Retribution

Retribution Copyright © 2004 by Randall Ingermanson Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ingermanson, Randall Scott Retribution / Randall Ingermanson. p. cm.-(The City of God series) ISBN 0-310-24707-1 1. Church history-Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600-Fiction. 2. Jews- History-Rebellion, 66-73-Fiction. 3. Palestine-History-To 70 A.D.-Fiction. 4. Rome-History-Nero, 54-68-Fiction. 5. Americans-Jerusalem-Fiction. 6. Jewish Christians-Fiction. 7. Time travel-Fiction. 8. Jerusalem-Fiction. I. title. PS3609.N46R48 2004 813'.6-dc22 2004005344 All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other-except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. The website addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a resource to you. These websites are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of Zondervan, nor do we vouch for their content for the life of this book. Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920. Interior design by Nancy Wilson Maps: Jane Haradine Printed in the United States of America 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 /.DC/ 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Rivka Rivka woke from a light sleep, her heart aching. The room was pitch black and smelled of incense and sweat and cheap wine. Like her apartment building back home in Berkeley. A dull sigh caught in Rivka's throat. She was not in Berkeley. Not even in America. She was in Jerusalem, a city of shimmering white stone, simmering with rage. And she was in the biggest trouble of her life. Beside her, Ari moaned quietly. Dear, sweet, opinionated, lovable, infuriating Ari Kazan. They had been married for five years, and she knew now why people said it was a mistake to marry an unbeliever. More accurately, a half-believer. Ari believed in God. He did not believe in Yeshua. Three days ago, that unbelief had saved his life. Deep grief welled up in Rivka's heart. She felt so very grateful Ari had been saved. But not that way. She could smell him in the deep darkness, the stale sweat rank on his naked body. Rivka touched a gentle finger to his jagged back. Thank God, Ari had survived the flogging. Blessed be HaShem, as they said here in Jerusalem, where they were too polite to say God's name, but they had no qualms about torturing in his name. "Rivka, are you awake?" Ari's voice was a tight whisper. "I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" "A little." Ari rolled to face her. His labored breathing rasped in Rivka's ear. "Please forgive me for bringing you to this city." "There's nothing to forgive." Rivka clutched his hands to her chest. "It was my fault, not yours." She closed her eyes, too late to stop the hot tears. Five years ago, thanks to a physics experiment gone horribly wrong, they had come through a wormhole and ended up trapped forever in a world they could never have imagined. First-century Jerusalem. It was a world that treated women like children. Rivka had hated it at first. Slowly, slowly, she had gotten used to the men who would not deign to speak to a woman, the women who looked askance at her. But she would never feel at home in this world. Unlike Rivka, Ari had quickly found a niche in this city of God. Trained as a physicist at the Hebrew University, MIT, and Princeton, Ari had floundered when he first came to this primitive culture. Then certain young men haIngermanson, Randall Scott is the author of 'Retribution', published 2004 under ISBN 9780310247074 and ISBN 0310247071.