Jude turned to see Elohim walk into the room through the door he had used. He stood up
and bowed to him. " Yes, sir."

Elohim stopped after he closed the door and just stared at Jude. " I told my men
not to search you. I have complete confidence in."

" May I ask why?"

Jude watched Elohim sit down. He kept a sharp eye on the portrait above his head.
" I know you want to ask me why you’re here," Elohim said. " There is
nothing I want more than to explain to you what you mean to me."

Jude leaned back in his seat and stared at him. " I don’t understand,"
he finally said.

Elohim leaned forward, eyes bright with anticipation. " I want to know a few more
things about you before I begin. To make sure I have the right man."

" For what?"

Jude didn’t want to remind him he was the Father of The System and that he was
supposed to know everything about everyone. But he stayed quiet. " Like what,
sir?"

" Tell me about your childhood."

Jude felt the breath sucked out of him. He didn’t want to be here now. An
uncomfortable feeling swept over his arms and rolled down his back. His brow set as he
thought back to his childhood. He wanted to remember good things, but his mind was blank
and his memories dark. He looked to see Father looking at him with a curious look.

" Have I said something wrong?"

Jude glared at the smirk on Elohim’s face. He knew what he was asking was hurting
Jude. He knew all about him. Every move Jude had ever made, Elohim knew. So did he know
also about what he had been up to these past few days? Is this what he was here for?
Because he had done all these things?"

Jude looked up and swallowed hard before saying, " Like what?"

" Tell me about your parents. And your siblings. How were they?"

Jude’s eye twitched with nervousness and he squeezed the arms of the chair where
he sat. he felt small beads of sweat falling down his temples and neck, under his uniform.
He closed his eyes for a few seconds and clenched his jaw. He opened his eyes to stare
Elohim right in the face and said, " My parents gave me to The Center when I was
four. I never knew them, except by code."

Elohim feigned surprise. He raised his eyebrows and said, " Oh, really? So what
was your life like?"

Jude sighed deeply. He bit his lip. " I had no life to speak of when I was young.
I was selected by The Monastery when the Scholarship pick happened, and I moved into the
Dorms."

" What age was that?"

" I was seven."

" A little old for Monastery standards, I know."

" I thought so, too. But they insisted someone had given me undeniable permission
that could not be overruled."

Elohim leaned forward and said in an excited whisper, " And you never knew who
this person was?"

Jude stared at him, question burning his mind from the inside-out. His eyes blinked
hard and he said, " What?"

" I mean, don’t you think it’s about time you knew who helped you in
your hard child times?"

" I have no interest in knowing."

" Wouldn’t you like to know if it was your parents?"

Jude frowned and looked puzzled. " My parents?"

" Yes. You never tried to figure out who it was that ordered your entrance into
The Monastery?"

Jude breathed hard for a few moments and then shook his head, teeth clenched.

" No. My parents abandoned me and then left to keep going with their lives. I
don’t think they would have blessed me with that gesture."

Elohim pretended to be thoughtful. " And siblings, Jude? Did you have any brothers
and sisters?"

Jude avoided looking into Elohim’s eyes. You know, you son of a bitch. You
know all this, don’t you? He sat straight and said, looking down into his lap,
" Yes, I know I had at least one."

" And what do you remember about him?"

Jude’s eyes snatched up. " How do you know it was a brother?"

Elohim seemed caught by surprise as he retold the last words in his mind. Then he knew
his mistake and he smile. " I can guess, can’t I?"

Jude glared at him. " What do you want from me? Why didn’t you ask these
questions when I came into The System? Why are you asking me this now?"

Elohim stayed quiet for a moment reading Jude’s face, and then he said, "
Fine. We won’t talk about your family."

" No. I want to know why you want to know all this."

" You have to understand, Jude, I’m not asking because I don’t know.
I’m asking to hear the words come from your mouth."

Jude frowned. " What words?"

Elohim smiled. " Please, like you don’t know."

" I don’t."

Elohim sighed loudly. " Okay. I’ll bite. You don’t know. So let’s
piece it together, okay?" He sat back and stretched, then relaxed and fixed his gaze
on Jude. He looked right through him and Jude could feel the gaze pierce him. He shifted
nervously and stared at the desk. " Did you know anything about your parents,
Jude?"

Jude stared hard at the oak desk, outlining the work in his mind, touching the leather
of the armchair with his fingers. Anything to keep himself sane. " No."

Pause. " Nothing at all?"

" No."

" What about your brother?"

Jude looked up and caught the look in Elohim’s eye. There was something in the
tone of voice that told Jude this was serious. Whatever they were going to talk about, it
was going to hurt, and it was going to be serious.

" It is a brother, isn’t it?"

Jude looked back down into his lap, staring at the fabric of his pants. "
Yes," he finally forced.

" Well, what do you know about him?"

" Nothing," he whispered.

" Really? Nothing at all?"

Jude heard the motion of the way Elohim scooted forward in his seat and placed a box on
the surface of the desk. He forced himself to keep his eyes on his pants. But he
couldn’t help hear the click of the box and he closed his eyes.

" Have you ever seen your birth certificate, Jude?"

Elohim’s voice sounded harsh against his ears, but the words pierced his skin.
Yes, I have," he answered, a bit angry.

" No, Jude. You’re real birth certificate."

Jude couldn’t help it and looked up, glaring at Elohim. " You know orphans
don’t get access to those kinds of documents."

Elohim smirked. " Well," he said in a sarcastic tone, " ordinary people
don’t." He then said in a serious tone, " But you did."

Jude sucked in his breath and stayed quiet. Was he here for the crime of going into
secured documents at The Vault?

As if reading his mind, Elohim said, " Now, don’t worry. They say curiosity
killed the cat. But in this case, curiosity made the cat stronger." His eyes
twinkled. " And that’s good news for you."

" You knew I got into The Vault?"

" Jude," Elohim said, in a pleading tone. " Please. I’m not stupid.
There’s cameras everywhere, both audio and visual. Especially in government buildings
like The Vault when you went to steal the papers involving your past." He paused
dramatically. " And at Role Administers when you went in for highly classified
information involving a few of our clerics. Prestige Clerics."

Jude narrowed his gaze. " What do you want from me?" He was sick of being
toyed with.

" Jude, don’t get hostile. I’m only here to have some things
cleared."

" Things about what?"

" About your brother."

This shut Jude up and he stayed mute. He only stared at Elohim and finally said,

" You know about what I’m going to do, don’t you?"

Elohim didn’t answer. He stood up and walked over to the wet bar and poured
himself a drink. He poured another for Jude and walked it over to him, setting it in front
of him on the desk. Jude only stared at it. Elohim watched him for a moment and then
walked back to his seat, smiling to himself.

" Jude," he said when he had sat down. " I know this may not be the best
way for you to tell me and for me to ask you for a favor. But I promise, in the end,
everything will fall in place the way you want and the way I want."

Jude watched the ice cold drink make the glass begin to sweat and that’s how he
felt now. He looked up to see Elohim raise the drink to his lips. " If you knew about
what I did, then you knew what they. . .?"

Elohim nodded slowly. He watched Jude’s eyes widen and he reached for the drink.
He downed it in one gulp and then set it on the desk, panting a little.

" Jude, I have big dreams for you. I have big dreams for me. And the only
link between your drinks and mine is your brother."

Jude suddenly seemed angry. " He’s not my brother. Don’t ever
call him that."

Jude glared at the glass. " I know many things about this precious cleric of yours
that you’ve only feared of."

" Oh, I know, Jude."

  

    

      

        

          

            

              

                

                  

                    

                      

                        

                        

                        

Jude looked surprised. " You know?"

                        

                        

                      

                    

                  

                

              

            

          

        

      

    

  

Jude glanced down at his watch and toyed with it. " I went in and got the papers I
hadn’t been allowed to see until then. I had asked nicely a few times, but I was
always declined. Then I decided to do it on my own."

" So you broke in?"

" I didn’t hurt anyone. I had a friend at the time there and he had mentioned
a few times the routine of the night shift. He hadn’t done it as an accomplice,"
he added quickly. " I kind of sneaked it out of him. I had, earlier that week, shot
two of the canines with a mild virus that would make them unfit for duty at least for that
day."

" And how did you burglarize the place? No alarms went off."

Jude smiled crudely. " I did it the old fashioned way. I strapped a rope to the
side of the building and entered through a ventilation tube. I was dressed in a
guard’s uniform. How did you know it was me?"

" Well, no one else would risk their lives for the content that was in those
documents." Elohim rubbed his chin. " And did what you read satisfy you?"

Jude’s jaws locked hard and he gritted his teeth together. He hated the smirk on
Elohim’s face, and wanted nothing more than to wipe it off. He pursed his lips and
then said, trying to calm down his anger, " No, but I learned what I wanted."

" And what did you learn, exactly?"

Jude leaned back and avoided Elohim’s gaze. " I learned that I was the
bastard son to Cleric Fonze Savone. He had a wife, Rebekah Mites, and after I was born, he
had Job with her."

" And when were you Given?"

" You mean ‘abandoned’, don’t you?"

" Now, now, Jude. Don’t be angry with me or anyone else. This was no
one’s fault."

" If my damn father’s fault! Why did he have to have me? Or if he did, why
did he have to leave?"

" He did it out of love."

" Bullshit," Jude spat.

" Well, if indeed you have to blame anyone, blame the living. The dead can speak
no longer."

Jude glared at him. " What do you think I’ve been biding my time with Job
for? A reconciliation?" He leaned forward heavily on his elbows and narrowed his eyes
at Elohim. " I want nothing more than to ruin your little suck-up Cleric."

" And if he is the favorite of mine, do you think I would sit back and let you
ruin his wonderful career?"

" After you know what I have to say, yes."

Elohim leaned back and smiled widely. " So you have secrets of this cleric of
mine. Like what?"

" You have to swear to me first that I will have the glory of bringing him down
for you."

Elohim chewed on a piece of ice he popped into his mouth. " That could be
arranged. Yes, I promise you will have your revenge."

Jude looked at the man suspiciously. He didn’t know if he should trust this man.
He had never trusted anyone in his life and he wasn’t going to begin now only to have
the man back-stab him. He had to choose carefully. But how could he ensure that Elohim was
under his control and not the other way around?

Suddenly, he smiled to himself as the wonderful idea got into his head. He would take
down Elohim the same way he brought down Job: with their own selves.

" Fine. I’ll tell you everything I have learned about Job in the past few
months I have been tracking him."

Christian walked through the double doors of the café. It was inside with high glass
ceilings and walls. One could look out into the gray world while drinking Bourbon in
peace. He made his way to a table and sat down by himself, spreading out the papers he had
gotten from his desk. He lay them one by on the tabletop and stared at all of them in
turn. He wanted to look at every word, every phrase that might give him anything to work
with. He had a thirst for what the papers held. They were going to help him bring down the
most famous cleric of all time.

" What can I get for you?"

He looked up quickly to see a waitress with a pen and pad ready. She popped her gum and
looked bored.

Christian said hurriedly, " A black coffee, please."

She didn’t bother to write it down and walked off, gum popping constantly.
Christian ignored her and looked down again at his papers. They were parts of the Old
Testament and the New Testament. From the Old Testament, there were parts from Genesis,
Exodus, Deuteronomy, Judges, 1 Chronicles, Ezra, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, Lamentations, Daniel, Amos, Habakkuk, and Zechariah. The New
Testament had less parts, with a few pages from Romans, 2 Corinthians, Colossians, 1 and 2
Thessaloneans, Titus, Hebrews, 1,2, and 3 John, Jude, and Revelations.

As he read the names of the books of the Bible, he couldn’t help but wonder why a
secular community would be so concentrated in naming their children with the name of
Biblical characters. He saw Daniel, Job, Jude, and Ezra in there. He wondered more and
found himself growing with anxiety at the thought that his own name derived, not from the
Catholic faith, exactly, but of it’s brother Christianity.

" Damn cynics." He ruffled through the crisp, weathered pages. They were
stiff and old, the only remaining Bible parts held by the government in the English
translation. There were others floating around, but those only pilates and papacy members
knew about. There was only half of the Hebrew Bible in government hands, and that was
worthless because no one could translate it to answer which books of the Bible it held.

Turning the pages, Christian began to think what magic the words could possibly
contain. There was nothing he saw that made him want to go against the organized
sensibility of The System. He saw nothing that, if he were Job, would make him toss away
years of recognition and fame away. It was a big risk and Christian couldn’t see what
the basis for Job’s action was. There was absolutely nothing about faith. No money,
no wealth, no pleasure, that one could get from the hands of God that would help a person
in Life.