The Aftermath
Page 16
Bottom line: everyone needed to be there. No exceptions.
Sadly, it took for the greatest cataclysmic event to ever strike the planet—not including the flood of Noah’s day—to finally bring everyone together. Since strength truly did come in numbers, the hope was that the solidarity generated in Europe the next two days would serve to strengthen each world leader.
With air travel suspended to the public, unless weather-related, world leaders had zero flight delays. Since the dawn of aviation, each time world leaders took to the skies, they were given special clearance. It was one of the many benefits of leadership; one of the many highs which accompanied the many lows.
But they never had the skies all to themselves like they did now. Usually hundreds of thousands of commercial planes were also airborne, not to mention thousands of private jets and planes. Except for military aircraft, medical and news choppers, no one else was granted airspace. No exceptions!
Normally this would be enough to massage the oftentimes over-inflated ego of each world leader, lending an added air of supremacy, but not now. This was a whole new ball game.
For added security measures, each world leader had a military escort all the way to Brussels—either from their own military or from NATO and UN peacekeeping forces.
President Danforth had yet to arrive, but he was getting close. Armed with two U.S. F-35 fighter planes on either side, Air Force One began its initial descent over the Bay of Biscay.
With the French coastline directly in-sight, the captain cut back the engine speed and announced that they were less than an hour from landing at Brussels National Airport.
This was only the second time since becoming President that the First Lady didn’t accompany him on an overseas trip. Melissa was still in a catatonic state and was in no condition to travel. She remained at the White House.
The President took comfort knowing that his son-in-law, Dr. Benjamin Richardson, would maintain constant supervision of her until he rejoined them in Madison, Wisconsin the day before Thanksgiving, to lay his late mother to rest.
For security reasons, Vice President Everett Ashford was flown to Denver, Colorado and placed in a very secure underground bunker, just in case.
After managing to take a much-needed three-hour nap in his personal quarters, President Danforth had been in highly-classified national security briefings ever since. What he really needed was three days of sleep, not three hours.
Much like the financial experts on television, those on-board Air Force One were making the very same predictions: total disaster. It was looking more and more bleak as new information surfaced. It was enough to make a person not want to continue in any type of leadership role.
Of the 30 press members on board Air Force One, half represented the foreign press. Secret service agents were ordered to keep them all quarantined to the rear of the aircraft for the entire flight. They were to have no access to top-secret discussions.
Press members bickered and moaned, but to no avail.
Now about to meet with fellow world leaders, President Danforth couldn’t help but wonder what his peers would think once they learned America had lost more people, percentage-wise, than any other country on the planet.
Would they see it as a sign of America’s weakness? Would they think they’d been duped for so many years into believing that America was a superpower when, in reality, it was nothing more than smoke and mirrors all along?
Would it confirm America truly was an evil nation as many had always thought, and that she was finally standing judgment for her many great sins? Was America the Great Satan after all? Would it be wise to ever seek her counsel again?
Those questions, along with many others, upset the President’s already unsettled stomach all the more. No wonder the suicide rate’s skyrocketing, he thought, fastening his seat belt for landing.
Air Force One touched down at 3 p.m. that afternoon, Brussels time, right on schedule. Regardless of country, whenever Air Force One was on foreign soil, it quickly became the big story in that country. There wasn’t an aircraft like it anywhere in the world.
The door opened, and President Danforth slowly descended the red-carpeted steps of the most lavish aircraft ever built. He may have looked Presidential, but inside he was trembling.
He was warmly greeted by a large contingency of world delegates and reporters. While American Presidents had long grown used to this kind of universal respect over the years, it was a tradition that would soon come to an abrupt end.
Among those gathered at the airport to greet President Danforth was Salvador Romanero. He was asked to go by the Spanish Prime Minister, to rally around the American President—as if he had all the answers—with everyone else.
The young delegate from Spain wasn’t the slightest bit impressed by him. If anyone’s ill equipped for such a task, Romanero thought to himself, wry grin on his face, it’s him! He’s nothing more than a lamb leading other lambs. But not this lion!
President Danforth shook many hands trying to hide that he was just as frightened and confused as the next person. Society as a whole needed to understand that world leaders were just as victimized as everyone else. They, too, needed to overcome their own fears and worries. They, too, needed assurance that everything would eventually be okay.
But who was capable of providing such comfort?
If world leaders were unsuccessful in implementing a solid plan of attack, anarchy would ensue worldwide. Presently, there were only small pockets of violence breaking out in the streets; mostly perpetrated by thugs who were adding serious insult to injury by committing heinous crimes against others, while the majority screamed for peace and diplomacy.
A panicked society was a dangerous society, much like a dam ready to burst wide open. The question was, how long would the dam hold? No one knew for sure. All they knew was the current peace in the streets wouldn’t last, if they couldn’t unanimously implement a viable plan to maintain the peace and security many had enjoyed prior to Saturday’s strange occurrence.
Without it, who knew what lay ahead? Indeed, the future was extremely uncertain. You could almost hear the time bomb ticking, just waiting to explode.
This meeting of the Powers That Be was already being dubbed the “Meeting of all Meetings” by the press, which only added to the mounting pressure everyone felt. If they couldn’t find solutions, confidence in them would evaporate as quickly as the millions of people had just two days ago.
The worldwide consensus was rapidly becoming, “We need something or someone who can lift us out of the morass into which we have sunk, and we need it now! Find us such a man or system, and we will unanimously pledge our undying allegiance!”
Whether they agreed upon a person, a system, or both, to lead the way in getting the world back to its feet and, most importantly, keeping it there, was open for debate.
Everyone was urged to bring an open mind to Brussels, as they investigated and hopefully implemented a full spectrum of solid plans to take back home with them.
What they didn’t know, couldn’t know, was who would end up leading the way…
“Let no one deceive you in any way.
For that day will not come,
unless the rebellion comes first,
and the man of lawlessness is revealed,
the son of destruction,
who opposes and exalts himself
against every so-called god or object of worship,
so that he takes his seat in the temple of God,
proclaiming himself to be God.”
(2 Thessalonians 2:3-4)
Thanks for taking the time to read the second installment of the Chaos in the Blink of an Eye series.
I would be most grateful if you shared your thoughts on Amazon.
Even a short review would be appreciated.
May God continue to bless and keep you.
What will become of the Summit in Brussels, Belgium? Will the leaders of the world find a way to stabilize the si
tuation, or will the world continue to free fall deeper and deeper into chaos? What role, if any, will Salvador Romanero play? Who is the the secret society empowering him? How will Tamika Moseley, Brian Mulrooney, Renate McCallister, Charles Calloway and Craig Rubin function in this strange, new world? Is there a definite reason for all the chaos? If so, what is it?
Find answers to these questions and so much more as you continue in this prophetic series. Grab your front row seat to witness future events that MUST come to pass sometime in the future.
Each page will give you a panoramic view and bring you closer and closer to the action. You will relate to each character as if you were right there with them. You will laugh with them, cry with them, hurt with them, as they try to survive in a strange, new world. More importantly, you will rejoice with them.
Look for the sixth installment to be released soon.
Once completed, this series will consist of approximately twelve books.
Patrick Higgins is an Amazon bestseller and award-winning author of The Pelican Trees, Coffee In Manila, The Unannounced Christmas Visitor, and the end times prophetic series, Chaos In The Blink Of An Eye. His book The Unannounced Christmas Visitor recently won the 2018 Readers’ Favorite Gold Medal Award in Christian fiction.
While the stories he writes all have different themes and take place in different settings, the one thread that links them all together is his heart for Jesus and his yearning for the lost.
With that in mind, it is his wish that the message his stories convey will greatly impact each reader, by challenging you not only to contemplate life on this side of the grave, but on the other side as well. After all, each of us will spend eternity at one of two places, based solely upon a single decision which must be made this side of the grave. That decision will be made crystal clear to each reader of these books.
To contact author: patrick12272003@gmail.com
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