CHAPTER 34
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
-Steven Weinberg, winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize in physics
“You had a lot of people worried to death,” Toby said to Trey when Sullivan and Davenport finally met up with Rawlings outside the capitol. “Why did you just disappear like that?”
“It’s a long story,” said Trey. “You were right abote the existence of a secret Christian network inside the FBI. We need to get this information quickly to somebody who can be trusted completely. Until we do, we all may be in danger, or the real bombers may escape.”
“Secretary Rosenthal,” Tad and Toby said in unison.
“Good, let’s contact him as quickly as possible,” Trey answered.
Tad called her friend Charlene and told her that it was urgent that they see the secretary right away. After putting Davenport on hold, Charley came back to the phone within a few seconds and told Tad that she, Toby and Trey could come over to the Homeland Security headquarters immediately. Within 15 minutes, they were sitting in the secretary’s office listening to Trey describe the shocking details of a secret Christian society of government employees that had resorted to murder to make the United States a Christian nation.
“From what I can tell, it is a very small group comprised of five or six “disciples,” Trey explained. “Associate Director Drake, known within the group as ‘Matthew’ is the leader.”
“Tony Giordano, known as ‘Mark’ is a member, as is Henry Nelson, whose disciple name is ‘Luke.’ And there is another agent who works with Nelson who is called ‘John.’
“I was accepted in the group recently under the name of ‘Paul.’ There may also be additional members that I do not know abote.”
Rosenthal appeared shocked. “I had heard rumors about a group like that, but I never thought it would condone murder,” he said. “How did such a small group manage to kill all of those people and almost get away with it?”
“Because of their positions,” Trey explained. “Drake controlled the taskforce, which meant that he was able to manage the flow of evidence. Like you figured out, Toby, it was certainly no coincidence that Tony Giordano was the first one on the scene after most of the bombings. And, it was no coincidence that Nelson supervised gathering and analyzing all of the evidence. They controlled the murders and the investigations.”
“But what about the terrorists in West Virginia?” asked Charlene. “Who was in that abandoned mine?”
“My guess is no one,” Toby answered. “Giordano had it all planned to perfection. He probably planted the SUV in the woods and rigged up some explosives in the mine. Then he and others called local law enforcement officials claiming to have seen the three terrorists who never really existed. And, after organizing the massive search party, he made certain that a lot of people, including Trey and me, were close by when he fired some shots over our heads and detonated the explosives. It worked like a charm since Nelson was the guy responsible for looking for the terrorists after the explosion.”
“That’s my guess, too,” Trey agreed.
“So why did you disappear with Senator Stevens?” Tad asked Trey.
“Because I was supposed to kidnap or eliminate him,” Trey answered. “Or, I should say that the disciple, Paul, was supposed to eliminate him. And, I was afraid that all of our communications might have been bugged. These people were deadly serious about winning the Christian Republic Amendment vote, and I could tell that they were monitoring my every move. That’s why I ditched the FBI car and whisked the senator out of the area. It’s also why I had Trish and the kids go stay with her mother in Florida for a few days. And, it’s why I didn’t contact any of you. It was just too risky.”
“So what should we do, now?” Toby asked. “How can we prove what we believe is the truth about these people?”
“That’s why we needed to tell someone we could trust,” Trey explained. “I don’t know who else in the government might be part of this secret society or sympathetic to it. And the more time they have to figure out what happened, the more likely they are to destroy any incriminating evidence or flee the country for Mexico or someplace else. They don’t believe they have done anything wrong in the eyes of the Lord, but they know that a lot of people in this country won’t share their perception.”
“How could they not think they have done anything wrong?” Tad asked. “That’s nuts.”
“Oh, they know that it’s wrong to kill, and I think that they regret that so many died, but they thought that sacrificing a few innocent people to make a country of 350 million people a truly Christian nation was acceptable collateral damage.”
“In other words, the ends justified the means,” Rosenthal said as he called to his assistant. “Get the president on the phone and tell him that it’s a national emergency.”