The Sean Wyatt Series Box Set 4

by Ernest Dempsey

  The light turned green, and Tommy accelerated through the intersection. "I hadn't either until I did a little research on him. He was an amateur anthropologist."

  "Like you?"

  "Hilarious." Tommy shook his head at the joke.

  Adriana laughed.

  "Don't encourage him," Tommy said to her. "Anyway, it was a journal entry from him. Seems he found something pretty important in a cave in New South Wales. Reece invited me down there to check it out. I figured I had some time—"

  "So you'd just fly, like, fourteen hours across the world to have a look?"

  "First of all, it's more like sixteen hours. And secondly, maybe I'll take a little time off when I get there. Things have been so crazy lately. I figured an Australian beach might be nice right about now."

  "It is chilly here," Sean said. "Speaking of, I hope the weather stays nice for our trip to Vegas."

  Tommy ignored him. "Anyway, I've tried reaching out to Reece since then but haven't been able to get ahold of him."

  "Wait. So you're still going to fly down there even though the guy you're going to see hasn't responded to your calls."

  "Or emails or texts. Yep. I'm a grown adult, Sean. And it's not like money is a problem. I can find a place to stay."

  His point was true enough. Tommy was worth upward of a hundred million now. It seemed his investments could do no wrong.

  "Well," Adriana interrupted, "I think it's great, Tommy. You deserve to take a trip like that. You work very hard."

  "Thank you," Tommy said.

  He turned a corner and came to the last light before they reached IAA headquarters about five hundred feet away. The steel side of the building shimmered in the morning sunlight.

  "The kids still here?" Sean asked as he looked out the window to his right.

  "Yeah. They don't head out until tomorrow."

  Their conversation was stopped by a sudden boom.

  In an instant, the external walls of the IAA building shuddered. Fire erupted out of the windows, sending shards of glass across the street and into the park. Smoke blasted out of every opening. Another blast sounded from inside the structure. One second, the IAA building was there. The next, it was consumed by a flash of fire and debris.

  Tommy instinctively jammed the car into reverse and backed up. Luckily there was no one behind him.

  His reaction hadn't been a moment too soon. A huge chunk of concrete struck the asphalt where the car had just been sitting.

  The ground rumbled, shaking windows and signs in the buildings next to them. Meanwhile, the three in the car watched helplessly as the IAA headquarters collapsed in on itself.

  White and black clouds rolled out a hundred feet in every direction.

  The car's three occupants were speechless.

  Sean's instincts were to run to the building to see if anyone needed help. He opened the car door and got out. The other two did as well. All three of them knew there was nothing they could do. The facility was completely destroyed.

  Worse, anyone inside would be dead.

  4

  Sydney

  "It's done."

  Bernard Holmes allowed a weak smile to escape his lips as he held the phone to his ear. "You're certain?"

  "Turn on the news, and see for yourself. It's all over every station. The media is calling it a terrorist attack."

  The media, so predictable. Of course they would call it that. He'd counted on it. Americans were so on edge about terrorism that the moment anything smelled remotely like an attack, they were ready to label it. Next, people would demand justice; the authorities would claim they had leads. Eventually someone would get pinned for the atrocity. Public outcry would accept nothing less.

  "I'll have a look later. I'm indisposed at the moment." He surveyed the room warily to make sure no one was listening. Then he lowered his voice. "You're sure they're all dead?"

  "That's what our man told me."

  "And what of the email to Schultz?"

  "He didn't send it to anyone else. If he spoke to someone about it, doesn't matter now. The evidence is gone. Without Mathews's clue, it's just another myth that will vanish into thin air."

  Violins played in the background. The chatter of wealthy socialites mingled with the music. Holmes was a tad surprised so many had stayed into the late hours of the evening. Expensive wine and champagne tended to have that effect on people.

  Holmes was the chairman of Enertech, one of the major players in the booming Australian oil industry. His was the third most profitable in the country, pulling in billions in profit thanks to the discovery of a new shale deposit.

  But third place wasn't good enough. His ego demanded more, as did his shareholders. Sure, he had a personal net worth of over a billion, but that could disappear in an instant. He'd had it all and lost it all before. Holmes wasn't about to let that happen again. Once he had control of the majority of Australia's oil, he'd be unstoppable.

  "It sounds like you're at a party." The man on the other end of the line interrupted his thoughts. "I'll leave you alone, sir."

  "It's a fundraiser. I have to keep up appearances."

  "Sounds awful."

  "It's not so bad. The food and alcohol more than make up for the tedious company."

  "No offense, but I'll take a cold Toohey over champagne any day."

  Holmes smiled and nodded at a silver-haired man that walked by wearing a tightly pressed tuxedo. It was the mayor of the city. As soon as he was gone, Holmes allowed his fake smile to disappear.

  "None taken. What about your man in the States? I trust you're going to tie up that loose end."

  "He'll be getting on a plane to come back right about now. That flight won't make it very far. I went ahead and put out a few footprints for the American authorities to find that will lead them straight back to him. He'll be blamed for the terror attacks, and the story will be a distant memory within a month."

  "Perfect." Holmes showed off another toothy grin, this time to an older woman.

  Holmes was in his late fifties and had attended these sorts of functions more times than he cared to remember. It wasn't that he hated parties. He loved them. His life of opulence allowed for entertainment mere mortals couldn't afford. The fundraisers, on the other hand, were an irritation.

  He likened them to a glorified beggars convention—full of people walking around with their palms out, hoping to get a scrap for their pet project or charity. Holmes donated, of course. He had to. Nothing better to fend off critics than to donate a million to some pathetic cause.

  Another man of similar age locked eyes with Holmes from across the room. It was another one of the nonprofit guys. His last name was Stewart. That's all Holmes could remember. Stewart took the momentary exchange of glances as an invitation to come over. Holmes cursed himself in his mind for letting his eyes hold the gaze for a fraction of a second.

  "What about the woman?" The voice on the phone asked. "You want me to get rid of her too?"

  Holmes had already decided her fate before the question was voiced. "No. Not yet. She may still be of use to us, at the very least as leverage if things get tight. You can never have too many chips on your side of the table."

  "Sounds good to me. I'll have my men keep an eye on her. I doubt she's going to try anything stupid."

  "I'm going to have to go. I'll see you at the office in the morning. Find out what you can about that paper. The woman may not know anything, but keep pressing her. I want that relic."

  "Understood. I'm on it."

  "Oh. One more thing. Once we have the artifact, there's no reason to keep her around anymore." Holmes ended the call and plastered his faux smile across his face again just as Stewart came near.

  "Ah, Mr. Stewart. So good to see you. How are things going?"

  "Things are fine, Mr. Holmes, thanks in no small part to your contribution last year."

  "Well, I'm just happy to help." Holmes passed a fake smile and put his hands behind his back, tipping up onto his toes and
back down again. He had no idea what charity the man was running. Apparently, Holmes had written a check he didn't remember.

  "That's good to hear. I have to ask, have you considered making another contribution this year? Or are all your allotments otherwise spoken for?"

  Holmes eyed him suspiciously, allowing the other man to feel awkward for several seconds. Right at the point Stewart felt he'd overstepped his bounds, Holmes slapped him on the shoulder and started laughing.

  "Of course I'll make another donation. Get in touch with my secretary, and we'll set it up."

  Stewart sighed, clearly relieved on multiple levels. "Wonderful. Thank you again, so much, Mr. Holmes. I truly appreciate it. And you won't regret it."

  I already do.

  5

  Atlanta

  Fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances packed the streets around the rubble that had been the IAA headquarters. Cops stood around the perimeter, making sure none of the onlookers got too close. Firefighters and rescue workers dug cautiously through the building's remains.

  Sean, Adriana, and Tommy stood huddled together as close to the destruction as the police would allow. Even though Tommy was the owner of the property, it was now a crime scene.

  The three stared in mortified disbelief at the carnage. A million questions raced through their heads, but no one said a thing. What could they say? In the hour since the explosion, the only words spoken had been to various authorities who were trying to piece together what might have happened and who was inside.

  Sean did most of the talking. Tommy was in shock. All Adriana could do was console him and keep her arm around him.

  As they looked on at the flurry of activity in and around the destruction, a young man's voice interrupted the group's silence.

  "What did you do?"

  Tommy blinked for a second and then spun around.

  Alex and Tara were standing behind them with beleaguered looks on their faces and cups of coffee in their hands.

  "You're alive!" Tommy shouted and wrapped his arms around both of them. He squeezed them tight, nearly causing Tara to drop her cup.

  "Yeah," she said. "We figured we'd go get a cup of coffee."

  "Looks like coffee was a good call," Alex said. "Otherwise we'd be at the bottom of all that." He took a sip from the cup, almost as if he was unfazed.

  "Right," Tara agreed. "And it was also a good thing we ran out at the office."

  Sean let out a long sigh of relief. "Boy, are we glad to see you two. We thought we'd lost you."

  Tommy finally let go of the big bear hug he was giving them. A tear streaked down the side of his face. "Sorry. But you guys are like family to me."

  Tara couldn't speak for a second, catching her breath from the hug and still shocked as she stared at the destruction. "Do you guys have any idea what happened? Who did this?" she asked after collecting her thoughts.

  "I don't know." Tommy shook his head. "Was there anyone else inside?"

  "No, I don't think so," Alex answered. "The maintenance workers don't come 'til the afternoon. As far as I know, we were the only ones there this morning."

  "That's a relief," Adriana said.

  "Yeah, but your building," Tara pressed the point. "All the equipment, the research—it's all gone."

  "Don't worry about all that," Tommy said. "Everything was backed up in the cloud. And any artifacts we had in stock were down in the vault. They'll dig that out eventually. But it would have taken a ton of explosives to break through that steel and concrete."

  "Kind of makes you wonder why the whole building wasn't just built that tough." Sean's comment drew an annoyed glance from Tommy. "Too soon?"

  Tommy turned back to the kids. "You didn't happen to see anything unusual this morning? A stranger lurking around the area, maybe walking by the building a few times? Someone hanging out in the lobby, perhaps?"

  The two thought for a moment. Tara stared up into the sky as if the passing clouds would jar her memory. She came up with nothing. "No, I can't think of anyone."

  "Now that you mention it," Alex said, "there was a guy I saw jogging by."

  "So?" Tara asked. "We see joggers down here all the time. It's a popular place for people to get in a walk or a run."

  Alex's head turned back and forth. "No, this was different. I saw him twice, running in the same direction."

  "The same direction?" Sean asked.

  "Yeah. I didn't think much of it at the time, like maybe he was just doing laps around the block. Now that I think of it, though, the time span between the sightings was too close for him to have done a full loop."

  Tommy pressed the issue. "What did this man look like?"

  "Hard to say. He had black running gear on, long leggings, a jacket, and a matching cap. Oh, and he was wearing sunglasses. He did sort of have big ears, but the rest of his features weren't really discernible."

  "That's all you can remember—his clothes?"

  "Yes. I realize that if I was the person who had to give the police artist a description of a criminal that they'd never find the guy because I suck at giving descriptions of people. Even people I've known for long time. I'm sorry."

  "It's okay," Sean said. "You've given us something to go on. I'll let the authorities know what to look out for."

  "He would have changed clothes by now," Tommy said.

  "Still, won't hurt to pass along the information. They could always get lucky."

  Tara stared at the destruction. "I guess it looks like we may be on vacation for an extended period of time." There was a twinge of sadness in her voice.

  "Don't worry," Tommy said. "We'll get you two set up with a temporary space by the time you get back. Enjoy the vacation time. You two both need it."

  "I feel bad," Alex said. "I don't think we should be leaving with all this going on. I mean, shouldn't we stick around and help you go through the wreckage, figure out what can be salvaged."

  "There won't be much to save," Sean said. "Whoever rigged that thing to blow knew exactly what they were doing. If that jogger you saw was the bomber, he's either a demolitions expert, some kind of special ops, or both. The point is, he knew what he was doing."

  "Yeah," Adriana agreed. "That opens up a whole new problem, though." She voiced what she knew everyone had to be thinking. "Someone was trying to kill you."

  "We've had our fair share of enemies," Tommy reflected.

  "None of them have ever taken it this far, though," Sean said.

  "Stab anyone in the back lately?" Tommy asked.

  Sean's right eyebrow rose slightly. "Literally or figuratively?"

  "Funny."

  Tara chimed in. "Actually, I don't think he's kidding."

  Sean winked at her. "Besides, as far as the bomber knew, I wasn't going to be there today. That means he was coming after one of you three, not me."

  Alex turned his head and looked at Tara.

  "Don't look at me," she said. "I don't have any enemies."

  "That you know of," Alex said.

  "Maybe it wasn't someone you wronged," Adriana interrupted. She swiveled and faced Tommy. "You said you were going to Australia, that you got an email about a letter or something?"

  Tommy nodded. "Yeah. It was a journal entry by a long-dead amateur archaeologist."

  "What was in that journal entry?"

  He shrugged. "I didn't really understand all of it. He talked about something out of the ordinary he found at a cave north of Sydney. Then he mentioned a treasure he and his sick friend were looking for."

  "Treasure?" Alex asked.

  "Mmm hmm. He didn't say what it was but claimed they were close to finding it."

  "Why didn't they?"

  "Mathews said his friend was too ill to continue and it wouldn't be right to go on without him. Something about the friend being Aborigine and the treasure belonged to him."

  Sean connected the dots. "He left a clue in his message. Didn't he?"

  Tommy squirmed. "I mean, yeah. I don't remember all the details
about the clue. But yes, there was a clue. I wasn't going to keep the treasure if I found it." He started sounding defensive. "I didn't know for sure if there was anything to it or not."

  "It's okay," Sean said. "I'm positive Tara and Alex believe you." He waited for an uncomfortable moment until the others broke out in laughter. Then he slapped Tommy on the back and shook him. "Buddy, relax. You want to run off to Australia to hunt for some ancient Aboriginal treasure on your off time, be my guest. I don't care. It's your time to do with whatever you want."

  "Yeah," Adriana said. "And now that this has happened," she motioned to the rubble, "We hope you understand that Sean and I will be coming with you."

  Sean slid to the side and put his arm around her with a proud grin on his face. "You know there's no arguing with her, right?"

  Tommy sighed. "Fine. How long will it take you to pack?"

  6

  Adelaide

  Adriana stared out the window at the passing countryside. "This friend of yours really lives out in the country, doesn't he?"

  "Yeah," Tommy said. "Let's just say that Reece is more of the outdoorsy type." He and Sean exchanged a knowing glance.

  "That's an understatement," Sean muttered.

  Their journey to Australia had taken just under sixteen hours. Talking to the investigators, a few members of the press, and then more investigators put off their departure by nearly six hours. The FBI had been reluctant to let Tommy leave the country, but after a call to Emily Starks, the FBI suddenly backed down. Sean figured there was probably an executive order in the mix somewhere.

  Once they arrived in Sydney, the plane refueled and took them south to Adelaide. After so many hours of exhausting travel, the three really just wanted to find a place to bed down for a few hours and get some rest. The flight had afforded them some sleep time, but sleeping on a plane was never restful.

  Adriana continued to look out at the scenery. The rolling foothills were dotted with trees and green grass. White clouds with silver bottoms littered the bright blue sky. The three Americans had immediately noted the temperature change when they got off the plane. Australia was entering the summer months and it was, apparently, warmer than usual.