Solomon's Throne Read Online Free Page A

rampaged.
    “The system was invencivel! They told me, they swore that no gatuno could beat that system without cutting off my thumbs! Even if they did cut off my thumbs, they couldn’t use the system, because it reads the calor corporal, the body heat!” He turned to his cowering secretary. “You call those bastardo ! You tell them to call me instantaneamente! NOW!” He slammed his office door.
    Once inside his office, the calm quiet decor seemed to take the fiery edge off of his temper. Still livid and pacing, he stopped waving his hands in the air and stood in front of the large window facing Gloucester Road. Across the street little St. Stephens Church sat, exuding 150 years of serenity. He stared at it for several minutes, until his intercom came to life.
    “Excuse me, sir? I have Mr. De Castro on the phone in Lisbon.” The secretary said hesitantly.
    Xavier snatched up the handset. “Emil? O que aconteceu ?” What happened over there?
    “ As minhas desculpas, Luis .” My apologies. “We don’t know yet what has happened. The system should have been unbeatable.”
    “Yes, so I was told when I agreed to pay the outrageous sum you charged me.”
    “Well, um, yes. It does appear that we have had an internal breach—on your end possibly, although there is a slim chance it was on ours—which allowed the thieves access to your codes, and to have knowledge of the system. You know that, of course. We have not yet determined how they breached the biometric component. And of course, they were unaware of the failsafe alarm upon the closing of the door. That last minute backup system did allow the policia to capture one of the thieves, as you also know.”
    “Yes, I know all that! What I want to know is who these people are, who in your organization sold our codes—and yes, Emil, it was your organization. I am the only one in this company to know the codes, and I can assure you that I didn’t steal from myself! And I want to know where my artifacts have gone.”
    There was silence at the other end for a moment. De Castro cleared his throat. “So we are working with the local police, but the suspect who was injured has said nothing. He is not in the system, either in Portugal or on Interpol. Nothing else appears to have been stolen but the contents of the one vault…”
    “That was the only vault that mattered! Bosto! ” Xavier slammed down the phone receiver, but still gripped it hard enough to turn his knuckles white. Picking it up again, he punched in a number.
    “Gideon? Please come to my office. Now.”

    Gideon Quinn knocked lightly on the heavy mahogany door, and entered when he heard “ Chegar!” from the other side. He had been not yet arrived at the office when all hell broke loose, and had only gotten snatches of information on his way up: “Mr. Xavier’s gone mad!” “There was a break in at the Lisbon office…” “I don’t know what was stolen, they say it was something from his private collection.”
    Oh boy, thought Gideon. My day is about to get very interesting. As head of security for the London and DC offices of Xavier International, Gideon suspected he was about to walk into a maelstrom. Lisbon, the original headquarters of the firm, and the only office not under his control, was contracted out to the leading security firm in Europe. The security system was absolutely top of the line, and he knew that Mr. Xavier had paid more for it than the known pieces of art he stored there were worth. Obviously there was something else there that justified the expense… He suspected he was about to find out what it was.
    Xavier was still staring out the window at the small church across the street, his hands gripped tightly behind his back, his posture rigid. When he turned, Gideon stifled a quick gasp of surprise. His boss was always impeccably attired and groomed, his clothing expensively tailored and cared for, his Mediterranean skin clean shaven, his thick black hair expertly cut and