“Well?” Donaldson prompted impatiently.
The colonel’s obvious willingness to make an example out of Delroy almost broke his nerve. But he felt his father’s hard-used Bible in his hands. Leviticus 5:1 had been a favorite passage of Josiah Harte’s when he was talking to his congregation about the need and duty to bear witness to the works of the Lord. And if a soul sin, and hear the voice of swearing, and is a witness, whether he hath seen or known of it; if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity.
“I know how those people disappeared,” Delroy said in a voice that almost broke. He felt ashamed of himself. Here he was, testifying to the works of the Lord God, holding his own father’s Bible, and he acted as tremulous as a child.
“I’d like to hear this,” Colonel Donaldson said. “Especially since military intelligence doesn’t have a clue, even with all the technology they control at their fingertips.”
“The disappearance of those men wasn’t through technology, Colonel.” Delroy struggled, barely keeping his voice under control. “Their removal from this world was divine.”
Donaldson cursed. “They weren’t removed from this world. They were murdered, and—”
Delroy cut the Marine colonel off. “Not murdered. Sir.” He took a breath, barely able to maintain eye contact with the man. “Those people who have gone missing around the world, they were taken from this world by the hand of God.”
A rumble of conversation from the men in the C&C units filled the hallway.
“Chaplain!” Donaldson roared. “You’ll cease and desist announcements like that this instant!”
Mouth dry, heart beating frantically, Delroy said, “I can’t do that, sir. God insists that we bear witness to the miracles that He has wrought in our lives so that we might influence others to look within their own lives for works that He has done. If I don’t talk about this, I’ll be doing a disservice to God and to the men of this ship. I took an oath to serve the people I was responsible for, and from the looks of this ship and the fact that not everyone here was taken, I still have work to do.”
“You’re out of your mind,” Donaldson said hoarsely.
“No, sir,” Delroy disagreed. “I’ve just stopped hiding from the truth. God has shown me something and I am paying attention.”
No one spoke in the hallway. Delroy knew he had the ear of every man in the centers.
“Chaplain, I order you to return to your quarters,” Donaldson said. “You will remain under house arrest until such time as I—”
“No, sir,” Delroy replied.
Donaldson’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “Are you refusing the direct order of a superior officer, Chaplain Harte?”
“I have been,” Delroy admitted, “until today. But I won’t turn away from him anymore. Not when there are so many left behind that can be saved.”
“Chaplain—” Donaldson’s voice raised in obvious warning.
“The proof is right there in front of you, Colonel. You have but to open your eyes to see.” Delroy held his father’s Bible up before him. “I can show you chapter and verse where God made a covenant to return for his blessed chosen and reap them from this world.”
“Chaplain, I don’t know what you think you’re trying to prove, but—”
“I’m not trying to prove anything,” Delroy said. “I am trying to acknowledge the hand of God Almighty in the course of these events that have changed the face of the world in the last hour and a half.”
“Sergeant,” Donaldson said.
“Sir.”
“Arrest that man.”
“Yes, sir.” The sergeant started forward.
Delroy slapped the Bible against the young Marine’s chest, trapping his assault rifle there. “Don’t you dare,” the chaplain advised.
The Marine halted.
“God put me here today,” Delroy said, staring into the young man’s eyes, “to bear witness to what has truly happened because there are none so blind as those who will not see.” He looked over the sergeant’s shoulder at Donaldson. “I want you to listen to me, Colonel. Things are going to get much worse than you see now. The Antichrist will rise up now that the Rapture has taken place. He will rise up and fill the world with lies and treachery for seven years, and the souls of men will be tried as they have never been tried before.”
In an obviously practiced move, Donaldson drew the M9 pistol from the holster at his hip. The safety clicked off as the barrel centered on Delroy’s face. “Chaplain,” the Marine colonel said in a cold voice, “you’ll shut your mouth now or I’ll put a bullet through your face.”
Delroy stared death squarely in the eye and never blinked. He’d been in contact with it before. Each time he’d felt that always-present fear that he wouldn’t come back home alive, that he would be crippled for life. But now, staring down the muzzle of the M9, he felt calm and relaxed.
“Thirty-one percent of our crew is missing,” Delroy said. “More of them went missing in Turkey, and the survivors are stranded with the very armies they went in to save. Our world is hovering on the brink of a nuclear war between the United States and Russia. And you threaten to kill me?” The chaplain couldn’t help it; he laughed, and the sound rolled through the C&C areas. “Have you ever read Revelation, Colonel? Do you even know what’s in store for the world now that this has happened?”
Donaldson held the pistol rock steady.
“Threatening to kill me doesn’t scare me,” Delroy went on. “I was left behind after the Rapture. The only way to my salvation now is through God’s love and mercy. And if I can’t have those, dying now will be a lot simpler than struggling to live through the dark days that are coming.”
Cursing again, Donaldson shoved the sergeant away with his free hand and stood with the M9 held in a Weaver stance. “Disobeying a direct order from a commanding officer during a time that might be construed as wartime can get you
