Sanctuary of the Chosen Audiobook

A hysterical passenger in his early seventies, his expensive tailored suit spattered with blood, was being taken off when Ari boarded the plane. He had finally convinced a flight attendant that his wife had been killed in the attack. Though overcome with shock and his own grief, Ari, after long years of training and practice, instinctively absorbed and evaluated every part of his surroundings and...

When Nicole phoned Dr. Duclos and his wife to tell them the good news of the next day’s meeting, they insisted upon taking her to the airport. “It’s too much for you to drive out there alone with the baby.” Her objections were brushed aside. “It’s all settled. We’ll pick you up at six thirty tomorrow morning.” It was just before eight o’clock when they pulled up in front of Orly International Airp...

Ironically, after more than six hours of sweating out negotiations conducted with numerous governments through Bourbonnais’s top political contacts, tiny Israel was the only nation that was willing to admit Ari for immigration. And that breakthrough came only at the last minute when Ari brought up the possibility—and was finally willing to admit what he had spent a lifetime trying to deny and forg...

“Pull over at the next phone booth,” Ari told the driver. “I just remembered an important call I have to make. See, that one up ahead… on the right. I’ll just be a minute.” Inside the booth, Ari dialed Roger’s office at the consortium’s headquarters—a number that Roger had never given him and would be surprised to discover that he knew. The receptionist gave him to Roger’s secretary. “I’m sorry, b...

On February 20, Nicole gave birth to a healthy baby boy weighing just under eight pounds. Ari learned of the event a week later when he received in the mail an announcement of the birth of Ari Paul de Benoits. Enclosed was a picture of mother and child taken in the hospital. Nicole was looking proudly and protectively down at the small bundle in her arms. Along with the vital statistics was this n...

Because of his intensive travel schedule into Eastern Europe during those busy months, Ari had lost touch with Nicole. Then, one evening in mid-December, she called and asked to meet him the next day at their favorite restaurant on Boulevard du Port-Royal. Of course he had agreed, trying not to sound too eager. At least she had initiated the get-together. Was this a good omen? Ari arrived first an...

The next few weeks were bitterly lonely ones for Ari. He hadn’t been there when Nicole had come to the apartment to pick up her things. Perhaps that had been best. But how he missed her! The last six years—his happiest—couldn’t be so easily negated. The vivid memory of her face and enchanting voice, of her lilting, contagious laugh and graceful feminine movements, of the very fragrance she had exu...

Ari had caught sight of Carla in the distance, her long, naturally wavy auburn hair bouncing with every step. These tall Americans! They stand out in any crowd. And that self-confident stride, the look.… Ari pretended not to see her, and she made as though she were walking past. Casually, she turned in his direction, stopped as though taken by surprise, and waved. “Professor Mueller!” she called....

For a long time Ari lay awake, starting at every real or imagined noise and rehearsing with painful clarity the evening’s debacle. So often during these past years he’d heard the reassuring sound of key grating against lock signaling that Nicole had returned safely from a late night at the hospital. Now he listened in vain. If only he’d been more sympathetic, more sensitive! At last, sometime afte...

“That dinner was fantastic,” exclaimed Ari, wiping his mouth with his napkin and pushing his chair back from the table. He stood up and reached for Nicole’s plate. “Here, let me help you.” “Sit right back down,” she ordered, then added with an impish look, “I’ve got a surprise for you.” “Shall I close my eyes?” “If you like.” She went to the refrigerator and brought out a Black Forest torte—his fa...

Taking advantage of the summer school holiday—and of his new understanding with Roger—Ari spent the next two months traveling. How he wanted to go back to China to seek out the few leaders who he knew had escaped the purge! Yet to do so would only endanger them. He was getting money to them through established channels that were still functioning. Communications were coming out—but there was nothi...

It was a blisteringly hot late afternoon in mid-July but without the usual heat haze and smog. In spite of the lingering, oppressive humidity in the wake of a brief rainsquall that had blown across Paris that morning, there was almost unlimited visibility under a pale blue sky. Across Pont Alexandre III hurried an endless throng of pedestrians, mostly eager tourists. They chattered noisily in a va...

Ari gulped down the last of his orange juice and grabbed the kitchen phone at its first ring. It was just before seven o’clock and Nicole mustn’t be disturbed. An emergency operation had kept her at the hospital until after two o’clock in the morning. She’d come home just before three looking completely exhausted. “Hello,” he said in a low voice. “Professor Mueller, it’s Abdy. Sorry to call so ear...

“Ari! What are you doing?” Nicole had awakened out of a sound sleep to find Ari sitting up in bed beside her in a yoga position, arms extended, palms up. From lips that only slightly moved came eerie, incomprehensible sounds. She turned on the bed lamp and watched him in horror. Though his eyes were wide open, Ari seemed oblivious to his surroundings. “Ari! Wake up!” Nicole grabbed his arm and beg...

“Niki! Professor Mueller! Great to see you!” exclaimed Abdul, after he had hurriedly squeezed between the patrons crowded around the closely placed tables, ducked under the rainbow-colored umbrellas above them, and joined the waiting couple. “Sorry to be late. The traffic’s horrible and parking’s impossible. I should have taken the metro.” 'Abdul shook Ari’s outstretched hand, then leaned over and...

A discreet cough from the waiter caught Ari’s attention. He approached their table, pencil and pad ready, and stood beside Ari in the distinctive dress of the garçons in this section of Paris: black bow tie and white shirt, black vest, and crisply starched, spotlessly white apron reaching almost to the ground. “Are monsieur and mademoiselle ready to order dinner?” “Someone else is joining us,” rep...

Purchase the book: https://store. thebereancall.org/shop/product/b60866-sanctuary-of-the-chosen-37023 Free eBook: https://davehunt.org/collections/all-ebooks/products/sanctuary-of-the-chosen More about Israel: https:// www.thebereancall.org/topic/israel “You’re so quiet, Ari. Can’t you tell me what’s bothering you? Please, darling…” Nicole tossed her long, blond hair back. It just touched the shou...

Ari looked at his watch. In exactly seven minutes and thirty seconds he would make a call from a certain pay phone near the Eiffel Tower to another pay phone somewhere in Paris, where Jean-André, one of his many couriers, would be at that precise time. Then he would go to another pay phone to make a similar call to a pay phone in his old town of Leipzig, where Heinz Bühne, his right-hand man in th...

Purchase the book: https://store. thebereancall.org/shop/product/b60866-sanctuary-of-the-chosen-37023 Free eBook: https://davehunt.org/collections/all-ebooks/products/sanctuary-of-the-chosen More about Israel: https:// www.thebereancall.org/topic/israel Ari had not heard from Roger since being taken from his apartment at gunpoint years ago—nor had he attempted to contact him, suspecting that his m...

From its watchful post on the centuries-darkened stone exterior high above the western entrance to the University of Paris, the weathered face of the ancient clock looked down solemnly on Place De La Sorbonne. Its hands stood at 11:47. Already the sidewalk tables of the brasseries, salons de thé, and grillades along the south side of the small square were crowded, though it was still too early for...

When at last, with chest heaving and legs about to give out, Ari reached the town and continued running at a slower pace through its deserted streets, uncertainty overwhelmed him once more. What if the police were watching this railway station after all? He’d heard the call on the radio for a general alarm nationwide and wasn’t sure what that meant. When the manhunt failed to pick up his trail to...

When at last, with chest heaving and legs about to give out, Ari reached the town and continued running at a slower pace through its deserted streets; uncertainty overwhelmed him once more. What if the police were watching this railway station after all? He’d heard the call on the radio for a general alarm nationwide and wasn’t sure what that meant. When the manhunt failed to pick up his trail to...

“Oh, my God!” Ari’s mother fell to her knees in front of her husband, weeping uncontrollably now, clutching his legs. “Blessed Virgin, help me!” He shook her off and sank back into his chair at the table, staring at Ari with eyes that blazed hatred. In stunned horror, Ari recoiled at the scene before him. The stinging words had resurrected memories of childhood fears and uncertainties that now par...

Ten minutes past the lake, after accelerating to top speed again, the express slowed and ground to its first stop. This station was always a busy one, as Ari well knew. He had moved to the seat next to the rear exit, from where he could observe the entire platform through the window and keep a wary eye on anyone entering his car. About two dozen passengers boarded the train, all of them in the for...

After a brief burst of speed, Ari settled into a steady pace that he could maintain the entire distance. The only sound competing with the slap of his shoes on pavement was the eerie fluttering of the flags hanging from the dingy shop fronts. Plaster peeling from the once well-kept brick exteriors, and the gray metal storm shutters pulled down and locked tight over doors and windows, gave the impr...