"Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your G.o.d, who leads you by the way you should go. Oh, that you had heeded my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Declare, proclaim this, utter to the end of the earth that the Lord has redeemed his servants and they did not thirst when He led them through the deserts. He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them; he also split the rock, and the waters gushed out." As the Tribulation Force in Chicago watched, the fighter-bomber pilot acknowledged to GC Command that he had a visual on the missile originating from Amman. And from the right side of the screen came the thick, white plume trailing the winding projectile as it approached the flame and smoke rising from Petra. The missile dived out of sight into the blackness, and seconds later yet another explosion erupted, blowing even wider the fire that seemed to own the mountainous region. But immediately following came a colossal geyser, shooting water a mile into the sky.
"I"m-," the pilot began, "I"m seeing -I don"t know what I"m seeing. Water. Yes, water. Spraying. It"s, uh, it"s having some effect on the fire and smoke. Now clearing, the water still rising and drenching the area. It"s as if the missile struck some spring that, uh this is crazy, Command. I see -I can see . . .
the flames dying now, smoke clearing. There are people alive down the"" "
Buck leaped from his chair and knelt before the TV. His friends whooped and hollered. The TV feed died and GCNN was already into its apology .for the technical difficulties. "Did you see that?"
Buck shouted. "They survived! They survived!" Chang"s brows rose and his chin dropped. His coworkers swore and pointed and stared, groaning when the feed was interrupted. "That can"t be! That looked like no, there"s not a chance! How long was that place burning? Two bombs and a missile? No!"
Chang hurried back to his computer to make sure he was still recording from Carpathia"s office. He couldn"t wait to hear the back-and-forth between Akbar and the pilot. Rayford had reunited with Abdullah and was standing, listening to Tsion, when the earth opened with a resounding crash and a gush of water at least ten feet in diameter burst from the ground, rocketing so high that it was a full minute before it began to rain down upon them.
The flames and smoke cleared so quickly, and the refreshing water felt so good, that Rayford noticed others doing what he was. They spread their palms toward heaven and turned their faces to the sky, letting it wash them. Soon Rayford realized he was about a hundred yards from Tsion and Chaim, who stood at the edge of the gigantic abyss from where the water had burst forth.
It appeared Tsion was again trying to gain the attention of the ma.s.ses, but it was futile. They ran, they leaped, they embraced, singing, dancing, shaking hands, laughing, and soon hundreds of thousands were shouting their thanks to G.o.d.
Still, here and there, Rayford saw people grieving, crying out.
Were these unbelievers? How could they have survived? Had G.o.d protected them in spite of themselves, just because they were here? Rayford couldn"t make it make sense. Was it important to know who was protected and who was not and why? And would Tsion speak to that issue?
After several minutes, Chaim and Tsion were able to call the people to order. Somehow the miracle of Tsion making himself heard by a million people without amplification was multiplied in that they could hear him above the rushing sounds of the volcanic spewing water.
I have agreed to stay at least a few days," Tsion announced. "To worship with you. To thank G.o.d together. To teach. To preach. Ah, look as the water subsides. "
The noise began to diminish, and the top of the column of rushing water slowly came into view, now three hundred yards above them.
Slowly but steadily the spring shrank, in height though not apparently in width. Soon it was just a hundred feet high, then fifty, then ten. Finally it settled into the small lake caused by the initial eruption and crater, and in the middle of the pool the spring bubbled as if it were boiling, a ten-foot-wide, one- foot-high gurgling that looked cool and soothing and seemed capable of adding to the already miraculous water supply.
"Some of you weep and are ashamed," Tsion said. "And rightly so.
Over the next few days I will minister to you as well. For while you have not taken. the mark of the evil one, neither have you taken your stand with the one true G.o.d. He has foreseen in his mercy to protect you, to give you yet one more chance to choose him.
"Many of you will do that, even this day, even before I begin my teaching on the unsearchable riches of Messiah and his love and forgiveness. Yet many of you will remain in your sin, risking the hardening of your heart so that you may never change your mind.
But you will never be able to forget this day, this hour, this miracle, this unmistakable and irrefutable evidence that the G.o.d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob remains in control. You may choose your own way, but you will never be able to disagree that faith is the victory that overcomes the world."
Chapter.
IN CHICAGO Buck tried calling Chloe, then Rayford, then Chang.
Nothing. He tossed his phone away, but couldn"t sit. "Where"s Ming?" he said. "She know any of this?"
"She"s gone," Leah said.
"Downstairs? Tell her to let Enoch"s people sleep and to get up here. "
"My people won"t be sleeping now," Enoch said.
"She"s not downstairs," Leah said. "She left a note."
"What? "
"Her brother told her something about-
"Where"s Kenny?"
"Sleeping, Buck. He"s fine. Now listen. Her brother told her something about her parents, and she"s determined to get to them."
"Oh, man!" Zeke said.
"She say something to you, Z?" Buck said. "Nah, but I shoulda seen it comin". I just finished her stuff this morning. Cut her hair, all that. Her papers are the best I"ve ever done. Made a guy out of her, you know. I mean, not really, just made her look well, you know."
Buck knew all right. Ming was tiny to begin with. She was anything but boyish, but Zeke had cut her hair, showed her how to carry herself as a man, clipped her nails, removed the color from her face. From his stash of clothes and alterations on her old GC uniform, he had turned her into a young, male GC Peacekeeper.
"What name?" Buck said.
"Her brother"s," Z said. "Chang. Last name Chow. I didn"t know she was gonna be out of here as soon as I got her ready."
"Not your fault. How long has she been gone? Maybe we can catch her."
"Buck!" Leah said. "She"s an adult, a widow. If she wants to go to China, you can"t stop her."
Buck shook his head. "How long do you think we"re safe here with everybody running around the streets whenever they feel like it?
Chang"s already told us the palace is starting to suspect something. If Steve Plank heard about it in Colorado, it won"t be long before somebody comes snooping around."
"She probably didn"t tell you what she was doing because she knew you"d try to talk her out of it."
"I might have tried to help. Find her a ride, something.
"Yeah, like you were going to arrange for a plane and a pilot."
Buck shot a double take at Leah"s sarcasm. His fatherin-law had groused that she was capable of it, but Buck hadn"t been the brunt of it before. "This isn"t helpful, Leah," he said.
"Helpful would have been to send Albie with her."
"I didn"t know she was going!"
"Well, now you do."
"And I"m willing," Albie said. "But-"
"We can"t spare you," Buck said. "Anyway, your cover"s blown and we don"t have a new one for you yet."
"I can take care of that inside twenty-four hours," Zeke said.
"No! Let"s just hope she checks in and keeps us posted." Buck kicked a chair. "How in the world is she going to sound like a guy? She"s got that soft, delicate voice. "
"Not when she was barking orders at the prison," Leah said.
"She"d better bark all the way to China, then," Buck said.
"Imagine if she gets found out. They discover she"s AWOL from Buffer, connect her with her brother, and bingo, he"s history.
And where does that leave us?" Chloe hadn"t known what to expect, but it wasn"t that Ptolemais would look like it had been through a war. For so long, the GC had largely left Greece alone. Its being part of the United Carpathian States contributed, she was sure. Nicolae would not have wanted the publicity that came with exposing Judah-ites in his own region. But the network of believers had so flourished that eventually it was too big to hide. Once the first wave of strong-arm tactics swept through and resulted in many facing the guillotine rather than accepting Carpathia"s mark of loyalty, the battle between the GC and the Christ-following underground escalated. The administration of the mark of loyalty had begun with prisoners and had not gone well.
The leadership had been infiltrated. Two young prisoners had escaped. And once the worst of the guillotining task was over, things got sloppier.
One of the strongest branches of the International Commodity Co- op, Chloe"s own brainchild, was headquartered in town. It had become the clandestine meeting place for believers. But the ambush had cost the church there not only Lukas "Laslos" Miklos, but also one of its most beloved senior members, Kronos, as well as the teenager Marcel Papadopoulos. And if the girl who claimed to be Georgiana Stavros was indeed an impostor named Elena, as Steve Plank had heard, then for all Chloe knew Georgiana was dead too.