Left Behind: The Kids Series Book #7 Busted! Read online

  Left Behind: The Kids Series Book #7 Busted!

  SOMEONE was following her in a car. Vicki clutched her books to her chest and walked toward town. She didn't look back. She couldn't risk letting them know she suspected.

  Mrs. Jenness had let her go. That was a surprise. But Vicki would have stayed all night without ratting on her friends. But would her friends be as faithful to her?

  Seeing Shelly and her mother in the principal's office had sickened Vicki. Shelly had been sincere about her faith, hadn't she? Could it have been an act? The sight of Judd, John, and Mark turning away from her down the hall made her heart sink. Didn't they care? Or were they trying to protect her by keeping their distance?

  Vicki had a good idea who was following her. Someone from school assigned to see where she went. Perhaps Judd and the others had figured that out. They wouldn't have simply abandoned her.

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  Vicki had to get back to her friends. She had to talk to Pastor Bruce. When Mrs. Jenness discovered she had no parents, all the kids would be at risk. She needed to keep moving and stay away from Judd’s house.

  Vicki looked in shop windows and followed the reflec­tion of the trailing car. When it stopped, she ducked into a drugstore. She sat at a bench in the back and tapped out a message on the tiny digital system on her wrist that looked like a watch. She asked Judd to meet her at a nearby park.

  She would try to shake whoever was following her and meet him there.

  The front door opened. A male’s loud voice. "Did a girl with red hair come in here?"

  Vicki crouched beneath the prescription window.

  "Right there," the cashier said.

  Vicki looked up. The overhead mirror ran the length of the wall and angled down. The man behind the coun­ter pointed toward her. Vicki remembered how her little

  sister, Jeanni, used to play hide-and-seek by sticking her head in the closet, her rear sticking out of the coats.

  "Duh," Vicki said as she leapt to her feet.

  "Stop!" the cashier shouted.

  Vicki pushed open a door that said EMPLOYEES ONLY.

  "Hey, you can't go in there!" the pharmacist barked.

  "We'll get her," someone shouted.

  Vicki locked the door behind her. Footsteps and shouts outside. Darkness inside. Vicki fumbled for a light switch. Keys were jangling, getting closer.

  "What did she take?" someone said. .

  Vicki moved toward a thin strip of light on the other

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  side of the room. The back door! She tripped over a chair and banged her head. The doorknob jiggled behind her.

  She leaned against the back door, and it swung open to blistering light. A siren rang just above her head. She staggered out. As the door swept shut she read, "Emer­gency Exit Only-Alarm Will Sound."

  She ran.

  Judd had waited in his car after school, hoping Vicki would walk that way. After twenty minutes he was about to leave for Lionel and Ryan's school when his wrist messenger vibrated and he saw Vicki's message. He quickly sent another to Lionel and Ryan: "Get home and keep watch. I'll be there as fast as I can."

  The park had been a late-night teen hangout. With the rise in crime, a lot of kids were afraid to go there. Judd sat in the parking lot looking at the empty swing sets. Before the disappearances, the place would have been full of little kids. Now there were no families at picnic tables or moms and dads with strollers. It was a ghost town.

  “Get the car," the loud man said. "I'll meet you at the end of the alley."

  Vicki heard shuffling and then silence. She didn't want to rise up from her hiding place, but the smell was overpowering. She peeked from under the lid of the huge garbage bin. No one. Something furry moved behind her. She bolted.

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  Vicki ran down the alley. She was halfway to the main street when a car passed. A second later it was back.

  "There she is!" a man said, but she didn't see his face. She was running the other way. The alley fence was Way over her head-no time to climb. Every door she tried was locked. The car pulled behind her and gunned the engine.

  Judd had been so focused on getting to the park and alerting Ryan and Lionel that he forgot to let Vicki know he was waiting.

  He backtracked, slowing to look in shop windows and down alleys. He heard the screech of tires and swerved to miss an oncoming car barreling around a comer. He drove past the drugstore and hung a left. Judd sped past an alley and slammed on his brakes. Vicki ran toward him, the car bearing down on her.

  Judd made a U-turn and opened the passenger door.

  Vicki jumped in. "Go, go, go!" she shouted.

  "I don't mean to be rude," Judd said, speeding away, "but you look awful."

  "Thanks," Vicki said, panting. "Just get me out of here.”

  Judd sped through a yellow light. The car behind had a red, but it ran through the light, swerved to miss oncoming traffic, and kept gaining.

  "Who is that?" Judd said.

  "It's gotta be Handlesman or somebody he told to follow me. They want us bad."

  Judd turned at the next light, then into an alley. They

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  careened around another comer and through an empty parking lot.

  "Hang on," Judd said as he crossed a patch of grass and turned into a tree-lined subdivision. He flew across a bridge, spun in the entrance to a park, and came to a halt behind some shrubs. The trailing car was nowhere in sight.

  "Better stay here awhile just to make sure," Judd said.

  "Who gave you the shiner?"

  "A filing cabinet, I think," Vicki said.

  Through gasps, Vicki told Judd about her interroga­tion at school. Judd told her they had listened to Shelly and her mother through the bug in Mrs. Jenness's office.

  "What did Shelly say?" Vicki asked. "How much were you able to hear?"

  "We heard Shelly crying and her mother yelling at her to give you up," he said. "Not much more."

  "Then maybe they pushed her into it," Vicki said. "At least that's what I hope."

  Judd sniffed. "Is it me, or is there an odor in here?" Vicki blushed. "I hid in a garbage bin."

  Judd pulled a blackened piece of banana peel from her hair. "Pretty resourceful."

  "And gross," Vicki said, shuddering and rubbing her arms. "I hate goose bumps."

  "Are you cold?"

  She shook her head. "Judd, they told me to bring my Parents tomorrow."

  "They don't know about your mom and dad?"

  "If they do, they're not letting on."

  Judd paused. "Uh, I want to thank you. We couldn't

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  hear the interrogation, but we could tell you handled yourself well. We were all impressed."

  "You would have done the same for me."

  "Mark wanted to rescue you. Said we should give ourselves up.”

  "He didn't think I could handle the pressure?"

  "He didn't think it was fair to put you through it."

  "I could've choked Handlesman," Vicki said. "He treated me like some dumb little girl, like I'd never have the brains to put two sentences together, let alone a newspaper.”

  "Don't worry," Judd said. "You'll get your chance to show him Monday morning."

  "You're not going through with it again, are you?"

  Judd nodded. "Why not? If Bruce is right, the treaty between Israel and Carpathia will be headlined around the world. We can't pass this up. We have to tell people what's ahead."

  "Bruce says the treaty signals the beginning of the Tribulation, right?"

  "Exactly," Judd said.

  "But how are you going to get the Underground Ins
ide? You've got the guard checkpoint, cameras, and every teacher in the school on the lookout."

  Judd shrugged. "We've got God on our side."

  Vicki ran through all her options, and none seemed very good. Judd waited until dusk to start the car."

  "Can we stop and see Bruce on the way home.” Vicki said. "I want to see what he thinks."

  "He could pretend to be your father,” Judd said.

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  “That’d be lying," Vicki said. "He'd never do that."

  A few cars lined the New Hope Village Church parking the Tribulation Force is meeting, Judd thought. He parked in front and kept the engine running. He waited while Vicki dashed inside. He flipped to a news station on the radio.

  "Not a day has passed without some major develop­ment with new UN Secretary-General Nicolae Carpathia," the reporter said. "And today was no exception. Cincinnati Archbishop Peter Cardinal Mathews, who some see as successor to the vanished pope, announced a new cooperative religion that would incorporate the tenets of all major religions. He calls it the Global Community Faith."

  "Our religions have caused much division and bloodshed," Cardinal Mathews droned. "From this day forward we will unite under the banner of the Global Community Faith. Our logo will contain sacred symbols from religions that represent all, and from here on will encompass all. Whether we believe God is a real person or merely a concept, God is in all and above all and around all. God is in us. God is us. We are God."

  Judd shook his head. What a pack of lies.

  "We will elect a pope," Mathews said. "And we expect that other major religions will continue to appoint lead­ers in their usual cycles. But these leaders will serve the Global Community Faith and be expected to maintain the loyalty and devotion of their parishioners to the larger cause."

  The reporter continued. "United Nations Secretary­

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  General Nicolae Carpathia said the move toward one religion is a welcome change.

  “‘We clearly are at the most momentous juncture in world history,” Carpathia said. “With the consolidation to one form of currency, with the cooperation and tolerance of many religions into one, with worldwide disarmament and commitment to peace, the world is truly becoming one."

  "Another incredible development came when Nicolae Carpathia answered questions regarding the rebuilding of the Jewish temple and the future of the Islamic Dome of-"

  Vicki jumped in the car and slapped the radio off. "Go!" she shouted.

  "What's going on?"

  "Look," Vicki pointed.

  Running toward them was an angry Coach Handlesman. Judd sped away.

  "What's he doing here?" Judd said.

  "Bruce's office door was kinda open, so I knocked. All of a sudden Coach Handlesman starts yelling! He accuses Bruce of crimes, says he'll have him thrown in jail. I was outta there."

  "How could Coach Handlesman know about Bruce?”

  Vicki shook her head. "Maybe Shelly gave them his name. Bruce went with me to her house."

  "Great," Judd said. "I didn't want to drag Bruce into the middle of all this."

  Judd parked near his house and watched for Coach Handlesman. When he was sure they had eluded

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  him, Judd pulled inside the garage and lowered the door.

  Lionel and Ryan peppered them with questions until late.

  “No lights tonight," Judd told them. And the four would take turns watching the street.

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  It WAS midnight and Judd couldn't sleep. He sat in the dark living room with his four friends. Ryan and his dog, Phoenix, kept watch at the window.

  "What should we do?" Lionel said, as if the problem were as much his as Vicki's.

  "We could hide her," Ryan said. "I know a bunch of places they'll never find you, Vick."

  "Get your stuff and let's get outta here," Judd said.

  You can stay at a motel. Anywhere. We'll find a place before you, and when things calm down, you can come back."

  "You know it's not that easy," Vicki said. "You gotta face your troubles. Running only postpones things."

  Just give us until Monday when the next edition of the Underground comes out," Judd said. "They'll think you weren't involved in the first place."

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  "Yeah, then they'll believe I'm the ignorant stooge Coach Handlesman thinks I am."

  Judd dialed Bruce's office. No answer. The next morning, with Ryan and Phoenix asleep by the window he tried Bruce's home. No answer.

  "I don't like this," Judd said. He was startled to hear a voice answer him.

  "You're gonna like this even less," Lionel said. "Handlesman just pulled in."

  Judd called downstairs to Vicki's room as the doorbell rang. He let Handlesman wait a moment while Lionel and Ryan hid in the den. Handlesman rang again and pounded on the door. "Come on, open up. I know you're in there!"

  "Mr. Handlesman, what a nice surprise," Judd said. The coach walked in and looked around the house. Phoe­nix growled and barked from the den.

  "Is she in there?" Coach Handlesman said.

  "No, I don't think that's her bark," Judd said. "Don't get smart with me, kid. Tell me-"

  "I'm right here," Vicki said. "What's the matter? Didn't think I'd show up?"

  "I'm not taking the chance."

  Mr. Handlesman grabbed her arm and forced her through the door.

  "Where are you taking her?" Judd shouted, but Mr. Handlesman kept going.

  Lionel and Ryan came out as the car pulled away.

  "We're cooked," Judd said. "It's only a matter of time until they get the rest of us."

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  They called it a hearing, but to Vicki it felt like a trial. Jenness, Coach Handlesman, and Mrs.Waltonen testified against her. Vicki had admitted tripping a fire alarm, and they believed she had broken into the school and distributed the Underground.

  Candace Goodwin of Global Community Social Services scribbled on a yellow legal pad. She was a tall, thin woman with glasses. She rarely looked up from her notes and made no eye contact with Vicki until the testi­mony against her was over.

  "I'm in charge of custodial care," Mrs. Goodwin said. “Since there's no one with you, I'll assume you lost your parents and brother and sister in the vanishings."

  "That's right.”

  "Do you have any aunts, uncles, or cousins?"

  "Not that I know of" Vicki said. "I tried to get in touch with a friend of my brother's in Michigan, but he's gone, too."

  “Where have you been living?”

  "With friends."

  "Are these the friends who published the Underground?"

  Vicki looked at Coach Handlesman. "I'm from a trailer park. What would I know about that kind of thing?"

  John and Mark joined Judd, Ryan, and Lionel at the house. The next issue of the Underground would be the most timely.

  “Bingo!” John said, as he looked at the computer screen. "The big block against rebuilding the Jewish

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  temple is the Islamic Dome of the Rock. Both the Jews and followers of Islam claim the site as a holy place. Carpathia says he's worked out an agreement to move the Dome to New Babylon.”

  "That means the Jews can rebuild the temple on the original site," Ryan said, "just like it says in the Bible.”

  Judd tapped the keyboard and stared out the window

  "Where do you think they took her?"

  "You didn't hear a word," John said.

  "Yes, I did," Judd said. If I just-"

  "Your mind's somewhere else," Mark interrupted.

  "Why don't we just stop and go look for Vicki?"

  "We have to get this done," John said. "It may be our last issue anyway."

  "Why don't we hide?" Mark said. "We can move everything to our house."

  "Might not be a bad idea," Judd said.

  "We could split up," Lionel said. "A couple of us go look for Vicki and the rest stay here."

  "Vicki will get in touch if she needs us," John said.
>
  "Wrong," Ryan said, holding up her wrist messenger.

  "We won't be hearing from her at all. She didn't have time to put it on.”

  "We have to find her then," Judd said. "I'll take Ryan, and you guys stay here."

  Vicki was well into her story. She told how her parents had become Christians, what a change it had made in them, and how she felt when she was left behind.

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  Though she didn't use names, she told of the tape she had seen of a pastor who predicted exactly what had happened and told how to have a relationship with God. He said we are all sinners, that we deserve God's judgment, but that Jesus offers us forgiveness."

  Mrs. Waltonen hung her head. At first she had been interested in Vicki's story. Mrs. Waltonen had lost a grand­child and other family members. Vicki wanted to give her hope, but now she seemed dosed.

  "Candace, I don't think we really need to hear this, do we?" Mrs. Jenness said.

  "It's good to know motivation," Mrs. Goodwin said.

  Mrs. Jenness tried to look concerned. "We're here to help you, Vicki. That's what we've tried to do all along. If you won't let us, you'll face the consequences."

  "Which are. . . ?"

  "Two options," Mrs. Goodwin said. "An emergency shelter called The Haven. You attend the same school, and your life stays pretty normal. Spartan, but comfortable."

  "And option two?"

  Mrs. Goodwin shrugged. "NDC."

  "Northside?" Vicki said. "The detention center?"

  Coach Handlesman nodded. "Not a nice place."

  Judd and Ryan passed the school parking lot. Phoenix sat in the back and chewed on a toy. Coach Handlesman's car was there, but Vicki could have been anywhere.

  Can’t we get in and listen on that bug you guys planted?" Ryan said.

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  "Too risky. Besides, only John has keys to that room.” Judd parked on a side street, and they left Phoenix in the car. He and Ryan went straight to the administrative wing, but the windows were high and dark. They crept a little ways along the brick wall, gingerly crunching the gravel underfoot.

  "Get on my shoulders," Judd said.

  Ryan pulled himself up and stretched to see inside. "Next room," he said. "Move down."