The elevator door opened and Keith heard a deep, rumbling “Harrumph.” Naddy and Sophie stood looking in at them.
Talia broke off the kiss and turned scarlet, scooting out past her aunt and uncle toward the lobby doors.
“I swear I did not kiss her!” Keith said.
Sophie sniffled. “And why not?”
Chapter Thirty-one – A Voice in the Dark
Talia had been right about Cappadocia. The underground cities and cave dwellings had stunned Keith.
“How old are these tunnels?” Keith asked.
“No one knows for certain,” Sophie replied. “They were occupied hundreds of years before Christ. Christians escaped Muslim persecution over and over using these cities.”
Though they still hadn’t found anything else they could definitely tie to the quest for the Testaments, Keith was encouraged by the sight of literal underground churches in these cities and the knowledge that God’s people could flee persecution and keep going one way or the other.
“Doctor Ramin! Mr. Bradley!” The desk clerk called out as they started out of the hotel to head for the airport and the United States. “I almost forgot. A package was left here for you.”
“A package? What could it be?” Sophia asked.
“What if it’s a bomb?” Keith asked.
“A bomb?” the clerk shrieked.
Two hours later, a Turkish police officer handed a briefcase to Naddy. He glared at Keith and spoke a string of foreign words. Naddy responded in the same language, bowing and keeping his eyes on the floor. After glowering at Keith a few moments longer, the officer spun and departed.
“What did I do?” Keith demanded.
“I know that discretion is not a strong trait among Americans,” Naddy said softly. “But the next time you feel you must say the word ‘bomb,’ please whisper.”
“After all that’s been happening, it seemed possible.” Keith protested.
Talia and Sophie glared at him, too, as they gathered their luggage.
“What’s in it?” Keith took the briefcase as Naddy held it out.
“Open it and see.”
Keith did, and almost dropped it in his excitement. “Samples!” he exclaimed. “Wow. This is the orichalcum. There are two different kinds? And these are the different forms of that leather stuff. The Guardians are trusting me with this?”
“They are hoping you can do examinations; have testing done on them. It is a huge sign of trust, is it not? We must not disappoint them.”
“Right.” Keith carefully closed up the case.
Keith and the others came out into the airport terminal back in the States, where he was shocked to find his father checking the arrival boards and staring anxiously around. “Dad! What are you doing here? We got a rental car.”
“Thank the Lord I found you,” his father said, hugging him. “The archive website went live yesterday. Everything is on there, and people are giddy with excitement. The kids in the class have been calling nonstop, telling me to tell you they think it’s a new Great Awakening or something.”
“That’s great! There was so much turbulence on the last leg of the flight they said not to use the internet or phones. Did you try to call, or email?”
“Keith, stop talking and listen to me,” Principal Bradley responded. “Your grandmother called me at two in the morning. She can’t sleep through the night, as you know, but last night she had a phone call and didn’t sleep at all. Neither did I, after she called me.”
“What was the phone call?”
“The person said, ‘You think the Bible stands forever? Watch us destroy it, and you.’”
“God have mercy,” Sophie breathed. “This threat came as a result of the scanning of the Bibles?”
“My mother is convinced that once this repository project went live, someone used it to access people’s personal information,” Joshua said, “someone who wants to intimidate and terrorize the faithful.”
“Has anybody else been contacted?” Keith asked. “Are you positive this wasn’t some kind of crank call?”
“As positive as your grandmother is. She’s getting her phone number changed, and they have even agreed to move her into a different apartment, but it will take a few days. I haven’t heard from anyone else.”
“You should call this Dr. Williams,” Naddy exclaimed. “Tell her the site security has been compromised. Insist that the contributor identities need shielding.”
“I already did call her,” Joshua said. “The offices were mostly shut down for the holidays but she said she was handling the phones. I had no proof that there was cause and effect, but she seemed very sympathetic. She insisted that they had no personal information on the site except what someone chose to put in his or her own Bible or notebooks. They had no control over, say, a person’s address and phone number being in the book so that it could be returned if found. Convoluted way of saying it’s not their fault. She didn’t say it, but she made it sound like we should have considered the possibility that we were making ourselves vulnerable.
“She promised that when folks get back to work they would put additional security on the site. She cautioned me, however, that such protections were going to have consequences. She talked about the site working slower, being harder to access, and possibly becoming unavailable at times while they made these upgrades.”
“What’s the purpose of targeting the people with paper Bibles?” Keith asked. “They’d have an easier time of getting to the students through their online information. It’d be easier to intimidate kids too.”
“Remember what you told us, that Dr. Williams said?” Sophie said with a shiver. “This repository is a resource, indeed, but not the way she meant. The people who contributed heirloom Bibles and lifetimes’ worth of study materials can now be read like a list of the oldest and wisest among us – our teachers and edifiers. Those are the people persecutors would wish to get access to first. They want to destroy our foundation.”
Talia had pulled out her tablet and swiped rapidly. “Look, I got all these links when I was researching for the class. Historic manuscripts and Bibles. Look at these – research and translation projects suspended, exhibits closed down until further notice – These are all projects involving translating, studying, and teaching using old versions and manuscripts. And I’ve backtracked a few of them and found them on the Repository site. That means they agreed to have them scanned. Suppose these places also received threats? They’d shut down until they could make security changes and upgrades, right? It robs them of time and money, makes them inaccessible to those doing research – ”
“This is a disaster!” Naddy thundered. “Access to precious manuscripts cut off! Our honored mentors fearful to answer their own telephones. And we handed this power over to the enemy like stupid sheep!”
“Keith,” Joshua said. “I think this is just the beginning. I believe this was their plan all along. My mother does indeed counsel and mentor people by phone. She’ll lose contact with some of them. People always do, when they change their phone number. Some of the volunteer agencies will have to go through approval processes all over again, for the protection of their clients.”
“Of course the government will deny it did anything wrong,” Talia said. “It just set up voluntary programs and we walked into the trap.”
“Exactly,” Joshua agreed. “It dangled grants like a carrot on a stick in front of everyone’s noses, not just poor schools. Intimidation and threats are at least going to slow people down. They’re going to cause some to cave in to the pressure.”
Talia pulled at her hair. “Look at us! Our minds are spinning like tops trying to find a way to protect your grandmother from this, Keith. We’re not trying to figure out how to keep the work going. We’re ducking and covering.”
“What are we going to do?” Keith asked. “Just because we’ve connected the dots to the Repository Project doesn’t mean it’s empty threats. And what if somebody not connected with the government went to
the site and got the information? It might or might not be as simple as grabbing an address or phone number off a Bible page. There could be hackers involved. We can’t ignore the possibility that Grandma, and maybe all of us, are in danger.”
“Yes,” Naddy said. “We must alert everyone we have contact with. Every foundation and organization devoted to the Word, everyone who struggles to preserve it. Protecting the work and safeguarding our cherished elders must both be our priorities. But we must try to follow threads back to the perpetrators. We must have proof of who is doing this. We must stop the paralysis, the hand-wringing, the inaction such as we ourselves have already been guilty of standing here when there is so much work to be done.”
By the time they got back to school, more people reported harassing phone calls, emails, or letters. Keith and Talia mobilized the Bible as Literature class with a project to make their own “creative upgrades” to the Repository Project materials. They began replacing scanned pages that seemed likely to give phishers or hackers too much access.
Talia and Keith thought the kids were in shock, too stunned to understand the full import of what had happened. They seemed excited at the idea of helping to protect the people – pastors, parents, grandparents – who had always protected them.
“We oughta flood that repository site with more content than they can snoop into,” Jayna suggested.
Yeah!” Adam exclaimed. “There’s ways to upload audio and video, not just scans. We can make, like, a wall around any stuff that might still be traceable, to make it harder to find.”
Rikki grinned. “We could just keep putting new stuff up there, so much they can’t handle it, or stuff they’ll have to watch or listen to as soon as they click it. Maybe even the hackers will get saved.”
No one hinted at blaming Keith or Talia. The mission to help spread and protect the Bible and the people who taught it spread through the school. Elementary teachers used Bible copy work as handwriting exercises and Talia and Keith added them to the repository. Drama and journalism classes made audio and video recordings to be uploaded. Computer-related majors and other nerds from the city university came to teach crash courses in internet security in the cafeteria. Kids gobbled their lunches and learned to create new security features to add to files. Most classes began to center around what came to be called the Word Protection Project.
Of course, three families everyone had all but forgotten about began to make their presence known again. The sidewalk and bathroom construction had been completed on time and under budget and the Sheldon, Gregory, and Holden families had been almost completely quiet for more than a month.
“This is outrageous,” Mr. Holden said when Principal Bradley ushered the couple into his office along with a stranger. “The entire school is in a state of chaos over this ridiculous Word Protection Project. You are trampling on the separation principle and using government buildings for religious purposes. This is Brad Shannon, an attorney with the Civil Rights Defense Association. He has a cease and desist order to make you stop this insanity and restore our children’s right to a traditional public school education.”
“Interesting,” Principal Bradley said with a dry chuckle. “Back when our country was founded, public school largely consisted of studying the Bible. Where’s your case law from U.S. History to support your position, Mr. Shannon?”
“There’s plenty of case law to support the separation of Church and State,” Shannon responded.
“The wall of separation Thomas Jefferson talked about came from Roger Williams’ writings,” Mr. Bradley said. “Did you know that, Mr. Shannon? Roger Williams, a separatist preacher, said the state was to be a wall of protection for religion, to keep government from meddling with its free exercise. Jefferson agreed, and even reassured the Danbury Baptists that the government was going to keep its nose out of matters of belief. You’ve got your thinking a little turned around, haven’t you?”
“What? I never heard of this Roger Williams! We’re talking about the Constitution here.’
“Yes, we are,” Principal Bradley nodded. “The First Amendment clearly says ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’ America has, in defiance of the Constitution, established the religion of Secular Humanism in this country. You are supporting that establishment of religion, so you are the one who’s violating the Constitution. Secular Humanism preaches that it’s the only right system of belief. It allows no other belief to exist outside of itself. There’s not a more powerful, more protected religion in America than the one you’ve come here in support of.”
“I’m here in support of freedom,” Shannon spluttered. “The freedom of these parents to get their children the best education possible. People’s tax dollars support this school, and that makes it a part of the government system. The government says no religion in the school, so all this Bible copying and the rest of the nonsense goes, as of right now!”
“These parents have freedom, certainly. They have the freedom to withdraw their children from a school they believe is inadequate and move to another district. They also have the right to petition the state for home tutoring if they believe the school isn’t equipped to meet their children’s special needs. Are their children identified as special needs? Our school is so small we lack the programs and staff for some cases.
“Perhaps the real problem is that they didn’t carefully investigate what our school had to offer before they moved here. I’m sure the state board of education is the place to direct their petition, though, since in my town and my school, we are not going to be bullied out of exercising our right to practice our religion freely. The fact that our religion happens to be different from theirs does not mean they can trample on our rights. We have our own attorney, and he’ll be happy to deal with your cease and desist order if you’ll make an appointment at his office. Here’s his card. Good day.”
Principal Bradley held the door open. Shannon and the Holdens sat there staring at him in disbelief.
“You can’t throw us out!” Mrs. Holden cried. “We pay your salary. You have to do what we say! We have rights!”
“Yes, you do,” Mr. Bradley nodded. “Have rights, that is. And they include the recourses I just listed. But the government can be a pretty slow-moving beast when it comes to upholding rights, so you should hurry and get started following my advice. The only time the government seems to move rapidly is when it’s taking away rights. Now, I have a school to run. So I repeat. Good day to you.”
Chapter Thirty-two – “Make them Stop!”
Not even an hour passed before Mr. And Mrs. Gregory demanded an audience. “This is slave labor!” Mrs. Gregory shouted. “Our children are being turned into indentured servants. They are telling us that all they do all day is copy or record the Bible, or do something related to it. That’s illegal, forcing children to work for you. We demand that you stop!”
“This is a school,” Mr. Bradley responded. “Our teachers and I go to great pains to educate your children. They are not slaves or indentured workers. They are simply being told what their assignments are and expected to complete them.”
“They won’t stop!” Mr. Gregory snapped. “They bring these projects home – Bibles at the dinner table, in their bedrooms, with a flashlight under the covers.”
“I don’t think they’re getting proper rest,” Mrs. Gregory lamented. “For all I know they keep at it all night. And they repeat Bible verses out loud! They say rhymes and sing songs to each other. It’s all they talk about.”
“Well, it is up to you as parents to see that they get proper rest,” Mr. Bradley said. “If you’re concerned that they’re up all night, I’m not the one to complain to. As far as them saying verses out loud, why does that bother you so much? Are you saying you resent the fact that the Bible is important to your children – that you don’t want to hear about things they are excited to be studying?”
The Sheldons came last. “Mr. Bradley, we ha
ve asked for an emergency school board meeting,” Mr. Sheldon announced. “We’ve discovered that you are condoning bullying in the school. In fact, your teachers are doing the bullying.”
“Oh? How so?”
“Our children think people are in danger – that they might be in danger themselves,” Mrs. Sheldon insisted. “You’re spreading rumors, frightening them with gossip. The government always protects people who use its resources.
“But you’re making the children think people are being targeted for … what? For being old? For having Bibles? It’s harmful to make children think they have to help protect people, or protect the Bible, for goodness’ sake. These children have been taught respect for the Bible. They’ll automatically accept anything you say about it. We don’t want their minds poisoned with fear. This is an unsafe environment.”
“Come with me, please,” Mr. Bradley invited, leading them out of his office as the bell rang for a class change. “Now, I want you to show me any student who looks like he’s afraid, or anyone bullying anyone else.” He swept out his arm as kids poured out of the classrooms. Some of them still carried Bibles or notebooks and scribbled away as they headed down the halls. One small boy almost walked into an open locker, but a tall girl grabbed him by the head and steered him around it, laughing. Two boys chattered about how many verses they had copied, comparing handwriting.
“Man. You’ll have to do that over. Nobody can even read it!”
“Yeah, you’re right. Crud.”
“Listen to this. My kid sister recorded it. I had no idea she could sing like this!” A boy pulled out his iPod earphone and held it out to a girl. The adults standing in the doorway of the principal’s office could clearly hear the reedy sound of a young girl’s voice singing the Lord’s Prayer. “Ms. McCarthy, the music teacher, has found a ton of Scripture songs and the Audio-Visual Club is recording the classes.”
The Great Thirst Boxed Set Page 18
