Joachim’s face darkened in anger. ‘Why have you waited till now to tell us?’
‘I wanted some time to think about things. Alone. Without preconceptions.’
‘Qayin and his followers might have-’
‘Do you really think they can find the Joy Scroll?’ Lourds interrupted. ‘Do you think they’re any better informed than you are? And you certainly haven’t found it.’
Joachim restrained himself from making further comment and the effort turned his lips white.
‘We can’t get the scroll now anyway,’ Lourds said. ‘We’re going to have to wait till tonight.’
‘Why?’
‘Where it’s at will be filled with too many people during the day. Going at night will be risky enough.’
‘Where is it?’ Joachim’s voice was so hard that the question might as well have been a demand.
‘We’ll get to that in a moment.’ Lourds was ready to move. He didn’t think Joachim would attack him, but there was a lot on the line. ‘For now, we need to talk about a couple of other things.’
The fate of the world.
‘Do you know what the Joy Scroll is supposed to do?’ Lourds asked Olympia. ‘Besides save the world, I mean?’
Olympia shook her head.
‘For you, it was just that something that old, an historic artefact of incredible importance existed. You loved the idea of it. Something written by someone two thousand years ago. The fact that it was reportedly written by a disciple of Jesus was just a bonus.’
‘Yes.’
Lourds locked eyes on Joachim. ‘But you know what the scroll’s true purpose is, don’t you?’
Joachim said nothing.
‘Someone,’ Olympia said in a tight voice, ‘had better tell me something. My life has been put on the line, and I know that police officers will have plenty of questions as well. They’re going to need answers. I need answers.’
‘Not to mention the international incident that I’ll have to deal with.’ Lourds fixed his gaze on Joachim. ‘And for what? Childish fear of the dark?’
‘Is that what you think this is about, Professor Lourds?’ Joachim spoke softly, but there was an undercurrent of aggression. ‘Childish fear of a nonexistent threat? I assure you, the threat the Joy Scroll speaks of is very real. And it’s here among us.’
‘For God’s sake, man.’ Lourds voiced some of the frustration he now felt. He had been shot at, nearly killed, was in more trouble than he’d ever previously been in, and had spent days working on a scroll that had only proved to be an exercise in futility. ‘At best, that scroll and the Joy Scroll are ineffectual but well-meaning humbug. At worst, both are just superstitious strikes at shadows.’
‘You’re not a believer, are you?’ Joachim challenged.
‘A believer in what?’
‘Of God and his works.’
Lourds thought back to his hunt for Atlantis and his discovery of the Tree of Knowledge and the First Son. He remembered the story of the First Flood and the Words that would remake the world. Did he believe in God? Yes. Whether or not God was still taking an active part in the world was a different matter.
‘The Joy Scroll isn’t about God,’ Lourds said.
‘Everything is about God,’ Joachim corrected.
‘Not this document. This is about Lucifer.’
‘Yes.’ Joachim nodded. ‘It is about Lucifer, or any of the other names he’s known by. But Lucifer, before and after his fall, was created by God.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Olympia asked.
‘This document,’ Lourds said, turning to face her, ‘if it exists and isn’t just a glorified goose chase, is supposed to rid the world of the Devil, by all of his names.’
‘Not get rid of Lucifer,’ Joachim corrected. ‘John of Patmos knew that Lucifer was loose in the world. He knew from Jesus’ own blessed lips how the Devil had heaped temptation upon Jesus while he wandered in the wilderness. Since Lucifer was cast down from the heavens and Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden of Eden by God’s angels, the Devil has been loose in the world. For thousands of years he has gathered his strength in hopes of conquering this world and tilting the odds in his coming war with God. The Joy Scroll was written to break the hold John of Patmos had envisioned Lucifer would one day have on the world. That time is now.’
‘That’s insane,’ Lourds said.
‘Believing in Lucifer?’
‘Yes.’
‘But you said you believe in God.’
‘God’s existence doesn’t depend on Lucifer’s. Just because you have a Great Saviour doesn’t mean that a Great Enemy also exists.’
‘No,’ Joachim agreed. ‘God never planned on one of his angels falling from grace. Nor the other angels that fell after the first, all of them drawn by fascination to God’s greatest creation: man. But it happened. And the Joy Scroll will correct some of the evil loose in the world.’
‘You’re saying if we find this scroll it has the power to create world peace.’ Lourds tried to keep the sarcasm from his voice but he was certain he failed.
‘Again, no. All the Joy Scroll is supposed to do is drive Lucifer from his fortress and the power he has built in this world. These are perilous times for us all. Wars threaten globally. The economy is in disarray. Many people feel we’re only one short step from the end of the world.’
‘And Lucifer is to blame for all of this?’
‘No. That has always been man’s choice. But Lucifer has taken advantage of the confusion and fear that’s going on. That’s always been the Great Deceiver’s greatest strength.’
‘You talk like Lucifer is real, a person. Not a fallen angel.’
‘He is real.’
‘As a divine force, you mean.’
‘No. He has manifested himself in this world as Jesus did. At this point, he is flesh and blood.’
‘Just showed up one day?’
‘He was born to a mortal woman and took his place among men.’
Lourds made himself calm down. His head spun with the implications, but he couldn’t bring himself to believe. It was all too incredible. ‘Do you know who Lucifer is?’
‘In his present mortal guise?’ Joachim shook his head. ‘Doesn’t the scroll you translated mention something about Lucifer revealing himself at the time the Joy Scroll is found?’
‘Yes. But it didn’t say how.’
‘Think about it, Professor Lourds. Since you first arrived, since you began searching for the Joy Scroll – even though you didn’t know that’s what you were doing – you’ve been beset by opposing forces.’
‘Coincidence.’ Even as he said it, Lourds realized how weak the answer sounded.
Joachim smiled. ‘Do you really think so? After all these years, my sister tells me of you. You met her some time ago, but I hadn’t yet told her my secrets. Then when I did, she suggested you could help. You are asked to come here. Suddenly, a search for the Joy Scroll is escalated by everyone, including the United States CIA and a military force we haven’t yet identified and weren’t known to be involved. And you are the only person who has managed to translate a scroll that even its protectors could not translate for the last eight hundred years.’
As incredible as it all sounded, Lourds knew he didn’t have an answer or a rebuttal. The only true break in the link would have been if he had failed to translate the language. But he hadn’t failed. And now he knew what Joachim and his predecessors had been trying to learn for the last eight centuries. Still, even with everything he had found out, Lourds didn’t know what the eventual prize would be. The Joy Scroll had to be more than just some kind of document to ward off the Devil. If nothing else, he knew his own curiosity would be much too strong to resist.
Taking a deep breath, Lourds took the beer bottle from the counter and rubbed the chill, frosted side across his forehead. The coolness felt welcome to the throbbing headache that was just beginning.
‘You do realize what you’re saying, don’t you?’ Lourds asked after a bit. ‘If we get caught by any of the law enforcement agencies looking for us, our only excuse for doing everything we have done is simply: the Devil made us do it.’