title: The Red Cross of Gold V:. The Quinta Essentia: The Assassin Chronicles (The Assassin Chronicles: the Red Cross of Gold)
author:  Brendan Carroll 
description: Brendan Carroll lives and works in the beautiful East Texas Lake Country. The Red Cross of Gold Series is the culmination of a life-long study of the occult, the mystical and all things related to the suffering of mankind through the evolutionary process that makes life worth living.
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  Tempo Rubato
  
  
  
  “Stolen Time”
  
  
  
  
  
  by
  
  
  
  
  
  Brendan Carroll
  
  
  
  
  
  Copyright 1995
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  Discover other titles by Brendan Carroll:
  
  
  
  The Red Cross of Gold I:. The Knight of Death
  
  
  
  The Red Cross of Gold II:. The King of Terrors
  
  
  
  The Red Cross of Gold III:. The Head of the Crow
  
  
  
  The Red Cross of Gold IV:. The Hesperial Dragon
  
  
  
  The Red Cross of Gold V:. The Quinta Essentia
  
  
  
  The Red Cross of Gold VI:. The Dragonslayer
  
  
  
  The Red Cross of Gold VII:. The Wisdom of Solomon
  
  
  
  The Red Cross of Gold IX:. The Queen of the Abyss
  
  
  
  The Red Cross of Gold X:. Genesis 6:5
  
  
  
  The Red Cross of Gold XI:. Ars Arabia
  
  
  
  The Red Cross of Gold XII:. Son of the Moon
  
  
  
  The Red Cross of Gold XIII:. The Children of the Temple
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
  Prelude
  
  WEST TEXAS   Early Spring 1995
  
  
  
  
  
  The elderly gentleman pushed back one of the bothersome locks of wispy, white
  hair and shook his head slowly as he opened the heavy door of the cramped
  glass and steel control booth. Behind him, in cool, air-conditioned 