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!'
'Because I don't believe you are human anymore, and you could do it faster than my team on its best day.' 'Only God bestows such wisdom, Director.' 'I believe I am in his presence, Potentate.' Nicolae smiled. 'I believe you are too.' He turned and gestured to all. 'When I lay there dead for three days, my spirit was so strong and powerful that I knew, I knew, I knew my time would come. When death had enjoyed victory over me long enough, I willed myself to live again. I raised myself, people. I raised myself back to life.'
A murmur filled the room as the men and women approved aloud and pressed their hands together as if praying to him or worshiping him.
Nicolae picked up the Bible in what seemed to David a loving manner. 'You may wonder what this is doing here,' he said. He opened it and let it plop spine first onto the table. 'This is the playbook of those who oppose me. This is the holy book of those who do not recognize me and who will not, despite what they saw with their own eyes.' He slammed a fist onto the book. 'This holds the lies about the chosen people of God and the supreme lie that there is one above me.' His team, save one, murmured disapproval. Carpathia stood back from the end of the table and folded his arms, legs spread. 'We shall use their very blueprint to bring them to their knees. The Jews who worship their coming Messiah in their own Holy Land, in their beloved city where they deigned slay me. I shall return there triumphant, and they will have one opportunity to repent and see the light.
'And the Judah-ites, who believe Messiah already came and went, who believe Jesus is their Savior-and whom I see nowhere; do you?-also trace their heritage to Jerusalem. If they want to see the true and living god, let them journey there, for that is where I shall soon be. If the sacred temple is the residence of the most high God, then the most high god shall reside there, high on the throne.
'In the city where they slew me, they shall see me, high and lifted up.'
Many directors raised fists of victory and encouragement.
'Now, some plans. As I have left no doubt in any thinking person's mind about who I am, I no longer feel the need for a buffer between my team and me. While my dear comrade, Supreme Commander Leon Fortunato, has ably assisted me since first I came to power, I have need of him now in another crucial role, one he has already accepted with enthusiasm. What was once nobly attempted and ultimately failed shall now be consummated in success and victory.
'The Enigma Babylon One World Faith failed because, despite its lofty goal of unifying the world's religions, it worshiped no god but itself. It was devoted to unity, yet that was never achieved. Its god was nebulous and impersonal. But with Leon Fortunato as Most High Reverend Father of Carpathianism, the devout of the world finally have a personal god whose might and power and glory have been demonstrated in the raising, of himself, from the dead!'
Many applauded and Carpathia motioned to Leon to rise and speak as he himself backed away but remained standing.
'I am deeply humbled by this assignment,' Leon said, moving to Nicolae, dropping to his knees, and kissing the potentate's hands. He rose and moved back to the head of the table. 'Let me clarify, not that His Excellency needs any help from a mere mortal, that the very name of the new religion was my idea. It was no stroke of brilliance. What else could we call a faith in which the object of our worship is His Excellency?
'The outpouring of emotion from the citizens this very day spurred the idea that we should reproduce the image of His Excellency, the great statue, and erect it in all the major cities throughout the world. Plans have already been sent out, and each city is required to have the image constructed. They will be only a quarter of the size of the original, which as you know, is four times life-size. It doesn't take a scientist to figure out, then, that the replicas will be exactly life-size.
'While our beloved potentate lay dead, he imbued me with power to call fire from the sky to kill those who
