The Great Deception (22 page)

Unless the FRN or the Israelis freed Damion
and Christophe from the Ozarks, the only hope for the world would
die in a Scorpion maximum security facility deep underground.

The stars were aligning just so for Howard
to take his seat of power over his world-wide kingdom. No mere
mortals could possibly stand in his way of his lifelong plans for a
new world order.

Maxwell, also known as Jabour in the Middle
East, had run his campaign beautifully. He thoroughly convinced the
clerics and even the king himself the Mahdi was coming
…
.A half-truth. Nevertheless, a demigod like the Mahdi
would indeed establish his rule in New Babylon
—
Sector Three (D.C.).

…

The celebratory dinner came and went. The
lamb, rice pilaf, roasted red pepper humus with a basket of piping
hot pitas, and garden-fresh salads
…
all
gradually passed.

Jabour dabbed the corners of his mouth with
the cloth napkin from his place setting. Several strokes later he
dropped the used-up napkin over his plate. He looked to each of the
leading clerics and addressed them by their first names, one at a
time.

“….Thank you so much for accompanying me on
my palace run,
”
he smiled broadly.
“
As a token of my appreciation, I will
mention your names to the Mahdi. He will reward you for your
devotion and faith to the cause.
”
This
elicited an overflow of obligatory thankyou
’
s from each of the religious leaders. Shortly
afterwards they watched with unhinged jaws as Jabour abruptly got
up without another word and disappear into the throngs of hungry
patrons still waiting to be seated.

That would be their last time they ever saw
him.

--

A hastily crafted plan didn
’
t necessarily mean swift success. Failure could come
even quicker. Time was one thing the agents in this mission
didn
’
t have much of.

The parking garage the Interior Minister of
Germany
’
s motor pool used would be where
the hit occurred. Baruch volunteered to be the driver of
Sofia
’
s heavily armored limousine. Seth
would be the one to pull the trigger and start the series of
events. Baruch would then punch it when the bullets started
zinging.

The interior minister would predictably try
to get the driver
’
s attention to give him
instruction where to go. Once the partition separating the front of
the limo from the passenger area went down, that
’
s when Sofia would realize she had been done in. And
Tyrone? He would be quarterbacking the efforts from his mobile
office
—
the SUV. Not only would he pay
attention to the police frequencies, but also every applicable CCTV
camera over the major intersections along

the decided route Baruch would take with
Sofia
’
s limo.

--

Twenty-four hours whizzed by. Same
room…inside the belly of the white whale. Three high-pitch whistles
in a period of a minute sounded. A weird substance waiting in tubes
on the side of the big white machine suddenly began to be sucked up
like a straw. Green gas slowly vented into the chamber where Azriel
lay dormant.

The monitor that recorded in real-time the
thirteen-year-old
’
s vital signs started
acting up. The boy
’
s heart rate climbed
back up towards normal. The green line on the EEG machine squiggled
up and down like a seismogram graph recording an underground
tremor.

Stacy had almost fallen asleep in an
armchair ten feet across from Azriel. The once-tranquil environment
suddenly filled with unfamiliar noises caused her eyelids to
flutter, her head to stir.

“Huh, wha
—”
she
softly murmured, beginning to rise from her place of slumber. Once
her vision adjusted to the dark room her focus shifted to a screen
which displayed the operation
’
s progress.
It literally just moved from ninety-nine percent to done when her
stare found it.

Stacy touched her heart at what she saw.
Electricity surged throughout her body. The moment had finally
arrived. The manufactured family would soon all be together.
Everything had gone to script. So far.

The door to the miracle machine banged open
with little to no warning. Any leftover gas now dissipated into the
operating room in a fog.

Azriel rose halfway up from the gurney. His
eyes burned brighter than before. His skin even had a glow to it.
When the boy looked to his right and saw Stacy, the first thing he
said was,
“
Mom, where
’
s dad?
”
The imaginary
grocery bags slipped from her slack arms and crashed to the floor.
The stunning message sucker-punched Stacy, almost causing her to
double over. A new reality had dawned.

At that very moment intense rays from the
morning sunrise penetrated the window blinds and set the whole room
awash in its radiance.

A gentle knock on the door made Stacy whirl.
“
Who is it?
”
her
voice trembled a little.

A familiar voice came over the intercom,

“Just open it.
”

Too her surprise, Azriel was already at the
door compliantly turning the door handle per the man
’
s instructions.

There Ephraim Markov stood, sporting a warm
smile, his eyes sparkling like black diamonds.

“Welcome to Masada, son.
”

End of Part 1