by M. B. Lewis
The grizzly sight was too much, and she turned into Duke, flinging her arms around his neck. He responded by wrapping his arms around her waist.
“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered.
Brian stared at the scene, the only visible portion of the man being his feet, like the wicked witch in The Wizard of Oz.
“I recommend we proceed with caution,” Patricia said as she rounded the corner. She knelt and retrieved the dead man’s flashlight and pistol. It was the first time Kadie ever saw Patricia carry a gun.
“Flyboy, you lead the way,” Curt said, motioning with the pistol in his hand. “Just in case.” Hans gave Duke a flashlight, then he gave one to Kadie, and Brian, as well. Perhaps they felt it would be safer with more eyes searching for boobytraps.
Duke looked at Kadie and moved to the front of the small group, stepping around the stone that crushed one of their captors.
“You two are next, sweetheart,” Curt said, shoving her and Brian forward.
Kadie grabbed Brian’s hand, and they trailed Duke down the dark passage. They aimed their flashlights ahead of Duke to help him see. The cave meandered in different directions and widened and narrowed at various spots. Occasionally, a marker carved in the stone indicated the followers of Mithras built the passage. Pictograms illustrated a rising sun, a man climbing out of a rock, a man with sunbeams radiating from his head—all pointing to Mithraism.
They stumbled across three more skeletons. Kadie suspected they were from the same group but couldn’t verify it. Again, there was no way to identify how the people died.
After five minutes of walking through the small tunnel, they reached a door. Not just any door—a six-foot-tall double-door, hand-carved out of stone.
“It’s not the ornate door I’d expect a cathedral to have,” Duke said to her.
“Remember,” Kadie said, “the cathedral was most likely built by soldiers who followed Mithras. They were known for carving their temples out of stone. The elaborate and symbolic structures you’ve seen built by the Catholic Church weren’t built until almost a thousand years after this. So, for the time, this was quite elaborate.”
Duke pointed at the standard on the door. Rows of it covered each door. “Look familiar?” he said.
“Chi-Rho,” Kadie replied. Both doors were adorned with the Greek symbol referencing Jesus. Each door had twelve rows of six symbols each. She ran her fingers over one of the raised standards of Constantine and shoved the door. It didn’t budge. Duke joined her and pushed, then Curt, as well as the two thugs.
“It must be locked,” Patricia said, stepping back, setting her hands on her hips. “But there doesn’t seem to be a keyhole anywhere.” Curt gave her a look that spoke volumes. Of course, it’s locked. That’s why it won’t open.
The phony Delta Force operative ran his hands along the seam between the two doors and along the edges of the entire doorway. He beat on the doors and hollered.
“We’ll come back with dynamite,” Curt said to Patricia, his frustration clouding his judgment.
“No, you won’t,” Duke said. “Not if you want to live.”
Curt shot him a deathly look.
Duke continued. “If you try to blow anything up down here, the entire structure will most likely collapse. And the Scroll, the treasure, this entire cathedral, will be destroyed.”
“Well, how do we get inside?” Curt was yelling now, his hands twirling around, making gestures that had nothing to do with their predicament. Hans examined the door while Esteban and Cliff stood near the stairs, guarding everyone.
Kadie moved away from the door, looking around at the surrounding wall. Moving toward the entrance, her foot bumped something. She whipped her flashlight beam at the ground and shrieked.
A skeleton sat leaning against the wall.
Duke and Brian rushed over.
“That’s not good,” Duke said.
Brian didn’t seem as concerned. “Cool. Another skeleton.”
Kadie slid the beam up and down the dried-up bones, the garment long rotted away. “Let’s hope he just sat here too long, trying to figure out how to open it.”
“Maybe he was k-killed by poison darts,” Brian said with a grin.
“Not funny, Brian,” Kadie said. She knew Raiders of the Lost Ark was one of his favorite movies, but an ancient trap had just killed a man. They were in real danger.
Duke traced his flashlight along the rock walls. “Doesn’t look like there’s any boobytraps built into the rock. It looks like the guy died of something else, but there’s no way to tell.”
They moved back to the doors and watched Curt struggle to find a way in. No one said a word for a few moments until Brian spoke up.
“I know how to open it.”
Everyone stopped and looked at him. He stared at the door, his hands on his hips. The poor boy was sweating profusely, but his eyes were wide, his focus astute.
“Shut up, retard,” Curt said. “I think I liked you better when you cried and didn’t want to go anywhere.”
Kadie ignored Curt’s disgusting comment and moved toward her brother. “Brian?”
Brian looked up at her, as serious and confident as she’d ever seen him. “It is like the clue said—Alpha and Omega.”
“Alpha and Omega?”
Brian nodded enthusiastically. “Yes—Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end—the first and last.”
Kadie shook her head and looked at Duke, who shrugged his shoulders. She turned back to Brian. “I don’t understand.”
Brian walked between the people blocking his access to the doors. “Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end—first and last.”
He reached up to the top left of the door to the first standard. After working his hand along the surface and around the circumference, they heard a loud click. He then moved to the next door on the bottom right, bent down, and worked that standard the same way. Again, a loud click and the two doors opened inward slightly.
Everyone, including Curt, stared at Brian, this time with admiration.
“Way to go,” Duke said, giving Brian a fist-bump.
Brian responded with his fist and blushed. “Thanks, Duke.”
Kadie ran her fingers through his hair, and he giggled and batted her hand away.
“Enough of the feel-good, lamentations,” said Curt, shoving Duke in the back. “It’s time to put your money where your mouth is.”
Kadie and Duke looked at each other. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, she thought. She started to smile but contained it. Kadie pushed the door open and stepped confidently through, her flashlight cutting into the darkness. The door creaked on the ancient hinges that hadn’t moved in centuries.
“Keep an eye out for more boobytraps,” Duke said with a chuckle. But it wasn’t a joke.
She was worried about the same thing.
57
Nis, Serbia
The cave entrance to Helena’s hidden cathedral
* * *
This portion of the cave had a stuffy, musty scent; Kadie stepped through the doorway and panned her flashlight around the small enclosure. She sighed heavily. This situation has turned out to be one new puzzle after another, and she was well past her tolerance level. The only thing that kept her going was the safety of her brother. Instinctively, she crawled against the wall. Brian and Duke trailed her.
She traced the beam of her flashlight around the next room. The space was taller than the one outside. In front of her, an intricately carved wooden door curved at the top in the form of an arch. The walls on either side of the door were only five feet wide, and again, only the rock wall of the mountain made up the sides and top of the room. This must be the entrance to the cathedral.
Kadie found an ancient torch mounted against the wall. Shining her flashlight beam on the tip, it was clear the torch had been used in the past.
“Anybody have a lighter?” she said.
The goon behind Brian stuck his hand into his pocket and handed the
lighter to Kadie. She sparked the lighter, and a flame danced out of the top. Kadie stood on her tiptoes and stretched to light the torch. The flame caught right away, and the blaze illuminated the space far better than their flashlights.
“We might need this,” she said to Duke.
“I’ll get it,” he said.
Duke pulled the torch free from its mount. A loud grinding sound shattered the silence, followed by a scream that became more distant by the second.
When they whipped around to face the threat behind them, all of the group was accounted for except one. Hans was gone; his weapons lay next to a massive hole in the center of the floor. Duke shuffled to the edge and stuck the torch over the middle, but that didn’t do much of anything. Kadie pulled up next to him and shone her flashlight down the hole. It was deep. Too deep to see anything the LED flashlight beam could reach. There were no sounds coming from the pit, either. With their numbers decreasing rapidly, Kadie wondered if any of them would ever get out.
The tiny group gathered around the hole. Peering into the abyss, they realized that saving Hans was impossible. Curt was the first to step away, and he grabbed Kadie by the upper arm.
“Come on, sweet cheeks,” he said and shoved her forward. “You can lead the way.”
Kadie grimaced at him and tried the door handle. Hmm, unlocked.
She opened the door and peered inside behind the high-powered flashlight.
“Is it safe?” Patricia asked through the door opening.
Kadie glanced over her shoulder and nodded. “It looks like more of the same. There’s another door. But this one is wooden.”
Patricia and Curt poked their heads in and used their flashlights to search the new space.
“See if it’s unlocked,” Patricia said to Kadie as she edged toward the wooden door.
Kadie turned without acknowledging and walked to the door. Her hand shook as she grasped the handle, which was a large circular piece of iron that hung waist high on the door. With the iron ring firmly in her hand, she gave the handle a good tug and the door opened outward. The rusty hinges gave way with a loud groan, just like the stone doors they had found earlier. The seal the stone doors created must have preserved the integrity of this wooden door over time.
Shifting the flashlight beam into the new room, she stepped inside. The bright LED flashlight cut through the darkness like a hot knife through a stick of butter. What she saw took her breath away.
They found it—the Cathedral of Helena.
Her heart raced, and her skin tingled as she stood inside what resembled an ancient cathedral. Not the glorified cathedrals lined with ornate statues and gold trim, but a cathedral from the fourth century. One designed and built during Constantine’s reign, but vastly more stunning.
The doorway led to the center aisle of the cathedral. The pews were simple stone benches, but they were hidden. No, not hidden—covered. Covered with riches so vast, she thought she was on the set of a movie. Her flashlight raced over various treasures: statues, staffs, trunks overflowed with gold coins, precious stones, fine linens draped from one row to another. And vases. Hundreds of vases spread around the cathedral.
Her initial assessment was the church was unfinished, and she was right. As she walked her beam around, she could see the ceiling had yet to be completed further toward the front.
“Holy smokes,” Duke said behind her. She saw another flashlight beam dance around the room. Then another and another, until seven total beams explored the interior of the cathedral.
Kadie found a bowl near the entrance; liquid pooled almost to the rim. Holy Water? Dipping her finger in the liquid, she rubbed the viscous substance with her thumb and forefinger, then sniffed it. Oily. Definitely not Holy Water. She glanced at Duke. “Well, here goes nothing.”
She took the torch from Duke and dipped the flaming end into the liquid, igniting the bowl. Instantly, the bowl erupted in flame, illuminating the back of the church. On the other side of the aisle, she found another bowl and lit that one. Esteban took the torch from her and scurried to the front of the church, lighting every bowl filled with oil he could find. In minutes, the interior of the cathedral bristled with illumination, the firelight dancing off the golden treasures within. Esteban returned, giddy as a schoolboy.
Curt, Esteban, and Cliff talked excitedly back and forth, unfazed by the fact their team had been reduced by forty percent.
Kadie watched them grow more and more animated as they talked. She sensed their situation was about to take a turn for the worse.
She was right.
58
Nis, Serbia
Inside the Cathedral of Helena
* * *
Patricia stood in the center aisle of the ancient cathedral, her heart pounding. She couldn’t believe she found it. The treasure was more than she imagined when Graham Thorndike first proposed the project to her. She had seen movies where the hero and heroine find the cavern filled with riches; sure, the fictional representation has been impressive. But nothing compared to the real thing. She caught herself being distracted from why they were here in the first place. They were here for the Scroll.
She pulled her eyes away from the glorious treasure before them and focused on Kadie. The girl looked gorgeous in the flickering firelight, but her attention was on something other than the treasure. Kadie stared at Curt and his men. Patricia realized she might have a problem on her hands.
The two men seemed to be arguing with Curt. No, they weren’t arguing, they were—negotiating? No, they were coming up with a plan, and a moment later, Curt looked at Patricia and nodded. The two men followed his gaze to her.
Curt left the men and approached Patricia.
“We’re going to be rich,” Curt said behind her. He had lost focus of his role. Hidden treasure tended to do that.
“Let’s not forget what we came here for,” Patricia said, but her eyes sparkled at the treasures before her. “We are here for the Pilate Scroll. We’ve got to search for it. That’s what Mister Thorndike is paying us for.”
“Well, that’s part of the problem. Mister Thorndike isn’t here, and your girl and her pilot friend can look for the Scroll. Me and the boys have made a decision.”
“Have you now?”
“We figured, considering what we’ve found—fifty-grand isn’t quite enough to cover our time and trouble for this little trip. It’s time to renegotiate our contract.”
A crisp smile streaked across her face. “Did you tell your men that you’re making ten times that for this little trip?”
Curt shook his head. “No need to rub it in. We’re here to finish the job. We’re well aware of what Mister Thorndike said. But the boys think we should be able to keep anything we can carry out of here.”
Patricia crossed her arms. This was completely against Mister Thorndike’s orders. Any treasure was to be explicitly claimed on behalf of Alligynt. Something to do with the legalities of individuals transporting the treasures out of one country back to the United States. She figured it was to cover the costs of the massive expedition. The amount of the treasure here made her believe there was more than enough for Alligynt.
“Do they now?”
“Yes.” Curt paused. “And I agree with them.” He turned and motioned with his arm across the expanse of the church. “Look at all this. We all can carry as much as we can out of here, and Mister Thorndike won’t miss a thing. Besides, if we don’t find the Aramaic Vase with the Scroll in here, we all, including you, go home with nothing.”
“What about our guests?” She glanced at Kadie, her brother, and the pilot.
“We can use them to carry our treasure to the Suburban. After that, they’re dead weight and will occupy space in the car. I’ll kill the pilot and the retard, no problem. I figured I might have to fight you over the girl.” He sneered at his comment.
“No need to be sarcastic,” Patricia said.
She mulled the words in her head as she gazed across the ancient cathedral. Yes, findin
g hidden treasure did change things. And it wasn’t like she had a choice. They weren’t asking her permission—they were letting her know the rules had changed. It was the only way, at this point, that she could maintain some semblance of control.
Plus, she finally began to admit to herself, she wasn’t going to leave here empty-handed. Her goal when this journey began was career enhancement, triggered by the fame and fortune that would come from the discovery of the DNA of Jesus of Nazareth. If they didn’t leave here with that, there would be no career enhancement or fame. She would have to settle on the fortune that she could carry out of here.
“Okay,” she said. “You’ve got a deal.”
59
Kadie had remained frozen in her position. She could only imagine what was being said. But whatever it was, she knew it wasn’t good for the three of them. Patricia and Curt finished their discussion, and Curt gave his men a thumbs up, and the two captors ran past her, gleefully exploring the contents of their discovery.
“Start looking for the vase,” Curt said as he strutted past her.
Kadie watched him wander off to the left side of the cathedral. Duke and Brian walked up behind her.
“I guess they renegotiated their contract,” Duke said.
“Looks that way.” Kadie placed her arm around Brian.
“So, we found it?” Duke said.
Kadie nodded. “This is the Cathedral of Helena. The interior appears to be incomplete. Perhaps when she died, Constantine stopped working on it.”
“Why would you say that?”
“I don’t know—just a hunch. You know, when Helena went on her quest to the Holy Land, she did it to get away from the empire. She was heartbroken by a series of events.”