Skeleton 03 - The Constantine Codex Read Online Free PDF Page A

man.
    “I . . . I can’t find the words to express my concern . . . my shock,” al-Ghazali said, “and you have my profound apologies for what happened, Jon. The typesetter in Cairo must have made the error, of course, but I should have caught it. . . . I should have caught it.”
    Jon said nothing, so al-Ghazali continued. “I just can’t believe I didn’t catch it, since radi — evil —sounds nothing like tahaddi — challenge , as you well know. Well, they rhyme, but . . .”
    “That could be, Osman,” Jon finally replied, softening. “Have you called our publisher in Cairo?”
    “Even before calling you. I made them repeat the correct term for ‘challenge’ three times, and they’ll e-mail me proofs before going back to press.”
    “Good, Osman. What in the world ever made the typesetter in Cairo do that— if he’s responsible? He’s not a Coptic Christian, is he?”
    “I don’t really know. But I’ll find out.”
    “In any case, you should also have a few words with him—to say the least.”
    “You bet I will.”
    “More than that, I think you’ll have to do a careful proofing again of the whole Arabic edition to make sure there are no other errors.”
    “I’d already planned to do that.”
    “Good. Oh, one more thing: word about the translation error seems to be a deep, dark secret as far as the media are concerned. I worry most about Al Jazeera. If they don’t report that it was all a mistake, rioting will rage on in the Islamic world.”
    “Ah! Good that you tell me. I have a friend or two there. I’ll call Al Jazeera immediately—the start of my long journey back into your good graces, Jon.”
    “Fine, Osman. Be sure to keep me posted.”
    Shannon, who had been listening intently to Jon’s side of the conversation, seemed relieved and sighed. “I do hope that’s the end of this bizarre business. How it can ruin a beautiful spring!” It was obvious that images of her husband being hanged in effigy had done very little to boost her spirits.
    They turned off the TV, put on walking shorts, and headed down to the Atlantic shore. Perhaps a long stroll along the beach and many breaths of fresh sea breezes would clear their minds.

    Jon and Shannon returned from their seashore promenade eager to check the progress of Jon’s story. “What was it Mark Twain said?” Shannon asked. “‘A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth even puts its boots on’?”
    “Yes,” Jon replied. “I guess it’s a corollary to Murphy’s Law that wrong information—particularly of a sensational nature—gets front-page treatment in the press and opening-story status in the broadcast media, while the truth, by way of correction, shows up later with only the briefest coverage on page 6 of section D in the papers or as a small afterthought on TV.”
    Gingerly they turned on the television evening news, flipped through the networks, and were happily surprised. Diane Sawyer of ABC, Katie Couric of CBS, and Brian Williams of NBC all opened with a story on the error in the Arabic text of Jon’s book, while CNN even showed footage of a perspiring Osman al-Ghazali heaping blame on himself, but even more on the typesetter in Cairo.
    Later in the telecasts, however, Jon felt the clutch of concern return when the news programs shifted to reports from foreign correspondents. A firebomb had been lobbed into the first floor of Jon’s publisher in Cairo, scorching much of the reception area until the blaze was extinguished. Footage from Lebanon showed a long column of Hezbollah marching through downtown Beirut, clad in green and white and demanding revenge against “Web-air,” as they chanted the name again and again. In Tehran, where the offending sentence had been mistranslated into Farsi with an even stronger term for evil , enraged mullahs were preaching about possible jihad, while rioting in Pakistan had actually left five dead on the streets of Islamabad.
    Jon held his head in