Black
You've heard about the critical raves,
but here's what real readers are saying about
The Books of History Chronicles
(Black, Red, White, Showdown, Saint)
on Amazon.com
This trilogy is a MUST READ!
Suspenseful, insightful, fast-paced, and certainly life-impacting.
Ted Dekker is a master of bringing Truth close to home, in a way that causes us
the readers to see and feel it in a fresh way.
D. Guimaraes (Pittsburgh, PA USA)
Whew, ok I've read all three books in the Circle Trilogy back to back and all I can say is man
what a ride.
Ted Dekker has to be one of our generations great story tellers
, this story of
Thomas Hunter's fight to save mankind from a terrible virus intended to destroy the world
is sure to become a Christian fiction classic much like Lewis's “Narnia” Series and Frank
Perretti's “This Present Darkness” .
Todd Sullivan (Mount Vernon, WA)
This was the first book by Ted Dekker that I've ever read. It was all I needed to be hooked
for life!
Ted Dekker has a way with words and storytelling that not many authors have
anymore
. He draws you in and you have to make yourself stop for daily functions such as
eating and occasional breathing!
J. Hosmer (South Carolina)
I cannot say enough good things about this book and series
. It can change how you think.
If a book can do that it is an amazing thing. I recommend it without reservation. The Circle
Trilogy was my first Ted Dekker book, but it will not be the last.
Teresa L. Wilkinson (Parkersburg, WV USA)
This guy is truly amazing. He's written straight novels, romance thrillers, psychological suspense,
and now a fantasy thriller. He stretches and stretches, yet never becomes distorted,
uneven, or sloppy.
I suspect that a generation from now, Dekker's writings will be essential
reading for those who wish to study spiritually motivated literature
.
Tommy C Ellis (Federal Way, WA United States)
Absolutely a terrific trilogy!
I got the first book, “Black” from the library, and when I finished
it and realized it was a trilogy, ordered all three books the same day...next day!
Incredible book full of drama, mystery, and beautiful love stories...both for people and God.
You won't regret reading them...
June A. Halladay (Florida)
This may be one of my top 5 books of all time
. The whole thing was engaging and outstanding.
There was no lull anywhere. Each page and each chapter had interesting things
happening. I've since read other's of Ted's including Red, White, Heaven's Wager, and Three.
All awesome.
Sgun73 (Carmel, IN)
This is the first of a trilogy - but don't be intimidated by the fact that you must read three
books to journey through all of Dekker's tale.
This is an incredible fantasy, written with
such a furious pace that it is hard to put down.
I was wise enough to not start any of the
three books until I had all of them - unfortunately for my wife I did have all of them when
I started reading them, and I just went from one to the next to the final one. Incredible!
Zachary Jones (Wake Forest, NC)
I am addicted to great story telling. Ted Dekker is now my main drug dealer
. I'm
halfway through Red, the second book of the Circle Trilogy, and have now put Mr.
Dekker in my pantheon with Robert Jordan, Stephen Lawhead, C. S. Lewis and Professor
Tolkien. This guy writes literary heroine.
Mike Vickers (Centreville, Alabama)
BLACK
teddekker.com
DEK
K
ER FANTASY
BOOKS OF HISTORY CHRONICLES
THE LOST BOOKS
Chosen
Infidel
Renegade
(MAY 2008)
Chaos
(MAY 2008)
THE CIRCLE TRILOGY
Black
Red
White
PROJECT SHOWDOWN
Showdown
Saint
Sinner
(OCTOBER 2008)
Skin
House
(with Frank Peretti)
DEK
K
ER MYSTERY
Blink of an Eye
MARTYR'SONG SERIES
Heaven's Wager
When Heaven Weeps
Thunder of Heaven
The Martyr's Song
THE CALEB BOOKS
Blessed Child
A Man Called Blessed
DEKKER
THRILLER
THR3E
Obsessed
Adam
(APRIL 2008)
©2004 Ted Dekker
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansâelectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherâexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Thomas Nelson, Inc. titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, organizations, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dekker, Ted, 1962â
      Black: the birth of evil / by Ted Dekker.
          p. cm.
      ISBN 978-0-8499-1790-5 (hardcover)
      ISBN 978-0-8499-1833-9 (international)
      ISBN 978-1-59554-136-9 (mass edition)
      ISBN 978-1-59554-433-9 (repackage)
      I. Title.
      PS3554.E43B57 2004
      813'.6âdc22
2003020542
Printed in the United States of America
07 08 09 10 11 RRD 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
For my children.
May they always remember what lies behind the veil.
C
arlos Missirian was his name. One of his many names.
Born in Cyprus.
The man who sat at the opposite end of the long dining table, slowly cutting into a thick red steak, was Valborg Svensson. One of his many, many names.
Born in hell.
They ate in near-perfect silence thirty feet from each other in a dark hall hewn from granite deep in the Swiss Alps. Black iron lamps along the walls cast a dim amber light through the room. No servants, no other furniture, no music, no one except Carlos Missirian and Valborg Svensson seated at the exquisite dining table.
Carlos sliced the thick slab of beef with a razor-sharp blade and watched the flesh separate.
Like the parting of the Red Sea
. He cut again, aware that the only sound in this room was of two serrated knives cutting through meat into china, severing fibers. Strange sounds if you knew what to listen for.
Carlos placed a slice in his mouth and bit firmly. He didn't look up at Svensson, although the man was undoubtedly staring at him, at his faceâat the long scar on his right cheekâwith those dead black eyes of his. Carlos breathed deep, taking time to enjoy the coppery taste of the filet.
Very few men had ever unnerved Carlos. The Israelis had taken care of that early in his life. Hate, not fear, ruled him, a disposition he found useful as a killer. But Svensson could unnerve a rock with a glance. To say that this beast put fear in Carlos would be an overstatement, but he certainly kept Carlos awake. Not because Svensson presented any physical threat to him; no man really did. In fact, Carlos could, at this very moment, send the steak knife in his hands into the man's eye with a quick flip of his wrist. Then what prompted his caution? Carlos wasn't sure.
The man wasn't really a beast from hell, of course. He was a Swiss-born businessman who owned half the banks in Switzerland and half the pharmaceutical companies outside the United States. True, he had spent more than half his life here, below the Swiss Alps, stalking around like a caged animal, but he was as human as any other man who walked on two legs. And, at least to Carlos, as vulnerable.
Carlos washed the meat down with a sip of dry Chardonnay and let his eyes rest on Svensson for the first time since sitting to eat. The man ignored him, as he almost always did. His face was badly pitted, and his nose looked too large for his headânot fat and bulbous, but sharp and narrow. His hair, like his eyes, was black, dyed.
Svensson stopped cutting midslice, but he did not look up. The room fell silent. Like statues, they both sat still. Carlos watched him, unwilling to break off his stare. The one mitigating factor in this uncommon relationship was the fact that Svensson also respected Carlos.
Svensson suddenly set down his knife and fork, dabbed at his mustache and lips with a serviette, stood, and walked toward the door. He moved slowly, like a sloth, favoring his right leg. Dragging it. He'd never offered an explanation for the leg. Svensson left the room without casting a single glance Carlos's way.
Carlos waited a full minute in silence, knowing it would take Svensson all of that to walk down the hall. Finally he stood and followed, exiting into a long hall that led to the library, where he assumed Svensson had retired.
He'd met the Swiss three years ago while working with underground Russian factions determined to equalize the world's military powers through the threat of biological weapons. It was an old doctrine: What did it matter if the United States had two hundred thousand nuclear weapons trained on the rest of the world if their enemies had the right biological weapons? A highly infectious airborne virus on the wind was virtually indefensible in open cities.
One weapon to bring the world to its knees.
Carlos paused at the library door, then pushed it open. Svensson stood by the glass wall overlooking the white laboratory one floor below. He'd lit a cigar and was engulfed in a cloud of hazy smoke.