read chapter 1 of glenn meade's the second messiah

8/6/2019 Read Chapter 1 of Glenn Meade's THE SECOND MESSIAH

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Howard BooksA Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020Tis book is a work of ction. Any references to historical events, real people, or reallocales are used ctitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the

product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, locales, orpersons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2011 by Glenn Meade

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Howard Books Subsidiary Rights

Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Howard Books hardcover edition August 2011

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Designed by Jaime Putorti

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Meade, Glenn, 1957–

Te second messiah / Glenn Meade.p. cm.

1. Religious ction. I. itle.

PS3563.E16845S43 2011813’'54—dc22

2010043625

ISBN 978-1-4516-1184-7ISBN 978-1-4516-1188-5 (ebook)



1

eaST oF JeruSaleM

iSrael

Leon Gold didn’t know that he had two minutes le to live and he was

grinning. “Did anyone ever tell you that you’ve got terric legs?” he

asked the drop-dead gorgeous woman seated next to him.

Gold was twenty-three, a tanned, good-looking, muscular young

man from New Jersey whose folks had immigrated to Israel. As he

drove his Dodge truck with military markings past a row of sun-

drenched orange groves, he inhaled the sweet scent through the

rolled-down window, then used the moment to glimpse the gure of

the woman seated next to him.

Private Rachel Else was stunning.

Gold, a corporal, eyed Rachel’s uniform skirt riding up her legs,

the top button open on her shirt to reveal a flash of cleavage. She

was driving him so crazy that he found it hard to concentrate on his

job—delivering a consignment to an Israel Defense Forces outpost,

thirty miles away. he road ahead was a coil of tortuous bends.“Well, did anyone ever tell you that you’ve got terrific legs?” Gold

repeated.

A tiny smile curled Rachel’s lips. “Yeah, you did. Five minutes ago,

Leon. ell me something new.”

Gold icked a look in the rearview mirror and saw sunlight ignit-

ing the windows and the glinting dome of a fast-disappearing Jerusa-

lem. Tere was only one reason he stayed in this godforsaken country with its endless friction with the Palestinians, high taxes, grumbling

Jews, and searing heat.



4 g l e n n M e a d e

Te Israeli women. Tey were simply gorgeous. And the Israel

Defense Forces had its fair share of beauties. Gold was determined

that Rachel was going to be his next date. He shied down a gear asthe road twisted up and the orange scent was replaced by gritty desert

air. “Okay, then did anyone ever mention you’ve got seductive eyes and

a terric gure?”

“You mentioned those too, Leon. You’re repeating yourself.”

“Are you going to come on a date with me or not, Private Else?”

“No. Keep your eyes on the road, Corporal.”

“I’ve got my eyes on the road.”“Tey’re on my legs.”

Gold grinned again. “Hey, can I help it if you make my eyes wan-

der?”

“Keep them on the road , Leon. You crash and we’re both in trouble.”

Gold focused on the empty road as it rose up into sand-dusted

limestone hills. Rachel was proving a tough nut to crack, but he reck-

oned he still had an ace up his sleeve. As the road snaked round a

bend he nudged the truck nearer the edge. Te wheels skidded, send-

ing loose gravel skittering into the rock-strewn ravine below.

Alarm crept into Rachel’s voice. “Leon! Don’t do that.”

Gold winked, nudging the Dodge even closer to the road’s edge.

“Maybe I can make you change your mind?”

“Stop it, Leon. Don’t fool around, it’s crazy. You’ll get us killed.”

Gold grinned as the wheels skidded again. “How about that date?

Just put me out of my misery. Yes, or no?”“Leon! Oh no!” Rachel stared out past the windshield.

Gold’s eyes snapped straight ahead as he swung the wheel away

from the brink. A white Ford pickup appeared from around the next

bend. Gold jumped on the brakes but his blood turned to ice and he

knew he was doomed. His Dodge started to skid as the two vehicles

hurtled toward the ravine’s edge, trying to avoid a crash. Te pickup

was like an express train that couldn’t stop and then everything seemedto happen in slow motion.

Gold clearly saw the pickup’s occupants. Tree adults in the front



The Second MeSSiah 5

cab, two teenagers in the open back—a boy and a girl seated on some

crates. Te smiles on their faces collapsed into horror as the two vehi-

cles shrieked past each other.Tere was a grating clang of metal striking metal as the rears of

both vehicles briey collided and then Gold screamed, felt a breeze

rush past him as the Dodge ew through the air. His scream combined

with Rachel’s in a bloodcurdling duet that died abruptly when their

truck smashed nose-rst into the ravine and their gas tank ignited.

Fieen miles from Jerusalem, the distant percussion of the massive

blast could be heard as the army truck’s cargo of antipersonnel minesdetonated instantly, vaporizing Gold’s and Rachel’s handsome young

bodies into bone and ash.

Te Catholic priest was following two hundred yards behind the

pickup, driving a battered old Renault, when he felt the blast through

the rolled-down window. Te percussion pained his ears and he

slammed on his brakes. Te Renault skidded to a halt.

Te priest paled as he stared at the orange ball of ame rising into

the air, followed by an oily cloud of smoke. Instinct made him stab his

foot on the accelerator and the Renault sped forward.

When he reached the edge of the ravine, he oored the brakes and

jumped out of his car. Te priest saw the ames consume the blaz-

ing shell of the army truck and knew there was no hope for whoever

was inside. His focus turned to the upturned white Ford pickup far-ther along the ravine, smoke pouring from its cabin. Te priest blessed

himself as he stared blankly at the accident scene. “May the Lord have

mercy on their souls.”

His plan had gone horribly wrong. Tis was not exactly what he

had intended. If the pickup’s occupants had to die, so be it—the price-

less, two-thousand-year-old treasure inside the vehicle was worth the

loss of human life—but he hadn’t foreseen such awful carnage.He moved toward the pickup. A string of deafening explosions

erupted as more mines ignited. Te priest was forced to crouch low.



6 g l e n n M e a d e

Seconds later his eyes shied back to the upturned Ford pickup. He

could make out the occupants trapped inside the smoke-lled cabin.

One of them frantically kicked at the windshield, trying to escape.Nearby the sprawled bodies of a teenage boy and girl lay among the

wreckage.

When the explosions died, the priest stood. His gaze swung back

to the burning pickup. Te desperate passenger had stopped kicking

and his body had fallen limp. As thick smoke smothered the cabin, the

priest caught sight of the leather map case, lying wedged inside the

windshield.He knew it contained the ancient scroll that had been discovered

that morning at Qumran, and that the pickup was on its way to the

Antiquities Department in Jerusalem with its precious cargo. But the

priest was desperate to ensure that the scroll never reached its destina-

tion.

His orders from Rome were clear.

Tis was one astonishing secret that had to be kept hidden from

the world.

Flames started to lick around the map case. “Dear God, no.”

He scrambled down the rocks toward the wreckage.

read chapter 1 of glenn meade's the second messiah

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