The Tower A Novel (Sanctus)

52





‘God damned Reverend pulled a fast one,’ Franklin said, slopping the coffee on the metal-topped table in his haste to put the

mugs down.

Shepherd was barely listening, his hands working fast, heart pounding as he closed all the windows on the screen. There was no

time to check out the new search result with Franklin in the room.

‘Cooper filmed our interview and leaked it to CNN. Apparently the world just saw us confirm the attacks on Hubble and James Webb.

’

Shepherd looked up, his mind racing ahead, wondering what this would mean for the investigation and for them. It was bad. Really

bad. Because of this mistake they would undoubtedly be taken off the case, which meant he stood to lose all the access he had only

just started to explore – his lifeline to Melisa. That snake of a reverend had ruined everything. He must have been straight on

the phone to the news networks the moment they had stepped out of the studio.

He dug into his pocket and fished out the key ring Franklin had thrown at Cooper in the studio as he realized the network news

wouldn’t be the only place the interview would be running. He opened a new window and copied in the web address printed on the

key ring.

The homepage was as slick and professional as the man it was built to promote. Shepherd found a media section in the drop-down

menus and clicked on a link to a live stream of the TV show.

The video buffered fast and Shepherd’s jaw tightened when he saw himself sitting on the couch next to Franklin, like guests on a

talk show. The clip had been cut to make it look as though Cooper was interviewing them. It showed the moment when he surprised

them about the breaking news stories on Twitter about Hubble and the explosion at Marshall, demanding to know if the stories were

true, then a close up of Shepherd’s face as he said ‘Yes’. It cut back to Cooper live in the studio.

Now you have seen how agents of the government came to this house of God to try and silence me and intimidate me, because they

know the truth I speak. They would rather you remained blind and in darkness than have your eyes opened to what is coming. For it

is their arrogance that has brought these things to pass, it is the towers they have sought to build in the form of these

telescopes in space, reaching up to try and glimpse the face of God that has triggered His wrath. And they fear your judgement and

your rightful anger if you were to learn of this truth. But the spirit is strong in me. And when they came to silence me I spoke

loud with the voice of the Lord, as I speak to you now.

Turn on the news and see the truth of what is happening. See how the world is quaking and readying itself for the time that is

told in the great Book of Revelation of how the righteous shall be gathered and the sinners shall be cast into the pit of Hell.

And be in no doubt that the time of His reckoning is close for the signs are all around.

Franklin’s phone rang and he took the call. On screen Cooper was walking over to the window again and pointing out at all the

ships in the harbour.

See how the great armies of men are trembling before His approach and the great ships of all nations are returning to their ports,

as was predicted by St John.

‘Thanks,’ Franklin said, ending the conversation.

‘That was Ellery. They checked out Douglas’s home. Found nothing – big surprise. So now we have two suspects to chase down.’

He drained his coffee, allowing himself a smile as he set his mug back down. ‘Sounds like Ellery was having the worst day of his

life, he’s now got every crazy conspiracy theorist in the country converging on Marshall convinced that the destruction of Hubble

and Webb along with everything else that’s going on is the first step of some kind of alien invasion.’

Shepherd picked up his coffee and stared at his reflection in it. ‘Maybe they’re right.’

‘Seriously?’

‘Why not – I find it as easy to swallow as the idea that Dr Kinderman and Professor Douglas did it.’

‘That’s because you’re letting personal sentiment cloud your judgement. You can’t ignore the evidence.’

‘OK, so let’s look at the evidence, all of it and not just what happened at Marshall and Goddard. What is making all the ships

sail home, or snow fall in Miami, or the birds fly to their nesting grounds out of season. What’s making so many people get in

their cars and start driving?’

‘You think it’s aliens!?’

‘OK maybe not aliens but something extra-terrestrial in the literal sense of the word – something outside the earth. Something

that’s affecting everybody. Again, let’s stick to the evidence. We know for a fact that the rhythms of life are directly

affected by cosmic phenomena, right? And by that I’m not talking about Capricorn rising and Leo on the cusp or any of that crap,

I’m talking birds migrating using the magnetic fields of the earth to navigate and the tides linked directly to the phases of the

moon.’

Franklin nodded. ‘All right I’m listening. What do you think might be causing it – and please don’t say aliens.’

‘OK, so while I was working at NASA I realized that the things that get reported are only a tiny fraction of what actually gets

discovered. NASA is very prickly about its standing in the scientific community and is very careful to keep a lid on anything that

might attract the wrong kind of headlines. A few years back, while I was working there, Hubble picked up the trail of some immense

gravity wash. It was never reported because no one could work out what had caused it, but one of the theories was that it might

have been created by a planet travelling on an erratic, millennia-long orbit that would make it vanish for thousands of years

before it swung back to sweep right through our solar system. There are plenty of records of events like it in ancient

civilizations, suggesting that people may have witnessed similar fly-pasts thousands of years ago. With the intersection of orbits

and the combined gravity pulls of massive celestial objects a collision would not be out of the question. It would be cataclysmic,

the end of everything, the end of days – just like Kinderman wrote in his diary. So perhaps he and Professor Douglas did see

something coming, like a meteor or this huge planet the ancient prophets warned us about. And maybe that’s why the whole world

has gone nuts.’

‘Then why not go public with it?’

Shepherd shook his head. ‘I don’t know.’ He pointed at Cooper still preaching from the live feed. ‘And I can’t work out how

he fits into all this either.’

‘Maybe he doesn’t,’ Franklin said. ‘Perhaps the whole Tower of Babel, hell and damnation thing is just a coincidence, another

symptom of whatever’s going on.’ He took a breath and blew it out in a long stream. ‘OK, confession time. This … what you’re

describing, this feeling or whatever it is that’s making people behave strangely – I feel it too.’

‘Since when?’

‘A few months maybe.’

‘And getting stronger.’

‘Yeah.’

Shepherd nodded. ‘Like that feeling you get when you’re running late. A sick feeling almost – half physical and half an emotion

– like you’re in the wrong place and need to be somewhere else.’

Franklin nodded. ‘You feel it too.’

‘For the last few months and getting stronger.’

‘OK, so just for instance let’s assume everyone is experiencing the same thing, only Cooper comes to the conclusion that it’s

all down to God’s impending judgement and decides he’s the man to try and do something about it. So he sends the cards, maybe

even sends the letters.’

‘Agreed, but it still doesn’t follow that it made Kinderman and Douglas effectively take hammers to several billion dollars’

worth of space hardware.’

The laptop beeped loudly, drawing Franklin’s attention. ‘What’s that?’

Shepherd felt blood rush to his face and was about to launch into a lie when he realized that the alert had sounded different from

the previous ones. It had not come from his MPD search but from the ghost file. He opened it up and found a note from Smith.

Managed to recover a few more bits of data. Two terms pop up a few times: Göbekli Tepe and Home. Let me know if it’s astronomy

jargon or not. Smith

‘Anything useful?’ Franklin asked.

‘Maybe.’ Shepherd dug out his phone, scrolled to the recent calls list and called a number. It clicked a few times then

connected.

‘Hubble Control center.’

‘Merriweather, it’s Shepherd. We found something else. Does Göbekli Tepe ring any bells?’

‘How you spelling that?’

Shepherd told him.

‘Never heard of it, where’s it come from?’

‘We found it on Dr Kinderman’s hard drive. You don’t think it’s something he might have been studying?’

‘If he was, he never mentioned it to me.’

‘OK, thanks.’

‘Sorry I wasn’t more help. Oh, by the way after we spoke last time I called a buddy of mine over at Keck in case he’d seen

anything weird in Taurus. He said there’s nothing there that shouldn’t be.’

‘OK, thanks, Merriweather.’

‘Anytime. How’s the manhunt going?’

‘Still hunting.’

‘Good luck with that. Anything I can do, I’m here all week.’

‘Thanks.’ Shepherd hung up. ‘According to our man on the inside it’s not a star or anything like that.’ He leaned forward,

his fingers fast-typing GOBEKLI TEPE into Google and hitting Return, half expecting no response at all. What he got was almost two

hundred thousand hits. The top one was a Wikipedia entry.

Göbekli Tepe Turkish: [2] (“Potbelly” or “Home Hill” [3]) is a Neolithic (Stone Age) hilltop sanctuary erected at the top of a

mountain ridge in the southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. It is the oldest known wholly human-made religious structure and

also the oldest observatory believed to have been constructed by the proto-religious tribe known as the Mala [4] c. 11,000 years

ago – pre-dating its more famous British counterpart Stonehenge by around 8,000 years.

‘God damn,’ Franklin said, ‘another observatory.’

The site contains 20 round structures that were deliberately buried sometime in the 8th century BCE. Four have so far been

excavated. Each has a diameter of between 10 and 30 meters (30 and 100 ft) and is made up of massive limestone pillars arranged in

the exact shape of certain constellations.

Shepherd clicked on the Images option and a selection of thumbnails cascaded down the screen. Most showed an especially large

stone monolith capped by a smaller one to form the unmistakable shape of an elongated letter T.

The T

Shepherd checked back through the notes and there it was again on the first list CARBON had found on Kinderman’s drive. He

returned to the Google search and clicked one of the images, opening it up large so the carvings on the main column were now

visible. There was a snake, a scorpion, and a bull on the side of it – constellation signs – but it was the caption beneath that

caught Shepherd’s eye.

The main pillar, or Home Stone, is the largest monolith and also the only one that does not correspond to an existing star.

Home

Shepherd stared at the screen, his eyes flicking between the various open windows – the Home Stone, Cooper silently preaching

from the live feed and gesturing out of the window at the flotilla of ships in the harbour, Smith’s last message with the word “

Home” highlighted.

‘Home,’ Shepherd said. He sat up in his chair as the idea took hold. ‘That guy who picked us up from the airfield said the

sailors were all saying the same thing – that they just needed to get home. So if there is some extraordinary event happening out

there in space, some kind of game changer, maybe Dr Kinderman and Professor Douglas felt it too.’

‘But we checked Kinderman and Douglas’s homes already.’

‘Did we though? If I say “home” what does it mean to you?’

‘Where my family is, I guess.’

‘Exactly. Only Kinderman doesn’t have any family and neither does Douglas. So home for them must mean something else. Probably

the place where they were born.’ Shepherd sat bolt upright in his chair.

‘I think I know where Professor Douglas is,’ he said.





53





Sergeant Beddoes drummed his gloved fingers on the wheel of the cruiser. He was parked behind a billboard on the verge of the main

road into town, waiting for speeding cars, not that he expected any today.

The snow had taken everyone by surprise. They were used to it up here in the mountains, but not like this and not without warning.

It had come down so fast that he hadn’t had time to put the snow chains on his car and twice now he’d nearly slid off the road.

On top of that the world had gone crazy overnight. He’d been called out to a near riot at the Wal-Mart on the edge of town after

people started panic-buying everything in the store. He’d gone in to help break it up and seen people who’d known each other all

their lives, fighting over bottled water and canned food. He’d had to pull his gun at one point, but at least he hadn’t had to

use it. He’d heard stories of full-scale riots in some of the bigger cities, police firing on civilians, law and order breaking

down as the gas pumps ran dry and the stores ran out of food because the delivery trucks had stopped rolling. It had made him

wonder if Reverend Parkes had been right and that judgement day was just around the corner.

For the last few months the Reverend had preached nothing else, telling his small, devoted congregation how a new Tower of Babel

had brought it all about and that demons were already walking the earth in the shape of men to cause chaos and inspire sin that

they might be damned and claimed by Satan when the time came. He had told them to stockpile food, batteries and water – and he

had been right. He had also talked to him in private, telling about the secret army that was in place, Christian soldiers drawn

from every walk of life ready to fight the forces of evil when they came.

‘We can all fight for the Lord,’ the Reverend had said, ‘each of us in our own small way.’ And he had told Beddoes how he

could help, using his position as a police officer to watch out for the signs and report them to those who would know their

significance. Beddoes had nodded and agreed to do whatever the Reverend thought he should, though he didn’t quite understand how

he could be of much use.

Beddoes reached up and held the crucifix he kept on a chain round his neck along with the St Christopher his mother had given him

when he first qualified as a patrolman. ‘To keep you safe and bring you home,’ she had said. He’d been thinking about home a

lot lately, though home wasn’t the same now she had gone. The church filled some of the gap left by her passing, but not all of

it. Nothing ever could.

A ping sounded on the dashboard. He looked up to find the LoJack receiver had activated but there was nothing on the road. There

was a stolen car in the area, heading north by the looks of it. He grabbed his radio to call the dispatcher then paused. He pulled

his glove off with his teeth and fumbled in his pocket for the prayer book the Reverend had given him to keep close by, a weapon

in the coming war, and flipped to the back. There was an alphanumeric code next to a cell phone number. He compared it to the one

on the display and felt his mouth go dry.

They were the same.

He took out his own personal phone and dialled the number written in the prayer book.

Demons in human form – he thought, just as the line connected.





54





‘OK, we’re off the air.’

The Reverend Fulton Cooper held his final gesture of prayer for a few beats then opened his eyes, dropped his hands to his sides

and smiled. ‘Good show, everyone,’ he said, casting smiles around the room. The bright studio lights cut out and across the room

he saw the pale moon face of Miss Boerman framed by her severe haircut and suit. She was standing by the door, looking straight at

him. She nodded when she saw she had caught his attention then turned and slipped back outside.

‘Take a break but don’t go far,’ he announced to the room as he moved towards the exit. ‘The Lord has much work for us yet to

do. We’re live again in an hour.’

He passed through the door and felt the relative cool of the outside air on his skin.

‘They’re in the chapel,’ Miss Boerman said, the thin scar on her cheek puckering when she spoke. The mark of his hand from

earlier was no longer visible. She handed him a small plain envelope. He opened it and studied the contents.

‘This up to date?’ he asked, slipping the note back in the envelope and tucking it into his jacket.

‘As of five minutes ago.’

‘Everything else set up?’

‘Gassed and ready to go.’

‘Anyone needs me, tell them I’m at private prayer and not to be disturbed.’ He moved past her and headed down the stairs, the

leather of his Italian shoes clacking first against the wooden steps, then against flagstones as he arrived in the basement and

passed through a solid wooden door in the shape of an arch.

The chapel had been built in the old cellars, making good use of the existing vaulted brickwork and stone floors. It was small

with three rows of wooden pews either side of a narrow aisle leading to a lectern which stood before a large stained-glass window

that was artificially lit from behind so God’s light could permanently shine through it. Cooper occasionally recorded segments of

his shows down here, but he also used it for meetings because it was quiet and out of the way and there was another door hidden

behind the altar, a requirement of the fire department regulations that also allowed people to enter the chapel without anyone in

the main part of the building knowing they were there.

Eli and Carrie were kneeling at the altar, their backs to him, their heads bowed. Eli jumped as the door banged shut – still

fighting his demons. Carrie reached out to him with a gentle, calming hand that had killed eighteen people to Cooper’s sure

knowledge. He caught her profile as she turned; the slightly upturned nose that made her seem younger than she actually was and

inclined people to underestimate her, just as they did with him, only with her it was often the last mistake they ever made.

‘Praise God for watching over you and delivering you safely,’ Cooper said, smiling down at them as they turned round. He

beckoned them over to the tech desk set up at the back of the room, which they used when they recorded down here. He turned on the

monitor and heard the scuff of Eli’s steps approaching, but he didn’t hear Carrie’s. She was the only person he knew who could

walk up the two-hundred-year-old main wooden staircase inside the house without making a single sound.

They were showing a re-run of the morning show. After a few minutes the picture cut to a recorded section and Cooper pointed at

the two men in suits sitting on the sofa opposite him. ‘Are these the people you saw in Dr Kinderman’s house?’

‘Yes,’ Carrie confirmed.

‘They came here asking about all kinds of things but left with nothing. I trust you were careful in your observations of the good

doctor’s house?’

‘No one saw us,’ Eli said, his voice flat and empty as always. ‘I guarantee it.’

‘Good. That’s very good.’

Carrie and Eli exchanged a look. ‘We seen it on the news,’ she said, ‘about the telescopes. We was thinking, now that the

mission you set for us is over, now that those telescopes are no longer –’

‘We want to get married,’ Eli said. ‘We want you to marry us. Right now.’

Cooper turned and smiled at them. ‘And so I shall,’ he said. ‘So I shall.’ He moved past them, walking back up the aisle

towards the fake sunshine streaming in through the window. He stopped in front of the lectern and stared up at the cross. ‘We’ve

come a long way, the three of us, from that hell in the desert – a long, long way. And our journey is nearly over. But it is not

over yet.’

‘But the towers have fallen,’ Carrie said, her voice small and unsure. ‘The telescopes …’

Cooper turned to face them. ‘They may have been destroyed but the wrath of the Lord is still evident for all to see, is it not?

He is still greatly angered by the audacity and insult of those that built them. Destroying them was only part of His plan. The

architects of the heresy must also be made examples of. For if I destroy the temple of mine enemy yet suffer the priest to live,

will not he go forth and build a temple anew?

‘The sacred mission I gave to you both will not end until those who fashioned this great sin are made to atone for their actions.

Only by making an example of them can we warn others of the dangers of sin.

‘Now I know you two love each other with a passion that is strong and pure: and I would not seek to stand between something as

beautiful as that. But God sent you to me for a purpose, just as surely as He spoke and told me in that still small voice the

service He would have you do in His name.

‘Remember how I found you in the desert, broken by the sins you had been made to perform. Now I want you to remember what I said

to you back in that field hospital in Iraq, I want you to recall for me the piece of Scripture I gave you to speak of your higher

purpose and remind you of who you are.’

Carrie answered in her tiny voice. ‘Therefore, take up the full armour of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day,

and having done everything, to stand firm.’

Cooper nodded. ‘Ephesians, chapter six, verse thirteen. And you see now how the evil day that was prophesied is upon us, and that

now is the time to stand firm. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness He prevailed by keeping His mind on His calling, on His

mission on Earth, and saying, “Get thee behind me Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him alone

shalt thou serve.”’

He reached out and took their hands and held them in his. ‘“Him alone shalt thou serve.” Believe me I would like nothing

better, nothing better in this world than to unite you two warriors of God in the blessed union of marriage.’ He let go of their

hands and took a step back. ‘But His work is not yet done. And only when it is completed will we be free to pursue our own

desires.’ He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the envelope Miss Boerman had given him. ‘But never forget that you

are not alone in your service of the Lord. You will see from this information that there are many others engaged in the good

fight, many others who are part of the same brother and sisterhood who would also see His will be done. Our reach is long for He

sees all.’

Carrie took the envelope and opened the flap with the stiletto of her finger. Inside was a printout showing a section of map with

a town in the centre called Cherokee. There was also a time, an alphanumeric number, a compass heading and a note saying:

approximate distance to target, four miles.

‘Some people sympathetic to our cause did me the courtesy of installing LoJack devices to the cars of Dr Kinderman and Professor

Douglas. I figured it might be useful to know where they were in case they managed to evade us. Dr Kinderman’s car has been in

the long-term parking lot of Dulles International airport since early yesterday evening. I think it’s safe to surmise that he is

no longer in the country but we have others looking into where he may have gone. The signal from Professor Douglas’s car,

however, was picked up by a State Trooper in Swain County, North Carolina about a half an hour ago.’ He pointed at the piece of

paper. ‘That gives you a rough idea of where he is. It’s about a five-hour drive from here on good roads, so it will probably

take you a little longer today, the weather being the way it is. If you head off now you should get there before dark.’

He closed his eyes and looked up, one hand on his heart, the other raised in front of him like a benediction. ‘I pray you, God,

watch over these, your servants, along the righteous path so they may do your work, and bring these foul sinners to swift and

rightful atonement so that their souls may finally be freed from the burden thou hast given them, Amen.’

He opened his eyes and smiled at them both, as though something wonderful had just happened. ‘You should make a start. Daylight

is burning. If you leave the way you came in, Miss Boerman will give you everything you need. We will have more accurate

information by the time you get to Cherokee. Remember, we need to send a message to anyone else who would dare to stare upon the

face of God. I’m counting on you to send that message, loud and clear. And if anyone tries to stop you in this sacred mission,

anyone at all, be they civilian or officer of the law, then they must also be sacrificed in the name of the greater glory.’