He waited for the incredulous looks or for someone tell him he was borderline insane. Instead, the other principals looked at Kerry Bostwick, the director of the CIA, and he said, “I told you. It isn’t just me spouting crazy shit.”
Wolffe said, “What’s that mean? What did you hear?”
Bostwick said, “There are people inside Mossad who believe the same thing. They’ve tracked it from another direction, and they have multiple reasons to believe this is not an Iranian attack.”
The secretary of defense said, “But that doesn’t alter what the Iranians are doing. They just blew up a refinery in Saudi Arabia using drones flown from Yemen by the Houthis. Drones built by Iran. They’re trying to show us their reach and the global implications to keep us out of a fight, but in so doing, they’re about to cause a fight.”
Wolffe said, “Where do we stand with the Fifth Fleet?”
“They’re out, and getting buzzed by Iranian fast attack boats every day, each time coming closer. We know it’s not to provoke us to attack, because that would be catastrophic to them, but they’re filming each time they come by. They’re gaining intelligence. My fear is that when they feel like they have enough, one of the strikes won’t veer away. They’ll have conditioned our sailors to view it as just another zip-on-by and then slam into our ships.”
Amanda Croft, the secretary of state, said, “Not to mention the launching of rockets into Israel from Gaza. Iran is flexing right now, showing us what will happen if we retaliate against them for the killings. And now they have hard-liners who are literally claiming credit for the assassinations, opportunist assholes looking to upset the moderates there, claiming it’s in response to Soleimani and the killings of the Iranian scientists.”
Wolffe said, “So this report is too late? You guys want to go to war? Is that it? You realize this is playing right into the nutjobs’ hands, right? Iran has moderates who don’t want to go to war. They also have nutjobs who do, just like the U.S. and Israel. You’re listening to the nutjobs. And if you go to war, you’re going to make every Arab nation take a stand. I get they don’t like Iran right now, but don’t forget the Arabic proverb, ‘I against my cousin, I and my cousin against the world.’ You do this, and it’s not going to stop in the Middle East.”
President Hannister said, “No, of course we don’t want to go to war, but we need something to prove it isn’t the Iranians. As Amanda said, the hard-liners are literally bragging about it. This ship is about to crash ashore unless we can do something.”
“Sir, use the Swiss to contact them. Use someone to get to the moderates and tell them we don’t think it’s Iran.”
“A: we’ve tried that and been rebuffed. Nobody wants to talk to us through diplomatic channels for fear of retribution. They’re on war footing, and the hard-liners have the edge. B: I’m not sure it isn’t them. I’ve got their own people bragging about it.”
Wolffe stared at the wall for a moment, then muttered, “Israel will wipe out Hezbollah in Lebanon. Eliminate them completely the minute a war starts.”
President Hannister said, “What was that? What about Hezbollah?”
Wolffe focused back to the room and said, “Sir, I can get you your back channel to the Iranian theocracy, but you’re not going to like it. I can get through to them through Hezbollah. Those guys are now a political party in Lebanon, and like all political parties, they want survival. They will not want to go to war without reason, because they’ll be destroyed.”
Kerry Bostwick said, “How can you do that? We have no contacts with them. All of our Hezbollah contacts are through the Israelis.”
“Pike knows a guy who knows some guys. That’s all I can say, but in order for this to work, I need to let Pike penetrate the Knights of Malta Magisterial Palace in Rome. He’s standing by right now for the word. And that building is literally a sovereign state.”
There was a multitude of cross talk, everyone asking questions or arguing with the person to the left or right, until President Hannister raised his hand and said, “Okay, okay. Enough chatter. Why don’t you finally give us your crazy theory?”
Wolffe nodded, then took a deep breath. He let it out and said, “Okay, here it is: There’s a serial killer in Rome who’s working for the Knights of Malta. He has a team around him known as the ‘Ninja Turtles’ who are all from Croatia. These men have been doing the killings.”
Wolffe then described every bit of intelligence they had, to include the Zello geolocation against the crime scene, the attempted assassination of Knuckles and Brett, and the rescue of the inspector. He ended by saying, “What we know, from the second in command of the Knights of Malta himself, is that the man killed in Bahrain was fascinated with dispensationalism. With the End of Days.”
President Hannister said, “I go to church every Sunday. I’m not waiting on the End of Days. What do you mean?”
Wolffe said, “I hear you, sir. I have a guy outside who can explain it. He’s a priest who’s written books on it. It’s sort of a fascination of his, and you’d be amazed at how it’s altered our own history through the years.”
“Bring him in.”
Wolffe left and returned with a man in a priest’s collar, saying “This is Father Obrien. He is not cleared for anything other than the discussion we’re about to have.”
Father Obrien looked hesitant, then said, “Mr. Wolffe said you’d have some questions about dispensationalism?”
President Hannister said, “Yeah, like, what is it?”
“Basically, it’s the belief in the prophecies in the Bible, specifically in the books Daniel and Ezekiel in the Old Testament, and the book of Revelation in the New Testament. It’s not a firm thing, like everyone believes in it one hundred percent, but a majority of Christians do believe in it to a greater or lesser degree, and some believe in it absolutely.”
“Such as?”
“Well, such as the Branch Davidians in Waco. That was a dispensationalism sect that went bad, with David Koresh saying he was bringing about the apocalypse. And he did.”
“So it’s a cult thing? Dispensationalism?”
“No, sir, not at all. Some Christian denominations definitely take it to the extremes, but all of them touch it at one point or another—even Catholics—and it’s not just Christians. The Jewish faith has some of the same beliefs, and it all revolves around the third temple built on the grounds of the original temple erected by King Solomon on what’s called in the Christian world the Temple Mount, but is known as the Noble Sanctuary to the Arabs. The area holds the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, both very important to the world’s three great religions, all of them with their own prophecies, and all of them in conflict. To be sure, dispensationalism isn’t unique to Christians, and it isn’t written in stone, like you’d say you were a Catholic or a Methodist. It’s just a thought process that some take to a greater degree than others.”
President Hannister said, “Okay, so this third temple is the basis of the predictions? That’s what everyone wants, and what the Arabs will fight against?”