PARADOX - Chapter 70

Chapter 70

June 11, 27 CE – Cana – Galilee Province





Cencio was exhausted. He was in excellent physical condition but he never realized how difficult it would be to travel by foot across the scorching deserts of ancient Judaea.

The men he hired to run his small caravan were the absolute dregs of society. He didn’t want to risk approaching any respectable merchants because of his poor accent and lack of knowledge. Since the assassination of the Prefect, the Romans were enthusiastically searching for strangers and for people who seemed out of place. His ignorance of local customs would be a dead give away.

For weeks he and Khan hid out in the mountains, sending men into towns to buy food and other necessities and to obtain information on the movements of the Roman patrols. The only thing that kept the men he hired from robbing and killing him was the presence of Khan. He and Khan took turns sleeping and protecting each other’s back. That was another reason he was so exhausted.

Cencio decided that today was the day he would complete his mission. The men he sent into Cana returned with the story that the man many referred to as “The Miracle Worker” was visiting there. He asked them if this was the same man who had turned water into wine at the wedding feast, and they assured him that he was.

Cencio was still uncertain if he would be able to communicate with the Arianni time ships. He had tried on numerous occasions and received no answer. He knew that he and Doctor Dubenchiek were the only two with communication devices, so there was no way for the Arianni woman to contact her people.

In a worse case scenario, Cencio was certain he could accomplish his mission, then make a major ripple in history that would give away his location to observers in the future. Such a ripple would tell them exactly where and when he was.

He finished his toilet and walked over to Khan. “We do it today.”

Cencio looked at the leg of lamb that Khan was enthusiastically devouring, his own hunger abated. He had been sick with diarrhea for the past several weeks and he was certain it was from the half-cooked mutton they subsisted on. “I’m sick and tired of this stinking country and these stinking people.”

Khan smiled, showing yellow teeth from lack of cleaning. “I’m ready, little man, let’s get it on.”

Cencio pointed at Khan’s backpack. “Is it ready?”

Khan nodded his head. The object he was referring to was a Barret M82A3 .50 Caliber, sniper rifle with a ten round ammo box. It was Khan’s choice of weapon for long distance shooting. Luckily it had been in Khan’s backpack and not lost during the fight in Caesarea.

Their guides could tell by the enthusiasm radiating from both men that something was going on. It had been weeks since they had shown even a modicum of interest in anything, now their steps were springy and unusual grins covered their faces filthy faces.

Several hours later they neared a small village located in the hill country of central Galilee. It was a small, insignificant town, named Cana, after the marsh reeds that grew nearby. A small backwoods town in a third rate province.

Cencio set up a rest camp approximately a hundred meters from the village, visible and overlooking most of the town. The hour was well past noon. He ordered two of the hired men to go into town and see what was going on.

If this was the right place and the right time, Cencio knew that Jesus would be here. Cencio was a well-educated man, particularly educated in theological doctrine. He knew that the main reason Jesus would be visiting this out of the way place was to hide away from the Pharisees.

By now, the gossip had spread the story of that wedding miracle to every house for miles around. Many of the Jews living in Galilee had also traveled to Jerusalem in the past year to attend the various feasts and seen the signs and the miracles of Jesus that were being performed there. Jesus ministry and following had grown. Cencio firmly believed that the reason Jesus left Judea was because of his growing popularity in Judea and the increasing jealousy of the Pharisees.

“When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were), He left Judea, and departed again into Galilee. (John 4:1-3).” Cencio quoted from memory.

Before being recruited into The Brotherhood, Cencio had been a devout Roman Catholic. The seeds of doubt planted by the Cardinal and others had transformed him into an avid dissenter.

“How dare a man, any man, claim to be the Son of God!” Cencio thought. That was all crap made up by the church to appease the Roman Emperor Constantine. The Emperor wanted the Romans to accept Christianity as the state religion but knew that unless the church made Jesus a god, or the son of a god, they wouldn’t accept the religion. It was all pretend, make belief, false, evil.

Cencio knew better. He knew all about the books that the church refused to include in the New Testament. Books that would prove that Jesus was just another man, another self seeking Rabbi with a different message. Well, he was about to change all that. He would eliminate the man and remove the corruption of evil religion from history. No more church dominance, no more inquisitions, no more ignorant and brainwashed hoards pretending to be pious and sanctimonious.

Movement in the village caught his eye. People were walking towards a well where women were drawing water, following a tall man dressed in a white ankle length tunic. The crowds began to grow larger and larger.

“Damn!” Cencio muttered. The distance was too far away to hear what the man was saying. He grabbed the sniper rifle and focused through the scope. The man became much clearer. “It could be him,” Cencio thought.

A gray bearded, royally attired man approached the tall man in white and went down on one knee. He was asking for something. A few moments later the man stood, bowed slightly, then quickly left.

“And there was a certain royal official, whose son was sick at Capernaum.” {Cencio thought. “And he traveled all the way to Cana to ask Jesus to heal his sick son.”

Cencio’s thoughts were interrupted by the return of the men he had sent into the village. He turned and demanded they tell him what they had seen.

“It’s the healer,” one of the men said, his eyes would not meet Cencio’s brutal stare. “The man who turned the water into wine.”

Cencio thought for a second. “Who is the royally dressed man?”

“An official from Capernaum,” the other man blurted. “He is here looking for the healer. Something about a sick son.”

Cencio grinned at Khan. “It’s him!”

Cencio picked up the sniper rifle and lay down in the prone position. The distance was very short for such a fine weapon and it would be impossible to miss. He grabbed the ten round drum of ammunition and inserted it into the rifle until he heard a satisfying click. He chambered the first round.

Cencio took careful aim. The face of the man in the long white tunic was in the center of the crosshairs of his telescopic site.

Cencio smiled… and pulled the trigger.