The Crimson Dagger - Vatican Knights Series 23 (2020) by Rick Jones (romantic novels to read txt) 📕

Longinus could feel these warm streams bathe his feet as they rushed past him. It was a ritual of cleansing for which Longinus would ultimately surrender the gods of his Roman heritage, for the Heavenly Father who had touched his soul.

Over time, when his stint with the Roman legion ended, Longinus gave up the weapon’s shaft but kept the spearhead as an amulet that had been worn around his neck as a spiritual charm. And because the former Roman centurion renounced polytheism in order to worship his newfound God, he would eventually be canonized and become a saint of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.

Then as centuries passed and long after Longinus’s death, the tip had become known as the Spear of Destiny, which had developed into accounts over history that the relic contained divine powers. Men from both shores of good and evil would seek out this holy artifact with romanticism, believing that it would serve them as the most powerful and uncontested scepter of rule. When Christian knights sacked Antioch and drove out the Saracens during the First Crusade after being inspired by the discovery of the Holy Lance within the city, a steadfast myth began to grow: those who possessed the Holy Lance would not only know the power of sustaining an elite army, they would also come to rule the mightiest kingdom in the world.

Kings and monarchs and leaders alike, both good and evil, from Charlemagne to Frederick the Great of Germany, would hold the artifact with more than forty-five global leaders possessing the item over time. When Hitler acquired the Lance when he arrived in Vienna to oversee the annexation of Austria, the artifact was transported to Nuremberg where the Spear of Destiny was protected within St. Catherine's Church. As soon as the Holy Lance was firmly in the grip of the Nazi regime, Hitler began his campaign to invade Poland, and then Western Europe. But as war waged and began to take its toll with a portion of St. Catherine's Church damaged, U.S. soldiers took possession of the Holy Lance on April 30, 1945. A few hours later, it was reported that Adolph Hitler had committed suicide inside his bunker, with the act an official conclusion that the war with Germany was finally over.

In time, the United States returned the Holy Lance, along with other treasures seized by the Nazis, to Austria, where it now lies on display inside the Austrian Imperial Treasury at the Hofburg Palace, in Vienna. Though counterfeits and replicas were created, it is believed that the holy relic within the Hapsburg Museum is the true Spear of Destiny. It has become a spotlighted feature where a Roman centurion by the name of Longinus had plunged the tip of his spear into the side of the man who had been ascribed by many to be the King of Kings.

As the legend of the artifact failed to diminish over time, the eyes of opportunists had kept a keen watch, believing they could be the next to fall in line to be the next great leader, for which there would be no equal.

In the days to follow, an elite faction would attempt to seize the opportunity in the name of Allah. Since the Muslim faith holds Jesus in high regard and believes Him to be one of God’s greatest messengers, they also believe that possessing the Holy Lance would also bolster a jihad. And like the countless armies that had come and gone throughout history, ISIS, too, would become an overwhelming force with the backing of Allah, along with the combined power of the Holy Lance.

This held especially true within the eyes of one of ISIS’s most esteemed commanders, Ali Mustafa, who believed that as long as he remained in possession of the relic, there would be no earthly force who could challenge his power. But Mustafa’s confidences would soon be contested, and his beliefs fully challenged. Because in the days to come, he would throw down against one of the world’s mightiest forces believing that having complete mastery over the Holy Lance would also give him the ability to vanquish all enemies . . .

. . . Including the Vatican Knights.

CHAPTER ONE

Lakeside Cabin in Maryland

Shari Cohen was sitting before a bombe chest that was in front of a window which overlooked the lake. Sitting on the chest was a number of framed photos of her husband and two daughters, now deceased. The photograph setting was homage to the family she had lost, the memorial a shrine. Hanging from the corner of every picture were pendants of the Star of David, which hung on platinum chains. These small commemoratives often jumpstarted fond memories of a time that was—when her children laughed and ran through the hallways of their home in Washington, D.C. When they went on vacations as a family, their times together magic. Or when birthdays came and went as the children aged towards adulthood that would never come. Sometimes, Shari smiled at these thoughts. Other times, she would openly sob. Depending on her mood, her emotions often vacillated between good memories and dark ones.

Beyond the window and on the lake the mallards swam.

As she sat reminiscing, she recalled the moment when her family was wiped out by a domestic terrorist. With the slowness of a bad dream, she remembered standing on the porch as her family piled into the Escalade. The moment her husband turned the key to the ignition, the vehicle exploded into a fireball. And within that moment that turned from incredible jubilation to absolute sorrow, her entire family had been stolen from her.

While staring at the photos of an extended family that might have been, of grandchildren and a family tree that will never be, Shari sighed heavily through her nostrils.

“Are you OK?” Kimball Hayden’s voice came from behind with his words soft and somewhat cautious in asking.

Shari feigned a smile. “I’m fine.”

Kimball stood in the doorway of their bedroom wearing nothing but