Read Online When Heaven Weeps by Ted Dekker - Free Book Online

incessantly.
    â€œI will count to three, Priest!”
    The commander’s voice jerked him back to the courtyard.
    Nadia was looking at him. She had stopped her crying. Sorrow overcame him again.
    â€œOne!” Karadzic barked.
    â€œNadia,” Father Michael croaked. “Nadia, I—”
    â€œDon’t, Father,” she said softly. Her small pinks lips clearly formed the words. Don’t, Father. Don’t what? This from a child! Nadia, dear Nadia!
    â€œTwo!”
    A wail rose over the crowd. It was Ivena. Poor Ivena. She strained against the large soldier, who held her arms pinned behind her back. She clenched her eyes and dropped her jaw and now screamed her protest from the back of her throat. The solider clamped a hand around her face, stifling her cry.
    Oh God, have mercy on her soul! Oh God . . . “Nadia . . .” Father Michael could barely speak, so great was the pressure in his chest. His legs wobbled beneath him and suddenly they collapsed. He landed on his knees and lifted his one good arm to the girl. “Nadia—”
    â€œI heard the song, Father.” She spoke quietly. Light sparkled through her eyes. A faint smile softened her features. The girl had lost her fear. Entirely!
    Nadia hummed, faint, high-pitched, clear for all to hear. “Hm hm hm hmhmm . . .” The melody! Dear God, she had heard it too!
    â€œThree!” Karadzic barked.
    â€œI saw you there,” she said. And she winked.
    Her eyes were wide open, an otherworldly blue penetrating his, when the gun bucked in the commander’s thick, gnarled hand.
    Boom!
    Her head snapped back. She stood in the echoing silence for an endless moment, her chin pointed to sky, baring that tender pale neck. And then she crumpled to the ground like a sack of potatoes. A small one, wrapped in a pink dress.
    Father Michael’s mind began to explode. His own voice joined a hundred others in a long epitaph of distress. “Aaaaahhhhhh . . .” It screamed past his throat until the last whisper of breath had left his lungs. Then it began again, and Michael wanted desperately to die. He wanted absolutely nothing but to die.
    Ivena’s mouth lay wide open, but no sound came out. Only a breath of terror that seemed to strike Michael on his chest.
    The priest’s world began to spin and he lost his orientation. He fell forward, face first, swallowed by the horror of the moment. His head struck the concrete and his mind began to fade. Maybe he was in hell.

CHAPTER FIVE
    IVENA WAS reading through tears now. Wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand and sniffing and trying to keep the page clear enough to read. The sorrow felt like a deep healing balm as it washed through her chest in relentless waves.
    It felt that way because she knew what was coming next and she could hardly wait to get there! Her fingers held a slight tremble as she turned these few pages. They were worn ragged on the corners. The book stated elsewhere that you could not find mountains without going through valleys. In all honesty she didn’t know whether her Nadia’s death was a mountain or a valley. It really depended on perspective.
    And truly, the perspective was about to change.
    JANJIC STARED, his eyes wide and stinging. All about him voices of torment screamed; pandemonium erupted on the courtyard floor. Father Michael lay face-down, his head not five inches from the girl’s shiny white birthday shoes.
    Karadzic reached out and snatched another child by the collar. The boy’s mother wailed in protest, started forward, and then stopped when Karadzic shoved the gun toward her. “Shut up! Shut up! Everyone!” he thundered.
    Janjic was running before his mind processed the order to run. Straight for the priest. Or perhaps straight for Karadzic, he didn’t know which until the last possible second. The man had to be stopped.
    How the commander managed to get his pistol around so quickly Janjic had no clue,