‘Control, you mean?’
‘Guide.’
‘Slavery by another name.’
Webster exhaled. ‘Do you know how many people are lost out there? How many that are uncertain how they’re supposed to proceed in their daily lives?’
Lourds didn’t reply.
‘All of them,’ Webster said. He closed a fist in front of Lourds’ face. ‘They want a god that will be in their daily lives. One that will provide meaning and establish goals. One that will validate them in immediate response. That’s why people will turn to me.’
‘I’m not turning to you.’ The words were out of Lourds’ mouth before he realized it. ‘Not all of them will.’
‘Then the ones who don’t will die. I will crush them and leave their rotting corpses in the street.’
‘You may be gifted, but that doesn’t mean everyone will follow you. There are others who know you for who you truly are.’
Webster shook his head. ‘They are the walking dead. They’ve already ceased living and don’t know it yet.’
‘That’s the whole problem of free will,’ Lourds said softly. ‘Such a small, seemingly insignificant thing. Yet so powerful.’
‘A fascinating thing. Mankind’s greatest freedom and its greatest servitude all rolled up into one package. If you ask me, I’m offering a much better deal.’
‘Doesn’t matter. In the end, you’re going to be defeated.’
‘Bah. Only if you believe the rhetoric.’
‘John of Patmos didn’t see it as rhetoric.’
‘John of Patmos was a senile old man. Even the Roman Catholic Church agrees with me there.’
‘He foretold your coming.’
‘Of course he did. I’ve only been here since what? The beginning of the human race?’
‘And you haven’t managed to take over the human race yet.’ Lourds shook his head. ‘That must be very frustrating.’
‘Subjugate. Destroy.’ Webster shrugged. ‘It’s all the same to me. I’ve already made a lasting mark in this world. People have talked about me, feared me, since time began.’ He smiled. ‘I can live with that.’
Lourds felt the increased chill from the evil that clung to the man. It was like nothing Lourds had ever experienced before. It left him terrified and shaking.
Webster checked his watch. ‘I don’t have a lot of time left.’ He waved at the room next door. ‘I’ve got a television crew waiting to hear my impassioned plea for help from the president. I promise, it’s going to be a barnburner. Then, of course, there’s going to be the whole “escape from Saudi Arabia and the evil Prince Khalid” thing I’ve got planned.’
‘A barnburner? I knew there’d be fire involved.’
Webster chuckled. ‘It would be amusing to keep you around, Professor Lourds. But you’re much too dangerous to me. After the Brotherhood of the Scroll didn’t use John of Patmos’s final document, especially after it was broken apart and hidden away-’
‘You knew about that?’
‘Of course I did. Who do you think engineered the whole affair?’
Lourds thought about that and couldn’t believe it. But yet, it made sense.
‘I persecuted those people,’ Webster bragged. ‘And, occasionally, I found a weak one and exploited him. Over the years, fewer and fewer of them knew what the scroll was or how to read it.’ He paused. ‘I thought it had actually been lost for ever during the Fourth Crusade when I managed to split the Church.’
‘You did that?’
Webster performed a small bow. ‘Of course. Playing to my strengths. Put any two people together, anywhere in the world, and I’ll be there. I am the paranoia that chases after free will. I am the lingering doubt and malice over betrayal.’ He paused. ‘Now let’s see the scroll.’
Eckart stepped forward and handed Webster the wooden cylinder. The vice-president uncapped it and gently prised out the contents into his waiting hand. The scroll inside slid free and he caught it deftly. For just a moment, he held it, then he cast it aside with an obscenity and stared at Lourds.
‘I did warn you about playing games. Where is the Joy Scroll, Professor Lourds?’
Holding her silenced pistol before her, Cleena half ran through the underground passage that led to the building where Lourds had been taken. The corridor was longer than she’d expected.
‘You’re sure this is the way?’
‘Yes.’ Sevki didn’t hesitate. ‘Getting the blueprints of those buildings was a major undertaking. I can’t begin to express how much you owe me.’
‘After I help save the world, maybe we can discuss how large that debt is.’
‘Yeah. That.’
Sevki didn’t sound as if he believed everything that was going on. Cleena didn’t blame him. Even after everything she’d seen, she had trouble believing it herself. That’s one of Webster’s strengths, she reminded herself. Joachim and the Brotherhood had warned them.
Abruptly the corridor ended in a foyer containing a number of elevators.
‘Here.’ Joachim went to the right and found the door to a stairs. He started to pull it open.
‘No,’ Sevki interrupted. ‘The door is alarmed.’
Joachim drew his hand back.
‘Can you bypass the alarm from there?’ Cleena stepped closer and looked at the alarm system.
‘No. I tried. If I hack in, I might set it off. Then you guys are screwed.’
Cleena put her pistol away and pulled her toolkit from inside her jacket. She wore body armour, as did the monks. Tension filled her body as she concentrated on the lock.
‘Is there anything I can do?’ Joachim stood nearby.
‘I’ll get it.’ Perspiration dripped through Cleena’s eyebrows. ‘Sevki, do you have access to the building’s security cameras?’
He sounded distant when he replied. ‘I will. Possibly before you’re through that lock. They’ve got someone inside who has enhanced the cyber security already in place on site.’ He paused, then sounded pleased. ‘This guy is good.’
‘Are you through?’ Cleena popped the first round of locks and went after the second.
‘I’ve never failed you yet.’
‘Maybe we could hold the self-congratulations until the post-mortem.’ As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Cleena realized how unfortunate the term was.
‘Let’s refer to that as a debrief, shall we?’
Cleena ignored him as the last of the electronic locks gave way. Holding her breath, she put her hand on the door and pulled. It opened and she led the way inside with her pistol at the ready. She went up the steps rapidly.
Fear rattled through Lourds as he realized the full extent of the danger he was in. He hadn’t known for certain if Webster would know the difference between the scrolls, but evidently something tied them together.
‘I will not be trifled with,’ Webster roared. ‘I will have that girl killed.’ He took his phone from his pocket.
‘All right.’ Lourds took his hat off with his cuffed hands and reached inside it. He removed the protective plastic bag containing the Joy Scroll from behind the liner. It had amazed him that a document supposed to be powerful enough to save the world could fit behind his hatband.
Webster approached and reached for the package. Something, Lourds wasn’t sure what, stayed his hand. He gestured at Eckart. ‘Seize that scroll.’
Eckart plucked the scroll from Lourds’ zip-tied hands. ‘Do you want to check it?’
‘No.’ Webster wiped his hands on his pants. ‘No. That’s the scroll. I’m convinced of that. Just keep it with you.’
Eckart tucked the document inside his jacket.
‘Now, Professor Lourds,’ Webster said, ‘welcome to the end of the world as you know it. Within the next few minutes, the course of human events will drastically change.’ He looked at Eckart. ‘Bring him along.’ Then he turned and headed for the next room.
With Eckart’s rough hand gripping his neck, Lourds followed Webster.
The next room looked like a view of perdition. Blood smeared the walls and bullet holes had chopped into the fine panelling. A half-dozen dead bodies littered the floor.