Chapter I
October 1, 1999
“In the year of the second millennium… in the new lands to the west...”
The two men rode silently in the back of the cab, their eyes sharing the hollow look of long travel mixed with quiet uncertainty.
“Will he do it?” the thinner of the men asked nervously for the tenth time since leaving the airport.
“He will do it,” the heavier of the two sighed, his patience wearing thin with the other man. “Not without some convincing however, of that I am certain. But he has the fortitude needed for the task my old friend, he has gargantuan proportions of it. The only thing he may be lacking in…is faith. Once we persuade him of the need, the faith will follow. I have an unwavering confidence in him.”
“I wish I could share in your confidence,” the other man mumbled while wiping the tiredness out of his face with his hands. “The stakes are gargantuan! Why would someone like him be the one chosen? From what you have told me, he has done nothing in his life that would prepare him for this.”
Waving his hand wildly at the houses passing the cab, “Outside of this Podunk little town, he is a virtual unknown,” he yelled. “He has done nothing on a worldly scale!”
The cabbie looked worriedly into the rearview mirror as the heavyset man placed his hand calmly on his friend’s shoulder.
“There, there Franklin. You are scaring the man.”
Pasting on a smile and looking forward, “Please excuse my friend dear sir, we have been traveling for many days, and I do believe he has reached his limit.”
The cabbie continued his worried stare for a few moments before shaking his head and once again concentrating on the road ahead.
Franklin Buff shook his head in despair. “Please forgive me my old friend,” he whispered, “but the enormity of it all…I didn’t ask for this you know!”
His eyes were wide with emotion as he sat back in his seat dejectedly.
“I dare say no one would be totally prepared for a discovery such as yours Franklin. It’s unfortunate that it happened so late in our lives my friend, younger men would be much better suited to the task.”
As the speaker glanced out the window, the cab slowed to a stop in front of a nicely maintained older house.
“Ah! Here we are now!”
Exiting the cab, the man leaned into the front window to pay for their trip as his friend grabbed their luggage out of the trunk. As the cab departed in a cloud of blue smoke, the man known as Franklin gazed after it longingly.
Meanwhile, the heavyset man…the professor…gazed at the house with a tentative smile. It would be good to see him again…if it were only under different circumstances.
Leaning forward slightly to gain momentum, the professor started up the sidewalk at a fast clip.
“Come Franklin, the day has but only started.”
Picking up the suitcases, Franklin fell in behind the professor with little enthusiasm. Making their way up the steps and onto the porch, the professor rapped on the door quickly, taking a step back and removing his wide brimmed hat as an afterthought.
After a few moments, they heard a noise from within the house…the sound of glass breaking…followed by a mumbled curse.
“Coming!” they then heard from behind the door as someone fumbled with the lock.
The door finally swung open, banging against the wall as the occupant carelessly flung it open.
Standing before them stood a man of average height and build, his dirty blonde hair flattened on one side of his head as if from sleeping. He carried dark bags under his eyes, and his right arm was slung in a cast.
“Help you?” he mumbled while rubbing his eyes with his good hand. His cutoff jeans revealed a leg wrapped in gauze, a streak of dried blood running across it a good four inches. His ragged tee-shirt, exhibiting a multitude of holes and rips, looked to be a day or two past its prime.
“This is the guy?” Franklin had moved his lips close to the professor’s ear to whisper. “I fear we are doomed.”
The professor ignored Franklin’s words, merely smiling as he took in the man in the doorway.
“It is a pleasure to see you again my boy!”
The man stopped rubbing his eyes, his hand staying in place for a few moments before he dropped it to squint out into the daylight surrounding the men on his porch.
A look of recognition crossed his face suddenly, closely followed by another look of confusion.
“Julien?”
“It is indeed Gabriel! May we come in?”
Gabriel’s confusion seemed to hold him fast in place until he remembered his manners.
“Of course, of course, come in…please!”
Stepping aside, he let the men enter the cool kitchen before closing the door behind them. Turning, he was met by the older man’s extended hand.
“I must say, you look much worse for wear than the last time we parted my dear boy.”
Taking the professor’s hand in his, his eyes came more to life, exhibiting some of the sparkle that the professor remembered from their time in Peru.
“We just finished a case yesterday Julien. As you can see, I didn’t escape it unscathed.”
“Indeed!” Julien Taylor exclaimed, “I do hope the other man is at least in comparable shape?”
Gabriel shook his head. “He didn’t make it…but it was no great loss to mankind, believe me.”
He seemed to realize his manners again suddenly. “Please, come in, have a seat. Would you like some coffee?”
“Tea for me,” Franklin interjected, having used up all of his patience on the trip.
“Gabriel,” the professor interrupted quickly, “The cantankerous man on my left is Dr. Franklin Buff. Besides being infused with very poor manners, he is best known as a crack Archeologist. In point of fact, if not for a recent discovery of his, I would not be here now.”
Dr. Buff ignored Gabriel’s outstretched hand as he took a seat at the table. Shrugging, Gabriel started his preparations as he listened to the professor, pouring the water into the coffee maker and turning on the burner for the teakettle before turning back toward his guests.
“Really,” Gabriel stated unenthusiastically as he sat facing his guests.
“Indeed,” Julien continued, “On a recent dig in Samaria…well…ancient Samaria anyway, he came across a scroll. It is a very intriguing scroll, Gabriel, as well as worrisome. He honored me with a request to join him to help with the translation, and since I was wrapping up the project in Peru I accepted.”
“Worrisome?” Gabe asked offhandedly as he got up again and pulled some cups out of the cupboard, “How so?”
“It involves predictions Mr. Celtic,” Franklin Buff interjected, “end of days predictions to be exact.”
“Interesting,” Gabriel intoned as he brought a sugar bowl and a plastic milk jug to the table, ignoring the distasteful scow on Franklin’s face.
“Extremely!” Julien Taylor nearly shouted. “Point of fact, after weeks of studying this scroll my boy, it is my considered opinion that it points to a savior of sorts. It points to you Gabriel!”
Startled, Gabriel overflowed his coffee before he caught himself, pulling off some paper towels and throwing them on the floor before turning and staring at the men.
“It does what?” he asked incredulously, “It points to me?”
“We are not of one mind on this of course, but for my part, I believe that it does indeed point to you Gabriel.”
Gabriel was quiet, mulling over what he had just heard. Slowly a smile crossed his lips as the unlikelihood of an ancient scroll mentioning him triggered something humorous within him.
“Really gentlemen, you’ve come all this way to tell me this?” he asked grinning.
“Just what is it that I’m supposed to do Julien?”
“Why…you’re to save the world my boy, you are to save the world.”