The Aleppo Code (The Jerusalem Prophecies) (52 page)

It was a beautiful, burnished bronze, gleaming in the profuse light. Shining as if it had been polished the day before, the portal gate soared above Bohannon’s head and disappeared into the twilight. The door had two panels, both sides decorated with an expanse of stars, so vividly and precisely worked into the bronze by its creator that the door looked like the night sky itself.

Tom stood on the spot of the final direction, his feet unwilling to follow Joe’s urging to move straight ahead. The gate was ahead of him, third gate from the left. The last one he would have selected, but clearly his destination. But now, oh so close, Tom didn’t want to move.

“The moment of truth.” Annie was by his side, grasping on to his left hand until he felt like his fingers would burst. “I’m not sure why, but I’m absolutely terrified. After all we’ve been through, after all God’s done for us and led us through to get us here, I shouldn’t be frightened by anything. But looking at that gate and wondering what’s behind it—what it might mean … to us, to everybody …”

Annie took a step forward and turned toward her husband. “I know it’s crazy to say at this point, but we don’t have to do this.”

Tom looked at his wife, and he knew what was going through her mind.

“We don’t know for sure what will happen,” said Annie, “what we’ll start by going through that gate. But I know what I think is going to happen … what I’m afraid we may be starting.”

Tom pulled Annie close, wrapped his arms around her, and suddenly realized he was dry. Their clothes were dry. “It’s already started, Annie. Once there was ritual sacrifice in the Temple, the clock started ticking. We don’t know what it all means, but we know it’s happening. Yeah, I think what we do next will play a part. It may accelerate the timing. But if we don’t do what we’ve been called here to do, to open that gate—at least to try—then who knows? Will it be worse, or better? I’m scared to my bones. But I also feel this is something I must do. You do, too. I know it.”

Annie pulled back and looked into his eyes. “Well, let’s get it done, then.”

Tom took Annie’s hand once more, turned to look over his shoulder at Rizzo and Rodriguez back in the sun symbol. “Let’s go.”

In Bohannon’s right hand he held the design the team had drawn from the clues on the sprockets. If they were correct, the combination sequence to open the gate would start with the North Star and then progress through the pattern of stars that filled the sky in Judea the night Christ was born, ending with the Star of Bethlehem. What they didn’t know was how to apply that conclusion, what sequence to use in choosing the stars. What was the right way to unlock the doors to Paradise?

Drawing near the gate, Bohannon could hear the running feet of Rodriguez and Rizzo catching up with them.

Bohannon looked at the directions in his hand and faced the gate. “Where do I start?”

“What happens if you touch that gate in the wrong place?” Rizzo whispered. “How do you know you won’t turn into a rotisserie chicken?”

Thanks, Sam. That helps a lot. Lord, what am I supposed to do now?

“Forward, man of God. It is for you to open the gate.”

Bohannon knew the voice was an invitation. He stepped closer, found the largest star on the gate—what he hoped was the North Star—and gingerly brushed the fingers of his right hand against the edges of the design. He nearly had a stroke.

As soon as his fingers touched the bronze symbol, the surface of the star warmed and glowed. At the same time a star lower and to the left of the North Star also began to glow. Bohannon moved his right hand from the North Star to the one on the left and, immediately, the glow faded from both stars. He pressed his fingers more purposely against the second star, but nothing occurred. When Bohannon returned his touch to the North Star, it warmed again and both stars glowed once more.

“Keep your right hand on the first star and put your left hand on the second,” Annie suggested.

The left star was smaller than the first, and Tom covered it with his palm. Immediately a third star began to glow, higher and to the right. And each of the stars continued to glow as Tom moved from one to the next. Soon the door shone like the night sky, brilliant stars glimmering across its surface.

His hands rested against the carved bronze surface, reluctant to take the final steps. Should he push? Pull? And what would be waiting for him on the other side?

“Do not be afraid, appointed one.”

As the voice echoed around the chamber, Bohannon shifted his weight and leaned against the gate. It swung open easily. Inside, dense fog enshrouded everything in a gray cloud.

On one side, Annie continued her lock on his left arm. On the other, Rizzo stood at an angle, looking like he was ready to run in whatever direction was necessary.

“Hey, is anybody home?” Rizzo called.

Tom took one step over the threshold and felt like he had walked into a gelatin wall. Something soft and pliable, warm, swallowed him up and surrounded him from head to toe. In the moment it took for Bohannon to register what was going on and wonder how he was going to breathe while held in this viscous cocoon, he was through and on the other side, like emerging from an eyeball.

He didn’t immediately realize the other three had been stopped in their tracks.

“Oh!”

“What?”

“Hey, get your mitts off me.”

The others were still standing in the gate, about three feet away. Bohannon could see them clearly enough and hear their voices. But they were on different sides of a barrier. He put out his hand and the surface gave way, like pushing on the side of a water balloon. “You can’t get through?”

Annie had both hands up, leaning against the surface of the barrier. “No. It’s soft, pliable, but it won’t let us through. We’re stuck out here.”

11:53 p.m., Babylon

With a crack like thunder, light exploded into the cavern. Not just visible light, but light sizzling like static, skipping over the molecules of the air. Bohannon spun around at the sound and saw the garden spread out before him.

Ripples in a pond, expanding out in waves, growing and building on each pulse, the light washed over the garden. At the center of the pulse stood the trees.

The light around the trees thrummed, an audible sound, as leaves sprouted on the branches of the trees and the leaves turned from white to silver … silver to gray … gray to green. As the trees came to life, the leaves sang. Bohannon marveled as the light around him joined the song. Then before him, in a flash of brilliance, the garden came alive, more lush and green than anything he could have imagined. He was astounded by the variety and the volume of growing things. Above it all, at the heart of it all, the trees stood apart. Like the core of the sun, the intense light that beat forth from the trees was blinding and spellbinding.

Then the choir of the garden joined in, its massed music rising and falling like flood waters over boulders.

Overwhelmed by what was revealed before him, Bohannon felt a presence. He looked up as an image materialized, just inside the gate, a gigantic angelic presence that morphed from voice, to vapor, to shadow—to what appeared as a being of substance. He was dressed as a warrior. A glimmering helmet covered his head but not the long, dark, flowing hair that cascaded over his shoulders. A golden breastplate, shining like the risen sun, ended at a sash of spun gold that cinched a silver girdle around his waist. Golden boots covered his feet, ankles, and calves. All this Bohannon took in with one swift glance. But his attention continued to be drawn to two things: the furled wings that rounded on either side of his head, tucked behind his broad shoulders, and the flaming sword that hung loosely from his right hand.

The angel raised the tip of the sword, the muscles of his forearm flexing, and pointed it at Bohannon.

“You are welcome here, man of God. You have been called to fulfill your purpose.”

Bohannon was entranced by the beauty of the angelic being. The young man’s skin was alabaster, with the incandescent glow of old pearls, and flawless. His lips were full and red, his nose long and aquiline. His hair was shiny and black, a mass of waves that tumbled around his face, framing crystal green eyes. Every movement manifested a fluid grace that failed to mask a physical strength that was formidable.

The angel’s words resonated like cymbals in the cavern and spun in the air like an invitation to a dance—light and melodic. His voice was clear and firm, softly modulated. But in its words, in its breaths and pauses, it seemed like bells chimed in a far distance.

Bohannon nearly collapsed in surprised shock when the angel smiled at him. It moved closer and lowered itself to hover just over the floor.

“I am Gabriel,” he said.

And Bohannon recognized the face.

He didn’t know whether to cry or laugh, kneel or run. He felt secure and insane at the same time. This was the face he had seen in the
gniza
of the Ades Synagogue, the Gabriel who had spoken to him and Annie—or the young man’s angelic twin—about three times the size.

“I … we …” Bohannon’s lips moved, but his mind no longer worked. Every conscious cell in his body focused on the face. Not on the huge wings that now spread out before him, dimming the light. Not on the flaming sword that Gabriel held point-down, his hands resting on the hilt. On the face … only the face. Its radiance made the portal gate look like a candle.

Gabriel held out his left hand, palm open.

“You are most welcome. We celebrate your arrival.”

Thousands of questions throttled through Bohannon’s mind. None escaped.

“You are all welcome here.” He gestured toward Annie, Sammy, and Joe, held behind the barrier. “Don’t be afraid,” said Gabriel.

“Afraid?” said Rizzo, just loud enough to be heard. “He’s not the one facing a three-story angel with a flaming sword. I’ve felt calmer on the Bowery at midnight than I do now.”

The archangel Gabriel put his hand back on the sword’s grip, leaned on it, and knelt on his right knee, bringing him into closer proximity to Tom, who looked up into his dazzling beauty and felt embraced by all creation.

“You, favored one, have overcome much, learned much, persevered much to reach this point. Well done, faithful servant. We’ve been waiting for you. Only you could open the gate. But your calling is not yet complete.”

Often rehearsed but never answered, the questions came tumbling out. “But why me?” Tom asked. “What do you need with me? You’re an angel. You’ve got power. Why didn’t you open the gate? I’ve been told you’re the governor of Eden. So what do you need me for? Why have we been put through all this?”

Tom saw compassion and empathy in Gabriel’s eyes.

“You know prayers and questions of ‘why’ are seldom answered in ways that are clear. Noah asked why. Abraham, David—they asked why. But even when their question of why wasn’t answered, they listened and obeyed. They had faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. You have been presented with the same calling. To walk in faith and help bring forth the purposes of the Almighty. Throughout the history of creation, the Creator has called upon men to help work out his plan, because this created earth is the dominion of man. It was given to you to oversee. It was intended for your blessing.

“That plan was corrupted by the evil one who fell from heaven. And since that moment, the Creator’s purpose has been to return his creation to the men for whom it was created. Many men have been called to be a part of that purpose. The Creator looks for men who have reverent awe of his presence. Not men who are perfect—there are none perfect, only one. But men who have a heart to earnestly follow the Creator’s will and purpose. Men like you.

“It was man who lost his place in the garden. It must be man who reclaims that place. And it must be man who once again is entrusted with the staff of power, entrusted to bring the Creator’s purpose to completion in the dominion of man.

“But understand this. The time of the Gentiles is now fulfilled. As there are seven gates to the garden, there are twelve gates to the New Jerusalem, where the One and Only King will reign for one thousand years and his scepter will unleash his power. The 144,000 will come to the Tree of Life for their reward.”

Gabriel lifted up, away from the ground. He spread his wings and raised the sword before him, awesome and overwhelming.

“These words are true: ‘Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near…. Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.”’

“These words are true: ‘Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.’”

Gabriel’s emerald green eyes focused on Bohannon. “Now is your time. Come. But”—Gabriel pointed his flaming sword at the others—“you may not enter. Stand fast. Do not cross the threshold of the gate. Touch this ground, and you will surely die.”