The Genesis Code Read Free

Natural History.
    Hanging next to the photo was a reproduction of images from the Dresden Codex, a pre-Columbian Mayan text. Rows of Mayan hieroglyphs were arranged in a grid above a rendering of two intertwined serpents. On the credenza below, a diagram of the Mayan calendar rested atop an astronomical chart detailing the precession of the equinoxes.
    Dr. Ambergris turned his attention back to the computer screen.
    Almost finished.
    With several rapid strokes, Ambergris finished typing. His finger hovered over the enter key.
    Perhaps the most astounding discovery in the history of mankind.
    Humanity’s oldest secret.
    A shadow fell across the plasma screen. From the corner of his eye, Ambergris was startled to see a figure standing in the doorway. He quickly pressed the enter key.
    The man in the doorway cleared his throat.
    Ambergris pivoted in his chair.
    A wiry Asian man dressed all in white leaned casually against the door frame. His hands were covered by latex surgical gloves. The intruder’s silky black hair fell across his muscular shoulders in long braids. Inscribed in red on the snowy white fabric of his left pant leg was a single character from the Japanese alphabet.
    Ambergris felt a cold chill dance across his clammy skin.
    It’s over. My time has come.
    The intruder held up a long syringe, tapping it several times with the nail of his forefinger. A thin stream of liquid spurted from the long needle as he cleared air bubbles from the murky fluid.
    “Good evening, Dr. Ambergris. I’m pleased to make your acquaintance,” said the man with the needle.
    He smiled pleasantly. “You may call me Mr. Arakai. In fact, I insist that you do.”
    Ambergris clutched the arms of his chair with white-knuckled hands.
    “If you’re going to kill me, just get it over with,” said Ambergris.
    Arakai smiled. His amber eyes glinted with malice.
    “Have patience, Dr. Ambergris. Let’s have a little chat first. The killing will begin soon enough.”
    Arakai removed a long, thin knife from within the folds of his jacket. His fluid movements revealed a tattoo on the inside of his left wrist.
    A tattoo of two intertwined serpents.

Two
    Apartment of Christian Madison
Manhattan, New York
    It always began with the screaming. Before the horrific visions of billowing smoke, orange flames, and hulking ruins of concrete and steel assaulted his mind, before the acrid smell of burning wood, paper, and plastic affronted his beleaguered senses, Madison always heard the screaming.
    In the haze of early morning, replayed in vivid detail in his recurring dream, he watched helplessly as a tremendous explosion rocketed through a mammoth skyscraper, blasting a maelstrom of dark smoke, glass, and concrete into the dawn sky. Above the deafening roar of the blast, the screams of men, women, and children echoed in his mind.
    One screaming voice always rose above the din.
    Justin, his son, calling out his name, pleading for rescue, begging for redemption.
    Justin, who had died only a year ago, his small body hollow and broken from the leukemia that consumed him.
    And as always, Madison could only watch, helpless, as the towering skyscraper imploded, falling inward on itself, collapsing into a massive pile of twisted steel and debris.
    A shrill ringing filled the air.
    Madison fumbled for the phone, the sounds and screams of his recurring nightmare still echoing in the hollows of his head. Beads of cold sweat dripped from his hairline into the dampness of his pillow.
    He rubbed his eyes and pressed the phone to his ear.
    “Hello.”
    “Good morning, Christian. It’s your mother. Are you up? It’s after seven…”
    Madison took a deep breath and tried to ignore his heart pounding in his chest. He wrestled with the dingy white cotton sheets twisted around his torso.
    “Hi, Mom.”
    He wiped a sweaty palm across his face.
    “I’m up,” Madison lied. “Been up since six. Just finishing the paper and a cup of coffee.”
    A pause on the