Messiah: The First Judgement (Chronicles of Brothers) Read Online Free PDF Page A

an inordinately wealthy banking dynasty, the De Vere family. He was handsome, almost pretty, with intelligent deep-set grey eyes above an aquiline nose and high cheekbones. His fine sunbleached hair, cut long, grazed his dark grey T-shirt.
    Life had recently dealt Nick De Vere two hard blows in succession. His trust fund had been frozen by his father, James De Vere, the evening before his fatal heart attack. And now Nick, too, was dying. Of AIDS. He had been on the most advanced antiretroviral therapy for four years, but now his body was failing rapidly.
    He swiped the blond fringe impatiently out of his eyes. Peering upwards, he could vaguely make out two Bedouin men playing backgammon, gesticulating and talking in rising voices, oblivious to his presence.
    Nick got back into the Range Rover, slammed the door, and leaned on the horn. Instantly the two Bedouins scrambled to their feet and hurried to the gate, their long robes flying behind them. There was a loud scraping and groaning of wood as a huge lift contraption descended over the side of the monastery wall.
    Nick looked in disbelief up at the swaying lift. The older Bedouin pointed down at him.
    ‘You get in...’ he said giving Nick a wide, toothless smile.
    ‘Open the gates!’ Nick demanded.
    ‘Gates no open – you get in.’ The man pointed to the wooden contraption, then pointed upward to a door in the wall, thirty feet up.
    Nick closed his eyes in disbelief, then banged on the car bonnet.
    ‘My car?’
    ‘Only foot ... and helicopter,’ the Bedouin shrugged. ‘No motor,’ he stated emphatically.
    Nick slammed the car door, rolled his eyes and walked into the wooden lift, which started to swing wildly as the two Arab men hauled it up towards the small door by a system of pulleys.
    * * *
    ‘This way! This way!’
    An elderly priest gestured for Nick to follow him through the fields, ripe with vegetables, pomegranates and herbs. They walked past rows of date palms and olive trees, past an olive press, then through a second inner courtyard. Nick had the distinct feeling he was being watched ... observed. As they continued past the monks’ refectory towards an ancient watchtower, Nick slowed down, staring up towards the rotating Solar Telescope dome on the monastery observatory. The priest frowned, motioning him forward.
    Nick obediently followed the hunched figure through a walled garden of sycamore trees onto a small stone path that twisted past a vast pond filled with exquisite pink lotus blossoms that rose above the murky waters. They stopped at a rusted metal gateway, the entrance to the sprawling ancient wing of the monastery.
    Nick watched intently as the priest reverently made the sign of the cross, then swiftly entered a code in the sophisticated security system. The metal gates slowly opened. They made their way along numerous winding ancient corridors, permeated with the aroma of inks and leather mingled with myrrh, then through an enormous library occupied by hundreds of monks silently archiving data into state-of-the-art Apple Mac computer systems. Nick ducked as they continued through a low dank tunnel. Finally they reached what appeared to be a crypt door.
    Two broad-shouldered soldiers holding submachine guns materialized, as if from nowhere, on either side of Nick. Their heads were clean-shaven, and he immediately recognized the digital pattern on their uniforms, Jordan’s elite special operations command.
    The old priest handed a document embossed with the Royal Hashemite seal to the taller soldier. ‘He has been granted access to photograph the annals.’ The old priest lowered his eyes to the floor, bowed, then scurried away.
    Nick frowned. Suddenly he was shoved hard against the stone wall, his arms splayed out, and rigorously searched by the first soldier. The second grabbed his camera and unceremoniously dumped the contents of Nick’s pockets and bag onto a tray, which he sent through a sophisticated-looking scanner.
    He glared at