The Secret Service detail assigned two men to the general and led him through the building. The West Wing housed the President’s Oval Office and those of his senior staff, along with the Cabinet Room and the Situation Room, much of which was contained underground in sealed bunkers where the President and his staff could shelter in the event of a global nuclear exchange or similar catastrophe.
Nellis followed the agents to the door of the Oval Office and waited patiently as one of them knocked discreetly on the door and then entered the room. Nellis heard a few muffled words exchanged between the agent and his superior, and then the door was opened fully and Nellis was allowed into probably the most famous office on earth.
The president was waiting for him, and a quickly extended hand and a genuine smile put Nellis somewhat at ease as the door closed behind him, the two agents standing in silence on the other side of the door and ready to enter at a moment’s notice.
‘Thank you for agreeing to see me at such short notice, general.’
‘No problem Mister President,’ Nellis replied as he sat down. ‘What can I do for you?’
Nellis knew how busy all Presidents were, how quickly they aged in their tenures, so he wasn’t surprised when the president dispensed with any preamble and got straight to the point.
‘ARIES,’ he said simply. ‘We’re shutting you down.’
Nellis stared in silence at his Commander in Chief for a long moment before he replied carefully.
‘Why would you shut us down, sir?’
The President sighed.
‘I’m not shutting you down, general,’ he said. ‘Circumstances have resulted in the program becoming a liability for us, for national security. I can’t have your people wandering off into the sunset with sensitive data and considerable sums of money.’
‘We’re on the case, Mister President. Jarvis won’t get far.’
‘You sound far more confident than my Chiefs of Staff,’ the President noted. ‘Something I should know?’
Nellis kept his bearing upright and his chin high as he replied.
‘I know the individual concerned well. I don’t think that betraying his country is what he has in mind.’
‘He’s already betrayed his country.’
‘He’s acting on what has gone before, Mister President. Jarvis believes that if he simply hands over the funds and data obtained from Majestic Twelve they’ll be used for further corrupt acts by other men of power.’
‘That’s not his call to make and you know it.’
‘I agree,’ Nellis conceded, ‘but I don’t want to see the rest of the program suffer due to the ill–conceived act of one individual. ARIES is far too valuable and the team I have far too involved to just walk away from it all…’ The president smiled broadly as he listened to Nellis. ‘What, Mister President?’
‘You want to retain control of the program.’
‘Yes sir,’ Nellis replied without hesitation. ‘We have agents in the field who could be compromised if ARIES is shut down or handed over to Homeland.’
‘Homeland won’t be controlling the program, general.’
Nellis hesitated, now unsure of himself. ‘Who, then?’
The President sat back in his seat and folded his hands before him. ‘General, there are some things that I simply cannot share with you.’
Nellis tried not to baulk at the statement but forty years in the military got the better of him as his allergy to bullcrap shone through.
‘Mister President, I thought that we were talking about national security here.’
‘We are, general. That’s the whole point.’
‘You think that the DIA is not secure enough?’ Nellis asked, genuinely surprised.
The President leaned forward and spoke softly.
‘General, I don’t believe that any agency is secure enough.’ Nellis frowned, and the president finally seemed to relent a little and opened his hands as he spoke. ‘You’ve heard of the Book of Secrets, I take it?’
‘The President’s Book of Secrets?’ Nellis asked, and was rewarded with a nod. ‘Sure. It’s a book handed down through the line of all US Presidents, detailing all of the highest security data and an annotated history of events experienced by all previous presidents during their tenures.’
‘Precisely,’ the president confirmed, ‘all the way back to George Washington and our founding fathers. The book is a hand–written account of each president covering all of the major events they experienced so that the incoming president can get into the job with immediate effect.’
Nellis sat for a moment in deep thought.
‘There’s something in the book, isn’t there.’
The president nodded slowly. ‘Something that cannot be shared, that cannot even really be understood yet. It is as old as humanity and it is something that I simply cannot allow to be exposed. It’s why the President’s Book of Secrets remains hand–written and available only to elected occupants of the White House. Nobody else can access it. It cannot be hacked, stolen or copied.’
Nellis smiled wryly. ‘Then it is only as secure as the integrity of the next president, just as an agency like the DIA is only as secure as its employees.’
Now, the President shook his head.
‘Not quite, general. If you had read what’s in that book, you would know that no human being would ever expose it, would ever even speak of it except in the guarded words that I’m using now.’
Something popped into Nellis’s head as he recalled a talk show from some years’ before.
‘I remember you talking about it in 2009 in a radio interview with talk show host Michael Smerconish.’
The President inclined his head. ‘I told him I’d seen the Book of Secrets, and I told him nothing about what was in it. It’s actually no real secret that the thing exists, but its contents remain classified at the utmost level and for good reason.’
Nellis’s brain flipped as he finally understood.
‘We’re not being shut down because our security isn’t tight enough,’ he said finally. ‘We’re being shut down because we’re closing in on something.’
The president neither agreed nor disagreed, speaking softly.
‘Most all presidents have been aware of factors in our species’ history that have influenced us over many millennia. Turns out that we weren’t the first to figure that out, and as a result almost everything we do behind the scenes politically is geared toward trying to understand things that happened in the distant past. You’re aware also of our great capital city’s architectural peculiarities, of the influence of the ancient world right here in America?’
General Nellis knew well enough of the history of Washington DC, and he knew too that most of the Founding Fathers were known to have been Freemasons. However, he also knew that most of the occultist trash regurgitated by many authors over the years regarding the city’s supposedly Satanic layout was the result of religious mania rather than any true conspiracy.
‘I know that our country and this city was built by men who worshipped no god in the Christian sense,’ Nellis replied, ‘but what does that have to do with the DIA’s mission?’
The President searched the air above him for the right words before he replied.
‘There is a reason, general, why the National monument in Washington DC is an obelisk, identical to those found in ancient Egypt. Likewise, at the Capitol and here at the White House, fluted columns are heavily featured that are identical to those found in ancient Greece and Rome. The senate itself is based on the Roman idea of proportional representation of the people, and the streets of our city do mark out on a gigantic scale the icons of Freemasony, the square and compasses that denote the inevitable and welcome triumph of science over blind faith.’
Nellis rubbed his temples. ‘I get the Masonic connection, but what does that have to do with ancient Egypt or Rome?’
‘The science of construction and architecture is what made our civilizations great,’ the President said simply.
‘I could never say this in an election campaign or out on the White House lawn, but when you have science and education at the head of government policy, countries prosper generation by generation. When you have religion at the head of government policy, the opposite occurs. The Freemasons understand this, and the only reason they became so secretive was because for much of their existence they were persecuted by those who insisted that blind faith was the only way to think. Being burned at the stake was a popular punishment in Europe for centuries for those who dared to commit blasphemy and place learning above belief.’
The president reached into a drawer by his side and produced a small wooden box with a glass top. Nellis saw that inside was sealed a dollar bill, and the President began pointing out features on the bill to Nellis.
‘The Great Seal on our dollar bill, the design of which was approved by Congress in 1782, beneath which is an ancient Egyptian pyramid with a glowing eye, signifying the All Seeing Eye of ancient mythology. The sacred number thirteen is encoded throughout the design in thirteen arrows, thirteen stripes on the shield and thirteen stars of David which can be joined to form a star above the eagle’s head. Beneath the pyramid is the motto “Novus Ordo Seclorum”, which is Latin for the New Order of the Ages.’
Nellis stared at the bill for a moment and looked up at the President.
‘Why are you telling me all of this, Mister President, instead of ensuring that ARIES continues its work? You’re only giving me reasons to keep going.’
The President put the dollar bill back in the drawer and spoke quietly, as though even here in this most secure of offices he feared that there might be those who were listening.
‘General, though it may pain you to learn it, there is little true power in this office or in the halls of this building. The organized government of today is a cypher, an illusion. I only hold power because massive corporations allow me to, in return for me ensuring that as much as possible is done at the executive level to bolster their growth and profits. Many believe this to be a corrupt and unjust arrangement, but it is the way that our society has grown for decades. However, there are those who know that in reality, in the long term, government is really holding the fort until…’
The President broke off for a moment, hesitating, and Nellis realized that he was leaning forward in his seat.
‘What, Mister President?’
The President gathered himself again, as though speaking for the first time of something so classified that he could barely bring himself to say it.
‘Until the New World Order begins,’ he said finally.
Nellis stared at the President for a long moment before he could bring himself to speak.
‘But isn’t that what’s written on the dollar bill, that this is a new order of the ages that we’re creating?’
‘No, general,’ the President said. ‘That’s where all the conspiracy theorists and all the sceptics alike get it wrong. The ancient civilizations of earth built their empires and their immense structures to signal the skies that they were ready. When Washington DC was built, the great architects and Freemasons did the exact same thing.’
Nellis felt his breath catch in his throat as he realized what the President as saying.
‘They weren’t starting a new world order.’
‘No,’ the President agreed, ‘they were preparing for it to begin. We still are.’
Nellis chose his next words carefully. ‘And who will govern us when this new world order begins?’
The President smiled bleakly.
‘The answer to that is in the Book of Secrets, general,’ he replied. ‘I can never tell you, for it is up to them to announce their presence.’
The air in the Oval Office seemed suddenly cold as Nellis shifted uncomfortably in his seat. ‘Them?’
The President said nothing.
‘I don’t like not knowing.’ Nellis added.
‘No do I,’ the President replied. ‘ARIES must be closed down, we have no choice. I have absolutely no control over what happens next.’
Nellis felt a sudden anxiety twist his stomach. ‘I need to warn my people.’
The President sighed. ‘I’m afraid it’s too late for that, General. By this time, ARIES will be being shut down by Homeland.’
Nellis almost stood up out of his chair. ‘You can’t do that!’
‘I know I can’t,’ the President said, ‘but some people can. It’s over, General. You will be reassigned and any public announcement about any of this will be considered a treasonable offence, liable to Court Martial.’
Nellis seethed in silence. ‘You called me here to get me out of the DIAC building.’
The President stood, his features apologetic as he went on.
‘I’m sorry, really I am, but in this case the needs of the many very much outweigh the needs of the few.’
Nellis stared at the President, almost speechless for the first time in his career.
‘I have people in the field Mister President, good people, civilian contractors.’
The President nodded, gravely.
‘There’s nothing that I can do for them. They’re on their own.’
***
XXVIII
Hellerman dashed through the ARIES Watch Room with a sheet of paper in one hand as he hurried to the main conference room and shut the door. He quickly reached out to a wall panel and pressed a series of buttons, the windows of the room that looked out over the rest of the department turning opaque in an instant.
Hellerman activated a viewing screen and placed a call to the communications specialists, who routed the agency’s satellite signals toward a location in Beirut. It took only a couple of minutes for Ethan and Nicola to pick up the signal alert and activate their laptop.
‘We’re here,’ Ethan said as his image, along with that of Lopez, appeared on the split screen before Hellerman. ‘Where’s the fire?’
Hellerman placed the sheet of paper before him as he spoke softly.
‘We’ve got a target location from the bugs you placed in Muhammar Hussein’s apartment,’ he said, ‘Al Kibur in north west Lebanon. It’s a small settlement near the Syrian border where Muhammar meets up with incoming convoys of Syrians headed for the coast. Human traffic exchanges hands and crossed the border into Lebanon from the main road passing the settlement.’
‘Has Hussein got a date set for the exchange?’ Lopez asked.
‘No,’ Hellerman replied. ‘He called his contact and was told that the goods, as they refer to them, were for sale. You should know that the person who answered the call was Russian and that Hussein did not appear to know him, but I was able to trace the call and identify him as a GRU Colonel by the name of Mishkin. We have already confirmed that he has been assigned to the Russian unit Mother Earth.’
Ethan frowned. ‘You mentioned something about a Russian colonel entering the picture in Homs before.’
‘Well recalled,’ Hellerman confirmed. ‘My take is that Russia’s moved in and is clearing the site. They’ll run west for the coast most likely but will not enter Lebanon.’
‘Any ideas on when they’re leaving?’ Ethan asked.
Hellerman nodded. ‘Radio traffic suggests the next few hours, right out of Homs.’
On the screen, Ethan looked at Lopez.
‘If we move now we could make it to the border and intercept them.’
‘Yeah,’ Lopez agreed, ‘and if we had a battalion of soldiers with us we might not die when we get there.’
Hellerman cut in.
‘I can call in support for you,’ he said. ‘I can have attack helicopters in position ready to move in once you hit the convoy. Make lots of noise and smoke for them and they’ll come right in.’
Ethan nodded. ‘Make it happen. Have DIA agents arrest Muhammar Hussein and recover the diamonds we used as payment, while we get to the border. I don’t want to be late for the Russians when they get there.’
‘What about the tablets?’ Lopez asked. ‘Did you complete the t
ranslation?’
Hellerman grinned in delight. ‘Some of it. It turns out that the cuneiform there is of a more ancient origin that I’d previously believed so it will need an expert to decipher it accurately. There were many glyphs which were pronounced the same but represented different words. Later a system of determinatives, which gave you a hint at the category a word belonged to, and of phonetic components, which indicated how to pronounce a word, developed and helped disambiguate the meanings of glyphs. Trouble is, that’s all way above my skill set. We’ll need a specialist in the field to finish the translation.’
‘How old is it?’ Lopez asked him.
‘The earliest publicly recognized texts come from the cities of Uruk and Jamdat Nasr and date back to 3,300 BCE. But this tablet is inscribed with text dating back at least ten thousand years.’
Ethan blinked. ‘Ten thousand? That’s older than any recognized civilization.’
‘Far older,’ Hellerman confirmed. ‘This tablet wasn’t created at the time the front engravings were made but when those on what we perceived to be the back were performed. This is by far the most ancient piece of human literature ever discovered and if it was publicly recognized it would probably be worth tens of millions of dollars.’
‘Tens of millions?’ Lopez echoed with a smile.
‘Stay focused,’ Ethan peered at her before he continued. ‘What does it say?’
Hellerman raised an eyebrow as he glanced down at the tablet.
‘That’s the big deal,’ he replied, ‘because this isn’t a record of a transaction between two countries or some record of an ancient battle. This is a prophecy, a prediction of the future.’
Ethan leaned closer to the screen. ‘Read it out, Hellerman.’
Hellerman cleared his throat and began to read.
‘When the stars traverse the sky at night; when a second sun shines over the north; when the great vault is split asunder and the riches of the earth are worth no more; when the lands of ice run free and blood falls from the sky upon the land of the tiger; when giant tortoises guard the walls of Canaan; when the earth rises and swallows the sky; then, and only then, will the great union prevail and The Watchers shall return, their words heard from human skin.’
The Genesis Cypher (Warner & Lopez Book 6) Page 19
