Destiny

THIRTY-NINE

Marcus said nothing. He lowered his eyes to the screen and keyed in strokes.

Bahir watched Marcus enter data for half a minute. “What do you see? It is nothing but tea leaves to me. Perhaps you have the eyes of an oracle. Tell me, what do you see?”

“Newton.”

“Who?”

“Isaac Newton, at least I see some of his writing.”

“Ah, yes, Newton the believer.”

“Believer? Most of the world seems to know him only as a scientist.”

Bahir grinned. “At one time most of the world thought the earth was flat. Then believers sailed with hope in their sails and faith in their rudders.”

“Newton wrote that the prophecies of Daniel and John should not be understood until the time of the end. But then he writes that some should prophesize out of them in an afflicted and mournful state for a long time, but darkly. He said darkly as to convert only a few people, and in the end, the prophecy should be interpreted to convince many people.”

“But to convince many, it must begin with a few…maybe one?”

“If the deaths of my wife and daughter were foretold, that means they were planned. Who would plan to kill a child?”

“Is that what you are searching for, a sign God planned your family’s deaths?”

“If these things are programmed or prophesied, then what’s the use in doing anything if it can be undone by a divine plan?”

“Maybe all is not foretold, all not revealed. There are other forces that tempt the foundation, the hearts in men.”

“The last time I was here you mentioned Solomon’s Temple. Newton gives his estimates to the size of the building. You said a foundation might exist. If so, it would have to be below the streets. Do you know of any remnants, cornerstones and underground settings that might indicate the size of the temple?”

Bahir stared out the window, light from the setting sun floating in his black eyes. He looked back at Marcus. “You are searching for things perhaps better left in history, tucked away in the Old Testament and buried by centuries of armies, rebuilt and buried again. The temple may exist in God’s kingdom, but no one since Christ has seen that. Discovering this information might take you to places no man would wish to journey.”

“What are you saying?”

“The road may lead to edges of the world, above and below — to destinations unimaginable in the human mind. What if the glass is dark, like the surface of still, deep water and you only see the reflection of your own face? Or, what if you looked through the glass into the face of God? What would you ask him?”

“The name of the man who killed my wife and daughter.”

“And, if it is revealed to you?”

“I’d find him.”

“Then what would you do?”

“Kill him.”

Bahir said nothing, his eyes filled with gentleness.

“So there are no underground areas, places marking the foundation of the temple, correct?” Marcus asked.

“I did not say that. There are no easy thresholds to cross. Many years ago, two British archeologists, Charles Warren and Charles Wilson explored underground Jerusalem.”

“What’d they find?”

“They were looking for some of the original foundations of the Holy Temple. There are said to be many tunnels beneath the Old City. Some think they were looking to discover a secret room known as the Holy of Holies.”

“What’s that?”

“God’s sitting room — a place of seclusion, a room for reflection. It is believed the Ark of the Covenant was, at one time, kept there.”

“What happened to the tunnels, access to the underground?”

“Some tunnels have intentionally been blocked. Whether it is by man or God’s hand, I do not know. This valley, from here to the Dead Sea, seems to get a major earthquake every eighty to ninety years. The last was in 1927. More than five hundred people died. In 1837, five thousand people perished. We are past due for another earthquake.”

“Are there any tunnels, sealed or hidden, that might lead beneath Solomon’s Temple?”

“Only someone as wise as Solomon could answer that. However, when the Queen of Sheba asked Solomon what are the most certain things in life, and what are the most uncertain, the king responded by saying, ‘The most certain thing in the world is death. The most uncertain, is a man or woman’s share in the world to come.’ For you to discover the answer to the second part, you may have to become a branch of the world to come.”

“The world to come — you mean the future? No offense, Bahir, but it’d be nice to get a straight answer from you, Isaac Newton, or the Bible.”

Bahir lowered his eyes for a moment. He raised them up to meet Marcus’s concentrated stare. “Paul, the answers are there. Perhaps you are not asking the right questions.”

Marcus’s cell rang.

“Bahir, can you watch my computer? I need to take this.”

“Of course.”

Marcus stood and walked to the door as Alicia Quincy came on the line.