The Power of Five Oblivion

smart enough to realize that if they went public, talking about demons and black magic, they would be ridiculed. The newspapers would tear them apart. And so they met in secret. They had used their huge collective wealth to set up a resistance movement that had branches all over the world. Richard had visited them in one such location, in central London. He remembered Susan Ashwood, the blind medium. And Mr Fabian, who had nearly got them killed in Peru. And then there was Mr Lee, the Chinese businessman who had helped them reach Hong Kong.
    But this man was a stranger to him.
    Unless…
    Richard examined him more closely. Now that he thought about it, there had been a Frenchman in the room in Farringdon. He had seen him twice; once after the petrol tanker had destroyed Matt’s school and the two of them had been sent to Peru, then again when they had returned on their way to Hong Kong. But the person he had met had been much younger than the man who was examining him curiously now. He’d had shorter, darker hair. He had been wearing a suit.
    “My name is Albert Rémy,” the Frenchman said. “You might as well know that now. But before you say anything else, let me ask you this. You remember me?”
    “Yes…” Richard was hesitant.
    “When did you and I last meet?”
    “I was in Farringdon about ten days ago.”
    “Ten days…” Rémy smiled sadly. “It is as I suspected. A trick has been played on you, my friend. Or perhaps it has been played on both of us. For you, it has been ten days. But for me, it is more than ten years since we were last together.”
    “Ten years?”
    “You were there with the American boy, Jamie. And also with Matthieu. We sent you to Macau, which we believed was the only safe way to enter Hong Kong.” Rémy held up a hand. “Do not try to argue with me. It will drive you mad. Ever since the Old Ones came into the world, so many things have happened that do not seem possible, that we cannot understand. I will tell you how it is from my point of view and then you can say what you wish.
    “I remember very clearly that last meeting with you. You had heard that Scarlett, the fifth Gatekeeper, was in Hong Kong and although we were certain it was a trap, we had to send you there. After that, we heard nothing more from you. There was a typhoon of great power that destroyed much of the city. Tens of thousands of people were killed and we wondered if you were among them. We had no way of knowing and could only do what we had always sworn to do. We waited for you. We have been waiting for ten long years.”
    “Why are you here in Egypt?” Richard asked. “Why not London?”
    “London no longer exists, my friend. At least, not in the way you knew it.” Richard looked shocked and Rémy continued. “I warned you not to ask questions. Let me explain…
    “We all knew that there was a doorway in Hong Kong that you could use to travel across the world. You yourself had told us so, as you had found it in the diary of the Spanish monk. There were twenty-four other doors, some of which you had identified. We knew of St Meredith’s in London, the cave at Lake Tahoe, the Abbey of San Galgano in Italy and the Temple of Coricancha in Cuzco, Peru. You also named other locations in Australia, South America and here in Egypt. It was clear to us that if you were ever to appear again, it would be through one of the doorways. It was therefore decided that agents of the Nexus would take responsibility for each one of the doorways that we knew and be there, should you ever arrive. I was sent to the Great Pyramid.”
    “But you weren’t the only ones who knew about them,” Richard muttered.
    “Of course not. Have you forgotten that before you received the diary, it was in the hands of the industrialist Diego Salamanda? Before it reached you, he would certainly have studied it, and everything that is known to us is also known to the Old Ones. Not all the gates were identified in the diary. What this means is that some of them are safe. But the majority of them were surrounded, watched every minute of the day and night for ten years. The Old Ones were also waiting for the five children – Matt, Pedro, Scott, Jamie and Scarlett – to reappear. The moment that happened, they would be taken prisoner … as very nearly happened to you today.”
    “Except that you were there.”
    “You begin to see. Yes. The watchers were themselves being watched. I have spent thousands of hours waiting for you,