Part 11 (1/2)

”What are you going to do about them?” I asked.

He looked away. ”I don't know. What are you learning from this Doc.u.ment?”

I thought for a moment about whether to answer, then decided to just tell the truth. ”The Doc.u.ment is describing a way to stop the escalation of violence.”

”The templates,” he said.

I was startled. ”So you're actually reading this thing.”

”It's my job.”

”But do you understand what you're reading? Did you see we were protected?”

He chuckled. ”I saw you were lucky. If we hadn't come along, you wouldn't have made it.”

”I don't think it was luck,” I said.

”It doesn't matter,” he pressed. ”Listen to me. Things are accelerating, just like I said they would. Even with the action that's been taken with Iran, nothing has changed. Iran is still working on nukes. We think they may already have the capability to give them to terrorists.”

I looked at him hard. ”I heard the Apocalyptics already have a plan to create a war.”

He straightened his sungla.s.ses. ”I'm still hoping this crazy Doc.u.ment might give us another way out. As I told you, no one is going to like what we'll have to do to stop this threat.”

In that moment, I realized that contacting us and following the progress of the Doc.u.ment was something he was doing much more on his own than I had thought. And as we exchanged looks, I could also tell he knew I knew.

”I'm way out on a limb here,” he said. ”And we're both running out of time.”

He looked at me as though asking for more information. So I began to describe as best I could what the Breakthrough on the mountain felt like, and the idea that the Templates of Understanding could somehow create a wave of influence that might dispel the Apocalyptics' intentions, although we didn't fully understand how to do it yet.

He shook his head, looking at me as though all was lost.

”That's what this Doc.u.ment is talking about, some crazy idea like that?”

I knew how he felt. From the perspective of the secular worldview, it would seem illogical and silly. There was no way one could just read the words of the Doc.u.ment and understand, unless one had also encountered the experiences it was describing.

”Listen,” I said, ”I know it sounds crazy to you, but there's an esoteric connection between people. It's a real influence. If this catches on, it could work.”

”Well,” he said, shaking his head, ”keep looking. And you'd better do it quickly. I told you: measures are being taken domestically in every Western-leaning country to deal with this problem. And if the plans go forward, it will happen before anyone realizes it's under way.”

”Wait a minute,” I said. ”You act like you can just take over nations that have a long tradition of democracy.”

He looked away. ”Unfortunately, it's not that hard, especially during difficult economic times. Look at Venezuela. All you have to do is get a majority of the population hooked on government subsidies, and then threaten to take them away. They'll vote for the people who promise to take care of them, especially if you co-opt the world's largest corporations at the same time and get them to buy media companies.

”You just have to make both Left and Right think you're doing it to support their ideology, then everyone looks the other way while you hide the power to do it in bills n.o.body reads, and gradually plant your own judges in key places. Once you nationalize the polling booths, the rest is easy. You just wait for the right time, the right emergency.”

His certainty at being able to pull off such a ploy chilled me. He seemed to realize he'd said too much and quickly reached into a satchel and pulled out a large folder.

”These are copies of the Seventh Integration,” he said, moving to leave.

I reached out and took the folder. ”Where are you getting these copies?”

”This one was sent to the office of the CIA in Langley. Do you believe that? If you were releasing parts of a doc.u.ment like this, would you send one to them? I managed to get them forwarded to me through a friend before anyone upstairs noticed, then ran a full investigation. It went nowhere. We don't have a clue who's distributing these translations.”

He headed farther into the bushes. ”You have five more days to give me some information I can use.”

I hurried back to the house where I found Coleman, Adjar, and Hira gathered around Wil, already sensing something was wrong. Rus.h.i.+ng up to them I rapidly relayed what Peterson had said, including that the extremists were still here, looking for us.

”I think,” Wil said, ”that we need to leave as soon as we can.”

Adjar leaned in. ”And go where? How will we know how to proceed until we find the Seventh Integration?”

I lifted up the folder I had tucked under my arm, which surprised everyone.

They grinned at me as if I had produced a miracle, and then each took a copy to read.

”Where's Tommy?” I asked Wil, still thinking the Mayan Calendar would shed more light on all this.

”His mother sent a friend to bring him to her. She's in Egypt.”

”What? Why? Isn't it dangerous there?”

”I know the person she sent,” Wil said. ”He's reliable. He said Tommy was needed.”

I stood up, feeling angry.

Wil walked closer. ”Look, Tommy is not an ordinary child. There's another template group there that his mother is part of. Tommy's been there with her many times before. He'll be fine.”

I nodded. ”Where's Rachel?”

”She went with them.”

I just looked at him, dumbfounded and slightly disoriented. Things were moving too fast.

”Why would she do that?” I asked.

”She felt that she had to. And there was no time to wait to say good-bye.”

I wondered again why I hadn't turned around and come back when I had seen Tommy. Yet if I had, I may not have seen Peterson and received the copies of the Seventh Integration. I knew all this was just more Synchronicity, moving us along, but I didn't like it.

Wil was looking at the pages.

”Let's get going,” he said. ”We have to read this!”

I nodded, sat down by my tent, and began reading. The Doc.u.ment opened by saying that, in this Integration, we would see how Synchronicity actually worked.

Moments of Synchronistic discovery, it went on, feel like we are in just the right place at just the right time to receive important information. Yet if we observe more closely, we can see that these Synchronistic moments are preceded by an intuitive urge that directs us to go somewhere, or say something, that results in the Synchronicity. Following such guidance has happened all through history at moments of great discovery and accomplishment. But it has happened more or less unconsciously.

It is time, the Doc.u.ment continued, to wake up and bring the intuitive part of Synchronicity more fully into consciousness. The key to doing this is to broaden our habit of expecting Synchronicity to include expecting the intuitions that are part of this process. And in order to do that, we must adequately identify such guidance by learning to distinguish our ”guiding” thoughts from ordinary ”ego strategy” thoughts.

I looked over at Wil. ”This is similar to what was said in the Prophecy at the Seventh Insight.”