The Seventh Vial: A Novel of the Great Tribulation (The Days of Elijah Book 4)

by Mark Goodwin

  Everett addressed the drivers around him. “I’ll take point. Truck Two and Truck Three from my team will follow me. The rabbi’s Patrol will be behind them, with the Golan following the rabbi. The remaining two trucks from my team will be behind the Golan.”

  The driver of the Golan asked, “Wouldn’t it be better if we boxed the rabbi in?”

  “That would be as good as painting a sign that says ‘this is the most important vehicle in our convoy’. At least this way, we keep them guessing. And keep three vehicle lengths between you and the next vehicle so they can’t take out two of us with one shot.”

  The driver of the Golan looked at some of the other soldiers as if he didn’t trust Everett’s decision.

  Tobias stepped forward. “He’s right about not boxing in the rabbi. We’ll be traveling at top speed. We’ll need to be single file so we have both lanes in which to maneuver.”

  The driver of the Golan nodded. “Okay. I’ll follow your lead.”

  “Let’s roll out!” Everett whispered to Tobias on the way back to the Typhoon, “Thanks for that. It seems some folks would just rather hear things from a fellow Jew.”

  “And I apologize for that. We can be a stubborn people at times.”

  Everett patted him on the back as they loaded into the Typhoon. “That’s not always a bad thing. I’m sure it’s part of what has kept you alive as a race for over four thousand years.”

  The convoy was soon on their way. They covered the short stretch of road to Sivas in less than four minutes. If they could keep up their current rate of travel, they’d have the rabbi through the danger zone in another four minutes. Everett took a deep breath, hoping, praying for a clear, open path, wanting so badly to at least get Hertzog past the city before they were detected.

  “Watch out!” Courtney yelled.

  Everett slammed the brakes with his eyes as wide as biscuit cutters. In the westbound lane of the highway sat a tank. Not only was the heavy weapon pointed right at them, it was flanked by no less than ten armored vehicles. Most looked to be American military vehicles which had been re-appropriated by ISIS in Iraq years earlier. A dozen technicals were interspersed among the heavily-armored military vehicles. Everett called out to the rear of the truck. “Bad news, guys. We’ve got a welcoming committee and the designated chairman is a T-72 Iraqi tank. Ali, Levi, I need you guys to hit this thing hard with the Vampirs. Try to stick a rocket in the turret ring. It might not disable the tank altogether, but if we can keep the turret from turning, we can keep them from aiming.”

  “And then what?” Ali was already opening the top hatch.

  “Hit the treads. Even if the turret won’t swing, they can still point left and right if the treads are operational.”

  The first shell fired out of the 125-millimeter main gun of the tank, hitting the asphalt, behind Everett and right beside Rabbi Hertzog’s Patrol.

  “You’re gonna have to shoot on the move, guys. We can’t sit still, nor can we have the good folks behind us sitting still. Tobias, hit these guys with all you’ve got. Our only choice is to try to drive straight through this mess. It ain’t like we can just turn around and go back home.”

  Courtney looked at Everett like he was crazy but said nothing.

  He forced a smile at her. “Help Tobias stay loaded. We’re gonna need it.”

  The second 125-millimeter shell shot out of the giant gun. This one didn’t miss. It exploded in the grill of the Golan, leaving the vehicle in scraps of metal too small to tell they had ever belonged to an armored vehicle. The fireball from the truck mushroomed into the sky and Everett’s heart broke for the brave soldiers who’d been inside. Still, he had his mission, and it was to get the rabbi to the other side of the city.

  Everett drove straight at the tank as he watched the turret spin in his direction. The gun lowered and he saw the flash of light. He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and prayed that it would miss them.

  “Direct hit!” Ali called out from behind.

  Everett opened his eyes to see smoke rolling out from the right side of the turret ring. The flash he’d seen was the explosion of the PG-29V rocket that Ali and Levi had fired at the tank. “Great shot. Let’s see if you can do that one more time!”

  A barrage of machine gunfire hit the hood and cracked the heavy glass windshield of the Typhoon as Everett drove straight toward the line of battle delineated by the armada of war machines only yards away. RPGs flew by like fireflies on a summer night.

  BOOM! Everett looked in his side view mirror to see yet another of Hertzog’s security team taken out. This time it was the Jeep Wrangler.

  POW! Everett saw flames shoot out from the tread of the tank. “Great job, guys!”

  He heard a commotion in the rear of the vehicle. “What’s happening?”

  Tonya called out, “Levi has been hit?”

  “Is it bad?”

  “Headshot,” David replied.

  “I’ll take his place,” Abram said. “I’ll help Ali with the rockets.”

  “Thank you.” Everett hated putting them in harm’s way, but he had no other choice. “Everyone stay in your seats for a few seconds. I’m going to have to go off road to get around this mess.”

  The bullets rained down on the Typhoon as Everett smashed into the front of a large pick-up which was blocking his path. He quickly pushed it off the road and drove onto the grass. The Typhoon sped across the berm which separated the highway from the parking lot of an apartment community. Everett split his attention between the threats lined up in front of him and the other vehicles in his convoy.

  BOOM! He looked in his side view to see the Typhoon directly behind his turned on its side. As badly as he wanted to stop and help, he had to get Hertzog beyond the roadblock. The other vehicles were still following him through the parking lot of the apartment complex.

  “Ali, Abram, see what you can do to take out any of the vehicles closing in on the disabled Typhoon behind us!”

  “We will do it!” Ali shouted.

  “I’m giving them cover as well!” Tobias swung the fifty-caliber around and began firing.

  BOOM! Everett’s Typhoon lifted up from the ground and dropped back down. “Is everyone okay?” He looked at Courtney first.

  She looked rattled by the explosion, but she wasn’t bleeding, and she was alive. “We’re fine, just get us out of here!”

  Everett had to work the gears to get the truck moving again. Hertzog’s Patrol and another Patrol from Everett’s team raced by his Typhoon. Soon, he was rolling again. Hertzog had gotten around the roadblock, but they still had two more miles to escape from Sivas, and there was no promise that the danger was over.

  BOOM! Everett looked in his side view mirror just as a rocket hit another MRAP from his convoy. Fire and smoke poured from the rear wheel well and the vehicle sat motionless, demobilized from the blast. “God, protect them.” He shot up a quick prayer, then addressed his crew. “It’s a bumpy ride, but if any of you think you can get a couple of shots off from the hatches, it would be much appreciated. Tobias is doing all he can with the fifty-cal.”

  “I can do it.” Ali volunteered yet again.

  David said, “I’ll assist Ali.”

  “Silas and myself will form a second team,” said Abram.

  “Thanks, guys,” Everett acknowledged. “Stick with simple RPGs. It’s going to be too rough of a ride to try to get those huge launch tubes up and aimed for the PG-29Vs.”

  Everett checked his side view yet again. The rest of his convoy and the remaining vehicles in Hertzog’s security element had been cut off. They were now being pursued furiously by a huge desert tan MAXX PRO, two US Military Humvees, and a swarm of technicals. All were armed with fifty-caliber machine guns, and the technicals each had at least one MOC fighter operating some form of shoulder-fired weapon from the beds of the pick-ups. “Focus your fire on the technicals!” Everett shouted toward the rear. “Let’s get the low-hanging fruit first, then worry about the heavily-armored trucks o
nce we’ve picked off the ankle biters.”

  Everett drove hard to keep up with Rabbi Hertzog’s Patrol and the other MRAP between them. However, he did not attempt to pass them. Everett intentionally maintained his position at the rear of the three-truck convoy, putting himself—and his wife—in between an arsenal of destructive weaponry and the rabbi’s vehicle.

  BOOM! Another blast rocked the Typhoon, slinging Everett against the shoulder strap of his seat belt. The truck was still rolling, so he did not let off the accelerator. “Are you okay?”

  Courtney lay on her side, between the two front seats. She wasn’t strapped in because she’d been assisting Tobias with keeping the hungry fifty-caliber machine gun fed. Groggily, and bleeding from her forehead, she said, “I’m okay.”

  “We lost the remote-controlled machine gun,” Tobias reported.

  Tonya cried out from the back, “David and Silas are dead.”

  Everett sighed with grief. “As much as I hate to say this, we have to keep fighting. We’ve lost our primary means of defense and we must continue laying down fire from the hatches.”

  “I’ll take Silas’ place,” Tonya said.

  Ali worked his way to the front of the cab. “I can put cover fire with AK-47 from front hatch. It will help to make up for not have fifty-cal.”

  “I’ll form a new RPG team to take the place of David and Ali’s.” Tobias threw open a hatch in the rear of the vehicle.

  “I’m with you,” Courtney tried to get up from her position.

  “No!” Everett’s scream was panicked. “I need you to help me navigate.”

  “I have to be in the fight, Everett.” She continued to move toward the back.

  With his right hand, he caught her belt. “The windshield is cracked. I can barely see. I’m just aiming the truck at the Patrol in front of me. I need you to watch out for road hazards, or we’ll all be dead!” His plea was that of a desperate man, and that of a husband that was not going to take no for an answer.

  “I will assist Tobias,” said Micha.

  Reluctantly, she turned around, scowled at Everett, and took her seat.

  Everett tried to disguise his relief.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! “Our team just eliminated three technicals!” Courtney reported as she checked her side view mirror.

  “Praise God!” Everett pressed hard, trying to stay ahead of the pursuing threat, yet keeping his distance from the Patrol in front of him.

  He glanced at his side view to see one of the Humvees advancing on the driver’s side. “Watch this guy on the left!”

  TA, TA, TA, TA, TAT! The Hummer peppered the side of the Typhoon as it raced past him. Just then, an RPG from an enemy vehicle struck near the passenger’s side front wheel causing Everett to swerve off the road and nearly flip the Typhoon. He slammed on the brakes to regain control and get the giant MRAP back onto the pavement.

  Ali dropped down from the hatch to change magazines in his AK. “Abram is dead. The fifty-caliber shoot him as it passing by.”

  Everett took a deep breath as he glanced at Ali who was still staring at him. “What else, Ali? You’re not telling me something.”

  Ali’s eyes welled up with tears. “They also shoot Tobias.”

  “No!” Courtney screamed and crawled to the back toward Tobias.

  “Is it fatal?” Everett kept his eyes on the road.

  “Headshot.” Ali wiped his eyes and stood back up, putting his rifle through the hatch first.

  Seth and Daliah filled the positions vacated by their fallen friends.

  From the corner of his eye, Everett watched the side view as his team took out the remaining technicals from behind him. BOOM! Again, Everett had to swerve in order to miss the Patrol from his convoy as a massive explosion flipped it on its side, causing it to skid to a stop right in front of him. A large shoulder-fired rocket shot by a jihadi in the Humvee which just passed him had taken out the Patrol.

  The contest was now down to five remaining vehicles. The rabbi’s Patrol was still in the lead, but the enemy Humvee was between him and Everett. The MAXX PRO and the other Hummer trailed close behind Everett.

  “We have to focus our fire on the Humvee in front of us. The entirety of the Jewish nation is depending on Rabbi Hertzog to get through with Moses’ staff. Otherwise, all we have lost will be in vain.” Everett’s words were not only intended to be a morale booster, they were the brutal truth—economically encapsulating the grave reality in which the team was immersed.

  CHAPTER 15

  When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.

  Isaiah 43:2-7

  BOOM! Another rocket hit the center of Rabbi Hertzog’s Patrol near the bottom of the truck. The blast caused the MRAP to flip off the road and roll onto the grass, coming to a stop and resting perfectly upside down.

  Instinctively, Everett slowed down and brought the Typhoon to a complete stop, with the side door positioned feet away from the door of the inverted Patrol. “Courtney, I need you and Ali to get the bodies of the fallen out of our truck.”

  “Everett, we can’t just leave them,” she pleaded.

  “We have to make room for the living. I’m sorry.” He hated issuing such a morbid directive. “Daliah, Avigail, get into the rabbi’s Patrol. Get the rabbi and Moses’ staff first. Then get the wounded from the Patrol into the Typhoon. Everyone else, fight like you’ve never fought in your lives!” Everett opened the latch on the side door and kicked it open. “Tonya and Micha, keep RPGs going in all directions. Focus on the fifty-cals. Seth, you’re with me. We’ve got to cover the door while the girls get the rabbi!”

  Everett used the large metal door for cover as he took aim at the driver of the Humvee, firing at him with his HK rifle. Everett got down on one knee to lower his profile and his odds of catching a bullet. He peered beneath the Typhoon to see the other Humvee circling around so he could get a shot between the two vehicles. Everett reached into his tactical sling hanging at his side and retrieved a hand grenade. He pulled the pin and waited until he saw the bumper of the Humvee. He lobbed the grenade, which arched perfectly into the rear of the Hummer. POW! The detonation of the grenade tossed the gunner of the fifty-cal out of the vehicle and dropped his mangled corpse in the path of the MAXX PRO which was right behind the Humvee. Crunch! The MAXX PRO slowed as it came into view of Everett and Seth.

  “Get down!” Everett yelled as he rolled under the Typhoon.

  The machine gun mounted on top of the MAXX PRO peppered the slim corridor between the Typhoon and the upended Patrol, cutting Seth down. Multiple rounds ripped through Seth’s body, and he fell to the ground with his hollow, lifeless eyes facing Everett.

  BOOM! A shower of sparks rained down from the vicinity of the MAXX PRO’s machine gun. Everett hoped his team had hit it with a rocket, but he couldn’t see the source of the explosion from his position. What he did know was that the heavy gun had ceased its insatiable barking—for now.

  Everett rolled back out from beneath the Typhoon and yelled to Tonya inside the truck. “Toss me an RPG!”

  “Here!” She quickly complied.

  Everett took the launcher and ran out from the corridor between the vehicles. He had to draw the fire away from the doors so the girls could get the rabbi and Moses’ staff. Everett ran in front of the Ty
phoon, waiting for the MAXX PRO to come back around. He dropped to one knee and fired. Shwooofp! The grenade took flight, streaking toward the grill of the giant vehicle. The grenade exploded, but the truck continued hurtling toward Everett. Everett bounded out of the way, retreating beneath the Typhoon and crawling back toward the open side-door in the corridor created by the two vehicles. Everett looked in the truck. “Is the rabbi inside?”

  “I’m here, Everett!” Hertzog was banged up, nursing a massive cut on his leg.

  “And the staff?”

  Tonya handed the first aid kit to the rabbi. “Avigail and Daliah went back into the Patrol to look for it.”

  “Are there any other survivors in the Patrol?” Everett asked.

  “The driver and one other guard, they’re in pretty bad condition, but still breathing,” Tonya replied.

  “There were two other security personnel with you. They didn’t survive the crash?” Everett’s eyebrows drooped as he turned to Rabbi Hertzog.

  The rabbi lowered his head. “No. I’m afraid not.”

  Everett tightened his jaw. “Okay. Tonya, hand me a couple more grenades for the RPG.”

  She passed him two projectiles. The first, he loaded into the launcher. The second, he tucked inside of his load-carrying vest. Everett dashed back out into harm’s way. The MAXX PRO came around again. Everett noticed a steady flow of white steam spraying from beneath the hood. His previous assault had not stopped the beast of a vehicle in its tracks, but the radiator was cracked, and it wouldn’t be a threat much longer. Everett watched for the next Humvee. It came around from the back side of the Patrol, and Everett sent a grenade on course for a head-on collision with the Hummer. KABOOM! The front end of the vehicle lifted off the ground and the vehicle flipped onto its side. Immediately, Everett rushed toward the wreckage, transitioning to his HK rifle, enabling him to eliminate the survivors of the crash. The MAXX PRO finally came to a sputtering halt, and the MOC fighters from inside flooded out, AK-47s firing as they exited.