by R D Shah
‘Thank you, Alex. That is what I wanted to hear,’ Brulet called out after him, in his more familiar restrained voice.
Realising he wasn’t getting out of the plane without some help, Harker turned to see Brulet calmly resume his seat and motion him to do the same.
‘I apologise but I had to be sure that you know what you’re getting yourself into.’
‘You were testing me?’ Harker fumed.
Brulet offered a gracious nod. ‘I would never send a man into any potentially life-threatening situation without ensuring he was wholly committed. That would be heartless and irresponsible, not forgetting just plain mean.’ Brulet smiled widely and once again motioned for Harker to sit back down. ‘Please.’
Harker held back for a few moments, then with a shrug he was back in his seat. No matter how annoying Brulet had been, Harker could see the logic in the Grand Master’s words. In truth he had instinctively decided to pay Father Strasser a visit without really considering the consequences or implications, but he still hated being played. ‘Fair enough, I get it, but seriously, Sebastian, please don’t do that again.’
‘You have my word, but I needed to be sure … simply for my own conscience.’
Then Brulet went straight back to business, in typical fashion.
‘Now, I can’t offer you any manpower, as I have already said, but logistically we are at your disposal. Travel arrangements, personal jets, vehicles, contacts and any information checks you might need are but a phone call away.’
To the uninitiated this change to a more accommodating pace would have seemed bizarre, but it was something Harker was getting used to and he nodded his thanks.
‘So there’s really only one question left … how to handle your new friend, Doctor Chloe Stanton. I think it would be best to not involve her any further than she already has been,’ Brulet advised. ‘Do you think could convince her to put all this business behind her and head back to the UK?’
Harker was already smiling confidently before the Grand Master could even finish the sentence. ‘Sebastian, I deal with unruly students every hour of the working day, each trying to undermine my authority and pressuring me to accept their own personal ideology. Believe me when I tell you that convincing Chloe this adventure is now at an end will be easy.’ He waved his hand casually in the air. ‘Trust me.’
Chapter 14
‘Of all the crummy excuses … If you’re trying to palm me off like one of your first-year students, then think again, mister.’ Chloe declared loudly, slamming her open palm down on the British Airways check-in desk with a loud thump. ‘You must think I’m an idiot, Professor Harker.’
‘Professor Harker? What happened to Alex?’
‘I reserve first names for people who are actually my friends, not those simply feigning to be so.’
‘I see. Well in that case thank you for letting me know, Doctor!’
‘Excuse me, sir, but are you looking to buy a ticket or not.’
The desk attendant’s question momentarily distracted Harker’s tunnel vision and he glanced over towards the clearly irritated member of staff. ‘Just give us a second, will you?’ he huffed.
‘Sir, if you’re not yet ready to buy a ticket, then please step aside and allow other customers to do so.’
Harker glanced back to see the ticket line totally empty, and no one else to be seen except for one lone luggage-handler leaning against the rear wall chewing at his nails lethargically. ‘What customers!’ He barked loudly, turning back to face the disaffected attendant. ‘We’re the only damn customers here.’
‘That’s not the point, sir, and if you continue to swear, I’m afraid I am going to have to ask you to leave.’
‘Swearing!’ Harker shouted in disbelief. ‘That’s not swearing. This is swear …’ Harker let the words tail off when he noticed a blue-shirted gendarme further along the concourse was beginning to take an interest in their increasingly heated conversation.
‘Well, sir?’ the attendant continued facetiously, also fully aware of the policeman’s gaze.
Harker raised one finger towards to the ceiling. ‘We’ll be right back,’ he replied and gently took Chloe by the arm and guided her out of hearing range of the now smug-looking attendant. ‘Chloe, I am not trying to palm you off. I just thought that, seeing as I’m already out of the country, I might as well take the time to visit some friends as well.’
‘In Warsaw?’ Chloe replied disbelievingly.
‘Yes, in Warsaw. I’m already halfway there, so why not kill two birds with one stone? Besides, after everything we witnessed, I could do with a break. So why don’t you head back to the UK, and in a few days we can have dinner and try and put these terrible events into context.’
‘Context!’ Chloe exclaimed. ‘Well, that’s not a bad idea,’ she hissed sarcastically. ‘Let’s examine it, shall we. We find ourselves at the centre of a terrorist attack, after which we’re arrested by Interpol, before being manhandled on to a plane, which doesn’t actually go anywhere, at which time I spend almost an hour locked in a flight cabin whilst you apparently are interrogated by Interpol agents who, strangely enough, don’t even bother to interview me before hurling us back into a car and dumping us here at Charles de Gaulle Airport, totally free to head home. Oh, yes,’ she continued and sucking in a much needed breath, ‘and without even having to disclose as much as our names to the authorities.’ She continued to stare at Harker incredulously as she took a moment to catch another breath before continuing with the onslaught. ‘Can I tell you how all these events could be wrapped up with a big bow?’
‘Please do,’ Harker declared indifferently, while retaining his poker face.
‘Conspiracy,’ Chloe leant closer, her lips tightening, ‘and unfinished business. Now I want the truth. What the hell is going on, Alex, and what the hell is waiting for you in Warsaw?’
An awkward silence followed as Harker searched Chloe’s hazel-green eyes for any sign of weakness that might actually allow him to palm her off for real, but regrettably all he could find was a look of unyielding determination. He would have to give her something, but only enough to mollify her understandable curiosity. Anything else would be a bridge too far and besides, Doctor Stanton was still an unknown quantity in his eyes. ‘OK, fair enough. After Notre Dame you do deserve to know what’s going on.’
His response drew a relieved sigh from Chloe, and she moved back a few inches so as not to seem so confrontational, even if her stare did continue to remain uncompromising.
‘Back in England you were right about what you said,’ he began, pausing for a moment to look out for anyone who might be in earshot. Satisfied that the only person in range was the lone baggage-handler, who seemed still only interested in the state of his own nails, he continued. ‘Jesus Christ is back. He was reborn four months ago.’ Harker couldn’t help but feel a total pillock in just uttering those words aloud. He felt like some conspiracy nut or one of those weirdos that parades down the street with a sign reading: Repent. The End Is Nigh.
Chloe on the other hand was looking stunned, her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide with excitement. ‘I knew it,’ she announced in an almost high-pitched squeak of exhilaration. ‘I just knew there was something going on there … I mean I didn’t know exactly what happened but I knew something big had happened. I mean there were too many strange stories coming out in the papers, so some of it had to be true.’
‘Now hold on,’ Harker said, placing his hand on Chloe’s shoulder in an attempt to quell her almost giddiness at the news. ‘It’s not quite what you think. The child is in fact a clone.’
‘What!’ Chloe gasped.
‘A clone, constructed from Christ’s DNA that was found on a number of relics the Catholic Church had in its possession.’
She didn’t utter a word as Harker now revealed more of the truth he had kept so painfully quiet about since its discovery.
‘There is a group of people – fanatics – that infiltrated the Church and want
ed to use the child to bring about a Catholic revolution. But I and a few like-minded people, managed to stop it before it could get out of hand.’ Harker paused there but not to give Chloe a chance to absorb this outlandish tale, but rather to give himself time to figure out how to explain the situation further without giving away too much about the main players. He was not about to reveal the existence of the Knights Templar and its ongoing war to stop the Magi controlling the Catholic Church. ‘Unfortunately some of these fanatics managed to kidnap the child about a month ago and then they vanished.’
‘The last Pope, Adrian VII,’ Chloe stumbled as she began to put the pieces together, ‘he’s one of these infiltrators, one of the fanatics, right?’
‘I’m afraid so,’ Harker offered a solemn nod, ‘and my friends have been searching for them both ever since.’
‘Who are these friends? MI6, CIA?’
‘Sorry, Chloe, I can’t and won’t tell you that, but suffice to say they’re the good guys.’
Considering what she had just been told, Chloe was looking remarkably accepting, and Harker wondered if she was simply shell-shocked by the admission but the expression of curiosity spreading across her face made him think again.
‘So what has any of that got to do with my patient Marcus Eckard or with McCray at the asylum, not to forget those hundreds of people that dropped dead in front of our eyes.’
‘That I honestly don’t know.’ Harker replied, and it was the truth. He genuinely had no idea what was going on.
Chloe was already opening her mouth to demand more information when Harker waved a hand in the air.
‘All I know is that the same man, Father Strasser, who asked me to speak with Marcus Eckard also told me that it would lead me to finding the child safe and sound, but so far it’s only led to the death of over one thousand innocent people.’
‘One thousand?’ Chloe asked, genuinely surprised at the figure.
‘Notre Dame wasn’t the only place of worship to get hit by a terrorist attack.’ Harker revealed as her eyes widened once more. ‘There were seven identical attacks – including mosques and synagogues – around the world, and all happening at the same time.’
‘Oh, my God.’ She raised a hand to her mouth. ‘And your friends believe everything’s connected to these fanatics?’
Harker shook his head. ‘No, actually they don’t think it is.’
‘But you do.’ Chloe surmised astutely.
‘I’m not sure but I think Father Strasser does, and my friends have managed to locate his address.’
‘Warsaw?’
‘Yes. And that’s where I’m heading next. If there’s any chance that he knows where the child is then I have to try.’
‘It’s one hell of a chance.’ Chloe remarked as she leant back against the wall.
‘True, but it’s one hell of a story.’ Harker replied
‘What does that mean?’
‘It means that nothing surprises me any more. And if you have a chance, no matter how slim, then you need to take it.’
They both waited patiently as a family of holidaymakers bustled past, the father struggling with the bags as the mother directed two children onwards along the concourse. In all their hurry they completely missed the nearby baggage-handler, who simply watched indifferently as the struggling parents disappeared down one of the terminal lanes, before resuming his spot of self-grooming.
‘These friends of yours, Alex, they must be extremely influential considering we just disappeared from an active investigation into a terrorist attack.’
‘They have their moments,’ Harker admitted, not wanting to reveal anything further. ‘But their intervention means you are now free to go home.’
‘Now, just you wait a minute. You can’t expect me to walk away after everything you’ve told me.’
‘That’s exactly what I expect you to do,’ he replied firmly. ‘You deserved an explanation, and I’ve been more forthcoming than I needed to be, but there is not a chance you’re coming with me.’
Chloe was suddenly looking crushed like a teenager who has been told she cannot go to a friend’s party. ‘That’s not fair,’ she stammered. ‘I can be of help.’
‘Of help!’ Harker almost laughed at the comment. ‘How?’
‘Firstly I saved your life so you owe me, and secondly we work well together. I can act as your support.’
He was already shaking his head stubbornly. ‘Thank you, Chloe, but I already have all the support I need. And regarding you saving my life, I’m going to return the favour and save yours by not letting you get involved in this any deeper than you already are.’ He brought his hand up between them in an effort to silence her as she was already revving up to make her next argument for being allowed to come along. ‘Chloe, these people, these fanatics, are trained killers whose ideology is as vicious as their methodology. They won’t take no for an answer and they don’t care who they destroy in the process, so long as they get what they want.’
Harker took a moment to look around the empty concourse and satisfy his paranoia that no one was listening to him, before continuing. ‘You’ve been great, Chloe, you really have but I’m not going to be responsible for something bad happening to you. This is as far as you go.’ Harker held out his hand, but it was met with an icy stare as if he were offering her a lump of manure instead of a polite handshake.
‘It’s not your decision to make,’ she replied resolutely. ‘It’s mine.’
‘The hell it is,’ he blurted out louder than intended.
‘Very well, then.’ Chloe pointed to the blue-shirted gendarme still hovering in the near distance. ‘Then it is my decision to go over to that officer right now and tell him that both you and I were witnesses to the terrorist attack today, and explain that so far no one has even bothered to take a statement from either of us.’
‘Oh, please, you’re not really going to do that,’ Harker replied confidently.
‘Why not? We haven’t done anything wrong, but I think it might slow down your chances of getting to Warsaw in a hurry, don’t you?’
‘I don’t respond well to threats, Chloe,’ Harker hissed intimidatingly through gritted teeth.
‘Well, you better respond well to this one, Professor, or you’re not going anywhere.’
For the next few seconds Harker stared silently into Chloe’s trouble-making eyes before he allowed the feeling of rage that was pounding in his chest to subside and his jaw muscles to loosen. He then ignored her and quietly made his way over to the ticket attendant, sporting the most jovial smile he could muster, and sucked up the fact that he had just got screwed. ‘Two tickets to Warsaw, please,’ he said politely. ‘And may I ask you for a favour?’
The attendant stood po-faced for a moment before resuming that annoyingly smug demeanour. ‘You may ask, sir. How can I help?’
Harker pointed back towards Chloe, who still stood on the other side of the concourse, looking mightily pleased with herself. ‘I want you to seat me as far away from that woman as humanly possible.’
Chapter 15
The faint rumblings of an argument in full flow grew increasingly louder as Cardinal David Mythias approached the small wooden doorway of the Vatican’s Holy See press office. He paused at the imposing entrance and rubbed his forehead vigorously in an attempt to diffuse the worsening headache that had gripped him since learning of the terrorist attacks earlier that morning. The devastating assault on a number of religious institutions was the lead story of every newspaper, TV channel and radio programme throughout the world and, with over one thousand dead from every culture and creed, it was hardly surprising. Within minutes of the attack, the world’s social-media networks had erupted in an explosion of furious chatter. Hundreds of millions of people all venting their disgust and outrage at such an atrocious attack upon the citizens of the world. Many of those same voices were now slamming their verbal fists against the Vatican’s front door, with hundreds of thousands of emails crying out for the Pope to respond.
Cardinal Mythias rested his hand on the brass door handle and took a moment to clear his head. As one of the new Pope’s closest advisors, his recommendation on the day’s tragic events held much weight, but unfortunately his was not a viewpoint held by all, and the altercation now playing out on the other side of the door was no doubt as a direct result of that.
Mythias turned the knob and allowed the wooden door to swing back slowly under its own weight, revealing the two men inside making all the commotion.
‘I’m not saying it’s an ill-thought-out idea, Michael. I’m saying it’s a stupid idea.’
Michael McKinnon dropped both hands to his sides and angrily glared at the man throwing insults. ‘Stupid idea!’ he growled indignantly. ‘What’s stupid is your belief in the misguided notion that you know what you’re talking about. Don’t forget who’s the professional here. I’m the director of this press office, not you.’ McKinnon raised his pudgy finger towards the underling and poked the air firmly. ‘You’re my secretary, so why don’t you just fulfil that role and go make me a cup of coffee.’ The press director then lifted two fingers up in the air and wagged them condescendingly. ‘That’s two sugars, remember.’
‘I resent that, Michael, I’m the press secretary, not your private lackey!’ the man shouted back before doing an about-turn and marching off through one of the side doors.
‘That’s two sugars,’ McKinnon called after him sarcastically, ‘not one. Even you should be able to…’
‘Well, then,’ Cardinal Mythias interrupted the director’s mockery, ‘I see you got my message.’
McKinnon spun around to face Mythias, having been completely unaware of the cardinal’s presence. ‘How long have you been standing there?’ he puffed, unhappy at being caught off guard.
‘Just arrived.’ Mythias replied.
‘Well,’ McKinnon strode his way across the room towards his new visitor, ‘they don’t call you the mole for nothing.’
‘The mole? How so?’
‘Because you’re always popping up in places unexpectedly.’
