This was the second phase of the Guardian’s plan. Each member of the brotherhood would not only instruct his people, but spread his genetic seed using our women. By mixing the Guardian’s superior DNA with Homo sapiens DNA, our species genetically leapfrogged up the evolutionary ladder.
The Guardian’s DNA is the so-called missing link?
Yes. But the Guardian were capable of much more than simply siring a new subspecies, they could also manipulate their DNA so that genetic anomalies like them would reach maturation around the time of the predicted day of reckoning. They called these superior beings the Hunahpu.
I didn’t know it at the time, but I carried the Hunahpu gene, passed down to me from my maternal ancestors. By activating the Balam ’s array, I not only prevented the creature from using its weapons, I also stopped an all-out nuclear war between the superpowers.
Days later, the alien creature ascended from the Gulf, intent on destroying the Balam ’s electromagnetic array. I was waiting in Chichen Itza to meet it. Tapping into my newly discovered Hunaphu powers, I was able to access the Balam ’s weapon, which deactivated the cybernetic beast.
But you entered the creature’s mouth? Why?
To prevent the Under Lords of Xibalba from arriving on Earth. The creature had succeeded in shunting the Balam ’s array, opening a corridor of the nexus that bridged the gap between Earth and the Xibalban Underworld. Inside this corridor were two demons, disguised as my mother and Dominique. Having been warned about the deception by the Guardian, I killed both of those evil souls, completing my mission.
Or so I thought.
The Guardian offered me a choice. I could live out my days as Michael Gabriel or continue to evolve as One Hunahpu and journey to Xibalba to save the lost souls of the Nephilim.
Who are the Nephilim?
The Fallen Ones, human souls who were being tortured on Xibalba. I had remote-viewed their terror. Thousands of men, women, and children-all suffering at the hands of their oppressors. As Michael Gabriel, I could have ignored them, but as One Hunahpu, I realized I was their only hope.
With heavy heart I took one last look at your mother’s face, then climbed into the Guardian’s pod. Moments later, I found myself hurtling through space, leaving Earth forever… through a wormhole, racing to Xibalba – where the origin of mankind’s evil was waiting.
The origin of mankind’s evil? Father, I don’t understand.
Humanity is caught in a bubble of space-time, each successive journey through the wormhole looping history. What has happened before will happen again, unless the paradox can be broken. My presence on Xibalba somehow reinforces this paradox, yet it also serves to keep the door to humanity’s own salvation open. You see, Jacob, there are two crossroads that face humanity, one in 2012, one more in your own near future. I cannot tell you about this second holocaust, but if left unchecked, it will terminate life on Earth as surely as the events of 2012 nearly did.
What is it?
Again, I cannot say, but only a Hunahpu can prevent it.
Is it my destiny to stop it?
I don’t see how. According to the Popol Vuh, you and your brother will make the journey to Xibalba aboard the Balam soon after your twentieth birthday, long before the second event.
And if we don’t make the journey?
Then the second holocaust will wipe out humanity.
Father, is Manny Hunahpu? I know he shares our DNA, but the gene seems recessive.
Your brother’s powers may grow stronger in years to come or they may not appear at all. All I know is that…
Father?
Father, what’s wrong?
The Abomination. It senses our communication.
What should I do?
I should have known better. You’re too young, it’s too easy for the Abomination to use you. Even as we speak, it grows stronger in your energy field. You need to learn how to disguise it before we can communicate again.
Teach me how.
I can’t, it’s a strength that comes with age. Find me again when you’re older.
How old?
Wait at least another seven years. Your Hunahpu powers will strengthen as you get older.
Father, I can’t wait that long -
You have to. I’ll be all right. Time isn’t the same here as it is for you. Go now, quickly, before the Abomination pierces my defenses!
Father, I love you. Father?
Jacob awakens, staring into the teary eyes of his mother. ‘Jake? What happened?’
‘I spoke with-’ Don’t tell her, she’ll only worry. ‘It’s okay, Mother. I’m fine.’
Dominique turns to the president. ‘That’s it, Ennis. No more remote viewing, do you understand? No more training! No more tests!’ She looks at her son. ‘And no more talk about Mayan death gods and Xibalba. Somehow, some way, we’re going to find a way for you and Manny to live normal lives.’
12
8:37 p.m.
The delivery truck stops at the gated entrance of the Mabus Estate.
Mitchell Kurtz lowers his driver’s side window to speak with the security guard. ‘Hey, pal. Got a delivery for your boss. Three surf-and-turf specials, and a bottle of wine. Should I leave it with you or take it up to the house?’
The armed guard steps out of his booth. ‘Where’s Murphy?’
‘Out sick. Probably at the track.’
‘Put the food on Mabus’s tab and leave everything with me. I’ll take it up in the cart.’
‘Sure thing.’ Kurtz hands the guard a thermal delivery pouch. ‘Do me a favor and take the food tray inside, the pouch has to stay with me.’
The guard reaches inside the insulated pouch and grabs the metal tray – and is jolted into unconsciousness behind ten thousand volts of electricity.
Kurtz opens his door. He steps over the body and pulls off his jacket, exposing a brown-and-gray uniform identical to the guard’s. Hoisting the unconscious man over his shoulder, he carries him inside the guardhouse, then unceremoniously drops him to the floor.
Looking into the videocam, he dials into the main house.
Peter Mabus’s voice bellows over the intercom, Kurtz’s screen remaining scrambled for privacy. ‘What is it?’
‘You have a food delivery, sir. I’m bringing it up in the cart.’
‘About time, we called forty minutes ago.’
The line goes dead.
Kurtz tucks the metal food tray into its thermal pouch and resets the stunner, then taps at the tiny communication device hidden inside his left ear and speaks into his wristwatch. ‘I’m good. You in position?’
One hundred yards behind the beach house, Ryan Beck emerges from the dark Atlantic, dressed from head to toe in a black wet suit. Using his night-vision glasses, he verifies the beach is deserted, then makes his way past the sandy dunes and wild grass to the private boardwalk.
‘Stand by.’
Beck switches to a thermal scanner, focusing the invisible beam on the back of the Mabus mansion. ‘I’m detecting three people. Kid’s upstairs in a third-floor bedroom. Servant’s waiting for you at the door. Our target’s drinking out back on the screened-in porch.’
‘Roger that, I’m on my way.’ Kurtz starts the golf cart and drives it up a narrow walkway that leads to the front entrance of the mansion.
Belle Glade, Florida 8:45 p.m.
‘Been taking care of ya’ll for seven long years, your mama longer than that!’ Quenton Morehead stumbles into his granddaughter’s bedroom, the alcohol flowing through his bloodstream like poison. ‘Two of ya’ll took and took… drained me like a ’ho.’
Lilith Eve Robinson’s heart flutters like the wings of a dove.
‘Ya’ll owe me, you know that don’t cha? Seven years’ worth, uh-huh.’
Her adrenaline pumping, Lilith’s mind searches desperately for the white light as Quenton stumbles out of his trousers, falling sideways onto her sofa bed.