“We can pile some rocks against the spot,” Erik suggested. “Unless he’s looking pretty close, he won’t notice.”
Cassie sighed at the thought of moving more boulders. But, as she sternly reminded herself, she had no reason to complain. It was a miracle that they were alive at all.
The trio gathered stones and brush. In a short time, they had effectively camouflaged the gap in the dome.
Cassie gazed at their handiwork. “I think that hole in the roof is going to collapse eventually.”
“Eventually won’t matter,” Erik countered. “If Hunt circles back here it’s going to be in the next few days.”
“Are we ready to quit this dismal spot?” Griffin asked.
“Fine by me,” Erik agreed.
“No,” Cassie blurted out, a troubling thought beginning to form.
“Huh?” the security coordinator gave her a surprised look.
“Guys, we have to go back to the entrance of the tomb.”
“What?” Griffin sounded shocked.
“I think we’re missing something. I think you two dragged me out of my vision too soon.”
Erik rolled his eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“No, I’m not kidding.” Cassie’s tone was serious. “I feel like there was something more I was supposed to see.”
The security coordinator hoisted his pack onto his back and started down the trail. “I’m not hanging around here just because you’ve got a hunch. For all we know, the cowboy and his buddy could be on their way back here right now.”
Cassie ran down the slope after him and grabbed him by the arm. She spun him around to face her. “Don’t you dare brush me off! This is important, damn it! All my life I’ve been moved around like a pawn on somebody else’s chessboard. First by my parents and then by my sister. Just a dumb kid who needs to be protected. A little girl who doesn’t know anything and shouldn’t know anything.”
“You’re right so far,” Erik concurred.
Griffin hurried down the hill after them, ready to separate the two if necessary.
“Maybe I’m not a walking search engine like Griffin or James Bond Junior like you, but I’m a part of this team for a reason. I’m the pythia, and my hunches matter! Right now, they’re screaming in my head that we need to go back to that boulder, and you need to let me finish doing my damn job!” She glared at him defiantly.
Griffin glanced worriedly from one to the other.
Erik stared at Cassie for a long moment, as if he were seeing her for the first time. Then a slight smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. “OK, toots. Go for it!”
“My name’s not toots,” she muttered. Turning in the opposite direction, she marched back to the top of the dromos where the boulder stood. She looked down briefly at the trench. As Griffin had surmised, it was buried under a pile of rock. The retaining wall had collapsed completely. They would never have gotten out through the stomion. The sight made her shudder.
Transferring her attention to the boulder, she could see it more easily in the gathering light. The two men caught up with her by this time. She sat down in front of the rock and looked up at them.
“You both should stand back. Don’t touch me until I come out of it on my own, OK?” Her tone didn’t brook argument.
The men traded a look. Griffin nodded slowly.
Erik shrugged. “Fine.”
Cassie took off her jacket and folded it up like a pillow. Placing it behind her neck, she leaned her head back against the smooth face of the boulder and closed her eyes.
Once again, she felt the strange sensation of the sky shifting from dawn to noon. The same spot but a different time of day. She was still the stone carver with the sinewy arms, but she was working on a different section of the boulder. Much farther down than before. She gazed up and saw the lily freshly carved at the top. She saw the two lines of symbols which Griffin had easily translated. She saw the deep groove in the middle of the boulder and the half symbols carved below it. But the stone cutter wasn’t working on any of that.
Her eyes flew open, and she sat bolt upright.
“What?” both men asked simultaneously.
Cassie smiled broadly. “I was right. There was something else. There’s another line of code.”
“Where?” the security coordinator challenged. “I don’t see anything.”
Cassie was on her hands and knees in front of the boulder. “That’s because it’s under this.” She started clawing at a heavy flat rock that had been placed precisely at the base of the boulder and in front of it. It seemed to have been cut evenly on one end so that it fitted flush up against the larger stone.
She turned to face her companions. “You guys up to some more digging? We need to move this flat rock out of the way.”
Erik wordlessly removed his jacket and rolled up his shirt sleeves. Griffin followed suit.
It took several minutes to dig out enough of the dirt around the base of the rock to allow it to move.
They strained and pushed and pulled and eventually were able to drag it several inches away from the front of the boulder.
Griffin inspected the spot, scraping the soil away from the face of the rock. There were dirt-filled carvings at its base. Another line of symbols from the key.
“Cassie, I could kiss you!” Griffin exclaimed.
“What about you?” she asked Erik archly.
“Don’t press your luck,” he said, though he was grinning when he said it. Looking around the hillside in the early morning light, he added, “Maybe we should translate this at the hotel. I don’t like the idea of hanging around here any longer than we have to.”
“Agreed,” Griffin said readily. “Just let me copy down these symbols, and we can be on our way.”
“Of course, you’ll have to move the flat rock back in place,” Cassie suggested sweetly.
The two men looked at her in bewilderment.
“Same logic applies, guys. You wanted to cover that hole in the dome in case Leroy and his sidekick came back. Do you really want to leave that rock over to the side, so they can see the line of code they’re missing?”
Griffin and Erik groaned, but neither one contradicted her.
For once Cassie got the last word.
Chapter 41 – In the Name of the Father
When Daniel and Leroy returned to Chicago, a car was waiting at the airport to bring them back to the compound. They were to be taken to see the diviner immediately. Daniel experienced nothing but dread at the thought of the interview. He felt as if he had aged several years during the week he had spent in Greece. In contrast, Hunt seemed elated, even jaunty, at the prospect of giving a full report.
As they approached the compound, the car paused briefly at the wrought-iron gates with their Chi-Ro cross insignia. In days gone by, Daniel had always felt a sense of relief every time he crossed that threshold. It had always meant that he was returning to a comforting and familiar world—a world in which right and wrong were clearly defined. Obedience meant salvation. Now his only emotion was dismay. The Fallen Lands had proven to be far less simple than he imagined them to be. Evil was not something that the compound gates could ward off.
The two men silently entered the main house and were escorted into Abraham Metcalf’s office. When they were announced, the old man was standing at the window, hands clasped behind his back. He turned to face them with a feverish look.
“Well?” he demanded without preamble. “What do you have to tell me?”
“Lots of things, boss,” Hunt drawled. “Depends on what you want to hear first.”
Metcalf had obviously exhausted his limited supply of patience waiting for them to arrive. Without further comment to Hunt, he turned his attention to Daniel. “What did you find?”
Whenever his father fixed him with that intense stare, Daniel found it hard not to stutter. He took a deep breath before commencing. “We found the coded message on a b… boulder
in the mountains of Crete.”
“Excellent!” Metcalf gave a rare smile. “What did it say?”
Mechanically, Daniel recited, “You will find the first of five you seek, when the soul of the lady rises with the sun, at the home of the Mountain Mother.”
To Daniel’s surprise, his father didn’t fall into a fit over the cryptic message.
“Five, is it?” Metcalf mused to himself. “I had no idea they would be hidden separately.”
Without waiting to be invited, Leroy lowered himself into one of the visitor chairs in front of the old man’s desk. He fanned himself with his hat. Metcalf and Daniel remained standing.
Abraham continued, “No matter. We will recover them all. Since you were able to find the message, the Lord surely intervened on your behalf. It is a sign.”
“We had a little help,” interjected Hunt.
Metcalf’s bushy eyebrows shot up. He scowled at Leroy. “What do you mean? Speak plainly!”
Hunt wasn’t about to allow himself to be bullied. He looked up at his employer with a casual smile. “Well sir, we were havin’ a rough go of it in Greece when one of your local boys came across some other folks lookin’ for that same message.”
“What!” Metcalf thundered.
Daniel jumped slightly, struggling to resist the urge to flee the room.
Leroy continued unflustered. “Yup, like I said, one of your boys was out scoutin’ at some old ruin when he come across this other bunch. They was talkin’ about the granite key and what all else I can’t remember.”
“Who were they?” Metcalf leaned over Leroy’s chair.
“You’ll never guess,” Leroy said coyly.
“I don’t intend to,” Metcalf countered icily. “I repeat, who were they?”
“One of ‘em was the little sis of that antique lady.”
Metcalf drew himself up and folded his arms across his chest, trying to assimilate the information. “You mean her younger sister? But she was barely more than a child. What could she have to do with the matter?”
“A whole lot from the looks of things,” Leroy replied. “She had a couple of fellers helpin’ her out. Fact is, they got to the rock before we did.”
Daniel glanced nervously at his father. Metcalf’s complexion was turning a mottled shade of fuchsia.
“Daniel, explain to me how it is possible that an ignorant Fallen girl and her accomplices could have found the message before you did?” The tone of the question was unmistakably menacing.
While Daniel attempted to frame a response, Leroy interposed. “It don’t matter why they got there first, boss. We’re the ones who got the intel.” Leroy looked particularly pleased with himself. “No need to fuss about them folks. They met with a little accident.”
Daniel was appalled. Accident? He couldn’t shake the memory of Hunt taking aim against three innocent people, Fallen though they were. It was no accident.
“Explain yourself!” Metcalf barked.
“Well sir, it was like this.” Leroy warmed to his tale. “Your Nephilim boys on Crete told us these folks was searchin’ some mountain graveyard. I gotta say, your local crew sure knows the lay of the land in those parts. They mapped out a way for us to get to that mountain top so nobody would see us comin’ or goin’. It was nigh on sunset by the time we made the climb. After that, we laid low til dark. Then we crept up and listened while them thieves was translatin’ that key gizmo. Heard everything. When they was through, I got the drop on ‘em. Herded ‘em back inside the tomb they was searchin’, and then—”
“You shot them.” Metcalf cut in matter-of-factly.
“I would of done, but I got a little help out of the blue.” Hunt chuckled at the recollection and slapped his knee. “I tell you what. I couldn’t of planned it better if I tried.”
Abraham gazed at him in perplexity.
Daniel hastened to explain. “There was an earthquake. Boulders fell across the entrance of the tomb, and the people…” he paused, unable to continue.
“Sealed inside nice and neat,” Leroy completed the thought.
“You’re sure they’re dead?” The question sounded businesslike.
Daniel couldn’t comprehend his father’s attitude. Three people had died in a horrible accident, probably a lingering death from suffocation, yet the diviner showed no more concern than if Leroy had reported stepping on an ant hill.
“Yup, I’m sure. Like I told you, Mr. Metcalf, I take proper pride in my work. I always finish what I start. Me and your boy climbed back up the next day to check out that tomb and make sure they was shut up tight.”
Trying to ignore the sense of despair creeping over him, Daniel added, “The entrance to the tomb was completely blocked after the earthquake. No one could have gotten out of there alive.”
“Very good.” Metcalf nodded approvingly.
Daniel’s head was spinning. He couldn’t believe the words that had just issued from his father’s lips. Tentatively he said, “Father, I know they were Fallen but still—”
“They were a threat,” Metcalf said flatly. “I believe Mr. Hunt acted appropriately. Just as Holy Scripture says in Joshua 10: ‘He left no survivor, destroying everything that drew breath, as the Lord the God of Israel had commanded.’”
Daniel could barely suppress his sense of disgust that his father would actually quote scripture to justify Hunt’s atrocity.
Abraham continued. “Because of Mr. Hunt’s quick thinking, our mission is no longer in jeopardy.” The old man paused as another thought struck him. “Do you think they had any other associates?”
Leroy shrugged. “If they did, the trail’s gone cold. The only folks who knew where to look for them relics can’t tell a soul what they found out. Anybody else who was workin’ with ‘em is plumb out of luck. And if somebody new ever does show up…” Leroy mimed firing a gun, “I’ll pick ‘em off as we go along.”
“In that case, I believe there is no immediate danger to compromise this undertaking. Well done, Mr. Hunt. Very well done.”
“I aim to please, boss.” Leroy gave a mock salute.
Metcalf transferred his attention to his son. “We’ll need to plan the next step of your journey.”
Daniel’s heart sank. He had been naïve enough to assume his father would let him scuttle away from this quest. Almost mechanically, he replied, “I need to spend a few weeks gathering more information. I believe the first relic is on Crete, but there is more I need to understand about this reference to the Mountain Mother.”
“Of course. The entire resources of the brotherhood will be at your disposal. You are to meet with me every day to keep me apprised of your progress.”
The old man walked toward the door, signaling that the interview was at an end. “Mr. Hunt, I trust you will be available for the next phase of this mission?”
Leroy stood up and put on his Stetson. “Fact is, I had some fun on this job when I didn’t reckon I would. You give me a jingle when your boy’s ready to saddle up and hit the dusty trail. I’ll be there.” He tipped his hat to both of them and left.
Metcalf patted Daniel on the shoulder as he escorted him out of the room. “My son, I’m sure God is well-pleased with both of us this day.”
Daniel turned away without comment. He seriously doubted that his father had the vaguest notion of the deity’s true intentions. His conscience was telling him that God’s reaction to what had transpired on Crete was the opposite of pleasure.
Chapter 42 – Double Trouble
Two days after their near brush with death, the Arkana team was standing on the front porch of Faye’s farmhouse waiting for her to answer the door. Cassie felt a strange sense of discontinuity as she gazed at the apple tree and the blue gingerbread railings. It was the sensation a person might have if they visited their childhood home after being gone for decades. Everything looked smaller. Although Cassie had paid her last visit to Faye’s house a little over a week before, it felt like a lifet
ime ago. Nothing in her world would ever be the same again.
Erik was about to knock one more time when the old woman opened the door, her eyes twinkling with delight. “My dears, welcome back.” She held out her arms and gathered them all into a hug. “I’m sure you must be hungry. I’ve set up some refreshments out in the garden. Come in.”
The trio followed her out to the yard.
“Nobody gets out of this place without eating,” Erik whispered.
Cassie noticed that every flower in the garden seemed to be blooming at once. The wisteria that covered the pergola had leafed up to form a green canopy over their heads.
They spent several minutes arranging their chairs, pouring lemonade and iced tea and helping themselves to freshly baked peach pie.
“I bet M never baked James Bond a pie when he got back from a mission,” Cassie noted to Erik.
He grinned at her without malice. “One of the perks of working for the Arkana. But it means I have to hit the gym pretty hard after a visit to Faye’s.”
The old woman seated herself and folded her hands in her lap. “Tell me everything.”
“We actually don’t know everything yet ourselves.” Cassie stared pointedly at Griffin.
The scrivener avoided her gaze. “I thought it best to chat about the matter once we were all together. It was hardly something we could discuss over the telephone.”
“Why don’t you begin at the beginning?” Faye suggested.
They all started talking at once until she held up her hands for silence.
“One at a time, please. My hearing isn’t what it used to be. Cassie, dear, why don’t you start.”
The pythia didn’t need much encouragement to regale Faye with her impressions of Knossos and the Cretan trove even though neither location turned up any key symbols.
Griffin took over to describe their trip to Psychro Cave.
“Psycho.” Cassie chuckled.
Her male companions groaned in unison.
“You think she’s ever gonna get tired of that?” Erik asked bleakly.
The Arkana Mysteries Boxed Set Page 26