Nicolae High by Tim Lahaye, Jerry B. Jenkins Read Free Book Online Page A

he hardly ever needs an interpreter, even for some of the remotest tribes.
    WT: How can Carpathia give away your formula?
    NC: I was more than happy to offer it. Botswana will soon be one of the most fertile countries in all of Africa, if not the world.
    WT: Having the formula made Israel a wealthy nation. Russia attacked you for the formula alone.
    CR: It’s not about money, Mr. Theodore. I need none. Israel needs none.
    WT: Then what could Carpathia offer that is worthy of trade?
    CR: What has Israel prayed for since the beginning of time as the chosen people of God? Shalom. Peace. ‘Pray for the peace of Israel.’
    WT: Many say God supernaturally protected you against the Russian attack. With God on your side, do you need to barter with Nicolae Carpathia for protection?
    CR: We pray, we seek God, but in the meantime we believe he helps those who help themselves.
    WT: And you’re helping yourselves by . . . ?
    CR: The formula is tied to Carpathia’s disarmament policy. Once the world is disarmed, Israel should not have to worry about her borders. Any nation threatening Israel will suffer immediate extinction, using the weaponry available to the UN, 10 percent from each donating country. Imagine the firepower.
    WT: But Carpathia doesn’t believe in war.
    CR: He also knows that the best way to keep the peace is to have the weapons to enforce it.
    WT: And how long does this agreement between Israel and Carpathia last?
    CR: Mr. Carpathia suggested that full rights to the formula would return to us after only seven years.
    Judd froze. So there it was, the seven-year agreement between Israel and the Antichrist. Judd called Bruce at the church office. “Does this say what I think it says?”
    “It sure does,” Bruce said. “How many will recognize it for what it is, I can’t say. But here’s another tidbit for you, and please tell no one other than Vicki, and swear her to secrecy as well: Buck Williams has been invited to Israel for the signing of the treaty.”
    Judd shook his head. “Can you get him to tell us about it when he gets back?”
    “No promises. He may have to lie low and not be seen with believers for a while. But if he can and we find a way to make it happen, I’ll do my best.”

    On Monday a week later, Vicki awoke at the crack of dawn. Her schoolbooks had burned with her trailer, she barely remembered her class schedule, and she dreaded the thought of going back. She would miss Clarice Washington, Lionel’s older sister, with whom she had sat on the school bus. Clarice had been raptured, and Vicki would not ride the bus anyway; she would ride with Judd. He would drop Lionel and Ryan off at Global Community Junior High on the way. What a joke.
    She knew the first day back to high school would be chaotic when she saw what was happening at the junior high.

SEVEN
Back to School
    J UDD felt queasy when he joined the heavy traffic wending its way to the junior high school. Lionel had fallen strangely silent since the four kids got into the car, but Ryan had kept up a steady stream of chatter. The only thing Vicki had said was that she wondered if anyone would recognize her. Judd did not recall noticing her in the past, but there was a vast difference between the hard-looking, black-lipped, and black-eyelidded girl he had met and this preppy version that sat beside him now.
    For many of the junior highers, this merely looked like the first day of school again. Everyone seemed carefully dressed and equipped, and their mothers or fathers dropped them off, watching anxiously as they headed inside.
    “Wonder how many kids lost parents,” Ryan said. “Man, have I got something for show-and-tell.”
    “They still do show-and-tell?” Vicki asked.
    “No, but for sure everybody’s gonna want to be telling where they were and what they saw and who they know who’s gone and all that.”
    Judd glanced in the rearview mirror and noticed Lionel nodding, but he was gazing out the window. Judd spoke softly to