The Belial Ring (The Belial Series 3) (3 page)

“
I think I’ve found something,” Danny said, interrupting Laney’s thoughts.

Laney walked over to the other side of the room, joined by Henry and Jake.
Danny had been working on the resolution of the book that was stolen two months ago from the Shuar collection. They’d been unable to clean up the security film image, but just this morning they had finally identified the book from the inventory.

“
What have you got?” Henry asked.

“
Hold on. I’ll put it on the big screen.” Danny hit a couple of buttons on his keyboard.

The four of them walked over to the ultra
-high-definition seventy-inch screen on the right side of the room. The picture was beyond crisp. It was almost as if the book were lying right there in front of them.

“
Where did this picture come from?” Jake asked.

“
It was part of the inventory that Flourent did when they stole the Shuar collection,” Laney said, her focus still on the screen.

Before Sebastian Flourent started any work on the collection
that he’d stolen from the Shuar people, he had the people working for him document the find. The notes and accompanying documentation had been found when Jake recovered the collection.

Flourent and his people might have been complete monsters, but they
were meticulous in their documentation.

The book on the screen was about a foot and a half by two feet.
It was covered in what looked like gold leaf. Laney’s hands itched to touch it.

The thieves who
’d stolen the book had clearly been looking for this specific book—they had disregarded all the others. And they could have easily made off with a dozen of them, if not more.

Dread spread through Laney.
She didn’t know why the two who had stolen it wanted this particular book. But whatever the reason, it didn’t bode well for the rest of mankind that the book was now in the hands of a Fallen.

And that was the real fear that nestled deep within her chest whenever she thought about this book.
Not just that it was stolen. But that it was stolen by two of
them
.

Last year, Laney, Jake and Henry discovered that the world included beings other than humans.
It also included fallen angels, who were reborn time and again, although most had no knowledge of their previous lives. As a result, they were usually alone, never even having knowledge of their brethren. They did, however, retain their abilities.

But two of them had worked together to steal this book.
Laney felt her familiar terror rise up, like it did whenever she thought of the Fallen.

She
’d fought two together once. She never wanted to do that again. And she worried about what it meant that they now seemed to be teaming up with greater frequency. Because from what she and her friends knew, the Fallen working together was supposed to be a rare occurrence.

Henry clapped Danny on the shoulder.
“Great work, Danny. Why don’t you go get a milkshake to celebrate?”

Laney could tell
that Danny was trying hard not to roll his eyes. “Right,” he said. “Because you guys want to discuss this thing without me.”

“
No, of course not,” Henry said. “I just thought you could use a little break.”

Danny handed the control to Laney.
“Okay. I’m going. What do you need, thirty minutes?”

Laney tried not to smile.
“That should do it.”

Danny nodded.
“I’ll go take Moxy for a walk.” Danny’s chow-shepherd, Moxy, would sit outside the lab room when they were examining the books. Even though she was well trained, the Smithsonian balked at the idea of a dog being in the room with the ancient books. So she stayed in an office right outside. “See you.”

When the door closed behind Danny,
Laney and Jake turned to stare at Henry.

“
What?” Henry demanded.

Jake laughed.
“You just tried to lie, very badly, to a super-genius. I know he’s technically thirteen, but even a seven-year-old with average intelligence could have seen through that.”

Henry grimaced.
“I know. It’s just, after Las Vegas, I want to keep him safe. And keep him away from all of this as much as I can.”

“
You know that’s going to be all but impossible,” Jake said. “Danny’s as curious as the rest of us about what’s going on.”

“
I know. But it doesn’t mean I’m not going to try. He’s been through enough. Whatever this book says, it’s for the biological adults to deal with, not just the legal adults.”

Laney patted his shoulder.
Henry had taken Danny in when he was ten. Danny’s own family had been unkind, to say the least, about Danny’s intelligence. Henry had offered Danny a safe haven and a place to belong. He’d even helped emancipate him. In every way, Henry had become Danny’s father.

“You’re right,” Laney said. “
We’ll keep him out of this as much as we can.”

“
Is that a Star of David?” Jake asked, directing their attention back to the screen. He pointed to a symbol in the bottom left.

Laney moved to stand next to him.
Sure enough, in the corner of the book were two triangles overlapping to create a star. “It looks like it, but Judaism only dates to around 2,000 BC. Of course, the Star of David isn’t only a Judaic symbol; it’s also mentioned in both the Quran and Talmud as well. But it still doesn’t make any sense.”

Henry shook his head.
“Technically, I suppose the Star could be dated to Abraham, which puts it at maybe 5,000 BC. But this text is still much older. It dates to at least 10,000 BC, if not earlier.”

Laney traced the symbol.
“It’s also known as the seal of Solomon.”

The
seal of Solomon was two interlaced triangles, which was supposed to be inscribed with the name of God. In the Judaic tradition, the wearer was said to be protected by the symbol from fire, wounds, and other harms.

Laney
’s eyes roamed over the other shapes on the cover. “In fact, one could argue that a bunch of these other symbols are also related to Solomon.”

She
traced the picture of a beast that looked like a cross between a lion and a bear. “Solomon was alleged to have the ability to control the animals.”

Henry pointed to a few wavy lines.
“This might be water or wind.”

“
And Solomon could control that as well?” Jake asked.

Laney shrugged.  “
Allegedly he could.”

“
This is Solomon of ‘split the baby in two’ fame, right?” Jake asked.

Laney nodded.
“But Solomon was more than that. He was supposed to have been the wisest ruler of ancient Israel. Israel went through a time of unprecedented peace and prosperity under his rule. Well, at least, until he became corrupted and started disobeying God’s rules.”

“
What rules?” Jake asked.

Laney smiled.
“He is alleged to have had over seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines.”

Jake let out a low whistle.
“Man was busy.”

Laney elbowed him
in the ribs.

Jake put his hands up. “
Not that I would ever want that. I’m more than happy with my one woman.”

She snorted.
“Nice save.”

Henry ignored their
banter. “He also built the greatest temple: the first Temple.”

Laney shook her head.
“Actually, according to legend,
he
didn’t build it. Demons did. Demons under his control.”

Jake looked sharply at Laney.
“He could control demons? As in—fallen angels? Could this book explain how?”

“
I don’t know, but if it does, it would explain why the Fallen wanted it,” Henry said.

Laney stared at the images on the screen.
“But that doesn’t make any sense. Solomon lived around 1,000 BC. This book is much, much older than that. So this can’t be depicting Solomon’s reign.”

Jake turned to look at Henry.
“What’s the title of the book?”

Henry
examined the title, his pupils once again contracting. After a moment he turned to them, his mouth hanging open slightly.

Dread welled up in Laney.
“Henry?”

“
It’s called
The Army of the Belial
.”

“
Oh shit,” Jake said.

Laney looked at the two of them but didn
’t speak. Her mind raced.
The Army of the Belial
. She’d heard that phrase before—but where? She gasped, grabbing Jake’s arm.

“
Laney?” He looked down at her, concern in his eyes.

“
I just realized where I’ve heard that phrase before.” She went silent, staring off into space.
It couldn’t be, could it?

“
Laney?” Henry’s voice cut through her thoughts. “Where did you hear it?”

“
The War Scroll.”

“
Wait,” Jake said, “that’s one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, right?”

“
Yeah. It’s the one that talks about the final battle between the forces of good and the Army of the Belial.”

Laney stared at the screen.
The two Fallen from Vegas had gone to a lot of trouble to get this book.

“
Oh, that’s not good,” Henry mumbled.

“
No. That’s not good at all.” Laney agreed.

CHAPTER 2

Johnson City, Tennessee

A
mar Patel sat in his office, his pale green eyes focused on the monitor in front of him. Two boys, both seventeen, circled one another on a dirt floor. Yells could be heard from others in the room, but they were off camera. The camera remained fixed on the two combatants.

One of the boys was very muscular, his arms well defined.
He outweighed his opponent by at least fifty pounds and was six inches taller. His opponent, by contrast, looked as if a stiff wind could blow him over.

In a normal fight, the smart money would be on the bigger opponent.

But this wasn’t a normal fight.

The smaller teen had a look of complete confidence on his face as he watched his opponent.
He smirked as the bigger boy circled him; at one point, he even turned his back on his towering friend. Sensing an opening, the larger boy charged from behind.

At the last second, the smaller boy moved, lightning fast.
He jumped straight up in the air. The taller boy fell forward, arms outstretched, sliding in the dirt.

The smaller boy landed, one leg on either side of the sprawled boy
’s waist. He grabbed the larger boy by the hair and looked up, his eyes focused on someone out of camera range. With a nod, he placed his hands on either side of the boy’s head—then twisted so fast no human eye would be able to even see the motion.

Letting
the larger boy’s head drop limply to the ground, he stood with a grin, and bowed at the waist.

Amar smiled
as well, wishing he had audio. He was sure the echo of the snapping of the dead boy’s neck must have been impressive.

Amar leaned back.
The kid was a little bit of a showboat, but that could be beaten out of him. A little training, and the boy would be good. Very good. He texted a quick note to that effect into his phone before switching off the monitor.

Amar stood and stretched.
His attention had only been half focused on the training module. He wanted to see how the translation was coming. But he knew it would take time, and it wouldn’t do for anyone to see him anxious. A leader must at all times demonstrate control. Control was everything—especially with this group.

Amar walked down the hall.
He felt a tingle of anticipation. Yesterday, the translator had said he was close, really close. Amar quickened his pace.

Taking the stairs at the end of the hall two at a time, he stepped into the wide hallway at the top. He strode down the hall
toward the large door at the end, opened it, and nodded with satisfaction. Everyone was working, their focus on the tasks in front of them.

The room was large, with a giant picture window at the other end.
A large work table sat on the right-hand side and a wall of computers blanketed the left. Five individuals glanced up when he entered. All of them nodded respectfully before turning back to their tasks.

This room was the hub of his enterprise
—at least, his more
important
enterprise. Of course he had managers overseeing his financial empire, but this room had nothing to do with that.