Alice did not reply.
“In answer to your question, Mr. Compton, your friend is needed. Needed by your companions down at that stone monstrosity they call a resort.”
“What’s wrong with our companions?” Niles asked.
“It seems they have encountered the men that my grandson has been doing business with and I am sensing that they need assistance. I need your Mr. Everett to find out for me,” again the crooked smile, “and then you will see the very special power of the Golia, and why God placed them here. The one true link.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying—one true link?” Alice said.
“The true link Mr. Everett will have with him,” Madam Korvesky said as she glanced up into the high stone gallery that sat just beneath one of the three stone pyramids.
As they turned and looked up they saw the beast. It stood at least eight and a half feet tall. Its left arm was outstretched as the animal was leaning on a stone outcropping. The Golia stood on its two hind legs and the yellow eyes stood out in the darkness as the giant wolf stared down upon them.
“Oh,” was all Alice could say.
“Wow,” Charlie Ellenshaw said as he stepped forward to see the sight that stood high above them. Denise for her part decided that she was close enough and took three tentative steps back. Niles held his ground but like Charlie, Alice took steps to get closer to the far wall so they could look up at the legendary alpha male of the Golia.
Before anyone could move, Stanus leaped from his high perch and flew through the air until its large feet struck the stone flooring of the temple. Stanus went down to its knees, as the leap from the gallery was at least a hundred feet. The beast slowly started to straighten and as it did the massively long claws came free of the hands and the Americans could see that Stanus was anything but happy about them being inside the temple.
The four Americans stepped back as Stanus took first one, and then another step toward the dais and the spot where Mikla was lying. The eyes never left the Americans. Madam Korvesky was impressed because most would have seen Stanus and run just as their ancestors had done at the awesome sight.
Suddenly the Golia growled deep in its throat as it approached the old woman and Mikla. The beast looked from Niles, Alice, Charlie, and Denise as it raised its right hand and with outstretched fingers placed its claws into the fur at Mikla’s neck. Stanus’s ears slowly came up and they could hear the whining of the giant as its claws ran through Mikla’s dirty, wet fur.
Alice saw the humanity in the Golia’s touch. The eyes, made to cast fear into any beast that saw them, were slowly moving over Mikla as Stanus examined it. Finally the large hand made it down to the broken right ankle of Mikla. The ears lay down and then they heard the deep castings of the wolf’s growl. It was as if Stanus could sense, or even smell the infection that was starting to grow from Mikla’s injury. Madam Korvesky slowly and gently reached out and placed her much smaller hand on that of Stanus. She closed her eyes and the wolf quieted and became still. The yellow eyes seemed to roll up into the Golia’s head and the ears came up like a set of antennae. Then the eyes opened and with one last look at Mikla and then over at the visiting Americans, the alpha male turned, ran, and scrambled up the rocks to the gallery and then vanished.
“That was amazing,” Alice said as she stepped closer to the dais and then with a questioning look in her eyes at Madam Korvesky, silent permission was given and then she too laid her hand on Mikla’s heaving chest. She felt the heat of the animal and the infection was starting to smell bad.
“Can you do anything for him?” Niles asked as his mind shifted from the trouble that Jack and then others were facing and the immediate problem before them—the wounded Golia.
“Yes, we may very well have Mikla up and running by tomorrow. If not and he dies we may have a serious problem on our hands as Stanus would not take the death of his only remaining brother very well at all. The people that did this would never make it home. So I need your Mr. Everett. I need Stanus, his strength, his power, and his cunning. I need your friend because he can evaluate the situation where Stanus cannot.”
“I am not following you at all. I need to make sure my people are safe.” Niles looked at Alice. “We have to leave, we can’t take a chance that Jack and the others aren’t in some kind of trouble.”
“You will stay, Stanus will go and your Mr. Everett will go.”
“I will not place the captain close to that animal, that doesn’t seem like a smart thing to do,” Niles said, finally getting a little put off by the mysticism talk and the unscientific way this was unfolding.
“What are you planning?” Alice asked as Mikla whined in its sleep.
“While we help Mikla, your friend and Stanus will perform the miracle and discover what is really happening with your friends and our common enemy.”
Charlie Ellenshaw felt the flutter of his stomach as he realized what it was that Madam Korvesky was getting at.
“The miracle? The miracle is—”
“Tonight you will learn that there truly are monsters in the world of men.”
“Riddles are a hard way to discover the truth, madam,” Niles said as his anger was turning inward to the old Event Group failing—curiosity.
She smiled and then cocked her head as the offspring of the Golia started howling again in their small, screechy voices.
“Tonight you will see the transformation.”
“Transformation?” Denise asked, not liking the sound of that at all, especially being an MD.
“Yes, my dear, there is only one thing that can tell us what we want to know and has the stealth to get that information.”
“And that is?” Niles asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
“The werewolf.” The smile was large as she took in the astonished faces around her.
“A were—”
“Yes, a lycanthrope,” she answered, cutting off Niles and his astonished reply, “and tonight the beast will run, and your Mr. Everett will run with it.”
“You don’t mean—?” Charlie started to ask, amazement lacing his words.
“The change will come upon your Man from the Sea and he will run with Stanus, becoming one with the beast, and the magic of the Golia will be shared.”
“You can’t mean that he will—” Alice said but stopped when the old woman laughed.
“Tonight, the most ancient of beings comes alive and the werewolf will walk the mountain once again.”
THE EDGE OF THE WORLD HOTEL AND RESORT CASINO, PATINAS, ROMANIA
As they were escorted down the hallway Jack saw that the men watching them had no weapon of any kind, at least none that he could discern. With one man on the outside of Sarah, another on his left, and one behind and the follow-up element of Zallas and his new friend Ben-Nevin, he knew he could take the two men next to him and Sarah, but Ben-Nevin was no fool, he would have ample time to draw a weapon.
As they were led down the sixth-floor hallway, Sarah was relieved to see Pete Golding and Jason Ryan coming around the corner from the opposite direction. Sarah held up a hand to warn them that they weren’t alone when she saw the four men behind them. They were in as much trouble as themselves and they were being led to the same suite of rooms.
“Good job, Ryan, I see you got Pete out of trouble,” Jack said as they were made to stop before two double doors with the number 66-6.
“Yeah, these four armed men with very ugly automatic weapons dissuaded me from any inappropriate reactions where the rescue of the doc was concerned.” With that one of the small Uzis appeared and jabbed Ryan in the back.
“I see your point,” Jack said as Ryan was pushed forward.
“Jab me with that thing again and what I gave you last night inside the casino will seem like a kiss, dickhead,” Ryan hissed at the thug from the night before. The man smiled and was about to raise the small Uzi and pop Ryan again.
“Stop that,” Zallas said from behind them as he produced a keycard and then
swiped it in the lock. Then as a second security procedure he entered a code on a keypad. “This is my private suite of rooms.” He smiled as he threw the door open. “I think you will be most comfortable here until the Romanian authorities arrive to take you into custody.”
“Into custody, you have got to be—”
Collins held out a hand and that stopped Sarah’s outrage.
“Yes, what did you think, I’d be foolish enough to kill three American soldiers and one,” he looked at Pete Golding, “whatever this is? Maybe you are with the NATO contingent, maybe you are not, but if you were it would be very stupid of me to kill four representatives of the organization that made the construction of all this possible. No, I don’t pick fights with NATO. You’ll be arrested for breaking and entering and then expelled from Romania. That may or may not sit well with your employers, whoever they are, but it should be enough to keep you quite busy explaining yourselves.”
A knock sounded as Jack stared at Zallas. He knew that the man, while brutish and a gangster, was smart enough to realize his limitations as far as attracting attention to himself. For a man that dodged the old KGB and the newer version of that organization, the NKVD, to escape Russia and then organize here, well, he knew Zallas was a man that wasn’t as dumb as many would believe.
One of the Romanian thugs opened the door and allowed the hotel’s other owner into the suite.
“What is this?” Janos Vajic asked as he saw the Americans in the center of the suite.
“These people have been caught breaking and entering into my and the engineer’s office. They will be arrested and then expelled from Romania after the weekend’s festivities are complete.”
“These guests do not seem the burglar type,” Janos said as he worried that Zallas was going too far.
“Mr. Janos,” Sarah said, “your partner has placed a death sentence on this resort. The whole thing can come crashing down at any time thanks to his bribery and faulty engineering.”
Janos looked from Sarah to Zallas, who was shaking his head.
“What is she talking about?” he asked.
“What I’m talking about is the fact that the castle up there is secured to the mountain facing by giant anchor bolts that pass right through a major fault that was uncovered and is in the original geology report from your Ministry of the Interior.”
“And that means?” Janos asked as his eyes stayed on Zallas.
“The construction of the castle has caused irreparable damage to the rock that makes up the face of the mountain. The face your new castle is anchored to.”
“I’m not following,” Vajic said as he finally looked away from Zallas.
“It means the situation is fast deteriorating and that castle could come tumbling down the mountain like Humpty Dumpty.”
Janos turned and looked Zallas. A light came on behind his eyes and he felt as if his blood had frozen in his veins.
“The Interior Ministry? Our partner, Kenly Václav, that is why you brought him in on the deal because you had to bribe him to keep the geology report away from the state,” he said as everything dawned brightly as if the sun sprang from the dark clouds. “Otherwise the deal with NATO never would have been approved and the valley never would have been opened up for lease.”
Zallas smiled and then looked over at their newest partner, Ben-Nevin, who was watching the turmoil with mild interest.
“Jesus, it took you long enough to grasp the reality of your partnerships, Janos.”
“Then it’s true?”
“The original report was, yes, but the updated report from a better engineering firm covered that which we needed covered.” Zallas took a few steps forward and then touched Sarah on the cheek, which brought Jack to full attention. “No, the castle will not fall. Even our engineers acknowledged that the pilings were driven through a fault, but they say the fault is strong and the anchors will secure the two halves and thus make the castle’s foundations as safe as if they had been grown into the mountain.”
“You idiot, that is what I’m saying, there is another element at work here, whether it’s a natural degradation of the anchor steel inside the mountain or the rock around the pins are loosening.—whatever the reason the entire facing of that mountain is loosening.”
“That is quite enough. The castle is on far safer earth than the ground down here. I have been assured of that,” Zallas said as he placed his arm around Janos and walked him to the door. “Now, I will worry about the mountain and the castle, and you worry about the resort.”
“Gina is missing and I don’t know where she is,” Janos blurted.
Zallas stopped as he opened the door. He placed his small girlish hand on Janos and then smiled.
“I am sure she is out and about, you’ll no doubt find her soon.”
With a worried look at the Americans, Janos Vajic left the suite. Zallas closed the door and then faced Jack, but it was Ryan who took a menacing step toward the Russian.
“If you hurt that girl, I’ll—”
One of his Romanian brutes cuffed Ryan in the back of the neck and the naval aviator went down to his knees. Jack swung out and caught the man’s hand in midair before he could bring down the weapon a second time onto Ryan’s head. Collins twisted the small Uzi from the thug’s hand and expertly ejected the ammunition clip, and then with one hand ejected the round that had been chambered and then tossed the weapon to Dmitri Zallas, who caught it with his eyes wide.
“Don’t ever touch one of my people again,” Jack said, not looking at the offender but instead straight at Zallas, who shook his head when the disarmed man turned to face Collins. The man backed away and then caught the Uzi as Zallas tossed it back to him.
“Next time, the colonel here has permission to rip out your throat.” Zallas took a menacing step toward the five Romanians. “Without any recriminations from me.”
“What did you do with Gina?” Ryan asked as he was helped to his feet by Jack and Pete and was vigorously rubbing his neck where the Uzi had connected solidly.
“Her employment was terminated.” Zallas smiled as he took in Collins. “After all, she is not NATO and will not be missed.”
“If you hurt her, I’ll—”
Zallas had already turned for the door as he waved his men out.
“Hurt? My young friend, she is very much dead. My mercy and understanding of the world clearly has its limits.” He turned and looked at Colonel Ben-Nevin.
Ben-Nevin caught the drift of the threat and knew when the time came Dmitri Zallas would have to be dealt with. But until that time he had to satisfy the Russian.
“I need to know what information these Americans have on the temple complex,” Zallas said. “If they know where it is, taking this Marko Korvesky would be a moot point, we wouldn’t need him to learn the location of the temple.” Zallas again looked at Ben-Nevin and shook his head.
“The people that live on that mountain are far more adaptive than you could know,” Ben-Nevin said. “I imagine since they have been defending this mountain for three thousand years they can do it rather efficiently if the need arose. Are you following?”
“They are nothing but peasants.”
“Yes, but then again it was nothing but peasants that fought off everyone from the Hittites, Visigoths, the Romans, and then finally Vlad the Impaler, not counting the entire Ottoman Empire, but yes, they are nothing but peasants,” Jack said, trying his best to irritate the two men.
Zallas and Ben-Nevin turned and looked at a smiling Collins.
“As a matter of fact, I would think it would be wise to stock up on silver bullets if you’re going up there.” His smile grew as he studied the two.
“What in the hell are you talking about?” Zallas asked as he was confused by what Collins just said. He was hoping it wasn’t a reference to the nonexistent wolves of the mountain again.
“Mr. Zallas said we will have enough men and firepower to get anything off that mountain if we so choose. I don’t think old legends wi
ll frighten this man,” Ben-Nevin said with hope.
Zallas looked from Ben-Nevin to Collins and then shook his head.
“I will take your suggestion and think about it,” Zallas said, smiling wide at what he thought was an attempt by the American to get him to second-guess his action against the villagers. He opened the door to the suite.
“Wait!”
Zallas and his men, along with Ben-Nevin, turned and looked at Ryan, who was still in the process of rubbing the pain from where he had been struck on the neck.
“Out of professional courtesy, and for later reference, just who was it who killed Ms. Louvinski?” Ryan asked as he moved closer to the men and Jack allowed Jason to play out whatever he had in mind. He normally wouldn’t but he could see that the reported death of Gina Louvinski had affected the Navy man. And Zallas’s business associate was also stricken by the news.
“If you must know, little man, it was me,” said the big Romanian from the night before, the one who had manhandled Pete and the waitress. He stepped forward with a broad smile on his bearded face. Ryan allowed his eyes to flick toward Collins and he didn’t read any dissent there.
“Good, I thought it would have been you,” Ryan said as he moved so fast no one could stop him. The right hand went from the back of his neck and out to cross the bridge of the Romanian mobster’s nose. The hit was so hard that the man froze in place and his features went slack almost immediately. The palm of Ryan’s hand had hit the nose so hard that an explosive combination of bone and gristle was sent directly into the man’s brain pan. The mobster’s face turned white and then went slack. He went to both knees and then slowly fell forward onto his face—dead. Ryan rubbed his hand and waited for the bullet that would kill him. One of the Romanians saw his friend and raised an Uzi up but Zallas stayed the move.
Zallas looked down at his dead guest and again shook his head as he nodded to the gunman to collect his fallen leader.
“Now that was impressive,” he said and looked back at Ryan. “I will allow you that one.” He grinned. “But just that one.” He turned and left after demonstrating how cheaply he valued human life.
Carpathian: Event Book 08 Page 45