Read Online The Regime: Evil Advances by Tim Lahaye, Jerry B. Jenkins - Free Book Online Page A

talked for hours, and by about three in the morning, Carpathia began to feel a strange bond. Fortunato seemed to know a lot about a lot. In fact, he seemed to know everything about everything. Had Nicolae enjoyed such a wealth of experience and exposure, he believed he would have long since been one of the most revered men in the world.

    “I need to ask you a few questions, Mr. Fortunato, and I beg you to not take offense.”
    “Please.”
    “How is it that you have remained so anonymous? Why have I never heard of you before?”
    Fortunato smiled as if Carpathia could have paid him no higher compliment. “That, my young friend, is by design. I like to think of myself as a kingmaker.”
    Nicolae sat back. A kingmaker? “You get great satisfaction in giving others the tools they need to excel.”
    “Exactly!” Fortunato said. “I don’t know why myself. I don’t even understand it. Many have asked me why I am not a leader, why I don’t seek the limelight for myself. I don’t know, but I’ll tell you this: my life is a calling. I can’t tell you that the heavens opened and a light appeared or that I heard voices. All I know is that I come alive when my behind-the-scenes work results in the elevation of someone I have discovered, someone I admire and trust. At times like that, when my candidate wins or my client gets the promotion, I couldn’t feel more fulfilled if I were king of the world.”
    “Fascinating.”
    “Thank you, Mr. Carpathia. Frankly, it fascinates me.”
    Nicolae asked Peter to bring the humidor, and he chose a smaller, milder cigar. “Mr. Fortunato?”
    Leonardo declined.
    Carpathia lit up. “You will tell me if I keep you too long.”
    “No, please. I am a night owl, and who doesn’t like to talk about himself?”

    Nicolae chuckled. “I am curious about your spiritual background. Mr. Planchette tells me you were raised Catholic and studied for the priesthood.”
    “Well, I was a religion major in a Catholic university not far from the Vatican, but I don’t believe I was ever truly priest material. I loved the church and all the trappings, but I was not humble enough.”
    “Not humble enough?”
    “I am a transparent man, Mr. Carpathia. I will tell you the truth. What appealed most to me about my inherited religion was the formality and the pageantry. I never felt close to Christ, the object of the church’s worship. Many of my classmates and colleagues did, and I respected that and envied them. And yet I knew why I fell short in that regard as well.”
    “You wanted to be pope.”
    Fortunato lifted his head and roared. “Close! Close! I wanted to be Jesus!”
    Carpathia laughed along. “We would make quite a pair, Mr. Fortunato. I want to be god!”
    The men enjoyed a good laugh.
    “Are you up for a walk, Mr. Carpathia? I feel like a rude guest suggesting it, but I’d like to get up and move.”
    “Certainly, but we must both agree to drop the formalities. I can tell we are going to become friends, and so let us get on a first-name basis. Fair enough?”
    Fortunato reached for and shook Carpathia’s hand, standing and pulling the younger man from his seat.
    “Would you like Peter to bring your suit coat, or do you prefer the smoking jacket?”

    “Frankly, Nicolae, I am fine. I love a bracing breeze in shirtsleeves.”
    “Suit yourself.”
    Rayford Steele was not a man to look a gift horse in the mouth. Irene had booked the honeymoon suite at the finest local hotel, and they enjoyed a late dinner served on their balcony. A couple of hours later they lounged in bed in the dark, talking.
    He couldn’t shake the feeling that he had been set up, that she had used everything she knew to soften him for something. For what, he did not know. But he had an idea. By midnight he wished she’d just get on with it. Yet she was still going on with memories, reminiscences of how they met, fell in love, courted, got engaged, married, moved, had kids.
    It was fun to rehearse and grow