Chapter 9: The Contents of the Box Revealed

It took about two hours for the three of them to change, let the kids know where they were going and approximately what time they would return, and drive to downtown Phoenix. At the bank, Jason presented his identification and his key. After waiting another ten minutes, they were led to a small room. The safety deposit box was brought in moments later.

“Take as much time as you need. When you are done, just lock the box and leave it on the desk. Just pick up the phone, it will ring at my desk and I’ll come in and retrieve the box.”

When they were alone with the box, Jason turned the key and lifted the lid. In the box, there were two large, yellowed with age, envelopes. One was address to Jason, the other to his father.

It was Maria who said, “Let’s do this in order; open your father’s envelope first.”

Jason picked up the envelope and dumped the contents onto the desk. There were two additional envelopes, the first was also yellowed with age; the other, a more contemporary envelope with the name and address of JP Morgan printed on it.

Once again, Jason picked up the older envelope; on the front of the envelope was a single word, written in flowing handwriting, ‘SIXTH’. Inside was a single sheet of yellowed paper.

‘To Number Six,

‘You are the keeper of the knowledge. The others before you had no reason to know anything about the future. Their only responsibility was to produce a male heir. On you, however, falls the heavier burden. You must produce a male heir, and equally important, you must instill in that heir the love of history and the desire to search the past, in order to discover the truth about what happen to my son and his descendants.

‘You must keep this secret from him, including the knowledge of what, I assume, will be the immense wealth that he will inherit. For him to know about this before he completes his task will surely impede, and perhaps, thwart his thirst for the knowledge he will need to acquire.

‘Therefore you must keep this information from him until he asks for it. In addition, you must be sure that he has completed what he has set out to accomplish before you inform him of his next task.

‘He must use the wealth of the remainder trust to provide a home and wellbeing of those he will find, and who he will lead out of the wilderness. I have seen this in a vision and I truly believe that it will be so.’

‘The Lord’s blessings be onto you, and through his goodness may he give both you and your son the strength to perceiver in completing your assigned tasks.

The letter was signed by Joshua Hawke.

The second envelope contained a detailed statement of the assets held in his trust as of June 30. The total asset value was $101,512,334.07. There was also a detailed set of instructions indicating how he could get access to fifty percent of that value and what would be done with the rest of the funds after his amount was withdrawn. There was also a letter from the Executive Vice President of the company informing him that upon the birth of his first male heir, that he should contact him immediately with his name, social security number, and date of birth. His final instructions were to keep his contact information current so that once his heir turned twenty-one, arrangements could be made to distribute the contents of final trust.

They all sat starring at the unopened second envelope. Maria stood, still holding the letter from Joshua.

“I’m going to get a copy made of this so we don’t have to remove your Dad’s original from the bank. I’ll be right back.”