out of the area within the hour.”
The camp sprang into accelerated activity as the two teams of five prepared for this last ditch effort to find the unknown object hidden by Satan in the desert. Alon assisted Nava while she flushed the sand from the air intakes and went through a complete preflight check of the helicopter. She didn’t want any mechanical problems tonight. Gabriella, meaning
Out at the excavation site, everything around the cavern had been loaded onto trucks and transported back to camp. The crushed backhoe had been winched up out of the cavern with the help of two large truck-mounted steel cables and a large bulldozer that had just arrived from Jerusalem. Now, only a large, bare hole remained in the desert floor.
Since the camp was being abandoned in place, there was no equipment to be packed away, and soon, those leaving were ready to go. Within minutes, a small convoy began to roll out of the desert toward Jerusalem. From the rear window of the mobile kitchen, the little brown dog began to bark at the ten team members who were remaining behind. They all stood alongside the path of the departing vehicles and waved until the convoy faded into the distance.
Lev turned away and motioned for Leo to accompany him to his tent. When they were inside, Lev invited the priest to sit while he poured each of them a small glass of wine. He sat and gazed out of the open tent, watching the orange globe of the sun sink past the horizon.
“I’ve been thinking since this morning, Leo, that, if we were able to identify the entity down in the cave, we might have the upper hand when we go down there tonight.”
“I’ve thought a great deal about that,” Leo said, “and I think I already know what it is we’re dealing with. Right before I took out my cross, the demon was changing shape. He appeared briefly to look like some sort of winged beast. It probably already knew I was a priest, but when it realized what I was about to do, it focused its full attention on me just long enough for me to recognize it. I believe we’re dealing with none other than Agaliarept himself, the grand general of hell. He was known among the Assyrians and Babylonians as one of the most malevolent forces in the Middle East and has long been considered by the Church as one of the most terrible of all demonic entities. In the Old Testament, he was described as one who conceals himself in black robes and dwells in the vast desert wastelands. He is represented as a strange jackal-like creature with wings and is known to be a messenger of the Beast. He is the most ruthlessly destructive demon of them all. He possesses the power to discover all secrets and represents the destruction of human life itself.”
Lev took a last sip of wine before setting his glass aside. He had heard of this demon in a mythological context as the dark angel of the fatal winds, or a carrier of plague. People of the Middle East recognized him as a pestilential being representing chaos. He was especially good at stirring up enmity and distrust among men. Now, led by a Catholic priest and an Israeli Christian prophet, five human beings were deliberately entering the demon’s domain in God’s name to search for an unknown object, an object that the grand general himself was bound by Satan to protect. It was almost too much for any of them to comprehend.
“It sounds like you know exactly what we are up against, Leo. I should have realized you had some idea of what it was you came face-to-face with this morning. Is there anything else we can do to prepare?”
“I think we’ve done all we can. God has chosen his lions; the rest is in his hands. The confrontation with the entity this morning was just a prelude to the real battle yet to come. What really haunts me is how easily it gave up. I would have thought it would have come at us with everything it had. It’s almost like it’s leading us into a trap.”
Lev raised his glass to Leo in a final salute. “Well, if it’s a trap, then we’ll all be in the trap together.”
Chapter 22
God’s chosen ones were running late as they made their preparations for the coming battle. It was after ten o’clock when they finally congregated in the communications tent to run the Bible code software on their laptops one last time. It was their final chance to gather as much insight as possible into what awaited them below the surface of the desert.
John strapped on his backpack before approaching Leo and pulling him aside. “I need to talk to you, Father. I’m worried about Lev.”
“Lev? What’s wrong with him?”
“Ariella said he’s made some connection with the demon. He even told us himself that he’s been receiving flashes of the thing’s thoughts. What if it’s influencing him in ways we don’t understand yet?”
“I don’t think you have to worry too much about Lev, John. He’s been in tune with the entity’s emotions ever since it appeared to us. The demon is communicating with Satan now, and despite its desire to keep its thoughts and activities a secret, its unconsciously revealing itself to the professor. I’m convinced Lev was born with a gift … he’s a lot more sensitive than the rest of us to the presence of evil forces.”
“But what if it works the other way? What if the demon can pick up on Lev’s thoughts? If it knows our plans, it could endanger the whole mission.”
“When you’re dealing with the supernatural force of a demon, anything’s possible. From everything I’ve read on the subject, anyone who comes into close contact with one is vulnerable to its power to read minds. There are scores of famous stories in the church about exorcists who’ve had to fight the mind control capabilities of demons.”
“But you’re the one who confronted the demon down in the cavern today, Father. It was you who saved all of our lives. Why isn’t it trying to communicate with you?”
“I don’t think it’s trying to communicate with anyone. It’s trying to protect something. We’re not dealing with the demonic possession of a person here. We’re dealing with the possession of an area here on earth, and the demon will protect its territory with all of its fury.”
The thought of facing an enraged demon that could read their minds seemed totally unreal to John. He didn’t feel like a brave man, but he knew he had to face his fears and go with his friends down into a dark and terrifying place … a place from which they might not return. Like a young soldier before battle, he needed reassurance from someone like Father Leo that they all weren’t just going blindly to their deaths. “Do you think you’ll be able to expel it from the cavern like you did this morning, Father? I mean, as an exorcist with God on your side, wouldn’t the demon be afraid of you now?”
“All Jesuit priests are required to study the rite of exorcism, John, but that doesn’t make us exorcists. I’ve never even been present at an exorcism except for today, and I’m not sure that would be considered a true exorcism. That title is reserved for those priests who specialize in such things, and from what I’ve heard, they don’t live long, happy lives. I carried the cross and holy water into the cave because we were entering an area said to be inhabited by Satan or one of his servants, and like any soldier of the cross, I wanted to be prepared. The entity hasn’t been banished from the area by my presence. All I did this morning was ask for God’s help in allowing us to escape. The demon is still down there, and I’m afraid he’ll be even better prepared for our return. It probably knows what we’re planning now, and it’s expecting us.”
“Well, I hope you have a few more gallons of holy water with you, Father, because I have a feeling we’re going to need it tonight.”
“Here, John, take this.” Leo handed John a bag containing nine plastic bottles filled with holy water. “Hand these out to the rest of the team.”
“They might be Christians, Father, but they’re not Catholic. Won’t they be offended if we ask them to carry around holy water?”
“It’s their choice, of course, but I’d like everyone to have one just in case.”
“Where did you get these?”
“I filled them up from the camp water supply this morning and blessed them.”
“Of course. I keep forgetting. Any water blessed by a priest makes it holy. It could even be Evian or Perrier. Just think, sparkling holy water.”
Leo couldn’t help but laugh out loud at John’s innate ability to keep things light in the face of overwhelming odds.
