“Is it a late night for you in the old country?” He could hear the smile in her voice.
“A strange night is more like it.”
“The longer you’re over there, the stranger it might get.”
“What do you mean?”
“Some things are going on in Iran, and for that matter, Israel, Pakistan and India that has our attention. Syria is near the top of the list.”
“What things?”
“We have reason to believe some cyber-attacks will or are being released against the Iranian nuclear effort. To infiltrate the Iranian nuclear grid with a malware worm, it’s all about coding. For Iranian officials to stop it, it’s all about decoding.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“You know why, Paul. Number one, I don’t know of anyone who’s a better cryptographer than you. The Israelis know it, which means so do the Iranians, Syrians, Pakistanis and even India’s intelligence. Toss in Russia and China for good measure and you have the ingredients to a Pandora’s box.” She dropped her voice. “The second reason is that I care about what happens to you. Be careful, please.”
“Do you think the only reason I’m in Jerusalem is because the Israelis brought me here under the guise of examining the Newton papers? But all along their real reason is they want me to encrypt a cyber-worm or to keep the Iranians from figuring out how to stop one?”
Alicia signed. “We don’t know that — I don’t know that.”
Marcus blew out a pent-up breath. “All I’ve been doing is working and reworking possible cryptograms from what Newton wrote in reference to what he found in the Bible. There’s nothing else, Alicia. Nothing. Trying to make sense of references from Newton’s papers to passages in the Bible is like earning doctorates in history and religious studies.”
“You sound so tired.”
“It’s been a long day — a bizarre day.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“That’s like asking me if I want to talk about losing my mind.”
“What happened?”
“I’m not sure. Can I ask a favor of you?”
“Absolutely.”
“Check out the background of a guy named David Marcus. He’s a bird colonel, Army. Originally from New York. Manhattan, maybe.”
“Is he a long lost relative of yours?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Did you meet this guy?”
“Maybe, if that’s his real name. I gave him a ride tonight to the bus station. But I don’t think that’s where he was really headed.”
Alicia laughed softly. “You want me to do a background check so you can see if this guy’s lost?”
“No, it’s not that. It’s something else…”
“It’s what, Paul?”
“I’m not sure what to make of him or the conversation I had with him. I’ll tell you about it when I get home. In the meantime, see what you can find on this guy.”
“No problem. I’ll have his life story, right down to his last credit card transaction. Is there anything else?”
“Yes, but I don’t want to impose any more than I have. I don’t like asking for—”
“Please, Paul…just ask. If I can do it for you, I will.”
“My grandmother, Mama Davis, you met her at the funerals.”
“I remember.”
“I’ve tried calling her a couple of times. Each time she’s been asleep. The assisted living home, The Mayflower, isn’t too far from the District. Maybe you could stop in and check on her for me, if you don’t mind.”
“I’d be happy to visit her. Tomorrow is Sunday. I’ll ride out there. Is there something you want me to let her know?”
“Tell her things are going well in Jerusalem, and I’ll have some good stories to share with her when I get home.”
“What else? I sense that’s not your entire message.”
“You can say…you can tell her I love her, too.”
“I will. Get some rest. Goodnight, Paul.”
Marcus walked to the bathroom, turned on the shower, stripped and stood under the hot water with his eyes closed. He let the downpour pulsate against the back of his neck, events of the day, especially the last few hours, swirling around him like gnats in his brain. Was it hallucinations? The mud was real. After showering, he slipped into a T-shirt and boxer shorts and poured a small bottle of Belvedere over ice.
Marcus sat in a chair on his balcony and watched the traffic and pedestrians move under the lights around the Old City. He sipped the drink; his eyes burned. He refused to think about the mysterious colonel, Marcus’s thoughts focusing on the decoding — the roadblocks.
What am I missing?
The full moon appeared over the Tower of David, resembling a bone china plate hanging against the black sky and casting Jerusalem in brushstrokes of amber.
Marcus whispered, “The sun is the father and the moon is the mother.” He swallowed the drink, his eyes intent, watching the rising moon. He whispered. “Newton, you used your own theory of gravity to calculate the position of the moon to reconstruct the Judean Calendar. You explained Daniel’s prophecy of seventy weeks by doing it.”
Marcus opened his laptop computer and inserted the flash drive. He keyed in letters and numbers and watched the screen. He mumbled, “That which is below is like that which is above. It may not have originated in the Bible, but it’s telling me where to look in the Bible.”
TWENTY-FOUR
On Monday morning, Paul Marcus entered the university library and paused at the stained glass mural in the lobby. He looked at the symbols in the three panes of glass, his eyes coming back to the center panel. He thought about the view of the wall around the Old City he’d seen from his hotel room. The lower portion of the painting depicting what appeared to him to be the wall around Jerusalem.
A librarian walked by carrying books in her arms.
“Excuse me.” Marcus pointed. “The painting in the center, is the lower portion the walls of Jerusalem?”
The woman smiled. “Some people believe that. The artist, Ardon, I don’t think he ever made that clear. Others believe the images are of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Isaiah specifically, second chapter, second verse.”
“What does it say? Do you know?”
She shifted the weight in her arms. “Yes, because I’ve been asked that question dozens of times. The passage reads: “And it shall come to pass, in the last days, the Lord’s house shall be established on top of the mountain. It shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.”
“The last days?”
“Yes.”
Marcus continued to study the stained glass, the rising sun giving the colors a subtle feel of movement causing the images to change slightly in the morning light.
The librarian smiled. “Another part of the text on the window mentioned another prophesy in Isaiah. You can see it painted on the panel to the right. The shovels and things, Ardon visualized how weapons, like spears, will be turned into gardening tools when nations stop the wars.” She paused, watching Marcus stare at the colors and illustrations on the glass. “Is there anything else, sir?”
“No, no thank you.”
She stepped around Marcus and walked across the large room, the soles of her hard heels the only sound in the lobby.
Marcus had been at the computer in the university library for five hours cross-referencing Newton’s handwritten notes when he stopped and re-read a page.
‘The ancient solar years of the eastern nations consisted of 12 months, and every month of 30 days: and hence came the division of a circle into 360 degrees. This year seems to be used by Moses in his history of the flood, and by John in the Apocalypse, where time, times and half a time, 42 months and 1260 days, are balanced. Matthew 24:36 says about that final day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, only the Father. The number, 603,550, from Numbers 1:46 — represents the sum of all the children of Israel…every person. To follow is to read Daniel and Revelation as one.’