Blood Relics (A James Acton Thriller, #12) Read Online Free

donkey!
    He
chuckled as behind him he heard the guards arguing over the garments the
prisoners had worn, all divvied up in short order, the final item, the “king’s”
undergarment, drawing particular interest.
    “Let’s
not tear it,” he heard one say.
    “Let’s
decide by lot who will get it.” It was Albus who suggested this, the sounds of
the impartial method of decision making soon heard, Albus crying out with joy,
apparently the winner.
    A shadow
approached and he held out his arm. It stopped, but what sounded like an
elderly man began yelling. “You who are going to destroy the temple and build
it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son
of God!”
    There
was laughter among the crowd, another joining in on the taunting. “He saved
others, but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down
now from the cross, and we will believe in him.”
    More
laughter.
    “He
trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the
Son of God.’”
    The
taunts continued, the hatred in the voices unsettling. Longinus had heard
taunts before, usually from the victims, usually from a murder victim’s family,
taunting the condemned, taking pleasure in reminding them of the exquisite hell
that awaited them.
    But this
man had harmed no one.
    Though
according to what he had overheard, he might have caused great harm. Apparently
Prefect Pilate was prepared to shutdown Passover for fears of an uprising, a
Jewish rebellion. Hundreds if not thousands could have died had it been allowed
to happen. Pilate had told the Jewish leaders to handle it themselves.
    Apparently
this was how they had chosen to do that.
    Kill
a single man, an insane, blasphemous man, to save thousands of others.
    He had
to admit it had a perverse logic to it.
    “He
saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One!”
    He had
heard enough.
    “Silence!”
    A hush
descended upon the crowd, only to be replaced by his own fellow soldiers behind
him. “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
    This
seemed to embolden one of the others crucified along with the so-called king.
“Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
    His
counterpart replied with equal vigor. “Don’t you fear God since you are under
the same sentence?”
    Longinus
turned slightly, listening to the second prisoner with curiosity. It wouldn’t
be the first time that a criminal had begged forgiveness once facing imminent
death, but they rarely defended each other.
    “We are
punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has
done nothing wrong.” There was a pause, the voice changing slightly as the man
seemed to turn his head. “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
    The
raspy, weak voice replied, and Longinus’ felt a shiver travel his entire body.
“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
    The
surety with which the man said these words was inspiring, as if he actually
believed the madness he was preaching. Cries from several women in the crowd
was proof that many here believed his words too.
    And he
could understand that.
    In the few
hours he had been exposed to the man he hadn’t said a negative word, hadn’t
begged for his life, instead having begged for forgiveness for those who were
doing him ill, and delivering words of comfort to others.
    He was
truly an inspiring man.
    I can
see why people would follow him, despite his madness.
    “I’m his
mother, may we pass?”
    Longinus
nearly jumped, not having seen even the shadow of the woman who now stood
before him. The pain in her voice was clear, the anguish palpable, and he felt
his own chest tighten as he imagined how his mother would feel should it be he
nailed to a cross, waiting to die.
    He
nodded.
    Several
sets of footsteps trudged on the arid ground, those who passed whimpering or
sobbing, clearly believers in this man’s message. He looked