Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

Israeli/Lebanese Border
Sunday, 10:30 p.m., Local Time

“You could’ve dropped that thing a bit further to the north, Frisbee,” Captain Moshe Eldan, call sign Dagger, radioed his wingman over the ship-to-ship intercom.
“What? I just converted that hill into a nice, level rock quarry. It was a perfect drop,” Rueben laughed.
Both F-16I Lightnings climbed vertically towards the stratosphere then rolled sharply southward to lessen the profile of their flaming engines. A mixture of aluminum chaff and hot flares were ejected from their jets as they exited harms way.
“Roger! Maybe the Russians will talk nicely since we just eliminated another one of their headaches.”
“Don’t count on it, boss. They’re still bitter about that squadron of Sukois you sent for a swim in the Mediterranean,” Reuben replied.
Moshe glanced at the ‘birds-eye-view” HSD, or Horizontal Situation Display, just in front of his left knee. Multiple blips, encompassing a range of two hundred miles north of the Lebanese border, dotted the screen. The onboard computer designated the targets as rotary aircraft in the form of Hind attack helicopters. There were also dozens of support fixed-wing fighters, but they posed no threat at the moment. However, two blips, identified as MiG-29 Fulcrums, were turning in his direction from about one hundred miles out.
“Check your HSD, Frisbee. Bogeys are heading our way. They must have been flying in ground clutter.”
“I copy your bogeys. What’s our profile?” Reuben asked. He remembered the last time he tackled a Fulcrum and wanted to make sure his leader had a game plan.
“Stay cool. Let’s come back around and skirt the border at their altitude. I want to see what they’re thinking,” Moshe ordered.
The tension in the air was palpable across the entire Middle East. Over Israel alone, fourteen F-16s were patrolling the skies. Jordan had numerous aircraft in the air, as did Egypt far to the southwest. It was a powder keg ready to ignite. But tension was the farthest thing from the cockpit of Moshe Eldan’s Lightning. If anything, Moshe was experiencing an overwhelming joy that made him want to laugh, even while performing air-to-ground attacks.
He recalled the reunion with his wife Tasha two days earlier. The mission to Libya had been a trap, and he’d barely escaped with his life. Rather than surprise the Russians and their vaunted Sukhoi-37 attack aircraft on the ground, an aerial dogfight had ensued over the Mediterranean Sea. He’d come a hairs breadth away from being flamed into the afterlife. But he’d proven the capabilities of the F-16 in combat, as well has a set of flying skills unmatched by any other Israeli pilot in history. He’d survived, but though his survival was a relief to everyone, it was what transpired just moments before the violent engagement that ended up rocking his wife’s world. He’d come face-to-face with the truth of Israel’s Messiah, right there in the cockpit. That had been the biggest battle of his life, one that ended with his spiritual surrender.
After climbing out of his Lightning that evening, he’d made his way to headquarters knowing Tasha would be waiting. The second he entered the door, she jumped into his arms.
“Babe,” he’d whispered in her ear, “let’s go into the lounge for a second. I want to tell you something before I report to the debriefing.”
She lifted her head from his neck and looked hard into his eyes, trying to perceive what he might have to say. He said nothing and just smiled.
He led her down the hall to the base lounge and sat beside her. “What is it?” she asked as he took her hand into his own.
“It was amazing!” he said.
“What? Tell me!” The look on her face was pleading for him to quit stalling. She didn’t know whether to be afraid or curious.
“Sweetheart, your prayers worked their magic.”
It took a second for the statement to sink in, but when it did, her mouth flew open. Her eyes went wide with hope. Ever since she’d stepped into a relationship with Yeshua, the true Messiah of Israel and Son of God, she’d prayed that her husband would experience the same.
Moshe continued. “Listen, after we attacked the airbase at Benghazi and turned back toward home, I had some time to think about the prophecies that you and the guys have been pushing at me, not only about what’s happening around us, but about Yeshua. They all line up too perfectly. Suddenly, the truth became very clear.”
Moshe paused. He wanted her to know exactly how it had happened. “As I thought about it I realized you were right. I was the one with the narrow mind. I was blind, at least until I realized I had no guarantee of living another day. These last two weeks, I’ve been way to close to the edge. I had to ask myself what would have happened if my life had been snuffed out by that missile over the Golan Heights. And then I suddenly knew the answer, and it wasn’t good.
“I sat in that cockpit and decided I’d been selfish. O sure, you were always the biggest part of my life, but I was in charge. I was the boss, and a poor one at that. So, I gave in and told Yeshua I was ready to pledge my life to him. I believe he is the Son of God, that he died for my sins, and that he rose from the dead. That’s when it happened.”
“What?” she asked. Her heart was beating like thunder. Even Moshe could feel it pulsate through her hand.
“I felt him, right there in the cockpit. I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders. It was the strangest thing. I actually shouted!” he grinned. He felt the same joy again in the telling.
In that moment, Tasha’s response was quick and to the point. She kissed him with more love than ever. Their spiritual lives were suddenly on the same plane.
Now, two days after his announcement he could smile, even as a pair of deadly MiG 29s took a parallel course less than a mile to his north. Fear was no longer a factor. Moshe knew he was seeing the scriptures fulfilling themselves before his eyes, and he was a living participant in God’s prophetic plans. With that knowledge, he could stare the enemy in the face. However, this wasn’t the moment to start a war. Seeing no hostile moves by the Russians, he and Rueben turned their Lightnings toward the south and away from the Lebanese border.

Jimmy Root Jr
Author: DISTANT THUNDER and the AWARD WINNING MAGOG RISING
Books One and Two of the Lightning Chronicles
$15 per Copy...SIGNED!
Buy several for the same shipping rate as ONE! Give them as gifts.
OR
Send a check to Jimmy Root Jr PO Box 112, Smithville, MO 64089
(add $5.00 for shipping)
MAGOG RISING
is the READERS FAVORITE 2010 National Writing Competition SILVER MEDALIST in the Christian Fiction Genre
ORDER NOW
Visit:
http://www.lightningchronicles.com/
Toll Free at 1866 909-2665
Or use the above address to send a check for $18.00 (includes shipping) and ask for Magog Rising...or get both books....SIGNED!
Distant Thunder, Gog and Magog, Israel, Iran, Radical Islam, Ezekiel 38 and 39, Jimmy Root Jr, Rapture, Nuclear Weapons, Bible Prophecy, Russia, European Union, Lightning Chronicles, Terrorism, Ahmadinijad,