The Brimstone Network (Brimstone Network Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF Page B

agent had been constructed.
    Without another moment’s hesitation the patchwork man pulled the heavy clothes from their hangers and started to dress.
    There wasn’t a moment to lose.
    B ram walked quickly along the echoing corridors of P’Yon Kep, his thoughts racing.
    Over the last week his training sessions had intensified, the monks of P’Yon Kep forcing him to face the side of his nature that he would rather forget. But theywould not allow him to ignore his other, more feral side. Day after day they pushed him, forced him to set it free, forced him to see it not as some horrible thing living inside him, but as part of himself, part of his nature.
    Part of what he would need to keep the world safe.
    They were preparing him for the future; the entire reason why his father had sent him to this isolated place of learning. Bram often wondered with a certain amount of foreboding when he would know his purpose, when he would learn what he was being prepared for.
    As he hurried down the cold, stone corridor of the monastery, he felt deep in his gut that today might very well be the day.
    After his latest training exercise Master Po had come to the chamber, dismissing the others and wishing to speak to him in private. Bram had thought that he was about to be scolded for something he had done, or something he hadn’t done, but it was neither.
    The Abbot had come to tell him that he had a visitor from the outside world, from his father.
    His father had sent someone? But, why? Was his education here done?
    That thought filled him with fear, for although he hadlearned much, he felt far from ready. There was still more to learn before he could fully accept the other half of his nature.
    The entrance to the main hall loomed ahead of him and he found his pace slowing.
    What if his father was sick? What if this person had been sent by the Network to bring him home to care for the sick man before he …
    No! His father was strong, as healthy as a horse. If he’d been sick, Bram would have known it, would have noticed something the last time he had seen his father.
    The question hit like a bolt of lightning.
    When was the last time I saw my father?
    He tried to remember. It seemed to be not long after he’d come to P’Yon Kep.
    That can’t be right. Bram stopped short, rummaging through his memories. There has to have been a time since then.
    He recalled that his father had sent an astral projection on his birthday, a ghostly message sent across the world apologizing for not coming in person, and wishing him a happy day. But that was the last time he had seen or heard from his father.
    Bram entered the main hall, normally used for large gatherings of all who called the P’Yon Kep monastery home. The monks had lit a huge blaze in the stone fireplace at the far end of the hall, chasing away the cold that normally chilled the air in here.
    A lone figure stood before that roaring fire, his back to Bram. He was tall, wearing heavy woolen pants and a long waistcoat: warm clothing to protect against the harsh Tibetan elements. He wore his dark hair long, pulled back in a ponytail that dangled below his broad shoulders.
    “Excuse me,” Bram said, mentally preparing himself for the worst. “You wanted to see me?”
    The tall man flinched at the sound of Bram’s voice invading the tranquility of the hall.
    “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle … ,” Bram began, but the words caught in his throat when the mysterious figure turned.
    “Abraham Stone, I presume,” the man said, his voice low and rumbling, with the hint of an English accent.
    “Y-yes, sir,” Bram stammered, completely taken back by the man’s appearance.
    His skin was an unhealthy gray, the color of something seldom touched by the sun, or dead, which made the starkblackness of his receding hair, pulled back tight upon his head, stand out even more. And his eyes … one was blue, the other brown.
    The stranger crossed the room in three powerful strides and