by JC Ryan
Connery’s face fell. “I’m so sorry. I haven’t done any underground exploration, nor do I know of anyone who has. I hate to tell you you’ve made this trip for nothing, though. Would it help if I asked around? I’m sure you have better things to do than hunt down an obscure exploration effort.”
“I’d be grateful if you could.”
“Glad to. Give me your number and your email address. I’ll be in touch when I learn anything.”
Carter visited the archaeologist he didn’t know, with the same results. He decided to forego the ridicule he’d face if he went to his nemesis. By the time he got back to the boat, Dylan and the others would have landed in Athens. He’d take the helicopter there, spend a little time with the kids and his in-laws, and then fly back with Dylan to start their exploration fresh in the morning.
He emailed Alan Connery, telling him of his plans and thanking him for his hospitality.
CARTER’S HEART CRACKED a little when he had to leave the children with no more than a hug and half an hour’s visit later that evening. Liam begged him to stay and show them an ongoing dig, but he was old enough to understand that Merrybeth needed him more. Beth cried, though. He made a vow to her that he would spend more time at home after this.
When he and Dylan got back, they immediately took the boat to his usual rendezvous spot with Merrybeth. There was no reason to stay twelve miles offshore, now that he had permission from the Greek government to do whatever it took to rescue Carmen, but this was where Merrybeth expected him until they made other arrangements.
When he got there, Merrybeth was waiting. She told him the sub had been there, and they’d gone to the tunnel entrance, but the sub was too large to enter. “It wouldn’t have made it through the narrowest part anyway,” she reported. “What did you learn?”
“Nothing, I’m afraid. Except that Mackenzie doesn’t think the Minotaurs could have bred true, so there’s little danger I’ll meet one in the caves. Do you remember Dylan? He’s here with me, and tomorrow we’ll get out of the water inside the cave and see if we can find the rest of the river, and where the bad guy is holding Carmen. Then we’ll figure out how to get her out. He got her in, somehow, so I’m thinking there’s another entrance somewhere. We’ll just follow the river until we find it.”
Merrybeth dove, and she didn’t surface for almost five minutes. Carter didn’t know what to make of it. When she returned, she brought two other dolphins with her.
“You are a good friend, Carter. You are putting yourself and your land-human friend, Dylan, in danger for us. These are Carmen’s older brothers. They will search the edges of the underwater land for other openings and try to find you inside the land. They can help if you find Carmen.”
“That’s good, Merrybeth. We must rest before we go in. We’ll start as soon as tomorrow’s sun rises.”
With the dolphin brothers exploring the shoreline, the sub standing by to navigate up the river if they could find a way in, and Dylan to assist him, Carter hoped they had enough time to find Carmen before she succumbed to illness from being kept in fresh water. But he also felt it was worth a try to acquiesce to the kidnapper’s demands.
“Merrybeth, won’t you consider leading this bad man into the cave system? Perhaps Dylan and I could capture him there, and force him to tell us where Carmen is?”
“He has already been there, Carter. He knows the Minotaur is not there. If I knew of another place to lead him, I would.”
“All right. Keep it in mind in case your sons find another entrance. Are you keeping track of where he goes after he contacts us?”
“We have tried. He is fast, though.”
“What do you mean?”
“He can swim faster than we can. He loses us.”
Carter thought about it. “How is that possible? No human, I mean land-human, could swim faster than you can. Does he have something to help him?”
“He has a thing like a boat, but it pulls him underwater. He has the things you call flippers on his feet, but he doesn’t use tanks. Not even in the tunnel, where he couldn’t take his boat thing.”
Now Carter was doubly confused. He needed to talk to Mackie again, right away. What would give a man the ability to swim through an underwater tunnel that took a dolphin fifteen minutes to swim through, without a SCUBA tank?
26
AHAB WATCHED FROM nearby the next morning, when Devereux’s boat moved from its usual location to within a quarter-mile of the tunnel entrance. He observed Devereux and another man tumble into the water with SCUBA equipment, and assumed they were headed for the cave.
It wouldn’t matter. He’d sealed the opening that led to the rest of the cave system, so they wouldn’t be able to find the pool where the underground river had backed up against the crack that let only a small trickle through. The only other way in was in the small bay at the edge of the park, miles from this part of the shoreline.
Instead of waiting for them, he decided he’d try to find out who the other man was. Ahab wasn’t worried about the sub. It wouldn’t fit in either entrance to the river, even if they found the other one. Apparently, the dolphins didn’t know about it either, and in any case, the river led through some tunnels that were completely filled with water. He’d had to get creative to get the young female through them without drowning her.
Ahab swam to his yacht and motored to shore. He had some investigation to do.
Before he’d left London, he’d made a point of learning who would be on Crete during the summer break. Now he had use for that information. His first visit was to Alan Connery, a prominent Crete scholar. To get to the dig, he took a commuter train to the nearest town and then rented an SUV. He arrived at noon and was warmly welcomed. As an alumnus of Connery’s college, Ahab was acquainted with the man, though he’d never worked with him.
After touring Connery’s dig, Ahab went with him to his tent, where Connery offered him a cold soda, assuming he was Muslim. Ahab didn’t correct the assumption. Connery asked him about his studies.
“Oh, I’m not here for a dig, much as I’d like to be. I’m just enjoying some sport fishing,” Ahab said.
“Surely, you’re taking in some of the ancient sites, though?” Connery asked. “I’m sorry, I don’t know your particular interest. What do you study when you aren’t on holiday?”
“Oh, yes. I have explored Crete many times. My thesis was a comparison of the various sites claimed to be that of the ancient Labyrinth.”
“How interesting! I entertained a man the other day who was looking for experts on the Labyrinth. You should get in touch. His name is Carter Devereux. Do you know of his work?”
“Yes. In fact, I worked with him on the Alboran site when it was first discovered. I’ll give him whatever help I can. Do you know how to reach him?”
Connery gave Ahab the email address, told him he thought Devereux had gone to Athens, and then excused himself to get back to work. Ahab thanked him for his hospitality.
He had no need of visiting the others now. He wasn’t certain what use he’d make of Devereux’s contact information, but having it would come in useful somehow. He was sure of it. But why had he gone to Athens? Ahab suspected it was to pick up the man he’d been with earlier.
Ahab’s next task was to discover what Devereux had meant by ‘his leaders’. He’d heard the phrase as Devereux conversed with the dolphin mother about the Minotaur. It didn’t make sense. Ahab had learned Devereux was quite wealthy, but it sounded as if he worked for someone else. Why would he do that? Using the same methods by which he’d learned of the wealth, Ahab found clues, but no specifics.
From what he could tell, there must be a group that sent Devereux on his explorations. He turned up some speculation on conspiracy theory blogs that both Devereux and his wife worked for a shadowy government agency. Little by little, he pieced together the clues until he had a good idea who the other man was who’d been with Devereux. Now he only needed to know where he’d come from, but he suspected it was Athens.
There weren’t many places to charter a helicopter on Crete, so it didn’t take long to find the one who’d taken Devereux to Athens and brought him and another man back. Ahab told the charter operator he may want to make the same trip soon and went to his rented villa to think about it.
What would he find in Athens? And in so populous a place, how would he find it? The most obvious answer was airline records. Ahab knew the airlines wouldn’t give him any information, but their reservation system could be hacked. The only problem was, he didn’t know how to do it. He’d read the way to find hackers was on the Dark Web, and a little more research told him how to get in. He had plenty of grant money, so he took the plunge.
Only a few hours later, he had the information he needed. The name Devereux turned up – not on an airline database, but in airport records of private jets landing. The hacker had gone a step further to learn what ground transportation had met the jet, and where the passengers had been taken. From there, he’d learned the names of the passengers. An older couple, a young couple, and two children named Liam and Beth Devereux.
Ahab was neither a religious man, nor a superstitious one. But if he had been, he’d have assumed the Devereux children had been handed to him in some cosmic plan. They were the perfect leverage to get Carter Devereux off his back and allow him to deal with the dolphins without interference.
Foregoing the helicopter because he couldn’t risk the questions when he brought two sedated children back with him, he decided to take the yacht to Athens instead. It would be about a two-day turnaround, assuming he could snatch the kids easily. More if not. Before he left, he decided he had to feed his captive dolphin, so she wouldn’t starve before he got back to his task.
LIAM WAS TOO excited to walk sedately by his grandparents as they approached the Parthenon. He’d been afraid they wouldn’t be able to go out and see the ruins until Dylan got back, but his grandparents had persuaded his mom that they could watch over Beth and him. He didn’t know why they needed Dylan, anyway. It had been more than a year since they’d been in any danger, and Dad had taken care of all the bad guys.
“Liam, don’t get too far ahead,” Grandpa called.
“I won’t!” he called over his shoulder. “Beth, come on!”
His little sister was dragging her heels. She was more interested in all the people around them, and the many languages they were speaking. Recently, Bly had been teaching her a few words of Hopi, and had been teaching Liam, too, but he didn’t hear anyone speaking that. He turned and went back to her, taking her hand.
She was talking to a man who was smiling at her, but Liam thought the smile looked fake.
“Come on, Beth.”
She resisted him. “Are you a Hopi?” she asked the man.
Liam saw the man had brown skin, like Bly and Ahote, but he didn’t look like a Hopi. He started to tell Beth to leave the man alone, but suddenly the man bent down and picked Beth up. That wasn’t okay. He kicked at the man, but suddenly he was in the air, under the man’s arm, and they were moving fast through the crowd.
“Grandma! Grandpa!” he cried. He couldn’t see them anywhere. And he was sleepy. Beth looked like she was already asleep…
MARY WAS SOBBING into the phone. “It happened so fast! The children were a few yards ahead of us, and your dad had just warned Liam not to get too far ahead. We lost sight of them in the crowd for less than half a minute, Mackenzie. Thirty seconds! Tom thought he heard Liam call to us, but…”
She pictured Mackenzie on the other end of the call, trying to remain calm, and nearly broke down. It was all her fault. She had told Mackenzie they could be trusted with the kids. She had persuaded her to let them take the kids to Athens in the first place.
“Yes. Your dad is talking to them now. A few people reported seeing a man carrying two children and moving fast, but the children weren’t struggling. Liam would struggle, wouldn’t he? Can you reach Carter? I think we need him and Dylan more than the dolphins do.”
27
MACKENZIE WAS IN mental and emotional agony. If she hadn’t persuaded Carter to take Dylan, this never would have happened. If she hadn’t let them talk her into going, her parents and kids would never have been in Athens in the first place. She tried to compose herself so she could call Carter and get him headed to Athens, but each time she started to dial the phone, a fresh round of sobs overwhelmed her. Her babies!
Twenty minutes after she’d received the call from her mother, she was still fighting to gain control over her emotions, when Keeva arrived, her youngest offspring trailing her. She took her cell phone and went out to the deck, where she could be close to the wolves when she called Carter. Keeva came closer and leaned against her leg. The pups settled down next to her, but the little female whined until Keeva nosed her and she quieted.
A few minutes later, Mackenzie felt strong enough to call Carter. For this, she had to face him, so she made it a video call. When he answered, she could see he was on the boat. “Carter, thank Heaven I caught you before your dive,” she began.
It broke her heart to watch his face change as she relayed the devastating news. “I’m so sorry, Carter. This is all my fault.”
“No,” he said strongly. “It isn’t. It’s no one’s fault but the bastard who took them, and I’ll make him pay if it’s the last thing I do.”
“How are you going to leave Merrybeth, with her daughter missing, too?” Mackenzie asked.
THOUSANDS OF MILES away, Carter had a flash of insight. “It’s related,” he said. “It has to be. Mackie, do you trust me?”
“With my life,” she said. “With our children’s lives.”
“I’m going to send Dylan back to Athens to help find Liam and Beth. I’m going to continue to look for Carmen. I have a strong feeling that if we find either our kids or Merrybeth’s daughter, we’ll have the key to find the other.”
“But Carter, shouldn’t you go after our kids and leave Dylan to search for Carmen?”
“With all my heart, I want to. But here’s the thing. I’m emotionally involved with our kids’ case. The police won’t let me near it, and for good reason. I’d just get in the way. Dylan is the better choice. On top of that, I’m a better diver and spelunker than Dylan. More experience. I’ll find someone here to help me, I promise, but I’m the better choice for here.”
Carter’s logic felt hollow to him. He was maintaining tight control over his emotions, though. Panic and rage would do his children no good. He remembered when he’d thought Mackenzie and Liam were dead, and he remembered who’d had them. If his efforts had left any of the Nabateans at large, this was all his fault.
“Mackie, I need to get things lined up. Let me call you back.”
“All right. But I’m coming over there.”
“Please, wait until I have some time to think and plan. Stay there until I say, okay?”
“Carter…”
“Please, Mackie. I can’t worry about you, too. Get hold of Sean and tell him we need his team. And stay put for now.”
“All right. Let me know what else I can do.”
IT DIDN’T FEEL right to Mackenzie not to be with her family at a time like this. But Carter was right. Running to them without a plan in place wasn’t the right thing to do. She’d do as he asked. With Keeva and the pups pacing her, she got into the electric cart and headed for Tala. A call would have been faster, but she needed a hug.
Sean greeted her as she entered the gate at Tala. He’d been on the phone with Dylan, who told him Carter was calling Mackenzie. After ending that call, he’d called Irene, whose phone was busy. Then he’d studied his network for the best team to send to Athens. Before he got the first call made, he’d been alerted by the electronic motion sensors that someone was on the way. With almost everyone else gone, he’d personally gone to greet the visitor. He was surprised it had taken her so long to get there.
Mackenzie stumbled off the cart, and fell into his arms, sobbing again.
“Mackenzie,
will you be all right?”
“The children,” she gasped. Keeva, only a pace behind her, came and leaned into her leg again. Mackenzie reached down and grasped the wolf’s thick fur to ground herself and took a deep breath. She stepped back a pace and stood up straight. “I’m sorry, Sean. Let me start again.”
With that, she related the news, and that Carter had asked for a team to join Dylan in Athens.
“I know, Mackenzie. Dylan called. Everyone’s gone, except for the skeleton crew guarding Freydis. But I’m already on it. I’ll be sending out an emergency call and have the others rendezvous in Athens. I’m trying to reach Irene, too. Carter needs some backup with him.”
“I’d appreciate it if you sent someone who’s experienced in SCUBA diving and spelunking to him. At least one,” she answered. “Thank you.”
Sean reached for her and pulled her in for a brotherly hug. “I’m your man for Crete. Ex-SEAL, remember? We’ll get them all back, Mackenzie. You can count on us.”
Mackenzie felt better, but a knot of terror still resided in her stomach. “I know you will. I just hope it’s before they’re hurt… or – “
Sean interrupted. “Don’t go there. I’ll have a team in Athens before the end of the day.”
Mackenzie nodded, touched Sean’s arm in thanks, and then climbed back on the cart and headed for home, the wolves following. Keeva’s presence in her mind had kept her sane during what had previously been the darkest days of her life. She could only hope it would be the same this time. The children needed her to remain strong for them.
SEAN FINALLY GOT through to Irene. She told him she’d heard first from Dylan, and then from Carter. She’d called Bill Griffin, who went straight to the President and convinced him to clear the way for their combined operation with the Greek authorities. She expected cooperation – it seemed POTUS had immediately made a call to his Greek counterpart while Bill was still in the Oval Office. The man had not been able to get a word in edgewise for a solid five minutes and had only stammered a nervous agreement to cooperate when POTUS got through enumerating the consequences to Greece if the Devereux children had one hair on their heads harmed.