‘Well, yes. Anyway, back to my visitor at the university. I couldn’t understand why the man was so anxious to lay his hands upon it. Certainly it would be of some value to a museum or a collector of relics, but nothing in the region of the amount of money he was offering me to track it down. He told me he had been after it for many years, but no one had been able to find it for him. He said I was his last hope. I accepted his offer. I was intrigued and it was far too much money to turn down. I spent the night researching the Key and uncovered some interesting points about it, but nothing concrete. Then I got lucky. At least at the time I thought it was luck. I showed my evening’s work to Marie. She recognised the Key for what it was immediately. She had heard stories about DeLancey-O’Brien and a secret society when growing up. And in her youth she had read The Book of Dread, the account of a poor unfortunate who had searched for the Key.
‘I now realised how dangerous the Key was and I re-gretted accepting the man’s offer, but even then I didn’t realise what a black valley it would lead me to. The man himself knew something of the Key – that it had been in the possession of a secret society in Boston some time in the 1800s. They were a powerful sect, but no one knew how they maintained that power. A more evil bunch of villains never existed. Their leader lived for an exceptionally long time, longer than anyone had any right to live and he held the city in his iron grip.
‘That is until the Key was stolen by someone as treacherous as them. Someone who joined the gang and under cover of night robbed the Key. They believed he was an Englishman and for decades afterwards they sent members of the society to England scouring the country for the traitor who had taken their precious relic. They never found that man.’
‘Because he was here,’ said Lauryn. ‘It was Hugh DeLancey-O’Brien.’
‘He stole it. The blackguard,’ Mrs McMahon said. ‘He was the type all right. There were plenty of stories about him. Even when I was growing up. And he died a long time before I was born.’
‘Except he didn’t die,’ said Drake.
·•·
The Brute stirred as if waking from a marathon sleeping session. He yawned and stretched his arms. He had stopped sweating. In fact, he was feeling a lot better than he had in hours. The sickness had passed. He still felt weak and he didn’t feel up to standing yet. For some reason he thought of Colm. Where was his cousin? He half-remembered him leaving the room and saying he’d be back in a minute. And had he tried to lift him on to the bed? He wasn’t sure if they were memories or dreams. Maybe he’d just lie here for a few more minutes even though some part of his brain, something deep down, was telling him to get up and go downstairs. Nah, he’d lie here. He didn’t like being told what to do, even when it was his own mind doing the telling.
·•·
Despite the situation he was in, Colm began to feel giddy. He almost had to stop himself from laughing. What was wrong with him? He wasn’t enjoying this situation so why did he suddenly feel so good? He felt better than he had in ages. Weird.
‘DeLancey-O’Brien made one mistake though. He didn’t know how the Key worked. Not properly. That was his downfall. If he had understood it he would still be here today, living in this house. There were plenty who knew how to use it though. Over the years there have been rumours about the Key. Scrawled passages in ancient scripts. As far as we can tell there were originally three Keys. One was buried with Attila the Hun. Another was lost with Rasputin.’
Mrs McMahon looked at him blankly.
‘He was a monk in Russia who had many enemies, but no matter how often they thought they had killed him he came back to life. He finally died beneath a frozen river. The theme of the river and ice is mentioned throughout all the accounts of the Lazarus Key. As far as I am aware it is only this that can destroy it.’
‘So we have to find the Key and freeze the horrible yoke,’ Mrs McMahon said.
‘In a manner of speaking.’
‘Well why couldn’t you just say that in the first place instead of blathering on for hours about Rasputin and all sorts of nonsense. How do we get rid of it?’
Drake opened the freezer and took out a silver metal box no more than six inches square.
‘We put it in this ice box and then we bury it deep beneath a river bed.’
‘And that will stop the Key from working?’
‘I hope so.’
‘What do you mean you hope so? Will it or won’t it?’ asked Mrs McMahon angrily.
‘I don’t know. Until a week ago this Lazarus Key was just a fable to me. I thought it existed but, as I said, I didn’t believe in its magical powers. I haven’t slept since Marie told me about it. I’ve spent all my time researching and travelling until I knew everything about it. DeLancey-O’Brien may not have known how to use it properly, but I can guarantee you this man does. And I suspect he won’t be using it for the good of the world. It’s something that needs to be destroyed and we’re the ones who are going to have to do it.’
‘What about the creature? What if he comes after which-ever of us has it? That means we’re dead, doesn’t it?’
Drake nodded. ‘I’ll take responsibility. I’ll take the Key and hold onto it. If I don’t destroy it in time and the creature comes after me, then one of you must try to finish the job.’
‘You can’t do that, Peter. You can’t take that chance,’ Marie cried.
‘Rather him than one of you two,’ said Mrs McMahon.
‘Ma, leave him alone,’ Marie said. She sounded stressed. ‘Peter’s only trying to help us.’
‘Help us? He’s the one who got us into this mess in the first place. The lanky streak of ditchwater.’
‘It’s not his fault,’ Marie said. ‘It was just a case of really bad luck.’
‘Bad luck that you went to work for him. Bad luck that when you realised you were in terrible danger you came here. And just plain bad thinking that you brought poor Lauryn with you and put her right bang wallop in the middle of trouble. She’s only a young girl,’ Mrs McMahon said angrily.
‘It’s OK. I can handle myself. Good ole US of A toughness,’ Lauryn said.
‘Oh, shut your cakehole, Lauryn,’ Mrs McMahon said. Her face softened. ‘Sorry.’
‘Forget it, Gran. We’re all a bit worked up,’ Lauryn said.
‘Why didn’t you just tell the man that you couldn’t find it?’ Mrs McMahon asked. ‘Wouldn’t that have been the sensible thing?’
‘That’s what we did. But then we got the feeling we were being watched. No matter what we did. No matter where we went,’ Marie said.
‘The man had people following us. He knew we were on to something. I don’t know how he knew it, but he did,’ Drake said.
‘He knew it cos he’s a genius and he’s one of the most wanted men in America,’ said Lauryn.
‘Lauryn. Ssssh,’ Marie said.
‘Well, he is,’ said Lauryn.
‘We don’t know that for sure. We think the man works for The Ghost. It’s the nickname for one of the FBI’s most wanted criminals. They don’t have a real name for him. Nobody knows who he is.’
‘It’s serious then,’ said Mrs McMahon.
‘We pretended to go to work one morning, but we’d already decided. We snuck out the back door and met Lauryn …’
‘At Pizza Hut. I ditched school,’ she said proudly.
‘… and flew straight here. We thought that if the hotel was closed for a couple of days we might be able to search for the Key without anyone noticing. Our plan was to destroy it so that this evil man wouldn’t ever get his hands on it. I hid out in a bed and breakfast and Marie persuaded you to go away on a trip.’
‘I knew it wasn’t rats. You closed the hotel for ye’re own sake. There’s never been a rat here in all my years,’ Mrs McMahon shouted, almost joyfully.
‘That doesn’t matter right now.’
‘It matters to me,’ she huffed.
‘You came back early and let the guests in before we had the chance to find it. We tried to
protect them because we know the man will find us. Our only hope is that we get to the Key before he does. If he’s that dangerous already I can only imagine what damage he’s going to do if he gets the Key. And remember, he’ll know how to use it properly,’ Drake said.
Colm had to stop himself from crying out. So they weren’t kidnapping him. They were hiding his family so this horrible man wouldn’t find them.
Mrs McMahon looked at her daughter. ‘I think I know where it is,’ she said.
‘Ma?’
‘When I was a girl I got lost in the woods once. I came across an auld, I don’t know what you’d call it, trapdoor. I heard my name being called out. As if it was from under the ground. I wanted to open the door and climb in there. I wanted to do it more than anything, but before I could, my father found me. He gave me a right leathering and told me never to go into that part of the woods again. He said bad things were in there and it was no place for a young girl.’
Drake picked up the piece of paper. ‘Is this what you saw?’
Mrs McMahon grabbed the paper, crumpled it up and flung it towards the door.
‘I told you already I never saw the blasted thing. I just said I know where it might be.’
The paper rolled across the floor and came to a stop when it bounced gently against the door. Colm checked that no one was looking, then grabbed the balled-up piece of paper. He opened it as quietly as he could and saw what Drake had drawn. The Lazarus Key. Only the name was misleading. It wasn’t a key at all.
It was a diamond. With a skull inside. And it was in Colm’s pocket.
Colm would have gulped except his body wouldn’t allow it. He was still too happy. And now he knew why. Because like The Brute, like the man who had written The Book of Dread, he held the Key. And when you held the Key you were happy for a while. And then the sickness came. And then the creature came.
There was only one thing for it. He was going to have to see if Drake’s plan to destroy the Key worked. But before he could do anything he saw Drake was looking in his direction.
‘How long have you been there?’ he asked coldly.
‘Not that long,’ Colm said. ‘Listen, I have to tell you something …’
He got to his feet. Now he could see that Drake wasn’t addressing him. He was looking past him, to the man who stood behind him.
‘I think he was talking to me,’ said the rat-faced little man.
Fifteen
‘Get out of my kitchen. In fact, get out of my hotel right now or I’ll call the Gardaí,’ said Mrs McMahon.
The rat-faced man just smiled, revealing pointed little teeth that reminded Colm of fangs.
‘Don’t you smirk at me,’ said Mrs McMahon bravely.
She grabbed the saucepan from the kitchen floor and ran towards him waving it above her head.
‘Take one more step and you, your family and everyone you’ve ever cared about will pay for it,’ he said.
Mrs McMahon stopped in her tracks.
The man didn’t have a gun or a knife. He didn’t appear to have a weapon of any sort, but there was something in the cold, calm way he spoke that made Mrs McMahon realise he was telling the truth. He could hurt them all and he would if she didn’t do what he was telling her. She hadn’t been scared in years. She had no time for fear. But she was afraid now. All at once she understood why Drake and her daughter were so terrified of this man.
‘How did you find us?’ Drake demanded.
‘You don’t get to ask any questions, Mr Drake,’ said the man.
‘Don’t hurt us,’ Marie said.
‘You don’t get to tell me what to do either,’ he said.
Colm smiled. He couldn’t help himself. He knew that the situation was a grave one. He knew that the creature would soon be coming for him and that his one chance of destroying the Lazarus Key had disappeared since this strange, dangerous man had turned up, but he was still grinning like an eejit.
‘Mrs McMahon, isn’t it?’ said the rat-faced man.
Mrs McMahon nodded.
‘I believe you said you might know the location of the object I’m looking for. Is that correct?’
She nodded again.
‘Then you’re going to come with me,’ he said.
‘You can’t take her out into the woods at this time of night. She’s old. She won’t be able to make it,’ Lauryn cried.
The man looked at her, his eyes like slits. ‘Are you telling me what to do?’ he asked.
‘No, sir,’ said Marie, putting a protective arm around her daughter. ‘She doesn’t understand the situation.’
‘I do understand it,’ said Lauryn, shrugging her off. ‘And I’m not letting you take my grandmother out there.’
The little man didn’t say a word. He walked, almost silently, across the kitchen until he was standing in front of Drake and Marie. The professor’s lower lip quivered.
‘I-I-I,’ he began.
He didn’t get to finish.
The rat-faced man’s arms moved in a blur of speed. Too fast for Colm to understand what he’d done, but half a second after he did whatever he did, Drake and Marie lay in a crumpled heap on the floor.
‘What have you done?’ Lauryn roared. She rushed to her mother’s side.
‘They’re not dead,’ said the man wiping the back of his hand on his jacket.
‘Will she be all right?’ Lauryn asked with a tremble in her voice.
‘I don’t know,’ he replied. ‘If she’s not, then it’s your fault.’
Lauryn was on the verge of tears.
‘Mrs McMahon, we’ll need a flashlight for our journey into the woods. Get one.’
She disappeared into a utility room and returned with a torch.
‘I’m taking her with me now. I’ll be back when we find the Lazarus Key,’ the man said.
‘And what happens then?’ Colm asked.
‘Why would I tell you?’ he said. He almost smiled again, but changed his mind halfway through. ‘Mrs McMahon. Lead the way.’
‘I’ll be fine, Lauryn. You look after your mother. Don’t worry about me,’ she said with a wink as she left the kitchen, the rat-faced man by her side.
There was silence for a few minutes after they left. Colm and Lauryn were in too much of a daze to speak.
He wondered what to do. He had the Key in his pocket. If he gave it to the rat-faced man he might just let them go. Or he might not. Wouldn’t the creature come and get the man instead of him? The one person who could answer that question was lying unconscious on the floor.
And if he did hand over the Key then what powers would he be giving to the man? If the stories Drake told were true, then the consequences could be terrible. He could just try to destroy the Key in the metal contraption that Drake had taken from the freezer, but then what would the man do if he didn’t get the Key? And there was the other problem. What would happen to him if he kept the Key in his pocket? The creature would come for him. No matter what way he looked at it things were bad.
He was shaken from his mood by the sound of sobbing. Lauryn was cradling her mother in her arms.
‘She’ll be OK,’ Colm said even though he wasn’t sure she would be. He just wanted to sound reassuring.
Marie gasped and inhaled a lungful of air.
‘Mom,’ Lauryn said, brushing a lock of hair from her mother’s forehead.
‘I’ll be OK,’ Marie said feebly. She didn’t look OK. ‘Is your Gran …’
‘She’s fine,’ Lauryn lied. ‘She’s just gone to ring the doctor for you.’
Marie smiled and closed her eyes.
‘I’m going after him,’ Lauryn whispered.
‘No, you’re not,’ Colm said. ‘I am.’
·•·
The argument didn’t last for long. No matter what he said he couldn’t persuade Lauryn to stay. She’s more stubborn than her grandmother, he thought.
‘Are you sure you won’t stay here with your mother?’ he asked one last time.
Lauryn had pla
ced a rolled-up towel beneath her mother’s head. Marie’s breathing was regular now and she looked like she was just sleeping. Drake was still out cold.
‘My mom will be fine, but I’m not going to let my gran walk through the woods with that creep,’ she said.
Colm knew he’d have to let her come with him. Time spent arguing was wasted time.
‘Where are my parents?’ he asked.
‘They’re in the cellar,’ Lauryn said. ‘Do you want me to release them?’
He did, but he knew it wouldn’t be a good idea. It would take ages to explain everything to them and even if they believed him they weren’t going to let him go out into the night after a half-mad criminal and a … whatever the creature was.
‘No, it’s fine,’ he finally replied.
‘I’m sorry about locking them up,’ she said. ‘I …’
‘I know. You just wanted to protect us. It would have been easier though if you’d just kicked us out of the hotel when we first arrived.’
‘I tried to scare you off.’
‘Yeah, I got that,’ Colm said. ‘Can you bring that metal thing that Mr Drake brought? And is there another torch as well?’
‘Torch?’
‘Flashlight,’ Colm said, remembering that Americans had a different word for it. Lauryn kissed her mother on the forehead then grabbed a couple of torches from the utility room and stuffed them into a rucksack she’d found there.
‘I think this belongs to Mr Jenkins,’ she said. ‘He’d go mad if he knew we had it.’
‘Where is Mr Jenkins?’
‘Locked up with your folks.’
Colm’s dad wouldn’t be happy to be stuck with the man who he thought had ripped him off. Of course being locked in a cellar wasn’t going to put him in a good mood either.
Lauryn picked up the ice box. ‘It’s freezing,’ she said as she stuffed it into the rucksack. ‘Do you have a plan?’
‘Of course I do,’ he lied. ‘OK, let’s go.’
Lauryn said goodbye. Her mother didn’t answer. She looked worried for a moment, then she seemed to put it to the back of her mind. Her face became a stern mask of resolve.
Colm & the Lazarus Key Page 11