The Remnant: On The Brink of Armageddon by Tim Lahaye, Jerry B. Jenkins

And I was not preaching, not praying, not standing there full of faith when the bombs fell. Truth be told, my faith is stronger in the aftermath than it was in the fire. Tsion fell serious and ran a hand through his beard, studying Rayford. You would make a good Israeli, he said.
     
    Rayford shrugged. Zeke was going for the Egyptian look, but whatever. No, I mean you argue like my countrymen. We could debate all night. And even when you are wrong, still you argue.  That brought more laughter from the others. All right, Tsion. I don’t know why you would want to hold yourself accountable to one you find it so easy to ridicule  All in good fun, my dear brother. You know that. of course. But anyway, I’m listening.
     
    Mac pulled his phone from his pocket and turned it on. What’re they doin’, Socrates, your pals? Checkin’ us out?  Socrates shrugged. C’mon, you won’t hurt my feelings. They trying to make sure we’re legit, that we’re not gonna jump ‘em, embarrass ‘em, what? Mac punched in Chang’s number. There are no cells out here, sir,
     
    Socrates said. You won’t get through to anyone. Well, I wouldn’t if I had bad technology, would I? But what if I had a phone juiced by the sun and bounced by the satellites? Then I wouldn’t care whether you’ve got cells in the woods here, would I? But you won’t be able to reach the commander unless  This is Chang, Mac. You okay? I’m fine, Supreme Commander, sir. Just checkin’ in to see if my phone works all the way to New Babylon.  Loud and clear, Mac. Talk to me. What’s going on? You in trouble? What can I do? Fine, sir. How’s the weather there? Chang said, I’ve got my screen open to the GPS , and I’m tracking you and, ah, Jinnah and Irene right to where you ought to be.
     
    Hang on, boss. Just a second. Mac pretended to tuck the phone to his chest, but he held it lightly enough so Chang could hear. What did you just say, Socrates? That I couldn’t use my phone in the woods? Yeah, well, obviously you can, with the satellite and all. But you couldn’t talk to somebody unless they had the same thing is all I was saying. Who would I want to talk to here with my fancy phone who wouldn’t have one? Socrates paled. Well, like I don’t have one. Who else?
     
    My partners don’t either. We have regular. Thought I was gonna call one of your partners, did you? Tell, no. ‘Course not. Not unless their boss gave me their number, right? Right. But even then, I couldn’t call them out here, could I? No. That’s all I was saying. You were saying something else, weren’t you, Socrates? No. I was just talking. You thought I was calling Commander Stefanich, didn’t you? No I  Didn’t you? Yes  But you didn’t think I could reach him. Socrates nodded miserably. But how would you know that? I was guessing. I can’t get through to him in Ptolemais, in the middle of all the cells?  You probably can. But he’s not there, is he?
     
    How would I know? Because he’s here in the woods, isn’t he? Silence. Isn’t he, Socrates? He shrugged. So, how did he let you and your team know I was coming? Couldn’t call you, could he? I am so stupid. I’ll grant you that, Socrates. Not livin’ up to that name anyway, wouldn’t you say? Mac turned back to the phone. Sorry to keep you, Chief. I’m way ahead of you, Mac. I can beam a signal to that phone of Stef anich’s that will make the bells and whistles blow, even if I can’t talk to him on it. He’ll get a readout that Deputy Commander Konrad, who reports directly to Security and Intelligence Director Akbar, wants to talk with him immediately. Sounds good, Chief. I’ll talk to you later.
     
    Things are going fine here. When he calls, I will use the voice modulator that can make me sound like an old German, and I’ll tell him that Akbar himself is holding him personally responsible for giving Howie Johnson access to Sebastian. Perfect.  And if he doesn’t call, I’ll have that on his