Free The Hand of Christ by Joseph Nagle Page B

decision, he argued, would carry an additional significance, one that every religion could truly appreciate.
    Built at one of the holiest sites in Damascus, the mosque appeals to the Syrians. Its design was based on the house of the Prophet in Medina. Construction took place on its current site in the early 8 th century and during the Umayyad Caliphate.
    However, the ground on which it stands had been holy ground for millennia and first used by the Arameans, a full one thousand years before Christ. During the first century AD, the Romans built a temple in honor of Jupiter on the site, which gave way three hundred years later to a Christian church that was dedicated to John the Baptist. Of Byzantine and Corinthian influence, at one time, the mosque was one of the largest in the world, and is still one of the holiest sites in history: the Grand Mosque of Umayyad is revered by Muslims, Christians, and Jews. The minaret in the southeast corner of the mosque is often referred to as the Minaret of Jesus. It is prophesized that upon the return of god’s son – at the end of the world – it is at this minaret that Jesus will appear.
    The religions of the world have their beliefs of Umayyad and its minaret, but there were only three people in the world that knew the real truth.
    Beneath the minaret is a narrow winding wood staircase; its entrance can only be found after moving a heavy slab of stone from the floor. Ingeniously designed, the stone’s movement is commanded by the insertion of a golden, star shaped key-like device into a hole hidden behind one of the many carved stones that adorned the wall.
    There were dozens of them.
    Most were faded by time, but carved into each were a number of ancient symbols still possible to be read. The symbols were from a secret, unspoken language taught only to and able to be deciphered by a member of an esoteric group called the Order.
    Descending nearly three stories beneath the earth, the feeble and narrow wooden staircase ends at the door of one of antiquity’s most guarded secrets. The door is made of heavy lengths of acacia planks that are bound together by wide strips of copper. Pressed into the copper is a motif of the image of a sphinx and the moon and stars of the mother goddess.
    Secreted behind the rustic door are the heads of John the Baptist and of Hussein, grandson of the Prophet, which rest in honor at the easternmost corner; both stare toward Mecca. For many generations the caretakers of the Mosque have believed that these heads were on the ground floor of the mosque, marveling visitors. They weren’t completely wrong, just only about their precise location.
    In the center of the room stands an odd-shaped rock, its top was chiseled flat. Placed on top of the rock is a non-descript ossuary carved from ancient porphyry. Usually meant for the remains of a deceased loved one, the ossuary of igneous rock held a different purpose. If one were to have inspected it before the arrival of the diplomats, it would have been quite apparent that the cover, still ajar, had recently been moved, exposing its one content, which was missing.
    The missing item was now in Michael’s hands.
    The man who had taken it was dead.
    Three stories above the room, the ricochets of bullets and the rumblings of explosions continued; Michael felt his way along the corridor and stumbled somewhat. Another series of successive and louder blasts shook the mosque and Michael along with it. The blasts preceded another round of multiple explosions and were laced with small arms fire.
    The attack was still ongoing.
    The detonations were getting closer.
    He had to keep moving.
    Michael could feel the adrenaline surging as wildly as the pain that radiated through his body – the surge of the hormone would help and was welcomed – he would need all of his strength to get out of the ancient Mosque alive.
    Michael took pride in his ability as a thinker and would on any day prefer the pen to the sword. It is not that