by Mark Goodwin
“Your logic is a little flawed. The more often you stick your head out of the hole, the more aware they’ll be that you even exist. One might argue that you’re inviting trouble to the Igloo,” said Emilio.
Hinkle rebutted, “One also might argue that by striking a serious blow to the New Babylon construction project, I’d be inspiring more guerillas to spring up and take action against imperial assets. In so doing, I’d be reducing my own odds of being the target of the day for Alexander.”
“I’ve tested that theory,” Emilio replied. “It didn’t work out so well.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Hinkle argued. “Many of the people at the Igloo are here because they were inspired by a bunch of renegades who had the audacity to shoot Lucius Alexander in the face.”
“Even so,” said Emilio. “It sounds risky.”
“So, can I count you in?”
Emilio looked at Mackenzie.
She lifted her shoulders. “I’m game. I’m going to lose my mind sitting around in that dark cave.”
Hinkle patted the top of his HF transceiver. “We’ll have radios. Anytime we ain’t workin’ you can spend all the time you want listening to the pirate radio stations from all over the world.”
“How long are we going to be gone?” Emilio asked.
“First trip will be about a week. No more than two. We’ll make a run up there, make ‘em nervous, then come back for a while.”
Emilio said, “It’s a long trip, 850 miles. Have you been on the roads?”
“All of the abandoned vehicles have been cleared to the side of the roads. The debris from the collapsed overpasses has been bulldozed out of the way.”
“Still no overpasses from what I hear on the local frequencies,” Emilio said.
“We can get around. Just get off the exit before the spot where the bridge is out, then right back up the next on-ramp.” Hinkle leaned back in his chair. “Besides, all the vehicles we’ll be in are four-wheel-drive.”
Mackenzie asked, “When are you leaving?”
“Tomorrow evening.”
“Driving after dark?” Emilio wrinkled his brow. “That’s a bad idea. Headlights at night broadcast your position.”
“We’ll keep the lights out,” Hinkle replied.
“These roads are filled with hazards; potholes from the quakes, impact craters from asteroids the size of football fields, some even bigger. You can’t possibly navigate all the way to New York without headlights.”
“Drivers will all be wearing night vision.”
Emilio had not considered such an alternative. He thought about it for a while. “Yeah, I suppose that could work.”
“Then you’ll join us?”
He nodded. “Yeah, we’ll come along for the ride.”
“Good.” Hinkle powered on the radio. “Listen as long as you like. Turn it off when you’re finished.” He stood up from his chair. “I’ll be out front. Say goodbye before you leave. And be here by 5:00 PM tomorrow.”
Emilio began scanning the HF frequencies. He scrolled past several signals which were distorted and some in other languages.
“Wait!” said Mackenzie. “That sounded like Spanish.”
Emilio shook his head as he continued searching. “It was Portuguese.” Finally, he landed on someone speaking in English albeit in a thick Israeli accent. The reception was terrible. However, Emilio could make out the gist of what was being said. The man was providing details about the military crackdown in Jerusalem by the newly rebranded Global Order. “Sounds like a pirate station.” Emilio tuned the signal to minimize the distortion. Finally, the sound cleared up and the two listened intently.
“Over a thousand Jewish protestors including many former IDF soldiers with weapons encircled the Jewish Temple last night to prevent Emperor Alexander from entering the sacred building. Imperial peacekeepers fired on the group with tear gas grenades and rubber bullets, however, the group refused to disperse. A firefight ensued between protestors and peacekeepers. No account of the incident has been reported by WNN and therefore, no number of casualties has been listed. However, people who witnessed the skirmish claim that hundreds of peacekeepers were killed and none of the protestors survived.
“A similar standoff between Imperial peacekeepers and Islamic adherents occurred at the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque. Likewise, WNN offered no reports of the activity, but those who saw the fighting said many people on both sides were killed. The majority of the Islamic militants who were involved were said to have stolen away in the night. Shortly before 4:00 AM this morning, a string of bombings rocked the city. All of the strikes appeared to hit at Global Order personnel or property. One such bomb went off when a delivery van exploded at the newly-constructed Ministry of Religion building in Gazelle Valley.
“The citizens of Jerusalem awoke this morning to a city-wide lockdown announced via loudspeakers on tops of Imperial Peacekeeper patrol vehicles. The mandated order is in effect until further notice.
“Despite the command to remain indoors, thousands of peaceful protestors took to the streets shortly after dawn this morning. Peacekeepers cracked down immediately on the crowds, arresting demonstrators by the hundreds. The protests broke up after this massive show of force by the Global Order. No word has been given on the whereabouts of the detained demonstrators. Early morning marches happened in both the Muslim and Jewish quarters of the old city as well as many other locations in the broader Jerusalem metropolitan area. WNN has not reported on any of the episodes of civil unrest around the city.
“I have received reports of one other event from multiple sources. Although, I have not been able to independently verify the claims. The texts and messages I have received are all from people I know personally. I have no reason to doubt the integrity of their claims. However, the stories I am about to tell you may be difficult to believe.
“This afternoon, once the Temple Mount and the streets below had been cleared of demonstrators, something very peculiar happened. Even by the standards of the day, this was a most unusual occurrence. Two old men, dressed in robes of what looked like burlap somehow infiltrated the peacekeepers' security barrier and made their way to the steps of the Jewish Temple. Some acquaintances of mine say they have seen these two peculiar men hanging around the Western Wall and up on the Temple Mount for a few weeks. They have been speaking to people, mostly Jews, about how Lucius Alexander is a puppet of Satan. They claim that Yeshua of Nazareth was the Messiah and challenge Jews to study the Hebrew prophecies in Isaiah, particularly those listed in chapter 53.
“All the people I have talked to dismiss the men as being mentally unstable or overly theatric. However, my friends are taking very close notice of these two after what happened on the Temple Mount. When peacekeepers attempted to arrest them, fire came out of their mouths and completely incinerated the peacekeepers.
“Like I said, this is a difficult event to believe. Trust me when I tell you, I am having trouble reporting it. But, I feel it is my duty because WNN will talk about none of these things. I saw some very grainy video. It was taken from a rooftop overlooking the Temple Mount and is difficult to make out what is happening. If I can get better video I will post it up on my darknet webpage, Jerusalem Truth News dot onion.
“If this incident happened exactly the way it is being reported, then the implications are tremendous. I think every Jew in the city right now is well aware that Alexander is not the Messiah promised by God. I’m hesitant to speculate about such things, but I believe these men may be prophets of God sent to warn us and to tell us that we got it wrong concerning Yeshua.
“For now, I will continue to investigate and rest assured that I will be reading those prophecies in…” The transmission suddenly went dead.
Mackenzie said, “I guess somebody didn’t want that information getting out.”
“Yeah. I hope the guy was smart enough to run a relay transmitter so the empire only confiscates some of his equipment. Otherwise, he’ll be disappeared.”
“I’d like to see that video.” Mackenzie stood up and pushed her chair in.
“Me, too.” Emilio switched off the radio and led the way toward the exit.
CHAPTER 18
And I answered again, and said unto him, “What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?” And he answered me and said, “Knowest thou not what these be?” And I said, “No, my lord.” Then said he, “These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”
Zechariah 4:12-14
Emilio walked out into the muted daylight which was still bright compared to the bleak darkness of Mammoth Cave.
Mackenzie kept close to him and talked with a soft voice. “You know who those guys are, don’t you? The ones on the Temple Mount, I mean?”
“Yeah, the two witnesses from Revelation 11. I was just reading about them the other night.”
“Right, but I meant more specifically.”
“How much more specific can you get?” Emilio waved at Hinkle as they passed through the group preparing for the mission. “See you tomorrow.”
Hinkle nodded. “Be safe.”
Mackenzie waved at the old militia leader and continued her conversation with Emilio. “The two men, they’re Moses and Elijah.”
Emilio adjusted the sling for his AK-47. “I’ve read the entire Bible cover to cover twice since the quakes. And I’ve probably been through Revelation over fifty times. I’ve never gotten that.”
“It’s in my dad’s notes. In Revelation 11, what does God say about the witnesses?”
“Fire comes out of their mouth and kills anyone who tries to hurt them.”
“What else?”
“Umm,” Emilio struggled to remember that section of Scripture. “Something about them being olive trees?”
“Exactly!” Mackenzie snapped her fingers. “Where else did you read about two olive trees?”
Emilio thought. “I give up. I don’t remember.”
“Zechariah 4!” she exclaimed.
“Enlighten me,” Emilio followed the contour of the road but kept inside the cover of the trees.
“Both sections of Scripture say the two olive trees that stand before the Lord of the earth. So, it has to be the same people.”
“Zechariah 4 says that the olive trees are people?”
“No. That’s the thing. It’s like a mystery that isn’t revealed until John is informed by Jesus.”
“Okay, but how do you get Moses and Elijah out of all of that?”
“In Zechariah 4, the two olive trees are feeding olive oil to the lampstand, which is Israel.”
“Still not getting it,” said Emilio.
“Let me finish,” she said. “Olive oil represents the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit accompanies the Word of God.”
“So the Bible?”
“Yes. Of course, then, the Bible was pretty much the law and the prophets. Remember, in Jesus’ parable of Lazarus and the rich man, Abraham told the rich man that his brothers had Moses and the Prophets to teach him them the way?”
“Yeah, but I’m not sure how that ties in.”
“Moses represents the law, and Elijah represents the prophets. This is the primary method Israel had for hearing from God. It’s the same for us today, we just happen to have more Scripture for reference.”
Emilio interjected, “And grace through faith because I would have failed miserably at keeping the law.”
“Yeah, but back to what I was saying. That was their Scripture, feeding the Holy Spirit into those who were true Israel. Who did Jesus meet with when he was transfigured?”
“Moses and Elijah, but that doesn’t prove your point.”
“Maybe not, but it helps my case. What are the powers given to the witnesses in Revelation 11?”
“Umm, shut Heaven so it doesn’t rain…”
She cut him off before he could finish. “Exactly! Who did that in the Old Testament?”
“Elijah.”
“Good. What else?”
“Smite the earth with plagues, turn the water to blood…”
She cut him off again. “Who did that? In Exodus?”
“Moses.”
“And who called down fire from Heaven to destroy the soldiers of the king who tried to arrest him?”
He rolled his eyes. “Elijah, but with the men in Jerusalem, fire came out of their mouths.”
She added, “And destroyed the soldiers of the king who was trying to arrest them.”
“Close, but not an exact match,” he said.
“A little too close to be a coincidence in my opinion. So, do I have a case?”
Emilio hated to admit it, but she was on to something. “You have a case, but you or your dad or whoever came up with all of this has certainly injected a healthy dose of speculation into the whole scheme.”
“But I have a case,” she gloated.
“The Bible also says man is appointed to die once, after that, the judgment.” Emilio felt smart, like he’d found the chink in her armor.
“Good one,” she said. “But Elijah never died. Neither did Enoch, for that matter.”
“Maybe he’s the other witness,” said Emilio.
She shook her head adamantly. “That whole appointed-to-die-once thing is a generality, not a hard and fast rule.”
“Why do you say that?”
“What about Lazarus, Jarius’ daughter, and the widow’s son that Jesus resurrected? And what about the widow’s son that Elisha brought back to life, or Tabitha resurrected by Peter?”
“What about them?”
“Well, unless they’re still around, I assume they died twice. What about Josh and Nicole? They were taken in the rapture. They never died and never will.”
Emilio had gone almost the entire day without the pain of his broken heart over the separation from his wife. Hearing her name opened the old wound. However, he swallowed it down rather than snap at Mackenzie. “Yeah, okay, you win. It’s Moses and Elijah.”
Mackenzie seemed oblivious to his sudden sadness. “Wow. That was easy. I never saw you tap out so fast. I guess I’m getting better.”
***
Thursday afternoon, Emilio and Mackenzie arrived at the Igloo compound, laden with supplies to sustain them for the mission. Emilio wore a heavy pack and also carried a large bag. Upon locating Hinkle, Emilio let the duffle fall to the ground. “Reporting for duty.”
Hinkle eyed the big canvas bag, then glanced up at Mackenzie. “She talked you into carrying her makeup case, I see.”
“Ha, ha.” The corners of Mackenzie’s mouth turned down. “We packed provisions for two weeks.”
“Maybe a little extra in case we hit a hiccup,” said Emilio. “This ain’t my first rodeo.”
“I’m well aware of that,” said Hinkle. “But we would have made sure you had food. To be honest, I somewhat expected that part of the reason you were coming along was that you were short on supplies. I guess I was wrong.”
He looked over Emilio and Mackenzie’s gear, paying close attention to the radios on the front of their chest rigs. “UV-9Rs. Good choice. A lot of the people in our group are using UV-5Rs. Nice little radios so long as it doesn’t rain.”
Emilio nodded. “That’s why we shelled out the extra couple of bucks for the waterproof units. At night in the rain is the best time to do this kind of work.”
Hinkle nodded. “I knew you’d be a good fit. Do you have ponchos in your packs?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Stick these in there with them.” Hinkle handed two packets of potassium iodide tablets to each of them.
“What’s this for?” Mackenzie inspected the package.
Hinkle pointed to the thin white boxes in her hand. “Each one of those has a one week supply of potassium iodide. Take one a day to flood your thyroid gland so it can’t soak up radiation from the environment.”
“Radiation is only a problem if you’re in lower Manhattan or maybe p
arts of Brooklyn.” She lowered one of her brows. “We’re not going in there, are we?”
Hinkle said, “We’ll try to stay out of the blast zone, but that general area is the one place we don’t have to worry about the Global Order looking for us.”
Mackenzie looked at Emilio. “I didn’t sign up for this.”
Hinkle lifted his hand. “Hang on a minute. Two days after a blast, radiation decreases to about 1 percent of what it was one hour after the blast. Then, for every sevenfold increase in time after the explosion, the radiation dose rate decreases by a factor of 10. So, by two weeks after the blast, it had dropped to 0.1 percent of what it was at hour one. It’s been nine months since the blast. Radiation levels are well below 0.01 percent of what they were immediately after detonation.”
“Is that all true?” She looked to Emilio for confirmation.
He nodded. “Sounds about right.”
“Now, mind you,” said Hinkle. “I’m not suggesting that you set up an apartment in the city and raise a family, but with the pills, staying on the outskirts of the blast zone, our risks are minimal.”
“Particularly if we only have another three and a half years before the whole thing is over,” added Emilio.
Hinkle grinned. “Yeah, if you buy into all of that end-of-the-age stuff, then you really have nothing to worry about. Effects of trace radiation will never have a chance to hit you.”
Mackenzie bit her fingernail. “Okay then.”
“So you’re good?” Emilio asked.
She stowed the potassium iodide pills in her pack. “Why not? I’m going to lose my mind sitting around in that cave.”
Emilio surveyed the fifteen or so vehicles getting outfitted for the journey. Some were old 6x6 military transport trucks. He saw several Humvees. Still others were civilian 4x4 vehicles with camo paint jobs and other modifications to make them battle-ready. “Is everyone from the compound coming?”
“Only about 100 of us. We want to be a big enough force to cause some damage, but small enough to move quickly. Plus, if we get into trouble on the road, we’ve got people who can come get us.”