Merry Christmas, Alex Cross

Merry Christmas, Alex Cross is the 19th novel in the Alex Cross series by author James Patterson. Alex Cross is the hero of our time, this is Alex’s long break. On Christmas Eve, detective Alex Cross called to arrest the man who was robbing his church’s shabby box.

We invite you to listen to this fascinating story.

Prologue the devil on Christmas
Messi won
The rear door to Saint Anthony’s church have been left open
Exactly as I had been promised
John Sampson and I used in through the dimly-lit Sacristy
The room where the priest dressed for services
And where they store the altar wine
The hymnals
Investments
Sugar I hope we don’t have to shoot some dude in a church
Samson said in a stage whisper
Your nana be predicted me for a slot in the fire
Especially if you pulled the trigger in church tonight
Not funny Alex
If you shot someone in a church on Christmas Eve and I didn’t stop you
Never Mama be signing me up for a slot right next to you in the Big Burn
We made our way along a short narrow hallway
That led to the darkened apps
And they alter itself
We stayed in the hall
Looking out
Except for some flickering votive hanging candle near the altar table
There was no light in the church
It couldn’t have been more than three or four people in place
An old woman clicking her
A homeless guy napping in the front pew
An older man reading a prayer book and muttering curses
I carefully checked out each of them
Then a young girl in a fur coat
A Coke way too fancy for Saint Anthony’s
Barged out of the confessional box on the near side of the church
She was
Sobbing into a long striped scarf
The priest came out after
Father Harris placed his hand on her shoulder
And letter to a pew
Nope
Padre was a very nice guy and very good priest
The kind of man you did favors for if you could
I looked around and decorate the church
I’ve been attending Saint Anthony since I was 10 years old
I couldn’t remember the place ever looking so Bear Christmas
In fact
The church looked depressing
I waited until I was sure all the worshippers had their heads down
And then I walked quickly across the front of the Altar and knelt at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the car
Open
The man Mountain State on the Sacristy side and knelt among the bright red poinsettia plants
The lectern and the chairs used by the priest and Altar Boys between him and the fuse
A moment later
The girl not and left
Father Harris paused
Glanced toward our positions
And then went out a side door
Except for steam taking in the registers
Saint Anthony spell quiet
Kneeling there with my back to the crucifix high on the rear wall
Felt odd
And somehow
Wrong
Then again
Sing felt strange
I don’t think I’ve been on an altar in more than 35 years
Not since I have been on that very alter making my confirmation when I was 12
That day
The bishop being confirmed saying
Fill them with your spirit of fear
It’s a prayer that I have always found peculiar because
As a rule
I see God as a source of courage and direction
Not fear
I’m not a priest
And so
Bart Simpson likes to say
What do I know
Positions in any case and waiting
Knowing we had only an hour to pull this off
At 6 the priests and Friars from The Priory next door to prepare the church for Midnight Mass
At 6
This little Stakeout would be over
And I’d be going home for a well-deserved holiday with my family
I’ve been called cynical more than once in my life
In my line of work
It’s often tough to be positive or idealistic about much of anything
But as the minutes past inside Saint Anthony
I smell the incense
And the furballs
And watch the votive candles flickering near the manger scene
And I remember coming here on Christmases past
There was a sameness to the place
A calm sense of the unchanging got to me
I thought my muscles relax
And my mind slowed two things that were important
Like humbleness gratitude
Which Nana mama always said where the keys to a long satisfying life
Seeing how my grandmother was in her nineties and going strong
I tried hard to listen closely when she said stuff like that
Kneeling there behind the pulpit
I ignored the Terrible Things I’ve seen in the year almost gone by
And thank my Lord and Savior for all the blessings I received
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