Lead Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on.
-John Henry Newman
The Swiss police placed the Smith brothers under arrest for murder and immediately began to interview all those who had witnessed any part of the crime. Khalil was still in shock as he gave his account of what had transpired. It was quickly determined by a thorough scan of the computer files that a virus identical to the one found seven years earlier in the Iranian centrifuge control system had been introduced into the magnet control software.
The details of this attack and murder were quickly dispatched to the A&I office that had alerted CERN of this threat. That evening Oliver got a call from Clark describing the event that had played out only three hours earlier in Europe. Oliver had just followed the women from Peter’s lake house back through Chicago to the Newbury home. He was sitting in Peter’s living room with Alice, Elizabeth, and Maxine, when his cell phone rang. Oliver excused himself and went to the kitchen to take this call.
Clark gave Oliver the details of the attack. “Oliver, you were right to be concerned about the Smith brothers. They carried out this shocking attack and left a 616 in red marker pen on the victim’s right hand.”
“This is again Benton Spencer’s doing!”
“There’s more. We’ve been going over security camera footage from Beirut looking for signs of Spencer. He appears in a few places in and around the old Greek Orthodox section of the city, and on numerous occasions he met with an Iranian whom we have identified as Ibrahim Gilani. Gilani ran the nuclear weapons program in Iran and probably was the source of the computer virus that infected the CERN magnet control computer. He is clearly one of the three conspirators. We saw him carrying a peculiar, heavy suitcase which was later seen being carried by Spencer. Finally, we had one blurry photo, from the previous week, of what appeared to be the same suitcase being carried down Saint Nicholas’ Staircase by a bearded man dressed in black. Our analysts have assumed that this individual may be a Greek Orthodox priest, but I suspect he may be the Haredi member of this conspiracy.”
“Spencer has to be stopped.” Oliver then realized that this second marking of the sign of the beast on a victim’s right hand, in red rather than white, established a prophetic pattern. “The next attack may be on the Dark Sector Observatory at the South Pole and might somehow be marked with a black 616.”
“How do you know that!?” asked Clark, astonished at Oliver’s prediction.
“I believe Spencer may be reenacting the four horses of the apocalypse in his attacks of the three labs mentioned in the Pierce letter. The first is white, representing conquest of Peter Newbury, the second, red representing war on CERN, and the third, black representing famine at the third lab. Since he has attacked Fermilab and CERN he may now be planning to starve the crew at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station.”
“Less than an hour ago we received word from the 47-man winter crew at the station that they found their food crates filled with cans of motor oil and hydraulic fluid. Behind the bill of lading for each box they found a 616 printed there with a black marker pen. McMurdo has been alerted to fly food supplies to them as soon as possible.”
Oliver replied, “You need to send a team to the station that supplies McMurdo. I’m afraid the supply chain may be compromised in the Antarctic.”
“I can’t! All of the agents cleared for this case are tied down at CERN and Fermilab.”
“You could send me. I know I am not a trained field agent, but I seem to know Spencer’s mind. If you approve, I would like to take David Benjamin and Maxine Phillips with me: David for his background knowledge of this South Pole station, and Maxine for her skills as a field agent.”
“Under normal circumstances I would not allow you to go; but we need everyone in the game right now, and as long as you have a field agent with you, I’ll approve. Maxine knows the most about this case and clearly has gained control of herself as shown in the apprehension of Forrest Pierce. I will set up rapid transportation to Christchurch for the three of you. We’re spread out thin on five fronts now, but as soon as more agents are free, I’ll try to send you some reinforcements. Initially you’ll be on your own, except for the security officers at the United States Antarctic Program hangar at the Christchurch airport where you’ll land. Be at O’Hare with Max and David Benjamin tomorrow morning at 7:00. A government plane will be there at gate 132 to pick you up.”
Oliver finished his call and returned to the living room. Maxine noticed his concerned look. “Is everything OK?”
“No, Max, it’s not. Earlier today CERN was attacked by two of Spencer’s people. Khalil managed to prevent the destruction of the accelerator, but his friend was killed by the attackers. Now Clark has just learned that the scientists at the Dark Sector Lab are facing starvation by another attack. Both of these attacks were marked by a six-sixteen. The three conspirators are now fully engaged in these acts of terror.”
The three women expressed shock and concern. Elizabeth finally spoke. “Oliver, you were right to be worried about CERN. I’m glad we were able to warn Khalil.”
Maxine then questioned Oliver about Clark’s call. “Swift and his FBI team are only focused on Spencer. Who’s going after the other two members of this conspiracy?”
“We are, Max. The director is sending a plane for us tomorrow morning to take us to Christchurch, New Zealand. I’ll ask David Benjamin to go with us since he has made this trip a number of times and has spent a winter isolated at the Pole.”
Oliver called David Benjamin and told him what had happened to the Amundsen-Scott crew. “David, can you come with me to Christchurch? There’s been an attack on the Dark Sector Lab and I have been asked to join a government agent, Maxine Phillips, to help find those responsible. This attack appears to have Biblical markings similar to those connected with Peter’s murder.”
“I just received word about the lack of food. I have many friends there. I’ll gladly go with you and help in any way I can. I know how the flights to the Pole are carried out and the kinds of supplies needed. You and the government agent, Phillips, will need to pack some warm clothes. The facility at Christchurch can provide additional artic outer wear sufficient for the sub-zero temperatures there and in the Antarctic in June.”
“Good, can you be at O’Hare gate 132 at 7:00 in the morning?”
“I’ll be there. Thanks, Oliver.”
Max had been listening to the conversation and after Oliver signed off said, “The clothes I brought with me are for summer, not winter. I’m going to have to run out and buy something warm.”
“No you won’t,” said Alice. “We are the same size and I’ve lots of things you can choose from. Why don’t you spend the night here with Elizabeth and me and we’ll have you ready for your trip in the morning.”
Oliver said goodnight to the ladies and returned to his apartment to prepare for the trip. He knew the flight to New Zealand would be long and decided to pack two more Bibles in addition to the one he had lifted from the motel in Waxahachie. He would solicit Maxine and David’s help in finding any additional clues in the sequence of biblical references that Benton Spencer was leaving behind in his trail of mayhem and death. Now that the pace of the attacks had increased, he knew he would have to work hard to stay ahead of Spencer.
Early the next morning Oliver picked up Max and the two drove to O’Hare. They met David Benjamin and made their way to gate 132 pulling their bulky, but light-weight luggage. They were met at the gate by the co-pilot, Paul Brown, who greeted them and helped them load their baggage into the small jet.
The aircraft was a sleek Gulfstream, G450 with a range of over 4000 miles. As they rose from the runway, the pilot announced that the flight would take them first to Hawaii for refueling and then on to New Zealand. “The trip will be long, but smooth. We should be landing in Christchurch in about 17 hours. You may help yourselves to food and drink in the galley whenever the seat-belt sign is not illuminated.”
Oliver pulled his notepad and a Bible out of his carry-on once they had reached altitude, and began to thumb through the books of Daniel, Zechariah, and Revelation, periodically making notes as he read.
Pretty soon the curiosity of David and Maxine got the best of them, and as David looked at Maxine with raised eyebrows, she asked, “Oliver, what on earth are you looking for in scripture. Is there something related to the mark of the beast that we should know about?”
Oliver looked up at Max and then at David. “David, I’m going to have to let you in on this investigation, but you must not divulge any of its details to anyone. Max and I work together as government analysts and are part of a Homeland Security team that’s trying to stop an international plot against science. Peter’s death is only the first part of a series of attacks on Fermilab, CERN, and your facility, the Dark Sector Lab. I’ve been working with Max on this plot since Peter’s murder and must now tell you that there was another murder at CERN that almost resulted in Khalil’s death and the destruction of the Large Hadron Collider.”
“I heard about a murder at CERN, but didn’t realize it involved Khalil. I hope he’s OK.”
“Khalil’s fine. In fact his quick actions saved the accelerator from sabotage. David, you’re now going to join Max and me in our search for clues that will help us save your colleagues at The Dark Sector Lab,” said Oliver as he handed him a Bible. “Here Max, take another Bible and we can all start reviewing all the End of Days accounts from the prophets in the New and Old Testaments. The patterns I’ve seen so far fall into a set of clues that follow different aspects of the books of Revelation, Daniel, and Zechariah, each telling of the final judgment. I’m now convinced that Reverend Benton Spencer, a biblical scholar schooled at the same institution that I was, is the leader of this cabal consisting of a Christian, a Muslim, and perhaps a Haredi Jew. He’s on a path of destruction that may reach beyond these three laboratories.
“While we sit on this 17 hour flight we need to combine our thoughts and impressions of these three biblical books from which he’s drawing his justification for these crimes, and try to keep one step ahead of him. As Max already knows, I anticipated the Dark Sector food sabotage based on the colors of the first two marks of the beast. Spencer sees himself as a prophet. He prophesies by leaving behind clues. If we can read those clues we might be able to stop him.”
As the long flight traversed the North American Continent and the sweeping expanse of the Pacific Ocean the three passengers periodically slept and read. During the times all were awake they discussed the peculiar mystic writings in these three books.
Maxine asked, “Oliver, you interpreted the three colors of the mark of the beast as representing the opening of the first three seals and the calling forth of the first three horses of the apocalypse. What about the fourth horse?” She then read, “’And I looked, and behold a pale horse; and his name that sat upon him was Death.’”
“This is what’s been worrying me,” said Oliver, “The Iranian member of this group of three, named Ibrahim Gilani, was connected to a program that was refining weapon’s-grade plutonium. We may be running around the world putting out small brush fires while a horrible conflagration is about to happen somewhere else, perpetrated by one or more lunatics dressed in pale green. We don’t yet know where, but clues to its location are probably hiding in plain sight.”
The dozing, reading, and periodic discussions continued, even during the refueling stop in Hawaii. Benjamin, who had a previous knowledge of the book of Daniel, closed the Bible he was reading and handed it back to Maxine. “I’ve been trying to understand how a Christian minister can make such a strong religious appeal to a Sunni and a Haredi, each devout in his own worship of the holy writings and prophecy, that each would follow him into a possible nuclear suicide mission. Perhaps this Reverend Spencer has convinced them that each of them would emerge from the fires unharmed, like the three friends of Daniel: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, whom Nebuchadnezzar threw into the fiery furnace along with all the Babylonian false prophets.”
“You may well be correct,” replied Oliver, “but where would they choose to place this fiery furnace so that false profits and idol worshippers of all cultures would be consumed? Spencer did leave a possible clue behind on the marquee of his church before he fled Waxahachie. I had at first thought he was admitting responsibility for Peter’s death, but these words were not taken from biblical literature, but rather from an ancient Sanskrit poem. I’m still trying to find some hidden meaning in this quotation from the Bhagavad Gita.”
“What quotation is that?” asked David Benjamin.
“He wrote, ‘I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.’”
David gasped. “That’s what Robert Oppenheimer quoted at Trinity!”
“I thought Oppenheimer was an agnostic. When was he speaking in a church?”
“Trinity was the code name for the first atom bomb test in New Mexico. Oppenheimer chose the name from a poem by John Donne called ‘Batter my Heart, Three-Personed God.’ The Trinity site’s still radioactive almost seventy years later.”
Oliver jumped to his feet. “Good Lord, if these three succeed in detonating a nuclear weapon anywhere in the world, they could truly bring on Armageddon.”
Max also was standing. “As soon as we get to New Zealand, I’ll make an encrypted call and give Clark the details of our discussion and the reasons we fear a major act of terrorism.”
The three were now each standing in the aisle of the small jet staring at each other in stunned silence. Oliver looked from one to the other and said, “Let’s hope that once Max has contacted the director, he can begin to act on this potential nuclear threat. We must first do everything we can to save the crew at the Dark Sector Lab.
As they each again took their seats, Maxine asked, “This may seem like an odd question but, what’s the color of hydraulic fluid?”
“Red, of course; why do you ask?” inquired David.
“Well, let me read the rest of Revelation following the emergence of the black horse and rider representing famine. ‘And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, a measure of wheat for a denarius and three measures of barley for a denarius; and see thou not hurt the oil and wine.’ Spencer even spared the ‘oil and wine’ by filling the food crates with motor oil and red hydraulic fluid.”
The three continued to discuss any possible meaning in the clues that might be hidden in Benton Spencer’s biblical passages. In particular they discussed the remaining verses in Revelation describing the End of Days. Eventually the discussion trailed off and they slept until the light of dawn began to illuminate the Southern Pacific and the aircraft began its descent into Christchurch.
The G450 settled gently on the runway at Christchurch Airport and taxied up to a large LC-130 Hercules parked next to a hangar marked with the bold letters “United States Antarctic Program.” The three passengers and two pilots emerged with their baggage into the frigid, mid-morning twilight of southern New Zealand. Now, during the southern winter, they would be experiencing long nights and short days. They were greeted by the director of operations who showed them to a nearby lodge used by visitors to the South Pole facility awaiting the hop to McMurdo and on to the Amundsen – Scott Station. In winter this lodging was not often used because transportation to and from the station was virtually impossible until late spring.
After introductions the director asked to speak alone with Oliver and Maxine. They followed him to his office and sat near his desk filled with the usual clutter of supply manifests and order forms. “I received a call last night from your director asking that I place a security guard around our LC-130 day and night, indicating it might be attacked. He also told me you were coming to help with the South Pole relief effort and could fill me in on the nature of the threat. He said you feared that the LC-130 at McMurdo may have already been sabotaged.”
“We’ve no way of knowing how this conspiracy will play out here at Christchurch and at the
Antarctic, but a serious effort’s already been made to attack other elements of astrophysics and particle physics research.”
“Well,” the director said confidently, “I’ve ordered a complete examination of the LC-130 at McMurdo and placed patrols on guard for both aircraft. We’ve gone over our aircraft looking for devices planted in or on any of the engines. The crew at McMurdo went through the same procedure last night and should be ready to make the emergency run to the Pole later this morning.”
Oliver knew that every flight from New Zealand to the Antarctic and back was a risk. There had been a number of aircraft and human lives lost over the years on these treacherous flights, even in the summer when conditions were at their best. Many of these losses had been caused by the severe weather conditions. He also knew there had been no losses due to attacks or sabotage in all this time. Oliver felt that this lack of threat of sabotage partially explained the casual manner in which security at this facility was being carried out. While Maxine had been making her call to Clark, he had noticed some security personnel lounging inside at a snack bar when they arrived and had seen no one outside in the vicinity of the LC-130. He decided he would stay awake in order to keep an eye on the transport all night. He had slept soundly prior to arrival and would be unable to sleep this evening anyway.
When Maxine finished her call, she motioned for Oliver to follow her outside the lobby. “Clark’s alarmed by the possibility of a nuclear weapon as part of this conspiracy. He said he’d let us know if there were any indications of its existence or where it might be used.”
“Hopefully, Clark can learn something from the interrogation of the Smith brothers. As for our task here, I plan to sit up overnight to keep an eye on this supply aircraft. I’m not impressed with the local guards.”
"I'll join you, Oliver. Remember I’m the one who has a permit to carry and use a firearm. The guards are armed and have radios; I’ll see if I can get one of them to give me a radio in case we need to alert the entire detail.”
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