The 13th Enumeration (43 page)

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 daughter. “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 13
th
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 13
th
Prime: Deciphering the Jubilee Code

With the discovery of the 13
th
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
13
th
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 13
th
Prime: Deciphering the Jubilee Code
.

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The 13
th
Prime: Deciphering the Jubilee Code
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th
Enume
r
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eration.com