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
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