The Mormon Candidate - a Novel (47 page)

Through the
afternoon
hours,
Ben
had
been
read
ing
Mormonism for Dummies.
It was
jovially written and
interesting,
and he found similarities to other religions in the various myths,
rules
,
and rituals.
Eventually, when t
he sun was setting,
smells of cooking
drew him to the kitchen
.

Powell
was
stirr
ing
a steamy pot. “
Ready for a test?”

“
A testimony
,” Ben said
, “is the correct term
.
”

“
Very good! So…w
hat
i
s the First Vision?”

“Joseph Smith
was
fourteen
when he
went into
the forest in upstate New York
to pray
for guidance about which church to join
.
God came down with Jesus
. They told Joseph t
hat all the existing churches were false
abominations
and that he
must restore the
True C
hurch, which is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

“
Correct
,” Powell said. “
Between us, though, S
mith’s letters and
writings tell a
n evolving series
of stories
about that event
, starting with a mere dream, then something about an angel, or a personhood, and finally,
in the last version
,
publi
shed
after his death,
it
became
God and Christ in actual bodies. But you should answer simply if the temple
workers test
you. Now, how about the
Book of Mormon
?
”

“It’
s
the
True G
ospel,” Ben said.
“An angel named Moroni told Smith to dig
up
golden tablets
that
had been buried by the last survivor of an ancient civilization of
Israelite
immigrants to
North America a millennium earlier. Smith also found Urim Vetumim, a device that
turned him into a
s
eer—a man capable of
translat
ing
the tablets from Egyptian to English. The book tells the story of how the lost tribes of Israel came to America and how Jesus Christ ministered to them before they were destroyed by the
dark-skinned
descendants of Lucifer, who are the ancestors of today’s Native Americans.”

“You’re
generalizing
.
” Dreyfuss
entered the kitchen and sat down.
“
Also,
your tone isn’t very convincing.”

“Wait till he explains godhood,” St
r
ee
p
said
as she joined them
.

“I’m not mocking
,” Ben said. “
Mormonism isn’t
less plausible than other religions.
I
f you believe that Christ rose from the dead i
n Jerusalem
, why
c
ouldn’t he
have risen in America too and ministered to the natives?”

“Mormon boy!” Streep pointed at him. “Are you a good Christian? Are you?”

“Yes,” Ben said. “I am. We believe in Jesus Christ and his mission of salvation and redemption.”

“So what’s the difference between you and a Protestant, a Catholic, or a Lutheran?”

“We believe that
the
Book of Mormon
is
divine
scripture
, that
Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God, and th
at every successive
head of our church, including our current
c
hurch
p
resident, is also a prophet, a seer, and a revelator of God
’s messages
.
”

“Go on,” she said.

“
We believe that God
,
Jesus
, and the Holy Ghost
are
separate
physical beings,
just like
men of blood and flesh
. They’re elevated
humans
who look and walk like us
. God
, for example,
lives on his own planet
with
his
godly wives
. And all the
s
aints who
have
achieved exaltations have
also
become g
ods and
live with their
own
godly wives on their own planets and procreate many godly children.”

“Hallelujah!
”

“We
also
believe
,” Ben continued, “
that all souls were created by
G
od in pre
-
mortality and that they are sent here to earth to be bor
n with a chance to embrace the T
rue Gospel and live righteously as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
, which is the only path
to exaltation
.”

“Men or women?”

“Both, but they have different roles. The man is the
s
aint, the
master
who
holds the priesthood
of God
, rules
over
his
family, and goes out in the world to make money and provide for his
family. The woman’s job is child
bear
ing
. Her duty is to raise the children, take care of the home, and submit to her husband in every way.”

“And the reward?”

“We believe
,” Ben said, “
that only
those of us—
s
aints who follow the T
rue Gospel to the letter—
shall pass on to
the Celestial Kingdom and
live
on
as gods with
our own
godly wives who will
be pregnant and
give birth
repeatedly forever
—which is why we are sealed
for eternity with
our wives
in the
Mormon
Temple.”

“
Nice, but y
ou didn’t answer,” St
reep
said. “Are you
—the Latter-day Saints
—
really
Christian
s
?”

Chapter 49

Keera had to make a choice
: R
u
n for it or pretend not to notice? The neatness of the burglary had given her a weird sense of confidence that these people were not insane criminals
,
but carefully calculating professionals. In all likelihood, the Ghost was here to watch her in case Ben showed up. They must have learned where she spent her days, but hopefully they didn’t know where she was spending her nights. She decided to play the role of the oblivious
babe. She would
drive around until the opportunity came to make a run for it and lose the tail. Then she would go to Fran’s place.

The exit road spilled o
nto I-95, and she headed south
toward Washington
,
her usual commute home. Traffic was heavy, but it was moving steadily. The Ducati stayed way back, its headlight
popping in and out of her rearview mirror
.

A few miles down the road,
approaching
the
exit
for
Rt. 32 West,
she stayed in the left lane as long as possible, then cut across to the exit ramp
on the right
. A moment later, as she sped up on the merging lane, the
Ducati
headlight returned to her rearview mirror.

Traffic was heavier here, with tens of thousands of employees leaving the massive compound of the National Security Agency—the NSA,
whose
acronym
was
otherwise known
to stand for No Such Agency.

She could stay on
Rt.
32, which eventually curved northward and connected with I-70, where she could swing back toward Fran’s place west of Baltimore. But first Keera had to lose the Ducati while pretending to be driving home. Her advantage would come from many weekends of riding behind Ben on his GS through the back roads of Howard County. He was always insistent that they map the ride ahead together, with her choosing the
nature destinations and
coffee stops. It was his way of making sure that her passive role as backseat passenger wouldn’t make her feel like a needless appendage.

A tentative plan formed in her mind.

The exit for
Rt.
29 South was backed up, and Keera kept her eyes on the side mirrors while maintaining enough r
oom behind the next car for a qu
ick lane change, in case the Ducati suddenly opted for more aggressive moves.

Heading down
Rt.
29 South toward Silver Spring
, she maintained a steady speed. T
he signs for
Rt.
216
appeared. It was
a local road that led into densely wooded areas of
gradually
narrow
ing
country roads, rich with twists and turns, and plenty of places to hide.

From the third lane
on the left
, she
crossed
over to the right and slowed down.

About seven or eight cars behind, the Ducati did the same.

She put on the turn signal
,
veered to the shoulder,
and
stopp
ed
.

Traffic continued to flow. As she expected, to avoid exposure the
Ghost
kept going, passing by her window, moving apace with traffic—a
w
hite Ducati, a white riding suit, and a white helmet that didn’t turn to look at her.

Knowing that he would look at his side mirror in a second to figure out why she had stopped, Keera turned right and held up her iPhone so it
wa
s visible through the front windshield. She redialed Fran’s number. Again it went straight to voice
mail.

Farther ahead, the Ducati was passing the exit, staying on
Rt.
29 South. Keera hit the gas, accelerating at full power, and took the exit onto
Rt.
216 West
. C
atching a last glimpse of the Ducati
,
she said out loud, “C
i
ao, asshole!”

“Yes, we are
Christians
,” Ben
answered
. “We
’
re
definitely Christians. In fact, we’re
the only Christians!”

Streep finally smiled. “That’s what I was looking for
.
Explain
!
”

“
Th
ose
who call themselves Christians—Catholics, Protestants, Lutherans, Evangelists,
Pentecostals,
B
orn
-a
gainers
, and so on
—they’re all
Gentiles
who follow false religions, abominations against God and Jesus
Christ. They’re not Christians.
”

“
How can they not be Christians if
they worship Christ?”

“They’re misguided. Their Christ is
actually
his brother, Lucifer.
Only Mormons
follow
the true Christ.
”

“Bravo!” Streep clapped. “
Spoken like
a true
s
aint
!”