Read The Solomon Scroll for Free Online

sometimes."
    "How's your head?" Nick asked.
    "Better than his. I got a head like a rock."
    Stephanie, Selena and Elizabeth were seated at a large round table set apart from the others in the restaurant. Lucas Munroe sat next to Stephanie.
    "Lucas, this is Diego Ramirez. He might take Lamont's spot on the team."
    The two men shook hands. Nick, Diego and Ronnie sat down.
    "Congratulations on your promotion, Lucas," Elizabeth said.
    "Thank you."
    "Way to go," Nick said. "You deserve it."
    "Diego, you've got blood on your shirt," Selena said.
    "It's nothing. It's not mine."
    "What happened, Nick?" Elizabeth asked. "We heard a dog howling."
    "Sergeant Ramirez had to give a little lesson in animal ethics to a man who thought his dog needed beating."
    "Oh, one of them," Stephanie said. "Some people should never be allowed to have an animal."
    "I think he learned his lesson," Ronnie said.
    A waiter took their orders.
    "The drunken chicken is good here," Lucas said.
    "I always wondered why they call it that," Selena said. "I get this picture in my mind of a bunch of chickens staggering around the barnyard."
    "Probably had more to do with the cook who invented it," Nick said.
    There was a brief pause.
    "I hear you're looking into what happened in France," Lucas said.
    Elizabeth looked at Stephanie.
    "It wasn't me," she said. "Lucas brought it up. I didn't tell him anything."
    "We have some interest, yes," Elizabeth said.
    "So do we." He looked at Diego. "I assume he's fully vetted?"
    Elizabeth nodded. "You can speak freely."
    Lucas picked up a set of chopsticks in a paper wrapper, took them out and broke them apart. He set them down again on the table.
    "That scroll could cause a lot of grief."
    "Have you read it?" Selena asked.
    Lucas nodded. "I read a translation. We think the professor who brought it to Grenoble was murdered because of it. The bomb in his train compartment was Semtex, more than was needed to kill him. Someone wanted to wipe out any evidence that might lead back to them."
    "Who put it there?" Nick asked.
    "That's the question. We traced the chemical signature. The Semtex came from an arms shipment stolen in Serbia right after the Bosnian war. Some of the weapons turned up in Africa not too long ago."
    "Any idea who was behind the theft?" Elizabeth asked.
    "We're not sure," Lucas said. "We think it was a Lebanese arms dealer named Yusuf Abidi."
    "That doesn't mean he's the one who planted the bomb," Elizabeth said.
    "No, it doesn't. We traced the weapons in Africa back to him. It's likely that at some point the Semtex was in his possession. If it wasn't him, he might know who it was."
    "Where does this guy hang out?" Ronnie asked.
    "Beirut."
    "Are you going after him?" Selena asked.
    Lucas smiled. "No, you are. Hey, here comes the food."
    Conversation was minimal while they dug into the steaming platters.
    After they'd eaten, the waiter cleared away the debris. He left a check and a plate of fortune cookies.
    "Cool," Diego said. "Fortune cookies."
    They all took one. Diego cracked his open and pulled out the piece of paper inside.
    "Beware the Ides of March," he said. "That's original."
    "Good thing your name isn't Caesar," Lamont said.
    Selena read hers to them. "A handsome man is in your future."
    "Hey," Nick said.
    "Don't blame me. Can I help it if fate has something in store?"
    "What's yours, Nick?" Elizabeth asked.
    "You'll soon discover the truth about the one you love." He looked at Selena. "Is there something you want to tell me? About a handsome man, maybe?"
    Ronnie opened his. "Mine says I will live long. That's good to know."
    "These cookies suck," Diego said.
    "What did you expect, the wisdom of the ages?"
    "Well, yeah. You know, Confucius and all that."
    Selena looked at Lucas. "It sounds like our future is already planned out. What did you mean about us going after him?"
    "Langley is like a Libyan freighter these days. There are too many leaks. I talked it over with Hood. We thought your group would be