“You see, I lost my father to cancer when I was a little girl. A bit later, I was abused over and over again by my stepfather. Brandon, my first husband—the love of my life—was killed in Iraq just after my daughter Chloe was born. My second husband turned out to be a gambler who got himself and Chloe killed. After that I just gave up on everything.
“I eventually tried to end my life by jumping from the Coronado Bridge, but I was rescued—just as I jumped.” She could almost feel the collective gasp. “The scriptures say we should ‘show kindness to strangers, for by so doing some have shown kindness to angels without knowing it.’ But in my case, God sent an angel who showed me kindness.
“Nevertheless, even after that rescue, I tried to take my life again. You see, I kept listening to the enemy’s accusing voices and lies. This time I nearly succeeded. But somehow, the pills I took didn’t stay down. And by God’s grace, I saw my past through an entirely different perspective.
“This time as I relived those painful events, I heard God saying, ‘I am there, Hope.’ I thought, ‘You mean, you were there, don’t you?’ But God corrected me. “I am there. In your past, your future, I am there.’
“Right there, I realized that He exists outside of time, that I was not alone during my darkest hours. And although I still remember the awful things that happened, the pain from them eased. I’m not saying it went away completely, but it stopped hurting me, its hold on my life was broken.
“I don’t know how else to explain it, but some of you know what I’m talking about, right? Some of you have been healed before like this, can I get a witness?”
Shouts of amen, and applause rose up.
“Tonight, I just want you all to know. We have a good God. He’s powerful, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. He holds time in his hand. That’s why he can be in our past, present and future simultaneously. He is the same yesterday and today and forever.
“So whatever you’re suffering from, no matter how dire the situation, how deep the pain, God wants you to know that He has come to bring good news to the afflicted, to bind up the brokenhearted…”
She’d never considered herself eloquent enough to speak in public, but the rapt audience didn’t intimidate her. And the words, the scriptures she never knew she’d memorized seemed to just flow out of her.
“He’s here to proclaim liberty to captives, freedom to prisoners…to console those who mourn, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning!
“Tonight, whoever you are, wherever you’ve been, it’s not too late. Even if you’re suffering the consequences of your own mistakes, your own failures, He’s got healing for you.”
From the corner of her eye, she could see the tears on Jonathan Hartwell’s face. His wife held his hand and dabbed the corners of her eye with a tissue.
“Whether it’s the pain of the past, the hurt you’re feeling now, the worries about tomorrow, He’s saying to you right now, “I AM THERE!” She turned and pointed to the crowds in each section of the stadium, saying each time, “with you, and with you, and you!”
As she turned back to the camera, a flash of light from the shadows of the private boxes caught her eye. A half-second later, something hot whisked through her hair just above her ear.
That was when the screaming began.
85
THE FIRST THING NICK FELT AFTER HE CHARGED at the sniper was the butt of the rifle slamming into his gut. His stomach felt like it was imploding. Flat on his back and stunned, he could hardly breathe. But he was pretty sure he’d disrupted at least one of the sniper’s two shots.
He swung his rifle around at Nick’s head. Nick managed to block it with his arm, then tried to stand.
But the distinct clack of a round being chambered stopped him.
“Who are you?” The shooter’s voice was intense but quiet. He pinned Nick’s shoulder down with a heavy foot and pressed the rifle’s muzzle into his chest.
“Wait,” Nick said.
The hammer cocked.
Nick squeezed his eyes tight, grit his teeth against the pain, and focused on the cold barrel through which a bullet was about to end his mortal life, short as it had been.
Just as the shooter pulled the trigger.
The gun vanished.
“What—?”
A fraction of a second later, it reappeared—somewhere near the door, judging by the flash of light and loud shot. Nick swung his foot under the astonished sniper’s legs, collapsing them behind the knees so that he fell back with a thud.
His whole body throbbing with pain, his powers pulsing intermittently like a dying star, Nick thrust his hand down on the sniper’s forehead as he struggled to get up. Whether he was human or Nephilim, Nick couldn’t be certain.
He only hoped his next move would work.
The shooter became deathly still. Then he hugged his chest, shaking violently while emitting a wheezing sound meant to be a scream. Nick’s construct made him experience the terror of a coiling forty-foot python crushing the life out of him. Every breath he took would cause the huge serpent to squeeze harder.
But his pain, unlike Nick’s, wasn’t real. Battling the nausea and pain from the latest flare-up of his failing supernatural power, he focused on the podium where Hope had been speaking and prayed he wasn’t too late.
86
IT SOUNDED LIKE A FIRECRACKER. But Jon knew someone had fired a gun when he saw one of his wife’s security guard’s chest erupt in a crimson spray.
“Elaine!” He ran to her and Matthew, throwing himself over them without a thought for his own safety.
Another shot.
Something hit him between the shoulder blades.
His head struck the ground as he fell.
A scarlet puddle widened around him.
The last thing he saw was his wife and son kneeling over him, Elaine crying, Matthew screaming.
“Daddy!”
87
NICK HAD TELEPORTED TO THE STAGE, but the pain was so intense he could barely see past the glowing flecks swarming before his eyes.
“Oh my God, Nick!” Hope buried her face in his chest. He thought she was crying—hard to hear with all the chaos on the stage. He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face the steps where people were fleeing.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
She pointed down to Jon. “What about Pastor Hartwell?”
He lay motionless, the white shirt under his navy jacket soaked with blood. The bullet must have gone straight through his chest.
Nick had taken care of the sniper, but greater threats loomed. And if Lena hadn’t seen Nick by now, her cohorts surely had.
Nevertheless, he went over and knelt by Hartwell, who grasped his hand with icy fingers.
With a gasp, he uttered his last words.
“Elaine…Matthew…” But security had rushed them away, out of the line of fire.
The rage and sadness Nick felt rivaled the pain in his head. Lena’s heartless machinations had taken the first victims. Had he his full strength as a guardian, he might rather enjoy destroying her as he had so many of the Dark Dominion’s more formidable agents. But time was running out, as were his powers.
He had to get Hope to safety.
“There isn’t much time.” He grabbed her hand rushed her over to the steps at the edge of the stage, and crouched behind a wall of equipment crates. Catching his breath, he said, “We’re going to have to leave unconventionally.”
“Nick, what’s happening?”
“I’ll explain later, first I’ve got to get you out of here before…” He glanced up at the thousands scrambling to leave the stadium. Lena had recruited mortal and supernatural help to kill them all with the bombs. There was no way any of them could simply walk out.