“And if it is true? Are you willing to reveal the truth to the people? To destroy their very belief system? To destroy the Holy Trinity? It would mean chaos! There would be rioting in the streets. The churches would be set aflame, the clergy massacred. Even your right to occupy the position of emperor could be challenged. It is too risky!”

  “But what if it is true? Should we allow the people to continue to worship a fraud?”

  “Why not? Better a fraud than the insane beliefs of the Jews or Arabs, or worse the pagans. If Jesus was a fraud, it doesn’t mean God was. The Ten Commandments still apply. What Jesus taught is still good. Even if he was just a man, the words are still words to live by.”

  “Are they? We live by them because they were spoken by the Son of God. If they weren’t, even if the words spoken were good, are they the best? Perhaps there are better words to live by, better ways to live our lives.”

  Alexander stared at him, wide-eyed. “Do you really doubt your faith so much, that you believe these words you speak?”

  Romanus sighed, shaking his head. “No, of course not. At least, not yet. But this has raised doubts in me. If we are defenders of the faith, if we fight on the side of God and his Son, Jesus Christ, then why do we lose battles to heathens, to Arabs? Why do we suffer rebellions and plagues, droughts and famine? Shouldn’t God be blessing us for fighting in his name, and inflicting defeat and suffering on our enemies who do not? If God is on our side, then who the hell is on the side of our enemies that we can be defeated?”

  Alexander eyed him, his mouth agape. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that the Roman Empire was at its greatest when we worshipped Jupiter and the other gods. It wasn’t until we embraced the beliefs of the Christians that we began to falter. Perhaps we back the wrong gods.”

  Alexander checked over both shoulders, confirming they were alone. “That’s blasphemy!” he hissed. “They’ll behead you for saying such things.”

  “It’s only blasphemy if it isn’t true.”

  “Surely you can’t believe it is.”

  Romanus frowned. “I’m afraid I have my doubts.” He rose, striding over to a large map that laid out the plans for his upcoming campaign. He pointed at a location to the south. “This is where the tablet suggests the truth is hidden. We must reach there as quickly as possible if we are to determine the truth and restore my faith, and preserve the faith of the people.”

  Alexander stood beside him, chewing his cheek. “This year’s plans don’t even come close. It would take two, perhaps three years.”

  “Agreed. We will have to modify them. The truth can’t wait that long.”

  “But we risk defeat. We could lose everything.”

  “If all we have been fighting for, if all we have believed for so long is a lie, then we have already lost everything worth losing.”

  26 |

  Approaching Kınalıada Island, Turkey Present Day

  “Bloody hell!”

  Leather had to agree with the sentiment expressed by Reese. As they approached the pier adjacent to the dig site, he ordered the pilot to slow to a crawl. He wanted time to assess the situation before docking. The island was crawling with police. Something had obviously gone down here, and it wasn’t good.

  He just prayed it was the theft they had worried about, rather than the attack they had feared.

  “All right, everyone remain calm. Reese, you’ll come with me. Everyone else stay on the boat. We don’t want the locals getting too nervous.” He turned to their local contact, Irmak. “I’ll let you do the talking. All I want to know is what happened, and where Professor Acton is.”

  “Understood.” Irmak disappeared inside the cabin for a moment then returned, sans weapons. He was fully licensed, however there was no danger here except from on-edge police.

  They pulled up to the pier and two of the crew tied the rental off as Irmak disembarked, immediately challenged by several police, all sporting automatic weapons. A quick conversation took place then Irmak motioned for Leather to join him.

  “Just hold back,” said Leather to Reese before stepping onto the pier. He joined Irmak and smiled at the man he had been talking to.

  “Captain Demirel, this is retired Lt. Colonel Cameron Leather, former British SAS. He’s the head of security for Professors Acton and Palmer, who are the primary funders for this dig site through their foundation.”

  Leather extended his hand. “A pleasure, Captain.”

  Demirel shook his hand. “Likewise, Colonel. So, do you care to tell me what happened here today?”

  Leather shook his head. “I’m sorry, Captain, but you have me at a disadvantage. When we arrived in Istanbul several hours ago, one of our clients, Professor Acton, was reported kidnapped.”

  “Kidnapped?”

  “Yes. He was picked up at the airport by a chauffeur driving an SUV. The original plan was for him to rent a vehicle, and according to our contacts at the university, no chauffeur had been sent.”

  “But you are here, so obviously you knew something happened.”

  “I’m sorry again, Captain, but no.” Leather pulled out his cellphone and showed the image of Acton at the site. “We found this on social media a short while ago while at our hotel. We immediately came here to find out what he was doing here. We haven’t been able to reach him by phone, so we wanted to confirm he was safe. When we arrived, we saw all this.”

  Demirel pursed his lips, regarding him for several moments as he no doubt debated whether what he had been told was a load of bullshit. “Your story matches with what the university personnel here have told me, except in one important way.”

  Leather tensed. “What?”

  “Professor Acton showed up here less than half an hour ago, assaulted Professor Boran, and stole a valuable artifact before boarding a boat that had at least two gunmen on it firing assault rifles.”

  Leather’s eyebrows shot up. “Bloody hell. I can honestly say I wasn’t expecting that. What artifact?” He knew the answer yet had to confirm it.

  “Some tablet they aren’t yet convinced is genuine.”

  “I see. And is Professor Boran all right?”

  “He is. He was put into a chokehold and was unconscious for less than five minutes. We’re still treating it as a failed homicide attempt, however.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Because he could have killed him.”

  Leather shook his head. “If he wanted him dead, he’d be dead.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “I trained him. He knows exactly how to execute what would have been a sleeper hold. He rendered the professor unconscious so he could take the tablet. There was never any risk to Professor Boran, I can assure you.”

  Demirel eyed him. “Why would you teach him that?”

  “My clients work in dangerous locations and have encountered a lot of dangerous people. The best way to keep them alive is to teach them how to keep themselves safe. I have trained them in hand-to-hand combat, weapons, tactics, hostage negotiations. Whatever it takes to survive the next minute.”

  “I hope you taught him how to survive in a prison, because that’s where he’s heading.”

  “Captain, I guarantee you that when this is all over, he’ll have a perfectly good explanation for what happened here today.”

  “What happened here was attempted murder, theft, and assault with a deadly weapon.”

  “Yes, I can see how you might think that, but I’ll ask you one question, Captain.”

  “What?”

  “If Professor Acton is the bad guy here, then why didn’t he have a gun?”

  “What?”

  “Why didn’t he have a gun? If his so-called accomplices had assault rifles, and he was in on it, why didn’t he at least have a handgun? He could have shot Professor Boran, shot the guards, held someone hostage while he made his escape. There are countless possibilities. Instead, he used his hands to expertly render someone unconscious, took the tablet, then got on a boat with armed gunmen. You know what that sounds like to me?”

  Demirel frowned. “What?”

  “Coercion. He was forced to do what he did by unknown forces.”

  “And just who are these unknown forces?”

  Leather knew precisely who they were yet couldn’t reveal the truth—it would simply be rejected as nonsense. “Likely the same people security was hired to protect against. Some fundamentalist group that found out about the tablet and wanted it for themselves.”

  Demirel eyed him for a moment. “What’s so important about this tablet?”

  Leather shrugged, deciding it wasn’t his place to reveal the truth. “I don’t know. I’m just here to provide security. I’m sure Professor Boran could tell you.”

  “He tells me it’s something that could destroy Christianity.”

  “Then if that’s true, don’t you think every fundamentalist in the world would do anything they could to get their hands on it, including kidnapping my client? They could have discovered he was on his way here and given him orders to steal it, otherwise harm might come to him or those he cared about.”

  Demirel’s head slowly bobbed. “An interesting theory, and it will be investigated. In the meantime, however, your client is wanted for the aforementioned charges, and will be put before the court unless I’m satisfied he was acting against his will.”

  Leather bowed slightly. “I would expect nothing less, and I appreciate the fact you are at least entertaining the possibility that he is innocent.”

  Demirel indicated the boat they had arrived on. “Give your contact information to my deputy, then get off my crime scene.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  27 |

  Acton/Palmer Residence St. Paul, Maryland

  Reading ended the call, his sleep interrupted by the update from Leather. He held up a finger, cutting off any questions from Tommy and Mai, and leaned back in his chair as he calmed his hammering heart. Acton was clearly being coerced into working for the Keepers of the One Truth or some other group. All evidence pointed to the Keepers, and for them to have let him out of their sight meant they were holding something over him.

  Probably Laura’s life.

  Acton would do anything for her, even die for her, though he wouldn’t kill innocents. They would both draw the line there. Yet as Leather had described it, no lives had been lost, Acton had expertly taken down Boran, and it was those on the boat who had fired at the guards, thankfully missing them. If it were the Keepers, they were well trained from what he had seen, which suggested they hadn’t attempted to kill the guards. It was more likely they were warning shots.

  Nobody was meant to die.

  And they were on a small island, so letting Acton go in alone wasn’t much of a risk for them, since he had nowhere to go.

  He flicked a finger and the barrage began.

  “Why do you think he did it?” asked Tommy, beating Mai to the punch.

  “I’m guessing he was forced to by the Keepers.”

  It was Mai’s turn. “Do you think they threatened Laura?”

  “Yes.”

  “Shouldn’t we stop her from going to Istanbul?”

  Reading checked his watch. “When is she due to arrive?”

  Tommy glanced at his tablet. “In three hours.”

  “She’d never agree. All we can do is update her, then let her decide. But we’ll make sure Cam is at the airport with his team to meet her. The last thing we need is her getting kidnapped too. Right now, Jim is operating under the assumption she is safe, and will remain that way because of our actions.”

  “What do we do now?”

  “We update Laura, get Cameron in position, and try to find any footage that shows where that boat Jim got on docked. We need to figure out where he is before he gets to where he’s going.”

  Mai’s eyes narrowed. “Where is he going?”

  “If what I think is going on actually is, he’s heading to Syria before the day is out.”

  28 |

  Operations Center 3, CIA Headquarters Langley, Virginia

  Tong read the update from Reading and Leather, all declassified updates going into a shared secure folder. Things had escalated dramatically in the last thirty minutes, and if Leroux wasn’t careful, he’d miss out on the action if he didn’t sober up soon. She agreed with Reading’s assessment that Acton’s next most likely destination was the location on the tablet, and that was in modern-day Syria, one of the most dangerous places on the planet right now.

  What she hadn’t told them, though she had no doubt with Reading’s law enforcement experience he already suspected, the Turkish police had put out the equivalent to an all-points bulletin on Acton, indicating he was wanted on numerous accounts, including terrorism. It was the terrorism charge that had her concerned. It was unwarranted, issued only to annoy the United States in the ongoing tit-for-tat bickering of the two official NATO allies.

  She suspected that if it weren’t for Turkey’s geographical location, they would have been kicked out years ago after Erdogan solidified his power. It was a joke to have a country like that in NATO, but since the Bosporus Strait passed directly through Istanbul, joining the Black Sea ultimately to the Mediterranean, it was too important a strategic location to leave in the hands of Russia or China.

  But geopolitics wasn’t her concern, it was finding Acton before things got too far out of hand. He was obviously under the control of the Keepers of the One Truth, her briefing notes on the organization providing her with little beyond conjecture, but they were real, nonetheless. Whether she believed their backstory was irrelevant.

  “I’ve got him getting off the boat,” reported their tech wunderkind, Randy Child, who had arrived a few minutes ago reeking of garlic donair with his two days of growth peppered with Cheetos crumbs.

  “Show me.”

  Footage appeared on the main display showing a boat pulling up to a dock and Acton getting off with four other men. None appeared armed, though they wore long robes that could conceal anything. More likely, however, they had left the weapons behind as they were no longer needed. The point now was to blend until they could get out of sight, not enter into a firefight with the local authorities because some citizen spotted the butt of a rifle.

  “Track them. Let’s see where they go.”

  “Should we notify the Turks?”

  Tong chewed her cheek for a moment. If they did, and the Turks wanted them on terrorism charges, they’d go in shooting and Acton would likely be killed. This needed something more subtle.

  “No, but get me Leather.”

  29 |

  En route to the Park Hyatt Istanbul Istanbul, Turkey

  Leather swiped his thumb, taking the call from the unknown number as they drove back to their hotel. “Hello?”

  “Hello, Colonel Leather, this is Sonya. Do you know who I am?”

  He smiled slightly. He loved dealing with spy agencies. “Yes.”

  “Good. I’ve uploaded coordinates into the secure folder for where we last spotted Professor Acton. He got off a boat with four men, and they may or may not be armed.”

  Leather grabbed the tablet off the seat beside him then logged in, bringing up the folder. “Have you informed the locals?”

  “Negative. I have concerns they may shoot first, ask questions later.”

  “Good thinking.” He brought up the coordinates then sent them to the mapping app. He handed the tablet forward. “Get us there ASAP.” A U-turn was abruptly executed resulting in curses from the passengers and protesting horns from those sharing the road with them.

  “We’re on our way. ETA…”

  “Fifteen minutes,” filled in the driver.

  “Fifteen minutes. I assume you’re still attempting to track him?”

  “Yes. We’ll continue feeding updates to the folder as we locate him, along with any images or footage. Be careful, Colonel, these people are dangerous.”

  “I’m always careful.”

  30 |

  Istanbul, Turkey

  Acton strode quickly, flanked by his four captors. They had dumped their AK-47s in the middle of the Sea of Marmara, though he had little doubt they still were packing handguns. He was confident he could make a break for it, but if they were armed, they’d simply shoot him in the back. In reality, they no longer needed him. He had retrieved the tablet with little difficulty, and now, despite their plans to go to Syria, they could kidnap someone else to guide them to the location. Only he could have retrieved the tablet, but any number of people could lead them to their destination.

  He had to be careful. For the moment, they seemed content to keep him with them. If they wanted to part ways, they could have killed him, or simply left him behind in the boat, tied up. But they had taken him with them, and so far, other than the kidnapping and interrogation, had treated him reasonably well.

  They walked through the crowded streets, and it gave him an opportunity to think. By now, the authorities had been notified and they would no doubt assume he was involved. His photo was probably on every police officer’s phone, and with his ‘accomplices’ likely not caught on camera, he’d be treated as the ringleader since they would have his full bio, no doubt eagerly provided by Boran.

  He felt guilty about what he had done to the poor man. Not only was it a violent act, but it was never a good feeling to be bested by another man you considered an equal. He could have explained what was going on, but he couldn’t count on Boran’s cooperation. And there hadn’t been time. The Keepers had told him he had only thirty minutes to retrieve the tablet or they would leave and kill Laura at some point in the future.

  He believed them.

 

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