Three new beams of light entered the dimly lit chamber, each mounted on the top of a handgun. Will started to make a move for his own weapon, but one of the figures emerging from the corridor flashed a light in his direction. “I wouldn’t do that either,” the same voice warned.
Tommy turned to Will but could see the cop wasn’t sure what to do either. They were trapped.
Chapter 29
Salt Lake City, Utah
Alexander Lindsey sat in a high-back leather chair at the end of a long mahogany conference table, staring at the seven men occupying the rest of the seats. His face was stern and his eyes unfeeling as he peered at each and every one of them. “The answer is no,” he said plainly.
An older man positioned near the middle of the table, to Lindsey’s right, looked outraged. “You have some nerve, you ungrateful swine. After all we have done for you—”
“All you have done for me?” Lindsey interrupted. “Tell me, Wallace, what you—any of you—have ever done for me.”
Another man, probably Alexander’s age, spoke up across the table. His face was thin, and his hair had obviously been receding for years. “We brought you in. Took you to places you’d never have gotten on your own. Then you abandoned your faith, your church, and your honor.”
“Honor? Don’t speak to me about honor, Nicholas,” he replied with disgust. “I did more for the church and the faith than anyone else. It was my programs, my ideas that created the vast revenue stream that you so enjoyed for such a long time. The well has dried up, and you have overextended yourselves. Now you come to me asking for a handout after turning your back on me sixteen years ago?”
No one else at the table said a word. They were all obviously frustrated. He continued, “All I asked for was to be the next president of the church. I could have taken it to new heights. You would all be richer than anyone in the country, and all of your precious little mission work would be better funded than if it had come from the Vatican. But you wouldn’t have it.” His voice became bitter.
“You wanted control. Your motivations were not pure, Alex,” the older man spoke up again. “We offered you a chance to stay with the cabinet, but you wanted it all. And you wanted it for your own glory, not the glory of God.”
“How glorious is your God now that you’re broke?” The dark cynicism of his voice resonated through the room.
“That is blasphemy, Alex. May God have mercy on you.”
Lindsey grinned on one side of his mouth. “Mercy on me? I’m doing just fine. You’re the ones who need my money.”
“We know what you’re up to,” a younger man who’d sat silently at the other end of the table said eagerly, as if he’d been holding it in the whole hour. A hushed silence fell across the room. The man who looked midthirties appeared uncertain that he should have said anything.
“What, pray tell, am I up to?” Alexander narrowed his eyes, curious as to who this buck thought he was.
“My name is Rick Baker,” he replied, trying to keep his voice steady, “and I know about the treasure you’re trying to find.”
“Is that so?”
The rest of the men at the table looked confused. One leaned in close to Rick and asked him quietly, “What are you talking about?”
Baker ignored him. “I know what you are trying to find, and why you’re trying to find it.”
“I have many hobbies, one of which is archaeology, but that is no concern of yours or this little committee.” Lindsey said the last word with deep sarcasm.
“You won’t find it,” Baker continued with more confidence. “God won’t allow it. He hasn’t for four thousand years. He won’t let it be discovered now, not by you.”
Everyone at the table was completely lost by the exchange. Apparently, Baker was the only one at the table who knew anything about what Alexander Lindsey was really up to, which was good. He would only have to eliminate the one committee member. It might do some good to kill off one of them anyway to put them in their place and keep them off his back.
He stood and brushed down his suit jacket and tie, clearly getting ready to leave. “I don’t have time for these ridiculous children’s games. And my answer is still no. If you are short on money, ask for more tithes and offerings from your congregations. It’s what you preachers do best.”
With that last stab, he stepped over to the door and exited the conference room, making his way down a long office hallway toward the exit sign. While he walked, his fingers typed a text message. Rick Baker. Clean.
Chapter 30
Bandelier National Monument
With guns trained, the three men stared at Tommy and Will. They had nowhere to run and essentially no cover in the large open room.
The pedestal was the only hiding place and wasn’t going to be much help. Or would it? Tommy wasn’t sure.
“Step away from the gold,” the man ordered.
“Who are you?” Tommy asked, trying to stall them for a moment. His eyes searched the ceiling for anything. Then he saw it, above the entrance to the passage: A huge rectangular stone seemed oddly out of place, jutting out of the vaulted ceiling just slightly. He noticed other similar pieces above and realized what they were.
“You don’t need to worry about that,” the leader of the group said. “Just put your hands up and get away from the gold, nice and slow.”
Will began to back up cautiously, raising his hands while he moved. Tommy moved too, but when he raised his hands he pushed them out sideways, knocking the gold leaf off the pedestal with his left hand. The artifact clanked to the floor, and the three men with guns flinched as the pang echoed through the room. A deep rumble began to resonate through the chamber as if the whole mountain was shaking. The armed men looked around for a moment as dust began to break loose from the ceiling. The ground beneath their feet vibrated violently.
Suddenly, the large stone Tommy had noticed over the doorway fell to the floor, crushing the man who still stood closest to the corridor. The rock instantly buried him under its weight; he never even had a chance to scream.
The other two men realized what happened and looked up to the ceiling. Another stone, a little farther away and to their right, dropped and crashed to the floor with a thud. One man to the leader’s right just barely dove out of the way.
Tommy watched as the heavy stone flattened the slower of the two guys. It gave him a brief second, and while the other two were distracted, he took a chance and dove toward the gold leaf. He grabbed it and stood in one motion.
The remaining two armed men caught the movement near the altar and turned to fire.
Tommy darted back toward Will. The young cop reacted quickly and pulled his weapon out of its holster. He fired three quick shots at the newcomers who went sprawling across the stone floor in opposite directions.
Another large stone dislodged from the ceiling and landed near Will, missing him by mere feet.
Muffled shots popped from the other side of the room as the men returned fire from behind one of the big stones.
Will and Tommy ducked behind the one that had just fallen nearest them to take cover.
“Got any idea how we’re going to get out of here?” Will asked as he peeked around the corner of the stone and squeezed off a shot.
Schultz looked around frantically. “Honestly, I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”
The opening to the passageway was blocked, so there was no going back the way they came.
“Keep them pinned down over there,” Tommy ordered suddenly. He crouched down and shuffled to the wall nearest to where they were hiding, looking closely for anything that would help them get out. Several more shots ricocheted around him, making him flinch and sending sparks flashing off the stone. There had to be another way out.
The sound of Will’s weapon was deafening in the cavernous room. Each volley was amplified by the stone. The air began to smell acrid from the gun smoke.
Tommy tucked in behind a large piece that had fallen and tried to stay out of sight
. As he did, his flashlight caught the edge of something peculiar in the wall. A small circular indentation of a familiar size was nestled in the rock. Tommy leaned in for a closer look and noticed four notches protruding from the edge of the round impression toward its center. He ran his light along the smooth surface until he found an edge, then up until he found another. An ancient door. Hurriedly, he pulled out the stone from his backpack and slid it into place in the impression. It was a perfect match, but something was wrong. He pulled the piece away from the indentation and looked at it closely. Then he looked at the small hole. There were little raised areas inside the hollowed-out circle. A closer look at the stone revealed something he’d not noticed before. There were little areas of discoloration that appeared to be the same size as the ridges in the wall’s impression.
More muffled shots sent rounds off the floor nearby. A ricochet passed so close, he could have sworn he felt the air move from the bullet. Will continued to hold them off but was being more conservative with his firing due to the fact that he didn’t have that many bullets left. Tommy had noticed the cop had already switched to his reserve magazine. He looked back at Will, who fired another shot at the two attackers.
Will squeezed the trigger. He’d been counting the rounds fired. Only four left. He held up four fingers so Tommy could see. Time was running out.
Chapter 31
Grand Canyon, Arizona
It had been a little over an hour since Emily had made the call. While waiting, they’d gotten back on one of the tour buses and visited Guano Point for a few minutes before heading back to the main information center. A black helicopter bearing a Justice Department seal was landing in a space near the parking lot just as they exited the shuttle. “That must be our ride,” she said as she pointed over to the chopper.
Up ahead, the blades of the rotor began to slow slightly. A pilot wearing stereotypical aviator-style sunglasses hopped out of the front. He also sported a light brown jacket and dark brown pants. The man appeared to be in his upper forties with streaks of gray flicking through the thick cocoa hair. Emily strode out in front and extended her hand, which the pilot took firmly. “Heard you needed a ride,” he said casually, speaking loudly so his voice could be heard over the whine of the turbines.
“We appreciate you coming down on such short notice.” She expressed their gratitude. There was an awkward pause for a moment while they shook hands a little longer than would be expected.
“This is Sean and Adriana.” Emily pointed to the two onlookers.
“You two know each other?” Sean asked.
“Jim Caldwell,” the pilot responded while offering his hand. “I’ve done some field work for Emily in the past. I’ve been doing some stuff out in Los Angeles for the past few years, but I happened to be in Vegas when the call came through.”
“That’s a happy coincidence—” Sean eyed her suspiciously.
Emily rolled her eyes at the insinuation.
“So, you guys need me to fly you somewhere? What’s the story?”
“Actually,” Emily answered, “we need you to fly us into the canyon.”
Caldwell looked surprised and confused. “Why didn’t you just get one of those tourist choppers to take you in there?”
Sean responded. “Because I don’t think they would be willing to do what we need.”
The pilot looked intrigued. “Sounds sketchy. Let’s do it.”
The group followed him over to the helicopter and climbed in, Emily taking the front seat while Sean and Adriana hopped in the back. A few minutes later they were rising slowly off the desert floor. Jim leaned the black machine forward and headed them around toward the western entrance of the canyon. “We have to take a certain flight path going in,” he said into the headset. His voice was somewhat crackly, like most radio communication devices.
The helicopter cruised along for a few minutes, running parallel to the enormous gash in the earth. Then Jim veered to the right, and the ground dropped out from under them. Awestruck by the view, Sean and Adriana looked out their respective windows in the rear. Villa was in shock at the spectacular sight. Wyatt was a little more uneasy about the whole thing. They had gone out beyond Guano Point and were sailing past it, flying high over the Colorado River as it wound its way through the deep crevasse. Some of the tourists waved from the tour stop as they went by.
“Up ahead is Eagle Point,” Emily said into the microphone. Jim simply nodded his understanding as they drew nearer to a large forked rock formation in the river gorge. He slightly slowed the helicopter down to make sure he didn’t pass the location. Emily pointed to the right. “Take us over there. Get us as close as you can.” Again, the pilot nodded and obeyed, guiding the flying machine to the right side of the rock ridge that jutted up from the canyon floor.
Emily looked across through the pilot’s window as the formation passed by on their left. It only took them a few minutes before they reached the spot they were looking for. “That’s it,” she said as she pointed at the enormous shape of the eagle that had been formed out of the ancient red stone. The wings of the creature stretched out in both directions of the river. The head, though, was facing upstream.
Carefully, Jim inched the helicopter closer. Sean and Adriana were peeking through the cockpit windshield, trying to see if they could find a hint of anything unusual or out of place, but nothing caught their eye. “What are we looking for?” Caldwell asked, turning his head slightly toward the middle of the cabin.
“We’re not real sure,” Sean replied over the hum of the cabin noise. “A cave, some petroglyphs. Could be anything.”
“What was it that your friend said was the clue for this location?” Adriana asked.
“Mac said that the eagles’ wings would guide the way or something like that.” Almost in sync, the four inside the cabin turned their head upstream in the direction of where the eagle’s head was pointing. “Can you get us over top of it?” Sean asked. “I’m talking, like, almost sitting on top of the head.”
Jim nodded and steered the helicopter up and over top of the rock formation. Slowly and carefully, he lowered it down as close to the rock as he could. The stone eagle was situated in a dip in the ridge, so hovering right over top of it put them at almost eye level with the pinnacle. As the four looked down the ridge, they noticed it sloped slightly at an angle, like a path. Where the path ended was extraordinary. Off in the distance, several thousand feet away, they noticed a black spot on the cliff wall. Even though the end of the ridge was separated from the canyon face by a large span, from the angle they had it looked as if the ridge path led straight to the spot.
“Is that a cave?” Emily asked.
“Only one way to find out,” Sean replied.
Agents Angela Weaver and James Collack watched the black helicopter take off and circle around to the southwest toward the mouth of the canyon. Following their targets in a chopper of their own would have been foolish. Instead, they opted to be patient and see what they could observe from afar. A close listen by one of their operatives who’d been sent to the tourist center had apprised them that Wyatt and his little group had taken a shuttle out to Eagle Point. The man had done the same and got on the same bus without being compromised. He took note of Wyatt’s special interest in the eagle-shaped rock formation when they arrived at the overlook. At the last stop, Guano Point, the group hadn’t really spent any time at all looking around. Angela and James took that to mean that whatever Wyatt was looking for was around Eagle Point.
Their team had taken up a position off to the side of the tourist information center with special permission from the residing authorities. No one ever questioned high-level government agents once they flashed the credentials. Access to so many restricted areas was easy.
They both held their binoculars tightly as they watched the black chopper cruise in from the southwest. “What are they doing?” James asked his partner, lowering his device for a moment.
She shook her head, still peering throug
h her binoculars. “Not sure. But it looks like they are taking a keen interest in that area of the ridge.”
He raised his binoculars back to his face and continued staring out. Three other agents stood guard behind them making sure no curious tourists came near. Angela and James watched as the helicopter maneuvered into a position hovering over the rocky ridge. After a minute or so the helicopter lifted up a little higher and headed northeast, flying upstream over the river below. At one point, the chopper flew past their position, but since they were safely a few thousand feet away, being spotted by its passengers was highly unlikely.
“What do you think?” James broke the silence again. He seemed a little on edge.
She was tired of always having to make the decisions. Even though they were of equal rank, it seemed like she’d been playing mommy to him for a while now. Sometimes she wondered how he’d gotten to the level he was with the ignorance he displayed on an almost daily basis. She’d made little effort to withhold her frustration with his inability to kill Wyatt when he had the chance at the Venetian. How he’d let some woman sneak up on his position was still something she considered inexcusable. And just who the mystery woman was still tugged at her.
James still looked at her, awaiting a response. “I’m guessing they saw something off in that direction,” she pointed toward where the helicopter had flown. “We wait to see where they land and what they’re doing. Keep our distance and observe.”
“What if they find what they’re looking for?”
A breeze picked up and played with a few loose strands of her brown hair that had escaped the neat ponytail in the back. “Then we take it from them.”
Jim lowered the aircraft down gently onto the hardened desert plateau about a hundred feet from the cliff’s edge. “Did anyone bring climbing gear?” he asked the three passengers.
“I did,” Adriana said matter-of-factly.
Sean raised both eyebrows, impressed with her preparedness.
“What made you think we would need that?” Emily prodded, as turbines above the cabin began to slow.
“Just call it a hunch,” she replied with a smirk.
Sean Wyatt Compilation Box Set Page 40