Free Apollyon: The Destroyer Is Unleashed by Tim Lahaye, Jerry B. Jenkins Page A

it?”
    Hattie bit her lip and nodded. Floyd looked to Leah, who still appeared resolute. He placed the baby in a carrier and carefully examined Hattie. He beckoned Leah with a nod. “I need you to assist me with a uterine curettage to eliminate the rest of the placental tissue and any necrotic decidua.”
    “Worried about endometritis?”
    “Very good.”
    Rayford could see by the look on her face and the set of her jaw that Leah was not going to dispose of the fetus. Apparently Floyd gathered that too. After performing the procedure on Hattie, he gently picked up the wrapped body. “Where?” he said.
    “End of the hall,” she whispered. “Two floors down.”
    He walked out, and Hattie sobbed aloud. Rayford approached and asked if he could pray for her.
    “Please,” she managed. “Rayford, I want to die.”
    “No you don’t.”
    “I have no reason to live.”
    “You do, Hattie. We love you.”

FIVE
    Buck grew nervous in the van, waiting for Chloe and Tsion. He assumed she would hustle Tsion from the stage; thousands would have given anything for a moment with him, not to mention committee members who might want a word. And no one knew how Carpathia might respond to what had happened on stage. He initially blamed it on Tsion, but then the witnesses had appeared.
    Buck thought Nicolae should realize that Tsion had no miraculous powers. Nicolae’s quarrel was with the two witnesses. It was his own fault, of course. He had not been invited, or even welcomed, on stage. And the gall to have Fortunato and the pompous Peter the Second precede him! Buck shook his head. What else could one expect from Antichrist?
    Buck dialed Chloe’s number but got no answer. A busy signal he could understand. But no answer? A recorded voice spoke in Hebrew. “Jacov, listen to this. What is she saying?”
    Jacov was still beaming, having craned his neck and leaned out the window to see others’ marks. He often pointed to his own and learned that fellow believers always smiled and seemed to enjoy pointing heavenward.
    The day would come, Buck knew, when the sign of the cross on the forehead would have to say everything between tribulation saints. Even pointing up would draw the attention of enemy forces.
    The problem was, the day would also come when the other side would have its own mark, and it would be visible to all. In fact, according to the Bible, those who did not bear this “mark of the beast” would not be able to buy or sell. The great network of saints would then have to develop its own underground market to stay alive.
    Jacov put the phone to his ear, then handed it back to Buck. “If you want to leave a message, press one.”
    Buck did. “Chloe,” he said, “call me as soon as you get this. The crowd out here hasn’t thinned a bit, so I don’t want to have to come and find you and Tsion. But I will if I don’t hear from you in ten minutes.”
    As soon as he ended the call, his phone chirped. “Thank God,” he said and flipped it open. “Yeah, babe.”
    Heavy static and mechanical noise. Then he heard, “Jerusalem Tower, this is GC Chopper One!”
    “Hello?”
    “Roger, tower, do you read?”
    “Hello, this isn’t the tower,” Buck said. “Am I getting a cross frequency?”
    “Roger, tower, this is a confidential transmission, so I’m using the phone rather than the radio, roger?”
    “Mac, is that you?”
    “Roger, tower.”
    “You in the chopper with the other three?”
    “Ten-four. Checking coordinates to return to pad at King David, over.”
    “You trying to tell me something?”
    “Affirmative. Thank you. No head winds?”
    “Is it about Tsion?”
    “Partly cloudy?”
    “And Chloe?”
    “Ten-four.”
    “Are they in danger, Mac?”
    “Affirmative.”
    “Have they been taken?”
    “Not at this time, tower. ETA five minutes.”
    “They’re on the run?”
    “Affirmative.”
    “What can I do?”
    “We’ll come in from the northwest, tower.”
    “Are they outside the