Read Online The Mark: The Beast Rules The World by Tim Lahaye, Jerry B. Jenkins - Free Book Online

wheelchair rolled into view. Rayford was taken aback. The man had one leg, the other a stump just above the knee; his right hand had small protrusions in place of fingers, and the other hand, though whole, had clearly suffered severe burns. “I’d stand, but then,
    I can’t.”
    “Understood,” Albie said, hesitantly shaking the man’s
    partial hand.
    Rayford did the same, and they followed Stephens’s gesture to two chairs that filled the small office. What was it about the face? Stephens’s neck was permanently red and scarred, as were his cheekbones and ears. He was clearly wearing a toupee. Except for the lips, the middle of his face – chin, nose, eye sockets, and the center of his forehead – seemed all of one piece, the color of a plastic hearing aid.
    “Don’t know you, Elbaz,” Stephens said, almost like a man with no tongue or no nose. “You, Berry, you look familiar. You GC?” “No, sir.”
    “I’m here on business,” Albie said. “I don’t have a hard copy of my orders, but – ”
    “Excuse me, Deputy Commander, but I’ll get to you. You got a minute?”
    “Well, sure, but-”
    “Just give me a minute. I mean, I know you outrank me and all, but unless you’re in an unusual hurry, bear with me. Your story checks out. I’ll give you all the help I can on whatever you need. Now, Berry, were you ever GC?”
    Rayford, disconcerted by the wasted body and the voice, hesitated. “No, uh, no, sir. Not Peacekeeping anyway.”
    “But something.”
    “I didn’t mean to say that.”
    “But you did. You were GC connected some way, weren’t you? You look familiar. I know you or of you, or I’ll bet I know a friend of yours.”
    Albie gave Rayford a look, and Rayford quit talking. Regardless of the question, Rayford merely stared at the man, racking his brain. Where would he have run into a Pinkerton Stephens, and how could he forget him if he had?
    “I was a whole man then, Mr. Berry. If that’s your real
    name.”
    Rayford grew more uncomfortable by the second. Had they been set up? Would he ever get out of here? And what of Hattie? Albie seemed to have stiffened and was no more comfortable than he.
    Stephens cocked his head for one more lingering glance at Rayford, then turned to Albie. “Now then,
    Deputy Commander Elbaz. What might be your business
    with me?”
    “I’ve been assigned to take custody of your prisoner,
    sir.”
    “And who told you I had a prisoner?”
    “Top brass, sir. Said the subject was uncooperative, that some plan or mission failed, and that we were to return her to Buffer.”
    “Buffer? What’s that?”
    “You know what that is, Stephens, if you are who you
    say you are.”
    “Doesn’t make Sense that half a man would be in a leadership role in the GC?” Stephens said.
    “I didn’t say that.”
    “But it doesn’t add up, does it?”
    “Can’t say it does.”
    “Never saw another like me in the ranks, have you,
    Elbaz?”
    “No, sir, I haven’t.”
    “Well, I’m legit whether you like it or not, and you’re going to have to deal with me.”
    “Happy to, sir, and when you check me out, you’ll see that everything is in order, and-”
    “Did I say I was housing a prisoner here, Deputy
    Commander?”
    “No, sir, but I know you are.”
    “You know I am.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Buffer is a female rehab facility, sir. Were you under the impression I had a female incarcerated here?”
    Albie nodded.
    “Does this look like a detention center to you?” “They take different forms during different times.” “Indeed they do. Is there a reason, sir, why you did
    not greet me with the new protocol?”
    “I’ve been having trouble remembering that, Mr.
    Stephens.”
    “Indeed? Do you realize, sir, that you have a smudge on your forehead?”
    Albie jerked. Rayford felt a chill. A GC Peacekeeper could see Albie’s mark? Things tumbled into place so fast that Rayford could barely keep up. How much had been compromised? Albie knew everything!
    “I