by Lyn Horner
Gabriel reverently accepted it. He looked over the piece carefully then pulled the chain he wore around his neck from under his shirt. On it hung the plain gold cross and tiny key Josie had noticed before but never questioned him about. Holding up the box, he inserted the key into a small keyhole cleverly disguised amid the box’s intricate painted pattern. He turned the key with a quiet snick and opened the box.
Standing next to him, Josie saw yet another key, quite a bit larger, lying inside on a red velvet bed. Dull bronze in color, it was long and flat, with a number engraved on the head. Thinking this was turning into some kind of weird game, she was about to ask him what this hidden key unlocked when a door slammed and a loud, angry voice shouted ugly curses beyond the office door.
Alarmed, she stepped back, shoved her hand into her jacket pocket, and gripped the small gun Gabriel had given her back at the canyon. When he’d told her this visit to his brother might be dangerous, he’d advised her to bring it along.
Recognizing that voice, Gabriel scowled at Sergio. “You called him!” he accused, hurriedly closing the box and setting it on the desk.
“No, I swear I did not. The guards are loyal to him. It must have been –” Before he could finish, the office door burst open, banging against the wall.
Swinging around, Gabriel faced the gray-haired devil standing in the doorway. Nearly purple with rage, his father lowered his head like a bull preparing to charge. “Traitor! How dare you show your face in your brother’s home after the harm you have caused us?” he roared in Spanish. Rushing forward, he slapped Gabriel hard enough to snap his head to the side and cause a sharp flash of pain.
Hearing Josie snarl in rage, he turned and grabbed her arm just as she was about to raise her gun. “No! They will kill you,” he said, nodding toward his father’s three henchmen positioned around the room, all with their automatics pointed at her. He thought of reaching for his own .38, strapped to his ankle, but knew he would be dead before he could draw the piece. Instead, he wrapped his hand around Josie’s gun.
“Let me have it,” he said. From her angry glare, he feared her temper would overrule common sense, but she cursed under her breath and released the gun. He held it up by the stubby barrel to show his father’s minions he did not mean to shoot. Then he laid it on the floor and kicked it away.
The old man laughed. “What a little spitfire,” he sneered in English, picking up on Gabriel’s use of the language. “I will enjoy breaking her. Perhaps I will let you watch, traitor. Before I punish you.”
“Just try it, you old reprobate!” Josie spat.
“You will not touch her,” Gabriel gritted, pushing her back out of the way. “Never will I let you do to my woman what you did to mi madre.”
“We shall see. Take him and the woman,” his father barked to his men, stepping aside.
“Stay back or you will regret it,” Gabriel warned, adopting a wide-legged stance. When the three merely laughed and kept coming, he extended his arms and splayed his fingers. “Stop.” Again, they ignored his warning. Left with no other choice, he focused his power and unleashed it on two of the men. Emerald flames shot from his fingertips, striking the two, setting them aglow.
They screamed and dropped their guns. The third man stared at them in horror as they howled in agony, bodies jerking, with the odor of burning flesh filling the air. When Gabriel banked his power they crumpled to the floor, charred black, as he turned to the remaining gunman. Shaking in terror, the man let his weapon fall.
“No! Por favor, señor!” he begged, frantically waving his hands and backing away.
“Get out,” Gabriel ordered, pointing at the door. He waited for the terrified man to escape. Then he turned to his father, who huddled in a corner, pale with fear. Enraged by what this rotten excuse for a man had forced him to do, he collected his diminished energy, intent on putting an end to him.
“I knew the witch kept something from me,” the swine said, “but I never guessed it was you. You are a monster like her.”
“If I am a monster, you are a demon from hell!” Gabriel snarled between clenched teeth. “You grew wealthy by pedaling death. You tortured my mother for years and finally murdered her. For that you will pay.” He raised his arms again, ready to deal out long overdue justice to the bastard.
“No, Gabriel!” Josie cried, latching onto his arm. “Don’t do this. If you kill him, you’ll be no better than he is.”
In his rage, he had forgotten her. “Let go,” he demanded, glaring at her. He tried to shake her off but she held on like a bulldog.
“There has to be a better way,” she insisted. The frantic, pleading look in her brown eyes got through to him, making him slowly lower his arms.
Expelling a frustrated sigh, he said, “Very well, I will let him live, for now. Only because you ask it of me, mi amor.” Taking her hand, he retrieved the little box from the desk, where his brother stood slumped against it, looking ill from what he had witnessed. “Remember what I said, Serg. Get out while you still can.” Then he turned to leave.
“Be grateful to this woman,” he fired at his father. “For her sake, I will wait to take my vengeance, but not forever.” With that, he strode out with Josie. He made it as far as the front doors before a wave of weakness struck him. His legs wobbled, nearly taking him down.
“Hey, don’t pass out!” Josie exclaimed. “Lean on me.” Ducking under his arm, she laid it across her slim shoulders and curved her own arms around him.
“I’m too heavy,” he protested, though not very strongly.
“No you’re not. Now walk. We need to get out of here before your dear old dad and the rest of his crew decide to come after us.”
Knowing she was right, he stumbled along beside her, making it to the car with her help. “Wait. You must drive,” he said. Leaning on the vehicle, he dug the keys from his pocket and handed them to her. Then he collapsed in the passenger seat with the crucial little box still clutched in his hand.
The gate opened as they approached. “I guess they’re glad to get rid of us,” Josie remarked. “Where to?”
“Turn left and head downtown.”
Once they were underway, she asked, “How did you do that … that green fire thing?”
“I do not really know,” he said, exhaustion weighing him down. “The power first came upon me as a youth. My mother possessed the same ability, but she said mine was much stronger. She told me never to use it unless in dire need. Today, back there was such a time, but I regret having to kill those men even if they probably deserved to die.”
Josie reached over to clasp his hand. “You did what you had to do to save us.”
He squeezed her hand, grateful for her understanding. “We must go to the bank.” Naming the bank, he gave her directions to find it.
“Gotcha. So the key is to a safe deposit box?”
“Sí, that is where Mother stored the scroll,” he said, rolling his head on the seat back to look at her. “Lara told you about the scrolls?”
She dipped her head slightly, watching the road. “She said each Guardian is responsible for protecting one secret scroll. I don’t know what’s on the scrolls.” She paused then added, “Actually, I got the impression Lara doesn’t either.” She sent him a quick glance, eyebrows lifted in question.
Tired to the bone, he closed his heavy eyelids. “She had no chance. Her uncle, the old High Guardian, was to train her for several years. She would have met each Guardian in turn to study the scrolls.”
“But that didn’t happen.”
“No, he died too soon,” he mumbled and dozed off.
Seeing Gabriel had fallen asleep, Josie let herself replay how he’d killed those two men. He’d done the only thing he could to save them both. She believed that but even so, she was shocked by the horror of what she’d seen. Lara Flewellen had told her each Guardian possessed some sort of psychic gift, but never had she imagined anything like Gabriel’s deadly ability. He made her think of some comic book superhero, b
oth fantastic and frightening.
Josie woke him when they arrived at the bank. By the time she found a parking place, he sat upright and alert. He had regained enough strength to walk into the building without leaning on her. They were greeted by a smiling young woman who had Gabriel sign a form to verify his signature, while eyeing him too closely for Josie’s taste. He produced the all important key from his pocket, having left the painted wooden box in the car.
The process of unlocking the safe deposit box and removing a slender, bluish metal tube, plus an envelope filled with U.S. greenbacks, took only a few moments. Stowing the tube – containing the precious scroll – in a tote bag borrowed from Dr. Mendoza’s wife, they retreated to the car and headed back to the doctor’s rancho.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
After a sound night’s sleep, Josie was glad to see Gabriel completely restored. He and Berto drove off to buy water and food supplies for their trip north and, most important, procure aviation fuel for the helicopter. They returned with enough fuel to fill the Firebird’s tank. How and where they got the fuel, she did not ask.
Gabriel spent a few minutes with Javier, who was still partially sedated. Josie stepped into the room to wish the wounded man well and hold his hand for a moment. He gave her a gentle smile that tugged at her heart. Then she left the two friends alone.
When Gabriel emerged, he went to Berto. Laying a hand on the young man’s shoulder, he said in Spanish, “I need you to deliver a message to my men. You will do this for me?”
“Sí, Señor Gabriel.”
“Good. Tell them I must leave and I do not know when I will return.”
Josie didn’t understand every word of his message but caught enough to realize he wanted to thank his men for standing with him against the smugglers. If they wished to continue the fight, they should choose a new leader. He suggested Javier once he was recovered.
Berto promised to deliver his message and Gabriel shook his hand. Impulsively, Josie gave the youth a hug. Blushing, he reacted with a bashful smile.
Gabriel gave Dr. Mendoza a generous donation for his services. They thanked the man and his wife for all they had done and bid them goodbye. Then Josie fired up the chopper, they waved and lifted off. She set a course northwest over the mountains to the Pacific coast, which she planned to follow along Colombia, Central America and Mexico, retracing the route she had flown south with Dev Medina. They would hop from one small airfield to another, mapped out by Dev, where fuel was available.
Once they were well away, Gabriel reached behind them into his saddlebags, their only piece of luggage other than the heavy jackets stowed in the back – necessary when they reached their destination Buried among their few belongings was the blue metal tube they’d retrieved from the bank. Pulling it out, he laid it on his lap and met Josie’s curious gaze with a penetrating stare.
“This scroll I am about to show you has never been seen by anyone outside the circle of Guardians. I must have your word never to breathe a word of its existence.”
“You honor me,” she said fervently. “I swear I’ll keep your secret for as long as I live.”
“I believe you.” He smiled, moss-green eyes revealing affection and trust. Then he unscrewed the tube’s cap, set it aside and carefully withdrew a parchment scroll. As he gently unfurled it, Josie was surprised by how supple the material appeared, as if it had been placed in the tube only days before instead of eons ago. For it to be so remarkably preserved, there must be something special about the little blue tube.
“Each scroll holds a prophesy written in the lost language of my mother’s Irish ancestors, the Tuatha Dé Danann.. I translated the text years ago under her instruction,” Gabriel said. “The writer would be called a pagan by Christian standards.” Clearing his throat, he read,
“‘I Lionan am a prophet of Danu, Mother of us all, and I wield the warrior’s green flame, second in power only to the white fire of our High Mage. Upon me the Great Mother has laid a fearful vision of a time long distant when the nations of this world will battle for supremacy. I am loath to record what She revealed to me, but I must.
Unending wars and terrible weapons rivaling those of our home world will harm the land, the water and the air. Many creatures both great and small will be utterly destroyed and evil ones will annihilate much of humankind. Yet, all is not lost. At this desperate time, a descendant of mine will step forward to end the carnage.
Aiding in this cause, our Aes Sidhe brethren will arise from their fairy mounds and fight alongside mortals to destroy evil, wielding lances of blue flame and carrying snow-white shields. Together with the few remaining followers of the Great Goddess, they will lead Earth’s children back to the light. This is the blessed word of Danu.’”
Josie had a hard time taking in the jaw-dropping prophesy. Staring at Gabriel with wide eyes, she forgot to keep an eye on their altitude until he looked up.
“Por Dios, pull up!” he shouted, pointing ahead.
She snapped to attention. Seeing they were flying straight for a mountain, she gasped and pulled back sharply on the stick, getting enough lift to clear the jagged peak. Just barely. “Sorry for being so careless,” she said, heart thundering in her chest. “That was damn close.”
“Sí, close.” He sounded as shaken as she felt. “I should not have read the prophesy while you are flying.”
“Yeah, maybe not.” Silence hung between them as he slipped the scroll into the tube and stuffed it back in his saddlebags. Then, with part of the prophesy stuck in her head, Josie asked, “What did he, Lionan, mean by weapons that would rival those of their home world?”
“Excellent question. I do not know the answer. Nor do any of the Guardians alive today, but we have speculated that the original Tuatha Dé Danann came from another planet. There is no way to prove it, of course.”
Josie didn’t blink at the idea. “You know, there is a legend that the ancient ones who once lived in our Navajo lands received visitors from the sky. Other tribes also have stories about the Star People, so your speculations could be true. But what of that part about the … whatever they’re called rising from fairy mounds? That sounds like pure fantasy. You don’t believe it, do you?”
He frowned and crossed his arms “The Aes Sidhe, or people of the mounds, hold an important place in Irish mythology. According to the old tales, when the Tuatha Dé were defeated by invading Milesians, those who wished to remain in Ireland found haven in another dimension of time and space. They were believed, and still are by some, to live underground in mounds or fairy raths, or in Tir na nÓg, mythical islands to the west of Eire. Ireland, that is.
“Do I believe they are real?” He shrugged. “As a modern man, I admit I find the story hard to take seriously. However, as a Guardian, it is my duty to accept and protect the prophesies. A fine contradiction I am faced with, eh?”
She laughed. “Right. Better you than me.”
They stopped some time later at the first airstrip marked on her map. Gabriel did the talking. Handing over a few bills from the stash he’d collected yesterday, he easily convinced the owner of the place to sell them fuel. Climbing back in the chopper, they continued on until near dusk, when Josie set the Firebird down on a nameless beach. The blue Pacific gently lapped the shore on one side; on the other side a lush tropical jungle encroached upon the beach.
“The air is thick enough to cut with a knife,” Josie said, jumping lightly from the helo to the soft white sand.
“Sí, this is the wettest region of Colombia. We are lucky it is not raining.”
“The sand it wet. Maybe we’d better sleep in the Firebird instead of spreading our blankets out here.”
Standing close by, Gabriel turned her into his arms. “But we cannot stretch out in such a small space. How will I make love to you?” he said, bending to nuzzle her ear, making her catch her breath and close her eyes as shivers of pleasure ran along her skin.
“I-I guess we could lie on the sand.”
He stopped
and lifted his head. “Querida, are you sure you wish to lie with me now that you know what a monster I am?” His troubled gaze probed hers.
“You’re no monster, Gabriel.” She shook her head emphatically. “That’s your no-good father talking. Don’t believe what he said.”
“But you witnessed the terrible power I hold within me. Did it not frighten you?”
“Yes, it did, but I know you will never turn the flames upon me or anyone unless you absolutely have to. You didn’t even use your power against those smugglers who attacked us in the canyon. It wasn’t necessary, so you practiced restraint. Your mother taught you well.” She reached up to smooth his frowning features. “To answer your question, yes I want to lie with you. I love you, you silly man.”
His nostrils flared and his eyes took on a soft glow in the fading light. “I love you too, my beautiful little tigresa.”
Her throat clogged. “I told you not to call me little,” she choked out. Then she launched herself into his arms. Covering his face with kisses, she whispered, “But I’ve decided I like it fine now, my tall, handsome Guardian.”
He kissed her long and deep. When they finally came up for air, he nibbled her ear and murmured, “We don’t need to lay on the sand. I picked up a vinyl ground sheet when Berto and I went for fuel this morning.”
“Oooh, good thinking.”
He kissed her nose and grinned. “Come, let us eat some of those packaged meals you very wisely insisted I purchase. Then we shall put the ground sheet to good use.”
Giggling like a giddy schoolgirl, Josie joined him back in the Firebird to consume their M.R.E.s, hardly tasting what she put in her mouth, so anxious was she to spread their blankets. Seated in the cockpit next to Gabriel, she darted eager glances at him every few moments. Catching her at it, he gave her a wicked grin, looking like a pirate with a lock of dark hair drooping over his brow.