her for so long that Hannah finally said, 'OK?'
David shook his head. 'I want to stand.'
'You shouldn't.'
'Help me.'
She pushed the IV stand around the chair so it was next to him. 'Use that to brace yourself. If the room starts to spin, sit again.'
'Starts?'
She locked the wheels and put a hand on his back, guiding as he rose. He pushed with his left hand on the arm of the chair and pulled with his right on the stand. Finally, up and wobbly, Hannah's hand still on his back, David cupped Annie's cheek with his free hand. Despite the cool rigidity, he imagined she could feel his caress. In spite of himself, he leaned over her until he could see past where a tuft of hair had been pushed up in front. Behind that was a silver dollar-sized hole that exposed her brain.
David shook his head and carefully sat again. He didn't want to think what a lightning bolt through her body would have done to vital organs. He now believed Hannah that Annie never would have known what hit her.
Hannah pulled David's chair and left him at the foot of the bed. He sat with his head in his hands, unable to produce more tears. He heard Hannah rearranging the sheet and carefully re-covering Annie, almost as if she were still alive, and it struck him as sweet and thoughtful.
As she wheeled him out, he whispered his thanks.
'I wish I had known her,' Hannah said.
Rayford had briefed Buck and Chloe and Tsion the night before, so when a phone woke him at dawn in Montana, he assumed it was one of them. As he reached to answer, however, it was not his cell but the room phone. He had not given out that number, so who would be calling? The desk? Was someone onto them? Should he identify himself as Rayford Steele or Marvin Berry? Neither, he decided. 'Hello?' 'Ray,' Hattie said, 'it's me. I'm awake, I'm up, I'm starved, and I want to get going. You?'
He groaned and glanced at the other bed. Albie was sound asleep. 'You're a little too chipper for me,' he said. 'I'm asleep, I'm in bed, I'm not hungry, and there's no sense leaving so early that we get to Kankakee before dark. 'We can't go to the safe house until after that anyway.'
'Oh, Rayford! C'mon! I'm bored. And I'm dead, remember? I need a new identity, but I'm as free as I've been in years, thanks to you! How 'bout some breakfast?' 'We can't be too obvious or public.' 'Are you going to go back to sleep, really?' 'Back? I never woke up.'
'Seriously.'
'No, I probably won't. Someone in the next room is up banging around anyway.'
She knocked on the wall. 'And I'll keep banging until I get company for breakfast.'
'All right, dead girl. Give me twenty minutes.'
'I'll be outside your door in fifteen.'
'Then you'll be waiting five.'
Rayford was glad his showering and dressing hadn't wakened Albie. He peeked out the window and saw nothing and no one. Out the peephole in the door he saw Hattie stretching in the sun, just beyond the shadow caused by the second-floor walkway. He peeked through the curtain. The place was otherwise deserted.
Rayford stepped out, and Hattie nearly lunged at him. 'Let me see, let me see!' she said, staring at him. 'I can see yours!' she said. 'That means you can see mine! Can you?'
His eyes were still adjusting to the sun, but as she pulled him out of the shadow by the door, it hit him. His knees buckled and he almost fell. 'Oh, Hattie!' he said, reaching for her. She leaped into his arms and squeezed him around the neck so hard he finally had to push her away so he could breathe.
'Does mine look like yours?' she said.
He laughed. 'How would I know? We can't see our own. But yours looks like every other one I've seen. This is worth waking Albie for.'
'Is he decent?'
'Sure. Why?'
'Let me.'
Rayford unlocked the door and Hattie burst in. 'Albie, wake up, sleepyhead!'
He didn't stir.
She sat on the bed next to him and bounced. He groaned.
'C'mon, Albie! The day is young!'
'What?' he said, sitting up. 'What's wrong?'
'Nothing will ever be wrong again!' she said, taking his face in her hands and pointing his bleary eyes toward her. 'I'm just showing off my mark!'
NINE
Buck awoke at dawn and made the rounds, checking on everyone. He smiled at Zeke's domain and was grateful it was private. Zeke had worked until after midnight arranging his area, getting his computer and other equipment set up. Zeke snored loudly, but when Buck peeked in, he found Zeke on the floor next to his bed. Each to his own.
Lean's door was shut and locked. She had been up late on a call from Ming Toy, who had returned to Buffer frantic about her parents' staying in New Babylon until her brother could find a position with the GC.
Chloe had been on her computer until after Kenny was in bed, coordinating the international co-op. She urged the tens of thousands of members to watch for Tsion's next missive, wherein he planned to discuss the importance of their readiness when the buying/selling edict would go into effect. He would also be asking volunteer pilots and drivers to bring small planes and vehicles into Israel for a secret mission.
The only other two Trib Force members were awake and working. Chaim was hunched over a stack of books, several of them open, assigned by Tsion. He looked up with twinkling eyes when Buck poked his head in. Buck seemed to understand his constricted speech better than the others.
'Miss Rose, the redhead,' Chaim said. 'Leah.'
'Yes, she is a trained nurse, you know.' Buck nodded.
'She tells me she can remove the wires when I am ready. Well, I am more than ready. A man my age cannot lose this much weight this fast. And I want to be able to speak clearly!'
'How is everything else?'
'On my body, you mean? I am an old man. I've survived a plane crash. I should complain? Cameron, this building is a gift from God! What a luxury! If we have to live in exile, this is where to live. And what young Tsion has given me to read, well… I call him young because he was once my student, but you knew that. There are times, Cameron, when the Scriptures are like an ugly mirror to me, showing me again and again my bankrupt soul. But then I rejoice at the redemption, my redemption! The story of God, the history of his people, it is all coming alive to me before my eyes.' 'Did you remember to eat?'
'I don't eat. I drink. Agh! But yes, thank you for asking. I am now drinking in the truth of God.'
'Carry on.'
'Oh, I will! Tsion was looking for you, by the way. Did he find you?'
'No. I'm on my way to him now.'
Buck moved up a floor and found Dr. Ben-Judah with his fingers flying over the computer keyboard. He didn't want to disturb him, but the rabbi must have heard him. Without looking up or slowing, he said, 'Cameron, is that you? So much to do. I shall be busy all the day, I fear. Dark as the days are, my joy is complete. Prophecy comes alive by the minute. Did you see what Master Zeke did for me? A precious lad!'
Buck looked again. Tsion had not only a main computer but also two laptops networked to it on each side. 'No more switching back and forth between programs,' Tsion sang out. 'Bibles on one, commentaries on the other. And I am writing to my people in the middle!'
'Glad to get back to it?'
'You cannot imagine.'
