The Nostradamus File Read Online Free PDF

do that when it doesn't count," Lamont said.
    "You want me to just let it itch?"
    "Better than getting everybody upset."
    "That's enough, Lamont." Harker picked up her pen. "Selena, where else could it be if the lawyer didn't have it?"
    "Jean-Paul had a country house in Provence, in the south of France. I think there was a housekeeper who took care of it when he wasn't there."
    "He could have mailed it to himself at the house," Ronnie said. "The cops wouldn't turn that up when they checked the messenger services."
    Harker's intuition was setting off alarms. It rarely failed her. No one outside of the Project knew she sometimes used intuition to make major decisions. Intuition wasn't high on the list of acknowledged intelligence analysis skills. She made a decision now.
    She turned to Nick and Selena. "Go to France and check out that house. See if something's there. You can go on to Jordan after that."
    "The French cops are pissed at us," Nick said. "We'll never get out of the airport."
    "Don't worry about that. Take your weapons. I'll clear it with the French."
    Nick scratched his ear.
     

 
    CHAPTER EIGHT
     
     
    They flew into Paris and on to Avignon. Harker had called in a favor so they could carry their pistols. They rented a white Renault and headed for the vacation retreat of Jean-Paul Bertrand.
    The first part of the drive passed in silence.
    The melody of a folk song was stuck in Nick's head.
     
    Joshua fit the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho
    Joshua fit the battle of Jericho
    And the walls come a-tumblin' down.
     
    "Damn song is driving me crazy," he said.
    "What song?"
    "The one about Joshua and the battle of Jericho."
    She hummed a few bars. "All I can remember is the chorus."
    "Yeah. It wouldn't be so bad if I could think of the rest of the words."
    "Something about Joshua and the trumpets blowing, I think."
    "The Ark was at the battle of Jericho," Nick said. "That's what made me think of the song. I wonder how Joshua knocked down those walls? Jericho was impregnable, the ultimate fortress of its time."
    "All that history is lost, except for Bible stories."
    Nick scratched his ear. "You think God knocked the walls down to help Joshua out?"
    "I believe in God. I don't believe God intervenes like that. I think it's a teaching story based on the actual battle. But those walls were real. I don't think Joshua's army could have smashed through them without something we don't understand."
    "Like a secret weapon."
    "Yes. The Bible says the priests carried the Ark around the walls blowing horns for six days and on the seventh day the wall came down. Maybe they had something that amplified those horns."
    "In the Ark?"
    "Sound at the right frequency will shatter stone. In terms of modern technology, that would make sense."
    "3000 years ago isn't modern."
    "No one will ever know how they did it." Selena had her GPS out. "Take the next right, up ahead."
    The road became a narrow lane between low stone walls covered with vines. 
    "Slow down," she said. "The entrance is coming up on the left."
    They turned onto a long, straight drive of crushed rock lined with trees. Stunted oaks and juniper and grass fanned out on both sides. The grass was green and tall, dotted with yellow and blue flowers.
    The house was a single story made of stone, washed white in the afternoon sunlight, with a tiled roof and covered porch. It seemed like part of the natural landscape, a house out of another time. Nick could imagine Cezanne or Van Gogh painting in the back yard.
    "Nice," he said.
    "It was a farmer's cottage in the old days. Jean-Paul renovated it. I've never been here, but he talked about it a lot. He loved it."
    "I can see why."
    Nick parked. They got out and walked to the porch.
    "The door's open," he said.
    Both reached for their pistols at the same time. Nick nudged the door with his foot. It swung inward. He couldn't see anyone inside, but he could see the mess.
    It only took a minute to clear the house. There was a bathroom,