The Second Coming

by J. Fritschi

  “So you’re telling me that Jesus and the Antichrist are twin brothers and that Joseph is their father and Mary their mother?”

  “According to the Satanic Codex,” the professor reiterated. “When Jesus does return to battle the Antichrist in Armageddon, in order for Jesus to defeat the Antichrist, he must stab him in the heart with a sterling silver knife shaped like a cross and the only way the Antichrist can defeat Jesus is by deceiving mankind into believing he is a false profit and convincing them to persecute Jesus.”

  “That’s why the Sterling Killer is using the sterling silver knife,” Mike said astonished.

  “When Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival, he was there to confront and kill the Antichrist, but according to the Satanic Codex, the Antichrist arrived before Jesus and spread fear and doubt in the minds of the Jewish leaders telling them that Jesus was a false prophet. When Jesus found out that the Antichrist had fooled the Jewish leaders, he was so upset that he overturned the tables, not of the money changers, but of the Jewish leaders in King Herod’s temple.

  “According to the bible, at the last super Jesus prophesized that he would be betrayed by one of his disciples, but according to the Satanic Codex he prophesized that the one who would betray him was his twin brother, the Antichrist. When Jesus and the disciples went to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus knew that Judas was the Antichrist and he let him betray him to the Jewish authorities with a kiss because he wanted to test the faith of the Jewish people to see if they were ready to do battle with him against the Antichrist.”

  “Judas is the Antichrist?”

  “Again, according to the codex, Judas himself wasn’t the Antichrist, but the Antichrist possessed Judas body in order to betray Jesus,” the professor explained carefully. “Jesus knew after the Jewish authorities turned him over to Pilate for execution and after Pilate tried to set him free and the Jewish people chose to set Barabbas free instead, that the Antichrist had won their minds and that his people were not ready to do battle with him.

  “When God saw that the Jews were going to crucify his son, he was going to destroy them until Jesus said unto him, ‘Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.’ God was so impressed with Jesus’ compassion that he forgave the Jews and gave his son eternal life.

  “After Jesus rose from the grave, he told his disciples to spread his word and that when he was sure the people were ready and would not be deceived into thinking he was a false prophet, he would return to battle the Antichrist in Armageddon. The people would know he was the messiah because he would be born before his twin brother, the Antichrist, who would be the sixth son born to a sixth son of a sixth son. 666; the number of the beast.”

  “That is one hell of a story,” Mike said astonished as he shook his head. “I’m not a big believer of the stories in the bible, but I do know that if you go around telling people that the Virgin Mary is the mother of the Antichrist, you are going to upset a lot of people.”

  “I know. That is why I am hesitant to speak about it. Anyone who has told this story in public has met with a mysterious death,” Dr. Schafer cautioned. “And you can check this and do the research, but I have been unable to find any living third generation sixth son. Some would argue that church has not allowed it while others would say God has not allowed it.”

  “You’re telling me the church has been killing people for centuries because of a story that was discovered in a cave?”

  “Fear has a way of making people do things they would normally not do.”

  “You don’t actually believe the story of the Satanic Codex, do you Professor?” Mike asked bewildered.

  “It doesn’t matter what I believe,” Dr. Schafer pointed out. “It only matters that there are religious fanatics who believe in the story and will do anything to keep it from being told or coming to life including killing any third generation born sixth son.”

  Mike exhaled in astonishment. “So what does the story of the Satanic Codex have to do with the symbol the Sterling Killer is leaving at the crime scenes?”

  “It is the symbol of the sixth son,” Dr. Schafer replied enthusiastically. “Do you have a piece of paper and a pencil?”

  Mike pulled open his top desk draw and fumbled for a pencil and pad of paper. He transferred the receiver to his left ear so he could hold it in place with his shoulder while he took notes. “I’ve got it.”

  “Now look at the picture of the symbol.”

  Mike clicked open the attachment on his screen. “Alright.”

  “Draw the loop of the number 6 so it is a circle and then draw the symbol in the circle.”

  Mike drew a circle and then drew the lines up and down in the circle. “It looks like an upside down piece sign.”

  “The Greek translation for the word son is spelled YIOS. If you look at the symbol, there is a Y and an I in the middle of the o of the six and the S is concealed in the number 6.”

  “What does it mean?” Mike asked seeing what the professor was talking about, but still not understanding what they used it for.

  “Back in the middle ages, the symbol was painted in blood on the door of any family who gave birth to a second generation sixth son as a warning that if that child ever had a sixth son, he would be the Antichrist. Those families would then paint the symbol upside down on their door as a sign they understood. It became known as the peace sign.”

  “Come on,” Mike said in disbelief. “That’s where the peace sign comes from?”

  “According to legend.”

  Mike scratched his head with the eraser side of his pencil and sighed. “Thank you for your help Professor,” he said mystified. “You have my contact information on my email. Please let me know if you think of anything else that might be of use.”

  “I will Detective,” the professor told him reluctantly. “Please be careful who you share this information with. It could be very dangerous to you or anyone else who knows about it.”

  The two men said good bye and hung up the phone. Mike leaned back in his chair with his hands folded behind his head. Whoever the Sterling Killer was, he was copycatting how Jesus was supposed to kill the Antichrist? It occurred to Mike that maybe the Sterling Killer is delusional and thinks he is the messiah and his victims are the Antichrist, but it just didn’t seem right. Something was missing.

  He heard Big Pete get off of the phone and spun around in his chair so that they were facing each other and proceeded to tell him the story of the Satanic Codex and the symbol. When Mike was done, Big Pete sat back in his chair with a look of awe on his face.

  “You’re going to trip out when you hear how similar these two stories are,” Big Pete told him as he rubbed his hands together like a proud grandfather about to tell a story that was passed down for generations. “Jimmy was institutionalized in a mental hospital for paranoid schizophrenia after kidnapping and attempting to murder Kate in 1988. When the authorities searched his parents’ house they found a cache of weapons. Jimmy told them that he was preparing for Armageddon and that God had saved him so that he could fight in the battle of good versus evil.”

  Mike was sitting on the edge of his chair with wide eyes.

  “By 1992 he had convinced the doctors and lawyers that his mental problems were in remission and they filed a motion for his release saying that he was no longer a threat to himself or society and he was released.”

  “Where did he go then?”

  Big Pete smiled a toothy grin. “That’s where the story gets even better.”

  “Stop fucking with me and tell me,” Mike demanded as he rubbed his knuckles.

  “Waco, Texas.”

  Mike’s face went blank as his mouth caught flies. “Shut the fuck up. Not the Branch Davidians?”

  Big Pete nodded his head.

  “Don’t tell me he was there when the ATF raided the compound,” Mike said as he recalled watching the compound go up in flames on TV.

  “He was one of the Davidian’s that exchanged fire with the
ATF during the siege. Apparently he was under the impression that Koresh was the second coming of the messiah.”

  “Did he die?” Mike asked earnestly.

  “Nope. He was one of the nine survivors.”

  “What happened to him?”

  “They charged him with conspiring to and aiding and abetting in the murder of federal agents.”

  “Let me guess,” Mike said indignantly. “He pleaded innocent by reason of insanity.”

  “You got it. He was acquitted and re-institutionalized.”

  “Crazy motherfucker,” Mike said reflectively. “It’s almost like he knows about the Satanic Codex. Where is he now?”

  “No one knows. He escaped five years ago and hasn’t been heard from since.”

  Mike paused with a scowl on his face. That was right about the time he became a homicide detective. And then the face of Nurse Nancy from his first homicide case flashed in his mind’s eye. He remembered all of the religious paintings on her wall. Could it be that Jimmy Jones is the Sterling Killer and the nurse was his first victim?

  “There has to be a connection between Jimmy and the orphanage, and Father John’s Family and the Satanic Codex,” Big Pete postulated. “These aren’t random killings.”

  “Maybe Jimmy is the Sterling Killer,” Mike said uncertainly.

  “It crossed my mind, but what is his connection to the orphanage?” Big Pete said with a look of distress on his face.

  “Maybe he was adopted from there.”

  “I don’t think so. I asked the mental institution if he was adopted and they said his parents’ names on his birth certificate match the names of his legal parents.”

  “Anyone can get a forged birth certificate if they are trying to hide something.”

  “Let’s say, for arguments sake, that Jimmy was adopted from the orphanage. What is his connection to Father John?”

  “I don’t know,” Mike replied with a scowl. “Maybe he is Father John’s brother.”

  “Now you are reaching,” Big Pete replied as he shook his head. “Why would his parents have put him up for adoption? They have five other boys they didn’t leave for adoption.”

  That was a good point. “Maybe his father had him out of wedlock,” Mike replied impressed with himself.

  “I suppose, hypothetically, that is possible, but why is he leaving the symbol of the sixth son at the crime scenes?”

  “Father John is the fifth son in his family which would make Jimmy the sixth son.” Mike said with wide eyes as he sat up straight in his chair.

  “Except that Father John is older than Jimmy,” Big Pete reminded him.

  “Alright, then Father John is the sixth son.”

  “But we know that Father John can’t be the Sterling Killer,” Big Pete reminded him skeptically. “And I thought you said that according to the Satanic Codex that the sixth son was Jesus twin brother, the Antichrist, and Father John’s mother died while giving birth to him.”

  “Or did she?” Mike said rhetorically. “Let me see the list of kids and their dates of birth from the orphanage records.”

  Big Pete swung around in his chair and shuffled through the stacks of papers on his desk until he found the orphanage records. He handed them to Mike. “What are you looking for? Jimmy’s name is not on the list.”

  Mike scanned the date of births searching for a particular date. It wasn’t on the first two pages, but about a third of the way down on the third page was the date he was looking for. “Holy shit,” Mike said under his breath as he looked up Big Pete astonished. “Jimmy is not the Sterling Killer, but I think I know who is.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I’ll explain to you on the way to Father John’s dad’s house,” Mike said excitedly as he hoped up from his chair.

  “Why are we going to his dad’s house?” Big Pete asked perplexed as he slowly rose from his chair.

  “To see what he knows about the Satanic Codex.”

  chapter 66

  AS KATE PULLED out of the parking lot into the oncoming traffic, she suddenly felt something sharp sticking in her side hard enough to puncture her skin. As she winced and leaned away from the pain, she saw Father John holding a sterling silver knife shaped like a cross above her hip. It was at that moment she realized that she was not with Father John; she was with the Sterling Killer.

  “Owe, that hurts,” she exclaimed as tears formed in her eyes making her vision blurry. “Please stop that.”

  “Shut the fuck up and keep driving,” he told her forcefully.

  “I can’t drive with that knife stuck in my side,” she told him on the verge of crying as she sat idling at the stop light. The pain was so excruciating, she thought she might pass out. “Please don’t push so hard and I’ll take you wherever you want to go.” She felt the pressure ease enough that she was able to bare it.

  “Don’t do anything stupid,” he growled at her. “I don’t want to, but I will stick this knife in you and let you bleed to death right here.” He glared at her with a menacing scowl as he waited for a response. “Take a left here and get on the freeway.”

  Kate couldn’t believe it. Father John was the Sterling Killer. Or was it his alter personality? “Who are you?” she asked weakly as she made her way onto the freeway with her heart pounding as if it might burst.

  “Don’t play stupid with me doctor,” he said with a menacing tone. “You know who I am.”

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “Don’t try to fucking psychoanalyze me you fucking bitch.” The veins in his neck bulged and spit foamed in the corners of his mouth. “You don’t have the slightest fucking clue what I’ve been through.”

  Kate couldn’t get herself to look at him. She sat as still as she could.

  “You have no idea how lonely it is to be raised in an orphanage and to have no one who loves you,” he told her with a disdainful tone. “Families would come to meet me to see if they wanted to adopt me and would never come back because they were afraid of me. They thought something was wrong with me and that I wasn’t worthy of their love.”

  Kate could feel her pulse throbbing in her neck as she stared straight ahead watching the lines of the lanes on the freeway zoom by when she remembered that Mike told her about the photo of Father John’s family standing in front of the orphanage when he was a child. Father John must have created the orphan personality as a way of coping with his mother’s death. She had to try and earn his trust.

  “I’m so sorry,” Kate said with a tremor in her voice as she gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands. “That sounds horrible.”

  “Even the parents at the foster homes didn’t want me. Nobody wanted me and I moved between verbally and physically abusive foster homes and the orphanage all of my youth,” he reflected with resentment. “The only thing I ever looked forward to was when Mr. Carpenter would come and visit me.”

  The tension in the car was constricting and Kate wanted to roll a window down to get some fresh air, but she was paralyzed with the fear. She could feel his eyes watching her like a rattlesnake ready to strike.

  “Who is Mr. Carpenter?” she asked cautiously.

  “Don’t be coy. You know who I’m talking about,” he snapped as he pushed the knife into Kate’s side. “I used to see him wondering around the building in a sharp suit with his dark hair slicked back, looking very important and dignified. I remember thinking a great man like that must have a loving family,” he said with a hint of regret. “One day he came over and asked me my name and sat down and talked to me. He made me feel special. I used to imagine that one day he would show up with his family and adopt me. It was the only pleasant image I had in an otherwise miserable existence. All I ever wanted was to be part of a loving family.”

  Kate kept her hands locked on the steering wheel with white knuckles as she stared straight ahead at the road.

  The Sterling Killer glared at her indignantly. “Can you imagine how angry I felt when I found out years after I
left the orphanage that he was my biological father and that he put me up for adoption even though he had five other boys he was raising on his own?” he asked with disdain. “At first I thought he must have abandoned me because his wife died while giving birth to me, but if he blamed me for her death, why did he come visit me? And if he didn’t blame me, why didn’t he take me home with him? I could tell he wanted to be with me,” he said reflectively as he glared out the passenger window. “And then one day, years after I left the orphanage, a manila envelope showed up mysteriously in my mailbox. I remember as I opened the envelope wondering how anyone had found me.”

  Kate was scared to ask about the envelope, but was too intrigued to stop herself. “What was in it?”

  The Sterling Killer stared at the side of her face for so long that she thought she could feel her cheek burning from the intensity. “Someone had sent me a copy of the Satanic Codex.”

  “What is the Satanic Codex?” she asked oblivious.

  “The Satanic Codex is the reason my father abandoned me at the orphanage when I was born,” he seethed callously. “It is the reason I am a cold blood killer.”

  chapter 67

  MIKE EXPLAINED WHOSE date of birth he thought he found on the orphanage list of names and what he thought it meant to Big Pete on the drive over to Father John’s dad’s house. By the time they pulled in front of the two story, brick colonial home, Big Pete was wondering if it could be true or if Mike was grasping at straws again.

  As they walked between the hedges and up the path on the front lawn, Mike’s stomach churned with anticipation. If he was right, Mr. Carpenter had been keeping a dark secret for a long time. He wondered if he would admit to what he did or if he was hoping to take his secret to the grave with him? Did Father John know about it and was he involved in the cover-up? It didn’t matter either way. Mike was going to expose everything before he took the Sterling Killer down.