"Nephilim - 03 - The Revealing" - читать интересную книгу автора (Marzulli L A)

He was nearing the place where the scroll he sought was being keptЧthe Tower of David Museum. Earlier in the d?y he had shape-shifted into one of the guards. When the scroll had arrived he followed it to the laboratory where it would be photographed, cleaned, and f?nally translated. The scroll had been under close scrutiny and no opportunity had presented itself to steal it. So Azazel had left to wait for another chance. Now he stood near the entrance of the museum, which was well-lit. Azazel stopped across the street and then trans-formed himself into a mist and floated across the street and under the door of the ancient tower. He moved down the empty halls, a foglike specter, staying close to the baseboard along the floor. At one point he passed a guard who had no idea of the creature that moved silently just a few feet away from where he stood.
He found the room and slid under the door. Once inside, he resumed the form of Mr. Wyan. Glancing around, he saw what he was looking for. The scroll had been unrolled and was placed under a sheet of glass. He moved the glass aside, letting his hand run over the surface of the scroll, and looked at the strange writing. What is this? He didn't recognize the strange shapes. No matter, Von Schverdt will have his people look into it and with their computers decipher it. He rolled it up and tucked it into the inside of his trench coat as he walked to the door.
He unlocked the bolts and moved out into the hall. Listening, he heard a multitude of sounds: the boilers in the basement, a rat scurrying in the wall on the floor level below, the ticking of clocks in every room and lab in the building, the whine of computers, a passing car outside. He focused on the sound that he sought: the breathing of the security guard on the lower floor. He located tw? other guards, one on the floor above him and another in the building's commissary. Then he walked down the hall, staying near the wall. He saw the cam-era at the end of the hall and paused a moment. He reached toward it with one hand and an inky cloud enveloped the camera.
Coming to the staircase, he bounded up the three flights to the door that opened onto the roof. It had an alarm attached to it. Azazel reached his hand out again, and the wires that ran from the alarm melted and fused together. Opening the door, he stepped out onto the roof. Then he spread out his arms and shape-shifted into his true formЧa reptilian creature with dark wings folded across its back. He unfolded his wings, then leaped from the building and flew into the night air, clutching the scroll in his clawed hand.

2
*0*
Art MacKenzie brushed a dark lock of hair from his fore-head and then ran his fingers through his scalp. He had awakened early, just at daybreak, and wondered for a minute where he was, then realized he was at Elisha BenHassen's house just outside Jerusalem. He got out of bed and, after slip-ping into his jeans and a T-shirt, went in search of a cup of coffee. The house was still, and he assumed Elisha had not yet risen. He fo~nd the coffee and started a fresh pot brewing. Minutes later, hot coffee in hand, he made his way to Elisha's librar?.
Mac glanced at the rows of books that lay in all directions. Most had slips of paper marking particular passages. Others were opened and l?y atop other books in the shelf. Three computers, their screen savers showing an endless universe, sat atop of what was once a dining room table. A large map of the Middle East was suspended on the far wall. ? fax machine had spewed dozens of pages that were scattered over the floor, due to a broken tray that lay next to the machine.
"Good morning, MacKenzie," Elisha said. The old man came into the room holding a mug of coffee. He was in his bathrobe, and his disheveled hair and trifocal glasses made h?m look a little like Einstein.
Mac smiled. "Good morning, Elisha."
"Well, MacKenzie, how did you sleep?"
"Very well, th?nk you," he lied.
El?sha went over to the fax machine and gathered the paper from the floor. "I wish I could say the same. Restless night."
"1 lied," Mac confessed. "Same goes for me. I don't think I slept for more than a couple of hours. Bad dreams."
El?sha nodded. "??u have reall? been through it from what you said. I had along talk with Johanen before he left."
"Oh, what about?"
"The next move . . . from the Enemy. He believes that time is very short. People all over the world are talking about the mysterious sign in the heavens."
"Yeah, the man on the street is scared. And who wouldn't be? When was the last time anything like that happened?"
El?sha thought for a moment. "Fatima, Portugal, in 1917. Seventy thousand people saw something. It was called the `Miracle of the Sun.' I've been researching this, and I believe it was a precursor of things to come. A harbinger from the Enemy, one of the signs that Scripture tells us to be aware of in the last days."
Mac took a sip of coffee. "What happened?"
"A long story, Mac, but the short of it is, that seventy thou-sand people saw the sun spin and fall to the ground. Of course it was a local occurrence; the sun didn't s??? or fall from the sky anywhere else in the world, only in Fatima."
"You called it a harbinger?"
"Yes, I believe that in the Last Days counterfeit miracles will be shown to those on earth."
"And the sign that we sawЧthe supposed reemergence of the Bethlehem starЧis just such a sign."
"The Internet is buzzing with chat about it. TV, radio, everyone has an opinion on it. Even the pope commented on it. Of course, we kn?? who is behind it and how it is going to be used to deceive the nations."
Mac and Elisha were discussing a false sign that had appeared over the country ofYemen a few days earlier, a sup-posed reoccurrence of the star of Bethlehem. Mac and Johanen had seen it firsthand and knew that it was part of an elaborate scheme designed to deceive.
"I think it already has, to some degree," Mac said. "People are believing the lie from the Enemy because they have abandoned the truth of God's Word."
Mac nodded. "Yeah, it amazes me. It's actually written down for everybody to see for themselves, but most people still don't get it. `There but for the grace of God go I,' if it hadn't have been for Johanen and you."
"Yes, the Scriptures tell us that only the wise will understand."
Mac asked, "What's on the agenda today?"
"We're going back to Mossad headquarters to meet with
El?sha's grandson Ur! worked with Elisha researching the UFO phenomena. "We need to discuss the sign in more detail and also the scroll which was stolen. And there are other developments that have my ear to the ground."
"Such as?"
"Troop movements in neighboring countries. It was one of the reasons I had little sleep. It seems that Iran is engaging in military maneuvers. Nothing unusual about that, except that they were joined by Egypt. Now that Iran is armed with nuclear capability it becomes unsettling."
"Any word on the scroll?" Mac asked, referring to the ancient scroll that had been handed off to him by a mysterious robed figure in Yemen, then, somehow, stolen from the Tower of David Museum two nights ago. Johanen had believed that the scroll contained vital information that might help them in their ongoing conflict with the Cadre.
Elisha turned away from MacKenzie. "Nothing yet. But Johanen believes that the Cadre has something to do with it."
"How could they have broken into the museum and stolen it?" Mac asked.
Mac watched Elisha adjust several books on the shelf in front of him. "Truly a mystery," Elisha began. "There were no signs of a break-in. One of the security cameras suddenly clouded over, but the people who examined it believe it was most likely a transmission malfunction. And the guards reported nothing out of the ordinaryЧyet the scroll is gone."
Elisha wearily sank into a chair. "We need to keep a watchful eye, MacKenzie. Johanen believes, as I do, that the time is very near for them to begin the Great Deception. In some ways it has already begun with the appearance of the sign. The time of the end appears to be upon us."
"So what's next, Doctor?"
Elisha shook his head. "We'll have to wait and see."



3
*0*

Come on, Nora, hurry it up," a lanky black man coaxed, his bloodshot eyes darting over his shoulder and up the garbage-infested alleyway.
"You want t? do it?" Nora challenged back, letting her hands fall to her sides.