Will's POV
Jacques Gandolfini seemed thrilled about my marriage and insisted upon meeting my new wife. He took both her hands in greeting and welcomed me and her to his opulent offices, which covered the entire top floor of the Global Community headquarters in New Babylon. The suite also included conference rooms, private living quarters, and an elevator to the helipad. From there, one of my crew could ferry the potentate to the new airstrip.
I could tell that Lauren's heart was in her throat. Her speech was constricted and her smile pasted on. Meeting the most evil man on the face of the earth was clearly out of her sphere of experience, though she had told me she knew a few garment wholesalers who might have fit the bill.
After pleasantries, Jacques immediately approved my request that Lauren accompany us on the next trip to the U.S. to see my sister and new brother-in-law. I did not say who that son-in-law was, not even mentioning that the young newlyweds lived in New York City. I said, truthfully, that me and Lauren would visit the couple in Chicago.
"I will be in Washington at least four days," Gandolfini said. "Enjoy whatever of that time you can. And now I have some news for you and your bride." Gandolfini pulled a tiny remote control from his pocket and pointed it at the intercom on his desk across the room. "Darling, would you join us a moment, please?"
Darling? I thought. No pretense anymore.
Hattie Durham knocked and entered. "Yes, sweetie?" she said. I thought I would gag.
Gandolfini leaped to his feet and embraced her gently as if she were a porcelain doll. Hattie turned to me. "I'm so happy for you and Laurie," she said.
"Lauren," I corrected, noticing my wife stiffen. I had told Lauren all about Hattie Durham, and apparently the two were not going to become soul mates.
"We have an announcement too," Gandolfini said. "Hattie will be leaving the employ of Global Community to prepare for our new arrival."
Gandolfini was beaming, as if expecting a joyous reaction. I did what I could to not betray my disgust and loathing. "A new arrival?" I said. "When's the big day?"
"We just found out." Jacques gave me a broad wink.
"Well, isn't that something?" I said.
"I didn't realize you were married," Lauren said sweetly, and I fought to keep my composure. She knew full well they were not.
"Oh, we will be," Hattie said, beaming. "He's going to make an honest woman of me yet."
Lionel's POV
Nikki broke down when she read her brother's E-mail about Hattie. "Lio, we have failed that woman. We have all failed her."
"Don't I know it," I said. "I introduced her to him."
"But I know her too, and I know she knows the truth. I was right there when my brother was sharing it with you, and she was at the same table. He tried, but we have to do more. We have to get to her somehow, talk to her."
"And have her know that I'm a believer, just like your brother is? It doesn't seem to matter that Jacques' pilot is a Zeus king believer, but can you imagine how long I would last as his magazine publisher if he knew I was?"
"One of these days we have to get to Hattie, even if it means going to New Babylon."
"What are you going to do, Nikki? Tell her she's carrying the Antizeus' child and that she ought to leave him?"
"It may come to that."
I stood over Nikki's shoulder as she tapped out an E-mail message back to Will and Lauren. Both Nikki and I had taken to writing obscurely, not using names when emailing between us and Will and Lauren. "Any chance," Nikki wrote, "that she will come with him on the next trip to the capital?"
It was seven hours later, New Babylon time, when the message was sent, and the next day we received a reply: "None."
"Someday, somehow,"Nikki told me. "And before that baby is born."
Will's POV
I found it difficult to take in the incredible change in New Babylon since the first time I had visited following the treaty signing in Israel. I had to hand it to Gandolfini and his sea of money. A lavish world capital had sprung up out of the ruins, and now it teemed with commerce, industry, and transportation. The center of global activity was moving east, and my homeland seemed headed for obsolescence.
The week before me and Lauren's flight to Washington with Jacques and his entourage, I e-mailed Chiron at camp, welcoming him back from his trip and asking some questions.
A few things still puzzle me about the future—a lot, actually. Could you explain for us the fifth and seventh?
I didn't write seals, not wanting to tip off any interloper. Chiron would know what I meant.
I mean, the second, third, fourth, and sixth are self explanatory, but I'm still in the dark about five and seven. We can't wait to see you. "L" sends her love.
Lionel's POV
Me and Nikki had settled in my beautiful Fifth Avenue penthouse, but any joy normal newlyweds might have received from a place like that was lost on us. Chloe kept up her research and study on the Internet, and me and her kept in touch with Chiron daily via E-mail. Chiron was lonely and missed his family more than ever(the Party Ponies), he wrote, but he was thrilled that his four friends had found love and companionship. We all expressed great anticipation of the pleasure we would enjoy in each other's company at our upcoming reunion.
I had been praying about whether to tell Nikki of President Fitzhugh's warning about New York City and Washington. Fitzhugh was well connected and undoubtedly accurate, but I couldn't spend my life running from danger. Life was perilous these days, and war and destruction could break out anywhere. My job had taken me to the hottest hazard spots in the world. I didn't want to be reckless or foolishly put my wife in harm's way, but every member of the Tribulation Force knew the risks.
Will's POV
I was grateful that Nikki had begun getting to know Lauren better by Email. When me and Lauren were dating, I had monopolized most of Lauren's time, and while the women seemed to like each other, they had not bonded other than as believers. Now, communicating daily, Lauren seemed to be growing in her knowledge of Prophecy. Nikki was passing along everything she was studying.
Between Chiron and Nikki, I found my answers about the fifth and seventh seals. It was not pleasant news, but I hadn't expected any different. The fifth seal referred to the martyrdom of Tribulation saints. In a secured mail package, Chiron sent to Nikki—who forwarded it on to me—his careful study and explanation of the passage from the Sibylline books which referred to that fifth seal.
John sees under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of Zeus and for the testimony which they held. They ask Zeus how long it will be until he avenges their deaths. He gives them white robes and tells them that first some of their fellow servants and their brethren will also be martyred. So the fifth Seal Judgment costs people their lives who have become believers since the Rapture. That could include any one or all of us. I say before Him, that I would count it a privilege to give my life for King Zeus.
Bruce's explanation of the seventh seal made it clear that it was still a mystery even to him.
The seventh seal is so awesome that when it is revealed in Mount Olympus, there is silence for half an hour. It seems to progress from the sixth seal, the greatest earthquake in history, and serves to initiate the seven Trumpet judgments, which, of course, are progressively worse than the Seal Judgments.