The Traveler

In December of 1945, in Nag Hammadi, Egypt, a collection of fifty-two writings were discovered.  Dated as early as A.D. 40, these writings were speculated to be those of the apostle Thomas.  These writings, though highly regarded by historians as the earliest account of the living Jesus’ words, were not accepted by the Catholic Church as canonical, and as such have been dismissed.  The text, in its entirety, has been available to the public for open interpretation for decades ...or so it was thought until now.

With every major war, there are the fringe theorists who purport an inside job or a conspiracy for something more sinister. The United States and its loosely collected allies have been embroiled in Iraq, the second full scale war in the Middle East in fifteen years.  Again, as before, under the guidance of a Bush-run Christian administration, the citizens of the United States, comfortable in their daily lives, are content that this conflict is neither a holy war, nor a witch hunt, but rather retribution for terrorist acts as well as the West’s efforts to secure oil supplies and  its price.

Israeli-born American physician, David Hines, is the senior White House physician, and lead caregiver to the President of the United States.  As such, he is granted Top Secret clearance to travel with the Commander in Chief’s at his discretion.  On a typically hot day in the Suni Triangle, Air Force One, with a skeleton crew of only seventeen, makes an unscheduled stop at Al Taqaddum, Iraq.  Approximately seventy-five kilometers west of Baghdad.  It is on this stop that Dr. David Hines inadvertently witnesses a back room meeting between the highest members of the U.S. Government and the Vatican.

Excusing himself from the dirt floored meeting place, David is met outside by a local Iraqi wearing a crucifix around his neck.  He anxiously passes David a scrap of parchment, before dropping to his knees and kissing David’s soiled boots.  The mysterious messenger rises quickly and disappears around the building.  In shock from the events he has witnessed, David is jolted by the sound of a single gun shot.  Around the corner in the powdery dirt, his crucifix lying next to him in a widening pool of his own blood, is this man.  A of the Swiss Guard, rifle in hand, stands over him.

Fleeing this area, David unravels the parchment he has been given.  It appears to have been torn from a greater document, but is covered in Arabic writing.  Written very clearly within this text is his name, spelled out in its entirety in English.  David hears footsteps in the sand behind him, but is struck in the temple and knocked unconscious as he turns toward the noise.

Kidnapped by a Christian sect from Iraq’s Sinjar Mountains, pursued into a hostile land by a spec war team chosen to hunt him down, and betrayed by a White House under Vatican direction, Dr. David Hines will uncover the real reason for the Gulf Wars, and his role in the origins of Christianity as outlined two thousand years ago.