Chapter 4
6:45 AM EST New York - The Network Studios
As Mark Anderson glanced around the room taking in his surroundings, he was thinking about how he had managed to get into the middle of this mess today. He had reluctantly agreed to be a part of this, he thought to himself, due solely to Jack’s associate, Gabriel.
When he had first agreed to represent Jack during the meeting with Jack’s associates, Gabriel had initially irritated him by asking about his religious beliefs; as well as how much he knew about God’s final plan for humanity. He then went on to say that Mark had been chosen to help a long time ago. They also told him that his career had been directed by God, to be able to handle what was going to occur over the next few months and years. He was not sure he agreed with that, even now. Mark had listened to what Gabriel and Ariel had to say in the private meeting, but it was almost beyond his ability to believe. Gabriel had looked at him and said, “I guess you need some proof don’t you?” Then he had just disappeared in front of Mark’s eyes, while Ariel remained sitting across from him. Then, he had felt a tap on his shoulder and swiveled around to see Gabriel standing there. Then, once again, he disappeared as Mark turned back to face Ariel; and there he was sitting across the desk. He remembered the sweat pouring from his forehead. It was at that moment that he started to realize that there was a power beyond this earth in his office and that he was indeed speaking with messengers from God. The meeting reminded him of his Jewish history, when Abraham was visited by the messengers in the Sodom and Gomorrah story.
Mark had gathered his composure and listened attentively to the plan from Gabriel and Ariel. Once they finished telling him the complete story, he understood his role. What he knew was that when Jack began his ministry, the government would want to take him in and find out what made him tick. Mark’s job was to stop that from ever happening. That was also why they had hired the PR firm; to make sure that Jack’s visibility to the public was so high that not only would the U.S. government, but any other government, shy away from just picking him up and locking him away to get answers. After his time with Gabriel and Ariel, Mark resolved that he would use every bit of his knowledge and power to protect Jack as long as he could, at any cost.
He looked over at his client. Jack was very quiet and calm and seemed to be in his own world. Mark wondered what he might be thinking; then his mind started wandering too as he started reminiscing about how he had gotten to this point in his life.
Mark’s grandparents had migrated to the U.S. during the beginning of World War II. Like others of their kind during the period, they melted into the society called America. They chose to drop the Jewish name, Zingle, for they felt it was too difficult to use and too Jewish. They adopted the American surname of Anderson and that change allowed the family to easily integrate themselves into American society. This was a common practice of German Jews coming to America during that time. Not only was being Jewish a problem, but having a German Jewish name was difficult during that period. Therefore, the anglicized name, Anderson, resolved the issue.
After the war, Mark’s grandparents eventually moved from the tenements of New York to Chicago. They ended up in a small suburb of Chicago, known as Cicero. Cicero was well known for its Jewish community. It was there that his grandfather set up shop as a small finance company, financing small purchases for immigrants that banks would usually turn down.
Mark’s father was born two years later, and when he was old enough, started working in the company alongside his brother and father. The company offices were originally housed in a little one-room building; but by the early 60’s they moved on to a new facility on Cicero Avenue, where it still stood today. The company was loaning out over three million dollars a year by then, at rates of up to forty-five percent. Illinois did not have any caps on finance charges, so it was simple. If you wanted to take the risk to make money, then at forty-five percent, you could make some.
His father and mother were married in 1962 and Mark was born in 1963. His brother, Michael, was born in 1964 and sister, Carolyn, in 1966. As a young man, he had little appetite for the finance business. He felt bad about the repossessions and the collections side of financing. He let his father know that it bothered him and that he felt that loaning money was an unscrupulous practice.
Mark’s father had no tolerance of him or his refusal to work in the family business. After keeping up the pressure on him, he finally asked Mark what he really wanted to do. “Practice law,” Mark had told him. “I want to help people.” Finally, his father gave in and sent him off to college, where he excelled. After graduation from Illinois State, he was able to attend Columbia Law School, where he graduated at the top of my class.
After graduation, he returned to Chicago and immediately took a position as a Public Defender for the City. He worked there for three years. Mark eventually opened his own law office in Cicero, specializing in criminal defense. The practice grew exponentially in the late 90’s. He ended up with several high profiled federal defense cases, which he won. The practice then exploded with clients ranging from politicians, movie stars, and even people with no money. His firm also took assignments as court appointed attorneys from the state, especially capital cases, which they were very good at winning.
By 2005, there were over 200 attorneys on his staff in multiple locations. The home office was in downtown Chicago, on Michigan Avenue in the AON building. There were satellite offices in New York, Atlanta, Dallas, and Los Angeles. For the past three years, Mark usually did not take a case, but referred it to one of his capable staff attorneys. He had become more of an advisor to his clients and let other attorneys do the brunt of the work. At least that was true until this case came along.
Mark’s journey in finding God came about when he lost a death penalty case and his client was sentenced to death. It was a very high profile case. He knew that his client was innocent, but he could not prove it. Unfortunately, he lost all appeals and his client was executed. That led him to do some soul searching. He had many questions swimming around in his head. He finally found his answers in God.
He became a patron of the local Synagogue and religiously started on a journey into learning about God. He had read the Pentateuch and then, out of curiosity, what Jews call the Gentiles, book. He studied about Jesus and the New Testament. He became very interested in the Bible itself and especially the end time prophecy. Moreover, without his peers knowing it, Mark became a believer. Now, as he thought about today, he realized that his curiosity had landed him right in the middle of prophecy.
Jack brought him back to reality when he asked, “Are you ready with the video unit?”
“Yes, it is ready to go. I checked it out this morning and sent a test message as instructed by Luke at his firm. They received the video and it was useable.”
“It is very important, Mark, that immediately after the interview, you send the data. As you know, when we negotiated the terms of the interview, you are allowed to be right next to the cameras to video for me. They are expecting you to do that; but probably not expecting you to transmit it.”
“Jack, do you want to tell me what you are going to say?” Mark asked for the second time today.
“No, you will know soon enough, and I don’t want to alarm you. Moreover, as we discussed, it is very important we do this correctly. I have read over the interview questions we agreed on but I think they are going to throw some curveballs. What do you think?”
“Well Jack, a news anchor is like a prosecuting attorney. He will follow a script up to a point. They think they can make you slip, and as we rehearsed, you need to be prepared. Keep your answers to a minimum amount of words. Many have been caught in a statement that has destroyed them. So remember how we coached you. Do you have any idea what they might ask that is not on the pre-screen they gave you?”
“Yeah, I think they are going to elude to some sort of conspiracy and that I manipulated information and or fixed the lotteries. The odds of winning are very close to zero, as we all know.”
“What if they do ask that directly? What will you tell them?”
“The truth,” Jack said, “the absolute truth.”
After digesting Jack’s answer, Mark thought to himself, yes they will now all learn the truth and yet be very confused at the same time. The truth Jack would tell them was not going to be what anyone ever expected.