Nicole sat with her back to her workstation. All the way on the opposite end of the room was Nir’s door. Closed, as usual lately. She turned back to her keyboard and began typing, but soon lost her train of thought. Spinning back around, she focused in on the door, willing it to open.
It didn’t.
From her left, she heard Liora say, “Would you just go and say whatever you need to say to him? You’re like the height of distraction right now.”
She turned toward her fellow analyst but was greeted by the back of her head. Nicole’s eyes returned to the door.
Forget it. He won’t want to listen anyway.
She whirled around to her keyboard, put her fingers on the keys, but couldn’t think of anything to type. She couldn’t even remember the project she was working on.
Letting out a frustrated growl, she stood, picked up her phone, and crossed the floor to the office door.
“Finally,” Liora said behind her.
Nicole paused a moment, smoothed her T-shirt, and used her fingers to fill out her curls.
“Jeez, it’s just Nir,” said Lahav from the workstation to the right of the door. Nicole glared at him until he turned away.
With a deep breath, she knocked.
“Come in,” came the answer.
She had practiced a funny greeting while at her workstation, but now she couldn’t remember it. It turned out to be fine, because Nir was on the phone. He waved her in and pointed to his couch. Then he pointed to the phone and held up his index finger.
Nicole smiled and waved her hand like it was no big deal. She sat and waited.
“Well, tell them we’re going to need some help from another country. Our nearest exfil point is up in the Black Sea. We need some help from Bulgaria or Armenia or Georgia or someone.”
Nir paused as he listened. “Well, then, we’ve got about forty-eight hours to make friends with them. Bribe them, extort them, promise them a free punch card for natural gas—I don’t care. We need a way out. Turkey is too big to drive our way to safety. It’s already going to be two hundred kilometers to reach the Black Sea. We won’t have more time than that.”
Another pause. “Sure, if Zelenskyy thinks he could pick us up and get us someplace safe without his boat or sub getting blown up, that’s fine. Just find us someone, okay? Thanks, achi.”
Nir hung up the phone and set it on the desk. “It was Efraim. Getting in won’t be the problem. Our two countries hate each other deep down, but diplomatically, we’re still playing somewhat nice. Still, we won’t be going in as Israelis. We’ll all have Belgian passports and credentials from universities in the country. We’ll be flying into Eskişehir as a group of history professors checking out the UNESCO heritage sites of the area.”
“You guys look as much like history professors as I do a steelworker.”
Nir tilted his head in agreement. “True. Our hope is that the agents at Hasan Polatkan Airport are a little sleepy at their jobs. Not a lot of purveyors of international intrigue flying into Eskişehir from Brussels.”
“Well, make sure you bust out your corduroy jacket with the patches on the elbows.”
Nir laughed. “Already have one coming up from costuming. Now, you didn’t come in here to talk about my travel plans. Or, maybe you did. Why did you come in here?”
The question flustered Nicole, who had practiced this conversation quite a few times sitting at her desk. Unfortunately, none of her trial runs began with “Why are you here?”
Might as well just come out with it. Any roundabout way is going to sound disingenuous now.
“Okay, Nir. I need to talk about this with you at least once. All I’m asking is for you to please hear me out.”
Nicole saw his eyes widen a touch and heard his intake of breath. He knew what was coming. Now it was just a matter of whether he’d listen.
“Please, Nir. All I’m asking for is the next ten minutes. After that, I’ll have said my piece. Will you at least give me that?”
His internal turmoil was evident. She watched as he squinted his eyes a bit and set his jaw. But then his face softened. Getting up from behind his desk, he sat in the chair next to the couch. Taking her hands, he said, “Listen, you know I’m not a fan of the kinds of conversation that I’m pretty sure you’re about to start. But I respect you too much to shut you down without even hearing you out. So, I’m yours for the next ten—heck, I’ll even give you fifteen minutes.”
Nicole put her hand on his. “Fifteen? Wow, I feel so special.”
She inhaled deeply and slowly let her air out. “Okay, here goes. And trust me, it has everything to do with what we’re about to do in Turkey.”
“Interesting. Color me intrigued.” Nir leaned back in the chair, crossed his legs, and waited.
“So, I’ve talked to you before about God’s plans for the world, right?”
Nir smiled. “You mean Him snatching up His people and carrying them away before He rains fire and brimstone down on the planet?”
Nicole rolled her eyes. “Listen, I need you to be serious. I need you to hear what I’m about to say.”
“Sorry. I’m listening.”
“Okay, I know you’ve heard about the prophet Ezekiel, right?” Nir nodded his yes. “I don’t know how much you remember from your studies as a kid, but there’s a lot of weird stuff in it in the beginning—wheels and faces and freaky stuff like that. Then God goes on to talk about showing the world who He is. ‘Then they will know that I’m the Lord,’ and words to that effect.”
“I remember.”
“But then the chapters get into the thirties and things change. Suddenly, in 36 and 37, Ezekiel’s talking about the Jews coming back into the land of Israel. In fact, a lot of church people in years past said those chapters were just stories or allegories because there was no Israel. Then suddenly 1948 came along, and Israel was back.”
“Esh! Yea, us,” said Nir. “Listen, Nicole, I know about all this stuff. It’s part of what unites this country, this belief that God or something else bigger than us brought us back to our land to be a people. When has that ever happened in the past?”
Nicole dropped her hand on Nir’s knee. “Exactly! But the thing is, so many people stop reading at chapter 37.”
“Sababa, because I remember it gets really weird after that. A bunch of talk about wars and stuff.”
“Again, you’re exactly right. But it’s those wars and stuff that are so important as we’re looking at where we’re at right now.” She lifted her phone from the couch and began scrolling. “Hang on…okay, now, listen to these words directly from Ezekiel 38:
Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops—many people are with you.”’”
“Well, that’s clear as mud. There are no such places anymore as Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. And what’s a Gog? I’m sure it all meant something at one time, but that time is past. We might as well be talking about Camelot now,” said Nir.
“But are they really gone? Look a little later down in verse 15 at what Ezekiel says about Gog: ‘Then you will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army.’ Gog, the prince of Rosh. That’s Russia. Meshech, that’s southern Russia. Tubal is northern Turkey. I’ve got it all on a map somewhere in my phone if you want me to find it.”
Nir waved his hands. “No, motek, I believe you. But what does this…?”
“Hold on, let me finish. Persia—you know where that is.”
“Iran.”
“Yep, then you have Ethiopia, which is really more of Sudan these days. There’s Libya, which recently became a huge ally of Turkey.”
“Right, with the mavi vatan water agreement,” Nir said. Nicole could tell that Nir was finally listening to her.
“And speaking of Turkey, you have Gomer and Togarmah. Never before in history have you had these nations all working together. Sudan is a huge ally of Russia. As you and I have talked about, Iran is desperate for friends now that Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis are all busts. So, they’ve turned to Russia. And now we see both Russia and Iran running interference for Turkey so that Erdoğan can have his revenge.”
So often, Nicole had heard Nir say that coincidence was an excuse for those not willing to step back and look at the big picture. What was he going to do with this? There was too much here.
“What about this hook in the jaws part? What’s the hook in the jaws for Russia?”
Nicole rolled her eyes. “Come on, motek. You know the answer to that. The hook is gas. The Russkis had their troops down here in Syria and Lebanon. But the war in Ukraine forced them to pull their troops out so they could reinforce the front lines. However, since the warehouse attack, we’re seeing Russian troops racing back toward our borders.”
“But if the Russians are coming back for the gas, are they going to let the Turks blow up the fields in Leviathan and Tamar? Isn’t that defeating their purpose?”
Nicole shook her head. “We have to think big picture. That kind of hit will cripple Israel’s economy and cause major political turmoil, making the nation open for a takeover.”
“Won’t the United States stop them?”
“Who in the US will stop them? The president? Maybe the last one, but not this one. This one will shoot some missiles and slap some wrists, but there’s no way he’ll go to the wall for Israel. Besides, Russia just created the perfect excuse. Israel attacked first when it destroyed all that humanitarian aid in Syria.”
Nir looked at the floor and thought.
“So, you’re telling me that I should go to the ramsad and inform him that the more than 2,500-year-old predictions of a Hebrew prophet are telling us that we should prepare for a Russian attack.”
Nicole dropped her head back on the couch and let out a groan of exasperation. “No, Nir. I’m not talking about Israel or the ramsad or anyone else. I’m talking about you. I believe that before this war happens, the rapture is coming. And as it stands right now, I’ll be gone but you’ll be left here.”
“Oh, Lord, not the ‘I’ll fly away’ talk again.’”
She slapped his leg a little harder than she intended. “Darnit, Nir, listen to me. I don’t want you to patronize me, but I also don’t want you to mock me. I’m telling you what I believe, and I expect you to respect it.”
Nir put his hands up. “I’m sorry. You’re right.”
Nicole huffed out a breath, then reached out her hands and took his. They sat like that for a minute before she said, “I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have blown up at you. It’s just that I can’t bear the thought of going without you. I want you to come with me, to be with me, to believe with me.”
She was suddenly emotional. Nir got up and pulled a couple tissues from a box behind his desk.
“Thanks,” she said as she took them. “I’m so scared for you, Nir. The prophet Zechariah said that two-thirds of the Jews are going to be wiped out in the years after the rapture. October 7 will look like nothing compared to what’s coming.”
“Al hapanim. That doesn’t sound like a very loving God to me.”
Nicole chuckled bitterly. “I know. I don’t get it all. I just know that He’s doing it to get the attention of those whose hearts will listen.” Then, looking up into his eyes, she asked, “Why won’t you let your heart listen?”
It was obvious that Nir didn’t know what to say. She could see that he was wrestling with what she had said, but she knew that the veil she had heard her pastor talk about that covered the hearts of so many seemed to be especially thick with him.
Nir’s phone rang. “That ring…it’s Efraim. I need to take it, motek. We’ll talk again.”
As Nir picked up the phone, Nicole slowly got to her feet.
I hope we will, Nir. I truly hope we will.