The Revelation Code

11

‘I can think of plenty of other things to call you,’ said Nina, struggling to hide her shock. While in the White House, Dalton had collaborated with religious extremists to try to kill her and Eddie to suppress their discovery of the Garden of Eden. He had then been forced to resign after Eddie leaked online a graphic video of his affair with the woman who had plotted the nuclear attack on New York, only to resurface seeking revenge on both the couple and a cabal of the world’s wealthiest people, whom he considered to have betrayed and abandoned him.

The last she had seen of him was on television, being arrested by the FBI. ‘So you didn’t end up in a supermax prison? Damn.’

‘People like me don’t go to prison,’ Dalton replied, his smile becoming caustic around the edges. ‘You can’t jail the President of the United States, even a former holder of the office. It would be a national embarrassment.’

‘You were a national embarrassment!’

Any trace of good humour vanished. ‘I was a better president than the idiot who replaced me. But in America, anyone can be rehabilitated — and actually, I have you to thank for giving me my chance.’

‘How?’

‘I don’t know what you and your psycho husband did, but the Group went chasing after you into Ethiopia… and never came back. You did, though, so I assume you killed them.’ She didn’t reply, not wanting to give him any leverage against her. ‘Hey, no need to be coy — I’m happy about it! Those bastards set me up, but after they disappeared, nobody at Justice had the balls to push the charges. So everything was quietly dropped.’

‘Everyone still remembers that you were busted for security violations, though.’

He shrugged. ‘The American public has a really short memory. There’s always some rock star doing drugs or an actor making an ass of himself to distract them. Once the media stops pushing a story, it becomes a footnote.’

Nina smiled a little. ‘Like your political career.’

‘It’s not over yet!’ he snapped. ‘That’s why I’m here. I knew Mr Cross’ — a brief look at the robed man — ‘from my time on the Senate Intelligence Committee; our paths had crossed, no pun intended. And I knew he shared my views about the state of America, and the state of the world.’ His tone became more oratorical. ‘I’ve joined with him to continue what I started in office… and soon, I’ll regain that office. I was hounded out of the White House as a philanderer. But I’ll be voted back into it as a saviour.’

Nina treated him to slow, sarcastic applause. ‘Nice stump speech. Who’s it aimed at — adulterers and snake-handlers?’

‘It’s aimed at everyone, Dr Wilde,’ Dalton said, with a flash of anger. ‘Everyone in America. And they will all support me.’ He moved to examine the statue, brushing past her. ‘So this is it?’

‘That’s it,’ Cross told him. ‘One of the angels of Revelation. The clues to finding it were in the Apocalypse of John all along, but it took me to crack the code.’

‘And me to find the statue for you,’ Nina said, cutting.

‘For which we’re both very grateful,’ said Dalton, politician’s smarm back at full intensity. ‘But the angels will let me finish what I started in office. Once they’re… used’ — he glanced at Cross again, as if to check that he wasn’t giving away some secret — ‘religious conflict around the world will reach new highs. All those jihadist groups, all those terrorists, they’ll be targeting America like never before — and that will create the unstoppable desire at home to unify behind a single banner. One religion: our religion. This won’t be some fake populism backed by billionaires who want tax cuts and the EPA disbanded. This will be real, and you’ll either be with it, or against it.’

‘Sounds like my idea of hell,’ she said with distaste.

‘Then get out.’ There was a sudden vehemence to his words. ‘You don’t like America? Leave. We don’t need you, or want you.’

‘I guess you don’t need or want the Constitution or the Bill of Rights either. The First Amendment ring any bells?’

‘We’ll be taking them back to their true intent. The next election isn’t far off, and by then, the world will be in chaos. America will be crying out for strong leadership, and that’s what I’ll give them. I’ll be standing as an independent against that jackass Leo Cole, and whoever the other side puts up against him — and I’ll win. Once I’m back in power, I’ll secure the homeland, and kick out anyone who’s a threat to it. Including your friends at the UN,’ he added. ‘America shouldn’t kowtow to anyone else’s laws. We make the laws. And enforce them.’

Nina could hardly contain her disbelief at his new-found megalomania. ‘America has treaties with the United Nations — are you just going to ignore them?’

‘The United Nations!’ Both turned at Cross’s outburst. ‘The most corrupt and evil organisation in history. It shouldn’t be kicked out of America, it should be destroyed!’ He gazed reverently at the angel, then stepped away and spread his arms to make a proclamation. ‘The kings of the world will witness God’s judgement soon enough. Babylon will fall. And then the kingdom of God will be founded here on earth!’

Both the Fishers and Norvin watched their Prophet, enraptured, while Dalton, clearly surprised, could only stare. But Nina was looking not at Cross, rather at the statue, exposed and unattended just a few feet away.

Her chance—

She shoved the startled Dalton aside and snatched up the figure. The others all whirled, Simeon drawing his gun, but she had already raised the statue above her head. ‘Back off or I’ll smash it!’ she cried.

They froze — but from the fear on Dalton’s face and Anna’s expression of horror, they were scared of something more than the destruction of a religious artefact. ‘I mean it,’ Nina continued, trying to cover her anxiety.

‘Don’t!’ said Dalton, holding up both hands. ‘That would be a — a very bad idea. For all of us.’

‘Why?’ she demanded. ‘Is it dangerous?’

‘Yes. It’s dangerous,’ said Cross. He indicated the glass case. ‘I keep that piece of the first angel in there for a reason. It shouldn’t pose a threat, not any more, but I’m not willing to take chances.’

‘What kind of threat?’

He gestured at the artefact above her head. ‘Will you put it down?’

‘Nope,’ she said defiantly. ‘If anyone tries anything…’

‘If you break open the angel,’ said Cross, ‘we’ll all die. Not just us in this room, but everyone in the Mission. Please. Put it down.’

Nina looked up at the statue. It didn’t appear deadly, but it was unusually heavy for its size. ‘Is there something inside it? Is that what you’re all so scared of?’

Cross nodded. ‘You remember I told you the Umm al Binni lake was a meteor crater? The meteorite that hit there wasn’t just a rock. There was something more to it — something deadly. “And I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth, and to him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth.” Revelation chapter nine, verse one. The pit was the impact crater, and I saw the smoke myself, in Iraq. When the first angel was broken.’

‘Smoke came out of it?’

‘Not smoke; gas. There was something inside the meteorite, a substance that doesn’t occur naturally on earth, that reacted with the air.’ He turned to Anna. ‘Anna was a chemist and biochemist for the CIA — she can explain it.’

‘It was a pyrophoric material,’ said Anna. ‘Something that ignites spontaneously when it comes into contact with oxygen. It burns at a high temperature, judging from the effect it had on the ceramic containing it’ — she indicated the fragment inside the cabinet — ‘until it’s completely consumed. But as it burns, it gives off an extremely toxic by-product.’

‘A yellow cloud, like sulphur,’ said Cross solemnly. ‘It kills almost instantly. I had protective gear, but the Arab rebels didn’t. They all died in agony, as if they were being eaten alive by insects, after just a few seconds.’

Nina gave the statue another look, this time considerably more nervous. ‘So this material, part of the meteorite… it’s inside the angel?’

‘Yes. The twenty-four Elders managed to contain pieces of it.’

‘How? If it burns on contact with air…’

‘Water stops the reaction,’ Anna told her. ‘Or at least slows it.’

‘It poisons the water, though,’ said Cross. ‘Exactly as Revelation said in chapter eight. “The sea became blood”, and then three verses later, “and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter”. The fragments must have poisoned the water supply around the crater. But the Elders figured out a way to make them safe.’

‘Seal them in clay while they’re still in the water, then harden the outer shell in a kiln, I’d guess. The wings were a way to reinforce it?’ Nina said, lowering the statue slightly for a better look. Cross nodded in confirmation. ‘And over time… the story of what happened turned into folklore,’ she realised. ‘The meteorite became a burning mountain, the locusts were the toxic gas, all inflicted on humanity by an angry God — and the statues became angels, based on existing mythology. I’ve seen the same four heads representing angelic beings before, in the Garden of Eden.’

Cross stepped closer, holding out his hands. ‘Put the angel down, Dr Wilde,’ he said. ‘If you destroy it, we won’t be the only ones who’ll die. The cloud will spread over the entire Mission. There are almost a hundred people here — do you want to be responsible for their deaths?’

‘Whatever you’re planning, they’re in it with you,’ said Nina, but with uncertainty.

The former CIA agent picked up on it at once. ‘You think Miriam’s in on it? She’s a sweet, innocent young girl who’s following her heart. She’s never hurt anyone in her life.’ A firmer tone. ‘Just like Macy.’

Nina’s jaw clenched at her friend’s name. ‘You son of a bitch. Don’t you talk about her.’

‘I know what you think — that it’s your fault she died,’ he pressed on. ‘And the guilt over that’s been eating away at you ever since, hasn’t it? That’s why you went into therapy. Because of the guilt.’

Tears stung the corners of Nina’s eyes. She angrily blinked them away. ‘Screw you.’

Another step nearer. ‘If you smash the angel, you’ll murder a lot of innocent people. Including Miriam.’

She looked at the heavy steel door. ‘Not if you close that. The only people who’ll die will be in here.’

‘Mr President?’

‘Yeah?’ said the sweating Dalton.

‘Leave the room, please. Norvin, Anna, Simeon — you too.’

Nina hefted the statue again. ‘I’m warning you!’ But Dalton made a hurried exit, Cross’s followers doing so more reluctantly to leave the pair alone.

‘I know you won’t do it,’ said the cult leader. ‘You can’t accept more innocent people getting hurt because of you. Especially not the most innocent of all.’ He looked down at the bump marking the presence of the new life inside her.

She felt a hot tear run down one cheek. ‘Son of a bitch,’ she hissed. But the statue remained in her raised hands.

‘Give it to me.’

Nina drew in several angry breaths… then slowly lowered her arms. Cross reached out to take the statue. He had to pull it from her grip, her fingers refusing to surrender, but then it was his. ‘I should have done it,’ she whispered, but she knew he was right.

‘I’m glad you didn’t.’ He placed the angel in the case and closed the lid. ‘But it proves what I told you. God kept you alive as part of His plan.’ The statue secure, he called out: ‘Simeon! It’s okay. You can come back in.’

Simeon hurried into the lab. He aimed his gun at Nina, but Cross signalled for him to lower it. The others followed, Dalton last to enter after peering nervously around the door. ‘Is everything safe?’ he asked.

‘It’s safe,’ Cross replied.

Nina wiped away another tear. ‘So you got your precious angel,’ she said bitterly. ‘Is that your plan? You’re going to break it open and claim that all the victims died because it was God’s will? Poison Mecca or somewhere to start a religious war?’

Dalton looked momentarily startled, but Cross shook his head. ‘This isn’t about war, Dr Wilde. It’s about fulfilling a prophecy — and it’s about knowledge.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I was a CIA operative — a spy. It was my job to find out information about America’s enemies, to discover their secrets. But when I went to Iraq, when I found the temple and the first angel, I realised there was a way to discover the secrets, the most important ones in all creation. The secrets of God Himself!’

Nina stared at him, unsure how to respond to his sudden messianic shift. ‘God’s secrets? What…’

‘It’s written in the Book of Revelation!’ Cross continued, as if offended that she didn’t know. ‘Chapter ten, verse seven — “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.” Do you know what that means? It means that as the seventh angel sounds his trumpet, all of God’s secrets will be revealed to his prophets. And I am one of those prophets!’

He turned to his followers, who watched enraptured even as Dalton seemed faintly uncomfortable. ‘Seven angels are given a task in turn by God. The sixth angel is ordered to loose the four angels that were bound at the Euphrates. These are those angels!’ He stabbed one hand at the fragment behind glass, the other at the closed case. ‘One has already been released, in Iraq. We’ve found the second angel — so there are only two more to locate.’ He whirled back to face Nina, his pale eyes wide and terrifyingly intense. ‘Two more for you to locate. When we have them, they’ll be released. President Dalton will get his war, but I’ll get something more important. Once all the statues have been loosed and the sixth angel’s task is completed, the seventh angel will sound — and God will reveal everything to me. His plan, His secrets, the meaning of everything. I’ll know it all.’

Nina was speechless for several seconds, the sheer madness of his plan almost too much to process rationally. ‘So you think,’ she finally said, ‘that loosing the angels, releasing this gas and killing who knows how many people will persuade God to let you into his inner circle? You’re insane!’

Both the Fishers reacted angrily, Simeon advancing with his fists balled, but Cross waved him back. The cult leader was also furious, but contained it — just. ‘Unbelievers throughout history have accused God’s prophets of being mad,’ he growled. ‘Noah, Moses, even Jesus Christ — they’ve all faced mockery. But you’ll see the truth once all four angels are loosed. The army of the horsemen will be unleashed upon the earth, just as Revelation says — and as Babylon falls, I will know God’s plan.’ His voice rose to a shout. ‘I will know!’

Appalled, Nina turned to Dalton. ‘You can’t believe any of this? You’re a politician — you’re in this for yourself, not to fulfil some Biblical prophecy!’

‘Thank you for that vote of confidence, Dr Wilde,’ Dalton said sarcastically. ‘But you’re wrong. I do believe; I believe that finding and unleashing the rest of the angels will make America stronger. That’s my duty to my country, as a true patriot.’

‘Patriot, my ass,’ Nina snarled. ‘You’re so crooked, you make Nixon look like Mother Teresa.’

Now it was Dalton’s turn to be angered, but before he could reply, Cross, his composure now recovered, cut in. ‘I’m not asking you to believe, Dr Wilde. I’m asking you to obey. There are still two more angels out there. The Throne of Satan, and the Place in the Wilderness — where are they?’

‘I don’t know. And even if I did know, now that you’ve told me what you’re planning, there’s no way I’m going to help you find them.’

‘I didn’t only suggest using you to find the angels out of revenge — although I have to admit, that was a bonus after everything you and Chase did to me,’ said Dalton. ‘I genuinely believed you were the person most likely to succeed. But if you’re not going to cooperate, then you’re… surplus to requirements.’

‘No, no,’ said Cross, holding up a hand. ‘She will find them for us.’

‘Did God tell you that?’ Nina said with a sneer.

‘No. You did.’ His gaze intensified. ‘I was an intelligence officer, Dr Wilde. I know people — how they think, how they’ll respond to specific situations. And I know that you’ll do what I ask to protect your husband.’ He led the group back into the control room and went to the video wall. ‘I’ll demonstrate.’

A tap on the controls, and the screens blinked on — showing Eddie still secured to the chair. The camera had changed position, now staring down at him from his left side. He looked around, mouth moving as he responded to someone out of frame, but the audio was muted.

‘Waterboard him,’ said Cross. ‘Don’t hold back this time.’ Irton appeared, a towel in his hands.

‘God damn you,’ Nina gasped as Eddie tried in vain to break loose. A silent shout at Irton, who responded by punching him in the stomach. The torturer’s two assistants prepared to tip the chair backwards as their boss swaddled the Englishman’s head in the thick cloth. ‘Don’t do it, please!’

Cross was unmoved. ‘It’s up to you how long this goes on. A minute, an hour… all day. He won’t die, but he’ll wish he could.’ The chair was lifted and tilted back until its occupant’s head hit the floor. ‘All you have to do to stop it is tell me where one of the other angels is.’

‘But I don’t know,’ she protested.

Irton brought a bucket to the chair. ‘I think you do,’ said Cross. ‘You already know something, and you’re keeping it from me. Do you think I’m an idiot? I know when someone’s hiding the truth. Finding it is what I do. Irton!’

The bucket tipped, sending a gush of water over Eddie’s cocooned head. He convulsed, mouth open in a silent scream beneath the sodden material. Nina gasped in sickened, helpless fear.

‘I really think you ought to do what you’re told,’ said Dalton, tone patronising.

‘Your choice, Dr Wilde,’ Cross added. ‘There’s only one way to stop this.’

She stared in anguish at the man she loved, the father of her child choking as more water filled his airways. She tried to resist, but felt surrender swelling inside her as his torment continued, unable to contain it—

‘Berlin,’ she whispered.

Cross jabbed at a control, the monitors going black. ‘What?’

‘Berlin,’ Nina repeated. ‘The Throne of Satan from Revelation — there’s only one thing it can be, and that’s the Altar of Zeus from Pergamon. John had obviously been there, because he knew Antipas the martyr, so he would have known about the altar as well.’

‘Isn’t Pergamon in Turkey?’ demanded Dalton.

‘The whole thing was transported to Germany in the late nineteenth century. It’s a Greek relic, though — I don’t know of any connection to ancient Judaism or Christianity.’

‘But there must be one,’ said Cross. He touched the control pad. ‘Irton, let him go. For now.’ He turned to Nina. ‘Get back to work. Research this altar, find anything that might link it to the angel or the twenty-four Elders.’

She nodded, despondent. ‘I’ll do what I can.’

‘What about the Place in the Wilderness?’ he added. ‘Are you keeping that from me too? Because if you are…’

‘I don’t know anything about that,’ she insisted, truthfully.

His unsettling eyes stared into hers, then he nodded. ‘Okay. Focus on the altar for now.’

‘Do you want us to fly to Germany?’ asked Simeon.

‘No, Trant can handle it. Tell him to get the team to Berlin. You work out a plan to extract the angel once we find it.’

‘If we find it,’ said Dalton. ‘If this altar’s been moved, the angel might already have been discovered when it was dismantled.’

Cross shook his head. ‘No. It’s waiting to be found. I have faith. In God’s plan… and in Dr Wilde’s love for her husband. She won’t let him suffer.’

‘Go to hell,’ Nina muttered, filled with shame for having capitulated. She looked at the case containing the angel. ‘I should have smashed that thing when I had the chance.’

‘I’m glad you didn’t,’ said Dalton. ‘You’re doing what’s best for America. You’ll see.’

‘Anything that involves you can’t be what’s best for America.’ But there was almost no defiance left in her, just sullen resignation.

‘Norvin, take Dr Wilde back to her house,’ ordered Cross. ‘She has a lot of work to do.’ The bodyguard escorted Nina out.

Dalton waited until she was gone before speaking again. ‘Two angels found already? I knew she was good, much as I hate to admit it, but I’m surprised she located them so quickly. Mind you,’ he added, gesturing towards the empty screens, ‘you did give her an incentive.’

‘We got lucky,’ Cross said quietly.

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean this.’ He tapped the touchpad again. The image of the warehouse reappeared — but this time it was a freeze-framed scene of chaos.

Dalton flinched as he saw a body at the end of a smeared trail of gore. ‘What the hell happened?’

‘Chase happened,’ came the reply.

‘Chase?’ The ex-politician rounded on Cross with a sudden flash of fear, which he had to fight to keep under control. ‘You mean he’s escaped?’

‘He broke out late last night. I don’t know what happened after he killed Berman — this was the last image before the video link was cut off — but since I can’t contact Irton or Raddick, I have to assume they’re dead too. What I just showed Wilde was a recording, flipped so she wouldn’t realise it was the same thing she saw before. If she hadn’t caved in when she did, I would have run out of footage, and she would have realised we don’t have Chase any more.’

‘But — but he could bring this whole thing down!’ Dalton’s words rose in pitch despite his best efforts to maintain a calm front. ‘If he finds this place, if he rescues Wilde, it’ll all point back to me!’

‘Irton’s tracks are covered,’ said Cross, with more than a hint of impatience. ‘Chase won’t find the Mission.’

‘Chase once found his way into my house, into my goddamn bedroom, and that was when I still had Secret Service protection! You underestimated him, Ezekiel. That’s a big mistake.’

‘I know what I’m doing, Mr President.’ Dalton was taken aback by Cross’s warning tone, but the cult leader ignored his reaction. ‘If Chase tries to interfere with the plan… we’ll kill him.’