Assassins (LaHaye novel)

Assassins: Assignment—Jerusalem, Target—Antichrist is the sixth book in the Left Behind series. It was written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins in 1999. It was on The New York Times Best Seller List for 39 weeks

Plot introduction

The book begins with protagonist Rayford Steele contemplating killing Global Community Supreme Potentate and Antichrist Nicolae Carpathia. It takes place from 38 months to the midpoint of the Tribulation

The prologue is the last Three pages of Apollyon.

Plot summary

Rayford, filled with rage over so many losses, contemplates killing Nicolae Carpathia. He is so obsessed with the idea that he becomes stern and short tempered at times. At the New Babylon palace, David Hassid is placed in charge of delivering 144 computers to Nicolae, but diverts the delivery by telling the pilots delivering the computers to go one place and does the paperwork for another location. Floyd Charles reveals that he was infected from delivering Hattie's stillborn child and goes to the hospital where Leah Rose works. While on the run from GC forces, Floyd Charles succumbs to the poison and dies. The International CO-OP is up and running, which will allow believers to trade when it becomes illegal to buy and sell without the Mark of the Beast.

Rayford is still wondering if he might be the one to kill Nicolae. Hattie (who also wants to kill Nicolae) runs off after an incident with Floyd and Rayford goes to find her, only to be tricked by GC Forces. Hattie is imprisoned and taken to the Belgium Facility for Female Rehabilitation, or "BUFFR". Rayford and the newest member of the Trib Force, Leah, are trying to retrieve a large quantity of cash from Leah's safe when the Sixth Trumpet Judgment hits as prophesied in Revelation 9:13-19, where a plague of death by fire, smoke, sulphur and deadly snake strikes carried out by 200 million demonic horsemen, visible only to the Tribulation saints, attack nonbelievers. Ray and Leah run into GC Peacekeeping forces and the horsemen, heading back to the safe house with the cash as the Peacekeepers are killed.

David Hassid meanwhile successfully gets the computers incorrectly delivered. He also introduces the Condor cargo chief and his love interest, Annie Christopher, to Mac. An assassination attempt on Nicolae ends up destroying the Condor 216; it is soon replaced by Pontifex Maximus Peter Matthews's plane and renamed the Phoenix 216. The GC plans a gala for the mid-point of the of the Tribulation in Jerusalem.

The Tribulation hurtles to its mid-point as the four murders prophesied in scripture take place. Peter Matthews is murdered by the 10 sub-pontentates of the world. Carpathia personally kills the Two Witnesses with a gun similar to the one Rayford buys to kill him. The Witnesses later protagonize a dramatic resurrection as they are taken up into the clouds, which is dismissed by the media as a hoax. After they are resurrected, an earthquake breaks out, destroying one tenth of Israel and leaving seven thousand dead, as prophesied in Revelation 11:11-13. Finally, Carpathia himself is assassinated as prophesied in Revelation 13:3-4 while delivering a speech three days before the midpoint of the tribulation. Rayford is skeptical as to whether he really was the one who did the deed as he planned to. A hole in Carpathia's head is the same size that Rayford would expect his gun to make, but he was bumped from behind a split second before pulling the trigger. And there were several people near him who are just as suspect. In a brief flashforward to the day before the Pontentate's burial, it is revealed that the assassin was caught on video camera and David Hassid is clearly surprised by what the tape reveals.

Characters

• Rayford Steele
• Cameron "Buck" Williams
• Chloe Steele Williams
• Dr. Tsion Ben-Judah
• David Hassid
• Annie Christopher
• Mac McCullum
• Supreme Potentate Nicolae Carpathia
• Supreme Commander Leon Fortunato
• Dr. Chaim Rosenzweig
• Hattie Durham
• Leah Rose
• Tyrola "T" Mark Delanty, owner of Palwaukee Airport
• Dr. Floyd Charles M.D.
• Kenny Bruce Williams
• Peter Mathews
• Mr. and Mrs. (Lukas) Laslos Miklos