“Good. Those men are aiming straight for us.”
Chapter 4
They drove in silence for several minutes.
Hester’s anxiety rose with each passing second. Her nerves were frayed and the quiet was making it worse. “Doesn’t it bother you that people are following you?”
“It is better than letting them kill us.”
Hester shivered at the cold chill of his voice. “You act as if this were an everyday occurrence for you.”
“I am a warrior.”
“So that makes it all right to have people stalk you?” She shook her head. “The closest I’ve ever come to danger before this, was trying to drive on the freeway.”
“You’re a woman. You are not meant to fight.”
“Are you suggesting that women can’t do what men do?” Hester fought to keep her voice civil as she glared at him. “You sound like a chauvinist.”
“I don’t understand your words. I do battle so others can be safe.” Eogan’s voice was filled with confusion. “Would you rather that I had let those men murder you?”
Hester crossed her arms. “That’s not what I meant. You inferred that a woman wasn’t able to take care of herself.”
“Women command and men obey.” His tone was serious. “I was bred and trained to protect.”
She strained her eyes in the dark to see whether he’d been joking. He was focused on the terrain ahead and all she could see was the side of his face. He had sounded sincere, though.
“If that’s the case, why didn’t you take me with you when I first asked?” Hester pursed her lips together. “You were going to leave me there unprotected.”
“I was trying to keep you alive and unharmed.” Eogan glanced at her. “It’s unsafe for you to be around me.”
Hester stared out the window. “It can’t be worse than being attacked by those men.”
“You are upset because of your friends’ deaths.” Eogan steered the vehicle onto the road. “I apologize.”
“It was a horrible thing to see.” Hester shuddered. “Josh had been so nice inviting me to go along with them. I’m glad Steve and Franklin were able to get away. Steve’s been traveling in Turkey for years. He’s the real expert. Franklin didn’t say much, so I’m not sure what his area of knowledge is.”
“It is my fault they are dead.” Eogan pressed down on the accelerator and the car jerked forward. “They were waiting for me.”
“If they wanted you, why did they stop us?”
He looked at her. In the dim light of the dashboard she could see that his eyes were narrowed. “I have found that men like them do not have honor.”
“All I wanted was to see Gobekli Tepe.” Hester clutched her bag closer to her body. “When the Germans, who are in charge of the excavation, refused to let me on the site in a professional capacity, I decided to go on my own.”
“Would not another archaeologist have been useful?”
“I suppose they didn’t think my position at the university, or the sites I’ve worked at in North American, was enough experience.”
That wasn’t the only reason they hadn’t wanted her onboard. She had asked if she could help in secret. She didn’t want the school she taught at knowing about her work at Gobekli Tepe. That had probably sent up red flags.
“Do you spend all of your time at these archaeological sites?” Eogan swerved off the road again and drove in a straight line to what resembled a row of covered tents.
“Most of my time is spent in the classroom.” She didn’t have anything to be ashamed of, but it felt anticlimactic to admit that she had limited field experience. After tonight’s incident she doubted she’d venture out alone again.
“You teach.” His voice held approval. “That is a noble thing to do.”
A flicker of pride filled her chest. “I always thought so, but sometimes you want to see things for yourself. I’ve read so much about Gobekli Tepe in books, and I’ve seen pictures. I wanted to examine it up close.”
“You think it will be different than the images?” Eogan slowed the vehicle.
“I think that the depictions we’re allowed to see don’t tell the whole truth.” Hester’s tone was dry. “I’m not naïve. I know academics hold back information so they can be the first to publish. In this case, I don’t think they understand the significance of what they’ve discovered.”
“What is that?”
“I think it’s evidence that aliens once visited this planet.” Hester lowered her voice as she uttered the heresy. If another archaeologist heard her, it would be the end of her career as a respected scientist.
“You can tell this from dirt and stones?” Eogan sounded intrigued. “Isn’t something more definite needed?”
“You mean like the body of a dead alien?”
“It might help prove your theory.”
“I don’t need your sarcasm.” She crossed her arms.
“I did not intend to disrespect you.” He tone was apologetic.
Hester felt her ire dissipate. It was difficult to be angry with a man who was so gorgeous and had just saved her life.
“It’s only an idea. That’s why I want to see the site for myself. I might get some insight into what the inscriptions mean, or what the complex was intended for.”
Eogan leaned over the steering wheel as he maneuvered the jeep into a small enclosure. It was a tented structure, and once inside, he shut the engine off. He opened the door and stepped out. Someone would have to be walking nearby to see the jeep.
“You’ll get a chance to inspect your stones now. We have to leave the vehicle in case it’s found. It might have a tracking device on it.”
She grabbed her backpack and pulled out a flashlight. “Great.”
Eogan reached into the rear seat and started to rummage around until he hauled out a first aid kit. He slammed the door closed and waited for Hester to join him before exiting the shelter and pulling the netted material down over the entrance. The jeep was completely concealed.
“Where do we go?”
Hester swung her light. “The ruins of course.”
Eogan held her arm and helped her down the side of a gravelly hill. “We must stay hidden. You can examine them as long as it’s safe.”
A jolt of heat raced through Hester’s body.
She wasn’t certain if it was Eogan’s touch or the thought of seeing the monoliths up close. It was silly to think that he would ever mean anything to her. After all, he’d as much as admitted that he wasn’t interested in women. Besides, gorgeous men didn’t notice her. She’d accepted that long ago and had pushed any romantic thoughts out of her head forever.
“How much further?” Eogan had stopped to scan the area. “I need to remove something.”
“Take it off here.”
“It is not sheltered enough.”
“There might be someplace in the ruins. The main area is under cover now and they usually have tents set up for excavation finds.”
Hester pointed her light to an indentation in the ground. The top of a steel roof was reflected in her beam. Below the structure, T-shaped pillars were visible. Her stomach tightened and she had to force herself to breathe. After years of research, she was close to finding out if her theory was true. To see the stones that might be a link to an ancient alien culture was more than she had ever hoped.
Her life was routine and comfortable. Her days filled with teaching and helping at insignificant digs in the summer months. She did most of her alternative history research in the evenings and on weekends. This didn’t stop her from craving adventure, though. Never in her wildest dreams had she thought she might explore one of the sites that she’d studied.
They climbed down a steep incline, and entered an area of steel poles and metal roofing.
Hester inhaled a sharp breath when she saw the first stone.
She let her light rest on the grooves and holes carved into the tall pillar. She ran a shaky hand up the rock as far as she could reach, letting her
fingers feel it’s indentations as if she were reading braille. It sent a thrill from her fingers to the tips of her toes. She didn’t want to miss anything. When she’d felt all sides, she stepped back and let her flashlight beam linger on the figure of a lizard-like animal carved in a downward direction. It was poised as if ready to pounce.
She moved her light to the adjacent stone and then the next, until she’d highlighted every pillar in the circle. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a camera.
“Can you hold the light on this?” Hester handed Eogan the flashlight.
He grunted, but he held the beam steady. She clicked a couple of shots and then moved to another stone. The carvings were spectacular. The pictures would go a long way in helping with her research. She swallowed back her excitement. She had to stay focused.
“There’s another structure to the east. Can we go there?”
Eogan helped her up the side of the mound and followed her the short distance to the nearby circle.
She photographed each stone and was ready to move on when the sound of a distant rumbling broke through the air. She looked up at him for direction, but he was staring at the structure with a frown.
“What?” she asked.
He shook his head. “This is familiar.”
“You’ve probably seen it in textbooks, or on the web.”
“I don’t have access to those.”
“That’s impossible.” Hester scoffed. “Everyone has the internet.”
“I am kept in a cell.” His voice was cold. “I am not given such privileges.”
“Have you escaped from prison?”
Hester’s voice quivered as she recalled how easily he had dispatched those men. What if she was talking with a serial killer and he meant for her to be his next victim. She gave herself a mental shake. If he were a murderer, he would have hardly let her come to this place and take pictures.
“Not in the sense that you mean.” Eogan took a step back. “I do remember seeing something like this when I was a child.”
“You grew up in Turkey?” Hester climbed up beside him. “Did your parents bring you here for a visit?”
“I have no parents.”
“Were you an orphan?”
“No.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” Hester walked to another section. “Does that mean you were raised by foster parents?”
“I was trained by teachers until I was ten and then...” Eogan’s voice faded.
Hester turned. “You remembered.”
“Yes.” He pointed at the largest circle. “They resemble a vibration system for creating energy.”
Chapter 5
“Where is it from?” Hester’s voice was filled with excitement.
“It’s an ancient system. I’ve only seen remnants in the records of other planets.”
She stopped so quick that Eogan almost ran into her.
“You know about other worlds?”
He hesitated a second. To admit he wasn’t from Earth was risky. Still, Hester was an unusual person. He had seldom been near women, but they had never wanted to explore old rocks and sand mounds. She’d almost died at the hands of a group of mercenaries and she’d shaken it off the moment she came to this place.
Time was essential to removing the device in his neck, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to stop Hester from exploring these standing stone circles. It was more than obeying a woman. He had a strange compulsion to do what she wished. She was happy and as long as they weren’t in any immediate danger, they could stay.
“The records say they aren’t in use anymore.” Eogan decided to ease into the truth. She didn’t need to know where he’d learned about them. “They were utilized in the initial terraforming of some planets. The mechanisms were meant to last eons, and the odd one that remains standing, still works.”
“So this is producing energy.” Hester’s voice was soft with awe. “I wonder if it’s something that can be measured.”
“I am not knowledgeable about these things. The ones in the records were not made of granite.”
He wanted to keep moving. He took Hester’s arm and led her to the next pillar, which was T-shaped. It was one of the largest and stood in the middle of the ring. It was mounted on bedrock. Across from it was another stone. Both monoliths were over sixteen feet tall and even though they looked identical, when his hands roamed over the surface, he could feel that they had unique engravings.
They were the same and yet different from the ones he’d seen in the records. Those had been made of metal posts, with gold connecting rods between them.
“How do they work?”
“Power could be directed downward and concentrated on the center of the structure, which conducted energy to the other components around the circle and set up a perpetual wave vibration.”
“It seems complicated.” She ran her fingers across the column. “I wonder if these were ever started.”
“They look like replicas.” Eogan watched as Hester focused the lens of her camera. “You would need metal to conduct energy.”
“You don’t think they were ever activated.” Hester took a picture of the megalith. “How long would an apparatus like that vibrate for?”
“The old systems that were intact and standing, still had residual vibrations. The structures deteriorate over time. Age and neglect are the enemy of these mechanisms.”
“Maybe that’s why there are so many UFO sightings and supposed aliens on Earth.” She walked to the opposite stone. “They’re trying to repair or build a new system?”
“The ancients who built these structures have long since left this galaxy.”
Hester sighed. “What a shame. It would be great to meet an alien.”
“Only if they were non-threatening.”
Eogan’s voice was dry. She was an extraordinary person and very accepting. Most humans would have screamed denials if he’d told them that he’d seen these structures in other planets’ records. Instead, Hester had calmly asked what their purpose was. For a human, she was a rarity.
Hester swung around and pointed her flashlight at his chest. “I just realized you said that you’d seen them in other planet archives. Are these accounts in the hands of another group of ufologist?”
“I don’t know of such an organization.”
Hester’s eyes narrowed. “You must belong to one of them. You don’t have access to the internet and that’s the only other place you could get this information.”
“I saw them on other planets.” He held his breath as he waited for her reaction. Truth between them was imperative. She needed to understand her life was at risk by staying with him.
The stillness of the night became magnified. The only interruption was the soft swishing of bats flying overhead and the scurrying of small lizards on the gravel. Hester halted and stood as if a statue, and for a few seconds, Eogan wondered if she’d stopped breathing. There was a gasp and then she laughed.
It was a quiet chuckle.
“I thought you said you’d been to other planets.” She walked to the ramp. “I must have been more rattled by those men than I thought. Unless there is a new space program I’ve never heard about, no one has visited other worlds. Great story about the circles being used for energy, though.”
So she’d misinterpreted his words. It was best. The fewer humans who knew about the existence of Hunters the better. He looked human, so she’d accepted him as being human.
“We need to leave.”
“I haven’t heard any vehicles. You lost the car that was following us ages ago.” Hester climbed the incline and went toward another megalith. “Why do you think you’re being chased?”
“They ambushed the group I was deployed with.” Eogan reached for her arm. “It is not safe to remain in this place.”
“I traveled for three days to get here. Men have died. I’m not leaving right away.”
She was stubborn.
He admired that.
A strong woman was
an honor to serve. They knew what they wanted and it was easier to follow their commands. If she desired to be here in this replica of an ancient energy machine, then he would oblige her for a few more minutes. He took a step back and scanned the horizon. At the moment there was no sign of vehicles or pursuit. That could be deceptive.
He knew the military and the Albireons had weapons at their disposal that most people had no knowledge of. The earth’s populace was not aware of everything that occurred on this planet. Only a few humans knew the extent of the alien technology exchanges or clandestine activities and experiments that were sanctioned.
Eogan followed Hester to the next circle and waited a few steps behind as she got down on her knees to explore the plinth of another pillar. A structure made of metal would still be emitting a residual energy which would affect the planet. If there had been a working mechanism here, the Albireons would have guarded it.
“Could you take this?” Hester held out her flashlight. “I want to try and get a picture of this engraving. It reminds me of a carving I saw on one of my digs.”
“Are they connected?” Eogan aimed the flashlight so it shone on the monolith.
“It’s not the same, but there are some familiar strokes.” She crouched down close and focused the camera lens. “If I can get a picture I’ll be able to compare it later.”
“One more photo and then I must insist we stop. It is imperative I remove my implant.”
There was a soft clicking accompanied by flashes of light. Hester didn’t seem to be listening to him. She was intent on her task until she’d stopped shooting. She looked at him as she stood up.
“What do you mean by implants?” She glanced down at her camera viewing screen. “Are you referring to Radio Frequency Identification chips? I thought they only put them in clothing or credit cards.”
“Those are primitive locators.”
“A lot of people think you can be followed with those things.” Hester groaned. “These pictures aren’t great, but I’m not going to get anything better in this light. Maybe we could stay here until sunrise.”
Her voice ended on a hopeful tone. Eogan’s chest tightened. He hated to deny her, but time was important. They had wasted precious minutes exploring the archaeological site. After his implant was removed, he needed to contact the other Hunters and get Hester to safety.
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