Destiny

TWENTY-THREE

A half hour later, Paul Marcus was back in his hotel. He parked the Toyota, reaching over to touch the floor mat on the passenger’s side where the man’s boots had rested. It was damp, a trace of mud on the floorboard.

In his room, Marcus replayed much of the conversation he had with the mysterious colonel. Who was he? Marcus started toward the bathroom, but stopped when he caught the blink of a tiny red light on the phone. He lifted the receiver and played the message: “Paul, this is Alicia. I tried to reach you on your cell. It was as if the signal went nowhere…only heard a white noise kind of sound, like the distant roar of water. I couldn’t send a text either. Call me.”

Marcus looked at the clock on his nightstand: 12:05 a.m. He pinched the bridge of his nose, his body drained. He reset his watch and called Alicia. “I just got your message.”

“Is it a late night for you in the old country?” He could hear the smile in her voice.

“A strange night is more like it.”

“The longer you’re over there, the stranger it might get.”

“What do you mean?”

“Some things are going on in Iran, and for that matter, Israel, Pakistan and India that has our attention. Syria is near the top of the list.”

“What things?”

“We have reason to believe some cyber-attacks will or are being released against the Iranian nuclear effort. To infiltrate the Iranian nuclear grid with a malware worm, it’s all about coding. For Iranian officials to stop it, it’s all about decoding.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“You know why, Paul. Number one, I don’t know of anyone who’s a better cryptographer than you. The Israelis know it, which means so do the Iranians, Syrians, Pakistanis and even India’s intelligence. Toss in Russia and China for good measure and you have the ingredients to a Pandora’s box.” She dropped her voice. “The second reason is that I care about what happens to you. Be careful, please.”

“Do you think the only reason I’m in Jerusalem is because the Israelis brought me here under the guise of examining the Newton papers? But all along their real reason is they want me to encrypt a cyber-worm or to keep the Iranians from figuring out how to stop one?”

Alicia signed. “We don’t know that — I don’t know that.”

Marcus blew out a pent-up breath. “All I’ve been doing is working and reworking possible cryptograms from what Newton wrote in reference to what he found in the Bible. There’s nothing else, Alicia. Nothing. Trying to make sense of references from Newton’s papers to passages in the Bible is like earning doctorates in history and religious studies.”

“You sound so tired.”

“It’s been a long day — a bizarre day.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“That’s like asking me if I want to talk about losing my mind.”

“What happened?”

“I’m not sure. Can I ask a favor of you?”

“Absolutely.”

“Check out the background of a guy named David Marcus. He’s a bird colonel, Army. Originally from New York. Manhattan, maybe.”

“Is he a long lost relative of yours?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Did you meet this guy?”

“Maybe, if that’s his real name. I gave him a ride tonight to the bus station. But I don’t think that’s where he was really headed.”

Alicia laughed softly. “You want me to do a background check so you can see if this guy’s lost?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s something else…”

“It’s what, Paul?”

“I’m not sure what to make of him or the conversation I had with him. I’ll tell you about it when I get home. In the meantime, see what you can find on this guy.”

“No problem. I’ll have his life story, right down to his last credit card transaction. Is there anything else?”

“Yes, but I don’t want to impose any more than I have. I don’t like asking for—”

“Please, Paul…just ask. If I can do it for you, I will.”

“My grandmother, Mama Davis, you met her at the funerals.”

“I remember.”

“I’ve tried calling her a couple of times. Each time she’s been asleep. The assisted living home, The Mayflower, isn’t too far from the District. Maybe you could stop in and check on her for me, if you don’t mind.”

“I’d be happy to visit her. Tomorrow is Sunday. I’ll ride out there. Is there something you want me to let her know?”

“Tell her things are going well in Jerusalem, and I’ll have some good stories to share with her when I get home.”

“What else? I sense that’s not your entire message.”

“You can say…you can tell her I love her, too.”

“I will. Get some rest. Goodnight, Paul.”

Marcus walked to the bathroom, turned on the shower, stripped and stood under the hot water with his eyes closed. He let the downpour pulsate against the back of his neck, events of the day, especially the last few hours, swirling around him like gnats in his brain. Was it hallucinations? The mud was real. After showering, he slipped into a T-shirt and boxer shorts and poured a small bottle of Belvedere over ice.

Marcus sat in a chair on his balcony and watched the traffic and pedestrians move under the lights around the Old City. He sipped the drink; his eyes burned. He refused to think about the mysterious colonel, Marcus’s thoughts focusing on the decoding — the roadblocks.

What am I missing?

The full moon appeared over the Tower of David, resembling a bone china plate hanging against the black sky and casting Jerusalem in brushstrokes of amber.

Marcus whispered, “The sun is the father and the moon is the mother.” He swallowed the drink, his eyes intent, watching the rising moon. He whispered. “Newton, you used your own theory of gravity to calculate the position of the moon to reconstruct the Judean Calendar. You explained Daniel’s prophecy of seventy weeks by doing it.”

Marcus opened his laptop computer and inserted the flash drive. He keyed in letters and numbers and watched the screen. He mumbled, “That which is below is like that which is above. It may not have originated in the Bible, but it’s telling me where to look in the Bible.”