The Guardian

by ROBBIE CHEUVRONT

  7. From Father Vin to Jason, God knew exactly what people to put in Anna’s life and when to put them there. In what ways has God strategically placed people in your life at the right times and seasons? Discuss some examples.

  8. How does Jason begin to have an effect on Anna’s life? What are the different ways? What were some of the key moments that show this?

  9. Cardinal Wickham in this story is in pursuit of the scroll as he works for Satan. What has brought Wickham to this place in his life? How has Satan deceived him and used him? In what ways do some of the things Satan does still happen in how he operates in our world today?

  10. Joseph McCoy finds himself catapulted into the middle of this cosmic battle because of his misguided aspirations and dreams for fame and power. Have you ever fallen into temptation like this? How can our enemy use this against us and God?

  11. Anna’s last battle before achieving victory happens on the beach with Satan (who is in the form of a serpent). In this moment, Satan does his best to cause Anna to have doubt by bringing up her sinful past. In what ways does Satan still attack you by bringing up your past? How can you combat this?

  12. At the end of the book, Anna finally has to walk by faith and not by sight as she enters the water and is forced to trust God completely. What times or moments in your life have you faced “faith not sight” experiences that have required you to put trust completely in God’s hands, not your own?

  13. What feelings, thoughts, and emotions did the Epilogue stir in you?

  14. As believers, it is easy to say to ourselves that if God called us to do something that required a complete change of direction in our life, or required us to leave behind everything that was normal for us, we would do it. But if you were put into Anna’s shoes, how do you think you would respond? If God clearly called you to make some radical change in your life, what obstacles do you foresee in your life now that would make that change difficult?

  15. What lessons or “take-aways” have you learned from The Guardian? How can this story be used to strengthen your own faith?

  ROBBIE CHEUVRONT is the worship pastor of The Journey Church in Lebanon, Tennessee and cofounder of C & R Ministries with Erik. He is also a songwriter and formerly toured with BNA recording artists, Lonestar. Robbie is married to Tiffany and has two children, Cason and Hadyn, and is currently pursuing a theology degree.

  ERIK REED is the lead pastor and an elder of The Journey Church in Lebanon, Tennessee. He graduated from Western Kentucky University with a B.A. in Religious Studies. He also graduated with his MDiv from Southern Seminary. Erik is married to Katrina, with two children, Kaleb and Kaleigh.

  Acknowledgments

  Robbie would like to thank …

  First of all, I would like to give glory to my Father in heaven. Through His mercy and grace, this sinful creature has found redemption that I don’t deserve, in Christ Jesus. I live to serve Him. I pray that He will be glorified in everything that I do.

  I would like to thank my wife, who I also don’t deserve, who tirelessly stands beside me in all things. She is my partner in all things. That God would choose for me a woman like her to share my life with, is mind blowing. Every day! I love you, Tiffany. To my children: For whatever reason, God has blessed me with you, Cason and Hadyn. I cherish each and every moment that I get to spend with you, and I pray with every ounce of my soul that God would save you. I beg that you would never take your eyes off of Him, and that you would trust Him for everything in this life. I love you two with all my heart. To my family: Thank you to my Mom and Dad for raising me and my sister, Crystal, in a good home. Though we were never rich, we had more treasure than I can count.

  Lastly, to The Journey Church: As Erik has said, it is an honor to serve you. I thank God for calling me into a life of ministry and placing me here, at this church. I love you all and am in awe of all that God has chosen to do through you for this body and His Kingdom. You are an amazing group of people, and I count it as pure joy that I get to serve alongside you and see your witness for Christ. Let’s never forget that this is His church, not ours.

  Erik would like to thank …

  There are so many people to recognize for their contribution to my life. First and foremost, God has been incredibly gracious to me. I am an undeserving sinner who has received the greatest gift of all—Jesus Christ. I have been so captured by His grace that it is my life’s desire to love Him and live for His glory, for all my life.

  Secondly, I want to thank my family. They are a tremendous encouragement and joy to my life. My wife, Katrina, is irreplaceable. She is the one God chose for me from the foundations of the world, and He chose well. My wonderful children, Kaleb and Kaleigh, are my pride and joy. They give me such pleasure in life. I love them in ways that I did not know existed. Third, I want to thank my parents, Billy and Ginger Reed, for raising me and my sister, Amber, in a loving and stable home. Thank you for working hard to support us and providing a home that was filled with wonderful memories and experiences.

  Lastly, the Journey Church: What a privilege it is to serve you. We have witnessed God work in incredible ways among us, and as we seek to continue lifting Christ up, and proclaiming His Word, we will continue to see that work done. Keep clinging to Jesus. Keep your eyes fixed firmly on the Author and Perfector of our faith, and He will make your paths straight.

  Robbie and Erik would like to thank …

  Our agent, Literary Management Group LLC., Bruce “BRB,” Barbour, & Lavonne Stevens. WOW! What a ride! The way that we came into contact with you in the first place, only serves as more proof of God’s sovereignty. You guys have been incredible. I can only imagine that other authors are jealous of our relationship with you all. Thank you for believing in us and taking a chance.

  Our Publisher, Barbour Books: When we decided that the manuscript was finished, we were only hopeful that a publisher would show a little interest and maybe give us a shot. You all have been unbelievable in your excitement and your hard work to see this book come to fruition. Your staff is top notch! And from the first moment we signed with you, you have taken us on a whirlwind of a journey. Thank you, too, for believing in us. We look forward to working with you again on our next book! Thank you, Rebecca and Mary, specifically for all you’ve done to bring The Guardian to life.

  Our Editor, Meredith Efken, and The Fiction Fix-It Shop: This being our first published novel, we were completely ignorant of how the editing process happened. We won’t lie. We were a little scared of you before we got started! But you quickly eased our minds. You are brilliant! And this manuscript would not be the book that it is without you. You brought life where there was lull, you brought coherence where there was disjointedness, and you brought depth to Anna where she was lacking. You are amazing, and we can’t imagine having gone through this process without you. Get ready! The next one is coming!

  Lastly, we would like to thank all of our extended families and friends who believed in us, encouraged us, prayed for us, and even read along as we wrote. So many of you have made the writing of this novel possible, and we are grateful to you for everything. Thank you, Michael Hyatt, for your article for new authors and the resources that you made available. This novel has been published as a result of that article. Thank you to Google. You wouldn’t believe how much of a writing tool the Internet is! Thank you to Waffle House and Starbucks. Many hours were spent in your establishments brainstorming and writing. Thank you to our best friends and coworkers, Shawn Allen, John Griffin, Kendria Spicer, Miranda Allen, Philip Organ, Shelly Baker, and Josh Waggoner. You guys make serving in ministry such a joy. Thanks for all your help in taking care of the tasks that Erik and I couldn’t, as we finished this book and got it ready for print. And finally, thank you Tom Hilpert for showing us how to even set up the template for writing in the first place.

  Coming Fall 2012 from Robbie Cheuvront and Erik Reed,

  The 13: Fall. Here’s a sneak peek of this gripping novel:

  Coming Fall 2012 fro
m Robbie Cheuvront and Erik Reed,

  The 13: Fall.

  Here’s a sneak peek of this gripping novel:

  CHAPTER 1

  Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Department, Edinburg Texas

  July 2, 2025, 10:30 a.m.

  Becky Sayers looked at the discolored flat-screen plasma TV and silently cursed her boss. “You’d think in this world of technology, we could find a TV that wasn’t made before I was born,” she mumbled to no one. “I mean, this thing’s not even in 3-D. A rerun of Everybody Loves Raymond was playing—the one where Raymond fakes going to the doctor so he can play golf. She’d seen it at least four times, but it was one of her favorites.

  She pushed back from her desk and stretched her legs. The switchboard had been pretty quiet so far. A few drunk-and-disorderlies and a domestic dispute. The holiday weekend usually meant a boring few days at the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Department.

  The green light flashed on her board. She placed the earpiece in her ear and said, “Thank you for calling the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Department. This is Becky ….”

  The caller made her complaint and hung up abruptly. Her neighbors were setting off illegal fireworks; could a deputy come by and take care of it? All of south Texas had experienced a horrible drought these past few months. The governor had issued a decree suspending all fireworks throughout the entire state. Residents weren’t happy, but they understood. Brushfires this time of year were common and could lead to billions of dollars in damage.

  Becky keyed her microphone. “Roy, this is Becky. I need you to go out to Ms. Dobson’s farm, out on highway 83. Neighbor kids are shootin’ off firecrackers or something.”

  She waited for the grumpy complaint that was sure to come. Roy hated dealing with neighborly disputes. He always tried to pawn them off on one of the other deputies. Nothing.

  “Roy, this is Becky—come in.”

  Nothing.

  “Roy! I ain’t playing! Pick up that radio or else!” Still nothing.

  She switched over to another channel. She couldn’t figure out why one of her deputies would switch channels, and she was starting to get a little worried. Roy was dependable, if nothing else. He’d never gone without answering a call while he was out in the field.

  “Roy, this is Becky. You change channels on me to try and get some R and R?”

  Nothing.

  Now she was getting worried. She switched the channel back. “Clay, this is dispatch. Check in—over.” Nothing.

  “Marcus, check in—over.” Nothing.

  She walked down the hall and found her boss, told him what was going on, and waited for a response. He told her not to worry. It was probably just weather-related. “Probably a sun spot or something messin’ with the radios,” he said. “Try again in a few minutes.”

  Back at her desk, she waited, watching the end of the show. As the credits rolled, she picked up her microphone. After five minutes of the same thing, she decided that this was no sun spot.

  She grabbed the phone and called the Cameron County Sheriff’s office—the next county over. She told them what was going on and asked if they were having any trouble. Gina, the dispatcher over there, said she had been experiencing the same thing for the last hour. None of her deputies had checked in or returned back to headquarters.

  She immediately hung up and called Star, Zapata, and Webb counties. All three reported the same goings on. At that point, she dismissed paranoia and hurriedly called the state police. They too had a few officers who weren’t responding, but all of the state police vehicles were equipped with GPS systems and were being located. The young man at state police headquarters offered to send a few officers her way to check on her deputies, too. She thanked him and provided the deputies’ last known whereabouts.

  July 4, 2025, 12:00 p.m.

  Becky stood in front of her fourth TV camera in the last hour and told her story again. This time it was Fox. NBC and CBS had already been by. The mysterious disappearance of her deputies two days ago was making national news. Several sheriff’s deputies, border patrol agents, and state and local police officers had turned up dead all across the border towns of Texas. Over the past two days, New Mexico and Arizona had reported the same.

  Becky was one of the first to discover the disappearances along the border, and therefore, she was a hot commodity with the news anchors.

  The blond supermodel-looking reporter nodded intently as Becky told her story. The reporter was about to ask her fourth and final question before wrapping the interview up with her own summation of things, when her left ear bud beeped. An excited voice began to relay information. The reporter’s expression faded and gave way to a look of disbelief, shock, then horror. Tears filled her eyes and her face turned ashen. Her arm dropped to her side, along with her microphone. Becky stopped mid-sentence and asked, “What’s wrong?”

  The reporter turned to her, eyes wide. She moved her mouth, but nothing came out.

  Becky grabbed the woman by her shoulders and shook her.

  “What’s wrong?”

  The reporter looked at her blankly and said, “Bomb … they’re all dead.” Her knees gave out, and she slumped to the hard, dry ground.

  Becky let go of the woman and ran back inside to the flat-screen TV.

  CHAPTER 2

  Hidalgo County, Texas,

  July 4, 2025, 11:30 a.m.

  Following the directions he was given, Jonathan Keene pulled his car off the road and onto a dirt path. After a mile, he came to the fork in the road. Then up ahead, on the left, stood the house.

  He parked the car, got out, and surveyed the area. Nothing. Walking into the house, he noticed a reflection of light coming from the hillside off to his left. He waited ten minutes. Then, as per his instructions, he left through the back door and walked slowly up the hill from toward the reflection’s source.

  At the top of the hill he knelt, placed his hands behind his head, and interlocked his fingers. This was the unsettling part. Out in the open. No cover. The sun blazing in his eyes. The wind blowing dust everywhere. It was hard to see anything more than twenty feet away. He did feel better though knowing that strapped to his back, under his loose shirt, was his Glock 9mm. It lay mere inches from his fingertips.

  After nothing for five minutes, he finally heard the faint hum of motorcycle engines. Within seconds, he was surrounded by a half dozen armed Mexicans.

  One covered with tattoos and a scar across his left cheek moved toward him. According to the description he’d been given, this was his informant.

  “Hola, holmes,” the young man said. “Welcome to Mehico.” Though the walk uphill was a short one, Keene knew that he had illegally crossed the invisible border into this gang-banger’s country. “Gracias,” he replied. “You must be Hector.” “Do I need to search you?” Hector asked.

  “Not unless you want to find the nine mil I got strapped to my back,” he said flatly.

  Hector laughed and said, “Stand up.”

  “Now what’s so important, Hector, that you need to talk to the CIA?” he asked.

  “Follow me,” Hector said, walking down the hill toward the house.

  Keene followed the men back into the house, thankful to be back on sovereign U.S. soil.

  “I know what happened to those sheriff’s deputies,” Hector said.

  “Yeah, so? Call the police.”

  “Nah, holmes—la policia don’t want none of this.” “None of what?”

  “That’s a nice watch, CIA. Where was that made? China?” “Yeah,” Jonathan said quizzically. “What’s that have to do with anything?”

  “Lots of stuff in your country made by China.” “Yeah, so?”

  “Funny thing. In the last two months, I been seeing lots of Chinese people ‘round here.”

  “Maybe they like the food,” Jonathan said.

  “Maybe,” Hector answered. “But these Chinese been coming in droves, holmes. In big military trucks. From down south.” “Interesting,” Jonathan murmured. �
�You want to know what’s really interesting, CIA?” “I give up,” Jonathan said in mock anticipation. “These Chinese, they got guns.” “So?”

  “And tanks. And airplanes.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me, holmes. They got an army down here. They been bringing it up here to the border for the last two months.”

  “Impossible. We would’ve known about it.” Jonathan said, a little worried.

  “You wanna know what happened to your cops, CIA? About three hundred Chinese foot soldiers with automatic weapons crossed your border and took them out. I got boys all up and down the border saying they seen it, man. Now, I don’t know what’s up with a hundred thousand Chinese being in my—”

  “What did you say? How many?”

  “From what I hear, about a hundred thousand.”

  Jonathan’s jaw went slack. There was no way that a hundred thousand Chinese soldiers were living across the border without the United States knowing about it. Something was wrong.

  “You look like you seen a ghost, CIA.”

  “Why are you telling me this, Hector? Why now? Why not two months ago?”

  “‘Cause two months ago, I couldn’ta cared less, holmes.” Hector said. “You Americans don’t know what goes on down here. You come to our fancy resorts and get treated like kings. Then you go back home and don’t care what happens to the rest of us out here. Well guess what? These Chinese start showing up and doing nice things for our communities. Nobody says anything ‘cause they like it. Then, without warning, they start taking over. And our policia don’t care. They gettin’ paid off. Next thing I know, I start seeing guns, tanks, and fighter planes. And then they come into town and line up five men and shoot them in the head. They say, anyone talks or tries to do anything, they kill the whole town!”