The Genesis Plague

54

If there was an economic slowdown in Las Vegas, it certainly wasn’t evident at the bustling work site of Our Savior in Christ Cathedral, Flaherty thought. An armada of construction vehicles commandeered the sprawling parking lot — cement mixers, flatbeds piled with steel framing and massive cable reels, and HVAC vans. Throughout the lot, building materials were organized into sectors: rows upon rows of tinted-glass panels; mountains of honey-coloured marble floor tiles; hundreds of porcelain restroom fixtures sorted by colour. And stacked three-high were clusters of shipping containers bearing various import seals.

Flaherty steered the rental car around dozens of pallets stacked with pale limestone blocks. The clear plastic wrappings were stamped: ‘AUTHENTIC JERUSALEM STONE, INC.’. A forklift had just removed a batch and was heading to the building’s south side where a huge glass-domed amphitheatre abutted the mountainside.

Near the cathedral’s main entrance, he parked in a designated visitors’ lot.

‘You think it’s smart to just barge in there?’ Brooke said, peering out at the building. ‘Shouldn’t the police be here or something?’

‘This place has a lot of windows. The pastor might make a break for it the second he spots a police car.’

‘So how do you propose we handle this?’

‘I propose we get married,’ he said, deadly serious.

‘Excuse me?’

‘Just follow my lead and you’ll get the idea,’ he replied coolly.

He turned off the car, pocketed the keys and opened his door. ‘Let me come around and get you.’

Baffled, Brooke waited for him to circle to her door. He opened it and proffered a hand. ‘Come, darling. I think you’ll love this church. I hear the wedding ceremony is breathtaking.’

Then she caught on to the ruse. ‘Ah, very clever. We’re posing as customers. I like it.’

‘Works in the movies,’ he said with a shrug.

When Brooke clasped his hand, he noted her gold Irish Claddagh ring — two hands clasping a heart and surmounted by a crown. It could easily pass as an engagement ring … If she wore it differently.

‘First, let’s fix this,’ he said. Keeping her hand out of view, he pointed at her ring, explaining: ‘This says you’re romantically available. Not good for our charade. May I?’ he said, pinching the ring with his fingers.

‘Of course.’

He pulled the ring off her finger and slid it back on with the heart facing outwards. ‘There we go. Now that says you’re engaged.’

He turned and pushed her door shut. Unexpectedly, he felt Brooke’s arm hook him around the waist.

Peering at him with doting eyes, she said, ‘Let’s make it look genuine, shall we?’ She leaned in and passionately kissed him on the lips. ‘Just in case anyone’s watching. How’s that?’

For a moment, he revelled in the magic of a first kiss. ‘Good,’ he replied finally, trying like hell to pass it off as meaningless. He cleared his throat. ‘Very authentic.’

She threaded her arm through his and rested her head on his shoulder. ‘Shall we?’

‘Yeah. Of course.’

Flaherty locked the car, and they set off for the main entrance. ‘Is this guy Stokes for real?’ he said, trying to take in the sheer scale of the church, its opulence. ‘Look at this place. Talk about excess.’

‘This place makes the Crystal Cathedral look like a tool shed,’ she said. A massive shallow glass dome was central to the building’s architecture, and Brooke was sure it covered the building’s nave. ‘Looks to me like his architect borrowed this design from Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.’

‘Isn’t Hagia Sophia a mosque?’

‘The Ottomans converted it into a mosque in the fifteenth century, added minarets and other Islamic touches. But it was originally a Christian basilica built by Emperor Justinian I in the sixth century.’

He gave her a how-in-God’s-name-do-you-know-this-stuff look. ‘The same Justinian that tried to reunite the Holy Roman Empire but was stopped by the bubonic plague, right?’

‘That’s the guy.’

They approached the bank of entrance doors, set beneath a soaring archway. Above the doors, Flaherty eyed a massive bronze placard shaped to resemble an unfurled scroll. The incised gospel excerpt read:

Flaherty shook his head. ‘All this place is missing is the slot machines and swim-up bar.’

‘Don’t be too hasty,’ Brooke said. ‘We haven’t seen the inside yet.’