Truthseekers Read online

  The video had no sound. As it rolled the first clip was of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination outside a theatre in 1914, the incident that sparked the First World War. What he had never noticed before was the number plate of Ferdinand’s car (11/11/18). The film jumped to Armistice Day and the end of the Great War 11/11/18. He saw images from inside Auschwitz of people being given drugs and injections in what seemed to be some sort of laboratory. He saw the death of Kennedy from an entirely different angle than ever before, including the killer, a blond Eastern European type, not at all Lee Harvey Oswald. He saw photos of Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe in intimate positions.

  He saw a large set, and on it a mock up of the moon landing, except it wasn’t an actor, it was Neil Armstrong who alighted from the craft saying those famous words, and then moving off. He saw the death of Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt in 1966 in an assassin-style killing on his knees in the surf, his head blown away. The Australians still believed he had drowned. He saw pictures of a young Saddam Hussein and Lyndon Johnson laughing and slapping each other on the back and footage of the black ops militia showing a Tim Oscar (Osama Bin Laden) how to rig the twin towers to come down. He saw the footage of Hitler landing in Buenos Aires in 1946. He saw the footage of the family of a previous CEO of his bank lose their lives in a freak car accident whilst on holiday on the Amalfi Coast in Italy.

  The video stopped as soon as it started.

  Leon could hardly keep the tears from his eyes. In fact he was physically trying to stop himself from shaking. He noticed that Katarina Hogg was disguising a tear also.

  Chant moved in front of him.

  “Stand up, Leon.”

  He did as asked.

  Chant held out his hand and without flinching a muscle he looked Leon Gills straight in the eye and said:

  “We look forward to a long and happy arrangement with you as CEO. Now go and we will be in touch.”

  Leon thought for a millisecond and then took the man’s hand and shook it.

  13

  “So Columbus was a Templar Knight?” David was standing on the balcony of Abbey’s home in Camps Bay, Cape Town.

  “David… give it a rest… it’s late. Sleep on it.” Abbey was standing behind him holding a red wine glass. He came back into his body at the sound of her voice. The first thing he noticed was that the moon was very high. He could hear waves crashing on the beach below and long ago the street with the cafés had gone quiet. He started to realise it was well after midnight.

  Rocko had gone out. Apparently he had some friends in town he needed to meet. David always enjoyed how Rocko couldn’t sit still and in fact disliked staying at someone’s house. Despite the obvious danger outside the fence Rocko’s needs had again taken over his staying put. Stacey had worked until just a few minutes ago and, nearly asleep at her computer, had crawled in to bed, still recovering from her ordeal and wondering if David still saw her as being on leave.

  David turned to face Abbey. Her eyes shone in the moonlight that cascaded a pale pallet of shimmer down her toned body. She was still in her heels, but wearing an evening dress that made her proportions stand out. David took in the curves and womanliness of her body and in the cool evening air that scent filled his nostrils. Abbey just smiled.

  “What is it with you, Mr Clark? You fixate on me and I feel naked in front of you, yet it is so comforting. I have known you only a few hours yet it feels like you have never not been part of my life. Who are you, David Clark?”

  “If I told you what I know about me I think you would surely call your security and have me locked up.”

  “Well, you don’t look tired and I am not so try me. I’ll just get my phone so I can buzz them if I need to.” Abbey smiled a smile so fulfilling it would be all David needed to feel again for months.

  David took her by the arm and they went to an outdoor couch. Careful not to spill the wine he sat down with her and as seemed natural in the cool air his arm rested around her shoulders and he drew her close.

  “Once upon a time, Miss Bec, I was a master of music in a place called Atlantis…”

  Abbey pulled up and turned and looked him square in the eye. Realising he was deadly serious she lay back down and snuggled in. He took that for a cue to continue.

  David told Abbey a fantastic story of how he had learnt about the ancient world of Atlantis in a vision. He shared how a relative’s death had led him to a guitar that ended up being worth a large amount of money and how he had pieced together who he had been in a past life and why he had come back again, to finish what he started. He shared that he realised that his role was to create a movement of individuals and leaders whose souls knew why they were on Earth and to rid the Earth of the untruths and false leaders through exposing them and their plots. He told Abbey how he met Rocko seven years before and how, even though they were so different, that they had been brothers in many lifetimes and since connecting again this lifetime they had been highly successful in business, giving them the financial freedom to follow their mission of being Truthseekers. He told her how his interest in esotericism, ancient cultures and quantum physics came together to help the world as best he could in this day and age. He then stopped and seemed to take stock. Abbey again lent forward.

  “That’s amazing David, what you two do. Everything you told me. It’s crazy, but I don’t doubt any of it. It makes sense. I must have been there too… Atlantis… but why did you stop?”

  David looked up at the moon for guidance and then turned and faced Abbey’s eyes squarely. He couldn’t help but notice they were like shimmering blue pools of moonlight dancing across her cheeks. Her smile so soft and so warm and her body a hand in glove fit in his.

  “I have just always felt alone… and… that still haunts me. That’s all.”

  Abbey smiled and brought her finger to his lips.

  “That’s OK, David. You will never be alone again. I’m your girl now. Everything that has happened to both of us has happened to bring us to this point on this night. The question is… what are we going to do about it?”

  David looked into her eyes one more time and stepped into his future. He drew her close and purposefully and slowly he brought his lips to hers. Their warmth was a steam in the cool night. They kissed again and again. Neither of them judged why or had any question at all. It was natural and they were present to their emotions and the love that instantly poured from both of them.

  14

  David woke after just a few hours sleep and dressed quietly. He wanted to catch the sunrise as best he could even though he knew it was behind the mountain. He stepped into the great room. There was his old pal Rocko snoring in a chair. David listened to the low rumbling of Rocko’s snores and in the middle of one draw back Rocko opened one eye and said clearly: “Slept with Abbey eh! No prizes for guessing that one.” He then shut the eye and completed his snore still sound asleep. It was a weird Rocko thing that David never quite got used to, Rocko’s sleeptalking. He shook Rocko awake.

  “Listen mate, I got up because I have been thinking… and no, we didn’t have sex.”

  “Oh crap!” said Rocko… “Does this mean I’m in the back seat now?”

  They smiled at each other and David said:

  “Wake up dude, I’ll make some coffee… how was your night?”

  “Tiring, but I do love this town.” Rocko tried to roll over again but David cleared his throat and Rocko begrudgingly got up and stretched. Just then Zachariah came into the room with a steaming pot of coffee.

  “Coffee, gentlemen,” he said and placed the tray down.

  “How did you find out so quickly?” David enquired.

  “I didn’t,” said Zachariah. “I was already making it for our guards but our guests come first. That is the way here.” He indicated outside and for the first time David and Rocko saw a rustle in the bushes outside the balcony. He could swear he saw a set of eyes, yet they were gone before he could be sure. Abbey certainly knew her security. No wonder she had slept
so soundly snuggled into him all night.

  * * *

  The two public directors had left the office of Chant. Levin felt like he had sold his soul again. He had been on the board many years and whilst he enjoyed all the perks and good times, notoriety and wealth, he always convinced himself, as the limousine drove away from the building, that he deserved this and that his family, of Jewish descent, had paid enough throughout history for him to take what was rightfully his, regardless of the repulsive meetings and constant surveillance.

  Chant closed the door to the boardroom and sat facing the twelve other old men. He looked directly across the table at the oldest of the group. Mr Black, as he was simply known to all, was an enigma outside this room. No one outside the families even knew of his existence. You could not search him on the Internet. For all intents and purposes he was the Internet. Black may have been in his late eighties, but the most powerful individual on the planet could match any Ivy League graduate in sharpness of mind and astuteness.

  “Gills will do the job we want, Mr Black. Do not worry. He has been groomed for over twenty years.”

  Black raised one sagging eyelid and spoke in a tone that had no humanity in it at all. He never smiled, nor showed any sought of emotion.

  “Gills is dangerous. He’s your responsibility, Chantkje. Make sure this one does not go wrong for us. We need to retain control of the new Chinese rich. Some of them are insolent.”

  “Dangerous…” Chant replied, “Mr Black, I hardly think so. He is….” Chant stopped, his words dead. Black had held up his hand and Chant already knew he had crossed a boundary with a man he had known all his life.

  “Gills is dangerous because he is an idiot, Chant. The man is stupid.”

  Chant looked at Black for a second and said confidently. “Yes, we will watch him.”

  A man of only sixty-three years of age spoke up. He was to Chant’s right. Chant never liked this upstart. He had been gifted the office of president of Georgia, the troublesome ex-Russian state, to see if it could be brought to order. He had done that job well during his tenure and seemed to ride Chant’s coattails since that time.

  “William, you need to make sure these troublemakers are stopped. You have used your own men and there has been no word, an obvious failure against a woman of all things. Shall I send mine? I have a good detail. You worry about getting the banker doing his job and I will take care of our little problem with that meddlesome New Zealander and his American sidekick.”

  A discussion ensued at the table between several of the heads of the families. It seemed that whilst they had been monitoring people, looking for endless conspiracy theories and following the money via the World Bank, and other channels, the biggest issue was that a harmless and stupid book inspired thousands across the world that there might be a bloodline to Jesus Christ. That book and its subsequent film had caused the families a great deal of grief, yet with rare exception these researchers and sleuths either ran short on money and gave up, or followed trails that went nowhere. The discussion was very much around how David and Rocko and team had found the relationships between the hooked X, the Minoans and old runic tablets in the USA and other sites globally.

  Black listened carefully to the various views around the table and again held up a hand.

  “Gentlemen, as great and powerful as this group is, we have all failed. Regardless of our resources, our control of content in the media, news agencies and Internet globally, and the fact that we have the best researchers ourselves, we have not found the bloodline since it was lost nearly 800 years ago. I know it exists. I can feel its distaste in my mouth like bile in my throat. We have the DNA sample and yet running it through all the known computers we have nothing. Nothing. …” Black lowered his hand and placed them both in a clasp in front of him. “These people, if they find this, will not only uncover the greatest scam of the last 2,000 years, they will desecrate the safeguard and housing of all of our priceless artefacts and wealth from the ancients. They must be stopped. Send your team to clean up after the Slovaks. You always hated them anyway.”

  The ex-president of Georgia smiled and simply nodded.

  Black went on staring directly at Chant.

  “Every time in our long history we have taken any consideration and not acted swiftly, we have been left to clean up, recycle billions of dollars, pay off more fools. Ever since our alliance put Pope Anacletus II in to ride over that imbecile Innocent II we have had to clean up. Our secret was lost then to the Knights Templar and if it surfaces the consequences are dire for us. Kill them.”

  Chant knew that Black had always had a blood lust, something he had always felt sick about and done his best to evade. The number of wars, skirmishes and altercations he had caused during his life was innumerable. Chant also knew that it was no point simply saying they would close down the media and even the Internet. Why disrupt over 6 billion drones in their daily hell? Chant knew that Black’s first move was always death; that he had agreed to do it softly and it had failed meant he would not fail again.

  With that the ex-president looked across at Chant and smirked.

  “William, we will need the data on Gills’ relationship with Rizotto as well. We will watch Gills. His every move is monitored. Do not let him be the wrong man.”

  Chant said sternly: “He won’t contact anyone. He knows the cost.”

  * * *

  Rocko Rizotto was finishing a second pot of coffee and standing on Abbey’s balcony admiring the view. The truth be known he was nursing a pretty decent hangover and slowly piecing together another wild night. Abbey and Stacey had also risen and were standing inside both eating croissants with different jams and sipping herbal tea prepared for them by Zachariah. David was busy reading through some of the notes that Stacey had researched during her sleepless night. Stacey had a question on her lips.

  “Come on, out with it Stacey. You know you want to ask something. Your foot hasn’t stopped twitching since you got up.” Abbey was smiling but also looking at Stacey directly.

  “You… and David… you…” she said in a hushed voice. Abbey put down her cup about to have the woman-to-woman talk when Rocko chimed in from the balcony without even turning their way.

  “Yes Stacey, you missed out. Our host and Davy boy were snuggling last night.” As he said ‘snuggling’ he made the italics sign with his fingers at head height. “Don’t worry, they haven’t done it yet.” He then ducked a croissant as it came squarely at his head.

  “Yes, almost a perfect shot Stacey,” said Abbey. “Yet I guess that sums it up. I was going to be more polite, but there it’s out. I really like him Stacey.”

  David looked up from his notes and decided he’d best keep quiet.

  Stacey looked at David, and then at Abbey, then at David and back to Abbey. She paused for a minute and then held out her arms for Abbey.

  “You two are awesome. I couldn’t think of anything I am happier about. Wow…”

  David simply looked up from his reading and said “Thanks, Stace. How’s the nose?”

  “It’s not broken and I’ve had ice and arnica on it all night so it’s looking a bit better.” Stacey had forgotten about the bandage on her nose.

  Just then Rocko’s phone rang and he started fumbling for it in his pocket.

  “Tell her you will post her panties back, Rocko. We have work to do today,” said David smiling.

  “No… it’s Leon, I wonder what he wants. It must be bloody late in New York. Probably out celebrating his promotion. Hey, Mr CEO, how’s it going?” Rocko said as he answered the phone call. He said nothing else and visibly the whole group saw his energy drop a bit. Then all of a sudden he put the phone down.

  “What’s up?” enquired David standing and turning his attention to Rocko as did the girls.

  “Strangest thing… Leon should have the hangover of a lifetime, but all he said to me was be careful. He sounded terrible and then he hung up. What the hell is that about?”

  David walked acro
ss to his old pal and business partner and put a hand on his shoulder and said. “He knows what happened here buddy. Somehow he’s involved… and he’s right.”

  Rocko lifted his phone to call him back and David stopped him. “Leave it, mate. He’s given us a heads up and he could be at risk even doing that. Don’t call him. Our time would be better spent getting to the bottom of this. Stacey has turned up some new facts overnight so let’s see what we have got. Four heads are better than one.”

  Just then another phone rang. Stacey turned to the occasional table where a yellow iPhone sat.

  “It’s yours, David.”

  “What the hell. No one ever calls me.”

  “It’s your friend C from Cambodia.”

  Rocko and David looked at each other. Not only had David trained every person except Stacey never to call him, C never called… ever. David answered the phone tentatively and immediately heard the sounds of Cambodia in the background. A man yelling “tuk tuk,” the kick drum of a techno beat and the sounds of Pub Street Siem Reap.

  “David, It’s C. I call you.”

  “Hi C. How are you? Do I owe you some money for the other day?”

  “No, you are good my friend. I call very expensive, but I have to call. Very strange today.”

  “Why C? What happened?” enquired David.

  C went on to explain that one of his friends, another guide, had asked him to do a VIP tour for one man, from Germany or somewhere. When he met the man he told David that the man wanted to go only to Angkor Wat and when they got there the man had pulled out a picture of the hooked X and asked C where it was and to show him and explain everything he knew about the Xs at Angkor Wat.

  “This guy very quiet David, but not good man. I not like him from my meeting and when he ask about the X I nearly fall down like be shot. Never in thirteen years has anyone ask, only you, and now him.”

  “Ok C, it’s good you rang. What did you tell him?” enquired David looking at a puzzled group that was around him.