The Indwelling: The Beast Takes Possession Read Online Free PDF Page B

423, Tower.”
    “Repeat?”
    “... been … leared … two-three … wer.”
    “You’re breaking up, Gulfstream! You are not cleared for takeoff. Repeat, not cleared!”
    “... nection … wer, thank y—”
    “Do we have your flight plan, Gulfstream?”
    “... o copy, tow—”
    “Flight plan?”
    “... icer fo-, two, thr—”
    “If you can hear any of this, Gulfstream, be aware that satellite coordinates have been scrambled and there is only manual positioning. Copy?”
    Rayford depressed and released the talk button rapidly, then held it halfway down, creating static on the other end. No satellite capability? For once he would be glad for that. He needn’t worry about pursuit. If he was flying blind, so would the GC. Did that mean the phones were out too? He tried the safe house, then Laslos. Nothing. He only hoped he could connect with the Greek believers before he put down there. It made no sense to try to make it back to America. If Leah’s message meant what he thought and Hattie was no longer in Belgium, she could have long since led the GC to the safe house.
    He only hoped his message had gotten to David’s computer before the satellites went down.
    Buck had been angry with his father-in-law before, but never like this. No contact? Nothing? What was he supposed to do, collect Leah from Brussels, and it was every man for himself? Now the phones didn’t seem to be working.
    Did he dare try to make it to Chaim’s house and see what was going on? Why would the GC storm the place and force their way in? Were they too looking for Chaim?
    And why? Buck knew somebody already had to have the old man. Someone had spirited him, or his body, from the Gala site. No way a wheelchair-bound stroke victim could have made his own way out of that place with his contrivance in pieces on the ground.
    Buck took a cab to the small place he had once used as an Israeli safe house. No one he recognized was living there. He walked several miles in the darkness through rubble, never far from the cacophony of sirens and the flashing light shows of emergency vehicles. When he finally arrived at Chaim’s, the place was deserted and dark. Had everyone been taken away? Emergency personnel were stretched, of course, but if they expected Chaim, wouldn’t someone be left to guard the place? Buck crept to the back, suddenly aware of his fatigue.
    Grief and trauma did that to a person, he told himself.
    He had not gotten to know Jacov well, but how he had thrilled to the young man’s coming to belief in Christ! They had kept up some, not as much as either had liked, due to the risk of discovery. And though he knew he would see Jacov at the Glorious Appearing-if not before-he dreaded having to break the news to Jacov’s friend and coworker, Stefan.
    Buck had the advantage of knowing, really knowing, this house. He feared he might be walking into a trap.
    He didn’t think the GC knew he was in Israel, but one could never be sure. Maybe they lay in wait for Chaim or even Jacov. It was possible Jacov’s death had not made the GC databases yet, though that was unlikely. But where was everyone else?
    Buck found the back door unlocked, and he slipped in.
    A rechargeable flashlight was usually plugged into a socket near the floor, behind the food preparers’ table.
    Buck felt for it and found it, but he didn’t want to test it until he was confident no one was waiting to ambush him. He took it into the pantry and waited until he shut the door to turn it on. Then he felt foolish, reckless.
    He’d never been comfortable with the role he had been thrust into, still part journalist but also freedom fighter, raconteur. What kind of a swashbuckling Trib Force veteran backs himself into a closet with nothing more to defend himself with than a cheap flashlight? He tried the light switch on the pantry wall. Nothing.
    So the power had been cut. Buck flipped the flashlight on, then off quickly.
    Something in his peripheral vision froze him. Did he