Newton’s Fire

THIRTY-NINE
I

There were no benches in the back of the new van, so Luke and Rachel had to kneel on the bare metal floor as though in supplication to the Ark. It was gloomier here than in the truck too, with only a single, low-powered roof light. Luke raised an eyebrow at Rachel, about the only communication available with his mouth still taped. She raised both hers in response. The way the skin crinkled around her eyes made it look almost as though she were smiling. Her courage was astonishing to him, and gave him heart. He leaned forwards, looked around the van. Walters and Kieran were here, of course. And Jay, too, his eyes fixed on the chest. He noticed Luke looking his way and coloured a little, then he rose to his feet and crouched his way towards them.

‘Where the fuck are you going?’ growled Walters.

‘I want to speak to my friends,’ said Jay.

Walters laughed. ‘In your dreams, mate.’

‘I can still put a stop this mission,’ Jay told him. ‘Would your boss thank you if I did?’

To Luke’s surprise, Walters shrugged and let him by. He knelt beside Luke, picked at the tape over his mouth until he’d got enough up to strip it off. It was a day and a half since Luke had shaved, so that it felt like flame on his skin, but the pleasure of being able to breathe and talk made it more than worthwhile.

‘Do Rachel’s,’ he said.

Jay complied. The skin around her mouth was as red as smeared lipstick. ‘Thank you,’ she said.

‘You mustn’t be afraid,’ said Jay. ‘You’re both still under my protection.’

‘And what happens when that runs out?’

‘It won’t,’ said Jay. ‘Not before Israel. They can’t move the Ark without a Kohen, you see.’

Luke shook his head in disbelief. ‘You can’t honestly believe these people care about that.’

‘Maybe not. But my uncle does. How many times do I have to tell you? Tonight won’t happen without him. It can’t happen without him. Besides, I’m not just here to escort the Ark. I have a far more important job. Something no one else can do, not these people here, not even my uncle. Something that requires a true adept.’

‘And what’s that?’ asked Luke.

Jay dropped his voice. ‘I know how it works,’ he murmured.

‘How what works?’ frowned Rachel.

‘The Ark, of course.’

She shook her head. ‘What are you talking about?’

Despite the gloom, Jay’s skin seemed to flush. ‘Do you honestly think this is just some ancient chest of wood and gold we’ve found? Why would Ashmole and the others have needed Newton for that? It’s described in great detail in the Book of Exodus, after all. Any craftsman worth his salt could have knocked one up.’

‘Then why did they need him?’

‘Because the Ark is what the Bible says it is, Luke. It’s a weapon. And not just any weapon. It’s the original weapon of mass destruction.’

‘For God’s sake, Jay!’

‘Do you know what they called it, Luke?’ he asked. ‘They called it the Ark of the Strength and Glory of the Lord. They carried it seven times around Jericho and it brought its walls tumbling down.’

‘Jesus, Jay.’

‘And it wasn’t just cities it destroyed. It took out armies. The first Book of Samuel, chapter 6, verse 19. The Ark slew seventy nobles and fifty thousand commoners just for looking wrongly upon it. Fifty thousand. Or the second Book, where the Ark slipped and Uzzah tried to stop it from hitting the ground, and was killed instantly. Or Leviticus 10.’ Jay stood unsteadily, spread his feet and hands wide like a ham actor delivering his big speech. ‘“And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.”’ He knelt again, looked fiercely back and forth between Luke and Rachel. ‘Strange fire before the Lord. Strange fire. Doesn’t that remind you of anything?’

‘What the hell-’

‘Newton and the other alchemists were after sacred fire. Don’t you think that it’s at least possible that sacred fire and strange fire might be one and the same? That what they were really after was the secret of the Ark of the Covenant? A source of power that could bring down cities, that could destroy armies tens of thousands strong? A source of power that would change the world forever?’ He leaned towards Luke again, lowered his voice. ‘Do you know what alchemical tradition says about how Solomon built his temple? It says he cast spells that trapped djinns and other powerful spirits in magical amphorae, then forced them to do his bidding. Djinns trapped in jars. Strange fire in chests of wood and gold. A source of power to change the world.’ His expression was by now both manic and exultant. ‘Newton understood how it worked, Luke. And so do I. And tomorrow morning I’m going to prove it. Tomorrow morning I’m going to show the world the face of God Himself.’

‘How?’

Jay opened his mouth to answer, but then he blinked and hesitated as he realized how close he’d come to letting on more than he should. He gave Luke a knowing smile, as though to congratulate him for almost tricking him. ‘You’ll find out soon enough,’ he said.

‘Tell me, Jay.’

But he only shook his head again, his fervour dissipating by the moment, shrinking him as it went, leaving him a smaller and a lesser man. ‘Soon enough.’