by Neil Howarth
“Hey Walter, how's it going?”
“Officer Jackson,” Walter smiled. “We’re doing okay.”
“I heard you’ve been having a little fun around here.”
Walter winkled his brow but didn’t bite.
“Relax," the cop gave a shrug and a smile. “Local gangbanger turned up at the ER room at the Lincoln with a smashed leg. That’s not usual, but he says he got it here. The doc in the ER filed a police report. He said it was no regular break. His knee was snapped by a blow that was planted with great precision. Said it was probably from someone who had specialized military training. Not the normal kind of injury they get in this part of town.” The cop held up a hand. “Look, Raoul Ramirez is a scumbag. He could have broken his neck for all I care. But my boss wants me to fill out a report, so that’s what I’m gonna do. So come on Walter, tell me what I should write.”
Walter shrugged. “It all happened fast. Raoul and his boys came in here looking for young Jose. It looked like he was going to do him some harm. Myself and Father Paul tried to intervene, but he hit Father Paul over the head. He needed six stitches. Then this guy steps out of the crowd. It was all over in a flash. Raoul was down, and the guy was gone. You know this place. We get plenty of ex-military types, down on their luck. I guess it was Raoul’s unlucky day."
“You could say that,” the cop said. "The thing is we’ve had a BOLO request from Homeland Security. They're looking for a guy, ex-military. All this computer shit they got these days flagged up this incident.” He pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Walter. It was a photograph.
"You seen this guy?"
He was dressed in a military uniform, but it was clearly Joseph Fagan. Walter studied it then shrugged. He could confess later. “Sorry, never seen the guy before.”
He handed back the photo, and the cop tucked it away in his pocket.
“Okay, that’s how I’ll write it up.”
“You want some coffee?"
“I’d love some, but I gotta go. You take care now.” The cop touched his cap and headed out the door.
Fagan stepped out of the back office. “I have to leave. It’s not safe here, not for anyone, as long as I stay here.”
“Then we have to leave.”
Fagan shook his head but Walter did not give him a chance to speak.
“Luca told me to look after you. And trust me, the good Father Luca scares me a lot more than these people who are after you.”
“Walter, you don’t understand.”
Walter turned his back and headed for the door. “Explain it to me on the way.”
26
South Jamaica, Queens, NY.
The whiskey was single malt. Walter poured two generous measures and handed a glass to Fagan. Fagan took a sip, letting the peaty flavor run across his tongue. It seemed that things were really bad, again.
They were in an apartment in a brownstone building in South Jamaica, Queens, a short ride from JFK Airport. The street had seen better times, but for now, it suited.
After the cop had left the shelter, and Walter had made his point, he had stood on lookout while Fagan made his way out through the rear of the building and climbed into the back of the van. Walter got into the front and drove with one hand, and pushed his phone to his ear with the other. After a few calls and some of Water’s crazy driving, they had ditched the car in a supermarket car park and then headed out on foot via a very circuitous route, and had ended up here.
“Any word?” Fagan asked.
“Luca’s back in town. He said he’s coming over.”
“I’m not sure what Luca can do about this. I think I need to be moving on.”
“I think maybe you should hold your horses for a while. I’ve been doing some checking.”
“What kind of checking?”
“In a previous life, I was a computer hacker, among other things. I was actually rather good, if I say it myself.” Walter flashed a smile. “I have a friend, well, someone I know, who got me access into the NSA network.
Fagan shook his head. “You know if they catch you doing that, they’ll drop you in a deep dark hole in Guantanamo Bay, and forget you ever existed.”
“Gratitude,” Walter tutted.
“So what did you find?”
“It seems you're more wanted than Osama Bin Laden.”
“Well, that’s nice.”
"It means that every airport, train and bus station will be on the lookout for you. Every cop is going to have your picture."
A light lit up the room, and Fagan caught the sound of a car pulling up outside.
Walter moved across to the window and eased back the drape.
“Looks like Luca.”
Moments later the front door opened and Luca walked in. William was close behind him. He was dressed in a black suit with a purple vest and a simple Roman collar.
“Your grace.” Walter rushed forward. He looked unsure whether to bow, kneel, or kiss his Archbishop’s ring.
William waved him aside.
Fagan got up out of his seat. “William, you can’t be here? You put yourself in danger just being close to me.”
“Let me worry about that.”
Luca accepted a whiskey, William declined.
Luca took a sip and looked across at Fagan. “There was a man out at the shelter this afternoon, asking questions. We caught him on the security camera.”
He pulled a photograph out of his inside pocket and handed it over. Fagan studied it then sank the remains of his whiskey. The wound had begun to heal, and a deep, red scar ran down the left side of the man's cheek, from his ear to the corner of his mouth. It made the smirk that Fagan always hated, a permanent thing.
It was Blanchet, and he was very much alive.
He knew that going after Blanchet was not an option, mainly because this whole thing was much bigger than that, and killing Blanchet would achieve nothing. But that didn’t stop every urge and fiber in his body from wanting that. Instead, he tried to focus on - what now?
“I really need to leave. I’ll bring you nothing but trouble.”
William shook his head. “What chance do you have out there? They are looking for you, the CIA, Homeland Security, even the FBI.”
“Which is why I need to leave. You have already done more than enough for me.”
“Joseph,” William said. “These people are all saying bad things about you. But I know Joseph Fagan the man. I know who he is. The reason I am standing here today is because of you.”
“And what do you suggest?”
William seemed to consider what he had asked then gave a non-committal shrug. "Maybe I’ll take that whiskey after all."
Walter poured him a measure and handed the glass over. William took a sip, savoring the flavor, then smiled, flashing his perfect white teeth and lighting up his handsome face.
“Luca and I have been talking, and we have a plan.”
William gave him the details. It was a hell of a plan.
That day, one life ended, and another began.
27
Brighton, Boston, Massachusetts.
Fagan stood outside the gates and looked up at the sign.
St Stephens Seminary, Est. 1886.
The words were painted in neat gold letters. The Seminary was in a sleepy western suburb of Boston. It turned out to be Luca’s old Alma Mater. The main building sat back, partially hidden amongst the trees, it had been modeled in the style of a Norman chateau, built in local Roxbury puddingstone, with the corners edged in neat red brick and sandstone. The roofs were grey slate with conical towers on each corner of the main building.
Walter struggled out of the back door of the taxi and retrieved his bag from the trunk. “It’s alright. I’ll take care of it.” He muttered as he looked across at Fagan. But Fagan was not taking any notice.
Walter shook his head and handed the driver two twenty dollar bills. He didn’t get any change. He walked over to Fagan as the cab drove away. Fagan was still looking a
t the gates.
“Forty bucks!”
“What?” Fagan said, not hearing a word.
“Never mind.” Walter shook his head and looked up at the wrought iron gates. “Are you ready for this?”
It was the perfect place for him to disappear. It started out as a refuge, a sanctuary, somewhere to hide away while the world was looking for him. But gradually the study, the spirituality, and the sanctity seemed to connect, as if someone was talking to him directly, telling him that this was the way. He started to forget about what was outside and began to concentrate on what this was really all about. It was the perfect way to become another person. Strangely, it had an almost mystical attraction. Maybe it was the sanctuary of the walls keeping out his previous life, or maybe a young Irish American Catholic boy, who grew up in a world where a Priest in the family was the greatest gift that God could bestow, was finally coming home.
Hiding in plain sight, Luca had called it. “It will keep you hidden until things calm down, and besides it will be good for your soul.”
After a while, he did venture out on the streets. But these were different streets, in that twilight world that exists out on the edges of most people’s everyday life, as if the real world was totally oblivious to its existence. There but not really there. Just like in New York. He helped in the soup kitchens, in the shelters, working around the homeless, getting to know them, gaining their trust. Helping them make it through one more day. To be honest, he loved it. He was doing something positive in his life at last.
Four Years Later
Like his time in the military, he had taken the seminary life very seriously, had applied himself and studied hard. He impressed his teachers and his fellow seminarians. He and Walter had kept on working for Luca in their spare time. Four years seems to go by awful fast, and now it was over. Tomorrow was ordination.
Walter had gone off with some of the other guys to a favorite local watering hole, but he had stayed behind. Maybe tomorrow would be a time for celebrating.
The call came as he stepped out of the chapel. William's voice was clear on the line. He was in Rome now, a newly elected Cardinal, and the Pope’s Camerlengo, the Holy Father’s Chancellor. The greetings were brief, and he quickly got to the point.
“I have spoken to the Holy Father about you,” he said. “He is not without influence, including with the President of the United States. He has spoken to him personally and pleaded your case.”
“I don’t think the President is interested in my case.”
“You are a decorated hero, who only ever tried to serve his country.”
“Good luck with that one.”
“Joseph, listen to me. The President has agreed. He has already passed out the order. The sanction has been lifted. They will leave you alone. No one is pursuing you anymore. You are a free man. You don’t have to do this tomorrow. You can have your life back. You can go out into the world and be whatever you want to be. I remember a long time ago, one night in the desert, back in Somalia. We had a conversation about Joe and Joseph Fagan. I like to think there is no distinction between them any more.”
Fagan had to smile at that one. He had just spent an hour in the chapel thinking about just that thing. “William, thank you, I really do appreciate it. But I have a life. I know what I want, and I know who I am. And I have to tell you — Joe Fagan is dead.”
The next day the Dean of the college ordained him as a priest, and Father Joseph Fagan stepped out into the world. He was never going to be an average pastor, that was obvious to all his teachers, his fellow students, and to Luca and William alike. But then the church had a need for different skills, different strengths, different mindsets.
There was a struggle going on out there, people were trying desperately to survive. And Father Joseph Fagan was just the man to help them.
The Simeon Scroll
The Simeon Scroll - The Armageddon Trilogy - Book 1
The Ultimate Crisis for the Ultimate Goal.
The Imperium - The Shadow Government - A secret organization, behind the Government, beyond the Government, manipulating markets, controlling economies, orchestrating world events - cultivating chaos, and reaping the profits.
Now they are planning their greatest crisis.
Father Joseph Fagan, a priest with a question mark over his past, is asked to investigate the hit and run killing of a close friend of the Pope. But it quickly escalates into a series of ‘accidents' that take the lives of anyone asking questions. Which leaves Joseph Fagan squarely in the firing line.
Pope Salus I, Fagan's friend and mentor. A Pontiff reaching out to heal the conflicts and the wounds between all religions.
Dominic De Vaux, billionaire entrepreneur, and Golden Boy of the Imperium, following a plan to fulfill the Holy Bible's most devastating prophecy. Using an ancient scroll, he will tear apart the fragile relationship between Christianity and Islam, and plunge the whole world into chaos.
But Joseph Fagan is no ordinary priest. He has a dark past and has sworn never to go back to the man he once was. But as events escalate, he is forced into a deadly struggle to prevent the ultimate Global Holy War. If he is to fight back he must call upon the special skills he has spent the last ten years running away from.
The Simeon Scroll. A high paced political thriller, that weaves along the fine line between fiction and fact, through that cloudy mist between what we are told, what we think we know, and what really might be the truth. A story that asks the question, what if the ultimate conspiracy theory was true?
The Simeon Scroll is author Neil Howarth´s third thriller novel, and as always cranks up the action and edge of your seat suspense.
The Final Pontiff
The Final Pontiff - The Armageddon Trilogy - Book 2
Father Paul Brennan is back in the Vatican, and he is on his way up.
When Walter stumbles on a mysterious link to a secret, hidden in Brennan's past, he unwittingly puts his, and his friends' lives in danger.
The story of the Armageddon Trilogy continues as Fagan and Frankie are hounded from their farmhouse hideaway in the South of France by a deadly group of religious fanatics, and pitched onto a desperate journey to discover what Brennan is hiding. It takes them to an ancient Priory on a windswept clifftop in Southern Ireland, and from there to the wild mountains of Bosnia. There they are forced to step carefully through the minefield of its war-torn history, on a quest to uncover a dark secret, buried for the last twenty-five years beneath the bones and memories of its painful past.
A secret that can bring all of Brennan’s dreams crashing down.
A secret that could finally set them free.
The Final Pontiff, the second book in the Armageddon Trilogy, another edge of your seat thriller from author Neil Howarth.
Watch out for the final chapter of the Armageddon Trilogy, The Day of Wrath coming soon.
The Day of Wrath
The Day of Wrath- The Armageddon Trilogy - Book 3
The final chapter in the Armageddon Trilogy.
*** Coming Soon ***
The Doomsday Legacy
The Secret to the World's Salvation or its Darkest Nightmare
When his uncle, a retired CIA agent, turns up dead on a train in Eastern Europe, international war photographer, Mason Bradley is caught in the middle.
The Russian Mafiya and shady factions of the CIA believe the former agent was carrying something of vital importance. But where is it now? They suspect that Bradley knows the answer, only he doesn’t, and his only way to stay alive is to find it and use it as a bargaining chip for his life.
Bradley begins a journey into a shady world where money, greed, and deception, are the deadly currency in the battle for ultimate power, a world of dark secrets, where life can be snuffed out with the snap of unseen fingers. The action moves from the United States, through Europe to St. Petersburg, and the heart of the Russian Mafiya, then to the far north, to the frozen wasteland of Siberia, and a secret still kept long after the d
emise of the Soviet Union. Bradley struggles to stay one step ahead of his pursuers, as one by one, his every avenue of escape is closed.
But perhaps Mason Bradley has some dark secrets of his own.
The Foo Sheng Key
The Middle East teetering on the brink of war.
One man willing to push it over the edge. A man with great wealth and power, prepared to plunge the whole world into chaos in the simple, selfish act of revenge.
And a twelve year old boy who stands in his way.
The key to a dangerous secret
Jai has a happy life as a novice monk in a Tibetan monastery, protected from afar by his mother, an important Chinese scientist. Until one day his happy life is shattered. Soldiers attack the monastery, killing all inside except for Jai, who escapes into the snow.
Jai, unknowingly, has become the vital key in a deadly secret, and his pursuers want him desperately - Dead or Alive.
A deadly chase across the roof of the world
Jai finds himself alone in the vast mountainous wastes of Tibet, with the Chinese Security Service and dark factions of the CIA not far behind. But so also is his father, an American, who years before turned his back on his wife and son and thought he would never see them again. Now he has to step out from his past, face his demons, and make one last effort to put things right.
