The Didymus Contingency (28 page)

“Inside...” Tom replied.

David could see Tom was getting winded.
This had better end soon
.

The pair entered the Court of the Gentiles, which was unusually placid for a Thursday. David surmised that Jesus’s trial must have been attracting the people’s attention, pausing their worship of God to kill him.

As they neared the entrance to the Court of Women, David noticed a sign above the door that he had never taken notice of before. He read it quickly as they passed beneath:
No foreigner is allowed within the balustrades and embankment of the sanctuary. Whoever is caught will be personally responsible for his ensuing death.
David smiled.

“Tom, you’re a genius,” David said, as they passed through the gates into the Court of the Women.

They ran across the Court of the Women, up the curved staircase and to the heavy bronze door at the Nicanor Gate. David and Tom pushed with all their strength to open the gate. Roberts had entered the Court of the Women and was running toward them at full speed.

David and Tom spilled into the Court of Israel. The seven Jewish men who were worshiping in the court shot annoyed glances at Tom and David, who had slammed the heavy bronze door behind them. Out of breath, Tom struggled to speak. “Quickly brothers...fetch the Levites! A foreigner has entered the inner temple...and wants to spill Jewish blood in the house of God!”

The Jewish men reacted at once, running toward the Court of the Priests, shouting for the Levites.

Tom and David were too tired to continue running and they knew help would soon arrive. They turned toward the bronze door, which had just finished closing behind Roberts. He was out of breath and looked supremely irritated. He walked toward them calmly, like a predator who knows its prey is trapped.

“You don’t have to do this, Roberts,” David said.

“You know my name. How nice for you,” Roberts said, as he continued forward.

Roberts pulled his knife out from under his robe.

“Leave now and we’ll let you live,” Tom said with confidence.

Roberts stopped walking. Tom couldn’t believe it had worked, but he then realized it wasn’t Tom’s command that had stalled Roberts’s advance. Roberts’s eyes were focused just beyond Tom.

The world spun as Tom turned around and came face to face with a massive Levite. The Levite held a grapefruit sized stone in his hand and his eyes were darting up and down Roberts’s body, taking snap shots of every detail: the blond crew cut, the knife’s unusual design, the shining object hanging on his wrist and that Roberts was taking the same mental images of the Levite. The two warriors sized each other up, both knowing what the other didn’t know was about to get him killed.

Roberts slowly reached into his robe. His fingers touched the butt of his gun. This would be over in seconds. Roberts took his eyes off the Levite for a split second and looked at David’s eyes, which were wide, but not staring at Roberts...he was staring...behind Roberts!

Roberts grabbed his gun and spun around. He fired two shots through his robe, which missed their marks. A second Levite, who had crept up behind Roberts raised his hand, which held a large stone. The Levite brought it down quickly on Roberts’s skull.

Falling to one knee, Roberts dropped his weapon. He clutched his knife and lunged at the Levite. Before Roberts could even swing the blade through the air, a second stone struck him between his spine and right shoulder blade. Roberts dropped the knife and fell to the ground again, but refused to scream in pain.

Roberts struggled to his feet again, glaring at the Levites, who had already picked up new stones. The seven Jewish men who had been worshiping stood behind the Levites, their hands armed with stones.

“You will be tried and executed by the Romans for breaking Jewish law,” said one of the Levites.

Roberts’s eyes twitched as blood from his head poured down his face and into his mouth. He looked at David and said through gritted teeth, “Don’t let them take my watch.”

Roberts removed the watch from his wrist and threw it at David as hard as he could. The watch landed on the stone floor, five feet from David. Roberts was obeying his orders to the end, protecting time, but his intentions to hurt David at the same time were clear to everyone present.

“No more!” shouted the bigger Levite. “Lay on the ground, now.”

Roberts’s grimaced in pain and spit at the Levite, who easily dodged the saliva-blood mixture. The spit flew several feet before landing on a tablet one of the men had been studying.

“He has spit on the Word of God!” shouted one of the men.

Roberts stood to run but was barely on his feet when the first of several stones pummeled his body, hurled by the Levites and Jewish men. Roberts staggered forward until a large stone hit his head, creating a sound like a breaking coconut. Roberts’s body went lax and flopped onto the stone floor.

“Quickly,” said one of the Levites, “remove his body before the Romans see what we have done.”

The seven Jewish men rushed forward and picked Roberts up. They carried his body away quickly, supervised by the two Levites. As the group exited into a side passageway, one of the Levites turned to Tom and David and said, “Well done, brothers. Your alert kept the house of God from being defiled by this man. God will reward your service.”

With that, the group of men disappeared with Roberts’s body, leaving Tom and David alone in the Court of the Israel.

David covered his mouth in disgust and sat down. Tom ran to where the fight had taken place and took the knife, watch and silenced handgun. He tucked them inside his own robe and ran back to David. “Let’s go,” he said. “I don’t want to be here to answer questions. Do you?”

“He died to protect time,” David said. “If only he’d have given us a chance to explain. He would have known that time is in no danger.”

“Stupid people die stupid deaths, David, and I don’t want to be next. Let’s go.”

David got to his feet silently. He had never seen a man killed before. Captain Roberts was an evil man who wanted to kill both him and Tom, yet David couldn’t help feel sorry for the man. His stomach turned as the image of Roberts’s death replayed in his mind. But what worried David the most was that he knew he would soon see another man die, the ramifications of which would change the world forever.

Tom and David headed through the Nicanor gate and into the Court of the Women. As the gate opened, a sound hit them, like waves of static. They knew the noise couldn’t be good, as did everyone else in the temple, all of whom began hurrying toward the exit.

The crowd of concerned worshipers flooded out of the Temple, pulling Tom and David with them. Once outside the Court of the Gentiles, the static became clear and they could hear the chanting of hundreds, maybe thousands of people repeating the same word, over and over, “CRUCIFY! CRUCIFY! CRUCIFY!”

—TWENTY—

Verdict

30 A.D.

3:23 P.M.

Golgotha (“The Place of the Skull”), Israel

Tom was horrified by the events of the past few hours. Jesus had been taken and beaten. He had been whipped, beaten again and then made to carry a large wooden cross to a hill, while people who, only a week ago had welcomed him with cheers and palm branches, now taunted him with insults and stones. Then came the clanging of metal upon metal as Jesus’s wrists were pierced by large nails, binding him to the wood like a plank. After hearing Jesus’s screams, Tom had left, knowing that if he heard the tortured sound of his friend again he might go to the future and return with an assault rifle.

Hours later, Tom and David had struggled against the crowd of onlookers to reach Jesus, to see their friend before he died, but the crowd was too thick and unfriendly to recognizable followers of the man they had nailed to a cross. Tom and David retreated to a hillside opposite Golgotha—which resembled the shape of a human skull—atop which the Romans had crucified three men. Even from his distant viewpoint, Tom could see the stained dirt coating the top of Golgotha. He could see blood dripping from Jesus, his friend, hanging on a cross, twitching and dying for teaching his beliefs—
how could these people think that deserved death?
It was almost too surreal to believe.

Standing beside Tom in equal shock and horror were David, Matthew, Peter, Mary, Martha and Lazarus. They stood silently on the hill, watching, waiting for the inevitable, afraid that any utterance, any disturbance might permanently break their spirits. But when a voice broke through the air, it wasn’t one of them; it was Jesus, pushing out his words with his last breath.

“My God, My God,” Jesus’s voice echoed from Golgotha, “Why have you forsaken me?”

The voice of Jesus was recognizable, but it was coarse, filled with anguish. Then Jesus’s body went limp, hanging tight on the nails in his wrists and feet. Tom found his face wet and his throat constricting. Tom fell to his knees and wept quietly, completely unaware of how his friends were reacting.

Mary crumpled into tears and fell toward the ground. Lazarus saw Mary fall through his clouded, moist eyes and caught her just before her head hit the ground. Martha was wailing loudly into Matthew’s chest as he held her tightly. Peter stormed off in a rage, cursing the Romans and Pharisees under his breath. And David... Tom looked up at David who was crying, but not like everyone else, who had seen a friend die that they would never see again. David was smiling through his tears.

Confused thoughts raced through Tom’s mind in an effort to make sense of David’s reaction. Could David really be so confident that Jesus would rise again that he could smile at Jesus’s death? Did he really have that much hope? Was he really that naïve?

Tom became aware of his surroundings again and heard Mary crying. As he stood and walked to her, she saw him coming and fell into his arms. Tom held Mary as tightly as he could and she squeezed back. They had both felt the pain of loss before, but now they each had someone to share it with. Tom placed his cheek against hers and held her head in his hand.

“Take me home,” she said.

Tom looked toward David, “David.”

David had watched Tom with Mary. He had heard her request. “Go.”

With nothing else to be said, Tom turned with Mary and they left. Lazarus and Martha followed close behind.

David turned his gaze back to Jesus on the cross. Matthew stood next to him. “You’re the most faithful man I’ve had the pleasure of knowing,” Matthew said.

“Not faithful enough,” David replied, as he looked at Matthew, who appeared uncommonly small.

“None of us are,” Matthew said.

The two stared at Jesus for a few moments, watching as the bloodthirsty crowd dispersed. Matthew shook his head. “I better find Peter before he gets into trouble.”

David nodded and placed his hand on Matthew’s shoulder. “Until he rises again.”

Matthew smiled. “Indeed.”

With that, Matthew headed down the hill, leaving David alone.

After a step forward, and then another, David found himself walking toward Jesus at a steady pace. He reached the bottom of the hill, looked up at Golgotha and could no longer see Jesus or the cross. David started up the hill and became aware of how few people were still around. And those that remained were leaving.

The top of Golgotha came quickly as David walked forward, keeping his eyes on his feet. When the dirt beneath his feet turned red, David stopped. He stood still, afraid to look up, afraid to see what he had only witnessed from a distance. But his eyes wandered briefly and found the bottom of a wooden post. He followed the post up and froze on a pair of pierced, bloody feet: Jesus’s feet.

David looked up all at once and found Jesus, hanging on the cross, dead. His wrists were nailed to the wood by what looked like railroad spikes, as were his feet, and his side was wet with what remained of Jesus’s coagulating blood, where a Roman guard had stabbed him after his death. Above Jesus’s head, written in Greek were the words:
Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews
. David’s knees shook and gave way. He fell into a kneeling position and found his emotions exploding. He was crying uncontrollably, sobbing loudly. His nose became blocked with mucus. His eyes clouded with thick tears. His head pounded with every quickening heartbeat.

“I’m sorry,” he said like a child pleading to angry parents. “I’m so sorry.”

David’s memories of Jesus were triggered and he remembered their first encounter on the Mount of Olives. David had lost control of his emotions on that day as well. And Jesus had stopped his outburst by reaching out, touching David and saying, “Peace be with you.” But Jesus wouldn’t be reaching out for David today. He wouldn’t be calming David with kind words. Well, David thought, at least things couldn’t get any worse than this.

Whack!
David slapped his neck. Something had stung him. He crushed the bug with his hand and brought the remains down in front of his eyes, but he couldn’t see through his blurred eyes. A tingle at the back of David’s neck took his attention away from Jesus hanging above him. What kind of insect had stung him?

David wiped his eyes and blinked several times, making a concerted effort to calm himself and clear his vision. He stared at the insect in his hand. It was still too blurry to make out in detail but he could see that it was a copperish color from front to back. He could also feel that it was hard and heavier than an insect should be. David blinked three times and on the third time, his vision cleared.

David looked at the bug and stood immediately to his feet. The insect in his hand was crushed, but he could make out its components...components on an insect? This was a machine! David saw infinitesimal wings made from a clear, ultra light polymer. He saw miniature gears that gave the robotic wonder life. He saw a hypodermic needle that served as a stinger and he saw the small, empty vial attached to it.

David felt his neck. It was swelling quickly and the tingling sensation was spreading down his spine. David’s eyes widened. LightTech was still trying to kill them, and this time they might succeed!