Chapter Fifty-One
By the time Gordon found a taxi, Aaron was half asleep on a bench outside the DC airport. Gordon literally picked up Aaron and dumped her body into the cab. He told the cabbie to take them to the Watergate.
The ride early in the morning was quite uneventful. Getting Aaron out of the cab was another adventure. Aaron was sound asleep with her head against the cab window and her mouth hanging open. Gordon went around to Aaron’s side and slowly opened the door while trying to catch her body from falling on the sidewalk.
She rolled out of the cab like a sack of wheat and Gordon grabbed her before she hit the ground. At least she was lean and fit so Gordon was able to easily carry her to their room. He gently laid Aaron on the only bed in the room. Gordon thought Aaron looked very handsome sound asleep. He bent down and kissed her on the lips. Aaron didn’t respond so Gordon headed for the shower.
Morning light peeked through a slit between the curtains, casting sun across Aaron’s face. She opened one eye, then the other not sure where she was. Nothing looked familiar, but she knew she was in a hotel or motel. She turned and looked at her bed partner. She lay next to her friend Gordon. Her first instinct was to grab her crotch to see if her Balls-In-A-Brief were still in place.
Aaron looked under the covers and found not only her balls still in place but she was still fully dressed. She looked fondly at Gordon. He was true to his word. He could have taken advantage of her as she slept, even undressing her for bed, but he selfishly let her alone.
Aaron slipped out of bed then closed and locked the bathroom door. She turned on the shower and immersed herself into the hot spray. Reluctantly, she turned off the water and dried herself. She put a towel around her waist and slipped on her briefs.
She rummaged around her carry-on and found some clean clothes. She quickly dressed and then opened the hotel curtains to let in the morning sun. It looked like they were on the sixth floor of a very large hotel complex. She looked at the face on the telephone and it told her they were at the Watergate Hotel.
Gordon stirred in his bed. He rolled over said, “Good morning. You went out like a light last night. I had to carry you up to the room. I am sure everyone thought you were passed out from alcohol or drugs or something.”
“Oh, great,” Aaron answered. “Hopefully there weren’t too many people up at that time of the night.”
“I paid off the bellboy not to tell. I enjoyed our first night sleeping together. How did you sleep?”
“I don’t remember anything after I fell asleep in the cab. Anyway, I remember the airport and then this morning here I am. What a gorgeous place this hotel is—so fancy. I feel very dressed down. It feels like we should be wearing tuxedos. Are you hungry?”
“Famished. How about you?”
“Also famished,” Aaron answered.
“I will be ready in five minutes.” Gordon jumped out of bed and dressed. He groomed himself in the bathroom and returned to put his toiletries in his overnight bag. “You look fantastic today, Aaron. Is that a new sweater?”
Aaron smoothed down the front of her sweater. “Yeah. Something I picked up at the second hand store.”
“Right,” Gordon remarked snidely. He reached over and kissed Aaron on the cheek. “You look great in it no matter where you got it.”
As they headed toward the door, Aaron turned to Gordon. “Thanks for respecting my privacy last night. I was vulnerable and you could have done stuff to me I wouldn’t even have remembered.” Aaron reached up and kissed Gordon on the lips.
“Do you want to go back in the room?” Gordon smiled.
“Maybe some day,” Aaron answered.
After eating at the beautiful restaurant with a view of the Potomac River, Gordon took Aaron to the lobby. He asked the concierge to get them a cab. They traveled down Constitution Avenue to Capitol Street. The Temple House was just a few blocks off Capitol. The cab pulled up to the Temple steps.
Aaron looked in awe at the huge monument standing before her. Gordon paid the cabbie and stood beside Aaron as she gaped at the structure.
“I told you it was awesome. Now wait until you see the inside.”
The monument stands at least 10 stories high at the center. Ten huge columns support the main Temple roof. The huge stairs led to the only opening in the front of the building, a bronze-framed glass door.
On each side of the stairs leading to the front door are two sphinx statutes. Gordon explained that the sphinx on the right of the Temple door symbolizes Wisdom. The eyes on its serene face are half-closed. The sphinx on the left symbolizes Power. Its eyes are wide open and alert.
The large plaza in front of the Temple was terraced with four flights of stairs leading to the great bronze doors. The lion doorknocker, an ancient symbol of hospitality, welcomed visitors into the Temple. Gordon went to the front door and knocked three times. After a few minutes, a man came to the door. Gordon and Aaron both gave the guard the appropriate pass grip. The guard welcomed them to the Temple.
Gordon explained that Aaron was going to be honored into the 33rd Degree the next day and he wanted to show her around. The guard understood and let Gordon have free-reign of the Temple. Aaron stood at the bottom of another set of stairs.
Gordon continued the tour explaining that this was the Grand Staircase that would eventually lead them through the building toward the Temple Room itself. Gordon stretched out his arms and explained how the architects used lights throughout the staircase in recognition of their continued search for more and more light in the Mason belief.
The marble staircase led them in a great sweep from the Atrium to the Temple Room. On the middle landing was a bronze bust of Albert Pike. Carved into the stone above the bust are his most famous words. Aaron reached the landing and spoke the words aloud. “What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us: What we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.”
Aaron turned to look at Gordon. “Do you think Albert Pike knew that in order to have One World Religion and One World Government that he and others were striving to attain, we would be gassing dissidents?”
“No, Aaron. I don’t believe he could have fathomed how far we have evolved before the great take-over. It probably would have been easier to achieve a full take-over 100 years ago when people were more naïve. Lets go on to the Atrium.”
They continued to a spacious and inviting area called the Atrium. The Atrium was the central court of the Temple. It was paved with Tavernelle marble, centered and bordered with verd antique marble. Eight marble benches echoed the design of the central table and were located in recesses formed by eight huge Doric columns of polished green Windsor granite. The limestone walls reached up to the ceiling beams.
Leaving the Atrium, they entered the Executive Chamber. Gordon explained that this room is where the Supreme Council meets in session. The room contains 33 seats, one for each of the 33 members of the Council.
The Grand Commander’s chair was under the canopy and was, as all the woodwork in the room, made of walnut. The ceiling had gold inlay, while the walls were heavy plaster, beautifully marbled, and accented with black leaf and vine painting.
Gordon told Aaron the Stark Carpet Corporation, which also designed the carpet for the Capitol Building, designed the carpet for the room. It was woven to detailed specifications in China. Etched glass ceiling panels softened and diffused the light and provided an aesthetic climax in the room.
“Gordon, there are no words to describe the beauty of this Temple. I am speechless.”
“Walk this way to the Temple Room.”
Once inside the Temple Room, walls soared upward delighting the viewer’s eyes. They seem to expand rather than enclose the room. The furniture was made of Russian Walnut, with brown pigskin upholstery—enriched by a tooled laurel leaf pattern in black and gold. The floor was polished marble mosaic—tens of thousands of tiny cubes, each laid by hand.
The floor was accented with a white marble border and with inlaid lines of bronze. In the wall openings on each side of the room are pairs of green granite columns, with bronze bases and capitals. The glass in the windows are shaded from a deep orange at the bottom to a pale yellow at the top, allowing the light to stream in at full force.
Gordon told Aaron the windows served as another symbol of the progressive search for more light. The hangings in each opening were of purple Italian velvet, edged with gold. Crowning the center of the window was the Double Eagle.
The seats opposite the entrance designate the east. There the Sovereign Grand Commander’s chair would sit under a canopy of Italian velvet. The canopy was lined with cream silk and embroidered with the emblem of the Grand Commander.
In the center of the room was the altar. It was made of black and gold marble and rested on a black marble plinth. It dominated the room.
Rising above the altar was the vast polygonal dome, symbol of the vault of heaven. The dome soars nearly 100 feet above the Altar, flooding the Temple Room with light. Again the symbol of light was shown.
Gordon took Aaron by the hand as she observed the room.
“This is where the rite will take place tomorrow. This is where you will receive the honor of the 33rd Degree. You will join a small group of Masons who have attained the right to glorious recognition. You will be a member in a group of some very famous people.”
Gordon steered Aaron on. “This next area is fairly new. It houses the Pillars of Charity and the Hall of Honors. The Alcove is a place to recognize the generous contributions by outstanding Brethren to the Mason Foundation. Being a newer section of the Temple, great care was given in its design to keep with the original concept.
“In 1911, the original designer created a light well located at the middle landing of the marble staircase leading from the Atrium to the Banquet Hall in the heart of the building. A window covered by a bronze grid admitted partial light through this opening.
“In 1944 and 1953, by special permission of the United States Congress, the remains of Sovereign Grand Commanders Albert Pike and John Henry Cowels were placed in vaults to either side of the light well. Memorial busts on marble pedestals were also added.
“In 1990, in order to enhance this area to further recognize those who have advanced the work of the Mason, an architect created a stain-glass window in the light well. The refined results of his work created an Eagle with 33 beams of light radiating to an exterior view of the House of the Temple itself.”
Gordon continued to pull Aaron around by her hand. “And lastly, we have the Hall of Honor. This is a room surrounded by oil painting of famous Masons. Presidents, executive cabinet members, military generals, astronauts, senators, judges, actors and singers, sports figures, and other famous people are honored by portrait.” Special lighting and a custom woven carpet completed the Hall’s distinctive character.
Aaron went around the room stopping before each picture. Most she recognized; some she did not. All were honored 33-degree members.
On the cab ride back to the Watergate, Aaron couldn’t talk. How could all these famous persons know what carnage was coming to America and not do anything about it. Did they not know of the concentration camps? Did they not know of the secret plot to take over the world? Of course they knew. They had to know. This is huge. This is bigger than anything I have ever gotten into before in my life. Maybe I should have just given the book back to that stranger. That book started my whole quest for the truth. Now I wish I didn’t know the truth.
“Are you excited now about your rite tomorrow?” Gordon asked.
“Yes. I’m glad we got to see the whole building today. It makes the ceremony more special to have it in such a beautiful place.”
“A few more sights to see in DC, then dinner and a good night’s sleep. What do you feel like for dinner tonight? They have some wonderful restaurants around the city. It is my treat so pick out something special.”
“Pizza,” Aaron answered.
Gordon laughed out loud.
Chapter Fifty-Two
10:00 a.m.—time had come to leave for the ritual. Aaron Jones—Professor Aaron Jones was about to be initiated into the 33rd degree of the Free and Accepted Masons. She felt like such a phony. She was a phony.
Aaron suddenly felt a small guilty conscience. She was going into that Temple, stand before the great altar, and profess to be honorable enough to earn one of the highest degrees in the Mason organization.
Aaron had come to the Masons only with the intention of finding out about a secret society. She was in so deep now she really couldn’t back out. Aaron knew secrets now, secrets of the Mason sect, and secrets of the government—of the world.
If she were to disappear, she would be tracked down and killed. She had little choice but to go through with the final degree. What she would do after that was still a mystery at this time. And one other thing kept nagging at her. In the final degree, she was to find the answer—the Key to the power. She couldn’t leave without knowing the Key.
Gordon was dressed and urging Aaron to hurry. “We are going to be late if you don’t step up the pace.”
“I’m moving as fast as I can,” Aaron replied. “I am a little nervous you know. Is there a reason we have to be there so early?”
“During the ritual, you will see we need to be at the end of the ritual at noon. Try not to be nervous. I will be right beside you. And there will be a great number of people around you. Famous people. Many of the 33-degree graduates come back for the initiation of others. You will probably notice many famous faces. We also have other Brothers from Skulls and Bones and the Illuminati that will be in attendance.”
“Skulls and Bones? Illuminati?” Aaron asked. “I’m not sure, but I don’t think I want to get into other secret societies right now. I have all that I can handle with the Masons.”
“You don’t have to know them, just remember they are Brothers in Faith. Now let’s go.”
The concierge had a cab ready for them when they hit the front door. There was no turning back now.
When Aaron and Gordon reached the front steps of the Temple, there was a long line of limousines, cabs, and expensive cars dropping men off. Each one entered the Temple with the appropriate pass grip and password.
Gordon peeled Aaron off to a preparation room next to the Temple Room. “You don’t have to strip down but I do need to blindfold you. This is the simplest of all the degrees. You will listen to a lecture and go through the whole ritual, but you will not be poked or prodded. And in the end, you will be told the Key. Listen carefully.”
They waited in the preparation room for what seemed an eternity. The secretary finally came to Aaron and asked the obligatory questions. Gordon then led Aaron out into the Temple Room. Her heart was pounding.
A great organ played and the sounds reverberated around the great room. She was instructed to kneel and show the password and signs. She did as instructed. The lecture went on as expected and she was told to stand.
As they took off the blindfold, the Sovereign Grand Commander was standing before his chair on the east wall. The light shown around his body and he look very celestial. Aaron wouldn’t have been surprised to see him start floating around.
He was holding his staff high in the air then rapped it loudly three times at the altar. As he walked toward Aaron, the dome above their heads split in two—east to west and slowly opened.
The sun at high noon was the first light to show through the crack flooding sunlight into the altar area. Aaron stood transfixed and squinted as her eyes looked directly into the sun. When the dome was half way open, a huge creature came through the sunlight. It seemed to fly in directly from the sun on huge wings spanning the entire 100-foot opening in the dome.
The body of the creature was on fire, flames spewing from his nostrils. Great horns rose above piercing eyes. Sharp canine teeth glistened through a sinister smile.
It swooped toward Aaron. In awe, Aaron fell to her knees. The heat from the creature was searing her skin. The Sovereign Grand Commander was standing below the fiery creature with his arms raised toward the sky. The Grand Commander seemed to be in a trance as the giant winged creature bellowed his fiery breath down to Aaron.
“Mr. Aaron Jones. You have come to the light. You have come to receive the Key. Listen very carefully, for I will only convey this to you once.
“The Key is the proper application of the Dynamo of Living Power. My seething energies—the seething energies of Lucifer—are in your hands. Before you can step onward and upward, you must prove your ability to properly apply this energy. This is your charge. Go forward and learn to properly apply my energy. Go my son.”
As quickly as he appeared, the giant-winged Lucifer soared backward up into the sun and disappeared. The great split in the dome slowly closed as the sun disappeared behind the cover. Aaron’s mind was reeling. The seething energies of Lucifer are in my hands. The Key is the proper application. She didn’t understand this fully.
Aaron turned to Gordon then both turned to face the crowd of onlookers. As Aaron stepped from the altar and walked through the crowd, the audience clapped.
Aaron looked at each face of the other Brothers. Like the Hall of Honor, many of the faces she immediately recognized. Past president’s and past vice president’s faces smiled at her while the clapping continued. Her ears went mute. All she saw now were the smiling faces of executive cabinet members, senators, representatives, all clapping and smiling, but no sound. She looked down at her feet thinking she must be floating along, not walking.
Gordon took her elbow and steered her toward the door. Line after line of Brothers in the Mason continued to welcome her into the hood. Then as if someone had knocked her knees out from under her, a very familiar face looked at her and smiled. He too was clapping. He too was welcoming her into the fold of Brothers. And she knew that face very well. That face was her husband, Tim.
Aaron was having trouble breathing. Tim was standing beside her now, still clapping. She was close enough to him to see all his medals from the Mason. He had on a light blue suit like all the other 33-degree alumni with a banner over his chest sporting degree medals. She tried not to look at his eyes. She couldn’t be exposed now.
Aaron walked swiftly past Tim then took one look back. The smile faded from Tim’s face as he thought he recognized the newest candidate to the Mason. He stopped clapping and his mouth dropped open.
Aaron looked at him with pleading eyes. Tim stood looking down the crowd opening for Gordon and Aaron as they disappeared through the door.
“I need to get out of here. Can we leave now?” Aaron cried.
“What is the problem? You should be celebrating. You should be happy.”
Tugging at Gordon’s arm, Aaron said, “I am extremely happy. I am so happy it is over. Can we get on the plane tonight?”
“Wait a minute. What is wrong?” Gordon asked.
“Nothing is wrong,” pleaded Aaron. “I just have an urgent drive to go home. Can we leave now?”
“Well, if you insist. I was going to take you out to celebrate. But if you are going to be coming out of your skin, we can leave. I will call the airport and see if we can get on standby tonight. Let’s go get our bags.”
It was a five-hour plane ride in the middle of the night again to get back to Oregon. Aaron pretended she was sleeping all the way home. She was petrified. Tim had definitely recognized her.
She was in a state of shock knowing that Tim was in the Mason cult. Now knowing he was a 33-degree member she was even more shocked. So many things made sense now. All the pieces of the puzzle of her life with Tim suddenly fell into place.
No wonder he was so desperate for her to stop her research into the Masons. No wonder he was so angry when she visited the local lodge. He was protecting his dirty little secret. How long would it be before Tim would find out where she lived and worked. She needed to make a move.
When they arrived back in Oregon, Aaron went silently to her apartment. She told Gordon earlier she would see him at school the next day. He assured her that they were excused from classes for another couple of days, but she said she wanted to get back to work as soon as possible.
She kissed him and thanked him for all he had done for her. Gordon was upset. It seemed to him Aaron was saying good-bye forever. He felt Aaron slipping through his fingers.
Reluctantly, Gordon went back to the university the day after arriving back from Washington DC. He went to Aaron’s classroom. No one was there. Somehow he was not surprised. He took out his cell phone and rang Aaron’s home phone number. There was no answer.
Out of concern, Gordon walked to Aaron’s apartment. He knocked on the door several times. There was no answer. He reached above the porch light for the spare key. There was no key there. Panic suddenly overtook him. What was going on? Where was Aaron? He sprinted down the stairs to the barbershop. He barged in the storefront door.
Sammy was working on a customer when Gordon game bursting through.
“Sammy, do you know where Aaron is?” He was breathless.
“No. I assume he is in his room or at the university. Why?” Sammy answered.
“I have called and knocked on his door with no answer. He's not at the university. I am worried. Do you have a spare key?”
“Aaron had a key and I think a spare one was above the door porch light. That’s all of the keys I know about.”
Gordon happened to look down at his hand gripping the doorsill. There beside his hand was the peg with two keys hanging on it. “What are these?”
Sammy stopped cutting hair and walked curiously over to the key peg. “I don’t know. It looks like the key I gave Aaron and the spare from the porch light. What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. Can I borrow these to get into the apartment?”
“You can. But you are not going without me. I will be right back,” Sammy told his customer.
Gordon and Sammy ran up the stairs to the front door of Aaron’s apartment. Gordon let them in with one of the keys.
The shades were pulled down in the front room, but enough light came through the front door for them to see their way in.
“Aaron?” Gordon yelled. “Aaron, are you here?”
No answer came from the apartment. It was obvious the apartment had been vacated. No one had been in the apartment for several hours. Gordon went into the bedroom and turned on the overhead light. He gasped at the sight on the bed.
There lying out on the bed were several items of clothing and some very strange looking paraphernalia—things Gordon had never seen before. He walked over to the bed and picked up a pair of Dockers. These were Aaron’s clothes. They were all laid out flat on the bed. Sammy joined him next to the bed layout.
“What in the world?” Sammy started.
Sammy walked to the bed and picked up the large rubber penis with the elastic hip bands. “What in the world? Gordon, what is this stuff?”
Gordon’s face fell and his heart sank. His hands ran over Aaron’s clothing to the Balls-In-A-Brief. He picked the briefs up and looked at them carefully. He was speechless. He was having a hard time reconciling in his head what his eyes were telling him.
Sammy picked up Aaron’s Balls-In-Running-Shorts and turned them inside out. “What??? What kind of sick stuff is this Gordon?”
Gordon still speechless sat on the edge of the bed surrounded by his lover’s innermost secrets. His fingers caressed the sweater Aaron had worn to Washington DC. Under the sweater he found an envelope with Gordon’s name on it. Gordon fumbled with the envelope flap. Inside was a small piece of paper that said only, “I’m sorry.”
A flood of emotions came over Gordon as he realized what the ugly scene on the bed meant. A lone tear ran down his cheek. Then another followed. He hung his head and sobbed openly.
Across town, Erin gave the farmer $600 cash to buy the car for sale in his driveway. She drove it away as the farmer counted his money for the second time.
She found the highway that led to her old house. She pulled up to the electronic gate then realized she no longer had access by remote. She stepped out of her car and noticed a security camera installed next to the gate. Something new, she thought. As she was returning to her car, the gate suddenly came to life and slowly swung open.
She put the car in drive and entered the gate. As she drove up to the house, Tim was waiting for her on the porch. She turned off the car and fumbled in her bag. She approached Tim.
Tim was smiling at her. She handed him the Masonic book that started all the trouble for her and her family.
“I guess you can have this now. You can get it back to its owner. And here,” she said as she held out a small packet. “This is about $5,000. It is half of what I have left from our accounts.”
Tim took the book and money. “It seems like you have every right to this booklet yourself now that you are one of the Brotherhood.” His eyes were glistening. He seemed to be mocking her.
She looked at him with disgust. He continued. “You know you are a dead person. They will hunt you down and kill you.”
“I know that. I also know you will turn me in as soon as I leave here. Can you do me one favor—for old time’s sake?”
“Sure. You know all of us Brothers need to help one another,” he said sarcastically.
“Give me a four hour head start before you turn me in?” She begged.
“You’ve got it.” He looked at his watch.
Erin climbed back into her new car. She spun out of the driveway and down to the highway. At the stop sign, she had two directions to go, east to Salem or west to Lincoln City on the beach. She chose the beach.
Thirty minutes later she arrived at Lincoln City. She found a place to park along Highway 101. She jumped out of her car, grabbed her backpack, threw the keys on the floorboard, then locked and shut the door.
She walked about 100 yards adjusting the backpack on her shoulders. The pack was much heavier now with Professor Williams’ laptop taking up a large amount of room in it.
She turned as she saw police patrol car lights flashing behind her. Erin stopped and pretended to look with interest at the antique window display before her. She looked over her shoulder.
The patrol car had stopped beside her now parked car. The officer got out while putting on his uniform cap. He sauntered around her car looking in all the windows. He spoke into a shoulder-mounted microphone. He then walked around the car again. His neck craned toward the driver’s window, probably noticing the keys lying on the floor mats.
So much for Brotherly Love, she thought. Erin hitched up the backpack once more and cursed under her breath as she disappeared among the summer tourists winding their way along the sidewalks of Lincoln City.
