CHAPTER 13
Rayford was tired of being awakened by the phone. However, few people in New Babylon outside of Carpathia and Fortunato ever called him. And they usually had the sense not to disturb him in the middle of the night. So, he decided, the ringing phone was either good news or bad news. One chance out of two, in this day and age, wasn’t bad.
He picked up the phone. “Steele,” he said.
It was Amanda. “Oh, Rayford, I know it’s the middle of the night there, and I’m sorry to wake you. It’s just that we’ve had a little excitement here, and we want to know if you know anything.”
“Know anything about what?”
“Well, Chloe and I were just going over all these pages from Bruce’s computer printout. We told you about that?”
“Yeah.”
“We got the strangest call from Loretta at the church. She said she was just working there alone, taking a few phone calls. She said she just had an overwhelming urge to pray for Buck.”
“For Buck?”
“Yes. She said she was so overcome with the emotion of it that she quickly stood up from her chair. She said she thought that made her lightheaded, but something made her fall to her knees. Once she was kneeling, she realized she wasn’t dizzy but was just praying earnestly for Buck.”
“All I know, hon, is that Buck is in Israel. I think he’s trying to find Tsion Ben-Judah, and you know what’s happened to his family.”
“We know,” Amanda said. “It’s just that Buck has a way of getting himself into trouble.”
“He also has a way of getting himself out of trouble,” Rayford said.
“Then what do you make of this premonition, or whatever it was, of Loretta’s?”
“I wouldn’t call it a premonition. We all could use prayer these days, couldn’t we?”
Amanda sounded annoyed. “Rayford, this was no fluke. You know Loretta is as levelheaded as they come. She was so upset she shut the office and came home.”
“You mean before nine o’clock at night? What has she become, a slacker?”
“Come on, Ray. She didn’t go in until about noon today. You know she often stays till nine. People call at all hours.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“She wants to talk to you.”
“To me?”
“Yes. Will you talk to her?”
“Sure, put her on.” Rayford had no idea what to say to her. Bruce would have had an answer for something like this.
Loretta indeed sounded shaken. “Captain Steele, I’m so sorry ’bout troubling you at this time of the night. What is it, goin’ on like three o’clock over there?”
“Yes ma’am, but it’s all right.”
“No, it’s not all right. There’s no reason to raise you out of a sound sleep. But sir, God told me to pray for that boy, I just know it.”
“Then I’m glad you did.”
“Do you think I’m crazy?”
“I’ve always thought you were crazy, Loretta. That’s why we love you so much.”
“I know you’re sporting with me, Captain Steele, but seriously, have I lost my marbles?”
“No ma’am. God seems to be working in much more direct and dramatic ways all the time. If you were led to pray for Buck right then, you remember to ask him what was happening.”
“That’s just the thing, Mr. Steele. I had this overwhelming sense that Buck was in deep trouble. I just hope he makes it out of there alive. We’re all hoping he can be back here in time for the Sunday service. You’ll be here, won’t you?”
“The Lord willing,” Rayford said, stunned to hear from his own lips a phrase he had always considered silly when Irene’s old friends had used it.
“We want everybody together Sunday,” Loretta said.
“It’s my highest priority, ma’am. And Loretta, would you do me a favor?”
“After gettin’ you up in the middle of the night? You name it.”
“If the Lord prompts you to pray for me, would you do it with all your might?”
“’Course I will. You know that. I hope you’re not just bein’ funny now.”
“I’ve never been more serious.”
When the lights of the border crossing disappeared behind him, Buck pulled the bus off the road, shifted into neutral, set the brake, turned sideways in his seat, and sighed heavily. He could barely produce volume in his voice. “Tsion, are you on this bus? Come out now, wherever you are.”
From the back of the bus came an emotion-filled voice. “I am here, Cameron. Praise the Lord God Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.”
The rabbi crawled out from under the seats. Buck met him in the aisle and they embraced. “Talk to me,” Buck said.
“I told you the Lord would make a way somehow,” Tsion said. “I don’t know if the young Anis was an angel or a man, but he was sent from God.”
“Anis?”
“Anis. He walked up and down the aisle of the bus, shining his flashlight here and there. Then he knelt and shined it under the seats. I looked right into the beam. I was praying that God would blind his eyes. But God did not blind him. He came back to where I was and dropped to his elbows and knees. He kept the flashlight in my face with one hand and reached with the other to grab me by the shirt. He pulled me close to him. I thought my heart would burst. I imagined myself dragged into the building, a trophy for a young officer.
“He whispered hoarsely to me through clenched teeth in Hebrew, ‘You had better be who I think you are, or you are a dead man.’ What could I do? There was no more hiding. No more future in pretending I wasn’t here. I said to him, ‘Young man, my name is Tsion Ben-Judah.’
“Still holding my shirt in his fist and with his flashlight blinding me, he said, ‘Rabbi Ben-Judah, my name is Anis. Pray as you have never prayed before that my report will be believed. And now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine upon you and give you peace.’ Cameron, as God is my witness, the young man stood and walked out of the bus. I have been lying here, praising God with my tears ever since.”
There was nothing more to say. Tsion slumped into a seat in the middle of the bus. Buck returned to the wheel and drove off to the border crossing in Egypt.
Half an hour later Buck and Tsion pulled up to the entrance into the Sinai. This time, God merely used the carelessness of the system to allow Ben-Judah to slip through. The only crossing gate was on the other side of the border into the Sinai. When Buck was told to stop, one guard immediately boarded and began barking orders in his own tongue. Buck said, “English?”
“English it is, gentlemen.” He looked back at Tsion. “You’ll be able to go back to sleep in a few minutes there, old-timer,” he said. “You’ve got to come in and be processed first. I’ll search your bus while you’re in there, and you’ll be on your way.”
Buck, emboldened by the most recent miracle, looked at Tsion and shrugged. He waited as Tsion made way for the guard to get past him and begin the search, but Tsion motioned to Buck that he should get going. Buck hurried off the bus and into the building. As his papers were being processed, the guard said, “No trouble at the Israeli checkpoint then?”
Buck nearly smiled. No problem? There’s no problem when God is on your side. “No, sir.”
Buck couldn’t help himself. He kept looking over his shoulder for Tsion. Where had he gone now? Had God made him invisible?
This was a much easier and quicker process. Apparently the Egyptians were used to simply rubber-stamping whatever the Israelis had approved. You couldn’t get to this checkpoint without going through the previous, so unless the Israelis were trying to dump their castoffs, it was usually smooth sailing. Buck’s papers were stamped and stacked and handed back to him with just a few questions. “Less than a hundred kilometers to Al Arish,” the guard said. “No commercial flights scheduled out of there at this time, of course.”
“I know,” Buck said. “I have made my own arrangements.”
“Very good then, Mr. Katz. All the best.”
All the best is right! Buck thought.
He turned to hurry out to the bus. There was no sign of Tsion. The original guard was still on the bus. As Buck began to board, Tsion came from behind the bus and stepped in front of him. They boarded together. The guard was going through Buck’s bag. “Impressive equipment, Mr. Katz.”
“Thanks.”
Tsion casually moved past the guard and went back to where he had been sitting when they arrived. He stretched out on the seat.
“And you work for whom?” the guard asked.
“International Harvesters,” Buck said. Tsion rose up briefly in his seat, and Buck nearly laughed. Surely Tsion appreciated that.
The guard closed the bag. “You’re both all processed then and ready to proceed?”
“All set,” Buck said.
The guard looked toward the back. Tsion was snoring. The guard turned toward Buck and spoke quietly, “Carry on.”
Buck tried not to be too eager to drive off, but he popped the clutch when the guard was clear of the front of the bus, and soon he was out onto the road again. “All right, Tsion, where were you that time?”
Tsion sat up. “Did you like my snore?”
Buck laughed. “Very impressive. Where were you when the guard thought you were being processed with me?”
“Merely standing behind the bus. You got off and went one way, I got off and went the other.”
“You’re joking.”
“I did not know what to do, Cameron. He was so friendly, and he had seen me. I certainly wasn’t going to walk into the processing center with no papers. When you returned, I figured I had been gone an appropriate time.”
“The question now,” Buck said, “is how long before that guard mentions he saw two men on the bus.”
Tsion carefully made his way up to the seat behind Buck. “Yes,” he said. “First he will have to convince them that he was not seeing things. Maybe it will not come up. But if it does, they will soon give chase.”
“I trust the Lord to deliver us, because he has promised he will,” Buck said. “But I also think we had better be as prepared as possible.” He pulled off to the side of the road. He topped off the water in the radiator and dumped nearly two liters of oil into the engine. He filled the gas tanks.
“It is like we are living in the New Testament,” Tsion said.
Buck, clutching and shifting, said “They might be able to overtake this old bus. But if we can make it to Al Arish, we’ll be on that Learjet and out over the Mediterranean before they know we’re gone.”
For the next two hours, the road grew worse. The temperature rose. Buck kept an eye on the rearview mirror and noticed that Tsion kept looking back as well. Occasionally a smaller, faster car would appear on the horizon and fly past them.
“What are we worried about, Cameron? God would not bring us so far only to have us captured. Would he?”
“You’re asking me? I never had anything like this happen to me until I ran into you!”
They rode in silence for half an hour. Finally, Tsion spoke, and Buck thought he sounded as strong as he had since Buck first saw him in the hideout. “Cameron, you know I have had to force myself to eat up until now, and I have not done a good job at it.”
“So eat something! There’s lots of stuff in here!”
“I believe I will. The pain in my heart is so deep that I feel as if I will never do anything again only for the sake of my own enjoyment. I used to love to eat. Even before I knew Christ, I knew that food was God’s provision for us. He wanted us to enjoy it. I am hungry now, but I will eat only for sustenance and energy.”
“You don’t have to explain it to me, Tsion. I only pray that sometime between now and the Glorious Appearing, you’ll get some relief from the deep wound you must feel.”
“You want anything?”
Buck shook his head, then thought better of it. “Anything there with lots of fiber and natural sugar?” He didn’t know what was ahead, but he didn’t want to be physically weak, regardless.
Tsion snorted. “High in fiber and natural sugars? This is food from Israel, Cameron. You just described everything we eat.”
The rabbi tossed Buck several fig bars that reminded him of granola and fruit. Buck had not realized his own level of hunger until he began to eat. He suddenly felt supercharged and hoped Tsion felt the same. Especially when he saw flashing yellow lights on the horizon far behind them.
The question now was whether to try to outrun the official vehicle or to feign innocence and merely let it pass. Perhaps it was not after them anyway. Buck shook his head. What was he thinking? Of course this was probably their Waterloo. He was confident God would bring them through, but he also didn’t want to be naive enough to think an emergency vehicle would be coming at them from the border crossing without Buck and Tsion in its sights. “Tsion, you’d better secure everything and get out of sight.”
Tsion leaned to stare out the back. “More excitement,” he muttered. “Lord, have we not had enough for one day? Cameron, I will put most of it away, but I am taking a few morsels with me to my bed.”
“Suit yourself. From the looks of those cars at the border, they’re small and have very little power. If I step on it, it will take them a long time to catch us.”
“And when they do?” Tsion said, from beneath the seats in the back.
“I am trying to think of a strategy now.”
“I will be praying,” Tsion said.
Buck nearly laughed. “Your praying has resulted in a lot of mayhem tonight,” he said.
There was no response from the back. Buck pushed the bus for all it was worth. He got it up to over eighty kilometers an hour, which he guessed was in the fifty mile-an-hour range. It rattled and shook and bounced, and the various metal parts squeaked in protest. He knew that if he could see the border patrol car, its driver could see him. There was no sense cutting the lights and hoping they assumed he had pulled off the road.
It seemed he might be pulling away from them. He could not judge distances well in the darkness, but they didn’t appear to be coming at high speed. The lights were flashing, and he was convinced they were after him, but he pushed ahead.
From the back: “Cameron, I think I have the right to know. What is your plan? What will you do when they overtake us, as they surely will?”
“Well, I’ll tell you one thing, I’m not going back to that border. I’m not even sure I’ll let them pull me over.”
“How will you know what they want?”
“If it’s the man who searched the bus, we’ll know what they want, won’t we?”
“I suppose we will.”
“I will holler at him from the window and urge him to deal with us at the airport. There’s no sense driving all the way back to the border.”
“But will that not be his decision?”
“I guess I’ll have to engage in civil disobedience then,” Buck said.
“But what if he forces you off the road? Makes you pull over?”
“I’ll try to avoid hitting him at all costs, but I will not stop, and if I am forced to stop, I will not turn around.”
“I appreciate your resolve, Cameron. I will pray, and you do as God leads you.”
“You know I will.”
Buck guessed they were thirty kilometers from the airport outside Al Arish. If he could even keep the bus close to sixty kilometers per hour, they could make it in half an hour. The border patrol car would surely overtake them before that. But they were so much closer to the airport than to the border, he was certain the officer would see the wisdom of following them to the airport rather than leading them back to the border.
“Tsion, I need your help.”
“Anything.”
“Stay down and out of sight, but find my phone in my bag and get it to me.”
When Tsion crawled next to Buck with his phone, Buck asked him, “Sir, how old are you?”
“That is considered an impolite question in my culture,” Tsion said.
“Yeah, like I care about that now.”
“I’m forty-six, Cameron. Why do you ask?”
“You seem in pretty good shape.”
“Thank you. I work out.”
“You do? Really?”
“Does that surprise you? You would be surprised at the number of scholars who work out. Of course there are many who do not, but—”
“I just want to make sure you’ll be able to run if you need to.”
“I hope it does not come to that, but yes, I can run. I am not as fast as I was as a young man, but I have surprising endurance for one of my vintage.”
“That’s all I wanted to know.”
“Remind me to ask you some personal question sometime,” Tsion said.
“Seriously, Tsion. I did not offend you, did I?”
Buck was strangely warmed. The rabbi actually chuckled. “Oh, my friend, think about it. What would it take to offend me now?”
“Tsion, you’d better get back where you were, but can you tell me how much gasoline we have left?”
“The gauge is right there in front of you, Cameron. You tell me.”
“No, I mean in our extra cans.”
“I will check, but surely we do not have time to fill our tanks while we are being chased. What do you have in mind?”
“Why do you ask so many questions?”
“Because I am a student. I will always be a student. Anyway, we are in this together, are we not?”
“Well, let me just give you a hint. While you’re tapping on the sides of those gas cans to tell me how much we have left, I’m going to be checking the cigarette lighter on the dashboard.”
“Cameron, cigarette lighters are the first to go in old vehicles, are they not?”
“For our sakes, let’s hope not.”
Buck’s phone buzzed. Startled, he flipped it open. “Buck here.”
“Buck! It’s Chloe!”
“Chloe! I really can’t talk to you now. Trust me. Don’t ask any questions. For right now I’m OK, but please ask everybody to pray and pray now. And listen, find the phone number for the airport at Al Arish, south of the Gaza Strip on the Mediterranean in the Sinai. Get hold of Ken Ritz, who should be waiting there. Have him call me at this number.”
“But Buck—”
“Chloe, it’s life or death!”
“You call me as soon as you’re safe!”
“Promise!”
Buck clapped the phone shut and heard Tsion from the back. “Cameron! Are you planning to blow up this bus?”
“You really are a scholar, aren’t you?” Buck said.
“I just hope you wait until we get to the airport. I mean, a flaming bus may get us there faster, but your pilot friend may just ferry our remains to the States.”
“That’s all right, Chloe,” Rayford said, “I long since gave up trying to sleep. I’m up reading anyway.”
Chloe told him of her strange conversation with Buck. “Don’t waste time on the Internet,” Rayford said, “I’ve got a guide to all those phone numbers. Hang on.”
“Daddy,” she said, “it’s gotta be a closer phone call for you anyway. Call Ken Ritz and tell him to call Buck.”
“I’m tempted to fly over there myself, if I had a small enough craft.”
“Daddy, we don’t need both you and Buck endangering your lives at the same time.”
“Chloe, we do that every day.”
“Better hurry, Dad.”
Buck guessed the border patrol car was less than half a mile behind him. He put the accelerator to the floor and the bus lurched. The steering wheel shook and bounced as they hurtled down the road. The gauges still looked OK for the moment, but Buck knew it was only a matter of time before the radiator overheated.
“I am guessing we have about eight liters of gasoline,” Tsion said.
“That will be plenty.”
“I agree, Cameron. That will be more than enough to make martyrs of us both.”
Buck eased off the throttle just enough to smooth out the ride. Smooth, of course, was a misnomer. Buck felt it in his back and hips as they bounced along. The border patrol car had closed to within a quarter mile.
Tsion called out from the back: “Cameron, it is clear we are not going to outrun them to the airport, do you agree?”
“Yes! So?”
“Then it makes no sense to push this vehicle to its limit. It would be smarter to conserve water, oil, and gasoline to be sure we make it to the airport. If we break down, all your resolve means nothing.”
Buck couldn’t argue with that. He immediately slowed to about fifty kilometers per hour and sensed he had bought several miles. However, this also allowed the border patrol car to pull right up behind him.
A siren sounded and a spotlight flashed in his outside rearview mirror. Buck merely waved and drove on. Soon it was yellow flashing lights, the spotlight, the siren, and the horn of the patrol car. Buck ignored them all.
Finally, the squad car pulled even with him. He glanced down to see the very guard who had searched the bus. “Fasten your seat belt, Tsion!” Buck hollered. “The chase is on!”
“I wish I had a seat belt!”
Buck continued at his modest speed as the patrol car stayed with him, and the guard pointed that he should pull over. Buck waved at him and drove on. The guard pulled in front of the bus and slowed, again pointing to the side of the road. When Buck made no attempt to pull off, the car slowed even more, forcing him to swerve around it. He had no acceleration, however, and the patrol car, now on the other side of him, sped up to keep him from passing. Buck merely backed off and got behind the car again. When it stopped, he stopped.
When the guard got out, Buck backed up and drove around him, building about a hundred-yard gap before the guard jumped back in and quickly caught up again. This time, the guard pulled alongside and showed Buck a handgun. Buck opened his window and hollered, “If I stop, this bus will stall! Follow me to Al Arish!”
“No!” came the reply. “You follow me back to the border!”
“We are much closer to the airport! I don’t think this bus can make it back to the border!”
“Then leave it! You can ride back with me!”
“I’ll see you at the airport!”
“No!”
But Buck slid his window shut. When the guard pointed his weapon at Buck’s window, Buck ducked but kept going.
Buck’s phone was buzzing. He clicked it open. “Talk to me!”
“This is Ritz. What’s the deal?”
“Ken, have you passed through customs there?”
“Yeah! I’m ready when you are.”
“You ready for some fun?”
“I thought you’d never ask! I haven’t had any real fun for ages.”
“You’re gonna risk your life and break the law,” Buck said.
“Is that all? I’ve been there before.”
“Tell me your position and all, Ken,” Buck said.
“Looks like I’m the only plane going out of here tonight. I’m just outside of a hangar at the end of the runway. My plane is, I mean. I’m talking to you from the little terminal here.”
“But you’ve been processed, and you’re ready to leave Egypt?”
“Yeah, no problem.”
“What did you tell them as far as other passengers and cargo?”
“I figured you wouldn’t want me to talk about anybody but you.”
“Perfect, Ken! Thanks! And who do they think I am?”
“You’re exactly who I say you are, Mr. Katz.”
“Ken, that’s great. Hang on just a second.”
The guard had pulled in front of the bus and now slammed on his brakes. Buck had to swerve almost all the way off the road to miss him, and when he pulled back on, the bus fishtailed and nearly went over.
“I am rolling back here!” Tsion said.
“Enjoy the ride!” Buck said. “I’m not stopping, and I’m not turning around.”
The guard had turned off his flashing yellow lights and his spotlight. The siren was silent now too. He quickly caught up with the bus and tapped it from behind. He tapped it again. And again.
“He’s afraid to hurt that squad car, isn’t he?” Buck said.
“Do not be so sure,” Tsion said.
“I’m sure.” Buck slammed on the brakes, making Tsion slide forward and cry out. Buck heard the screeching tires behind him and saw the squad car lurch off the right side of the road and down into loose gravel. Buck punched the accelerator. The bus stalled. As he tried to start it he saw the squad car, still in the gravel, coming up along his right side. The engine kicked in, and Buck popped the clutch. He picked up the phone. “Ken, you still there?”
“Yeah, what in the world’s going on?”
“You wouldn’t believe it!”
“You bein’ chased or something?”
“That’s the understatement of the year, Ritz! I don’t think we’re gonna have time to go through customs there. I need to know how to get to your plane. You need to be cleared, engines running, door open, and stairs down.”
“This is gonna be fun!” Ritz said.
“You have no idea,” Buck said. The pilot quickly told Buck the layout of the airstrip and the terminal and precisely where he was. “We’re within about ten minutes of you,” Buck said. “If I can keep this thing rolling, I’ll try to get as close to the runway and your plane as possible. What am I gonna run into?”
The squad car came up onto the road, spun, and now faced the bus. Buck swerved left, but the car cut him off. Buck couldn’t avoid smashing him. The impact turned the car around in the road and knocked the hood off. Buck sensed little damage to the big old bus, but the temperature gauge was rising.
“Who’s chasing you anyway?” Ritz said.
“Egyptian border patrol,” Buck said.
“Then you can bet they’re gonna radio ahead here. There’ll be some kind of a roadblock.”
“I just hit the squad car. Is this going to be a roadblock I can blast through?”
“You’ll have to play that one by ear. If you’re as close as you say you are, I’d better get out to my plane.”
“The cigarette lighter works!” Buck hollered to Tsion.
“I am not sure I wanted to hear that!”
The smashed patrol car resumed pursuit. Buck saw the lights of the airstrip in the distance. “Tsion, come up here. We need to strategize.”
“Strategy? It is lunacy!”
“And what would you call what else we’ve been through?”
“The lunacy of the Lord! Just tell me what to do, Cameron, and I will do it. Nothing will be able to stop us tonight.”
The guard in the squad car had apparently radioed ahead not only for a roadblock but also for help. Two sets of headlights, side-by-side and covering both lanes of the road, headed toward the bus. “Have you heard the phrase ‘playing chicken’?” Buck asked.
“No,” Tsion said, “but it is becoming clear to me. Are you going to challenge them?”
“Don’t you agree they have more to lose than we do?”
“I do. I am hanging on. Do what you have to do!”
Buck pressed the accelerator to the floor. The heat gauge was pressed to the maximum and quivering. Steam billowed from the engine. “Here’s what we’re going to do, Tsion! Listen carefully!”
“Just concentrate on your driving, Cameron! Tell me later!”
“There will be no later! If these cars don’t back down, there’s going to be a tremendous crash. I think we’ll be able to keep going either way. When we get to whatever roadblock they have for us at the airport, we have to make a quick decision. I need you to pour all those gas containers into the one big water bucket, the one that’s wide open at the top. I’ll have the cigarette lighter hot and ready to go. If we come upon a roadblock I think I can smash through, I’ll just keep going and get as close to the runway as possible. The Lear is going to be off to our right and about a hundred yards from the terminal. If the roadblock is not something we can smash through, I’ll try to go around it. If that’s impossible, I’m going to pull the wheel hard to the left and slam on the brakes. That will make the back end swing around into the roadblock and anything loose will slide to the back door. You must put that bucket of gasoline in the aisle about eight feet from the back door, and when I give you the signal, toss that cigarette lighter into it. It needs to be just enough ahead of the collision so it’s burning before we hit.”
“I do not understand! How will we escape that?”
“If the roadblock is impenetrable, it’s our only hope! When that back door blows open and that burning gasoline flies out, we have to be hanging on up here with all our might so we don’t get thrown back into it. While they’re concentrating on the fire, we jump out the front and run toward the jet. Got it?”
“I get it, Cameron, but I am not optimistic!”
“Hang on!” Buck shouted as two cars from the airport closed on him. Tsion hooked one arm around the metal pole behind Buck and wrapped his other around Buck’s chest, grabbing the back of the chair like a human seat belt.
Buck gave no indication of slowing or swerving and headed straight for the two sets of headlights. At the last instant he closed his eyes, fully expecting a huge collision. When he opened his eyes, the road was clear. He looked first one way then the other behind him. Both cars had gone off the road, one of them rolling. The original pursuit car was still behind him, and Buck heard gunfire.
Less than a mile ahead the small airport loomed. Huge fences of mesh and barbed wire flanked the entrance, and just inside sat a blockade of a half-dozen vehicles and several armed soldiers. Buck could see he would not be able to blast through it or go around.
He pressed in the cigarette lighter as Tsion lugged the gas cans and the bucket to the back. “It is sloshing around!” Tsion called out.
“Just do the best you can!”
As Buck raced toward the open gate and the huge blockade, the patrol car still following close behind, the cigarette lighter popped out. Buck grabbed it and tossed it back to Tsion. It bounced and rolled under a seat. “Oh no!” Buck shouted.
“I have got it!” Tsion said. Buck peeked in the rearview mirror as Tsion climbed out from under a seat, tossed the cigarette lighter into the bucket, and scrambled to the front.
The back of the bus burst into flames. “Hang on!” Buck shouted, pulling hard to the left and slamming on the brakes. The bus whirled so fast it nearly tipped over. The back smashed into the stockade of cars, and the back door burst open, flaming gasoline splashing everywhere.
Buck and Tsion jumped out and ran, low as they could, around the left side of the blockade as guards began firing into the bus and others screamed and ran from the flames. Tsion was limping. Buck grabbed the older man and dragged him around the dark side of the terminal near the runway.
There was the Learjet, ready for takeoff. Never had a plane looked like such an oasis of safety. Buck looked back twice, but no one seemed to have seen them escape. It was too good to be true, but it fit with everything else that had happened that night.
Fifty feet from the plane, Buck heard shots and turned to see a half-dozen guards racing toward them, firing high-powered weapons. When they reached the steps, Buck grabbed Tsion by the belt in the back and threw him aboard. As Buck dived into the plane, a bullet ripped through the bottom of the heel of his right boot. Pain shot through the side of his foot as he yanked the door shut, Ritz already rolling.
Buck and Tsion crawled up to behind the cockpit.
Ritz muttered, “Those rascals shoot my plane, I’m gonna be really mad.”
The plane took off like a rocket and rose quickly. “Next stop,” Ritz announced, “Palwaukee Airport, State of Illinois, in the U.S. of A.”
Buck lay on the floor, unable to move. He wanted to look out the window, but he didn’t dare. Tsion buried his face in his hands. He wept and seemed to be praying.
Ritz turned. “Well, Williams, you sure left a mess down there. What was that all about?”
“It would take a week to tell,” Buck said, panting.
“Well,” Ritz said, “whatever it was, that was sure fun.”
An hour later, Buck and Tsion sat in reclining seats, assessing the damage. “It is only sprained,” Tsion said. “I caught my foot under one of the seat supports when we first hit. I was afraid I had broken it. It will heal quickly.”
Buck slowly took off his right boot and held it up so Tsion could see the trajectory of the bullet. A clean hole had been blasted from the sole to the ankle. Buck took off a bloody sock. “Would you look at that?” he said, smiling. “I won’t even need stitches. Just a nick there.”
Tsion used Ken Ritz’s first-aid kit to treat Buck’s foot and found an Ace bandage for his own ankle.
Finally settled back with their wounded limbs elevated, Tsion and Buck looked at each other. “Are you as exhausted as I am?” Buck said.
“I am ready to sleep,” Tsion said, “but we would be remiss, would we not, if we did not return thanks.”
Buck leaned forward and bowed his head. The last thing he heard, before he slipped into a sleep of sweet relief, was the beautiful cadence of Rabbi Tsion Ben-Judah’s prayer, thanking God that “the glory of the Lord was our rear guard.”