The 4th Secret

by R D Shah

  He drew a deep breath, folding his arms. ‘Why just believe in God’s wrath, when you can actually create it? Now, I won’t pretend that this has been easy. Over the past few decades it has demanded substantial financial, political and military resources from the Magi, and has proved a monumental challenge to keep it firmly in our hands and away from the general public but our most important ally has been the project itself. For all intents and purposes this is, and the government has been persuaded to this fact, an instrument dedicated solely to the understanding of the stratosphere and that any military application is non-existent. Also it helped immensely that we funded the operation privately, without the kind of scrutiny that a government-funded project would entail. The facilities themselves have of course entered the public domain, and all one would have to do is check on Google to see that they exist. But only a few crackpot conspiracy theorists have ever guessed at HAARP’s true purpose, and those have either been dealt with or discredited, without too many problems. You know yourself that for the majority of sane people on this earth, reality is what you read or see in the media and if you mention the word conspiracy it only serves to fuel further the disengagement and disbelief in such notions. In fact, we have done such a good job of hiding HAARP’s true nature that as of 2014, and in the eyes of the world, the whole operation has officially been cancelled due to budget cuts. And like that, voilà, it disappeared from public view… until now.’

  Harker was already shaking his head. ‘Let’s just say, for argument’s sake, that I believe you …’

  ‘For argument’s sake?’ Wilcox huffed, his mood quickly turning to anger. ‘Then how else would you explain all those events going on at the moment?’

  This stifled Harker’s bravado, since clearly Wilcox was right. After all if it wasn’t this HAARP device causing the mayhem, then indeed the alternative option was far more terrifying. ‘OK, let’s say you telling me the truth, then how the hell do you explain all those people at Notre Dame dropping dead around me while I myself was untouched, or how Jerusalem erupted into chaos like it did, or the fact that those unknown animals appeared when they did?’

  ‘Demons!’ Wilcox corrected with a smirk.

  ‘Fine, demons or whatever you care to call them,’ Harker replied, already suspecting the answer due to Wilcox’s casual tone. After all, everything else began to pale into insignificance following that explanation of the cataclysms he had witnessed.

  ‘Ahh, now that is a lot simpler to explain,’ Wilcox replied, clearly taking relish in being able to reveal his tricks. ‘What you witnessed at the cathedral is something our research department was working on for the military for some time. The military wanted to develop a nerve agent that could be released over an enemy population, and that would turn the infected into a military asset. Ergo the person transforms into a weapon of chaos before dying without leaving any trace of the agent that caused it. The technology is known as a limiter. The agent is released and, instead of killing the host immediately, it serves to temporarily block certain neural pathways to the brain, causing panic and heightening aggression as well as a haemorrhaging to the eyes and other basic physical changes to the skin and gums, etc. In layman’s terms the host is turned mad and goes after anything that moves, causing more casualties. The body can only function then for a limited amount of time, until oxygen restriction to the brain brings about clinical death. The real genius, though, is that after death the agent bursts on a microscopic level and dissolves in the body, leaving no identifiable trace whatsoever. Complete deniability. As far as our contract with the military went, they were told that we couldn’t get it to work and therefore funding was stopped. Of course, our Magi subsidiaries continued with the project, and perfected it as you witnessed for yourself. The agent used in the Jerusalem operation was a slightly different strain, and in fact the chemical you yourself were just recently infected with was an offshoot of that same research.

  Harker’s stomach churned sickeningly at the total lack of respect for life being shown here, for Wilcox seemed to take so much pride in these twisted achievements.

  ‘Don’t go soft on me now, Alex,’ Wilcox chided. ‘There’s so much more to tell you. Now the fires erupting in Jerusalem were easy. We had some teams set up firebombs just an hour before you arrived, and others that would release the chemical agent around the city. The wind did the rest.’ A satisfied smile appeared on Wilcox’s lips. ‘Even I have to admit it did look remarkable on the news reports. Hell, it almost made me a believer.’

  ‘Remarkable!’ Harker yelled. ‘Thousands of people died horribly and Jerusalem was left looking like a war zone.’

  ‘Well, no change there,’ Wilcox quipped and waved his hand dismissively as if swatting a fly. ‘You know, it is true what they say: kill a few thousand and you’re a mass murderer, but kill a few million and you’re a conqueror. And I plan to become the most significant conqueror in human history, because kill a few billion and you become a god.’

  Harker was staggered at the man’s sheer lunacy and lust for power, but he set aside the series of insults he wanted to hurl at the sick bastard and instead focused on a question that was still nagging him. ‘So why wasn’t I affected by this agent?’

  ‘Good question but a boring answer. Remember that Secret you unearthed in Notre Dame? Well, the sealed vial that you broke open contained the agent which then spread throughout the cathedral, but the paper it was printed upon was doused in the antidote. By just touching the paper, it was absorbed into your skin and blood, making you impervious and apparently miraculously untouched. And I am guessing that your lady friend must have inadvertently touched the paper as well, or she would have died along with all the rest.’

  Harker thought back to that moment in Notre Dame when Chloe had snatched the parchment off him to read for herself. Her determination, it seemed, had saved her life even though from the outset Harker had been sure it might instead get her killed.

  ‘You know I myself should have been the one to have miraculously survived that outbreak.’ Wilcox griped. ‘Imagine how it would have looked when I, the Pope, had walked out of that cathedral alive, as if having vanquished the very evil that had sought to kill everyone.’ He shook his head in frustration. ‘Damn, that would have looked impressive. Still, you got the job done I suppose and managed to spread the fear of what was to come, without even being aware of it. As for the demons you asked about, those nasty-looking devils were spliced in our test labs from an assortment of different animal genetic codes. Incidentally those were the same labs in which we created the cloned copy of Jesus Christ, using some of the same techniques.’

  Wilcox took a moment to reach over and gently tap McCray on the shoulder. ‘Of course I could not have got to where we are now without the help of this man. Contrary to your belief that he was banished from the Magi before taking over leadership of the Skoptsy, nothing could be further from the truth. I had specially asked McCray to initiate contact with that vile cult many years ago, in the hopes of using them as scapegoats if ever the need arose. But instead they proved far more successful in convincing you to pursue this trail of breadcrumbs. No… McCray has always remained a valued member of the Magi, even if he needed to deceive the Council into believing otherwise, and so his loyalty to me will be rewarded tenfold in years to come.’

  ‘So where is the child, and what of Marcus Eckard and the actual Secrets… And what about the fourth Secret?’ Harker demanded, realising that every answer Wilcox gave him only created further questions.

  ‘The Child?’ Wilcox was looking confused himself. ‘I have absolutely no idea. That treacherous witch Claire Dwyer was supposed to bring him to me but, lo and behold, she turns up with only the mother.’

  ‘What? You don’t have him?’

  ‘I’ve already said I didn’t,’ Wilcox snapped angrily, ‘God knows where she put him, and frankly I couldn’t give shit!’

  Harker was totally flabbergasted, for if the Magi didn’t have the child, then who did? ‘Th
at doesn’t bother you?’

  ‘No, why should it?’ Wilcox said, looking sincere. ‘That child’s usefulness came to an end the moment you screwed up my original plans, and the only reason I tried to retrieve it in the first place was to appease some of the Council and to initially give me some continued leverage over them. As for Eckard and the Secrets, they are hardly worth mentioning,’ Wilcox sneered, ‘but I am happy to enlighten you further. When the Magi learnt that a council had been set up by the Pope to investigate the Secrets of Fatima, over thirty years ago, we decided to take a gander for ourselves. Through Eckard, we were able to get a look at them but they seemed pretty useless… that is until the Pope insisted they be locked away and because, after that, the only person ever permitted to know what they contained was the ruling Pope. And since all of those have passed away except me, eventually I alone knew what was written in them. I could therefore have made up anything I wanted, and no one else would have been any the wiser.’

  ‘Except Marcus Eckard?’

  ‘Yes,’ Wilcox sneered, ‘I will admit he did pose a problem at first, but after we threatened to kill his wife and child he went along with us and gave the box to Bishop Canard at Notre Dame… Of course it was empty but good old Canard kept his word and never opened it, so a few months ago we had someone sneak in and put the vial containing the agent into the box without him even knowing. Then it was ready for you to ‘discover’. The idiot never even considered that there might be two keys to that precious little box of his.’

  ‘And Eckard?’

  ‘Marcus Eckard was a loose end and we did try a number of chemical treatments on him to make him more… docile. But I’m afraid we did not get the result we had hoped for, as you saw for yourself, so we had to kill his entire family and make him take the blame. Still, he proved his worth by helping to suck you into all this. The poor bastard didn’t even know that he was helping us… as for the precious fourth Secret he spoke of, there never was one. His ruined mind just made it up. But I knew that having such a mysterious thing to chase after would only help in getting you on board.

  ‘So this whole elaborate plan has been about control and nothing more,’ Harker growled, sickened by the flippant and callous description of murder after murder.

  ‘This isn’t just about control, Professor,’ Wilcox hissed at his belittling of the project, ‘or about subjugation for that matter. This is about manipulating a worldwide populace into wishing to be controlled and protected. The Romans once managed it through sheer bloody force, whereas the British Empire added global trade and a ‘fair’ justice system to its repertoire, thus making it far more palatable to the masses. The Magi will do it through choice however, and the people of the world will choose it, and we the Magi will implement it.’

  This madcap idea already had Harker shaking his head. ‘If you really believe that billions of people are suddenly going to willingly enslave themselves to the Magi, then you really are insane. More importantly, you can’t truly expect that all the governments of the world, with all their military power, are simply going to relinquish their authority to an ex-Pope with a Napoleon complex… Really?’

  ‘I am far too tall to suffer from a Napoleon complex… but yes, that is precisely what I expect,’ Wilcox declared. ‘That is why, beginning in the next few hours, HAARP will begin pulverising government infrastructure around the world – only nuclear nations at first – and that will quickly be followed with the sanitising of less important countries.’

  ‘You’ll start World War Three!’ Harker shouted loudly and as if Wilcox was going deaf.

  ‘I don’t think so,’ the Magi Prime replied confidently. ‘Who would they attack… Heaven itself?’

  Harker’s mouth was already open ready to respond, but Wilcox directed a finger at him before he could make a sound. ‘Yes, there will no doubt be some vengeful individuals on both sides, but you forget that in the last few hours we have been targeting the majority of the world’s military satellites through HAARP. Most of their communications and many of their guidance systems are as of now inoperative. I will concede that there may still be instances of nuclear strikes, but frankly this will only serve to help in our goal of thinning down population numbers. But you miss the point, Alex. My plan for a new world is not something that will occur overnight, over a few months or even a year. Completion of our goal will take decades, maybe even a century, but all the while under the carefully planned guidance of the Magi. You forget that the period called the Dark Ages lasted from five to eight centuries, depending on how you define it. That is a full eight centuries to transform the world and set it on a course for a new world order. But I believe, with the technology at our fingertips, we can achieve it in less than one.’

  Harker now felt a sense of deep emptiness and, even though the mammoth task of culling the world’s population was an impossibility to his mind, it was the trying to do so that concerned him most. ‘Even after everything you’re taking about – weather-induced cataclysms, the chaos of a world stripped of its economy and industry, Christ even a nuclear war – there will still be billions of people who survive. And, over time, they will restore their own communities and political systems, and there is no way you can ever hope to control that many people… ever.’

  A look of stubborn determination crossed Wilcox’s face, and Harker was surprised to find the man nodding in agreement.

  ‘You are right, which is why we could never leave the task solely to the mechanisms I have so far described.’

  Mechanisms? This cold word to describe the annihilation of billions of human lives rattled around Harker’s head painfully, as Wilcox went on to describe his plans further, and with an increased zeal.

  ‘Firstly, starvation alone will wipe out hundreds of millions, if not billions, during the months that follow. Since the inception of mass food production after the Second World War, the population of the globe has doubled in size. Take away that same process and people will begin to drop like flies. For a short while inevitably the world will be in the grip of a truly Darwinian society: the law of the wild where only the strongest and those most suited to survive will flourish. But still that won’t be enough, which is why further strategies will be needed. For that reason, we had to formulate what I consider our most effective method of ensuring that what is left is ripe to be picked and used for the foundation of a new society. Even now, large sections of the media are beginning to succumb to the idea that the events of Notre Dame and Jerusalem are akin to a Biblical plague. As society begins to crumble around them, the news that the media have been delivering to people will turn into one of fear and desperation, and then into the need for a belief in salvation.

  ‘That belief will ultimately, on some level, manifest itself as a reality… one that the Magi will be happy to provide. Those exotic nerve agents that we have already unleashed are but the tip of the iceberg, since they derive from something far greater than that which I have already mentioned. You see, the mother source of those strains has not only been engineered to contain a time limit of effectiveness, but it is also able to target specific genes within the DNA of every living creature. It is able to target people of a select genetic strain, whilst at the same time proving harmless to others. Of course, everyone will become infected by this agent as it spreads throughout the world, carried by the global wind patterns, but only those specially chosen will be affected by it.’

  Harker immediately thought back to the storage disk the Templars had found at Father Strasser’s wretched apartment. The hundreds of thousands of names on it and the one connecting factor they all possessed. A renewed sense of excitement and shock fizzled through him: excitement because of the connection he had made and shock because of the awful truth it revealed.

  ‘Christians.’ He whispered from his lips. ‘Devout Christians.’

  Wilcox’s raised his eyebrows, clearly surprised by Harker’s informed understanding of the end process the Magi leader had been about to reveal. ‘Yes, exactly. Well done
.’ Wilcox clapped his hands in congratulation of the man he hated so much. ‘How on earth did you figure that out?’

  ‘We found a list at your man Strasser’s apartment, containing thousands of names, and they appeared to have just one thing in common: all were church-goers and Christians.’

  ‘Not just Christians,’ Wilcox corrected, ‘but devout Christians and true believers. We have blood samples from each person on the list allowing us access to their own individual genetic breakdown. With this information we can ensure that our manufactured disease will only target the undesirables and not our chosen faithful.’

  ‘That’s impossible,’ Harker protested defiantly. ‘Firstly, how could you obtain blood samples from all of those people? Secondly, it would take years to decipher the genetic codes from so many people!’

  Wilcox stepped closer and thrust his face towards him. ‘Oh ye of little faith… firstly, almost everyone in the Western world has had blood taken at some stage in his or her life, and the Magi made sure that when someone on the list gave or had blood taken it was scooped up for our own files. Don’t forget that the Magi organisation has its fingers in many areas of industry including the health sector. Secondly, we have, so far, genetically mapped only about fifty-five percent of the donors, but that is not information we need right at this moment. As I have already explained this entire process will take years to play out, and it is during that same time that our scientists will complete the task. This facility has eighty separate levels, and is not only self-sustainable but also has every conceivable piece of medical equipment needed for the project, including numerous backups. We could stay down here for generations if need be whilst above us it all else goes to hell … with a little help from us, of course.’ He smiled coldly.