It seemed that everyone had gathered in the dining room for Christmas Day breakfast, many of the staff had brought their families to Cyprus this year; one could not blame them as the UK was not the place to be. The discoveries that the teams had made over the last few years had affected most of the excavation teams and so many had seen their long-dead faith renewed. Others had gained a faith where none had existed previously, Owen Gwilliam was one of the latter group, he had almost been the first to be affected. It had taken Jim much longer to realize the implications of what they had found, but he now had a very strong unshakable faith in God. His wife Carol had always been a believer, and in the past he had found her faith a real support when times were difficult. The two Markson offspring, Jo and Peter, had just accepted the Christian faith, just as they accepted everything for which there was proof.
Today there seemed there would be a mass exodus from the compound down the English Anglican church, that the Air-force personnel called 'the Cathedral', in the British Sovereign Territory that was the base at Akrotiri. Jim had never seen so many LIMO's in the parking area, and the cooks, supervised by Carol, had found a full time job catering for the staff and their families. This breakfast time was a very jolly occasion, despite the state of the world and the prophesies that were hanging over everything. Carol said that she was so thankful that they had purchased the toast machine; otherwise they would never have been able to cope, as it was, there was a queue. At just after nine Jim left the dining room to get ready for the church service , he had readied his best suit for the occasion, and once dressed he again reviewed his notes, for maybe the tenth time. At nine-thirty Jim walked over to the dining room, where he found everyone ready to depart, Jim, Carol, Jo, John, Peter and Owen trooped over to the parking area and got into the family LIMO. Everyone waited until their LIMO was away to the south-east, before wandering to their own vehicles in twos and four or fives.
Ten minutes later the Markson family was being greeted by the Anglican Bishop of Cyprus and taken into a small coffee-bar at the side of the modern church building. The family was provided with drinks of choice and the Bishop made small talk until at ten-twenty, it was time to move into the main church. The family was shown to chairs on the front row and on the left of the church, for five minutes they were besieged by various airmen wanting to shake hands and ask questions. A half hour later, following prayers, and the singing of several Christmas carols the Bishop rose to introduce Jim. “Brethren, it is fitting that on this special day, we have a very special guest speaker, someone who is virtually a resident of this island these days, please give a warm welcome to Sir James Markson.”
There was a small explosion of applause, and as Jim faced the congregation, for the first time he realized how many people were in the church. “Thank you Bishop, and let me say that it is an honor to be invited this morning. It is ironic, that we are gathered here today, and in countless places across this planet, to celebrate the birth of the one who started the Christian faith, ironic because we are meeting so close to the end. Do you realize, this may well be the last time we meet to celebrate the mass of Christ? If the prophesies that we uncovered a few short years ago are true, and I believe them to be so, then my friends there is little time left. On that island that lies less than five-hundred miles from this spot, there are pictures in stone, carved thousands of years ago, that depict, the very events that are happening today.” Jim spoke about the discoveries and the way they had affected him and his family, and their many friends and employees, he spoke more about the prophetic carvings and the visions of John the Evangelist as recorded in the so called 'God Tapes'.
“So, in conclusion,” Jim continued, “for the first time in over two-thousand years, we have proof before our eyes that, not only is God real, but that He was the instigator and creator of His Son Jesus. Only twice has God actually created, the first time He created matter, the universe and living things. The second and last act of creation was creating the seed in His handmaiden, a seed that became Jesus, an act that is equal if not greater than the creation of the universe. Most of us are like Thomas, the disciple, we need proof, well here is that proof, hard evidence, accept it or reject it, that decision is yours, and the outcome is yours also.”
There was a brief silence before the applause started again; the service ended with another carol, then it was a dash to the back of the church for coffee and mince pies. It seemed that everyone wanted to talk to Jim or one of the family or staff, and queues formed for each visitor. It was close to one-thirty before Jim and Carol made their excuses and left the church for their quick hop back to the compound. Back in the dining room the Catering staff started to serve the traditional Christmas lunch of roast turkey, followed by Plumb Pudding and cream. At a few minutes before three o'clock, one of the kitchen staff opened the door to the dining area and shouted, “All hell has let loose in Israel, and it’s on the news.”
Owen was the first to jump up and switch on the wall screen.
“These were the scenes a short while ago in Jerusalem as the holiday was marked by a parade celebrating the custody of the Ark of the Covenant by Israel. Eyewitnesses have reported that a suicide bomber activated an implosion grenade as the Ark passed by. Thousands are reported to have died in the attack, including many Christians who were in the Holy Land to celebrate Christmas. Spokespersons from government sources have confirmed that the Ark was undamaged and is now in a safe location. Other sources report that there has been some sort of conflict close to Israel's eastern border, where aircraft have been seen exploding or just falling out of the air, these reports are unconfirmed. More news as it comes in. . . “
Rick Pickles sat on the side of the carriage on which the Ark had been conveyed, looking around at the devastation that started some hundred meters away. Where a half hour ago there had been buildings and a power substation, roads and crowds of people, now there was nothing but a doughnut shaped crater. The entire honour-guard nearest to the Ark had escaped, just as the open vehicle containing the Prime Minister had, all saved by the Ark's energy dampening field. It was obvious that the incident had been a part of a general attack; indeed the bomber had shouted something about Allah and Islam, just before the implosion. He needed to get back to the Global Monarch, and quickly. Pickles stood and, a little shakily, walked toward the ground vehicle where Heidi Goldbloom sat stunned, protected by her security unit, who barred his way. Goldbloom waved the solders back to allow her friend Rick access.
“Madam prime Minister, I need to get back to my control base at Ashdod, as soon as possible, I think we may be under attack,” Pickles explained with urgency in his voice.
The Prime Minister turned to the Lieutenant in command, “Get a LIMO in here directly for Mr. Pickles, please.”
“Yes Madam,” responded the Lieutenant, and relayed the order through his still crackly radio. Six minutes later a government LIMO descended through the chaos followed by the PM's official LIMO and an armoured carrier that would take the Ark to safety. The Palestinian squad dressed as Israeli solders had not materialised, as per Sitta's warning, but still the carrier crew were double checked before the Ark was allowed to leave. From the air everyone could see the extent of the devastation, and not for the first time, tears formed in the PM's eyes. Pickles was the first away and made the short hop to Ashdod in under ten minutes.
Rick Pickles burst into his command centre and threw out a generic question to no one in particular, ”What's happening?”
“So far, we've had three attempted incursions, one was taken down by one of the laser projectors over Balqa, the other two hit the microwave curtain, they were all old Mig 35 fighters. The pilots of two aircraft that hit the curtain ejected,” Rick's Senior Controller, Jeremy Foster, told him.
Pickles turned to the satellite feed section, “Is there any activity from the east now?”
“Nothing Sir, just commercials, all of which have access codes being transmitted.”
“It may be all over bar the shouting Rick,” suggested Foster.
“Don't believe it Jerry,” Pickles said with a laugh in his voice, “this thing hasn't even got off the ground yet, Iran has only had a few days to respond. My feeling is that they were just testing our defences today.”
“Are you OK Rick,” Jerry asked, “We saw the incident on the monitor, and you had a near miss there.”
“Yes I'm fine,” assured Pickles, “that's why I chose to ride on the Ark's carriage, that box has some power to it, no wonder the Arabs want to get hold of it, I wouldn't mind nabbing it for myself.”
Just then an alarm sounded, interrupting the conversation, the whole crew jumped to their tasks, ”Incoming!” Satellite Monitoring shouted over the noise of the alarm. “Single missile, coming in from low orbit.”
“What's the destination point,” asked Pickles.
“Just coming in. . . . . trajectory termination point is approximately thirty-one, forty-six, by thirty-five, twelve,” reported the monitoring station, “impact in one minute - ten.”
“Three projectors are tracking,” reported Jerry, “acquiring target in eleven seconds.”
There was a silence, then, “three, two, one, target destroyed!”
“Well done people, lets keep on our toes,” shouted Pickles to everyone.