Mind Game

by Iris Johansen

  So familiar … this perilous narrow path where Cira had walked.

  Galo leading Cira and Antonio to her son …

  Not a pure white retriever, but a pale tan hound. But the love was the same, and so was the service rendered.

  Darkness.

  Mist.

  A dog barking, warning, protecting, leading them …

  Where?

  She rounded a curve in the path.

  Juno was sitting on the path in front of her. She was seven or eight feet away, but Jane could make her out in the mist.

  She was not moving, but whimpering that excited, joyous sound deep in her throat.

  “You did well, Juno.” Margaret had come even with Jane and was looking down at the retriever. “Here?”

  Juno ran to the huge boulder to the north of the path and sat down in front of it. As Marcus’s dog, Galo, had done as he had waited for Cira and Antonio.

  “Here,” Margaret repeated. She turned to Jane. “She’s done her job. It’s up to you now.” She smiled. “Are you ready?”

  All the dreams.

  All the years.

  All the wondering why.

  All the reaching out but never finding.

  “I’m ready.” She turned to MacDuff and Jock as they came toward them down the path. “Just in time. That big boulder rolls back, but I don’t have the strength. It takes muscle.” She smiled. “Antonio did it by himself, but the centuries and dampness probably made it bury itself deeper in the earth. It might take two.”

  MacDuff was standing stiff, frozen, his eyes on the huge boulder. “My God.” Then he shook his head to clear it. “It’s just a rock. Probably nothing behind it.”

  “There’s something behind it,” Jane said. “There is, MacDuff. I know you’re scared to think it’s true. So am I. But I know there’s something there.” She swallowed. “So flex those muscles and prove me right. Okay?”

  Jock stepped forward. “Come on, MacDuff. I could probably do it alone, like Antonio, but then I’d have to rub it in for the rest of your life. You wouldn’t like that. Hop to it.”

  MacDuff stood looking at the boulder. “You think I’d allow that to happen?” He came forward and braced himself beside Jock. “On the count of three.”

  It took five counts of three to even budge the deeply embedded rock and then seven more before they managed to roll the boulder to one side.

  Jane went slowly forward to stand beside them, staring into the darkness.

  “Now I’m truly terrified,” MacDuff murmured.

  “Me, too.”

  Afraid of being disappointed, of losing that extraordinary feeling of eternity and continuity that Cira had given her.

  A whimpering, a brushing against Jane’s legs, and then Juno pushed past them and ran into the darkness.

  Jane drew a deep breath. “It appears that Juno isn’t scared.” She lifted her flashlight. “I suggest we follow her example.” She stepped inside the cave. “Juno, where are you?”

  A low whimper.

  “She’s over there against the far wall,” Margaret said as she came to stand beside Jane. “Something about a Galo.”

  “Galo?” Jane leveled the beam of her flashlight across the cave.

  Then she forgot everything else as she saw the ledge built into the cave wall. She was transfixed, in shock. On the ledge was a ruin of bronze and granite and beautifully carved wood. A ruin, but the size was right, and so was Jane’s memory of it.

  Cira looking down at the carved casket with tears in her eyes. “And now I believe we’d better go take him into that mist…”

  “Marcus,” she whispered. “This is where they laid him to rest.”

  MacDuff’s beam pierced the darkness next to where Jane’s light was pointing. “It’s hard to tell what—”

  “It’s him,” she said. “You can verify it to your heart’s content later, but it’s Marcus.” Her beam moved down to where Juno was huddled on the floor beside another, smaller heap of bronze and wood. “And I’d bet that’s the coffin where they placed Galo, Marcus’s dog, when he died.” She could feel the tears sting her eyes. “So they’d always be together.” She moved her beam around the cave, which was not clean and neat as it had been in her dream. Fallen rocks, wet earth, even the walls of the cave seemed to have shifted from what she remembered. “And Cira’s treasure should be in that wall over there, MacDuff. Go and see if it’s in a cavity behind those rocks jammed against the wall.”

  “I can look later.” His beam was still on Marcus’s casket.

  “No, look now. I have to be sure. Cira wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble if she hadn’t wanted you to find that treasure.” She smiled. “She knows you’ll give her son all due respect. After all, she set him to watch over it. Now go see how well she preserved her fortune for you and the family.”

  MacDuff hesitated and then slowly crossed the cave to the rock she’d indicated. “If you’re sure she won’t throw a thunderbolt at me.”

  “No guarantees. She always hated to be predictable. You’ll have to take your chances.”

  She stood and watched as MacDuff and Jock began to try to pry the boulder away from the cavity in the wall.

  I’ve brought them here, Cira. It will make your family safe for a long time to come. Are you pleased? Is this what it was all about?

  * * *

  Cira’s bronze treasure chest was in bad shape but, incredibly, still intact. Its enclosure in the cave wall must have helped to keep it tight and dry. The coins inside it were in various degrees of discoloration, but there appeared to be hundreds, possibly thousands of them almost overflowing the chest.

  “Cira’s gold,” MacDuff whispered as he lifted a handful of coins from the chest and let them flow through his fingers. “Do you know that sometimes I doubted that it ever existed.”

  “You knew it did,” Jane said. “You searched and nagged and made everyone miserable, because you knew it was out here somewhere.”

  “I guess I did.” MacDuff looked at her and smiled. “And evidently I wasn’t the only one nagging. I had someone on my side helping out.”

  “Cira’s always been very demanding.” She gazed at the huge heap of coins. “They appear to be in decent shape and the gold coins might not even be the most valuable. History and rarity count more in today’s market. It will probably take a number of experts and a good amount of time to do the appraisals. What’s your next step, MacDuff?”

  “The safest, best-protected bank in Edinburgh. Which in my opinion is the Royal Bank of Scotland. Then arranging for all the appraisals to take place in a secure room at that fine establishment.”

  She smiled. “What a canny Scot you are, MacDuff.”

  “But first we’ve got to get it out of here and on its way to that bank,” Jock said. “And I’m not toting all of this treasure in my backpack. Too many trips. We’ll go back to the poles and get the utility wagon.”

  Antonio unloading the treasure from a crude wooden wagon and carrying it into the cave.

  “I think that’s a great idea.” She turned to Margaret. “But that’s a round-trip to the boulders where the poles are set up. Then another trip when we load the treasure to take it back to camp. Will Juno have any trouble leading us all that way?”

  Margaret shook her head. “Not if I stay with her and remind her that it’s important she concentrate on the lead and not what she’s leaving behind here. She wants to stay. She … likes it here.”

  Jane glanced at Juno, who was lying with her head on her paws. She could see that comfort, the serenity. “Then will you do that, please? I’d like to get this task finished.”

  Margaret nodded. “I told you back at the camp that I knew you all thought it time for this to be finished.” She turned to MacDuff. “Let’s go. We’ll make much better time now that Juno is staying with us and not having to search ahead.”

  “At your command.” He gave a mock bow. “We’re literally at your disposal, or we’d never get out of here.”

&nb
sp; “Power.” She grinned. “How I love the power.” She glanced at Jane. “Do you want to go first? Or do you want me to go ahead with Juno?”

  “You go ahead.” She looked at MacDuff. “I’m going to stay here until you get back with the utility wagon.”

  His brows rose in surprise. “Why? I wouldn’t think you’d want to stay here by yourself. Even the finest tombs are seldom pleasant.”

  “It’s Marcus’s final resting place. Cira left it sealed and secure for him. I’m not going to leave it alone and unprotected even for a short time. Once you get back and take the treasure, we’ll seal it again and won’t touch it until we decide how to restore it.” She added, “Does that sound all right with you?”

  “Very much all right,” he said softly. He turned and headed for the cave entrance. “Let’s go, Jock. We’ll be back soon, Jane.”

  “I know you will.”

  She watched them striding down the path until they disappeared into the mist. And after that, there was still the sound of them moving through the brush and Juno’s occasional barking.

  And then there was nothing but the darkness and the sound of the waters of the lake lapping against the shore. As it had been for all the centuries this little boy had been here with his friend Galo, who now shared his resting place.

  She turned back and went inside the cave. She stared at the ruins on the ledge for a moment and then slid down the wall beside the entrance and leaned her head back against the stone.

  “Here we are, Marcus,” she whispered. “I know Cira is taking care of you, and you don’t really need me. But I think she’d like the idea of my being here right now. In a way, she kind of raised me, too.” She closed her eyes. “Are you there, Cira? You gave me something in that last dream. I’m not good with faith, and I was having trouble coming to terms with what comes afterward. Did you know that I’d lost the man I loved? You probably did. It was hard coming back, but I had to do it. Just as you did. But you were given something in this place, and you passed it on to me. I want to thank you.” She opened her eyes and said unsteadily, “Now, unless you have any other gifts to give, we’ll just stay here and listen to the wind and the lake and be together.…”

  * * *

  The dawn was starting to break when they came out of the mist and started to walk down the bank toward the camp.

  Jane could see Eve, Lisa, Joe, and Cara sitting around the campfire. But it was Lisa who jumped to her feet and ran down to meet them.

  “Eve said you called and told her you’d found the treasure.” Lisa turned to Margaret. “You must be Margaret Douglas. I envy you. I didn’t care anything about the treasure, but conquering that mist intrigued me.” She made a face. “Actually, I was a little put out that Jane left me behind, but then Eve explained that you have some kind of special qualifications.”

  “That’s true,” Jane said. “And I don’t think that it’s a skill you could pick up as readily as you do most other things. This is Lisa Ridondo, Margaret.” She looked back over her shoulder at Jock and MacDuff, who were several yards behind them, bringing the utility wagon. “Could I talk you into making breakfast, Lisa? Nothing fancy. But it’s been a long night, and we’re all pretty drained. We could use a little sustenance.”

  Lisa was gazing at her face. “I can see that. But you look … at peace. You found what you wanted, Jane?”

  Jane nodded. “I found what I wanted.”

  She smiled. “Then I’m glad, and I forgive you for not letting me be there when it happened.” Her eyes were twinkling. “Though I’m hoping that guilt for depriving me of something I wanted will push you toward giving me the next thing on my list.”

  “Don’t count on it,” Jane said drily.

  “I never do. I just work toward it, and most of the time it comes.” She turned. “And what do you mean, ‘nothing fancy’? It’s a celebration, and at least that part of it will be mine. Now I’ll run back and start a splendid breakfast that will show everyone what a great team player I am.”

  Jane watched her streak down the bank. “And it will be a splendid breakfast. She’s a fantastic cook, Margaret. Though we may be too tired to eat it.” She looked at Juno, who was staying close to Margaret. “Even Juno looks as though she needs some rest.”

  “She’s fine,” Margaret said. “She got what she wanted, too, Jane. She did what was asked of her and it made her happy.” She smiled. “Me, too. It was a very special night.”

  She did what was asked of her.

  Was that also why Jane was feeling this sense of peace? She had done what Cira had needed her to do, and had received gifts in return that she still didn’t fully understand. But one of them was this knowledge that she was more complete and serene for doing it. “Yes, very special.” She turned to face Margaret. “And you’re special, too.” Jane said. “You know that there are no words to thank you.”

  “Sure. That’s why you don’t try,” Margaret said. “And now we’ll just have a good time relaxing and setting up Eve’s wedding and being together. Joe said he was going to try to have everyone else here by next week.”

  “That sounds like a plan.” Jane paused. “After we make sure that Cira’s treasure is safely stored in that bank MacDuff was talking about. I’m the one who insisted on going after that treasure right away because I thought Cira wanted MacDuff to have it. I want to make certain it’s safe.”

  “Isn’t that MacDuff’s responsibility?”

  “Yes. But we could have left it in Marcus’s tomb and made arrangements to transport it later. I wanted that tomb resealed, so no one else would know about it and there’d be no chance of theft or violation. That meant moving that treasure, so it wouldn’t be a lure for anyone.” She jerked her head back at MacDuff and Jock. “That’s why we might have a billion dollars’ worth of coins in that wagon back there.” Her lips tightened grimly. “So I’d say it’s my responsibility, too.”

  “And that means that Eve and I will have to do wedding plans on our own until you get MacDuff’s treasure safely settled?”

  “It shouldn’t take more than a day. Jock isn’t going to let MacDuff take a deep breath until he safeguards that treasure. He’s very protective of him.”

  “I’ve noticed.” Margaret shrugged. “Oh well, I’ll bring in Cara and Lisa to help until you’re free. All their vim, vigor, and youth will be a big help.”

  “You’re only twenty-one yourself, Margaret.”

  “But I have an old soul.” She grinned. “Ask Juno.”

  CHAPTER

  15

  Lisa’s breakfast was just as splendid as Jane had promised: eggs Benedict, pancakes, special cinnamon pastries, sausages, and a spicy potato casserole that was as delicious as it was unusual. After breakfast, Margaret and Juno went to the tent Margaret had been given to get some sleep, and Lisa and Cara took Michael for a walk down to the lake. Jane suspected that had been Cara’s doing, a way to give Jock, MacDuff, and Jane privacy and allow them to stay at the campfire drinking coffee and talking with Eve and Joe. She had noticed that Cara’s influence on Lisa was very subtle, but she usually managed to get her way. Amazing, when Lisa was older and clearly so willful and determined.

  “You’re very quiet.” Eve glanced at Jane. “Need to get some sleep?”

  “Probably. But the coffee will help.” She looked at MacDuff. “And I have an idea you’re going to be dashing out of here soon, and I want to be ready. What did you and Jock decide when you were lugging that utility wagon down the trail? When are we going to Edinburgh?”

  MacDuff shook his head. “Go get some sleep, Jane. There’s no need for you to go with us.”

  “The hell there’s not. I’ve been along on practically every step of the journey since I first started having dreams of Cira. On some of those steps, I’ve actually made the decisions.” She stared him in the eye. “I have to be there to wrap up this part of it.”

  “She’s right, you know,” Eve said quietly. “Don’t cheat her, MacDuff.”

  He grimaced. “A
ye, she’s right. But she’s also exhausted, and I’m feeling wildly grateful that she’s given me the prize I’ve been trying to win all these years. I thought I’d try to be gallant.”

  “Bullshit,” Jane said. “Just tell me when we’re leaving for Edinburgh.”

  “Two hours should do it. We all need to clean up, or they won’t even let us into that bank. After that, we have to pack Cira’s chest in a durable box that won’t fall apart during transport.” He smiled. “Then we’ll be on our way.”

  “What about security?”

  “You, MacDuff, and I will take Cira’s chest in the Toyota,” Jock said. “I’ve set up another car, a Range Rover, to follow us, driven by our man Angus Macauley, who will have three other guards in the car. None of the guards know that we’ve found Cira’s treasure, nor will anyone at the bank until we’re actually inside their doors. MacDuff will call the vice president of the bank when we’re twenty minutes away and request an immediate escort for an important transaction.” He made a face. “That should be no problem. MacDuff has all those bigwig types on his speed dial.”

  “Satisfied?” MacDuff asked.

  Jane nodded. “Very smart. Very discreet.”

  “So can we do it without you?”

  “Not a chance.”

  MacDuff sighed. “So be it.”

  “That’s the first time I’ve heard you use either that philosophic tone or words. It’s not at all like you.” Jane got to her feet. “It’s probably the last time I’ll be quite so demanding, MacDuff. We’re almost at the end of this particular road.”

  “We are?” He tilted his head. “I hadn’t thought of it like that. I’ll miss you, Jane.”

  She would miss him, too. As well as the journey, the puzzle, the search. Don’t think of it right now, she told herself. They still had a little more distance to travel on Cira’s path. She started up the hill toward her tent. “I’ll see you in two hours. Don’t you dare leave without me.”

  DUBAI

  11:05 A.M.

  “I have to talk to you, Caleb,” Palik said curtly. “I’m in the lobby of your hotel. Do you want me to come to you or do you want to come down?”