Free The Lucifer Code by Charles Brokaw

effort. The search for Atlantis had taught him those puzzles were still out there.
    And now, perhaps, here was another great mystery to be solved.
    He stared into the man’s blue eyes. ‘I can’t read it,’ Lourds said again. ‘Yet.’
    The pistol shook against his head because the man was so angry. ‘ Yet? ’ the man repeated.
    ‘Yet,’ Lourds repeated. ‘If you give me some time, I can figure this out. This is what I do, and I do it better than anyone else.’
    Cleena watched the confrontation with a growing unease. Lourds was foolish and didn’t know enough to take care of himself. She’d already seen that. In the SUV and in the alley, he’d obviously been in over his head. But as he had held the book and stared at the page Qayin had indicated, Lourds had changed.
    She was certain he still feared for his life, but there was no way to fake the excitement in his eyes. The passion she saw there was unmistakable. She wouldn’t have believed him capable of it. When she’d read his file, and understood how she was to approach him at the airport, she had guessed he was some rich, privileged snob. Exactly the kind of person she wouldn’t care about. Now, seeing him in his element, Cleena understood how young women could find him so attractive—and challenging as well. A woman couldn’t ignore passions which ran that strong in a man.
    His fascination about the book kept him focused on that instead of the danger he was in. Cleena actually felt sorry for him. When Lourds was finished decrypting or translating the document Qayin and his followers had brought him, they would kill him. Whatever secrets they were after, they wouldn’t want anyone else to know about them.
    Cleena realized her situation wasn’t much better than the professor’s. They had contacted her through one of the drops she used, and offered money. In their world, she was just a disposable as the professor. She didn’t understand why they hadn’t already tried to kill her. But, unlike the professor, she had a pistol, and she knew how to use it.
    Keep your calm, girlie , she heard her father say. No one gets out alive who can’t keep a cool head. The best weapon you’ll ever carry is between your ears.
    ‘If just anyone could have read this page,’ Lourds said in a calm, controlled voice, ‘you would’ve already had it deciphered. Am I correct?’
    The silence stretched in the darkness. Three of Qayin’s followers stepped forward menacingly. Two of them grabbed the professor’s arms. The third grabbed him by the neck.
    ‘Careful,’ Lourds said. ‘Don’t hurt the book.’ Even though the men lifted him from his feet, he tried to protect the book.
    One of the men slid a knife free and held the keen edge to Lourds’ throat. He looked at Qayin and waited expectantly.
    Lourds didn’t even try to fight back.
    Surreptitiously, Cleena slid her hand around the pistol butt. In the darkness, with the men gathered so close together, she liked her chances. At least for a moment, she wouldn’t be able to miss her targets. After that, though, things would quickly become dicey.
    Qayin held up a hand to his followers and peered at Lourds. ‘Do you think you can translate this document?’
    Lourds didn’t hesitate and spoke with more confidence under the circumstances than Cleena would have thought possible. ‘I can. If you give me time, I can translate anything.’
    Cleena said, ‘How much time?’
    ‘I don’t know. Linguists and archaeologists worked on the Rosetta Stone for years before they made a breakthrough.’
    Lifting his pistol, Qayin consulted a Rolex on his wrist. ‘You have twenty minutes to make a believer of me, Professor.’
    Cleena expected Lourds to protest over the time frame. There was no way Qayin could seriously expect him to crack whatever was on the page. All Lourds had succeeded in doing was delaying his death for a few minutes.
    But he also bought you some more time to think, girlie, so you’d best put your thinking