Abducted into the newly formed Hezbollah army, a young American Christian fights for his life, his freedom, and the woman he loves when he defies a brutal regime during one of the most difficult times in Middle East history.
Escape the Hezbollah is a glorious story of how love can endure through the most cruel, hostile, and depraved environment imaginable. Friends begin to go missing and rumors surface. Some of Joseph s friends are never heard from again. Joseph becomes entrapped in the mystery of his friends disappearances when, one day after work, he and his friend, Fareed, are forcibly thrown into the backseat of a black Nissan and abducted. The two young men are forced to join a ruthless militia.
This military, formed by the IRG to protect Lebanon from invasion by the Israelis, contradicts its credence. Joseph witnesses the most horrific sins that man can inflict upon another human being and he wants out. He thinks his Maker has abandoned him and he questions God s very existence, ultimately doubting his own faith.
After grueling years of enduring this military life, escape, and concealment, a way opens up for him to safely flee the country and eventually return to the U.S.
Excerpt
HEZBOLLAH NIGHTMARE
The glow of a blast momentarily lit up the sky. Under the camouflage of the night shadows, several blackface men dashed for a fishing boat bound to Maharashtra. Joseph was among those fugitives who were determined to seek asylum in another country. He observed others up ahead, scurrying toward the harbor where he was advised to wait. They crouched close to the ground to drop instantly, should they need to prevent detection Joseph followed suit. He was now considered a criminal and must be captured. In Iran, that would mean certain death. The judge made all the decisions and his decision was for Joseph to disappear quickly, quietly—and lethally, just like any other deserter More than half the men escaping with him deserved the death penalty, according to Sharia law.
His case was unique Joseph had been abducted into an army desperate for new recruits, and should he have escaped, it could shame the government and the whole nation, disgracing the Imam. The government was determined to keep any apologue about him classified by stealthily hunting him down in secret. Somehow, word got out that Joseph was still alive and hiding along the Gulf Coast. Bushehr was one of the stops the soldiers were assigned to search along the shoreline. Their orders were to find him, kill him, and bury him in an unmarked grave.
Hezbollah soldiers had been hovering around the harbor coastline for days. Today, they searched the houses and apartments around Bushehr. This was the opportunity Joseph and the other escapees were waiting for. While the soldiers combed through the apartments, the fugitives scurried toward the fishing dhow.
At twilight, another explosion roared and lit up the sky near the distant nuclear power plant. Although the site was still under construction, the Iraqis attacked it regularly. The underground used explosives as a diversion, in the hope that the blast could be mistaken for one of the Iraqi attacks. A discharge gave Joseph and the others the cover they needed to escape to the port Fragments from the exploded structures flew in the air and landed all around the plant and nearby buildings. Fires from burning debris lit up the unfinished nuclear plant again, and the darkened streets echoed with the stampede of soldiers running toward the blast. Joseph looked back through the haze and smoke and saw a man with a rope around his neck swinging from a crane Blood dripped from his jugular down his arm and chest. His death was intended as a warning to anyone sheltering fugitives, but instead, the corpse had reinforced the underground’s convictions to help the fugitives escape from Iranian territory. Most of them were innocent of a crime deserving death.
Joseph jumped over a wall and crouched on the beach. Here he either would be picked up or receive further instructions He saw a comrade up ahead disappear into the darkness Joseph knew what he must do to stay alive—something he’d learned while training to become a soldier like the ones he now evaded. When he peeked back over the ledge of the wall in the vicinity of the blast, he saw two hefty men close to the explosion run for the beach toward him Joseph recognized one of the men as an accomplice. He knew the man had spotted him, but the man said nothing Instead, he slid on the gravel road, turned back to the power plant, and stopped short. A shot rang out, wounding another man at his heels. Joseph reached out to help, but soldiers were closing in behind them.
“Get them! They’re the ones who started the explosion,” one of the soldiers yelled in Farsi. “Kill them! Allah Akbar! Allah Akbar! Shoot them!”
Joseph ducked quickly. The man behind Joseph saw his companion fall to the ground. He glanced forward again at Joseph and motioned for him to keep going, then ran back to help his friend The soldier who first fired, fired again, but missed. Another soldier fired repeatedly until both men dropped Joseph hunkered further down. When he saw the soldiers approaching the bodies of his two comrades, he looked around for a better place to hide. But he couldn’t keep advancing without being spotted.
“That man in front with the denim shirt recognized me,” Joseph whispered. He raised his head slightly for a better view. The men were definitely dead “If only I knew If only I could have saved them.” A gunner close to the bodies searched the area cautiously and aimed his rifle in Joseph’s direction. Again Joseph ducked out of sight His heart pounded like a judge’s gavel. The sweat of his brow dripped into his eyes and he squeezed them shut to mitigate the sting as he clung to the wall. If it had been possible, he would have buried himself in the sand to escape detection. He could hear booted footsteps close to the shoreline. They diminished as the soldiers dragged the dead back toward the town.
The captain warned him that traveling in the hull of the fishing boat would be harrowing and that only the stouthearted could endure. Any harder than this––I’m a goner.
The smuggler Joseph’s father commissioned to help him escape told them that once aboard the dhow he would be safe, or at least safer than going through the overpass. But either way, Joseph knew his chance of a getaway was slim.
Professional Reviews
Escape The Hezbollah by Pola Muzyka
Escape from Hezbollah from Trinity Matrix is one of those books that are a mite difficult to gain your interest at first. A mite difficult until you read a few chapters and find that you can't put the book down. It is one of these novels that one regrets coming to the end; the feeling of losing a friend.
The plot revolves around an American family that moves to Iran so that Jalal, the father can get a better job. Customs in Iran are so difficult for the rest of his family, his wife and two young sons, that it takes a long time to acclimate and shed their American ways. Strict dress codes for the women, a new language and the making of friends are just a few of the obstacles that they face.
They entered Iran during a time of turmoil that, to a degree, represented Nazi Germany. Joseph, their older son, is abducted by the Hezbollah and once again has to undergo a new transference. Christianity has to be submerged in his thoughts in order for him to survive in militant surroundings. He must openly accept Islam, if he is to survive.
Hezbollah, a militant operation, has little regard for the life of anyone disagreeing with their philosophy. He is finally forced to kill in order to survive. One of the women that he is forced to eliminate, he later learns, is the mother of his best friend in the military camp. She died bravely!
During his stay in Teheran, Joseph/Yousef found a friend who attracted his attention. Azita, Zita as she was known to friends, was a native of Iran. They palled around with a group of friends who shared their more modern beliefs. One of their acquaintances, he later learned, earmarked him for abduction by Hezbollah. Our hero was shanghaied and forced to embrace their beliefs, albeit begrudgingly.
The plot starts with his escape, but through flashbacks brings the reader through his travails and his travels and culminates with his rescue. Once started, the reader will be prone to keep on reading.
Escape the Hezbollah by Pola Muzyka and published by Trinity Matrix, Publish@TrinityMatrix.com is available in hardcover, ISBN 978-0-9817833-1-4.
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