by Alex Lukeman
"Show it on a map of Ireland, please," Elizabeth said.
The map appeared.
"Freddie, please mark the location of Payne's castle."
A red dot began blinking on the map, showing the location in southeast Ireland, on the coast of the Irish Sea.
"Looks like we can drive right up to it," Ronnie said.
"Sure," Nick said. "And then we're looking at the same kind of problem they had eight hundred years ago, when you wanted to get into a castle uninvited."
"Just a minute, Nick," Elizabeth said. "I haven't said you were going there. That's a civilian target in a friendly country."
"Since when has that stopped us?"
"It's too soon to plan a mission. We don't know that the treasure was taken there. We don't know if the relic was found that Adam says is important. I'm not going to authorize you to go after Payne without more information."
"Damn it, Director, what more do you need?"
"I need to be sure the treasure was transported to Payne's castle. Besides, I'm not convinced this relic is important enough to warrant our involvement. Payne hasn't done anything to directly threaten us."
"Yes he has," Selena said. "Those were his people in Portugal who attacked us."
"You can't be sure of that," Elizabeth said.
"I am sure of it." Selena was starting to get angry. "It had to be Dubois who sent them after us. No one else knew what we were doing, and we know Dubois works for Payne. Adam told Nick that Dubois was working for someone crooked. Everything points to Payne."
"Mmm."
"Come on, Director," Nick said. "It was Payne's boat that transported the gold from Croatia after we left. It has to be him. It makes sense that he'd bring it to his castle. The walls there are eight feet thick. What better place for it?"
"I know you think I'm being stubborn," Elizabeth said, "but I want to see evidence that everything was taken to the castle before I authorize a raid."
Nick threw up his hands in exasperation. Selena put her hand on his arm.
"What would you consider proof?" she asked.
"Proof the cargo from Payne's yacht was taken to the castle."
Stephanie said, "Freddie can look for satellite shots. If there's anything to show where it went, he can find it."
"That would work," Elizabeth said.
CHAPTER 38
It was several days later. Nick was looking in the refrigerator for a beer. Selena was in the living room, playing with the twins. They'd learned to roll over and Selena was making a game of it. Someone rang the bell from the street.
"I'll go," Nick said.
He walked over to the monitor that showed the street level entrance. He saw a familiar face.
"Damn," he said
Selena looked up. "Who is it?"
"Adam's driver."
Nick activated the intercom.
"What is it?"
"Mister Carter, would you please come down?"
Nick sighed. "I'll be right there."
"Adam's waiting for you down there?"
"Apparently. I'll be back in a while."
"I wonder what he wants this time."
"Only one way to find out," Nick said.
He shrugged on a coat and left the loft. Outside the building, the armored black limousine waited for him. The driver held the rear passenger door open. Nick climbed in and the driver closed the door. Nick heard it lock.
The car began moving, silent and comfortable, a bulletproof cocoon. Adam's disguised voice came through the speaker mounted in the wall of black glass dividing the rear compartment.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your day, Nick."
"Probably just as well," Nick said. "I've got a few questions for you."
"About the relic?"
"That's right. I need to know why it's so important. Harker isn't happy about sending us after Payne. The only reason would be to recover this relic and she's not convinced it's worth the risk. She wants to be certain Payne has it."
"I can tell you that he does."
"Okay, that's one question answered. What is it, anyway? This relic?"
"It's a book, Nick. A very old book, written in the eleventh century by an Arab scholar named Ibn al-Zalaam."
"What's so important about an old book?"
"Do you know anything about the Islamic golden age?"
"Not much."
"It was a time of incredible progress, a blossoming of culture and discovery. Art, literature, science, philosophy, architecture, mathematics, and metaphysics were all fields of study. Many discoveries from the time are still with us, like the decimal system."
"What's that got to do with this book?"
"Al-Zalaam was a mathematician, a true genius. One of those unique people like da Vinci or Einstein. Think of him as a kind of Arab Einstein, living a thousand years ago. Like Einstein, he was brilliant beyond the capacity of most people to understand him. Unlike Einstein, he was not constrained by thoughts of compassion and morality. Al-Zalaam sought to mathematically prove the existence of evil as a sentient reality. He succeeded. His work must not be allowed to resurface."
"He proved that evil exists?"
"He did."
"That doesn't sound like something needing scientific confirmation."
"We're not talking about your every day kind of evil. Al-Zalaam discovered that there are parallel dimensions coexisting with our own. Modern experiments in quantum physics are attempting to validate what this man uncovered a millennium ago."
"What experiments?"
"Scientists working with the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland believe there are portals into these other dimensions. Doorways, if you like. They are currently trying to find one. Unfortunately, such portals exist. Al-Zalaam wrote down the process by which they could be opened."
"In the book you want me to retrieve."
"Yes."
"What's on the other side of those portals?"
"Something we cannot understand. All we can do is label it. People sometimes get an accidental glimpse through these openings into parallel dimensions. That's where the legends of evil djinns and demons come from. When someone breaks into one of these other realities, they can only describe what they see in terms of their particular culture, time, and place. Some people see vengeful gods. Al-Zalaam saw demons."
"Demons?"
"Demons. It drove him mad."
"Come on, Adam. You're telling me demons are real."
"Something exists in those dimensions, Nick. Demons is as good a word for it as anything. It is something completely antithetical to life, something so dark and so cruel that we must label it to try and understand what it is, as a way to protect ourselves from what it represents. It is what we call evil, but more. It's evil in the most absolute sense."
"Are you talking about Satan?"
"Satan is one of the labels, but that's your word for it, not mine. Satan is a personification of something infinitely destructive and cruel, devoid of empathy or compassion. Whatever it's called, it's real. Because it exists in a different dimension, it can do relatively little harm. Imagine what would happen if someone provided a way for this energy to come through into our physical plane."
"Is that what Payne is planning to do?"
"Yes. He thinks this energy will make him immortal as a reward."
"That's insane."
"Yes, it is. Now do you see why it's important you recover that book?"
"You think he can succeed?"
"Why not? Al-Zalaam did."
"But it drove al-Zalaam mad."
"Payne is already mad."
"You said al-Zalaam was like Einstein. Is Payne smart enough to understand the things in the book?"
"He doesn't have to understand them," Adam said. "He only has to know how to say them. Al-Zalaam didn't have modern technology like the super collider. The calculations are arranged like magical spells. The door into that other dimension is opened through ritual and sound."
"What you're telling me is ha
rd to believe," Nick said.
"It is true, nonetheless."
"Lamont's vision hasn't cleared since we were in Croatia. Ronnie is banged up. We're not in great shape to go storming castles."
"I can't help that. Payne will initiate the ritual to open the portal at the next full moon. You have to retrieve the book before then. Or destroy it. That would be better."
"The next full moon? That doesn't give me much time."
"No, it doesn't," Adam said.
"What will happen if he succeeds in opening this portal, or whatever it is?"
"There's a very good description you can read at your leisure."
"There is?"
"Read the Book of Revelation, Nick. What John saw in his visions was one of the possible realities that will result if Payne succeeds."
"The apocalypse?"
"Something much worse," Adam said.
CHAPTER 39
The next morning Nick, Selena, Valentina, Lamont, Stephanie, and Ronnie met in the loft. Nick filled the team in on his conversation with Adam. Elizabeth looked at him and shook her head.
"A book that can open doors into different dimensions? Something worse than the apocalypse? Do you realize how crazy that sounds?"
"I can't help that. Adam was dead serious."
"Why should we believe him? Someone you've never met face-to-face tells you that a man who makes pies for a living is going to open a doorway into another dimension and bring through the devil. Don't you think that's a little out there?"
"When you put it like that, sure. But Adam's always been right in the past. I trust him. We have to believe him."
Selena began rubbing her hands together, remembering.
"I believe him."
Elizabeth looked at her. "Why?"
"Because I know what he's talking about. The night those Nazis were going to kill me in their insane ritual, something terrifying came into that room. They made it appear. I don't know what it was, but it wasn't human. Maybe they opened one of those portals Adam told Nick about. It would explain what I saw."
"I saw it, too," Nick said.
"So did I," Ronnie said.
"Me too," Lamont said. "Man, that was some weird shit."
"The book was hidden with the treasure. Adam said it had been found. Any word on Payne's yacht?" Nick asked.
Elizabeth looked uncomfortable.
"Satellite shots confirm the cargo loaded in Croatia was offloaded in Ireland two days ago. Everything was taken to his castle."
"There's the evidence you wanted."
"How did they get it through customs?" Ronnie asked.
"They didn't," Elizabeth said. "Ireland has a long tradition of smuggling. It hasn't changed much, in spite of all the new technology. They put into a cove twenty miles south of Wicklow at night. Trucks were waiting for them."
"Adam said the ritual for opening one of these portals is tied to the full moon."
"That's coming up next week," Elizabeth said.
"Then I guess we'd better figure out how we're going to stop him," Lamont said.
"You're not stopping anyone," Ronnie said. "Not until you can see better."
"What, you're my doctor now?"
"Nope. But giving you an MP7 when you can't see shit isn't a good idea."
"I can see that ugly face of yours good enough."
"Kind of like the pot calling the kettle black, isn't it?"
"Pot and kettle? I do not understand," Valentina said.
Lamont started to say something.
Elizabeth interrupted. "Boys. That's enough."
"He's right, Lamont," Nick said. "Unless your eyes clear up, you can't go."
"I can see enough."
"Maybe by the time we're ready to go, you'll be okay," Ronnie said.
"Leave it at that," Elizabeth said.
"Are you going to authorize a mission?" Nick asked.
"I don't like it, but I can't take the chance Adam is wrong. So, yes, let's plan the mission."
"Freddie," Stephanie said. "Please bring up pictures of the castle."
Certainly, Stephanie.
In medieval times the castle had been the seat of a wealthy and powerful Earl. It had a large, irregularly shaped compound. The keep formed the north end of the outer wall. It was the only part of the castle fully intact. Stone walls with four towers angled away from the keep and surrounded the compound. Three of the towers were in ruins. When the castle was new the walls had been high, difficult to scale under the best of conditions. Now they were broken down, except where the keep and the fourth tower still stood.
The south end of the compound contained a low building that had housed the Earl's horses. The ground in front of it had been turned into a large garden.
A graveled drive led away from two modern structures near the keep, past the walls and out toward a highway in the distance. A satellite photo showed two Land Rovers parked in front of one of the buildings. A man could be seen walking away from the second with an assault rifle slung in front of him.
Selena pointed at the screen. "That's probably a garage and maintenance , where the cars are parked. The second building could be a barracks for the security detail."
"Freddie, are there plans for the keep?"
Processing.
"Why do they call it a keep?" Lamont asked.
"Probably because it was the only place to keep safe if the outer defenses were overrun."
The plan for the keep is displayed.
"Man, look at the thickness of those walls," Ronnie said. "You'd have a hard time getting through that with anything except artillery."
"That was the whole idea," Nick said. "If you had to retreat to the keep, you were in big trouble. It was the last resort."
"This one had a great hall," Selena said. "The lord of the castle would have entertained there. High luxury in those days."
The keep was built in the shape of a Greek cross, with a central tower five stories high. The great hall was a large room at the bottom of the tower. The tower walls were pierced with narrow slots for archers. Stone stairs led to the upper floors and the original living quarters. The arms of the cross formed separate halls, comprising an armory, kitchen, storage, latrines, a guard room and a chapel. Below the ground floor was a basement and dungeon.
"There's only one entrance," Ronnie said, "those big doors in the front."
You are incorrect. There is a second entrance.
"Where? I don't see it."
There is a postern on the north wall.
"I don't see that on the plan," Selena said.
"What is a postern?" Valentina asked. "I do not know this word."
"A secondary entrance into a castle," Elizabeth said. "Usually it was a small door or gate somewhere in the main fortification. Sometimes it was concealed."
"Is there a picture of the postern, Freddie?" Stephanie asked.
There is a picture.
When it became obvious Freddie wasn't going to display the picture without being prodded, Stephanie sighed.
"Please display the picture of the postern."
A photograph of the north wall of the keep appeared on the monitor. It showed a narrow opening cut into the thick stone at ground level, blocked off with rusted iron bars.
"That might be the best way in," Nick said.
"We can get through that easy enough with a plasma cutter," Ronnie said.
"What about his security? We need more information."
"We can find out," Stephanie said.
"How?"
"He has armed guards, right?"
"Looks that way."
"That's Ireland, they keep a close watch on guns. Any guards will have permits for their weapons. There's a record somewhere that will tell us how many people. "
"He may have hired a private security firm," Ronnie said.
"It doesn't make any difference, there will still be a record. Freddie can find it."
Would you like me to search for information on the pie man's security?
"Did he just say what I thought he did?" Selena said. "Pie man?"
It seemed appropriate to call him that.
"Freddie is working on developing a sense of humor," Stephanie said. "Yes, Freddie, please look for information regarding armed personnel working for Geoffrey Payne. Include the number of personnel, the types of weapons they carry, and any other details you can find."
Processing.
"We need to make some assumptions," Selena said.
"Okay. What's assumption number one?"
"Number one is that Payne's keep is vulnerable to penetration. It may have been all the rage in defense back in the day, but times have changed."
Nick said, "Big stone walls don't keep people out like they used to. But Payne has all the money he needs to wire that place with the latest technology for discouraging unwanted visitors."
"Then assumption number two is that he's installed electronic defenses."
"Right. Good ones, probably state-of-the-art. I wonder if he's paid attention to that postern?"
Valentina said, "We would never plan a mission this way in Russia."
"We've done it like this for years." Selena brushed a stray hair from her forehead. "It works for us. We talk about what we want to accomplish and what might keep us from succeeding at it. We make assumptions, then we look for reasons and facts to back them up or throw them out."
"Am I going with you?"
"It depends on what's decided about your status," Elizabeth said.
She picked up her pen and began tapping it on the table. Valentina eyed the pen.
"What about my status?"
"You present a unique situation," Elizabeth said. "I spoke up for you because you're Selena's half-sister and because I believe you are sincere. DCI Hood has backed me up, but there are some who see you as an enemy. You went to Croatia because I thought the team might need your language skills. That's not the case in Ireland. Some people see you as an enemy alien. They're not happy about you being free, much less armed and going on missions with us. Your status is under review."
"Sister, you knew about this?" Valentina asked.
"No, I didn't. Elizabeth, what's going on?"
"I didn't see any point in mentioning this until there was some sort of resolution. Right now, Valentina's status is in limbo. I'm optimistic it will work out as it should. Until then, it's not a good idea to send her into the field."