The Eye of Moses - Vatican Knights Series 22 (2020), Rick Jones [learn to read books txt] 📗

until they came upon a bullet-shaped doorway that looked more medieval than contemporary. Thick piles of wood were pieced together with black metal bands and rivets to hold them tight. Behind it was a chamber that was seven hundred years old.

After a commando placed Semtex pads along hinges whose bolts were deeply embedded inside the castle-rock doorjamb, he then inserted detonation plugs, cleared the area, then flipped the toggle on his remote. The explosion was so powerful that splintered wood and fist-sized chunks of stone skated across the floor, while rolling plumes of dust raced through the corridors. As thick eddies of smoke continued to roll and swirl, the team entered and swept the room for targets, only to discover zero threats.

Within, great treasures sat in pyramidal-shaped mounds—rubies, sapphires, jade, and gold coins—with each pile having their Aurora-Borealis-like illuminations attempting to touch the ceiling. Ancient torches that had burned for seven centuries continued to remain as antiquated remnants, since the room had changed to electric lamps decades ago.

Lined against one of the walls were some of the Gold Shields of Solomon, with every shield having a mirror-polish to them. There were more treasures in the form of golden idols and Christian crosses, some weighing hundreds of pounds.

Here were the hidden treasures of the Knights Templar.

After the team completed its sweep, they converged to the central point of the room. Sitting upon an ivory platform was the Templar’s most prized possession: The Ark of the Covenant. It was brilliantly crafted, having been made from the wood of the acacia tree and covered with the purest gold. It was a cubit-and-a-half broad, a cubit-and-a-half high, and two cubits long with the upper lid, the mercy seat, surrounded by a rim of gold. On each of the two sides were two gold rings where two wooden poles were placed so that the Ark could be carried. Situated on top of the Ark were two cherubim figures that faced each other with the tips of their outspread wings touching the others, forming the throne of God while the Ark itself was judged to be His footstool.

After circling the Ark both in appraisal and admiration, Salt called for the lid to be removed. In quick response, four commandos each took a corner and hoisted the top from the golden cradle, then set it carefully upon the floor. Without hesitation, Salt looked inside the Ark and was perhaps the first man to do so for millenniums.

Inside the Ark were four items: the two tablets of the Ten Commandments, a bowl of manna whose contents had turned to dust long ago, and the petrified staff of Aaron's rod. At the head of the staff and embedded within the aged wood was a crystal that cocooned a glowing ember, a small particle that seemed to spin slowly upon its axis within this quartz-like mineral. It pulsated with a life of its own and to the measure that was in tune with the beat of a human heartbeat.

Salt—after snapping his fingers to galvanize one of his commandos—stepped away from the Ark as another took his place. Festooning across the soldier’s back like a bandolier was a rectangular container that was sizeable enough to hold a billiard cue. After placing the box on the floor next to the Ark and opening its lid, Salt told the operator to use care when transferring the relic.

Taking great attention and using care, the commando reached inside the Ark and grabbed the rod. The element contained within its crystallized compartment continued to glow and rotate, with the bright cast of its illumination coloring the soldier’s face amber. With prudent measure as though he was lifting a newborn from its crib, the commando, with reverence, placed the staff into the box.

“Careful,” Salt repeated softly. “What you hold in your hands is something that pre-dates Christ.”

Once the item was placed inside and the lid lowered to cancel out the shine of the particle’s light, the box was locked and secured.

With a single gesture from Salt, the unit double-timed from the chamber with only a single item in their possession: the rod of Aaron.

No other treasures had been disturbed.

 

CHAPTER

SIX

Cochem, Germany

Present day

A few hours after the raid in Croatia, the news at the Consortium home front was not good at all. Six members of the Consortium League had been killed with the consensus being that they were done so by a team of soldiers with a high degree of military sophistication. Those who protected Consortium grounds were of elite training, commandos who were gifted with their own unique brand of skillsets. Yet they were handled with no apparent difficulty.

Mr. da Vinci, who was sitting at his desk watching the attack unfold on his PC monitor, played the videos over and over until minuscule details not readily noticed finally came to light.

There was no doubt that this unit was a special corps of elites who performed with a specific agenda in mind. Even with a number of warrens to get lost in, they knew exactly where to go. This divulged to Mr. da Vinci that the blueprints of the Croatian facility had been appropriated from their data banks, meaning that the system’s firewalls had failed. There was also evidence to suggest that the hackers had tried to secure information regarding the whereabouts of the Consortium Stronghold, which was blocked by their primary servers. He also discovered that these computer breaches had been taking place over a three-year period without detection.

Rubbing his chin in deep thought as he continued to monitor the screen, he was gravely concerned that not a single gem or coin had been stolen, which was the measure of discipline. Equally disturbing was the item that had been taken: the rod of Aaron—which, embedded within its wood, was literally the power of God.

Long ago, after Nature selected the dinosaurs for extinction with time eventually passing the scepter of rule to the Homo Sapien, Earth had since become the cradle of discontent as wars, prejudices and savage