"Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins - Left Behind Series 5 - Apollyon" - читать интересную книгу автора (LaHaye Tim)

APOLLYON:
The Destroyer Is Unleashed
Book 5 of the Left Behind Series

TIM LAHAYE & JERRY B. JENKINS




ONE
Rayford Steele worried about Mac McCullum's silence in the cockpit of Global
Community One during the short flight from New Babylon to Tel Aviv. тАЬDo we
need to talk later?тАЭ Rayford said quietly. Mac put a finger to his lips and nodded.
Rayford finished communicating with New Babylon ground and air traffic control,
then reached beneath his seat for the hidden reverse intercom button. It would allow
him to listen in on conversations in the Condor 216's cabin between Global
Community Potentate Nicolae Carpathia, Supreme Commander Leon Fortunato,
and Pontifex Maximus Peter Mathews, head of Enigma Babylon One World Faith.
But just before Rayford depressed the button, he felt Mac's hand on his arm. Mac
shook his head.
Rayford shuddered. тАЬThey know?тАЭ he mouthed.
Mac whispered, тАЬDon't risk it until we talk.тАЭ
Rayford received the treatment he had come to expect on initial descent into Tel
Aviv. The tower at David Ben Gurion cleared other planes from the area, even those
that had begun landing sequences. Rayford heard anger in the voices of other pilots
as they were directed into holding patterns miles from the Condor. Per protocol, no
other aircraft were to be in proximity to the Condor, despite the extraordinary air
traffic expected in Israel for the Meeting of the Witnesses.
тАЬTake the landing, Mac,тАЭ Rayford said. Mac gave a puzzled glance but complied.
Rayford was impressed at how the Holy Land had been spared damage from the
wrath of the Lamb earthquake. Other calamities had befallen the land and the
people, but to Rayford, Israel was the one place that looked normal from the air
since the earthquake and the subsequent judgments.
Ben Gurion Airport was alive with traffic. The big planes had to land there, while
smaller craft could put down near Jerusalem. Worried about Mac's misgivings, still
Rayford couldn't suppress a smile. Carpathia had been forced not only to allow this
meeting of believers, but also to pledge his personal protection of them. Of course,
he was the opposite of a man of his word, but having gone public with his
assurances, he was stuck. He would have to protect even Rabbi Tsion Ben-Judah,
spiritual head of the Tribulation Force.
Not long before, Dr. Ben-Judah had been forced to flee his homeland under cover of
night, a universal bounty on his head. Now he was back as Carpathia's avowed
enemy, leader of the 144,000 witnesses and their converts. Carpathia had used the
results of the most recent Trumpet Judgments to twice postpone the Israel
conference, but there was no stopping it again.
Just before touchdown, when everyone aboard should have been tightly strapped in,
Rayford was surprised by a knock at the cockpit door. тАЬLeon,тАЭ he said, turning.
тАЬWe're about to land.тАЭ
тАЬProtocol, Captain!тАЭ Fortunato barked.
тАЬWhat do you want?тАЭ