Page 156 - Psychoceramics and the Test of Fire

Operation Belshazzar

trailer—to use my reading of the Book of Daniel to organize a
Christian army of resistance. It will strike the first blows, beginning
an onslaught against this God-forsaking society and its heathen
government. I call it Operation Belshazzar. Modern terrorism has
given us the model: clandestine cells, each knowing its own target,
ready to strike when the time is right and the signal is given. I have
studied these methods, and I will use most of the money to finance
the soldiers of God. Your name, Eric Jenn, will be engraved among
those of the righteous, those who will be seated by the throne of
heaven.”
At that my face fell, almost into my untouched but for subtle
rearrangement wings ‘n’ beans. I struggled to recover. “So, ah, all you
need is to fulfill the prophecy, right?”
“Certainly: it’s true, and someone was bound to be chosen to carry
it out. Now, how am I going to get these funds?”
Now I was really glad I hadn’t eaten. “Well, sir,” I said, making a
show of taking out my wallet and leaving on the counter about three
times what the meal cost. “I will have to report to the society—which
I will do directly—and return tomorrow morning to take you to the
bank. There you will open the account into which we shall transfer
the award.”
He nodded, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to be
handed the means of bringing down a rather large country. His eyes
were not on me, however; they were fixed on something no one else
could see: the future. I excused myself and left the neighborhood as
fast as I could. My mind was in turmoil. Magnus’s chosen nutcases
had frequently revealed hidden agendas after the deal was done, and
unintended consequences just as often were the result of
implementing crackpot schemes. But here I had it all laid out before
any money changed hands.
Back in my hotel room I sat on the edge of the bed and let the
whole history of my involvement in these tests of fire run through
my mind. Many of the recipients of financial enablement were people
for whom I had no sympathy at all; some were obnoxious, others too
self-centered to engender any response but disgust. Their theories
had been driven by greed or altruism, tempered by varying degrees of
egotism. With them I had felt little guilt in being the instrument of
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