Read Online The Lucifer Code by Michael Cordy - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Michael Cordy
Tags: Fiction, Suspense, Death, Thrillers, Action & Adventure, Suspense fiction, Good and Evil, Neurologists
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stronger and faster than he was. But now when he looked at Rob he felt a crushing sadness and remembered Billy French.
Billy had been a friend when they were in their late teens. They had all shared a passion for climbing, and every summer they bummed around Europe trying their luck on the big Alpine peaks. Rob was already an exceptional climber, while Billy and Miles were merely enthusiastic amateurs. Nevertheless, with Rob as leader, they tackled most levels of climb up to ED, extremement difficile, and had even scaled a few ABOs, abominable ascents. It was on the notorious Nordwand of the Eiger that it happened.
It was the end of the summer. Fleming was nineteen and due to start his medical degree at Cambridge. Rob was talking about joining the Royal Marines. Billy was still deciding what to do with the future, which stretched out before them, shimmering with endless possibilities.
It had been one of the wettest Augusts on record and the mountain face was plastered with rime and loaded with unstable snow. But they had come to climb the Eiger and nothing could deter them. On the lower reaches, near the top of a buttress known as the First Pillar, Billy made a misstep. His ice axes and crampons sheared out of the rotten ice and he was airborne. The belays should have held him but the ice screws shot out of their moorings.
Rob and Miles dug in deep and stopped themselves being pulled off the face, but Billy fell until the rope went taut, then swung in a pendulous arc and hit an overhang, which broke his neck. In seconds he went from being a fit young man pondering his future to a paraplegic with none.
On the endless, harrowing descent down the mountain, Rob and Miles nursed Billy's trussed body and tried to keep him conscious, hoping to meet someone who could go for help. But no one appeared until they were almost at the base. On the last drop, as they lowered Billy, Rob turned to Miles. 'If this ever happens to me, Milo,' he whispered, his tanned face as pale as the snow, 'just cut the rope and let me go. You're never more alive than when you're close to death. But you're never more dead than when you're stuck in a life you don't want. So let me go. That's what I'd want. A little pain, don't mind that, a little fear and then nothing.' Two days later, Billy died in hospital.
The Fleming brothers had continued climbing together even after Rob married Susan seven years ago. They had travelled round the world in their search for new mountains to conquer, and often felt as though Billy was with them, especially when the going got tough. Fleming had never forgotten his brother's words, and had always thought that if he did come to harm, it would be on a mountain or in combat. It never occurred to him that Rob would have a stroke while driving a Ford Mondeo up the Ml to Leeds.
As he wheeled his brother's bed out of the ward and into the corridor, he told himself again that tomorrow he would help him. He recalled the countless times Rob had pulled him from a crevasse or helped him reach a difficult peak. Now he would support his brother on his toughest climb.
He had already helped Jake to walk again. Tomorrow he 'would help Rob to talk.
He hoped this was what Rob wanted. Their parents, especially their mother, wanted it. Their mother was an Anglican, who had become even more devout since the accident and believed with an almost blind fervour that in time, with God's love and Miles's skill, her eldest son would be restored to full health.
Fleming knew, though, from witnessing laborious communication sessions with psychologists, that Rob wanted to die. His stroke had caused the car crash that had left him paraplegic, his wife dead and his young son's legs crushed. He had tried twice to broach Rob's depression with their parents, but each time they had been unwilling to talk about it. 'It's just a phase,' they said. 'He'll feel different when he starts to get better.'
And when Fleming had tried to explain that there was no
Billy had been a friend when they were in their late teens. They had all shared a passion for climbing, and every summer they bummed around Europe trying their luck on the big Alpine peaks. Rob was already an exceptional climber, while Billy and Miles were merely enthusiastic amateurs. Nevertheless, with Rob as leader, they tackled most levels of climb up to ED, extremement difficile, and had even scaled a few ABOs, abominable ascents. It was on the notorious Nordwand of the Eiger that it happened.
It was the end of the summer. Fleming was nineteen and due to start his medical degree at Cambridge. Rob was talking about joining the Royal Marines. Billy was still deciding what to do with the future, which stretched out before them, shimmering with endless possibilities.
It had been one of the wettest Augusts on record and the mountain face was plastered with rime and loaded with unstable snow. But they had come to climb the Eiger and nothing could deter them. On the lower reaches, near the top of a buttress known as the First Pillar, Billy made a misstep. His ice axes and crampons sheared out of the rotten ice and he was airborne. The belays should have held him but the ice screws shot out of their moorings.
Rob and Miles dug in deep and stopped themselves being pulled off the face, but Billy fell until the rope went taut, then swung in a pendulous arc and hit an overhang, which broke his neck. In seconds he went from being a fit young man pondering his future to a paraplegic with none.
On the endless, harrowing descent down the mountain, Rob and Miles nursed Billy's trussed body and tried to keep him conscious, hoping to meet someone who could go for help. But no one appeared until they were almost at the base. On the last drop, as they lowered Billy, Rob turned to Miles. 'If this ever happens to me, Milo,' he whispered, his tanned face as pale as the snow, 'just cut the rope and let me go. You're never more alive than when you're close to death. But you're never more dead than when you're stuck in a life you don't want. So let me go. That's what I'd want. A little pain, don't mind that, a little fear and then nothing.' Two days later, Billy died in hospital.
The Fleming brothers had continued climbing together even after Rob married Susan seven years ago. They had travelled round the world in their search for new mountains to conquer, and often felt as though Billy was with them, especially when the going got tough. Fleming had never forgotten his brother's words, and had always thought that if he did come to harm, it would be on a mountain or in combat. It never occurred to him that Rob would have a stroke while driving a Ford Mondeo up the Ml to Leeds.
As he wheeled his brother's bed out of the ward and into the corridor, he told himself again that tomorrow he would help him. He recalled the countless times Rob had pulled him from a crevasse or helped him reach a difficult peak. Now he would support his brother on his toughest climb.
He had already helped Jake to walk again. Tomorrow he 'would help Rob to talk.
He hoped this was what Rob wanted. Their parents, especially their mother, wanted it. Their mother was an Anglican, who had become even more devout since the accident and believed with an almost blind fervour that in time, with God's love and Miles's skill, her eldest son would be restored to full health.
Fleming knew, though, from witnessing laborious communication sessions with psychologists, that Rob wanted to die. His stroke had caused the car crash that had left him paraplegic, his wife dead and his young son's legs crushed. He had tried twice to broach Rob's depression with their parents, but each time they had been unwilling to talk about it. 'It's just a phase,' they said. 'He'll feel different when he starts to get better.'
And when Fleming had tried to explain that there was no
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