"LaHaye, Tim - Left Behind 11 - Armageddon" - читать интересную книгу автора (LaHaye Tim)

Rayford bounded down the stairs, drawing screams and squeals from people suffering in the stairwells. They called out, asking how he could run like that in the dark. He hated ignoring them.
He reached the main level, vaulted over several people, and zigzagged between others. He burst out the door and sprinted across the runways toward the plane. If he could get it started and turned around, all he could do was hope and pray that Chang, Naomi, and Abdullah were on their way.


Buck had been sound asleep for hours before something began troubling him. He grew fitful and was suddenly wide awake. It was guilt. Letting Chloe take watch duty when she worked so hard all day with the Co-op and their son. What kind of a husband was he?
He ran his hands through his hair and sat up, calling out. "How's it going, babe?"
Maybe she was checking on Kenny. Or getting herself some tea in the kitchen. He padded out of the bedroom, stretching. "Chlo'!" he called out. "You've got some-thing on the motion detector here!"
He bent over the periscope and scanned quickly. He saw nothing until he got to the southwest, where he saw a lone figure, armed. He scowled. "Chloe!" he called. "Better call George. I've got a bogey at eight o'clock. Chloe?"
He froze. He stood and moved toward the kitchen. It was dark. And Kenny was crying. Buck grabbed the phone on his way to Kenny's room and punched in Ming's number.
"Hey, big boy," Buck said, finding the boy standing in his bed, quickly going from crying to smiling. "Mama?"
"In a minute," he said. "Why don't you lie down and go back to sleep. It's still night."
Ming answered.
"I'm so sorry to wake you, Ming, but I've got a little emergency here."
"Anything, Buck."
"Could you watch Kenny for a little while? I think Chloe is outside."
"Be there in less than a minute."
He thanked her and got on the walkie-talkie. "George, you up?"



FOUR


RAYFORD HAD the engines started and the plane turned around when he saw Carpathia's glow in the distance. The potentate seemed in a hurry, but he was apparently leading Suhail Akbar and Leon Fortunato, and he had to go slowly to light the way for them a few feet at a time. That would not have been as much help without the sounds of the jet engines, however, so Rayford shut down and prayed that this mostly blind threesome would veer off course before his own trio found him.
Rayford turned on his cell phone and called Mac McCullum in Al Basrah to debrief him. "Can you and Albie leave for Al Hillah today?"
"We been sittin' here like a past-due hen."
"I'll take that as a yes. You're pretty hot since Greece. How are you going to get around?"
"With bluster, charm, and only at night, of course.
I figure you pretty much just want to know what NC and his boys are up to."
"Ideal would be your finding out where they're meet-ing in Baghdad and bugging the place for us."
"Oh, sure. I'll just tell 'em I'm his new valet and can I have a few hours in the meeting room before everyone else gets there."
"If I thought it was easy, I'd do it myself," Rayford said. "Albie knows everybody. If it's gonna get done, he'll get it done."
Chang, Naomi, and Abdullah appeared, each laden with boxes and cases. Naomi looked ashen. Rayford opened the door and lowered the steps. "Good timing," he said.
"We were on it all the way, Captain," Abdullah said. "Thanks to this young genius."
"Just showing off," Chang said, handing cargo in and helping Naomi aboard. "I wanted to show her how David had bugged the whole place and that we could actually listen in on Carpathia."
"So you knew he was coming," Rayford said, letting Abdullah edge past to the pilot's chair.
"Could we please talk about something else?" Naomi said.
That made everyone uncomfortably quiet. Rayford sneaked a peek. The pale orange silhouette was moving more quickly now. He must have abandoned Akbar and Fortunato or they were ailing anew. The pain didn't seem to reach Carpathia. Maybe God was saving his best till last for him.
Rayford and Abdullah eschewed a formal checklist for a quick confirmation of the cockpit flow by checking the critical switch positions. "Crank 'er up," Rayford said.
But Abdullah just sat there, craning his neck to watch the glow grow larger as it neared the plane.
"What're you waiting on, Smitty? Let's move out."
"A moment, please, Captain. How far do you assume he can see?"
"About as far as he glows. Now let's go."
"A moment, please."
"What are you doing, Mr. Smith?" Naomi called out. "Isn't that Carpathia?"
"He does not know where he is going. But I do."
"Once we start up, he can do nothing," Rayford said. "But I'd rather he not know who we are."
"He won't," Abdullah said.
Rayford leaned past Abdullah and saw Carpathia hurry across the runway about twenty feet behind the craft.
"Here we go," Abdullah said, firing up the engines and blowing the orange glow to the ground over and over until Nicolae was just an ember in the distance.