The Messiah Conspiracy - A gripping page-turning Medical Thriller - [Omnibus Edition containing Book 1 & Book 2]

by Irvine, Ian C. P.

  The Messiah Conspiracy :

  The Race to Clone Jesus Christ

  IAN C.P. IRVINE

  Published by Ian C. P. Irvine

  Copyright 2001 IAN.C.P.IRVINE

  Note: This book was previously published as "Crown Of Thorns - The Race to Clone Jesus Christ (Book One)

  Review for book when published under title ‘Crown of Thorns"

  Awesome Read: ‘I read many books and this one was one of the best I have read. I loved it and think I will read it more than twice. It was the kind of book that was almost impossible to put down. Very glad I bought it and would recommend it to everyone.’

  A Thumping Good 'Must' Read!: ‘Browsing the Kindle store for something to 'unwind' me, I chanced upon this excellent gem of a book. To my mind, the Author mirrors perfectly the Biblical events of Jesus' birth 2000 years ago and the subsequent 'Revelations' predicted for our time. The characters are totally believable, able to deduce and thwart the plans of the Americans and British governments and to hide the true Messiah. A well thought out and researched book by the author, I was totally absorbed in it from start to finish. Believers & non-believers alike will enjoy this thumping good read!!! Far better than the Da Vinci Code by a country mile, I am certainly recommending this to all my many friends.’

  Well Written: ‘I was looking at a different book, Dan Brown Inferno and this title came up on a reviewers comments suggesting it to be worth a read. I have to agree, it is. Loved the idea of cloning Jesus and for me it was written well, had page turning elements to it but I was disappointed when it ended. In a nice way though! It does leave one hanging...’

  Totally preposterous, but enthralling! : ‘I just happened on this book while browsing to find things to download to my Kindle. The premise of the book captured my interest so I duly downloaded it. And, I loved it! The story is utter nonsense, let's be honest - recreating Jesus Christ through cloning?! But, it is written in such an engaging manner that I found myself drawn in unwittingly. Mid-read, I actually broke my ankle and I found myself begging my family to bring my Kindle to the hospital so I could continue reading the book! I would recommend this highly to anyone else, with the proviso that they suspend belief and read it for what it is - a truly interesting and captivating piece of fiction!’

  Gripping: ‘A gripping story about what might just be possible with cloning bound up with a bit of fantasy and conspiracy theory. An excellent read.’

  Brilliant: ‘Very thought provoking, if controversial book!! Also completely believable! Never read any of Ian Irvine's books before but I certainly will after this. Will be watching for a sequel Mr Irvine.’

  Wow !!: ‘Wow what a book, just couldn't put it down, was sorry when I came to the end. What a really good film this would make. Somehow I knew what the outcome of the American side of the story was going to be, I hope there will be a sequel...read the book-you won't be disappointed!!!’

  Great Story: ‘Enjoyed this book, a good mix of thriller and science. Story was well written, the genetics bit was explained simply so even I could understand.’

  Scintillating read: ‘I discovered this whilst browsing through the lists. I was absorbed from the first chapter. It has a great story line with well rounded characters. Mr Irvine's research is impeccable giving depth and credence to the story. The sincerity of his work shone from my small Kindle enveloping me in a virtual world of rainbow light and genetic dreams. Well done. It is years since I have read through to the small hours. The last book to have this effect being Dan Brown's. Highly Recommended.’

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright observed above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the copyright owner.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Cover Design by Ray Luck

  raymondoluck@hotmail.com

  .

  Other Books by Ian C.P. Irvine

  .

  Haunted From Within

  Haunted From Without

  Time Ship

  The Orlando File: A Genetic Conspiracy Thriller.

  London 2012 : What If ? ( A Romantic Mystery Adventure )

  The Sleeping Truth : A Romantic Medical Thriller

  Alexis Meets Wiziwam the Wizard

  .

  To my Father and Mother

  Table of Contents

  Click here to go to Table of Contents

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  .

  .

  Prologue

  The Oval Office

  The White House

  United States of America

  4th November 2018 A.D.

  1.

  The President of the United States of America switched the cup of coffee into his right hand before picking up the ringing phone. President Jamieson was tired. The coffee was barely keeping him awake, but he couldn’t sleep until he had heard from Tim Curts. He had to know whether or not the operation had succeeded.

  “Mr President?” the voice echoed down the scrambled satellite connection from somewhere in Oxford, England.

  “Tim! How did it go?” the President asked, nervously.

  “Like a dream. We've got it. We’ll be back in Delaware tomorrow night, and within a few hours we’ll start the second phase of the operation. It’s looking good.”

  “Excellent, Tim. Will anyone know it’s gone?” the President asked, wondering how soon the French would miss their most important religious relic.

  “They’ll never know. We swapped it for an identical copy.” Tim chuckled.

  “I can’t wait to see it. Tim, I’ve just decided, I’m flying up tomorrow to meet you. I want to see this baby for myself…” the President paused “You know, if this project works, we're never going to lose a war again. For Christ’s sake Tim, and I mean that literally, if you’re right about this, we’re going to rule the bloody Universe, let alone the world…”

  Tim hesitated for a second. He recognised the tone in the Presidents voice. And he didn’t like it.

  “It’ll be good to see you again, Mr President. I’ll brief you on the other details then.”

  “Look forward to it Tim.”

  The President relaxed back into the big mahogany chair behind his desk of office. He switched the cup back to his other hand, and took a sip of the coffee.

  “Rule the Universe? Yes!” he thought to himself. “With God on our side, nothing will be impossible!”

  Part One

  . .

  Chapter One

  Carlisle, England

  August 2012AD

  .

  It was a hell of a place to die. After fifty years of life, Paul Dyke had hoped that he would have ended up somewhere better than this.

  Their
small flat was filthy. The wallpaper was beginning to come off the walls, and the rooms smelt of damp.

  Not that Paul could smell anything anymore. The fever was burning out of control, and for the past two days he had been slipping in and out of delirium, shivering violently and sweating continuously, his body fluids drenching the bedding on which he lay.

  The man on the television had described the symptoms well, and Paul had got them all. It wouldn’t be long now.

  .

  Outside, the sun was setting and the street lights had just come on. The sound of thunder rolled across the distant hills, and a flash of lightning lit the room. The humidity in the air was oppressive and even though the fan hanging from the ceiling was spinning as fast as it could, it did nothing to lessen the heat.

  Jason, Paul’s sixteen year old son, came back into the bedroom carrying a fresh bucket of ice and their last dry towel. He knelt down beside his father and tried to mop some more of the sweat from his glistening, emaciated body.

  His father turned his head towards him, his eyes trying to focus on Jason’s face. His lips began to move, and Jason knelt closer so that he could hear his words. When he tried to speak, he coughed and spluttered, and blood oozed out of the corners of his mouth.

  As Jason reached out to wipe away the blood, he felt his father's hand grab his wrist.

  “Jason…I’m sorry…”

  He whispered the words quietly, but Jason understood.

  The grip on his wrist relaxed, the hand falling lifelessly onto the wet towel covering the bed. A long, slow sigh came from his father’s chest, and a trace of froth gathered round the edges of his lips.

  Jason’s father was dead.

  .

  As Jason knelt beside his father’s body, tears rolled down his face and blurred his vision. He listened in disbelief as the man on the television excitedly announced the discovery of the long awaited vaccine for the 'SARs 2' virus. At the end of the bulletin the man mentioned that the death toll in the UK had now reached one million.

  Surely they meant ‘one million and one.’

  Chapter Two

  Somewhere in the Egyptian desert,

  Six years later,

  May 2018AD

  .

  As the plane rose into the sky, Jason waved out of the small cockpit window at Dr Simons, his new girlfriend Lydia, and all the others gathered at the end of the runway. Quickly falling away far below him, the group which had assembled to bid him bon voyage soon turned into little black specks, and were swallowed up by the vast plain of the Egyptian desert.

  Jason settled back into the seat, his eyes staring blankly at the waves of undulating sand dunes beginning to roll beneath them across the desert floor. The pulsating drone of the twin propeller engines washed over him hypnotically, and he fought with the urge to sleep. There was so much to think about. So much to remember.

  He had spent the past six months digging up and living in the past. It had been an incredible time. A time full of new friendships, adventure and romance, but as soon as he stepped off the plane in Cairo he would be thrust back into the land of the living, and of science and the future.

  He cast his mind back to the lab at Oxford, and to the discoveries and developments that would make cloning of the Pharaoh possible.

  The progress that Professor Wainright’s team had made in the past few years was nothing short of remarkable. Thankfully, the cloning process that had been developed at Professor Wainright’s privately funded Institute for Genetic Evolution for the Greater Good of Mankind was still a well kept secret, and no one outside of the core I.G.E.G.G.M. team knew of its existence.

  Rightly so. It was considered too dangerous to make public that Wainright’s team had discovered a way of recovering and regenerating prime DNA samples from damaged genetic material previously considered unfit for use in the cloning process. The implications were incredible.

  Until now, it had been believed that DNA had an inbuilt sell-by date, which prevented mankind from tinkering with the seeds of its past. But in some revolutionary, painstaking research, Wainright had found the key that unlocked the blueprint within the DNA itself, allowing them to take DNA samples which were centuries, even thousands of years old, repair them, reproduce them, and then introduce them to a donor egg to create an embryo which could be cultivated and grown to maturity.

  Using this process Wainright’s team would revolutionise the field of genetics.

  It had already worked in the laboratory, and they had secretly succeeded in creating clones from genetic material extracted from three consecutive generations of humans, stretching back from 1900 to 1800 AD.

  The three cloned embryos were now beautiful bouncing babies, all thriving and doing well, having been adopted by infertile loving couples.

  Pushing back the boundaries of science even further, Wainright argued that there was no reason why genetic material couldn’t be extracted and cloned from anyone, regardless of when they had died, so long as the required genetic material had not been contaminated by certain chemicals which rendered the whole process impossible. However, the process was still in its infancy, and although the first three babies born to couples within the programme were doing well, there was admittedly still a thousand things that could go wrong.

  Still, it was an incredible discovery, made by an incredible man.

  Undoubtedly, Professor Wainright was one of, if not the leading geneticist in the world. His research over the past twenty years had completely revolutionised the world of genetic reproduction.

  His contributions to the Human Genome Project, the worldwide effort of the late twentieth century to map human DNA, had been key to the overall success of the project.

  After the Human Genome project had been ‘completed’ it had been Wainright that had later spotted the flaw in the research of all the other scientists, and it had been Wainright that had found the way to correctly reinterpret the data without having to repeat the whole Human Genome experiment again.

  Then a year after winning the Nobel prize for his outstanding contribution to science, Wainright had led the first team in the world to successfully clone a human being. Whereas at the turn of the millennium such efforts would have resulted in public outcry, public opinion towards genetic research was now very, very different.

  When the Al-Qaeda group had successfully released a new biologically engineered airborne version of the SARs virus into the Olympic Stadium in London, England, during the Olympic closing ceremony in 2012, the spread of the unseen terrorist organism had been swift. Within days travellers had spread the virus around the globe, and the ensuing mind numbing death toll of thirty two million had resulted in a fundamental change of public opinion: it was genetics that had found the antidote to the virus, and saved the remainder of the population from almost certain death.

  Wiping out seven million in Europe and eleven million people in North America, the modified corona virus had changed the course of history. In the wake of its path across the world, a new age had evolved, the Age of Genetics.

  Genetics was the only hope to prevent another mutation of the original virus returning and claiming the rest of humanity. Genetics gave hope. Genetics was the future. And Jason was at the forefront of that future.

  Ever since then funding for Genetics had skyrocketed, and governments and venture capitalists rushed to support any company that had the word ‘genetic’ or ‘genome’ in its title. It was like the ‘dot.com’ revolution of 1999 and 2000. Fortunes could be made in a matter of weeks as new companies reported successful genetic trials and their stock soared ten or a hundred times its true value in a single month.

  Since then, the treatment of diseases and physical disabilities had been revolutionised with the use of genetic stem cell technologies for growing replacement nerves, muscles, organs and human tissues. Processes for which Wainright held many of the commercial patents.

  .

  Jason too, had done well for himself, although it had admittedly taken years
of struggling for him to get where he was now.

  His mother had never been able to cope with his father's spasmodic binges of drinking, and had left them when he was only five. He had never seen her again.

  When his father had died of the 'SARS 2' virus at fifteen, Jason had gone to stay with an uncle in London. For years he had been an angry teenager, experimenting with drugs and roaming the streets at night, working through a hidden, suppressed anger at the world…and at God for allowing his father to die…only days before the cure had been found.

  Jason had almost become an atheist, denying the existence of God, but secretly wanting to believe in something.

  In the end, with the help and support of a good teacher at school, Jason had turned to science, finding comfort in the knowledge that although the vaccine had been too late to save his father, through studying genetics Jason might be able to help and save others…and prevent them from going through the hell he had.

  For many years Jason had become an introvert, studying hard and playing little. But after a couple of years at Oxford University, he had begun to mellow and soon found a better balance between working and enjoying life.

  After graduating from Oxford he had gone to work for Professor Wainright at the I.G.E.G.G.M. and over the years Jason had become close to the old man. To a large extent the Professor had replaced the father Jason had lost to the terrorist's biological attack, but now Jason worried at how quickly Dr Wainright’s health was deteriorating.

  Until just last year Wainright was fully independent, mobile and vibrant. But within the past twelve months he had found it increasingly difficult to walk without a large amount of discomfort, the pain of a slow growing cancer beginning to cripple him and restrict all but the most necessary of movement.