He walked quickly to the confessionals that were located off to the side near the center of the building, but a quick check revealed them to be empty. Looking in the presbytery in the front, as well as a few side rooms, also proved futile. Finally, he made his way over to a doorway to the left of the pulpit area and opened it. The door revealed a narrow hallway that extended down the length of the building, which most likely contained the priest’s quarters, church offices, and maintenance rooms. He decided to go to the right first since that direction was closer to the end of the facility. If there was nothing there he would make his way back to the front and hope he could figure out where they’d gone.
A few doors on the left, one marked Prayer Chamber and another Treasury Office were locked. The lone door on the right, though, was unlocked. Upon opening it, Hunter noticed that it was essentially just a big storage closet. He flicked a light on and took a quick inventory of the room. A candelabra sat near an old desk and a bookshelf with a sparse collection of books. Satisfied there was nothing of note in the room, he began to turn off the light switch when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. On the smooth stone floor in front of the bookcase there was a slightly discolored line. It wasn’t so distinct that many people would notice, but he was different than most people. Keen observation had been a trait that had saved his hide on more than one occasion. He stepped back into the room and eased the door shut, creeping over to the heavy-looking bookcase. As he neared it, he knelt down and ran a finger over the thin curving line. The realization hit him. Something had scraped the stone.
Outside the church, the Prophet’s team was getting anxious, especially its two leaders.
“I say we go in,” Angela stared hard at James while she spoke.
“We were told to sit and wait,” he replied sternly, with a glare that was equally as steadfast.
“We’ve waited long enough.” She stood from her hiding place.
Before he could stop her, she was already talking into the microphone. “Team, we are moving in. Units two and three, cover the rear entrance. Units one and four, take the front with us. We will meet in the middle.” Within seconds, the square was flooded with agents, all sprinting hard toward the building from four different angles.
Upon reaching the front, Weaver and Collack placed their backs against the cool stone pillars next to the center door. The other assets assumed similar positions near the other doors. Angela took the lead and opened the center door first, leading with her weapon, checking left and right and up above. “Clear,” she announced.
The other units followed into the cavernous building. They were greeted with a cool, damp air. The cathedral, however, was empty. The group hustled down the aisles, checking in corners and between pews as they moved. A few moments later, the units that had come from the rear of the building appeared at the presbytery.
“Nothing up here, boss,” a familiar voice said through the earpiece.
Confused, the agents continued to look around. One man in the center lowered his weapon and held out his hands as if their targets had just vanished. When he spoke, it was the voice from the radio communication.
“Where’d they go?”
“Nothing in the back of the church?” Angela was furious.
“Nothin’, boss,” he answered.
“And you were covering the rear of the cathedral the whole time?”
“The whole time.” He didn’t like her tone. “If anyone had left out the back of this old building, we would have noticed. Plus, the back door was locked. We had to smash it to get in.”
James looked at his partner, confused. He was used to things being easy. During their time together, they’d completed many missions, killed many people, and always done it in a timely and simple fashion. The whole affair was starting to get under his skin. “They couldn’t have just vanished!” he yelled. “Teams one and two, search every room and office in the rear of the building. Teams three and four, check all the confessionals and chambers in the front.”
“But sir, some of the priests live in a few of those rooms,” a young man said to James’s left.
Angela looked over at him with disdain and raised her weapon. She squeezed the trigger and fired one bullet into the man’s forehead. The muffled pop echoed off of the stone walls and arches. Smoke lingered in the still air of the church. The body collapsed to the stone floor between some pews. “Anyone else have a problem?” she asked angrily. No one said anything.
“Good. If the priests give you a hard time, tell them you are with the police and are looking for a fugitive that killed one of our agents. Understood?” Everyone in the room nodded and began dispersing to their assigned areas.
A pool of blood had started forming around the head of the man Angela had just killed. James’s eyes were wide. She was getting out of control.
Chapter 53
Cuenca
Sean stared at the unspectacular structure, half-amazed, half-disappointed. “It’s not what you expected, eh?” Mauricio chuckled and slapped his friend on the back.
The entrance was beneath a dramatic triangle of large beams, founded in stone at the base. Stretching out to each side, most of the building looked flat and boxlike. It was painted a dull yellow. The main sanctuary rose up behind the entrance from a point that extended out in both directions like the shape of an eye. A statue of the Virgin Mary stood guard over top of the center doorway, set into a corner-shaped pillar.
Mauricio noticed their confusion and decided to explain the scene before them. “The original church was destroyed by an act of arson in 1962. Up until that point, the church housed a spectacular museum of artifacts from many corners of the world. Padre Crespi had been collecting them for many years. Sadly, most of the relics were destroyed. “Some believe that a group of radical locals thought the museum was an abomination and therefore wanted to destroy it.”
“Why would a bunch of old trinkets be an abomination?” Will asked.
Mauricio turned to him and continued, “Many of the artifacts in the collection are believed to show that the ancient civilizations of this planet had far greater technologies than we first believed. After learning about Crespi’s museum, Erich von Däniken wrote a book about the collection in which he postulates that the gods of ancient times were actually aliens and that those aliens gave us technologies to help us in the beginning of time. It was because of a fear of theories like von Däniken’s that caused some people to feel like the museum should be destroyed, lest it be considered blasphemous.” He paused for a moment. “There were other theories as well. Some of them followed along the same lines, though the source of the crime was a little more sinister.”
“What do you mean, more sinister?” Sean wondered aloud.
“It could never be proven, but one rumor is that the Vatican itself ordered the church be destroyed. Again, they were concerned with the idea that God was some kind of alien and that he gave ancient people technologies that were completely unexplainable by modern science or religion. They felt it would fly in the face of doctrine and would lead many people to question its legitimacy.”
Tommy raised an eyebrow. “What do you think it was?”
“Me?” Delgado laughed as he started walking toward the entrance of the large facility. “I don’t really look too much into such things.” He stopped and turned around to face the group; his men stayed behind with the cars. “But if I had to guess, I’d say it’s a combination of both.”
Adriana had run for nearly a mile through the city streets of Cuenca, and the man following her was still keeping up. She knew he was trying to stay hidden in the shadows, but a few times he had bumped into something near a building that made enough of a noise for her to know someone was behind her.
Apparently, he was in pretty good shape. She assumed that the team watching Mauricio’s caravan would send someone after her, so she wasn’t exactly surprised that someone was following her. Still, she had to lose him.
Up ahead, the street opened int
o a small intersection with a fountain at the center of a roundabout. Almost there, she thought. As soon as she reached the corner at the edge of the plaza, she darted right, sprinting hard down the narrow street lined with dark shops and small businesses. Without even thinking, she turned right again into a shadowy alleyway. Up ahead was her destination. She prayed the door was open like it was supposed to be. She reached the threshold, and in one motion twisted the doorknob and pushed.
*****
“There’s no one in here except the head priest,” a man in a black, skintight outfit informed Agent Collack.
The team had been searching the church for fifteen minutes, giving it a thorough examination. But it had yielded nothing.
“They couldn’t have just up and vanished.” Angela was infuriated.
Clearly, the man reporting the bad news was becoming less and less comfortable. One angry boss was bad enough.
“We’ll keep searching, sir,” he said and began to slink away.
“No,” Angela halted the agent and extended her hand. “Bring the priest to me.”
Back on the streets of the city, Adriana pressed her hand to the door. It opened easily as she pushed it with her fingertips. With one motion she tucked in behind it and eased it shut as quickly and quietly as possible. She locked it as it went flush against the frame. She squatted down on one knee, waiting for her pursuer to attempt to enter at any given moment. A few harrowing minutes went by like hours. Finally, satisfied that whoever was following her had lost her trail, she stood slowly and took a deep breath.
The room she was in was lit only by the moonlight shining in through draped windows. Shelves lined the walls, filled with books. A leather sofa sat behind where she stood. Toward the front of the shop, a large window was covered with dark drawn curtains, protecting the place from the view of the street. An unlit floor lamp stood nearby. The smell of old paper and dust filled the cool air. Just like she remembered.
A gruff Spanish accent broke the silence of her hiding place. “Were you followed?”
She was hardly startled, only barely turning her head around to see where it had come from. “Yes, but I lost him.”
“Are you sure,” An orange glow illuminated a black-bearded face with dark, stern eyes then died away as the pipe was lowered.
“If I hadn’t, he would be breaking down the door right now.”
The man seemed satisfied with the answer. “It is good to see you again,” he said, a puff of gray smoke encircling the shadowed figure as he exhaled.
She turned around to fully face him.
“It has been too long,” he continued.
“I know,” she paused thoughtfully. “I wasn’t sure it was safe to come.”
The man stepped across the room, walking with a slight limp. He wore a large fedora accompanied by a brown leather jacket and a pair of green trousers. The heavy boots on his feet were anything but quiet on the ancient planks of the wooden floor. Each step caused it to creak slightly under his weight. “It is always safe for you to come, Ija.”
Adriana smiled as a tear formed in a corner of one eye and she stepped toward the older man. The two embraced in a firm hug, squeezing tight. “Gracias, Papá.”
Chapter 54
Cuenca
The interior of the Church of Maria Auxiliadora was just as unremarkable as the exterior. Compared to the dramatic architecture and design of San Blas, the church Carlos Crespi called home was humble by comparison. That was a fact Sean and Tommy both believed to be by design the more they looked around.
The little group walked around in the main sanctuary for a few minutes but found nothing of interest. The bland interior décor left nothing to the imagination and certainly represented no clues as to the whereabouts of Crespi’s map.
It was getting late in the evening, and Sean was starting to wonder if Adriana knew how to find her way to where they were. He’d thought about it before. Did she know about Mauricio’s little plan? If so, she would know where to meet them. But his friend had said nothing about her. However, being familiar with Cuenca, she must have known they were not at the right place before. For now, he’d have to believe that she knew what was going on.
The group scoured the building for anything that might give them a hint as to where Crespi may have left a map or anything that could point in the right direction. After almost a half hour of searching, though, they’d come up empty.
Sean had discovered classrooms and several prayer alcoves. Mauricio had also shown them the dormitory where Crespi had lived. However, there had been nothing of note in the barren chamber. The sanctuary, too, had proved fruitless.
They arrived back in the foyer of the church as the cathedral bells rang out the hour.
“Is there somewhere we may have missed?” Tommy asked Mauricio. “I looked all over this place and didn’t see anything remotely interesting.”
“I can only provide the location, my friend. I’m afraid that when it comes to finding lost things, I am fairly useless.” He smiled as he made the confession.
Sean wandered over to a window he’d passed a few minutes before. Light from the evening moon poured in through the clear glass panes. Beyond, a vast courtyard opened up in the shape of a rectangle surrounded by the walls of the church compound. He gazed out at small benches, prayer coves, stone paths, and small trees. “What’s that out there?” he asked as he pointed at the window.
“That’s the courtyard,” Mauricio answered. “We can go have a look if you want. Out there is the last place where Crespi’s collection was seen, in a storage room on the other side of the space.”
Sean raised an eyebrow at his friends. “We may as well go have a look then.”
It had taken Hunter a few minutes to navigate his way through the hidden passageway beneath the church that led to the streets of Cuenca. He had reached an exit point where a gate of iron bars had been left open. It was fortunate for him since he didn’t much feel like going back out through the church. At some point, he figured that team of assassins would get tired of waiting and make their move into the building. He found a bicycle nearby, locked to a streetlight. It only took him a few seconds to pick the lock. He decided to play a hunch and head toward another church he’d seen earlier in the evening on his way to the bar.
As he weaved his way through the sleeping city streets, doubts filled his mind, momentarily causing him to wonder if he was indeed going to the right place. He would have to chance it. Without any other leads to go on, it was time to take a gamble. If Wyatt’s group found the map and left, Carlson could miss his window of opportunity. The thought pushed him to pedal faster. He could be at the other church in ten or fifteen minutes if he went hard.
“I didn’t want to come. There are dangerous men following us,” Adriana looked into her father’s eyes.
The old man laughed and stepped back. He removed his hat and set it on the table. “I’ve dealt with dangerous people before, my dear. You of all people know that.”
She tried to force a smile. “These people are well trained. They will not let anyone get in their way.”
Before she could say anything else, he held up his hand and interrupted. “You needn’t worry about a thing. I know exactly who is following you and what they are looking for.” She sat in stunned silence for a moment. He raised both eyebrows, and his face squinted in a big smile. “What, your old papá can’t hear things?” He laughed again as he said it, though she still looked confused. Seeing she still wasn’t convinced, he stepped close and put his hand around her shoulder. “Come, my daughter, let’s go downstairs and have a tequila. Perhaps that will settle your nerves a bit.” She nodded as he led her around the corner out of the front room and down a darkly lit staircase.
The courtyard presented an eerie silence as the men made their way through a pair of large wooden doors and into the open space. It was like a small park built right into the center of the church complex. Off to the side, the huge structure of the sanctuary formed a high wall while the
orphanage and school encompassed the rest of the area. The cool air filled their lungs as they walked reverently past statues and potted plants, trees and flowerbeds. A gentle breeze rustled a few leaves on a tree near Tommy as he passed by.
“They say that Padre Crespi planted most of the plants here and even designed a great deal of the layout for this place,” Maurcio broke the silence. “He had a great love of architecture and design. I was told that he wanted a place for the people of this church to be able to escape from their busy lives and get back to the basics of prayer and meditation.”
“Sounds like an interesting guy,” Sean added.
Delgado nodded his agreement. “Honorable men like that only come along so often.”
Mauricio’s two men remained at the door to keep watch while the group continued moving through the courtyard. Several doors dotted the space along the perimeter wall. Most of them were of simple design, made of wood. Some had a single window in the center-top. Others did not. “Which one of those doors housed the collection?” Tommy asked just above a whisper. He spoke as though his voice would disturb the peace of the place.
“I believe it was that one over there,” Mauricio answered. “Of course, we cannot go in there,” he continued. “It has been locked since the time of the padre’s death, never to be opened again. However, I assure you the vault is completely empty.”
Tommy was clearly disappointed he couldn’t have a look inside the room, despite it being empty. To be in a place where such an amazing collection had been housed would be worth it.
Sean snapped him back to the moment. “I’m going to go take a look over here. I suggest we spread out and see if there is anything out of the ordinary.” The others nodded, and each went in separate directions toward the four corners of the great courtyard. When he reached the corner he had chosen to investigate, Sean left the stone pathway and began checking around on the dusty ground for anything that might give a clue as to where Crespi’s map could be. He noticed the other men doing something similar. After a few more fruitless minutes of searching, he started to head back to the path when his eye caught an old wooden ladder leaning up against the wall about twenty feet away. That gave him an idea.
Sean Wyatt Compilation Box Set Page 50