Piles of burning material are dotted here and there in the streets."

"Will you hurry back, Ree? I miss you terribly."

"I miss you too, Ming, and I love you. This will allow me to leave during the daytime, so I should be back early. "

"Be safe, love," she said. Rayford sat on the edge of his bed, head in his hands, enveloped in the unmatched darkness provided by an underground shelter.

Rayford was tired and knew he should get more sleep. But he would not sleep. This

plague, perhaps unlike any leading to it, might provide unique opportunities for him and his team.

Finally the signal came, and Tsion was on the other end of the private messaging system. "Forgive me for not turning on the video," Rayford said, "but it's the middle of our night here."

"Quite all right, Captain. Let me ask, need this be a private conversation? I am in the tech center and others may overhear."

"No problem, Tsion. Is everyone all right there?"

"We are fine. We feel some extra warmth and some are fatigued, but we are apparently protected against the real effects of this plague."

"I know you're busy, but I need confirmation. Do you believe those of us with the mark of the seal of G.o.d are immune to the heat?"

"Yes "

"Do you see what this could mean for the Tribulation Force, Tsion ? We could do what we wanted during the

daylight hours. As long as we are hidden again by the time the heat of the day subsides and the GC venture out again, they would be powerless to interfere."

"I see. I would caution that G.o.d has never been predictable with these things. We know the sequence, and we used to think that one plague began and ended before another started. But the curse on the oceans lasted well past when the same curse hit the lakes and rivers, and the oceans turned back not too long before this one hit. I would not want to see you some bright day when the curse ends. You would be most vulnerable."

"Point taken. I'd like to think this would last long enough to allow us some elbowroom. I've never seen the world in worse shape or more people in need of help."

"Oh, Rayford, the world is a spent cartridge. Even before G.o.d unleashed this curse, the globe was in the worst condition imaginable. It makes me wonder how the Lord can tarry until the end of the seven years. Really, what will be left? Poverty is rampant. Law and order are relics. Even Global Community loyalists have lost faith in their government and their Peacekeepers. The Morale Monitors are all on the take, it seems.

The people who are to be out and about do not even dare venture into the streets without being armed.

"Cameron tells me he does not know one common citizen who does not own and carry a weapon. I hardly hear from countries where there are not marauding bands of thieves and rapists, not to mention vandals and terrorists. The best things we have out there are the , evangelists and the increase in angelic activity the Lord has so graciously allowed.

"Remember, Rayford, we are down to three kinds of people now: those of us with the mark of G.o.d, those who bear the mark of Antichrist, and the undecided. There are fewer and fewer of these, but they are the ones we must reach out to. They are suffering now, but oh, how they will suffer as the sun rises each day. Imagine the turmoil, the devastation. Power shortages, air conditioning overloads, breakdowns. And all this coning with half the population already gone.

"We are not far from anarchy, my friend. The GC does not care to crack down because they benefit. I am amazed there remain any loyal to Carpathia. Look what he has wrought."

"Dr. Ben Judah, how does this square with your contention that these judgments are as much about G.o.d's mercy and compa.s.sion as they are about his wrath? The angel that announced the rivers and lakes turning to blood said it was to avenge the blood of the prophets."

"G.o.d is just and G.o.d is holy, Rayford, but I do not believe he would send any more judgments on the world now if he weren't still jealous that some repent. No doubt some will. I know the majority will not, because of what the Scripture says about their blaspheming the name of G.o.d. Obviously, by now everyone knows these judgments are from G.o.d, yet many refuse to repent of their sins."

"I agree with you, Tsion. No one could possibly argue that G.o.d doesn't exist. There's overwhelming evidence of his presence and power yet most still reject him. Why?"

"Captain Steele, that is the question of the ages. You remember the Old Testament story of when Moses grew up and refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, even though he could have?

The Bible says he chose 'rather to suffer affliction with the people of G.o.d, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.' "Well, these people certainly are not Moses. They will suffer torment and lose their souls, all to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season and what a short season. I

applaud your thinking that this may be the time for the

Tribulation Force to step up its efforts, to help struggling believers, to find the remaining undecided and help the evangelists and the angels bring them in before it is too late. I wish you G.o.dspeed with whatever you decide."

Buck hurried to George Sebastian's underground quarters, where George's wife played on the floor with their child.

"I've got to get out and see this," Buck said.

"Got to be careful of radar," Sebastian said. "The GC would be astounded to see anybody in the air during the day. "

"What do you recommend?"

"Chopper."

"You up for it, George?"

"You don't have to ask twice."

Buck had seen vapor appear above the water inlets on cool mornings, but he had never seen the Pacific emit steam as far as the eye could see. "Do you believe this?" he said.

"I'll believe anything now," George said.

Buck was reduced to silence as fires broke out all over what was left of San Diego. The closer it got to midday, the brighter the sky became. Houses and buildings no longer began smoking and smoldering and finally kindling. Now they shimmered and shook, windows bursting, roofs curling, then whole structures exploding and sending flames and sparks showering about.

George cruised back over the ocean, where Buck saw the sand change colors before creeping carpets of flame began dancing about. The waves brought the bubbling water in, and it hissed and boiled as it touched the blistering sh.o.r.e. Without warning, the entire ocean reached the boiling point and became a roiling cistern of giant bubbles, sending a fog of steam that blocked Buck's view of the sky and sun. The chopper was engulfed in white so pure and thick that Buck feared Sebastian would lose control.

"Totally on instruments now, friend," George said.

The helicopter bounced and shook in the soup as they thwock thwock thwocked toward the sh.o.r.e. Sebastian was half a mile inland before they escaped the steam cloud and peered down on the burning gra.s.ses and neighborhoods.

"What's the boiling temperature of blood?" Buck asked.

"Not a clue," George said, but he immediately banked and headed toward the San Diego River.

"Whatever it is," Buck said, "we've reached it." He gawked at the huge crimson bubbles that formed and burst, emitting a fine spray that rose with the steam. "Agh! " he said, grimacing and holding his nose. "Let's get out of here."

The Tribulation Force was free to come and go, as long as they were careful to plan their travel into time zones that kept them in daylight as long as possible. The only relief for the Global Community forces and citizens with the mark of loyalty was to stay inside below ground level and invent ways to take the edge off the suffocating heat. Even then, hundreds of thousands died when their dwellings burned and fell in on them.

Homes and buildings were largely allowed to burn themselves out, as firefighters could not venture out until well after dark.

Gardens, crops, gra.s.ses died. The polar ice caps melted faster than at any other time in history, and tsunamis threatened every port city. Sh.o.r.es and coastlines were buried under floods, and the dump of dead sea creatures washed miles onto land. Had it not been for people having moved inland to avoid the stench and bacteria in the first place, more lives would have been lost.

In the midst of such turmoil and grief, Rayford and Chloe worked harder than ever to rearrange their storehouses of goods and products traded through the International Commodity Co op. Knowing their time was limited, they took advantage of everyone's obsession with finding shelter and relief from the sun. They strategized with Chang to move equipment and aircraft around and created new warehousing and distribution centers, preparing for the last year of existence on a wounded planet.

In New Babylon, Carpathia himself insisted the heat did not bother him. Chang overheard people in maintenance repeatedly ask whether he wanted draperies over the second story of his penthouse office. Even the ceiling was transparent. The sun was magnified through the gla.s.s and roasted his office for hours every day, making the entire rest of the floor uninhabitable. Krystall was relocated deep in the bowels under Building D and had to communicate with him via intercom all day. No meetings could be held in his conference room or office, but he spent most of the day there, ordering people about via telephone or intercom.

Executives on lower floors had their windows replaced, then taped and coated and even painted black, and most other employee offices were moved to the bas.e.m.e.nt of the vast complex. Chang's department worked only at night, so he was often able to listen in as Nicolae hummed or sang softly as he worked in his office all day.

"I will sunbathe in the courtyard while the mortals eat," he told Krystall one day at noon. Chang snuck to a corner window where he sc.r.a.ped a hole in the coating. He was appalled to see the potentate strip to his trousers and undershirt and lie on a concrete bench, hands behind his head, soaking in the killer rays.

After an hour, as flames licked at the concrete, Carpathia seemed to think of something and pulled his phone from his pocket. Chang sprinted back to his quarters and listened in as Nicolae told Leon he was on his way to Fortunato's temporary underground shelter.

Later, Chang recorded Leon's call to Suhail.