The Solomon Key
Page 38
His eyes were closed. No pulse. And then Scott saw his chest and stomach, how they had been shredded into hamburger. Scott looked down at himself, suddenly amazed that none of the rounds made it through to him. At that range, with those weapons, he should’ve been full of holes too. But the blood that had flowed down his neck belonged to Ralston alone. He sacrificed himself for me...
Scott shuffled backwards until he came up against a wall. He sat staring at Ralston’s bleeding body. He sat there for an hour before finally reaching for the Bible that lay sprawled open on the floor beside him. There was a bookmark in it, a verse in red print underlined. It read, And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
And right there, sitting next to a dead man he met just the day before, in an empty commune in the middle of nowhere, all of his walls came crumbling down.
NO MORE SECRETS
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed… He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure.
—Psalm 2:1-2, 4-5
The sun shone through the green-needled canopy in rays of misty light, melting snow wherever it touched. The mountains surrounding the area were silent and still, as they were every day and had been for a very long time.
As Jennifer watched a few of her neighbors set out from the longhouse on a morning fishing trip, she smiled and waved to them before folding her arms against her chest, helping the bear-skin coat fight the cold away from her body. Turning, she lifted the flap to the wigwam behind her and ducked back inside.
Though hesitant at first, she had come to love the way of life here. It was an existence so different than anything her westernized worldview (formed by commercialism, materialism, and ultimately depression) could have prepared her for. But the natives had accepted her as one of their own, and she quickly adjusted to the simpler life. And so far, this little corner of the Canadian wilderness had yet to be touched by the NAU, or any other element of the emerging New World Order. Sometimes she even forgot about the horrors taking place in the world beyond the mountains, about the esoteric conspiracy she’d read about in the books Joshua had left in her jacket pocket along with the mysterious ring. The ring. The Ring of Solomon.
She approached a figure sitting on the floor beside a small fire, the smoke it expelled drifting up through the hole in the ceiling of the simple abode. Placing her hands on his shoulders, she asked, “How is he?”
Joshua Cavanaugh turned his attention from the newborn baby cradled in his arms and looked up to his wife. “Sleeping.”
She sat down beside him, resting her head on his shoulder and setting her gaze down on Edward Daniel Cavanaugh, their son.
They’d been here for almost a year now, living among the indigenous peoples in relative peace and quiet. No one had come looking for them or the ring yet, which was a concern they took very often to prayer.
After Joshua left Daniel’s body and the deserted commune behind, he’d made his way back to his house in Vermont to get the duffle bag of cash and false identities he’d left in Jamaica State Park. Because his house was owned and occupied by one of his other false identities, he didn’t think anyone would’ve been able to connect him to it. But he’d been wrong. When he crossed the threshold and entered the house, there were people there waiting for him. People with guns.
The Mossad.
And Jennifer was with them.
Apparently, at some point when he was sleeping in the commune, Malachi had injected a transponder beneath his skin. The Israeli agent knew he’d survived the assault on the commune and soon figured out that he was heading back to Vermont. So they had just made themselves comfortable in his home, waiting for his return. Of course, it wasn’t just a neighborly act of kindness through which Malachi was seeking to rejoin husband and wife. No, he wanted the ring, and as far as he knew, Joshua still had it. He planned on making an exchange, the ring for Jennifer. But Joshua didn’t have the ring, which was evident after a strip search. Because Jennifer had since read the books hidden in her jacket, she had come to understand that the ring was best left undiscovered and so kept her possession of it a secret. Malachi and his men left Vermont frustrated and without the ring. Joshua told them it was probably lying on the ground somewhere in the commune. As for he and Jennifer, they finally made good on his escape plan to Canada.
He handed baby Edward to her and reached beside him for Ralston’s Bible, turning to the book of Jeremiah.
With the holy book opened on his lap, he retrieved the ring from his pocket.
Jennifer looked at her husband, awe-filled at how much he’d changed this past year. The Book in his lap had finally freed him from his past, the words Ralston had shared with him ringing true. She leaned in close, always fascinated by what was about to happen.
Turning the ring over in his hand, Joshua’s mind turned with it, wondering again about the deception the secret societies had planned for it. Did they have a plan B? Would NASA still come up with an extraterrestrial hoax via some other means? Placing the ring on the open page of Jeremiah’s text, light from the fire shone through the ring’s lens and fell onto the English words. The illuminated words, however, suddenly appeared raised, hovering over the page like some kind of three dimensional hologram. Only the words floating through the air weren’t the words of the prophet, at least not as they appeared on the page in English, but were actually rearrangements of the letters the inspired prophet had used.
“What does it say this time?” Jennifer asked, trying to make sense of the shining display.
That the ring worked to rearrange an English translation of Jeremiah’s work seemed impossible. But there it was. A single sentence hovering in mid-air, words chosen from the page and miraculously assembled into a single sentence. “It says, ‘Surely I am coming quickly.’”
She smiled at the thought of it, squeezing their child tighter in her grasp as Joshua kissed her on the forehead.
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Hieronimus, Robert. Founding Fathers, Secret Societies: Freemasons, Illuminati, Rosicrucians, and the Decoding of the Great Seal. Rochester: Destiny Books, 2006.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shawn Hopkins lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and two daughters. He is the author of the supernatural thriller, Progeny (of which an excerpt follows). Visit his website at www.shawnhopkinsauthor.com for author interviews, updates, booktrailers, and much more.
PRAISE FOR PROGENY
“Blending the real world with things beyond our nature is not an easy task, but Hopkins has done just that with Progeny. This is a meaty meal of thrills, but never skimps on the details that give the story a bite of reality, and, thankfully, freshness. This is a book not cut from the same cloth as other thrillers that tread similar ground. Highly recommended.”
— Ryne Douglas Pearson, author of Simple Simon, Confessions, and screenwriter of the box office hit, Knowing
“Progeny is a well-researched and fast-paced thriller. The characters are engaging and real, the story line plausible and fascinating, and the writing well done.”
— Larry Enright, best-selling author of Four Years From Home and 12/21/12
“Cussler, Brown, Hopkins! The careful plotting no doubt owes itself to the massive research that Hopkins had to have done to pull off such a well-worked mystery. Reminiscent of Dan Browns’ use of Biblical lore in Angels and Demons and Clive Cussler’s wonderful maritime locales. Dynamic characters, wonderful settings, and unbelievable twists kept me turning the pages.”
— Heidi Ruby Miller, author of Ambasadora and Greenshift
“[A] smart, action-packed thrill ride! In a story I can best describe as The DaVinci Code meets Stargate, Hopkins weaves fallen angels, the gods of ancient mythology, and the Bermuda Triangle into an intricate tale whose true focus is in the power of redemption… His proficiency in scripture, the Book of Enoch, and ancient civilizations makes this novel credible and a little frightening. Hopkins describes the similarities between ancient mythologies and Old Testament tales with academic dexterity and makes them central to the plot of the story. Where his skill lies is in pulling you into the disconcerting realities his research suggests and the sinister conclusions they hold… Progeny is equal parts religious thriller and action-packed roller coaster ride. Hopkins may write Christian-themed fiction, but he doesn’t play it safe: it’s a gritty, bloody tale that will make you think, question, and cringe from one page to the next.”
— Christopher Starr, author of The Road to Hell: The Book of Lucifer
“Hang on, this story will make you question what you believe! Shawn Hopkins has blended several stories, myths and legends from the past and brought them together into a believable adventure that will keep you up at night until you finish it. You’ll question what you believe and want to learn more. Well researched and well written.”
— Douglas Dorow, author of The Ninth District
“LOVED THIS BOOK! Trying to describe it to a friend, ‘Dan Brown meets Lost meets Left Behind.’ Nothing like I’ve ever read before, and I am now officially a huge fan of Hopkins.” — Goodreads.com
“Step-mom won this book from GoodReads and I have to say that I am blown away. This book is a page turner. Excellent read.” — Goodreads.com
“All I can say about this is WOW! Hopkins has woven a great story, bringing all his research into the Nephilim, ancient mythology, [and the] Bermuda Triangle together. His writing style is mature and structured. The pace is fast, no doldrums here.” — Shelfari.com
“Thrilling! The author took information from several ancient mysteries and the biblical accounts of the Watchers and the Nephilim and made one thrilling and exciting story! I enjoyed the book very much. It was well written and the information he used was put together to make a plausible story. I will definitely be reading more of his work.
If you like to read about the pyramids, the Bermuda Triangle and other mysteries… I highly recommend this book.” — Amazon.com
“A serious page turner! I could not put it down! It was a thrilling, even educational, heart-pounding ride. I loved it, recommended it to others who were pulled into the story at page 1, and who also lost a night’s sleep! You will not be disappointed. The research is clearly apparent in Shawn’s work; he leaves not one detail untouched, not one character undeveloped, and manages to create a gripping tale around the most mysterious of truths.” — Amazon.com
“A great book that makes you wonder, but lets you imagine. I couldn’t put it down. It’s so different that you can’t seem to get ahead of it!” — Amazon.com
“Mysterious, intriguing, thought provoking! I couldn’t put t
he book down! This is the first book I read by the author, can’t wait to read his others!” — Amazon.com
“What a ride ! A thought provoking work. This is more than an action novel, more than sci-fi meets Left Behind. Progeny is steeped in mysterious ancient legends and biblical prophesy. It pulls from a myriad of well researched sources of good and evil. The ending came together with a plot twist so over the top it completely blindsided me. [Progeny] opens up a lot of good questions while fitting some strange age-old puzzle pieces together… Ponder well.” — Amazon.com
“Talk about a page turner… I always regretted having to put it down. From the beginning it held me spellbound and anxious for the characters’ situation. The ties to the Bible, the Book of Enoch, and Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology make this all the more exciting!” — Goodreads.com
PROGENY EXCERPT
Of course it didn’t make any sense! None whatsoever. And though he tried to understand it, he knew it was nothing short of impossible. There was simply nothing to understand.