The Gatherers
Year One
Episode # 2 -
The Beginning Of Sorrows

He took a deep breath, sucking in air as if it was the only lifeline he had left to grab onto. The pain was so sharp, he closed his eyes and held onto his left arm as tight as he could. His left shoulder had been dislocated from the accident, but now after he had used the side from the wrecked plane on Interstate 90 to pop it back into place, the pain was intense. He slid down the wall of the plane and knelt on the pavement, waiting for the pain to subside.

Michael Lenox thought an eternity was passing by, yet pain was something he was accustomed to so he rode it out. When it finally began to ease, he opened his eyes and relaxed his breathing. He slowly moved his left arm up and down, testing it. There was still some pain, but mostly an ache, which was the only reminder now his shoulder had been dislocated at all. With the pain as a dull ache, he was aware the rain had begun to fall at a fast pace, like little needles. He narrowed his eyes and rose to his feet.

He turned his head. “Bear…?”

He didn’t see his friend and partner any where. There were vehicles all over the interstate, but not a single one was moving. Some of them were off the road or had crashed into other vehicles. It almost looked like a scene from a smash-up derby race. The only thing that made it worse was the wreckage of a plane lying across both the north bound and south bound lanes of Interstate 90. People were moving about, some helping one another, some sitting or standing in a daze, and one guy in particular was kneeling before the wreckage of the plane, screaming incoherently.

Lenox wiped at his eyes because of the rain. “Bear!” Where could he have gotten to?

They had to get a move on. They had to find a way to reach Bunker Island, especially if they had just been attacked by terrorists. On their way there, his partner wanted to get to his apartment to check on his family. For his partner’s sake, Lenox hoped they were alright.

Lenox moved away from the plane, his eyes searching for his friend. He tried to focus on finding him rather than listening to the screams and cries around him. He turned his head, and there he saw the truck. It was an old, rust bucket if he ever saw one. A ‘67 0r ‘68 Ford, by the look of it. It was the one which had sideswiped him just before he crashed and lost consciousness. The truck was on the side of the road, and someone was sitting in the passenger seat.

It was out of morbid curiosity Lenox headed for it, because he was only dimly aware of a memory that was playing in his mind. He could have sworn there had been no one behind the wheel of that truck when it sideswiped him.

Lenox got to the truck and pulled open the door to the driver’s side and he saw an elderly man sitting on the passenger side. The man didn’t look well. His face was ashen and he was just sitting there, staring off in the distance. What made the scene even worse was the glove compartment was open and a pistol was in the man’s lap. Making the whole thing even more surrealistic were the clothes lying in the drivers seat.

What happened to the driver? Lenox wondered. He looked at the man with the gun. “Hey,” he said. “Sir…can you hear me?”

The man continued to stare.

Lenox tried to consider his options as the rain continued to pour, but he realized he didn’t really have many. He knew he wouldn‘t be able to get to the gun in time, so he had to try to keep the man talking in hopes to buy time for his partner to find him. “Sir, listen to me…I need you to hand me that gun.”

The man continued to stare, but this time he did respond. “What…?” He blinked. “Hmm?” Slowly, he turned his head and looked at Lenox. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry. I must have dozed…” He trailed off as his eyes took in the clothes in the drivers seat. “Oh, my dearest Linda…She was all I had left, but she’s gone now. My precious grand-daughter is gone.”

“We’ll find her,” Lenox promised. “Just hand me the gun and I’ll help you find her.”

The man wasn’t listening. “She just turned 16 and I was teaching her to drive. Oh, she was so excited. Sweet young girl. Wanted to be a teacher…Wanted me to get to know God like she did.” He shook his head. “But I was so stubborn. I didn’t listen.” He looked into Lenox’ eyes. “I’m not the only one. You didn’t listen either.”

Before Lenox could do anything to stop him, the man put the gun under his chin and pulled the trigger.

“No!” Lenox shouted, raising his hand helplessly toward the man.

It was too late. The bullet went through the man’s head and the top corner of the roof of the truck. His body slumped in the corner, against the door, and remained still. Lenox stared in disbelief. He had seen many things in his life time, but people still managed to surprise even him.

“Why did you do it?” Lenox asked the dead man in a hoarse whisper. Then, he looked at the clothes just lying there. Hesitantly, he picked them up. A summer dress, a shawl, and under garments were what he held in his hands. On the floor of the truck were a pair of sandals. There was also a purse in the center of the seat. On the seat where the grand-daughter had been sitting were also a ring, a watch, and a necklace with the initials WWJD. “What the devil is going on?” he asked himself.

“Michael!”

Lenox turned his head and saw Albert Barrington approaching him. He was carrying something in his right hand. “Al, this guy just blew his brains out.”

Barrington moved toward him, slowing his pace, and looked into the truck. When he saw the man and the clothes in Lenox’ hands, he shook his head. “He didn’t have to do that,” he said sadly. “There’s still hope.”

“What are you talking about?”

Barrington turned to him. “The Rapture happened, Michael.” He pointed to the clothes in Lenox’ hands. “This girl was raptured and this man--” he pointed to the man in the truck. “--couldn’t deal with it so he killed himself!”

Lenox saw the Bible in his friend’s hands. “You went back to the SUV…to get Canaan’s Bible?”

“We need it.”

“How do we need it?”

“I don’t know, but we need it. We need a Bible any way, if there’s ever any hope of trying to fully understand what happened here.”

“We were attacked by terrorists,” he said. Then, he held up the clothes. “They must have used some kind of biological weapon for it to do this. That's the only explanation. My only concern is what will happen to those of us who weren’t affected. Or does it affect every one the same way?”

Barrington frowned. “You think people disappeared because of a manufactured chemical released by terrorists?”

Lenox paused. “Al…I’m only aware of two people who vanished. This man’s grand-daughter, and Canaan. What makes you think more disappeared?”

“Because the Rapture happened!” he exclaimed. “I’m trying to tell you the Lord has returned to take His people off the earth because the Tribulation has begun. We’re standing at the beginning of sorrows, Michael! This is the beginning of the end.”

Lenox let out a sigh. “Do you really believe that?”

“Yes, I do. Maybe you don’t, but you will. You’ll begin to see it’s true. Especially when the Antichrist begins to try to set himself up as God on this earth and--”

“Wait a minute! Hold on! Where in the world are you coming up with this stuff? Al, you didn’t get raptured? If these people did get raptured, then how is it you’re still here?”

“I’m telling you I thought I was okay, but obviously, I was wrong.”

“If this stuff is true, how did you go wrong?”

Barrington paused. “I didn’t accept Him.”

“You didn’t accept who?”

“Jesus. I didn’t accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.”

Lenox frowned. “Do you know how crazy that sounds?” Then, he thought of something. “Wait…If you’re telling me you’re still here because you didn’t accept Him…then, your wife and daughter are gone because they did?”

Barrington nodded, slowly.

“If they’re gone, Al…why do you need to go home?”

“I…I want to see for myself. I have to know. I have to know for certain that they’re okay.”

Lenox paused. “Then, we’ll go to your apartment. If you need to do this, we’ll go, and I’ll stand beside you on this, but don’t expect me to believe it because you do. We’ll check on your family, and if they’re there, we’ll take them with us to Bunker Island. If they’re not there, we’ll just go.”

Barrington nodded.

“The question is, how do we get there?”

Barrington looked at the truck. Suddenly, he got into it and sat behind the wheel.

Lenox frowned. “What are you doing?”

Barrington silently mouthed a prayer to God as he turned the ignition key. To his joy, it started right up. “Yes! Thank you, Jesus!”

Lenox scowled. “Hey, if we were hit by some kind of Electro Magnetic Pulse, how is it this truck is running?”

“For one, it doesn’t have any computer chips in it. It’s outdated, Knox.” He forced a grin. “Kind of like you are.” He looked at him. “Come on. What are you waiting for?” He turned on the automatic windshield wipers as the rain continued to fall. Somewhere far ahead, lightning struck the ground and thunder erupted.

Lenox didn’t know what to do with the clothes so he just dropped them onto the ground. If the girl really was gone, she wouldn’t be back for them anyway. He went to the passenger side and opened the door. “Sorry, ole’ timer,” he said softly as he gently laid the man onto the ground beside the truck. He felt bad about leaving him on the road, but time wasn’t on their side. Whether the Rapture happened or a terrorist threat, they had to move.

He climbed into the truck and closed the door. It felt good to get out of the rain, even if some of the rain drops were coming in through the bullet hole in the roof. “Let’s go,” he said.

Barrington stepped on the clutch and put the old truck into gear. Then, he drove along Interstate 90 on the way to Albany as quickly as he could as people stopped to stare. Some even called out for help. He knew there was no way to help all of them, and he prayed for forgiveness because he felt like he was abandoning them. But he had to know for himself about his own family and what their fate had been.

He knew with his heart…but he just had to know by seeing it for himself. So until he was there in his own apartment, he wouldn’t have any closure at all.

At Bunker Island in the Adirondacks of Upstate New York, there was a flurry of activity. Director Darren T. Fuller had ordered groups of armed men to patrol around the farmlands of their hidden facility and protect it at all cost. He was already reacting as if America were at war and under attack, and he didn’t want to take anything for granted. A dazed and confused Keith LeBeau was following different orders from the Director. The Gunship known as Storm Breaker was now the pilot’s number one priority.

Unfortunately for LeBeau, he couldn’t get the special helicopter to operate and began to go through it once more. His mind, however, was still reeling from the vanishing of Kevin Vogel. He now realized his long time friend had been right all along. Now he found himself in a new dilemma. He wanted to get saved, but didn’t know how to, so as he worked, he continued to pray to God for salvation and desperately asked Him to send someone to him to help him understand how to get saved. He kept going over in his mind of all the conversations he and Vogel had had over the years. Having found Vogel’s Bible, he decided to keep it with him at all cost. Whenever he took a break from working on the Gunship, he began to diligently search through the scriptures. He ended up taking more breaks than he should have, but under the circumstances, he didn’t feel as if he had any other choice.

He had to know.

He just had to.

In the living room of the farmhouse, Fuller had folded the clothes which had belonged to the vanished Kevin Vogel and placed them on the coffee stand. Now he and Marc Shiva stood there in silence, and looked at the clothes as if Vogel could reappear in them at any given moment.

This, of course, did not happen.

“Looks like he was right,” Shiva commented softly, “and nobody listened.”

Fuller made no response.

Marc "Fury" Shiva

Shiva looked at him. “Did the Rapture happen? Is that why Preacher vanished like a thief in the night?”

The Director paused before responding. “There were one hundred and forty-eight members of the agency personally hand-picked by myself and Nichole, Marc, and all of them were assigned here. Now, there’s a hundred and thirty-nine. This leaves nine unaccounted for.” He turned his head to regard him with a look. “Their clothes were found just like Kevin’s. They had been in them, but now…Now they’re just piles of empty clothes.”

“Do you believe it happened?”

“I don’t know…” He frowned in thought. “If it did, then, I’m guilty.”

Shiva was puzzled. “Guilty? Of what?”

Fuller didn’t respond to the question. “Marc, I need you to find Ken. I want both of you to assemble two teams. A few of the Huey’s we have are operational and I’m going to need you guys to go out there and find Michael, Al, and Joseph Canaan. I imagine they should have been on one of the Interstates. Perhaps 90, 87, or 787. Just get your teams and go after them.” He pointed at him. “Arm yourselves. There may be terrorists out there gunning for anything that moves.”

The ex-wrestler nodded, but hesitated before he left off to carry out those orders.

Fuller looked at the clothes on the table once more, and ran his hand through his hair. He was tired. And he felt extreme guilt for not believing in the message of hope earlier. Unfortunately, it was too late for him, and apparently, too late for all of the others who had been left behind with him as well. He personally felt as if he had let them all down. How could they possibly follow him when he didn’t follow the truth?

He looked up toward the ceiling, as if looking up toward God.

He shook his head.

No, he thought. No…I will not turn to You now. It’s already too late for me. I failed You and everybody else already. How could You possibly want me to come to You now? It would take nothing short of a miracle to get him to accept God.

Oh God, this can’t be happening!

Cars and trucks had slammed into each other all along West Avenue. It was like a horrible traffic jam that just suddenly happened for no apparent reason. The weather could not be blamed for this, even if the sky was darkening considerably and the rain began to fall harder. People had been going about their day when all up and down the street, traffic stopped with no warning and cars simply crashed into each other.

If Staci Cohen had been completely observant, she would have made notice of the sudden disappearing acts as well. Some people on the sidewalks were jumping out of the way or waving their hands frantically when they saw some of the vehicles swerving toward them…yet some people simply vanished and their clothes and belongings dropped to the sidewalk. Some even vanished while they were in their cars.

However, Staci never noticed any of that.

She only knew that for some strange reason, the foyer to her building had locked down, trapping her inside. She couldn’t get out. The management of her apartment complex had felt the need to ensure security was extremely tight for its tenants, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with security. She had enjoyed it while it was there, but now it was too much. When the power went out, the bolts remained locked inside each door and nothing could budge them.

That was the dilemma.

A huge, trailerless rig with a large cross on the front radiator grill had bounced up the curb on the corner of the street and was suddenly barreling down the sidewalk. There was going to be a collision with the foyer she was trapped in. She was going to die if she didn’t get out of there.

In frustration, she pounded and kicked at the door leading to the outside, but it was futile. That door was not going to budge. She quickly looked about and her eyes spotted the fire extinguisher recessed into the wall beside the entrance of the building. Frantically, she opened the small door and pulled out the fire extinguisher. She turned directly to the locked entrance and slammed it into the glass door. The glass spider-webbed out into several cracks. She hit it again, and the glass made way.

Just as the rig smashed into the foyer, Staci dove through the entrance way she made and hit the floor inside as glass rained down all around and upon her. The rig kept right on going through the foyer, missing her within seconds of where she had been standing.

When the dust settled, Staci raised her head and slowly turned to look out the broken door. She could see there was no more foyer, and heard the rig crash into the side of the building. It was clearly scraping against the side of it. She pulled herself up from off the glass littered floor, amazed she had survived such an ordeal. Hesitantly, she approached the door and peeked out.

The rig had come to a stop, against the building.

Putting aside how close she had come to death herself, she suddenly began to worry about the driver. Perhaps he had had a heart attack or passed out. She didn’t know, but certainly he needed help now. She hurried outside in spite of the rain, careful not to trip in the debris and came to the passenger side of the rig. She reached up for the door, opened it, and then, pulled herself up onto the step to look inside the rig.

The driver wasn’t there.

All she found were a pile of clothes, a wedding ring, and a watch. The man who had driven the rig was simply gone, vanished in the blink of an eye.

It was then that Staci realized what had happened.

She had been left behind.

Darwyn Musad was a brand new man and he felt like it. It was the most amazing thing he had ever experienced in his entire life. It was as if the Spirit of glad tidings had completely filled his soul and containing his joy was like holding back a flood. All he wanted to do was to let out an exuberant shout.

So that’s what he did.

There in the hidden terrorist hideout beneath an abandoned warehouse, Darwyn remained on his knees while he raised his hands and face toward heaven. He shouted out loud for joy to the One who had saved him. Saved him! Saved him, who was a sinner. A man who had personally terrorized God’s own people, purposefully hunting them down to torture them until they denounced His name. A man who had murdered in the name of the false god he had once worshiped. He couldn’t even begin to understand how he could have loved a god who did not express love back to him in any way.

Yet this God who saved him did love him. He didn't understand the love of God, nor would he ever be able to comprehend such depths. He only knew he would never be able to fully forgive and forget his own past atrocities. And yet God did just that, because He loved him. Darwyn could not help but be filled with awe.

Why hadn’t he listened sooner? Why hadn't he seen that throughout the years God had been calling for him? God had tried so many times and in so many ways to get his attention. How could he have been so blind? How could he have been so lost?

Now everything was as clear as the bright, morning sun. He understood with perfect clarity that there was a risen Messiah and that His name was Jesus Christ. He now believed that Jesus was Lord of lords and King of kings and had returned to the earth to take away His church. He had caught up all of the ones who had called on Him for salvation and they were with Him in the air.

Darwyn was happy for them.

For the first time in his life, he was exceedingly happy.

He shouted again.

Then, he looked directly ahead of him and noticed the pile of clothes on the ground in between two beams. Just moments ago, a woman had been standing between those beams with her wrists bound tightly to them by ropes. The ropes were even hanging loosely from the beams, yet the woman was gone. He had just been about to stone her to death when the Lord took her. Nichole Parkhurst had escaped the wrath to come, but she had watered the seed of the Gospel within his heart and he knew it had changed him forever.

“Oh, my sister…” he said softly, wishing he could tell her he had finally gotten the message.

He got to his feet and slowly walked toward the clothes. It was all that remained of the woman he had been about to murder. He wondered what she was doing right at that moment. Was she in the presence of the Lord? Oh, what that must be like! he thought. Could anyone even truly stand before Him? No! Surely everyone shall kneel before Him. I know I will!

He knelt on one knee beside the pile of clothes and took a deep breath. Something had suddenly occurred to him. “Oh, Lord…what must I do now?”

He waited, as if expecting an answer.

On the ground beside the clothes, something sparkled. Curious, he reached down and picked up the object he hadn’t noticed before. He discovered it was a necklace with a cross. He held it in his hands, wondering if there was something he should do with it. And that’s when it came to him. His brother had mentioned something to him about the woman having a…

His eyes widened. “A sister!”

Could it be? Had his brother meant to tell him that this woman was the sister of Dr. Staci Cohen? It must be so, he thought. “Thank you, Lord,” Darwyn said joyfully, rising to his feet. He was excited at the idea of going on his first mission for the Lord. “I will take this to her.”

He turned to leave, but then he stopped. Something felt wrong. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, yet something was causing him to feel uneasy. He slowly looked around, but the empty area was so large it was mostly hidden in shadow. He saw nothing that could cause the uneasiness of his spirit. Shaking off the feeling, he hurried off, eager to do his Lord’s bidding.

When he was gone, silence descended.

A moment later, a man stepped out from the shadows, a look of rage and hatred etched onto his face. It was Youmud Musad, Darwyn’s younger brother. He had witnessed his brother’s conversion and had heard him speak out loud. He had even witnessed the man make a fool of himself by shouting out loud. The whole experience had sickened Youmud.

Now the younger man was more determined than ever to reach the sister of the agent before his brother did…but he would time it just right. He would get to the Jewish doctor and wait for his older brother. Then, he would make Darwyn watch her die.

Lenox tried not to let it bother him. He had seen death before, many times. He himself had taken lives in the line of duty and for his country. He was a man who wouldn't hesitate to do so again. He was no stranger to death or brutality.

But this was different.

It played out over and over again in his mind. The clothes of the grand-daughter in his hands. The grand-father unable to bear it, putting a gun to his head and taking his own life. In just a matter of seconds, it was all over. The girl was simply gone, and the old man was dead.

Why? It didn’t make any sense. How did the girl vanish in the twinkling of an eye? Why had the old man been so desperate enough to take his own life? Lenox didn’t have the answers and realized he might not ever know. His friend believed that something called the Rapture had taken place, but Lenox couldn’t say for certain if it did or didn’t. It sounded too crazy an idea to believe.

Lenox only knew one thing and it preyed on his mind like a pressure-cooker about to boil over.

Terrorists had attacked his country. He didn’t know how bad the attack was or how far it extended. He just wanted to do something about it. Lenox was a red-blooded American who strongly believed in fighting for its freedom. If anything ever shattered his faith in his country, he knew he would lose all hope and only God knew what he would be capable of at that point in his life.

He reverently hoped that America would stay strong forever.

Something, however, was deeply troubling him. The Director and Barrington had been doing an awful lot of talking about Joseph Canaan before they were sent to retrieve him. They knew a lot more about what was going on than they had been willing to share with him. It was making him angry. Lenox grabbed onto that anger and held it close for it was the only way he was going to keep himself from doing something he might regret later.

As the rain fell against the windshield, Lenox took a deep breath and watched the highway ahead of them, looking for signs of trouble. It was eerie to be in the only vehicle moving on the interstate. “So…” he began casually, “tell me about Joseph Canaan, the Carpenter, Bear.” He paused for affect. “Tell me all of the details. Tell me everything, and leave out nothing.” He forced a grin to show that he was at least making an attempt to throw in a little humor. “And, please, don’t hesitate to tell the truth, because I’ve got a gun, and I’m not afraid to use it.”

Barrington glanced at him. “Not now.”

“Not now? Have you got a date or something? You’ve got some other plans I don’t know about?”

“The Director will fill you in. I’m just trying to drive.”

Lenox shook his head. “That’s funny because I was sure you’re the type of guy who can chew gum and walk at the same time. Clearly I was wrong if you’re unable to drive and talk all at once.”

Barrington sighed in frustration. “I’m sorry, Knox. I’m having a hard time concentrating because I can’t stop thinking about Kate and April. Cut me some slack. Alright?”

Lenox regarded him with genuine concern. “Sure.”

He hesitated, “The Director knows Canaan personally. I’m sure he’ll tell you the rest.” He glanced over at him. “Okay?”

Lenox shrugged. “Okay.” He settled back. “I wish you guys would have filled me in on that. I could have killed the guy just for looking at me cross-eyed.”

“You wouldn’t have killed him.”

“I wasn’t given all of the important details, Bear. If he had made a run for it, I would have stopped him with a bullet and you know that.”

Barrington paused. “Yeah…but that didn’t happen. He was taken instead.”

“Taken?” Lenox frowned. “Are we in the X-Files now? What happened to your ‘Rapture’ theory?”

“It’s not a theory. The Rapture is what happened. Those who believed were ‘taken’. They were caught up to meet the Lord in the air.”

Lenox glanced down at Canaan’s Bible in the seat between them. “Is that what the Good Book says?”

“I’m sure it’s in there. Kate’s told me enough, but I can’t look it up. I’m driving.”

“Well, don’t look at me. I’m not a scholar.”

Barrington glanced at him. “You don’t believe it happened, do you?”

“I don’t know what happened, Bear. I was certain Canaan was a terrorist and a murderer, but you want me to believe he was raptured up to heaven along with who knows who else. I’m just not ready to believe it.” He paused in thought. “Listen, when we get to your apartment and if we find that your family isn’t there…what do you plan on doing about it?”

Barrington took a moment to give the question careful consideration. Finally, he shrugged. “I don’t know. I…I guess I’ll know when we get there.”

Lenox nodded thoughtfully.

Barrington let out a sigh. “I wish this rain would let up.” In spite of the rain, he continued to drive, his thoughts on his wife and daughter.

The rain continued to pour, but it didn’t slow down the ATD agents at Bunker Island. They were all men and women of purpose. Patrols around the farmland reported back via radio that there were no sightings of either friendlies or hostiles. However, the search would continue nonetheless. Others at the Bunker were simply in a position to protect the site should the enemy find them. They were on high alert and would remain that way until the threat to their country could be fully assessed.

Shiva and Ken Willon, the Bunker’s Chief of Security, were working together to assemble two teams. Shiva was surprised by the sudden turn of events, which put him into a position he had never been in before. He was to lead one of the teams in a search for Lenox, Barrington and their prisoner, Joseph Canaan. All communication with them had been lost. Their last known position was on one of the three major interstates.

It was a lot of ground to cover for three missing men, but Shiva was confident they would make the search easier by looking from the air. He would remain in contact with Willon by radio, which was something he was grateful for. He was aware Willon was far more experienced than he was in combat situations.

Willon seemed to sense his thoughts, having once been in his shoes before. He clapped the ex-wrestler on the shoulder, trying to ignore the rain falling upon him. “Don’t worry about it,” he said reassuringly. “You’ll do fine. Once you get in the saddle, you’ll learn to ride like the wind in no time at all.”

Shiva hesitated, “If there is a terrorist cell and they’re out there shooting in the streets like the Director mentioned…” he trailed off.

“You take them out.”

Shiva did the math in his head. “Look, we’ve each got eight men, plus a pilot per carrier. We’ll be stuffed like sardines in them Huey’s, man. Even so, that’s a total of twenty! What if we’re outnumbered?”

Willon shrugged, glancing at the men who were bringing what they needed to the Huey’s behind them. “We’ll just have to reduce their numbers. It’s that simple.”

“You make it sound like it is.”

“You’ve been in a firefight before, Fury. You’ve taken down a terrorist or two. If you think you can’t handle it--”

Shiva held up a hand. “It’s not that. It’s just…It’s different now. Don’t you think?”

“Different…how?”

“Director Fuller said the Preacher vanished right before his eyes. You saw the clothes! They were the only things left of him and no one has a logical explanation as to what really happened to him. And yet those of us who knew him have been told more than once about how some day, the Lord was going to come back and take His bride away.” He leaned forward. “Well, I believe He did return and now everything that was good and decent in this world has just been taken away…and it’s only going to get worse.”

Willon thought about what he was hearing. “The Preacher wasn’t the only one who vanished.”

Shiva had heard as much. “Do you believe what he said, then, too?”

He didn’t answer right away. Finally, he said, “Yeah. I do believe it but we’ve been left behind, Fury. It’s too late for us.”

Shiva shook his head. “No…No, I don’t believe that. Sure, we’re still stuck here, but I don’t think God is through with this planet yet.” He was getting excited just talking about it. “Preacher used to do a lot of talking about how God was going to lead all of Israel to salvation in the End Times, man. Now I don’t know what all of that means, but if it’s true, it sounds to me like there’s still a lot of work yet to be done.”

“And what does that mean for us?”

“Well…maybe He’ll want help from guys like us.”

Willon regarded him. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. Hey, come on, man. Would you pray with me?”

Willon did a double take and stared at him. “You want me…to pray with you? Where?” He looked around, wondering what others would think if they saw him kneeling beside Shiva next to the Huey in the rain. “Right here?” He recalled a summer Bible camp he went to when he was a kid where whenever people prayed, they did something together he wasn’t about to let himself do. He pointed at Shiva and narrowed his eyes. “We’re not holding hands.”

Shiva blinked. “What?” Then, he shook his head. “Oh, no. No, no, no, no. Of course, not.” He pointed to the warehouse behind the choppers. “Let’s go inside where it’s dry.”

Willon agreed and followed him inside. As Willon closed the door behind him, LeBeau was just coming up the ladder and through the opening of the cargo area below the warehouse. He had been working on the Gunship, but was not having any luck with it. He was mumbling to himself, and stopped when he saw them.

“What’choo guys doin’?” he asked.

Shiva and Willon exchanged looks.

“Nothing,” Willon said, shrugging his shoulders.

“We’re going to pray,” Shiva told him. Then, he looked at the ace pilot. “Hey, you want to join us?”

LeBeau suddenly grinned. “Yeah! Yeah, sure I do! I was askin’ Him to send along somebody to help me, and…and I guess he just sent you two!” Before they could stop him, he rushed up to them and tried to grab both of them in a group hug.

“Come on, Ace!” Willon protested, sheepishly patting the pilot on the back. “Be a man and…give us some space, would you?”

LeBeau backed away and straightened. He cleared his throat. “Yeah, yeah. Right. So…uhm, hey, how do we do this, anyway?”

“Can we go into the cargo pit?” Willon inquired, looking down into it at the Storm Breaker below them. “I’ve never done this before, and…well, let’s just go down there. Okay?”

The men each agreed it sounded like a good idea, so they climbed down into the pit. Beside the Storm Breaker, Shiva was the first to get on his knees. LeBeau and Willon were next.

LeBeau held his hands out, his left toward Shiva and his right toward Willon.

Shiva hesitated, glancing toward Willon, who was frowning at LeBeau. “Ace…we’re, ah, not holding hands.”

“Ah…oh, right.” LeBeau put his hands down. “So…what do we do, then?”

“I guess we just…bow our heads and pray.” He took a deep breath. “I don’t really know how, but figure it’s just like we’re talking now, right? We just talk to God in this same way. He has to hear us, right?”

“What if He doesn’t?” Willon asked.

“Well…I’m kind of sure He will, if our hearts are in it.” He took a deep breath. “I know mine is, ‘cause I really do want to be on His side, especially if these are the last days that Kevin was talking about.”

LeBeau nodded in agreement. “Yeah. Ditto.”

Willon paused. “You’re right.”

Shiva looked at them. “Okay. Then, I’ll go first. If you guys want to pray, do it after me. Sound good?”

Willon shrugged. “Sure.”

LeBeau clapped his hands together. “Great! Let’s do this!”

Shiva bowed his head and closed his eyes. Willon did the same, hoping he was doing the right thing. LeBeau glanced from Shiva to Willon and then, back to Shiva. He desperately wanted to get this right. He put his hands together, bowed his head, and closed his eyes tightly.

For a brief moment, they each remained that way.

They were still and silent.

Shiva was amazed at how peaceful he suddenly felt. All he did was kneel and prepare his heart for prayer. He didn’t think of anything but what Kevin Vogel had told him about Jesus.

“Lord,” he finally said, “I was one of the ones left behind when You came back for Your bride and it was because I didn’t know You. I’m sorry I didn’t seek You when I should have, but I'm seeking You now. The men I’m with here right now are also seeking You, otherwise they wouldn’t be praying here with me today. We want to know You, Lord. I can’t speak personally for them, but please, forgive me for being the sinner I am. Help me, dear Lord, to give You my life from this day forward. Thank You for shedding Your precious blood on the cross for me and thank You for rising again. Thank You for giving us this second chance for redemption. In Your name, Amen.”

“Wow,” LeBeau whispered, “that was good.”

Then, once again, there was silence.

Finally, Willon cleared his throat. “God…I…I haven’t prayed like this before. I’m…kinda struggling a little bit with the words here, so if You would, please help me. I guess Fury is right. We just need to simply talk to You, just as if we were talking to each other…only with even greater respect. Reverence even. All I know is what is true, God. You know my heart. You know my thoughts. And I know now that Your word is true. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. You’ve shown me it’s true. All of it. I’m just sorry I didn’t believe You before now. I ask You, God, to cleanse me if I can be cleansed. I confess here and now the Lord Jesus…He is Lord. And I give my life, which You have given to me, back to You. Amen.”

“Amen,” Shiva agreed.

And for a third time, they fell silent.

Until it was LeBeau’s turn. “Ah…Hi, Lord. It’s me. You know…Keith LeBeau. Uhm…I just wanna tell You that I’m really sorry I did You wrong, and I’m so sorry I never listened to that loony guy Ya sent to me for a friend. You know the guy, Lord. You took him, and he disappeared right in front of me! Like I know I’ve never seen anythin’ like that ever in my entire life, and…and so I know he’s really okay if he’s up there with You. Anyway, I’m sorry. I hope You will…You know, forgive me, and stuff…and, well, save me like Preacher used to say You could do. He said You could, and, well…as I’ve said, I know Ya took him, so I know if anybody could save a bum like me, it would be You.” He paused. “I also wanna give You my life, too, only…really, I don’t know what You could possibly do with it. I have troubles on my own, so I hope I ain’t gonna be much trouble to You. I know how to fly choppers and planes and I also know how to fix ‘em, too…except for that Gunship the Director ordered me to fix up. Could You help me with that? Anyway, I can fly Ya any where…except You probably get by goin’ any place You want to without a pilot. What I’m tryin’ to say is what my friends already said to You. Just take my life and everythin’ I have. It’s Yours.” He paused again. “And, oh, yeah…tell my friend up there…Tell him I finally got what he’s been tellin’ me…and that I’ll give him a knuckle sandwich when I see him again.” He sniffed. “Thank You, Lord. Amen.”

“Amen,” Shiva and Willon responded.

The three men rose to their feet, glancing at each other. Shiva held out his hand. “Hey,” he said. “We’re brothers now.”

Willon grinned and shook his hand. “I guess we are.”

LeBeau shook Shiva’s hand, and then Willon’s. “Yeah, we’re like the Three Muskateers or something’.”

“Yeah,” Shiva said with a nod. “Now let’s go find Knox and Bear and give them a chance to join us.”

Willon turned to LeBeau. “Maybe you can get this Gunship operational and come back us up.”

LeBeau nodded with determination. “Consider it done. I’ll be there and we’ll do whatever it takes to find them.”

Because of the rain, Staci was soaking wet, but she didn’t care. When she saw that there was no driver inside the rig, she knew what had happened. She knew she would never again see her sister, yet she wasn’t certain about her son. David was the only thing on her mind when she abruptly turned and headed for the entrance of the apartment complex she lived in. This time, she wasn’t as careful going over the debris to get to the door. Somehow she remained on her feet.

She hurried through the opening she had made earlier with the fire extinguisher and ran for the elevator doors. “Oh, God, please let David still be there!” she prayed out loud. In her heart, there was a part that believed he was already gone. She was fighting that every step of the way. David was her life now. Without him, she didn’t believe she would be able to live.

There were usually lights on in the corridor between the elevator doors, yet they were all off. Even the emergency lights were off. She wondered why it was darker than usual as she pressed the button for the elevator and suddenly remembered.

There was no power.

In frustration, she pounded once on the elevator doors and growled out loud. With a sigh, she turned and headed for the stairwell. She pulled the door open and took the stairs as fast as she was able. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to go as fast as she wanted to because there was no light in the stairwell. It was almost pitch black. The only illumination anywhere came from the small windows in the doors on every floor, so she had to keep her hands on the railings as she forced herself to run up the stairs in the dark. It was her adrenalin which kept her going until she finally made it to the fifth floor. She came out of the stairwell, slamming the door open against the wall.

“David!” she shouted.

She took in several deep breaths and stumbled to her front door.

She almost screamed when she realized she had dropped her purse somewhere along the way. She didn’t have her key. She banged on the door.

“Sherri? Sherri, are you there?” she called.

There was no response.

Staci put her ear to the door, but she didn’t hear anything. Her eyes welled up with tears. “Sherri, please…are you there?”

Then, she sucked in a breath as she thought she heard something. A sob. Someone was crying…but it didn’t sound like her three-year-old son.

She knocked on the door. “Sherri! Please…open the door!” Her hand was on the door knob, and she turned it. To her surprise, it opened.

She pushed open the door and hurried inside, leaving the door ajar. She found Sherri in her son’s room, holding something in her arms. At first, Staci actually believed she was holding onto her son, but to her dismay she realized it was only clothes. The clothes her son had on when she had left were now in Sherri’s arms…David was nowhere to be seen.

Sherri Turrel was sitting on the floor beside David’s toddler bed, sobbing hysterically. She didn’t even seem to have noticed Staci’s arrival. Staci wanted to demand where her son was, but she already knew. She looked at Sherri and felt horrible. Her son was gone and Sherri was the one who had been here through it. Not her.

Staci swallowed back her own fear and anguish and tried desperately to concentrate on Sherri. It wouldn’t be a good idea for both of them to be in hysterics. She knelt beside the terrified woman and placed her hand gently on her shoulder.

“Sherri…?” she said softly. “Sherri, it’s me.”

Startled, Sherri turned her head and stared in horror at Staci. When she realized who it was, she fell into a new fit of broken sobs. She tried to speak, but couldn’t.

Staci put her hand on the woman’s back and rubbed it, trying to offer her reassurance. “It’s okay, Sherri. I know what happened to David. It isn’t anything you did. He’s…” She swallowed again, trying to remain strong for Sherri. “He’s gone now and in a better place than this.”

Sherri held up his clothes. “I-I…I had him. I had him here…in my hands! He was in my hands wh-wh-when he vanished, St-Staci!” She sobbed. “I-I’m so sorry…I co-couldn’t hold him…I-I tried, b-but he was gone!”

Staci put her arms around her and hugged her. “I’m sorry, Sherri. It’s okay. Please…please…It will be alright. I…I don’t know how, but only know we’ll be alright. Okay?”

Sherri sobbed, nodding her head.

For a moment, they held each other, offering silent comfort to each other’s aching hearts. Staci’s presence helped Sherri and her sobs eventually subsided. When she could finally speak without sobbing, she said, “He was in my arms. I held him to me and then…then, he was just gone. I actually thought he had slipped out from my arms and bounded on the floor, but when I looked down, he wasn’t there.” She sniffed as she sat up and looked at Staci. “That’s when I realized I was still holding his clothes.” She wiped at her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Staci. I-I lost him.”

Staci’s lower lip quivered, but somehow she managed not to cry. She shook her head. “No, you didn’t. He was raptured.”

Sherri regarded her. “Kate was right, then…wasn’t she?”

Staci nodded.

“Oh, I wish I had listened!”

“So do I,” Staci replied softly. “My sister told me, too. She’s been telling me for years and the sad thing is…she won’t be around to tell me any more.” Slowly she rose to her feet. “I…I have to go see Kate.”

Sherri looked up at her, puzzled. “But…if the Rapture really did happen, Staci, she won’t be home.”

“I know…but I have to see for myself.” She looked at Sherri. “Will you be okay?”

She hesitated. “Just hurry back.”

“I will. I know Kate had some books about the Rapture, and…and she had notes in her Bible. If I get those, maybe we can both…we can both study them and find out what to do next.”

Sherri smiled. “Really? Oh, Staci, that would be great. Uhm…want me to make coffee?”

“Yes. I…” Staci stopped, frowning. “Oh…I-I guess you can’t make coffee. The power is out.”

Sherri paused. “That…that's frightening.”

“What?”

“In all of the times I heard Kate talk about the Rapture, she never mentioned anything about the power going out at the same time.”

Staci considered that for a moment. “Yeah…Nichole never mentioned it either.”

“Why do you think that is?”

She shrugged. “I…don’t know. Maybe they just…didn’t know about it.” She stood in the doorway of her son’s room. “Do you want to come with me?”

Sherri rose to her feet and shook her head. “No…no, I’ll wait in the living room for you.”

Staci nodded. “Okay…I’ll be right back.” She raced out the front door of her apartment, closing the door behind her.

Sherri made her way into the living room, still clutching David’s clothes to herself. She sat on the sofa closest to the window and wished the rain would stop so there could be more light. There wasn’t much she could do. The more it rained, the darker it got and pretty soon, there wouldn’t be much light at all. Feeling as if she should be doing something, she went to the hall closet where she knew Staci had candles. She felt for the candles on the top shelf in the closet and took four of them down. Then, she took them with her back into the living room.

Placing them about the room, she managed to light them after she found her lighter from her purse. She placed one of the candles beside a picture frame. The picture was of Staci and Nichole with little David between them. The two sisters were standing as if they had been facing each other, but their heads were turned so that their faces were toward the camera. Even as Sherri lit the candles with her lighter, she vowed to once and for all to quit smoking. There were now many more important things happening in the world that completely effected her, and smoking wouldn’t help one way or the other. There was only one thing she felt she could do now, which would be the most important thing she had ever done in her life.

Pray.

James Bollinger felt like a kid in a candy store. The world was changing around him and he simply believed the changes were going to bring him more opportunities for manipulation and control. He stood in the shadows of an alley along Central Avenue in the city of Albany and watched the confusion start to take place. People were getting out of their stopped vehicles, looking about with dazed and confused stares.

A woman was behind the steering wheel of her car, kneeling in the seat frantically reaching in the back seat. An empty baby seat was there and she was screaming incoherently. Bollinger was amazed. Was the baby taken away? Did the Rapture actually occur at the same time of the attack?

“Wow,” he whispered in awe at the thought.

He turned his head and saw some people congregating about in the rain, and some of them were saying;

“The guy was standing right in front of me, and then, poof! He was just gone!”

“I thought the moron slammed his car into the back of mine on purpose, but when I got out of the car to scream at him, there was nothing but a pile of clothes…right in the front seat of his car! I can’t imagine what happened to him.”

“Oh, where are all the children? Can somebody please help me find the children?”

Bollinger couldn’t help but be amazed. He believed this was going to happen, yet when it did he was still completely awed by it. The Rapture actually happened…and it was only going to get worse.

And it did.

From his position, hidden in the shadows, Bollinger heard gunfire. Those who had been left behind turned their heads toward the shots, staring in dumbfounded amazement. It wasn’t enough that their vehicles simply stopped working, or that some of their loved ones vanished before their very eyes. Now, there was gunfire in the streets of Albany, just like they were familiar seeing it on the news. However, on the news it was happening in some other country.

Not in America.

Oh, no. That would never happen in America.

The gunfire got closer. Suddenly, something hit the side of a bookstore. One man actually saw something trace across the street and disappear into the store just before the explosion sent out shards of glass and broken debris in every direction. People began to scream then. Those who were left behind began to run, screaming out for help as terrorists appeared on the streets and opened fire at random.

Bollinger remained hidden, but his heart was evil and he wanted to watch the live show as it played out.

Barrington was driving along Interstate 90, getting close to the exit he and Lenox needed to get to on their way to Albany. He could see the city just ahead, its skyscrapers reaching for the rain clouds high above. Whether it was due to the rain or just because of plain despair, most of the people on the highway just sat in their vehicles.

Not all of them did, however. As they passed a car in the ditch, Lenox clearly saw a man raise something as he screamed at them when they passed by. He didn’t hear what the man called out, but something smacked into the back end of the truck.

Barrington glanced in the rearview mirror, feeling horrible. “Man, we can’t stop now.” He was certain that was all the man had wanted and was just frustrated when no help appeared to be forthcoming.

“We’re almost there,” Lenox assured his friend. “You know we can’t help every one. Just get to your apartment building and we’ll go from there.”

They got to the exit ramp and pulled onto Interstate 787. It was just a short mile from there to Clinton Street, which was the first exit into Albany. Western Ave was a few blocks from there. Lenox frowned as he turned his head.

“Pull over,” he said.

Barrington glanced at him, knowing the exit was just ahead of them. “What…?”

“Just do it.”

With hesitation, Barrington pulled the truck over. Once they were on the shoulder, Lenox got out and in the rain, he slowly walked up to the railing. He looked down toward Clinton street, just in time to see a few men disappear behind a building as they ran up the street. He was certain those men had been armed with weapons.

Barrington got out of the truck, looked around to see if anyone was near to cause trouble and then he joined Lenox at the railing. “What’s going on?”

“Do you hear that?” Lenox asked.

“No, I…” Barrington stopped.

There it was. A volley of gunfire. Lenox looked at the stopped vehicles on 787 and for the first time, he didn’t see much movement. Most of the vehicles appeared to be empty, but there were some frightened people in a few of them. They were making no moves to exit their cars.

Lenox shook his head. “We’ve got to get down there.”

Barrington agreed. “Yeah…yeah, get back in and-”

“Just drive. I’ll take the back.” Lenox climbed into the back of the truck and positioned himself behind the front. He withdrew his weapon, checked to make certain it was loaded and then, nodded to his partner. “Come on! Let’s go!”

Barrington climbed back in behind the wheel and pulled back onto the road. He drove down the exit ramp and onto Clinton Street. Almost immediately, two men charged out of an alley with automatic weapons. They didn’t even aim. They simply moved toward the truck and opened fire. Barrington slammed on the brakes and spun the wheel, bringing the Ford’s right side toward the armed men.

For his part Lenox just stayed low on the floor and waited as the truck finally stopped. Bullets went right over his head as many of them blasted through the truck. He had no idea why none of them hit him, but silently thanked his fortune as the enemy finally stopped shooting. Barrington was no longer in the cab of the truck as he had bailed out of it and was now on the ground with his back against the front tire. His gun was held firmly in one hand, and Canaan’s Bible was in the other.

The two terrorists stopped firing and listened for any signs of someone surviving the attack. They heard nothing but the pounding of their own hearts in their ears. They were on an adrenaline rush. All they cared about was killing Jews and Americans. They knew there had been a driver, so they concentrated on that. They began to move, separating themselves as one intended to move around the back of the truck and the other intended to go around the front.

Lenox didn’t give them a chance to move. He came up from his position and fired four rounds. One of them went down with a look of surprise on his face, but the second tried to level his weapon at Lenox and return fire. That’s when Barrington came up from the front of the truck and fired the killing round that brought the terrorist down.

Lenox climbed out and joined Barrington at the bodies. Lenox noted the Bible in his friend’s hand, and chose not to comment about it. His eyes scanned the area for signs of more of the enemy, but sporadic gunfire could be heard throughout the city. Some of it was close.

“I never thought I’d see the day when…when this would happen in our streets,” Barrington replied, looking down at the dead terrorists.

No one was moving on Clinton Street that Lenox could see. Anyone who had been around must have gone into hiding once the shooting began. There was no power anywhere. No lights emanated from the buildings around them. No vehicles were moving. There were no sounds other than the gunfire, distant screams and the rain.

Lenox picked up one of the fallen weapons the terrorists had been using and checked the bodies for ammunition. The weapon was a Russian AK-47. Lenox put his own weapon back into its holster in exchange for the automatic one. “Take the other one,” he told his partner.

Barrington shook his head. “Nah. I’m good.” But he wasn’t good. He suddenly felt nauseous. For the first time in his life, he knew what life and death truly meant. He had heard his wife quote to him many times, "’And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.’1” Two men had just been killed and he knew they were facing judgment now. He knew they would be tormented for all eternity because they had never accepted Christ as he had.

He looked down at his gun that he was holding in his hand and wondered how he could possibly take another man’s life again knowing he would be sending them to eternal torment.

Lenox reached down and took the second AK-47. He put the strap around his shoulder so that the rifle was on his back. “I’ll take it, then,” he said. “Let’s cut through the alley.”

Barrington nodded, but remained silent.

Leading the way and concerned about the stability of his friend, Lenox headed into the alley. He was more than ready to do what needed to be done should they encounter the enemy along the way, but was worried that Barrington was not.

Clearly there was nothing wrong with the DVD player. Because of the generators, the Bunker was still equipped with power. That was a good thing, William Fronk decided, because with the sun hiding from the rain, the solar panels weren’t going to do the trick. Still, because of the EMP pulse, there were certain appliances that no longer worked and had to be replaced.

The DVD player he had working wasn’t one of them, and neither was the TV it was hooked up to. So Fronk sat in the living room in the farmhouse and kept his eyes focused on the television. The only reason he did this was because he wanted desperately to block out the real world from his subconscious mind. He wanted to go away deep within himself and forget the real world.

On the screen, the castaways were gathering at the lagoon. It was actually a beach in the first black and white episode. They had the raft ready to go and Mary Ann and Ginger had brought Hawaiian style lei’s out to the men. They put one around the Skipper’s neck and also one around Gilligan’s neck.

“Well, how very nice, ladies,” replied the Skipper, trying to be gallant. “Just wonderful!” He paused for effect. “Just about all I can say is ‘Aloha Nui Oi’. That’s Hawaiian for, ‘Till we meet again’.”

“Aloha Nui Oi,” Fronk repeated softly, staring at the tv.

“I learned a little Hawaiian,” Ginger replied to the others. “When I was singing in a club in Waikiki. ‘Wahni wiki huki loki nu’, and every word of it comes from the bottom of my heart.”

“Bill, I…” Fuller began as he walked in, but he stopped in the doorway when he saw the look on Fronk’s face. He turned his head and noticed the program on the television.

“Gee, that’s real nice, Ginger,” Gilligan said happily. “What does it mean?”

“This bar is off limits to all military personnel.”

Fronk repeated softly, “Wahni wiki huki loki nu.”

“Bill,” Fuller said, trying to get the younger man’s attention.

The Skipper began to give orders. “Well, come on, Gilligan, it looks like we’re ready to shove off! Hoist the anchor, let go of the stern line!”

The Skipper and Gilligan began to paddle the raft away from the shore, but unfortunately, they didn’t get very far. They continued their frantic rowing without even realizing that Gilligan had failed to hoist the anchor.

Frustrated, Fuller turned the television off and sternly faced Fronk. “What the devil are you doing in here, William? Do you think it’s more important to watch some ridiculous, outdated sitcom than it is to help in the survival of our country?”

Fronk looked up at him. “What do you suppose I do, Rocky? Pull a rabbit out of my hat?” Even though he sounded just like Bullwinkle as he said it, the sarcasm behind it was barely suppressed rage.

“As a matter of fact, I do!” snapped Fuller.

Fronk sighed. “Well, I can’t, Skipper. I have no more hats left! We can’t fight an EMP. It’s already hit, and the damage is done. You can’t fix what’s been damaged. Everything affected by it has got to be replaced.” He shook his head. “That will take months, and you know it.”

“You can start by rebuilding a new computer, can’t you?”

“With what?”

“Don’t give me that! We’ve got plenty of computer components stored below, and some of them may not have been affected.”

Fronk sighed again. “And if I build one, what then?”

“There’s got to be some satellites out in space and if anyone can talk to them, it’s you.”

“Oh, it just has to be me, does it?!”

Fuller glared. “What’s gotten into you? Snap out of it, William. I mean it. I don’t care what it is you’ve got to do to get out of your trauma, but I’m ordering you to just do it!”

Fronk rose to his feet and tossed up his hands. “Fine! I’ll do it.”

“Good.”

“Sure. Okay. Yeah.” He scowled. “We’ll just do whatever it is that you want to do, Drill Sergeant!” With that, he turned and abruptly stormed out of the living room. He stomped his way up a set of stairs, which led to the second floor where his room was located. On his way there, he detoured to a room across the hall. There had been someone who was going to stay in the room and yet since he had been one of those whom had vanished, Fronk didn’t think the man would mind if he borrowed some of his things. Namely the man’s Bible.

It was lying on a desk, open as if the man had been reading from it. Since there were clothes in the chair, Fronk had to assume that’s what he had been doing when he got caught up in the air. Well, Fronk was mad to have been left behind, even though he understood it was his fault. Now he had to do something about it. It was either fall into despair and become useless, or it was to follow Fuller’s orders and snap out of it.

He picked up the Bible and closed it, but he left his thumb in it where it had been open. Where else to begin reading than where his friend had left off? He cleared his throat and glanced up toward the ceiling.

“Erick…I’m, ah…going to borrow this for a while.” He paused. “I hope you don’t mind.” He waited, as if he thought he would get a response. When none came, he walked into his room with the Bible and sat at his own desk. He turned on a lantern he had there and opened the Bible to where Erick had had it open.

He laid it down reverently, looking over the words printed there and wondered where he should start. Almost immediately, a notation on the left of the Bible in the indentation caught his eye and it simply read; Prayer. Lines were drawn from the word to verses 5 through 8 of Matthew 6. Beneath those verses, Erick had written, See Luke 18:10-14.

“Well…this should be simple, right?” Fronk leaned over the pages and cleared his throat. Softly, he spoke the words as he read them. “’And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corner of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet…’” He stopped and turned his head to the side, glancing over at his closet. The door was ajar. He continued to read, “’…and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.’” He considered the words carefully.

Prayer must be a big deal with God. Something very important, and personal.

“’But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathens do: for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking.’” He snorted. “I’ve met some of those heathens. ‘Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.’” He let out a sigh, giving the matter serious consideration. “Well, I guess this means You already know I need to be saved.”

He flipped through the Bible until he found the next passage about prayer. Reading from Luke 18, verses 10 through 14, he said, “’Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I beseech thee, that I am not as other men are,’ - Well, good for you. You must be special! - ‘extortioners,’ - Met a few. - ‘unjust,’ - Like it when Knox beats them up, tell you what! - ‘adulterers…’ He made a face. “Okay. Now I know Knox is in trouble with that one! ‘…or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week…’” He shook his head. “What does that mean? How does one fast? ‘…I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.’”

After he read it, he pushed it aside, leaned back and thought about it. He wanted to be serious about this and that was hard for him. His coping mechanism in life had always been humor. Playing the clown. Pushing the envelope. Driving other people crazy.

This time, however, he felt a stirring within his soul. Someone was trying to get his attention and he had an idea who that Someone was.

He found himself looking at the closet door.

Then, he got up, pulled the door open the rest of the way and went into his closet. He closed the door, knelt down and took a deep breath. Without looking up to heaven and with all of his heart, he smacked himself in the chest with a closed fist. Not hard, but just enough to make a whack.

Then, he said, “God…be merciful to me, a sinner.”

Outside the closet, Director Fuller came into the doorway of Fronk’s room. “William…?” He paused. He thought he had heard something, but when he didn’t see Fronk anywhere in the room decided it was nothing.

He turned to go and that’s when the closet door slammed open so hard, it made him jump. Fronk came out of the closet, hooting and a hollering to the heavens. This also made Fuller jump.

“William!” he exclaimed. “Stop that shouting! Have you lost your mind?”

Fronk turned to look at him and as if seeing him for the first time in years, he grabbed Fuller by the arms and pulled him close. “Skipper! It’s you!”

Fuller tried to push him back. “What’s gotten into you now? Stop trying to hug me!” When he managed to stand on his own, he said, “Do you want to tell me what you were doing in your closet?”

Fronk pulled him close again and brought his face closer to Fuller’s. He put a finger to his lips. “Sssh! No. It’s a secret…” A big grin spread across his face. “I can’t tell you.”

Amazed and concerned at this new change in Fronk, Fuller watched him as he bounced out of the room and down the hall. Fuller shook his head. “I can’t believe it. I think I’ve pushed him over the edge.”

*******

Staci stopped at Kate’s door and hesitated. What if she was wrong and she would find both Kate and April inside? She placed her ear to the door and listened. There wasn’t a sound she could hear from inside the apartment. It was eerily silent, causing goose bumps to rise on Staci’s arms. Why do we call such things goose bumps? she wondered. She involuntarily shivered.

Taking a deep breath, she knocked.

It was as she expected deep in her heart. There was no response.

She felt sad. She needed to find the answers, but was certain she wouldn’t be able to because surely the door would be locked. Since she had no other course of action before her, she tried the door…and it opened. It wasn’t locked. Hesitating anyway, she slowly opened the door and remained in the doorway.

“Kate…?” Staci called out.

Nothing but silence greeted her.

She opened the door all the way and stepped into the apartment. “Kate?” she tried again. “Are you here?”

Again, nothing but silence was her only response.

Staci gathered up her courage and closed the door behind her. She slowly made her way through the apartment, looking for signs of where Kate and April might have been when the Rapture occurred. The answer was in the kitchen. A bowl was set on the counter with an open carton of eggs and milk beside it. A whisk stirring utensil was inside the bowl as if Kate had been stirring the contents within. Right at the floor in front of the counter where she would have been standing was a pile of clothes and some jewelry.

Staci put her hand to her mouth, almost dizzy from her discovery. “Oh, Kate…”

She turned her head and there on one of the chairs at the table were April’s clothes.

It only drove into Staci’s heart her own shortsightedness at not having seen the truth earlier. Her friend’s were gone. She had been left behind. She slumped to the floor and let the tears come. This time, she couldn’t stop them, but even as she cried, she vowed to be stronger than this when it was all done. She so very much wanted to be like her sister.

Then, as thoughts of her sister came into her mind, she cried harder.

Nichole had always been trying to tell her this day would come. It made her wonder what her sister had been doing when she had been caught up.

Staci sat on the floor and just let it out. Through her tears, she pleaded with God to forgive her. She mostly pleaded with her heart, because when she tried to speak, it only came out as a muffled and choked up, “I’m so sorry!”

Her thoughts were like, I’m so weak, God. I need You to help me be strong. I know I’ve been ignoring You for so long and I'm so sorry. I didn’t understand, but I didn’t try hard enough to try to see You. God, please save me. Help me find You. And, God, please…please tell my son…and my sister that I love them so very much, and I miss them so terribly. But I know they’re with you. I guess I’m just feeling sorry for myself right now. Please forgive me.

She cried some more.

After a while, however, when her tears were all spent, she slowly got back to her feet. Wiping at her face, she took another look around the kitchen. Kate’s Bible wasn’t anywhere to be seen. She moved about the apartment, looking for that Bible she desperately needed to find. Oh, she owned a Bible in her own apartment, but it didn’t have notes like Kate’s did. She also knew that Kate’s Bible would be somewhere in plain sight. It wouldn’t be hid. It would be obvious.

Staci found it in the den Kate shared with her husband, Albert. It was on the desk in front of the computer. As if it were a lifeline, Staci grabbed the Bible and took it into the living room. It seemed there was more light in the living room. Kate had a love for candles and some had been lit. The living room smelled like lavender and lilac and as Staci sat down in the recliner, it made her think of Kate.

She began to flip through the pages of Kate’s well used Bible. There were notes every where in the margins. Notes on repentance, judgment, peace and just about every topic she was aware of. Even some she wasn’t. When she found notations on the Rapture, she began her first earnest study of God’s Word. She was bound and determined to get the answers she needed to have and prayed silently as she studied. She wanted to be ready to help Sherri when she was able to.

As she studied, Sherri continued to wait in Staci’s apartment.

When Sherri heard the knock on the door, she assumed it was Staci returning. “I’m coming!” she called out.

Sherri wiped at her eyes and rose to her feet. Without hesitation, she went to the front door and opened it. Two men were there to greet her, but it wasn’t a greeting she expected or wanted. As soon as the door opened, they barged their way inside and grabbed her. As one closed the door, the other slammed her against the wall with a knife pressed to her throat.

“Scream and you die,” he growled. “Understand?”

His accent was thick.

Sherri nodded.

“Where is the doctor?”

She frowned. “The doctor…?”

“The woman doctor! Dr. Cohen!”

She realized they were looking for Staci. There was no way she was going to help them, so she prayed that God would keep Staci away. “Sh-she’s not here,” She replied fearfully. “She won’t be home until late…”

“Who are you?”

“I-I’m the babysitter.”

The man nodded at his compatriot who went through the apartment to search for a child the woman claimed to be babysitting. When he came back, he shook his head. “There is no baby. The infidel is lying!”

The terrorist with the knife glared at Sherri. “Why do you lie?”

Sherri couldn’t believe they didn’t know about the Rapture. She almost laughed. “You don’t know? The baby is gone! He was taken.”

“Taken by whom?”

“By God.”

The man stared at her. Then, without warning, he slapped her. “You speak blasphemy and for that, you will die.”

Sherri looked into his eyes, marveling at the courage she wasn’t aware she had, even as her face stung from the blow. “Go ahead. Kill me. I’ll go to a far better place where you won’t be.”

In anger, the man shoved her to his partner. “We'll wait for the doctor to return. Then…you both shall die.” He pointed his knife at her for emphasis.

Sherri allowed herself to be led back into the living room where she was forced to wait with terrorists for her execution. All she could think about was how much prayer she has been able to learn since David had disappeared from her arms. Prayer was the only thing she could do and not even the presence of two hateful terrorists could ever change that.

Darwyn didn’t care about the rain as it poured on him from the heavens, but it did seem to add to the despair he suddenly felt as he heard the sounds of gunfire. It came from all around, within the city of Albany. All he had to do was simply stand there and listen as the cell he had been preparing for this day went about performing their mission. To attack American citizens in the streets. To kill without mercy. To slay the enemy and reap the rewards in the afterlife.

Only the afterlife would not be so rewarding to them, he now realized. He himself had been blind for so long, even though for years his heart had been yearning for more. Now that he finally was able to see the truth and be free from the lies he had once held so dear to him, he realized he had to pay for his crimes. He had to turn himself in to the proper authorities. However, those proper authorities had their hands full at the moment and would most likely have him shot on sight.

He felt there should be something he could do. He was now a child of God, a sinner saved by grace, but did that excuse him from the crimes he had committed as a terrorist? He hardly believed so. He had to pay for those deeds he had done in the name of his false god. He had to repay his debt to Nichole Parkhurst first. Dr. Staci Cohen was in danger. He was the only one who could save her now.

He ran through the streets, desperately trying to ignore the cries of the innocents who were pleading for their lives. He dodged behind a truck as several people raced by, frantic to flee from the mad gunmen in the streets. Darwyn let them pass by and then hurried on his way. He suddenly came face to face with one from his cell who leveled a weapon at him. The terrorist would have pulled the trigger, but he recognized Darwyn as his leader.

He raised his weapon. “For Allah!” he exclaimed.

Darwyn just looked at him and then, went by him, quickening his pace. Ahead of him, a volley of bullets caused him to take cover. He dove onto the pavement as the bullets came, taking down the terrorist he just passed. He dragged himself over to the curb of the sidewalk and used the cover of a parked car to shield himself from gunfire. When it stopped, he risked a look from around the bumper.

Two uniformed officers were grouped with two men at the entrance of an alley. The police officers were not what concerned him. The two men were. He recognized them as ATD agents from dossiers he had been given. He was fairly certain that if he had dossiers on them, then there was a good chance they had one on him as well. He knew almost everything about them. He knew their names were Michael Lenox and Albert Barrington. He knew that Lenox was single, but Barrington had a family. He knew where they lived, and where they worked.

He also knew he couldn’t afford running into them now. What he read about Lenox had him convinced the man would simply kill him the second Darwyn crossed his path.

He saw that the men were not giving his area any consideration, so he prayed it was because they hadn’t seen him. It didn’t mean they wouldn’t soon enough. Quickly, he kept as low as he could and crawled back to the rear of the car. Then, he made his way over to the corner of a building at an intersection and took another street away from the agents. As he ran, he was unaware that across the street, he was being watched by his brother, Youmud.

Youmud had followed Darwyn from the warehouse and was feeding his anger about his older brother’s treachery. Keeping out of sight from the enemy, he trailed Darwyn, looking forward to executing him with the Jewish doctor. He knew that’s where he was going and knew the best time to strike would be then.

There was only one thing he hadn’t counted on.

As he tried to follow his brother, someone was calling his name. Angered by this interruption, he stopped and looked around, trying to locate the source. A man was standing in the doorway of a coffee shop, partly in shadow.

Getting out of the rain, Youmud entered the shop as the man backed away from the door to give him room to enter. The terrorist leveled his weapon at the man until he recognized who had been calling for him.

It was Bollinger.

Slowly, Youmud lowered his weapon, even though it would have given him great satisfaction to pull the trigger and kill this American traitor. “What is it you want?” he growled.

“There are some agents out there who would really love to meet you,” Bollinger replied casually.

“What is that to me? I have an urgent matter to take care of.”

“Believe me, the Anti-Terrorist Division of the FBI is an urgent matter. These guys have been trying to track you down since after 9 - 11.” He paused. “Look, I know these guys, alright? I’ve worked with them. They’re good at what they do. And Lenox is crazy, man. You don’t want to mess with him.”

Youmud glared at him. “This is wasting my time.” He wanted to catch up to his brother and catch him with Staci. “What do I have to do with this? They will not stop what is happening.”

“Yeah, but…if you took them out, it would really put quite the feather in your cap…If you know what I mean.”

Youmud frowned. “Wait…You said Lenox?”

He nodded. “That’s right. From the ATD.”

Youmud wanted to spill his brother’s blood, but even he couldn’t resist striking at agents of the ATD. Especially agents who had successfully stopped several terrorists’ attacks throughout the years. “What is it you propose to do?” he asked.

Bollinger smiled as he put his arm around Youmud as if they were the best of friends. “It’s simple. I’ll distract them…and you kill them.”

Youmud returned the smile. He didn’t like it when Bollinger put his arm around him, but he did like the idea the man had.

1 - Hebrews 9:27

Lenox wasn’t certain what his partner’s problem was, but he was hoping the man would snap out of it soon and get with the program. He had known Barrington for most of his life. He had never known him to be so indecisive all of a sudden. Barrington was suddenly hesitant to point his weapon at a terrorist and pull the trigger. He had even refused a second weapon when Lenox had offered it to him. Now Lenox was carrying two AK-47’s and his own weapon was in its shoulder holster, but unlike his partner he was more than prepared to use them on the enemy.

They had begun to make their way through the alley without a problem. The difficulty lay ahead where a battle seemed to be occurring. There were several gunshots heard, along with automatic weapons being fired. There was even the unmistakable sound of gunfire from a shotgun, of all things.

Lenox ran a few paces ahead of Barrington and when he saw the street before the mouth of the alley, he put his back to the wall and focused his attention toward the firefight. From his position, he could see some motion as someone would run past. As the rain fell into the alley from the cloudy skies above, Lenox moved forward a bit more.

He stopped.

Lenox was almost certain there was a man crouching against the wall at the mouth of the alley in the shadows. He peered closely, focusing on the shadows and remained still as he tried to determine whether someone was there or not. At that moment, a terrorist walked right up to the mouth of the alley and stopped as he focused his attention in it, searching for someone to kill. A loud boom sounded and a flash of light briefly revealed a crouching silhouette of a man at the wall. The terrorist was shot clearly in the chest and the blast drove him back out into the street. He was dead before he hit the ground.

That shot had been from a shotgun.

By the time the terrorist had fallen and before the echoing of the blast from the shotgun had ended, Lenox covered up the distance between him and the man. He got behind him and put the barrel of the AK-47 to his neck.

“Don’t make any fast moves,” he told him.

“Brother,” the man replied without skipping a beat, “if you were a terrorist, I’d already be dead. So shoot me, shoot them or just keep out of my way. Just do it fast because my patience ran out a looong time ago.”

Barrington approached from behind, moving with caution as he saw what his partner was up to. He came around beside them, keeping to the wall across from them and found that he was able to see more of the man Lenox had his weapon trained on. He shook his head. “Knox…he’s a cop.”

Lenox moved the AK-47 and leveled it at the ground as he crouched next to the police officer. “I wasn’t planning on shooting you.”

The officer turned to regard him. “Oh, of course not. That was just your way of saying ‘hello there’, I’m sure.”

“If I had called out to you, you might just have turned around and opened fire with your shotgun.”

“And I say again, brother…if you were a terrorist, you wouldn’t have called out to me in the first place.”

Barrington placed Canaan’s Bible beside him on the ground, reached into his pocket and pulled out his badge. He tossed it over to him. “We’re with the ATD.”

Glancing at Lenox, the man picked up the badge. Hearing gunshots from out in the street, he peered around the corner and saw a terrorist firing at a vehicle another officer was behind. The officer kept low as the bullets from the terrorist’s weapon pounded into it. Glass was breaking and raining down on him.

Frowning, Groh leveled his shotgun, yet Lenox beat him to it. He raised the AK-47 and fired at the terrorist. He failed to hit him, but the terrorist turned back and found cover. This gave the officer behind the car a chance to run for the alley. As he ran, he fired a few warning shots to keep the terrorist from shooting back. It was unnecessary, for Lenox had seen to that, if for only a short time.

As the second officer joined them, the first one tossed Barrington back his badge. “I’ve heard of the ATD. Branches off from the FBI, don’t it? Stands for Anti-Terrorist Division?”

Barrington nodded.

“The names Randy Groh.”

“Al Barrington and Michael Lenox,” Barrington responded.

The second officer put his back to the wall beside Barrington, leveling his pistol toward the ground. “That’s great!” he exclaimed. “And I’m Tiny Tim! Are you people even aware there are crazy psychopaths rampaging through the city with weapons of miserable destruction, while you all make nice with the pleasant intro’s?”

“That’s Brian Yorke,” Groh replied, readying his shotgun. “He’s not what they call Albany’s finest…but there he is.”

“They’re shooting at us with automatic weapons!” Yorke complained. He held up his gun. “All I have is this pea-shooter, for crying out loud!”

Lenox reached for the AK-47 strapped to his back. He handed it toward Yorke. “Take this.”

Yorke reholstered his sidearm and eagerly took the weapon. “ATD agents, huh? Nice! Wish I could have gotten one of these from Wal-Mart.”

“No, you don’t.”

“You’re right. Just kidding. Got a nephew who works there. But thanks anyway.” He checked the weapon over, familiarizing himself with it. “Your agency is armed with Russian weapons?”

“Picked them up on the street…from two dead terrorists.”

Yorke nodded. “Well…I appreciate it.”

Lenox tossed him two ammo-clips for the weapon. “That’s all I’ve got. You’ll have to get the rest from the ones we take out.”

“Then, let’s get the body count started. These killers got another thing coming if they think they can just come into my city and start this nonsense!”

Lenox nodded in agreement. “I’m with you on that. Al…I think we’ve got some cleaning up to do before we can get to your place.”

Groh let out a sigh. “Wait…there’s just two of you? Don’t you have backup?”

“We do,” Barrington replied with a nod. “I’m sure they’ll get here when they can. We were taking precautions in the event something like this happened and if those precautions worked, we should be overrun with reinforcements any minute.”

Groh and Yorke regarded him as if he had two heads. Lenox, for his part, also looked at Barrington, suspicion evident in his eyes.

“Are you saying…you knew about this attack?” Groh asked.

Yorke held up his hand. “I’ll handle this, Randy.”

Groh looked at him.

Yorke turned to Barrington. “Are you saying you knew about this attack?”

Barrington paused. “Now is not a good time to get into this, but every major agency in the United States of America has been prepared for this attack, or any attack, in the event they happened.” He turned to Lenox. “But…you’re right. My place will have to wait. Let’s just…let’s just do what we can.”

Lenox regarded him. “Are you sure?”

He shrugged. “It’s not like we have a choice, is it?”

As if to confirm it, a volley of gunfire sounded from out in the street, followed by a scream. Yorke leaned out of the alley and fired the AK-47 at a terrorist across the street.

“For Allah!” the terrorist screamed, and then he tried to bring his weapon around to return fire at Yorke.

Lenox leveled his weapon up and fired. As he and Yorke took out the terrorist, neither one of them noticed a man dropping out of sight behind a car across the street. Groh glanced over at Barrington who was looking at the Bible in his hand, as if contemplating his fate. He raised to his full height and looked out into the street, joining Lenox and Yorke.

Barrington prayed for this nightmare to end and then he slowly got to his feet. He kept his gun leveled at the ground by his side. He found that he was now reluctant to use it, even if to save his own life.

“Where is the rest of your backup?” Lenox asked as he surveyed the street. The rain wasn’t helping.

Yorke pointed from where he had come from. “Some of the boys are that way, near the park. As for anyone else, I haven’t a clue. Our radios stopped working, along with everything else!”

Groh remained silent.

“Well, this mop up operandi is going to take a long time. We need a plan, don’t you think?” Yorke inquired, not really expecting an answer. “The only one I have in mind is to hunt ‘em all down and shoot ‘em.” He glanced at Lenox. “Where is your partner’s place that he’s in such a hurry to get to?”

“He lives in an apartment complex on West Ave,” Lenox answered. “Has family there.”

“That’s just a few blocks up,” Groh said, pointing the way with his shotgun. “We might as well make for that way.” He shrugged. “If I had family, I’d want to make sure they were safe, wouldn‘t you?”

Lenox almost told them that Barrington believed his family had vanished from off the planet, but decided it wasn’t worth mentioning. Especially when in his mind, not all of the facts were gathered. Instead, he nodded. “Yeah,” he agreed. “I suppose I would.” Movement on the street corner caught his attention. A man was running toward them. He leveled his acquired AK-47, but wanted to make certain whether the man was friend or foe.

“Hey!” the man shouted. “Don’t shoot!”

“Michael, isn’t that Bollinger?” Barrington asked.

Lenox nodded. The officers with them held their fire as the man approached them. As the ATD agents had suspected, it was Bollinger. Seemingly out of breath, Bollinger reached them, catching himself against the wall and gasping for air.

“Man, am I glad to see you guys!” he managed to say in between breaths. “We’ve got troubles.”

Lenox had many questions to ask Bollinger, but Groh beat him to it with, “What are you, some kind of Spenser For Hire? Thanks for coming along to tell us the obvious.”

Bollinger ignored the comment. He turned to Barrington. “It’s about this attack, man. Your family…has been targeted.”

Barrington stared. “What?”

“The terrorists aren’t just picking random targets, Bear. Some targets have been purposefully selected, including your wife and daughter.”

That was enough for Barrington. It didn’t matter that he was certain they had been Raptured. Just knowing they had been targeted by the enemy was enough to do what he had to do to protect them. He turned and ran, heading for West Avenue.

“Bear!” Lenox shouted.

Barrington ignored him and continued running.

Lenox had no choice. He went after him, Groh and Yorke also joined in the pursuit. Bollinger ran to keep up with them, but as he did, he fought hard to keep the grin off his face.

Youmud kept his back to the wall of the building on the street corner as he peered around it. He had watched Bollinger join the others and then saw them all running off in the direction of West Avenue. West Avenue was where Dr. Staci Cohen was and was where his brother would soon be. Why was Bollinger racing off to West Avenue with the agents of the ATD?

He wasn’t concerned with the police officers with them. The ATD agents were another matter. Bollinger had assured him they would be taken care of, that together, they would kill the infidels of Satan. Yet what trickery was the traitorous agent up to now? Youmud had never trusted him before and now he was certain he would never deal with him again.

He followed behind his enemy, waiting for the moment to strike.

It was unbelievable. Shiva had never thought he would see the day when the world literally stood still. At the moment, it was what it seemed like it was doing. Below him as he looked out the window of the Huey he flew in, there was nothing but chaos. All along Interstate 90, not a single vehicle was moving. Some were off the road, others had crashed into others and a few were on fire in spite of the rain. He was horrified at the site of an airplane strewn across the north and south bound lanes of the highway.

If Lenox and Barrington were somewhere down below in that mess, how could he possibly hope to find them?

“Fury,” came Willon’s voice from his radio, “come to Albany.”

Frowning, Shiva responded with, “Albany? Have you found Knox and Bear?”

“Worse. Terrorists…in the streets. It’s a war zone down there. We need to take them out.”

“What…? How many of them do you see?”

“There’s thirty or more running through the streets, Fury.” There was a pause. “Yeah…there’s more in the park. We’re dropping our team in the park and starting from there. When you get here, drop anywhere.”

“We’re on our way.”

“I’m remaining in the chopper.”

Shiva wondered if he had heard correctly. “Say again?”

“I’m staying in the chopper. I can do the most damage from above…They don’t call me Ricochet for nothing, Fury.”

Shiva was fully aware of Willon’s marksmanship capabilities. Apparently, the man meant to snipe at the enemy from above. “Understood, Ricochet. We’ll be there.”

He informed the pilot of the change of plans and told the men to be ready. There was a war being raged in their city and they were the only chance to put a stop to it. One way or another.

Staci was frustrated. Just when she got the hang of using the Concordance, she ran into her first major snag. She couldn’t find the word “Rapture” anywhere in it. And if she couldn’t locate the word in a resource aimed at helping people study the Word of God, how could she possibly locate it in the scriptures at all?

She found “salvation” in the Concordance. She also found the word “assurance” as well. After all, she wanted to make certain she had the assurance of salvation this time. She had been left behind. She didn’t want to miss out when her life was over and eternity began. She didn’t want to be wrong as she had been for all of her life when she should have been right there with her sister, unafraid to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

However, as she searched the Scriptures, she couldn’t locate the word “Rapture” any where. She let out a sigh of frustration and reached for a book among many owned by Kate, a study on the End Times Prophecy. She began flipping through it, discovering that it was a book of prophetical terminology. It almost overwhelmed her when she saw the terminology’s within.

Seventy Weeks of Daniel. She frowned. What does that mean?

Six Hundred Sixty-Six. Okay…okay. Yeah, that must be about the mark of the beast. Oh, why didn’t I listen? Staci, don’t ever take the mark. Don’t do it, don’t do it. She took a deep breath as an overwhelming grip of fear nearly plunged her into despair. Oh, please, God, help me. Help me know You!

Abomination of Desolation.

Amillennialism.

Angels. Angels are good. I like angels.

Antichrist. Oh, I don't think I'm gonna like him.

She scanned down the page.

Beast.

Book of Life.

She suddenly realized the terminologies were in alphabetical order. Oh, duh! She quickly went to the “r’s”, tracing along with her finger.

Prophetic Postponement. Huh?

Prophets.

Psalms, Eschatology of. Wow! I am really behind in all this. How can anyone possibly learn so much? I've never even heard of that word!

Finally she found what she was looking for.

Rapture.

Rapture, History of.

Frantically, she turned the pages until she came to it and began to read out loud, “’The Rapture of the Church is one of the most compelling and exciting prophetic events in the Bible. It is clearly taught in I Thessalonians 4:15-18(NKJV), where the apostle Paul provides us with these details: This we say to you by the Word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.’1”

Staci sat back and thought about what she had just read. She wished she could find comfort in those words, yet knew it was too late. The Rapture had occurred. She was left behind. There was nothing she could do to change that now. She had heard that once it happened it was only going to get worse, so how could anyone left behind be comforted now?

She turned back to the book and continued to read out loud. She couldn‘t put the book down now, even if she wanted to. It caused her to want to know more, to learn all she could. “’The apostle Paul also unveiled what he called a mystery pertaining to the rapture. In I Corinthians 15:51-53, he explained that some Christians would not sleep (die), but their bodies would be instantly transformed. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed - in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

“’This is what will happen when the rapture takes place: Without warning, the bodies of all believers who have died since the day of Pentecost will suddenly be transformed into new, living, immortal, resurrected bodies. Even those whose bodies have long since decayed or whose ashes have been scattered out over the oceans will receive a new body. This new body will be joined together with the person’s spirit, which Jesus will bring with Him. Then the bodies of those who have likewise accepted Christ as their Savior and are alive at that moment will also be instantly translated into new immortal bodies. Together, all believers will be instantaneously transported into the heavens to meet the Lord. Those who are alive and have rejected the salvation of Jesus Christ will remain behind on earth and will witness a miraculous event of astonishing proportions - the sudden mass disappearance of millions upon millions of people from the face of the earth.’”

She gasped and put a hand to her mouth.

It had happened. All of it…just as she had read it and been told about it. There was no denying it. And even though she had cried out to God to save her, it was still too late. She had to face the remainder of her time on earth with all of the countless millions of people who had also been left behind. She believed He had saved her soul, but there was still no guarantee she was going to be divinely protected from anything the Great Tribulation threw at her.

She knew it was going to get worse. She had heard the horror stories about the terrible Tribulation period the earth was going to face in the last days. She herself had once foolishly believed it was all made up, that God really wouldn’t let things get so bad. But the Rapture did happen, so there was no doubt in her mind it was going to get a lot worse.

She picked up Kate’s Bible and flipped through it until she came to the verses she had read from the Encyclopedia of Prophetical terminologies. There in the margin at I Corinthians, Kate had written, “The word ‘Rapture’ cannot be found any where in scripture, but the term ‘caught up’ refers to being ‘raptured’.”

“Well…that explains why I couldn’t find it,” Staci replied with a sigh of relief at discovering one mystery.

Having discovered some of what she had been searching for, she decided it was time to get back to her own apartment and to Sherri. She had to share this with her and perhaps together, they could uncover further truths about what was yet to come. She was still scared about what the future held, but found courage because she knew she wouldn’t face it alone. She and Sherri could encourage each other.

She gathered up Kate’s Bible and the Encyclopedia and headed out of the apartment, eager to return to her own. As she opened the door to her apartment, she called out, “Sherri! I’ve found what I was--”

From the living room, Sherri screamed, “Run!”

Staci froze in terror in the doorway as a man came into the kitchen. On a sudden impulse, she threw the thick Encyclopedia at him, turned about and ran without waiting to see if the book hit him or not. Unknown to her, the book did hit the man directly in the face. It slowed him down briefly, but it also angered him.

Screaming out in anger, he raced out the door.

The second terrorist stood in the doorway of the living room and leveled his gun at Sherri. She rose to her feet with her hands offered to him. “No,” she pleaded, “please…don’t!”

He fired twice.

The bullets struck her and she fell. Her hand struck the stand and almost brought down the burning candle. The photo of Staci and Nichole, however, fell on the floor beside her as her blood began to stain the carpet around her.

The terrorist turned and joined his partner in the chase after the Jewish doctor.

Staci was ahead of the men, but not by much. She raced for the stairs and in the darkened stairwell, was about to go down when she heard someone else coming up. She had no idea who it was in the dark and a thought occurred to her that it could be more of those men. Perhaps it was even the sons of Ishmael Musad. On those thoughts, she turned and headed up the stairs as fast as she was able to in the dark.

As she made it to the top, she heard the men below her giving chase. They, too, were racing up the stairs as fast as they were able. Gripping onto Kate’s Bible, Staci slammed herself against the door at the top of the stairs and nearly fell out into the rain on the roof of the apartment building. She stumbled out, caught herself and frantically searched for a place to hide.

There was none.

She turned about, still finding no way to hide and moved toward the edge. She stopped there as the two terrorists came out onto the roof. When they saw her, they advanced toward her with grim determination.

With nowhere else to go, Staci stepped up onto the very edge and shouted, “Don’t come any closer!”

The men stopped, exchanging glances with each other. They casually held their weapons leveled toward the surface of the roof.

Staci swallowed back her fear and faced them. She had to. If she so much as looked down, she would most likely slip and fall to her death. She took a deep breath and forced herself to glare at the men. “You so much as take a step toward me, and I’ll jump!”

“You will not!” one of the men declared. “You're too weak to be so bold as to take your own life. You're simply bluffing, but you’re bluff will not work!”

“Try me!” she exclaimed back. “You think I’m going to allow you to get your hands on me? Think again!” She marveled to herself at where she found the courage to speak like that to these terrorists. “I know who you are! I know what you want with me. You’re here because of…because of Ishmael Musad! His sons sent you, didn’t they?”

Again the men exchanged glances.

“I know they did!” she told them. “They think I killed their father, but I didn’t. I tried to help him...They wouldn‘t let me!” She looked at them, hoping they would understand even though she knew they wouldn’t. “I tried to save him. I could have!”

“That is not our concern,” one of them replied.

“They sent you and if I jump, they'll be very angry with you.”

The terrorist’s suddenly grew silent.

Staci knew she had struck a nerve, but unfortunately, it was not enough to save her life or get her off the edge of the building. And to make matters worse, a third man suddenly joined them as he stepped out into the rain upon the roof. She shielded her eyes from the rain and looked toward the man, fear gripping a hold of her once more. It was one of the sons of the man she had been accused of killing.

It was Darwyn Musad.

1 Rapture, Pg 309 - The Popular Encyclopedia of Bible Prophecy

Something struck the side of the building they were racing past and an explosion from above suddenly caused them to dive for cover. Debris and large chunks of brick from the wall fell all around them as a result from the rocket, which had been fired by the enemy. Rain mixed with broken shards of glass. Groh ran across the street, slid over the top of a Buick and leapt for all he was worth into a stairwell leading into a shop lower than the street.

When the debris finally stopped falling, the police officer poked his head up and surveyed the scene. He saw the ATD agents getting up and taking cover against a van until they were out of his sight. He didn’t see Yorke anywhere. He looked toward where the rocket had come from and saw two terrorists raising their arms in triumph. Out of this entire nightmare, that is what ticked him off the most, that they not only had the audacity to attack his city but that they would celebrate openly with their victory cries. When they finished that, they readied their weapons and slowly advanced.

They didn’t seem to care they were in the open. They were confident they were going to win the complete victory over their enemies. Groh, however, realized they weren’t even looking in his direction and a daring plan began to form in his mind. He vowed that he was going to make them regret having not noticed him.

Behind the van, Lenox raised his head and looked through the windows. Readying the AK-47, he told Barrington and Bollinger, “We’ve got company. There’s two…” He stopped when he saw movement to his left. More terrorists were advancing toward them. “Make that five hostiles coming in our direction.”

Barrington remained on the pavement with his back against the front of the van. He didn’t say a word. He simply sat there with one hand holding his gun loosely and the other hand continued to clutch Canaan’s Bible.

Bollinger stayed low and peeked carefully around the van. He only saw the two terrorists in the street moving toward them. He couldn’t see the other three Lenox had mentioned, but if Lenox said there were more, then there was no reason to doubt him. “This is far better than I had ever hoped for,” he replied, unable to contain his grin. “This is like living in a Chuck Norris film, only without the bad acting.”

Lenox shot him a look. “Are you out of your mind?” He glanced at his partner. “Al, get ready! They’re closing in.”

Barrington didn’t respond.

“Where did those cops go?” Lenox wondered as he glanced behind them.

A sudden volley of bullets fired from a terrorist caused Lenox to duck further in front of the van. That’s when return fire at the enemy from a pile of debris answered the question as to where one of the officers had gone. Yorke laid against the debris pile as he held his weapon over the top and fired. Lenox leveled his AK-47 around the van and added to the gunfire. He was furious, however, about the lack of activity from his suddenly brooding partner.

Bollinger was about to join from his side of the van when he noticed one of the terrorist’s in the street had come to a stop. It was then he noticed the long tube-like device in the enemies hands. The terrorist dropped to one knee on the pavement, leveled the device onto his right shoulder and made what appeared to be a minute adjustment.

“Get away from the van!” Bollinger shouted. “Now!”

Lenox, and Barrington didn’t question him. The three of them got up from their position, turned and ran as fast as they were able to. They took cover with Yorke amongst the debris.

“Get off me, man!” Yorke hollered as someone rolled right over the top of him.

As Lenox, Barrington and Bollinger were ducking for cover with Yorke, the terrorist was confident he was about to send more infidels to their deaths. However, a split second before he fired the rocket, Groh came out from his cover and leveled his shotgun. On the run, he fired. Boom! The terrorist fell back, but he pulled the trigger and his aim shifted quite a bit.

It was enough.

The rocket sailed away from the van and into the wall of another building, causing the three terrorists on the sidewalk to run for cover. The second terrorist whom had been in the street turned to face Groh, but the police officer swung his shotgun like a baseball bat, clubbing the man in the side of the face. The force of the blow snapped the man’s head back, causing him to fall. Groh didn’t wait to see if he was going to get back up. He turned and faced toward the others.

“Let’s get out of here!” he exclaimed, waving for them as the rain continued it’s seemingly never-ending downpour.

The others came away from their cover and caught up with Groh. Then all of them headed up the street at a run. They fired at the three terrorist’s who had earlier sought for cover. One of them went down. The other two shouted at the officer’s and agent’s and ran out into the open, firing wildly. Lenox, Yorke, Bollinger and Groh each leveled their weapons, like four gunslingers at the Ok Coral, and fired their weapons as they continued moving forward. The terrorist’s didn’t have a chance, and they fell into the street, meeting eternity.

Barrington followed behind the others, but his weapon was leveled at the ground. He gripped the Bible in his hand as if it were a lifeline, more than he did his gun. The weapon he wanted to drop.

And yet he didn’t.

He didn’t understand what was causing him to hang onto the weapon when everything within him screamed at him to drop it. He had already vowed to himself that he would never again use it to take another life. Yet something was compelling him to keep it.

They eventually managed to get to West Avenue and once they did, Barrington seemed to come to life then. He moved past the others and ran up the street toward the penthouse apartment building he lived in. He wasn’t concerned at all if any of the enemy were about or not. He just wanted to get inside to a place that was familiar to him and get away from the madness, which seemed to get worse with every single step he took.

“Bear!” Lenox shouted. “Wait!” He ran toward his friend, trying to catch up to him as Bollinger and the police officers did the same. Their eyes, however, were also keeping a close lookout for the enemy.

Catching up to Barrington proved not to be that difficult at all. As they came closer, they found the man standing there, staring in awe at the sight that met them. The entrance of the building was once an enclosed foyer, but it had been completely destroyed by a tractor-less rig. It was clear the rig had gone right through the foyer, spraying glass everywhere. The rig was now against the side of the building, close to the corner, having scraped along the wall until it eventually stopped.

The glass door, which had once been the main entrance, had been completely shattered. As Barrington stood in the opening and looked inside, he saw the floor littered with shards of broken glass and a fire extinguisher was lying a few feet from where he was.

Lenox and the others approached from behind.

“Well…” Lenox began as he stepped beside his friend, taking in the destruction, “so much for the security in this building.”

Barrington stepped inside, followed by the others. “We’ll have to take the stairs,” he said, stating the obvious.

“I’m just glad to be out of the rain,” Bollinger commented to no one in particular, trying to shake the rain off from himself.

Groh positioned himself by the door as he noticed movement outside in the street. He began to reload the shotgun. “We might have company any minute. You guys go do what you came to do, but make it quick.”

Yorke positioned himself on the opposite side of the door. “We’ll hold them back if we have to.”

Lenox handed his AK-47 to Groh. “Thanks.” He withdrew his .357 Magnum, which he favored, and followed Barrington into the darkened stairwell. Bollinger followed him.

It was slow going for them. They had to feel their way up the stairs and were careful not to attract any unwanted attention. They had no idea if terrorists were in the building, but because of what Bollinger had told them earlier, they weren’t taking any chances.

Barrington finally felt his way to the door on the fifth floor landing. With his gun at the ready and Canaan’s Bible tucked under his left arm, he slowly pushed open the door. He was praying there were no terrorists about, because the last thing he wanted to do was be responsible for taking their lives and sending them to an eternity of torment.

The corridor seemed to be empty. It was still dark, but not too dark where he couldn’t see. He cautiously headed for his apartment, Lenox and Bollinger keeping step with him.

Once at his door marked 55, Barrington stopped. The door to his apartment was open and a heavy silence greeted them. An oppressive silence. He was straining to hear anything that might give him a clue his family was still there, inside their home, but there was nothing.

He finally took a deep breath. “This can’t be good,” he said softly.

Lenox looked through the doorway into the apartment. “Let’s just have a look around.”

Barrington nodded.

The two men entered the apartment and began to search for any sign that Barrington’s wife and child were still there and alive. Bollinger stayed in the doorway, having decided to wait. Besides, he was far more interested in the apartment further down the hall. Looking toward it, he realized the door to Dr. Staci Cohen’s apartment was slightly ajar.

A grin spread across his face.

Inside Barrington’s apartment, candles were found lit in the living room. Barrington knew his wife must have had them lit before the whole nightmare began. She loved candles. The major discovery, however, wasn’t found until he and Lenox went into the kitchen. Kate had been standing at the kitchen counter; April had been sitting at the table. They were gone, but all that did remain was their clothing.

Lenox didn’t know what to make of it. How could any one simply vanish without a trace? Joseph Canaan. The old man’s grand daughter. And now Kate and April. That was only four he was aware of. He hadn’t actually seen them or anyone disappear and yet finding only their clothing was disturbing enough. What could possibly do that? He wasn’t convinced about this Rapture thing, but he knew his partner was sold on it. He watched as Barrington lowered himself on the floor beside his wife’s clothes. He gently took them up in his hands and just held them close.

Barrington continued to search the floor with his eyes until he found the wedding band, which he had put on his wife’s finger six years before. He reached for it, eyes blurring with tears. As he held the ring up to look at it, he whispered, “Why didn’t I listen to her?”

He hadn’t expected an answer. He didn’t get one.

Lenox didn’t know what to do, so he stayed back, giving his friend all the space he needed. Bollinger came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

Not wanting to disturb Barrington, Lenox turned his head. “What?” he inquired softly.

“I saw someone across the hall,” Bollinger reported. “Whoever it was ducked out of sight when he saw me.” He leaned forward. “Could know what happened here.”

Lenox nodded. “Alright. We’ll check it out.” He turned to Barrington, approaching him. “Al…we’ve got to check something out. Are you going to be okay here?”

Barrington nodded, but he didn’t say anything.

“Are you sure?”

“Go.”

Lenox nodded. Then, he joined Bollinger and together, they left the apartment.

For a while, Barrington remained where he was, trying hard to fight back the despair he felt. He realized he should be thankful. His wife and child were safe. There was no doubt in his mind they were in the very presence of the One who saved them. They hadn’t missed out.

He did.

He was the one sitting on the floor in his kitchen, clutching the clothes his wife had been wearing. He put his back to the counter behind him and unashamedly let the tears fall. In spite of his sorrow, he also felt guilty about his grief. He was glad for them, but sad for himself. After all, he was certain the days ahead were going to be worse than they had ever been. How could he possibly want them to be with him through the darkest days the world will ever know?

After he spent time on the floor reflecting on the memories he had shared with his family, he realized he knew what he needed. He had to find Kate’s Bible. He had Canaan’s, but Kate’s was far more important to him right now than ever. It was the only link he had left of her, beside her wedding ring, which he reverently put into his pocket. He got up from the floor and began the search for his wife’s Bible, but to his dismay, he couldn’t find it anywhere.

Suddenly, he stopped.

He was standing with his back to the door, but for some reason, he felt as if he were being watched. Slowly, he turned and there was a man standing in the doorway of his apartment. He thought he recognized him.

“She needs you.”

“What?” Barrington blinked.

The doorway was empty.

Barrington just stood there, trying to understand what he had just seen. Was there someone there or not? He took a step forward. Then, he remembered his gun and Canaan’s Bible. He didn’t know why it was important, but he felt he needed them. He hurried back into the kitchen where he had left them on the table. He re-holstered his weapon and picked up the Bible.

Then, for some strange reason, something compelled him to look up. So he did. He looked at the ceiling and tried to comprehend what was driving him. Was God trying to tell him he should have been looking up to begin with, or was there something he had to do? He had to do something.

He headed out of his apartment and stopped in the hallway. The man was there again, standing at the door to the stairwell. The man looked up and then he went into the stairwell. Barrington hurried after him, but once inside the darkened stairwell, he couldn’t see anything. He realized there was only one thing left for him to do.

He headed up the stairs…toward the rooftop.

Lenox and Bollinger made their way down the hall toward door number 52, where Bollinger had claimed to see someone acting in a suspicious manner. Lenox had no reason to doubt him, but Bollinger was a little off, as the saying went, and there was something about him that was just a little disturbing. Lenox couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but he had already put his own resources to work on finding out more about Bollinger. Until he knew more, he would work with him, yet he wouldn’t fully trust him.

The two men positioned themselves, each on opposite sides of the door. The door was slightly ajar, but even as Lenox brought his head closer to the opening, he couldn’t hear any sounds coming from inside.

He glanced at Bollinger who nodded. Once Lenox was satisfied they were both ready, he used his right foot to nudge the door open the rest of the way. He stepped in through the doorway with his gun leveled before him. If there were any terrorists inside, they were going to become friends with a bullet.

They passed through a short hallway and came into the kitchen. There was some kind of flickering light coming from within the next room and as they headed for it, Lenox’ foot hit against something. He glanced down and noticed a thick, hard-covered book. Ignoring it, he leaned against the wall and looked into the other room.

The living room was lit by candles, just as the room in Barrington’s apartment was. Lenox didn’t understand people’s fascination with such things as candles, but in this case when the power goes out, they certainly did come in handy. There was a difference in this room, however, to the candlelit room in Barrington’s apartment. There was a woman’s body lying still on the floor in the center of the room. Lenox re-holstered his weapon and signaled for Bollinger to continue the search. Then, he stepped into the room and approached the body.

As he was approaching, the woman gasped and blinked open her eyes. When she saw him, she tried to rise herself up but couldn’t.

“Hey…easy there,” Lenox told her as he knelt beside her. His hand touched the carpet and he realized it was wet with blood. “Stay still.” He assumed she had either been shot or stabbed. “Listen, you’re going to be alright. Just lie still.”

She forced herself to focus on him, but her eyes were glassy. “Lying…doesn’t make for a…good…first impression,” she said, struggling to remain conscious. She grabbed his arm. “Please…tell her…tell Staci I’m going…to-to be with…David…”

She stopped moving, gasped her last breath and was suddenly still. Her eyes remained open.

Lenox took a deep breath. He didn’t know who the woman was, or who this Staci was either, or even who David was. What he did want to know was who the killer was so he could return the favor. Slowly, he put his hand over her eyes and closed them.

“What happened to her?” Bollinger asked from behind.

Lenox looked about the room, searching for clues as to what did happen in this apartment. “This woman was murdered,” he said softly. “Maybe by the terrorists you warned us about.”

“Well, there’s no one here now. Whoever did this is gone.”

Lenox noticed a picture frame lying on the floor beside the woman. He picked it up and looked at a picture of two women and a little boy. The women were standing as if they had been facing each other, but their faces were turned toward the person taking the picture. In between them stood the boy, grinning mischievously from ear to ear as if he were up to no good.

The women in the photo immediately caught his attention. One had red hair and green eyes and he had never seen her before, but it was the other woman he recognized. She had long black hair and dark eyes and he knew her. It was Nichole Parkhurst, the Director’s assistant. Lenox wondered suddenly where she was. Had she disappeared, too? He knew quite well that she was a believer. The woman had preached to him on more than one occasion and most of it was because he had tried to use his never-failing charm on her.

Well, it had failed on her.

But where was Nichole now?

Lenox got up from the floor and handed the photo to Bollinger. “See anyone familiar?”

Bollinger whistled appreciatively. “Wow…Hey, that looks like Nichole.”

“It is.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“Really…well, who is that knock-out red-head?”

Lenox frowned. “Haven’t a clue.” He regarded the man. “Are you sure Bear’s family was a target? Maybe this woman was because she’s obviously associated with Nichole in some way. Maybe they were the targets.”

Bollinger shrugged. “Maybe they were. Question is…who is this woman--” He aimed the picture frame toward the woman in the living room. “--and where is the red-head now?”

“They could still be in the building.” He headed for the door. “Let’s get back to Bear.”

They hurried their way back to Barrington’s apartment but found it to be empty when they got there. Barrington had left without a clue as to where he was going.

The Huey lowered itself down in the middle of Clinton Street and eight fully armed ATD agents wearing Kevlar unloaded from it. They were led by Shiva, who urged the men on. When their feet touched the pavement, they were running.

“You know the drill!” Shiva proclaimed into his radio. “Take out the enemy! Protect the innocent!” He squared his shoulders and straightened to his full height. “Let’s take our city back!”

Gunfire renewed in the streets of Albany, but this time, it was concentrated on taking out the enemies of America. When the Muslim terrorists had begun their attack, they simply fired at random. They were not concerned with anything other than to cause chaos and terror in the streets. People had fled screaming before them and many had been killed.

Then, Shiva and his team arrived. On the other side of Albany, Willon’s team had also been dropped into the fight. Their attacks upon the enemy were without prejudice. Without mercy. From the rain-filled, cloudy skies above, Willon was literally Death from Above. As he perched in the open doorway from the side of the Huey he was in, he targeted terrorists through the scope of his Remington Model 700 Sniper Rifle, compensating his aim due to the rain and simply took them out.

Shiva was enraged at the bodies lying in the streets. In some of the windows from the buildings around him, he saw frightened faces peering out at him. He wanted to assure them that everything was going to be alright, but was that actually true? He had to wonder about that himself. The attack from terrorists; the Rapture of the Church. His mind was in a turmoil about what could be coming next. And at first, as a new believer in Christ, he had trouble with taking the life of another human being.

When he saw what had become of Albany, he forced that troubling thought right out of his mind. This was war. He had to deal with what was happening now. Later when it was over and if he lived through it, he would have to research God’s Word about his concerns.

A terrorist suddenly came out of an alley with his weapon leveled at Shiva. Unfortunately for the man, his weapon jammed when he tried to pull the trigger. This prompted him to make a serious mistake. He continued his charge toward the ATD agent. What he didn’t know was that the agent also used to be a professional wrestler.

Shiva stood to his full height, stepped aside to avoid the foolish charge and simply extended his arm out to his right. The terrorist’s throat connected to Shiva’s rock, solid arm. Shiva then used his weight, thrusting his arm forward. This caused the man to completely flip right up and over the pavement, eventually falling flat on his back.

He didn’t get up again, but he was still alive. He was breathing anyway.

Shiva reached behind his back and grabbed a pair of handcuffs from his belt. He dragged the terrorist over to the corner of the street and handcuffed him to a lamp post. If he was still there when the battle was over, Shiva hoped something useful could be learned from him that would help in the fight against terrorism. Having secured the man, he rejoined the battle.

He and his team spread out and worked on flushing the enemy out into the open. They took each street with precision. Their numbers also increased by the local police they encountered and their odds increased. When Shiva found himself at the corner of Clinton and Congress, he happened to look up. A couple of blocks away, he thought he saw movement on top of a building.

He shaded his eyes from the rain, reached for a small pair of binoculars from his belt and peered through them at the rooftops.

Was that a woman on the ledge?

He snatched at his radio. “Ricochet!”

Willon’s response was immediate. “Go.”

“I see somebody on the rooftop of a building,” he reported. “It looks like an apartment complex…looks to be on the outskirts of the city. Can you check it out?”

“On my way.”

Shiva put away the binoculars, but he wasn’t entirely satisfied. He made his way to West Avenue and to the apartment complex where Barrington lived.

Willon ordered the Huey to turn around and head for the