Read Online Glorious Appearing: The End Of Days by Tim Lahaye, Jerry B. Jenkins - Free Book Online

might have to fake that bravado.
    “Are you looking directly at me, soldier?” Carpathia demanded.
    “No, sir,” the young Brit next to Mac said, eyes darting everywhere but at Nicolae.
    “You most certainly were! You would have done better to admit it and beg forgiveness.”
    “Affirmative, sir. I was and I regret it and offer my sincerest abject apologies.”
    “That is the second time you have referred to me as sir! Have you not been instructed neither to look directly at me nor to refer to me in any manner except as—”
    “Yes, Excellency! My apologies, Supreme Pot—”
    “And now you deign to interrupt me?”
    The Brit’s voice was quavery and Mac believed his legs were about to fail him.
    “Sorry,” the young man whispered.
    “I cannot hear you, soldier!”
    “I’m sorry, Excellency. Forgive me. ”
    “Who is your superior officer?”
    “Commander Tenzin, sir—Excellency!”
    Carpathia cursed the man. “Commander Tenzin!”
    The Indian commander rushed in, bowing. “At your service, Excellency!”
    “Commander, have you taught your men who I am?”
    “I have, lord potentate.”
    “All of them?”
    “Yes, my king.”
    “And the privilege of serving god on earth?”
    “Absolutely, divine one.”
    “Even this man? Your name, son?”
    “Ipswich, Excellency,” he said, tears flowing now.
    Mac wanted to shoot Carpathia dead and feared he just might if the potentate approached.
    “Commander Tenzin, what is that in your hand?”
    “A rattan rod, Excellency. I so look forward to the privilege of riding with you today. ”

    The rod was an inch thick and appeared to Mac about four feet long.

    “If I told you that Mr. Ipswich has flouted your training, could you think of an appropriate use for your rattan rod, Commander Tenzin?”
    “I could, Your Grace.”
    Ipswich was whimpering.
    “And would you do me the honor of employing it in my presence, for my entertainment and for the education of all?”
    Without another word, Tenzin stepped forward and drew back the rod. Before Ipswich could even recoil, his commander lashed his face with such speed and force that the stick caught him just to the left of his nose^ splitting both lips, cracking some teeth, and slicing his left eyelid.
    Ipswich screamed and grabbed his face with both hands, bending at the waist. Tenzin brought the rod down on the back of his neck, just above the hairline, opening a gash that spattered blood on Mac’s face and chest. It was all he could do to keep from attacking the Indian.
    As Ipswich pitched forward, Tenzin cracked him twice across the backside in quick succession, the second blow tearing his uniform pants. That drove him to the floor, and as he tried to scramble away, his commander followed, raining blows on his back.
    Carpathia howled in delight. “When he can crawl no more, Commander Tenzin, spare the rod and put him out of his misery!”
    Another soldier was quickly enlisted to replace Ipswich in line. He entered pale and shaky and quickly came to rigid attention.

FOUR

    “Ooh,” Carpathia moaned, clasping his hands and gazing upward. “What a way to start the day! Leon… ”
    “Yes, holy one?”
    “Ask Commander Tenzin to pay a visit to Chief Akbar.”
    “Certainly, lord.”
    “But instruct him to punish him only to the point of near death. ”
    ENOCH DUMAS led more than a hundred of The Place followers around the back of the abandoned Illinois shopping center. Just before eight in the morning he had begun to teach, trying to inform his people and a few interested others what should precede the Glorious Appearing. None of the heavenly preliminaries had begun, and he sensed the disappointment, doubt, and fear on the part of his little band of believers. But mostly he found himself looking over his shoulder at the main road.
    Though there were few vehicles of any type about, given the fuel shortage and the crippled economy, he knew the local GC had not shut down completely. They would have to