The Illuminati (50 page)

“Jeff is officially dead too. The plane he was supposed to be on was shot down just outside of Washington.”

“Shot down?” Elder said quizzically.

“Shot down by a heat-seeking missile. Four of our people died in the crash.”

“Yes,” Jeff said as his face momentarily flashed the anger he felt. “If Don hadn't planned a double switch, Karen and I would have been on that plane.” He began to outline what had happened from his first contact with Amelia Durant until they rolled up to the airport.

Just before Jeff and Karen were to exit the garbage truck, another couple had exited the cab and run to the plane. Jeff and Karen had been whisked away to another car and later transferred to a commercial truck headed toward Atlanta. As they drove away from the small airport, they had seen the explosion and disintegration of the private jet.

“The pilot and three other people were aboard that plane,” Jeff said through clenched teeth. “They died in our places.”

“They were Mossad,” Shepperd said. “They have been helping us to sort out this mess. They have contacts almost everywhere.”

“What does the Israeli Mossad have to do with this?” Elder asked.

“Oh, you probably don't know. The United States launched six nuclear bombs on Israeli defense installations under the guise of stopping a maniac by the name of Moshi Amitt from launching several cobalt bombs.”

“I know of Amitt,” Elder said in amazement. “He was part of the Zealot movement in Israel: anti-Christian and anti-American.”

“Well, he's so much radioactive dust now,” Shepperd said caustically. “But the U.S. has proposed an occupation force made up mostly of Arab nations to control Israel.”

“The Israelis will never stand for that!” Elder nearly shouted. “I've been there many times. They know the Arabs would wipe them off the face of the earth the first chance they had. They will fight with sticks if necessary.”

“That is exactly the plan,” Shepperd explained. “The Mossad believes that it is Razzak's intention to totally eliminate the Jews, beginning with Israel.”

Elder felt like his head was going to explode. “So many things have happened in such a short period of time. I was the pastor of a growing church here in Atlanta and had a television ministry reaching people around the country. I thought we were safe, but I guess my ego blinded me. Sure, I was doing God's work, but I was so busy in my own activities I missed what was going on around me.”

“We were all guilty of that,” Shepperd said, looking at the others in the room. “I guess none of us really believed something like this could happen—certainly not here in America. But we're no different from the German people before Hitler or the Russians before Lenin. Nobody ever really believes it can happen to them.”

Elder was overwhelmed with emotion. “We became so attached to our ‘things' that we didn't notice, or didn't care when we began to give up our freedoms to keep those things.

“We kill unborn children because they're an economic inconvenience; our kids take drugs so they won't have to face the realities of life without purpose; our politicians care more about getting elected than they do about the country. And worst of all, God's people cared more about maintaining their lifestyle than they did about reaching the world for Christ.”

“And I'm as guilty as the rest,” Elder added.

“You're being too hard on yourself, Pastor,”Bill Frost said.“You warned us, and we tried to change. It was just too late by the time we woke up.”

“Do you believe this is the tribulation, Pastor?” Randy Cross asked. He had voiced the question that many others were thinking, but hadn't asked.

“I don't honestly know,” Elder replied with a sigh. “I think that Razzak is a part of Satan's plan to conquer the earth. But remember, no man knows the time; only God knows. If this is the tribulation and Razzak is really the Antichrist, he will win right up to the last stage before Christ comes again. But if he is simply a puffed-up dictator like Stalin or Hitler, he can be defeated. We just need to pray for God's will to be done, and then do as He directs us.”

Looking at Shepperd, Elder asked, “What can I do? If the ID system is so airtight that we can't even buy food anymore, how can we possibly reach the hidden groups throughout the country?”

“I think I can help there,” Jeff said, as Karen came into the room holding a small electronic device that he had pocketed when they fled from the lab. “This is Karen Eison, my . . . my fiancé,” he said.

The surprised look on the young woman's face told Elder the announcement was a revelation to her too, but she said nothing, only smiled.

“This is a scanner similar to the ones being used in Data-Net,” Jeff said as he took the small device from her hands. “The scanner output is transmitted back to a central location, where a number is verified. It's very similar to using a card, only the number is permanently imprinted under the skin using a thermal laser. The dye is magnetic so it doesn't show on the surface, but it can be detected by a sensitive magnetic scanner.”

“Absolute control,” Elder said.“You can't buy or sell without a number.”

“Well, almost absolute,”Wells added with a grin. Karen punched him in the ribs, and he pretended to get very serious again.

“What we're about to show you, Pastor, is known to no one outside this room as of this moment,” Shepperd said. “It is imperative that it be kept secret. The trick is how to transmit the information nationwide to our groups and still keep it secret from the government. That's where you will come in. We know the groups were infiltrated by members of the Society; perhaps some groups still are. If one word of what you're about to see leaks out, we're finished.”

Elder sat down in the chair closest to him. “I'll do what I can,” he said with as much confidence as he could muster.
A dozen people against the might of the government
, he thought.
We really are Gideon's handful
.

“Give me your hand,”Wells said. As he ran the scanner over the pastor's hand, the little device let out a screech that startled everyone.

“Very effective for alerting people that someone without an ID tried to use the system or simply walked past a scanner without knowing it was there. If this scanner had been hooked up to the system, a signal would also have gone to the central processor and set off an alarm there. I rather suspect that by now there are teams of agents stationed throughout the cities ready to pounce on anyone detected.”

“I understand,” Elder said as his nerves settled down.

“Now,” Wells said as he ran another small device he had retrieved from his pocket over Elder's hand. There was no sensation at all.

“What was that?” he said.

Wells ran the scanner over Elder's hand again, only this time the device winked a green light on and issued no sound.

“You passed,”Wells said triumphantly. “You're now officially a part of the Data-Net system.”

Seeing the question in the pastor's eyes, Wells continued. “I just printed a number on your hand. It's not permanent, but it will last about three months, or thirty baths, whichever comes first.”

He made a grunting sound as Karen punched him in the ribs again.

“It will eventually wear off as your skin replaces itself,” Karen said softly. “It is waterproof and scratch proof.”

“That means I could use Data-Net now?” Elder said as he scoured his hand. He could detect no mark of any kind.

“That only solves the problem of getting a number on your hand,” Wells said. “If you tried to use Data-Net, your number wouldn't match your fingerprint on the system access scanner and you'd set off another alarm.”

“Then how . . .”

“Patience, Pastor,” Wells quipped. “Let me explain. The system has records of everyone who has received a number, back from when they first got their cards. I knew that counterfeiting cards would quickly become a big business, so I included a second check: the index fingerprint of every card holder. The ID number must be matched to the correct print also. Try to use the system with someone else's number, and you get instant rejection.”

“I think I understand,” Elder said. “So I can get past the scanners, but I can't use the system, right?”

“Not exactly,”Wells said as he shifted into the swivel chair behind the desk. “I would assume by this time Dr. Loo has identified good numbers and bad numbers in the system. So you go walking through a scanner with the wrong number and the alarms go off.”

“So it would seem we're back to ground zero again,” Elder said.

“Not exactly,” Jeff repeated.

“Cut it out, Jeff, you're getting irritating,” Karen said. “I know you've already worked out a solution. What is it?”

“Actually it was pretty simple.” Jeff looked over at Karen who rolled her eyes back in pretended agony. “Okay, maybe it wasn't so simple. But it will work,” Jeff said, grinning from ear to ear.

“I left a window open to get into Data-Net from a remote location after Dr. Eison warned us that we were under suspicion.”

“Dr. Eison?” Elder repeated. “A relative of yours, Karen?”

“Yes, sir, my father. He is a physicist at Livermore labs in California. He discovered the government's plot to arrest the Christians and Jews; then he began to put two and two together.”

Jeff continued,“I can still get into Data-Net through a remote location. But there are two problems: First, I'm sure that by now Dr. Loo has activated the traps to monitor any attempt to enter the system from the outside. This was a necessary precaution I built into the system. Otherwise we would have every hacker in the world trying to get free access. Second, virtually every telephone system in the country has the ability to trace calls instantly and even send the number to the receiving end. So the first time I call, they have our number and location.”

Elder was beginning to feel like he was in the
Catch 22
movie. “Is there a way around the problems?” he asked Wells.

“I think so. That's why we're here today, to find out. I said virtually every telephone system has the capability to trace calls, but not all. The system used here in Clayton is still mechanical. When AT&T was broken up in the early eighties, a lot of small, private telephone services were still using mechanical systems. Most converted to solid state over the years, but not all. Shepperd found out that this little community still has the old system. It takes several minutes for the electronic system to hunt its way though relays. So I figure I'll have about ten minutes to get in, modify the system, and then erase any trace of my entry. From that point on, the system will accept me as a normal entry, but it will wipe out all traces of my visits when I exit.”

“You can do that?” Elder said in awe. He didn't understand it all, but he could see the genius in Wells.

“We'll see, Pastor. If the bad guys don't show up in thirty minutes or so, you'll know we made it.”

“That sounds real comforting,” Elder said with the first humor he had felt in weeks.

“Actually,” Jeff said, grinning, “I'll know as soon as I activate my program in Data-Net.”

Wells sat down at the terminal and typed in the access code that had been hidden inside the operating system. As soon as the computer connection was made, the screen responded:

“Access approved, Luke. May the force be with you.”

“Just his own little private joke,”Karen said, as she narrowed her eyes at Jeff.

“Maybe ‘The Lord be with you' would be more accurate,” Elder said.

“Good idea,” Jeff agreed. “I'll make the change when I exit.”

Next he typed in: “Activate code 777.”

“What is code 777?” Elder asked as he sat, fascinated, next to Wells.

“It's the program I have hidden away inside the system,” Wells replied.

“Why 777?” Elder asked.

“That is God's perfect number, isn't it?” Jeff responded. “Just like 666 is Satan's number?”

“How in the world did you know that?” Karen asked in amazement.

“I've read the Bible too,” Wells said, pretending to be hurt at her insinuation.

“Now we just activate the block of numbers that you can use for your groups, and they should have no difficulty with Data-Net. You'll need to caution them not to use the system too much, too soon. These accounts will have unlimited credit. We wouldn't want to drain the system of all its resources. Someone might get a little suspicious.”

“You could do that?” Shepperd asked, as an idea struck him.

“I guess I could,” Jeff said as he thought about it. “As long as my program is in the system, the transfers are not recorded.”

“How will you keep the books in balance?” Shepperd asked as his mind raced.

“It's really pretty simple . . . not too complicated,” he said as he glanced over at Karen, who was smiling. “When one of your people uses the system, an automatic transfer is made from the central bank to the merchant's account; that is, assuming the system verifies that the credits are in the user's account. In this case, the system will always acknowledge a balance in excess of the purchase. That's why they must be cautious about overusing it.”

“Next Data-Net makes a transfer to the central bank from the user's bank account at the end of the day. Meanwhile, it has been keeping track of all transfers during the day to be sure that no one can run up too much credit in one day. Again, in your group's case, the tally is not recorded because the transactions are never recorded.

“Since these accounts don't actually exist, the transfer, plus the system's commission, is created by my program.”

“Created?” Shepperd asked.

“Yes. I literally create the funds by rounding off the least significant bit in every transfer going through the system, and storing it in a special file, just for this purpose.”