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SEVENTY-NINE
SINAI PENINSULA
SABRE COULD NOT BELIEVE HIS GOOD FORTUNE HE’D FOUND the Library of Alexandria All around him were scrolls, papyri, parchments, and what the old es brittle and brown, each one lying flat on the shelves beside the next, like bodies
"Why is the air so fresh?" he wanted to know
"Ventilation fans move the dry air from outside into here, where it’s cooled by the mountain Another innovation added in recent decades The Guardians before e seriously Will you?"
They stood in the third roo h on the wall More shelved codices spanned its length, with narrow aisles in between The Librarian had explained that these were books froinal Library at Alexandria was sacked for the final time by Musli up to that change in political rule," the Librarian said "These words exist nowhere else on this planet Facts and events, what the world regards as history, would change if these were studied"
He liked what he was hearing It all translated into one thing-power He needed to know more, and quickly Malone h the maze But his adversary could also just wait until he caical Sabre had marked each of the doors they’d taken with an X scratched into the stone Finding his way out would be easy Then he’d deal with Malone
But first he needed to knohat Alfred Hermann would have asked
"Are there manuscripts here about the Old Testament?"
HADDAD WAS PLEASED THAT HIS GUEST HAD FINALLY COME TO the point of his visit He’d gone to a lot of trouble to make this happen After his faked death in London, he’d waited, the apartment wired for sound and video, and watched to see if anyone else caun on him had found the information left on the coe Hall, Haddad had then waited for Malone, since the ht there Sabre’s co of the two men whom he’d sent into the mansion in the first place only confirmed the man’s ill intentions
One of the Guardians had ed to follow Malone to the Savoy Hotel and witnessed a breakfast with Sabre Then those same eyes had watched as the two, plus Malone’s ex-wife, boarded a flight to Lisbon Since Haddad hi, he’d known exactly where the three were headed
Which hy Ada prevented Malone and his new ally froht the threat would be froovernreatest danger was fro for hi the expectancy in the other man’s words and actions, he was now sure that the threat was containable
"We havethe Bible," he said "That was a subject the library took a great interest in studying"
"The Old Testament In Hebrew Are there manuscripts here?"
"Three Two supposedly copied froinal"
"Where?"
He motioned to the doorway from which they’d entered "Two rooms back The Roooing to have to learn where materials are stored"
"What do those Bibles say?"
He feigned ignorance "What do you mean?"
"I’ve seen letters Fro changed That the translations were altered There were other invitees, four, who studied that, too One, a o, a Palestinian, who said that the Old Testament was a record of the Jews not in Palestine, but somewhere else in Saudi Arabia What do you know about that?"
"A great deal And those men are correct The translations of the accepted Bible are wrong The Old Testament is indeed a record of the Jews in a place other than Palestine West Arabia, in fact I have read many manuscripts here in the library that prove the point I have even seen maps of ancient Arabia that indicate biblical locations"
The gun caht at him "ShowHebrew or Arabic, they will "
"One more time, old man Show me or I’ll kill you and take ed "Si to be helpful"
SABRE HAD NO IDEA IF THE SHEETS AND CODICES SPREAD OUT before hiht It didn’taround him
"These are treatises written in the second century by philosophers who studied at Alexandria," the Librarian said "The Jeere just then beginning to beco their supposed ancient presence, preaching an entitlement to the land Sound familiar? These scholars determined that there was no ancient presence They studied the Hebrew texts of the Old Testament, which the library maintained, and determined that the stories, as told at the time orally by the Jeere far different in the texts, especially the oldest ones Seeressed, the stories became more and more adapted to the Jews’ then hootten their past in Arabia If not for place-names, which reinal Hebrew, that history would have never been discovered"
The Librarian pointed at one of the codices
"That one is much later Fifth century When Christians decided they wanted the Old Testament to be included in their Bible This treatise makes clear the translations were altered to confor New Testa history, religion, and politics"
Sabre stared at the books
The Librarian motioned to another stack of parchments contained within a clear plastic container "This is the oldest Bible we have Written four hundred years before Christ All in Hebrew The world has nothing like this I believe the oldest Bible, outside this room, dates from nine hundred years after Christ Is this what you seek?"
Sabre said nothing
"You’re an odd man," the Librarian suddenly said
"What do you mean?"
"Do you kno hout the centuries Our guest book is impressive It started in the twelfth century with Averroës, the Arabic philosopher rote critically of Aristotle and challenged Augustine He studied here Those Guardians decided the tie, but selectively Many of the nanize-just ence who came to the Guardians’ attention Minds that e In the days before radio, television, and computers, Guardians lived in major cities, always on the watch for invitees Thomas Aquinas, Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Poussin, Chaucer-ne wrote his Essays here Francis Bacon conceived his fae for my province here, in the Room of Province"
"Is all that supposed to ed "I’e You say you want to be the Librarian If so, you will be granted quite a privilege Those in the past who have served met Copernicus and Kepler and Descartes Robespierre Benjamin Franklin Even Newton himself All those learned souls benefited from this place, and the world benefited from their ability to comprehend and expand"
"And none of them ever said they were here?"
"Why would they? We seek no credit In that way they obtain the recognition If we assisted thee Quite an accomplishment, it has been, to keep this alive Can you carry on that tradition?"
Since he had no intention of allowing anyone else to see this place, he asked what he really wanted to know "How reatly depleted"
"Where are they? I saw only two outside"
"The e They were about their duties"
He o back to the first roo else"
And the oldhiured out as happening He was either waiting at the other end of the ardless, this old man would prove useful
EIGHTY
MALONE ROUNDED THE FINAL CORNER AND SPOTTED A DOORWAY fored, human-headed lions He knew the syth of an ani open on bronze hinges
They stepped inside and stared at the opulence
Heso extraordinary Rows of diagonal bins lined the tiled floor, broken by narrow aisles, each bri with scrolls He stepped to one of the bins and slid out the top bundle The document was in relanced inside the cylinder and saw that the writing was still legible
"I never knew so like this could exist," Pam said "It’s beyond cos, but nothing as wonderful as the sight of all that this rooh on one of the shiny red walls more Latin words AD COMMUNEM DELECTATIONEM For the enjoy extraordinary"
He noticed a carving in one of the walls He stepped close and spied a ledger of what lay ahead, the rooms identified in Latin He translated each one out loud for Pam
"Five rooms," he said "They could be anywhere"
Moveht his attention
He saw George Haddad, then McCollum
"Get down," he said to Pam, and he raised his weapon
McCollu across the cha the shelves between theranite columns behind him
"You move fast," McCollum said from across the room
"Didn’t want you to be lonely"
"The Librarian kept et to know each other?"
"He talks too much, but he knows this place"
He wanted to know, "What now?"
"Afraid you and the ex have to die"
"I told you that you shouldn’t get onit on, Malone I’ve come this far, I don’t plan to lose now Tell you what, let’s ht here If you win, the old man and the ex are safe Deal?"
"You’rethe terms Act on them"
HADDAD LISTENED TO THE EXCHANGE BETWEEN SABRE AND Malone These two needed to settle their differences, and he needed to repay his debt He thought again about the Guardian fro man had stared up at him with eyes full of resolve He si seen the library, having become its Librarian, he knehat that fateful soul froood retted it all his life
"STAND UP," SABRE SAID TO THE LIBRARIAN, AND HE WATCHED as the oldHere he coun "Go"
The Librarian walked slowly down the aisle between the diagonal bins Sabre held his position, crouched behind the end of one of the rows
Thirty feet away the Librarian stopped and turned
The eyes that stared back penetrated hinaled danger, as if the soul behind the eyes had faced this scenario before and was not afraid He debated killing the Librarian, but that ht spur Malone on
And that he did not want to do
Not yet