Excerpt – Chapter 6 The Priest

“Here intelligence comes in. Let him who has the mind for it calculate the number of the beast, for it is a mans number, and his number is 666.”

        John: Revelation 13:18

Julie Pierce sat in the soft balcony chair of the five-star hotel room and looked at the priest Aldo Dominique opposite her. She noted that he was only quite a young man for a priest. His jet-black wavy hair and sharp olive skin features were handsome and judging by his name either South American or some sort of Latino she guessed.

She was not sure she had heard what he had just said correctly.

‘Did he say prophecies?’ She looked at him concern growing in her gut. ‘Was he serious,’ she thought, as he stared at her in earnest?

“It is all happening now Miss Pierce, as predicted and the world could be in great danger, unless…”

            “Unless…” Julie urged.

            “Unless Miss Pierce, we change the events of the future that have already happened.”

            “What do you mean ‘already happened’,” she asked, starting to think maybe now was a good time to leave?

            Aldo saw the look of apprehension in her face.

            ‘I better back off a little maybe and do some explaining first,’ he thought, knowing he could not afford to scare her off.

            He began again, in a more subdued tone.

            “Miss Pierce, first let me explain a little about what the Genesis Brotherhood is and what we are doing, so you can understand better what we know.”

            “That’s probably a good idea, “she said, deciding she would give him another chance.

            The priest took a sip of his water before he continued.

            “Miss Pierce, the philosophy of our brotherhood is very different to most in the religious community. For a start, we accept that religion has a somewhat jaded history and that most religions are guilty, in one way or another, of misinformation. Our group believes that both theology and science play shared roles in life and we encourage that the truth be told, and heard, on both sides.”

            “That’s refreshing at least,” Julie interrupted, then looked at his blank expression awkwardly, “honesty, I mean.”

            Aldo knew from experience, that to talk about extreme belief, especially when it was religion, often invaded the comfort zone of many people and he could see that Julie was most likely one of those. ‘I will need to tread carefully so as not to scare her off. Incredibility will no doubt be my worst enemy.’

            Aldo usually struggled to explain to people in short what his beliefs were and what research the Brotherhood was involved in. ‘Unfortunately, life and existence are complex topics and there are no easy answers. Everyone wanted easy answers.’  It annoyed him no end when people making small talk, would ask, so ‘as a matter of fact’, to explain his beliefs. ‘It just simply was not possible.’