The 13th Enumeration (41 page)

Chapter 83

The Persian Gulf

Darius Zarindast was smiling as the roar of the single outboard Yamaha engine propelled his boat across the Persian Gulf. Every now and then he would feel a little ocean spray on his face as the boat hit larger swells with a smack. Darius felt liberated and partly avenged. He knew he was causing irreparable damage to those he had sworn vengeance on so many years ago. He looked at his watch and then at his portable GPS navigation system. He’d left Dubai a little over two hours ago. To the west, he could see Abu Musa, the twelve-kilometer island administered by Iran, in the distance. The island was just over the halfway point to his destination.

He could see the outline of some of the massive oil and natural-gas tankers in the distance. So far he had not encountered any other boat traffic. In another two hours he would reach his destination, and he would be safe. The Order would not be able to reach him in an Iran ruled by his brother. Laughing, Darius thought he was probably the least of their concerns right now. In two more days, his machines would start producing the 235X toxin in the major financial centers in the world. He had purposely not wanted to kill the people in those cities until after the world financial markets crashed. He’d wanted to build the pressure on the system gradually so that when people started to die, it would be the final blow—forever ending the Western financial dominance over the world.

Darius gloated. If they thought things were rough in the financial world today, just wait until a week from now. By that time they wouldn’t be worrying about their money any longer; they would be worrying about their lives.

* * *

Anton Ramirez slept the entire flight from Dubai to New Delhi. In New Delhi, he caught the earliest flight back to Israel he could find. As he waited in New Delhi, he watched the world news. The leading story was the epidemic in Dubai. The world watched the pictures of death and mayhem in horror. The WHO and the American CDC had teams en route to Dubai to try to figure out what was killing the people. They were already seeking out all those who had left Dubai in the last twenty-four hours and quarantining them as a precaution. Anton was thankful for the fake passport he had used to book his flight from Dubai. For the flight to Tel Aviv he had used a second passport, so he doubted they would be able to find him.

The news out of Dubai had really shaken the financial markets as well. The news showed the Asian markets had closed down over fifteen percent. US markets had just opened, and they were down six percent already. He could see the fear in some of the financial commentators’ faces. From what he gathered, they were not sure why the markets were down so much even with the horrible events of Dubai factored in.

Anton did take notice when one of the reporters mentioned that some people believed the crash in the world markets was tied to Aquarius Elemental Solutions, which was based in Dubai. Anton, like most citizens in the Western world, had taken Darius Zarindast up on the private placement of AQES stock. He had not only purchased his private placement shares, but had also invested another fifty thousand pounds of his personal investment account in the stock as well. In just a few months, he had tripled his money.

As the newscaster showed the price of AQES, Anton Ramirez just about broke the arm of his chair in the airport lounge. AQES, as of Chicago open, had dropped to ten dollars a share.

“What the . . .!” Anton shouted angrily. His AQES shares, which as of last week had been worth over one-hundred-and-fifty-thousand pounds, were now worth only five thousand. The news showed pictures of black columns of smoke rising over the AES factory in Dubai. Anton pounded the arm of his chair in uncontrolled rage. He would like to get his hands on the owner of AES. He would take his lost pounds out of his hide, so help him. He would make him pay.

Anton checked in with Sir Peter. He had been given a new name to add to his list of laundry to clean: the Mossad agent, Marcus Nayat. Marcus was no longer a valuable asset, and he knew too much to be allowed to live. Anton looked at the other three pictures on his computer screen and saw the faces of Rachael Neumann, Jacob Neumann, and Zane Harrison.

Anton was in a foul mood. Not only was he dirty, tired, and jet-lagged, but he was a hundred-and-forty-five-thousand pounds poorer than when he had started this operation. He wanted to get back to England and chill out for a few days. He had been moving nonstop since the Capernaum operation, leaving a path of death and destruction behind him as he destroyed any record of the secret. All he had to do was eliminate four more people and he would be able to take a break and get some rest. He could feel the rage building inside. The sooner he eliminated the people on his list and destroyed their evidence, the better.

Anton looked at this watch and calculated Israel time. It would be seven-thirty p.m. when he landed in Tel Aviv. If he left directly for the Neumann house, he might get there by eight-thirty or nine. They would likely be home by then, and he would take care of them right away. Once the Mossad found out they were dead, he knew Marcus Nayat would be around shortly thereafter. He would wait and follow Mr. Nayat and then eliminate him as well. After that he would track down Mr. Harrison and finish the job!

Chapter 84

Elated, Darius could see the coastline now. He had made the one-hundred-sixty-kilometer journey from Dubai to the coast of Iran in just under four hours.

His destination was a little used road between Gasheh and Bandar-e-Shenas on an uninhabited section of the coast just south of the Bandar Lengeh Airport. The road was half a kilometer off Highway 96 and just a kilometer from the airport. Hopefully, Arash would have someone there to meet him.

He slowed the boat down as he neared landfall. He could feel the oppressive heat in the air. Darius beached the motorboat in the shallow surf and waded ashore. A few hundred feet from the beach, an official-looking car was parked. As Darius approached, the car door opened and his brother Arash stepped out of the passenger side and walked toward him.

“Welcome to Iran, my brother,” Arash said with a smile, his arms outstretched.

Darius embraced his brother and smiled. “It is good to see you again, my brother. Much has happened since we last parted.”

“Yes, much has happened. Come, brother, let us out of this infernal heat. I have a plane waiting at Bandar Lengeh.”

As they walked back to the car, Arash handed him a bottle of water. “Thank you, brother, it is hot out here.” Darius drank the entire bottle. Its cool wetness felt good going down, and he immediately felt revived.

As they entered the car, Arash gave Darius a searching, speculative look. The driver started the car immediately when the door closed and drove them back to the airport. Arash, still looking at Darius, said, “We will talk more, brother, when we get on the plane. We have a lot of catching up to do.”

When they reached the airport, the driver drove straight to the plane which stood ready on the tarmac. As they got out of the car, Arash gave the driver instructions to return and destroy the boat.

As soon as they sat down inside the plane, it began to move. The plane was a new Falcon 900 jet built by Dassault. Darius settled back and looked over at Arash. “Traveling in style, I see. I hope you sold all your shares of AQES. Last time I checked it was below one hundred dollars.”

Arash looked at his brother with cold blue eyes and replied, “Brother, it closed in Chicago at just over ten dollars a share.”

Darius smiled broadly. “That is going to bankrupt them, Arash. They will never recover from what we have done.” Darius looked over at his brother again. Arash didn’t seem to share his elation. He shrugged—some people were harder to please than others. Since it didn’t appear that Arash was disposed to talk right now, Darius reclined his chair and closed his eyes to rest.

Some time later, Darius opened his eyes as he felt and heard the handcuffs being placed around his wrists. Darius looked up in shock into the cold, hard eyes of his brother, who had just finished securing his arms to the chair.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

With undisguised hate, Arash replied, “I have waited forty years for this opportunity, Darius. I have no further use for you. Enjoy what little time you have left. You are going to watch me save the world. I have already made a bargain with several world leaders, and they have allowed me to keep all of the wealth you have transferred here, as well as the money you supposedly left for our people. In exchange, I will give them control over the elemental separators. Your plan has failed, and I will step into your shoes as the new savior of the world.”

Darius was stunned. His mind could hardly accept the betrayal. When he finally found his voice, he asked, “So what are you going to do with me, Arash? Are you going to kill me, keep me in a dungeon, or let one of your minions do the dirty work?”

Arash smiled with contempt. “Brother, you have already killed yourself.”

Darius looked at his brother without comprehension. “I am sitting right here talking to you, so clearly I did not kill myself, Arash.”

His laughter tinged with a touch of insanity, his brother replied, “Let me just say you have gotten a taste of your very own medicine.”

Darius’s face filled with horror and comprehension. “235X?”

“Yes, Darius, by your own hand you have ensured your death. The bottle of water you drank when we met was poisoned with your toxin. You will live just long enough to watch me destroy your cherished plan and take credit for saving millions of lives. Frankly, brother, if you hadn’t been so obsessed with your quest for the secret of the 13
th
Enumeration, I would have let your plan succeed. But they had discovered—or were very close to discovering—you were behind these events, and I knew you would eventually lead them to us. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I would have killed you anyway—but your plan would have succeeded where now you will watch it fail.”

Darius had recovered some of his nerve by now, and he gave Arash a baleful look of contempt. “Arash, you will always be a bastard, no matter what your position in life. You have not defeated me. On the contrary, you have only ensured my success.”

Surprised at his brother’s defiance, Arash swung a vicious blow to Darius’s head.

Chapter 85

Tel Aviv, Israel

It was early afternoon, and Zane Harrison sat in David’s hotel room and worked on an outline for a book on the prophecy of seventy weeks. David had left a note before leaving for Mossad headquarters. Zane’s excitement grew as he read the fascinating information David had discovered.

Zane sat back. He was hungry and needed a break. Picking up the remote from the desk where he worked, he turned on the TV and looked for an English news station. He found Fox News and turned up the volume. The leading report was about the pandemic in Dubai. Reports out of Dubai had death toll estimates as high as one-hundred-thousand people. Many more thousands were sick and dying. The news reports also showed the destroyed Aquarius Elemental Solutions factory in Dubai. Destruction of the AES factory may have been the catalyst for the crash of world financial markets, according to the newscaster. There were a lot of people really hurting right about now. He felt sorrow for the loss of life in Dubai.

Zane whistled softly as they showed the stock price of AQES at ten dollars a share. He was thankful he had taken Sam’s advice and sold his shares. The last had been sold several weeks ago; his money was now parked in cash. Frankly, he did not yet know what he was going to do with it.

Zane watched several more cycles and then turned it off. The news, today especially, was depressing. He walked over to the kitchenette and looked in the little refrigerator. He saw nothing remotely like healthy food, so he slipped on his shoes and walked down to the hotel restaurant for a snack.

Two hours later, Zane was getting ready for dinner with Rachael. He was a little nervous and a lot excited. He was developing feelings for Rachael, and he thought he might have some hope of the same in her. Zane took a shower and dressed casually. He had asked the hotel restaurant waiter if he knew of a nice place to eat in Jerusalem. The waiter recommended the Canela Restaurant in downtown Jerusalem. Zane looked it up on the Internet and found it was just off Yafo Street on Shlomtsiyon HaMalka Street. It looked like it was only a ten-minute drive from Rachael’s house. Zane left at four-thirty p.m. just to ensure he would not be late to pick her up at six. The last thing he wanted was to be late for his first formal date with Rachael.

As he drove, he worried a little about his choice of restaurant. He didn’t know anything about restaurants in Jerusalem, and even less about what Rachael liked to eat. Why didn’t he ask her where she would like to go? No, that was kind of cheesy—a guy was supposed to impress his date with good taste and judgment. Well, he just hoped he didn’t crash and burn on his first date.

At 5:25, he arrived at the Neumanns’ house. Mr. Neumann met him at the door with a warm smile and asked him in. “Good evening, Mr. Harrison, please come in. Rachael will be right out—she is not quite ready yet.”

Zane, a little embarrassed, replied, “Sorry I am early, but I didn’t want to be late.”

“Could I offer you something to drink, Zane?”

“Sure . . . a glass of water would be nice.” Zane followed Jacob Neumann into the kitchen. After Zane had satisfied his thirst, he set down the half-full glass of water.

“Rachael gave me a copy of your research on the prophecy of Daniel,” Jacob Neumann said. “I read it this afternoon, and frankly, it was not what I expected. If you have a few minutes, before you leave I would like to show you and Rachael something in my office you might find interesting.”

Jacob finished speaking with a warm look and a light in his eyes Zane had not noticed before. He replied, “Sure, I would love to.” Zane and Jacob spoke casually for several more minutes in the kitchen, and then Rachael entered.

Zane caught his breath. She looked stunning. She had made up her hair in curls which cascaded over her shoulders. She wore a dark skirt, white blouse, and light-colored sandals. Most beautiful of all was her smile. It was excited, happy, warm, and girlish all at once. As she entered, she said with a lighthearted lilt, “I see you are early, Mr. Harrison. Sorry I wasn’t ready, but I didn’t expect you until six.” Zane just grinned sheepishly in reply.

Jacob Neumann spoke up. “Rachael, since Mr. Harrison is early, do you mind if I show you two something in my office before you leave?”

Jacob Neumann led them into his office and around to his desk. He picked up a paper from his desk and held it in his hand. He looked at Rachael—with an
expression
Rachael had never seen before—and spoke in a voice of gentle warmth. “As I told young Mr. Harrison in the kitchen, I read his research paper you gave to me this morning.” Jacob cleared his throat before he continued. “Excuse me,” he said. Rachael looked at her father curiously. He was acting unusual.

He finally was able to continue. “As I was saying, I read the paper Zane wrote about Daniel’s prophecy of seventy weeks. Well, to put it bluntly, it has changed my view of Yeshua.” He looked at Zane and added, “Jesus.”

He held out the paper in his hand. “You might find this interesting, and I thought you might want to add it to your research paper. I wrote this out several years ago. You see a list of twenty-four names. What you are looking at are the priestly courses as given in the Old Testament. Each Levite had to serve in the temple for two weeks every year besides his service during the festivals.”

Taking the paper and placing it back on his desk, he held out another piece of paper. Mysteriously he asked, “Can either of you tell me what this is?”

Rachael replied, “It looks like a similar list, only doubled. I see you have numbered the months and added Babylonian and English month-name equivalents. You’ve also numbered the priestly courses and the meaning of the names for each course.”

“Yes, you are correct. What else do you see?”

Zane replied this time. “Why have you circled the eighth course of Abijah?”

Jacob smiled. “Let me show you both something.”

Setting the paper back on a clear spot on his desk, he took out a
yellow
highlighter and highlighted the eighth course of Abijah. “Zane, in Luke 1 in your New Testament, it tells the story of Zacharias’s priestly service at the temple. As the story is told, Zacharias and Elisabeth could not conceive a child, and for some time this had caused them great sorrow. It so happened that an angel appeared to Zacharias as he performed his duties. The angel said Zacharias would have a son and to call his name John. Zacharias doubted the angel Gabriel’s message, so Gabriel said he would not be able to speak until these things came to pass. Well, Luke states that shortly thereafter El
isabeth conceived
.

“The story goes on to say that six months later, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her she was going to bare a son by the Spirit of YHWH. Luke says, just as Gabriel promised, Mary bore a son and they called him Yeshua, which in Hebrew means ‘Salvation of YAH.’” Jacob looked over at Zane and said, “Sorry, Zane, but ‘Jesus’ just doesn’t convey the same meaning to me. I hope you know I mean no disrespect?”

Zane smiled reassuringly. “No offense taken, Mr. Neumann. As my friend Sam would say, Yeshua was Hebrew, not Greek.”

Jacob
now
took
a
green highlighter, and starting at the ninth priestly course, he marked out six months. Then he highlighted the twenty-first priestly course and then another nine months
with a blue highlighter
. Jacob continued, “If Elisabeth conceived in the fifth month and Mary, the mother of Yeshua, conceived six months later, then this places the birth of the Messiah here.” Jacob circled the thirteenth and fourteenth priestly courses, which fell during the seventh
month. He smiled, clearly aware of what the numbers meant to Zane. “This shows the book of Luke adds further evidence to the symbolism associated with the numbers thirteen
,
fourteen
, seven
and Yeshua of Nazareth.”

Jacob finished with a look of satisfaction. Zane and Rachael looked at each other in amazement, and Rachael looked at her father with growing curiosity. He didn’t seem to be talking about Yeshua as the Christian Messiah, but as a Jewish Messiah. He caught her glance and smiled knowingly.

Jacob continued. “Zane, I don’t know if Rachael told you or not, but I am Jewish, and my wife Constance was Christian. We met at an archeological dig and fell in love. Over our parents’ objections we got married, and to their surprise, we had a very happy marriage. Constance was an exceptional woman in so many ways.”

With a catch in his voice, he continued. “She never forced her faith on me or tried to change my mind with arguments. She just showed me unconditional love. Through her example, I learned to understand and respect her faith in Yeshua. I once asked why she was able to live with me even though I was a practicing Jew and she a Christian. I will never forget what she said. ‘Jacob, Jesus paid the price for all our sins, both Jew and Gentile.’ Then she would quote the words of the apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:13–14: ‘But now in Yeshua our Messiah ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of the Messiah. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.’

“If you look, you will see that verse framed on the wall in the kitchen where your mother could see it. That was her motto for our marriage. Notice the reference—it has been for there over twenty years, and I never understood its significance.” Here Jacob’s voice faltered, and tears ran down his face without his knowing it.

Taking each of them by the hand, he walked them over to the large framed drawing on the wall in front of his desk. Pointing to the drawing, he said in an emotional voice, “The drawing you see is what we believe the Second Temple looked like during the time when Yeshua the Messiah walked on the earth.”

Pointing to the large open area on the drawing, he said, “That was the Court of the Gentiles there. A wall was built which divided the court from the temple proper. At regular intervals along this wall, inscriptions in both Greek and Hebrew were placed which read, ‘No Gentile is to pass this point on pain of death.’ This is the wall of partition the apostle Paul mentioned in Ephesians 2:13–14. Notice the stairs—in order for anyone to access the temple proper and pass through the wall from that point, they had to climb a set of
14
stairs and enter through one of
13
gates.”

Jacob turned to face Rachael and said, “My dear, your mother was right: Yeshua was and is the Messiah promised in our Scriptures.”

With those words, Rachael reached for her father, tears of joy now running down her face. Zane looked at the two of them and thought to himself,
Thank you, Father for the privilege of being part of this miracle.

Looking up at Zane, Jacob said in a husky voice, “Our great Jewish Rabbi Maimonides set out thirteen principles of our faith. He believed one must acknowledge these thirteen truths as true in order to be considered a
true
Jew. The thirteenth principle affirms our belief in the resurrection of the dead. I now know both Jews and Gentiles can only have hope of that resurrection by our reconciliation to YHWH, our Creator, through the 13
th
Enumeration.”

After a minute Jacob released Rachael and stood back, pulling himself together. “My dear, you must be going or you’ll be late for your dinner.”

With a surprised look she replied, “Abba, we don’t have to go out tonight. How about we stay here and keep you company?” Looking at Zane she asked, “Would you mind if we eat here tonight? I will cook us all dinner.”

Smiling, Zane replied, “Of course not, but if you and your father would rather be alone right now, I can leave. We can always have dinner another time.”

Before Rachael could reply, Jacob interjected. “No, I want you both to carry on with your plans tonight. I have things I need to do, and there is no reason for you to cancel your dinner.”

“But Abba, tonight is special—it’s a time for celebration! After all these years you have believed in Yeshua!”

Taking her hand, Jacob replied, “Rachael, you are right—this is a time for celebration, but also a time for reflection. A seed your mother planted many years ago has just taken root, and it will take time to grow. I don’t need you here tonight. I want you both to go and enjoy yourselves.”
             
Rachael searched her father’s face, looking for any indication he really wanted them to stay. Finding only a genuine look of peace, she realized he probably really wanted to be alone. Her father wasn’t one who talked about his feelings much. He would talk more about it, but in his own time. Finally she gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek and released his hand.