The White Book

by George Shadow

  “But Father wanted to destroy the books,” Rachel began.

  “Your father feared the cult had been infiltrated and wanted to fish out the guilty party. He discovered the traitor was his best friend, Benjamin Haddad, and a confrontation ensued between both men. The aftermath of that fight was your father’s death.”

  Rachel froze and Kimberley felt it, reaching out to hold the little girl with both hands.

  “Wow,” Jeremy said. “Do we need any more evidence of this guy’s treachery?”

  “Benjamin Haddad connived with Rome to destroy the Sicarii Kabbalah Masada in order to steal the books in the chaos that would ensue during this plan, but unfortunately for him, Jehoash ferried away the white book through his daughter now standing before us, while the Romans seized the black book and vowed to keep it under lock and key forever,” Carl Bain continued. “In the end, this traitor could only save himself and his lover by fleeing into the future with a piece of divine paper from the white book, hoping to improve his understanding of Shurabi while waiting for another opportunity to retrieve the two books and find his true love, who lost her way during their escape.”

  “Uncle Ben killed my father?” Rachel asked the American hustler, who nodded solemnly. “It…It all makes sense now,” she stammered. “He…He was just lying there after Uncle Ben came to visit…”

  Kimberley boiled. “We will find him and…and do away with him.”

  “I like that!” Carl Bain lit up.

  “Like what?” Kimberley frowned.

  “Recent events must have turned you into a vicious killer,” the human minion directed at the Portwood cop. “I like this new you.”

  “Not true,” Kimberley murmured and looked away. She felt Jeremy’s stare and turned sharply. “What?”

  “Nothing,” the Resilience resident said.

  “My masters say your Bookbearer has given this…Benjamin Haddad, or Grubb, the white book, and that you escaped from his cannibalistic soldiers by going back in time, without the boy, who this chief cannibal has imprisoned.”

  “That’s correct?” Jeremy looked around when none of his new friends voiced their agreement. “The dude plans to sow chaos with that spell book in my time.”

  “We need you to help us destroy him now before he leaves this time and space,” Rachel said. “That way, he won’t lay his hands on any of the books in the future.”

  “You say you’re not with the book right now?” Carl Bain’s eyes turned to slits. “Why would you lie to us?”

  “But it’s true,” Rachel began, showing both hands. “We don’t have the…white book?” She stared at the mysterious volume in her right hand. “But of course,” she exclaimed. “We went back in time and, based on the laws of Shurabi, we still have it in our possession.”

  Carl Bain snickered. “And how do we believe you when you have just revealed to us that you cannot be trusted?”

  “Are you guys helping us or not?” Kimberley asked the Gray Ones. She feared her frustration had spilled out into the open. “We can find Grubb without your help, but we think he is too powerful, even at this point in time, and we might need your help to defeat him.”

  “Kill him, you mean?” Carl Bain fixed his gaze on the Portwood-sergeant-turned-time-traveler. “My masters say you must give us back what belongs to us before we can help you.”

  Kimberley scoffed. “Very funny.”

  “Give us the book right now?” Carl Bain urged her.

  “We have to save Aiden first before considering your request, Mr. Bain,” she replied. “That’s a joke. We’ll never give your masters the book.”

  “And what stops us from taking it right now?” the human minion dared.

  “That’s impossible,” Kimberley said. “We won’t hesitate to destroy you guys again.”

  “Help us and we’ll give you what you want,” Rachel said.

  Kimberley couldn’t believe her ears. “What? No, Rachel. Your father never trusted them, remember?”

  “My father is dead, Kim,” the little girl said. “It’s time to move on.”

  Kimberley could only stare. “I sacrificed Jim for this?”

  “Let’s trust them to bring him back, Kim, don’t worry,” Rachel persuaded her, and turned to the servant of her former adversaries.

  “Of course,” Carl Bain agreed. “It all depends on if you show commitment right now.”

  Kimberley reached into her left pants pocket and brought out the tiny silver box in her possession from the very beginning of the entire charade. She gave it to her arch rival without a word.

  “My package,” Carl Bain enthused. “At last.”

  “And what the hell is that?” Jeremy wondered aloud.

  Carl Bain smiled. “It’s a nuclear device,” he said. “It turns a city’s water system into a freaking hydrogen bomb her inventors called Red Bomb 1.”

  Kimberley gaped at the American thug. “You son of a...”

  “Red Bomb what?” Jeremy couldn’t believe his ears.

  * * *

  The Booklords hovered around the place, creating a gloomy kaleidoscope of shadows in the dark alley as the time-travelers faced their human minion down below.

  “You mean that cube contains the material used in producing the first red bomb?” Jeremy stared at the cowboy who just came back from nothing.

  “Unbelievable,” Tilia said as she watched the unfolding drama with her sister from within the Urus.

  “And what’s with the first red bomb?” the mean-looking cowboy asked her brother.

  “Its final successor will be used to destroy the world as we know it in the distant future,” Kimberley said.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mr. Bain said, pushing the tiny item into his pants’ right pocket. “That cube you just saw is my passport to immense wealth.”

  Kimberley simmered. “Give it back, Carl.”

  “No, Kim, we had an agreement, remember?” Rachel interrupted.

  “He’ll sell it to people who will destroy the world, Rachel.”

  “What’re you saying?” Rachel wondered. “The destruction of this world will happen, whether you like it or not. We’ve witnessed it in the future, remember?”

  “I think you should listen to your friend, Miss Reyna,” Carl Bain chuckled.

  “We had an agreement,” Jeremy said, “but in due course, I’ll destroy that thing if it’s the last thing I ever do.”

  “Good luck then,” Carl Bain told him. “I’ll kill you before you ever try that.”

  “I’ll…”

  “Hey!” Rachel shouted. “Can we try and focus on our current mission right now?”

  “Of course,” Kimberley agreed, glaring at Carl Bain. “We can settle scores later.” She turned to the little girl with the other two in order to plot their next move.

  “Baruch Goldenberg’s first name is still on the book,” Rachel began.

  “And what do you mean by that?” Jeremy asked her.

  “We wrote that name when we were looking for our man the first time,” Kimberley said. “Glad it’s still there, because that’s all we need now.”

  “We just touch it and we go to his location,” Rachel said.

  Jeremy wanted to hear more. “And then what?”

  “We snuff him out,” Carl Bain said. “It will be a piece of cake.”

  “Remember he could destroy you and your friends, so please be careful,” Kimberley warned him.

  “Okay, gather round me and let’s do this,” Rachel said.

  Jeremy’s sisters refused to come out from the Lamborghini and Kimberley handed them the car’s keys as well as the piece of paper from the white book through a window. “Lock yourselves in, and if we don’t come back for you, touch Rachel’s name on that paper. That will bring you to us.”

  Now, the three friends held hands with Carl Bain and the Gray Ones encircled this new alliance of former adversaries. Rachel touched Benjamin Haddad’s name, causing an instant disappearance of the former enemies.
<
br />   Ginia breathed a sigh of relief when the Booklords also faded away.

  * * *

  Detective Steve Davis of the Harvard University Police Department, also known as Carl Bain in alternate Shurabi reality, sat down beside Xenia Tribe, also known as Kimberley Reyna by her late boyfriend, Jim Hawkins. “He’s here,” Carl Bain said and his audience nodded. “My masters say he has a big glass ankh in his office, though.” Davis wore a suede suit and his accomplice had on dark shades and a black leather jacket.

  “No problem with that,” Evan Crawford said. Also known as Jeremy Irons by his two loving sisters, the English scientist wore a black suit and tie that created an official air around him. “I’ve requested an audience with our man as a foreign scientist interested in research collaboration. Once I get into his office, I know what to do.”

  “Once you smash the ankh, the Booklords can swoop in and whisk him away, Mr. Bain,” Rachel said, dotting a backpack in which she had placed the white book.

  Carl Bain nodded. “Right.”

  Kimberley stared ahead. “Remember not to kill him, Mr. Bain.”

  “Yes, I remember,” Carl Bain said. “Though, I don’t know why you want to do so. Better for you that he’s gone as soon as possible.”

  “I agree with that assessment,” Jeremy began. “We can’t give our man time to figure out what to do. He might actually get away before we know it.”

  “We won’t let him get away,” Rachel said. “We’ll tie him up once we get him out of this place.”

  “How come we didn’t find him in 2016 San Francisco like you said we would?” Jeremy began, turning to Kimberley.

  “That assumption was wrong,” she replied. “The book took us to the actual date and place of his existence. Hence, the name, Elijah Cunningham, a biologist at Harvard in 2014.”

  “Thanks to the Booklords for identifying him when we got here,” Rachel said. “Could have taken ages for us to do that without their help.”

  “My masters appreciate your gratitude,” Carl Bain conveyed. “They hope you’ll eventually reward their work by handing over the book.”

  Kimberley still found it strange that she could be planning a mission with someone who’d tried to kill her from the very beginning of this arduous adventure. She didn’t trust the American hustler anymore than she trusted his demonic superiors.

  “Doctor Cunningham is ready to see you now, sir.” The secretary’s fresh voice interrupted her thoughts and she readjusted her dark shades.

  “About time,” Jeremy said, standing up. Without another word, he went into the passage lined with office doors, walked up to the door marked Dr. ELIJAH CUNNINGHAM and knocked on it.

  “Yes, come in.”

  Jeremy opened the door and walked in. His eyes scanned the room and missed nothing. The middle-aged man in long-sleeved shirt sitting behind a mahogany desk, the Indian tomahawk affixed to a platform on the coffee table to his left, the expensive artworks on the wall, as well as the large glazed ankh hanging on the wall to his right.

  The black man seized the tomahawk and smashed the glass ankh into smithereens. Wind swept into the room through the open windows and disappeared almost as quickly.

  “Not so fast, Mr. Crawford,” Ben Haddad said, standing up from his seat with a pistol in his hand. “Wow, I almost missed that.”

  Jeremy froze, his heart beating fast and his thoughts racing ahead of him. Why didn’t the demons play their part?

  “Actually, they tried to,” the biologist pointing a gun at him said. “You see, the breeze we just witnessed represented their futile attempt to kill me, my friend. Glad I always carry one more ankh on my person.” He unbuttoned his shirt to display a gold ankh necklace hanging from his neck. “Now you die.”

  Jeremy dodged the shot and slid across the mahogany desk, spinning round in time to kick off the gun from Mr. Haddad’s hand. He went for the man’s throat and yanked away the golden ankh before falling off the table.

  “No!” Ben Haddad screamed before the killer wind swept into his office again and slammed him into his wall of framed art. The shattered frames and broken glass flew all over the place as more unknown characters burst into his office. “Who the hell are you guys?”

  “Your worst nightmare,” Kimberley said.

  Jeremy pushed over a chair and the Booklords forced their prisoner to seat down. “Who we are? You’ll soon know.”

  Carl Bain appeared holding a knife and the incarcerated man cringed. “Good catch,” the American hustler said.

  “Remember we agreed to tie him up?” Jeremy aired.

  “Of course,” Rachel said as she entered the chaotic office.

  Carl Bain frowned. “Let’s do away with him now that we have him.”

  Rachel glared at him. “No.”

  “Why not?” Kimberley surprised herself with the question.

  “He’s under Shurabi, so killing him now will simply give him new life,” Rachel explained.

  “Not true, Rachel,” Kimberley said. “Mariah…”

  “Mariah has been lying to us, Kim,” Rachel snapped. “She must have lied to us about the Gray Ones, reincarnation and Shurabi.”

  “Really?” Carl Bain stared blankly. “So how come I didn’t find this ‘new life’ when I got snuffed out with my masters, huh?”

  Rachel rolled her eyes. “Different story.”

  “I think you died a different kind of…of death, Carl, because you were a mortal servant to the Gray Ones,” Kimberley tried to explain. “You must have been snuffed out just like that, but I don’t believe Mariah lied to us, Rachel.”

  “Okay,” Jeremy began. “Can someone tell me what the argument is about?”

  “He’s not coming back to life through Shurabi if my masters kill him now and his dying body is not quickly transferred to another place and time through the book,” Carl Bain said.

  “And how did you know that?” Rachel began.

  “My masters just told me.”

  “See, Rachel? Mariah was right,” Kimberley muttered.

  Benjamin Haddad hit his right shoe’s heel on the wall and a small ankh sprouted from underneath the shoe’s toe. Carl Bain and his demonic superiors vanished and their target pulled out a small pistol from his right pants pocket. “I should have known. You came back from the future to stop me from doing what I must do.”

  Kimberley and Rachel raised their hands in surrender.

  “You will eat your fellow humans in that future, man,” Jeremy said, raising both hands.

  “You lie like a child,” the Sikama said. “I will find the books and execute the ritual. That’s why you came back to stop me with the Gray Ones.”

  “You’re delusional if you think you carried out the ritual in the future,” Kimberley said.

  “You see? You never said I didn’t get the books,” the Sikama said. “And I think you have them here.” He pointed the gun at Rachel. “What’s in the bag, girl?”

  The little girl’s face went blank. “I – uh…I’m Rachel, Uncle Ben,” she stonewalled. “I am Jehoash’s daughter.”

  “You’re what?”

  Kimberley grabbed the Sikama’s hand holding the pistol before a shot posted a hole on the office ceiling. Jeremy stooped and broke off the tiny ankh attached to the man’s right shoe as the latter went for a sheet of paper on the desk.

  Carl Bain and the Gray Ones reappeared. “Where is he?” the American hustler shouted, looking around in rage. “I will kill him with my bare hands!”

  “He just vanished,” Jeremy said in-between deep breaths.

  “He what?” Rachel stared at the spot on which Ben Haddad previously stood. “You let him get away!” she accused everyone.

  “No, my masters did not,” Carl Bain said. “Your friend had so many ankhs with him.”

  “And a sheet of the white book,” Kimberley added, pointing at the paper their target left behind on the desk.

  “If only you guys had stuck to the plan instead of arguing over what I couldn’t understan
d,” Jeremy muttered. “Now, we just have to go look for him again.”

  Kimberley frowned. “If we go into the future and come across the red war, we will eventually lose the white book to our man through a series of unfortunate events, right Rachel?

  “Yes,” Rachel said, looking at the boy opening the office door. “We will also lose Aiden to him, again.”

  Kimberley gaped at the individual standing in the doorway. “Aiden,” she muttered. “Is that really you?”

  “Who?” the boy at the door asked.

  “Impossible,” Jeremy said.

  Rachel disagreed. “Shurabi will always align the events of space and time,” she said. “That way there will always be continuity.”

  “Aiden who?” the boy at the door asked again.

  Rachel stepped forward and touched his right hand. “That will help,” she said, turning to Kimberley. “I don’t know if we should bring him with us, Kim.”

  Kimberley frowned in thought. “You fear he’ll eventually become Ben Haddad’s prisoner again?”

  “No.” The little girl shook her head. “I’m afraid he’ll just wind up in Uncle Ben’s custody once we get to the year of the red war.”

  “So be it, we’re taking Aiden,” Kimberley said. “We’ll defeat Ben Haddad when we get there.”

  “What of my sisters?” Jeremy wondered out loud.

  “They will do what we told them to do,” Rachel said.

  “Where am I?” Aiden wondered, shaking his head in a bid to clear his mind. “Kim, Rachel, Jeremy? What’re you guys doing here?”

  “Hold my hand,” Kimberley told him instead. “We’re getting out of here.”

  Chapter 38: Inevitability

  THE sudden change surprised no one. The red dust did.

  “And Aiden is nowhere to be found!” Rachel cried, looking around through the head screen of her hazard suit.

  “Luckily, we know who has him,” Kimberley said.

  “And the Booklords are still with us,” Jeremy pointed out. “We are in one of the shelters outside Resilience,” he added, operating the doors’ computer system to slightly slide the noiseless barricades open and peep outside. He spotted two distant figures in the red haze.