Where the hut beside which the woman had been cleaning dust from the tapestry had been he now saw only a deep, scorched hole with flames coming up from the bottom like a firepit back home in Pennsylvania. The entire hut had been consumed, and beside the crater he saw a smoldering pile of dark, charred clay, perhaps two or three feet high.

With horror, Dagan realized the smoldering pile was all that remained of the woman. His brain refused to accept what the two smaller smoldering piles probably represented.

A high-pitched squeal made him turn, and he watched a streak of light stretch from the sky and a pillar of flame erupt where a man had been standing just fifteen feet away. A second hut caught fire, and a half-dozen villagers of all ages ran out screaming. Frozen with fear, he watched while yet another figure was incinerated from heaven, leaving behind nothing but a pile of char.

The spiritual leader and the village elder turned to him, their eyes wide with fear and condemnation.

Is your God doing this? their faces asked.

And then they were gone too, consumed by light and heat.

And Dagan was running.

All he could think of was the book of Genesis, where God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for their violence and hatred. He’d read that the destruction might have been from fiery meteorites impacting in and around the cities.

Is that what just happened here?

He turned his back on the carnage and ran at a full sprint down the rocky path, fleeing the village. He became aware of a weeping sound and realized it was coming from him, but the sobbing quickly morphed into hyperventilation. Gasping for breath, he dropped to his knees on the rocky mountain path. Tears streaming down his face, he looked to heaven and asked the only question his mind could formulate . . . the only question that mattered.

Why, Lord? Why?

PART I

Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time, many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other. . . .

MATTHEW 24:9-10

CHAPTER
ONE

TRINITY LOOP COMPLEX

15 MILES WEST OF NASHVILLE

SOUTH OF ASHLAND CITY, TENNESSEE

1514 HOURS LOCAL

Faith and firepower . . . those were the two things Jedidiah Johnson thought about from when he woke in the morning until his head hit the pillow each night. While some people might find the pairing troubling, as a combat team leader for Shepherds North America, worrying about faith and firepower was literally in Jed’s job description. Because without an abundance of both, the enemy his team faced would prevail.

Battling evil, it turns out, is complicated.