Shaken (25 page)

Carl watched the control room on his monitor and listened closely for anyone moving outside his own satellite truck. He wanted to give Vicki one more chance on the air.

A phone rang in the control room. “We didn't put her on!” the engineer yelled. When he hung up, he said, “Here's the scoop. Headquarters says a Morale Monitor in Illinois recognized this Vicki B. character. She's one of those Ben-Judah followers.”

“How could she hack into our satellite?”

“She stole a sat truck in Illinois.”

“But that still doesn't explain—”

“Look, I don't know!” the engineer said as he checked connections and wires. “That's what we have to figure out.”

“Maybe she really is in Israel and they're tapping in from there.”

The engineer shook his head. “She stole the thing in Illinois. You think they floated to Israel?”

“Better call Meninger.”

“Yeah, Carl will trace it.”

Carl's cell phone beeped. He let the engineer leave a message. “Things are getting hot down here,” Carl said to the kids. “We've got one more chance. Let's roll.”

“Now?” Mark said. “In the middle of Damosa's speech?”

“Right now.”

Vicki took her place and watched Dr. Damosa walk back and forth on the dove stage. “Peace comes with a price, and that price must be paid by those who enjoy it. There are some of you who think what I'm saying doesn't apply to you. You just want the band to come back. That's okay. I want to hear them again too.”

Damosa paused for dramatic effect, and the camera zoomed out. It panned the crowd and got tight shots of those in attendance.

“If you want peace, you must commit to it. You can't
say
you follow the Global Community or that you
like
Potentate Carpathia. You must join us.”

Conrad held up a hand, then pointed to Vicki. The screen switched from the stadium to Vicki. “Go!”

“Hi, it's Vicki B. again. Sorry to have to break into Dr. Damosa's speech, but he's making a good point. If you want to be part of something, you've got to do more than just talk about it. That's what I want to challenge you to do right now.”

Conrad hit a button, and on the bottom of the screen flashed the kids' Web site, “
www.theundergroundonline.com
.”

“I told you earlier how many of the Bible's predictions have come true. If you read Tsion Ben-Judah's words on our Web site, you'll see this 't some loony guy looking for attention. If you're skeptical, read it.”

Vicki stood and leaned against a table. Mark zoomed in tight on Vicki's face. “But many of you know the stuff the Global Community is throwing at you is hollow. You don't have peace with God. Every time something terrible happens—an earthquake, stinging locusts, meteors, whatever—you're scared. You're afraid you might be the next one whose name shows up on the death list.

“I want you to know you don't have to be scared. You don't have to be afraid that God's going to zap you. You can have real peace with him today.

“Dr. Damosa was right about there being a cost to peace. It cost God the death of his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus gave his life as a sacrifice for you and me, so that we could be forgiven and made right with God. If you want to commit your life to a peace that will be in your heart and will last not only a lifetime, but even after you die, you should pray with me right now.”

Lionel watched people outside the stadium talking and calling for the return of The Four Horsemen. But when Vicki started her message, they became quiet.

“I think this girl is one of the Judah-ites,” someone nearby said.

“Shut up,” someone else said. “I want to hear this.”

Carl watched the control room closely as Vicki continued her prayer. The engineer and others frantically searched the room.

“Where's Meninger?” the engineer screamed.

Carl turned down his monitors and dialed the control room. “I got your message. What's up?”

“Get in here now! Somebody's pirated our signal, and we can't find the source.”

“What!?”

“It's the Judah-ites. Instead of the live feed from Jerusalem, we've got some girl praying.”

Another phone rang. “It's Damosa!” someone screamed.

“How soon can you get here, Carl?”

Carl noticed Vicki was about to end her prayer. She looked at the camera, smiled, then gave the Web site address again.

“There's no time,” Carl said. “Cut the main power grid for the entire facility. That'll cut out the satellite feed, but it'll also cut off the girl. I'll be there as soon as I can. ” Lionel heard Vicki's last words before the screen went blank. Sam looked at him and said, “Incredible.”

A boy about Sam's age walked up and stared. “Why do you guys have that funny looking thing on your foreheads?”

23

VICKI
collapsed in a chair and sighed. Conrad smiled and nodded at her. “Told you.”

“What?” Vicki said.

“That you'd be even better live.”

Janie ran in. “You were awesome!”

Lenore carried Tolan in and hugged Vicki. “God used you today, young lady. He was bringing people to himself through you.”

Vicki wiped sweat from her forehead. “I was really nervous when I thought of all those people watching. Then I remembered my speech teacher. She said I should focus on one person and talk to him. So I pictured somebody sitting there by the camera.”

“Who?” Lenore said.

“You don't know him. His name was Ryan Daley. He was one of the original members of the Young Trib Force who died in the wrath of the Lamb earthquake.”

After Vicki's transmission had been cut, Lionel and Sam wandered into the stadium to see if they could find any more new believers. When they reached the top of the runway, the lights went out and The Four Horsemen came back onstage. As fire flashed behind the group, Lionel scanned the crowd. Every few rows he saw kids with the mark of the believer. As the music began, many of them made their way out of the stadium.

“Come on,” Lionel said. As new believers filed out, Lionel and Sam handed them invitations to General Zimmerman's home. Sam and Lionel split up as more believers left the concert.

“How did you know I'd prayed that prayer?” one girl asked Lionel.

He pointed to his forehead and explained the mark. The girl said she was going right home to look up the Web site of the Young Tribulation Force.

When Sam and Lionel finally got back together, they had both run out of flyers. Sam said he had written the General's address on scraps of paper and even on people's hands. “I lost count at about seventy.”

“I talked to around a hundred,” Lionel said.

The music still rocked the stadium. Lionel and Sam headed back to give the others the good news.

Vicki wanted to thank Carl for his work, but he didn't answer his phone. The kids gathered to watch a recording of Vicki's message, but Mark interrupted and called everyone upstairs.

Lionel and his friend Sam were on the computer screen when Vicki walked into the room. When they spotted her, they clapped. Judd was in the background giving her a thumbs-up.

“I don't know how you did that, but it was beautiful!” Lionel said. He explained what had happened outside the stadium after her broadcast. “We didn't see any believers beforehand, but we counted almost two hundred coming out of the stadium.”

“And think of all the other locations that aired you,” Sam said.

“You'd better get ready for a lot of hits on the Web site,” Lionel said.

“I'm behind on one of Tsion's letters,” Mark said. “If somebody else can handle that, I'll write something for people who prayed today.”

“Call it the Vicki B. File,” Lionel said.

Vicki smiled. “I'll take a shot at Tsion's letter, if that's okay.”

Mark agreed, and Lionel and Sam said good-bye. Judd stepped closer to the camera. “Wish I could have seen you tonight, Vick. Sounds like a pretty good show.”

“It was a team effort. What's up with you?”

Judd gave the kids an update on General Zimmerman and Mr. Stein's meetings. “Hopefully a lot of kids who saw the broadcast will come.”

“Anything we can pray about?” Conrad said.

Judd hesitated. “There is something. A believer I know is about to get into trouble.”

“With the GC?” Conrad said.

“Yeah. And it could put the rest of us in a tight spot. Pray that I'll know what to do when the time comes.”

All the kids said they would pray. Tolan toddled into the room and waved at Judd on the camera. Everyone laughed.

Vicki went to her room to read the letter from Tsion Ben-Judah. Vicki loved everything Tsion wrote. This letter dealt with the Global Gala that was coming up quickly. Vicki shook her head. With all the death and grief in the world, Nicolae Carpathia wanted to throw a party.

Tsion said he would not attend the Global Gala, even though he had been invited as an international statesman.
An earthquake is prophesied that will wipe out a tenth of that city,
Tsion had written.