Free The Mark: The Beast Rules The World by Tim Lahaye, Jerry B. Jenkins

depravity of the man,” Tsion said, “wait till we get to what he has in mind for God’s chosen people.”
    Chaim sat and reached for a pad of paper. “Skip to that, Tsion. Please.”
    “In due time, my friend. Just a few thousand more years to go.”
    Despite his pain, David was rested. He could have used more, but he had slept the sleep of the drugged, and his mind-at least-felt refreshed. Unfortunately, that made it hard for him to separate his dread over Annie from his wariness over the indwelt Carpathia. He had been in the presence of evil many times, but never in the company of Satan himself. He breathed a prayer for Annie, thanks for Nurse Palemoon, for Tsion who had taught him that Satan-though more powerful than any human-was no match for the Lord God. “He is not omniscient,” Tsion had taught. “Not omnipresent. Deceiving, persuasive, controlling, beguiling, possessive, oppressive, yes, but greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.”
    “They’re waiting for you,” Sandra told him. “Apparently the risen potentate did not want you to miss a thing.”
    “Well, good then.”
    “And with your arrival, I leave. And that’s good too. Long day.”
    “You and me both.”
    “Feeling all right? Heard you took a tumble.”
    “Better.”
    “Good night, Director Hassid. And, oh yes. He is risen.”
    David stared at her and was struck by the plainness of her forehead compared to that of the beautiful, dark sister he had just met. “He is risen indeed,” he said, meaning just what he said.
    He knocked and entered and was dazed when not only Carpathia and Fortunato stood, but all the other managers too. “My beloved David,” Carpathia began, “how good that you were up to joining us.”
    “Thank you,” David said as Intelligence Director Jim Hickman pushed out a chair for him.
    “Yes,” Hickman said. “How good it is!” He beamed, peeking at Carpathia as if to see whether he had pleased the boss. The potentate pursed his lips and squinted, ignoring Hickman. To David it appeared purposeful. Hickman was Fortunato’s choice, and Carpathia had scarcely hidden his opinion of the man as a buffoon.
    The team of two dozen, plus Nicolae and Leon, sat around a huge mahogany table in Nicolae’s office, the first time David had been there for this size of a meeting. David felt a dark foreboding as he sat and was shaken to see a well-worn Bible on the table in front of Nicolae. Everyone else sat when David did, but Carpathia remained standing. The man seemed energized, his breath coming quickly in great gasps that whistled through his teeth. It was as if he were a football player caged in the locker room before kickoff of a championship game.
    “Gentlemen and ladies,” he began, “I have a new lease
    on life!”
    The room exploded with laughter, and when it waned, Nicolae was still laughing. “Trust me, there is nothing like waking from the dead!”
    The others nodded and smiled. David was aware of Security Chief Walter Moon’s gaze, so he offered a cursory nod.
    “Oh, I was dead, people, lest anyone wonder.” They shook their heads. “Mr. Fortunato, we should publish photographs from the autopsy, the coroner’s report, the rising itself. There will always be skeptics, but anyone who was there knows the truth.” “We know,” several said.
    David felt evil emanating so pervasively from Carpathia that he sat rigid and worried he might faint. Suddenly Nicolae faced him. “Director Hassid, you were there.” “I was, sir.”
    “You had a good view?” “Perfect, sir.”
    “You saw me rise from the dead.” “I’ll never deny it.”
    Carpathia chuckled warmly. He strode to his desk and stood behind the huge, stuffed, red leather chair. He caressed it, then massaged it deeply. “It is as if I am seeing this for the first time,” he said to twenty-four pairs of admiring eyes. “Leon, what is directly above my office?” “Why, nothing, sir. We are on eighteen, the