The Unveiling Read online

  CHAOS

  IN

  THE

  BLINK

  OF

  AN

  EYE

  PART THREE:

  THE UNVEILING

  AN AWARD-WINNING

  END TIMES SERIES BY

  PATRICK HIGGINS

  COPYRIGHT © 2016 PATRICK HIGGINS

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American copyright conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter, without written permission of the author. Address all inquiries to the author.

  All scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible

  New International Version (NIV) © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.

  Library of Congress

  Cataloging in Publication Data

  ISBN 978-0-9992355-2-2 – Paperback version

  Published by

  www.ForHisGloryProductionCompany.com

  www.lsarglobal.org

  Publisher’s note: This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, organizations,

  and incidents portrayed in this novel are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  Prologue...

  A synopsis from the first two installments of the series,

  Chaos in the Blink of an Eye

  On a cold and blustery, snowy Saturday afternoon in late November, more than 111,000 people were crammed inside Michigan Stadium, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to watch the Michigan Wolverines play the Ohio State Buckeyes. It was a heated college football rivalry that had spanned more than a century.

  No one inside the stadium was prepared for what transpired after long-foretold Bible prophecy came to pass before their very eyes, causing many to vanish into thin air. Fear and panic filled the hearts and minds of everyone who miraculously survived the mayhem.

  But what happened inside Michigan Stadium was only a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the world. In the blink of an eye, life as humanity had known it was forever changed, when the Great Disappearing Act came to pass.

  More than a billion people either vanished or were killed in the aftermath of the Rapture. As for the remaining survivors, with all banks and businesses closed, they were suddenly separated from their assets.

  ATM machines were no longer spitting out cash, and credit cards were no longer being accepted anywhere. World leaders were frantic; they had to find a way to bring the world back online, so to speak, in order to prevent a global recession from swallowing them whole.

  An emergency summit was called at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. With NATO and UN embargoes temporarily lifted from all insurgent countries, leaders from every nation were expected to attend.

  Little did most know who would rise up to lead the way, or how quickly he would do it...

  Main Characters:

  Tamika Moseley – 27 – NYC taxi driver. Lost her two sons, Jamal and Dante, and mother, Ruth Ferguson, on the day of the Rapture. Tamika was driving two businessmen from LaGuardia Airport to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel when all hell broke loose, and one of her passengers vanished in the back seat of her taxicab.

  Brian Mulrooney – 33 – Moved from New York City to Ann Arbor, Michigan, after graduating from Notre Dame University and being recruited by the Marriott Corporation. Mulrooney was at Michigan Stadium with his childhood friend, Justin Schroeder, to watch the Ohio State-Michigan football game, when Schroeder suddenly disappeared along with thousands of others.

  Justin Schroeder – 33 – Moved from New York City to Boulder, Colorado to attend the University of Colorado. Met his wife Heather at a Bible study in his sophomore year and became a Christ follower soon after that. Both were taken in the Rapture, along with their unborn child. Before going to the football game, Schroeder left a Bible at Brian Mulrooney’s apartment—wrapped as a gift—with a handwritten letter stuffed inside, explaining the many positive changes in his life. His hope was that God would use both items to open his friend’s eyes and ears to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

  Renate McCallister – 29 – Like everyone else on the planet, Renate was completely rocked by the disappearances. But she was too blinded spiritually to know what had happened on that fateful day. In her mind, if she couldn’t see, hear or feel it, it didn’t exist. Renate was the main reason Brian Mulrooney had remained in Michigan the last five years, when he could have transferred elsewhere.

  Charles Calloway – 42 – Successful Florida businessman who was in New York City to teach success principles to his fellow colleagues at the time of the disappearances. Calloway was inside Tamika Moseley’s cab when his colleague, Richard Figueroa, suddenly vanished in the backseat next to him. The son of a preacher, it didn’t take long for Calloway to piece things together and realize it was the Rapture of the Church, and that he had been left behind.

  Jacquelyn Swindell – 29 – Lost her husband at Michigan Stadium when he was killed by an object that fell from the sky, after a plane collided with a Goodyear blimp hovering above the stadium. Swindell also lost the child in her womb at that time. After meeting Brian Mulrooney inside the stadium, she offered to drive him home after his car was destroyed in the mayhem. As she did her best to cope in this strange new world, without her husband and unborn child, she was grateful for Brian’s friendship, and agreed to join him in his quest for answers...

  Craig Rubin – 33 – While his two buddies, Brian Mulrooney and Justin Schroeder, left New York to attend college elsewhere, Craig Rubin remained in the Big Apple to work the family business, which consisted of three Jewish delicatessens all bearing the name, Mitzi’s. Rubin was en route to Ann Arbor, Michigan to join his two friends when the Rapture occurred. Craig never left New York City.

  President Jefferson Danforth and First Lady Melissa Danforth – The First Family were at Camp David with family and friends when the disappearances happened. Many vanished at the Presidential retreat, including the President’s and First Lady’s daughter, their son-in-law, and all five of their grandchildren (including the unborn child). President Danforth’s mother also perished that day. She suffered a fatal heart attack after seeing her grandchildren vanish into thin air.

  Salvador Romanero – 30 – As the world mourned the loss of more than a billion people—either by death or disappearance—Satan raised up the young lawyer from Spain as his main agent in human form. No one knew it yet, but the young phenom was about to take the world completely by storm and become the unchallenged leader of the world…

  1

  FOR THE FIRST TIME in history, world leaders from every country on the planet were assembled at NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

  Known for being an international alliance, in reality, NATO only represented 28 countries, and only those from North America and Europe.

  The United Nations (UN), on the other hand, had more than 190-member states, worldwide. In that light, the UN would have been the better choice of the two to host the Summit.

  But with so much widespread devastation pulverizing the Big Apple—far worse than what Brussels suffered two days ago—most felt the European city was the safer location of the two.

  Hundreds of heavily armed NATO peacekeeping troops patrolled the perimeter of the iconic cavernous building, where they would remain until the Summit concluded.

  Another reason Brussels was chosen over America was that Europe had long since been a testing ground, and later a launching pad, for many of the global plans and i
deas in the world today.

  For decades, Europe’s leaders feared that if they didn’t join forces and come together as one, it would be impossible to compete in the twenty-first century with the likes of the United States, China, Taiwan, and Japan.

  In 1999, after decades of failures and setbacks, Europe’s new monetary system—the Euro—was born, even despite strong opposition from the United Kingdom.

  On January 1, 2002, notes and coins started circulating, replacing all former national currencies. Throughout much of Europe, citizens loved that they were free to shop in Brussels, dine in Paris and have a cocktail or two in Barcelona if they chose to, without having to exchange currencies or check exchange rates.

  By becoming one, the EC grew stronger, eventually catapulting close to the top of the financial world.

  But the main reason Brussels was chosen was, unbeknownst to most Europeans, they were laying the foundation for the eventual One-World global system which would ultimately be governed by the Antichrist himself.

  Everything they were doing was recorded many years ago in the Word of God. It was all coming to pass before the eyes of the world—just as prophesied—carried out by some of the most heinously evil individuals ever known to man.

  With dinner finished, it was time to get down to the serious task at hand. For added security purposes, unlike most NATO meetings, news cameras were prohibited from being inside the general assembly. Hundreds of journalists were camped outside, eager to report any and all news the instant it became available.

  “Before we take roll call,” NATO Secretary-General Jurgen Staat said wearily, “let’s observe a moment of silence for the many departed, shall we?”

  Silence fell upon the general assembly as each of the nearly 3,000 attendees bowed their heads and closed their eyes.

  A few seconds later, the secretary-general looked up and shifted uncomfortably in his seat, “President Danforth said in his address at the U.S. Capitol Building that more than a billion people were presumed gone. It’s time to do the real math, spotty as it may be, and see what we can come up with. With so many population experts crunching numbers back home, we should at least be able to hypothesize at this juncture.

  “In order to save time and be most effective, instead of jumping back and forth from one continent to the next in alphabetical order, I will call each country according to region.” Staat paused a moment to let his gaze wander over the room. “Since we’re gathered in Europe, I’ll begin here starting with our most populated countries.”

  What the secretary-general didn’t say was that all estimations would be saved onto the most lavish hi-tech computer on the planet, then tweaked as numbers became more concrete to them in the coming days and weeks. Nicknamed, “The Beast” it was theoretically able to perform 18 quintillion calculations simultaneously per second, as compared to the second most powerful system at a meager 70 trillion.

  So advanced was this computer that it had the capacity to store every detail from every person on the planet—including their complete DNA make up and the numbers of hairs on their heads—with the slightest of ease. Those in charge of overseeing this international database felt the Beast had a godlike mind of its own.

  With so much power at their fingertips, their goal was to closely monitor all social media activity, travel patterns, favorite hangouts, shopping places and complete purchasing histories from every human being on the planet, thus creating complete blueprints for the sole use of the Powers That Be.

  But first the entire global populace needed to be recalculated. To accomplish this, a simple yet structured format would be used. The secretary-general would ask each country’s delegate the same questions. All they had to do was fill in the blanks, so to speak, with numbers provided from population experts back home.

  Germany, which was Europe’s most populated country, and just happened to be Jurgen Staat’s country of birth, was the first to be tallied.

  “Total population before Saturday?” asked Secretary-General Staat.

  “Eighty-three million,” was the reply of the German delegate, seated next to the Chancellor of her country.

  “How many children are feared missing?”

  “Nine-million, five-hundred thousand.”

  “How many grownups are feared among the missing?”

  “Six-million, five-hundred thousand.”

  “How many are feared dead?”

  “Four million.”

  “Combined total?”

  “Twenty million.”

  “Approximate remaining population?”

  “Sixty-three million.” The numbers were logged. Roughly 30 percent of Germany’s population was gone, just like that. It was a sobering realization.

  The secretary-general nervously jotted the numbers onto a sheet of paper. Before moving on to the next country, Staat offered his heartfelt condolences to the Chancellor of his country.

  It was a gesture he would repeat to each world leader.

  France was next. “Total population before Saturday?” asked the secretary-general.

  “Sixty-eight million.”

  “How many children are feared missing?”

  “Eleven million.”

  “How many grownups are feared among the missing?”

  “Five million.”

  “How many are feared dead?”

  “Two million.”

  “Combined total?”

  “Eighteen million.”

  “Approximate remaining population?”

  “Fifty million.” The numbers were logged.

  The United Kingdom—England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland—was next, followed by Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Portugal, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Ireland.

  Their numbers were all logged.

  North America was next, beginning with the United States.

  “Total population before Saturday?”

  “Three-hundred and twenty million.”

  “How many children are feared missing?”

  “Fifty million.”

  “How many grownups are feared among the missing?”

  “Forty-two million.”

  “How many are feared dead?”

  “Twenty-eight million.”

  “Combined total?”

  “One-hundred and twenty million.”

  “Approximate remaining population?”

  “Two-hundred million.” The numbers were logged.

  Mexico was next.

  “Total population before Saturday?”

  “One-hundred and twenty-two million.”

  “How many children are feared missing?”

  “Eighteen million.”

  “How many grownups are feared among the missing?”

  “Eight million.”

  “How many are feared dead?”

  “Five million.”

  “Combined total?”

  “Thirty-one million.”

  “Approximate remaining population?”

  “Eighty-nine million.” The numbers were logged.

  Canada was next.

  “Total population before Saturday?”

  “Thirty-six million.”

  “How many children are feared missing?”

  “Five million, six-hundred and fifty-thousand.”

  “How many grownups are feared among the missing?”

  “Three million, three-hundred and fifty-million.”

  “How many are feared dead?”

  “One million.”

  “Combined total?”

  “Ten million.”

  “Approximate remaining population?”

/>   “Twenty-six million.” The numbers were logged.

  Central America was next, followed by South America. All numbers were logged.

  For the next two hours, they took their time going from one continent to the next, making sure to include every country on the planet.

  At 8:13 p.m. Brussels time, they were finished. By far, this was the longest and most grueling roll call in NATO’s relatively short history. In the blink of an eye, the population of each country was forever changed.

  Full of overwhelming emotion, NATO Secretary-General Jurgen Staat called for a short recess.

  2

  AS WORLD LEADERS STOOD to stretch their legs and use restrooms, President Jefferson Danforth remained seated. His legs were too weak to stand. He couldn’t stop his mind from racing with wild thoughts.

  If early estimations were correct, as the President had fully anticipated, his country was the hardest hit by the tragedy. The United States of America went from being the third most populated country on Planet Earth to number four, just like that.

  Indonesia was now the third most populated country on Planet Earth.

  But America wasn’t the only country to drop in the populace rankings. Of the world’s 50 most populated countries, 19 others also dropped for a total of 20 countries. More precisely, 40 percent. But the United States was the only top ten country to drop; at least for now...

  President Danforth gulped hard. He was shaken to the core. How can this be explained away? Fear snaked through him.