The Gospel of the Font

Chapter 15

Our visit with Dr. Keller was quite pleasant, a welcome change to his coldness when we first met. It's natural for people to be curious, but we override that curiosity with ridiculous dogmas. We're taught to fear the darkness. Keller's situation is one I've seen countless times over the last year. His mind is eager to cast off doubts and limits, but a lifetime of conditioning tells him to stay away from anything bearing the mark of Lucifer, no matter how good it looks.

After receiving his business card, we thanked one another and parted ways. Dr. Keller returned to his blue look-at-my-doctor-money BMW and headed back to the hospital to begin analyzing the instructions I had given him on how to cure cancer. We all boarded the bus, ready to go somewhere more relaxing than firefights and police stations. However, before we relax, we have important issues to discuss.

"Red Letter Redeemers," I state boldly as I board the bus behind everyone else. "We need to find out how this faction got so big without us noticing."

"Faith, you have hate-groups all over the Internet," Karen says from the couch. Her legs are crossed, and her hands are folded on her knees. "How could we have possibly known this one was getting so big?"

"Well, we know now," I answer. "So, we need to know as much about them as we can find out."

"I'm on it," Jason says as his computer hums to life. He really knows his way around tech stuff and has been keeping track of our web presence. "I have a bookmark folder for all the websites of hate-groups I come across."

"Go over every inch of their website," I say. "We need to know who's leading them."

"I'm sure the website won't say," Walter says.

"They won't need to," Jason says as he types. The glow from his screen reflects off his glasses, giving me a tiny mirror image of what he's looking at. Their website has a white background with a big gold cross at the top. The cross has a white cloth draped over the arms and a dove sitting on top of it. RED LETTER REDEEMERS is written in big, red letters underneath it. The rest is all a tiny type that I can't read in the reflection.

"Why not?" I ask. I must admit, I've never been very good with computers. Computers can't be found deep underground or in ancient tombs, so I've never had much interest in them.

"All I need to do is hack into their domain registry and I can trace their IP address," Jason says as though I have any idea what the fuck he's talking about.

"Good," I say with little confidence. "Do...whatever it is that you just said... then."

Jason laughs but doesn't look up. "This will only take a couple of minutes."

"Do you want us to stay here?" Brandon asks from the driver's seat.

"No," I respond as I turn towards him. "We need to get moving. It will be dark soon and I'd rather not be hanging out in front of the police station."

"Are we going to stay in Charlotte?" Tim asks. "Doctor Keller seemed pretty anxious to see you again soon."

I nod. "I'm not sure what Doctor Keller has in mind, but he seems trustworthy."

"You could find out pretty easily," Tim responds.

I scowl at him. "Don't start with that again," I say.

"Come on," Tim responds in a whiny tone. We've had this conversation before. "Just use the book and..."

"I am not going to be a mind reader!" I shout.

"You said the Font kept no knowledge from anyone!" Tim shouts back. I really hope this is just the stress of getting hit with buckshot talking. "Stop being a hypocrite!"