THAT NIGHT. ATHENS, TNG DISTRICT. 11 PM EST. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2025.
They had pretended to
sleep on the train, sharing a big couch in a private compartment,
while Larry briefed them via squeeze code. The essential
information boiled down to expect trouble; don’t resist the fake
arrest; expect to get the rest of the script from Cameron
Nguyen-Peters; and if anything went wrong, make as much noise as
possible, improvise, free General Phat, and run.
“That’s a lot of
light up ahead for nowadays,” Jason said, quietly, as they neared
the Athens station.
Larry and Chris
leaned across him to look where he pointed. “Orangey and
flickering, so it’s torchlight,” Chris said. “Not good. I don’t
think they’re holding a parade for us.”
As the train neared
the station, silhouettes swept by on both sides of the tracks, and
the train whistle blasted over and over. The dark human shapes,
backlit by torches, thickened into a wall of heads above bodies,
faces flaring out of it in the flickering, uncertain light, like
snapshots of angry ghosts.
At the platform,
backs covered with Rorschach camo blocked the view through the
windows. “Soldiers standing three deep,” Jason said. “And the crowd
sounds like bears.”
Their conductor
leaned in. “They said to ask you not to sit too close to the
windows, and wait for someone to come to you.”
Outside the praying
and singing was growing louder, and some objects thudded against
the side of the train car. “Is there a next station we could maybe
go on to?” Chris asked.
“It’s a spur line,”
Larry said. “To get off it we would have to back up. Which can be
pretty easily blocked.”
So far, no gunfire
had punctured the angry rumble of the mob outside, and what was
hitting the train sounded like rocks or bottles, not shots. “I like
the singing better than the shouting,” Chris said. “They don’t
throw stuff when they sing.”
Cameron Nguyen-Peters
came in. “This is going to be a nuisance. We need to make a public
display of arresting you all as spies. You will be going to a
discreet high-security facility and the man you came to meet will
be there. My assistants will bring along your bags
separately.”
He paused for a
moment as the shouting and screaming outside rose to a crescendo
and then quieted. “That’s our cue. General Grayson is speaking to
the crowd. He can usually persuade the Post Raptural crowds to
behave, at least for short periods of time. He’s defusing the
situation for public peace, and he’ll do what it takes to protect
you. He knows what your mission is and supposedly he’s down with
it—but if he’s going to stab us in the back, it’ll be tonight, so
stay alert and trust him only as much as you have to. For this
ceremonial arrest, just try to look like the general has
overwhelmed you by his sheer force of personality.”
As they waited in the
shadow to go onto the platform, while General Grayson prayed at
length, Larry muttered, “Who’s the low-rent Madonna clone beside
him?”
“His wife,” Cam said.
“Ten times smarter and fifty times more dangerous than he is, and
don’t forget it.”
The prayer finished
with the Post Raptural coda—help us during
this Tribulation to make Your chosen nation fully fit for Your
return. There was wild cheering, but Grayson held his hands
up for silence. “Now we are about to proceed with a difficult
moment, my friends, and I am depending on each of you to be calm,
reasonable, and fair. These men believe they are carrying out their
duties in accord with their oaths, just as sincerely as I believe I
am keeping my oath. I, and the other competent authorities, must
have the freedom and time to investigate and reach an impartial
conclusion that will stand the scrutiny of God and man. To do that,
we must have quiet and order. So I’m
going to ask you to return to your homes after you see these men
taken into custody. Rest assured we are dealing with any danger
they may pose to God and country—but we are doing so fairly and
dispassionately. Now, will you please all join me in the Pledge of
Allegiance?”
It was no mere
recital; the crowd seemed to speak in one passionate voice:
I pledge allegiance to the Lord
Of the United and Christian States of America,
And to the Cross and Eagle which stands for His Presence,
One nation under God, faithful to Christ,
With liberty, justice, grace, and love for all.
“I am going to find a
way to crucify that son of a bitch,” Chris whispered.
“Gotta let me help,”
Larry whispered back.
“He doesn’t believe
it himself,” Cam pointed out.
“I don’t care whether
you’re a bear yourself, don’t feed the bears,” Jason
said.
When the three men
moved forward into the light, the crowd fell into a deep silence.
Grayson publicly ordered Cam to take them into custody for
questioning. Cam declared he would hold them according to Grayson’s
orders, and came forward to take Larry by the elbow.
As they passed out of
the light, Grayson was urging the crowd to go home. A few little
bunches of them were striking up hymns or chants, but it didn’t
seem to be contagious. A long flight of steps led down along the
solid brick wall of the power plant, plunging into deeper
darkness.
“Why was he willing
to do that?” Larry asked quietly.
“Because it means
I’ve been publicly seen taking orders from him, now,” Cam
explained. “That’s worth a great deal to him. Look, time’s short,
here goes. Two blocks from here, I am going to lead you into a dark
area behind an old classroom building. I will appear to just be
taking a shortcut across a lawn. You will silently turn away from me and follow the row of
magnolias to the north; at the edge of campus there’s a dark patch
where you can run across to a warehouse. North and west of the
warehouse there’s an old bike trail. Follow it about half a mile to
a frame house by the east bank of a creek—if you cross a bridge
you’ve gone too far. In that house are men I’ve assigned to the
job, loyal to me and the United States. Give them the password
‘Four larks and a wren.’
“If by any chance you
are arrested that’s the place you will be taken anyway, and the
guards will free you as soon as the arresting party leaves and you
can give them the password. They will release General Phat to you.
He knows the extraction procedure, which is—”
“Stop were you are,”
a voice said from the shadows. Cameron walked on and was gone.
Chris felt his arms pinned; beside him Larry and Jason struggled.
Pistols cocked, and Chris felt the press of the muzzle at the back
of his neck, pointed a little upward in the executioner’s
angle.
“Prisoners, hold
still while we secure you.”
Bags went over their
heads instantly, bars slipped between their backs and elbows as
neat as knitting, and choke ropes slipped over their necks like a
period onto the end of a sentence. Chris recognized Grayson’s voice
when he said, “Follow me to the secure facility. They’ll be held
there till morning. No noise and forget this the moment we’re
back.” Hands turned him around a few times and then guided him into
a new direction; he sensed the others beside him. “Prisoners,”
Grayson said, “if you pick up your feet and obey your handlers, you
won’t get hurt on your way there.”
Chris noticed that
nothing had been said about after they were there.