The Topaz Brooch

by Katherine Lowry Logan

Within fifteen seconds, she appeared at his elbow. “What’s up?”

  Churchill beamed. “We’re going to ride scooters, ma’am.”

  Raine’s eyebrows lifted. “Roger that. What’s the plan?”

  “You lead. PM can follow you. Ranger will follow PM. I’ll follow Ranger.”

  “What about Mac driving behind us?”

  “Good idea.” He clicked his mic. “Ranger and PM want to ride scooters. Follow us in your vehicle, Mac.”

  “Roger that,” Mac said.

  “This is Irish,” Rick said in her ear. “Do you want me to go with you?”

  Penny clicked her mic. “Stay and watch the game. We won’t be gone long. Besides, those big feet of yours won’t fit on the scooter.”

  He laughed. “Big feet, huh?”

  “This is an open mic, O’Grady. Don’t embarrass yourself,” she said.

  Several chuckles came through her earpiece.

  “Where are the scooters?” Raine asked.

  “I’ll show you,” Churchill said. “Come on!” And he ran off toward the street.

  “PM, stop!” Tavis shouted.

  Churchill skidded to a halt, whipped around, his hand over his mouth, eyes wide. “Sorry. I forgot, sir.” Terror glazed his voice.

  Tavis reached him, leaned down to be on eye level, and said, “If you ever do that again, I’ll sit your ass in that vehicle, and you’ll sit there until it’s time to leave.”

  Churchill nodded like a bobble-head doll. “Sorry. I won’t do it again. Honest.”

  “You can’t afford to forget. When you do, you put your life and everyone else’s in danger. That would be an epic fail. Got it?”

  Penny wanted to jump to Churchill’s defense, but she curled her toes into her shoes to stop herself. A warning from Tavis would be more effective than anything she could say.

  Churchill was close to tears and standing straight, shoulders back as if preparing himself for corporal punishment.

  “Yes, sir.” His chin wobbled.

  “Okay,” Tavis said. “Let’s go find some scooters.”

  Churchill snaked his hand into Tavis’s, and Tavis smiled and gave him a thumbs-up.

  “You’re taller than my dad, but his shoulders are wider.”

  “Ya think?” Tavis asked.

  “Maybe a little, but you’re not as old.”

  Tavis laughed, but then snapped himself out of the moment, and his steely presence returned. He had a delightful laugh, and it matched his blue eyes, long, dark lashes, dimples, and thick black hair, similar to his brother’s. Penny immediately wondered how she could introduce Tavis to Emily. She’d have to keep him in mind the next time the family had a get-together.

  They walked a block, finding several scooters along the way. Penny downloaded the apps for scooter companies Bird, Spin, and Lime onto her cell phone and entered her new credit card information. But a scan of the bar codes showed the scooter batteries were all dead. Finally, they found four—two on one corner, two on another—with enough power to give them at least a thirty-minute ride around the center city.

  “Let’s go across the bridge, ride along the canal, cut back across, ride through the shopping district, and come back,” Raine said. “But,” she looked sharply at Churchill. “No trick riding or stunts.”

  Churchill stiffened and looked at Raine with big, worried eyes. “I don’t know how to do tricks or stunts. Do you?”

  “Not on these, but give me a skateboard, and I can do aciddrops off almost anything.”

  “What’s that?” he asked.

  “Oh, man. I can see you’ve got a lot to learn. We’ll talk later. Let’s stay sharp. Okay?”

  It took Penny a few minutes to figure out where to put her feet and how to push the throttle on the right handlebar, and use the brake on the left.

  “Stay in the bike lanes, if possible,” Tavis said. “Move to the sidewalk if there aren’t any bike lanes.”

  Churchill picked it right up and was soon zooming down the bike lane. Tavis stayed with him, shouting instructions and directions. Penny just prayed she wouldn’t get hit or fall off. Thankfully, Rick wasn’t with her. He’d be yelling, “Slow down!”

  Raine hung back with Penny, asking her every few minutes if she was okay, which was as annoying as Rick would have been.

  Damn it, woman. I survived the Battle of New Orleans. I can ride a goddamn scooter.

  After a fifteen-minute ride, Churchill stopped in front of a government-style building, and Tavis immediately parked his scooter next to Churchill’s.

  “Can we go inside?” Churchill asked on his mic. “This is one of the museums Uncle Matt told us to visit.”

  Penny parked on the other side of Churchill. “What did he say about it?”

  “The Swedish East India Company was started in the mid-1700s to conduct trade with China, but today the building houses a museum with a large Viking exhibition.”

  “How did you remember all that?” Penny asked.

  “I only have to read or hear something once, and I remember it,” he said. “I didn’t know it was so close. Can we go inside?”

  “Sure,” Penny said. “But we need to log off the app in case someone comes along and takes one of the scooters.”

  “Mac’s parking at the curb. We’ll ride back in the car. You’ve been out in the open long enough,” Tavis said.

  They lined all the scooters up in a row, signed out of the app, then entered the museum. Penny went to the reception desk and bought tickets for them, asking, “What floor is the Viking exhibit on?”

  “Second,” the museum worker said. “Top of the steps, turn right.”

  Penny took a brochure and browsed through it while following Tavis and Churchill up the steps. Raine took the rear position.

  “I don’t like this,” Tavis said. “Eyes open, Raine.”

  “Roger that,” she said.

  At the top of the stairs, Tavis left them with Raine while he scouted the floor. He returned and pointed. “Let’s go that way.”

  They entered the low-lit Viking exhibit hall. “I don’t like this either,” Raine said.

  Tavis clicked on his mic. “Mac, stay alert. Watch the front door. If you don’t like the looks of anyone going in or leaving in a hurry, let me know.”

  “Roger that,” Mac said.

  “What’s the matter?” Penny asked.

  “There’s a vibe, and I don’t like it. Stay alert. I might be pulling you out of here in a hurry.”

  Penny walked over to Churchill, who was standing in front of the skeleton of a Viking merchant ship built c. 980. “Let’s keep our backs to the wall. M-kay?”

  “Roger that,” Churchill said, lowering his voice to sound like Tavis. “The sign says this was discovered at the River Gota in western Sweden and is one of the earliest examples of a Scandinavian trading vessel.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and took a selfie.

  “Do you want me to take your picture?” Penny asked.

  “Let’s take one together,” Churchill said.

  Penny smiled, and he took several of them. “Let’s walk around and look at the rest of the exhibits,” she said.

  Octagonal display cases lined both sides of the room, and an upstairs gallery several feet wide circled the exhibition. Leaving Raine at the door, Tavis climbed up the stairs and surveyed the room from above.

  “Let’s stay together, and keep your mic open,” Penny said to Churchill. “Tavis is nervous in here.” They moved from one display case to another, looking at Viking jewelry and swords when she came to a display case that held a single silver necklace, twisted by two tapered teeth and thin twists ending in hooks with rolled ends.

  Instinct cautioned her to keep away. Was it fear? Would the necklace endanger her? Her instincts were reacting like she was too close to an open flame.

  The exhibit hall turned into a sauna, and heat crawled up her neck, making her dizzy. Her heart slammed into overdrive, and her pulse throbbed in her temples, wrists, and jaw. She froze w
here she stood.

  The vibrations coming off the necklace were like sonic booms. Boom! Boom! Boom!

  She covered her ears. Her mouth was so dry she could barely speak, but she managed to eke out a message on her open mic, “Houston, we have a problem.”

  Fear drenched her in sweat, and her hammering heart threatened to burst through her ribs. She was no longer standing in the exhibit hall. She was at the top of an incline, watching bloodied warriors retreating downhill toward the ocean.

  Elliott lay on the ground, bleeding. David hovered over him, arms outstretched protectively, while five blue-painted warriors formed a barrier around them, spears pointing in the direction of the retreating warriors.

  The necklace in the display case suddenly appeared around David’s neck.

  She blinked, and the scene changed. This time it was the colonel on the ground, naked and staked out spread-eagled inside a blue circle. She tried to close her eyes so she wouldn’t have to look at him, but her eyes were already closed. The same warriors with blue arms were yelling at the colonel.

  He was screaming, “Ask her.”

  Then she saw what they were doing to him. And the horror of it settled in her gut while her logical mind weighed the implications.

  “Ranger! Ranger!”

  She could hear Tavis’s voice, but she couldn’t answer. Confusion and panic tore at her guts, and cold chills of terror ran down her arms and spine.

  “We have a situation. Grab assets. Ranger’s frozen in front of a display case at the Gothenburg Museum. Backup, get in here now!”

  Over the mic, Rick asked, “What’s she looking at?”

  “A Viking necklace.”

  “Holy shit. Put her right hand on the glass!” Rick yelled.

  “I’m going to grab and go and get to a secure area,” Tavis said.

  “Fuck. No!” Rick yelled. “Stay there. Put her right palm on the glass. Do it!”

  “What the hell?” Tavis said. “Her face is white as a sheet, and her breathing is fast enough to hyperventilate. She can’t continue.”

  “Put her right hand on the fucking glass!” Rick yelled again. “Hold it there. It’s the only thing that will protect her. Make sure she can’t hurt herself or anyone else.”

  “We’re on our way now,” David said.

  “Where’s PM?” Pete asked.

  “Asset secure,” Raine said.

  “Ranger, we’re going to put your palm on the glass,” Tavis said.

  He lifted her hand and pressed it against the glass. She jerked it away. “Hot!”

  Tavis felt the glass. “Ranger said it’s too hot. She jerked her hand away. But it’s not hot or cold.”

  “Give it a minute and try again. We’re five minutes away.”

  Her vision continued, fading in and out like two movies overlapping. One was the vision of David and Elliott—and the other one more horrific than anything she’d ever seen. Five knife-wielding men, their arms painted blue, sliced off the colonel’s toes, one at a time.

  Her scalp prickled with terror, and she clutched the edge of the display case, panting, her knees locked in place to hold her upright.

  “Where is it?” one of the men demanded.

  “I don’t know,” he cried. “I’m not lying. I don’t know.”

  Then the warriors sliced off the colonel’s fingers, one by one, ignoring his excruciating, ear-piercing screams.

  “Where is it?” the blue-armed men demanded again.

  “Don’t know.”

  One of the men extended the colonel’s cock.

  “No!” he screamed as he jerked side to side.

  “Where is it?”

  “Don’t…” he screamed.

  Accompanied by the colonel’s terrified, earsplitting shrieks, one of the men methodically cut through his skin, spongy tissue, and blood vessels, while gushing blood covered his groin.

  They dumped the limp, bloody appendage on the pile with his fingers and toes.

  His screams were horrifying, and spurting blood had now painted his entire body red.

  She sucked in a deep breath, her muscles tightening as her thoughts shuffled into unknown territory. Everything was moving in slow motion except her heart, which was pounding faster and faster.

  “We gotta get out of here,” Raine said.

  “Not until we have clearance,” Tavis said. “Irish said to wait.”

  Terror and pain froze the colonel’s face into a grotesque mask. Then, just when she thought the worst had happened, they cut off his head but left it there instead of adding it to the pile of fingers, toes, and his pitiful, shriveled appendage.

  Her insides lurched in horror.

  The men scooped up the body parts and threw them in a nearby fire pit, where they stood, watching it all burn until only ashes and bones remained.

  Then they returned to the circle where they’d staked out the body. The warrior wearing an orange brooch opened it, and they linked arms and repeated the chant she had spoken herself, then disappeared in the fog, leaving the colonel’s mutilated body behind.

  75

  Gothenburg, Sweden—Penny

  An hour later, Rick, Penny, David, Kenzie, Elliott, Remy, and Pete met in the castle’s library to discuss Penny’s vision and what it meant for the family’s future.

  But she didn’t feel like talking. She needed to be held and comforted. Even for this Army Ranger, there were limits to what her mind and psyche could process quickly.

  Tavis had orchestrated her evacuation so smoothly it seemed rehearsed. Raine walked out with Churchill while Rick rushed inside the museum, telling the attendants at the reception desk that his wife was pregnant and had messaged him that she felt faint and needed to leave.

  The fainting part was right.

  Now she sat on the sofa with her legs tucked under her and Rick’s arm around her while she sipped a double whisky.

  She glanced up at him. “Why’d you tell me to put my hand on the glass?”

  He picked up her hand and circled her engagement ring with his thumb. “When David had his vision two months ago, I put Mom’s rosary in his hands. I didn’t know if it would help him or not, but it was all I could think to do. When Tavis told me what you were looking at, I thought you needed protection from an evil force. Tavis could protect you physically, but you needed more than that.”

  “Like…evil spirits?”

  Rick’s smile was warm and intimate. “I know it sounds crazy, babe, but it was the only thing I could think of to do from a distance to help you out.”

  Penny rubbed her ring. “So, there was a secondary reason for giving me this?”

  He kissed the top of her head and squeezed her tight. “Giving you my most precious possession was first, and protecting you without hovering or taking control away from you was second.”

  Elliott cleared his throat. “Wilhelmina, do ye feel up to telling us what happened to ye?”

  To do that, she had to slow down the spinning in her head and pull her thoughts together, yet disengage enough so the horror wouldn’t suck her in again.

  “I got your back, babe. Take a deep breath.”

  She took a deep, calming breath. “I’m locked. Let’s get through this.”

  “Did the vision start right away, or did ye feel or sense something first?” David asked.

  “I saw the necklace in the display case, and instinct told me to stay away. The room got hot as a sauna, and I got overheated and dizzy, then froze in place right before vibrations sparked off the torc like sonic booms.”

  “Is that what happened to you, McBain?” Kenzie asked.

  “The only booming sounds I heard came from Rick asking over and over, ‘What’s wrong? What do ye see?’”

  “Go on, Wilhelmina, tell us what happened next,” Elliott said.

  “It was horrifying,” she said, staring at her hands while she knitted her fingers together. “It was like two overlapping movies. One was of you and David. Elliott, you were on the ground, and David was hover
ing over you, and five warriors with-blue painted arms formed a protective barrier. I was standing above and behind you, watching warriors run downhill toward the ocean.”

  “Were they the same warriors as the ones guarding me?”

  She took a breath. “No, they were running away.”

  “Did ye see a ship?”

  “Yes. I didn’t pay attention to the ships at the time, but there were two longships decorated with complex wood carvings on the bows and sterns.”

  “A Viking ship?”

  “It looked like ships you’d associate with Vikings,” she said.

  “The other movie was with the same warriors, but this time they were standing over the colonel’s naked, staked-out body. They kept asking, ‘Where are they?’ And the colonel kept screaming he didn’t know. They cut off his toes, fingers, penis, and finally his head. Then they threw all but the head into a firepit and burned them.”

  Rick rubbed her shoulders and back. “Take your time, babe.”

  “One of the five warriors wore a brooch below his shoulder, pinning his cloak together.”

  “What was the stone in his brooch?” David asked.

  “It was orange,” Penny said.

  “Like a garnet?” Kenzie asked.

  “That gemstone is said to light the way and protect travelers from evil and demons,” Penny said.

  “But they’re the evil ones,” Kenzie said. “What’s to protect the good guys if the evil ones and the demons have the gemstone?”

  “I don’t know,” Penny whispered.

  “What’d they do after they burned the body parts?” Elliott asked.

  Penny closed her eyes and let her mind wander back to that point in her vision. “They formed a circle around the body but didn’t touch him. The warrior with the brooch opened it, then they linked arms and repeated the Gaelic chant. I recognized the words. Then they disappeared in the fog.”

  “Other than blue arms, what’d they look like?” David asked.

  “They were identical to Soph’s drawing,” Penny said.

  “We have to get possession of the torc,” Elliott said. “And we don’t have time to negotiate with the museum to buy it.”

  Kenzie fastened her eyes on Elliott. “So you want to steal the museum’s Viking treasures too? I’m an officer of the court, Elliott. I can’t sit back and let you do that again.”