The Cathari Treasure (Cameron Kincaid)

by Smith, Daniel Arthur

  Nicole brought handfuls of rags over to the table. Cameron quickly grabbed them en masse to wipe away the dried blood from Marie’s side.

  “Why did she not say anything?” asked Nicole.

  “From the looks of this wound, she may not have realized it. The wound is clean through and our adrenaline was pretty high. Knowing your mistress though, she probably kept it to herself as not to risk me stopping before we were safely away. I wouldn’t put it past her.” Cameron looked up at Nicole, his hands still busy. “I have never met anyone like Marie. I have known hardened men that were no where near as stoic.” Cameron looked back down at Marie, “The water, I need the water.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter 32

  Lake Ontario

  After cleaning and dressing Marie’s wound Cameron moved her to the sofa. He watched her breathe perchance she would awake. She did not. Cameron sipped his coffee. When he bought the beans at grocery store he had thought the coffee would be a nice treat after a good night’s sleep. He had poured several cups over the course of the evening. There was no way for him to imagine that as Marie slept in the Chevy her life was slipping away. How could he? Marie had remained silent and not said a word.

  Cameron could not decide if Marie’s skin color looked better, more flush. She was still breathing though, and that was something.

  Hues of fuchsia edged over the horizon. Cameron propped a throw pillow next to Marie’s face to block the morning light soon to come.

  At the end of the sofa, Nicole kneeled in meditation. Nicole had spent the better part of the evening praying softly and had gone into a near trance an hour ago. In the wee hours of the morning, Cameron had suggested that she eat something. Nicole told Cameron that she had begun to fast, so he did not prepare any food for either of them. Now Cameron wished he had. Not because he was hungry, rather because cooking was one of the few things that distracted him.

  With the sun coming up Cameron headed out into the yard. With him, he brought the cordless phone from the cabin.

  Cameron dialed Pepe’s number and Pepe answered up on the first ring.

  “Cameron,” said Pepe. “What are you doing up so early?”

  Pepe’s quick response threw Cameron for a second, and then he realized that of course Pepe would recognize the number to his own cabin.

  “It’s a bit much to explain,” said Cameron. “I’m sorry if I woke you, I guess I’m preoccupied.”

  “Wake me? I am just getting in.”

  “Same ole Pepe.”

  “Heh, heh. So, what is on your mind that has you so preoccupied? Was your rendezvous not a success? I did not hear of any jazz bar’s exploding in Toronto last night.”

  “The rendezvous was not a success, at least not the second part,” said Cameron.

  “Are the women still with you?”

  “Yes, we barely made it out of Toronto with our lives. Marie still might not make it.”

  “What condition is she in?” asked Pepe, his tone flat.

  “A gut shot. It looks clean through and apart from the loss of blood her color is normal.”

  “Then she is lucky. It may not be septic. Did you find everything you need to dress the wound?”

  “Yeah I found what I needed. It’s a waiting game now. That’s not why I’m calling though.”

  “Of course not,” Pepe’s voice elevated again, “you want to finish this, eh?”

  “That’s right. I’m tired of playing defense and want the next strike. I have a feeling I can get to them in Quebec. Are you in?”

  “I am, Viva Legionne, count me in,” said Pepe.

  “Do you want to know the details?”

  “Has that mattered before? You can tell me when you see me.”

  “I knew I could count on you my brother,” said Cameron, and Cameron meant what he said not only because of the shared camaraderie of the French Foreign Legion, he meant those words because he knew Pepe was a stand up man that really would not need the details until necessary. Pepe was certainly right that the details had never mattered before, not when a brother reached out for assistance.

  Cameron added, “We may need a few things --”

  Pepe cut him off, “You will find everything we need behind the shed. The key is in the kitchen.”

  “Perfect.”

  “Call me when you’re ready, I’ll be waiting. Viva Legionne old friend.”

  “The Legion is our Strength,” said Cameron and then switched off the phone.

  Cameron was glad he called Pepe. Marie’s fate was out of his hands. To take her to a hospital would only have put her in further danger, he was sure of that, he had already done everything a trauma team would do. Cameron’s elite training for treating bullet wounds was certainly better than any the staff would have received in a country hospital. As he had told Pepe, all he could do now was wait. That did not mean Cameron had to wait silently. Behind the shed, Cameron was confident he would find an arsenal sufficient for what he planned next, going after Rex Mundi.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 33

  Lake Ontario

  At the edge of the trees, behind the cabin, stood a double door tool shed. The shed’s red paint was dulled and worn from the lakeside winters. Cameron thought that the shed might be older than the cabin, as there would not have been any reason to build a new shed when the larger structure was replaced. That was as much interest as Cameron cared to take with the shed. He was far more interested in what lie on the other side.

  Short pines hugged the sides of the shed too close and tight to walk through. Not far to the side, a clear path led into the woods. The path took him around and behind the red shed where he found an opening in the trees, hidden from the tree line. The floor of the still glade was covered with loose dried pine boughs, some withered brown and others still green. In the center of the glade, barely perceptible from beneath the boughs, was a large circular metal door.

  Cameron inspected the clearing edge. Around the circumference of the open area, a thin wire hovered barely above the ground. Cameron stepped over the wire so as not to trip whatever trap Pepe had set. Either tripping the wire would engage some type of secondary lock or set off an explosion. Knowing how Pepe liked to blow things up the wire would probably trigger both.

  Cameron cleared the nested dried boughs from the circular door with the same care he entered the clearing. He found no additional triggers. The key that Cameron brought from the kitchen fit the padlock on the door as Pepe had described. The door pulled up with ease, the hinges counterbalanced to relieve the weight of the heavy steel. Below, triggered by the open door, a light flickered on illuminating a narrow metal stairwell.

  Cameron cautiously descended the stairs into the cement walled bunker.

  There was no odor in the dim lit cavity beneath the stairs, no smell of the damp underground, or mold of decay, still the air was off.

  The lamp the door had triggered was on a metal box mounted on the wall at the bottom of the stairwell. On the side of the box was a lever. Cameron pulled the lever, turning off the lamp and turning on ceiling lights in the room he was standing and in the two rooms adjoining the first. Floor to ceiling shelves stacked with dried foods, water bottles, batteries, and rice filled the room. Through the door to the far room, Cameron could see green blanketed bunk beds, part of a bookshelf, and an elaborate radio built into a desk. The near room held what Cameron was seeking, Pepe’s arsenal. Everything a commando could want and more. Against the wall was a gun cabinet. Pressed in foam under glass were the blue metal mini assault weapons he knew as well as his own hands. Cameron chuckled at the thought of Pepe securing the nearly impossible to get array of weapons. He slid open the glass to take one of the guns from the foam they were seated in. The little SG carbine felt light and natural. The silenced MP5’s, the model Cameron was requisitioned as a commando, and SIG 552’s were contraband. Across the side of the 552 in large white letters were the words ‘RESTRICTED FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT/GOVERNMENT USE AND/OR EXPORT ONLY’.
Wherever Pepe found these weapons, they looked authentic. Stored next to the assault rifles were a GL 5140 grenade launcher and two trillium illuminated night sights, both illegal to possess outside of a government organization. In the drawers, below the glass case, Cameron found cartridges, grenades and in the bottom drawer, C4 packed in neat little cakes. He even found a case of leather sheathed Opinel penknives, the type issued by the Legion.

  Cameron sorted through Pepe’s armory to put together enough weapons and explosives to take on a small army. He gathered what he had separated out into duffel bags, brought the bags out to the Chevy, and stowed them in the trunk.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 34

  Lake Ontario

  When Cameron finished packing the trunk of the Chevy with the fruits of Pepe’s arsenal he sealed up the bunker and went back into the cabin by way of the lakeside deck. The glare from the sun, now above the lake, made the inside of the windowed walled cabin hard to see.

  When Cameron opened the cabin door, he perked up. Marie was reclining on pillows and talking to Nicole. He stepped inside the door then paused. He started to speak and stopped himself, aware all too quickly that Marie and Nicole were not having a discussion. Nicole was performing the consolamentum. Marie had explained to Cameron that there were only two ways believers could receive the consolamentum. To be deemed worthy after a long period of preparation and instruction as Nicole had or as a request on the deathbed. Cameron knew that Marie had requested the consolamentum because she believed she was dying.

  Words and actions passed in and out of Cameron’s mind without escaping his silent pose.

  When Cameron heard the words, “I have this will, pray to God for me that he will give me his power,” come from Marie’s lips, he recited his part from memory to ensure the sacrament was complete. “Good Christian,” said Cameron, “I pray you, by the love of God, that you grant this blessing, which God had given you, to our friend here present.”

  Then as Nicole had the day before, Marie took her vow, “Parcite Nobis. For all the sins, I have ever done in thought, word, and deed. I ask pardon of God, of the Church, and of you all.”

  Nicole and Cameron responded, “By God and by us and by the Church, may your sins be forgiven and we pray God to forgive you them. Adoremus, Patrem, et Filium et Spiritum Sanctam.”

  The humble beliefs that these two women shared were not Cameron’s own, still he was compelled to speak at the completion of the ceremony perchance they were right. He listened closer today than yesterday to the passages of the book of John as Nicole recited them. Cameron wanted to believe, for their sakes, Marie and Nicole’s, that they were right.

  * * * * *

  When Nicole finished the Lord’s Prayer, she shared an embrace with Marie, and then moved back to the end of the sofa to pray.

  Cameron approached Marie and knelt by her side.

  Marie’s forehead beaded with sweat, her mouth held the courage of a warm smile.

  “Can I get you anything to eat?” asked Cameron.

  “No, thank you Mister Kincaid,” said Marie, her voice soft and weak.

  “Its Cameron, Marie, Mister Kincaid is not necessary. Let me get you something, please. Some food will build up your strength.”

  “Cameron,” said Marie. He smiled when she called him by his first name. “You know I will not be getting any stronger. I have begun the endura. I will no longer eat or drink. The fasting will speed my departure to heaven.”

  Cameron’s brow furrowed and he inhaled deeply through his nose. Marie continued, “It’s really quite alright. Nicole has prepared me and I am now one with the Holy Spirit.”

  Cameron leaned forward to kiss her forehead, “You must not kiss me. I must remain pure.”

  “Will you become a Perfect now?” asked Cameron.

  “I am going to die, but now that I am truly pure, I will be able to go to heaven.”

  The two looked at each other for a long moment. Finally Marie said, “You know, Monsieur Claude was right.”

  “How’s that?”

  “There is something about you, a je ne sais quoi that has led to a charmed life.”

  They both chuckled lightly. “I don’t feel very charmed right now,” said Cameron.

  “But you are. You are the chevalier that has been chosen to protect the treasure.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Nicole is the treasure you must protect. You must protect her and deliver her to safety.”

  “You mean because only she has knowledge of the treasure?”

  “No Cameron, I am telling you that Nicole is the treasure you must protect.”

  “I don’t understand, you said there were other Perfects.”

  “This is true, but Nicole is very special to us.”

  “How so?”

  “Remember, if a Perfect loses austerity, even in the slightest, if they should eat meat or willfully kiss, then they lose the power of the sacrament. More so, all of those that have received the consolamentum along the line of that Perfect also lose the power of the sacrament. Nicole will continue a line that we know to be pure and uncorrupted, all the way back to our Lord Jesus. She is special to us because only with the sacrament can we escape the cycle of rebirth in this physical realm and return to heaven from which we all came. She is our salvation.”

  “The salvation of the Cathar?”

  “Not only the Cathar, for all people, for you. Salvation is not in this world, not in simple belief, not in the walls of a church. The gift of the Holy Spirit Nicole carries is all that is needed to bring peace to all mankind, to end the cycle of suffering of this world. To deliver all of God’s children from the trickery of this world to their rightful place in heaven.”

  “So she is the treasure that the Rex Mundi are after? The treasure they think will change the world?” asked Cameron.

  “She carries with her our only sacrament. When the time is right, the Cathar will again spread the true religion. People will learn that the material world is false, that the churches, mosques, synagogues are all merely manifestations of the material world. The great lie. When people learn that the Holy Spirit is easily attained with pure living, and that there is no reason for fear or wealth and that there is a way to be freed from this world, from this cycle, that will change the world.”

  “That’s a lot to take in. I thought the treasure was a cavern of gold and jewels or some secret royal bloodline.”

  “Salvation is the treasure the Rex Mundi fear. The gold and bloodline are of their world, things they can manipulate and control. The truth will always be the truth, so for them it must be kept secret and ultimately destroyed.” Marie looked down at Nicole at the end of the sofa. “Nicole dear. Come here,” said Marie.

  Nicole stopped her prayer and came closer to Marie.

  Marie reached her hands around to the back of her head. The emerald pendant slid up her neck as she teased the ends of the necklace. Marie’s eyes squinted and she let out a sigh.

  “Let me help you,” said Nicole, and she reached behind Marie’s neck to unfasten the clasp. After Nicole separated the clasp, she put the necklace into Marie’s hands and gently closed Marie’s hands around the pendant. Nicole rested her own hands on the edge of the sofa. Marie lifted the pendant and reached around Nicole’s neck. Marie’s hands fumbled again and as the two shared a smile. Nicole reached up to refasten the clasp.

  Cameron wanted to ask why the necklace was so important. Marie had impressed upon him the Cathar’s view of the physical, the essence of which that the physical is a lie and has no value or spiritual worth. Yet, the look in Marie’s eyes as she bestowed the pendant to Nicole signified that there was something special about the necklace. Cameron decided not to beat upon the obvious negation. The belief Marie and Nicole had in the physical realm was not Cameron’s own, or even his business.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 35

  Quebec

  Cameron powered up his cell phone. To conserve the battery
he had left the cell phone off since leaving Montreal. Cameron was glad to see that the little battery icon in the corner of the screen was still green. On the seat next to him was a piece of paper with a phone number that Marie had given him, the number to the Cathari in Quebec.

  Marie had thought that the gunshot wound was fatal and had requested the consolamentum to be become a Perfect before dying. Anticipating imminent death, Marie had even begun the endura, a form of voluntary euthanasia through starvation. Believing she was mortally wounded, Marie would refuse to eat or drink to speed death. Cameron thought Marie had gone to an unnecessary extreme receiving the last sacrament. The bullet had gone clean through, and though Marie had lost a great amount of blood, she had regained consciousness and her color had returned. Cameron thought Marie was on the upswing and was preparing the thigh sized brown trout he bought from the market on the drive from Toronto when Nicole had come from the sofa to tell him that Marie had passed. Cameron had been so sure that Marie was going to recover that he had put on classical music while he was cooking and opened a bottle red wine. Cameron thought that all he needed to do to convince Marie to take some nourishment was to prepare an irresistible meal. Marie had not lived to see the meal served.

  Now driving north on highway 401 back toward Montreal, Marie’s task had become Cameron’s. He would contact the Quebec safe house that was waiting for the young Perfect, the Cathari treasure.

  Cameron handed Nicole the paper, “Read that number to me.” He lifted his cell phone over the steering wheel so that he could enter the number and still see the road. As Nicole read the phone number to Cameron, he punched the digits into the phone. He placed the cell phone next to his ear and waited for someone to pick up. The answer came quickly.