The Constantine Conspiracy by Gary Parker

Author:Gary Parker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
ISBN: 9781441211958
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2010-05-31T04:00:00+00:00

24

Rick finished his sixth peanut butter cracker while Shannon swallowed the last of a bag of trail mix she’d found in the pantry and threw the wrapper in a trash can in the kitchen. Feeling a bit stronger, he eased to a sitting position and watched with great interest as Shannon sat down again, lifted her backpack off the floor, and settled it in her lap.

“You well enough to talk a few minutes?” she asked.

“What’s in the backpack?” he asked in return.

“The answers to all your questions.”

“You can stuff all that into one backpack?”

“More than you’d think.”

He settled back, wincing as his shoulder touched the sofa. “Okay, mystery woman, illuminate me.”

“Once you know you can never again not know. You sure you’re ready for that?”

Rick stared at the spider webs in the ceiling’s corners for several seconds, then faced Shannon again. “A stranger murders my father, then you, my pretty protector, appear out of nowhere. I get shot in the middle of the night for reasons I can’t imagine. Now you tell me that your backpack contains the answers to all my questions. How can I refuse such knowledge?”

Shannon stood and stepped to the window, her back to him, and stared out. Sensing her indecision, Rick stayed still and watched her struggle with how much to reveal. When she pivoted his way again, her eyes were determined but also fearful.

“Did you watch the video I sent to your phone?” she asked.

“I’ve been racing to Destin and dodging bullets, so no, I never quite found the time. Then I left the phone with Mabel.”

“I taped a video from the television in the panic room,” she said. “That’s why your father left the code behind.”

“What’s on it?”

“It’s going to sound insane, but you have to hear it all before you say anything, reach any conclusions.”

“I’m all ears.”

Shannon perched on the seat across from him and started to talk. “The video showed a piece from a documentary. In AD 312 a Roman general named Constantine faced a general named Maxentius in a battle at the Tiber River outside of Rome. The stakes were as high as they could get—the winner of that battle would become the emperor of Rome. Maxentius’s forces outnumbered Constantine’s by almost four to one. The night before the fight Constantine saw a vision in a dream. Historians of the time say different things about what he saw, but most agree he saw a flaming sword, with a handle decorated with rubies shaped in the form of a cross.”

“Like the knife found with my dad.”

Shannon nodded. “Above the sword, Constantine saw four Latin words—‘per is mucro, victum.’”

“With this sword, conquer?” Rick asked.

“You know Latin?”

“High school, three years. I was a nerd, what can I say?” “You’re pretty funny for a guy with a bullet in his shoulder.”

“Just tell the story.”

Shannon smiled, then continued. “Before this vision, Constantine cared little about anything religious. Romans, as you probably know, worshiped all kinds of gods at the time—a pluralistic society. Constantine apparently believed in none of those gods.

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