by Joanne Pence
Something was seriously amiss.
He then turned to his cell phone to see what information the spy monitor had picked up on Vandenburg. He found a long list of phone calls, but a quick check revealed all to be work or home related.
He turned back to Calvin Phaylor’s files but, again, nothing new jumped out at him.
Time to go to Idaho, he thought, even though he hadn’t yet figured out what he would do once he got there. Also, he had grown increasingly nervous about Michael. The news reported that the sheriff went on a “secret mission” to try to find the students. This happened right after authorities pulled the body of student Brian Cutter from a river. Few believed the “secret mission” story, which caused speculation that whoever killed the student had murdered the sheriff, or that the sheriff himself wiped out the entire university group and fled after one of the bodies turned up.
Jianjun didn’t know what to think, but Michael had been with that sheriff, and now he could no longer be reached.
Chapter 53
New York City
“I WANT TO GO home, Mommy. Take me with you, please!” As Vandenburg stood to leave, Felicity's small, clawlike hand grasped hers, her grip amazingly strong. “I hate it here. I want to go back to my own room. Please, Mommy!”
“I'll see what I can do.” She kissed her daughter's forehead and yanked her hand free, then she turned and hurried from the room with a quick goodbye to Kay. Felicity’s kidneys were shutting down. If the girl went home now, she would be back in a day anyway. The fools of doctors said the end was near. Vandenburg refused to allow it.
Outside the hospital, her limo waited.
She gave an Upper East Side address, and the housekeeper showed her to the living room of what had been one of the most beautiful homes in New York City, but now appeared old and neglected. Just like Calvin Phaylor, she thought.
Phaylor entered, his wheelchair pushed by his male nurse.
“Hello, Calvin.” Vandenburg smiled sweetly. “Good to see you.”
“No, it's not, and you and I both know it. Where are your new products? You can't ride on old ones forever, you know. What's wrong with you people? Have you no talent left in the firm? No imagination? Don't think you can make my company fail, not while I'm alive!” The nurse handed him the oxygen mask, then left the room. Phaylor breathed deeply.
“We're doing all we can to protect all you created. But that's not why I'm here.” Vandenburg paused a moment. She felt pressure build behind her eyes, and turned her head so he wouldn’t notice if she lost the fight with tears. She worked to control her voice. “My daughter doesn’t have much time left. My people in Idaho are still missing. It’s long past time for you to tell me everything. I need to find the book that tells how to create the philosopher’s stone and use it before it’s too late!”
He gave a snort of derision.
“I’ve toyed with going to Idaho myself, even announcing to the world what we’re looking for, and how much I’ll pay to whoever delivers The Book of Abraham the Jew to me. How does one billion dollars sound? People will laugh, until I succeed. With this, Felicity will live. It’s her only chance. Her last chance!”
“How touching.” His insincerity reeked. “You’re damn right people will laugh. Even more will laugh as the board of directors carts you off to an insane asylum.” He eyed her with contempt. “It’s not your money. Wasn’t even mine, as I found out. And if by some crazy circumstance, you did find the book, the government would step in and take it from you.”
“No, they won’t! I'm going to find it,” she said. “One way or another. I came to you for advice, but if you have none—”
“Oh, I have advice, all right. Allow your daughter to die in peace.”
Jennifer stared at him, hate filling every pore. “Never.”
“I tried to find the secret of alchemy for myself.” He wheeled himself to the bar and poured a Macallan single scotch malt. She refused a glass.
“I was one of the five richest men in America, and I was getting old and sick. This would be a way to beat death, or so, I thought.” He sipped the scotch, smacking his lips with pleasure. “I threw all my money, time, and effort in it, and my reward was to be kicked out of my own company before I destroyed it. And I would have. What's a mere company compared to immortality?”
“My plan will save people from pain and suffering,” she said. “But they’re going to have to pay for it. We can’t solve the problem of death only to have people starve from overpopulation. Only certain people, the right people, will have access to my elixir for immortality. And I’ll be the one to decide who that is.”
He chuckled, but just as quickly his smile vanished. “You think knowledge from the book is what you want. But it won't work. It'll drive you mad, and destroy everything around you.”
“Come with me to Idaho,” she said. “You know where the pillars are. We can find them. We’ll bring Michael Rempart’s assistant with us. I’m sure he knows a lot more about all this than he’ll admit. Plus, most importantly, I’ll bring my daughter.”
Phaylor just stared as her.
“Together, we’ll get the book ourselves!” she continued. “We’re waiting for people to return to us with the book, but we don’t know what they’ve found out there. What if they not only found the book, but have learned how to use it? What if they’re stealing it from us? We can’t wait! We’ve got to go out there and see for ourselves. You’ve always wanted to be immortal. Show me the way.”
“Why should I do anything for you?” His eyes were flat and cold, his skin wrinkled as a lizard's. “And as for your daughter, do I look like someone who gives a damn?”
Her body stiffened with outrage. She would make him pay for those words. She realized how frail he was, how little effort it would take to squeeze the life from his skinny neck. She reined in her anger as a better plan began to form.
She strode out of the living room, but before leaving glared back at Phaylor. “I look forward to the day when you do the world a favor and die.”
The nurse, who had been seated in the hallway by the elevator, didn't look surprised at her anger. She guessed the old man treated all his guests equally graciously.
The open elevator waited for her.
As soon as she got off on the ground floor, she phoned her first vice president, Milt Zonovich. “Milt, I'll need the company jet to fly me to Sun Valley, Idaho, as soon as possible. And get a helicopter ready to meet me there. One big enough for a hospital bed.”
Chapter 54
MICHAEL DIDN’T GO TO the stables to bed down when the other men did. Instead he stood at the fence around the sheep and goats, his foot on the bottom rung, and thought of the young people, the students, caught up in this madness, the dangers not only from the chimeras, but also from the village men.
The village men had taken their guns and rifles away. Now, he understood why. If they had them, they would be tempted to use them on Kohler or anyone else who threatened the students. Too many of these kids had already died.
Michael tried not to think about that, and not to think about the strange history Quade relayed of his ancestors. Psychics and alchemists? Charlatans were more likely, and yet, he had known and seen things that this world had no answer for. If he had such abilities where had they come from if not his forefathers?
He couldn't think of that now. Instead, he did his best to concentrate on the silence all around. Still, his mind wouldn’t allow such peace.
The scent of the forest changed from that of firs and brush to one much more floral and aromatic. He knew what was coming.
His body tensed, torn between the need to see her, and wanting to run from what was unnatural and wrong. He turned to force himself back to the stables.
“Michael.”
He froze. It was a voice, but not a voice. The sound came from inside his head.
He shut his eyes. This is madness. When he opened them again, she stood before him.
Was this insanity, or was he seeing
more of the reality and complexity of the world than he ever thought possible?
She stood in front of a shimmering garden of white and rose pink peonies. She wore a simple, long-sleeved dress, the color of the sea, with a Chinese collar and frog fasteners across the bodice and down one side. The thick braid of her hair hung to her waist, a plain style for a woman of her position, yet on her it looked regal and elegant.
“Lady Hsieh.”
She glided toward him. “I could not stay away and leave you to this danger.”
Joy along with sadness filled him. “I'm glad you didn't.”
Her eyes traced his face. “You must free the men trapped here by the gold and the book. You must destroy all this. In doing so, you will free yourself.”
“What about you?” He stepped closer. “If this is gone, will I ever see you again?”
She shook her head. “No, but there is no other way.”
“Then I can’t do what you ask.”
“You must. It’s not your fault. It’s mine.” She took his hand and led him away from the stables toward the fence that circled the village. He followed in silence until she stopped. She dropped his hand and kept her back to him. Head bowed, she began to speak. “After I performed my magic, using the ancient practice my grandmother taught, I achieved what I thought I wanted.” She shuddered. “But I learned that immortality only means great loneliness...eternal loneliness, not heaven or hell, but nothing. A vast, empty wasteland. Only when I was freed from the alchemical spell could I go on to the true afterlife, a place that’s home, that’s a comfort to the soul. But I left it to return here. To warn you.”
She faced him then, her eyes like black pools. “You can't allow this world to continue or the evil here to spread. You must stop it.”
“How can I do that?” He caught her hands in his and held them to his chest.
She shut her eyes as a tremor rippled through her. “All I know is that you will understand when the time comes. You will do what’s right. It's the only way. You're a good man, Michael. There is much for you to do in your life. Follow your instincts, trust them, for only in them will you find the fulfillment you crave.”
“And you will come with me?” he asked.
She looked toward the heavens. The moon appeared as a narrow sliver in the dark sky. “I cannot.”
“I won’t leave you.” He clasped her arms.
She shook her head. “I’m not the one you want. I wish I was. I wish I had known you when I was a part of the world, your world. But the one you love…her life is not what you imagine. Find her.”
He shook his head. “She’s nothing to me.”
“She did not betray you.”
He winced, surprised the memory still hurt. He didn’t want to open that wound ever again. He had learned that lesson well. “Whatever did or did not happen, it ended long ago. She has a husband and a child now. She was part of my past. But you are my present, and I want you to be in my future. I’ve never felt the connection with anyone else that I do with you.”
“Because with me there is no pretense. It is pure…what? Feeling? Intuition?” She smiled at him. “My dear Michael, for you this is not enough. You have a generous heart, one that should know true love one day, and I hope and pray that you will. But first, you still have much to do, beginning with finding a way to leave this place, and then to destroy it.”
“Destroy it?” He cupped her face. She took his breath way. “How can I, when you’re here?”
Tears filled her eyes as she looked at him. “You must do it before it kills you. If you hesitate, you will die. There are forces that will try to stop you and make it impossible for you to escape. You must not let them win!”
“I’ll be all right,” he whispered, as he wiped a tear from her cheek.
“I'm breaking so many rules, so many laws to have spent these few minutes with you.”
“Don't say that!”
She began to walk away, but he spun her around so they were face-to-face.
Instead of fighting him, a haunted look came over her and threw herself into his arms. “My name is Lin,” she whispered, holding him close.
“Lin.” He molded her to him. She was so real, in every way, it hurt his heart to think she would ever leave him. “Stay with me. Find a way.”
She tilted back her head to look up at him. Her fingers lightly touched his scratchy beard, his eyes, his brows, as if she wanted to memorize not only his look, but how he felt, everything about him. “It is impossible, Michael. I should not even be here now. But for one moment I wanted joy. I wanted to know how it felt to look at a man and to know passion, to know love.”
She lifted her arms to circle his neck. She stood on her toes as he bent his head and their lips met. He lifted her, holding her, as she kissed him the way she had never kissed a man before, feeling passion, desire, and joy.
Breathless, she drew back, breaking his hold. Her gaze never leaving him, she stepped backwards, once, twice. “Now, I do.”
“No, wait,” he said as he reached for her.
Her gaze filled with despair and longing.
And then she was gone.
Chapter 55
New York City
JIANJUN PACED BACK and forth in his bedroom. He was quickly running out of time and patience, but didn’t know what to do next. He checked on the spy monitor to see if Vandenburg made or received any interesting calls. He was stunned to see that she had phoned Calvin Phaylor the day before. They talked for three minutes. Next, she made and accepted no calls for over an hour, followed by a five-minute call to Milton Zonovich at 6:30 p.m. He wondered what had happened in that interval.
He used his laptop to access Calvin Phaylor’s phone log and saw that Zonovich called Phaylor at 6:35 p.m., right after he talked to Vandenburg. Jianjun wondered if Zonovich called to report on Vandenburg.
It didn’t take long for him to tap into Zonovich’s phone records, to see who else the man talked to. He never expected what he found.
If the calls meant what he thought, he needed to quickly set several complex steps in motion.
He worked on his plan for the next two hours, careful to cover his trail. If he was wrong, his actions would leave a lot of people plenty pissed off.
Then he left the house.
He went to the Starbucks next door to Vandenburg’s apartment building, and with a grande breve in front of him, he set up his laptop. Using the spy monitor to clone Vandenburg’s phone, he synced it to her computer via Wi-Fi. As he suspected, she hadn’t bothered to password protect it.
Such a trusting soul, he thought, and proceeded to download her computer files to his hard drive. Most of her files, including emails, were remarkably short. He opened the files, one by one, then scratched his head.
What had happened to all the information that should have been there? All the stuff about Idaho and alchemy?
Some information was there, but not in nearly enough detail. He missed something important. Could she have a second computer? One his cell phone couldn’t locate?
He needed to go to her home, scout around, tap into her personal home wireless system and see everything she had available.
He gulped down the rest of his breve and went into the men’s room of the coffee shop. He was thin enough that he could fit through the window. He found himself in an alley behind Vandenburg’s apartment building, the exit for its parking garage. He waited until someone drove out of the garage distracted. An older woman on a cell phone provided his opportunity. As the garage door opened for her, he snuck past her into the parking facility, then got on an elevator with another patron. She started to complain, but he smiled, bowed, and acted very foreign. That went a long way with certain overly politically correct types who tried hard not to offend.
He got off on Vandenburg’s floor and rang the doorbell. She would be upset that he had gotten past the doorman, but he had a speech ready.
No answer.
He rang again. From what he’d read, her daughter
had a full-time nurse. Someone should be home.
After another ring and a longer wait, he took out his lockset and picked the front door lock. The deadbolt wasn’t on, and neither was the alarm system.
He told himself he shouldn’t be nervous about it. He could search for another computer, go through her files, do whatever it took to discover how much she knew, then leave.
He walked into the plush living room and froze.
There, on the floor, lay Jennifer Vandenburg. The marks on her throat, bulging of her eyes, and still-wet foam on her lips told him she had been strangled…and not very long ago.
He backed away, ready to turn and run. But before he could, he felt something hard jab into his back. He didn’t need to see it to know it was a gun.
Chapter 56
CHARLOTTE LISTENED WITH amazement as Melisse relayed her strange experience with Thaddeus Kohler and the glowing red stone he wore.
Charlotte put the description of the stone together with the manuscript Will Durham had given her. Then she went to Kohler.
“We need the philosopher’s stone,” Charlotte said. At his startled look, she continued. “I’m sure you have found the six stones that were left here by the men of the Secret Expedition. I need them. Now.”
“How do you know about such things?” he asked.
“I read about it before coming here, and put it together with an interesting tale from Melisse.”
Kohler’s jaw stiffened while Will Durham gave her a slight nod to show gratitude she hadn’t spoken of his role in this.
“What makes you think a philosopher’s stone would do you any good, if such a thing existed?” Kohler asked. “Or that you would know how to use one?”
“Everything in alchemy starts with the stone. The Book states that. Lionel and I can spend years trying to make one, just as Nicolas Flamel and his wife did, or we can start with one that already exists. I suggest the latter.”