Contract With God
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter 1 - RESIDENCE OF BALTHASAR HANDWURZ
Chapter 2 - ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN EL GLOBO
Chapter 3 - KAYN
Chapter 4 - HEADQUARTERS OF KAYN INDUSTRIES
Chapter 5 - HOTEL LE MERIDIEN
Chapter 6 - HEADQUARTERS OF KAYN INDUSTRIES
Chapter 7 - EDITORIAL OFFICES OF EL GLOBO
Chapter 8 - ANDREA OTERO’S APARTMENT
Chapter 9 - RELICS CRYPT
Chapter 10 - EXCERPT FROM RAYMOND KAYN: THE UNAUTHORISED BIOGRAPHY
Chapter 11 - ON BOARD THE BEHEMOTH
Chapter 12 - OUTSIDE THE OFFICES OF NETCATCH
Chapter 13 - ON BOARD THE BEHEMOTH
Chapter 14 - COHEN FAMILY HIDEOUT
Chapter 15 - ON BOARD THE BEHEMOTH
Chapter 16 - ABOARD THE BEHEMOTH
Chapter 17 - ABOARD THE BEHEMOTH
Chapter 18 - THE RED SEA
Chapter 19 - ANDREA AND FOWLER
Chapter 20 - TAHIR IBN FARIS’S APARTMENT
Chapter 21 - ABOARD THE BEHEMOTH
Chapter 22 - OFFICES OF NETCATCH
Chapter 23 - ABOARD THE BEHEMOTH
Chapter 24 - ON BOARD THE BEHEMOTH
Chapter 25 - SOMEWHERE IN FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA
Chapter 26 - ON THE WAY TO THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 27 - MP3 File Recovered by the Jordanian Desert Police from Andrea ...
Chapter 28 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 29 - HUQAN
Chapter 30 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 31 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 32 - 2,700 FEET WEST OF THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 33 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 34 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 35 - KAYN
Chapter 36 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 37 - Some Facts about the Arc of the Covenant, Transcribed from the ...
Chapter 38 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 39 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 40 - SOMEWHERE IN FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA
Chapter 41 - INSIDE THE SOLDIERS’ TENT, FIVE MINUTES BEFORE
Chapter 42 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 43 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 44 - FOWLER AND HAREL
Chapter 45 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 46 - Al Qaeda Training Manual Found By Scotland Yard in a Hideout Pages ...
Chapter 47 - WASHINGTON SUBURB
Chapter 48 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 49 - ORVILLE WATSON’S SAFE HOUSE
Chapter 50 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 51 - ORVILLE WATSON’S SAFE HOUSE
Chapter 52 - ORVILLE WATSON’S SAFE HOUSE
Chapter 53 - SOMEWHERE IN FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA
Chapter 54 - HUQAN
Chapter 55 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 56 - ELLIS ISLAND, NEW YORK
Chapter 57 - KAYN
Chapter 58 - ANDREA AND DOC
Chapter 59 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 60 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 61 - MP3 File Recovered by the Jordanian Desert Police from Andrea ...
Chapter 62 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 63 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 64 - Document Recovered from the e-mail Account of Kharouf Waadi, used ...
Chapter 65 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 66 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 67 - LOWER EAST SIDE
Chapter 68 - Josef Cohen’s Letter to His Son, Yudel
Chapter 69 - HUQAN
Chapter 70 - KAYN TOWER
Chapter 71 - MP3 File Recovered by the Jordanian Desert Police from Andrea ...
Chapter 72 - KAYN TOWER
Chapter 73 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 74 - KAYN TOWER
Chapter 75 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 76 - KAYN TOWER
Chapter 77 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 78 - INSIDE THE DINING TENT, FIFTY-THREE SECONDS BEFORE
Chapter 79 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 80 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 81 - RELICS CRYPT
Chapter 82 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 83 - AL-QAHIRA METEOROLOGICAL INSTITUTE
Chapter 84 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 85 - Transcript of the communication between the crew of the Behemoth ...
Chapter 86 - HUQAN
Chapter 87 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 88 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 89 - AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE CANYON, TEN MINUTES BEFORE
Chapter 90 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 91 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 92 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 93 - INSIDE THE CAVE, FOURTEEN MINUTES EARLIER
Chapter 94 - THE EXCAVATION
Chapter 95 - ON THE ROAD TO AQABA
Chapter 96 - EPILOGUE
Acknowledgements
Contract with God
JUAN GOMEZ JURADO
Orion
www.orionbooks.co.uk
First published in Great Britain in 2009 by Orion Books,
an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Orion House, 5 Upper St Martin’s Lane,
London WC2H 9EA
© Juan Gómez-Jurado 2007
English translation © A.V. Lebrón 2009
The right of Juan Gómez-Jurado to be identified as the author of
this work has been asserted in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
‘How to Create an Enemy’ from Faces of the Enemy by Sam Keen
reproduced with the kind permission of the author.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior
permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher.
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and
incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are
used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead,
events or locales is entirely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
eISBN : 978 1 4091 0724 8
ISBN 978 1 409 10076 8 (Trade Paperback)
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For Matthew Thomas, a greater hero than Father Fowler
How to Create an Enemy
Start with an empty canvas
Sketch in broad outline the forms of
men women and children
Dip into the unconsciousness well of your own
disowned darkness
with a wide brush and
strain the strangers with the sinister hue
of the shadow
Trace onto the face of the enemy the greed,
Hatred, carelessness you dare not claim as
Your own
Obscure the sweet individuality of each face
Erase all hints of the myriad loves, hopes,
fears that play through the kaleidoscope of
every infinite heart
Twist the smile until it forms the downward
arc of cruelty
Strip flesh from bone until only the
abstract skeleton of death remains
Exaggerate each feature until man is
metamorphosed into beast, vermin, insect
Fill in the background with malignant
figures from ancient nightmares - devils,
demons, myrmidons of evil
When your icon of the enemy is complete
you will be able to kill without guilt,
slaughter without shame
The thing you destroy will have become
merely an enemy of God, an impediment
to the secret dialectic of history
from Faces of the Enemy
by Sam Keen
The Ten Commandments
I am the Lord thy God.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy
Honour thy father and mother
Thou shalt not kill
Thou shalt not commit adultery
Thou shalt not steal
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house
Prologue
AM SPIEGELGRUND CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL
VIENNA
February 1943
Arriving at the building where a large flag with a swastika was flapping overhead, the woman could not suppress a shiver. Her companion misinterpreted and drew her closer to him in order to warm her. Her thin coat offered meagre protection against the sharp afternoon wind, which warned of an approaching blizzard.
‘Put this on, Odile,’ the man said, his fingers trembling as he unbuttoned his coat.
She loosened herself from his grip and hugged the package closer to her chest. The six-mile walk through the snow had left her exhausted and numb from the cold. Three years ago they would have made the trip in their Daimler with a driver, and she would have been wearing her fur. But their car now belonged to a Brigadeführer and her fur coat was probably being shown off in a theatre box somewhere by some Nazi wife with painted eyelids. Odile composed herself and pressed the buzzer forcefully three times before answering him.
‘It’s not because of the cold, Josef. We don’t have much time before curfew. If we don’t return in time . . .’
Before her husband could reply, a nurse suddenly opened the door. As soon as she took one look at the visitors, her smile disappeared. Several years under the Nazi regime had taught her to recognise a Jew immediately.
‘What do you want?’ she asked.
The woman made herself smile, even though her lips were painfully cracked.
‘We want to see Dr Graus.’
‘Do you have an appointment?’
‘The doctor said he’d see us.’
‘Name?’
‘Josef and Odile Cohen, Fräulein.’
‘The nurse took a step back when their surname confirmed her suspicions.
‘You’re lying. You don’t have an appointment. Go away. Go back to the hole you came from. You know you’re not allowed here.’
‘Please. My son is inside. Please!’
Her words were wasted as the door slammed shut.
Josef and his wife looked helplessly at the huge building. As they turned away, Odile suddenly felt weak and stumbled, but Josef managed to catch her before she fell.
‘Come on, we’ll find another way to get in.’
They headed over to one side of the hospital. As they turned the corner, Josef pulled his wife back. A door had just opened. A man wearing a thick coat was struggling to push a cart filled with rubbish towards the rear of the building. Keeping close to the wall, Josef and Odile slid up to the open doorway.
Once inside, they found themselves standing in a service hall leading to a maze of stairs and other corridors. As they proceeded down the hallway, they could hear distant muffled cries that seemed to be coming from another world. The woman concentrated intently, listening for her son’s voice, but it was useless. They went through several corridors without running into anybody. Josef had to hurry to keep up with his wife who, compelled by sheer instinct, moved forward swiftly, stopping only for a second at each doorway.
Before long they found themselves peering into a dark L-shaped ward. It was full of children, many of whom were strapped to their beds and whimpering like wet dogs. The acrid-smelling room was stifling and the woman began to sweat, feeling a tingling in her extremities as her body warmed up. She paid no attention to this, however, as her eyes raced from bed to bed, from one young face to the next, searching desperately for her son.
‘Here’s the report, Dr Graus.’
Josef and his wife exchanged looks as they heard the name of the doctor they needed to see, the person who held their son’s life in his hands. They turned towards the far corner of the ward and saw a small group of people gathered around one of the beds. An attractive young doctor was seated at the bedside of a girl who looked about nine years old. Next to him an older nurse held a tray of surgical instruments while a bored-looking middle-aged doctor took notes.
‘Dr Graus . . .’ said Odile hesitantly, steeling herself as she approached the group.
The young man gestured dismissively to the nurse without taking his eyes from what he was doing.
‘Not now, please.’
The nurse and the other doctor stared at Odile in surprise, but said nothing.
When she saw what was taking place, Odile had to grit her teeth in order not to scream. The young girl was deathly pale and appeared to be semi-conscious. Graus was holding her arm over a metal basin as he made small cuts with a scalpel. There was hardly a place on the girl’s arm that hadn’t been touched by the blade and the blood flowed slowly into the basin, which was almost full. Finally the girl’s head slumped to one side. Graus held two slender fingers to the girl’s neck.
‘Good, she has no pulse. The time, Dr Stroebel ?’
‘Six thirty-seven.’
‘Almost ninety-three minutes. Exceptional! The subject remained awake although her level of consciousness was comparatively low, and she showed no signs of pain. The combination of laudanum and datura is undoubtedly better than anything we’ve tried up to now. Congratulations, Stroebel. Get the specimen ready for dissection.’
‘Thank you, Herr Doktor. Right away.’
Only then did the young doctor turn towards Josef and Odile. In his eyes was a mixture of annoyance and disdain.
‘And who might you be?’
Odile took a step forward and stood next to the bed, trying not to look at the dead girl.
‘My name is Odile Cohen, Dr Graus. I am Elan Cohen’s mother.’
The physician looked at Odile coldly and then turned to the nurse.
‘Get these Jews out of here, Fräulein Ulrike.’
The nurse grabbed Odile’s elbow and with a rough push positioned herself between the woman and the doctor. Josef rushed to help his wife and struggled with the hefty nurse. For moments they formed a bizarre trio, pushing in different directions without anyone gaining ground. Fräulein Ulrike’s face grew red from the effort.
‘Doctor, I’m sure there’s been a mistake,’ said Odile, fighting to get her head past the nurse’s broad shoulders. ‘My son is not mentally ill.’
Odile managed to free herself from the nurse’s grip and turned to the doctor.
‘It’s true that he hasn’t talked much since we lost our house, but he’s not mad. He’s here because of a mistake. If you let him go . . . Please let me give you the only thing we have left.’
She placed the package on the bed, making sure she didn’t touch the body of the dead girl as she carefully removed the newspaper wrapping. Despite the d
imness of the ward, the golden object cast its glow on the surrounding walls.
‘It’s been in my husband’s family for generations, Dr Graus. I would rather have died than give this up. But my son, Doctor, my son . . .’
Odile began to cry and fell to her knees. The younger doctor barely noticed since his eyes were transfixed by the object on the bed. However, he managed to open his mouth long enough to destroy any hope the couple had left.
‘Your son is dead. Go away.’
As soon as the cold air outside hit her face Odile regained some strength. Holding on to her husband as they hurried away from the hospital, she was more fearful than ever of the curfew. Her mind was concentrated solely on getting back to the far side of the city, where their other son was waiting.
‘Hurry, Josef. Hurry.’
They quickened their pace through the steadily falling snow.
In his hospital office, Dr Graus hung up the phone with a distracted air and caressed the strange gold object on his desk. Minutes later, when the sirens from the SS vehicles reached him, he didn’t even look out of the window. His assistant said something about fleeing Jews, but Graus paid no attention.
He was busy planning young Cohen’s operation.
Main Characters
Clergy
FATHER ANTHONY FOWLER, agent working with both the CIA and the Holy Alliance.
FATHER ALBERT, ex-hacker. Systems Analyst with the CIA and liaison with Vatican intelligence.
BROTHER CESÁREO, Dominican. Curator of Antiquities at the Vatican.