CHAPTER 5

Albie’s black-market world was a shadowy landscape of operators who largely went by nicknames and initials. Albie himself had fashioned his name from his hometown, Al Basrah. People who needed to know who he was knew enough to reach him. Before he became a believer, Albie had been one of the top three black marketers in the Middle East. His conversion to Christ had left only two, and the death of one of them, reputedly at the hands of the other in a deal gone bad, left one. And that was who Albie needed to get ahold of.

He had never liked Double-M, or Mainyu Mazda, even when Albie was of the same ilk and character. Killing was nothing new for Mainyu. It was how he maintained his reputation and control. You wanted something, anything, he was the man. But pity anyone who ever, ever tried to swindle or even shortchange the man. Legend had it that he had personally murdered a dozen people—one of them one of his own wives—who had not lived up to their end of some bargain. None dared calculate how many he may have hired others to eliminate.

Those who claimed to know said Mainyu celebrated each personal killing by adding a tattooed double-M to his neck. He had begun twenty years before when he had strangled a guard in a Kuwaiti prison. He applied the first tattoo himself, the ink a concoction of rubber shavings from the soles of his shoes, paint chips from the prison bars, and blood. A sharpened paper clip heated by a cigarette lighter was his applicator. He put that first double-M directly under his Adam’s apple. He added one on either side of the original for each subsequent murder, so people could tell whether he was on an odd or even number by whether or not his tattooed necklace was even on both sides.

The last time Albie had seen Mainyu, his necklace had one more double-M on the left than on the right and his count stood at twelve. The more recent tattoos were clearer and more professionally done, and supposedly the one for his wife had a feminine flair.

Albie put the word on the street that he wanted an audience with Mainyu, and within two hours a note was slipped under his door with an address deep in the street markets on Abadan Island on the Shatt al Arab River in southwestern Iran.

It was like MM to follow the money. Pipelines connected Abadan’s huge refinery to the oil fields of Iran. Of course Mainyu did his black marketing in the city’s underbelly.

Like anyone anywhere who didn’t bear a mark of loyalty to Carpathia, Albie had become nocturnal. He and Mac shared a flat in a forsaken corner of Al Basrah, where the landlord didn’t know or care about one’s loyalty to the Global Community provided the rent envelope was full and waiting the first of every month. Albie had taught Mac that the best way to get around was on motor scooters small and light enough to be stored indoors or hidden in the woods near where they hid their small plane.

Albie would wait for the sun to disappear before venturing out to a ferry that would get him and his scooter to the island, where he would find the address some thirty miles from home.

When big Jock said something about it probably being past Chloe’s breakfast time, her mouth watered. “But as you can understand, ma’am, we don’t feed uncooperative prisoners. Oh, at some point, you’ll get some sort of nutrition bar that’ll keep you alive until your execution.” He patted the big file. “I can’t say for sure until I hear from International, but this has all the makings of a spectacle. Wouldn’t you say?”

“That’s not my call.”

“But your baby—what’s the name?”

Chloe leveled her eyes at Jock and pressed her lips together. How she loved to say her baby’s name. Kenneth Bruce Williams. Kenny Bruce. Kenny B. But she would not tell this man. There was no official record of Kenny’s birth, and the GC didn’t even know whether she’d had a boy or a girl.

“Surely there’s no harm in my knowing the name.”

“Phoebe Evangelista Jr.”

Jock looked at the ceiling. “You know what? I am not the least bit amused. I’m not surprised either, because I’ve dealt with enough of your type. Some say there’s something admirable about you people, sticking with something this long even though in the end you’re going to lose, and you know it. But I would have thought a religious person—and come on, that’s what you are, isn’t it?—I would have thought you’d care a little more about the disposition of your child. Is it a girl? How old is she now?”

“Look,” Chloe said, “you know who I am and what I am and what I’m not, which is a Carpathia loyalist. That’s punishable by death, so why don’t you just—”

“Oh, now hold on, ma’am. These things are still negotiable. Don’t be jumping to concl—”

“I will not be providing you any information to reduce my sentence. I’m not interested in life in prison. I would not take the mark even if you promised freedom for my family. And everybody knows that even those who take the mark now are executed anyway.”

“Oh, where did you hear that? That’s terrible. And a lie.”

“Whatever you say.”

Jock leaned back in his chair and called out, “Nigel?”

“Sir?”

“Could you open a window? It’s stuffy in here.”

The young guard entered and opened a window behind heavy bars. There would be no escaping.

“It’s only fair that I outline what I have to offer,” Jock said. “You see, we know more than your name. We know you dropped out of Stanford University six years ago. We know you’re the daughter of Potentate Carpathia’s first pilot. We know that you know that your father became a subversive and may have either conspired or participated in the assassination of the potentate.

“Your husband is also a former employee of His Excellency and now publishes a contraband magazine. They’re deeply connected with Tsion Ben-Judah and the traitor assassin Rosenzweig. And you, Mrs. Williams, are no retiring bride either. No. You run the Judah-ite black market, keeping alive millions without the mark, who have no legal right to buy or sell.

“No ma’am, you should be offered nothing, no plea bargain, no break, nothing even for your child. Because more than that, you were involved in an operation in Greece where you impersonated a Global Community officer.”

“How did you know that?” It was out before Chloe could think. Was there a mole in their own operation? She couldn’t have been recognized.

“I’ll tell you if you’ll tell me something.”

“Never mind.”

“It’s the beauty of iris-scan technology. Normal security cameras, like the ones in our headquarters in Ptolemaïs, can get a good enough read on your iris to match it with the one recorded when you enrolled at Stanford. It has four times as many points of reference as a fingerprint, and there has never been a recorded error. Lucky for the one among your number who murdered one of our operatives in that very building that we weren’t able to trace you to him. But he’s from right here in town, isn’t he? How far away can he be? How far from where you were jogging?”

Buck could barely believe what he was hearing. And from Sebastian, of all people, who was sitting there because of the selfless, heroic efforts of the Tribulation Force, Chloe in particular.

“It’s not easy to say, Buck,” George said. “But we have to weigh the welfare of two hundred people against springing one person in the face of almost impossible odds.”

“First,” Buck said, “you’re assuming the GC has her. She could be anywhere. But even if you’re right, how is that any more impossible than the situation you were in?”

“Buck, I know, okay? And there’s no way I want to just do nothing. But there’s one big difference here too. The prisoner in that situation was a very big and strong man, trained to kill. And, you’ll recall, for all Mac and Hannah and Chloe did on my behalf, it came down to me against one of my captors. Even then the odds were bad, and it could have gone either way. Let’s say I’d failed and the three of them had been compromised. We lose four people. We blast into local headquarters here, we could wind up giving away everything.”

“So, what, we let her rot while we move to Petra?”

“Here’s what I have in mind for your child, Mrs. Williams,” Jock said, “in the event you come to your senses and help us a little. I’m guessing you would prefer your son or daughter to remain in the tradition you and your husband have begun. Obviously, that would be counterproductive to our aims. We would like to see all children enrolled in Junior GC before they start school.

“But in your case, we’re willing to treat your child as a nonentity until he or she is twelve years old.”

“And who would raise him?” Chloe said, wincing, realizing hunger was an effective tactic after all.

“So we’re talking about a boy, then. Fair enough. Want to give me a name to make it less awkward to carry out negotiations?”

Chloe didn’t answer. These weren’t negotiations. All she had to do was protect Kenny for one more year and the GC wouldn’t have a chance at him.

“Come now, Mrs. Williams. You’re a bright woman. You have to see what a prize you are to us. We have been inconvenienced and, I’ll admit it, embarrassed by the Judah-ites. There is little doubt you people are somehow behind our little problem in New Babylon right now. You can help us. I’m not naive enough to think you want to do that, but I’m trying to give you a reason. You have some huge bargaining chips.”

“May I stand?”

“You may, but I need to warn you that we are locked in. I’m three times your size, but just for smiles, let’s say you overpower me, get the drop on me. You could break my neck and kill me, but you’re not getting out of here.”

“I just want to move a little, sir.”

“Feel free. And call me Jock.”

Yeah, you’re my best friend now.

“Hey, you want some breakfast?”

“Of course.”

“Me too. What do you like?”

“I’m not fussy.”

“I am. I go for the old artery-clogger special. Eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, pancakes with lotsa syrup. Want some?”

He had to be kidding. Chloe stood with her arms folded and turned away.

“Come on! Can’t get you to call me by my first name. Can’t get you to tell me what you want to eat. How ’bout it? Will you join me? Will you have what I’m having?”

“I told you, I’m not fussy.”

“You also told me you were hungry. I’ll order for us, eh, Chloe? You mind if I call you Chloe?”

“Actually, I’d rather you not.”

“Oh, well, then, by all means. It’s all about you. Just let me know all your desires and preferences. If the pillow in your cell is not soft enough, give me a holler. Or call the front desk.”

So the gloves were off. Chloe had convinced him she wasn’t going to cooperate, so he was done playing good cop.

Or was he? Jock moved past her and summoned Nigel again, and she overheard him ordering the very breakfasts he had described. He turned back to her.

“Food service here is about the same as at any jail, Chloe, but even a hash slinger is hard-pressed to mess up breakfast. Now listen, while we wait . . . I can see you’re no pushover. I didn’t expect you to be and wouldn’t have respected you if you had been. Here’s the deal. You know nothing you give us is going to set you free. How would we look to the public? But I can get your execution commuted to a life sentence, and I can get that in a livable facility. You’d have my word on it. It’d be maximum security, of course, but you would have full custody of your son until he’s twelve years old.”

The fact was, Kenny was safe with Buck, and if she could maintain her sanity, that might not have to change. If only she could get word to Buck to get everyone out of there and to Petra.

Chloe felt light-headed, and hunger gnawed. “And that deal is in exchange for . . . ?”

“Taking the mark of loyalty would be a given. No way we would have any credibility otherwise. That gets you life instead of death. But what gets you the nice facility and custody of your son is information.”

“You think I’m going to flip on my people.”

“I do, and you know why? Because you’re a loving mother. You think your people wouldn’t give you up in a second to keep their necks out from under that blade? Give me a break.”

Albie shuddered, tooling through Abadan on his scooter, cap pulled low over his eyes. Al Basrah was no better, but this had to be what Sodom and Gomorrah had been like before God torched them. Every form of sin and debauchery was displayed right on the street. What was once the seedy side of town now was the town. Row after row of bars, fortune-telling joints, bordellos, sex shops, and clubs pandering to every persuasion and perversion teemed with drunk and high patrons. Hashish permeated the air. Cocaine and heroin deals went down in plain sight.

The GC Peacekeepers and Morale Monitors had once made a noisy bust or two weekly to keep up appearances. But with their ranks shrunk, they now concentrated on crimes against the government. Skip one of your thrice-daily bowings and scrapings before the image of Carpathia and you could be hauled off to jail. Caught without the mark of loyalty? Zero tolerance. They enjoyed playing with people’s minds and telling them they had one last chance. When a gratefully weeping soul eagerly approached the mark application site, he or she was pushed or dragged screaming to the guillotine as an example.

Bad as Abadan had become, there was a worse part of town, and it was where Mainyu Mazda and his kind plied their trade. In the open-air market, where loud haggling and swindling were the daytime sport, were makeshift dens of clapboard squares, which consisted of just walls and a locking door, no roof. A tarp in the corner could be hastily attached to corner posts in the event of rain, but otherwise, black marketers and their henchmen (one always standing guard outside) held court inside, meeting with people who wanted something, anything, and were willing to pay a lot to get it.

Albie cut the engine but stayed aboard his scooter, straddling the seat and pushing it along with his feet through the narrow alleyways. Amid the sleeping drunks were also crazy men, women of ill repute, men and women with all kinds of wares for sale. All beckoned to the leather-clad, smallish man walking the quiet scooter.

Albie looked neither right nor left, catching no one’s eye. He knew where he was going and wanted it to appear so. He couldn’t avoid a modicum of pride that his business had never sunk this low. What he had done for years was illegal, of course, and no circumstance justified it. But compared to this, he had had class. He had run an airstrip—that was his front. And his clientele had been made up as much of wealthy businessmen and pilots as it was lowlifes and crooks.

But he knew this world and its language. He needed a bad guy, someone who knew someone. Someone who had an inside track at the palace and knew where the meetings were to be held in Al Hillah. Someone who might even know where the largest ever cache of nuclear warheads was stored. Someone who, before Carpathia and his minions arrived, could get into the meeting room and bug the place, transmitting everything to a frequency accessed by only one person in the world. Only Albie and his people knew that would be Chang in Petra.

Had he more than a day to get this done, Albie might have been able to do it himself with his own contacts, people less risky, less volatile. But there were times in a man’s life when he had to weigh his options and throw the dice. And while that analogy was foreign to his new life, this was one of those times.

“Please sit at the table while the door is opened briefly, Chloe,” Jock said. The smell of the breakfasts overwhelmed her, and she sat with her back to the door.

“Right over here, Nigel, if you would.”

Jock sat facing her. He tossed her a cloth napkin and made a show of tucking his over his tie and spreading it to cover the expanse of his chest and belly. Chloe opened her napkin and laid it in her lap as Nigel set the heaping tray between them.

Nigel put a stack of pancakes in front of Jock. A pitcher of syrup. A plate of toast with butter and jelly. A large coffee cup, into which he poured steaming black coffee, and he left the pot there too. A massive plate of scrambled eggs with bacon and sausage links. He set Jock’s silver on either side of his main plate, then put knife, fork, and spoon in front of Chloe. And there she sat, only silver before her and napkin in her lap. Nigel removed the tray and left, locking the door.

Jock rubbed his hands together, grinning. “Does this look great or what? I hardly know where to begin.” He pulled each plate a little closer, then picked up his knife and fork and began manipulating the eggs into a huge first bite.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Where are my manners? Did you want to say grace? Ask a blessing? No? I will then. Thank you, Excellency, for what I am about to enjoy.”

Jock shoveled the bite of eggs into his mouth, stored it in his right cheek, followed it with half a link of sausage, and spoke with his mouth full. “Nigel must have forgot yours, eh, Chloe? Oh, that’s right. You haven’t been a cooperative prisoner yet, have you? Well, that’s your call.”

The big man sat there, knifing, forking, spooning, smacking his lips, chugging coffee, and grinning. “Sure you don’t want some? Huh? It’s good. I mean it. ’Sup to you. Otherwise, Nigel will keep an eye on you and that energy bar will be delivered to your cell, oh, I’d say about an hour, maybe two, after you’ve given up on it. And energy may not be the right word. It’s designed to keep you alive until we can put you to death. There’s nutrition, but not energy per se. You’ll get to love it though, look forward to it. I mean, come on, it’s not bacon and eggs, but it’s going to be your only treat.”

Albie rolled up in front of a tiny structure that appeared to be a mass of incongruously faded yellow boards wired and nailed together. The padlock was conspicuous on the door, which was guarded by a tall, thin rasp of a man Albie recognized from years before. In fact, if he wasn’t mistaken, the name was Sahib and he was Mainyu’s former brother-in-law. Former because he was the brother of the wife Mainyu had murdered. Talk about loyalty.

Albie stepped off the scooter and thrust out a hand. Sahib ignored it and squinted at him in the darkness. “Looking to sell that bike? You came to the right place.”

“No. I want to see Mainyu, Sahib.”

That provoked a double take. “Albie?”

And now the man shook his hand. He held up a finger, unlocked the door, and disappeared. Albie heard a low, intense conversation. A stranger emerged, hard and cold eyes darting before he hurried off.

Sahib came out, shutting the door behind him. “Two minutes, Albie,” he said, and made a motion indicating Mainyu was on the phone. “Fifty Nicks to guard your bike.”

“Twenty.”

“Twenty-five.”

“Deal. And if it is not as I left it, I split your skull.”

“I know, Albie. Pay in advance.”

“Ten now, fifteen later.”

“Fifteen now.”

Albie peeled off the Nicks. The negotiation, even the threats, was expected. A throat clearing from behind the door spurred Sahib to usher Albie in, but as Albie followed, he saw a small woman striding their way from a similar cubbyhole a hundred feet away. “Wait,” he said. “Sahib. Watch the bike.”

“I said I would. Oh, this is just a guest who will be joining you.”

The young woman, robed head to toe, big eyed and severe looking with a 42 on her forehead, carried a satchel. Sahib pulled her in as he slid out, locking the door.

Mainyu, illuminated by a battery-powered lamp, sat behind a flimsy wood desk, a mug of something before him, his smile exhibiting surprisingly white teeth. “Albie, my friend, how are you?” he said, reaching with both hands.

“I am well, Mainyu. But I must insist that my business with you is private.”

“As usual, of course. Please, sit.”

Albie sat in a rusted metal folding chair while the woman went around the desk and pulled a wood box from a corner and sat on it, opening her satchel. Albie looked into Mainyu’s eyes and cocked his head at the woman.

“Her?” Mainyu said dismissively. “Tattoo artist. She has neither ears nor tongue.”

The woman smiled as she removed her instruments and reached in front of Mainyu to direct the lamp more squarely toward him. He lifted his chin, and she swabbed a small area on his neck where a tattoo would even the number on both sides.

“You know what they say about my tattoos, do you not, old friend?”

Albie smiled. “Everybody knows what they say.”

“So, true or not, it is effective, no?”

“Effective. Is it true, Mainyu?”

“Of course.”

“Who was your latest victim?”

“You mean who will be?”

“Sorry?”

“Sometimes I get the tattoo in advance.”

In spite of himself, Rayford had been dozing. And as the Gulfstream rocketed toward the States, he began digging through his bags.

“What’s up, Ray?” Mac said.

“What time is it in New Babylon?”

“Coming up on ten o’clock in the evening.”

“That makes it late morning in San Diego, and still no word. Buck promised to call even if they just found out where she was. You remember the main number at the palace?”

“Never knew it. Did you?”

“Once upon a time.”

“Should be easy enough to get. But no one is still there, Ray. Need someone at Petra?”

“No. Now do you remember what David or Chang said about making these phones impossible to trace?”

“That I do remember.” He told Rayford the combination of symbols and numbers that made the satellite phones appear to be coming from anywhere.

Rayford punched in the number for an international operator. “The Global Community Palace in New Babylon, please,” he said.

“I’m ringing it for you,” the operator said, “but they have no light there just now, and you may encounter delays.”

“Thank you.”

“You have reached the Global Community Headquarters Palace in New Babylon. Please bear with us as technical difficulties may make it impossible to answer your call immediately.”

And there came “Hail Carpathia” by the big choir again. “Agh!”

“Global Community, how may I direct your call?”

“Krystall, please.”

“In the potentate’s office?”

“Of course.”

“Sir, it’s after hours here. Those offices are closed.”

“I know that. Her quarters, please.”

“Who may I say is calling?”

“I’ll tell her.”

“I need to know, sir, or I won’t ring someone at this time of the night.”

“If you have to know, it’s her uncle Gregory.”

“One moment.”

Mac shot Rayford a look. “Uncle Gregory?”

“Long story.”

“Long flight. I’ll look forward to it.”

“Uncle Gregory?” Krystall said, her voice thick from sleep.

“Is this line secure?” Rayford said.

“I think so. I don’t know. This isn’t my uncle, is it?”

“You know who it is.”

“You never told me.”

“You know I’m a friend.”

“I’ll know for sure if you can really help my uncle. I passed along your message.”

“You did? Is he following up?”

“I think he is.”

“Believe me, if he makes contact, our people will get him everything he needs.”

“I’m grateful, but why are you call—”

“A favor.”

“I knew it. I can’t—”

“Hear me out. I had no idea I would need anything when I talked to you. I just need information that only you can give me.”

“I can’t be giving you inf—”

“I’m not asking for much, but I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

“Oh, what’s the difference?” she said. “Being in trouble is no worse than being in his good graces around here.”

“I need to know if there’s been any talk of an important arrest in the United North American States. It would be a young wom—”

“Yes! Yes! Late in the day, a couple of hours after quitting time—we were still working because of the move tomorrow afternoon—Mr. Akbar came in excited about some break in San Diego. Local GC there arrested someone connected with the Judah-ites.”

“Any idea whether they are planning to—”

“That’s all I know. Really.”

“I appreciate this more than I can say, Krystall. Is there anything I can do for you?”

“What could you possibly do for me?”

“I just wish—”

“If you can’t send me a pair of eyes, I can’t think of a thing.”