"You don"t know what you"re asking," George said. "Bad as this is, trust me, you should prefer it."
"Leave one of the cars here," Mac said. "Block the road with it and the truck. It won"t take the GC long to get around them, but any slowdown has to help."
Chloe maneuvered one car nose to nose with the truck across the highway; then they ripped out the distributor caps from both vehicles and took the keys.
"Last call for clear code," the radio said.
Mac hollered it into the mike. Then, "Chloe, you drive. And keep it to the floor. I"ll ride shotgun. I don"t expect them to catch us now, but everybody stay armed and ready."
George put the DES in the trunk and climbed in the back with Hannah. The economy car was too small for the four of them and seemed to groan with the weight, but Chloe soon had the thing chugging along at over seventy miles an hour.
George said, "So, Mac, what"s Psalm : ?" Mac turned as far as he could in the seat. " "o G.o.d,"" he said, ""to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth!""
The GC radio came to life again. "We need an immediate ten twenty. Personnel on the north road report zero traffic and no sign of you."
"Give me that," George said, pulling it from Mac"s hand. He mashed the b.u.t.ton. "Yeah, you"ll find us at Psalm :. "
Chang fixed himself some tea, adding a strange concoction that included instant coffee with the highest concentration of caffeine he could find. He would crash when this ordeal was over, but he couldn"t risk dozing now. It was clear the Greek GC had a bead on his people, and it wouldn"t be long before they figured out Mac must have a plane at the abandoned strip not twenty minutes more up the road. He certainly wasn"t going to escape into Albania. How long would it take Mac and his people to board, and how far could they get before needing to refuel?
Meanwhile, from what Chang could hear, Carpathia was at least entertained if not totally distracted by feeds from his regions where it was still daytime. The potentate for Region o, the United South American States, announced an event he said his wife, "the first lady," was personally attending right then.
"And where are you while she is doing your work?" Carpathia asked. "Oh, my revered risen one, you may rest a.s.sured that I am doing the greater work. We have taken you at your word regarding the effort to root out infidels here, and I am working closely with our Peacekeepers and Morale Monitors, as well as with civilian undercover groups. We expect to have dozens more face the guillotine or take your mark within twenty four hours."
"Dozens? My dear friend, we are hearing from your compatriots around the world that some are finding hundreds, even thousands, who will suffer for their disloyalty. Some are stepping up efforts even in our part of the world, in the dark of night."
The South American sighed. "Sir, sadly, we are so dependent on the seas that our forces have been dramatically reduced."
"But surely so have your dissidents, have they not?"
"That is true. But please, allow me to take you live to Uruguay, where my wife attends the public ceremony culminating in loyalty enforcement."
Chang switched quickly to Mac and his crew nothing new then tapped into the video feed from the United South American States.
The first lady was receiving enthusiastic applause. She had her arm around a shy looking middle aged man. "This gentleman is finally getting his mark of loyalty to our risen potentate!"
More cheering.
"And tell us, Andrs, what took you so long?"
"I was afraid," he said, smiling.
"Afraid of what?"
"The needle." Many laughed and cheered.
"But you will do it today?"
"A very small , yes," he said.
"You are no longer afraid of the needle?"
"Yes, I am still. But I fear the blade much more."
The crowd cheered and continued to applaud as Andres sat stiffly for the application of the mark. His forehead was swabbed, someone held his hand, the machine was applied, and he looked genuinely relieved and happy.
The first lady said, "You may now return to what you were doing when you were discovered without the mark."
The camera followed Andres as he ran back to the image of Carpathia and fell to his knees before it. The first lady told the crowd, "Andres avoided detection for so long because he obeyed the decree to worship the image, and no one suspected."
Carpathia did not seem impressed. "He worships me and yet he is afraid of a little pinp.r.i.c.k. Agh! "
"But you will be most pleased, Potentate," the South American leader said. "Following the leads of several loyal citizens, we have uncovered a den of opposition. Six were killed when they resisted arrest, but thirteen have been brought to this worship and enforcement center. "
"How many will tale the mark now?" Carpathia said. "How many have had their att.i.tudes adjusted by the very presents of layalty enforcement facilitor?"
"Well, uh, actually none so far sir." Chang heard a fist slam. "Stubborn!" Carpathia said. "So stubborn. Why are these people so resolute? so stupid? so shortsighted?"
"Today they will pay, Highness."
"Right now, even as we speak?" Carpathia"s voice evidenced his excitement.
"Yes, right now"
"What is the music?"
"The condemned ones hum and sing, my lord. It is not uncommon. "
"Shut them up!"
"One moment. Excuse me, sir." He called to someone in the background, "forge! Communicate to the officers at the site that the supreme potentate does not allow the music. Yes, now! Your Highness, it will be stopped."
"These have definitely chosen the blade?"
"They have, sir. They are in line."
"What are we waiting for?"
"Only to carry out your wish to stop the music, sir."
"Get on with it! The blade will silence them."
Chang recoiled when he saw a guard with a huge rifle and bayonet nudging the first person in line, a woman who appeared to be in her late twenties. She was singing, her face turned toward heaven. The guard yelled at her, but she did not acknowledge. He b.u.mped her and she stumbled, but still she sang, eyes upward.
He jabbed her in the ribs with the b.u.t.t of the rifle, and she dropped to one knee, then rose and continued singing. Now he set himself to her side, planted his feet, and drove the bayonet through her arm and into her side. She cried out as the bayonet was removed, and she reached with her other hand to press it over the wound. Her singing now came in sobs as the people behind her fell to their knees.
"What is she singing?" Carpathia demanded.
The sound was enhanced, and Chang found himself breathless as he listened to the woman"s pitiful, labored singing. She could no longer hold up her head, but she stood wobbling, clearly woozy, struggling to sing, ". . . did e"er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compare so rich a crown?"
The guard was joined by others, swinging the stocks of their rifles at the heads of those who bowed.