Chapter 29
Prophet Thompson, Archbishop Russo and several Israeli government and religious leaders sat on the platform looking at Jesus as he continued to speak. Russo stretched his arms out behind him and at that precise moment there was a shot from the crowd of worshipers and listeners.
Jesus stopped in mid-word. His eyes went from stunned to a blank, dead stare then his body fell over backwards where a pool of blood immediately formed underneath his head. The shot had gone straight through his brain from its entry point between the eyes.
Everyone scrambled to their feet. The crowd panicked and stampeded. People were thrown to the ground and trampled while others pushed and shoved their way to some kind of perceived safety.
The cameras were trained all over the scene. Russo was at the side of Jesus first. Thompson stood over them in a protective stance. Both were physically shaken and Thompson’s eyes were filling with tears. And each tear was caught on film as he looked right into the lens.
In the crowd of people, David Abraham stood with his rifle still in his hands. He was waiting for Joshua Longtree to step his way and fire the blank at this heart. In a moment, Longtree emerged from the crowd and walked towards David.
“Good shot. Now I’ll fulfill our part of the bargain.” Longtree raised his gun and pointed it right at Abraham’s forehead. Suddenly he understood that the CIA agent’s gun would not have a blank in it. It would have live ammunition.
Abraham attempted to raise his rifle to protect himself but Longtree smiled and said, “You’ll get your rewards in the next life. It's to go meet those seventy-two virgins.” Joshua fired. Abraham’s eyes went from shocked to the same cold, dead stare that he gave the messiah.
I sat on the chair in the headquarters of the Quaker State Movement watching the clone I had created be gunned down. My mouth was wide open as Big Ed walked next to me and put his hand on my shoulder.
“I guess we don’t have to worry about him anymore,” Ed said.
I couldn’t answer. Charlie Elliot came up from the bunker below the cabin.
“Got ya a safe house in California,” the detective said.
“He may not need it,” Ed said.
“Why? What’s goin’ on?” Just then he looked over at the TV and saw the news bulletin that the messiah had been assassinated. “Holy crap! This is going to be some kinda mess. What’s goin’ on there, Matthew?”
“I, ah, ah, really don’t know. Jesus was dying anyway and may have lasted only a few months. My thoughts are that Archbishop Russo had him shot,” I answered.
“Why do somethin’ like that?” Ed asked.
“A martyred Jesus will have more power than one who simply died from heart failure. I’ve got to hand it to Russo. He even turned this bad situation into gold.” I sat back and rubbed my eyes with my hands. “Who knows what he’ll do next.”
“I know what we gotta do next. We need to get you to the Pittsburgh airport,” Charlie said.
“What if your company is waiting?” Ed asked.
“I already got that figured out. I’m going to put some kind of dummy in the car next to me and leave first. They’ll follow me. Then a few minutes later you leave with the doc and get him to the airport. That’s fairly simple but like everything simple, it will work,” Charlie told us.
Big Ed and I stuffed some of his old clothes with other old clothes and made a dummy. As Ed placed it in the car I went to thank Detective Elliot.
“I really appreciate what you’ve done for me. How will my family find me?”
“We already worked that out. Your wife, daughter and grandkids are bein’ hid by one of the dissenting churches in the D.C. area. They’ll get them to the airport and one of our men will meet them in Orange County. He’ll bring them to ya. But first we gotta get ya there. Now, let’s go kick some assassin butt!”
Charlie climbed into the car and sped out the gate. It was only moments later that we heard gunshots. Starsky and Hutch must’ve been waiting outside the gate.
“Charlie’s plan is workin’. Now, let’s get ya outta here and down Pittsburgh airport,” Ed said. We climbed into his Ford Bronco and shot through the gate heading the other way.
We weren’t sure what was going on in the other direction but I did hear later that Elliot led them on a high speed chase through the back roads again. This time, though, one of the two fake priests was able to get a good shot at Charlie. The bullet hit him and Elliot lost control of the car. He rammed a tree. It was obvious that he still wasn’t dead because one of those two killers pumped one more bullet into his head. They also figured out how to open the gate at the camp. But by the time they discovered I wasn’t there we were too far gone to catch. Although, Ed and I knew that their first guess would be the airport. Our only hope was that my plane would leave on time and that would be too soon for them to catch me.
The entire world glued themselves to their TV sets. It was like a black shroud fell from heaven and obliterated the globe. Newscasters could not report without tears. And the only thing on the news was the assassination of the Prince of Peace.
Over and over the image of Jesus’ eyes going from shocked to dead was played. Over and over the image of CIA agent Joshua Longtree subduing then having to shoot the assassin in self-defense would dance across the screen. Dead. Dead. Dead. It was truly the most important story of the century. Greater even than his birth.
It was only then that one could understand the full impact that the clone had on the peoples of Earth. He had become their link with God. With his death, the world saw God die. In God’s death they saw hope fade into the abyss.
The airport televisions carried the events. I could watch the teary eyed reports as I raced from waiting area to waiting area. One bit of information made me stop. Israel was apologizing to the world for this horrific event. They had decided to place a statue of the deceased messiah, not inside the city of Jerusalem as originally planned but they had gotten permission to place it inside what is considered the original Temple. At first it sounded like a wonderful gesture from a country’s contrite heart. And that it truly was. But there was something else about that event. Something that nagged at my mind.
I moved on to my departure gate and waited. It looked like the plane would leave on time. There was a small store that had several books and magazines. I decided to grab something for my journey.
As I glanced over the books, my eyes were drawn to the religious section. In there I felt I’d find the answer to what nagged at my thoughts and memory. There was something very significant about the placement of the statue inside the original temple walls but I didn’t know what.
Then I spied the answer. There were two books side by side. The first was the Bible. I guessed it was time for me to closely examine it to see if the Scriptures could shed some light on what was happening. The book next to it was thin. It’s title was simple, What the Bible Says About the End of the Age. I snapped it up. Could there be any relation to what I was living through and what the Bible was predicting for the end of the earth? I had the whole flight to California to figure it out.
I bought the books and walked to my departure gate waiting area. They were already announcing our boarding. I got in line and waited. As the airline ticket clerk slipped my one way ticket from the folder and slid it into the outer pocket of the folder something flashed by the corner of my eye. It was a light haired man in a black suit with a white parochial collar.
I quickly moved into the tunnel and headed to my seat. I had made it by only seconds. If he had seen me he could have made enough noise to delay the flight and had me detained. Since Big Ed had given me a false ID and the ticket was paid for in cash, there was little chance that they’d know what flight I had taken. A disturbance would delay the flight and a passenger with a cash ticket and no luggage would be flagged right away.
I got to my seat next to
the window and plopped down. I pulled the small book from the
shopping bag and opened it up. The first chapter was entitled, “Are
We In the End Times Now?” I could only shake my head and say,
“yes.”