Don’t be scared. My name’s Jacob. Who are you?
Lilith. Where are we?
It’s a special place I call the nexus. How did you find it?
Brandy taught me. She told me to hide in here.
Why are you hiding?
I… I can’t tell. Quenton will get angry.
Who’s Quenton?
My grandpa. He says I’m a heathen. Says my soul needs to be cleansed.
Lilith, I have to go.
Wait! Please don’t go, I get so… lonely.
I have to go, but we can talk again.
Really? Will you be my friend, Jacob?
Of course, but now I have to go.
The digital display advances-2:11.
Immanuel Gabriel is on the verge of panic. He is about to leap into the pool when he sees Jacob’s fingers loosen their grip on the ladder rung.
The white-haired twin floats to the surface, then suddenly snaps awake. His head breaks the water, his azure-blue eyes searching for the digital clock. ‘Seven minutes. Convinced now?’
Immanuel shakes his head. ‘I can’t do that. I’m not like you.’
‘Yes you are.’ Jacob climbs out of the pool, his eyes catching sight of a passenger jet as it streaks north across the afternoon sky.
ZAP!
White light… presidential seal… the interior cabin of a private plane… Ennis Chaney at his desk… the open cockpit door… a man in uniform at the controls… an identification badge… a glint of steel… blood splatters the control panel… nosedive… a sickening descent… bursting into flames…
ZAP!
‘Jake… hey Jake, wake up!’
Jacob opens his eyes. He is on his back, lying on the pool deck. He sits up, confused. Looks at his brother. ‘What happened?’
‘You fainted, dickhead. Serves you right for staying under so long.’
‘No… it wasn’t that. I had a vision.’
‘What kind of vision?’
‘A plane crash. I think it was Air Force One.’
‘You’re such a freak.’ Immanuel heads back toward the house.
‘Manny, wait-’ Jacob hurries after his brother. ‘That never happened to me before. It must have something to do with the light. I entered the light for the first time. The vision just latched on to me!’
‘Leave me alone!’ The thermoimager above the rear security door tracks the dark-haired twin as he approaches. Positively identifying Immanuel, the system opens the sliding bulletproof doors.
Immanuel enters the kitchen, Jacob right behind him.
‘You can’t ignore this, Manny, you’re my twin. At some point, these things will happen to you, too.’
‘Shut up-’
‘We have to be ready. Years from now you and me are going to leave this world and-’
‘I said, shut up!’ Immanuel races through the hallway and into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him.
‘It’s our destiny, Manny!’ Jacob presses his face to the closed door. ‘If you’re too much of a wuss to go, maybe I’ll go with Lilith!’
‘Jacob Gabriel!’ Dominique grabs her son by the arm, dragging him away from his brother’s door. ‘What did I tell you about teasing Manny?’
‘I wasn’t teasing.’
‘Go to your room.’
‘No.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘I have to call Uncle Ennis. I have to warn him-’
‘Young man, you’re grounded!’ She drags him into his bedroom. ‘You stay in there until I say you can come out.’ Dominique slams his door shut, then knocks on Immanuel’s door. ‘Manny? Manny, sweetheart, you okay?’
Hearing the sobs, she enters.
In a corner of his bedroom, Immanuel Gabriel sits on the floor, pulling out clumps of his dark black hair.
Belle Glade, Florida
‘… Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil-’
Lilith Robinson opens her azure-blue eyes. She is no longer in the nexus. She is lying on the cot, naked, her slender wrists and ankles bound by plastic cords.
Quenton stands over her, Bible in one hand, cross in the other, his white minister’s outfit lathered in sweat as he verbally assaults the girl with more fire and brimstone.
‘… we pray the God of Peace will crush Satan beneath our feet, so that he may no longer retain men captive and do injury to the Church. Offer our prayers to the Most High, that without delay they may draw His mercy down upon us-’
Brandy is at the back window, mimicking Quenton behind his back.
Lilith giggles.
The minister’s eyes widen. He slaps the girl across the face, then sprinkles her with Holy Water. ‘Take hold of the Dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan. Bind him and cast him into the bottomless pit, that he may no longer seduce the nations!’
Lilith closes her eyes, her body trembling.
10
It is America’s hottest summer playground, a coastal resort occupied by palatial beach homes owned by the rich and famous.
Peter Mabus stands in his bathrobe on the deserted stretch of private beach, staring at the pounding ocean of autumn as a gray dawn breaks over the eastern horizon. The last few years have taken their toll on the once robust entrepreneur. Following the landslide loss to Ennis Chaney in the presidential election, his wife of thirty years filed divorce papers after catching him in a hotel suite with two of his secretaries. Chaney’s new anti-fossil- fuel initiatives are costing him tens of millions of dollars, and his religious-based political party is under investigation for tax evasion.
‘Hey, Dad!’
Mabus sees his son, Lucien, waving from the boardwalk. ‘Someone here to see you.’
Mabus signals for his guest to approach.
Solomon Adashek makes his way over the private boardwalk and past the tall sea grass to the beach. ‘Good morning.’
‘I see nothing good about it. I hired you to do a job, Mr. Adashek. Why hasn’t the job been finished?’
‘You hired me to terminate the most closely guarded figure in the world. These things take time. However, my operative is now in position to complete the task at hand.’
‘When will it happen?’
