“I don’t know. You may be right. He probably is God. Again, I promised you I would listen, and what you said makes more sense than ever. And, yes, there may come a day when I will, as you say, ‘make Him my Lord and Savior.’”

“Please don’t ever air quote again,” Nicole said with mock seriousness.

Nir laughed. “My bad. But for now, that concept of Jesus as Savior still doesn’t fully make sense to me. I know it’s working for you. I see your peace and your hope and all the rest. But the free gift part still doesn’t make sense to me. I’d much rather make a bargain. I’m just happy to know Jesus really does exist, and He doesn’t seem to hate my guts even though according to all the people in the Crusades I was the one who nailed Him to the cross.”

Nicole squeezed his hand. “You’re right. He doesn’t hate you. I’ve told you before, it’s just the opposite.”

“Right. That verse you asked me to memorize. God loved the world, so He sent Jesus, and anyone who believes in Him will have eternal life.”

“Pretty close. I’m so glad you now realize Jesus is there for you in this life. But that verse also says He can be with you in your death, an event you’ve been flirting with a little too much lately.”

“Speaking of flirting, how about you scoot—Shh,” Nir said suddenly, putting a finger to his lips. “There they are.”

Nicole looked at him with surprise. He kept his finger to his lips until he could see she heard them too.

It was just a low rumble, but it was rapidly increasing in volume. Then Nir could see the source, and he pointed to the west. Two jets whooshed overhead, followed by another two, then another two. Squadron after squadron of F-35s and F-16s roared by.

“Is that…”

“It is,” Nir yelled so he could be heard. “The Lions of the South squadron. F-35s and F-16s out of Nevatim Air Base near Be’er Sheva. They’ve got to pass over us so they can skirt the southern tip of Jordan, then pass into Saudi Arabia and on to Iran.”

It was an awe-inspiring sight, and Nir could feel the thunder in his chest. He said, “In yeshiva, when I was a kid, we learned the Torah says when someone was to be put to death, their accusers had to throw the first stones. We can’t throw a stone, but I thought we needed to see this to bring closure.”

He watched jet after jet pass over until the last was gone. Then he turned to Nicole and saw tears slipping down her cheeks. She was right to cry. What was about to happen was necessary but tragic. Sadly, when evil goes down, it takes innocent victims with it.