by David Wood
Cold and angry, he made the climb back out, the frozen stones slick under his fingers. He lost his grip a few times, but managed to catch himself. Come on, he chided himself. You can’t escape armed bad guys only to die falling down a well. When he finally hauled himself out, he was in a foul mood. Were the skulls essential to finding the secret that lay beneath the icefall? If so, would they need all three? He supposed it did not matter now. They would have to proceed with what they had.
“Put your hands in the air.” He knew that voice. He’d heard it just a few days earlier in Paderborn.
He looked up to see Ulrich and Niklas standing there, weapons drawn, grinning. Warily, he held his hands away from his body to show he was unarmed. They had taken the skull and then set a trap for him, and he’d walked right into it.
“Give us the skull.” Niklas held out his hand.
“What?” Maddock was genuinely surprised. “You already have it.”
“Let us have it!” Ulrich shouted. He trembled with anger. Perhaps his battered and bruised face, which was probably a handsome one under ordinary circumstances, and the memory of the two whippings he’d already suffered at the hands of Maddock’s group, was the cause of his anger. Maddock looked into his dark eyes, and saw something more; there was a deeper cause for his rage. “We must have it. Time is almost up.”
“What do you want with it?”
A wiser man would not have wasted time bandying words with Maddock, but Ulrich had already proved himself reckless, and his agitated state only amplified that trait.
“We must find the Magi! They left the key to resurrection.”
“Ulrich, Nein!” Niklas snapped, but the other man rambled on.
“The Fuhrer must live!”
“Wait a minute.” He tried to recall what Adler had told them about the Magi legend. “You think the myrrh will bring back a guy who’s been dead for more than a half-century?”
The two men exchanged furtive glances, and Maddock’s heart skipped a beat.
“No way!” It couldn’t possibly be true.
Ulrich clearly realized he had said too much. His face reddened, but his eyes burned with righteous anger.
“It doesn’t matter anyway. I don’t have it.”
“Do not play with us.” Niklas sounded stern, but Maddock could see in his eyes that the man knew something was amiss. “Give it to us now.”
“It’s gone. If you didn’t take it, someone else must have.” He raised his hands a little higher. “Search me if you want. Heck, look down in the well. The stone that covered its hiding place is still lying there.”
The men exchanged looks. Niklas nodded, and Ulrich approached Maddock. Pistol in one hand, he gave Maddock a light pat-down with the other. Maddock breathed a sigh of relief that the man had skulls on his mind. Otherwise, Ulrich might have given him a more thorough pat-down and discovered the Heckler & Koch USP he had lost in Paderborn and Maddock had recovered. Satisfied Maddock did not have the skull, Ulrich pushed Maddock in Niklas’ direction and leaned over the edge of the well to look inside.
Maddock wouldn’t get a better chance than this. He pretended to stumble forward, then lashed out with a right cross that caught Niklas on the chin. It was a quick, clean blow that sent the surprised Niklas stumbling backward. Turning around and drawing the HK-USP, Maddock clubbed the unsuspecting Ulrich across the back of the head and then leaped to the side as bullets flew.
Niklas’ shots tore through the space Maddock had occupied a moment before. Two bullets ricocheted off the old well, but the third caught the slumping Ulrich in the back, and he slid to the ground, leaving a smear of blood on the weathered stone.
Maddock rolled to his feet and pumped two rounds into Niklas’ gut. No hired thug could outshoot a SEAL. He would have put another in the man’s head to finish the job, but he hoped to get a few questions answered first.
He kept his gun trained on Niklas, but there was no need. The man had dropped his weapon and now held his arms pressed to his ruined belly as if he could hold the life in. He looked up at Maddock, his eyes glassy with disbelief.
“Help me,” he gasped.
Maddock had seen enough wounds to know there was no hope for Niklas. He had minutes left, if that. “The only thing that can help you right now is to make things right with your maker if you believe in one.”
“Of course I believe.” Niklas closed his eyes and let his head fall back. “I work for Him.”
“Who do you work for?”
“Heilig Herrschaft.” His voice was already fading.
“What is that?”
“The Holy Dominion.” He groaned and shuddered. “Hurts.”
Maddock felt numb. “Are you connected to the Dominion in America?”
“America.” Niklas managed a weak laugh, and bloody froth oozed onto his cheek. “So young a nation and so limited in their vision. The same is true for our Herrschaft brethren there.” He coughed weakly.
“Do you have any idea who took the last skull?”
Niklas’ eyes sprang open, and for a moment he seemed fully alert. “Issachar!” he hissed.
Maddock could not hide his shock. Stunned, he wobbled to his feet and took a step back. “What did you say?”
“Issachar. That is the name of the American the Herrschaft put above us. He must have betrayed us and taken the skull for himself.” The sudden burst of life was already dissipating, but Maddock understood the man’s final words. “Kill him.” And then he was gone.
He dumped the bodies in the well and tossed in some branches and snow to hide the bodies. He figured it wouldn’t take too many more snowy days before they were hidden until the thaw. Considering the well’s remote location, it might be longer before they were discovered. His mind spun as he drove back to town. How could Issachar still be alive? It had to be the same guy. How many Issachars were in the Dominion? Or in the world, for that matter?
Bones and Angel were waiting outside the inn when Maddock made it back to the center of town. Before Maddock could cut the engine, Bones had yanked open the door and hopped in.
“Don’t you ever answer your phone?” Bones snapped.
“Not much reception up here. What’s up?”
“Jade’s gone. The innkeeper saw her with some dude. Said he was big and had a messed up face.”
“Issachar.” Maddock spoke the word like a curse.
“What? He’s dead, Maddock. You killed him.”
“He’s back.” Maddock’s voice was as cold and flat as a frozen lake.
Shock registered in Bones’ face. “If that’s true, he’s got Jade. The lady said it looked like she fainted and he helped her to the car and drove off.”
Hot rage boiled up inside Maddock. He wanted to kill Issachar with his bare hands, feel the life drain from his body.
“Did you find out the way to the icefall?”
Bones nodded.
“We’re going after her. The skulls and climbing gear are in the back. Angel, you go back to the inn and call the police.”
“No way, man. I’m coming with you.”
“No! The police need to know what happened. The lady at the inn can tell them what happened. Show them this.” He took a picture of himself and Jade from his wallet and handed it to Angel. “They’ll want a picture of her, and the lady at the inn can confirm that the guy she left with isn’t me. I don’t know what kind of law enforcement they have up here, but maybe they can get some help to us.”
“Fine, but as soon as they’ve heard my story, I’m coming after you.” Angel slipped out of the car. “Pop the trunk so I can get my share of the climbing gear.”
Maddock looked at Bones, who shook his head. Maddock hit the auto-lock button, put the car in reverse, and backed out of the space. Angel cursed and punched the driver’s window, though not hard enough to break it; she was a fighter and knew enough to take care of her hands.
“You two better make it back so I can kick your asses!” she shouted as Maddock hit the gas and shot down t
he frozen road.
Chapter 15
“I can’t make it.” Jade lay where she had fallen face-down, the warm, salty taste of blood in her mouth and her cheek stinging from its impact with the ice. Issachar had untied her ankles but left her hands tied behind her back. The icefall was difficult enough to traverse without the added handicap. Already they had slid back a dozen times on the glassy surface, and they never knew when the ice would give way beneath them.
“You’ll make it if I have to carry you,” Issachar growled.
She was Issachar’s canary in the coal mine. He made her walk in front so, if the ice gave way, she would be the one to fall. Considering he outweighed her by at least one hundred pounds, she held out hope that they’d cross a place where the ice would support her but not him. Then again, if he fell, she had no doubt he’d take her with him.
“I need my hands free if I’m going to climb.”
“Not a chance. Now get up.”
“I’m lying face-down on the ice with my hands tied behind my back. How am I supposed to get up?” Fiery pain burst through her skull as Issachar hauled her to her feet by her hair. He pulled out a knife and she wondered if he was going to kill her right then and there, but instead, he sliced her bonds.
“Don’t try anything.” He spun her around and retied her hands in front of her. “That’s as good as it’s going to get. Now move it.”
Despite her warm clothing, the icy breeze cut through her and she found herself wishing for a quiet place to curl up and go to sleep. She dismissed the thought as a wish for hypothermia. She didn’t know what sinister plan Issachar had in store, but she was determined to find a way to escape before he put it into effect. To do that, she had to stay awake and alert.
The stone set in the Magi’s crown glowed brighter the higher they ascended. Following the direction the small arrow of light indicated, they found themselves at the base of an overhang. The moment they moved into its shelter, light exploded in the stone, and it shone like a tiny sun, the arrow pointing directly at the rock. Grinning, Issachar took an ice axe off his back and began hacking away at the frozen ground.
Jade wondered if she could get away now while he was down on his knees, focused on his task, but quickly dismissed the idea. He had a gun, a knife, an axe, and two free hands. Maybe she should try anyway. What other chance might she have?
Just then, Issachar broke through the ice, and warm air, at least warmer than the outside air, flowed up from the dark passageway that ran at an angle down into the mountain.
“You first.” He stood, grabbed her by the back of the neck, and pushed her toward the hole.
Dropping down onto her bottom, she slid into the passage and scooted forward until the way leveled out enough that she could get to her feet. Issachar followed behind. He held the skull, gazing down at the compass stone. The light in the stone pointed straight ahead. Issachar gave her a shove and she led the way.
The glow from the stone was sufficient to light their way for a good fifteen paces up ahead, allowing her to avoid several places where the floor had broken through. She glanced down at the blackness and wondered how far a person would fall should they slip through.
As he had done on their trek across the ice, Issachar kept a few feet behind her in case she fell through. She considered running away but, assuming he didn’t shoot her immediately, she’d only make it forty feet or so before she’d find herself immersed in total darkness.
They picked their way through the warren of twisting tunnels that split, rejoined, and crossed one another until she was completely befuddled. Had it not been for the compass stone, they would have been lost within minutes. Each time they came to a fork, Issachar would consult the stone and tell her which way to go. They kept going, always another turn, another passageway, and always down.
It went on that way until she found herself wondering if they’d been fooled. What if there was no secret down here? What if they wandered these passageways without ever finding their way out? The thought of dying down here in the dark with no food or water was even more horrifying than her fear of Issachar.
“What do you think you’re going to find down here, anyway?” The darkness had seeped inside her and she longed for the sound of a human voice, even if it was her own... or Issachar’s.
“The treasures of the Magi. One in particular.”
“Gold? Magic dust? Embalming oil? What does the Dominion want with any of that?”
“Idiot! It’s much more than that.” He paused. “The Magi were true magicians. They had power we can only dream of.”
“Such as?” She actually did want to know what Issachar believed waited for them, but she also wanted to occupy his mind as much as possible. Maybe he would make a mistake.
“The power to bring someone back to life.” His hushed voice rang with reverence and wonder. “How do you think Lazarus was brought back to life? Or Jesus?”
“I thought God did that.”
“It was myrrh. The little bit the Magi left as a gift was enough to resurrect two men, perhaps more! Think what I can do when I find their entire store!”
“What you can do?” She frowned. “What about the rest of your Heilig Herrschaft friends?”
“Heilig Herrschaft has its own plan for the myrrh, and it’s an idiotic one. I don’t think it would work for what they want to do and, even if it did, it’s a bad idea. It goes against what the Dominion stands for.”
“You’re nuts.” Jade meant it. She’d expected this mystery to reveal something unusual. She thought the compass stones might point toward a deposit of the stone from which they’d come or something with at least some grounding in science, but an embalming oil that restored life?
“You had better hope I’m right.”
“What do I care if you’re right or not?” Up ahead, she spotted a sunken place about the width of a man. Cracks ran across it like cobwebs. Could this be her chance? She needed to keep him talking. “Take your oil and bring back whoever you like. Just let me go.”
Issachar laughed. “You still haven’t figured it out? I thought you were smart, Ihara.”
Ten more steps.
“I have to make sure the oil is going to work before I take it back to the Herrschaft.”
Jade missed a step. She turned and gaped at Issachar. He’d taken off his wraparound shades when they descended into the tunnel, and his scarred face was even more ghoulish in the glow of the compass stone.
“Look who finally caught up. I was going to used one of the two Herrschaft idiots, but it will be much more satisfying to choke the life out of you.” He grinned. “Look on the bright side. If it works, you’ll be the first person in two thousand years to be resurrected. Maybe you can start your own religion.” He gave her a shove to get her moving. “Then again, I might just kill you twice. Double your pleasure, double your fun.” He threw back his head and laughed.
Jade stepped as close as she dared to the edge of the depression, and then stepped across without breaking her stride. She closed her eyes and prayed. Please, please, please...
Issachar’s laughter cut off into a yelp of surprise as the limestone beneath his feet shattered.
Jade looked back, expecting to see a gaping hole in the floor, but instead she saw Issachar stuck up to his armpits in the hole. He was frantically trying to push himself up and out, but he was wedged in tight. He bellowed and thrashed about, but lapsed into silence when his movement caused him to slip a centimeter. He looked up at her, his eyes shining in bewilderment.
“Get me out of here.”
Now it was Jade’s turn to laugh. He had dropped the skull when he fell, and she scooped it up– an awkward task with her bound hands. She looked at the tunnel behind him. There was no way she could get past him, and even stuck as he was, he was strong enough to hurt her. She would have to find another way out.
“It’s been fun, Issachar, but I’ve got go. Don’t bother to write.”
“You help me, Ihara!” he cried. “Help me!”
Still too unnerved to laugh, she hurried down the passageway, his cries ringing in her ears.
Chapter 16
“Looks like they were definitely here.” Maddock kicked at the chunks of ice that had been cleared away from the tunnel entrance. “Somebody’s hacked this up. You can tell by the marks.”
“Maybe it was Krampus.” Bones winked. “Relax, Maddock. We’re going to get her back.”
“I’m not tense; I’m focused.” Maddock didn’t look at Bones. His friend would see the lie in his eyes. “Let’s move.”
The passageways beneath the Sternspitze icefall were just as Adler has described– a confusing, twisting, turning mess that was sure to baffle even the most skilled spelunker.
“It’s like walking through Swiss cheese,” Bones said, running his hand along the pale limestone walls.
“Well, we are in the Alps, though not in Switzerland.”
They each carried a skull and followed in the direction indicated. The stones had, so far, proved to be excellent compasses.
“Keep an eye out for holes,” Maddock said. “This place doesn’t seem very solid.”
“Dude, I’m busy trying not to bash my head on the low ceiling. I can’t win.”
They picked their way through the eerie silence. Bones managed to avoid bashing his head, though he frequently complained about his sore back. Maddock suspected the complaints were his friend’s way of keeping Maddock’s mind off of Jade. It didn’t work, but he appreciated the effort.
“Cover the stones. Quick!” Bones whispered.
The world was doused in black as Maddock and Bones put their hands over the glowing compass stones. Maddock looked all around, all his senses alive.
“What was it?”
“I saw a flash of light down that side passage. It’s gone now.” Bones exhaled slowly. “Think we should check it out?”
Maddock frowned. He was sure Issachar had the other skull, which meant he was probably following its compass stone. He felt their best bet was to follow wherever the stones led. That was where he hoped to find Jade and the truth behind this mystery. He explained his thinking to Bones, who grimaced.