Legacy
Alex Devereux, former cavalry Major and hardened mercenary takes on a mission to raise a private army and attack a diamond mine in Africa – and in doing so, comes face to face with an ancient prophecy with earth-shattering implications.1501 - A medieval Knight encounters an object of awesome power - The Nubian Deathstone. Filled with terrifying visions of what the future might bring, he embarks on a quest to discover its secret.1941 - Himmler orders an elite SS Officer on an expedition to resolve the centuries-old enigma, but his discovery will have dire consequences.Working for a diamond cartel and operating outside of international law, Alex comes face-to-face with the Dark Heart Prophecy.Past and present collide - but can Alex redeem himself and prevent the prophecy from coming true?
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JAMES STEEL
Legacy
This novel is entirely a work of fiction.
The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Copyright © James Steel 2010
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Source ISBN: 9781847561602
Ebook Edition © AUGUST 2010 ISBN: 9780007412235 Version: 2018-07-09
For my family and friends.
Contents
SUNDAY 21 SEPTEMBER, LUCAPA DIAMOND FIELD, ANGOLA
11 P.M., THURSDAY 6 NOVEMBER, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
AUGUST 1522, STELTZENBERG, SOUTHWEST GERMANY
SEPTEMBER 1522, PFÄLZERWALD FOREST, CENTRAL GERMANY
PRESENT DAY, 17 NOVEMBER, LONDON
17 NOVEMBER, MBOMOU PROVINCE, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
14 JANUARY 1525, NEUHOF FOREST, HESSE, CENTRAL GERMANY
PRESENT DAY, MONDAY 24 NOVEMBER, MBOMOU PROVINCE, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
PRESENT DAY, TUESDAY 25 NOVEMBER, MBOMOU PROVINCE, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
THURSDAY 27 NOVEMBER, MBOMOU PROVINCE, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
6 FEBRUARY 1525, MÜHLHAUSEN, CENTRAL GERMANY
SATURDAY 17 JANUARY, GBADOLITE AIRPORT, EQUATEUR PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
14 MAY 1525, FRANKENHAUSEN, CENTRAL GERMANY
EVENING, 20 OCTOBER 1525, BAHR EL GHAZAL REGION, THE KINGDOM OF SUDAN
30 MARCH 1941, HEIDELBERG UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, GERMANY
10 APRIL 1941, LESKOVAC, MONTENEGRO, THE BALKANS
PRESENT DAY, 24 JANUARY, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
PRESENT DAY, WEDNESDAY 28 JANUARY, MBOMOU PROVINCE, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
14 JUNE 1941, IDEHAN UBARI. SAHARA
PRESENT DAY, THURSDAY 29 JANUARY, MBOMOU PROVINCE, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
30 MAY 1945, OUTSIDE MUNICH, BAVARIA, GERMANY
FEBRUARY 1951, BONN, WEST GERMANY
LEGACY
James Steel is a writer and journalist based in the UK.
The whisper came through the African night.
‘Zero, this is Lima Three.’
He pressed the radio earpiece hard against his head, focusing on that quiet voice from the throat mike feeding him information. He clicked the transmit key twice to acknowledge his forward observer silently.
The voice whispered again.
‘Sighting report as at two-zero-four. At junction of Gully Red and Gully Yellow now. Infantry. Estimate platoon strength. Moving south.’
He checked the map. This was what it was all about, everything he did: contact with the enemy. They had waited for the moon to go down and hoped to hit the diamond mine just before dawn.
He turned round from his command post, a groundsheet hung up under an acacia tree with the radio on a stack of empty ammunition crates. Its dim glow was the only light. Behind him was the mortar platoon, black shapes in the darkness.
‘Fire Plan India,’ he called in an urgent whisper to the nearest crew, who repeated it down the line. The men twisted the elevation screws and the tubes rose slightly to lengthen the range. The 81mm mortars stared blank-eyed up into the night, blind to the destruction they would cause.
Yamba, the platoon sergeant, scuttled down the line to check the four crews were ready. Then he came close so that his dark face could be seen in the glow from the radio set. He nodded.
‘Zero, this is Lima Three. Fire mission.’
‘Lima Three, this is Zero. Fire mission. Out.’
He waited for the details; pencil stub paused over a dog-eared pad.
‘Fire mission. Grid: three-zero-eight-four-eight-one. Bearing three-two hundred mills. Infantry in gully. Destroy now. One minute. Over.’
He repeated the fire-control orders back to the observer. Then he stood up and turned to the mortar line. The time for action had come.
‘Open fire!’
He barked the order out in a harsh voice that tore away the veil of silence that had cloaked them.
The mortars made their distinctive thunk sound and spat their metal loads up into the night. White flames shot up out of the tubes. Base plates slammed and rang with the recoil.
