Soul Harvest: The World Takes Sides Read Online Free PDF Page B

they are reunited with their child.”
    “What do you think I ought to do about the briefcase?” Buck asked.
    “Do about it?”
    “Donny must have something very important in there. I saw him with it constantly. But I don’t know the combinations. Should I leave it alone?”
    Tsion seemed in deep thought. Finally he said, “At a time like this you must decide if there is something in there that might further the cause of Christ.
    The young man would want you to have access to it. Should you break into it and find only personal things, it would be only right to maintain his privacy.”
    Tsion and Buck clambered out of the Rover. As soon as they had tossed their tools over the wall and climbed over, Tsion said, “Buck! Where is Chloe’s car?”

THREE
    Rayford could not swear to the credibility of Mac McCullum. All he knew was that the freckled, twice-divorced man had just turned fifty and had never had kids.
    He was a careful and able aviator, facile with various types of aircraft, having flown both militarily and commercially.
    Mac had proved a friendly, interested listener, earthy in expression. They had not known each other long enough for Rayford to expect him to be more forthcoming. Though he seemed a bright and engaging guy, their limited relationship had involved only surface cordiality. Mac knew Rayford was a believer; Rayford hid that from no one. But Mac had never shown the slightest interest in the matter. Until now.
    Paramount in Rayford’s mind was what not to say. Mac had finally expressed frustration over Carpathia, going so far as to allow that he was up to no good.
    But what if Mac was a subversive, working for Carpathia as more than a pilot?
    What a way to entrap Rayford. Dare he both share his faith with Mac and reveal all that he and the Tribulation Force knew about Carpathia? And what of the bugging device built into the Condor 216? Even if Mac expressed an interest in Christ, Rayford would keep that volatile secret until he was sure Mac was not a fake.
    Mac turned off everything on the chopper except auxiliary power that kept the control panel lights and radio on. All Rayford could see across the expanse of inky desert was moon and stars. If he hadn’t known better, he might have been persuaded that the little craft was drifting along on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean.
    “Mac,” Rayford said, “tell me about the shelter. What does it look like? And how did Carpathia know he needed it?”
    “I don’t know,” Mac said. “Maybe it was a security blanket in case one or more of his ambassadors turned on him again. It’s deep, it’s concrete, and it’ll protect him from radiation. And I’ll tell you one more thing: It’s plenty big enough for the 216.”
    Rayford was dumbfounded. “The 216? I left that at the end of the long runway in New Babylon.”
    “And I was assigned to move it early this morning.”
    “Move it where?”
    “Didn’t you ask me just the other day about that new utility road Carpathia had built?”
    “That single-lane thing that seemed to lead only to the fence at the edge of the airstrip?”
    “Yeah. Well, now there’s a gate in the fence where that road ends.”
    “So you open the gate,” Rayford said, “and you go where, across desert sand, right?”
    “That’s what it looks like,” Mac said. “But a huge expanse of that sand has been treated with something. Wouldn’t you think a craft as big as the 216 would sink in the sand if it ever got that far?”
    “You’re telling me you taxied the 216 down that little utility road to a gate in the fence? How big must that gate be?”
    “Only big enough for the fuselage. The wings are higher than the fence.”
    “So you ferried the Condor off the airstrip and across the sand to where?”
    “Three and a half clicks northeast of headquarters, just like Carpathia said.”
    “So this shelter isn’t in a populated area.” “Nope. I doubt anyone’s ever seen it without Carpathia’s