The Project 05 - The Tesla Secret

either side of the room. Thousands of books lined the shelves. Marble columns supported the second tier and a balcony bordered by a marble balustrade. Pale moonlight streamed through large windows. The library was eerily beautiful in the cold light.
    Dark shapes swooped down on them and darted away as they moved into the room. Ronnie ducked and swore.
    "Bats. They've got bats in here. Rats and bats. What the hell kind of a palace is this?"
    Nick laughed. "Rats and Bats. Sounds like a good name for a rock band."
    "The bats eat insects that would eat the books," Selena said. "The Portuguese let them live in here."
    Lamont sighed. "How do you know stuff like that?" He looked at the leather bound volumes lining the shelves. "Lots of books. Where's the Codex?"
    "The Codex isn't on display. Look for another room. There has to be a place where they keep damaged books for restoration or storage."
    Five minutes later they found it, locked with an electronic key pad. Ronnie took a device from his pack and placed it against the lock. Digital numbers in green blurred and stopped one by one until a five number combination appeared. The door clicked open.
    In the security station near the main entrance, a red warning light illuminated. The guard watching the monitors didn't see it. He was lying on the floor. The back of his skull was gone, where a bullet had exited and taken most of his brain with it.

CHAPTER TWENTY- NINE

    The restoration room was the size of a large garage. A workbench along one wall bore a neat array of glues, inks and odd tools no one but a book restorer would ever understand. A leather bound volume lay on the bench, open to a drawing of a medieval knight stepping off into an abyss.
    Selena walked over to the table.
    "This is incredible." Selena's voice was hushed, almost reverent. "This is a 14th Century illustrated edition of Le Morte D'Artur . The Death of Arthur."
    "King Arthur?" Nick walked to her, looked down at the book.
    "The same."
    "Very nice," Nick said, "but not what we came for."
    "Sorry." She scanned the room. "Try that cabinet with the keypad. It's temperature controlled."
    The code they had used to enter the room opened the cabinet. Inside was an oblong wooden box about six inches deep and a foot long. Selena took it out and opened the lid.
    "This is it," she said. She closed the lid and placed the box in a large, empty pocket in front of her jacket. It made the jacket bulge out in front. Nick thought of Afghanistan and suicide bombers. He shook off the memory.
    His ear began itching.
    "Something's not right," he said.
    Nick's ear burned. He tugged on it. Ronnie and Lamont looked at each other. They all knew what that meant.
    "Shit," Ronnie muttered.
    "Kill the lights." Nick's voice was quiet, calm. He felt the old pre-combat surge.
    He let the door open a crack. They heard muffled whispers, the scrape of a boot on marble. MP-5 up by his cheek, Nick pulled the door open.
    Five men, dressed in black, wearing balaclavas and holding ugly, short barreled automatic weapons.
    Nick opened fire. The gunfire lit the library in bright flashes with a disorienting, strobe-like effect. Everyone began yelling and shooting. Something slammed into his chest and spun him around. He saw Selena hit as he went down. It was a ballet of death, shadow men dancing in the moonlight and the light from the guns...

    ...and the bullets shattered the market stalls around him, ricocheting from the stone walls, the AKs a constant roar in his ears. He made it to a doorway. Across the dirt street a child ran toward him shouting about Allah. The child had a grenade...

    ...and he was back in Portugal. The flashback was over. The fight was over. He'd been gone for a minute. He broke out in a cold sweat. Five black shapes lay crumpled on the marble. The floor was littered with spent brass. The smell of the guns filled the air.
    Lamont bent over him. "You all right?" He helped Nick to his feet.
    "Yeah." His chest was bruised. His left arm was numb. Selena was doubled over, gasping for air.
    "S'all right," she said. She struggled for breath. "Knocked the wind out of me."
    Ronnie helped her up. She pulled the box with the Codex from her jacket. The round had punched through the book and been stopped by the armor underneath.
    "Nick," Lamont said.
    "I'm okay. Jesus, I love this armor."
    Ronnie bent over one of the dead men. "Guess theirs wasn't as good as ours." He picked up one of their guns. "Russian. PP-19. Good weapon."
    "Not