"Israel must die, you would do this to your own people?"
"Have to, no way around it. Besides . . . We must reclaim the Holy Places in peace and stillness. But don't you see, many Jews here will survive. Everyone in the United States and Canada will survive. No one in this country will be hurt at all.
"The attacks in this hemisphere will wipe out only the southern lands-all of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. All those islands peaceful again and beautiful, where the poinsettia can bloom a deep red, and the palms can blow in the wind.
"But everything that is in our country and Canada will survive. The filovirus dies quickly. We've perfected our formula out of all three strains of Ebola and some we've found ourselves. The gas dissipates. I told you. It breaks down utterly. You don't know the lengths we've gone to perfect our formula so that horses and cat-tie will be immune. You don't know how we have worked to make this merciful."
He sighed, with a little shake of his head, then said:
"There will be spot exterminations of villages in the Amazon jungle-yes, that will happen-but in general the wildlife will rebound. It won't be hurt by these clever poisons. Azriel, do you realize the geniuses I have working for me, men who worked in government germ-warfare programs for years, men who know things you and I know nothing of?"
"And Europe?" I asked. "You will kill Asia Minor? You will kill the Balkan countries. What will you do with Europe?"
"That is our biggest problem strategically. Because we must wipe out the Germans, we must do that on account of what they did with Hitler to the Jews. The Germans have to die. They have to. All of them. Absolutely.
"But we want to spare all other European countries. Except Spain. I just don't like Spain, and Spain has had too much Moslem influence. But the extermination in Germany will be very stealthy, involve more foot workers than anyplace else, and there may be some unavoidable casualties among the French and the English, especially those traveling in Germany at the time."
He stood up and he walked to the map. "It's all prepared. It's all in place. The final chemicals have been shipped. What remains here in the building can be used to attack anyone who enters the building. There are areas that can be sealed off where police and authorities can be gassed.
"You realize of course," he said, "that from most of these condemned areas, we will be the only broadcast that the United States receives. We will have the advantage in describing this gentle plague. We have written our poetry, which is worthy to be remembered, like the story of the battles of Darius carved in rock."
He pointed to the various monitors whose cameras remained fixed on corridors or empty rooms or elevators. "All killing traps. We are a fortress here.
"On the third day," he said, "as the United States weeps in confusion for the rest of the world, while secretly sighing in relief to be rid of it, I will rise from the Dead, and I will tell what I have seen of these deaths everywhere, and that this plague was inevitable and the will of God. All the members of my Temple are prepared to take positions of leadership."
"Do they know it's a hoax!" I demanded. "Your own idiot followers? Do they know it's Nathan, an identical twin, who will be killed?"
He smiled patiently at me, his back to the map, his arms folded.
"You tricked him into the hospital to acquire the DNA you need to verify your own death," I said. "How many know about the fraud? How many are there involved in exchanging the DNA records at the key moments in order to verify your resurrection?"
"Enough key people know. Of course the great mass of my followers don't know. They know who I am, and when I appear they will know it's Gregory. I take the responsibility for this on my own shoulders. I take the guilt of the murder of the world, and the burden of a new myth of my journey to hell and back. I am the new Messiah. I am the anointed one. And my secret things are mine, as Yahweh's secrets were His."
He took the time to calm himself. His eyes were wet with emotion. "You're beautiful, Azriel. I need you. You've been sent to be at my side. You've been sent."
"Get on with this plan. Who knows what?" I demanded.
"Only a few in this location know that the death and the resurrection are a trick. Isn't that how it probably happened the first time?"
"The first time," I whispered. "And what was the first time? Was it Calvary? Is that what you think?"
"Even the people distributing the gas throughout India do not really know what it will do. Only those in charge know. There are levels of knowledge. Mine is a world of zealots willing to die for me, don't you see, die for me and for a new world. Now listen to what I say. Listen!
"Imagine the relief when people realize what has taken place. I mean it. Think of the relief in the minds of all intelligent Americans and Europeans, all Westerners, or whatever you want to call us."
He sat down again and leaned towards me. "Azriel, people will be overjoyed when the Great Death has passed. They will be overjoyed! Only the West with all its resources will remain, that's all. All the poverty, the disease, the tribal war, gone. Gone from the earth. A new beginning.
"We, the Temple of the Mind, will take control. We outnumber those in Washington who might at first resist us. We will have no problem in other places. We know what has happened. We have the knowledge. We will go on the airwaves describing that the will of God has been done, and that the earth is now at peace, and free of millions who covered it like termites and parasites."
"And you think the President of this country is going to take your hand for this?"
"Well, we'll probably have to kill him. But at least we'll give him a chance. At the moment he is an extremely brilliant man and rather beautiful. But our Temple people in Washington are ready. There are three thousand of them within blocks of the White House, and the nearby Pentagon. I presume you know these are our important buildings. We can gas everyone in those buildings. If necessary the entire population of Washington can be gassed. I've agonized over this. I believe that we should not do this to our own people."
"How merciful."
"Just wise. We want the government to realize it has been spared by the prophet Gregory at the will of the Lord to help rebuild a new and bountiful world order. At least, we want to give the President and our congressmen time to visualize these empty continents where the lilies of the field can bloom again in all their glory."
He implored me with his eyes. He was truly moved. When he trembled it wasn't fear, but a great anticipation.