The Mark

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Elise sat on a bench in the lobby of her hotel the morning after the announcement. A limo was scheduled to pick her up and take her to the airport at 6 a.m. A growing contingency of press and cameras were gathering outside the hotel. Elise could hear the muffled sounds of reporters lobbying for good positions outside the hotel doors. Ex tra security had been brought in to handle the mayhem. She wasn't even sure if her boss had stayed at the same hotel last night, but ap parently the press thought he had. She glanced across the lobby. A man with a concierge tag was talking with Agent Vasiliev at the front desk. Vasiliev was in his travel clothes, complete with a belted black trench coat and a matching wool felt hat. Elise thought the hat accen tuated his square jawline and made him look a lot meaner than he probably was. They didn't speak much, but maybe someday...

One other guest was sitting on the other side of the lobby and he stood and started to walk over to her. She glanced back toward Vasiliev, who showed no concern that she was being approached by a stranger. The man was rather handsome, in casual dress, and didn't cause any alarms to go off in her mind so she returned his gentle smile with one of her own. He was definitely coming over to talk with her.

"Miss Orion?"

"Yes?"

"May I sit?"

"Certainly." She nodded to the space beside her, curious that he knew her name.

"May I get straight to the point? I know who you are and I must give you a warning." His eyes were troubled, and Elise began to feel uncomfortable. "Adolph Hitler has begun a war against Elohim and there are only two sides in this battle. Today you must choose which side you are on, one leads to life and the other leads to death."

Elise looked back behind her, over to the front desk where the concierge and Vasiliev continued their deep discussion, apparently unaware of her predicament.

"What do you mean?" she asked cautiously, yet politely.

"Elohim will not be defeated by this man. But sides are being drawn. If you take Hitler's mark you will align with Satan and spend eternity in hell, separated from Elohim."

"I... I don't understand," she began.

"Yes, you do. If you take the mark of Hitler, you side with Satan and your fate is secured. Don't take it, Miss Orion. I am a messenger from Elohim and you are facing a life and death decision."

"I am afraid you are delusional, sir. Herr Hitler is here to save the

world."

The man stood. Elise felt a wave of relief at the thought of him leaving, but he had one final warning.

"Your eternity hangs in the balance, Elise. He knows your heart. It's not too late to follow Him, but once you're marked, it's over. Con sider yourself warned."

He turned to walk away and Elise looked back over at Vasiliev. He was now approaching her with the concierge. She widened her eyes and tilted her head toward the man, but Vasiliev held his cold stare. She looked back at the man, but he was gone. She quickly scanned the lobby and he was nowhere in sight.

She stood and addressed Vasiliev.

"Did you see that? Where were you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"That man who was just here."

"What man? There was no one here with you."

"Agent Vasiliev, I expect you to be more alert. When I am being harassed, the least you could do is help me out."

Vasiliev didn't appear to appreciate being reprimanded and he set his jaw without answering her charge. The concierge held out an envelope to Elise and spoke.

"This is for you." He handed her the envelope and seemed to wait for her to read it.

She took it, saw her name handwritten on the front, and pulled the note out. She knew his handwriting and her heart fluttered a bit. She had been quickly ushered back to the hotel last night and wasn't sure what he had done, because there were no interviews or follow-up comments after his spectacular announcement.

Our flight has been delayed for the moment. Go with Vasiliev and he will explain what to do next.

She stared at the note a moment and pursed her lips in thought. It was a good thing she knew his scribble. She wondered why Hitler had taken the time to write her a note, when she was used to communi cating with Agent Vasiliev, and he could have directly instructed her. She lifted her eyes from the note and met Vasiliev's cold stare.

"Let's go," she said to him, slinging her attaché over her shoulder and extending the handle on her wheeled suitcase. I wonder why he doesn't like me?

The concierge took the bag from her. "Allow me." He slid the han dle back into the case and picked up her bag.

She followed Vasiliev across the lobby and behind the front desk. They went through a series of doors and hallways without speaking a word. The longer they walked, the more curious she became, but she held her tongue and followed. After several minutes of hallways and silence, they arrived at their destination. Elise looked behind her and realized the concierge, as well as her suitcase, had disappeared at some point on the walk. She was a bit surprised she hadn't noticed sooner.

The hallway was poorly lit. They were in a service area, perhaps where deliveries were inventoried or where the hotel staff would take breaks. Agent Vasiliev knocked on the door and a voice from inside permitted entry. When the door opened, several security agents and staff members were standing around the perimeter of the room, with a few sitting on a worn-out couch. In one corner, there were two tech nicians, sitting at a table with tools of their trade spread out before them. Vasiliev finally spoke.

"Herr Hitler has instructed his staff to be marked this morning before we head back to Russia. It is important that we are united in his cause, and he will not be seen with unmarked staff members. Get in line."

Elise looked around the room and realized she was standing at the end of a tattooing line. Triple sixes were being applied indeli bly on the foreheads of each person with remarkable speed and ease. With so much information to absorb from the night before, she had hardly thought about Hitler's instruction to wear his number. Now she had perhaps half an hour to consider it. However, it wasn't as if she really had a choice in the matter. Her thoughts went from irrita tion to complacency. On one hand, marking a woman's face was not a flippant decision one should have to make on a moment's notice. On the other hand, she had always believed that true leaders led by example, so why wouldn't he expect his staff to mark up on day one.

Seven minutes later Elise was resolved to receive her mark. Now she had approximately twenty-three minutes to decide how what color, and the appropriate placement of the mark. Thirteen minutes later, with those decisions made, she had ten minutes left to decide how to handle Vasiliev's unacceptable behavior. She may not be the Premiere of Russia, but she was his personal assistant and that fact alone demanded certain protections. How many demented religious fanatics would be allowed to approach her before one goes too far? She would discuss this directly with Hitler.

As she approached the technician's table, she tossed a resolute glare over at Agent Vasiliev. He returned the look but there was something about that handsome square jaw that made Elise recon sider what approach she would take. Still engaged in a stare, she gave him a half smile and batted her eyes a bit. She quickly turned her head, thinking it was better not to wait for a response from him.

"Don't worry, nobody's getting any marks on their foreheads. Give me a little credit." Thomas shook his head at the mere suggestion.

He sat across from Charlie at the local diner and watched as he took a bite out of his cheeseburger and reached for his Coke.

"It's not that I don't trust you. I just want to make sure you under stand how serious this is." "Well, you're not the first one to tell me that today. Before we were

even up this morning there was a guy knocking on my front door. A perfect stranger telling me not to take the mark. You guys start early, don't you?" Thankfully, Thomas had answered the door, or he could only imagine what Robin would have said to him.

"He wasn't one of us, Thomas. And you hit the nail on the head when

you called him perfect. That was an angel you met this morning."

"An angel? What in the world are you talking about?" Thomas dipped his onion ring in ketchup and took another bite.

"Most everyone I've talked to today has received the same mes

sage you did. Revelation tells us that God will send angels to tell the

world not to take the mark of the beast or else you'll..."

"... spend eternity separated from God." Thomas shook his head in agreement. "Yep, that was his message. And I'm supposed to be lieve he was an angel. How do you know all this?"

"I've tried to tell you, I've studied this for quite a while." "Apparently you've read stuff I didn't even know was in

there."

"Thomas," Charlie leaned in on his elbows, "two months from now all hell is going to break loose in the world. Things may seem pretty peaceful now-take my mark and live in peace. That's his mes sage. But taking Hitler's mark is aligning with Satan. If you don't take his mark, you'll die. That's it-no two ways about it. You've got Robin and the girls to think about now. You won't be able to provide for them without a mark, so you'd better make plans right now for the changes you're going to experience in a few months." He leaned back in the booth. "My offer is still open. Come and hide with me. We've got food and shelter, but I would think that after yesterday the reser vations are filling up."

Thomas's head started to pound again. It began last night and he thought he had it under control this morning. But when his father in-law called, it started again as a dull ache at the base of his skull, then moved behind his eyes when Robin found out he was meeting Charlie for lunch. Now it was full-fledged throbbing, one step short of a migraine. He rested his head in his hands, his fingers pressing on his temples to relieve the pressure.

"I need time to process everything. I've got Robin's dad telling me not to do anything rash, like quit my job and disappear, and I've got you telling me to do exactly that."

"What does he think is happening?"

"He says one of two things is going on-either the rapture is right around the corner or this Hitler look-alike is trying to scare the world into submission by trying to make it appear like he's fulfilling prophecy. He did say not to worry about the mark or idol thing, that no one is going to really care here in America. And he said that he thinks this Hitler character is pretty insane to think the world will bow to him."

"Well, the world already is bowing to him. He has an army of de mons to ensure that."

"Yeah, I think the demons are one of the facets in this that her dad can't explain."

"There's not a lot of time to think, Thomas. Personally, I wouldn't rely too much on your ability to think this one through. I would pull out my Bible and see what God says about it."

"I started to do that after you met with us but I've just been so busy..."

"Thomas, this isn't a mere coincidence. Life is going to change quickly here. Everything is in place for American banking to switch over to the One World Denomination system. As soon as that happens, without the mark you won't be able to access your money. Cash out

now. Buy supplies, and come and hide. You don't have other options. "I met with Durbin after the announcement. He thinks Hitler is the answer to the problems of the world. It's like he never took a World History class. How could anyone pledge allegiance to Hitler? It's absolutely outrageous!"

Charlie wiped his mouth on his napkin and dropped it on his plate. "The world has been overcome by a deluding spirit, and those without the Holy Spirit can't make sense out of it. But we can see clearly and we know this is the beginning of the end. Thomas, you've got to make a decision here."

"I know. Give me a few days. I've got to convince Robin that we need to act."

"Two months is not a long time."

"I know. Where exactly is this compound?"

"It's not far from town, but that really doesn't matter right now. What matters is that you have faith in what God says is going to hap pen and act on it."

Lunch was over and it was time to head back home. Thomas started his car after he watched Charlie pull out of the parking lot. The radio played a song Thomas probably knew but at this point he couldn't stand the noise. The pounding of the drums only magnified the pounding in his temples and he turned the radio off. He pulled out onto the street and headed home.

He noticed a long line of people standing on the sidewalk and wondered what was going on. His eyes followed the line to its abrupt end at a storefront in the middle of the block. A tattoo parlor.

"You have got to be kidding me," he said out loud. "Why do peo ple have to overreact?"

The throbbing immediately morphed into an official migraine.

March

Anna returned home again on Saturday instead of Sunday. Things were tense with her mother and she wasn't sleeping well. Her mother was convinced this would all blow over, despite the unending coverage and obsessive analysis on every talk show and news broadcast on air. By Saturday, most of the United States Congress as well as the Presi dent, his family, and, rumor had it, even their dog were now sporting tattoos. Anna was pretty sure that Rabin's dramatic death was the cause. But more than anything, she missed Henry. Though not completely convinced to run and hide, she felt safe when he was around and the constant coverage of the resurrection of Hitler was starting to wear on her nerves.