"So, are they Christians or Jews?" Decker asked. "They say they're both," the driver answered. "Of course the other Jews won't claim them; but many KDP used to be very respected Jews. Some of them were even rabbis, and I heard that one of them used to be an attendant of Israel's High Priest."
"What about the writing? It looked like smeared blood. It appeared to be still wet."
54 Due to a linguistic error, the first printing of In His Image, Birth of an Age, and Acts of God erroneously used KDT.
"Well, they say it's lambs' blood from the sacrificial lambs at the Jewish temple. But whatever it is, it won't wash off. It's like a tattoo. I think it's some kind of permanent dye."
"Are you saying the Israeli government put the mark on the KDP members so that they could keep track of them?" Decker asked.
"Oh, no! The Jews won't even say 'God,' much less write his name. They hate the KDP because they have his name written on their foreheads. What makes it worse is that the Jews say that since the other half of the KDP have Yeshua written on their heads, it's like they're making Jesus out to be equal to God. They tried to get the government to deport all the KDP but no one else wants them either." "So the KDP marked their own foreheads?" "Yes. Well, they claim it was put on them by angels." Decker let out a "hmm."
"It seems stupid to me to put something like that on your forehead. It just makes it easy for the police to spot them."
"What will the police do to the one at the airport?" Decker asked. "Oh, they'll probably hold him for a few days and then let him go. They can't do very much. There's just too many of them. If they arrested all of them, there'd be no room left in their jails for us Palestinians," he added sarcastically. "How many KDP are there?"
"They say there's exactly one hundred and forty-four thousand, but I don't think anyone has actually counted them."
"A hundred and forty-four thousand"^" Decker gasped. "It was very mysterious. It all happened about a year ago. One day nobody had even heard of the KDP and the next day they were all over the place."
"That's incredible." "That's how they got their name."
"I wanted to ask you more about that." By now Decker was leaning forward, his head part way over the back of the front seat to facilitate the conversation.
"Well, in Hebrew the same characters are used for letters and numbers," explained the driver. "For example, the letter tav is also the number nine. So you can add the numbers of the letters in a word. Say you added the letters in the Hebrew word for 'bread;' that would equal seventy-eight. You can add up the letters in any word. The Jews call it Gematria. Some of the Orthodox Jews use it as a way to make decisions, almost like most people in the rest of the world use astrological signs and horoscopes. For instance, some rabbis say that to memorize something you should repeat it one hundred and one times, because when you subtract the value of the Hebrew word for 'remember' from the value of the Hebrew word 'forget' the remainder is one hundred and one. But I think they make up the rules as they go along because a lot of times it doesn't make any sense. Anyway, sometimes a number will also be a word. Like, uh… " the driver tried to think of an example. "Okay," he said after a moment, "the characters used to write the number fourteen spell out the Hebrew word for 'hand.' Of course Hebrew doesn't have any vowels like in English, so you have to use your imagination a little. Anyway, as it turns out, the characters used to write the number one hundred and forty-four thousand also spell the words Koum Damah Patar."55 "What does that mean in English?" Decker asked. "Oh just nonsense. Literally it means 'arise, shed tears, and be free,'" the driver answered. "It's just an easy name for them, I guess. Actually, they can be pretty nice people when they're not preaching at you or telling you about the things you've done that you wish they didn't know about and maybe would rather not think about yourself." "Have you ever talked with one of them?" Decker asked. "Oh, yes. It's probably happened to everyone in Israel at least once. One day I was fixing a flat tire. I had burned my hand the day before and had it bandaged so I was having some trouble. This guy came up, and without asking just started helping me. When I looked up I saw he was KDP. I was surprised but he just kept working." "He helped you change the tire?"
''Yes. Like I said: they're very strange. Sometimes they start out by doing you a favor; and they never take any pay. After we finished with the tire, out of the blue, he told me how I had burned my hand and he said that the reason I had burned it was so that he'd be able to help me and then I'd listen to what he had to say. I don't know how he knew about my hand but then he started telling me other things." "Like what?" asked Decker.
"Well, personal things. Like I was saying, things that people would rather not talk about."
55 Due to a linguistic error, the first printing of In His Image, Birth of an Age, and Acts of God erroneously used Koum Damah Tatare. (See also footnote on page 338.)
"Oh," Decker said. He hadn't meant to pry. "You said that sometimes they start out by doing you a favor. What about the rest of the time?"
"Well, my neighbor's wife decided to follow one of the KDP around, hoping to hear what he was saying to other people. But he turned around and called her by name and said she was a gossip and a liar, and she had stolen from her employer. He went on and on. She ran away but he followed her. The farther she ran, the louder he yelled and the more people that heard. It was like he was reading a list of everything she had ever done wrong. Finally, she begged him to stop and he told her she should repent of her sins and follow Yeshua and that if she did, God would forgive her for everything." Decker shook his head in wonderment.
"There's one other strange thing about them," the driver added after a moment. "They claim that one of their leaders is the Christian Apostle John."
Decker was about to ask the driver to explain when Christopher, who until this point had remained silent and distracted, suddenly jumped as if he had received an electric shock. "What?!" Christopher asked the driver, his voice full of both surprise and dread. "Yes, pretty crazy, huh?"
Christopher's brow seemed to furrow in pain. His eyes moved slowly but erratically, as though there was a very unpleasant scene running through his memory over and over again.
"Christopher, are you all right?" Decker whispered. Christopher didn't answer. For the next several minutes they rode in silence, but Decker could see that inside Christopher's mind there was a battle raging. After a few more minutes Christopher seemed to slowly resign himself to whatever was bothering him. Finally he spoke.
"I'm sorry for not answering you earlier," he told Decker. "I've just remembered something." Decker remained silent, though it was obvious he wanted to know more. But this was not the place; it would have to wait until they reached the hotel.
A half hour later the driver pulled up to the front door of the Ramada Renaissance Hotel. It was Decker's choice. It was the same hotel that he and Tom Donafin had stayed in twenty years earlier. He had even tried to get the same rooms but they were unavailable. As they got out of the car, Decker's thoughts were torn between his own memories of this place and wanting to know what Christopher had remembered in the cab. The pain had passed from Christopher's eyes. Now he was just deep in thought.
About forty yards away on the other side of the street, two men watched. On the forehead of one was the mark of the KDP.
"There they are," the smaller of the two men said.
"I see them," answered the one with the mark.
"So, let's do what we came for."
The one with the mark hesitated. "Maybe we should wait until they're separated."
"You're not changing your mind, are you, Scott?" the smaller one asked.