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FamilyChristian.com
John's
Message
From Fire
From Heaven - #16 by Tim LaHaye and Jerry
B. Jenkins
John
Preston sat at the communication center of the United North American States
ship Peacekeeper 1, wondering if he would ever see his friends again. Less than
two years earlier, he and his cousin Mark Eisman had met Judd Thompson Jr. on
their first day back at Nicolae High. The kids had seen their share of trouble,
and even death. Several times John had begun typing a message but erased it
when someone came near. He had to wait for the right moment.
John
had hoped the kids could be together at the Meeting of the Witnesses in Jerusalem.
Now that seemed out of the question. John had set up a computer in his quarters
to record each session and couldn’t wait to hear Tsion Ben-Judah teach live.
An alarm
sent people scurrying. Officers barked orders. John studied a blip on a radar
screen and pointed it out to his friend, Carl.
Carl
nodded. "Finally gonna see some action."
After
the Wrath of the Lamb earthquake, John had been taken from college and put to
work with the Global Community Navy. Carl had taken John under his wing. There
didn’t seem to be anything about computers or technical equipment Carl didn’t
understand.
Carl
smiled. "Only ships allowed out here now are GC approved," he said.
"Who
else would want to be?"
"Drug
pushers, weapons dealers, you name it," Carl said. "We consider them modern-day
pirates."
"Three
miles and closing, sir," an officer shouted.
"Should
we be worried, Carl?"
Carl
smiled. "Not even God could sink Peacekeeper 1. Best communications, most precise
weaponry, and amazing speed."
John
stared through a scope at what looked like a cargo ship.
"No
registry evident, sir," an officer reported.
Carl
raised his eyebrows. "Guys on deck," he said.
John
saw patrols with high-powered rifles walking back and forth.
"Attention,"
the captain said over the loudspeaker. "The ship we’re intersecting is in violation
of Global Community maritime law. We could destroy it from here, but we suspect
illegal weapons and hostages."
Carl
shook his head. "I don’t like their chances."
"We’re
sending a team into the water before the ship spots us," the captain continued.
"We’ll give the hostages every chance."
John
watched the undersea monitor. Peacekeeper 1’s small sub approached the cargo
ship, and men in wet suits floated through the hatch. Another monitor displayed
a few climbing the side of the ship.
The
captain rushed to the communications center and pushed the talk button in front
of John. "Stay down! Stay down! Unfriendlies coming your way."
But
they had been spotted. The men in wet suits dropped back into the water as men
onboard opened fire. John saw blood in the water. One diver made it back to
the sub.
The
captain ordered pursuit and the sudden acceleration threw John back in his chair.
The cargo ship turned to flee, but it was no match for Peacekeeper 1.
"They
don’t stand a chance," Carl said.
"What
about the hostages?" John said.
Carl
shook his head.
As
they closed in, bullets pinged off the hull, and John saw the frightened faces
of the enemy patrols.
"Warning,"
the captain said over the loudspeaker. "Release your hostages now or we sink
your ship."
The
patrols fled below deck. John thought they might release hostages, but two masked
men returned with bazookas. John felt the explosion, and the captain rattled
off a series of orders. The Peacekeeper 1 turned its guns on the scared crew.
Carl
shook his head. "Idiots," he said.
Peacekeeper
1’s cannon opened a huge hole in the cargo ship. It tipped one way, then the
other. As water filled the hole, the crew leaped overboard. John saw one of
the divers from the Peacekeeper 1 scramble onto the deck of the other ship and
disappear into a smoke-filled stairwell.
"Pelton,
no!" the captain shouted. "Get him out of there!"
Please Note: This excerpt
from Chapter One of Fire
From Heaven - #16 by Tim
LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins is a copyright of Plume Books and is intended solely
for use on FamilyChristian.com. Any reproduction (print, electronic or by any
other means) of this excerpt from The Showdown without prior written permission
from Plume Books is a violation of applicable copyright law.
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