The 34th Degree: A Thriller - Softcover

Greanias, Thomas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1451612419 ISBN 13: 9781451612417

Publisher: Pocket Books, 2012

Synopsis

New York Times bestselling author Thomas Greanias continues the thrilling reality-altering epic adventure that began with The Promised War, as counterterrorism agent Sam Deker embarks on his most daring and life-altering mission yet.

Dishonorably discharged from the armed forces and haunted by nightmares of the past, counterterrorism agent Sam Deker is trying to build a new life in Los Angeles. The Pentagon, however, believes only he can endure their top-secret neuro-simulation program known as the 34th Degree, a stunning technological breakthrough that gleans priceless intel from the sliced brain tissues of dead terrorists. Their target: SS general Ludwig von Berg, the legendary Third Reich “Baron of the Black Order.” Deker’s mission is to discover the fate of the ultimate weapon—a supernatural alchemy for a fatal thermodynamic technology—before his counterparts in the Alignment, a twenty-first-century successor to the Nazi SS, beat him to it. Ultimately, Deker discovers that the past, present, and future are not what they seem, as his path leads to a shattering secret that will change everything he knows about the universe.

About this title

About the Author:

Thomas Greanias is the New York Times bestselling author of seven novels. He is also the founder and CEO of Atlantis Media Corp., an award-winning digital publisher and provider of online streaming and augmented reality entertainment. A former journalist, he has appeared in newspapers, magazines, and on television. Greanias received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northwestern University. He lives with his family in Pacific Palisades, California. Visit his official website at ThomasGreanias.com and the official Raising Atlantis website at RaisingAtlantis.com to preview new books, download exclusive content, and receive special offers.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

1

It was on the Feast of the Ascension, forty days after Easter 1943, when an agent of the British Secret Service turned up at the doorstep of the Monastery of the Taborian Light and Philip knew his life as a monk was over.

Wrapped in his black cassock and hood, Philip had been on his knees with his brothers in the sanctuary, celebrating the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, praying in eager expectation at the blessed hope of His return. This was as he had done for over twenty years, ever since he renounced his former ways and retired to the Monastery of the Taborian Light.

The monastery was perched atop one of the many otherworldly peaks of Meteora, the most remote and mysterious region of Greece. A thousand feet below lay the village of Kastraki, nestled in the foothills. Clinging to its gray granite summit, undisturbed by war or petty human conflicts, the Taborian Light was an impregnable retreat where the Eastern Orthodox monks could witness the unfolding of earthly affairs below and reflect on the eternal.

Here Philip made it his ambition to lead a quiet and peaceful life, just as the apostle Paul had instructed the original church at Thessaloniki. Toward that end, he had allowed his gray hair and beard to grow long, making him seem older than his fifty years, and cloaked in the humility of a monk, he tried to make himself as small and wiry a figure as possible.

But his shapeless cassock could not hide his hard physique or the alert, confident movements of his limbs. Nor could his hood completely veil his eaglelike nose and sharp features. Locals who glimpsed his face during a rare trip to the village never missed his shining black ramlike eyes, set wide apart, gazing placidly from beneath his bushy eyebrows. Their faces would darken with fear, and they would scurry away. Whether they recognized him or not, they instinctively knew he was not one of them.

The sound of hurried footsteps broke Philip’s trance, and his quick black eyes darted up to see Brother Vangelis whisper into the Archimandrite’s ear. The old monk’s face, barely visible behind his great beard and the misty veil of burning incense, fell as he looked at Philip, and the peace that Philip had known for twenty years left him.

So the day has come, Philip thought, and with it the dread.

Philip crossed himself three times before he rose from the floor. With a silent nod, he acknowledged the Archimandrite, took a deep breath, and left the sanctuary.

The visitor was in the narthex, admiring a wall painting of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. He was dressed like a Greek peasant, and with his high forehead, long aesthetic features, and beard, he bore an absurd resemblance to a saint out of some Byzantine icon. But his blue eyes and fair skin betrayed him. When he spoke, it was in perfect Oxford English.

“Commander Lloyd, British Intelligence,” said the Englishman, looking him over. “You must be Philip. You’re smaller than I thought.”

That was what most men thought. Philip lowered his hood and watched Lloyd drop back a couple of steps in fear.

“They were right after all,” said Lloyd, marveling. “The face of a hawk and the eyes of a ram.”

Philip narrowed his eyes. “What do you want, Commander Lloyd of British Intelligence?”

“Why, the same thing the Nazis want,” Lloyd replied. “The Templar Globe. More precisely, what’s inside the globe.”

An uneasiness Philip hadn’t felt since his early days now gripped his heart, and he blinked as though he failed to understand. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what—”

“The Maranatha text,” pressed Lloyd. “The one the apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church in the first century. The one that dates the end of history and the return of Christ.”

© 2011 Thomas Greanias

About this edition

• Publisher: Pocket Books
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1451612419
• ISBN 13: 9781451612417
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 576