She brought the beam to the top side of the crossing. Jared composed himself, then set off again. Five feet to go, three… ‘There,’ he said with a gasp of relief. ‘Okay, I’m going to secure the rope.’
It did not take long to hammer another two pitons into place and fasten the line to them. Eddie tested that it was firmly secured by hanging beneath it. ‘All right,’ he said, ‘we can get across without worrying about falling into the lair of the white worm.’
Nina raised an eyebrow. ‘Okay, your movie references keep getting more obscure.’
‘Now we need to get that door open. I’m guessing the dynamite method isn’t going to be approved.’
‘Nope,’ she told him. ‘Jared, come back over so I can look at the scale. We shouldn’t risk having two people on the bridge at once.’
‘Or even one person,’ Eddie said.
Jared remained in place, examining the alcove beside the door. ‘No, you’ll need my help. There’s more ancient Hebrew here.’
‘Okay,’ Nina decided reluctantly. ‘Translate as much of it as you can and tell me what it says.’
He nodded. ‘I need a light.’
Eddie held up his own torch. ‘Hope you can catch better than you can walk across bridges.’
‘Yeah, yeah, old man. Just throw it to me.’
Eddie tossed the torch across the gap; Jared caught it with one hand. ‘Show-off.’
The Israeli grinned, then directed the light at the alcove. ‘What do you see?’ Nina asked.
‘There are about thirty stones, all different sizes,’ he reported. ‘Each one has a letter carved into it… No, wait, they must be numbers. I can read parts of the text. It says that God’s number is seven, and then something about… wisdom, needing wisdom?’ He was silent for a long moment, scanning the ancient words. ‘Okay, I think it says that you have to prove your wisdom, I guess, to get through the door. You were right about it being a test. You have to know the… the number of a man?’
An idea had already formed in Nina’s mind at the mention of the word wisdom, and now it came to her in a flash of — appropriately enough — revelation. ‘That’s right!’ she called, excited. ‘It is the number of a man. I don’t remember the exact chapter and verse from Revelation, but I know what it says: “Let him that hath understanding” — or wisdom in some translations — “count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man.”’
‘That sounds familiar,’ said Eddie. ‘You’re about to quote some Iron Maiden lyrics, aren’t you?’
‘Not quite. The King James Version isn’t as catchy. But according to John of Patmos, the number of the Beast is “six hundred threescore and six”.’
‘Six! Hundred threescore! And six! The number of the Beast!’ he sang tunelessly. ‘Yeah, definitely not as catchy.’
‘What was that noise?’ demanded Jared.
‘Tchah! Kids today don’t appreciate the classics. So are you supposed to put three stones with sixes on them on to the scale?’
‘Seems like it,’ Nina told him… though with a hint of doubt.
‘I can do that right now,’ Jared called out. ‘It’s using the Hebrew system, so the symbols we need are tav resh, six hundred…’ He plucked a pebble from the group, then located a second. ‘Samekh for sixty, and then… here — vav, six. Six hundred plus sixty plus six. So I put these on the scale and the door should open, yes?’ He picked them up, about to deposit them on the bronze slab— ‘No, no!’ Nina suddenly yelled. ‘Don’t do anything!’
‘What’s wrong?’ Eddie asked, alarmed — though not nearly as much as Jared, who froze with one hand above the scale.
‘Give me a second. I need to think.’ She closed her eyes for a moment. ‘The number might not be six-six-six. That’s the generally accepted version today, but there are several ancient copies of Revelation where it’s written as six-one-six. The Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus, Papyrus 115 from the Oxyrhynchus excavation in Egypt… they pre-date the King James Bible by over a thousand years.’
‘Both versions can’t be right,’ said Eddie.
‘No, they can’t. One of them is a transcription error… but there’s no way to know which.’
Jared put the stones back in the niche. ‘So should I change the second number to yud, ten?’
‘I don’t know,’ admitted Nina.
‘It’s a fifty-fifty chance,’ Eddie pointed out.
‘I don’t want to risk Jared’s life on a coin-toss.’
‘What should I do?’ asked Jared. ‘Shall I come back over?’
‘Hold on.’ Nina stared at the alcove, then redirected her flashlight. ‘Jared, can you move sideways so I can see the door?’
The Israeli reluctantly leaned aside, holding the rope for support. ‘What is it?’ asked Eddie. ‘You found something?’
‘Maybe.’ The light shone upon the symbol of the menorah. ‘That’s the sign of the twenty-four Elders — the people who contained the meteorite fragments in the angels, then dispersed them for safe keeping. Cross showed me a photo he took inside the ruins — the same symbol was there too.’ She frowned, trying to tease out a memory. ‘There was some writing with it, something about numbers… Jared, what exactly does it say there about the number of God?’
Jared checked the text upon the door. ‘As near as I can tell, it reads, “The number that is Yahweh is seven.”’
‘That’s what it said in the temple Cross found,’ Nina said thoughtfully. ‘Seven is the number of God… and man is always less than God.’
‘So the number of a man would be six?’ suggested Eddie.
The truth came to her as she finally remembered the rest of the translation the cult leader had shown her at the Mission. ‘Yes — but the Elders said more than that. “Three times shall it be said” was how they put it. And in the catacomb in Rome, they said it again: “It is three times spoken, the dragon’s number is that of man.” It’s not just the number six on its own, and it’s not six hundred sixty-six — it’s six, repeated three times for emphasis. Just like in your song,’ she added with a smile. ‘Six! Six! Six! That’s the number of man — and that’s the answer to the test.’
She called out across the cenote. ‘Jared! The stone that represents the number six — put it on the scale three times.’
‘You mean, put it on, take it off, then put it back again twice more?’ he asked, puzzled.
‘That’s it exactly. But for God’s sake, keep hold of the rope in case I’m wrong!’
Jared took a firm hold of the line as he used his other hand to pick up one particular stone. With a nervous look back at Nina, he placed it on the scale.
The metal shelf dropped slightly under its weight. Everyone held their breath…
The bridge remained intact. ‘Well, that’s a start,’ said Eddie, exhaling.
‘It made a noise,’ the Israeli reported. ‘There was a clank from behind it, like two pieces of metal hitting each other.’
‘Do it again,’ Nina said.
Jared picked up the stone. The scale rose back to its original position. He repeated the process. Another faint sound came from whatever mechanism was hidden behind the wall. A third time; a much louder bang resounded through the shaft. Jared grabbed the rope with both hands — but the bridge stayed in place.
‘Look!’ cried Nina. ‘It’s opening!’ The door swung slowly inwards. It stopped after moving only a foot, but that was enough for Jared to step on to a solid floor. He pushed it wider. ‘What can you see?’
‘Another tunnel,’ he replied.
‘Wait for me. I’m coming over.’
‘We’re coming over,’ Eddie corrected. ‘And you’re not taking any risks, either. Hold on.’ He hooked Nina’s climbing harness to the rope. ‘Right, now you can go. But take it easy.’