The Countdown Begins Read online

  It was time for payback. To ensure that the right message was sent, Romanero had their executions carried out on live television, by way of hanging, from an unknown location in Jerusalem.

  As his tailor fit him in a new suit, the Man of Peace watched the lifeless bodies of the two men who’d desecrated him dangling on a large monitor before him, nooses tightly secured around their necks, one head slanted to the left, the other to the right.

  Once their dead bodies were removed from the gallows, Romanero’s next order was carried out. All air traffic controllers on duty that day were executed in the same manner. It was their incompetence that led to the sneak attack, which ultimately led to his parents being killed.

  At least that’s what he wanted the world to think. In reality, what happened the other day needed to happen.

  The twenty-one men and women were hanged three at a time. The only ATCs spared were Israelis. After all, Romanero was about to deliver peace to their long-besieged country.

  Once the last three were hanged and their lifeless bodies were lowered and removed from the nooses, the next three to be hanged were the Middle Eastern pilot who ejected himself from the cockpit—after his plane was shot down by an Israeli fighter pilot just outside Jerusalem—and the Gentile journalist and the cameraman who interviewed him in jail during his interrogation.

  When Romanero heard the pilot confess on live TV that Israel’s God had changed the path of their rockets in mid-air, even redirecting one of them to the Dome of the Rock, he was incensed. His words should have never left that prison!

  With nooses fastened around their necks, and their heads covered, the pilot was the easiest to identify from the full body cast he wore after suffering multiple broken bones in the crash.

  His face was nearly unrecognizable from the barrage of punches he received at the hands of Israeli authorities upon his capture. Thankfully it was covered.

  The command was given and all three fell to their deaths.

  Initially, Romanero wanted to have everyone hanged at the Western Wall. He quickly scratched the idea knowing it wouldn’t look good with a peace treaty about to be signed from there. The other reason the Miracle Maker decided against it were the two mysterious men with wiry gray hair and long gray beards camped out at the Jewish holy site, wearing sackcloth robes and sandals.

  No one knew who they were or from where they came. All anyone knew was they suddenly appeared out of nowhere—as if transported by time machine, straight out of the Old Testament and brought to this place—once bombs stopped falling on the world’s elite in Israel.

  They hadn’t left since...

  They never spoke; not even between themselves. They gazed out at all who passed by with eyes blazing with power, as if peering into everyone’s souls. But not a single word was spoken.

  Thanks to the Master Deceiver, Romanero knew they were the Two Witnesses of the Bible. He also knew they had great powers at their disposal and couldn’t be touched, let alone killed, until the appointed time came along. Satan explained to his chief human agent why the Dome of the Rock was destroyed and why the al-Aqsa Mosque and Islamic Museum needed to be set ablaze.

  As part of the peace agreement with Israel, the Jews would be free to sacrifice to their God from that location. In order for that to happen, the three Muslim holy sites had to be removed—or at least vacated—so the Third Temple could be constructed.

  Romanero was told it was written in the Word of God and, therefore, it had to come to pass exactly as it was written. He was also informed by the devil that the God of Israel was once again with His chosen people. And this meant the Jews would be supernaturally protected until their ultimate demise came at the appointed time.

  This was valuable information. It explained the supernatural stronghold hovering above the nation of Israel that Salvador Romanero felt deep in his bones. Remarkably, he never asked his Master about the fate or whereabouts of his parents. It’s like he didn’t care.

  But the most chilling scene shown on global television that day—superseding even the surprise attack on Jerusalem—was when Crown Prince Javier was dragged out of his Madrid, Spain palace in handcuffs, without the slightest resistance by Spain’s government, authorities or military.

  As dissident number one, Romanero wanted his execution to be carried out first. But after thinking things through he decided to make his execution the last, so it would remain fresh in the minds of the billions watching.

  A few steps behind the crown prince were the two men who accompanied him to Brussels, Belgium a few days after the disappearances, to spy on Romanero and report back to the king.

  Dissidents two and three were led up wooden steps in handcuffs. Their heads were covered then tightly fastened in thick nooses. When Romanero gave the order from the Holy Land, the wooden floors gave way and the two men fell to their deaths.

  More than 50,000 spectators crammed Vicente Calderón Stadium, in the heart of Madrid, to witness the two men being hanged from the gallows at mid-field. Billions more watched on TV and online. It was even shown on the big screen inside the arena.

  Once they were confirmed dead the tension became even more palpable when the TV camera was lowered, exposing Prince Javier. His head and hands were secured in wooden stockades. Unlike his two now-dead subordinates, his head wasn’t covered.

  As the camera slowly pulled back, it became evident that the crown prince wouldn’t be hanged like the others. On either side of Crown Prince Javier hung the lifeless bodies of his two fallen countrymen.

  When the floor above him gave way, the crown prince felt the earth rumbling all around him. His body quaked in terror when their necks were snapped, and they were instantly killed. He was so frightened that he urinated in his pants.

  Upon Romanero’s command, the heavy vertical blade ten feet above Prince Javier—fastened between two upright posts—was dropped and the guillotine did what it was built to do.

  In a matter of seconds, Crown Prince Javier was beheaded as billions watched, thus severing Spain’s royal bloodline at the neck. As his head lay on the ground in a pool of his own blood, the stadium grew eerily silent. Emotions were mixed.

  Romanero thought back to the night he spent at the king’s castle the day after the disappearances. He was forced to listen as Prince Javier barked instructions on what he could and couldn’t discuss with world leaders at the Summit in Brussels, Belgium.

  “Who’s barking instructions now, you weasel!” Romanero whispered to himself.

  In a statement posted for his billions of followers on social media, Romanero said he ordered the execution of the crown prince to prove his loyalty wasn’t to Spain only, but to the entire world. “At this crucial point in history,” he said, “loyalty to all must be placed above loyalty to country!”

  Mindful of the bad blood between the two men, most understood Romanero’s anger toward Prince Javier. After all, he did try humiliating him in front of so many world leaders last November. But many sensed his “loyalty to all” was secondary to his taking revenge on the late prince for his past actions. Doing it in a stadium full of onlookers proved that much.

  Many silently thought it was bad form on his part.

  A few hours later, Romanero offered his condolences to Spain on the death of their beloved king, who “allegedly” died of a heart attack while watching his son’s head being chopped off in front of the eyes of the world.

  While all that was happening, the hundreds of thousands of Muslim protesters who’d stormed Jerusalem demanding justice after the Dome of the Rock was destroyed, were rounded up and detained.

  Despite what the Muslim pilot said on international TV that it was their side’s fault for firing the missile in the first place, they still blamed the God of Israel. Even in prison Muslims vowed revenge!

  Thousands of Christian protesters in the Holy Land were also detained at separate facilities. The only protesters still in the streets of Jerusalem were Jews. The time wasn’t yet right to round them up. But tha
t day was coming...

  But the carnage didn’t end in Israel. Romanero knew practicing Christians and Muslims would never recognize a one world religion that wasn’t their own. Which meant they were merely taking up space on the planet, and ultimately needed to be wiped out.

  Using facial recognition technology, Christians and Muslims who’d lined the streets in protest around the world, were interviewed on TV, or posted derogatory comments about Romanero online, were identified.

  Many were tracked down by their IP addresses. Those who surrendered peacefully were detained at secret internment camps built before the disappearances. Those who didn’t surrender peacefully were shot and killed on the spot.

  When word got out that millions of their brothers and sisters in the faith were languishing in prisons around the world—or were no longer alive—and with churches, mosques, Christian and Islamic universities and religious training centers being targeted and burned to the ground all over the world, there wasn’t a Christian or Muslim protester to be seen anywhere!

  It was during this time that surveillance video surfaced, capturing an angry mob of citizens—secretly ordered by Salvador Romanero himself—storming the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Islamic Museum and setting them both ablaze. Both now lay in charred ruins.

  With so many Muslims detained, destroying their holy sites wasn’t all that difficult to do.

  Peace in the Holy Land? What peace? How could anyone be jubilant under such conditions? It was pure chaos again!

  And then there were the two long-haired crazed lunatics a short distance away, judging everyone with their eyes. They weren’t helping things! Most wished the two creeps would just go away and leave them in peace.

  How much worse would it get once the Man of Peace declared war on all countries involved in the sneak attack? The man who kept preaching “tolerance for all” apparently wasn’t so tolerant after all. It was becoming quite obvious that only those who sided with him would be shown mercy. The rest would be exterminated.

  With the peace treaty about to be signed, the blood-thirsty Salvador Romanero “dissident” killing machine was becoming drunk on the blood of all who opposed him.

  2

  AFTER THE PLAYING OF Ha Tikva, Israel’s national anthem, Salvador Romanero approached the lectern. The murderous vengeance everyone saw on his face when he addressed the world the day after the bombs stopped falling, was replaced with the usual peace and tranquility he was known for in public.

  Dressed in a brilliant white suit, the 30-year-old leader of the world once again looked like the most beautiful person in the universe. Every strand of his soft brown hair was in place. His dark brown eyes were fully aglow. His radiant olive skin made him look like an angel of light. It was hard to find a blemish on the man.

  With his right hand, he flashed his now-famous customary peace sign, quickly forming a circle with his right hand, signifying world peace for all, as the three Islamic holy sites smoldered above him. It was bizarre, to say the least; the irony of all ironies.

  “Greetings global citizens! I hope this finds each of you well. I want to begin by thanking you, Mister Prime Minister, for welcoming us all so warmly to your country. Shalom!”

  “Shalom!” came the reply of the Israeli Prime Minister.

  Romanero’s smile glistened in the bright sunshine for all to see. “After many years of conflict and failed peace treaty negotiations, the day has finally arrived!”

  Even as the words came out of his mouth, the Miracle Maker felt nauseous to the point of vomiting. Whenever he was in Israel, which was often of late, he was overcome by this overwhelming sickening feeling. Now about to sign a peace treaty with a race of people he hated with extreme prejudice, his insides were twisted to the point that he could barely stand still.

  Knowing their God was the cause of it, Romanero frequently asked the Prince of Darkness to take this “thorn in his side” away.

  His request was always denied. Satan assured his top disciple each time that his grace was more than sufficient. But in reality, he didn’t have the power to remove it. Only the Most High God had that power.

  The Israeli Prime Minister was also battling a nervous stomach. And for good reason. He didn’t need the growing number of Jews protesting in the streets of his tiny nation to remind him that he was choosing an outsider, a Gentile, to secure Israel’s borders over the supernatural protection of Yahweh God, a power that was put on display the other day for all to see.

  Then again, perhaps Salvador Romanero was the one responsible for it? After all, he rightly predicted that no precipitation would fall during the global vigil a few months back.

  He was the one who rightly predicted children would once again populate the planet, when no one else dared speculate.

  And he was the one who boldly predicted that he would deliver peace to Israel during Passover week.

  And here they were...

  Whether Yahweh God or Salvador Romanero was responsible for supernaturally protecting the Jews the past few days, the Prime Minister was still unsure. By siding with Romanero, all he could do as Israel’s leader was hope for the best outcome. The tension in his country was unmistakable.

  Romanero went on, “Before we put ink on paper, Mister Prime Minister, I first want to take a moment to update everyone on a few things...” Israel’s Prime Minister nodded and Romanero continued, “As you already know by now, we’ve located all militant rebel forces responsible for the failed attempt to attack us.

  “Satellite imagery captured military planes taking off from Beijing, China, Moscow, Russia, Kabul, Afghanistan, Damascus, Syria, Amman, Jordan, Baghdad, Iraq, Beirut, Lebanon, Istanbul, Turkey, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Tripoli, Libya and Khartoum, Sudan. Before coming to Israel, they made a brief stop in Tehran, Iran, to refuel and be briefed by Iranian forces before attacking us.

  “As far as we can tell, six-hundred enemy warplanes left Iran that day with one collective goal: to silence this beautiful moment in history. Their mission was quickly thwarted. All aircraft used that day have since been destroyed. Soon those nations will have no military aircraft among them.

  “With supernatural forces protecting Israel, stronger than anything human, did they really think they could succeed? They should have known their mission was doomed long before it ever started. While it’s true that more than one-hundred UN and NATO planes were shot down, not a single Israeli airplane was destroyed, let alone hit by return fire.

  “Even more amazing, of the thousands of casualties reported in Jerusalem at the hands of those evildoers, not a single Israeli citizen was found among them—military or civilian!” Romanero shot a quick look at the Israeli Prime Minister, “When I promised to protect Israel, I meant it!”

  There was loud cheering. The 300 world leaders gathered behind the Miracle Maker stood more erectly. Smiles could be seen for the first time in three days.

  Romanero craned his neck back and knew his comment had done what it was intended to do. You haven’t seen anything yet, Romanero thought, keeping it to himself.

  The Prime Minister chuckled nervously seeing the two mysterious men gazing at them in the distance, still judging them with their eyes. A chill shot through him.

  Romanero continued, “Not only were the countries already mentioned bent on preventing peace from being offered to the nation of Israel, the stress their actions caused to so many expectant mothers, including many teenagers, led to more than two-hundred thousand innocent lives snuffed out by way of miscarriage.

  “I hear your cries, ladies. I also hear the sobs of the innocent unborn victims crying out to me for vengeance. Those who did this will be the next to weep.” Romanero’s pro-life rhetoric had nothing to do with his championing that particular cause. It was more sinister than that: You killed my children; my future worshipers!

  Pausing to look out at the anguished expressions on the faces of many peace-loving citizens in his midst, the Miracle Maker said, “Yesterday, after meeting with top military officials from
around the world, I ordered an all-out attack on the cities already mentioned. I’ve since had a change of heart, change of approach, rather.”

  This caused the heads of some of his top military advisers to tilt. Their faces cringed.

  “I’m not saying military force won’t be used. In fact, as I speak, bombs are now falling on those cities. But only air bases, military locations, nuclear power stations and strategic government buildings are being targeted at this time, to prevent any further attacks from them.

  “Once that objective has been met, I will ask my military to stand down. Instead of destroying those cities with military might, the world will watch them collapse under the weight of their deplorable sins against humanity!”

  Romanero gazed out at the many gathered before him, “I will not say at this time what will cause their cities to fall, or when, only that it will happen sooner rather than later!”

  Most wondered if Romanero was referring to nuclear or biological strikes. With limitless military weaponry at his disposal, he could easily wipe any country off the face of the earth if he chose to. But why was he sharing military tactics with the enemy? What sense did it make to tell the enemy where he would strike and when?

  His top military leaders could only scratch their heads and wait and wonder with the rest of the world...

  Romanero continued, “Why the sudden change of tactic? Let’s just say that I’m mindful of the many living in those insurgent countries who are loyal global citizens, who long for a better world in which to live. While your countries must suffer, I wish to allow ample time for all compliant citizens who feel threatened within your own borders and wish to flee the coming destruction, to relocate before your cities fall in ruins.