“You mean, you’re still a little freaked out about today,” John said.
“Well, yes, to be frank. I mean, this whole business has been so sudden and has such profound implications. Aren’t you two at all fazed by what we’ve found?”
Morelli put his hand on Leo’s shoulder. “Pour us some wine, Father. We have a lot to discuss.”
John opened up his backpack and unceremoniously dropped the painted brick from the chapel onto the bed. There, before their eyes, was the image of a modern jet plane hitting the Twin Towers. It was unmistakable in its breadth and clarity.
“I think the first thing we should do is have it carbon dated,” John said.
“Yes, naturally,” Morelli agreed. “We also need to call Lev in Israel. He’ll want to run an analysis with the Bible code software right away. I feel we are on a breakthrough of … ”
“Of biblical proportions?” John laughed.
For the first time all day, Leo began to relax. These two tireless individuals were able to deal with what was probably one of the most astonishing historical discoveries of all time without losing their sense of perspective. With the thrill of discovery, the specter of unseen
Morelli sat on the edge of the bed and picked up the phone while Leo and John walked out onto the balcony. The glow from the wine, the sunset, and the day’s events, had given Leo a feeling of total gratification to be at this place at this time in history as he listened to Morelli’s animated discussion with Lev Wasserman in Israel. This discovery was most likely the highlight of both their careers and went a long way toward validating the code.
Leo handed John a glass of wine. “Where do you think we’ll go from here?”
“Well, to tell you the truth, that’s not entirely clear, Father. A lot depends on the two men talking on the phone right now. Those guys are probably the most knowledgeable people in the world on what is happening and where all this may lead. I mean, can you believe it? We are actually waiting for an encoded message in the Bible to tell us what to do next. It’s like receiving a text message from God. If this doesn’t convince people of the existence of our Heavenly Father, then I don’t know what else will, besides an actual witnessed visitation.”
“You seem pretty excited about all of this, John.”
“Who wouldn’t be? Aren’t you?”
“Of course. This is definitely the most exciting thing that’s ever happened in my life. I’m just glad to see someone from your generation so pumped up about history and the Bible.”
“I’ve always loved history, Father. I grew up on a ranch in New Mexico, and we were surrounded by ancient Native American cliff dwellings. I used to ride my horse up into the mountains around the ranch house and sit among the ruins. The wind would blow through the canyons and you could almost hear the voices from the past. I would imagine the people who once lived there going about their daily lives in that very spot over a thousand years ago. I got the same feeling today when we were down in the catacombs. That’s why I decided my life’s work would be to learn all I could about history and the different civilizations that have evolved over time.”
“Where did you go to school?”
“The University of Arizona in Tucson. They have one of the best history programs in the country. One of the professors there is an authority on the Holy Land, and he got me interested in the time the Romans occupied Israel in the first century.”
“So why the priesthood, John?”
“I’ve always had the idea in the back of my mind, but I still don’t know if I’m ready to take sacred vows that will affect the rest of my life. At least the time I’ve spent in Assisi has opened my eyes to a lot of what the religious life is all about.”
“You’re smart to give it some time. It’s a lifetime commitment and not one to be taken lightly, but I’m encouraged that more men of your caliber are considering it. You know, since 1965, candidates for the priesthood have dropped by an astonishing ninety percent.”
John swirled the wine in his glass. “That could change after today. In the space of time between breakfast and supper, we’ve discovered what could arguably be called one of the greatest biblical finds ever. Even though we don’t yet know the meaning and purpose of the chapel, we do know that the Bible led us to it. That alone is proof of a higher power at work. I mean, think of it. Ancient man lacked the technology to embed such a sophisticated code in the Bible when it was written. If you ask me, divine intervention has to be the only logical explanation for the existence of a code so complex that it takes modern computers to reveal it. This could be the smoking gun in proving God’s existence to those who lack faith, Father.”
Leo looked across the street at the dome of Saint Peter’s. He was totally spent from the day’s activities. Doubt began to seep into his subconscious. It was not the kind of doubt one experiences from a lack of faith, but a hesitancy that may well accompany all great and unbelievable finds men have stumbled upon throughout history. Conceivably, every one of mankind’s paramount discoveries, whether in math, astronomy, medicine, or archaeology, have all been greeted with similar doubt.
Father Morelli hung up the phone and walked out onto the balcony. “Lev was so excited to hear we found the chapel that he put me on speaker phone so that his team in Israel could listen to all the details. I could hear them shouting and singing in the background. When I told him about the brick with the image of the plane crashing into the two towers, he was speechless. He’s well aware of the code’s ability to predict things, but to find a two- thousand-year-old stone with an image of the 9/11 attack painted on it is beyond comprehension. If I know the good professor, and I do, he’ll be awake all night studying the code trying to see how all of this fits.”
“When do you think you’ll be hearing from him again?” Leo asked.
“Oh, it might be in an hour or four in the morning or a month. One can never tell with the code. Even with computers, there is no limitation to the amount of information encoded in the Bible.”
“I’m no mathematician here, but how is that possible?”
“Think of the Bible as a cryptogram sent to us by God himself,” Morelli said, “a cryptogram with a series of time locks that could not be opened until certain events came to pass. Obviously, one of these events is the invention of the computer. This one leap in technology has enabled scientists and cryptographers who’ve been working on the code to discover hidden messages placed there by an intelligence greater than any that exists here on earth. There is another Bible within the Bible. It’s like a massive puzzle in layers, similar to a three-dimensional hologram. Some believe that the Bible itself is a computer program left to us by the Almighty, and there are an infinite number of combinations and permutations yet to be discovered. Even with all our computers and code- breaking programs, no one could have encoded the Bible the way it was done thousands of years ago.”
Leo became even more fascinated with the implications as he listened to Morelli speak. “Just how much information is there?”
“All of our past and all of our future. The name of every person who has lived before us, who is living now, and who is yet to be born. All of our greatest historical events, plagues, disasters, wars, and future wars. All are encoded in the Old Testament.”
“But that’s utterly impossible!”
“Well, Father, you’d better be prepared to argue with some pretty knowledgeable people who have done the research and proved its existence with a 99.998 percent probability. These guys were renowned scientists who set out to disprove the theory of the code, but instead, what they found sent chills up their spines. They saw the hand of God at work.”
Leo refilled his glass. “Then if what you say is correct, we are looking at an intelligence that encoded our past, present, and future over three thousand years ago, using a mathematical model we can’t even grasp today.”
“Exactly,” Morelli said. “And being a man of faith, I’m convinced that intelligence is God. He has given us proof with a modern twist that He exists and is sending us a message.”
“Or opening up a dialogue,” Leo added.
The three men gazed silently at the twinkling lights of Rome as darkness descended over the city, providing a backdrop to the brightly lit Basilica of Saint Peter’s.
“I think we’re missing something,” John said, after a moment of uncharacteristic silence.
Morelli turned toward the young man. “Go on, John. I see those wheels turning inside your head.”
“Well, for one thing, why is there an ancient seal in the catacombs depicting a nuclear attack? And of course, the big question is, who painted the image of the 9/11 attacks over two thousand years ago? Only someone with
