Faith Inc. Abridged synopsis
Faith Inc.
a journey into the clandestine past
– an abridged synopsis –
Europe has a long and bloody past where different fractions and different kings have waged war against each other for power and territories. Dynasties has been born, flourished and died. The only constant has been the Church, and especially the Roman Catholic Church. The throne of S:t Peter has not only been a conveyor of ancient knowledge and faith, but also one of the major contenders for power.
In Faith Inc., two ancient organisations are competing for the clandestine power of the world today, just as they have been doing for centuries. A power that allows them to influence all our lives.
By chance, international business magnate Hernando Carriera is attacked on a street in Brussels, Begium, by an old Jewish man. The man believes Carriera to be the same man who tortured him in the Nazi concentration camp Treblinka over fifty years ago. This chance meeting starts a series of events that eventually will change the world.
Jean de Plantagenet is a frustrated young man living in a secluded monastery fortress high up in the mountains of Northeast France. He knows he is very important, but not why.
Hernando Carriera knows the reason, and he is deeply worried by an ancient prophesy, suggesting that Jean de Plantagenet is the key to the ultimate power. It is also a key that belongs to his foremost rival, the Priory of the Temple, heirs to the secrets of the Knights Templar – secrets that effectively can stop the Carriera controlled orthodox new Catholic crusade, the Miles Militis Deus, to reach the throne of S:t Peter.
Carriera realises there is one simple solution to avoid the devastating prophesy; assassinating Jean de Plantagenet.
After surviving yet another attempt on his young life by a full-scale commando attack on the mountain fortress, Jean, accompanied by his protector the Knights Templar Alain, quietly leave the fortress and ventures into the world looking for his destiny.
Journalist Jane Flanagan was present during the attack on Carriera by the old Jewish man and she is puzzled, not only due to the attack but also by the virtual information black-out surrounding the powerful business man. Her puzzlement turns into suspicion when the Jewish man is found floating dead in a river, and when she finds out Carriera is the spitting image of the infamous “Beast” of Treblinka.
As she tries to find information about Carriera, she soon realises she has stumbled into a unholy alliance of business and religion in the quest for power. And she pays the ultimate price.
Flanagan didn’t die in vain. Her legacy, a folder containing information that can topple governments, is in the hands of her neighbour, theology scholar Jurgen Weiss. When he realises just how hot the information is, he flees back to his native Germany. An old friend, a bishop, confirms Flanagan’s suspicions and points Weiss toward London where he knows a representative of the only organisation able to stop Carriera and the Miles Militis Deus – the Priory of the Temple.
In London, Chief prosecutor Catherine Sinclair is handling one of the biggest cases in her career; the extradition trial of former Chilean dictator Pinochet. Weiss manages to contact her and give her Flanagan’s legacy, the folder. And it is just in time, soon afterward he is murdered.
Troubled, Sinclair takes the information to the head of The Priory of the Temple, French nobleman Henri de Lorraine, Jean’s uncle. In it, he discovers information of the location a certain grimoire, a book containing the details of the prophesy about Jean. The book was thought to have been lost since the Albigensian crusade in the 13th century. De Lorraine makes it clear to Sinclair that finding the book have priority above everything else.
The defence attorney in the Pinochet case, Nigel Crowley, is one of Carriera’s closest associates and his brother is a powerful Member of Parlament as well as the head of the Miles Militis Deus in Britain. The organisation is dealt a crippling blow as Crowley’s niece goes public with a horrifying inside story on the inner workings of the Miles Militis Deus. Nigel Crowley is dealt an even harder blow as he receives Carriera’s order to kill his own niece.
Unable to comply, Crowley makes a deal with Catherine Sinclair. In exchange for the protection of his niece, Crowley gives her damaging inside information from the highest levels of Carriera’s empire.
A bored teenager doesn’t see any harm in going to the video store, so Crowley’s niece sneaks out. She is immediately kidnapped. An attempt to rescue her leads to a barren Irish heath where two Irish terrorists have been hired to execute Crowley and his niece. They are interrupted by a monk who soon discovers the dying Crowley laying beside his dead niece.
The monk cares for the fatally wounded Crowley and listens to his erratic ramblings. The monk, a former American covert operative, suddenly finds the answers to many questions that have been haunting him for years. He is left with an impossible choice; to turn his cheek and let innocent people die, or lay down his vows and take up his former profession.
Meanwhile, Jean and Alain have made a quite quiet journey to the South of France, even though Jean has been haunted by visions of a black Madonna. In Marseille they meet a black hooker, Madeleine, who helps them escape Carriera’s mercenaries. She manages to get them aboard a ship to Spain.
In Spain they meet Jean’s mother and get yet another piece of the puzzle that is Jean’s destiny. Jean’s mother is killed in yet another attempt on Jean’s life. It seems that someone is always one step ahead of them.
Before her death, Jean’s mother has given them the location of the grimoire. A day later Jean, Madeleine and Alain find the burnt out remains of a library where the grimoire was supposed to be found. There, they join up with the monk, Ghost, and Catherine Sinclair. The owner of the library informs them about a rumour that a copy, or maybe even the original, of the grimoire still is in Languedoc, the heartland of the doomed Cathars, the victims of the Albigensian crusade.
Together they journey to Languedoc and arrive safely, despite Carriera’s attempts to stop them. All but Catherine Sinclair, who dies protecting Jean.
In Languedoc they find a descendant of one of the most powerful grandmasters of the Knights Templar, Mme Blanchefort. Awed, they find themselves greeted as if expected. And Mme Blanchefort informs them that she and her family have been waiting for centuries for Jean to come and claim the grimoire. As proof she shows them an ancient painting depicting Jean and Alain in every little detail.
Mme Blanchefort urges them to Rome to find the details of the grimoire’s obsurely written prophesy. With the book they soon leave for the holy city. But they are not alone in their quest, both Carriera and Henri de Lorraine soon follow.
In Rome, the sickly Pope has been murdered by a group close to the throne. The struggle for power is on and after a charade of election by the secret conclave, Carriera’s candidate is declared as the new Pope.
A cardinal belonging to the opposition, answers Henri de Lorraine’s call for help and smuggles out clandestine documents from the Vatican’s most secret archive. The documents clarifies the dim words of the grimoire.
Just on the verge of understanding and possible victory, Jean and Alain are kidnapped by Carriera. And the trail leads to Jerusalem where it once all started…
