John Lyman - The Secret Chapel

He had to tell the others. He hit the print button and ran off a copy before running upstairs and outside to the poolside bar where everyone was transfixed in front of the TV. No one moved or spoke as they watched the images of the devastation in Houston scroll across the screen. Daniel grabbed Leo by the arm and shoved the printout into his hand.

Father Leo’s face drained of color before he turned to John. “John, where’s the Devil’s Bible?”

“Alon and I decided to lock it up in the weapons room until we leave for Rome.”

“From now on, John, we can’t let it out of our sight. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. The book must always be in the possession of one of us … one of the chosen.”

“That room is made of solid concrete, Leo. It’s got a thick steel door like those used in bank vaults. Besides, no one could possibly get into that room with all the security they have around here.”

“We can’t underestimate the power of the book or those who may want to take it. We’re dealing with supernatural forces that dwell in an entirely different realm from us, and no amount of concrete or steel will keep them out. The book needs to be kept in the possession of one of the five who took it … one of the chosen. I just pray that we’re not too late.”

The tragic news of Houston was pushed into the background as everyone jumped from their chairs and raced through the villa and down the stairs to the command center. No one spoke. They all stood looking at the locked steel door as Alon began punching the combination. A series of clicks, and then, slowly, the heavy door began to swing open. The group stood by and held their collective breath while Alon and Leo stood at the entrance and waited.

As soon as the door was halfway open, Alon reached in and switched on the lights. John’s backpack was still lying on the floor where he had left it. Everyone rushed forward, trying all at once to crowd through the doorway. Leo knelt down by the backpack and peered inside. He exhaled a sigh of relief and reluctantly pulled the nightmarish object out into the open.

The Devil’s Bible was obviously a very ancient book. It was thick with a red covering made from some unknown type of material. The front of the book was covered in raised black symbols … unknown symbols from a dark world. Excluding the mysterious symbols, no other markings were present.

Leo hesitated before opening the cover and leafing through the thick parchment-like pages. There was no doubt in the priest’s mind that this book was a real instrument belonging to Satan, and he felt a panicky need to drop the book to the floor. The mere touch of it sent shivers up his spine. He sensed a malevolent force beginning to permeate the very air they were breathing, and he knew the power within was strong.

Without warning, something flashed in the periphery of Leo’s vision just as a warm breeze touched their faces. He stepped back with the realization that there was something in the room with them. He grabbed a flask of holy water from his shirt pocket and quickly doused the book with the liquid. A loud thump shook the building. It was followed by a low snarl that was heard by everyone as the smell of something dead and rotting began to fill the air.

Everyone began to cough and gag in an attempt to rid themselves of the noxious odor, while several broke and ran from the room in an effort to get as far away from the odor and intense feeling of fear they felt in the book’s presence.

“I think that smell is coming from the Devil’s Bible,” Ariella shouted.

Lev leaned closer before stepping back and holding his hand over his nose. “It is!”

Leo quickly doused it once again and prayed. Slowly, the odor started to subside, along with the evil presence they had all felt was so close just moments before. It was as if the book was a living entity, dying in the absence of its master.

Could it be decaying? Had the book been somehow protected from disintegrating under the sands of the desert, encased inside Satan’s cathedral? Leo examined the unknown writing on the cover before realizing that he needed Daniel’s talent with computers. “Daniel, could you come here for a moment?”

A look of horror crossed Daniel’s face as he approached the book as if it were alive. “What do you want, Father?” He felt like his heart was going to stop. The thing repulsed him, and he wanted nothing to do with it.

Lev held his hand up in front of Daniel before walking over and running his fingers across the raised symbols on the cover. “What’s on your mind, Leo?”

“We’ve got to scan this book page by page into the computer so we can analyze it later. I’m concerned the book itself might be changing somehow, and we can’t risk losing what’s written inside. This book could very well hold a code like the one in God’s Bible … a code that we can use in the future.”

People who broke codes for a living possessed a special curiosity when it came to solving puzzles. That was why most of them entered the field in the first place. This same driving curiosity was now pushing Daniel to overcome his revulsion at being so close to pure evil as he looked around at the others before slowly reaching out and taking the Devil’s Bible from Leo’s hands. “Any idea what this thing is made from?”

“Looks kind of like leather,” John said.

Holding it at arm’s length, Daniel walked over to his computer station and laid the book on the scanner. “I’ll clip a piece off the back cover and send it to the lab for testing.” He snipped a small piece from the corner, and then, with a scholar’s methodical touch, he began to scan it, page by page, until the entire text was uploaded into the computer. The exact nature of the material the book was made from was still unclear, but Daniel noticed that water had obviously not harmed the book when the cavern flooded.

A unique curiosity was also the hallmark of a good archaeologist, and Ariella was no exception. The ancient book seemed to mesmerize her as she reached out to touch it. Lev’s hand shot out and grabbed her by the arm as if he had seen a poisonous snake on the table.

“I think enough of us have touched it. We still don’t know what kind of power it has.”

Ariella nodded and stepped away, knowing that her father had undoubtedly felt something dark and evil within when he had touched the book.

When Daniel was finished, Leo took the book and placed it in a waterproof plastic bag. He then placed it inside a clear container filled with holy water and slid the whole package inside John’s backpack and handed it to him.

“Never ever let that book out of your sight again until we get back to Rome,” Leo said.

John looked directly into Leo’s eyes. “You can depend on me, Father. Where I go, this book goes.”

Everyone’s nerves were shot. Events were rushing at them from all directions, and Leo was growing fearful that things would spin so out of control that the team would reach a point where they would be unable to emotionally and psychologically process it all.

The nuclear attack in America, together with another close encounter with an unseen force within the command center itself, was creating an environment of constant fear. The fear of the unknown, coupled with the fear of what lay ahead in a worsening global situation, would soon drive everyone into overload.

What they all needed now more than anything else was reassurance and a break from the constant pressure. Many of them had still not come to grips with what had occurred in the desert the night before and were in a mental state of detachment resembling battle fatigue.

After Leo discussed the situation with Lev, he motioned for everyone to follow him upstairs. He led them outside and over the wooden walkway across the dunes until they came to a stop at the water’s edge. Father Leo stared straight out at the sea. He didn’t look back, and he didn’t speak as his puzzled followers gathered behind him. With no hint of why they were there, God’s chosen warriors sat on the warm sand and felt the spray from the sea bathe them in the briny perfume of the ocean.