But the tabernacle itself was fair game.
The interior of the small container was lined with black velvet, making it impossible to see anything in the dim light of the church. Cade ran his gloved hands against the velvet, looking for something stashed away inside the small space, and was only mildly surprised when his fingers encountered the hidden switch.
“Heads up,” he called to the others and then pushed it.
Glancing around, they all waited for something to happen.
Nothing did.
Cade frowned, pushed it again, and then did so a third time when everything still looked the same as it had before.
“Think it’s broken?” Olsen asked.
“No. I just think we’re not looking in the right spot.” He turned to the others. “Spread out. It’s here somewhere; I’m sure of it.”
And it was. The switch activated a panel in the back of the wardrobe closet in the sacristy, revealing a staircase. Riley found it completely by chance; he was standing near the wardrobe when Cade flipped the switch for what must have been the twentieth time and heard the slight hiss the panel made as it slid open.
Cade had to give whoever built the place credit. It was a clever set-up. Securing the controls inside the tabernacle ensured that no one was going to trip the mechanism by accident and even if, by some strange circumstance, they did, nothing untoward would happen to give it away.
There was a switch just inside the doorway that activated a set of bulbs strung along the ceiling and by their light Echo Team’s command squad descended. At the base of the steps they found a small chamber carved directly into the bedrock deep beneath the church.
A single bare bulb hung from a makeshift socket in the ceiling. Its harsh light illuminated the small space, giving them a good look at the altar of native stone that stood in the center of the room. A small chest rested on the altar, flanked by two fat, white church candles, the surface beneath them encrusted with the accumulation of years of melted wax. Next to the candle was a modern lighter.
As they spread out through the room, the light sent their shadows dancing across the walls and drew their attention to the mural painted on the one behind the altar. The mural stretched from floor to ceiling, covering a space about ten feet square, and showed an image of a rock-strewn plain of grey that stretched out to a horizon where storm clouds gathered. It was a landscape without a focus, as if the artist had completed only the background and had yet to begin the subject of the painting itself.
Cade knew better, however.
He knew it was a finished image, knew that the artist had actually captured the bleak nature of the place quite well. He’d been there, had plenty of first-hand experience to make the necessary comparison.
What he didn’t know was what an image of the Beyond was doing on the wall of a room hidden beneath the church.
“Commander? I think you’d better have a look at this.”
He turned to find Olsen had opened the chest and was staring at its contents, a strange combination of amazement and disgust plain on his face. Cade stepped up beside him.
Inside the chest, a mummified human hand rested on a bed of red silk.
Cade reached inside and carefully drew it out of the box, wanting to get a better look.
The hand had been severed about an inch below the wrist, providing a sort of handle with which to grasp it. A white, tallow like substance coated the fingers, covering the blackened skin beneath, and gave off the thick scent of animal fat and candle wax.
As the other men caught sight of the hand, Duncan crossed himself and a whispered prayer fell from Riley’s lips.
Cade didn’t blame them. The Hand of Glory was a potent piece of black magick, the kind of artifact that any self-respecting member of the church would avoid like the plague. Formed from the severed left hand of a murderer hung for his crime, the Hand could be used for all manner of nefarious purposes. The Order actually had two in their possession, the first taken from a warlock who’d used it to put an entire complement of Templar soldiers to sleep when they’d stormed his stronghold, the other removed from the grave of a sixteenth century mystic that had been unearthed during routine street repair in the White Chapel district of London three years before, both of them were secured under heavy guard to keep them from falling into the wrong hands.
Just what on earth had Father Martin been up to?
Cade began mentally cataloguing all of the uses of a Hand of Glory.
Putting your enemies to sleep.
Locating a missing person or object.
Forcing a confession from the servant of a witch.
Opening any lock. Or any door.
Wait a minute!
Cade looked from the Hand, to the mural, and back to the Hand again, suspicions flaring.
He grabbed the lighter from the altar top, clicked it on, and touched the flame to the tip of each finger, lighting each one like a candle. The stink of burning animal fat filled the room.
“Wait a minute…” Duncan began.
But Cade wasn’t listening. He suspected he knew just what Father Martin was doing with the Hand of Glory, but the only way to be certain was to try it himself.
Praying he was wrong, Cade turned to the mural and pointed the Hand’s burning fingers in the direction of the mural.
Something passed between the Hand and the wall, a force that was felt more than seen. The effects, however, became visible, as the entire painting shimmered like a mirage seen under the desert sun and then reformed once more, transforming the mural into a glistening web of arcane energy.
It was a portal.
And from the scene on the other side it was clear just where that portal would take them.
Into the heart of the Beyond.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Cade stared at the portal with a mixture of amazement and disgust. Amazed that someone had apparently managed to create a permanent link to the Beyond when, by its very nature, the Beyond was always shifting and changing, never the same thing twice and disgusted that they had bothered to do so at all, for try as he might he couldn’t think of a single worthwhile reason for doing so.
It appeared he was going to have to reevaluate not only what he knew about the Beyond, but about Father Martin as well.
Leaving the portal open was an invitation for any manner of creatures to come crawling across the Veil, so he waved the Hand of Glory at the wall a second time and then snuffed out the flames burning on the fingertips. As the last one was extinguished the wall shifted before their eyes once more, returning to its former, solid state.
It was looking more and more like they were going to have to chance making an incursion into the Beyond to determine just what Father Martin had been using the connection for. If they could open the portal from this side, there was also the chance that someone, or something, else could open it from the other, which meant they were going to have to post a guard for the time being, until they could decide just what to do about it.
Just what did you get yourself into, old man?
Leaving Riley and Olsen to keep an eye on the gate, Cade climbed back up the stairs, pulling out his cell phone as he went. Back in the sanctuary, he began making a series of phone calls.
His first one was to the duty officer at the Ravensgate Commandery, who he had transfer him to Echo’s barracks. There he had someone track down Davis, First Squad’s new leader. Cade had promoted him in the wake of Ortega’s death inside the Eden complex and so far, Davis had been doing fairly well. Cade was confident that, given a bit more time, he’d fit into the role as if he’d been born to it. Once Davis picked up the phone, Cade let him know that he was ordering First and Second Squads to grab their kits and meet him at his current location in Boston as soon as possible, knowing that Davis would relay the information to Wilson, Second Squad’s leader.
Regardless of what he found on the other side, Cade knew they were going to need back-up to handle the task of guarding the portal. You couldn’t mount a round the clock oper
ation with just four men. By getting the ball rolling now, he was increasing his options for later, and Cade liked to be prepared wherever and whenever he could. It was one of the traits that had made him so successful as Echo’s leader.
That done, Cade hung up and took a moment to consider what he intended to say before dialing the Preceptor’s direct line. It rang for a few times before Johansson’s aide answered it.
“Preceptor’s office. Nichols speaking.”
“Knight Commander Williams for Preceptor Johannson.”
“I’m sorry, Commander, the Preceptor is in a meeting at the moment and is currently unavailable.”
Cade grinned. Just as he’d hoped. Now if the incompetent fool would only stay in meetings until this was over, things might actually go pretty smoothly.
“That’s fine. Please let him know I called and that he can call me back whenever he finds a free moment.”
“Very well, Knight Commander.”
The aide’s snobbish attitude was almost enough to match that of his boss. But Cade knew the message would be relayed almost verbatim, which was exactly what he wanted. The Preceptor didn’t like him; that had been obvious from the start. He would consider any request from Cade that wasn’t labeled as urgent to be of no consequence and would ignore it out of sheer spite.
Which would leave Cade to do as he pleased. Just as he’d hoped.
Closing his flip phone, Cade turned away, intending to return to the crypt hidden below the church, but then stopped, took his phone back out, and dialed another number. The phone rang and rang, heightening his anxiety, but at last it was answered. “What?”
Cade wasn’t surprised by the greeting; it was how Clearwater always answered the phone. “It’s me again,” he said, knowing she would recognize his voice. If she didn’t already know it was him calling. Sometimes her abilities made him seem damned normal.
She didn’t sound thrilled to hear from him. “Did something happen? Did the wards collapse?”
“Oh, no. No, nothing like that. I just need your services again.”
She was silent for a time and then, “You didn’t dig another one up, did you?”
“God no!” he said, trying to keep the humor out of his voice. Did she think he made a hobby of this? “I’ve been called away on urgent business and I can’t make it back home again for several days. I need someone to watch over her until I get back.”
There was silence on the other end of the line.
“I’ll pay you double your normal rate to just sit there and keep an eye on her. I’ll be back in a few days and that will be it. I won’t drag you into this again.”
She was against it, but after a bit more pleading she finally agreed. “Fine. A few days, no more.”
She hung up without saying goodbye. Cade wasn’t surprised. Clearwater might be the best hedge witch he knew, but she wasn’t comfortable around people and her social skills were less than developed.
No matter. She knew her job and she would protect Gabrielle until he could get back there to do it himself.
With that taken care of, he turned and made his way back down the stairs to the room below. It was time to begin preparations for a short trip through the portal into the Beyond.
They had to find out what Father Martin had been involved with and passing through the portal was the quickest way to discover that information.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Cade normally would have made the trip across the Veil on his own, but this time he wasn’t comfortable with that idea. Just about anything at all could be waiting for them on the other side and he wanted not only another set of eyes and ears to be certain he didn’t miss anything, but also someone who could carry what they learned back to the Order should something happen to him.
As executive officer, Riley had to stay behind and manage the unit while Cade was gone. Duncan had been across the Veil before, but finding the portal beneath a church clearly had him shaken up and Cade didn’t think dragging him through it was the best thing right now.
Which left Olsen.
With the decision made, Cade rejoined the others in the secret room below the church and filled them in on his intentions.
“We need a better understanding of why this portal exists and what Father Martin used it for before we report the discovery to high command. The only way to do that is to go through it and scout around a bit on the other side. Once we do, we’ll have a better idea of how the Order needs to react.
“Olsen, you’re with me. Suit up, but leave your firearms behind. They don’t work on the other side anyway. Swords and knives only. We leave in ten minutes.”
As Olsen headed up the stairs to retrieve their kit bags from where they’d left them in the church above, Cade turned to the other two. “You two are on guard duty. Give us a couple of hours. If we’re not back by then, report in and let the Seneschal know about the portal.”
With the orders given, there wasn’t anything left to do but gear up and get things under way.
Olsen and Cade stood before the reactivated gate, with Riley and Duncan at their backs. The knight commander turned to face his companion.
“You’ll feel some resistance as you pass through the gate, but just push through it and you’ll be fine. I’ll go first and will be waiting for you on the other side.”
Without waiting for an answer, Cade faced the gate, drew his sword, and took the last several steps needed to carry him into the shimmering portal. There was a moment of bitter cold and a sense of absolute abandonment so profound that if he hadn’t been expecting it, Cade would have curled up in a corner and wept.
He found himself standing inside the ruins of a small room. The hazy illumination that passed for sunlight was filtering in through a nearby doorway, giving Cade just enough light to see by. The ceiling above his head had partially collapsed and if he hadn’t come through the portal hunched over slightly he probably would have smacked his head on it. He turned to face the portal and through its shifting shimmering surface he could just make out the hazy forms of Olsen and Riley standing on the other side. Lifting a hand, he gave the signal and then stepped away from the portal, making room for Olsen, who came through moments later.
Olsen was shaking violently when he emerged and Cade gave him a moment to gather his wits. The passage through the Veil was never an easy one and that space between worlds could feel like forever to the uninitiated. Cade had made the trip multiple times while searching for Gabrielle and had become hardened to the experience, but aside from their encounter with the angel Baraquel, who had thrown Echo’s entire command unit violently across the gap, this was Olsen’s only trip into the Beyond and Cade knew it would be disconcerting, to say the least.
“You okay?” Cade asked after a moment.
Olsen nodded. “That was a bit freakier than I expected, but I’ll be okay in a minute.” His voice shook slightly when he spoke, but his shivering had stopped and the panicked expression seemed to have left his face, at least for the time being.
“Good. I’d hate to have to embarrass you in front of the other men by sending you back.”
“Fat chance of that,” Olsen replied and this time he had himself under control.
Satisfied, Cade crossed the room to the doorway and looked out. Olsen joined him.
The Beyond was still very much a mystery to Cade, despite his many journeys there. As nearly as he could tell, it was a shadow realm that existed close to the real world in time and space, but forever separated by a wall of energy he had come to call the Veil. Like the mystical Purgatory, it was inhabited by the shades of the dead, those that for one reason or another had not moved on to a more lasting rest. Other creatures inhabited the Beyond as well, dark, twisted creatures of all shapes and sizes, and one had to be on their guard at all times while journeying there.
To make matters worse, the landscape of the Beyond was constantly shifting. Like a funhouse mirror, it had a tendency to make things appear either hauntingly familiar or intimately strange.
This side of the Veil could often seem to be be a mirror image of the other, except here the passage of entropy marked everything with a patina of decay. Cade liked to think of it as a photograph and its negative image.
Sometimes, though, the Beyond was simply different.
Like now.
In the real world, the church under which the portal was situated was in the midst of a suburban neighborhood, surrounded by other buildings, from two-family homes to the local grocery.
But here, that wasn’t the case.
Before them stretched a sea of what could only be called vegetation, though it was unlike any vegetation any human had ever seen. Dark and twisted, it hung across everything in its path like a spider’s web, seeming to squeeze everything in its iron grip. Looking behind them, they could see that the shell of the building from which they had emerged was covered with it. In fact, it was the growth that had caused the collapse of the structure, the heavy bows forcing the roof partially down into the rest of the building.
A path led down the small hill on which the church rested to what appeared to be a roadway, both of which had been carved from the center of the vegetation. Cade could see burn marks along the edge of the path, evidence that it had been cleared recently, and there were faint tracks in the dirt beneath their feet.
With no other direction available to them, they set out along the path.
They hadn’t gone far when a faint whispering reached their ears.
“Hear that?” Olsen asked, unnerved.
“It’s just the wind,” Cade replied absently, but then stopped.
The wind wasn’t blowing.
He turned in a slow circle, looking for movement, hoping to catch sight of something moving toward them through the vegetation.
“Can you tell where it’s coming from?”
Olsen shook his head. He was glancing around as well, one hand on the hilt of his sword.
Out of the corner of his eye, Cade saw motion and he spun in that direction. He was just in time to see a lengthy piece of vine slide out across the path ahead of them. As if sensing his scrutiny, it suddenly went limp. If he hadn’t been looking right at it, Cade would have convinced himself that it had only been a trick of the light.
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