Three

by William C. Oelfke

  Baker then asked, “Was anything stolen or damaged?”

  Oliver had made note of the open drawer containing his correspondence. “He may have been looking through my letters and university memos; that drawer has been opened.”

  “Let’s go through those papers one-by-one to see if anything’s missing.”

  The three men moved from the kitchen to Oliver’s study and slowly went through the letters and memos. They had obviously been examined by the intruder because they were removed from their folders and hastily dropped back into the drawer, probably when Oliver opened his front door.

  “I don’t think he took anything,” said Oliver after the inventory.

  “Well, call us if you find anything that might help us identify the intruder,” said Baker as he handed Oliver his card. The two then examined Oliver’s front door frame and verified that it could still be secured by the dead-bolt lock.

  “You’re lucky he didn’t hit you with this pry-bar he used to force your front door,” said Peterson as he retrieved it from the bushes and placed it in a plastic sleeve. “We’ll let you know if we find anything, but this looks like an attempted burglary. You apparently interrupted it before anything was stolen. We plan to check local police records concerning similar break-ins in this area. We’ll tell Clark what we have found. You should be ok to continue your assignment with him.”

  Oliver thanked the two agents as he walked with them to their car. Returning to his apartment, he began preparing for his flight to Texas. He collected the notes he would need for the trip and repacked his small carry-on case for his short stay in Waxahachie. Then he set himself to the task of carefully securing his apartment for his time away. He closed and locked the windows in his bedroom and study.

  After finishing, he stood examining his study, again wondering what the intruder was looking for in his letters. Looking up from the letter drawer he saw the two pictures he had left lying on his desk, among the notes and paper. They had not been touched, but again he felt the surge of emotion, knowing that Alice was his only remaining family. How could he protect her? He had just been attacked; would she also be in danger? The FBI agents had assured him that she would immediately be placed under their protection, but he still felt responsible for her safety.

  He turned on his laptop and studied Peter’s words, “You must find the three”. Below these words he wrote “The Father Abraham conspiracy” followed by a question mark in bold lettering. Looking at what he had written, Oliver said to the laptop and the empty study, “I promise you, Peter, I will find the three.”

  3

  Famine

  And the plenty shall not be known in the land

  By reason of that famine following;

  For it shall be very grievous.

  -Genesis 41:31

  Four months earlier, in mid-February, Joshua Cohen had left Jerusalem with his two companions, Enoch and Joel, enroute to Australia. The three were former members of a special-forces unit of the Israeli army, formed of Haredi soldiers. The Haredi sect of Judaism followed the Torah strictly and had been exempt from military service for many years, but had been allowed to serve in a special division called the Nahal Haredi. This division eventually became one of the best trained fighting units of the Israeli Army. However, some years earlier Joshua’s unit came under investigation by a military tribunal. Some members had been accused of attempting to open tunnels under Temple Mount in order to gain access to the original Holy of Holies at the center of Solomon’s second temple. Since this location is now the Foundation Stone of the Dome of the Rock, one of the most sacred places in Islam, such tunneling is taken very seriously, and considered a crime in Israel.

  At the military trial, Enoch, Joel, and a third member of Joshua’s unit, each of whom had been found with excavation tools, were questioned. The actual tunnel that had been discovered led twenty feet into Temple Mount. In fact this twenty-foot tunnel was a diversion constructed to hide the major work that had been going on for more than a year and was still in progress. The three admitted having carried out the digging, driven by their zeal to gain access to the central part of the old temple. Their excuse for having disobeyed the law was their desire to get close to the temple of Solomon.

  The three senior officers hearing the trial then excused the young soldiers and called Colonel Joshua Cohen to stand before them. “Colonel Cohen, you realize the seriousness of the charges against these young soldiers of your unit. Such tunneling is prohibited by Israel and Jordan and can easily lead to more violence and loss of life here in Jerusalem. We are a city of three major religions and must not allow lawlessness, no matter how innocent, to create a state of warfare.

  “As the senior officer of these young men, you are ultimately responsible for their actions. We therefore find you guilty of illegal excavation. We shall dissolve your special-forces unit and strip you of your rank.”

  The irony of this sentence was that it was based on the discovery of a false tunnel. Nothing was ever found to suggest a major tunneling effort was being carried out. Joshua had hoped the naïve dig would not be taken seriously. Nevertheless, even this small tunnel was considered a major infraction of the law. The unit was disbanded in order to placate the surrounding Muslim and Jewish communities. Its senior officer, now stripped of his rank, had been asked by his own neighbors and friends to leave their community for fear that reprisals would be taken against them as well as him.

  The long and distinguished military career of Colonel Joshua Cohen had ended in disgrace. His unit had received numerous commendations as effective fighters, successful in all of the dangerous missions assigned to them. But, in one afternoon, based on a minor infraction, his long and honorable career had become, not a badge of honor, but a mark of banishment. He was not even welcome in his own synagogue, and had become an outcast from his own people. His bitter resentment had smoldered for two years until he was approached by an American preacher named Benton Spencer.

  This Christian holy man had acknowledged Joshua’s honorable military career and had appealed to his ego to join in a holy quest. “Colonel Cohen, I share your passion for the restoration of the temple in Jerusalem to its Jewish origins, but first we must defeat the idol worshipers at all their other temples.” Spencer had cited prophecy which clearly indicated the restoration and cleansing of the temple in Jerusalem could not occur until Satan worship around the world was first destroyed. “As was prophesied, those who have been chosen by Satan now come to three temples to declare that God is a particle, an idol to be worshiped by the whole world!” Reminding Joshua of the prophesy found in the 12th chapter of the book of Daniel, he said, “I have come to you Colonel Cohen to bring you the prophet’s warning of the End of Days. The desecration is now taking place, and the end will be upon us in 1,335 days, on June 15, 2014. We must now take up the fight to bring about the New Jerusalem, before this time of final judgment.”

  In particular the Reverend Spencer had identified Fermilab, in the United States, CERN, in Europe, and The Dark Sector Lab, at the South Pole, as the three temples that had found this idol, left for them by Satan. The Reverend assured Joshua that he had the wealth, as well as the proper knowledge of prophecy, necessary to carry out the ridding of the earth of satanic idol worshippers, as well as the restoration of the New Jerusalem. Spencer convinced Joshua that he would be celebrated if he led an attack on one of the three places of Idol worship. Joshua’s own desire to redeem himself led him to join Reverend Spencer in this fight against evil.

  This trip taken by Joshua, Joel, and Enoch to Australia and then on to New Zealand was the first phase in the carefully planned attack that Joshua and his team would make on the satanic temple called The Dark Sector Laboratory, hidden at the South Pole. The destruction of this “dark temple” could be carried out only by carefully following ancient prophecy. According to Spencer, the actions that Joshua and his two companions would take in the next few months were pre-ordained by God, as had been the ancient plagues inflicted on
Pharaoh that had led the Israelites out of their bondage in Egypt. Having participated in the illegal tunneling and then being tasked to continue the sacred act of purifying the temple, Enoch and Joel now believed they were consecrated to this mission, and were determined to see it through to a successful conclusion.

  As their flight made its way across the Indian Ocean, Joel asked, “Why are we going to the Antarctic to attack idol worshipers?”

  “We must overcome Satan even here, at the bottom of the world, in order to ensure that our own temple can be purified. Our attack on this temple is only one of a series of coordinated attacks. Others will be carried out in Europe and the United States later this year.”

  Enoch then asked, “Are we going to have to carry out our operation at the South Pole?”

  “It won’t be necessary for us actually to travel to the Pole; our mission is simply to guarantee that famine will bring the judgment of Yahweh upon those idol worshipers. Once we are settled into our quarters in New Zealand, I will give you all the details of our mission.”

  After landing in Sydney, Australia, Joshua, Joel, and Enoch claimed their baggage and worked their way through customs. Then they transferred to a second flight to Christchurch, New Zealand. Following this second leg of their journey, over the Tasman Sea, they finally arrived in South New Zealand. All three had slept during much of the flights and were well rested upon arrival at the Christchurch Airport.

  Now the first part of their complex attack on the idol worshipers at the South Pole could begin. Finding a small apartment to rent within walking distance of the airport, they began laying out the details of their attack on The Dark Sector Laboratory, at the Amundsen-Scott Station.

  Joshua, along with Reverend Spencer, had followed the schedules for the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station supply manifests, having hacked into the email account of the supply clerk there in Christchurch. They’d learned that in four days the overland transport of the food supplies for the winter crew of 40 to 50 researchers at the Pole would begin. A team of three workers had been hired and would be sent to McMurdo, at the nearest shore of the Antarctic, to help with the loading of the food crates on Sno-Cat trailers for delivery to the Dark Sector Lab.

  Joshua had managed to modify the list of workers and replace the three names that were to be picked up in Christchurch with his own as well as those of Joel and Enoch. He had sent letters of regret to the three original local men with a forged signature of the dispatch clerk.

  Joshua downloaded the identification forms for himself and Joel and Enoch. “Tomorrow we will take a five-hour flight to McMurdo, in the Antarctic, where we will join three other workers and be trained to operate the hydraulic fork-lifts used in the loading process.

  “Who are the other three workers?”

  “They are stationed at McMurdo. They have already packed the food supplies in standard wooden crates. These crates are now stored in the aircraft hangar at the McMurdo airstrip, waiting to be loaded onto trailers and transferred to the Pole by a caravan of Sno-Cats.”

  Joshua studied all the data he and Spencer had collected about the Antarctic supply depot at McMurdo. He saw that this large hangar also sheltered the single LC-130 aircraft used for summer flights to the Pole; but now as winter approached, all travel to and from the Pole would stop. During the southern winter, when the ice road had been drifted over with snow and made impassible, flights of this large four-engine turboprop aircraft would be the only way to reach the Pole, but would only be used in the case of a dire emergency. However, at the present time in March, these ice roads were open, providing a safe land route to the Pole. Regular transport of men and supplies was done by Sno-Cat.

  Reviewing the supply manifests to McMurdo, Joshua had found, as Reverend Spencer had indicated, that among the crated supplies in the hangar were crates of mechanical items and a large over-supply of motor oil and hydraulic fluid. Joshua’s mission was to switch these crates of oil and hydraulic fluid for the food crates prior to their loading for overland shipment to the Pole.

  Studying all this information, including detailed plans of the hangar and surrounding quarters, Joshua said, “Joel, on the first night in McMurdo, after a day of training on loading procedures, sneak out of our quarters after everyone’s asleep. Take up a hidden position, within the hangar, and make careful notes on the overnight guard making his patrol of the supply hangar. At McMurdo we will be in continuous twilight so you must remain hidden. The following night you, Enoch, and I must be able to carry out the exchange of crates without detection by a roving guard.”

  “Will I need a weapon, Colonel?”

  “Not on this part of our mission. Our weapons must stay here in New Zealand. There must be no hint of an attack until these false food crates are opened this coming May or June.”

  “What kind of attack would we have to make then?” asked Enoch.

  Joshua then outlined the plan of action for the following few months. “We must first prepare the false food crates and make sure they arrive and are stored at Amundsen-Scott Station with no suspicion as to their true content. They will be opened sometime in late May or early June, when winter has set in and has isolated those idolaters at this dark satanic temple. You both will remain here in New Zealand until the completion of our mission, while I return to help carry out the next phase of our final cleansing of our true temple in Jerusalem.

  “You must disable both the LC-130 at McMurdo, and later the one here at Christchurch. By the time it becomes necessary to disable this last LC-130, our attack will be known and weapons may be necessary to complete the mission. The final stage of your mission here in Christchurch must be considered a combat operation.”

  “How can we disable the McMurdo aircraft so that it looks like an accident?” asked Enoch.

  Joshua reached into his pocket and removed two pairs of samarium-cobalt magnets. “Enoch, you and Joel will continue to work in McMurdo, with the supply trains. When the hard winter begins to set in, the supply team will be recalled back here to Christchurch. Prior to leaving, you must place these magnets on either side of a turbine blade deep within each of two engines on one side of the McMurdo aircraft. If the LC-130 is called upon to rescue the worshipers at the Dark Temple, these magnets will cause the engines to fail prior to take-off.”

  “I will carry out this mission as you have ordered,” responded Enoch, taking the magnets.

  “Now, Joel,” asked Joshua, “is everything in order in Jerusalem?”

  “Yes, Colonel. The work has been completed, and the tools you requested are in place.”

  “Excellent work. I’m proud of both of you, and only wish that I could award you the military commendations you deserve.”

  As his commander spoke these words of praise, Enoch proudly clasped the eagle pin of the Nahal Haredi in his pocketed right hand, his feeling of pride swelling in his chest. Although he would never again be able to wear this coveted unit insignia, he had continued to carry it, hidden in his pocket.

  The following morning the three helped bring three large Sno-Cats and eight tracked trailers up the ramp of the large LC-130. They assisted in securing each item of cargo to the tie-downs, so that nothing would shift during flight. Joshua, Joel, and Enoch then found their seats near the front of the cargo bay and prepared themselves for the long eight-hour flight to McMurdo airfield. During the flight Joshua slept or sat in silent contemplation while Joel and Enoch shared ancient songs with one another, one brooding over his feelings of revenge while the other two shared the joy of a holy mission.

  They were all somewhat startled at the sudden growling and turbulence as the landing skids were lowered. The aircraft reduced power and descended, touching down on the McMurdo snow strip with a bump. The reverse thrust of the four turboprop engines gradually brought the aircraft to a stop. It taxied toward a large hangar, shutting down its engines after turning to face away from the hangar door. When the rear ramp was lowered, Joshua, Joel, and Enoch were met with a blast of cold air as they look
ed out on an airstrip and tarmac of ice and snow. Donning their cold weather gear, they removed the restraining straps and helped with the unloading of the transport equipment. Entering the hangar, they saw many wooden supply crates stacked in various places around the large hangar floor.

  They were welcomed to the supply team by the supply chief and told to secure their gear and follow him to their quarters. The dormitory was located just behind the hangar and had sleeping quarters for a dozen people. At present they were the only occupants, along with the three locals who had been working to pack food in the crates that would soon be shipped to the Amundsen – Scott Station at the Pole.

  As they settled into their dormitory and carefully organized their winter clothing, Joel commented to his commander, “Colonel, I noticed the support people here at the airport all drive around in small, heated Sno-Cats. It is too cold for any guard to walk a post for hours at a time. I’m hoping our guard will be riding and not walking.”

  “Good observation, Joel. If you’re right, we should be able to hear the Sno-Cat from within the hangar as it makes its rounds.”

  That night, after a three-hour training session followed by a hardy meal of beef steaks and potatoes, the six members of the loading crew bedded down for the night in their rooms now darkened against the overnight twilight. After all of his fellow workers were asleep, Joel left the sleeping quarters and carefully made his way to the hangar side door. As expected, it was unlocked, and he quietly entered. He found no one inside and was able to settle into a corner to listen for the guard making his rounds.

  He was able to determine that the Sno-Cat came around the hangar once every half hour, and the outside sweep of the hangar took only five minutes. Returning to the quarters, he bedded down for the rest of the night.

  The following morning a Sno-Cat trailer was moved into the hangar and each team member practiced carefully loading and strapping down a dummy crate onto the trailer using the hydraulic fork-lift. The supply chief supervised the work and insisted that the process of approaching the supply crates with the fork lift be repeated until it could be done with no contact of the forks with the crate or pallet until the pallet was lifted from the floor. In the same way, he scolded the various operators if they sat the crates down too hard on the trailer. The practice and rebukes went on all day, until all were too tired, or angry, to continue.