Buck wanted to say he had seen it and that was not the way it had happened, but he waited.
"None of it made sense," Rosenzweig whined. "None of it. But the eyes don't lie. Stonagal grabbed the gun from the security guard, shot himself and his colleague with him."
"No, Chaim," Buck whispered. "The eyes don't lie. But the Antichrist does."
Rosenzweig began to shiver until his whole body shook. He pressed his hands against his tender face to stop the quivering of his lips. "Why were you not there, Cameron?"
"Why would I not have been there, sir? What could have kept me away?"
"I cannot imagine!"
"Neither could I."
"Then why? Why?"
Buck did not respond. He had quit trying to convince the old man. "I was assigned to be there; my boss expected me to go."
"Yes, yes!"
"It was the mother of all cover stories for the largest circulation magazine in history. It was the apex of my career. Would I have thrown that away?"
Rosenzweig shook his head, tears falling, hands trembling. "You would not."
"Of course I wouldn't. Who would?" "Maybe you had come to believe Nicolae was Antichrist and you didn't want to be exposed to him?" "By then I knew, yes, or I thought I did. I would not have gone in there without the protection of God." "And you did not have it?" "I had it."
"And so why not go? You would have been the only one there with God's hand upon you."
Buck merely nodded. Rosenzweig's eyes cleared, and it appeared he was studying something a thousand miles away. His pupils darted back and forth. "You were there!"
"Yes, I was."
"You were there, weren't you, Cameron?"
"I was, sir." "And you saw it all!" '"'"I saw everything."
"But you did not see what the rest of us saw." "I saw what really happened. I saw the truth." Chaim' s hands fluttered beside his head, and through clenched teeth he described what he had once seen and what he now saw anew. "Nicolae! Nicolae murdered those men! He made Stonagal kneel before him, stuck the weapon in the man's ear, and killed the both of them with one shot!"
"That's what happened."
"But Nicolae told us what we had seen, told us what we would remember, and our perception became our reality!"
Chaim turned around and knelt, resting his fragile head in his hands, elbows on the seat of his chair. "Oh, God, oh, God," he prayed, "open my eyes. Help me to always see the truth, your truth. Don't let me be led by a madman, deceived by a liar. Thank you, Jehovah God."
Slowly he stood and embraced Buck, then turned to face Tsion. "Truly Nicolae is Antichrist," he said. "He must be stopped. I want to do whatever I have to do."
Tsion smiled ruefully. "May I remind you that you already tried?"
"I certainly did, but not for the reasons I would try today."
"If you think you know the depths of the 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 top floor."
"No utility room, no elevator-maintenance area?"
"Nothing, sir."
"I want more room, Leon. Are you taking notes?"
"Yes, sir." L "What do you have so far?" "Autopsy photos, coroner's report, the rising." "Add the expansion of my office. I want it twice as high, with a transparent ceiling that exposes me to the heavens."
"Consider it done, Excellency." "How soon?" Carpathia said. "Who would know that?" Fortunato pointed at the construction director, who waved a tentative hand. "Yes, sir," Nicolae pressed, "and may I assume this would be top priority?"
"You bet your life," the man said, and Carpathia nearly collapsed in laughter.
"Let me tell you something, Director. I know you must displace me for a few days because of the mess it will be to raze and raise this ceiling. But I want this done as fast as humanly possible, and do you know why?" "I have an idea, sir." "Do you?" The man nodded. "By all means, let us hear it!"