by Tom Haase
Bridget, on the other hand, wore a wide grin. Then she giggled.
A realization started to form in the back of his mind. She wouldn’t have done that, would she?
“You didn’t, did you?”
She gave him a smile, exuding great satisfaction.
“Tell me. Put me out of my suspense. What did he destroy?” Scott’s voice rose in anticipation.
“That old copy of the Beatles you love to listen to for some perverted reason.”
She tossed a disc onto the table in front of him.
The original disc from the Warsaw Museum.
Epilogue
New York City
Benjamin Joseph Schultz gazed out his window to the spectacular sight of New York at night from his fifty-sixth floor penthouse apartment overlooking central park.
His phone suddenly beeped on the desk behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he stared at it in amazement for a few seconds. Few people knew the private number and no one should be calling him at this time of night. He glanced at the display, which read: “out of area.”
He turned to pick up the phone. “Yes,” he said, answering it.
“Mr. Schultz, it is I.”
The panorama view out of his window of his penthouse onto Central Park forgotten in a second and his mind focused on the voice of a dead man.
The voice had an African sounding accent.
Schultz tried to think. There were two men who had this number once —though it couldn’t possibly be them as they both died in Africa. He had the police check on their deaths.
“It is me, Kesi.
“The police said you were dead,” Schultz said.
“No. I live. And so does she. We didn’t kill her,” Kesi said. “She knifed me in the desert and it has taken me months to recover. You owe me money.”
Schultz’s mind raced. This was so unexpected and not planned for. His normally perfectly executed and well thought out plans did not include people coming back from the dead. When both of the men he hired had not reported back and the police certified deaths near the archaeological site in Ethiopia, he had written. But Schultz knew how to turn this unexpected revelation to his advantage.
“I owe you nothing because you didn’t fulfill your contract. She is not dead. When you find her and complete your contract you will be paid double,” Schultz shouted the last part into the phone.
“I need expense money. I need it now.”
After a moment’s consideration, Schultz answered, “I will deposit $5000 into your account. Make sure you do not fail this time. I’ll email you her location when I have it.” He slammed the phone down ending the call.
The monetary advance to the man meant nothing to him financially. He controlled millions from his trading and selling of artifacts to museums all over the world. What mattered was payback. Schultz wanted his revenge. Now the opportunity reemerged with that phone call from Africa.
He walked over to a small bar in the office and poured himself a double Dalmor single malt scotch. Perhaps this was his lucky day.
The assassin was back from the grave. And Kesi would want his own revenge on a woman who had sliced him and the woman who had let his son die.
Kesi would get the job done this time. Double the money and personal revenge? With both at stake, Kesi wouldn’t fail.
Bridget Donavan was now as good as dead.
THE END
The Donavan Chronicles series are the:
Secret of the Thorns
Secret of the Assassin
Secret of the Bibles
Secret of the Icon
And the prequel to the series:
Secret of the Oil
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Author’s Note
King John of Poland’s defeat of the Islamic armies is historic fact.
The reference to the writing of the fifty copies of the Bible of Constantine is accurate. Some believe that there may be some in existence but there is no definitive proof.
The mother of the Byzantine Emperor, St. Helen, is attributed with finding the crown of thorns and the true cross as stated in the book. It does, however, stretch the imagination that she could go to Jerusalem hundreds of years after the event and immediately find the two most valued relics in all of Christendom.
The fact that St. Peter arrived at the tomb of the Christ is attested to in the Bible and he certainly had adequate cause to take a remembrance of his Lord. My sequence of events is not supported by any writings but one can imagine it taking place with greater credulity that the story of St. Helen.
In Granada, Spain, the Sacromonte books were unearthed in the 16th century. They were reportedly used from the earliest Christian times in that area of the world to record events. Modern scholastic research has cast doubt on their authenticity.
The figure of Ponce de Leon at the head of the king’s army on the retaking of Granada is indeed exactly what happened on January 1, 1492. His subsequent voyage with Christopher Columbus and his governorship of the New World territories are supported by historical documentation. Ponce de Leon’s visit to Florida to place the treasure and the relics used in my work in St. Augustine, the oldest city in America is the author’s invention. There is no empirical data to support such an event but nothing says that it did not happen. Ponce de Leon was wounded in the area around that St. Augustine as portrayed in the book and subsequently died of his wounds in Hispaniola in July 1521.
The existence of the Agnus Dei society within the Roman Catholic Church is completely a figment of my imagination.
Please leave an honest review of my work. I use your comments to improve my writing skills. You can go directly to the review site at:
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Thank you,
Tom Haase
About the Author
Tom Haase is living in Savannah Georgia with his wife of 25 years. He enjoys the thrill of composing a thriller embedded in a mystery.
Tom Haase spent 29 years in the U.S. Army and retired after a distinguished career. Afterwards he flew as a commercial pilot for Continental Connection and Gulfstream International Airline. He currently is composing the next book in this series and has an online membership site for learning how to make money online with affiliate programs. To learn more about Tom visit his website at http://www.tomhaase.com
Acknowledgments
I must acknowledge the support and assistance in writing this novel that I received from my friends in the Pens and Paper group lead by Patricia Mason.
There is also the need to thanks my wife, Kate, who endured the many hours of me shut behind closed doors while composing this adventure novel.
The cover was designed by Kate Sterling and the editing was accomplished by Wendy Ely.
Table of Contents
Start Reading
Main Menu
Author’s Note
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Copyright
* * * * * *
Book One
Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18
Book Two
19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33
Book Three
34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | Epilogue
Copyright
Amazon Edition, Licensing Notes:
The Secret of the Thorns
Copyright 2013 by Tom Haase
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission from the author.
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All quotes are intended as fair use and not intended to abridge copyright.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or to actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.