House of Acerbi

dried paint along the edges of the window frame and pushed again. Slowly, the window began to inch open, but just barely.

The doorknob began to turn. So much for Martha stalling them. She pushed again with all of her strength until finally she had the window open just enough for her to squeeze through.

A knock on the door. A man’s voice. “Miss Adams, could you please come out here for a moment? We’d like to have a word with you.”

“Just a moment, please. I’m changing clothes.” Without hesitating, Sarah lifted herself up and squeezed her body through the half-open window. Landing in a flower bed next to the pool, she crouched down behind some bushes and looked around. Surrounding the pool, she saw a short iron fence topped with pointed spikes, and in the distance, across a football-sized field, she could see the thick woods the gardener had warned her about.

She began to run. She ran as fast as she could until she reached the short fence. Looking around, she climbed on top of a lounge chair and threw herself over the fence, barely clearing the iron spikes. Landing on her feet, she kept running across the open field toward the thick woods. To hell with the bees, she thought. I can handle bees!

Sarah heard the unmistakable bark of a large dog. It wasn’t close, but it wasn’t very far away either. Afraid of what she might see, she didn’t look back as she thrust herself into the woods and ran for her life. Pushing against low branches, she let them snap back into place behind her as she ran. The underbrush was growing thicker. It was as if the trees themselves were trying to grab her, wanting to hold her back as she tried to run.

Sarah heard the bark of the dog again. Was it closer this time? She heard voices, then shouts. “There she is!” she heard a voice call out.

Blood was now running from several small cuts on both arms as she continued to struggle through underbrush that was growing thicker. There must be another way!

With a final lunge, Sarah pushed as hard as she could and fell forward into a pile of leaves. She blinked as she sat up and looked around. She was lying in the open next to a paved road that ran through the middle of the woods. A road! Lifting herself up, she began to run. She stayed next to the road and began to run faster in an effort to make it around a bend ahead. The men chasing her had to be close, and she didn’t want them to catch sight of her.

Then she heard it. The unmistakable sound of a car approaching from behind. She didn’t look back as she kept running. Oh God, it was right behind her-it was keeping pace.

Exhausted, confused, and bloody from the scrapes on her face and arms, Sarah slowed and finally stopped. She eyed the thick woods off to her left and sighed before she turned around and saw a dilapidated old truck idling on the road behind her. Sarah breathed in deeply and remained motionless. The rusty truck’s gears ground as the driver shifted into drive and drove up beside her. Peering inside, she saw the old gardener behind the wheel, and Martha was sitting beside him.

“Get in Sarah!” Martha shouted. “We don’t have much time!”

CHAPTER 30

It was well after midnight when the Carmela dropped anchor in the deep blue water off the coast of France near the mouth of the fast-flowing Aude River. As Lev and the captain had predicted, their departure from the Spanish harbor after dark had been uneventful. Short on manpower and tasked mainly with stopping new arrivals, the Spanish Navy had decided not to concern themselves with boats trying to leave, thus allowing the Carmela to slip past the harbor entrance without interference.

Down in the yacht’s grand salon, almost everyone onboard was watching CNN via satellite. All across the globe, in every city, town, and village, people had gathered around their televisions to watch the latest news on the spread of the pathogen and the efforts to bring the epidemic to a halt. They sat in their homes and waited, because in truth, there was nothing else they could do. Their fate was out of their hands, and those who believed in God were praying for deliverance.

In the United States, where millions had already succumbed to the virus, the President was in the Oval Office preparing to address the nation. He was sitting behind the familiar Resolution Desk, the same desk used by President Roosevelt during the Great Depression and World War II-the same desk used by Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis-and as the President looked down at its polished but nicked surface, he was struck by the fact that the word resolution had been an appropriate moniker for a desk used by the leader of the free world. So, it was with a sense of resolution that the President now faced a row of cameras, waiting for his cue to begin speaking.

In small towns across the country, people had come together to form little islands of safety across a land filled with terror. In these areas, the rule of law had prevailed, and people shared and sacrificed for the sake of their neighbors. In other areas, mostly urban, panic and lawlessness had begun to rule the streets as the people fought for food and supplies while trying to protect their families from marauding bands of thugs who crawled from their dens to take advantage of the grim situation. Waiting for the President to speak, people from coast to coast gathered behind locked doors, hoping against hope that he was about to announce the crisis was nearing an end and that life would soon return to normal.

When at last the gray-haired image of the President appeared, he looked tired and defeated. Peering into the camera with a blank expression, he began to speak in a halting monotone.

Good evening. Tonight … as I speak to each and every one of you … it is with great sorrow. As many of you undoubtedly already know, a deadly virus is now spreading across our nation. Because of the sheer number of victims, our ability to ensure that you receive the best medical care, along with other basic services such as food, power, and clean drinking water, has been greatly diminished by the enormity of a crisis that no one could have imagined.

Many experts, both at the Centers for Disease Control and at many of our finest medical institutions, believe that, for the most part, the virus has run its course. For the past several hours, reports of new cases have begun to dwindle, but the cost in human lives and suffering has been staggering in its magnitude.

America is not the only country experiencing this plague against mankind. It has circled the globe and has affected almost every country on earth. Nowhere in the world is safe from this disease. For years now, we have feared that the day would come when a deadly epidemic like this would suddenly appear, leaving millions of victims in its path. Tonight, I am deeply saddened to announce that day has arrived.

Over the next twenty-four hours, I will be meeting with other world leaders to discuss our options for the future in the wake of this terrible assault against humanity. Something must be done to prevent something like this from ever happening again, and it is to that end that the world must come together as a single unified force for the survival of our species. For now, I can assure you that your government is doing everything in its power to bring aid and comfort to those in need. Please, for everyone’s sake, try to remain in your homes, and above all, let calm and reason dictate your actions. Thank you, goodnight, and may God bless America.

Onboard the Carmela, those going ashore turned away from their TV screens and began making preparations. Some of them had mixed emotions about leaving the yacht. For many, it was their home, a place of safety away from a world in turmoil. A few still believed that going ashore was foolhardy, while others saw the wisdom of it in the face of dwindling supplies.

Standing on the top deck next to the helicopter, Leo and Moshe felt the stiffening breeze on their faces as they looked out at the lights along the French coast.

“Beautiful night, isn’t it, Cardinal?”

“Yes. Everything looks so normal from here. Have we been able to communicate with the farm?”

“The compound has a state-of-the-art command center modeled after the new Mossad communications facility in Tel Aviv. They can talk to anyone, anytime, anywhere. We can even monitor images in real time anywhere in the world using satellites that belong to other countries.”

“Isn’t that kind of like a government thing?” Leo asked. “I mean, what do the French have to say about having a facility like that in their country?”