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Authors: Robert Wise

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Shrouded in Silence

BOOK: Shrouded in Silence
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S
HROUDED IN
S
ILENCE
 

 
 
 
 
 
Robert L. Wise
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Nashville, Tennessee
Other books by Robert Wise

 

The Son Rises: Resurrecting the Resurrection
Crossing the Threshold of Eternity
The Narrow Door at Colditz
The Bitter Road to Dachau
The Secret Road Home
Be Not Afraid
Crazymakers
Quest for the Soul
Windows of the Soul
Tagged
Wired
Deleted
The Dead Detective
The Empty Coffin
The Tail of the Dragon
The Secret Code
Fear Less for Life
When There Is No Miracle
When the Night Is Too Long
The Third Millennium
The Fourth Millennium
Mega-Millennium
The Dawning
The Exiles
The Fall of Jerusalem
Shrouded in Silence
 
Copyright © 2011 by Robert L. Wise
 
ISBN-13: 978-1-4267-0868-8
 
Published by Abingdon Press, P.O. Box 801, Nashville, TN 37202 
www.abingdonpress.com
 
All rights reserved. 
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form,
stored in any retrieval system, posted on any website,
or transmitted in any form or by any means—digital,
electronic, scanning, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without
written permission from the publisher, except for brief
quotations in printed reviews and articles.
 
All characters in this book have no existence outside
of the imagination of the author and have no relationship
to anyone bearing the same name. They are not even distantly
inspired by any individual known or unknown
to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

 

Cover design by Anderson Design Group, Nashville, TN
 
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
TO COME 
Printed in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 / 16 15 14 13 12 11

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments
Prologue
Part One Night Falls
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Part Two Night Darkens
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Part Three Midnight Approaches
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Discussion Questions
More About Author
 
The author appreciates the reading and responses of Donna
Sisson, who assisted with the final development
of the manuscript.

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

San Giovanni in Laterano Church does exit in Rome's Piazza de San Govanni in Laterano with a baptistery adjacent to the basilica. One can find the
Scala Santa,
the holy staircase, in the church. In addition, Santa Maria della Concezione sits sedately at Via Vittorio Veneto 27. However, liberties have been taken with the structure of both churches to facilitate the story. Special thanks to Stephano Pace, Rome's finest guide, for leading me through the backside of the amazing sights in Rome.
The theme of this story reflects months of work in deciphering the original Koine Greek collection of New Testament Gospels and Epistles in addressing the problem posed by the missing correct ending to Mark. Multitudes of books and articles were consulted in researching this project. However, the names, characters, and incidents are purely the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons—living or dead—businesses, or companies is entirely coincidental.
Shrouded in Silence
is a work of fiction composed for the reader's enjoyment.
Heartfelt thanks to Barbara Scott and Ramona Richards as well as the publishing team of Abingdon Press for their gracious help in editing the final manuscript. As always, my friend and agent, Greg Johnson, remains the essence of professionalism and the motivation to go the second mile. Thanks Greg.

Prologue

A.D. 68
 
 
 
 
F
og hung in the air, making the blackness of night difficult to penetrate. Still, the irregular outline of the Seven Hills of Rome stood silhouetted against the opaque sky and remained barely visible. The cold dampness made Plautius Laterani shiver, but he worried more about fulfilling his assignment. Plautius trotted briskly down the stone stairs from the legislative assembly and walked toward the soldiers standing at attention by their horses. It would not be a good night for any of them. His friend Scipio Livius's hand rested nervously on his sword as he swiftly walked beside Plautius.
"You've heard the bizarre accounts murmured among senators gathering on the Palatine and Esquiline hills?" Scipio Livius asked. "Along Via Sacra, soldiers tell stories, claiming that the Christianios have a remarkable ability to pray for the sick and break the spells demons cast on people. These strange stories of eating flesh and drinking blood circulate among the Praetorians. You know about these tales?"
Plautius nodded. "I don't spread rumors. The legislators handle that nonsense. I leave it to them."
But Plautius knew all about the Christianios who kept their meetings secret while openly sharing their conviction that the Christ had been resurrected from the dead. Plebs chattered that this strange sect believed there was only one god, but of course, such ideas were preposterous. The assembly had just told him the Christianios were compiling a scroll with the full story of this Christ and his teachings and had given Plautius the task of finding the document—not an easy job.
Scipio Livius gripped his sword. "Makes me nervous to hear a new cult has sprung up in Rome. We grow these fanatics like weeds."
Taking all the chitchat with a grain of salt, Plautius still listened with interest. The Laterani family had lost two sons during military incursions in Gaul, and Plautius's mother continued to grieve profoundly over the loss of her children. The reports that Christianios did not fear death and believed they would live beyond this world intrigued him.
"We must ride fast to capitalize on the element of surprise," Plautius told his friend. "No one must lag behind."
"I'll keep the men moving," Scipio said.
The two soldiers marched directly to their horses and mounted. Without uttering a word, Plautius kicked his horse and headed for the gate. The Praetorian guard followed.
"Hurry!" Plautius called to the soldiers riding behind him. "We must attack before anyone discovers we are coming."
The Praetorians raced beyond the Republican Forum, across the Lapis Niger—the black marble pavement—while the moonlight glistened on their metal breastplates and plume-spiked helmets. A surge of cold night air filled his nose with the scent of Rome, and he shivered again.
"Faster!" Plautius shouted. "Stay up with me!"
The twenty-five men riding behind him crowded together and maintained close formation. Their destination lay at the edge of the city where the Circus of Caligula and Nero, the latest national racetrack, stood on the Ager Vaticanus. Spies said the arena had become one of the places where believers hid. It was rumored that one of their leaders called Petros, the Rock, might be there. His assistant John Mark was reported to be in the area writing a mysterious book.
BOOK: Shrouded in Silence
2.55Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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