The Last Judgment by Craig Parshall Page A

got somebody working for me who’s almost as smart as I am.”
    â€œYes, sir,” Himlet said matter-of-factly.
    â€œAll right. Get him to work immediately on the encryption platform for Israeli intelligence. Get him into their computers. Find out who they’re looking at—you know the particular groups I’m talking about. Find out if the Israelis are targeting them.”
    Himlet nodded obediently.
    â€œAlso, I read your report, Himlet, on our global alliance. Looks good. How are we doing with the merger with Petroléos Mexicanos?”
    â€œHappened as of a few hours ago,” Himlet replied. “We’re calling the newly merged parent company Aztec Petroleum. So that, I think, finalizes your control over the offshore oil exploration project for Mexico.”
    â€œWhere are we with the Russians?”
    â€œNow that the Kremlin has taken Khodorkovsky out of the picture, I believe we are assured of capturing the Russian oil market as well.”
    â€œAlright, now it’s time to contact the Saudis. You know who to call. I want to arrange a meeting. I’ve kept my part of the bargain. Now it’s time for them to put up or shut up.”
    â€œI understand,” Himlet replied. But before he turned to leave he added a final comment.
    â€œOn an unrelated matter, when I was in touch with the Russian Federation on the oil issues…the official I was dealing with said he remembered you.”
    â€œOh?”
    â€œYes. He recalled that, about twenty years ago, he was in the audience during your chess match with Alexei Andropov.”
    Mullburn smiled.
    â€œThe Russian said he remembers you putting Andropov into checkmate in thirteen moves.”
    Then Himlet added one more thing. It came as close as anything he had ever said on a personal basis—as opposed to business—in his dealings with Warren Mullburn.
    â€œIf you don’t mind my asking, sir, have you ever thought about getting back into chess competition?”
    But the oil tycoon simply shook his head and dismissed his assistant from the room.
    Warren Mullburn knew he had never retired from the game of chess. Not in any real sense.
    Now, though, the chess pieces were bigger. Global corporations, parliaments, and kings.
    And the squares on the board were the nation–states of the world.

9
    T HE ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONFERENCE in Tel Aviv had been underway for several hours. But now, the panel discussion was approaching the most controversial issue of the day.
    The moderator stood at a podium off to the left side of the dais. Four archaeological scholars were assembled at the table, a microphone in front of each.
    The atmosphere in the hotel auditorium was electric among the several hundred Egyptologists, archaeologists, experts in ancient linguistics, theologians, and epigraphers.
    The moderator was setting up the question for the panelists.
    â€œThis brings us to the sensational reports regarding the discovery of the so-called Deuteronomy Fragment. We want to address two issues. First, the very narrow question regarding the level of certainty we can have that this fragment is authentic. And then the broader question, of course—and this is the one that has probably attracted the press and media attention to this conference—that is, to what extent can we archaeologists ensure that our work achieves the highest degree of scientific credibility? And how can we ensure that we will remain free of political bias—particularly when some of our discoveries, such as the Deuteronomy Fragment, have such explosive, cataclysmic political implications?”
    The moderator then called on the British scholar on the panel to respond first.
    â€œWell, taking this artifact at face value, the Deuteronomy Fragment purports to be a missing part of the thirty-fourth chapter of the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, at the current location of verse four. Of course, textually, it changes everything. The