Ancient Echoes

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Paris

Despite herself, in the cold gloom of the Cluny museum, Charlotte became entranced by Nicolas Flamel's bizarre tale and continued reading.

Flamel was obsessed with learning the meaning behind the words and symbols in The Book of Abraham the Jew. He knew something about alchemy from other manuscripts and books he had copied, but none of them compared to the book he now possessed. He placed some pages he had copied in his shop window, seeking anyone who might understand them, but the populace scorned and laughed at him.

For twenty-one years he struggled to decipher the book with little success. At age fifty, he feared he would not live long enough to learn the book's secret if he didn't act.

He needed a Kabbalist scholar, but the Jews had been driven out of France by persecution. Many fled to Spain, to Malaga and Granada, ruled by Moorish kings.

Flamel decided to go to them. Carrying only a few carefully copied pages from the manuscript, he went dressed as a pilgrim with a staff and shell-adorned hat.

The Jews in Spain were suspicious of Christians, however, especially French ones dressed as pilgrims, and refused to help him.

Defeated, Flamel headed back to Paris when, in León, he met a fellow merchant who told him of an old Jewish scholar named Chanches. At first Chanches eyed him warily, but once Flamel mentioned The Book of Abraham the Jew, everything changed.

According to Chanches, Abraham was the most venerable of all the sages who studied the Kabbalah. He lived in the Jewish sector of Alexandria in the first or second century A.D., and wrote in Greek. Centuries ago, his book disappeared. Legend had it the book had passed from hand to hand, always to the man destined to receive it. Chanches dreamed all his life of finding it, but had failed.

Chanches agreed to return to Paris to translate the complete text, but he died on the way. Once back home, Flamel and his wife Perenelle used what he had learned from Chanches to decipher the remaining pages of the book. It took him three years, and at the end of that period, he began his experiments.

“Oh, my God!” Charlotte murmured as she continued to read:

. . .following always my Book, from word to word, I made projection of the Red Stone, upon the like quantity of Mercury, in the presence likewise of Perrenella only, in the same house, the five and twentieth day of April following, the same year, about five o'clock in the evening, which I transmuted truly into almost as much pure Gold, better assuredly than common Gold, more soft and more plyable. I may speak it with truth, I have made it three times, with the help of Perrenella, who understood it as well as I, because she helped in my operations.

Charlotte stared at Bonnetieu. “The old bastard claims he actually created gold!”

“Yes,” Bonnetieu said quietly. “People have debated whether or not to believe him for more than six hundred years. Yet he built shrines and even a children's hospital, all costing a great deal of money.”

“He probably stole some gold and then made up this story to hide his crime.” Dismay fueled Charlotte's rebuttal. Dennis hadn’t wasted his time on this folly. “He was a scribe and a bookseller! How could he have managed to do what no one else could? Flamel’s tale is no more real than Harry Potter.”

“Perhaps,” Bonnetieu said.

His condescending tone exasperated her. “After Flamel's death, what happened to The Book of Abraham the Jew?”

“That's the question.” Bonnetieu gave a small shrug. “His wife died before him, and when Flamel died, his house and grave were ransacked. Whether the robbers were looking for the book or the gold, we don’t know. No one found the book. Throughout history, we hear of it turning up various places. One of those was the American West. The story goes that a French monk brought it there after the French Revolution. But, as I’ve said, most people believe it never really existed.”

Charlotte shook her head at the imaginative tale.

Bonnetieu squeezed her hand. “It's all nonsense, I'm sure. I believed in it once, I'll admit. The idea of a medieval sorcerer and his wife brewing gold held great appeal to an old historian like me.”

She pulled her hand free. Somehow, his agreeing with her argument didn’t make her feel better. She caught his gaze in her large, blue eyes and wouldn't let go. “Still, I can't help but believe this book is the connection between Dennis' investigation fifteen years ago and Mustafa's murder yesterday.”

“That makes no sense,” he insisted.

She removed the papers she'd picked up on Al-Dajani's desk from her shoulder bag. “I suspect Mustafa wanted to talk to me about these. I haven't had time to translate them yet, but maybe—”

He flipped through the pages and pulled out one, staring at it.

“Ah! This symbol is found in Flamel's manuscript,” he said as he unlocked the display case and put on the white gloves he carried in his pocket. With utmost care he turned the ancient pages to the one with the same symbol. “There it is!”

Charlotte stared at it a moment. “What does it mean?”

“I have no idea. But Mustafa and I talked about it on the phone. Many years ago, a Danish scientist came here to view the symbol. Once he saw it, he became quite excited. He said it was also found in China and elsewhere. Then, he wanted to learn how to read old alchemical texts, so I referred him to Mustafa. A few days later, an American who claimed to be a friend of the Dane also arrived here with many of the same questions. I gave him Mustafa’s name and address.”

“A Dane and then an American, both interested in this symbol?” Charlotte was incredulous.

Bonnetieu simply nodded.

“Wait…are you talking about the professor, Lionel Rempart?” Charlotte asked.

“No, no, no. This happened quite a few years ago, twelve? Fifteen? I’m not sure. I don’t remember the names, I’m afraid, but the American was obviously rich. That I do remember.”

“It happened before Dennis came to see you?”

He thought a moment. “I must confess it’s all rather fuzzy. My memory isn’t so good anymore.” His expression tightened. “As I recall, both the Dane and the American, their visits and their questions, interested Dennis.”

“Did he say why?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Your husband was, I would say, close-mouthed. He explained nothing to me.”

That described Dennis all right, she thought, especially as she realized he had kept all this from her. Those other men intrigued her. “Is it possible you’ve kept some records with their names—”

“Is that the Flamel exhibit?” a voice boomed. The words were in English, the accent American.

Bonnetieu thrust out his arm as if to protect the unlocked display. “No one should be out there!”

Charlotte shoved Mustafa's papers back into her bag.

“I told you already, monsieur, this area is closed to the public! You must leave, now.”

“Tourists!” Bonnetieu said. “Excuse me, Charlotte, while I assist the guard.”

She stepped out of the room and watched Bonnetieu as he went down the hall to speak to the brusque-sounding American.

The American was a big man, broad shouldered with a hard, chiseled face, short blond hair, and blue eyes.

With a start, she recognized him—the man who had pointed his gun at her in Jerusalem.

He noticed her. Several shots rang out in rapid succession. Bonnetieu fell.

Charlotte spun around a corner as a bullet slammed into the nearby wall. She pulled the Glock from her handbag and blindly fired back. Ahead of her narrow steps led to the ground floor. She ran down.

Guards shouted about the gunfire and the need to secure the building. Immediately, a terrified tour group tried to push through an emergency side exit, but a guard beat them to it and locked the door to prevent the shooters from escaping. The public panicked.

The museum rang with alarms, cries and shouts. People pushed and shoved against the emergency exit. A man lifted a young girl into his arms to prevent her from being smothered. A woman screamed when the crowd ripped her son’s hand from hers. Several fainted from being pressed against the door unable to breathe.

When the guards re-opened the front entrance, the group turned and ran toward it. One woman fell and was nearly trampled. Charlotte watched, the gun hidden under her jacket. She didn’t see the shooter. She suspected he had gone toward the main doorway and waited for her there.

She broke away from the crowd and started down a different corridor. Her mind replayed all that had passed. Al-Dajani. Bonnetieu. Her. Why?

At the end of the hall, a man stood looking off to one side. She noticed a wire from his ear to his jacket.

She quietly backed up.

Another alarm shrieked in the distance. The man turned and saw her. His hand whipped under his jacket and came out holding a 9 mm automatic. She whirled back to the crowd, pushing her way deep into it, bending low, trying to hide. The human wave carried her through the front gardens and out onto the street.

The chisel-faced blond man, taller than most, remained in the garden. Their eyes met, and he knocked aside others as he strode toward her. Part of her, cold and deadly, wanted to stay and fight. To kill this killer. But too many innocent people stood between them.

He didn’t care. To her horror, he raised his gun. She tried to duck, to hide, as he fired. Beside her, a young man fell. Only then did she feel a painful, burning sensation on her arm.