Frantic Read Free Page B

he’d be here with you right now.”
    Mark shook his head. “No, he wouldn’t. He’d have found somebody else who didn’t know God and given up his seat to them.”
    Carl nodded. “You’re probably right.”
    â€œWhat happened in the sub?”
    â€œWe went down as far and as fast as we could go,” Carl said. “We were carrying a few civilians we’d rescued from a drug ship. One guy had seen way too many of those movies where the submarine ruptures and everybody dies. It was all we could do to keep them calm and not use up all the oxygen.
    â€œThe navigator took us as far away from the splashdown site as he could. We heard the impact and braced. It took a couple of minutes for the wave to reach us, but when it did, it just took control. Even as far down as we were, it picked up that sub like a toy and brought us to the surface in seconds.”
    â€œYou could’ve died,” Mark said.
    â€œA lot did,” Carl said. “All but two of the civilians. Six of us from the Peacekeeper 1 made it out alive. I was in the hospital for a long time. That’s why I didn’t get in touch with you sooner.”
    â€œWhy didn’t we hear anything from the media about this?” Mark said. “It should have been big news.”
    â€œThe GC kept it quiet,” Carl said.
    â€œMust have been hairy inside that sub.”
    Carl took a breath. “I’ll never forget it. People screaming. Everybody yelling, asking God to save them.”
    â€œWhy’d you wait until now to believe what John told you?”
    â€œThat’s what you’re not going to like,” Carl said. “When I finally woke up in the hospital, a GC security guy was there asking questions. I told him everything. I told him about John, about what he’d said about God—”
    â€œThat was stupid!”
    â€œI know that now. I thought I was doing the right thing.”
    Mark stood. “John saved your life and you wanted to sell us out?”
    â€œThey asked me to get as much information as I could over the Internet,” Carl said. “I didn’t know what to do. They figured anybody mixed up with somebody like John had to be another religious fanatic. So I wrote you.”
    â€œAnd you led them right to me,” Mark said. “Conrad warned me not to—”
    â€œThat’s not why I’m here!” Carl shouted. “When I was trying to get in touch with you, I started reading some of the stuff John gave me. But I got stuck and I wanted to ask you some questions.”
    â€œAnd report to your friends in the GC!”
    â€œI’m not going to do that. I know the truth now and you helped me see it. But you have to know something else.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œThe GC is gearing up, getting information on people like you—I mean, like us, all around the country. Around the world.”
    â€œWe’ve known for a long time that the GC doesn’t like followers of Tsion Ben-Judah—”
    â€œBut they’re getting organized,” Carl said. “The GC has names and addresses of people who visit the rabbi’s Web site. They haven’t acted yet, but they’re going to.”
    â€œWhat are you saying?”
    â€œTake me to your hideout and teach me everything you can,” Carl said. “I want to learn about God. Then I want to go out and warn those people before it’s too late.”

3
    JUDD backed out of the plane and walked up the jetway with Lionel. Everyone in the plane had been stung and were wailing and moaning.
    The sight inside the terminal wasn’t much better. Locusts had burrowed through ceiling tiles and attacked people at will. A woman carrying a baby ran screaming. The locusts attacked her but left the baby alone.
    A man stood in the corner holding a bottle of water. When the demons flew at him, he threw the bottle toward them. As water poured onto the floor, it turned