Truthseekers (2 page)

Gregorio continued his amazing story. Looking directly at De Payan he stopped for a moment and said:

“Hughes, it’s about the child of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.”

“The child…” De Payan replied, shifting his position and gaze.

“This document held the name not only of the child but also of every subsequent man and woman who was a direct descendent of that union, including the current incumbent, Alphonse the Count of Toulouse.”

The Pope went on to tell De Payan that whilst the current incumbents did not know their sacred bloodline, each of them was encouraged by the Church, which always showed a healthy interest in the family, to have only one child thus keeping the lineage pure. It seemed so far that all had been well although there had been several attempts on the lives of this lineage over the years by those in the Church who would rather the truth be destroyed. It seemed Anacletus II was such an individual and the Pope had asked his old friend to protect the lineage from the growing plot by Anacletus II.

The Pope explained to De Payan that there were significant ruling families who connected closely with the dark powers within the Church. These key families would always hold the balance of power through a series of agreements and as time went on they had become more engaged in finishing the bloodline of the most divine, as a type of insurance of their power.

“The Church was to be the front of this, yet the Church itself was never to be the benefactor, not the Church of the people that was for sure.” The Pope was stern in his delivery.

This master plan was the first of its kind in ruling the whole of the known world through an intricate undercurrent of lies and deceptions. The pope stated that even the creation of the papacy was simply part of that master plan. De Payan listened with intrigue and sternness. In some ways he contemplated all the loss of life he had seen for this corrupt system and he twitched realising that he was now finding out an agenda and a purpose to everything he had done, and it was not at all what he had thought. After some fifteen minutes of solemn listening he finally chose to ask two questions.

“Gregorio, how come you only mention this now to me and why not simply destroy the document? I will hide the chosen one. You have the power to transform the papacy and ensure the role stands for everything good and decent that God would want.”

The Pope smiled limply at De Payan.

“It is never that simple, my old friend. You see with all of the changes in the Church, moving from here to France, even to Germany for a time, even our sacred relics have been misplaced. The most important of which were buried deep in an old cave well beneath this residence. You see Constantine, as great as he was, miscalculated something. It takes time to build the relationships of trust that he needed across the known world.”

“Are you saying the document has been misplaced?”

The Pope put his finger to his chin.

“No I am not, but I know it has been copied by Anacletus. Our only protection is through two very thin veils and one I have never used but now need to.”

De Payan knew this meant him.

“You see Hughes, I have the original document and it is that which keeps this information safe. There can be copies but I have sealed this document with the papal seal and it is only this seal that the office of the Pope has. It can be verified if needed and that means that no one I know will act without it. The problem is I can no longer trust the cardinals that keep this office pure.”

De Payan took his friend by the forearm in a tight grasp

“Gregorio, you always see the best in people. If there is a copy, surely it will be in circulation, seal or no seal.”

“Yes, that is true,” the Pope said sighing. “Yet without the seal, they will never draw the powerful ones. They will not show themselves for a forgery, and that means they will simply wait until I am dead. Then they will have the Pope, the original and the deed will be swift. I can deal with my death, but what I need from you is almost more than a friend can ask.”

De Payan dropped to one knee.

“My knights and I are here to serve God and you are that representative. Tell me what you need.”

The Pope hauled De Payan from the floor and stared him straight in the eyes.

“The time for ceremony is over dear friend. I need you to take this document and hide it. Do not destroy it. If you do, we can never prove its existence and our right to govern it. But hide it from me, from the Church forever.” The Pope drew breath…

“I need you to take Alphonse of Toulouse to the Holy Land and hide him there. No one must ever find him again. Keep him safe. I need you also to have him agree to his skin being marked with a sacred chevron symbol and that he will always pass that on through his child and his child’s child. I need you to impress upon him the importance of this. Tell him it is because he is a friend of the Church and Templars that we need to keep him safe. Tell him what you need to get the job done.”

With a calmness that had become a strength of De Payan’s leadership over his lifetime he replied:

“We will do what is asked. This information will never surface with anyone who will use it, and we will take care of anyone who tries. We will convince Alphonse to come with us. He is known to me and has been a good friend of the knights of the Temple Mount.”

They embraced, De Payan resolute in taking on another mission for God. Little did he know that within weeks of doing this he would be dead.

1

Present Day

David Clark shook his head. A lock of his wavy hair fell over his forehead. He managed to stretch in the chair in which he was sitting and in doing so caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He patted his stomach, still trim he thought. His eyes had a determination that resonated from an intense stare under a strong brow. With a proud jaw, David was also fit and masculine but with a deeply tender side David was highly sensitive as well and a hopeless romantic at heart. Distracted by the heat that surrounded him like the cloak of a mother’s warmth he had let his mind wander. It had been eight years since he’d had that life-changing moment. A distant relative he had never met had died and left him an inheritance, an event that both kick-started his deep search for wisdom and allowed him the funds to step into a business that eventually provided him the income he needed to begin to fulfil his life purpose.

“Eight years…” he thought to himself.

Since that time his life had been a series of joys and distractions. He had become engrossed early in the business and all its trials and tribulations, yet lately other questions occupied his mind. He often found the best place to be was inside his mind, alone with his thoughts. David’s life had been full of people coming and going over the years. He had lost his parents early, so was often alone. Even his broad shoulders yearned for some love. Occasionally he pondered what it would be like to find someone, a true partner, a woman he could trust implicitly in the way he saw in romantic movies. He had been so focused on the tasks of running a business and his altruistic mission of making the world a better place for all since that day that he almost didn’t see anyone else at all – except Rocko that was.

Coming back into the present David’s eyes flashed as he heard his computer bark at him.

“You still there – sorry, nature called.”

David had almost forgotten about Rocko. His business partner and best friend of seven years, Rocko seemed to have filled the void all the others had left. Rocko’s happy voice chortled out of the speakers on David’s laptop.

“Yes, I’m here buddy – where were we again?”

Rocko was a happy-go-lucky guy. Squat, powerful, with dark straight hair that beguiled his often mistaken Middle Eastern appearance, Rocko was a very smart individual. It seemed there wasn’t anyone he didn’t know, or couldn’t get in front of. He had a sensibility that met David’s
sense of adventure, yet David knew Rocko would always go for it in the end. When David had a hair-brained idea, the twinkle in Rocko’s deep brown eyes was often at odds with the caution that came from his reasoned mouth.

“OK – you were telling me about your meeting with the whacky professor.” Rocko was used to the weird situations they seemed to end up in.

“That’s right. That guy can drink. I don’t know why all Greeks love ouzo. It’s like an addiction for plenty of them. But this guy – I gotta tell you Rocko. He’s on another planet.”

Rocko smirked a stifled laugh down the Skype headset he had on. David continued:

“I did the coffee thing.”

“Ha ha, I thought you would.”

Often in David’s travels, and he had spent a lot of time in Greece, he had several tricks up his sleeve. David was on the island of Kos just a few miles off the Turkish coast. He had been back there working on uncovering a thread he had discovered at the Asclepius, the ancient and now ruined healing centre of Hippocrates. This is where he had literally come across the whacky professor as he nicknamed him, after the professor had asked him for a light for his cigarette.

They had struck up a conversation and David’s sixth sense knew there was a real reason to meeting this man. Nothing was random anymore and for the past eight years he seemed to have attracted the right people at the right time. Later after reporting to Rocko he had taken the professor for a few drinks. Not wanting to be rude, David ordered Greek coffee with ouzo in the bottom of the cup, a common evening drink. The professor would accept David couldn’t match him ten coffees for ten straight shots so by the end of the evening David had managed four coffees whilst the professor had at least twelve shots of ouzo and a few beers to wash it down.

“So… as I was saying. This guy Professor Miltosis has been tracking an age-old trail. He’s originally from Crete. As he was researching the
Minoans, he said they left much of the keys to their ancient wisdom, building techniques and symbolism at their sites in the USA, your old stamping ground. In fact at Lake Superior, the Michigan side, about 3500 years ago. He believes that information is what the Americans used to grow their power and bring their nation to the forefront of the world. He basically said America had a lot of this knowledge before Columbus.”

Rocko’s voiced squeaked back from Skype. Internet signals in Greece were not known for their robustness.

“Hey, that’s my family your are dishing there David. My pops would break a table over that professor’s head.”

Rocko was a born and bred New Yorker – well, Jersey really, but he liked to put on his Manhattan airs and graces as he said it worked better with the women, of which there was always a harem full. David couldn’t keep up. Rocko’s father was old school Jersey Italian stock. For him growing up it had always been baseball and hot dogs. His mother was the darker one. Her mother had come to America as a refugee from somewhere in the Middle East around the time of the Second World War. The family secret had been kept pretty quiet, but Rocko had adopted the dark skin of his grandmother.

“I know you are kidding around, Rocko,” David said. “But I think he’s onto something. Stuff has come to light about the Minoans and whilst I can’t remember that life if I ever had it, it resonates with me. I’m gonna get Stacey to check their history out.”

Stacey was their researcher. She had been a personal friend of David’s before coming to work for them. Stacey had a thing for men, always trying to find the one. But David had never shown any interest in her. At five feet ten inches David was in good shape for his late forties. Wavy hair that had been dark was now starting to grey just at the sides. His face was almost lineless and with his steel grey eyes he could penetrate any stare across a bar. His strong jawline looked as if it would stop a bus, yet David was a pacifist. The only thing that really angered him was total injustice. He had been told he was ten years younger many times, even as low as thirty in the past twelve months. In recent years he had studied a myriad of spirituality from all across the world and believed he was a very old soul and as such his destiny was always to be young for his age. That was a fringe benefit he hadn’t reckoned on when signing up to help change the world.