The Second Coming (42 page)

Mike couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “I’m not religious, but that sounds like blasphemy. The Virgin Mary is the mother of the Antichrist?”

“I’m not saying it’s true, but it is what was written in the text,” the professor warned Mike. “According to the
History of Joseph the Carpenter,
which is one of the texts within the New Testament apocrypha, Joseph had four other sons from his first wife; Judas, Justus, James and Simon which made Jesus his fifth son and the Antichrist his sixth son. According to the Satanic Codex, Joseph himself was a sixth son, as was his father before him, making Jesus’ twin brother, the Antichrist, the sixth son born to a sixth son of a sixth son, which is why the number 666 is considered the number of the beast.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Mike replied in disbelief.

“I didn’t make this up. This is what I was told by an expert of the Nag Hammadi codices,” the professor warned him as he gathered himself. “After Mary gave birth to Jesus and his twin brother the Antichrist, the three wise men from the east that visited the nativity scene were actually angels of death sent by the Devil to kill Jesus so that he could not fulfill the prophecy of the messiah as foretold in the Old Testament. When the three angels of death arrived at the manager, they fell down and pretended to worship Jesus. As they lifted Jesus up to the eastern star and readied to kill him, the three shepherds, angels sent by God, arrived just in time to stop them. They lifted Jesus’ twin brother, the Antichrist, to the southern star and told the angels of death to let Jesus go or they would kill the Antichrist. The angels of death reluctantly swapped Jesus for the Antichrist and then disappeared with Jesus twin brother into the night. Jesus and the Antichrist were then taken to unknown places to be readied for their epic battle as foretold in The Book of Revelation. That is why there is an 18 year gap between Jesus’ childhood and the beginning of his ministry as recorded in the New Testament.”

“So you’re telling me that Jesus and the Antichrist are twin brothers and that Joseph is their father and Mary their mother?”

“According to the Satanic Codex,” the professor reiterated. “When Jesus does return to battle the Antichrist in Armageddon, in order for Jesus to defeat the Antichrist, he must stab him in the heart with a sterling silver knife shaped like a cross and the only way the Antichrist can defeat Jesus is by deceiving mankind into believing he is a false profit and convincing them to persecute Jesus.”

“That’s why the Sterling Killer is using the sterling silver knife,” Mike said astonished.

“When Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival, he was there to confront and kill the Antichrist, but according to the Satanic Codex, the Antichrist arrived before Jesus and spread fear and doubt in the minds of the Jewish leaders telling them that Jesus was a false prophet. When Jesus found out that the Antichrist had fooled the Jewish leaders, he was so upset that he overturned the tables, not of the money changers, but of the Jewish leaders in King Herod’s temple.

“According to the bible, at the last super Jesus prophesized that he would be betrayed by one of his disciples, but according to the Satanic Codex he prophesized that the one who would betray him was his twin brother,
the Antichrist. When Jesus and the disciples went to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus knew that Judas was the Antichrist and he let him betray him to the Jewish authorities with a kiss because he wanted to test the faith of the Jewish people to see if they were ready to do battle with him against the Antichrist.”

“Judas is the Antichrist?”

“Again, according to the codex, Judas himself wasn’t the Antichrist, but the Antichrist possessed Judas body in order to betray Jesus,” the professor explained carefully. “Jesus knew after the Jewish authorities turned him over to Pilate for execution and after Pilate tried to set him free and the Jewish people chose to set Barabbas free instead, that the Antichrist had won their minds and that his people were not ready to do battle with him.

“When God saw that the Jews were going to crucify his son, he was going to destroy them until Jesus said unto him, ‘Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.’ God was so impressed with Jesus’ compassion that he forgave the Jews and gave his son eternal life.

“After Jesus rose from the grave, he told his disciples to spread his word and that when he was sure the people were ready and would not be deceived into thinking he was a false prophet, he would return to battle the Antichrist in Armageddon. The people would know he was the messiah because he would be born before his twin brother, the Antichrist, who would be the sixth son born to a sixth son of a sixth son. 666; the number of the beast.”

“That is one hell of a story,” Mike said astonished as he shook his head. “I’m not a big believer of the stories in the bible, but I do know that if you go around telling people that the Virgin Mary is the mother of the Antichrist, you are going to upset a lot of people.”

“I know. That is why I am hesitant to speak about it. Anyone who has told this story in public has met with a mysterious death,” Dr. Schafer cautioned. “And you can check this and do the research, but I have been unable to find any living third generation sixth son. Some would argue that church has not allowed it while others would say God has not allowed it.”

“You’re telling me the church has been killing people for centuries because of a story that was discovered in a cave?”

“Fear has a way of making people do things they would normally not do.”

“You don’t actually believe the story of the Satanic Codex, do you Professor?” Mike asked bewildered.

“It doesn’t matter what I believe,” Dr. Schafer pointed out. “It only matters that there are religious fanatics who believe in the story and will do anything to keep it from being told or coming to life including killing any third generation born sixth son.”

Mike exhaled in astonishment. “So what does the story of the Satanic Codex have to do with the symbol the Sterling Killer is leaving at the crime scenes?”

“It is the symbol of the sixth son,” Dr. Schafer replied enthusiastically. “Do you have a piece of paper and a pencil?”

Mike pulled open his top desk draw and fumbled for a pencil and pad of paper. He transferred the receiver to his left ear so he could hold it in place with his shoulder while he took notes. “I’ve got it.”

“Now look at the picture of the symbol.”

Mike clicked open the attachment on his screen. “Alright.”

“Draw the loop of the number 6 so it is a circle and then draw the symbol in the circle.”

Mike drew a circle and then drew the lines up and down in the circle. “It looks like an upside down piece sign.”

“The Greek translation for the word son is spelled YIOS. If you look at the symbol, there is a Y and an I in the middle of the o of the six and the S is concealed in the number 6.”

“What does it mean?” Mike asked seeing what the professor was talking about, but still not understanding what they used it for.

“Back in the middle ages, the symbol was painted in blood on the door of any family who gave birth to a second generation sixth son as a warning that if that child ever had a sixth son, he would be the Antichrist. Those families would then paint the symbol upside down on their door as a sign they understood. It became known as the peace sign.”

“Come on,” Mike said in disbelief. “That’s where the peace sign comes from?”

“According to legend.”

Mike scratched his head with the eraser side of his pencil and sighed. “Thank you for your help Professor,” he said mystified. “You have my contact information on my email. Please let me know if you think of anything else that might be of use.”

“I will Detective,” the professor told him reluctantly. “Please be careful who you share this information with. It could be very dangerous to you or anyone else who knows about it.”

The two men said good bye and hung up the phone. Mike leaned back in his chair with his hands folded behind his head. Whoever the Sterling Killer was, he was copycatting how Jesus was supposed to kill the Antichrist? It occurred to Mike that maybe the Sterling Killer is delusional and thinks he is the messiah and his victims are the Antichrist, but it just didn’t seem right. Something was missing.

He heard Big Pete get off of the phone and spun around in his chair so that they were facing each other and proceeded to tell him the story of the Satanic Codex and the symbol. When Mike was done, Big Pete sat back in his chair with a look of awe on his face.

“You’re going to trip out when you hear how similar these two stories are,” Big Pete told him as he rubbed his hands together like a proud grandfather about to tell a story that was passed down for generations. “Jimmy was institutionalized in a mental hospital for paranoid schizophrenia after kidnapping and attempting to murder Kate in 1988. When the authorities searched his parents’ house they found a cache of weapons. Jimmy told them that he was preparing for Armageddon and that God had saved him so that he could fight in the battle of good versus evil.”

Mike was sitting on the edge of his chair with wide eyes.

“By 1992 he had convinced the doctors and lawyers that his mental problems were in remission and they filed a motion for his release saying that he was no longer a threat to himself or society and he was released.”

“Where did he go then?”

Big Pete smiled a toothy grin. “That’s where the story gets even better.”

“Stop fucking with me and tell me,” Mike demanded as he rubbed his knuckles.

“Waco, Texas.”

Mike’s face went blank as his mouth caught flies. “Shut the fuck up. Not the Branch Davidians?”

Big Pete nodded his head.

“Don’t tell me he was there when the ATF raided the compound,” Mike said as he recalled watching the compound go up in flames on TV.

“He was one of the Davidian’s that exchanged fire with the ATF during the siege. Apparently he was under the impression that Koresh was the second coming of the messiah.”

“Did he die?” Mike asked earnestly.

“Nope. He was one of the nine survivors.”

“What happened to him?”

“They charged him with conspiring to and aiding and abetting in the murder of federal agents.”

“Let me guess,” Mike said indignantly. “He pleaded innocent by reason of insanity.”

“You got it. He was acquitted and re-institutionalized.”

“Crazy motherfucker,” Mike said reflectively. “It’s almost like he knows about the Satanic Codex. Where is he now?”

“No one knows. He escaped five years ago and hasn’t been heard from since.”

Mike paused with a scowl on his face. That was right about the time he became a homicide detective. And then the face of Nurse Nancy from his first homicide case flashed in his mind’s eye. He remembered all of the religious paintings on her wall. Could it be that Jimmy Jones is the Sterling Killer and the nurse was his first victim?

“There has to be a connection between Jimmy and the orphanage, and Father John’s Family and the Satanic Codex,” Big Pete postulated. “These aren’t random killings.”

“Maybe Jimmy is the Sterling Killer,” Mike said uncertainly.

“It crossed my mind, but what is his connection to the orphanage?” Big Pete said with a look of distress on his face.

“Maybe he was adopted from there.”

“I don’t think so. I asked the mental institution if he was adopted and they said his parents’ names on his birth certificate match the names of his legal parents.”

“Anyone can get a forged birth certificate if they are trying to hide something.”

“Let’s say, for arguments sake, that Jimmy was adopted from the orphanage. What is his connection to Father John?”

“I don’t know,” Mike replied with a scowl. “Maybe he is Father John’s brother.”

“Now you are reaching,” Big Pete replied as he shook his head. “Why would his parents have put him up for adoption? They have five other boys they didn’t leave for adoption.”

That was a good point. “Maybe his father had him out of wedlock,” Mike replied impressed with himself.

“I suppose, hypothetically, that is possible, but why is he leaving the symbol of the sixth son at the crime scenes?”

“Father John is the fifth son in his family which would make Jimmy the sixth son.” Mike said with wide eyes as he sat up straight in his chair.

“Except that Father John is older than Jimmy,” Big Pete reminded him.

“Alright, then Father John is the sixth son.”

“But we know that Father John can’t be the Sterling Killer,” Big Pete reminded him skeptically. “And I thought you said that according to the Satanic Codex that the sixth son was Jesus twin brother, the Antichrist, and Father John’s mother died while giving birth to him.”

“Or did she?” Mike said rhetorically. “Let me see the list of kids and their dates of birth from the orphanage records.”

Big Pete swung around in his chair and shuffled through the stacks of papers on his desk until he found the orphanage records. He handed them to Mike. “What are you looking for? Jimmy’s name is not on the list.”

Mike scanned the date of births searching for a particular date. It wasn’t on the first two pages, but about a third of the way down on the third page was the date he was looking for. “Holy shit,” Mike said under his breath as he looked up Big Pete astonished. “Jimmy is not the Sterling Killer, but I think I know who is.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ll explain to you on the way to Father John’s dad’s house,” Mike said excitedly as he hoped up from his chair.

“Why are we going to his dad’s house?” Big Pete asked perplexed as he slowly rose from his chair.

“To see what he knows about the Satanic Codex.”

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