Twisted Linen (11 page)

Grace’s mind jumps to the thought of Simon.
Where is he? Is he able to find her? How could he – they flew out
over the ocean for maybe fifteen minutes before turning back over
land. She might not even be in Spain any longer. The thought is
overwhelming, and Grace begins to hyperventilate in panic.

“Father, I need you. Help me,” Grace whispers
in-between gasps of air.

She looks to the cell door, as if she’s
expecting Jesus to walk through. He doesn’t; there is nothing but
evilness behind the door, and Grace’s panting becomes heavier.

Unexpectedly and suddenly, her breathing
slows and the tension in her body eases. A calming peace begins to
grow insider her; it brings a feeling of secure warmth. The phrase
Be of good courage
fills her mind and strengthens her
resolve. Her thoughts slow and her thinking becomes lucid. She
methodically unlatches her wrist shackles and then quickly moves to
her ankle shackles. There is hope. If she is freed from this cell,
free to go to a dining room, then there is hope, hope of an
escape.

* * *

27

Creation Declares His
Glory

The unsuspecting Spanish villa that Baculo
frequents is hidden away behind a wall of trees at the end of a
long gravel drive. The vast property is surrounded by vacant
countryside. Flanking the home on one side grows swathes of lemons
and pomegranates, and there’s an aging olive grove on the other
side. It’s a rural paradise, declaring the glory of God.

The interior is comfortable in appearance on
the first two floors, albeit a bit extravagant. It’s underneath the
villa, subterranean, where the genome science lab and holding cells
hide. The Golden Dawn retrofitted an emergency bunker as their lab,
and it serves as a perfect hiding place to perfect their “science.”
They chose this location in Spain because of its close proximity to
a supercomputer in Barcelona, a computer they gained access to and
used frequently.

Within the stone walls of the former Chapel
Torre Girona in Barcelona bleeps a supercomputer that became
operational in 2005 when the 19th-Century church building was
deconsecrated so it could house the latest Supercomputer named
MareNostrum. The computer is encased in a glass box that runs the
length of the chapel and is dedicated to crunching its way toward
breakthroughs in human genome research, astrophysics, and weather
forecasting. In 2012, researchers at the Barcelona Supercomputing
Center reported on their use of MareNostrum to simulate the
structure of triple helix DNA in a vacuum. It was the breakthrough
the Golden Dawn needed in their therapeutic science, making made
their endgame feasible.

Above ground, in the villa’s dining room,
Baculo sits in anticipation of Grace’s arrival. Like the rest of
the home, the dining room is striking. Its walls are covered with
shimmering gold paper, adorned by vertical wood paneling. On one
side of the room a large fireplace is ablaze. Above the fireplace
hangs an even larger flat screen TV. Normally, Baculo uses the TV
as a digital picture frame to showcase great works of art. He has
an affinity for landscape and nature paintings, and he’s configured
the TV to cycle through a new masterpiece every seven minutes while
he sits and admires the art – contemplating prophetic topics in the
Bible. Using the art as inspiration, Baculo ponders a topic for
exactly seven minutes, and when the image on the TV changes to
another masterpiece, he refocuses his mind to another prophetic
topic.

But now, while Baculo waits for Grace, he
simply watches news coverage of recent events taking place around
Israel. There is a void of power following Cohen’s death, and
things are quickly spinning out of control. A frenzy of attacks and
growing social unrest broke out following Cohen’s assassination,
and now road-side bombings and attacks on public buildings are
common again. Most notable, Russia and China have united and are
preparing to attack Israel.

But the events are not threatening to the
Golden Dawn, and Baculo has a special evening planned. Baculo wears
a gold tie that complements his lustrous black suit. He hopes Grace
will accept the divine revelation he plans to present; she must
understand his divine role in the coming Kingdom. But most of all,
Baculo secretly desires a more intimate relationship with the
modern-day Virgin Mary.

A huge mahogany table takes up most of the
space the room has to offer. Presently, the table is set for only
two, one at each end. Two large silver candelabras command
attention at the table’s center. The polished silver cutlery appear
heavy to the hand and shine dimly in the candle light. Each place
setting has wine glasses and neatly folded napkins that match the
runner. Baculo waits patiently at the far end of the dining table,
his feet propped-up on the table, crossed at the ankles. All that’s
missing is mutton to feast upon, and Grace.

* * *

28

A Great Wonder

Grace stands barefooted in the elevator with
two thugs on each side of her, on her way up to the dining room for
her “date” with Baculo. She was denied shoes in an effort to negate
a flight risk. Baculo’s thugs glare straight ahead like callous
robots willing to obey every detail asked of them.

The elevator door slowly opens, revealing a
brave Grace LaCroix, standing boldly in red. The sleeveless
flamenco dress, made of a shiny fabric, frames her sturdy figure
nicely. The chest and abdomen portion softly hug her torso, while
below the waistline, the dress flows freely to her ankles.

Grace gracefully steps out of the elevator
into the hallway just outside the dining room. She exhibits no sign
of fear as the thugs lead her to the seat opposite Baculo. She
places both hands on the back of the tall wooden chair, stoically
posing behind it, waiting for Baculo’s attention. The thugs move to
the back of the room, guarding her escape.

Baculo notices her and immediately mutes the
TV and stands to great her.

“Grace, you look stunning…” Baculo says as a
coy smile crosses his face.

Baculo acts like he has been fantasizing
about this moment for a decade, patiently savoring the moment when
Grace LaCroix would walk into his lair.

Grace ignores the empty compliment and begins
surveying the room in a purposeful manner. She notices glass doors
leading off the dining room, out to a terrace. It is dark outside,
and the details are obscured by the glass pane doors. But maybe she
can reach help out there; maybe there is hope of an escape on the
other side of those doors.

A violent image of a beheaded woman on the TV
suddenly captures Grace’s attention; she glances at the TV and then
toward Baculo. Her eyes meet Baculo’s intimidating eyes, and she
gulps a deep breath of air in response. Baculo notices Grace’s
distress, but he assumes its cause is the violent news coverage on
TV.

“Not to be worried,” Baculo insists. “It will
all end soon,” he assures her as he turns off the TV with his
remote.

“Please sit,” Baculo coaxes as he motions to
the table setting in front of her.

Grace fakes a tight smile and complies.

“It's a pleasure to dine with you,” Baculo
continues in his most gentle manner. “Are you hungry?”

Grace denies him with a look of disgust.

“Then please have something to drink,” offers
Baculo as he holds up his wine glass. “May we make a toast to your
son?”

Grace is perplexed by his offer, but she’s
sure it’s not something she wants to partake in.

Baculo clarifies his intentions, “A toast to
his birth …death…and resurrection.”

“You're a lunatic,” Grace asserts.

Baculo huffs and pours himself a deep glass
of Cabernet Sauvignon. After a portioned sip from the wine glass,
he places it back on the table, then gently clasps his hands in his
lap, and leans back into his chair.

“Grace, share your thoughts with me. You must
find this all very overwhelming.”

Grace doesn’t think. She just speaks, as if
somebody inside her is crafting her words.

“I think you’re blinded with science. Flesh
and blood won't make you a ‘Jesus Christ’. It’s God and the Holy
Ghost that makes Jesus the Christ.”

Baculo immediately senses the spiritual
attack. It’s an inconvenient truth that he scoffs at. He raises a
chastising finger in reproach before cautioning, “You know so
little. Now please allow me to explain some things.”

Baculo snatches a heavy knife from the table
and points it upward. “Did you know…at Jesus's birth there were
specific signs in the heavens?”

After a pause, Baculo answers his own
question: “There were! The king planet, Jupiter, moved around the
king star, Regulus. It circled it two times – crowning it.”

Baculo rotates his knife in a circular motion
in the air before speaking again, this time with greater intensity:
“Regulus is the primary star in the king constellation of Leo. And
Leo represents the tribe of Judah. You know this, right?”

Grace cocks her head and glares back at him
out of the corner of her eye.

Baculo stands and opens his arms wide before
announcing, “He gave this glorious wonder in the sky to us!”

Baculo now begins to stroll around the dining
room, talking faster as he carves the air with his knife, excited
to expound on the arcane facts surrounding Jesus’ birth.

“This ‘crowning’ of the King Star in the King
constellation, by the King planet was a sign. A great sign! And it
led the Magi out on their journey.”

Baculo pauses to look closely at Grace,
hoping she’ll express admiration in response to his secret
knowledge. Grace remains motionless, expressionless.

So he tries to simplify the esoteric term:
Magi.

“I should say this led the three
wise
men
on their journey. The wise men were religious priests,
trained by the descendants of the Prophet Daniel, trained to watch
for the Messiah's arrival, trained to recognize the signs in the
heavens, the appointed times.”

Baculo recounts the conclusion of the story
like he was there and part of the divine story.

“It's now history. The Magi saw this sign and
set off for Bethlehem, following the bright star. And they found
their prophesied king, still a toddler with his mother, Mary.”

Grace stirs in her large wooden chair, and
then sarcastically replies, “Fascinating.”

Baculo turns to glare at her from the far
side of the dining table. “It’s more than fascinating, Grace. It’s
actually very relevant to you.”

Baculo places both hands on the table and
leans forward as if he might crawl the table if Grace refuses to
offer her undivided attention.

“You see…you are the next Virgin Mary, the
mother of our god’s second coming,” Baculo proudly expounds.

The words startle Grace even though she
doesn’t completely understand. She tries to hide her skepticism
behind a disingenuous look of interest. Baculo sees right through
her.

“Don't be scared, Grace. Most people today
don't want to hear about prophets and prophecies. But we know there
is an order to everything – a time and a place, appointed
times.”

Grace is inwardly not interested in Baculo’s
exposition, but she realizes he is trying to win her favor, and she
recognizes he thinks she plays a special role in something the cult
is planning. Grace glances at the two thugs, pondering how they can
be removed from the equation. Maybe she can exploit Baculo’s
infatuation with the stars and get him to take her outside so she
can explore a potential escape.

With a tone of urgency and sincerity Baculo
transitions into an elucidation of future prophecy: “Now, in a
couple days, on the Feast of Trumpets, some 2000 years after Jesus’
death, another great
sign
is appearing in the heavens.”

Baculo grabs the TV remote and a laser
pointer as he says, “I’d like to visually illustrate this new sign
in the heavens for you.”

The TV flickers as Baculo pushes buttons on
his remote, setting it to display a Stellarium software product.
Stellarium software presents a visual rendition of the precise
position of all the stars and planets in the sky. It calculates the
exact location of each heavenly body at any given date in the past,
present or future. Baculo uses it to demonstrate the movement of
the planets and stars over a background of constellation
artwork.

“Look! You must see this for yourself,” he
exclaims with great excitement, even now, after all these years of
knowing.

Baculo slowly advances the date-timer
forward, causing the stars, planets, moon and sun to move across
the TV screen.

“You see, in two days’ time, on September 23,
Jupiter will descend out of the belly of Virgo.”

Grace squints at the TV, trying to make sense
of it all.

Baculo continues, “Jupiter spent exactly 41
weeks in the womb of Virgo. Notice that Jupiter did not just pass
through the virgin womb; but rather, its retrograde motion stopped
it in the womb.”

Retrograde motion refers to the apparent
backwards motion of planets in the sky. When Earth passes by the
outer orbiting planet, the planets appear to stop and move backward
before continuing on its normal path.

Baculo turns to look at Grace, “You
understand that 41 weeks is the average gestation period for a
baby? And now, after 41 weeks, a King is ready to be born.”

Baculo’s smile is boastful, like he plays a
role in the movement of heavenly bodies.

“You can’t make this stuff up!” he adds for
emphasis.

Grace realizes she is gawking in confusion,
so she fakes an expression of surprise and interest. Now is the
time to bait Baculo and see if she can exploit his desire to be
understood. Grace comments with as much sincerity and innocence as
she can conjure up.