by J. R. Rain
“Can’t...breathe...”
Trey recognized the voice. He ripped off O’Brien’s shades and beanie, recognizing him for the first time.
* * *
Eve paused, realizing that Trey had disappeared. She turned in a full circle, stood on her tiptoes, and searched over the heads of those around her. “Trey?” she called. “Trey!”
* * *
Trey heard her but kept his eyes and his grip on O’Brien. “You were supposed to be mummy food,” he said.
“You’re not the only one with nine lives, my friend,” O’Brien retorted.
“You are most certainly not my friend. How did you escape, O’Brien?”
O’Brien grinned. “Let’s just say I received a helping hand.”
Trey tightened his grip around O’Brien’s throat. “You’re working for Draken.”
“And you’re working for the Vatican,” O’Brien countered. “Since when do we care who we work for? It’s always been about the money, Jordan. You know that, and I know that.”
Trey suddenly shoved O’Brien across the room and out through an open window, holding him threateningly. It was a long drop to the castle grounds below.
O’Brien looked up to Trey, grinning triumphantly. “Until next time, my friend.” And just like that, the Irish thief broke Trey’s grip and flipped backward into space. Trey lunged at him but could only watch helplessly as O’Brien crashed down through the thick underbrush below, disappearing completely.
Just then, Eve burst into the room. “Quit screwing around, Trey Jordan. I think I’ve found the way down to the library.”
She quickly led him to a recessed doorway at the end of a long hallway. A sign by the door read:
ACCESS RESTRICTED, EMPLOYEES ONLY
Without hesitation, Eve brushed past the sign, opened the wooden door and stepped inside as if she owned the place. Trey watched her, impressed by her moxie. He followed her. Being a professional thief didn’t deter him from watching her hips sway as she walked.
The two came to a wide stone stairway that descended. Electrical lights set into the walls illuminated their way. Moving fast now, they didn’t hear the redheaded tour guide slip inside the same marked doorway and follow Trey and Eve from a safe distance.
“We need to find the dungeon,” Eve explained. “It’s been converted into the library.”
“I’d hate to see what happens if you’re late returning a book,” Trey quipped, ever the joker.
A moment later, at the end of the long hall, they cautiously stepped through a doorway into an enormous library. It was lined with dozens and dozens of huge bookshelves, complete with ladders and spaced with massive leather reading chairs and lamps. One of the walls held a monstrous brick fireplace.
“It would almost seem cozy,” Trey said, “if I didn’t know people used to drown in here.”
They moved down a narrow aisle, turned a corner. Directly before them was a hulking iron maiden, which appeared out of the gloom like a macabre specter. The torture device was partially open, revealing rusted spikes within.
“Yeah,” Eve said. “About as cozy as a bed of nails.”
Using a flashlight in the dim room, Eve whipped out Frost’s diary and flipped through the pages. She stopped on one page in particular, running a finger under each line as she read. “Frost didn’t take too many chances, even in his own diary. It simply says, ‘Between ‘A’ and ‘P’.”
“Now what the devil does that mean?” Trey asked. He glanced around the library; the fireplace, rows of bookshelves, a massive replica of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. Other than that, the room was old, dusty and creepy as hell. It looked deserted; no one had been down there for quite some time.
“Should we start looking through the books?” asked Eve.
“Between all the A’s and P’s?” Trey asked, daunted.
“Surely that’s what he means,” she said. “The books are no doubt shelved alphabetically by author.”
“And what if Frost used the Dewey Decimal System?”
“We don’t have time for librarian jokes, Trey.”
“Then,” Trey said, “I suggest we first look here.”
He stepped before the massive mural of The Last Supper, which was painted directly onto the stone wall in front of them. The painted figures grouped around Christ appeared to shimmer and move from the lively shadows cast by their flashlights.
“Fine,” Eve said. “What are we looking for?”
“For starters, let’s find Judas.”
Trey walked along the length of the great painting and stopped before one figure, the fourth man on the left. “Here he is,” Trey said grimly. “The Great Betrayer.” He studied the painting, which showed Judas staring plaintively at Jesus.
Something clicked in Eve’s mind. “Do you know the identity of all of the figures in the painting?”
“Yes,” he answered arrogantly, “I got an ‘A’ in art history.”
Eve ignored him. Her mind was racing. “Who’s seated next to Judas?”
“Andrew is to the left.”
“Let me guess.” She was excited now. “Peter is to the right?”
“You, young lady, are correct.” He got it.
“Between A and P.”
Trey stepped forward and shined his light closely onto Judas.
“Unfortunately, I don’t walk through walls like our friend Draken.”
Eve stood next to him now, and touched the painting with her open palm. “I feel a draft!”
She continued her exploration, until she finally settled on a particular section of the stone wall. “The air seems to be coming from here...”
Trey ran his hand along an invisible seam along the stones. He sat his flashlight down and placed both hands on the wall. He took a deep breath and pushed—
Nothing. He pushed harder and still nothing. While pushing, though, his right hand felt an anomaly in the wall. He grabbed his flashlight and studied it. “It’s a slot of some sort.”
Eve peered closely. “A slot?” She frowned, then smiled again. She reached inside her shirt, rooted around a bit—ignoring Trey’s ogling.
“I could help you with that,” he remarked.
Once again, she ignored him. Finally, she produced one of the Judas Coins.
“I thought I told you to leave those behind,” he scolded now.
“We’ll talk about it later,” she snapped.
Now it was Eve’s turn to take a deep breath. It was a big chance to take. Determined, she inserted the coin in the slot that looked like an ancient vending machine.
Suddenly, a small section of the wall began to rotate. The sound of stone grating on stone was loud in the empty library. A small opening now appeared in the wall, revealing a dark passage.
Trey gave her a peck on the cheek. “You’ll make a master thief yet, kiddo. Let’s go.”
Once through the wall, Eve retrieved her Judas Coin from an opposite slot—this one inside the wall—and followed Trey down a spiral stone staircase.
Still from a safe distance, the young tour guide watched the two disappear through the wall. He also watched as the stone wall swung back into place. He grinned and turned, heading back through the library.
They continued down and down. The winding stairway finally dead-ended in a hallway. Trey and Eve had two choices: left or right.
“Which way?” Trey asked her.
“According to the diary, we go left,” she answered confidently. Her eyes gleamed now, Trey noticed. He frowned, but followed her down the hall.
Chapter Seventeen
Two speedboats docked on the sandy shores of Noble Island, away from the tourists. Draken and a couple dozen of his men disembarked from them, all armed. The redheaded tour guide greeted Draken respectfully, and led the way to the far wall of the great castle, which was overgrown with ivy. He brushed aside some of the vines, showing Draken and his men a hidden side entrance.
He guided them through the lower hallways to the library, and the
men entered, flashlights lighting the room.
The redhead motioned Draken to the painting.
“What is this?” Draken demanded.
“Patience, Senator,” the guide said. “Oh, and I will need to borrow one of your coins.”
Draken unbuttoned his black shirt, revealing his crisscrossed bandolier filled with silver Judas Coins. He plucked one from its mount and handed it over, clearly displeased at the slightest prospect of losing one of the valuable Coins.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get it back,” the young man told him. A couple of the armed men gasped when the young guide took hold of the Coin with his bare hand. They understood that nothing good could come of touching one of the cursed Coins.
Apparently, this young man did not, however. He found the slot and dropped in the Coin. Once again, the wall swung open, grating loudly. Draken’s blood red lips formed a wicked smile. He quickly reached behind the wall and snatched the Coin, slipped it back into place, and buttoned his shirt up.
Draken motioned to his men, who silently entered the passageway. Draken was about to follow when the young tour guide loudly cleared his throat.
Draken turned slowly, carefully. His blazing eyes stared deep into the young man’s. “Is there something else?” the Senator asked.
“There is the small matter of payment,” the redhead replied, now slightly nervous.
Draken frowned, displeased to be hindered by such a petty matter. Fire burned behind his pupils.
The tour guide backed up. “Of course, we can always discuss payment later. I should probably be going.”
The young guide was about to turn around when he heard a loud scraping sound from behind him. A hulking shadow fell over him. Alarmed, he turned—
Behind him loomed the iron maiden, which, just seconds earlier, had been several feet away. The guide gasped, and turned to a smiling Draken.
The young redhead was now terrified. “No...please!”
Invisible hands suddenly pinned the tour guide’s arms to his sides. Draken flicked his finger nonchalantly and the iron maiden’s doors creaked open, revealing razor-sharp teeth inside. Row upon row of spikes were all rusted with ancient blood.
Draken made a shoving motion with his hands, and the young tour guide was hurled back into the waiting jaws of the torture device. He screamed. Blood spilled from his lips. The iron spikes pierced through him in a dozen different spots.
Draken motioned again, and the doors slammed shut. Blood leaked out of the maiden and spread over the stone floor. Draken shook his head in mock sorrow. “Love hurts,” he uttered, then turned to follow his men.
* * *
With the sound of water dripping everywhere around them, Trey and Eve continued through the eerie network of tunnels deep beneath Castle Noble. Eventually, they came upon a huge door and the end of a long hallway.
Eve consulted the diary. “We go through here,” she said.
“As you wish, milady,” Trey said in a horrible Scottish accent. Eve didn’t even acknowledge him.
He grabbed the long iron handle and gave it a tug, to no avail. He tried applying more pressure. Then he reached inside his leather jacket and removed an assortment of lock picks.
Eve rudely pushed him aside. “We don’t have time for your gimmicks,” she snapped.
Trey was offended. “What the hell has gotten into you?”
Eve wasn’t listening. She didn’t even realize the power that her two Coins had over her now.
She passed a hand over the door handle and lock, concentrating. Almost immediately, they heard the clicking sounds of tumblers falling into place. The door opened silently.
Trey was both shocked and impressed. “What the hell did you just do? And why haven’t you shown me this trick before...”
Again, she just brushed him aside and moved through the open door. Trey, mouth hanging open, followed behind her.
Eve’s laser light shone into an otherwise pitch-black cave, flashlight cutting through the inky darkness, and splashing light onto the far walls.
Trey heard the sound of splashing water, and pointed his light down. Far below them was a deep, dark pool. The two of them stood on a rock ledge. The huge iron door hadn’t opened into a room, it had opened into a natural cavern.
Trey removed a torch from Eve’s backpack. He lit it and set it into a groove on the rock wall next to him. The flickering torch illuminated most of the gloomy cave.
It was a remarkable underground chamber, easily hundreds of feet deep. However, the most dominant feature was a huge central pillar, which rose straight up from the pool of black water.
Trey whistled. “The mother of all phallic symbols.”
“Freud would have had a field day,” Eve agreed.
The pillar was perhaps fifty feet tall, and winding around the outer edge of it was a stone stairway. The stairway rose up from the water and led all the way to the top. And there, high above, pulsating with silver light, lay a leather pouch.
Eve’s eyes literally glowed with greed. “Ah...the eight remaining Coins...” She could almost taste the power.
Trey glanced at her curiously then stepped over to the ledge. He peered down. Another stairway, cut into the stone, led down to the black pool.
“Wait here,” he told her firmly.
“But I want to...”
“No.”
He didn’t wait for a response, but carefully climbed down the narrow stairs as Eve watched anxiously from above. “Be careful,” she called, her voice echoing louder than she’d intended.
Trey nodded, and then almost slipped. He made his way down. Finally, at the bottom of the stairs, he stepped into the cold water. He shivered. The water became deeper with each step. When it reached his shoulders, he eased into the water, and began swimming toward the central pillar.
“Please, let there be nothing lurking in the water,” he whispered. He made his way to the stone pillar as quickly and as quietly as possible.
Soon, the pillar stood before him, rising straight from the depths. Eve watched from above, shining her light down onto him. He clambered out of the water, dripping and shivering. He glanced to Eve, who gave him a thumbs up sign.
The master thief began working his way doggedly upward, around and around the spiral staircase. Up and up...
It was the equivalent of a five-story climb, minus handrails. When he reached the top, Trey bent over, panting. Finally, he looked up to the top.
There, on an exquisite marble pedestal, lay the leather pouch, pulsating with inner light. The scene was surreal to Trey: unearthly. Even stranger, there seemed to be moaning and howling coming from within the bag, as if lost souls were trapped inside.
Trey was spooked, but he’d come too far to back out now. He’d already seen enough of the creepy supernatural to not be overly alarmed. He moved very carefully over the slick surface of the pillar summit and stood next to the glowing bag.
Eve watched, barely breathing. “Go on,” she urged. “Be careful, Trey Jordan.”
Trey nodded. As if he needed to be reminded. He slowly reached for the sack. Trying to control his own rapid breathing, he cautiously lifted the leather pouch. He paused, expecting the worst, but nothing happened.
Relieved, he opened the sack and looked inside. All eight Judas Coins were piled together, emitting a bizarre glow. To him, they appeared at once beautiful and inherently evil.
He grinned and looked across at Eve. “This is it—”
He stopped short. Surrounded by his dark-clad men, Draken seized Eve and held her tightly.
Draken’s voice echoed from across the cavern. “I believe you have something that belongs to me.”
The Senator motioned and, to Trey’s utter amazement, the bag of silver Coins leaped from his hands and flew through the air. A moment later, they landed neatly in Draken’s upturned palm. The gaunt man’s red lips drew into a wide smile.
Trey tried negotiation. “Fine,” he called. “You’ve got the Coins. Now let her go.”
&
nbsp; Draken held Eve even more tightly; her eyes were wild with fear and rage. “I have twenty of the Coins,” he said. “There are eight in this bag. Ms. Eve Friday seems to have the remaining two coins on her person, forcing me to—eh hem—perform a more thorough search later.”
Eve suddenly drove her elbow hard into Draken’s gut. However, her blow had no effect. Instead, Draken threw her over to his men, who promptly dragged her away, despite her screaming.
“Trey!” she shouted.
Trey was at a loss for what to do. Eve disappeared with the men through the massive door; within a blink, she was gone. Draken’s eyes bored into Trey’s. The evil Senator would have loved nothing more than to kill this thief who’d proven to be a thorn in his side, but Trey’s Fourth Nail kept Draken at bay.
Instead, Draken closed his eyes and held out both hands. Trey threw his arms around the pillar as it began to violently shake. Draken then reached further out with his left hand. Trey watched in helpless horror as the water below started to rise. He looked around, searching for options. Any way out.
Draken opened his eyes again. His red lips smiled at his handiwork, then at Trey Jordan. Quickly, he disappeared through the massive door, which slammed shut behind him.
Trey, left alone in the massive cavern, suddenly found himself on a crumbling pillar, the dark waters rising all around him.
“This can’t be good,” he said.
Chapter Eighteen
As huge stone chunks fell away from the great column, Trey leaped from the summit, diving down into the churning water. He went deep into the water, and rose up again. When he reached the roiling surface, he coughed and sputtered. The tumultuous waters made it difficult for him to tread water, and he struggled to keep his head above the churning whitecaps. All around, sections of the pillar were plunging down like missiles.
The waters continued to rise. The ceiling was rapidly approaching. Within moments, Trey’s airspace was reduced to just a few feet. He swam desperately, weaving through the forest of hanging stalactites, searching for air and a way out.