Apollyon: The Destroyer is Unleashed is the fifth book in the Left Behind series, written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins and released in 1999.
Plot Summary
As Tsion Ben-Judah, Buck Williams, and Chloe Williams travel to Jerusalem to attend the meeting the rabbi had set up with the 144,000 Jews at Teddy Kollek Stadium,Mac McCullum warns Rayford Steele in New Babylon that now may be the time for him to leave his job as the pilot to Nicolae Carpathia and go underground with the Tribulation Force members in Chicago. He returns with Ken Ritz as his pilot in time to find Hattie Durham getting sicker during her pregnancy. Hattie suspects that Nicolae had her poisoned, just as he also had Bruce Barnes poisoned, and reveals to Rayford that all those rumored reports about Amanda Steele secretly working for Carpathia were all plants set up by Hattie under his orders, thus vindicating Amanda in Rayford's mind as a true believer.
Upon arriving at the hotel in Jerusalem where Tsion, Buck, and Chloe were going to stay at, they discover that other arrangements have already been made by Chaim Rosenzweig, who was Tsion's teacher years ago, that the elderly Jew has invited them to stay at his estate. They accept this offer gratefully, though Tsion tries to reason with Chaim for him to see Carpathia for what he really is and that he needs Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. On the first day of Tsion's meeting with the 144,000 at the Stadium, Buck and Chloe accompany him as they watch Nicolae attempt to crash the meeting with Leon Fortunato and Peter Mathews of Enigma Babylon One World Faith in tow, trying to use his mesmerizing gift of speech to sway the crowd, but finding himself unable to do so as his voice became raspy and parched. When he tried to drink a glass of water that was offered to Nicolae, he spits it out as it turned to blood, cursing Tsion for playing a trick on him and threatening to kill him, when Eli and Moishe arrive on the scene, protecting Tsion from the Antichrist's wrath. Jacov, Chaim's driver who was listening to the scene in his car, was convinced enough by Tsion's message to become a believer in Christ.
Back at the safehouse, Hattie's pregnancy takes a turn for the worse. Buck and Floyd Charles take her secretly into Brigham Young Memorial Hospital, where Leah Rose, a nurse who is a believer, helps Floyd in the delivery of a stillborn fetus, which is then incinerated. Hattie returns to the safehouse still weak from both the poison and the delivery, telling Rayford that she plans to kill Nicolae when she gets healthy.
After the final day of Tsion's meeting with the 144,000, Ken and Rayford help the rabbi as well as Buck and Chloe escape from Jerusalem as they are being pursued by Global Community forces that are out to kill them. They manage to steal Carpathia's helicopter, and are pursued by Global Community forces in a wild goose chase. To escape from Carpathia's forces they swap it with a Trib Force chopper, but Buck and Ken don't make it to the Chopper before the door closes, but manage to hold onto one of the landing skids during takeoff. However Ken Ritz is hit by gunfire from GC forces, and the falls off the helicopter after takeoff, killing him. Buck also falls off, but ends up with only a broken arm, though escaping the GC, as the helicopter flies away with Tsion, Rayford and Chloe safe. Buck ends up residing with Chaim while he awaits for a flight back to the states when the fourth Trumpet Judgment strikes, causing the sun, moon, and stars to emit a third of their light on the Earth, sending temperatures plummeting. Chaim is called to give his view on television about this phenomenon, yet realizes that the GC simply want him to parrot the party line about their supposed explanation for this event. Chaim goes on the air, but chooses to speak his own mind instead.
Back in Chicago, Rayford learns that Ken Ritz had a fortune stashed at the airport he was working for and goes to claim it for the Tribulation Force, but he is contested by a few parties that are claiming rights to Ken's property, including Ernie who is revealed to be an unbeliever using a fake mark. It is at this point that horrid-looking locust creatures come swarming onto the scene, going after those without the Seal of God and chanting "Apollyon". In Jerusalem, Buck sees the same creatures outside Chaim's house and tries to block their entry as they chant "Abaddon", but they somehow manage to sneak inside and sting Chaim, who ends up in a delerium that makes him want to seek death. Hattie also becomes a victim of the locust creatures from the fifth Trumpet Judgment and tries to reach out to her sister to become a believer in Christ.
Finally Buck manages to get a ride back to the United States with the help of Abdullah Smith, a former Jordanian Air Force pilot, who gets him home in his jet fighter, stopping at various places to refuel. Meanwhile, Chloe's pregnancy has come to full term and she is ready to deliver, but her health is fading, so Floyd tries to help Chloe and her baby survive the delivery. On his way back to the safehouse, Buck finds himself followed by a rider thought to be working for the GC, but it turns out to be a friend of Hattie's who is trying to find the safehouse himself. With the rider safely ditched and out of the way, Buck makes it home to find that Chloe is alive, and so is their newborn baby boy, whom they name Kenny Bruce Williams.
Characters In Apollyon
- Rayford Steele, former pilot for Pan-Continental
- Buck Williams, former news reporter for Global Weekly
- Chloe Williams, the wife of Buck Williams
- Hattie Durham, former flight attendant and personal assistant to Nicolae Carpathia
- Chaim Rosenzweig, former Israeli scientist
- Jacov, Chaim's driver
- Stefan, Chaim's Valet
- Jonas, Chaim's Security
- Hannelor, Jacov's Wife
- Tsion Ben-Judah, rabbinical scholar and cyber-pastor
- Mac McCullum, pilot to Nicolae Carpathia
- David Hassid, Director of Purchasing in New Babylon
- Leah Rose, former hospital nurse
- Floyd Charles, a doctor
- Ken Ritz, charter pilot
- T, owner of an airstrip used by the Tribulation Force
- Lukas Miklos, an underground believer in Greece
- Abduallh Smith, former Jordanian Air Force pilot
- Eli and Moishe, the two witnesses
- Nicolae Carpathia, the Antichrist
- Leon Fortunato, the False Prophet, currently the Supreme Commander
- Peter Mathews, spiritual leader of Enigma Babylon One World Faith