Gary J Rose – författare

Forty-two teenage men and women, all wearing camouflage Army uniforms, standing in columns with their platoons, as the American flag is being raised.  Many of their uniforms displayed metals for outstanding performance. All of them proud of what they represented – the Alder Grove Academy.

 They came from most of Placer County’s high schools, court and community schools and junior high.  Even though they each had their own story, they were either arrested and placed on probation and/or suspended or expelled and sent to the Academy as their last shot at turning their lives around. Most of these at-risk students hated school and their truancy had resulting in credit deficiencies.  Others had rebelled against authority figures at their school. Some had alcohol and drug use problems that further their downward spiral.

At the Alder Grove Academy they would come face to face with a retired police sergeant who prided himself as an “Old School” teacher.  They would be entering a school that operated on order, structure and discipline.  There were no victims in the Academy.  For many, this would be the hardest academic and physical school they had ever attended. In partnership with the U.S. Army, they would slowly become a family learning that their choices from here on out, depended on whether they had reached rock bottom and sincerely wanted to change.

They offer their stories in hopes of turning at least one at-risk students around like they did.

Ark of the Covenant- Raid on the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion  Does the Ark exist and if so, where?  A group of former black-ops Gulf War veterans, known as the Banshees, who have turned rogue and commit various crimes for personal gain, use information from a biblical scholar who believes she knows the location of the Ark and how to steal it.   Nancy Harding, a university professor and biblical historian who has dedicated her life to searching for religious relics needs the Banshees to steal the Ark.   Believing she knowns the exact location of the Ark of the Covenant – a chapel in Ethiopia. By double-crossing Frank and the rest of the Banshees, Nancy wants to keep the artifact for herself. One of the Banshee’swas recently caught in a sting involving the FBI. Facing a tremendous prison term, he has turned informant. After he learns of the pending theft of the Ark, he informs the FBI, who in turn, pass off their investigation to Interpol. This set the stage for international intrigue with Frank’s uncanny ability to keep one step ahead of possible tails he believes is watching the Banshee’s every move.Using his former contacts in the Middle East, Frank’s now has the monetary backing to pull off the heist. A mock rendition of the chapel located in Ethiopia is created in the desert of Arizona. After several days of “practice” raids on the building, the plan is put into motion.Having yachting experience, One of the Banshees is sent to the Middle East where Middle Eastern backers have secured a luxury yacht, a crew, and several lady escorts, all to project the image of an American playboys frolicking in the ocean waters off the coast of Saudi Arabia, Yemen and finally, Ethiopia.Nancy, already well documented on the Internet as a well-respected biblical historian, travels once again to the little town of Axom with Frank in tow, under the cover of contining her research into the supposed location of the Ark. Taking pictures and asking questions however, is just a way to get further information about the sole guardian, a monk, and his routine, before the final raid.Meanwhile, Interpol, embedded in the Ethiopian Federal Police Agency, have decided to allow the Banshees to carry out the raid and later catch them on the yacht with the relic. Nancy and Frank would be arrested in Axom. Complicating matters is that ISSIs has sent a team of terrorists to either steal the relic or destroy the myth.  Does the Ark of the Covenant actually exist and does it have the powers described in the Bible?