The Called: Chosen (The Called Series Book 2) (7 page)

They weren’t following her. She didn’t know whether to be relieved or worried. She may escape for now, but her husband and the three men with him could be meeting their end. In her mind, nothing was worse than losing her husband again. ‘Not now. Not this way’, she thought.

Maggie slammed on her brakes and turned the car around. If he was going to go down, then she would go down with him. She sped back to the beach where she had left them and the van. As she saw the break in trees, she slowed down to get a view of the scene.

She could see the helicopter flying down the coastline. This produced an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. ‘Whatever they did is finished’, she thought. Frantically, she raced the car back to the parking lot next to the van and got out. In the distance, about fifty yards down toward the water was a man lying motionless on the ground.

Her stomach turned as she instinctively ran toward the body. As she approached, it was apparent that it wasn’t John. She looked down at the body of Bo with tears in her eyes. She wondered where the other three were. Maggie surveyed the surrounding area to no avail.

She ran back to her vehicle, not knowing what she was going to do after that. As she approached, she noticed the sound of a man groaning. DeShawn had managed to roll out from under the van enough to be in view. He was clearly wounded on his right shoulder, but very much alive.

“DeShawn! Are you alright? What happened?” asked Maggie.

“Help me get in the car. I’ll explain on the way. They will be back with people on the ground any moment to comb the area. Let’s go!”

They both got in the car and Maggie floored the accelerator. The tires squealed until they gained traction. She was frantic. “We need to get you some medical attention!” she said with a shaky voice. “I can’t believe that they have taken John. After all that he went through to rescue me…I’ve lost him.” She hung her head in defeat with tears spilling over her eyelids. She quickly wiped away her tears and put her focus back on the road.

“Maggie, I’m sorry this has happened. We just got too brave with what we did. Going out in broad daylight like that in the open, we were just asking for it”, said DeShawn.

“It’s not your fault”, said Maggie. “I don’t want you to think that.”

DeShawn sat there wincing in pain; holding his bloody shoulder. “You’re right”, he said. “I just can’t help but think this could have been prevented.”

“Hindsight is twenty-twenty. Could you tell me what happened back there?”

He looked over at her, debating in his mind on whether he should give details.

“Go ahead”, said Maggie. “I can take it.”

“Alright. We all heard the helicopter coming, but by the time it got there it was too late. We had nowhere to go and they were already firing. It was obvious that they didn’t want to hit John and we were all so close together that they didn’t concentrate fire on the middle of the group. The purpose of their first round of fire was to get us to run and spread out so they could take John. I realize that now.”

He stopped right there and fought back tears so he could continue. “Go ahead. It’s okay”, said Maggie gently.

“So we ran as fast as we could for cover by the vehicles, but that was several meters away. Within a few seconds, they had three men repelling from the chopper and we all took battle stances. We started to return fire as they came down. We hit one of them, but the other two started firing just as the helicopter began firing again as well. I saw Bo get hit first. He went down immediately. Then, I saw Chaim go down and start crawling toward the water. That second, I felt a terrible stinging pain in my shoulder. I knew I had been shot and the next one could have been fatal so I went down immediately and laid there still while they took your husband and cuffed him. They were all gone within a minute. I crawled toward the van to call for help when you came back. Bo has gone on to heaven and I assume Chaim has as well.”

“I should have never left. I could have gotten to you and we could have made it out”, said Maggie regretfully.

“No…no you couldn’t have. Even if we would have made it in the car with you, they would have chased us down. There was no escaping. You are fortunate that you weren’t pursued. For all we know, they could be doing that very thing right now.”

“I really hope that isn’t the case”, said Maggie. “I guess we will find out soon. What do you think we should do?”

“We need to get back to base as soon as possible without being detected. It would be catastrophic if they followed us”, said DeShawn. “I wouldn’t want the guilt of everyone else’s blood on my hands.”

Maggie’s breathing became quick and shallow as she gripped the steering wheel; her knuckles turning white and her face becoming a crimson red.

“Maggie? You alright? It’s okay. Just pull over and breathe.”

Through her shallow breaths, he managed to hear her say, “panic attack”.

“Alright now, Mag. Let’s pull over here. We don’t want you to pass out while you’re driving.”

They pulled over to the side of the road as Maggie struggled to take a breath. “No! John! This can’t be happening! Why God? After all we have been through, how could you have let this happen?”

Maggie sat there with her head on the steering wheel wailing and cursing between breaths. DeShawn hated to see things come to this, especially after all the progress they seemed to be making toward John and Maggie accepting Christ. He just laid his head back, wondering if it would have been better if he had been killed. He thought, ‘At least I would have been with Jesus now and not in this reality.’

John was face down inside of a helicopter with his hands behind his back. There was no more running. After being one of the world’s most wanted fugitives, he had finally been caught. All he could think about was his wife that he had been reunited with just days before. He didn’t know if she was alive or dead or if anyone else was for that matter. It all seemed so final yet so incomplete.

The handcuffs were cutting into his wrists and the side of his face was swollen from landing on it when they threw him on the floor. ‘I wonder if this is going to be as bad as I have imagined.’ It was the first time he had been in a Blackhawk helicopter since he had been in the military himself. Being on his belly made the experience quite a bit different.

Just in front of him, there was a commotion going on as one of the soldiers that were shot was being attended to. He could smell blood and soon saw the source of it running like a stream toward him. As he looked up, he could see them inserting a breathing tube. The sights and sounds brought back terrible memories from war. This experience was like all of his worst nightmares coming true at once.

He closed his eyes as tight as he could and tried to block out everything going around him. All he could see when he closed his eyes was the face of his wife. That image was so much better than the alternative, but still heart wrenching considering he may never see her again. His thoughts quickly drifted to what he may experience when they arrived to their destination.

‘What do they have in store for me?’ he wondered. ‘Prison? Torture? Cerebral reconditioning? Death?’ The possibilities kept playing through his mind; worse than any horror movie he had ever seen. This wasn’t a small band of third world fighters that he was up against this time. Apparently, it was the World Council government. There wasn’t going to be any escaping this time. They would be able to do whatever they wanted to him for as long as they wanted and there was nothing he could do about it.

As he was lamenting over his situation, John felt the helicopter slowly descending and finally touching down. The blades slowly stopped spinning and the soldiers pulled him off the floor with a sudden jerk. They dragged his fatigued body by both arms as his feet scraped across the ground. “Stand up soldier!” exclaimed one of the captors. ‘At least he called me soldier’, he thought. ‘Maybe there is a little respect left for what I did for my country.’

He wasn’t blindfolded and he could still see out of the eye that wasn’t swollen. He looked up just in time to see the Department of Homeland Security seal above the door. They walked him down a dimly lit hallway and into a room with a table. “Sit right there”, said one of the men.

“Since you have your guns pointed directly at me and there are three of you here, would you mind taking the cuffs off of me?”

They all looked at each other for a second and looked over at the mirror on the wall. A voice came over the intercom system. “Yes, go ahead. He’s not going anywhere.” They took the handcuffs off and sat him down at the table. The man behind the one way glass came into the room.

After his eyes adjusted, John could see that it was Adnan Bahar. John figured that he must have been an important catch for the second in command of the World Council to show up and greet him personally. Bahar slowly walked to the other side of the table and sat across from John; crossing his legs and relaxing. John just stared at him without flinching or blinking. The two of them sat there across from each other, silent and completely still before Adnan spoke.

“You weren’t an easy man to catch Mr. Robertson. We knew we would get to you sooner or later. We even had the added bonus of killing some of your new comrades. Speaking of which, let me just be straightforward. If you give away their hiding place then you will be able to live.”

John’s face became red as he leaned forward in his chair and looked at Adnan directly in the eyes. “Are you kidding me? I will never live again unless I am free. We both know that will never happen, so what’s the use? Why would I betray my friends? So I will have earned the right to sit and rot in prison for the rest of my life? You really are delusional Adnan. I can see why that psychopath wanted you as his partner in crime.”

Adnan huffed, “We have ways of making people like you talk. You can live out the rest of your life in relative peace or be tortured until you die or speak. It’s up to you. I won’t beg or plead and I won’t bargain. That’s the deal Mr. Robertson so you can take it or leave it. At any rate, we will start that process now. Gentlemen…”

John immediately felt metal clasp his wrists and ankles. It was a trap. One of the men came toward him with a taser and poked him directly in the chest. He could feel the current surge through his body as pain shot through his limbs. He sat there shaking as he took another shot to the chest. His heart rate became uncontrollable and he began to sweat just as he blacked out.

“We will see if he is ready to talk when he wakes up”, said Adnan coldly as he walked out of the room.

―――――

Several hundred people had camped out overnight in Jerusalem on the temple mount to see history being made. For thousands of years, the Middle East had been in turmoil. From the ongoing war between Israelis and Palestinians over the Gaza strip to the constant threat from Israel’s Muslim neighbors; peace had eluded the holy land. Somehow, the policies and international popularity of Samyaza al Assad had brought the nations to Israel to sign a declaration of peace.

As the sun rose over the Mount of Olives early that morning, hundreds of people rose to their feet at the sound of the blowing of a shofar. Assad suddenly appeared on the large screens that had been set up on the temple mount. A spotlight illuminated him as he stood on the Mount of Olives with his arms outstretched to the crowd.

“Are you ready for a new day?” asked Assad.

The crowd roared with approval. Several rabbis, Jewish Priests, Muslim Sheikhs, and Catholic leaders were peppered throughout the mixed crowd that represented about every tribe and nation on earth. After basking in the glory for a few moments, Assad turned and got into a helicopter that had him on the temple mount in just a couple of minutes.

A large table was prepared in front of the Dome of the Rock mosque for the signing of the treaty. Several leaders from the region had arrived and were taking their place at the table just as a rush of swirling wind began to blow. In a small area that had been blocked off from the public, the helicopter carrying Assad had arrived from the east.

A few of the leaders had to chase their head wear after the wind blew it off of their heads. Many in the crowd laughed at their expense as they tried to recover and once again look dignified. Everyone took their place and another sound of shofars blowing heralded the arrival of Assad. He took a bow and walked by the crowd that stood behind a barricade and a wall of security personnel.

He waved to the crowd as he passed by, seemingly focusing on each and every one of them for a moment. He made a sharp right turn and walked over to the table where the legally binding documents sat prepared. He took turns shaking the hand of every leader before being seated in the middle of the table, facing the crowd.

They all sat there for a minute until the crowd noise died down. Then, Assad leaned forward to speak.

“I cannot put into words what it means to me that those of Jewish and Muslim heritage have met here today in our presence to support that greater good of peace, mutual respect, and prosperity. For hundreds, even thousands of years, the people in this region have been torn apart by hatred for one another; resulting in unnecessary bloodshed. This very place where we stand has been the epicenter over and over again for some of history and legend’s greatest moments and man’s greatest failures. Among Sunni Muslims, the Mount is widely considered the third holiest site in Islam. Revered as the Noble Sanctuary and the location of Muhammad's journey to Jerusalem and ascent to heaven. In ancient mythology and religion, it is considered to be the place where Adam was created and also where Abraham’s son Isaac was nearly sacrificed to the Jewish God. It is the site of the first and second temple in Judaism and rumored to be the site of the third temple at the coming of the Messiah. It is with that revelation that I would like to reveal to you my plan to build the third temple right here next to the Dome of the Rock. Many never would have thought this to be possible with the animosity among the Abrahamic religions. However, it is now a reality in the twenty-second century. No longer do we hold our religious backgrounds to be the most important part of our lives, but the peace and harmony that we can live in with our fellow man. With the advancement of humankind, what we have learned is that nobody has the perfect belief system and nobody is completely wrong. For centuries, the people of Islam and Judaism have sought a Messiah or the al Mahdi. With my heritage in both cultures as well as my intentions of resurrecting the Jewish temple, I can confirm to you that I am he.”

There was a buzz throughout the crowd at that comment. Most of them were shouting praise to him while a few quietly digested the information before joining in support. There were chants in the crowd of “Moshiach” and “Mahdi”!

Assad smiled and raised his hand as he continued…“It has been prophesied in your books that at my coming, there will be a time of peace. This is that time. I have already pronounced judgment on our enemies. Our enemy in many cases were wolves in sheep’s clothing. They claimed religion, but had hatred in their heart. We could not continue into the new age and the time of peace with them. The many years that it has taken to accomplish this task has been well worth it. Today, we sign the most important document in world history and begin a covenant of peace that will last in the Middle East for seven years and beyond! I will be the first to sign it and in keeping with tradition, I will seal it with blood.”

Assad took a dagger from the table and slid it across the palm of his hand. As he held it over the treaty, he said, “This is my blood of the new covenant. No person or nation shall cross it or violate the terms of this pact that we make today. Any who attempt to do so will be cursed and cut off from this world. They will be remembered no more. For all who accept and live in this covenant, you are my children and you will live as citizens of the new age of peace and prosperity.”

He let the blood run down to the tip of his fingers and sprinkled it on the paper before signing his name to it. When he was finished, he passed it around and all who were present signed it as well.

“Now I have a surprise for all of you”, said Assad gleefully. “Behold, the new temple.”

With the wave of his hand, a huge hologram image came up next to the Dome of the Rock. It was exactly to scale and looked as though it were already there. The sound of the shofar was blown one more time as dark clouds quickly rolled in to cover the area where they all stood.

―――――

Javier and Noah braced themselves for the impact as the drone flew directly at them. They closed their eyes and then heard a crash and an explosion behind them. They looked back and saw what was left of the drone; on fire in the middle of the street. They looked at each other and took a deep breath. They couldn’t even say anything in that moment. They just knew that they came within feet of death.

As they continued on their way to Bakersfield to pick up Joanna and Ryan, the scene at the hideout in old downtown Los Angeles was becoming increasingly chaotic. The control room had successfully scrambled the electronics on the drones. As people ran to the vans that were waiting in the bottom of the old abandoned parking garage a couple of blocks away, the aircraft were falling out of the sky left and right.

There was no doubt that many lives had been saved, but there was still carnage as drones crashed into some of the people below; in many cases, taking out groups at a time. Commander Joshua Ramsey poked his head out of the manhole to see what was taking place outside. He could feel the heat from the fires on his face as he saw what had happened. ‘If only we could have brought those drones down sooner’, he thought.

Several of the vans carrying believers were already pulling out and heading toward Joshua Tree National Park. They were leaving in five minute increments and taking alternative routes in order to avoid drawing attention to themselves by grouping together on the road. Once the last of them were out, Commander Ramsey and the remaining leaders emerged from the underground.

They all quickly walked to the parking garage to get in a vehicle. As they stepped into their vehicles, they could hear the roaring sound of jets overhead. “I’m ready”, whispered Ramsey under his breath. Within a few seconds, a bomb was dropped that destroyed the entire area and everyone in it.

Noah and Javier felt the ground shake and saw the massive mushroom cloud behind them swell as they struggled to get through the cluttered, abandoned streets. “Help them Jesus”, said Javier in distress. “This isn’t good at all bro. Not good at all. I hope that all of them could get out before that bomb hit.”

“I couldn’t imagine being in the middle of all of that. We got out just in time. Kind of makes me feel guilty”, said Noah.

“We did what we could; warn them. By acting on the message that the angel gave us, we saved probably dozens of lives. Now, we need to focus on getting your family.”

“You’re right. I need to be more positive”, said Noah. “It’s just hard to see this happen to so many people when I have been saved from death more than once.”

“When it’s your time, it’s your time bro. We just need to live what we have to the fullest and obey our God until he comes”, said Javier.