"You son of a bitch, you lie!" Tosca shouted.

  .,-and when he was through with her, he killed her

  and tossed her ass out of a helicopter while flying in

  India," Schlerm-nel went on, unperturbed. "The Indians

  cremated her body, because she had cholera, courtesy

  of Stavers, and the church got the ashes back to Rome.

  They're in a crypt right now,-

  Honwu looked to Bruno Zhukov. "You know of this,

  what be has called The Messiah Stone?"

  Zhukov clasped his fingers together, enjoying the

  scene. He nodded. "Yes. We know of it."

  "Ai

  -id it is real.,

  "it is," Zhukov answered tersely.

  "what is this o *ect that it could be cliven such

  veneration?"

  Cameron Vanderhoff gestured easily, a deceptively

  casual move for a man recordim4 everything in a su-

  perbly concealed recorder, most of the equipment within

  tv fpAr and

  230 Martin Caidin

  wonder. It is a kaleidoscope of dreams and terror. In its

  briefest measure, shorn of all save what may be the

  facts the object is a diamond. Or," he added self-

  corrLtion quickly, "it appears to be a diamond. Some-

  what more than eighty carats, what the trade would call

  fancy yellow in color, but flawless even at a magnifica-

  tion of several hundred. Legend and reality together

  believe that two thousand years ago, at what is accepted

  as the birthtime of Jesus, or Jehoshua, as General

  Schlemmel might accept the name "

  Harvey Schlemmel nodded; he knew every word of

  Vanderhoffs before the man verbalized his memory.

  11 At any rate, the legends tell us that a meteor, or a

  comet, penetrated the atmosphere somewhere in the

  south of Africa and retained its shape until it struck the

  surface, when it exploded. The meteorite was to have

  imp cted at the same instant as the birth of the Christ

  child. So we are told, so inany believe," he stressed. He

  took a deep breath before continuing.

  " This stone, which became known to many as The

  Messiah Stone, to the churches as The Godstone, and

  by many other names, is reputed to endow its bearer

  with extraordinary powers over other people. Nothing

  so dramatic as you might see in a theatrical film, but

  the individual with the stone develops or generates an

  area that bends the will of other people to his--or

  her-own. 11

  Chai Hoirwu smiled. "There have been other such

  objects with such powers believed to exist," he said.

  Vanderhoff came back immediatclv, "You inisunder-

  stand. I inake no claims. I reject no claims. I do not

  dispute the history of any other. I see directly ahead on

  this matter. Nowhere else. A native tribe in Africa, the

  Manturu, possessed the diamond. They ruled utterly

  without fear or danger until perhaps sixty or seventy

  years ago. A Romanian group led by Bibesco flew to the

  Manturu tribal lands. Remaining distant enough from

  the stone not to be affected, they devastated the tribe

  with modern weapons, seized the diamond, and fled.

  Tbf-rp ir mjiol, --@ 1-0 ),,,' 0- -;- -f -11 @-- L--

  DARK MESSIAH

  231

  transpired is that this diamond came into the possession

  of Adolf Hitler in the mid-thirties."

  Vanderhoff went silent. He did not need to explain to

  anyone the strange powers attributed to Adolf Hitler,

  his ability to overwhelm through sheer ffirce of inental

  energy the people about hirn, to mesmerize thern, to

  literally bend them to his will, to instill a fierce loyalty

  and love for Hitler. He knew where their thought s

  would take them in a brief travelogue of review of all

  they knew or had heard of regarding the messianic

  powers of Germany's "sainted" Hitler.

  If this stone were rea , or t e powers in e

  stone were real, why . . . the world, the entire world,

  could be brought under its incredible ...

  Bruno Zhukov burst into laughter. Pragmatic Russian

  that he was, he found tremendously amusing what he

  knew transpired silently in their gathering. "Sol Finally we have reached, albeit in silence, a complete agreement on at least one subject!" He laughed again, the

  sound carrying unmistakable ridicule for them all. "Are

  you through with your brief fantasies of unlimited power?

  Shall we get back to the business at hand?"

  Well, it damned well explains one thing," Schlemmel

  followed Zhukov's wo ds. "I never did understand why

  almost every rocket scienflst and physicis' in the world

  was overnight a staunch and even a fierce follower of

  the powers of this diamond are real,

  Douglas Stavers. Ij

  it explains many things,

  "I dislike emphasizing the crass against the meta-

  physical," Hon,,vu broke in smoothly, "but rnay I attri-

  bute vast sunis of money, and the means to play with

  their great rocket machinery, as also a source of great

  lovalty by these scientists for StaversP -After all, it is his

  checkbook that makes all this possible. If you marry

  dreams to the wealth to create your machines, the"

  political boundaries and loyalties may be said to dimir,

  ish in proportion to the sum of the money spent and the

  objects created."

  "Is that straight from Confucious?" Marsha Purdue

  asked in a scathing tone.

  232 Martin Caidin

  "The French," Vanderboff said. "Think of the French,

  We had reports that Stavers had spent time with the

  leaders of France. Upon his departure the French hurled

  their entire national energy into the huge booster rock-

  ets and advanced systemsfor deep space flight. Is this

  only from money? Is this diamond truly so possessed of

  these magical mind-bending powers that Stavers brought

  the French to their knees' to his will?"

  " We agreed the French were mad," Zhukov reminded

  them.

  "Mad, but not stupid," Schlemmel offered as correc-

  tion. 11 No, there's a hell of a lot more here than we

  understand. "

  11 And that is why," Zhukov thrust at them, "we had

  to meet as we do right now. That is why we must come

  to some understanding that to attempt to kill Douglas

  Stavers is insanity. His death could lose us, any of us or

  all of us, that stone. Forever. Along with what wonder-

  ful powers it may possess."

  "The magic I see in this group," Chai Honwu spoke,

  as a teacher would address a schoolroom, "is belief in

  fantasy of an object no one has seen and has more

  chance of arising from an Arthurian Merlin than being

  regarded in the pragmatism of science. We Chinese are

  supposed to be steeped in tradition and metaphysics;

  not you Westerners, You amaze me. You babble like

  children. I do not believe what I have heard."

  Zbukov leaned back heavily in his seat. "The eternal

  problem of the Chinese. If they cannot see, feel, touch,

  bear, bite, lick, squeeze or otberwise clasp an object,

  then they reject all that may be attached or ascribed to

  that object."

  Honwu smiled, "Precisely. Your intended insult bites

  you in Vour own intestines. What you say is truth. At

  last," he appended.

  Zhukov blinked as he studied the Chinese. "And I

  told the Secretary-General that to include your kind

  would be the height of folly."

  11 Why does he want to go to the moon? Why does he

  want to go to Mars?" They turned to Schlemrnel, "Any-

  I- - -1 _. L - __ - 1, , I ,,

  DARK MESSIAH

  233

  Vanderhoff laughed. "We don't know any such things.

  Stavers publicly says these are his desires, his goals. Do

  you know if he speaks the truth?"

  "No," Schlernmel answered '

  Vanderhoff shifted in his seat to face Lodovici Tosca.

  "My friend from Rome, you have been uncharacteristi-

  cally silent through all this. That disturbs me. Espe-

  cially since we have learned your talents extend far

  beyond the stone walls of any particular church."

  Tosca, relaxed now that this group knew of his mili-

  tary talents as well as his position as a Cardinal of

  Rome, regarded the group with a contempt be felt as

  strongly as he showed his feelings.

  "My predecessor," he began slowly, "was Butto

  Giovanni. A Cardinal. The devout man who at the

  order of our Pope created the Six Hundred. He knew,

  this Giovanni, the unbreakable thread that runs through

  the history of man. He knew where the thread would

  twist and evil would arise. Every so often, when He

  deemed it necessary, God would speak through the

  sun. Through the shattering light of a million suns.

  Through Sodom and Gomorrah, Hiroshima and Naga-

  saki. Each moment of terror a warning, and each mo-

  ment always a reminder, an arroxv, to point the way. "

  They would have iriterr'dDted this impromptu Caiho_

  lie sermon under the sea except that the nian before

  them was now inore sold-Jer fhan cardinal, and lie had

  through the sheer iutensitv of his eyes captured them

  all. "Two thousand years ago a million suns shone, but

  it was an inner light and our Lord was born unto m an.

  The liorht that i-nited in the hearts and souls of rnen

  blinded them to another sign, At the moment of our

  Lord's birth on this world there was sent to us an object

  of veneration, of holiness that would soar even higher

  than the chalice of the Last Supper. No chalice, no

  cassock ' no crucifix could even approach what had been

  sent to men of the true Tfaith. The great wars were

  coining. The atom would be unleashed to rage through

  mankind like the dogs of war. The only way to avoid

  Satan's triumph would be to bring men from the brink

  I I . ____ I_ -J! fi-n-1 f.,tke @11ories to

  234

  Martin Caidin

  true faith. Men could not do this, so from On High we

  were sent the means of salvation. From the moment

  the hand of God lowered what you in this room call The

  Messiah Stone, it has been the mission of our Papacy to

  bring the Godstone to Rome, so that the Pope might

  bring this flow of power through his own mind to bend

  greedy men away from Satan. You smile, you patronize

  me, you mock me in your minds, and you are fools

  beyond redemption. You speak of this diamond as if it

  were some bauble from a jewelry store to be swung

  between the full breasts of a harlot! Diamond, indeed!

  You-see only the shape and not the holiness within!

  You!" He stabbed a finger at Marsha Pardue. "You have

  already been soiled by Stavers!"

  Her mouth fell open in utter astonishment. "Did we

  not hear you say you and your government did not even

  care what Stavers does with his church? With his un-

  clean gatherings? You do not care how God Himelf is

  addressed? Or soiled? Those were your very own words!

  And what else might we expect," he went on in a voice

  suddenly so hushed they strained to hear, "from some-

  one under the control of Stavers so we must not inter-

  fere with Stavers' unholy mission?"

  Tosca smiled coldly and directed his gaze to Zhukov.

  "And you, too, you miserable spawn of a succubus.

  Who would have expected Islam to have been so

  strangely accurate when they joined Russia and Amer-

  ica a's the claws and talons of Satan? But they saw! And

  it is you whose own words spoken to us were that it

  would be insanity even to think of killing Douglas Stavers,

  this unholy minion of the nether worlds. It is you who

  would leave him unfettered to spread his control of

  peoples and nations the world over, and sow like the

  teeth of foul-mouthed dragons his thugs and priests in

  their unspeakable orgy they call Ascension."

  Lodovici Tosca's hand rose and fell, slapping gently

  against the table, "Not once have I heard what you all

  know. Not once even a mention of this miserable harlot

  who is always at Stavers' side."

  235

  DARK MESSIAH

  woman, Doctor Rebecca Weinstein? A surgeon of great

  skill, and to you she is only a harlot?"

  Tosca smiled. "She is no Jewess. Ah, but the Israeli

  general shows his surprise! He either lies well, or more

  likely, he is simply stupid or without knowledge. What

  do any of you know of this woman save that she is what

  you call a brilliant surgeon? She appears from nowhere.

  You can find little or nothing of her background. But

  we know because the records of the Church go back

  and back and back. @ . "

  His voice faded; he shook off some inner feeling of

  dread. I talk too much already."

  "Amen," Schlemmel said with dripping sarcasm.

  " Jew, listen to me." Tosca shifted position so that

  their eyes locked. "This woman was a nurse in Switzer-

  land during the war years of 1941 through 1945. That

  was a half-century ago, but she is only some thirty years old. "

  His words fell like stones. "Have you seen her pa-

  pers? Her records? She was a nurse in Austria in the

  First World War, and she was then only some thirty

  years old." His voice hammered relentlessly. "She was

  a doctor, or a nurse, as she wished at any time, in the

  Franco-Russian War! She performed medical service

  through the great Persian wars! She was a brilliant

  surgeon in the Otfornan Empirel And she is always

  sorne thirty years old! 11

  "That's crazy," Zhukov said in a hoarse whisper,

  "Nevertheless, it is true," Tosca said quietly, "Do not

  for one moment believe we have not exhausted every

  means possible to confirin what I have just said to you.

  Do not for a moment feel we act as we do from Rome

  because we seek to be triumphant over any opponent

  save evil. We do not know why she took this particular

  time to be with Stavers, but as powerful as is this man,

  and he has great and terrible powers, we believe hers is

  the greater. She is the serpent of Satan, He is the

  spawn of the devil. We intend to kill them both. We

  will, we shall, we must find the Godstone. If we are to

  I I I- ___] - I-:- L-L, -- @1-iiQf firct

  236

  Martin Caidin

  cut away the Devil's hand by smashing these two, tl@e,,,

  so be it. We are sure of ourselves."

  He sat back, head high, master of the moment.

  11 And you're as full of shit as a Christmas turkey,"

  Harvey Schlemmel told him. The Israeli turned to Bruno

  Zhukov,

  This meeting is over. I have nothing more to say or

  to hear. I shall observe the rules of this vessel. I shall!

  keep my word to you, Zhukov. But if you wish this

  maggot," be jerked a thumb at the white-faced and

  now-trembling Tosca, 11 to reach port alive, then I advise

  you to separate us. Because otherwise as my God and

  his God are my witness, I will kill that fanatical bastard

  with my own two hands."

  Another voice followed his, It was the first time

  they'd ever heard a Chinaman say' "Amen." Chai Honwu

  buc led. "Our Catholic has forgotten the promise of

  the French. The light of a million suns into the heart of

  the Vatican. I do not believe the Pope is so stupid as to

  risk the heart of the Holy See for the heart of a man. -

  Chapter 18

  Skip Marden spread the photographs and topographic

  charts on the long table beneath intensely bright lights.

  He moved with an efficiency and silkiness never before

  observed by Dr. Rebecca Weinstein, This was, as she

  had suspected all along, a completely different man

  from the Marden she had come to know in the forego-

  ing months. Hesitancy of any kind had vanished. The

  listlessness that plagued the man and made him as

  ornery and irritable as a flea-plagued hound dog had

  evaporated, as well. This was a man back in his own

  element, where his instinct, cunning and experience,

  and skills honed through a lifetime, were the primary

  factors in living and continuing to live.

  After all, mused Weinstein, they were about to plunge

  into a hornet's nest. All the way inside, and when

  you're buzzing with the hornets in their hom e world,

  there's only one way to get along with the nasty creatures.

  You kill them.

  Skip Marden would have been astonished to know

  that Rebecca Weinstein gave no more thought to the

  mass slaughter they might ignite than she would hesi-

  tate in swatting a mosquito. Women were either fully

  aggressive against their opponents, or they wrung their

 

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