Free The Lucifer Code by Charles Brokaw Page A

cap on and get to it. You’ve got to come up with a great plan.
    She had twenty minutes.
    And the clock was ticking.

 
    CHAPTER
    6
     
     
    Catacombs
    Yesilkoy District
    Istanbul, Turkey
    16 March 2010
    L ourds reached for one of the lanterns the men carried. Before the man could react, the professor had it in his hand. He didn’t know the man was reaching for a gun until the barrel was pressed up against his cheek.
    ‘What are you doing?’ Lourds asked in disbelief. ‘I need the light if I’m going to be working.’
    The leader waved the man off, but he clearly wasn’t happy about removing the gun. He growled what Lourds believed were curses and walked away.
    ‘My apologies, Professor,’ the leader said. ‘Perhaps it would be best if you made no sudden moves. We lead very dangerous lives. There are people who would kill us on sight.’
    As I recall, your people don’t have any problem responding in kind , Lourds thought but didn’t say it.
    ‘Now we have reached something of an understanding, allow me to introduce myself.’ The man bowed his head slightly but never dropped his gaze from Lourds’. ‘I’m called Qayin. Other than light, is there anything else you need?’
    Lourds’ mind spun as he looked at the page again. ‘A desk, perhaps?’
    ‘No, sorry.’
    Now that he had emptied his bladder, Lourds discovered he was starving.
    ‘I suppose asking for a pizza would be out of the question.’
    ‘Absolutely.’
    ‘Then do you have my backpack?’
    Qayin nodded to another of his followers and the man sprinted away. He returned momentarily with Lourds’ backpack, but when the professor reached for it, the man held it too far away.
    ‘I don’t have any weapons in there,’ Lourds said. ‘I do have a couple of nutrition bars.’
    When the man finished searching the backpack, he handed it over.
    Lourds hunkered down. All the men in Qayin’s gang pointed their lanterns and pistols at him. He could hear safeties click back and pistols cocking. Moving slowly, Lourds reached into the backpack and took out a journal, a pen, two trail bars and a bottle of water. He displayed his treasures for the rest of the group to see.
    ‘I need something to work with,’ Lourds said, ‘and I’m hungry.’
    The pistols and lanterns slowly drew back.
    Lourds stood, hoisted the backpack over one shoulder, and juggled his food, writing utensils, and the book Qayin had given him. He crossed the room and sat with his back against the wall.
    ‘This wasn’t written on the page.’ Lourds traced his fingers over the symbols on the surface. They felt slightly matted, and the texture told him that a fixative had been applied to the page. ‘This is a rubbing.’
    ‘A child could have told me that.’
    Lourds ignored the sarcasm. ‘Where did you get this? Where was the rubbing taken?’
    ‘That doesn’t matter.’
    ‘I beg to differ. Knowing where this rubbing came from and when the original carvings were done might help me isolate this language. Establish the root.’
    Qayin hesitated, obviously ill at ease when it came to revealing anything about the book.
    ‘It came from here.’
    Lourds took a bite of his trail bar and chewed quickly. ‘By here, you mean Istanbul?’
    Qayin nodded.
    ‘Or do you mean Constantinople?’
    A look of irritation flashed across Qayin’s hard features. ‘This city. That’s all you need to know.’
    ‘No, that isn’t all I need to know. Istanbul began as Constantinople, a city with a European history—that’s if you discount the Neolithic settlements and choose to begin with the Greek settlers from Megara. Then the Romans took over. After that, the Ottoman Empire arrived under Mehmed II. This city has constantly been torn between the east and the west, between Christian and Muslim, and marks have been left throughout the city on various pieces of architecture.’ Lourds tapped the paper. ‘This is a rubbing, and I’m willing to wager that it came from some building within the