"Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins - Left Behind Series 9 - Desecration" - читать интересную книгу автора (LaHaye Tim)

Revelation 16:1-2

ONE

RAYFORD STEELE slept fitfully and awoke tangled in a prickly woolen blanket, knees drawn to his
chest and fists balled under his chin. He bolted from the cot and peered out of his tiny makeshift
quarters near Mizpe Ramon in the Negev Desert.

The sun cast an eerie, orange glow, but it would soon grow harsh and yellow, shimmering off rock
and sand. The thermometer would exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit by noon-another typical day in the
United Carpathian States.

Engaged in the riskiest endeavor of his life, Rayford had cast his lot with God and the miracle of
technology. There was no hiding a jury-rigged airstrip on the desert floor-not from the
stratospheric cameras of the Global Community. Ridiculously vulnerable, Rayford and his ragtag
team of flying rebels-having arrived by the dozens from around the globe-were at the mercy of the
most audacious ruse imaginable.

His comrade in the enemy's lair had planted evidence in the Global Community database that the
massive effort at Mizpe Ramon was an exercise of the GC'S. As long as GC Security and Intelligence
personnel bought the great "lie in the sky," Rayford and his extended Tribulation Force would
continue what he called Operation Eagle. The name was inspired by the prophesy in Revelation
12:14: "The woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to
her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the
serpent.

Dr. Tsion Ben-Judah, spiritual mentor of the Tribulation Force, taught that the "woman"
represented God's chosen people; the "two wings," land and air; "her place," Petra - the city of
stone; "a time" one year-thus "a time and times and half a time" to be three and a half years; and
the "serpent," Antichrist.

The Tribulation Force believed that Antichrist and his minions were about to attack Israeli
Christians and that, when they fled, Rayford and his recruited fellow believers would serve as
agents of rescue.

He dressed in a khaki shirt and shorts and went looking for Albie, his second-in-command. The
helpers, rallied via the Internet by Rayford's daughter, Chloe, from the safe house in Chicago,
had only recently finished the landing strip. They had alternated shifts; some were instructed in
flight plans by the same personnel who had checked them in and verified the mark of the believer
on their foreheads, while others ran heavy equipment or toiled as laborers.

"Here, Chief," Albie said, as Rayford took in the row after row of helicopters, jets, and even the
occasional prop plane lining the far side of the strip. "First mission accomplished."

The small, dark, former black marketer, nicknamed after his home city of Al Basrah, wore his bogus
GC deputy commander uniform and had in tow a large young man who, Rayford was not surprised to
learn, was from California.

"George Sebastian," the tall, thick blond said, extending a powerful hand.