Vicki looked at Judd and smiled.

Judd and Bruce flew to Australia. InMelbournethousands of believers crowded the local stadium to hear the American pastor speak. InSydneythe crowds were even greater, but Judd also saw more Global Community peacekeepers. When they arrived inJakarta,Indonesia, a team of translators met them and set up their schedule. Judd tried to pick up a few words of each new language they encountered. On theislandofSumatrahe tried to say he was Bruce's right-hand man. The locals laughed as the translator informed Judd that he had said, "I am the hand of a chicken."

Judd and Bruce arrived in the middle of dry season. In one stadium Judd looked out over the sea of people and noticed smoke rising in the distance.

"That is our volcano," an interpreter said.

"But don't be alarmed. It has not been active for years. It is only showing off."

People stood in the searing heat to hear Bruce. Muslim leaders in traditional garb stood at the back of the service. At the end of one message, the men tore their robes, cried out, and ran to the front of the stadium.

Judd rushed to Bruce.

"Get out of here! They're going to kill you!"

"Wait," Bruce said.

"Look."

The men were on their knees, crying out to G.o.d. Judd was amazed at what a simple message could do.

People were hungry for G.o.d.

Bruce spoke freely of the judgments to come. He urged people to accept G.o.d's forgiveness before it was too late. He also taught how to start home churches for when public meetings would be outlawed.

Judd missed his friends and was torn by what he felt for Vicki. Bruce kept him busy with many E-mail messages from around the world. With Bruce's help Judd typed answers.

"You have a question here from Rayford about the fifth and seventh?" Judd said.

"What does that mean?"

"He's talking about the judgments predicted in Revelation," Bruce said.

"We have to be careful. The GC could intercept these, and Rayford would be in danger."

"What are those judgments?"

"Many are clear, but the fifth and seventh are difficult. In his vision, the apostle John sees under the altar in heaven the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of G.o.d and for their testimonies. They ask G.o.d how long it will be until he avenges their deaths. He gives them white robes and tells them others will be martyred first. So the fifth Seal Judgment costs people who have become believers since the Rapture their lives."

"That could include you or me." "Any of us," Bruce said.

"What about the seventh?"

"That's a mystery. It's so awesome that when it's revealed in heaven, there is silence for half an hour.

Whatever it is, it seems to progress from the sixth seal, which is the greatest earthquake in history, and brings in more judgments, each worse than the one before it. "

Judd tried to list the other judgments.

"A world war, famine, martyrdom"-"Don't forget plagues and the death of a quarter of the earth's population," Bruce said as he replied to Rayford's message.

Judd looked over Bruce's shoulder as he typed: "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty."

Vicki and Chaya followed Bruce and Judd's travels on a world map. A red pin marked each place the two visited.

Judd also uploaded pictures of crowds and interesting sights from each place. In one picture Bruce and Judd wore nervous smiles as they sat at a dinner table. In front of them was an overflowing dish of what looked like small biscuits. Judd held one up and winked at the camera.

"What were those things you were holding in the picture?"

Vicki wrote.

"A delicacy," he wrote back.

"Sheep's eyeb.a.l.l.s."

Chaya gagged and Vicki wrote, "You actually ate those things!?"

"It would have been impolite not to," Judd said.

"For sheep's eyeb.a.l.l.s they weren't bad."

Chaya answered the door as Judd wrote Vicki their schedule.

"Bruce and I are having lunch with some important people who just had to see us, and then we're heading home. Can't wait to see you."

Just then Chaya stepped back from the door and gasped.

"Mother!"

The waitress spoke in broken English.

"Man in corner buy meal for you, mister sir." Bruce and Judd looked, but there was no one to thank. Bruce shrugged and turned back to the several guests at his table.

"Doctor Barnes," the interpreter at the table said.

"Please," Bruce said.

"Call me pastor. I'm not a doctor."

"Yes, pastor," the man said.

"The others want me to thank you for teaching us. But they ask, what do they do now? Many thousands have believed your message."

"Get your people into the Bible," Bruce said. The interpreter rattled off the translation.

"Study the Scriptures daily. Nothing is more important. We must be ready for the return of Christ."

On the plane that night, Bruce sat next to a businessman fromChicago. Judd closed his eyes and leaned against the window as he listened to Bruce describe what had happened to him during the disappearances.

"That might be good for you," the man said, "but your faith is too exclusive, saying there is only one way to G.o.d.

EnigmaBabylonsays all paths to G.o.d are valid. Just like there are a lot of planes you could take to Chicago. "

"It's true that the message of the Bible is different from Enigma Babylon," Bruce said.

"Let me show you."

Judd drifted off as he heard Bruce's Bible pages turning. He awoke to shouting.

"Somebody do something!"

"What's wrong with him?"

"Is he dead?"

Bruce slumped in the aisle. A flight attendant rushed to him.

"He didn't look good, and I told him so," the man said.

"Then he just pa.s.sed out."

"We should be inChicagoin two hours," the attendant said.

"He looks pretty bad," the man said.

"Can't you do anything?" Judd unbuckled and leaned over Bruce's body.

Bruce's color wasn't right. His lips moved. Judd leaned closer.

"Give it to him," Bruce managed.

"Give who what, Bruce?"

"My Bible," Bruce whispered.

"Let him read it for himself."

"Excuse me, I'm a doctor," a woman said, and the aisle cleared.

Mrs. Stein had changed since Vicki last saw her. Her eyes had dark circles, her hair had thinned, and she looked tired. Chaya invited her in, and Vicki excused herself.

"No," Mrs. Stein said.

"I'd like you to stay if Chaya doesn't mind."

The three sat in the living room in strained silence until Mrs. Stein spoke.

"I've come to the point where I don't care what your father thinks. He told me not to come. He said seeing you would just upset me more."

"What's wrong. Mom?"

"I had a routine checkup," Mrs. Stein said.

"But the doctor found a lump. He said it was likely nothing to worry about."

Her eyes were vacant, and her chin trembled.

"It wasn't routine. I have cancer."

She broke down. Chaya put her arm around her mother.

"I had no idea," she said.

"I'm here for you. Mom."

By the time the plane landed in Chicago Bruce was sitting up and feeling better. The man beside him would not take Bruce's Bible, but Judd got his business card and promised to send one from Ryan's stash.

Loretta, the church secretary, met them at the airport and was upset about Bruce's condition.

"I'm taking you straight to the emergency room." "Nonsense," Bruce said.

"I'm fine. I need to get back to the church. If I'm not feeling better tomorrow, I'll see a doctor."

After debriefing at home, Judd learned from John the latest about Mark.

"Three more militia exercises in the last week," John said.

"They're gearing up for something. Mark won't talk specifics, but he called our relatives who live near Washington,D.C.and told them to leave and stay out of major East Coast cities."

"But if Bruce is right," Judd said.

"The uprising against the Antichrist will be crushed. And if Mark gets involved, he doesn't have a chance."

"Your father has been telling me to forget about you," Mrs.

Stein said.

"But I can't. Plus I'm scared, and I feel something is missing in my life."

"G.o.d loves you, Mom. He can give you peace. You can know that your sins are forgiven and that you'll spend eternity with him."

"You can't know!" Mrs. Stein said.

"It is arrogant to say such a thing."

Vicki grabbed a Bible, and Chaya read from the book of John.

"And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of G.o.d, and that believing you may have life in His name."