The Revelation Code (Wilde/Chase 11) by Andy McDermott

you mean?’
    ‘I told you – you can’t hallucinate something you haven’t experienced. Yet John described mountains falling from the sky, the sea turning to blood, cities being destroyed – and he also described the twenty-four Elders, and the angels bound at the Euphrates.’ He returned to the laptop and pointed at the statue in the centre of the image. ‘He described this!’
    She frowned. ‘But he couldn’t possibly have seen it.’
    ‘No. But someone could have described all those things to him. Or, more likely, he read about them, and all the other things that came from his subconscious when he had his vision. They were described so vividly, with such detail, that his mind was able to visualise them perfectly.’
    ‘So where did he read about them?’
    ‘The answer’s in Revelation. Chapters two and three are the letters that the Lord told John to send to the seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.’
    ‘All in modern-day Turkey,’ said Nina.
    ‘And all places that John must have visited to know so much about them. The Ephesians hated the Nicolaitans, the Smyrnans were rich, the Thyatirans tolerated the presence of the false prophet Jezebel – and he also knew that Antipas the bishop, his friend, was martyred in Pergamum.’ He watched Nina expectantly, as if waiting for her to make a connection.
    One came almost immediately. ‘Pergamum is another name for Pergamon,’ she said. ‘And Pergamon had one of the largest libraries of the ancient world.’ His expression confirmed that she had guessed correctly. ‘Is that what you’re saying? You think John read something there that formed his visions in Patmos?’
    ‘That’s exactly what I think, Dr Wilde,’ Cross replied. ‘The library contained the ancient texts of the Elders – a record of the meteorite strike and the binding of the four angels at the Euphrates.’
    ‘Well, I can tell you a big problem with your theory right away,’ she said. ‘Mark Antony took everything from the Library of Pergamon to give to Cleopatra as a gift. He cleared the place out, every last scroll. There’s no exact date for that, but he died in 30 BC – long before Jesus was born, never mind John. And Antipas died in AD 92, so Revelation couldn’t have been written until after then.’
    ‘The Library of Pergamon still existed for centuries after John wrote Revelation,’ Cross told her dismissively. ‘Either Mark Antony didn’t really take its entire contents, or some were hidden from him. John was still able to visit and read what he found there.’
    ‘That’s just supposition, though,’ she objected. ‘You’re making things up and presenting them as facts to fit your theory.’
    ‘It’s not a theory !’ he barked, making her flinch. ‘It’s the truth! I know it’s the truth, because God led me to it!’ Another stab of his forefinger at the image of the angel on the laptop. ‘I found the angel! I witnessed its power with my own eyes!’
    Nina tried to control her returning fear. Cross was revealing himself as a zealot, and she knew from experience that such people were most dangerous when their beliefs were directly challenged. ‘What power?’ she asked, hoping to calm him by bringing him back to his pet subject.
    He ignored her. ‘I found the truth on Patmos. I know what caused John to write the Book of Revelation – and I know it holds something real. I came here and established the Mission away from the corruption and sin of the world, and it gave me clarity. I’ve seen the truth. I believe it, my followers believe it, and you’ll believe it too. You won’t be able to deny it when I find the other angels!’
    ‘That’s what this is about?’ she said. ‘Finding the rest of the angels from Revelation?’
    Cross nodded. ‘The Elders kept one of them at the temple in Iraq, but hid the other three for safety. I believe they wrote down where they hid them, and that this text ended up in