The 13: Fall
Authors: Robbie Cheuvront,Erik Reed,Shawn Allen
Tags: #Christian, #Suspense, #Fiction
THE CLOCK ON THE WALL TICKED DOWN THE SECONDS AS HE STARED INTO THE CAMERA.
This was it. In a matter of minutes, his life would change. Everyone’s life would change.
He rehearsed his lines, though he knew them by heart. There would be no teleprompter. There would be no script. There would only be him. And the camera, of course. And the person who would receive this message.
A small television sat off to the side, monitoring the feed. He could see his image staring back at him. He watched as the second hand ticked off the final seconds.
Tick. Tick.
And then it was time.
The red light above the lens flicked on. With the remote in his hand, he zoomed in and watched the monitor. This was it. No turning back.
He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath and let it out again. His heart was pounding through his chest. He opened his eyes and set his jaw firm. And then he began.
“Good evening, Mr. President. I am the Prophet. And I have been commanded to give you a message.”
© 2012 by Robbie Cheuvront and Erik Reed
Print ISBN 978-1-61626-769-8
eBook Editions:
Adobe Digital Edition (.epub) 978-1-62029-056-9
Kindle and MobiPocket Edition (.prc) 978-1-62029-057-6
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial purposes, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without written permission of the publisher.
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version
®
, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental.
Cover design: Jason Gabbert Design
For more information about the authors, please access the following Internet address:
http://www.thejourneytn.org/
Published by Barbour Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 719, Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683,
www.barbourbooks.com
Our mission is to publish and distribute inspirational products offering exceptional value and biblical encouragement to the masses.
Printed in the United States of America.
To Whom It May Concern,
According to the Purposes of His Will;
According to Those Who Have Been Called
“The man must be bad indeed who can look upon the events of the American Revolution without feeling the warmest gratitude toward the great Author of the Universe whose divine interposition was so frequently manifested in our behalf. And it is my earnest prayer that we may so conduct ourselves as to merit a continuance of those blessings with which we have hitherto been favored.”
—George Washington
“I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of men. And, if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings, that ‘except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.’”
—Benjamin Franklin
(as quoted by Jarod Sparks,
The Works of Benjamin Franklin
, 1837)
The 13
is a story that we came upon through a great friend and copastor of ours at The Journey Church, where we pastor. Shawn Allen is an amazing, godly man who has been gifted with a great imagination, and we have loved working with him on this novel.
The Journey Church is a multisite church, and Shawn is our pastor at our Hartsville, Tennesse, campus. Before being called into full-time ministry, Shawn was a police officer with the Metro Nashville police force. He is a graduate of Bethel University and is currently attending Southern Seminary. He and his wife, Miranda, live in Lebanon, Tennesse.
In the middle of writing
The Guardian
, our first novel (also available from Barbour Publishing), Shawn came to us with an idea for a story that was ripped right from the headlines of today’s newspapers. Erik and I were immediately intrigued and couldn’t wait to finish
The Guardian
so we could begin working, with Shawn, to bring
The 13
to life.
Though his name may not be on the cover of this book, make no mistake, Shawn is as much a cowriter of this novel as Erik and I are. His imagination and ability to bring life to characters have been an intricate part of
The 13.
We could never have written this book without him, and we look forward to partnering with him in our next adventure: book two of
The 13.
Thank you, Shawn, for partnering with us on this great adventure. You are our best friend in life, and in our work.
Robbie & Erik
PROLOGUE Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Department
Edinburg, Texas, July 2, 2025; 10:30 a.m.
B
ecky Sayers looked at the discolored, flat-screen plasma TV and silently cursed her boss. “You’d think in this world of technology, we could find a TV that wasn’t made before I was born,” she mumbled to no one. “I mean, this thing’s not even in 3-D.” A rerun of
Everybody Loves Raymond
was playing—the one in which Raymond fakes going to the doctor so he can play golf. She’d seen it at least four times, but it was one of her favorites.
She pushed back from her desk and stretched her legs. The switchboard had been quiet most of the afternoon. A few drunk-and-disorderlies and a domestic dispute. The holiday weekend usually meant a boring few days at the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Department. But even though Hidalgo County seemed like half a world away from Washington, DC, the impact of the last two weeks’ events were being felt. It seemed that everyone was waiting to see what would happen next.
The green light flashed on her board. She placed the earpiece in her ear and said, “Thank you for calling the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Department. This is Becky….”
The caller made her complaint and hung up abruptly. Her neighbors were setting off illegal fireworks; could a deputy come by and take care of it? All of south Texas had experienced a horrible drought these last few months. The governor had issued a decree, suspending all fireworks throughout the entire state. Residents weren’t happy, but they understood. Brushfires this time of year were common and could lead to damage in the billions of dollars.
Becky keyed her microphone. “Roy, this is Becky. I need you to go out to Ms. Dobson’s farm, out on Highway 83. Neighbor kids are shootin’ off sparklers or something.”
