Attrition of the Gods: Book 1 of the Mystery Thriller series Gods Toys. (11 page)

“What I am about to tell you is a secret that only a handful of men and fewer women have ever heard. This secret goes back three thousand years. I am a part of this secret and the first thing I must tell you is that my name is Simeon, Utrillo, Santa Cruz and I am not human.”

If someone tells you he is an alien your first thoughts will probably be ones of pity towards them or perhaps fear as you naturally conclude that the person is either on drugs or mentally disturbed. Of course, if the person claiming to be an alien is sitting opposite you in the Vatican library and has just dismissed the leader of the Roman Catholic Church with a nod of his head, then the feelings you are likely to have are ones of utter confusion and possibly an unease. However, the thing that bothered Leo most about this encounter was that the man talking to him was not moving his lips.

“You are wondering how you can hear me,” smiled Simeon without opening his mouth. “I am communicating through a connection we have via a gland in your brain. Don’t panic, everything will become clear soon.”

Leo felt he should be panicking but he really wasn’t. The voice in his head had a calming tone that relaxed him in a way he imagined meditation would. As well as the monotone vibration that carried Simeon’s words, pictures seemed to be forming in his mind. Simeon began to explain.

“I am one of a delegation that came to this place thousands of years ago.”

In Leo’s mind he could clearly see a ball of intense fire sitting in a crater of its own making. The sands of a desert surrounded the scene. A group of a hundred or so nomads were curiously looking into the crater, their faces portraying their awe at this mystical fireball. Then thirteen of the tribesmen started to walk towards the fire that burned within as their friends and family screamed at them to stop. The thirteen seem to be in a trance and ignored the remonstrations. A small man was knocked to the ground as he stood in front of his brother, trying to withhold him. Undeterred the thirteen walked into the crater, no longer pursued by their fellow tribesmen as the heat became unbearable. Leo could almost feel the heat himself. The thirteen men continued into the white flames. Huge blue shafts of light shot from the sphere and a loud noise resembling a thunder clap encouraged the observers to run away. Only one young boy stayed as witness. The boy watched the men enter the fire and burn in front of him. First their clothes and then their skin melted from their bodies. Not one of them screamed with pain, no cries could be heard at all. The men stayed standing even though only bones remained. The boy stood to gain a better look. The brightness of the sphere increased, as did the heat and soon the boy had to retreat as it grew too intense. He ran behind a dune and peeked over the top. As the light expanded so did the searing heat.

The boy could see the other tribesmen running and clambering aboard their camels, speeding away as fast as possible. A large explosion sent debris and sparks flying past his head. Camels and horses stampeded, throwing off their riders who then ran after their steeds, determined to escape. The young boy tucked his head down safely but did not move.

Then silence fell, the heat receded and the light faded. The boy stood up and tentatively walked back to the crater but before he got to it the thirteen men appeared, climbing out of the pit. They stood in front of him, naked except for an amulet around each of their necks. Solomon looked at the faces; they were identical to the men that entered the fiery sphere but he knew these were not his tribesmen. They looked at each other and then at the boy whom Leo instinctively knew was Solomon, son of David, who would become the last king of the United Monarchy of Israel and Judah.

Leo snapped out of his trance-like state and was thankful to see Simeon’s lips were moving again as he told Leo, “What you have just witnessed was our arrival amongst you and our first assimilation into human form.”

“Who, or what, are you?”

“We are the Djinn, a race that has existed on this planet alongside yours for all time. The Djinn collective exist on a different frequency to that of humans. We evolved from a very similar sapient form to you, although we exist in a state of non-biological dependency. We have a very different view and perspective of this world to you.”

Somehow Leo knew that what Simeon was telling him was true but still he could not comprehend it.

“You claim a whole other race lives alongside us? Surely we would have noticed?”

Simeon nods. “In some ways you have. Many of your stories of ghosts, vampires and all those things that science cannot explain are caused by the occasional interaction with us. But please, I will try to explain as much as possible over the next few months. First we must address the matter at hand, this book.”

Leo was shown photos of a brown leather book. It was obviously old and had a species of clover embossed on the front.

“What is that?”

“This is the ledger mentioned in your report about the Jesuit and the Jew.”

Leo reached out for the pictures. “May I?”

Simeon pushed them towards him. “Yes, go ahead.”

Leo was looking at two pictures: one of the book’s cover, the other of an inside page and so he realised why he, a Jewish accountant with no links to the Roman Church, had been picked.

“This writing is south-western Yiddish dialect!”

He didn’t know why he’d studied this practically extinct language when he was younger but he did know he was one of a small minority who could read it fluently.

“It is important we find this book, Leo. It will help us to defeat humankind’s worst enemy and you are the key.”

And so Leo listened as Simeon explained that the Jesuit who created this book was one of the thirteen Djinn who appeared out of that crater. His name had been Isaac but he had disappeared, believed to have been killed in 1944, and his murderer had been trying to get hold of this book ever since. Simeon had specifically worked his way into the inner circle of the current Pope so as to get access to the Vatican, where he was sure Isaac had hidden the book prior to his death. The Popes throughout the ages had historically been great allies of the Djinn, Simeon explained. “Hiding our true identities and much more.”

“They have always known?” asked a shocked Leo.

“Yes, often guided by another of my kind though,” said Simeon. “Not someone I would trust with such power. I fear this Pope is also in league with him and I think I will have to get rid of him.”

Leo’s mouth dropped open. “You… you are going to kill the Pope?”

“Oh, no,” said Simeon. “I don’t think we need to do that. I’ll just make him abdicate.”

“But, no Pope has left the post alive since 1415!”

“True, it is generally easier to kill them, they’re normally so old anyway, but I’d rather not.”

Leo shook his head. He did not understand what Simeon was saying. Once more, Simeon’s lips stopped moving and his words vibrated through Leo’s mind.

“Do not be alarmed. This pope, like many of your leaders and their predecessors, is a pawn in a game. He has supported a Djinn called Reuben Lupas, the aforementioned ‘mankind’s worst enemy’. I will replace him with a more benevolent and less accepting man, someone who is not aware of our presence, if I can ever find one is this den of iniquity. So, back to the book.”

Leo’s mind seemed to transcend from his body as he witnessed a new scene.

“This is 1944 and Italy has recently signed an armistice with the Allies.”

Leo saw a tall man with tight black curls sneaking through the streets of Rome. He carried a parcel under his arm that Leo guessed must be the book. The man entered St Peter’s Square, looking around as if worried he was being followed.

“This is Isaac,” Simeon explained.

Isaac entered the church and shouted, “Raphael, are you here?”

From behind the altar stepped a man wearing a very loud turquoise zoot suit, a fedora hat and French-style pointy shoes.

“Shush, we will be heard! You know the rules. I shouldn’t be meeting with you and this place is full of Reuben’s spies,” said the strangely dressed man.

“As if you don’t stand out enough,” said Isaac as he looked Raphael up and down. “I have a book. You must hide it.” Isaac pulled the book from the parcel he carried.

“What’s in it?” asked Raphael.

“This is an account of transactions and loans I have made with countries all over the world, financing wars and revolutions, industrial growth and loans to both sides in this skirmish.”

Raphael laughed at Isaac calling the Second World War a mere “skirmish”.

“Amitiel told me you had a network of Jews running all that for you. She says you were on the brink of winning the Host.”

“Yes, very nearly, but now Reuben has his little dictator slaughtering every Jew in Europe. He is gassing millions to make sure he wipes out anyone allied to me. Surely you must interfere?”

“Killing humans is not against the rules, Isaac. You are in danger of sounding like Simeon.”

Leo frowned. Simeon? The same Simeon as the man in front of him now? And what were they saying? Discussing the near extermination of the Jews as if it was a mere petty violation of rules in some perverse game!

“However,” continued the turquoise-clad Raphael in the church, “I agree that six million Jews killed to assure he gets the handful working for you could be considered overkill – in the truest sense of the word. But I suspect he may have an alternate reason for this genocide, a suspicion I cannot share with you at this stage. I guess your claim is that he will have too much of an advantage if he has your book.”

“The book. What was so damned important about this book,” thought Leo.

The vision seemed to pause and as if in answer to his question Simeon cut in. “Let me explain. Over the last two hundred years Isaac has used his knowledge and bloodline to create the world banking system as we know it. In that book is not only the location of tons of gold, but also numbers that correlate to accounts in Switzerland and South Africa. By 1936 Isaac controlled fifty per cent of the gold and diamonds in the world. Every nation, every international company, every bank owes Isaac money. The Allies and the Axis have funded their war by borrowing money from one institution or another, all owned by Isaac.

“Isaac has a great mind but still he can’t remember everything, so he needed a record and certain people to keep it. By 1936 he’d created the ‘global collateral account’, which governs the world’s wealth so he could then undermine a whole country’s economy simply by calling in a debt. He uses corporations such as the central banks, the Crown and, due to a shaky alliance with Reuben, the Holy Roman Catholic Church to elicit his operation.”

“But how could one man, or whatever you call yourselves, have that power and remain anonymous?” asked Leo.

“For any of us to operate without revealing ourselves the Djinn have had to recruit, and sometimes create, secret societies that have been doing our work for centuries. Most famously the Templars and the Freemasons.”

Leo asks, “Like the Illuminati?”

“Ah yes, the Illuminati, the ‘enlightened ones’. They were actually a group of learned men who discovered clues of our existence. They opposed us and tried to save mankind so we used our propaganda tools to turn them into the evil puppet masters. I suppose they played a part a long time ago but they haven’t actually existed for two hundred years. Still, it keeps the conspiracy theorists off our backs.

“We call these groups our brethren. We select one or more senior members to be our contacts. These brethren are pawns but they are well rewarded to follow instructions and front our operations. Isaac used the Jewish Zionist brethren as his chosen people to run his financial institutions.

“Keeping secrets is easy within a secret society, especially one with a secret language or at least an ancient language only understood by a select few. Isaac allotted code numbers to each operation. These codes and other data would reveal vast stores of wealth, such as gold dumps storing over 360,000 tons of the stuff, in hidden tunnels all over the world. Then there are many promissory notes signed by kings and emperors. He has land deeds for whole territories, even priceless artworks and other plunder from wars, all in the book.

“But since Isaac disappeared sixty years ago these debts have lain idle and the people running the societies have started to believe the debts are void. That is a problem on its own but what will be worse is if one of the surviving Djinn gets their hands on the book. With the codes and accounts they could control the whole world’s economy. I need to find that book and then you need to help me decipher the codes so we can get hold of this wealth.”

So far Leo had not seen or heard anything that would lead him to willingly assist this man to acquire such extreme wealth.

“Surely you are one of the Djinn you talk of? I have no desire to help you obtain this wealth!”

“Trust me, I have no use for the money, but you want to know why you should help me, Leo? I will show you.”

A short sharp flash plunged Leo back into the vision. Raphael and Isaac were still talking about the book and Reuben Lupas.

“What he has done to root out my brethren is beyond belief!” said Isaac “I put up with his pogroms and ghettos but this extermination is vile. He must be stopped.”

“You really are beginning to sound like Simeon,” sighed Raphael. “They are only humans after all.”

“Maybe Simeon was right, this game is becoming a farce. It should have ended centuries ago. Humans are different now. We can’t treat them as insignificant.”

Raphael looks disapprovingly at Isaac.

“And how many died throughout the Crusades when you aligned with Reuben to wipe out Ben’s tribe?”

Isaac shakes his head. “I am not saying I’m a human lover but they deserve better than this. If you could see what my eyes see you would understand.”

Isaac and Raphael shared a vision, one that Leo was also privy to. The pictures in Leo’s mind focused on a macabre event. He was witnessing two nurses and a doctor operating on beautiful twin girls no more than three or four. The girls were unconscious, side by side on the same bed. Leo assumed these would be victims of war and he prepared to witness horrendous injuries. He took in a deep breath and then… his fists clenched; a far worse scenario was unfolding. The two perfectly healthy and formed children were having their arms amputated, one her left, the other her right. The surgeon then sewed the two bodies together at the open wounds, creating a Siamese-type join. It was an experiment even the surgeon did not understand the purpose of but he seemed happy enough to follow the instructions of the man known as Reuben.