Destiny

THIRTY-THREE

On Monday morning, Paul Marcus turned on the computer in the university library and keyed in the files. He was alone in the room. He looked at his watch, his thoughts racing. Tomorrow morning, in Washington, the president and prime minister would be laying the wreath at the Lincoln Memorial unless the ceremony was cancelled.

Marcus watched the files load, and he looked for signs of hacking.

“Let’s see if the mouse took the bait,” he whispered. Marcus looked at the dummy files he’d labeled and encrypted. “The seal is broken, but the genie is still in the bottle, so I can find your prints.” He punched the keyboard, fingers moving fast, looking at the door across the room. “Just connect the cyber dots…and it’ll lead you to their source.” He inserted a flash drive in the computer, downloading the source codes to the IP address of the hackers.

Marcus glanced at his watch, put a second drive in the computer and downloaded the files he had concealed, the ones the hackers could not find. Within forty-five seconds, he had the files on his flash drive and the drive in his shirt pocket.

Jacob Kogen entered the room. “You’re in early today.”

“Not sleeping too well. Sort of goes with the territory. Biblical prophecies can have that effect on you.”

“You have made remarkable progress, Paul.”

“What have you heard about the event at the Lincoln Memorial? Has it been cancelled?”

“I placed a call to the prime minister’s office again this morning. He, of course, is in Washington. However, I spoke with his assistant chief-of-staff. He says the prime minister has been thoroughly briefed but is reluctant to ask another country to call off their ceremony or to cancel his requested participation just because, and I’m quoting here, a ‘premonition some biblical researcher had.’ He said he appreciates the warning but believes Washington is providing more than ample security.”

“The Lincoln Memorial is out in the open, just like the damn Pentagon.”

“Perhaps your people can persuade the president and—”

“And…what? Premonition? Jacob, that’s pure bullshit! It’s not the president’s life that may be in danger.” Marcus paused. “That is unless an assassin is planning to take out both of them. The ceremony is tomorrow. This afternoon I’m calling the states again. Maybe Alicia has rattled cages and opened some eyes.”

“Alicia?”

“She’s a friend.” Marcus searched online for information about the Lincoln Memorial ceremony. “I don’t see a story about the wreath ceremony at the memorial tomorrow. Maybe she did rattle some cages.” Marcus leaned back, his neck stiffening.

Jacob sipped a cup of tea and then nodded. “God provides the tools, and you have been swinging the hammer like a master builder.”

“But I feel like I can’t get a grip. It’s as if I’m trying to walk in quicksand. The more I struggle, the farther it pulls me in. The nature of deciphering is that of removing the layers, searching for the wormholes. But, when it comes to prophesy, events yet to happen, I can’t tell if it’s in the Bible because I either don’t know what I’m looking for, or I haven’t found it yet.”

“You already have uncovered information that no other human has found. You revealed a code that indicted the death of President Kennedy’s son, John, was foretold.”

“But was the death an accident? That’s what I don’t know.”

“If it wasn’t, what do you do?”

“I don’t know that, either.”

“Maybe, like an Oedipus enigma, it will reveal more in time.”

“I came here to disprove I’m the guy Isaac Newton jotted down in his notes.”

“Is that really why you came? Well, you have done the opposite. You are handpicked by God to reveal the meaning of the words that bridge events from the Old Testament to the New Testament and finally lead us to prophecy in the Book of Revelation.”

“Lead us? Are you trying to say I’m the guy God picked to tell everyone when the end of the world will come?”

“What if you are?”

“That’s absurd.”

Jacob folded his arms across his chest. “Think about it, Paul. What if you have no choice? If events like the death of a president’s only son are in the Holy Scriptures, what else is in there? What if you are the only living soul on earth who can reveal what our Lord wants told for the world?”

“That’s way beyond my grasp or pay grade.” Marcus punched a few keys and watched the screen for a moment. “Newton seems to have believed that an ancient knowledge, some kind of sacred wisdom, was part of a chain that started somewhere during the time of people like Moses to King Solomon to Aristotle and so forth. Newton writes that Solomon’s philosophy is found in the dimensions of nature, but also in the sacred scriptures, as in Genesis, Job, Psalms, and Isaiah, among others. He says God made Solomon the greatest philosopher in the world. Newton even went to immense lengths to draw the dimensions of Solomon’s Temple, not from some old images, but from ancient text. I’ll bring the image and his notes up on the screen.”

Jacob pushed his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose and studied the image. “What does it reveal?”

“Let’s see.”