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mind about all of
this before your time is up.
Verna stood and walked slowly to the door. Holding it open, she said softly,
I still don't like the idea of Buck's pretending to Carpathia to be something
he's not.
Buck and Chloe followed her out toward the front door. Our private lives, our
beliefs, are none of our employer's business, Buck said. For instance, if I
knew you were a lesbian, I wouldn't feel it necessary to tell your superiors.
Verna whirled to face him. Who told you that? What business is that of yours?
You tell anybody that and I'll
Buck raised both hands. Verna, your personal life is confidential with me.
You don't have to worry that I'll ever say anything to anybody about that.
There's nothing to tell!
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My point exactly.
Buck held the door open for Chloe. In the parking lot, Verna said, So we're
agreed?
Agreed? Buck said.
That neither of us is going to say anything about the other's personal life?
Buck shrugged. Sounds fair to me.
The funeral director was on the phone with Rayford. So, he was saying, with
the backlog of deaths, the scarcity of grave sites, and so forth, we're
estimating interment no sooner than three weeks, possibly as late as five
weeks. We store the bodies at no charge to you, as this is a matter of public
health.
I understand. If you could simply inform us once the burial has occurred,
we'd appreciate it. We will not have a service, and no one will attend.
Loretta sat at the dining room table next to Rayford. That seems so sad, she
said.
Are you sure not even one of us should go?
I've never been much for graveside services, Rayford said. And I don't
think anything more needs to be said over Bruce's body.
That's true, she said. It's not like that's him. He's not going to feel
lonely or neglected.
Rayford nodded and pulled a sheet from a stack of Bruce's papers. Loretta, I
think
Bruce would have wanted you to see this.
What is it?
It's from his personal journal. A few private thoughts about you.
Are you sure?
Of course.
I mean, are you sure he'd want me to see it?
I can go only by my own feelings, he said. If I had written something like
this, I
would want you to see it, especially after I was gone.
Loretta, her fingers shaking, pulled the sheet to where she could read it with
her bifocals. She was soon overcome. Thank you, Rayford, she managed through
her tears. Thank you for letting me see that.
Buck! I had no idea Verna was a lesbian! Chloe said.
You had no idea? Neither did I!
You're kidding!
I'm not. You think that little revelation was of God too?
I'd sooner think it was a wild coincidence, but you never know. That tidbit
may have saved your life.
You may have saved my life, Chloe. You were brilliant in there.
Just sticking up for my man. She rattled the wrong cage.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
A WEEK and a half later, as Rayford was preparing to head back to New Babylon
to resume his duties, he got a call from Leon Fortunato. You haven't heard
anything from the potentate's woman, have you?
The potentate's woman? Rayford repeated, trying to let his disgust show.
You know who I'm talking about. She flew over there on the same flight you
did.
Where is she?
I wasn't under the impression I was responsible for her.
Steele, you don't really want to withhold information about somebody
Carpathia wants to know about.
Oh, he wants to know where she is. In other words, he hasn't heard from her?
You know that's the only reason I'd be calling you.
Where does he think she is?
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Don't play games with me, Steele. Tell me what you know.
I don't know precisely where she is. And I don't feel the liberty to be
reporting on her whereabouts or even where I think she is, without her
knowledge.
I think you'd better remember who you work for, pal.
How can I forget?
So, you want me to imply to Carpathia that you're harboring his fiancee?
If that's what you're worried about, I can put your mind at ease. The last
time I saw
Hattie Durham was at Mitchell Field in Milwaukee when I arrived.
And she went on where?
I really don't think I should be sharing her itinerary if she chose not to.
You could regret this, Steele.
You know what, Leon? I'll sleep tonight.
We're assuming she went to see her family in Denver. There was no war damage
there, so we don't understand why we can't get through by phone.
I'm sure you have many resources for locating her. I'd rather not be one of
them.
I hope you're financially secure, Captain Steele.
Rayford did not respond. He didn't want to get into more of a war of words
with
Leon Fortunato.
There's been a slight change of plans by the way, as it relates to your
picking up
Supreme Pontiff Mathews in Rome.
I'm listening.
Carpathia will be going with you. He wants to accompany Mathews back to New
Babylon.
How does that affect me?
I just wanted to make sure you didn't leave without him.
Buck had already had his tongue-lashing by phone from Steve Plank about having
allowed his passport and ID to fall into the wrong hands in Israel. They
tortured that Shorosh guy within an inch of his life, and he still swore you
were just a passenger on his boat.
It was a nice big, wood boat, Buck had said.
Well, the boat is no more.
What was the point of destroying a man's boat and torturing him?
Are we on the record?
I don't know, Steve. Are we talking as journalists, friends, or is this a
warning from a colleague?
Steve changed the subject. Carpathia still likes the copy you're sending out
from
Chicago. He thinks Global Community Weekly is the best magazine in the world.
Of course, it always has been.
Yeah, yeah. If you forget about objectivity and journalistic credibility
We all forgot about that years ago, Plank had said. Even before we were
owned by Carpathia, we still had to dance to somebody's tune.
Buck brought Amanda, Chloe, Rayford, and Tsion up to speed on their new laptop
computers. Tsion had been using his secure phone to talk to everyone at
Loretta's place, which they began calling their safe house. More than once
Loretta said, That man sounds like he's next door.
That's cellular technology for you, Buck said.
Tsion required daily visits from his fellow Tribulation Force members, just to
keep his spirits up. He was fascinated by the new technology, and he spent
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much of his time monitoring the news. He was tempted to try to communicate via
E-mail to many of his spiritual children around the world; however, he feared
they might be tortured in attempts to determine his whereabouts. He asked Buck
to ask Donny how he might go about communicating widely without the recipients
of his missives suffering for it. The solution was simple. He would merely put
his messages on a central bulletin board, and no one would know who was
accessing them.
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