The Book of Doom Read Online Free PDF Page A

you to help get it back.”
    “Why me?”
    “Because we believe your unique talents and your... past exploits make you the perfect choice for the job. We need someone fast. Someone who can think on their feet and who is not afraid to fight dirty, should the need arise.”
    “Then why not send the Monk? He beat me.”
    “Alas, the Monk is well known to those who have taken the item. He would not, I fear, last two minutes.”
    “Why?” Zac asked. “Where is it?”
    “Hell,” Gabriel said. His chair creaked as he leaned back, not taking his eyes off Zac. He was watching for some kind of reaction, Zac knew. A look of shock, or fear, or something. But Zac wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction.
    “Right. And what was taken?”
    One of Gabriel’s eyebrows rose a few millimetres in surprise. “Did you hear what I said?”
    “It’s in Hell, yeah. I heard. What was taken?”
    “A book.”
    “What book?”
    “It is a book with many names,” the angel said. “Down there they call it the
Book of Doom
. Up here we prefer the
Book of Everything
.”
    “Sounds like a children’s encyclopedia,” Zac said.
    “Oh, I assure you, it isn’t. The
Book of Everything
tells us... well, it tells us everything. Every shift of every grain of sand. Every movement of every cloud. Every thought inside the minds of every living creature, from the very beginning of time until the very end.” Gabriel paused a moment, to let his words sink in. “It is omniscience. In paperback form.”
    “I can see why you’d want that back.”
    “Indeed. With the book in the hands of our enemies, there is nothing they could not do. No one they could not corrupt. Nowhere they could not conquer. Knowledge is power, and the
Book of Everything
contains all the knowledge in existence. In the wrong hands, it is the deadliest weapon in all of creation.”
    Zac whistled through his teeth. “So, that’s why they call it the
Book of Doom
.”
    “Correct,” said Gabriel. “In their hands it could indeed doom us all.”
    “If the book tells them everything, won’t they know I’m coming?”
    “Almost certainly,” Gabriel admitted. “I never said it was going to be easy. There’s every chance you will not make it back.”
    “You’re not really selling the idea,” Zac said.
    “I am nothing if not honest,” Gabriel said, although Zac seriously doubted that. “And you are dead, remember? Either way you are going to Hell. At least our way there’s a chance, however slim, that you will be able to return.”
    Zac found himself thinking about his grandfather, all alone in that big house with only a hyperactive goldfish and the voices in his head for company.
    “Right. So, what does it look like, this book?” he asked, forcing himself back to the matter at hand.
    “We don’t know.”
    Zac frowned. “Well, when was it taken?”
    “We don’t know that, either,” Gabriel said, giving a shrug of his slender shoulders. “It’s all rather complicated, I’m afraid.”
    “Apparently I’ve got plenty of time on my hands. Uncomplicate it.”
    Gabriel gave a single nod. “Of course.” He stood up and rolled his chair into position beneath the table, then rested his hands on the chair’s leather back.
    “The
Book of Everything
can take many forms,” he began. “I, for example, may see it as a small, compact paperback. You may see it as a leather-bound tome. Some may look upon the book and see a carving on a stone tablet, or scribbles in a spiral-bound notebook, or – Lord help us – one of those awful electronic reading devices. Or even something else entirely. The branch of a tree, perhaps. Or a small flan. Nobody knows how they’ll see it until they see it.”
    “Then how am I supposed to find it?” Zac asked.
    “Because you
will
know it, when you see it. We shall grant you that ability. There will be no glimmer of doubt in your mind.”
    “Fair enough. You said you didn’t know when it was stolen,” Zac prompted.
    “Yes, I did