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anything should surprise me anymore.
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    Rayford sat behind the controls of the Condor 216. “What am I supposed to do for a first officer?” he asked Earl.
    “They’ve got somebody on his way over from one of the other airlines. He’ll fly with you as far as San Francisco, where McCullum will join you.”
    “McCullum? He copiloted for me from New Babylon to Washington, Earl. When I went to Chicago, he was supposed to go back to Iraq.”
    “I only know what I’m told, Rayford.”
    “And why are we flying west to go east, as Carpathia says?”
    “I have no idea what’s going on here, Rayford. I’m new to this. Maybe you know better than I do. The fact is, most of the war and devastation seems to be east of the Mississippi. Have you noticed that? It’s almost as if it was planned. This plane was designed and built here in Dallas, but not at DFW where it might have been destroyed.
    It’s ready for you just when you need it. As you can see it has the controls of a seven-
    five-seven and yet it’s a much bigger plane. If you can fly a ‘fifty-seven, you can fly this.
    You just need to get used to the size of it. The people you need are where you need them when you need them. Figure it out, boy. None of this seems a surprise to Carpathia, does it?”
    Rayford had no idea what to say. It didn’t take long to catch on.
    Halliday continued, “You’ll fly on a straight line from Dallas to San Francisco, and my guess is you won’t see any devastation from the air, and you won’t be threatened from attack heading that way either. There might be militia people somewhere out west who would like to shoot rockets at Carpathia, but there are precious few people who know he’s heading that way. You’ll stop in San Francisco just long enough to get rid of this copilot and pick up your usual one.”
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    Buck touched Donny’s arm, as if rousing him from sleep. Donny looked at him blankly. “Mr. Williams, this has all been hard enough even with Pastor Bruce here. I don’t know what we’re going to do now.”
    “Donny,” Buck said gravely, “you have an opportunity here to do something for God, and it’s the greatest memorial tribute you could ever give to Bruce Barnes.”
    “Well then, sir, whatever it is, I want to do it.”
    “First, Donny, let me assure you that money is no object.”
    “I don’t want any profit off something that will help the church and God and Bruce’s memory.”
    “Fine. Whatever profit you build in or don’t build in is up to you. I’m just telling you that I need five of the absolute best, top-of-the-line computers, as small and compact as they can be, but with as much power and memory and speed and communications abilities as you can wire into them.”
    “You’re talking my language, Mr. Williams.”
    “I hope so, Donny, because I want a computer with virtually no limitations. I want to be able to take it anywhere, keep it reasonably concealed, store everything I want on it, and most of all, be able to connect with anyone anywhere without the transmission being traced. Is that doable?”
    “Well, sir, I can put together something for you like those computers that scientists use in the jungle or in the desert when there’s no place to plug in or hook up to.”
    “Yeah,” Buck said. “Some of our reporters use those in remote areas. What do they have, built-in satellite dishes?”
    “Believe it or not, it is something like that. And I can add another feature for you, too.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Video conferencing.”
    “You mean I can see the person I’m talking to while I’m talking to him?”
    “Yes, if he has the same technology on his machine.”
    “I want all of it, Donny. And I want it fast. And I need you to keep this confidential.”
    “Mr. Williams, these machines could run you more than twenty thousand dollars apiece.”
    Buck had thought money would be no object, but this was one expense he could not lay off on Carpathia. He sat back and whistled