I BEGAN this journey with the belief that this nation of ours was in dire need of a change in leadership. Everywhere I looked, all I could see was greed and corruption, especially in the highest political offices in the land. It sickened me to think that this was the best our country had to offer.

With recent events, however, our nation has truly come to a crossroads. Indeed, it is facing the biggest challenge it has ever seen. We as a people must decide whether it is time to take back our government from those who would circumvent our rule of law, or give up all hope that change can ever truly occur. The time to decide is now. The time to stand up and fight for what is right is now. If we don’t, we are lost. We can no longer afford to live unaware of the danger that now surrounds us.

CHRISTINA awoke to find herself lying in a strange bed in a darkened room. She had no idea how she got there and could only vaguely recall what she was doing before she blacked out. She remembered that she was out with some of her friends partying at Shooter’s in the Flats, and that she had had a little too much to drink, but the rest of the evening was a blur.

Her head ached something fierce though and for the first few minutes of consciousness she was disoriented and a little confused. Was she at home? Did she go home with a friend or a stranger? The room had almost no light and it was taking awhile for her eyes to adjust, so she really couldn’t tell, but from the size of the room she knew she was not at home.

THE room the sniper had chosen to take aim of his target was absolutely perfect. He couldn’t have chosen a better place if he tried, and the fact that he had found so perfect a spot only further confirmed his belief that God supported his mission. The sniper was hidden in an abandoned building just across the street from where his target had a speaking engagement, and the warehouse had quite a few windows which would make it harder for anyone to know exactly where the shot originated from. He had planned this moment for years now, and so far, everything was progressing just as he had planned it.

The gunman carefully loaded the cartridge for his M40A3 rifle, the same kind that the US Marine Corps use, and adjusted the telescopic sight so that it was aimed for where his victim would exit out into the open air.