ZONDERVAN Mark of Evil Copyright © 2014 by Tim LaHaye This ...

Tim LaHaye & Craig Parshallbuilding didn’t work and it was cooler up there. It was likely the riotingacross the city and all the fires had caused the electrical failureseverywhere. Economic desperation had wrestled Greece into an economicchoke hold, just like the rest of the world. And the masses weregetting restless.At the first glimmer of dawn that morning he had wakened onthe rooftop, stretched, rubbed the sleep away from his face, and saidhis morning prayers. The sun was just breaking over the mountains,spreading its burning light across the miles of whitewashedoffice buildings and apartments crammed into the Greek capital. Itwas then—with his eyes wide open—the same vision had appearedto him, just as it had so many times before. Ethan was convinced itwas a message from God. He didn’t care what other people thought.Although the truth was he had told very few others about what he sawin those moments. He couldn’t afford to. He also understood that insome strange way the visions were for his benefit, even though theyunsettled him deeply, down to his gut.Each time the sequence was the same: the image of a handsomeman would appear to Ethan out of nowhere. But those features wouldlinger only momentarily and would quickly disappear like a morningfog evaporating in the sun. And then, suddenly, in one great, sickeningjolt, there would come another face—a repulsive, red-eyed creature. Amoment later and it would all be over. The vision would leave Ethandrenched with a sense of dread and wondering why, out of everyonein the human race, he’d been chosen to encounter the image of thatgrotesque creature, over and over again.Ethan was still up on the flat rooftop, and now his eyes searchedthe four corners around him. He had to be ready for nasty, unannouncedvisitors, like the violent men who were probably at thatvery minute scouring the city for him. Tracking him down.But today he was expecting his buddy Jimmy Louder, who wassupposed to arrive any moment now. Louder was one of the most2