Charles Brokaw - The Lucifer Code

Without thinking, Lourds stepped up and took the book from him. His hands shook as he put it away.

‘Sorry. I knew it was old. Didn’t know it was important. And it obviously is.’

‘To me,’ Lourds said.

‘I glanced through it. Couldn’t read it.’

‘Unless you know Ancient Greek, I wouldn’t expect you to.’

‘Nope. The drawings look interesting. Some of them are kind of creepy.’

‘I would agree with you.’

‘What’s the book about?’

Lourds hesitated only a moment. ‘Architecture.’

‘I thought so. Early stuff?’

‘I haven’t ascertained that yet.’ Lourds held the book carefully at his side. ‘I’m still translating it.’

With a casual wave, the man indicated the backpack. ‘I see you travel with a lot of books.’

‘I do. Hopefully they have the rest of the books I brought on this trip at the hotel.’

‘I think everything was found. May have a bullet or two in them, from what I understand. I guess you take a lot of work with you wherever you go.’

‘I do.’

‘Ever worry about any of it going missing?’

‘Not really,’ Lourds said, ‘no. Most of the documents I work on while travelling aren’t original. Usually I bring photographs or scanned copies.’

The man smiled. ‘I guess it would be hard to bring in a boulder covered in hieroglyphics.’

‘It would be. Or a wall covered in cuneiform.’

The man’s glance cut back to the book in Lourds’ possession. ‘I guess that’s an exception.’

‘Yes.’ Lourds left it at that.

The man reached into his suit jacket and the pistol was revealed briefly. He unfolded his identification and showed Lourds the photograph and card. ‘My name’s Hayden Mullins. I’m an attaché with the United States State Department here in Turkey.’

‘Are all state department attachés in Istanbul armed?’

‘No. But after the events of your arrival, they decided to make special rules for you.’ Mullins leaned down and caught hold of Lourds’ backpack. ‘If you’ll follow me, I’ve got a car waiting outside.’

Lourds nodded.

Ersoz extended a business card. ‘This has my contact information on it, Professor Lourds. I took the liberty of writing my personal mobile number on the back.’ He flipped the card over to show his neat handwriting. ‘In case you should decide you need something I can provide.’

‘Thank you.’ Lourds took the card. ‘I hope you find the men you’re looking for.’

‘We will, Professor. Istanbul is an old city filled with many old secrets, but rarely do the new secrets go unnoticed. These men, whoever they are, don’t seem to be the type to go away empty-handed.’ Ersoz shrugged. ‘This could be a bad thing for you, but it will give me and the police department another chance to catch them. We will do so successfully. But our timing, let us say, is in the hands of Allah… Do take care of yourself, Professor.’

Not knowing what else to do, Lourds nodded and went to join Mullins.

‘He’s not exactly a Pollyanna, is he?’ Mullins asked when they were well away from Ersoz. ‘He thinks you’re a walking dead man.’

‘I guess he’s got reason to,’ Lourds responded. ‘My trip has been too eventful for his taste. And mine.’

‘A word of advice, Professor?’ Mullins glanced at Lourds.

‘Sure.’

Mullins flicked his gaze to the card in Lourds’ hand. ‘I wouldn’t trust the locals too much, if you know what I mean.’

‘Why?’

‘Everybody in this city has their own personal axe to grind. It would be a pity to see you get ground up as well.’

‘Believe me,’ Lourds said, ‘the last thing I intend to do is get ground up.’

‘So you really don’t know what those jokers wanted?’

Lourds lied without hesitation. ‘No.’

‘Weird, huh?’ Mullins grinned at him. ‘I got to hand it to you, Professor. You have a pair of stones. Most men would be ducking and running for cover after what you’ve been through. But here you are – ready to go and deliver those speeches to college students.’

‘Believe me, bravery isn’t why I’m staying here.’

‘Oh, so it’s a sense of duty? A promise to a friend?’

‘Something like that.’ More like a sense of curiosity.

Lourds stopped beside the sedan Mullins indicated in the parking area. As he waited for the man to open the door locks, he stared at the street. No one appeared interested in him. The gentle breeze carried a chill bite and the scent of spicy food. He didn’t know if he wanted food or a bed first. And he needed a shower and clean clothes.

Mullins must have caught him gazing around. ‘Paranoid, Professor?’

‘Maybe a little,’ Lourds admitted.

‘Will it help to know that we’re going to be keeping an eye on you for a while?’

‘Yes,’ Lourds lied. He was still suspicious of the way the state department had come to his rescue, and of the fact that they hadn’t had a bevy of questions of their own for him. That didn’t sound reasonable to him. And all the pros he had encountered here in Istanbul had made a point of telling him to be reasonable.

He slipped into the car seat and fastened his seat belt.

Central Intelligence Agency

Langley, Virginia

United States of America

17 March 2010

‘You’re telling me no one we know can read this book?’ Dawson demanded.

On the left section of the wallscreen in the command centre, Josiah Hedges looked beside himself with worry. He was in his early fifties and not used to coming up as empty as he was. He wore a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled to mid-forearm. His tie hung at half-staff. A fringe of cottony white hair surrounded his bald pate.

‘No one that we’ve found, sir.’

‘And we have no idea what this book is even about?’

Hedges hesitated. ‘Architecture, sir?’

‘As our subject suggested?’

The analyst cringed just a little.

Dawson shook his head angrily. He’d slept on the flight back from Boston and had caught a couple of hours in his office while the Turkish police grilled Lourds, but he didn’t feel rested. In fact, the news from the chief cryptology analyst made the fatigue even worse.

‘We’re the CIA,’ Dawson said. ‘Nobody is supposed to be better than us at cracking codes.’

‘Sir,’ Hedges said, ‘in our defence, this isn’t just a code. This is a language.’

‘We have linguists. You have linguists.’

‘Yes, sir. We do. We’ve even got people who can read and write Ancient Greek like nobody’s business. But we all feel this isn’t just Ancient Greek. We think this is a coded version of Ancient Greek.’

‘Then break the code.’

‘We’re trying, sir. With a little more time-’

Dawson glared at the other half of the wallscreen. The state department representative Mullins was actually a CIA agent. While Lourds had been detained, Mullins had captured digital images of the old book the professor had tucked away in his backpack and uploaded them to Langley. The book was the only possible lead among the other things the backpack had contained.

‘Do you know who I report to, Hedges?’ Dawson asked.

Hedges swallowed with difficulty. ‘Yes, sir.’

‘Believe me when I say the pressure on this one rolls down from on high. If you don’t get this thing cracked – and soon – your next assignment is going to be in Antarctica. Am I making myself clear?’

‘Positively crystal, sir. But there is one upside, sir.’

‘Waiting to hear it,’ Dawson snarled.

‘If we’ve been unable to crack this code with all the software and manpower at our disposal here, sir, it’s most doubtful that anyone else will be able to.’

‘That’s not good enough. Get me that translation.’