Desecration: Antichrist Takes The Throne Read Online Free Page A

facility that the brass rarely, if ever, visited. I didn’t bother planting bugs there, but for all I know, something was already in place.
    You told me in person, and Dr. Ben-Judah a little while ago, that you were trying to get out of taking the mark and were even prepared to tell the truth right up to the time they “stuck” you. I took that to mean up to the time you were given the mark. Maybe that is what you meant, but that’s not the way most people refer to the application of the tattoo and the embedding of the chip. I don’t know. Maybe I’m reaching. But maybe something else was going on. You never told me what happened from the time you got to the basement of Building D until you got to my office. Do you remember? And if not, why not?
    So, first, tell me you’re there and doing your job. Give us everything we need. Then see what you can find for Building D. Answer back as soon as you’ve read this.
    David transmitted the message, then let Mac read it before they headed off for Mizpe Ramon. Mac nodded. “How much time do you give him?”
    David shrugged. “Not much, but I don’t want to nuke the system because he’s on a bathroom break either.”
    Within minutes of their return to the road, David had a reply from Chang: “Following orders. And, Mr. Hassid, I thought the mark was administered in the basement of the palace. Blueprints show Building D several hundred yards from here. I have no memory of having been there. And by being ‘stuck,’ I meant the anesthetic they gave me prior to the procedure. I thought that was done in the palace too.”
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    Rayford was encouraged to hear how close the Quasi Two quartet and Leah were to Mizpe Ramon. He told Mac about the weapons George Sebastian was having flown in.
    “Smitty will want to see those,” Mac said. “He was a combat man before he flew fighters, you know.”
    Rayford hadn’t known, and he could hear Abdullah in the background, demanding to know what they were talking about.
    “Just keep a rein on that camel there, desert boy,” Mac said.
    “You watch it, Texas-cowboy boy. I will learn some slurs about you and torment your ancestors.”
    “Just a minute, Ray,” Mac said. “Smitty, you mean my descendants. My ancestors are dead.”
    “So much the better. I will make them turn over in their tombs.”
    “Albie’s a gun guy too,” Rayford said. “But I’ve had my fill. Anyway, I need both him and Abdullah in the air.”
    He was glad to hear of Leah and Hannah’s plans, but he fell silent at the news that David wanted to precede everyone to Petra. In the background he heard Hassid say, “I wanted to tell him that myself, Mac.”
    But as Rayford turned it over in his mind, David’s setting up Petra for Chaim and the Israeli believers made sense. He asked Mac what anyone knew about Carpathia’s latest plans. Mac brought him up-to-date on the troubles with Chang.
    “I need to know as soon as possible,” Rayford said. “The parade or whatever you want to call it, the desecration, and the attack could all happen this week.”
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    Buck carried his Corporal Jack Jensen GC Peacekeeper ID, but he wore civilian clothes and counted on his own new hair and eye color, not to mention his severely scarred face, to throw off anyone who might otherwise recognize him. He and Chaim left the King David by car at 9:30 and picked their way through heavy traffic to within walking distance of the Old City. Chaim’s robe was gathered at the waist by a braid of rope, but the hem brushed the ground and hid his feet, making it appear he was gliding.
    The two were soon enveloped by the masses who lined the Via Dolorosa, where Carpathia was expected an hour before noon. Buck was struck by the crowds, despite the waning population around the world. The city still showed residue from the earthquake that had leveled a tenth of it, but nothing stopped the opportunists. On every corner hawkers presented Carpathia memorabilia, including real and plastic fronds