Jacob’s frustrated voice came back over the phone. “Somehow I locked the screen again, and I can’t turn the phone off. Would you mind holding on for a minute and walking me through it again after I answer the door?”
“Sure, Abba,” she said, chuckling. She heard him slide the phone into his shirt pocket and begin to unlock the front door. She held her hand over the phone and looked up at Zane. “My dad locked himself out of his phone again. I’ve had to walk him through this once before. He hates electronic devices. It should only take a minute or two. He is answering the door right now.”
Zane laughed. “My mother is the same way. She’ll never get a smartphone.”
Rachael turned back to her phone. She could hear her father’s voice. “Yes, may I help you?”
* * *
A pistol in his hand, Anton Ramirez, eyes burning with the fury of hell, pushed Jacob Neumann back into his living room.
“What do you want?” Jacob demanded.
Anton replied, “I want you to tell me everything you know about the 13th Enumeration. Let me save us both a lot of trouble. I will kill you if you do not cooperate. In fact, I will enjoy killing you. But first you will tell me everything you know, include everyone you have talked to about this.”
With just a touch of curiosity edging his anger, Jacob replied, “You break into my home and demand I tell you about the 13th Enumeration.” Jacob laughed. “Pretty extreme lengths for you to go to learn about the Messiah, I’d say.”
A look of scorn on his face, Anton replied, “I am not here to learn about the Son of God, Mr. Neumann. I already know more than you do. I am here to make sure you don’t share this knowledge with anyone else. We have been guarding the secret for centuries, and it is not time yet for the world to choose. The final Jubilee has not expired; we still have more time left. The time of the Gentiles is not complete.”
“You are talking nonsense,” Jacob replied. “Get out of my home.”
Anton gave a sadistic smile. “Mr. Neumann, let me be clear. I am here to kill you, your daughter, and everyone else who knows about the 13th Enumeration. You only know part of a very old secret, and we cannot yet afford for you to learn the rest. Now tell me where your daughter is!”
Jacob stood there in silent defiance. Anton raised his pistol and pointed it at Jacob’s head. He caulked the hammer and said, “I will give you one more chance.”
Jacob, a look of realization on his face, said, “Rachael, I love you, my dear, and I am proud of you. I am going to see your mother now. Mr. Harrrison, take care of my daughter.”
With that, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. With a look of cruel, incredulous surprise, Anton Ramerez watched as Jacob Neumann’s fingers released the phone.
* * *
Zane watched as Rachael’s smile faded and a look of concern took its place. As the seconds went by, he could see her concern grow to fear and then a look of helpless horror as she listened to the events in the living room of their home. Zane could see her silently mouth the words, “No, No, NO!” Then, as tears welled in her eyes, Zane heard what sounded like a muffled gunshot, and Rachael Neumann screamed and screamed.
She turned toward Zane, her eyes filled with hopelessness and panic. “Abba,” she cried into the phone. “Abba,” her voice now a broken sob.
“What is it, Rachael? What’s the matter?” Zane asked, his expression reflecting her fear.
Rachael did not answer him right away as she was still trying to raise her father on the now-silent phone. She redialed his number, but he still didn’t answer. Looking at Zane, she said, “My Abba has been shot.”
“What do you mean he has been shot?” Zane asked incredulously.
Rachael tried to explain through her sobbing. “Someone came to the door and demanded to know everything about the 13th Enumeration. Whoever it was wanted to know who my father told and where I was. He said he was going to kill us all, and then . . .” She stopped, unable to continue.
Zane gently took her hand, trying to comfort her. Brokenly she continued, “And then Abba said he loved me, and he was going to see my mother. His final words were, ‘Mr. Harrison, take care of my daughter.’ Then I heard a gunshot and silence.” Hopelessly she looked into Zane’s eyes. “My Abba is dead.”
Gently Zane took the cell phone from Rachael’s other hand and dialed David. He quickly explained what had happened and hung up. Turning to Rachael he said, “David is calling the Mossad, and he will let us know what he finds out. He recommended we go somewhere safe for the time being until they find out what is going on. David thinks our lives could be in danger as well.”
Zane’s words seemed to bring Rachael out of her shock. “I am not going to sit here and wait for a phone call. Take me home, Zane. I want to see my father.”
“Rachael, it’s not safe for you to go there right now. You said yourself the killer wanted to know where you were. They are looking for you too.”
Rachael, now with the fire of battle rising in her eyes, replied, “Zane, either you take me home right now or I will find someone who will.”
Zane looked at her for several seconds before he replied. He knew enough about Rachael Neumann to know she was not bluffing, and rational or not, she would march straight into the fires of hell in her current emotional state. Finally he said, “Okay, Rachael, I will take you home. But I will not stop at your house unless law enforcement is there when we arrive. Is that clear?” Without a word she turned and headed for the car.
It took them fifteen minutes to make it back to Rachael’s neighborhood. Not a word was spoken the entire drive. Zane looked at every car and person he passed as a potential enemy. As they drew near, they could see the lights of several police cars and an ambulance. One of the police officers was stationed several hundred feet down the street, blocking traffic from approaching. In the distance, more sirens could be heard approaching.
Zane rolled down his window as they drew up to the officer. He told them to turn around and leave the area. Rachael responded, “I am Rachael Neumann, and I live up there. I think my father has been shot.”
“I’m sorry, Miss, but no one is allowed in right now. You must turn around.”
Without another word of protest, Rachael undid her seat belt and opened her door before either Zane or the policeman could react. She took off running for her house. The officer radioed for help and tried to intercept her. Zane put the car in park and followed a few seconds behind. After he had gone about half the distance, he saw Rachael reach the front door just as it was opened. She crashed into the open arms of Marcus Nayat. Marcus tried to restrain her from entering the house, but she fought him in uncontrollable fury. Finally, just as Zane and the other officer reached the front of the house, Rachael slipped out of Marcus’s grasp and entered the living room of her house. She stopped dead in her tracks. There before her on the floor of the living room, under a white sheet stained with crimson, was the lifeless form of her father.
Zane followed the officers into the house a few steps behind. Rachael knelt on the floor next to the sheeted form. Zane walked up and knelt silently beside her. Through the tears in her eyes, she looked over at Zane in hopeless sorrow. Zane wrapped his arms around her and held her close as sobs racked her body.
Finally, Marcus Nayat interrupted her grieving. “Miss Neumann, would you please come with me? We need to talk.” At first Rachael did not respond or move. Marcus, with more urgency this time, said, “Miss Neumann, would you please come with me? I repeat, we need to talk.”
Zane released her and stood. He reached down for Rachael’s hand and gently helped her stand. Marcus led them away for the macabre scene on the living room floor, through the kitchen, and out onto the deck in the back of the house. Here another Mossad agent stood alertly guarding a sober-faced Jacob Neumann.
Rachael stopped, stunned. “But . . . I thought you were . . .” She couldn’t complete her sentence.
At the sight of her, Jacob Neumann jumped up and reached for his d
aughter. “Rachael, my dear Rachael.”
Slowly, her face filling with realization and relief, she asked, “But Abba, I heard the gunshot. I thought you had been killed. What happened? Who is the person under the sheet in the living room?”
“We are not sure who that is, but he was sent to kill us. The shot you heard was Agent Nayat. He was watching our house tonight when the killer showed up. As the killer entered the front door, Mr. Nayat came through the back and waited in the kitchen. When he saw that I was in grave danger, he shot and killed the intruder. “
Rachael released her father and turned to Marcus Nayat, standing a few steps away. Solemnly, she walked over and stood in front of him. “Thank you for being here, Mr. Nayat. You saved my father’s life.”
He tried not to show that her words of appreciation made him uncomfortable. With some effort he replied, “Miss Neumann, I am glad I could be of service. I was just doing my job.” With that, he nodded to the alert agent standing in the background and entered the house.
With a final look of appreciation, Rachael walked back over to her father and placed her hand lightly on his shoulder. Jacob looked up at his daughter, grateful for her reassuring touch. Softly Rachael said, “Abba, you’ll just have to wait a little longer to see Ima.”
“Yes, my dear, it appears our heavenly Father is not done with me yet.”
Zane Harrison watched their exchange with growing relief and realization. Relief that Rachael’s sorrow had turned into joy, and realization of his love for Rachael Neumann. Smiling to himself, he turned and looked out over the city of Jerusalem. If he could win Rachael’s love, he would make this ancient city his home. “Jerusalem, the city of peace,” he murmured to himself. A place where peace remained elusive but hope never died. Soberly, he acknowledged that there would never be true peace in this place without the Prince of Peace—without the 13th Enumeration.
And now abideth faith, hope, love,
these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13
Hear, O Israel: YHWH our God is
ONE
YHWH.
Deuteronomy 6:4
Whosoever shall confess that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love;
and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
1 John 4:15–16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
Epilogue
Two days later
The massive hand of Sir Peter Herschel reached for his phone. After a moment a feminine voice answered. “Yes, how may I help you, Peter?”
“Angelica, we have a situation which requires your services. Anton has failed and left several loose ends that now require a degree of finesse. I will be sending over the files shortly. You will be contracted through Luormus as in the past. I would appreciate your immediate attention to this.”
Without another word, the line went dead.
Angelica Lioje sat contemplating Peter Herschel’s phone call. He did not call often, but when he did it was always with a challenge. She smiled in anticipation. She loved a good challenge, and Peter Herschel’s problems were some of the best. Angelica had been a member of the Order for over ten years, working behind the scenes as a fixer. She took care of things when the situation called for a more subtle approach. Circulating in the rarefied atmosphere of princes and heads of state, she solved problems for some of the world’s most important people. As her successes multiplied, so did her power and influence. She was utterly ruthless, but her weapon of choice was a whispered word or a subtle hint. She had destroyed more lives with her Machiavellian schemes than Anton Ramirez had with his bloody knife.
Already plotting, she waited for the files on her next victims.
* * *
In three remote locations in separate parts of the world, computer servers executed preprogrammed commands. At the speed of light, over three thousand people began to receive e-mails which would fundamentally alter how individuals across the world lived their lives.
At eleven p.m. Jerusalem time, Aaron Klein was just finishing work on an expose for his radio show to be aired the next day. As his e-mail client inbox chirped, he looked at the subject line. It read:
Last Will and Testament of Darius Zarindast
With a bemused but skeptical smile, he read the body of the e-mail and then clicked on the attached file. His smiled faded, and he reached for his phone . . .
Look for the exciting sequel:
The 13th Prime: Deciphering the Jubilee Code
With the discovery of the 13th Enumeration, an age-old battle that has lurked in the shadows of world history threatens to explode onto the world stage. The Order and their forces of darkness wage an unrelenting war to keep the secret, the success of their diabolical plans for the human race dependent upon mankind’s ignorance of the past.
Zane Harrison and Rachael Neumann do not realize the discovery of the 13th Enumeration is just the beginning. Their knowledge of this ancient secret sets in motion a chain of events from which they may not escape. Trying to stay one step ahead of their hidden adversaries, they learn there is much more to the secret than they ever imagined.
Forty-one names are the chronological key to evidence of a guiding hand woven into the fabric of events in mankind’s history, a scarlet thread marking important milestones in the fulfillment of an ancient promise. Find out how this epic struggle will end in The 13th Prime: Deciphering the Jubilee Code.
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The 13th Prime: Deciphering the Jubilee Code
when it is released? If you are one of the first twenty five readers to write a review on Amazon during my 2013 Kindle promotion I will send you a free autographed copy. Just go to Amazon here: Review the 13th Enumeration on Amazon. When your review is up on Amazon, email it to me along with the address where you would like your copy of the book sent. You can email me here:
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The 13th Enumeration Page 41