The Twelfth Insight - James Redfield [93]
In minutes, we were surrounded by fresh Egyptian soldiers, a whole battalion of them, who provided immediate medical care and order. Hundreds more soldiers were quickly moving up the trails, ushering the crowds off the summit. The people didn’t resist, realizing clearly that the day had been won. Our group was rejoicing as well. At least for now, the threat was over.
One of the officers, a lieutenant, took our group into custody and sat us down by the mound, taking particular interest in Tommy and Joseph and pulling them to the side. He was the officer Tommy had been talking with for months at the eastern gate. The three discussed the situation intensely for several minutes, gesturing toward the rest of us.
Just then my phone rang. It was Adjar, updating us on the situation at Jabal Al Lawz, saying that the template groups had gained the Twelfth Insight and Integration simultaneously with us. The infiltrators from within the missile base had fled. Right after Adjar, Hira also texted, on cue. They had not reached the Temple Mount but instead had gathered at the Wailing Wall at the moment of reaching the Twelfth. No confirmation, she said, about the rumored charges under the Dome of the Rock.
Finally, I heard the officer say, “Get them out of here!”
Joseph and Tommy rushed over and pointed out the path leading back to St. Katherine, telling us we were free to leave. We all just looked at one another and erupted in laughter.
Suddenly, I noticed some papers blowing along the ground back near the mound. Rushing over, I was just about to reach down and pick them up when another man, whom I recognized as one of Peterson’s operatives, stepped in front of me and scooped them up himself, giving me a half smile and a small shake of his head.
All around me, I could see people being thoroughly searched, and anything remotely looking like a copy of the Integrations was seized. When they reached us, we didn’t resist.
I wondered: did Peterson now think the Document was a threat to him? Was he moving to find and destroy all the copies, the same way the government of Peru had managed to destroy all the copies of the old Prophecy? At best, I reasoned, he could create enough fear so that people would feel guarded about talking about the Document and would keep their copies hidden. Such a suppression, I knew, would have to include an immediate cleansing of the Internet of all traces.
When I got back to the others, Joseph was saying good-bye, telling us he would stay there with his wounded brother.
“Thanks,” I said, “for being on that hill in St. Katherine when we arrived.”
He gave me a smile and a little bow of his head.
“Also,” Wil added, “thanks for not giving up on your brother. Whatever you said to him worked. Just shows us: reach one person and it may make all the difference in the world.”
“I simply told him,” Joseph responded, “what Rachel had said to me: anyone can wake up and change in the blink of an eye.”
“Oh, by the way,” Joseph went on, “did I tell you the three Mountains— Jabal Al Lawz in Saudi Arabia, Mount Sinai, and Secret Mountain in Arizona—all line up roughly in a straight line?”
He looked at us a moment more with his face filling with Agape and tears, then he pulled us into a huge hug.
“I wanted to look upon the face of God,” he mused, “but I think feeling the Presence is even better.”
As he walked away, the rest of us, lost in our own thoughts, hiked down the mountain until we hit the wide path taking us back to St. Katherine. Wil was on his phone. As I looked around at everyone, I could tell we were all still feeling the Presence. It was with us as we moved down the path, automatically raising the luminosity of the rocks as we walked. When we met people coming toward us, some would even slow down and look closely, as if they sensed the elevation in energy.
When Wil hung up his phone, I edged over beside him.
“Okay, Wil,” I said, “what about the