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Vicki said.

4
    JUDD and Lionel met with Carl and found he had some of the latest gadgets and phones from the Co-op. “Sometimes they deliver supplies, food, and clothes, and other times they have stuff like this.” Carl held up a tiny phone about three inches square.
    â€œHow do you punch in the numbers on something that small?” Lionel said.
    â€œYou don’t. It’s all voice activated. And look at this.” Carl removed a soft plastic piece from the back of the phone and placed it in his ear. “You talk and listen through this without using your hands. You can look at the display to see who’s calling, but you never have to hold anything. Some are so small you can actually fix the transmitters to one of your teeth.”
    Carl handed Judd and Lionel separate phones and told them to put in the earpieces. “Now watch this. Intercom. Twenty-one. Twenty-two.”
    Instantly a tone sounded in Judd’s ear and Carl’s voice came through the tiny speaker. “You can communicate with anyone in the group at a moment’s notice from anywhere, as long as they have their earpiece in. With the heightened alert, we’re asking everyone to wear these at all times.”
    â€œAnd the intercom works how far?” Lionel said.
    â€œThe technology is global, so you could be anywhere in the world and still talk to each other without ever dialing.”
    â€œIf you can spare some of these, I’d like to take them to Wisconsin with me.”
    â€œJust tell me how many you need,” Carl said.
    The group talked excitedly over meals about their next move. Some took turns at the computer typing out suggestions, while others used pen and paper.
    Luke coordinated lookout assignments. One man was a carpenter and had built a small observation tower atop the plantation house accessed through an upstairs room. The land was flat, and anyone could see clearly with the help of high-powered binoculars.
    Judd and Lionel took a four-hour shift in the tower the next afternoon, and Judd used the time to call Vicki. He told her about the group and that their trip north was on hold until they heard from Chang Wong. Vicki said she understood, but Judd could hear the disappointment in her voice.
    â€œThere’s something I haven’t told you,” Vicki said. “When the angel Anak warned us to leave Colin Dial’s house, he also said something that’s been bothering me.”
    â€œWhat did he say?”
    Judd heard pages flipping. “I want to get this right. Here it is. Just before he disappeared, he stood right next to me and said, ‘You will see your friends again before the glorious appearing of the King of kings and Lord of lords. But one you love will see much pain and will not return whole.’ What do you think that means?”
    â€œYou think he was talking about me?”
    â€œI don’t know. I guess somehow the angel knows about us.” Vicki paused. “But I don’t know if he meant love in the regular way or the special kind of love … I have for you.”
    â€œMaybe it’s some kind of warning. Or that could have been fulfilled when Tom hurt his leg. If the infection gets worse, there’s a chance he could lose it.”
    â€œYeah, it could be, but I had the impression he meant somebody in our original group.”
    After Judd said good-bye, Lionel put the binoculars down. “What’s your gut feeling?”
    â€œI honestly don’t know if we should try to move now or wait and—”
    â€œNot about that, about Vicki. What’s going to happen with you two?”
    Judd looked out the tower window. In the distance he saw the river moving peacefully through the countryside. Large trees dotted the unused fields toward the south. He could imagine a hundred people working them, hot and sweaty, harvesting, planting, tilling the soil. He turned to Lionel. “You know me as well as anybody. What do you