Wired (20 page)

“Neither did I,” Adah said. “I carefully studied Torah as a child, but it was not until after my parents' death that I started
discovering the rest of the story. I married a Christian Jew.” She giggled. “Asa Honi. I must say the marriage almost made
me an outcast with my family and friends, but Asa and I were very happy. I thought Asa's strange beliefs were unusual, but
they fascinated me. My husband taught me about these Christian ideas of end times.” She nodded her head soberly. “I listened,
but of course, I didn't believe any of it.”

T
HE FAMILY KEPT EATING
while Adah Honi talked. Jackie shot a glance at Mary. She was listening, but had an arrogant, detached look on her face that
her father hated. At least she was paying attention.

“You mean you heard all of these ideas from you husband before any of these events happened?” George asked. “Wow! That must
have wrecked your bike?”

“Yes,” Adah said slowly. “I suppose an American might put it that way.” She shook her head soberly. “My husband disappeared
with all other Christians.” She lowered her haed gently. “That forever changed my life.”

Silence fell over the table and even Mary appeared shaken.

“You lost your parents in a war and your husband
through the Rapture?”
Jackie asked.

“I am afraid so.” Adah forced a thin, sober smile that bordered on a grimace of pain. But these experiences prepared me for
the role today I have with students. If my husband had not made me read the entire Bible, I would be of on use to anyone.”

“I must tell you,” Matthew said. “No one has given students the guidance that we have received from Adah. We thank God for
her every day.”

Graham pushed his plate aside. “Adah, we have looked at some of these images in the Bible, but we simply don't understand
what we see. We read about white horses, red horses, black horses, on and on. How do we make any sense out of this?”

“It is not easy, Mr. Peck. Some of the Bible is literal and some of it is symbolic. You must have instruction to know how
to pull apart some of these strange passages, but I tell you that the key to understanding them is in the Old Testament. That's
where clues are found.”

“The Old Testament had been like reading Plato's dialongues logues until Adah helped us understand how straightforward it
actually is,” Matt said. “She taught us to look at how the New Testament's use of colors and symbols–like rainbows and trumpets
that first appear in the original order of God's plan in the Old Testament. That's what started me putting the pieces together
for myself.”

Jennifer nodded and smiled thinly.

Jackie watched Graham's face. For the first time in weeks his eyes twinkled. He was cutting through the darkness with a new
light he never seen before.

“We have seen already nature spin out of control,” Adah continued. “You have noticed the moon? Yes! And the seasons have changed
radically. No? One can see God warning us.”

“How fascinating!” Graham interjected. “I don't want to sound like a doubter because you are making sense out of the past,
but if this method is true, you ought to be able to tell us something about what is ahead. Can you give us any prophecies
about the future?”

“I can,” Adah said with understated honesty.

“I don't believe it!” Mary suddenly blurted out. “Give us an example or two.”

“I think I know what the next step in this chaos will be,” Adah said. “It may not happen in the next day or so, but very soon
it is coming.”

Graham leaned over the table and motioned with his hand as he often did. “Tell us more. Don't stop now.”

“I believe we will soon see the Anti-Christ start to arise if that has not already happened. He will be compelling, handsome
man who will draw unto himself the world and he will have great power.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Jackie saw Graham's face turn pale. His mouth dropped slightly. His mouth dropped slightly.
His eyes quivered momentarily like they did when he was severely jarred.

“The Bible speaks of this man uniting a pact of nations European into a form of a new Roman Empire.” Adah shrugged. “Of course,
the number ten is a Jewish unit like counting from one to ten and then starting all over again. It is a symbol for unity,
completeness. It simply might be the Bible's way of saying that this Anti-Christ will form a solid confederation of nations
that in complete unity will act under his control. They would become his mouthpiece.”

Jackie watched Graham slide back into his chair with a colorless, panicked look on his face. She instantly realized that he
knew something she had not heard yet. He stared at the wall as if he was reading something on the other side of the blank
wallpaper. The look in his eyes was unmistakable; Graham knew who this Anti-Christ might be!

“I believe this incredibly attractive man will start to take over our society entire probably through the use of electronic
surveillance of some variety or the other,” Adah said. “The book of Revelation suggests 666 will be his name. I am still working
on what that means but I would expect this to happen in the immediate future.”

“That's weird!” Mary protested. “How could anyone be named 666?” She slumped back in her chair indifferently. “That's a number.”

“Numbers often also are symbols for ideas in the Holy Bible,” Adah said. “Perhaps, we simply have not figured out for what
idea the number is a symbol.” Adah didn't seem to be offended by Mary's scornful attack. “Give me a while on it to work.”

“Graham,” Jackie asked thoughtfully, “I sense you find what Adah has said somewhat confounding?”

Graham slowly shifted his vision from the wall toward his wife with a vacant, distant stare. “Yes. I am highly unsettled.”

George looked at Jeff, who didn't seem to be quite putting everything together. “Oh man, I love this weird talk. Adah, you
are really neat.”

“One more thing,” Adah added. “From the Scripture I get a hint that a serious illness might in Israel soon break out.”

“I don't like it!” Mary protested. “I think it's all nonsense.”

“No,” Graham said firmly and looked hard at Mary. “You've just received the most important information you've heard in your
life. We must understand everything Adah can teach us.” He stared at the Jewish woman. “I don't know know what you will tell
us, but we must learn everything you know. We must!” He suddenly reached across the table and grabbed her hand tightly. “I
warn you to be extremely careful. You should be aware that electronic surveillance is increasing and people will be watching.”
He looked straight into her eyes. “Our lives depend on it.”

“Let me tell you something, Mr. Peck,” Adah said politely, but with forcefulness in her voice. “I am no longer afraid to die.
This is not with me an issue.”

Jackie watched Graham catch his breath. Adah's answers had taken all of them by surprise, but Graham had been struck straight
between the eyes. Jackie could tell he was clearly staggered by her audacious answer.

“I–I–don't think that I understand,” Graham mumbled.

“As I have read the Holy Bible through,” Adah continued, “I have found that the great people of faith did not fear death because
with them they knew God was. Jesus the Messiah brought life to us. We need to be confident in what for us he had accomplished.”

Graham blinked several times, not saying anything.

“You are telling us
not to be afraid of death
?” Mary pushed.

“Yes.” Adah smiled. “You do not need anyone to fear who can kill the body. Fear those who can take your soul.” She leaned
toward Mary. “That is… if you know Jesus.”

G
ARHAM WAS NO LONGER
preoccupied with thoughts about what words should be placed in the mayor's mouth to make him sound appropriate and intelligent.
One visit in front of his holographic transmitter had radically changed Graham's perspective on Bridges. He might not always
express himself clearly, but the mayor knew exactly where he was going. Time spent the night before with Adah Honi and Jennifer
Andrews had also changed Graham's mind. His priorities were cast in an entirely different light. He must now concentrate on
his family's survival. Smallpox was loose in the world.

The big party and the hangovers were past. The reelection committee had officially disassembled and the personnel already
been absorbed back into the staff of the Chicago mayor's office. No one changed desks or secretaries; only the sign on the
front door of the office was repainted to indicate the shift. The newspapers and television stations didn't report the change.
That was it. Life went on.

Beyond his office door, Graham could faintly hear Sarah Cates pounding away at her computer. She had been distant since her
apology and avoided personal encounters. Sarah remained all business and that satisfied Graham, but he knew her expressions
of affection, though slightly drunken, had been genuine and that remained dangerous.

Graham glanced at his watch. In a few minutes he would sneak out the back door and grab the Metro train that would take him
through Lincolnwood and into Evanston. He had an appointment with Adah Honi that nothing in the world would keep him from
attending. Whatever this woman knew, he wanted every piece of her data stored in the front of his brain.

A knock jarred his thoughts. The door opened slightly and Sarah stuck her head in. “I'm sorry to bother you. I think you'll
want to see what I understand is about to be announced on television.” She quickly ducked out.

Graham hit a button on the corner pad on his desk and a television screen the thickness of a picture hanging on the Wall jumped
to life. He pushed a second button and the screen filled with the face of a newscaster.

“Moments ago we received this report from Istanbul. While Borden Camber Carson has again avoided being photographed, he just
released this important statement. We are going live to Steve Miller, standing in front of the administrative offices of the
Royal Arab Petroleum Company Steve, what have you learned?”

A picture of a gray-haired man appeared in frond of a massive opulent building shaped like a huge medieval Turkish mosque
with a minaret. The camera zoomed in on his face.

“I am reading sections of a prepared statement released only moments ago from the administrative offices of Mr. Carson. Because
of the recent attack on the Middle Eastern oil fields controlled by Royal Arab Petroleum, Carson has now issued a challenge
to the world to join him in protecting oil production; he had also called on European nations form Poland to Spain to form
a confederation to guarantee the safety of all shipping. It is not clear whether he is speaking of a cartel or an actual merging
of governments, but Carson is otherwise specific. He demands an immediate joining of armed forces to protects these supply
lines. We will report the response of the European nations as we receive them.” Miller stopped and looked away from the camera
for a moment. “This is obviously an extremely serious move on the part of an international company which seems to have its
own military capacity to enforce these concerns. Of course, the entire world is fearful of what the loss of any amount of
petroleum could mean. Back to you in New York.” The picture faded and the first announcer reappeared.

Graham punched the mute button. He had heard more than enough. Everything about this telecast sent shivers down his spine.
Adah Honi had made a prediction on one night and the next day the television issued a report so remarkably similar that it
chilled him. It could not be a coincidence that she was so absolutely correct on these matters!

For a few moments, Graham stared at the silent screen, trying to order his thoughts. No question about it! He needed to talk
to Adah as soon as he could get on the Metro. He punched his intercom phone line.

“Mrs. Cates, I don't want to take any more phone calls today. I'm going to be tied up in a research project. Thank you.” He
flipped the switch and turned on his private line to the mayor's secretary.

“Please tell the mayor that I'm working on a research project,” Graham said. “If there is an emergency, he can reach me on
my private cell phone numbers.”

“Certainly,” the woman said with a professional sound. “I will let him know.”

Graham grabbed his overcoat and headed for the back exit. The weather had suddenly gotten much colder with the temperature
dropping into the single digits. These abrupt weather changes along with a reddish moon every night seemed to sound as if
nature was shouting, “The world's coming unglued! Nothing is like it once was.”

In 2015, the Metro train from the downtown to Evanston had been built on tracks above the city landscape. Why they hadn't
plowed through the slums and cleared out the rabble remained a mystery to Graham. In the last twenty years the gap between
the affluent and the poor had widened enormously and what had once been middle class areas had now turned into dilapidated
sections of rat-infested neighborhoods. Maybe that was why the train had been lifted high above these poverty holes? It was
dangerous to get caught down there in those dark alleys at night. Slum people could get savage, but then again, they weren't
any worse than what appeared to be unfolding in the Middle East. The world was turning cold with a temperature drop the sun
couldn't lift.

While the train roared down the tracks, Graham thought about Mary. No matter what was said or done, his fourteen-year-old
daughter wasn't moved. Undoubtedly, the influence of her friends at school took precedence over everyone else. Kids functioned
like that these days, but it was still irritating that this girl couldn't get her head on straight.

The train hurled across Chicago Avenue and slowed for Evanston at the Northwestern University stop. Graham could see the blue
waves of Lake Michigan bouncing up toward the shore and for a moment the beauty of the cold, massive lake seemed like a peaceful
reprieve. The Metro pulled to a halt.

Graham hurried out the door and clomped down the steps toward the small café where Adah said she would meet him. Cold winds
forced him to turn up his collar and cram his hands deeply into the pockets on his overcoat. Ahad had said that La Baguette
Bistro, a French restaurant, would provided a quiet corner where they could talk unobserved.