It was late afternoon when the small blue chopper emerged from the clouds and descended over the castle for a landing at the base of the hill. All through the day, several members of the Bible Code Team had been staring up at a large screen on the wall in the castle’s underground communications center, where they had been watching events unfold in real time from a tiny, forward-looking camera mounted on Nava’s helmet.
The room had broken into applause after Nava had pulled off one of the greatest feats of flying any of them had ever witnessed. After the rescue, she had decided to maintain radio silence until they were five minutes out from the castle. Everyone in the communications room could hear the concern in her voice when she told them her passengers were showing signs of hypothermia and that the chopper was running dangerously low on fuel.
Grabbing some warm blankets and a thermos full of hot coffee, the team rushed from the castle and down to the landing pad, where they all waited anxiously until the chopper was safely on the ground and the engines had whined to a stop. Sarah was the first to step out as Ariella ran to her and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.
“You feel cold, honey.”
“I’ll be ok. It’s good to see you, Ariella!”
John and Moshe threw blankets over the other two passengers, while Evita began shoving cups of steaming hot coffee into their shaking hands.
“We have a doctor here on the compound,” Lev said to the shivering trio. “He’s waiting for you up at the castle.”
Sarah waved him off. “I think we just need to warm up a little. I’ve had enough of doctors for a while.”
“How did they treat you back at the chateau?”
“Great … until I climbed out a window and ran away.”
“Yeah, that really seemed to piss them off for some reason,” Alon said, climbing from the chopper with a machine gun in his hands. He pointed to Martha and Fredrick. “These are the brave people who helped her escape. They have something interesting they want to show you.”
“Ya … interesting.” It was all Martha could mutter in her frozen state.
“Let’s get everyone into some warm clothes first,” Lev said. “We’ll talk later.”
With the sun now beginning to drift down behind the surrounding hills to the west, they began making made their way up the winding path in a diffuse light reflected off the white limestone walls of the castle. It was a peaceful end to a day that had been fraught with doubt and fear, but for now Sarah and her rescuers were basking in the afterglow of a mission that had seemingly gone off without a hitch.
Passing through the castle’s main entrance, Alon could hear the rattle of a helicopter in the distance. Probably just a French military chopper … scouting the area, he thought to himself. Looking back out at the sunset, he slowly closed the door behind him.
An hour later, after Ephraim had finally fixed the plumbing, the new arrivals had taken hot showers and changed into dry clothes just as the smell of cooking infused with garlic and white wine began to drift up through the castle. It didn’t take long for the three Spanish scientists to migrate down to the large, candle-lit dining hall, where the rest of the team had already taken seats at a long wooden table.
With an unknown virus ravaging the world outside the castle’s doors, the cooks had been working all afternoon preparing a French feast in an effort to lessen the stress on the team of weary scientists. With the first course of the evening, Hadar and her assistants flowed into the dining hall with trays full of steaming bowls of Bouillabaisse, the famous seafood dish that had originated in Marseille. Once a seafood stew enjoyed only by working-class fisherman who had prepared it from their catch-of-the-day leftovers, this culinary delight had risen over time to the top of the list of luxurious French cuisine. On this evening, the cooks had started with a base of tomatoes, saffron, garlic, and olive oil. To that, they added the usual assortment of seafood, including monkfish, mullet, snapper, scorpion fish, conger eel, and mussels. Many of the customers who dined at Hadar’s four-star restaurant in Tel Aviv had been known to shed tears when they tasted her version of the dish.
Since Europeans always served salad after the main course to cleanse the palate, the Bouillabaisse was followed by Salade Nicoise, a simple and traditional southern French salad consisting of lettuce, green beans, tomatoes, black olives, eggs, and anchovies.
Picking at her food, Martha cast suspicious glances around the table. After emerging from the oppressing environment of constant surveillance at Acerbi’s chateau, where every move she and her co-workers made had been observed by security men watching from hidden cameras, her trust level was at an all-time low. Looking at her husband, she saw that he was oblivious to everything around him as he devoured his second helping of Bouillabaisse. No help there. She thought for a moment. Could these people be trusted? Clearing her throat, she laid her spoon on the table and made eye contact with Sarah, who in turn nodded in Leo’s direction.
Her decision made, Martha reached inside her blouse and produced a thin white folder before shoving it across the table to Leo.
“What’s this, Martha?”
“It’s from the chateau, Cardinal. Most of what’s in there is just scientific stuff that I don’t understand, but there is enough spelled out in plain English for me to see that those people are up to no good. I mean, just take a look at the title on the cover page.”
After fumbling for his glasses, Leo reached for the papers. Right away he saw the title centered on the cover page: Plan #322 for the genetically engineered viral extermination of a species.
The cardinal breathed in deeply before lifting his wine glass and taking a long sip. “Where exactly did you get this, Martha?”
“It came down the chute.”
“Excuse me … the what?”
“The laundry chute … the one that comes from the second floor living quarters at the chateau. It was mixed up in a pile of sheets. The only thing I can figure out is that one of the upstairs maids was changing the linen and didn’t see this little paper folder tucked in among the rumpled bed sheets. Whoever was staying in that room the night before was probably lying in bed when they were reading. My guess is they just left it lying there the next morning. The maid obviously didn’t see it when she gathered up the sheets and sent them down the chute. I discovered it when I was sorting through a pile of dirty laundry as I always do before I put it into the machine.”
Leo began thumbing through the pages as Javier and Evita leaned over in an effort to read along with him.
“What first grabbed your attention?” Leo asked without looking up.
“The word extermination jumped out at me right away. I’m German, Cardinal Leo. I was born there, but I’m also a Jew. Many of my family members were exterminated during the Holocaust. So you see, that word holds a special meaning for me.”
Martha was struck by the way the Cardinal’s green eyes blazed at the mention of the Holocaust.
“Yes, of course,” Leo said softly. “I can see how that word would tend to stand out.”
“After I read the cover page, I waited until no one was looking and stuffed the papers down my shirt. I had to wait until I got home that night to read the rest of it.”
“When did all this occur?”
“It was right around the time when Sarah showed up … about a week ago. There had been a lot of activity around the chateau … a lot more than usual.”
Leo continued to scan through the pages while Martha talked. He paused to push his glasses back up on his head and looked directly at the couple. The possibility that these two still worked for Acerbi was driving him to probe deeper. “Have you two shown this to anyone else?”
Martha laughed. “Are you crazy? If we had, we probably wouldn’t be sitting here right now. We’ve been listening to the news about the virus just like everyone else. The Acerbi Corporation owns a big drug company, so I just thought they were doing some kind of research on it. I was beginning to think that some of the research was going on right there at the chateau, because there’s a lab on the third floor that’s off limits to the regular staff. There was also a sudden increase in people coming and going from that area of the chateau, and we saw a lot of new faces arriving at all hours of the day and night in vehicles that had the words Acerbi Pharmaceutical painted on the doors. They were always talking about the pathogen, or the virus. They didn’t pay any attention to us. You know how it is-servants always seem to be like pieces of furniture, we’re invisible, and that’s a good thing. The kitchen staff told us they were serving twice the normal number of meals in the dining room.”
“What made you suspicious?”
“When I read through that folder, it was obvious they were describing how to spread a virus, not stop one. You might think I’m crazy for saying this, Cardinal, but when I read all that stuff it didn’t surprise me at all.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean those men guarding the chateau reminded me of a bunch of Nazi’s. You could see the hate in their eyes. They were some very tough and cold men. I never once saw any of them smile. The only time they talked to us was when they needed something. Other than that, they just patrolled the grounds with their dogs and their guns … watching everyone and everything. Sometimes it felt like we were working in a prison instead of a home. Everyone there was extremely suspicious of strangers.”
Leo handed the folder to Evita as he continued to probe Martha for more information. “What about Acerbi himself?”
“Oh, you mean Rene? I never trusted him. None of the staff liked him. I know I didn’t. He’s a hard man to figure out. I mean … he’s moody. One minute he would be walking around, smiling and saying ‘Hello’ to everyone, then suddenly his mood would change for no apparent reason. He would be yelling at people … threatening them. I always had a bad feeling when he was around.”
Leo heard Evita gasp and turned to see her staring back at him, her eyes filled with fear.
“I think we just found our smoking gun, Cardinal.”
Leo took the folder and looked down at the page Evita had just been reading.
The Executive Committee
Executive Order #322 — Eyes Only Communication — Incinerate after reading
Phase one of our plan to disseminate the genetically engineered pathogen has been a spectacular success. Our scientists have created a fertile breeding ground for an otherwise harmless virus by altering the DNA of unsuspecting populations through the use of genetically engineered wheat distributed in the form of cereal and free samples of baked goods.
Once a target population has ingested food made with our genetically altered wheat, a silent chain-reaction occurs within the DNA makeup of their cells, thus making them susceptible to the effects of the airborne form of the virus. In other words, they have no immunity to this new, artificially engineered pathogen and will die a quick and merciful death within hours of exposure. Those who have not eaten the modified wheat will suffer no ill effects whatsoever, and as a precaution against the possibility of mutation, the pathogen has also been engineered to die within 48 hours of being introduced into the atmosphere.
In a tribute to our scientific team, this ability to control the spread of the virus has been the true genius of our plan. By managing the dissemination of our genetically altered wheat products, along with the failsafe mechanism within the virus itself, we now have a means of containing the pathogen. As predicted, this random pattern of inexplicable life and death will breed fear and panic around the world, thus giving us the upper hand over the world’s governments as we enter phase two of our plan.
As you already know, the virus has been released in several widely dispersed geographical regions around the world, and to date, only the targeted populations in those areas have become sick. Within a matter of days, every government on earth will be looking to the pharmaceutical division of the Acerbi Corporation to come to their aid in the face of an unexplained epidemic they have no control over.
In clandestine meetings this morning with world leaders who are already under our control, we have assured them that their populations will not be affected by the virus. To those countries that are not currently under our sphere of influence, we will soon begin offering them the same guarantee if they agree to transfer control of their governments over to us.
Many of these countries will, of course, refuse to cooperate with us. However, we will make it clear to them that this is their only path toward salvation, both now and in the future. Any attempts to block our control will be met with immediate and fatal retaliation. Their countries will become barren wastelands heaped with corpses. Our plan is a simple one. Those governments who agree to our terms will survive with their current regimes intact under the umbrella of our shadow government. Those who do not will cease to exist.
Along with the governments, we will also begin taking control of the world’s resources; a vital piece of the puzzle if we are to assure the survival of our species. It has been widely recognized for quite some time now that our planet can support only a finite, mathematically pre-determined number of people, and that number has been exceeded.
Unfortunately, despite the dire warnings over the years, none of the world’s governments were willing to make the hard decisions necessary to ensure that their populations were kept to a level that could be sustained by the resources available. Therefore, because of this lack of disciplined leadership, our group has been forced into taking this drastic action.
The time for democratic rule by the masses is past. Society can no longer endure an antiquated system whereby a barely literate proletariat is given the power to elect their own rulers-rulers who by their very actions make it obvious that they have no idea how the world really works. The world must now be governed by those who possess the intelligence and foresight necessary to ensure that only those who contribute to the welfare of the planet be allowed a place at the table in a society of the future, a society under the banner of a one-world government.
Additionally, we can no longer tolerate the constant warfare attributed to religious differences around the globe. To this end, we will also be replacing the many primitive belief systems that are currently polluting the world. We will institute a new, one-world religion that will follow the words of our Master’s book.
Therefore, I am hereby directing that we continue with executive order #322 for the viral extermination of large segments of the world’s population so that we may herald in a new and glorious age for our future generations.
For the good of all mankind,
Rene Acerbi
The cardinal let the folder slip from his hands onto the table. A sound like that of rushing water pounded in his ears as he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. Acerbi was a monster.
Dr. Diaz had been correct all along. The victims of the virus had been prepped by altering their DNA, and now, armed with this new information, they knew how it was being done. The DNA of some was being modified by the food they ate, thus creating two genetically different populations who lived and died according to what brand of cereal they had eaten for breakfast. At least they had included a self-destruct mechanism within the virus, Leo thought. That explained why it died out so quickly.
The images of wheat and man painted on the chapel wall now made complete sense to Leo. In a way, a separate species of man was being created-one with immunity to the pathogen and one without, and the one without was doomed to extinction. Just like the variety of ancient wheat that had slowly been erased from existence by human manipulation, so too was a large percentage of the human population about to be manipulated out of existence, replaced instead with a new and different variety … wheat like man!
It was quickly becoming evident that the truth was much worse than he had first imagined. Acerbi was a monster, but what kind of monster? Did he truly believe his actions were justified for the good of all mankind? Sometimes the utopian monsters, those cloaked in veils of righteousness, could be far worse than the egomaniacal leaders who lusted after power for its own sake. Acerbi personified the short man syndrome run amuck-another Napoleon bursting forth onto the world stage in the new millennium.
But whatever kind of monsters Acerbi and his people were, it was obvious they now held the fate of every human being on the planet in their hands. This was a worldwide conspiracy of immense magnitude, and there was no telling who or how many people around the globe had already sworn their allegiance to this madman.
Lev and Mendoza grabbed for the folder at the same time. Mendoza politely deferred to Lev, who read the first page slowly with a mathematician’s organized eye to detail before passing it on. Running his hands through his hair, Lev collapsed back into his chair. Those who knew the professor well could tell by the look on his face that he had just noticed something everyone else had missed.
“What book?”
“What did you say?” Leo asked.
“What book?” Lev repeated. “That memo references a book he calls their master’s book … a book that lives on through its words.”
Evita saw the color drain from Leo’s face. It was as if he had just seen a ghost. “It can’t be! It was destroyed last year!”
The cardinal’s loud words echoed off the ancient castle walls, catching everyone by surprise. The mention of some kind of book had touched a nerve in a man famous for being calm under pressure.
“What if there’s another copy, Cardinal?” John asked.
“Impossible. We all saw it go up in flames in the chapel under the Vatican. According to the code in the Bible, that was the only physical copy of the book in existence.”
A stunned silence descended on those who had been to the barren Negev Desert the year before. Tired of being left out of the loop, Dr. Mendoza finally spoke up. “Could someone please let us in on what’s going on?”
Leo reached for the nearest bottle of wine and refilled his glass. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask Martha and Fredrick to excuse us for a moment.” Leo offered no explanation as he stood and began pacing back and forth, lost in thought. Whatever he was about to say, he had just made it obvious that it was not intended for the ears of outsiders.
“We were heading off to bed anyway,” Martha said. “We’ve had kind of a busy day.”
Sarah leaned over and put her arms around the woman who had risked everything to help her. “You guys saved my life. I hate to think what those people might have done to me if you hadn’t stuck your necks out to help me.”
“That’s the problem with the world today, honey. Not enough people want to stick their necks out.” Martha winked. “Good luck to all of you in whatever it is you have to do. Let’s go, Fredrick. We need to leave these good people alone for a while.”
After they left, Lev pulled up a chair next to Mendoza and poured some wine into the scientist’s glass. “Here, Javier, you might need this before you hear what I’m about to say. A year ago, we were all on an archaeological expedition in the Negev Desert. We had been led there by information we received from the code in the Bible.”
“What?” Mendoza glanced sideways at Evita and Dr. Diaz. “We never heard anything about an archaeological expedition by you in the Negev Desert.”
As an anthropologist who coexisted within the two separate worlds of academia and intelligence, Mendoza liked to be kept informed of the progress of any archaeological expeditions taking place in and around the Mediterranean, but he had heard nothing about Lev Wasserman’s expedition the year before.
“Our expedition was never made public, Javier. Do you remember hearing about the recent discovery of oil in Israel?”
“Of course … the entire world has heard about it. That area of the Negev desert was also flooded with water at the same time. Are you saying you had something to do with that?”
“Yes. It’s a long story, but when we were using the code to look for words and phrases in the Bible, we discovered coordinates that pointed to a specific area in the Negev Desert. Naturally, we decided to mount an expedition to see what was out there, but before we left, we found something even more disturbing … an especially frightening passage encoded in the book of Genesis.”
Lev cleared his throat. “You might want to take a sip of that wine now, Javier, because that passage stated that the coordinates we discovered pinpointed an area reserved for Satan here on Earth.”
“Satan!” Mendoza’s face broke into a nervous smile as he reached for his glass. “You’ve got to be kidding me, Professor.”
“I wish I were, but it’s a fact, and we can prove it. We also found an encoded reference to a mysterious book. We had no idea what any of this meant until we arrived at the coordinates and discovered a huge underground cavern. That’s where we encountered the demonic entities.”
“What?” This was getting stranger by the minute. Mendoza swiveled around to see if anyone was laughing, but no one was. Evita and Dr. Diaz were frozen in place, staring at Lev in disbelief.
“Are you trying to tell us that all of you have seen an actual demon?” Mendoza was beginning to wonder if these people were for real. Although he had never discussed his religious beliefs with Lev and the others, he believed in God and the Devil, but all of this talk of Satan and demons was bordering on bad pulp fiction.
The original eight members of the team traded looks but remained silent as they waited patiently for the Spanish members of the team to absorb what Lev had just told them. There was more to come, and they knew it would sound even more bizarre to anyone who hadn’t witnessed it for themselves.
“We didn’t encounter just one demon, Javier … we encountered five.”
Mendoza almost dropped his glass.
“Beneath our camp, we discovered an immense underground cavern that contained a huge dome-like structure that towered at least six stories above our heads. It was actually very beautiful, with brilliant, light-emitting crystals representing the constellations embedded in the pale blue walls. However, we quickly discovered that they had been placed in a reversed pattern, as if someone was looking at the earth from the heavens far away. In the center of this enormous space was a raised area made from large blocks of angled white stone, and beneath that, was a clear black floor that extended down into the earth as far as the eye could see. We were standing over a crystal abyss. That’s where we found the book. It was red, and it appeared to be floating there right under our feet, encased in the transparent crystal floor.”
“But this is fantastic!” Javier exclaimed. “We must see this place! You must take us there! An archaeological site like that, in that area, could pre-date the pyramids. Were you able to date its construction?”
“Since the beginning of time, Javier. Since the celestial battle between heaven and hell, when Lucifer was banished from the sight of God. We had found Satan’s cathedral here on Earth, created by him for the sole purpose of having a secure location to hide a book … his book … the Devil’s Bible.”
Mendoza and Diaz sat there blinking, as one does in the first stages of disbelief, while Evita clasped her hands over her stomach and let out a quiet gasp.
“We learned the book itself was like an unholy relic. Some of our own Christian relics are able to perform miracles in God’s name. The Devil’s relic, if that’s what we can call it, had the power to cause great evil in the world. That was the most likely reason it was hidden here on earth. Apparently, Satan’s timetable and God’s timetable for the end of days don’t agree. We also learned that the Devil’s Bible had been out in the world before and was sealed back up to await the end of days. It had the power to jumpstart the reign of the Antichrist before the rapture, leaving millions of Christians here on Earth to suffer until God could gather them up. From the code, we learned that God wanted Satan’s book destroyed by a specific group of people … chosen ones.”
“Let me guess,” Mendoza said. “They were your names … all of you on the Bible Code Team.”
“To be honest we were all shocked. I mean, can you imagine how you would feel to see your own name actually spelled out in God’s book? It was like a biblical story from the Old Testament, only it was taking place now, in modern times. Another strange fact was that most of us had names that meant lion … Leo, Lev, Ariella … even John’s last name, Lowe … all lion names. We were all God’s lions, soldiers caught up in a celestial war, and I believe we’ve just been drafted once again.”
“Why didn’t God destroy the Devil’s Bible?” Diaz asked, his face a frozen mask of doubt.
Leo’s green eyes bored in on Diaz with such intensity that the man actually felt a twinge of fear.
“I like the way you always get right to the heart of things, Dr. Diaz,” Leo said. “In answer to your question, I believe God has always involved man in the war between good and evil. We must be participants in our own salvation. I believe that’s one of the reasons why He placed the code in the Bible in the first place. He knew where civilization would take us, and that one day, rather than relying on faith alone, man would begin to look for secular proof of His existence. How better to communicate with an advanced civilization hooked on computers than through a code so complex that it would take computers to unravel it. He’s given us a contemporary tool that we can use to continue our dialogue with Him.”
Evita and Leo looked at one another for a long moment. No wonder he had turned pale at the mention of a book, she thought. The entire story sounded fantastical, but she had no doubt that these people were telling the truth. “I was wondering, Leo, besides the code, was there anything else that led you all to believe you had been chosen?”
Ariella cleared her throat as she brushed a long strand of hair back from her face. “We had all been having the same dream. In the dream, we all saw a storm over the desert, and we all heard the word chosen echoing in the background. Sounds like a movie, doesn’t it?”
“Actually, my dear, what we are about to tell you sounds even more like a movie.” Mendoza glanced sideways at Evita. “Go ahead, Dr. Vargas … tell them. They need to know.”
Instantly, the members of the Bible Code Team were on high alert.
“The three of us have also been having dreams with the word chosen echoing in the background, but our dreams are quite different from the ones you describe.” Evita looked off into space before continuing. “Instead of a storm over a desert, we see bodies … thousands of bodies lying in the streets of deserted cities. It’s more like a horrible nightmare.”
Leo glanced over at Lev before leaning forward and placing his elbows on the table. “We’ve known all along there were others like us. Last year, when Sarah first told us she had been having the same dream as us … we knew. We’ve been waiting all this time to hear from other chosen ones.”
In a space that amplified sound like the walls of a cavern, silence reigned as everyone waited for the next person to speak.
“When did you say the book was destroyed?” Mendoza asked.
“Let me go back to the desert for a moment,” Leo said, closing his eyes as if he were being transported back to another time and place. “Down in that cavern, we were surrounded by demons guarding Satan’s book. Without divine intervention, none of us would have survived what we experienced down there. Something happened … something we can’t explain. We sensed a presence right before the earth began to shake and huge fissures opened up beneath us, releasing the book from where it had been encased in solid rock. The demons seemed to evaporate right before our eyes and we were able to make it back to the surface just as the cavern collapsed. Oil came bursting up to the surface, igniting a tower of flame, followed by geysers of water that flooded the desert for miles around. It was like being present at a biblical event from the Old Testament, only it was occurring in modern times.”
“Is that when the book was destroyed?”
“No. We took it with us. We knew what it was, but we had no idea of its power or what we were supposed to do with it. It wasn’t until later that we realized the book was more like a living entity. We learned that, whenever it had been taken from the cavern in the past, bad things happened … really bad things. We believe the book was a way for Satan to physically release evil out into the world without interference from God … a kind of trump card if you will, and he used unsuspecting humans to accomplish this by periodically allowing the book to be discovered. For the past year, we’ve been trying to pinpoint the number of times it has made an appearance out in the world before. Some of our information has come from passages we’ve discovered embedded within the Bible Code, and we’re still trying to verify some actual sightings throughout history that seem to come from reliable sources. To date, we’ve only been able to document five separate occasions, but the appearances we’ve documented have always coincided with some horrific events that occurred whenever the book was out of its hiding place. For instance we know that it was out briefly during WWII, at a time when millions died around the world and nuclear weapons first appeared on the scene, and that it probably made an appearance in 1918, during WWI and the great flu epidemic that took fifty million lives. We weren’t aware of any of this at the time we removed it, but after Houston…”
“Which brings up the point of why you weren’t warned by the code to leave the book in the cavern,” Evita said.
“Probably because the time had come for the book to be destroyed,” Leo said. “We’ll probably never know all there is to know about the code, but we have noticed something that appears to be a constant theme throughout. We’ve discovered that everything seems to occur according to a specific timetable, but the details of the timetable are still a mystery. It’s like God is whispering across a crowded room, and we can’t hear everything He’s trying to tell us. All we knew at the time was that God wanted the book taken to a place of His own choosing to be destroyed. After we arrived back at the villa, Daniel discovered an encoded passage in Genesis that spelled out the fact that the ancient Christian chapel under the Vatican was that place. We almost didn’t make it. As I said, it was like the book was alive, and it had a very powerful protector. We came close to being killed more than once before we made it to Rome, but we had a pretty powerful protector ourselves.”
“But the book was destroyed, right?” Mendoza asked. “I mean, you all saw it go up in flames.”
“Yes … right after we delivered it to the chapel. That’s where the most miraculous event in this whole story occurred. After making our way through the catacombs under the Vatican, we entered the chapel with the book. Morelli and I were still just priests then, and we were joined by the pope, who was a cardinal at the time. The rest of the Bible Code Team was also there. It was in the chapel where we encountered the most powerful demon of them all-Agaliarept, Satan’s grand general over hell. After battling the demon for a span of time none of us could remember afterward, we saw the chapel fill with light as seven of God’s most powerful archangels appeared. They cast out the demon and saved our lives. After the angels departed, the book erupted into flames and burned to ashes on the altar in the chapel. Up until now, we had assumed that the world was no longer in danger from its influence, but it’s beginning to appear that we missed something.”
Diaz rubbed his eyes as he looked across the table at Lev. He had been waiting patiently, listening to the entire story. “Professor, earlier you said that Satan’s timetable and God’s timetable for the end of days don’t agree? When did you learn of this?”
“After we returned from the desert with the book.”
“Please excuse me, Professor. What I meant to ask was how you discovered the information.”
“From the Devil’s Bible. That was the very first thing we were able to decipher. We’ve been studying it for the past year, and some of the information is fascinating. We’re preparing a paper on it.”
“But the book no longer exists.”
“True … that’s why we copied it. The book was a treasure trove. Despite the fact that it was an instrument of Satan, we couldn’t let it be destroyed without first making a copy of the text. To an archaeologist, that would have been unforgiveable. The information it contained was priceless. I mean, we were dealing with ancient symbols and language the world had never seen before. Additionally, we were beginning to suspect that the Devil’s Bible also contained a code. Another reason we all agreed that the text needed to be preserved. Without it, we would never have discovered the fact that God’s timetable and Satan’s timetable for the end of days don’t agree.”
“Yes, of course. But how did you accomplish this?”
“We scanned it into our computers.”
“Uh-uh.” Diaz rubbed his hands together as he looked around at the others and waited.
Lev’s expression collapsed when the sudden realization of what Diaz was getting at struck him like a sledgehammer.
“Oh no … no!” Lev fell back in his seat as sweat began to pour down his face.
“Daddy?” Ariella rushed to his side. “What is it? Are you ok … is it your heart?”
Lev looked up to the ceiling and prayed out loud. “Oh, God, forgive us!”
“Daddy … talk to me.”
“I can’t believe we were so stupid! We destroyed the book … but not the words. The book still exists. We downloaded it into our computers!”
“That’s right,” Diaz said. “And because of the internet, anyone with a modest amount of talent will be able to hack into your system and download it. For a man like Rene Acerbi, it would have been child’s play.”
Lev continued staring over his head at the beamed ceiling in the tomb-like silence that had descended over the dining hall. Diaz had seen right through an error that they had failed to notice for over a year, and it only took him a few minutes to do it. Doubt and fear crept into Lev’s mind. What else had they missed? An error like this was bound to have consequences. Worst case scenario-Satan’s time clock for Armageddon had just been reset.
Lev felt everyone’s eyes on him as he reached for a bottle of wine and poured his glass all the way full.
“What’s done is done, Professor,” John said, grabbing his father-in-law by the shoulder. “None of us caught that one … not even Daniel. If you think back on it, we were all having a hard time concentrating whenever the book was out in the open. It definitely had some kind of power to affect our thinking at the time. We were pretty much in survival mode back then.”
Leo watched as Lev seemed to withdraw into himself, avoiding eye contact with the other members of the team. “Come on, Lev. You’re not the only one who’s responsible here. We all agreed that uploading the contents of the book was essential. Now is not the time to dwell on problems that lie in the past. This can be overcome. Right now we need to focus on Acerbi, but we need to be smart about the way we go about it. There are forces at work here we don’t yet understand. We need to gather a lot more information before we take any action that could backfire on us if we go about it the wrong way.”
Lev held his head in his hands and answered without looking up. “It’s your call, Leo.”
“Ok. Well, first, I think we should send an encrypted copy of that folder Martha found to Mossad headquarters in Tel Aviv, and then we need to start making preparations for getting away from here as quickly as possible. Acerbi’s tendrils run deep, and it’s only a matter of time before he links us to Sarah’s rescue. Let’s all get some sleep and meet back down here at five in the morning.”