Chapter Four

Date: January 12, 1996

Location: Hong Kong

“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

Father Aldo Dominique answered the phone on the table next to his bed.

            “Yes, yes, how are you? Good, good, okay, come on up, yes I’m in 616, yes, okay, I’ll see you soon.”

            After hanging up the receiver, he turned to check that the room was tidy. He felt embarrassed by the opulence of the five-star suites they had provided for him.

            ‘Somewhere modest just to eat, sleep and work while in Hong Kong would have sufficed.’ he remembered saying. He felt unable to justify such extravagance, when so many of his African parishioners were starving.

“This much money could have saved ten lives in my village!”he had scolded the embarrassed local that had arranged the room for him.

            He went to the glass door leading out to the balcony. Sliding it open, he stepped out, the humidity of Hong Kong blasting him in the face. After spending the last two years in Africa, the heat was familiar and comforting to him. The view of Hong Kong Harbour was breathtaking. The sweltering Asian sun ignited the city of glass and steel. The man-made metal collage seemed to melt and flow from the surrounding sheer mountain peaks into the sparkling waters of the China Sea.

            As he admired the view across Hong Kong, he thought back to when he was first invited to join the Genesis Brotherhood and how he, as a freshly ordained Catholic priest, had considered it an opportunity to save the world. Aldo had started in the priesthood at an early age and was now considered young for a clergy of his ranking.

            He was the youngest of seven children in his family and the product of a very strict Christian upbringing. The sole basis of his childhood indoctrination had been the fear of God. His mother had believed that, and that alone, answered every question and solved every problem. His mother had been the religious driving force in the family, and she had hand fed it to them morning, noon and night. She had truly believed only the church could save humanity. He had truly believed she was right. He still truly believed she was right.

            Of course, it had been his mother’s dream come true when he had indicated his wish to enter the church and become a priest. His mother was convinced that joining the priesthood would save his whole family from spending an eternity in purgatory. Persistent indoctrination aside; he really had joined with the intention of making a difference.

            All that considered, it had not been an easy journey for him. He may well have been his mother’s pride and joy, and being a priest had surely been his choice, but the price for following his convictions had been high. As a teenager, he had taken many physical and psychological beatings for his choices, which had left scars he would rather, but never, forget. His jet-black wavy hair, azure blue eyes and chiselled jaw good looks had made it even worse for him. Every girl in the small vineyard province of Belgium, where he and his family lived, had sought his attention. Every boy had wanted to alter his good looks. Sexual temptations soon became one of his greatest challenges and when he did finally join the Genesis Brotherhood, he was relieved to find out they not only allowed their clergy to marry and have partners, but they also actually encouraged it.

            He sighed and turned, re-entering the room. He wondered why these thoughts were coming to him now. ‘Probably a nervous reaction to the prospects of meeting a young lady’, he thought, ‘After all, it had been a long time since he had entertained a young female, other than the native women in Africa in his parish, and they were definitely hands off.’

Moments later, he returned to the balcony with a decanter of ice water and two glasses. It was at that moment the door chime announced the arrival of his guest. Placing the water on the balcony table, he headed for the door feeling somewhat overwhelmed with anticipation.

At the door he paused momentarily to compose himself, then reached out and firmly gripped the door handle. Another pause, a deep breath, then turning the knob he pulled. As the door swung back, Julie Pierce stood framed in the doorway, like some mystical apparition. He wanted to speak, ‘Say something,’ his mind screamed.

            “Julie, hello, come in, come in, “ he eventually blurted out, far too quickly. As he said it, he stepped backwards awkwardly and still holding the door handle ushered her into the room.

            “I’m glad you could make it.”

            The beautiful young reporter stepped through the door, smiling graciously as she moved into the apartment. As she passed him and her fine scent tantalised his senses, he cringed at his lack of smoothness.

            “Thank you, Father, it’s nice to meet you at last,” she said pleasantly, as she entered the room.

The priest closed the door gently.

            “If you don’t mind, we’ll sit out there,” he said to her, as he rushed to the balcony door and slid it open. “I suffer in air-conditioned environments.”

            “That’s fine,’ she said, smiling angelically, “it’s a magnificent view, too good not to be enjoyed. How was your trip,” she continued, as she sat daintily on the plush padded balcony chair?

            He could not take his eyes off her, as she smiled and brushed long strands of raven black hair from her face.

            “Good, thank you, well, good if you enjoy sitting in airports and losing your whole perspective of time,” he corrected himself.

            “Yeah, I know what that’s like. My paper has me travelling quite a bit. Fortunately, most of it is in Asia and the time differences are minimal.”

            “Water,” he offered, as he sat down himself?

            “No thank you, but maybe a scotch, if you have one in your bar and you don’t mind. I’ve had one of those days where water just wouldn’t be enough.”

            “Of course, of course.”

            Eager to please, he quickly regained his feet and shot back into the apartment. Soon after, he emerged with a large glass in his hand, half full of a golden-brown fluid. Julie turned back from looking at the view and accepted the glass gratefully.

            “Wow, that’s a large scotch, you don’t pour these too often I suppose,” she mused, and took a sip before placing the glass on the table with an audible sigh of content.

            “Wonderful, thank you Father, just what I needed.”

            The young priest returned to his seat opposite Julie and at first all he could do was appreciate just how beautiful she was. Her summer dress draped over long smooth legs angled to one side of the table, long black hair fell to her elbows, her glossy lips curved around pearl white teeth, dark agate brown eyes sparkled amidst a milk white powdered complexion. Her soft, dimpled chin gave way to a slim proportioned neck, before plunging deeply into her light top, between the curves of two smooth uplifted breasts. It was obvious she was Asian, but he detected a hint of something else. ‘Most likely a western parent as well,’ he thought.

            His male instincts had been aroused but he was very conscious that his own youthfulness was probably not obvious to her because of the drab black and white attire of his priesthood. He cleared his throat, snapping back to the surface, a little embarrassed by his over attention to her detail.

“Now, we should get down to the reason why you are here,” he blushed.

“Yes, yes of course,” she said, her hands reaching into her shoulder bag for pen and paper, “I received your letters and although I don’t completely understand, I could not resist talking to you in person.”

            “Good, I hope you do not think of me as some kind of a religious nutter. I can assure you that my studies are organised and condoned by the Genesis Priesthood which, is sanctioned by the Vatican and financed by an organisation made up of a contingency of European governments, as well as some rather large corporations that have expressed great interest in our research so far.”

            “I do find some of your, let’s say, ‘revelations’, a bit on the wild side,” she replied seriously, ” but my editor said your credentials were good and maybe there was a story. You know, where there’s smoke there’s fire, that sort of thing.”

            “Well Miss Pierce, without being an alarmist, we do not have long now, in fact, it could already have begun.”

“What could have begun?”

            “Why, Miss Pierce, the prophecies of course, just as I explained in my letters to your editor.”