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chauffeur for my
triumphal entry. Citizens are already lining the roadway to greet me, and I
thank you for your support. "
Mac hurried into position where he could get a look at the Humvee and the
motorcade of military vehicles following it. He stood on a rise on the west
side, where he could see the parading army that extended to the horizon. As
the procession neared the city, he could hear drums and trumpets, and if he
was not mistaken, even from that distance, the royal Humvee looked a mess.
Rayford had told him it had been sloshing through the blood in the Valley of
Megiddo, but apparently no one had reminded the potentate to get it cleaned.
When it came into view, Mac's suspicions were confirmed. It was ringed with
mud and blood to the windows. But sure enough, civilians lined the roadway on
either side, cheering, waving, clapping, saluting, and throwing flowers.
Carpathia opened the moonroof, stood on the front seat, and appeared in the
open air, waving with both hands and blowing kisses.
Enjoy it while it lasts, pal.
"Mac, do you see us?" Rayford radioed over the secure frequency.
"No. Where are you?"
"Third row, behind the Humvee."
"Nobody cares?"
"It's as if they don't even see us."
"What's the plan?"
"As the Humvee reaches Jaffa Road, it will head for the Jaffa Gate, along with
a third of the fighting force. The other two-thirds will split off north and
south, surrounding the Old City. Once everyone is in place, Carpathia will
lead the charge through the occupied Armenian and Jewish
Quarters to the Temple Mount. They plan to batter through the Western Wall and
overtake the rebels. "
"Plan to."
"Exactly."
Mac finally spotted Rayford and Abdullah's Hummer and was struck by how much
it looked like it belonged in the procession. As the cavalcade approached
Jaffa Road, Mac began jogging that way, hoping to catch up with his friends
when they peeled away from the group.
The cheering crowds grew larger as the cars neared the Old City, and as they
slowed, the marching band caught up, its music blaring and drums pounding. Mac
was reminded of Memorial
Day parades as a child when his father had hoisted him on his shoulders and he
had thrilled to the rat-a-tat-tat of the snares and the thumping undercurrent
of the big bass drums. Back then, of course, he never heard "Hail Carpathia."
The music had stirred the crowd to a fever pitch, and the army that followed
was clearly something unlike any of them, loyalists or rebels, had ever seen.
There would not be room in the
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Old City for a fraction of the force. Mac wondered how even Carpathia and the
rest of the rolling stock were going to navigate the narrow cobblestone
streets.
"I've been wondering the same thing, Mac," Rayford said. "This is some
festival, eh?"
"Ridiculous!"
"Frankly, I love it, " Rayford said. "The more and the louder the better. "
"I don't follow."
"The more pomp and circumstance, the greater the humiliation later."
"Well, that's for sure."
"You find us yet, Mac?"
"I'm headin' your way. When you gonna split off?"
"We're not."
"You're not? What? You're gonna go paradin' into the Old City with Carpathia?"
"Why not? See if you can get in."
"Unlikely."
"Try."
Mac caught up to the parade and had to wonder what all the extra troops were
for. The same contingent of soldiers that had been there when he had
discovered Buck was more than enough to get the job done from a human
standpoint. If they couldn't do it, the rest wouldn't help.
Fortunato steered the wide Humvee through Jaffa Gate, and almost immediately
the folly of their plan became clear. There simply wasn't room for the rolling
stock to proceed to the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. In his earpiece Mac
heard Nicolae trying to enlist engineers to bring in heavy equipment and knock
down buildings and walls en route. When told that would take hours, he
exploded, swearing and demanding to know who told him his parade through the
Old City had been a capital idea.
"Leave the cars where they are!" he announced. "I shall lead the rest of the
attack on horseback. "
Mac was close enough now to see Carpathia sneak a peek at the sky. Jesus was
not there at the moment, and neither was His heavenly army. Mac thought this
unnerved Carpathia more than if
He'd been there.
Aides immediately attended to Carpathia when he emerged from the Humvee. He
straightened his leathers, which seemed no worse for wear since he had not
left the vehicle during the debacle at
Armageddon. Nicolae also repositioned his garish sword.
But when Fortunato got out, he was wearing plain civilian clothes that made
him appear to be on his way to a workday for a local community service club.
"Get the reverend a proper uniform and something to clean his face and hair,"
Carpathia ordered.
Someone ran off, returning presently. "Biggest we have," the man said, handing
the folded clothes and a wet towel to Fortunato, who gave him a look that
would lift roadkill off asphalt. "Sorry, " the man whispered. "Biggest we
have."
"You can change in the cathedral, " someone else told Leon, and he hurried off
with a couple of aides. Meanwhile, more generals and hangers-on and toadies
surrounded Carpathia, who asked that they make room for the photographers and
TV camera crews.
When Leon returned in the too-short, too-tight Unity Army getup, he looked
like Sergeant Garcia trying to fit into Zorro's costume. He had tried to
religious-ize the outfit by hanging around his neck a large gold chain with
216 dangling from it.
It was all Mac could do to keep a straight face. He fell into step with
Rayford and Abdullah as they approached from their vehicle. They had begun to
draw a few stares, though fortunately not from anyone who cared enough to ask
questions. All three wore caps pulled low over their foreheads, but without
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proper uniforms they couldn't pass for Unity Army personnel. "We'd better
split up, eh, Cap?" Mac said. "I guess. Smitty, you go north. Mac, south. Meet
you outside the
Eastern Wall at the Golden Gate when this is all over."
Chaim felt the tingle of anticipation as the remnant fell into place at a high
point on the western slope overlooking Jerusalem. It still seemed
disconcerting not to see Jesus above them, but he knew the Lord knew best.
Antichrist had been crowing about luring the Son of God into his trap, when it
was clear to Chaim that the opposite had happened. Carpathia had to have read
the Bible. He had to know all this was prophesied. He even had to know the
predicted outcome. Yet he brazenly came to the very spot he was supposed to,
and in spite of the mass execution of his troops in three other
confrontations, he still had the gall to believe he would prevail.
This was going to be something to see, and Chaim wanted to say so to the
assembled. He had no means to address them all at once, and from looking at
those around him, he knew there was nothing they needed to be told. They, like
he, looked on with great expectancy.
Ride on, King Jesus!
FIFTEEN
RAYFORD WAS CLOSE enough behind Nicolae that he heard him ask a woman general,
"What is our equestrian strength?"
She checked via radio and reported, "Excellency, of more than a million
soldiers, a little more than a tenth are on horseback. "
"Call for as many steeds as we need to get the first wave to the Western Wall,
and order Reverend
Fortunate and me appropriate mounts. " [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]