There was a momentary pause on the other end. Then, “Yes.”
“Good,” he replied. “We’ll let him in and then cut him off when the time is right. For now, having an ally like him could prove useful. Better the devil you know.”
“Understood.”
Jennings was silent on the other end for a second before he spoke again. “Wyatt and the two women went into a cave at the Grand Canyon. We’ve had no visual or any other kind of contact since they entered. There is no way out except through us. When they find the next piece of the puzzle and exit the cave, we’ll be waiting.”
Lindsey thought for a few seconds. Uncertainty arose within him. But for now, he had to trust his lead asset. “What about the New Mexico situation?”
“I haven’t heard back from them yet. But I am certain Hastings has it under control. Last he reported, they had rented a car and were heading toward Bandelier National Monument.”
Alexander didn’t like the fact that he had so many irons in the fire. Loose ends were easier to turn up that way. And since an additional branch of the government had become involved, that meant that others could come along sooner or later. Eventually, there would be a cowboy who would try to expose the whole thing. That was something he simply could not afford. There was too much at stake. “Let me know when you hear from him.”
“Yes, sir.”
Lindsey hung up the phone. A small LED television glowed brightly on the wall nearby. A news headline ran across the bottom as a scene from a car accident appeared. A local businessman named Rick Baker had lost control of his automobile and run off the road. He was pronounced dead at the scene. One problem solved. If his operatives were successful and recovered the three golden leaves, they would only need one additional piece to the puzzle. The Diary of Francisco Coronado.
Chapter 38
Atlanta
The rafting guide had shown Sean an old mule trail up the canyon that would take him and his friends back to where they could find their way to the car. It had been a long hike, taking a few hours to wind their way to the top. Fortunately they had eaten a good breakfast, provided by the generous guide.
He’d been a friendly fellow, with narrow eyes and light blond hair and beard.
The man had asked if they wanted to come aboard their enormous touring raft, but taking the mule trail was a faster way to get back to the car, and given the events of the last forty-eight hours, speed was of the essence.
When they’d finally reached the top, their legs burned, and all three of the hikers were gasping for breath.
Where the trail had come out on the desert plateau, they were actually fairly close to the parking lot.
After a two-hour drive and paying way too much for a plane ticket out of Vegas’s McCarran International, the trio arrived at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport about eight hours later.
With the time change, the daylight was already waning when they arrived at IAA headquarters in downtown Atlanta.
Tommy received the group’s entrance as he would have on any other day: casually and to the point. He laughed, “You guys look rough.”
“Vacation was great. Thanks for asking,” Sean said as he plopped down in a standard-looking office chair with black leather upholstery.
The conference room had various maps from all over the world posted on the walls with pushpins and notes tacked in different places. The room itself had a warm feel to it. Lots of wood appointments, including ceiling lattices and beams, that made it feel more like an opulent home rather than a workplace. A burnt-red wall made the place seem cozy yet trendy.
“Well,” Sean spoke before his longtime friend could get another word in, “it was fine until I got shot at. That kind of took the enjoyment out of it.”
Schultz gave him a rough grin. “I know the feeling. Had some similar issues here and in New Mexico, too.”
“Odd. Seems like I remember we got into this business to leave all that behind,” Sean said reflectively. “Who was after you?”
“I have no idea.” Changing the subject, he said, “Hello Emily. Nice to see you again.”
“Likewise, Thomas,” there was an odd tone to the way she said his name.
His gaze lingered for an awkward extra second on Emily before turning his attention to the Spaniard. And none of his other friends called him by his formal first name. “And who is this?” He shifted his eyes to the other woman in the room.
“My name is Adriana Villa,” she stated as she reached out her hand.
He extended his hand as well and got a polite but firm shake.
“She saved our butts in Vegas,” Sean threw in.
“Maybe I should hire her to help keep you out of trouble,” Tommy ribbed. Then he sat back down. His old friend simply gave an amused shake of his head.
Tommy went on. “By the way, saw what happened at the poker tournament. Brutal beat, man.”
“It happens,” Sean replied as he set a small book bag on the table. “At least we came out of the desert with something.”
Tommy pulled the bag closer to him and unzipped the main compartment. “What is it?” he asked as he pulled out one wrapped towel and then another.
“We’re not sure. You and I have seen a lot of stuff all over the world. But this one has me stumped. They look like golden leaves.”
Schultz stopped unwrapping the package momentarily.
“Leaves?”
“Yeah, like off a tree. But a little bigger.”
Tommy’s eyebrows came together, revealing he was perplexed about the new information. He reached into the bag and pulled out one of the objects, much like the one he and Will had recovered in New Mexico. Curious, he unwrapped the second piece and held both up, comparing them side by side. They were nearly identical. Their structure and detail matched almost perfectly.
“They’re fairly light considering what they are made out of,” Sean said while his friend examined the relics. “Whoever made them must have been an expert metal worker.”
Tommy carefully laid both objects down and stepped over to a box that was sitting next to a window. He reached in and pulled out a piece that appeared exactly like the two he’d just been looking at. “They match the one we found in New Mexico,” he said with a perplexed look as he set the third leaf next to the other two.
“So what I want to know is, how does all of this come together?” Sean asked.
“I think I may be able to lend a hand with that.” A familiar voice, gruff and southern came from just outside in the hall. Joe McElroy appeared in the doorway. His hair was thick, flowing brown with some streaks of gray, just to the bottom of his ears. He was in jeans and a flannel jacket, one arm in a sling from the bullet wound he’d received a few weeks before. His face was shaved clean, making him look a lot younger than he was.
Sean grinned. “I thought I smelled something funny around here.” He stood up and slapped his friend on the back as Joe entered the room.
“It’s probably you three,” he joked loudly. “Y’all look like you haven’t had a shower in days.”
“How’d you get away from the wife?” Sean jeered with a laugh.
“Actually,” Emily interrupted, “we could really use a shower and a good night’s rest. So could we move this along?”
“Hello, Emily,” Joe greeted her. “Nice to see you, too. And Ms. Villa, it’s nice to meet you.”
Adriana raised an eyebrow and spied the newcomer suspiciously. “How did you know my name?”
“That’s for another time, I suppose. For now, I’ll just tell you that I like to know things, lots of things. But at the moment, you all are lookin’ for answers about these here golden leaves.” He reached down and picked one up, eyeing it with a grin.
Joe collapsed into a chair as if he’d been standing all day. “Tommy, cue up the screen so I can show them what we’ve learned so far.”
Tommy nodded and stepped over to a laptop that had been connected to an overhead projector that hung from the ceiling.
The lights dimmed, and the shades closed to the subtle hum of an electric motor. After a few seconds, the projector came to life, and the screen changed to an old man in priestly robes. His face appeared worn with the wrinkles of time, and the thick, gray beard matched a thinning patch of hair on his head. There was something wild about the man’s eyes, an intensity and determination that belied his years. He stood with a younger man, dressed in a white button-up suit and some dark pants. From the look of the picture quality and the style of the clothes, Sean estimated the photograph to be from the 1970s.
“Have you ever seen this man before?” Joe asked the group.
“Which one?” Sean requested.
“The older one,” Joe refined. “The younger guy is Stan Hall.”
“Doesn’t ring a bell.”
Emily shook her head in agreement while Adriana said nothing.
“That there is Padre Carlos Crespi. He was a missionary to the town of Cuenca in Ecuador until 1982.”
Tommy handed Joe a remote control, which he quickly used to change to the next slide. It was a photo of the old priest with three small children smiling next to him.
“This guy, Crespi, was a saint to the locals in Cuenca. Along with servin’ as a priest at the Church of Maria Auxiliadora, he ran an orphanage there and helped the people in any way he could. His life was dedicated to the ministry of true Christian service.”
The next slide caused Sean to perk up in his seat. In it Father Crespi stood awkwardly, holding what appeared to be a metallic sheet. The thin yellow material had been imprinted with symbols and a language that Sean recognized instantly. Sanskrit.
Joe continued, “The padre had a love for history and archaeology, a fact that most of the villagers knew. So they started bringing him artifacts, like the one in this picture.”
He changed to the next slide. This one was of a stone sculpture that looked just like it had come from Babylon itself. Another slide flashed onto the screen, one displaying relics that could have come right out of an ancient Egyptian tomb. Still more pictures appeared with objects from Assyria, Sumer, and Israel. Sean sat speechless, wondering how he’d never heard of this mysterious priest before, while Joe finished his presentation with a video showing the padre speaking with the man named Stan Hall they’d seen in the initial photograph.
The priest was speaking in a rush of Spanish, his voice loud and impatient. It was as if he was trying to get Hall to understand something important. Crespi opened a pair of large wooden doors and led the way into a high-ceiling room with a single lightbulb dangling from the top. The old man pulled on a string, and the bulb instantly illuminated the room. Shelves that went all the way to the fifteen-foot-high ceiling were packed with objects and relics from cultures nowhere remotely close to the location of Cuenca. Pieces of stone, bronze, and gold were scattered on the shelves and overflowed onto the floor. Enormous sheets of copper and gold were rolled up, leaning against the shelves or in the corners. Hall asked the priest where all of the objects came from to which the old man kept giving the same answer: “Las cuevas.” The caves.
The video stopped running. Joe reached over and turned the lights in the room back on.
“I would love to see that collection,” Sean said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Me too,” Tommy agreed. “Unfortunately, Father Crespi died in 1982.”
Joe nodded. “When he passed away, it was discovered that his vault of ancient artifacts was empty. It had been completely cleaned out. No one is sure where all of the pieces went or who took them.”
“Vanished into thin air,” Tommy added quietly.
Joe went on. “People often asked Father Crespi who had brought him the items in his vault, to which he always responded, ‘The people from the forests.’ Only one man has come forward and claimed to know the location of the items that were taken from the cleric’s vault. Mysteriously, that man was murdered soon after. He was found shot dead in his apartment.”
“So no one has a clue where to look?” Emily asked after remaining silent for the previous few minutes.
“The caves the old man was talkin’ about are apparently near a river, though nobody has found them yet. A few people thought they did, but no one has ever produced any evidence. Neil Armstrong was even brought in as an investor and participant in one of the explorations, but all they found were empty caverns and a few skeletons.”
“Neil Armstrong the astronaut?” Sean seemed impressed.
“Yep,” Joe confirmed then continued on. “In the riddle from the stone we found in Georgia, it mentioned some rivers. We think that the contents of the cleric’s vault in Cuenca are part of the greater collection mentioned on the stone. If that is the case, it would make sense that the rivers they are referring to are not far from his church. Seems like Father Crespi’s collection has been returned to one of the caves there along a nearby river, but there are several within a hundred miles of Cuenca. Of course, a lot of other people have gone looking for it, too.”
Sean eyed his old friend suspiciously. “You think you know where it is, don’t you?”
Mac’s eyes grew narrow as he grinned. “Maybe. See, the problem with that area is that there are lots of caves and lots of rivers. Some of the caves are completely flooded now. So it is anybody’s guess which cave is the right one. Obviously, Armstrong and Hall never found it.”
“What makes you so confident?” Adriana asked.
“Because I know something they didn’t.” He let the moment build up as he eyed them carefully. “I think the old priest left clues at his church that point the way.”
Chapter 39
Nevada Desert
“Things,” Lindsey began, “have been put back on track.” He peered at Mornay and Carrol. He’d ordered them back to their meeting room late in the afternoon to update them on the fact that he’d effectively cleaned up their mess.
“What do you mean, back on track?” Mornay sounded dubious.
Mornay was such an irritation, Lindsey thought.
“Wyatt and his friends have found the next pieces. It is only a matter of time until they lead us to the second chamber.”
“How long are you going to let them keep going? If you don’t reel them in now, we may lose another treasure like we did with the last chamber.”
Carrol shifted uneasily in his chair while Mornay spoke to the Imperator.
“We have to let them lead the way, Albert,” he said the name with disdain. “They have no idea what they are really looking for. And with the fools from the IAA running the show, things will happen much faster.”
“Yes, but what happens when they figure it out? It’s only a matter of time, Alex. If they’re smart enough to figure out a way to solve the riddles, then they will eventually learn the truth about the golden chambers.”
Mornay was right, as much as it annoyed him. But it was true. Eventually, Wyatt and his friends would learn of the true nature of their search.
“I don’t believe we have a choice,” he paused, selling the line of thought. “We must let them lead us to the chamber. Then? We will kill them all.” The rancor in the statement bled an ominous energy over the room.
In the shadows of one of the room’s alcoves, a figure stood in hidden in the dark, listening as he’d been instructed to do. Lindsey spoke as if the man wasn’t there. The other two could not know of his presence or what he was about to do. They had to be led to believe that the only course of action was to allow the fools from IAA to lead them to the destination. The man in the shadows, though, was the ace up his sleeve. And the game was about to change.
“A map?” Sean was intrigued by what Joe was insinuating.
“Maybe. I’m not really sure what it is,” Joe explained. “See, Crespi was extremely fond of archaeology. As I mentioned, he spent a lot of hours reading and researching ancient civilizations and cultures. That was one of the reasons the people brought him so many of those pieces. And while he was grateful for the gifts, he longed to know exactly where they had com
e from. If I had to guess, I’d say that Padre Crespi recognized that most of the artifacts brought to him could not have been found in the Western Hemisphere. So, he searched for the location. And I believe he discovered it.
“The Vatican had been pestering him for years about the items in his vault. Not only was it financially valuable, the collection may have had some kind of historical significance. The priest knew the Vatican would like to get their hands on his relics for a number of reasons. That’s why he arranged for every single piece to be returned to its origin. But he was a crafty fella. He’d found the way to the secret caves by following an ancient set of clues. Crespi felt it only proper to leave the clues the way he found them but with one addition: his map.”
“So, where is this map?” Sean asked, fearful he already knew the answer.
Joe and Tommy both smiled at him.
“Well, old buddy,” Joe said, “where do you think? It’s in Cuenca.” He laughed as he said it.
“You couldn’t bring it here first?” Sean asked sarcastically.
McElroy shook his head as he leaned over and smacked Wyatt on the back. “Nope. Heck, I don’t even know what the thing looks like. You’re going to have to go to Crespi’s church to see for yourselves.”
“The plane will be ready to head out to Ecuador tomorrow morning around ten,” Tommy announced.
“I guess we better get some rest then,” Sean stated. “I’ll call Mauricio and let him know we’re coming. That’s his neck of the woods.”
Emily stood, ready to leave. “You guys have fun. I have to get back to the office. While I’m there, I’ll try to see what else I can dig up about our new friends from Golden Dawn.”
“That’s probably a good idea. Dangerous bunch, those,” Joe warned. “Secret groups the public knows about aren’t the ones that scare me. It’s the ones that are still a secret that I’m concerned about.”
Adriana spoke up, “I’m coming with you, Sean.”
He smiled. There was something about that woman that he liked. Maybe there were a lot of things. She was certainly beautiful, ad even after the events of the day and the night before, she had managed to look stunning. But there was something adventurous about her that kept his curiosity piqued.
Sean Wyatt Compilation Box Set Page 44