The Lucifer Code (2010)

by Charles Brokaw

  ‘The gunmen,’ Joachim said.

  ‘That would be the reason.’ Lourds sat at the table and took out the book from his backpack.

  Joachim sat across from Lourds. ‘Olympia said you had no idea who the men were.’

  Lourds shook his head. ‘No.’

  ‘Nor for whom they might be working?’

  ‘They were Americans. Is there any reason why the American government would be interested in this manuscript?’

  ‘If they knew what it represented, perhaps. If someone there ascribed to the same beliefs you and Olympia have.’ When no further explanation was forthcoming, Lourds said, ‘Because the fate of the

  Olympia sat across the table next to her brother. She frowned a little. ‘Thomas is having a little trouble believing that.’

  Cleena sat with a chair between herself and Lourds. She sipped from a bottle of water, remaining quiet and watchful.

  Joachim rubbed his hands together, and for the first time Lourds realized how heavily calloused they were. ‘Let me assure you, Professor, you don’t need to be a believer to help us. If you can translate that manuscript that’s all the assistance we need.’

  ‘You expect this to tell you where the Joy Scroll is?’

  ‘It will.’ Joachim’s voice carried conviction. ‘You will see.’ He took a minute to ask one of the men to prepare a meal, then turned back to Lourds. ‘We can’t very well work on empty stomachs.’

  Within minutes, the smell of spices and cooking lamb filled the rooms. Lourds’ stomach growled in anticipation. He nursed a cold beer as the conversation continued.

  Joachim was attentive, like a student preparing for a final.

  ‘You can’t read this?’ Lourds asked.

  ‘No,’ Joachim answered.

  ‘Can any of your people decipher it?’

  Polite impatience flickered across Joachim’s face. ‘I assure you, if anyone among us could read that book, Olympia would not have involved you in this matter.’

  ‘Since the time of Constantine.’

  ‘How did it become lost?’

  ‘You’re familiar with the history of this city.’

  Lourds nodded.

  ‘In addition to the wars that have been fought over and throughout Istanbul, there have also been many natural disasters. Earthquakes. Fires. Even the passage of time has served to hide the scroll as the city fell and was raised up again and again by succeeding generations.’

  ‘If the scroll was written on Patmos—’

  ‘It was. Our histories are very clear about that.’

  ‘Then how did the scroll come to be here?’

  ‘During Constantine’s reign, he sent out many search parties to locate and take into custody relics of Jesus Christ’s life as well as early Christianity. As you know, the Roman Empire tried to suppress our religion during its infancy. They failed, but many precious things were scattered or destroyed or lost to us.’

  ‘Those were turbulent times,’ Lourds agreed. ‘Emperor Constantine wanted to safeguard Christianity.’

  ‘One of the people searching for Christian artefacts was Helena, Constantine’s mother,’ Joachim said. ‘She also had a strong belief and a strong desire to protect holy things. During her travels, she discovered the Brotherhood of the Scroll and went to the island of Patmos to negotiate on behalf of her son. Constantine only wanted the documents protected.’

  Joachim nodded.

  Helena had been a powerful figure in Emperor Constantine I’s courts. Historians attributed the discovery of the relics of the True Cross to her and her efforts to find them. The Chapel of Saint Helen, constructed to identify the Burning Bush of Sinai, had been erected on her orders. During a dig under the temple to Venus built near Calvary over the site of Jesus Christ’s tomb, her people had found three crosses. One of them was supposed to be the cross Jesus was crucified on, while the others held the thieves. According to the stories, Helena had taken a diseased woman from Jerusalem to touch the crosses. Upon touching the third cross, the woman had recovered from her ailment. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre had been built on the site, and more churches on holy sites followed thereafter. Legend had it that Helena had discovered the nails from the cross as well. Back home, she had got a blacksmith to put one in Constantine’s helmet, and another in his horse’s bridle.

  ‘How did Helena persuade the Brotherhood to give up the scroll?’ Lourds asked.

  ‘Her presence there told them the scroll was no longer safe. In those days, the Brotherhood was trained

  Lourds glanced at Joachim’s calloused hands. ‘Now the Brotherhood is different?’

  Sadness flickered across the other man’s face. ‘Over the years, the Brotherhood has become forced to become more than it was ever intended to be. We hang onto our peaceful nature, but we’re unafraid of violence.’

  ‘So you’re killers?’ Cleena asked. ‘That doesn’t make you sound much better than Qayin and his people.’

  ‘No!’ Joachim slapped the tabletop with his open palm hard enough to jar their drinks. ‘We do not kill. The Brotherhood has never taken a human life.’

  Lourds noticed the modifier but decided not to ask.

  ‘If you don’t kill,’ Cleena pointed out, ‘it’s going to be hard to put up a fight.’

  Joachim looked at her. ‘An incapacitated foe can’t fight any better than a dead one. We have trained ourselves to incapacitate those who threaten the scroll. We don’t have to kill to achieve our goals.’

  ‘Altruism aside,’ Cleena said, ‘not killing the people who are after us is going to put you at a decided disadvantage.’

  ‘Don’t you mean “put us”?’ Olympia asked.

  ‘No, I don’t.’ Cleena’s voice was perfectly neutral, but the threat was naked in her words.

  Lourds sought safer conversational ground. ‘Helena convinced the Brotherhood to move the scroll?’

  ‘What’s that?’ Cleena asked.

  ‘The literal translation is Great Church,’ Lourds answered. ‘Constantine started building it during the fourth century. He didn’t live long enough to see it completed.’

  ‘But he did live long enough to hide the scroll,’ Joachim said.

  ‘In the church?’ Distress filled Lourds. ‘The original church was destroyed a little over forty years later.’

  ‘Forty-four years. The church was built in 360 AD and destroyed in 404 AD.’

  Lourds waved a hand in acknowledgement. If he had known where he was supposed to be looking, he would have known the dates too. Scholars didn’t have to know everything. All they had to know was where to find everything.

  ‘John Chrysostom was appointed archbishop of the Church of the Holy Wisdom, as the Great Church was named in those days by Constantine—’

  ‘In 398 AD,’ Joachim interrupted.

  Lourds sipped his beer. ‘I suppose there’s a lot of rote work in the Brotherhood.’

  Joachim smiled.

  ‘While holding his office,’ Lourds went on, ‘John Chrysostom ran foul of Theophilus, who was Patriarch

  ‘Aelia Eudoxia,’ Joachim supplied.

  ‘Thank you. With the patriarch, John Chrysostom refused to bow down, and with the empress, John Chrysostom took to task women who chose to flaunt their wealth in clothing. The patriarch and the empress arranged the Synod of the Oak in 403 AD and banished John Chrysostom. The people became enraged and demanded that he be returned to his position.’

  ‘There was more to it than that,’ Joachim said. ‘On the very night that John Chrysostom was arrested, an earthquake occurred. Many people, including the empress, believed it was a sign from God.’

  Lourds thought he remembered something like that, but wasn’t certain. ‘During that confrontation, the first Church of the Holy Wisdom was destroyed.’ He studied Joachim. ‘How are you sure that the Joy Scroll wasn’t incinerated in the fire that claimed the church?’

  ‘Because the Joy Scroll was hidden in the maze of tunnels beneath the church.’

  ‘Beneath
the church?’ Lourds rubbed at the stubble that covered his jaw. ‘Not in the church?’

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘Then why haven’t you found the Joy Scroll before now? Your Brotherhood has had sixteen hundred years to accomplish that.’

  ‘Because for many years we weren’t supposed to find it. Emperor Constantine and a few members of the Brotherhood knew the hiding place where the

  ‘The war between the Blue and the Green,’ Lourds said.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘What is the War between the Blue and the Green?’ Cleena asked.

  ‘During this time, the early 530s, I believe,’ Lourds said.

  ‘532,’ Joachim supplied, then smiled. ‘It is as you say. A lot of rote work.’

  ‘There were a lot of social associations called demes. They supported the different teams that competed in chariot racing and other contests.’

  ‘You mean like bookies?’ Cleena asked.

  ‘Nothing so small,’ Olympia said. ‘Think of the demes like long lines of political parties and street gangs. It wasn’t just about the sporting events. They actively pursued social issues of the times and fought against those they didn’t like. Battles often broke out in the streets between the different groups and the emperor’s soldiers.’

  ‘To make matters worse,’ Lourds said, ‘many of those demes were patronized by Roman aristocrats.

  ‘On the tenth of January, to be exact,’ Joachim said.

  ‘One of the Blues and one of the Greens managed to thwart their guards and flee into the crowd that had already formed to protest against the hangings. Already stretched thin between internal strife and negotiations with Persia, Justinian elected to rescind the death sentences and give the men life sentences.’

  ‘I assume they didn’t take it,’ Cleena said.

  ‘No,’ Lourds agreed. ‘The chariot races took place at the Hippodrome next to the palace and the Church of the Holy Wisdom. During the course of the day, violence broke out and swelled into a riot that lasted five days and left the second church burned to the ground.’

  ‘And still the Joy Scroll remained hidden,’ Joachim said.

  ‘Hidden or lost?’ Lourds countered.

  ‘Hidden only. But, as I said, the Brotherhood decided to limit the number of people who knew the Joy Scroll’s hiding place.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because the city seemed to be in chaos. There were enemies outside the gates and unrest throughout the

  ‘That’s insane,’ Cleena whispered.

  Lourds didn’t disagree, but he knew that the practice wasn’t unique.

  ‘Ultimately that proved their undoing, didn’t it?’ Lourds asked. ‘Too few people with the knowledge, and all of them grouped in one place.’

  ‘They did the best they were able,’ Joachim said. ‘They thought what they were doing was the best and safest thing to do.’

  ‘The Brotherhood just hadn’t counted on the Fourth Crusade,’ Lourds said.

  ‘Maybe I’m misunderstanding here,’ Cleena said, ‘but weren’t the Crusades fought between the Muslims and the Christians?’

  ‘Yes,’ Lourds said, ‘and no. At the outset, the Fourth Crusade was supposed to be an invasion of Muslim Jerusalem by way of Egypt. Instead, The Roman Catholic Church chose to invade and sack Constantinople. The siege and battles lasted five years. At the end of that time, much of Constantinople lay in ruins. Thousands of citizens were dead in the street or displaced from their homes. Everything of value that the crusaders could find was taken.’

  ‘But they didn’t get the scroll,’ Joachim said quietly.

  Lourds looked at the man. ‘You’re sure about that?’

  ‘What happened to the Elder brothers?’

  ‘They stayed in the tunnels below the church. Their guards were slain, but they managed to lock themselves into a small sanctuary. They starved or thirsted to death before anyone could reach them. Much treasure was found, or I should say lost in those tunnels where the king’s soldiers tried to hide it, but the Joy Scroll remains.’

  For a moment, Lourds thought about everything Joachim had revealed. Then he tapped the book in front of him with a forefinger.

  ‘Where’d you get this?’ he asked.

  ‘Most of the documents in that book were written after the Elders were known to be dead. Some of the papers were copied from notes they had managed to write and leave in a crack in the ceiling of the room where they died.’

  Images of the abandoned monks filled Lourds’ mind. What must it have been like to be closed up in a tomb while thirsting and starving to death?

  And all you had to do to be free was share one secret.

  Lourds didn’t think he could have done it. Then again, he hadn’t thought he would be able to steal the book from Qayin and his followers either.

  Yet he had.

  ‘I’ve been patient so far, Professor Lourds, out of

  ‘I told you if anyone can do this, Thomas would be the one,’ Olympia said in Turkish.

  ‘English,’ Cleena stated. ‘Speak English for the slow kids.’

  Olympia repeated her comment in English, which only drew a snort from Cleena.

  ‘I need you to prove to me that you can help us.’ Joachim’s dark gaze held Lourds. ‘Can you do that?’

  Lourds nodded. ‘I can, but first I need you to do one more thing for me.’

  Joachim leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest, obviously displeased.

  Ignoring the man, Lourds opened the book to the page with the rubbing. He indicated the image.

  ‘This. I need to know where you got this.’

  Joachim shook his head. ‘There’s nothing there.’

  ‘You’ve found nothing there.’ Lourds leaned back in his own chair. ‘I will.’

  ‘What makes you so sure?’

  ‘This rubbing was taken from a stone in the room where the older monks gave their lives to protect the secret of the Joy Scroll.’

  Olympia turned to her brother. ‘Is that true?’

  Holding his gaze steadily on Lourds, Joachim didn’t answer.

  ‘Joachim?’

  Finally, Joachim nodded. ‘That was where it was found. But you could only be guessing that.’

  Joachim stared at the page, then back at Lourds. ‘How do you know this?’

  ‘Because I can read this page now.’ Lourds couldn’t help smiling at his obvious success, especially when Joachim’s eyes widened still further. ‘Would you like to know what it says?’

  Central Business District

  King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia

  19 March 2010

  The hotel suite was nothing more than an overly comfortable prison cell. Webster knew that and barely tolerated the situation. He wanted to leave the room just to prove that he could. And maybe he wanted to push Prince Khalid to see how far the young man would go.

  Although there were no armed guards outside Webster’s door, they were posted at all the entrances to the building. He didn’t doubt that the room was bugged as well. If he had been in charge, he would’ve had the room wired for sound and video. That was why he was using one of the CIA’s white noise generators to cover his phone call.

  For the last few hours, he had plied himself with liquor to take the edge off, and consoled himself with Vicky DeAngelo’s carnal attentions. For an older woman, she was a demanding and generous lover. Webster had been surprised, but his mind had focused on the promise brewing in Saudi Arabia and the threat building in Istanbul. In the end, though, Vicky proved to be as much like him as he had believed her to be.

  Webster stood to one side of the polarized balcony window and let the loose folds of the drapes conceal him. Beyond the glass, under the night sky, the city spread in neat squares, some of them lighted and some of them not. Power hadn’t been connected to all the new areas. Webster had turned the lights out behind him; he was more comfortable in the darkness. He held the sat-phone close to his ear as he spoke. Out in the streets, armed for
ces patrolled in heavy numbers. Tanks as well as soldiers moved constantly.

  On the other side of the room, the muted television showed smuggled footage from Saudi Arabia on WNN News. FOX, CNN and MSNBC also carried much of the same footage. A lot of it came from Vicky’s people.

  Prince Khalid had made good on his promise to remove the enemies of his country. Within minutes after speaking to Webster, special teams had hit the streets and begun sweeping Shia, suspected Shia and Shia sympathizers from the cities. That also meant rousting out many American and European businessmen.

  Many of those persecuted people had fought, not wanting to relinquish their businesses or their wealth. Several of those people, in fact – Webster suspected – most of those people had been killed outright. Others received rough handling or worse as they were loaded onto trucks and taken to train stations where they were herded like cattle onto boxcars. From there they were deported to India and Pakistan. Having dealt with problems of displaced people before, neither India nor Pakistan welcomed the Shia refugees. The displaced people would create a huge drain on the economies of both countries, as well as tying up manpower to keep the inevitable refugee camps manageable.

  Webster knew that Prince Khalid counted on those facts. The drain on the finances and the workload of the military would leave the borders of both those countries weak. If the arrivals hadn’t been Shia, or presumably Shia, neither Pakistan nor India would have tolerated the forced expulsion flooding into their countries. And the refugees would continue to come like locust plagues. Those countries would be torn apart by Shia within their own borders who wanted to protect the new arrivals, as well as Sunni predators

  ‘If you’re looking at the same thing I am,’ President Michael Waggoner growled, ‘then I think we’re looking at the seeds of a Middle Eastern war the like of which we’ve never seen.’

  Although most people wouldn’t have recognized the tension in the president’s voice, Webster had known the man for years. Waggoner was as close to losing his cool as Webster had ever heard.