The secrecy surrounding political leaders meeting with the world’s wealthiest industrialists has spawned myriad conspiracy theories, ranging from a downright evil cabal run by neo-Nazis, to the US Republican Party being run by Bilderbergers behind the scenes. This author makes no such accusation, but he keeps an open mind. That said, as the reader will have gathered, there is no doubt as to the aims of the Pharos Group. According to Oxfam, eighty-five people in the world share a combined wealth of $1.7 trillion – equal to that of the poorest half of the world population – 3.5 billion people. Oxfam argues that a growing inequality is being driven by a power grab by the small number of wealthy elites who co-opt the political process to rig the rules of the economic system in their favour. Manipulation of the world’s stock markets is a distinct possibility, and the obscene wealth of the Crowleys of this world continues to be generated unabated, in the face of 80 per cent of the world’s population living on less than $10 a day, with 22 000 children dying each day, because of poverty. We are a screwed-up species.
And manipulation is not confined to the stock market. Big Tobacco spent millions trying to manipulate public opinion, employing scientists and consultants to create doubt over the harmful effects of smoking, and to this day, Big Tobacco will not publicly admit that smoking causes lung cancer – notwithstanding it has understood the carcinogenic nature of its product for decades. When it comes to global warming, people like the fictional character of Professor Ahlstrom exist in real life, handsomely paid by the big emitters to promote the idea that global warming is a myth. Ahlstrom draws our attention to the snowstorms in the United States in 2013–14 as proof there is no such thing as global warming – yet scientists are well aware those snowstorms were caused by global warming fracturing the polar vortex and releasing very cold winds from the Arctic. The big emitters, those with most to lose, are taking the same approach as Big Tobacco. The more carbon taxes that are repealed, the better their bottom line – for the moment. Granted, no one country can tackle climate change on its own – we have to do it in concert – but as a species, we lack the leadership to achieve that, so we can expect ever increasingly destructive wildfires, snowstorms, hurricanes and cyclones – planet earth’s reaction to what we’re spewing into the atmosphere. Our grandchildren had better get used to it, for it is they who will pay, after it’s too late.
As to religion and politics, religion has long been at the root of many of our tragically destructive wars, going back well before the Crusades. Many fundamentalists – Muslims, Christians, Orthodox Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Calathumpians – all firmly believe they tread the one true path – yet if that’s so, only one group can be right, and the other gods are entitled to be confused. The three great monotheistic religions all have their roots in Abraham, and Muhammad reportedly advised his early converts, ‘Treat well the people of the Book’, meaning the Christians and the Jews. ‘Only argue with the People of the Book in the kindest way – except in the case of those of them who do wrong – saying, “We believe in what has been sent down to us and what has been sent down to you. Our God and your God are one and we submit to him [my italics].”’ (Qur’an, 29:46). Not much sign of that, as the barking mad brigade in ISIS seeks to impose a worldwide Caliphate and Sharia law from Syria and Iraq; Sunnis and Shi’ites continue at each others’ throats, blowing up each other’s mosques; fundamentalist Christians campaign to ensure not one square centimetre of the Holy Land is allowed into Palestinian hands; and some of the Orthodox Jews plot to destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount – the third holiest site in Islam – so the Third Temple can be built in its place. The most ‘intelligent’ species on the planet spends trillions developing ever more powerful weapons of mass destruction, and as they fall into the hands of religious terrorists taught by barely literate imams, our grandchildren had better get used to ever increasing levels of violence.
As I pen this note, hundreds of Palestinians, including four innocent boys playing football on a Gaza beach, have been killed by Israeli air and artillery strikes; and on the other side, Hamas keeps firing rockets on innocent Israelis. We could find a way to achieve peace – grant the Palestinians statehood as we said we would when the United Nations voted to partition Palestine on 29 November 1947. Resolution 181 recommended the creation of independent Jewish and Arab states, but decades later, only one state – that of Israel – has been achieved. We could grant the Palestinians East Jerusalem – al Quds as their capital. We could leave the largest Jewish settlements in the Occupied Territories in exchange for Israeli land, and remove the smaller ones back to greater Israel. It’s complex, but the choice is stark – either settle for peace, or, as a screwed-up species does, keep bombing the living daylights out of one another, destroying innocent lives and families on both sides, in the forlorn and absurd hope that one side will give up.
Some who read this book will undoubtedly criticise me for giving terrorists ideas; they will not be the first. But my military background notwithstanding, if these people think it takes an author like me to publish blueprints for terrorists, then we are in more trouble than we realise. Although privy to top-secret material in my past profession, I never publish anything that has not already been published on the internet – I simply put myself in the position of a terrorist with a laptop and a satellite link. It took me just minutes, for example, to find papers, published on the internet, on the weaknesses in the defences of the world’s nuclear reactors, including the efforts of the nuclear industry to water down recommended improvements on the basis of cost. I am an optimist, but the longer I watch the collective performance of our species, I can only conclude that ‘God’ was having a bad hair day when she designed us (and that especially goes for her design of teeth, and root canal therapy).
I am indebted, as usual, to a great many people who have made this novel possible. Understandably, some do not want to be named, but you know who you are. The work of academics and Egyptologists like Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval, Christopher Dunn (Lost Technologies of Ancient Egypt) and many other researchers too numerous to mention has been invaluable. I am also grateful to my publisher Ben Ball, and the extraordinarily hardworking team at Penguin Random House. I am blessed to have two very fine editors in Belinda Byrne and Arwen Summers, and the proofreading by Sarah JH Fletcher was meticulous; any mistakes are mine and mine alone. Adam Laszczuk has once again excelled in the production of the cover. I am indebted to the PR team, headed by Sally Bateman and Alysha Farry; and to Peg McColl and Kate McCormack from the rights department who work so hard on my behalf at the world book fairs. Clare Forster, my agent at Curtis Brown has, as always, provided invaluable advice and support.
My thanks to Caroline Ladewig, who kindly read the early drafts and provided insightful feedback. To Antoinette and friends – I’m in your debt. To my two boys, David and Mark, and their partners Tammy and Catherine, I greatly value your humour and camaraderie. Finally, Robyn, as always, has been an invaluable ally, not least for her impeccable research.
The characters and organisations in this novel, such as Crédit Group, are entirely fictional.
Also by Adrian d’Hage
A terrible fate awaits humankind if the Inca Prophecy cannot be found . . .
An eerie clue to the Prophecy lies heavily guarded beneath the Vatican. Another is hidden near the famous Inca ruins at Machu Picchu. Archaeologist Aleta Weizman and rogue CIA agent Curtis O’Connor must unearth both clues if they are to decode the prophecy’s meaning – before it’s too late.
But time is not on their side. The Iranians are building a nuclear bomb. Israel has an itchy trigger finger. Though the world has never been closer to destruction, a powerful few are doing all they can to ensure the Inca’s fabled warning will never be heard. And the CIA is hunting Weizman and O’Connor down, hell bent on silencing them forever.
Praise for Adrian d’Hage’s novels
‘A provocative book in which every sort of dogma is questioned and every preconceived idea turne
d on its head. ’ Sunday Mail
‘Chilling . . . d’Hagé knows his stuff.’ Sun Herald
‘A classy action thriller.’ Sunday Times
DECEMBER 2012 – TIME IS RUNNING OUT . . .
Deep in the Guatemalan jungle lies the Maya Codex, an ancient document containing a terrible warning for civilisation. Archaeologist Dr Aleta Weizman and CIA agent Curtis O’Connor are desperately searching for the codex, but powerful forces in Washington and Rome will do anything to stop them.
Both Weizman and O’Connor know that the earth will align with a massive black hole at the centre of the galaxy on the winter solstice, December 2012 – just as the Mayans predicted. Might a catastrophic pole shift be on the way?
From the corridors of power in Nazi Germany to modern-day Washington, from the secret archives of the Vatican to the Temple of the Lost World pyramid in the jungles of Central America, The Maya Codex takes us on a heart-stopping journey to find the codex before it’s too late.
‘Adrian d’Hage mixes doomsday superstition with Da Vinci Code-like investigation in this page-turner thriller.’ Courier Mail
From China’s western-most province comes the threat of a devastating biological terrorist attack - delivered in a coded ultimatum. The White House is dismissive. It receives thousands of terrorist threats each month. But this threat comes from Dr Khalid Kadeer, a brilliant Muslim microbiologist. CIA agent Curtis O’Connor, an expert on bioterrorism, knows Kadeer isn’t bluffing. So does Australian scientist Kate Braithwaite, who works in a deadly hot-zone laboratory on the USA’s own top-secret biological weapons program.
As they work together to unravel the riddles of Kadeer’s warning, Curtis and Kate discover a threat even more sinister than they had imagined - a threat from within, from a man whose lust for power drives him to orchestrate a plan that will devastate the human race. And the clock is ticking . . .
‘A fast-paced and thrilling read.’ West Australian
‘A captivating spy story . . . very well written and constructed, with well-drawn characters.’ Courier Mail
MICHAEL JOSEPH
Published by the Penguin Group
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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published by Penguin Group (Australia), 2014
Text copyright © Adrian d’Hagé 2014
The moral right of the author has been asserted
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Cover and text design by Adam Laszczuk © Penguin Group (Australia)
Cover photograph: running man © Mark Owen/Trevillion Images;
statue image: Jean-Pierre Lescourret/Getty images; temple image: Michael Snell/Getty Images
ISBN 978-0-85-797631-4
penguin.com.au
THE BEGINNING
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The Alexandria Connection Page 40
