer to a desperate prayer to be spared from pretending to worship him.

Viv made a tiny check mark after her first listed item. David wondered what she might have written there as the discussion point. Regurgitation?

“Now then,” she said, “a few more items. First, your new immediate superior will be James Hickman.”

“My area will report to Intelligence?”

“No, Jim has been promoted to Supreme Commander to replace Reverend Fortunato.”

David mused that having had Intelligence in Hickman’s previous title was similar to Fortunato now having Reverend in his. “Surely this was Leon’s, er, Commander Fortunato’s choice, not the potentate’s.” David detected the hint of a smile, but Viv wouldn’t take the bait. “So Jim will be relocating to Leon’s old office?” he said.

“Please don’t get ahead of me, Mr. Hassid. And I would urge you to use titles or at the very least Mister when you refer to personnel at such levels. You shall be expected to refer to Mr. Hickman as Supreme Commander and Mr. Fortunato as Reverend or Most High Reverend.”

Do I get a vote? David wondered. He might rather have vomited on Leon than call him Most High anything. He bit his tongue to keep from asking Viv, er, Ms. Ivins, whether it had been Hickman’s groveling that won him his promotion. Or perhaps that performance was in gratitude for a move that had already been put in place,

“And no,” Viv continued, “the new Supreme Commander will not be moving into Reverend Fortunato’s old office. Mr. Hickman will be sharing space with His Excellency’s assistant.”

“Real-ly,” David said. “Seems Sandra’s kind of cramped as it is.”

“How shall I put this? Though Mr. Hickman will have the same title Mr. Fortunato had, the job may not have quite the same range of influence.” “Meaning?”

Viv appeared frustrated, as if she were seldom asked to be more precise. “Mr. Hassid, it should be obvious to everyone that a leader whose deity has been publicly affirmed would not have need for the same level of assistance he may have in the past. Mr. Fortunato was, in essence, the chief operating officer to His Excellency’s chief executive officer. Mr. Hickman’s role will be more that of facilitator.”

Like sergeant at arms or town crier? David wanted to say.

“And, of course, you are aware of Reverend Fortunato’s new duties.”

More than you are. But False Prophet may not look right on the business card. “Refresh me.”

“He will be the spiritual head of the Global Community, directing homage to the object of our worship.”

David nodded. To cover any unconscious look that might have given him away, he said, “And, what, ah, is to become of Leon’s, excuse me, Reverend Fortunato’s old office?”

“It will become part of the potentate’s new quarters.”

“Oh! I knew he wanted to expand upward. But out as well?”

“Yes, it should be magnificent. One of the benefits, so far anyway, of his resurrected body is that he is apparently immune to the need for sleep. Busy twenty-four hours a day, he needs variety in his work environment.”

“Uh-huh.” That’s all we need. Satan with no downtime.

“The potentate’s new office will be spectacular, Director Hassid. It will encompass both his and Mr. Fortunato’s old spaces, as well as the conference room, and above the ten-foot walls will extend another thirty feet of windows to a clear roof.”

“Sounds impressive, all right.”

“I’m sure you will have your share of audiences with him,” she said, “though you will more often meet with the new Supreme Commander.”

“If I were the potentate, I would want an office large enough to allow plenty of distance between him and me.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You know, the throwing up thing.”

“Oh, yes. I get it. Amusing.” But she did not appear amused.

“Will Mr. Hickman have a meeting area, or will we have to keep our voices down so as not to disturb the potentate’s assistant?”

“I’m sure between the two of you, you’ll be able to work something out. For instance, meeting here. Oh, my, look at the time. I have several other appointments, so you’ll forgive me if I plunge ahead.”

No, time’s up. Get out. “Certainly, Ms. Ivins. I understand.”

“During your incapacity, we were unable to wait on several important issues. We needed to get orders placed for several technical purchases that involve international shipping and manufacture.”

David had to concentrate to keep from making a face. He knew exactly what she was talking about, and he had hoped he could stall such requisitions and frustrate the potentate’s efforts.

“Technical purchases?” he said.

“Biochip injectors. And, of course, loyalty enforcement facilitators.”

Loyalty enforcement facilitators!? Why not just call them cranium and trunk separators? “Guillotines, you mean?”

That made her wince. “Director, please. That has such an eighteenth-century sound to it, and you can understand why we want to avoid any language that bespeaks violence or conjures images of beheading and the like.”

And the like? “Begging your pardon, ma’am, but do we not assume that people will recognize the guillotines, or loyalty enforcement facilitators, for what they are? What else might they be used for, halving cabbages?”

“I don’t find that the least bit amusing.”

“I don’t either, but let’s call a blade a blade. People see a heavy, angled, razor-sharp edge waiting to be triggered from the top of a grooved track, with a head-shaped yoke at the bottom over a handy basket, and my guess is they’ll have a clue what it’s about.”

Ms. Ivins shifted in her chair, made another check mark on her list, and said, “I shouldn’t put it so crassly. But my guess, no my sincere belief, is that these will hardly, if ever, be used at all.”

“You really think so?”

“Absolutely. They shall merely serve as a tangible symbol for the seriousness of the exercise.”

“In other words, willingly express your loyalty or we chop your head off.”

“That will not need to be said.”

“I should guess not.”

“But, Mr. Hassid, I wager that only the most unusually hard cases, so few and far between that they will be newsworthy for their uniqueness, will result in complete consummation of the enforcement.”

I’d hate to see incomplete consummation of the enforcement. “You’re confident, then, that all opposition has been eradicated.”

“Of course,” she said. “Who in their right mind could see the resurrection of a man dead three days and not believe in him as God?”

Rayford did not get the reception he expected, and Chloe hurried to him to explain it. He was staggered by the news of Annie. The three sat, stunned as the rest, and most, it appeared, avoided eye contact with Hattie.

“What do we hear from David?” Rayford said. “Is he all right?”

“We heard from Mac,” Buck said. “Worse is that David collapsed from heat exhaustion or sunstroke or something, and that just delayed his finding out about Annie.”

Rayford sat shaking his head. He knew more and more of this would be their lot, but it never seemed to get easier.

“Not everybody knows everyone else here,” he said finally, and made cursory, subdued introductions.

“‘Scuse me,” Zeke said, “but is it OK if I ask a dumb question?”

“Anything,” Rayford said.

“No offense, lady,” he said to Hattie, “but I didn’t expect to see a mark on you.”

Tsion stood, lips trembling, and approached her. “Is it true, dear one?” he said, putting his hands on her shoulders. “Let me look at you.”

Hattie nodded, her eyes darting to Buck and Chloe, who stared, wide eyed.

Tsion embraced her, weeping. “Praise God, praise God,” he said. “Lord, you take one away and send one anew.” He opened his eyes. “So, tell us. When? How? What happened?”

“Not twenty-four hours ago,” she said. “It wasn’t just one thing, but all of you caring about me, loving me, pleading with me, praying for me. If you have not heard Albie’s story, though, make sure you do soon.”

She leaned close and whispered in Tsion’s ear.

“Certainly,” he said. “Chaim, Zeke, Albie, Leah, let’s let our new sister have a few moments with the Steele family, shall we? There will be plenty of time for getting acquainted.”

The others rose and followed Tsion as if they understood, though Zeke looked puzzled. When it was just the four of them, Hattie stood as Rayford, Buck, and Chloe sat. “I’m so happy for you,” Chloe said, “and I mean it even if I sound stunned. I am. I wish you’d told me on the phone before I went off on you.”

“No, Chloe, I deserved that. And I don’t blame any of you for being shocked. I’m a little shocked myself. But I have so much to explain. Well, not to explain, because

who can explain rottenness? But to apologize for it. I was so awful to you, all of you at different times. I don’t know how you could ever forgive me.”

“Hattie,” Chloe said, “it’s all right. You don’t have to-”

“Yes, I do. And Chloe, one thing you need to know is that something you said to me a long time ago never left me. I couldn’t get it out of my mind, though I tried over and over. It was when I visited you at Loretta’s house and I accused you all of just trying to change my mind about an abortion and of only really loving me if I bought into the whole package and agreed with everything you said. Remember?”

Chloe nodded.

Hattie continued. “Even though you were so much younger than me, you told me that you all wanted to love me the way God loved me, and that was whether I agreed with you or not. No matter what I did or what I decided, you would love me because that was the way God loved you, even when you were dead in your sins.”

“I don’t remember being that articulate,” Chloe said, her eyes filling.

“Well,” Hattie said, “you were right. God loved me at my lowest. And to think I almost killed myself before he finally got to me.”

“They don’t know that story,” Rayford reminded her. And she told them everything, from the time the GC in Colorado apprehended her to that very moment.

“I was so worried that you would never forgive me,” she concluded.

Chloe stood to embrace her. Then Buck did. “You’ve never forgiven me for something that was worse than anything you ever pulled, Hattie.”

“What?”

“I introduced you to Nicolae Carpathia.”

She nodded, smiling through tears. “That was pretty bad,” she said. “But how could you know? He fooled almost everybody at first. I wish I’d never laid eyes on him, but I also wouldn’t trade a thing about my life now. It all pointed to today.”

David was antsy. He wanted Viv Ivins to leave so he could get started on his real chores. She rattled on about Fortunato.

“He’ll move into Peter Mathews’s old office, but nothing will be the same there. There’s no Enigma Babylon One World Faith anymore, because there’s no enigma. We know whom to worship now, don’t we, Mr. Hassid?”

“We sure do,” he said.

“Now,” she said, “there is one more item. You’re aware that you lost an employee the other day?” She flipped a page in her notebook and read, ” ‘Single, white, female, twenty-two, almost twenty-three, Angel Rich Christopher.’ Rich is apparently a family name.”

David held his breath and nodded.

“Lightning victim,” Viv added. “One of several.”

“I was aware of that, yes.”

“I just wanted to tell you that if you were planning any sort of memorial, I’d advise against it.”

“I’m sorry?”

“We have simply lost too many employees to make it practical to give them all their moments, if you will.”

David was offended, especially for Annie. “I, uh, have attended other such ceremonies. They have been short but appropriate.”

“Well, this one would not be appropriate. Understood?”

“No.”

“No?” ‘

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand. Why would it not be appropriate to remember a coworker who-”

“If you would think about it for just a moment, you would likely understand.”

“Save me the time, please.”

“Well, Mr. Hassid, Miss Christopher was apparently struck by lightning when the now Reverend Fortunato was calling down fire from heaven on those who refused to recognize His Excellency the Potentate as the true and living God.”

“You’re saying her death proves she was subversive. That Fortunato killed her.”

“God killed her, Director. Call it subversive or whatever you will, it is obvious to all who were present-and I know you were-that only skeptics suffered for their unbelief that day.”

David pursed his lips and scratched his head. “If we are not memorializing employees who did not recognize Nicolae Carpathia as deity, I understand and will comply.”

“I thought you would, sir.” She rose and waited for David to open the door for her. “Good day to you, Director. You know I am always available, should you need anything at all.”

“Well, there is one more thing.”

“Name it.”

“The biochip injectors you mentioned. Are they similar to the type used for inserting the same into household pets?”