Daniel looked around the dock area nervously. “Brother Nikos says he has something important to tell us. Something he can’t say here.”
Hunt’s annoyance faded as curiosity took its place. “Well now, that sounds like it might be worth the trouble. But you tell him from me that once he speaks his piece, he’s gonna hustle me back to a hotel in town. You got that?”
“I understand English, sir,” the local said. “I will do as you ask. But now you must come. My car is parked over this way.”
Hunt shrugged and hoisted his duffle bag. “Whatever you say, Brother Nick.”
“Nikos,” Daniel corrected anxiously. “His name is Brother Nikos.”
“Ain’t that what I said?”
***
Twenty minutes later they were driving through a landscape that was darker than dirt. No lights anywhere. Daniel was up front with his new best friend giving Leroy the back seat all to himself.
Hunt tried to make conversation. “So, you got a compound out in the sticks here too? Jeez, you Nephilim got more hidey holes than a gopher.”
“No sir,” Nikos answered gravely. “There is no compound. We are going to my brother Dimitrios. He has a farm house some distance from the town.”
“Guess one of you Nephilim boys made good, huh? He got a house of his own and don’t have to share except maybe with his twenty-odd wives and such.”
Nikos corrected him. “My brother Dimitrios is not of the Blessed Nephilim, sir.”
“How’s that?” Hunt asked blankly.
Daniel tried to explain. “Nikos is a convert to our brotherhood, Mr. Hunt. The rest of his family was not born into our faith.”
“Well, don’t that beat all,” Leroy chuckled. “Quite a pickle, Brother Nick. You got a brother who ain’t a brother. I tell you what. You gotta come up with another word for them that joins your blessed whatsit and stop callin’ everybody brother. It’s downright confusin’.”
They drove in silence for ten minutes until another thought occurred to Hunt. “So, how come we’re goin’ for a confidential chit chat at your brother’s house? Who ain’t even a brother, by the way.”
“Brother Nikos lives at our Athens compound,” Daniel explained. “Because he is Cretan by birth, I asked him to come here ahead of us and begin to search the ruins at Knossos. We have no compound on the island where he could stay, so he asked his brother for refuge.”
“Uh huh,” Leroy said. “If you gotta stay with Brother Dimitrios too that means you’re gonna have to break your taboo about not eatin’ outside of a sanctuary, ain’t that right?”
“Where two Nephilim are gathered, that is a sanctuary,” Daniel intoned piously.
“I knew he’d weasel around it someway,” Hunt thought to himself. “This better not take long,” he said aloud.
“An hour and no more,” Nikos assured him.
Leroy leaned his back up against the car door and tilted his hat brim over his eyes. “Well good. You wake me when we get to your fake brother’s place.”
***
It took twenty more minutes for them to exchange pleasantries with Dimitrios and his family after their arrival. It might have gone quicker if any of them spoke English.
The three men were shown out into the garden where a table was set for a late-night snack of bread, olives, and feta cheese. Nikos and Daniel refused spirits and primly asked for tea while Hunt cheerfully accepted a glass of ouzo. Dimitrios was obliging enough to leave the bottle near at hand.
Once they were sure the family had retired, Nikos began to explain himself in a whisper. “I believe someone else is looking for these markings you sent me to find, Brother Daniel.”
“What?” Leroy sat bolt upright, alert for the first time since leaving Chicago.
Daniel nervously picked apart a piece of bread. “But that’s not possible. Who else could know about the granite key?”
“At Knossos, I saw three of the Fallen. Two women and a man. They were walking through the ruin looking for the same strange markings you wanted me to search for.”
“That so!” Leroy’s interest was piqued. “What’d they look like?”
“The Fallen man was young, with light brown hair. He spoke with a British accent. One of the Fallen women was Greek and middle-aged. The other was an American teenager with dark hair. They called her Cassie.”
“Well, don’t that beat all!” Hunt exclaimed, slapping the table with his palm.
“Mr. Hunt, please!” Daniel shushed him like a spinster librarian. “The family will hear you.”
Leroy ignored the admonition. “So little sis was in the game after all. Lord almighty! I surely didn’t see that one comin’.” He poured himself another drink.
Nikos continued his account. “They spoke of Linear B and the granite key. I followed them. At one point, I brushed close enough to see the papers they were all looking at. Each one had a copy of the symbols on the key.”
“How can that be?” Daniel’s voice was shrill with panic. “Nobody had that information.”
“Sorry to burst your bubble, son, but somebody did. That antique dealer who I got the key from in the first place.”
“You?” Daniel gave him a puzzled stare.
“Guess your daddy didn’t tell you all the odd jobs I done for him, huh? Well, sir, I’m the one he sent to find that doodad in the first place. It come from a fancy antique store. Lady who ran it had herself a terrible accident. Bumped her head and didn’t get up no more. Left behind a little sister. Gal named Cassie.”
“This can’t be happening,” Daniel murmured. His pasty complexion was ashen.
Ignoring the young man’s distress Hunt addressed Nikos. “So, what else you find out?”
Nikos stared worriedly at Daniel for a moment before transferring his attention to Leroy. “I do not believe they found anything at Knossos. I followed them for the rest of the day. They went to a vineyard in the hills and stayed there for two hours.”
“My kinda folks. Civilized,” Hunt said approvingly. “They know when it’s time to take a break and sip somethin’ in the shade.”
“After that, they returned to their hotel in Heraklion.”
Leroy felt an adrenaline surge. “Then you know where they’re stayin’?”
“Yes, I can take you there in the morning.”
Hunt rounded on him. “Boy, we ain’t got that kind of time!”
Daniel was sitting with his head in his hands, moaning an inarticulate prayer.
Leroy shook him roughly by the shoulder. “Listen up, son. I need you to get on the horn with your boys. You got anybody else on the island, you call out the reinforcements. I need them brethren to take turns watchin’ the hotel through the night. Keep tabs on these folks.”
“Why?” Daniel bleated
“Son, you ain’t seein’ the big picture here. You think they’re gonna steal your thunder and get them Bones before you do. That ain’t gonna happen.”
Daniel gaped at him dumbly.
“Don’t you get it yet, boy? They’re gonna do your work for you. All we got to do is stay out of sight and have your crew follow ‘em around awhile. Odds are they’ll head straight to your buried treasure.”
Leroy withdrew the SIG Pro pistol from its holster. He checked the magazine. “Brother Nick, you think maybe you could scare me up some extra .357 bullets for this thing?”
Chapter 35 – Psychro
The following morning found Cassie and Griffin well rested and ready to continue their search. The same could not be said for Erik. He’d arrived late the night before, and his surly mood hadn’t improved much after a few hours’ sleep.
The trio met for breakfast where the security coordinator was briefed on everything the other two had discovered. They outlined their plan to search the Lasithi Plateau for symbols from the key.
Erik listened in silence during their lengthy summation. When they were done speaking, he nodded curtly. “OK, I’ll rent us a car.�
�
“Why?” Griffin asked in surprise. “Xenia drove us around yesterday.”
“No need to bother her. She’s probably got better things to do that chauffeur tourists.”
Cassie opened her mouth to offer a sarcastic retort, but Griffin laid a warning hand on her forearm. His gesture seemed to imply that locking horns with Erik so early in the day wasn’t a good idea.
“We should really go with someone who knows the area,” the scrivener suggested tactfully. “Someone who speaks the language.”
Erik gave no reply but instead gestured to the waiter. In flawless Greek, he asked for more coffee.
“Show off!” Cassie muttered under her breath.
Grinning impudently at them both, he explained. “I ran security for quite a few recoveries in this part of the world. Learned to speak like a native, and I know my way around the island pretty well. Like I said, I’ll rent us a car.” Without warning, he rose and walked out of the dining room.
His companions stared at one another uncertainly.
“Be ready in half an hour,” Erik called over his shoulder. “I’ll pick you up at the front door. And bring jackets. The plateau can get cold in the evening.”
“He’s been here less than twelve hours, and he’s already ordering us around,” Cassie commented acidly.
“On the contrary,” Griffin countered. “I think we just saw his cooperative side.”
***
As promised, Erik arrived at the hotel entrance in a BMW sedan. He insisted that Cassie take the back seat because he said he didn’t want to shout to carry on a conversation with Griffin.
“At least he’s decided to talk to one of us,” Cassie thought to herself.
The trip from Heraklion to the plateau was more than fifty miles. For the first half of the journey, Griffin and Erik exchanged shop talk about matters back at the vault. Cassie took the opportunity to sightsee—watching as vineyards, orchards, and farms drifted past her window.
When she began to feel the car climbing steadily, she knew they were heading up into the mountains. Realizing that they were nearing their destination, she sat forward and tapped Griffin on the shoulder. “Tell me about the place we’re going to see.”
Griffin swiveled around in his seat to address her directly while Erik did his best to ignore them both.
“It’s a fascinating bit of geography,” the scrivener began. “Quite unlike anyplace else on the island. Lasithi is a flat table of land about seven miles wide and four miles long that sits at approximately three thousand feet above sea level.”
Cassie found herself laughing. “It amazes me how you can rattle off statistics like that without even pausing for breath.”
“I did a great deal of research in preparation for this trip,” Griffin said defensively. “It isn’t my fault that I can recall nearly everything I read.” He cleared his throat. “As I was saying, around 1100 BCE, the Dorians invaded Crete and began enslaving the local population. Those who could fled to the plateau. Lasithi is surrounded by peaks on all sides and accessible through only eight mountain passes. Any invaders who wished to conquer the region would have had to arrive through one of those gaps. Although the Minoans set up defenses at each pass, the Dorians never bothered to pursue them that far.
“Fortunately, the native population who became known as Eteocretans, or true Cretans, found the plateau quite habitable. Although the altitude makes the climate much chillier than the rest of the island, the farmland is rich, and water is plentiful from the spring run-off of mountain snows. To irrigate their farms and orchards, the inhabitants built windmills. Lasithi is sometimes called the land of ten thousand windmills though most of them have fallen into disuse in recent years.”
“I can see one of them now!” Cassie exclaimed, pointing out the rear window.
“Yes, I daresay the one you see carries an advert for the nearest taverna. That’s the march of progress for you.”
During Griffin’s lengthy explanation, the BMW had passed from open terrain through a succession of small villages. Erik accelerated as they emerged from yet another one.
Noting his surroundings, Griffin commented, “There are about a dozen villages that encircle the plateau. All very quaint and picturesque. Tourism is becoming an important part of the local economy though the area is still primarily agricultural.”
The scrivener turned to address Erik. “Do let me know when we reach Psychro.”
“Psycho.” Cassie chuckled.
Griffin gave her an annoyed look. “Now you’re just willfully mispronouncing the name.”
“I can’t help myself. I think it’s funny.”
“We just passed it,” Erik said flatly.
“What!” Griffin exclaimed.
“While you two were busy playing Trivial Pursuit, you missed it. The town we just drove through was Psychro. You wanted to go to the cave first, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct,” the scrivener admitted.
“It’s outside of town up the mountain.” Erik drove a short distance further until the road ended abruptly near a cluster of tavernas and souvenir shops. After parking, he got out of the car and opened the trunk to retrieve a back pack. “From here we walk.”
“Walk where?” Cassie asked.
“I’ve never been to the cave, but I believe it’s about a mile up the side of this mountain,” Griffin offered brightly.
“A vertical mile!” Cassie gasped. “You don’t have to sound so perky about it.”
They hurried to follow the security coordinator who was already moving at a brisk pace up the stony zig-zag path.
As they struggled along the steep incline, Cassie kept looking upward expecting to glimpse the cave mouth. They paused to catch their breaths about a thousand feet above the village on a wide stone shelf that gave them a panoramic view of the plateau and the mountains. Even at the point where they had to stop to buy admission tickets, Cassie still couldn’t spy the cave. A guide offered them lanterns, but Erik waved him away.
They resumed their march up the mountain single file and in silence. The trek became automatic, almost hypnotic. Cassie found her mind wandering until Erik stopped abruptly, and she collided with his back pack.
“We’re here,” he said simply.
“Where? I still don’t see it.”
“That’s because you’re looking up. Look down,” Griffin advised.
When Cassie did as he instructed, she saw a forty-foot hole in the ground directly below her feet. Farther below, she could see lights flickering from tourists already inside the cave. The sight made her dizzy and slightly nauseous. “How far down does this thing go?” she asked Griffin.
“I believe the depth is about eight hundred feet.”
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Cassie could see a winding stairway cut out of the rock wall to her right with a handrail to the left of the stairs.
“How are we supposed to find anything down there?” She felt a sense of despair creep over her.
Erik had removed his back pack and was rummaging around for something. Wordlessly he handed flashlights to his two companions. He managed to make silence sound like a reproach.
“Sorry,” Griffin apologized. “It didn’t occur to me to pack a torch. Stupid of me not to have realized we’d need them.”
“Let’s go,” Erik prompted. “Watch your footing.”
The two followed him down the first few stairs.
Cassie felt cool damp air hit her face. After the bright sunlight and dry heat outside, it was as if she’d dived into a pool. Then her feet began to slide sideways. The stairs were slippery from the moisture in the cave. She gripped the handrail tighter and threw her flashlight beam up toward the ceiling. The roof of the cave was rippled with stalactites. It would have been impossible to spot a carving of a lily, or a bird, or anything else for that matter. The wavy texture played tricks with the eyes. You could imagine any shape you wanted to see in those rock formatio
ns.
The trio traveled on in silence until they reached the bottom of the stairs which opened out into a huge chamber.
“This cave has been used as a sacred site since the earliest Minoan settlements on the island,” Griffin started to explain. “It was sloppily excavated at the turn of the twentieth century. Sections of the roof collapsed and then were blasted apart for removal which obviously disturbed layers of strata. This chamber is roughly a hundred feet by fifty feet. In it, archaeologists have discovered pottery and votive objects. Things like goddess figurines and small double axes. They also unearthed a large number of libation tables and cups for food offerings. Other offerings, such as animal sacrifices are evidenced by numerous bones from bulls, sheep, and goats.”
Cassie swept her flashlight around the chamber, noting even more of the gnarled, twisted stalactites sprouting from the ceiling. “It’s going to be almost impossible to find any key symbols here,” she observed bleakly.
Griffin shrugged. “We have to try. Each of us should take a portion of the chamber and focus on the largest stalactite and stalagmite formations. Those would be the most likely places to find an inscription.”
Erik nodded wordlessly and moved to the opposite end of the chamber. He trained his flashlight on a large stalactite and allowed the beam to travel down its length.
Cassie moved off to the opposite end of the room. She followed Erik’s method by beginning with the upper edges of stalactites and tracing them down. After about ten minutes, her eyes began to blur. She started seeing faces and forms in the rock. Quite a few of them looked like Casper the Ghost. At least they were friendly. She shook her head to clear away the mirages.
Walking back to Griffin, she announced, “It’s hopeless. I can’t find anything.”
“Nor can I.” Griffin turned to her. “Perhaps it’s time we proceed to the lower chambers.”
“There’s more?” Cassie cried. She couldn’t rally much enthusiasm for the idea of spending time in a space that was bound to be even darker and damper than where she already was.
“Erik?” Griffin called questioningly.
The Arkana Mysteries Boxed Set Page 22