Into the Storm (12 page)

A fine mist fell around Chaya. Then a chunk of plaster hit her on the head. She looked up and saw a crack in the ceiling and felt a rumbling beneath her.

Mr. Stein was in the doorway, ready to leave. He turned when Chaya screamed.

The van swerved to avoid hitting a Great Dane crossing the road.

“What is it with these animals?” the driver said.

“They’re all over the place.”

Judd saw a flagpole in front of a school rocking back and forth. Road signs swayed, and suddenly the pavement cracked and opened before them.

The driver struggled to keep control of the speeding vehicle, but Judd knew it was too late. They would have to deal with the wrath of the Lamb.

Vicki didn’t realize what was happening until Mrs. Jenness was already driving over the bridge.

“Stop!” Vicki said.

“We have to go back.”

“If I have anything to do with it, you’re never coming back,” Mrs.

Jenness said.

“You don’t understand,” Vicki said.

“The earthquake, it’s happening. We have to get off this bridge.”

The top of the bridge swayed first, then the whole structure pitched right, then left. Mrs. Jenness screamed and let go of the wheel. Vicki grabbed it and tried to keep the car steady.

Vicki looked out her window and saw a strange sight. The bridge had tipped so far, she could almost see straight into the water. In the next instant they were tipped the other way, and the water was on Mrs.

Jenness’s side.

Vicki heard a crash above them. One of the cables, she thought. While Mrs. Jenness screamed, Vicki looked around at the windows. She wanted to make sure they were all up.

Phoenixsniffed the air and ran back to the house. So much noise. The ground was moving underneath him.

Sniff.

He had to find the boy. The boy had let him out. Why hadn’t he come?

Find the boy. Find the boy. Find the boy.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Jerry B. Jenkins (www.jerryjenkins.com) is the writer of the Left Behind series. He is author of more than one hundred books, of which ten have reached the New York Times best-seller list. Former vice president for publishing for the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, he also served many years as editor of Moody magazine and is now Moody’s writer-at-large.

His writing has appeared in publications as varied as Reader’s Digest, Parade, in-flight magazines, and many Christian periodicals. He has written books in four genres: biography, marriage and family, fiction for children, and fiction for adults.

Jenkins’s biographies include books with Hank Aaron, Bill Gaither, Luis Palau, Walter Payton, Orel Hershiser, Nolan Ryan, Brett Butler, and Billy Graham, among many others.

Seven of his apocalyptic novels—Left Behind, Tribulation Force, Nicolae, Soul Harvest, Apollyon, Assassins, and The Indwelling—have appeared on the Christian Booksellers Association’s best-selling fiction list and the Publishers Weekly religion best-seller list. Left Behind was nominated for Book of the Year by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association in 1997, 1998, and 1999.

As a marriage and family author and speaker, Jenkins has been a frequent guest on Dr. James Dobson’s Focus on the Family radio program.

Jerry is also the writer of the nationally syndicated sports story comic strip Gil Thorp, distributed to newspapers across theUnited Statesby Tribune Media Services.

Jerry and his wife, Dianna, live inColorado.

Limited speaking engagement information available through [email protected] .

Dr. Tim LaHaye (www. timlahaye.com), who conceived the idea of fictionalizing an account of the Rapture and the Tribulation, is a noted author, minister, and nationally recognized speaker on Bible prophecy. He is the founder of both Tim LaHaye Ministries and The Pre-Trib Research Center.

Presently Dr. LaHaye speaks at many of the major Bible prophecy conferences in theU. S.andCanada, where his nine current prophecy books are very popular.

Dr. LaHaye holds a doctor of ministry degree from Western Theological Seminary and the doctor of literature degree fromLibertyUniversity. For twenty-five years he pa stored one of the nation’s outstanding churches inSan Diego, which grew to three locations. It was during that time that he founded two accredited Christian high schools, a Christian school system often schools, and Christian Heritage College.

Dr. LaHaye has written over forty books, with over 22 million copies in print in thirty-three languages.

He has written books on a wide variety of subjects, such as family life, temperaments, and Bible prophecy. His current fiction works, written with Jerry Jenkins Left Behind, Tribulation Force, Nicolae, Soul Harvest, Apollyon, Assassins, and The Indwelling have all reached number one on the Christian best-seller charts. Other works by Dr. LaHaye are Spirit-Controlled Temperament; How to Be Happy though Married; Revelation Unveiled; Understanding the Last Days; Rapture under Attack; Are We Living in the End Times? ;and the youth fiction series Left Behind: The Kids.

He is the father of four grown children and grand father of nine. Snow siding, water sliding, motorcycling, golfing, vacationing with family, and jogging are among his leisure activities.