Babylon Prophecy

by Sean Salazar

  Vance glanced at Al, indicating maybe it wasn’t the time to fill in the blanks for her.

  Al felt his eyes tearing up at the loss of innocent kids. He turned to Vance and said, “This was only a statement.”

  “I agree.”

  Al turned to Officer Shandra, “We can go now.”

  “Okay,” she said, and led the way out of the auditorium.

  Al followed her, carefully avoiding the blood-soaked carpet, and as he did he noticed something he hadn’t seen before. The bright overhead light illuminated the stains enough for him to see blood sprinkles on the carpet directly in front of the large stain. Al paused as he recognized the pattern for he had seen it many times before. It indicated a person was lying face down, and right before he or she died, they coughed violently, spraying blood from the mouth. Time magically stopped, and for a brief moment he felt ill as the tiny red dots suddenly magnified, clouding his vision. His heart began to beat rapidly and he felt lightheaded. His vision blurred as he felt his head drain of blood. The dizziness intensified so he reached for the wall and let all his weight fall into it. Visions of men, women and children he had killed appeared in a red, bloody mist overtaking his mind.

  He heard a woman’s voice, “Are you okay?” The voice seemed like a distant echo and Al tried to force out an answer—but nothing came out. He could not respond.

  “You look pale,” he heard Vance say, his voice also an echo.

  Al could feel the heat building up inside him and he forced himself to relax. As he did, an intense, piercing, ringing suddenly burst into his head and he took a deep breath to stop it. The ringing stopped and he opened his eyes and saw only blackness. Where was he? He cleared his mind and uttered, “I’m good...Just had a moment.” He couldn’t hear his voice but he knew it came out. He also knew full well that he was not just having a moment; he was having a mental breakdown.

  The many years of death was now taking its toll on him and he was fighting it. Every man has his breaking point. Was this his? Couldn’t be, not a chance; he lied again, but now it was to himself. He attempted to control his breathing as the tunnel vision and ringing in his ears increased. He forced his eyes right and left but all he saw was blood. Why was that affecting him like this? It was only blood...

  Damn! He started to become angry with himself for the weakness his mind was releasing. Seconds ticked by and his vision began to come back. The first images he saw were legs as he realized he was sitting against the wall. He glanced up and they were all looking at him. He was soaked in sweat and wiped his eyes, “I’m fine.”

  Standing up quickly, he needed to direct their attention away from him but Vance grabbed his shoulders before he could. Vance wiped his forehead and said, “Its okay, buddy.”

  The officer stepped out of the way with an inquiring glance, not realizing what had just happened. Vance simply said, “PTSD.”

  Her facial expression changed from surprised to concern. “Oh, okay.”

  Al knew the post-traumatic episodes were becoming more and more frequent and were a problem. Vance was always there for him when they struck, but at the same time, it was annoying to have to depend on him. Al jerked suddenly as his pocket vibrated.

  Vance released a slight laugh, “It’s just your cell, dude.”

  That shocked Al back to reality by that obvious embarrassment. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his PDA, smiled to indicate that he was okay, and read it. “Chris wants to meet us at his office ASAP.”

  “Okay, let’s go,” Vance said, as Officer Shandra led the way.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “Help...help,” a pause, “me,” a garbled male voice came through the line. “I can’t use my cell....Only land lines...” Cough, cough. “I need your help. Please, I have to hide...”

  A female voice, “Where are you?”

  “Follow the scroll’s directions...”

  The female replied, “I don’t know if...”

  “Remember what we talked about....No.... Don’t tell anyone where you’re going.” Cough, cough. A pause. “You know what it’s behind.”

  “Yes.”

  “Grab all of it and bring it to me,” and the line went dead.

  After a quiet few seconds, Chris reached out and pressed the red button, “Unfortunately that is all I got.” He twisted in his chair and with his good arm pushed the recorder across his desk to Al. “You can have it.”

  Al turned to Vance, “That voice was definitely the beautiful Dr. Zohar.”

  “And the male voice is...?” Vance inquired, flicking a match and lighting a cigarette.

  “Well,” Chris said, “is probably your missing Dr. Golb.”

  “You presume,” Al added.

  “I went to Dr. Zohar’s apartment to question her myself and instead of finding the doc I found her very upset roommate.”

  Vance exhaled a trail of smoke, “About what?”

  “One reason is that she moved out suddenly.”

  Al glanced up, “Who did?”

  “Zohar did.”

  The statement caught Vance off-guard and his cigarette almost fell out of his mouth, “When?”

  “Apparently she had already moved out sometime this morning before she met you two.”

  “Which is probably another reason why the roommate gave you the recorder,” Vance added, “probably skipped out on the rent.”

  “She was lying to us the whole time,” Al said.

  “Could this be the double-cross,” Vance asked, “or is she just running with him?”

  Al crossed his arms, “But why would she lie to us?”

  Chris shrugged and pushed a small notepad across the desk, “Could be, but here is the information you would probably want: Dr. Zohar’s cell number, address, and some basic stuff I gathered from her roommate.”

  Al stepped back to the desk and grabbed the pad. “Okay, Dr. Golb called her on a land line at home for a reason.”

  “Makes sense,” Chris said. “It’s difficult to track, especially if it’s from another land line.”

  “Well,” Al said, pulling up a chair, “that complicates matters figuring where the call originated from.”

  “So,” Vance said, taking a long drag, “so the doctors are on the run. I like it.”

  Chris rubbed his wrapped shoulder, “Those knights must have scared the shit out of him and he ran. She could be just helping him figure out what is going on.”

  “According to that message,” Al said as he punched in Zohar’s information from the pad into his PDA, “those two are going to meet up. But where?”

  “Do we even know if the knights got what they came for?” Vance directed his next question to Chris. “By the way, how did you hurt your shoulder? I’m assuming it was the shootout?”

  “I thought you would never ask,” Chris answered. “After the stark realization that bullets had absolutely no effect on stopping the knights, I decided running was my only viable option. I was attempting to hide behind a tree when this damn giant knight snuck up behind me and lifted me right off the freaking ground.”

  “No shit,” Vance stated.

  “Yeah, it was the craziest thing.” Chris paused a second. “He lifted me off the ground, and I mean clear off the ground, with one hand.”

  “I believe it,” Al added, “they did that to me too.”

  “Honestly, I’m not sure if I believe it myself,” Chris answered, rubbing his wrapped shoulder again. “The whole scene reminded me of the movie predator when the alien with dreadlocks lifted Arnold Schwarzenegger off the ground to examine his skull.”

  “And then you kicked him in the balls,” Vance joked.

  “Are you kidding? Obviously you didn’t see these guys up close.”

  Vance tapped the ashes form his cigarette onto the floor. “So he just let you down?”

  “That’s about it; And to top it off, he put me down right next to my guns and he turned his back on me. Of course it didn’t matter where he put me down because I passed out a few
seconds later.”

  “But still...” Vance added.

  “Yeah, I know, it sounds crazy. The strange part is that whoever was in that armored knight suit knew damn well that I was shooting at him.”

  “So you think he let you live?” Al asked.

  “Let me rephrase that,” Vance said, “you wouldn’t happen to know what they were looking for.”

  Chris laughed. “I have no clue why he didn’t just finish me off, but one thing for sure, those knights are deadly and if the doc made out with what those knights were looking for, then he had better be hiding.”

  Al thought about the situation for a moment and then stated, “So, the doctor was researching recently recovered parts of the Dead Sea scrolls.”

  “Ah,’ Vance said, “and he just said on the recording to follow the scroll’s directions.”

  Al turned to Chris, “Play the recording again.”

  Chris pulled the recorder closer to him, turned it around, and hit the Play button.

  Al listened carefully and when it was finished said, “Okay, he just told her to grab everything from behind something.”

  “Yeah, that could be anywhere,” Vance said.

  Al glanced at Chris, “What do you think that means?

  “For starters, if there was something hidden, I would initially rule out her apartment.”

  “How so?” Vance asked.

  “Because Dr. Golb asked her if she remembered what it was behind.”

  “So,” Vance prodded.

  Chris continued, “Okay, I’ll make it simple. If she—meaning Dr. Zohar—put it or hid something in her apartment, he would not ask if she knew about it. He would directly ask her to grab it.”

  “Ah,” Vance grumbled, “I see what you’re saying.”

  “So whatever it is,” Chris continued, “it has to be hidden somewhere here on campus.”

  Al chimed in, “Any suggestions?”

  “If it was my investigation, I would start with the offices that Dr. Golb used.”

  “Well,” Vance said, “the knights tore his laboratory to pieces so we can rule that spot out.”

  “Good point,” Chris said.

  “Don’t professors have separate offices away from the lab?” Al asked.

  Vance stood up and stepped over to the window, “Why don’t we just ask the sweet officer?”

  “If you think she may know,” Chris said, “why not.”

  Al agreed and called her on his cell to come in. As soon as she entered, Vance took the lead and asked, “You wouldn’t happen to know where Dr. Golb’s office is?”

  She gave Vance a puzzled look, “Yes, why?”

  Vance heaved his chest proudly and said, “We would like to go see it.”

  She laughed, “Okay...but you guys were just there.”

  Vance dropped his shoulders, “What?”

  “Ah shit,” Al uttered, remembering something. “The scratches I saw on the floor?”

  “Uh-oh,” Vance said.

  “Chris,” Al said, “you and your shoulder can stay here. We’ll be right back.”

  “Not a problem,” Chris answered.

  The officer pulled up to the curb and before the car came to a full stop Al and Vance jumped out, ran into the building, and up the stairs. The security guard had arrived seconds before and already had the door open, which was a good thing because heavy wooden doors were a bear to kick in, if at all. Al went between the desk and bookshelves and re-examined the scratch on the floor.

  Vance stood over him, “Okay inspector, do your thing.”

  Al pointed, “The scratch is in an arc, meaning the bookshelves swing out.”

  “Right,” Vance said.

  Al pushed on the bookshelf and it didn’t budge. He stood up, “Everyone hides shit behind bookshelves.”

  “If you say so.”

  Al then began yanking out books, tossing them onto the floor.

  Vance observed the books hit the floor, gave a smirk, and commented, “Well, you did say the books were a little too neat.”

  “Got it,” Al said, glaring into the center of the third shelf, “a keyhole.”

  Vance stepped over to see it. He pulled out his gun and pushed Al out of the way, “I got it.”

  Vance aimed and put two bullets into the keyhole, punching a hole into the wood. He reached in and pulled. As he did, metal could be heard hitting the floor from behind the shelf, which Al figured was the locking mechanism falling loose.

  The bookshelf moved with resistance, revealing a small space behind it.

  Al stepped in and eyed one long shelf attached to the back wall that extended the length of the bookshelf. There was nothing else.

  Vance leaned in, looked both ways and announced, “Empty.”

  “Bone dry,” Al said, looking around. “The wall with the shelves was the original part of the office so the bookshelves were added as a divider. Either way, we are obviously one step behind them.”

  Vance sat on the desk and crossed his arms, “Do you think what was in here is what the knights were after?”

  Al sat next to him. “I have no idea.”

  Vance laughed, “That would be my answer too.”

  A few seconds later Al received a message on his PDA from Director Churchill,

  Wrap up the investigation now. A chopper is en route to pick you two up.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Gap Mills, West Virginia

  They immediately returned to Agent Chris Nelson’s office, exchanged information, and Al asked him to keep in touch and report any information that he felt would be helpful. Shortly afterward, a helicopter landed in the grass, and of all places, directly behind the archaeology building. Once the door closed, the pilot increased power and lifted off.

  Vance turned and yelled at the pilot, “If you don’t mind, where are we going?’

  “Only northeast,” the pilot answered. “Specific coordinates I will receive in a few minutes.” He pointed, “Put those headphones on, someone is waiting to speak to you guys.”

  “Thanks.” They both put on the indicated headphones, adjusted the mic, and Al spoke first, “This is Agent Robek.”

  “Hey there, old boy.” It was Ed.

  Al found the reception hard to hear over the engine noise and replied loudly, “Hey Ed, we hit the jackpot.”

  “Splendid, what was it?”

  “It turns out,” Al said, “the university that the knights attacked had a professor busy translating a batch of missing Dead Sea scrolls, and maybe some of your Holy Script.”

  There was silence for a moment and Ed replied, “Dead Sea scrolls.”

  “That’s the rumor.”

  “Translated?”

  “I have no idea how far along they were, if at all.”

  “Who is the professor?”

  “A Dr. Golb.”

  “I’ll check him out.”

  “He is reported to be either missing or on the run,” Al said. “But from what his assistant, a Dr. Zohar, said, most of their translating breakthroughs came recently from a mysterious group that she couldn’t identify.”

  After another prolonged pause, Ed asked, “Mysterious group?”

  “It appears that way.”

  “Do you believe Dr. Zohar’s story?” Ed asked.

  “Don’t know.”

  “Any specifics?”

  “Yes and no,” Al said. “She is also on the run and may be meeting up with Dr. Golb somewhere.”

  “Hm-m, interesting twist.”

  Vance chimed in, “It sounded like one hell of a suspicious story to me.”

  After another pause Ed continued, “Okay, here is what’s going on. I have written orders coming your way that cannot be transmitted electronically, so hang tight and I will contact you men later.” The line went dead.

  Several minutes later the chopper landed in a field about thirty yards from another chopper that was waiting with its rotors still turning.

  The pilot turned his head and yelled, “This is the
orders transfer.”

  “I got it,” Vance said and he opened the door and climbed out.

  Al watched him run up to the other chopper and the person inside handed him an envelope. They spoke a few words and it appeared that Vance was yelling at him as he grabbed it. A few seconds later, they shook hands and he started heading back.

  Vance climbed in and Al yelled over the engines, “Okay, so what is it?”

  “Beats the hell out of me,” Vance answered, closing the door. “Dumb ass over there doesn’t know either.”

  As the door locked, the pilot immediately began lifting off.

  Vance sat back and said, “I would really like to know what is going on.”

  “Why?” Al answered. “It’s not like I’ve ever known since this whole freaking crisis started.”

  Vance shook the envelope and tossed it to Al saying, “Have you ever had that piñata feeling being bounced back and forth while getting the shit beat out of you?”

  “Honestly I can’t think of a single moment when I didn’t,” Al replied, placing the envelope on the seat next to him. He also leaned back, “Just a few weeks ago we were kicking back beers and helping out with a small Iraqi museum project. Now, we’re just being kicked around and shot at every five minutes trying to save the world.”

  Vance let out a guttural laugh. “I can have attitude, you can’t, so shut your pie hole and save the world.”

  Al glanced at the envelope thinking about the poor Muslim kids murdered in cold blood. At this rate, it was just a matter of time before a bullet actually collided with his head, taking him out. He reached over and grabbed the envelope, “Maybe we were meant to be here?”

  Vance laughed again, “Yeah, maybe you and Jess were supposed to hook up too?”

  “Wouldn’t that be a disaster! She already shot me twice.”

  “Third time’s a charm; if you live, it’s gotta be true love.”

  He decided not to add to Vance’s comment but said, “Now that you mention it, I want to ask Natalie Sikorsky out on a date when this is all done.”

  Vance’s face contorted and he blurted out, “Screw you, my friend! She’s mine. You had your chance. Besides,” he crossed his arms defiantly, “she loves me.”

  Al opened the envelope, “What the hell are you talking about?”