Closing the storage shed door behind them, Cam studied the lead box while Amanda found the switch for the overhead light. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to lift the ark out of the case by ourselves,” he said. He fingered a couple of latches. “But it looks like the top and side panels come right off.” Cam wrestled the lead panels aside, leaving the ark sitting on the lead base. “And I think Ellis cleaned it.”
“Yes. I only cleaned the front face.” She pointed to the In Hoc Signo Vinces inscription inside the ornate gold wreath. “But it looks like all the faces have been scrubbed. I hope he was careful with it.”
Cam circled the artifact, still favoring one leg. They had so far only examined the front face. The two end faces were merely decorative, but the back of the ark had additional writing on it. He called Amanda over.
“Can you read it?” she asked.
As on the front face, the writing filled the space inside an oval-shaped decorative wreath. He crouched and angled his flashlight. “It’s Hebrew.” He peered closer. There were two words, written right to left in the Hebrew fashion. “The first word says Beit, which means ‘house.’ The second I think says Levi, but I’m not quite sure of the ‘v’ letter—it might be an ‘h,’ which would make it Lehi.” Cam pronounced both Levi and Lehi as if the final ‘i’ made the sound of a final ‘y,’ as was indicated by the Hebrew—so Levi rhymed with ‘heavy.’
Amanda responded. “So it says ‘House of Levi’ or ‘House of Lehi’?”
He stood up. “I think so.”
“Well, ‘House of Levi’ makes perfect sense,” Amanda said. They both knew that the descendants of Aaron were called Levites, or the House of Levi. It was the Levites’ job as the high priests to take care of the Ark—nobody else was allowed to touch it or even come near it. And if anyone knew the secrets of the Ark and how to build a replica, it would be the Levites. “If this was their ark, no surprise they’d put their name on it.”
Cam stood. They had not yet examined the ark’s lid, which Ellis and his men had also cleaned. An ornately-carved gold angel sat at either end of the lid, each angel leaning forward so that their outstretched wings almost touched in the middle.
Amanda motioned to the space between the wings. “There’s your spark gap.”
He nodded. “And look. There’s a face carved on the lid.” He leaned in. “And I think a name carved beneath it.”
“Can you read it?”
“It’s more faded than the others, but I think it says Bezaleel.”
“That name sounds familiar. I think it’s from the Bible.”
Cam shrugged. “Not to me. But it’s weird to have a face on a relic like this.”
“How so?”
“Jews aren’t allowed to glorify anyone except God. To carve his face on the ark doesn’t seem right. Almost like a false idol.”
“Well, don’t forget these were Christianized Jews. So maybe the old taboos don’t apply.”
“Maybe.” He backed away. It was getting hot in his suit. “Let’s snap some pictures and get out of these things.”
“Right. And I’d like to do some research on this Bezaleel chap.”
Using the printer in the hotel’s business suite, Cam printed out images of the carvings they had found on the ark. He was examining the shot while Amanda researched Bezaleel on the internet when Georgia and Astarte strolled into the hotel lobby.
“How was the theatre?” Amanda asked, hugging the girl. It was difficult to remember what life had been like before Astarte arrived.
“Good. We saw Little Mermaid.”
“Another princess movie.” Amanda smiled. “What a surprise.”
Astarte put her hands on her hips. “If I’m going to be princess someday, I need to learn all I can about it.”
“Fair enough,” Amanda said. “But do you know what these movies are really about?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, these princess movies are all made by a company called Disney, founded by a man named Walt Disney. Mr. Disney was a member of the Freemasons, a very high-ranking member at that. Do you remember what we told you about the Freemasons?”
“Yes,” Astarte said. “And Uncle Jefferson told me about them also. They are the keepers of the ancient knowledge.”
Amanda nodded. “Yes, well said—the keepers of the ancient knowledge. If you study the Disney princess movies, you’ll find that what they are really telling us is that society can not function well if the king and queen don’t sit on the throne together. Nature requires this kind of balance in all things—light and dark, hot and cold, heaven and earth, and also male and female.”
She waited as the girl processed this. “Okay,” Astarte said.
“So in these stories—whether it is Snow White or Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty, the prince is looking for his princess so they can rule together. In the meantime, the kingdoms are dysfunctional—they don’t work. The people are poor and unhappy.”
“Okay,” she said again.
“Now, this is the part Mr. Disney understood that others didn’t. We have been taught that God is a bearded, male figure. But the truth is that God is part man and part woman. Nature requires it.”
Cam interjected. “We talked about this the other day in the car, Astarte.”
“But God is a man. And so is Jesus. I’ve seen pictures.”
Amanda met Astarte’s gaze. “Yes, Jesus is a man. But he was married to Mary Magdalene. She was supposed to sit on the throne in heaven with him, as his queen. But the male leaders in the ancient Church wanted to keep power for themselves. So they changed the story to make Mary Magdalene be a … bad person.”
“You mean a prostitute.”
Amanda smiled and took a deep breath. “Yes.” This was going on longer than she intended. “So in these princess movies, the prince is meant to represent Jesus and the princess meant to represent Mary Magdalene. When they finally marry, the kingdom is saved.”
Cam interjected again. “And until they do, the people are ruled by the evil stepmother. She’s not really a mother, she just tries to act like one. Just like the Church calls itself the bride of God and the Mother Church when it really is controlled by men, not women.”
Amanda continued. “And Little Mermaid is the same message. Eric, the prince, can’t rule his kingdom without Ariel, his princess.”
Georgia, who had been sitting back on the couch with her arms crossed, leaned forward. “So you’re saying Ariel is supposed to represent Mary Magdalene?”
Amanda smiled. “Yes. Long red hair and all.”
“It seems like a bit of a stretch to me.”
“Actually, Ariel is more on point even than the other princesses. You’ve heard of the dawning of the Age of Aquarius?”
“You mean like the song?”
“Yes. It refers to the zodiacal procession of the equinox. The Age of Pisces ushered in Jesus Christ, which is why his symbol is the fish. Before that was the Age or Aries, and before that Taurus. Today, we are transitioning to Aquarius. Water. That’s why Eric needs to look to the sea to find his princess in Little Mermaid.”
Georgia shook her head. “I know this is your area of expertise, Amanda. But I think you’re taking this too far. What’s the saying, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar? For you to associate Ariel with Mary Magdalene is just … a stretch to me.”
Amanda leaned over her laptop. “I bet I can change your mind.” She poked at the keys. “Remember when Ariel is singing ‘Part of Your World’? During the song she’s looking through her treasure chest. In addition to jewels and heirlooms, she pulls out this painting.” Amanda held up her screen. “Have a look.”
“MAGDALENE WITH THE SMOKING FLAME” BY GEORGES DE LA TOUR AS SEEN IN THE LITTLE MERMAID
“Well I’ll be,” Georgia exhaled. “It’s Mary Magdalene all right. I missed that in the movie.”
“It passed quickly,” Amanda said. “I don’t think we need to ask Cameron if he thinks a young mermaid treasuring a portrait of Ma
ry Magdalene is a random coincidence.”
Cam shrugged and patted Georgia on the shoulder. “It’s usually not worth arguing with Amanda about this stuff.”
Georgia cleared her throat. “Well, you’ll probably argue this with me. You should know that after the movie Astarte and I spent a half-hour inside a Mormon church.”
Amanda’s head whipped around. “You what?”
Georgia stood and held up her hand. “We drove by it on the way to the movie, and on the way back Astarte asked if we could stop. She said she wanted to pray for the woman who got killed at the compound.” Her shoulders sank. “I didn’t know what to do.”
“Well, what did she do there?” Amanda directed the question to Georgia.
“We went in, a little girl came over to say hi, and the girl took Astarte into the temple area to pray. I watched from the back.”
“Please don’t be mad at Georgia,” Astarte said. “It was my idea. I wanted to ask God to take care of the woman who died. She wasn’t married, so she can’t go to heaven like the other wives.”
Amanda unclenched her job, took a deep breath and spoke. “Okay. We can discuss this later.”
Fighting to contain her aggravation, Amanda pointed to the images on the coffee table as Astarte sat on the couch next to her. Georgia remained standing. “We found some new carvings on the ark. Astarte, you know a lot about the Bible. Who is Bezaleel?”
“He’s the man who built the Ark of the Covenant.”
Amanda nodded. “Yes. We found his name and portrait carved on the lid of our ark. And we found ‘House of Levi’ carved on the back panel.”
“Can I see the pictures?” Astarte asked.
“Sure … honey,” Amanda said, her voice still strained. She made a point not to angle the pictures so Georgia could see them.
Cam explained to Georgia who the Levites were as Astarte studied the pictures. “Astarte, can you read Hebrew?” Cam asked.
She nodded. “Uncle Jefferson taught me.”
“So do you see where it says Beit Levi, or ‘House of Levi,’ on it?”
“It looks like Beit Lehi to me,” she said.
Cam shrugged. “Could be. But ‘House of Levi’ makes more sense.”
The girl’s eyes narrowed. “No it doesn’t.”
Cam started to respond but Amanda grabbed his arm. “Hey, shush for a second, Georgia’s on the phone with the White House. I think they’ve approved the deal.”
Willum hadn’t slept in, well, he was no longer sure. On Thursday night he stayed up all night working on the fuel cell. On Friday the car bomb went off and the compound went into lockdown, so he didn’t sleep that night either. And yesterday the feds declared open war by dropping a bomb on the generator—Willum spent all night on patrol with the other residents. Other than, that is, twenty minutes in the backseat of the Land Cruiser.
Somehow, amazingly, he didn’t feel tired. It was as if his body no longer needed sleep, as if it had itself become the perfect fuel cell. The other residents seemed to have the same super-human stamina also. Clarisse and her kitchen team kept them well-fed, and they all pounded coffee, and of course adrenaline coursed through their veins. But sleep? Apparently no longer necessary.
This morning he and Clarisse had rigged up a television with a pair of old rabbit ears and watched the Sunday morning roundtable discussion programs. A few other residents joined them, and everyone leaned forward when an image of the compound, with the highway turned into a staging area for an armed invasion, appeared halfway through the segment. Well, so much for moving to the desert and laying low.
A surprising sense of harmony had settled over the compound. There were a few minor squabbles, but for the most part everyone did their jobs without complaint. It was as if they were a team of professional soldiers rather than a ragtag group of societal outcasts. Strangest of all, everyone obeyed his orders as if he were Patton or Truman or Alexander the Great rather than some overweight chemist in a Grateful Dead t-shirt.
Most dutiful of all, as always, was Boonie. He had followed Willum around for the past few days like a kid chasing the ice cream truck. Was it because he felt guilty about setting the bomb? Or did he sense he might be bartered to the feds? Only now, as they ate sandwiches made with fresh-baked bread, did Willum finally have a few minutes alone with Boonie.
“I still remember the day you stood outside the compound fence waiting for me to see you.” It had been a couple of years ago, not long after Willum bought the place and moved in. “I didn’t even know old Boone had a grandson.” He laughed. “Well, that’s not accurate. I knew he had dozens of grandkids; I just didn’t know who they were. He kept busy when he wasn’t in jail.”
Boonie didn’t respond, nor did Willum expect him to. “You know, the feds think they know who set off that bomb.”
Boonie nodded as he chewed. “Okay.”
“Do you want to know who they think did it?”
He shrugged. But he had also stopped chewing, the mouthful of bread and turkey and lettuce balled into the side of his mouth like a December chipmunk.
Willum sighed. Poor Boonie. This was probably the first time in his life he fit in, felt important. He had jobs to do, was part of a community, even had a little bit of status as Willum’s ward. Had he set the bomb out of a sense of loyalty? And had he done it for Willum?
Willum slapped the table. “You know what? Who gives a shit what the feds think. They can go fuck themselves.” He patted Boonie on the back. “You want me to get you another sandwich?”
Ellis watched from the far side of the lobby as Thorne, his fiancée, the girl and Georgia studied the images of the ark. He strolled over.
“I see the ark was delivered.”
Thorne glanced up. “Yup.”
“You guys are the experts on this stuff. I didn’t understand the ‘House of Lehi’ inscription.”
Neither Thorne nor his fiancée responded so, after a few seconds, Georgia did. “We think it says ‘House of Levi,’ not ‘Lehi.’”
Astarte was following the exchange, and Ellis caught her eye. He raised an eyebrow. “Really? I could have sworn it said ‘Lehi.’ And the guy who helped me clean it thought so too,” he lied. “But, like I said, you guys are the experts. If you think it says ‘House of Levi,’ you must be right.”
Astarte spoke. “I think it says ‘Lehi’ also--”
The British woman cut her off. “Thank you, Astarte.”
Ellis shifted his weight. “Anyway, we should head over to the compound and tell Smoot he has a deal.”
Georgia nodded. “Cameron, Amanda—are you two joining us?”
Ellis studied the older woman’s body language. She was upset, her face flushed and her breathing rapid. And Amanda had turned away, specifically not responding to the question. Ellis smiled. Perhaps he could exploit the growing tension.
Astarte finally answered. “I’d like to come. I’ve never seen the compound.”
Thorne and his fiancée shared a glance. “She can’t very well stay here alone,” Thorne said.
Ellis thought about offering to let the girl ride with him, but instead smiled and jogged out to his car.
One of the things Cam liked best about Amanda was that she didn’t let things simmer. No doubt she would discuss the trip to the Mormon church with Georgia at some point, but for now at least she had let it go.
“So, this is what I found out about Bezaleel,” Amanda said as Cam navigated out of the hotel parking lot. “As Astarte said, he was the man who built the Ark of the Covenant. In fact, he was so smart and so pious that God himself requested he do the work.”
“Wow. Tough to turn down that assignment,” Cam said. “Sorry, God, I’m doing an addition over the garage now. Can this Ark project wait a few weeks?”
Amanda laughed. “But there’s more: Remember the story of Moses melting down the golden calf?”
Cam nodded. Astarte said, “He was angry that the Israelites were worshiping false idols.”
“Precisely
. Well, what Moses actually did was order that the calf be melted and the gold be ground into powder and put into the water. Then the people were forced to drink it.”
“Drink the gold?” Cam asked. “Odd.”
“And here’s the other odd thing. Moses also ordered that the gold be baked into loaves of bread he called the ‘Bread of God’ or ‘Bread of Heaven.’ He put the bread into the Ark and they carried it around the desert with them for forty years. And guess who he ordered to do the baking?”
“His mother-in-law?”
She cuffed him lightly on the shoulder. “Bezaleel.”
“But I thought he was a goldsmith,” Astarte said from the back.
“Yes,” Cam said. “With God as a client.”
Amanda nodded. “He was. That’s why it seems strange Moses was treating him like the kitchen help, ordering him to bake the bread.”
Cam stared at the highway ahead. Unless there was something special about that bread….
Astarte liked living with Amanda and Cameron. But she didn’t like them not letting her go to the Mormon church. And she didn’t like them always trying to prove the Bible was wrong.
Astarte was happy to change the subject. “How many people live at the compound?” she asked as they drove towards it.
“About seventy or eighty,” Amanda said.
“Are any of them children?”
“Yes. I think I counted twelve or thirteen.”
“So anyone can move in there?”
“I believe so.”
Cameron spoke. “The only requirement is that you have to agree to the rules of the compound and do your chores. So it’s sort of like joining the army.”
Astarte nodded. “So what are the jobs for the kids?”
Amanda said, “I saw some of the older ones helping with the food. And the younger ones worked in the garden and helped clean up after the meals.”
“Is there a church inside the compound?”
“Not that I saw,” Amanda said. “But I think many of the residents leave on Sundays to go to their churches.”
Powdered Gold: Templars and the American Ark of the Covenant (Templars in America Series Book 3) Page 21