A mile out into the otherwise unbroken plateau a few smaller mounds breached the surface, and it was at this focal point that the previous expedition had erected a set of large white tents from which to conduct their search of the surrounding area.
Sarah moved forward, heading towards the site and the red helicopter which had landed at its edge. As she drew closer, the aircraft lifted off, creating a small dust cloud in the process. The vehicle flew past overhead and Sarah watched as it headed back to civilisation before resuming her walk to the dig site.
Two Swiss guards stood watch as she approached. One of the armoured men stood aside, allowing her to pass, and she couldn’t help but wonder if they’d made the climb with or without their lustrous red cladding.
‘Ah, Sarah,’ Avery said, coming to meet her. ‘You’re alright, I was starting to worry.’
Sarah glanced past the cardinal to see Ruben standing a little way behind, the hood of his robe still concealing his face in shadow.
‘I’m fine,’ she said, and then leaned in close. ‘Do you have the rest of my supply?’
‘Your drugs? Are you running low already?’
She shook her head. ‘No, I have enough,’ she said, hoping her lie was convincing. ‘I just want to make sure I don’t run out.’ The truth was she’d been taking double the dose; one shot just didn’t seem enough. Besides, she thought, it’s working, and I can always lower it later.
‘I’ll ask Ruben to bring it to you,’ Avery said.
Sarah grunted a reply, but her attention was already elsewhere.
Her eyes scanned the area, but there was no sign of them. ‘Where are they?’
Avery wrung his hands together. ‘I’m not sure how to break this to you.’
Sarah’s expression darkened. ‘They’re not here, are they? You’ve been tricking me this whole time, getting me here under false pretences.’ Sarah looked skyward. ‘Oh, my God, I’m such a fool.’
‘Sarah, I can explain—’
‘You lied to me!’ She grasped Avery’s wrist and twisted. ‘YOU LIED!!’
The cardinal struggled against her grasp before a powerful hand clamped down on her shoulder.
Sarah gasped in pain and let go.
‘Calm yourself,’ Ruben said.
Sarah glared at him and took a step back, her mind in turmoil.
Avery rubbed at his wrist. ‘Sarah, I didn’t lie to you—’
‘Then where are they?! Where are Trish and Jason?! Where are my friends?!’
Avery opened his mouth, but he was lost for words.
‘They were taken,’ said an Italian voice.
Sarah whirled round to find Cardinal Zinetti standing behind her.
Her eyes widened. ‘What?!’
Avery held out his hands. ‘We don’t know that for sure.’
‘What do you mean, taken? By whom?’
‘It’s possible someone got here before us,’ Zinetti said, his hard eyes as uncaring as his voice.
Sarah couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Trish and Jason, taken? She’d been doubting if she was ready to see them again. She wasn’t prepared to discuss herself, or have Trish see through the wafer-thin veil Sarah knew she’d erected to protect herself during her recent ordeals. She had a hard time accepting what her life had become, herself. It was only when she awoke at night in a cold sweat that she knew she was barely keeping it together. Whatever drug dependency Dagmar Sorensen had forced upon her had taken its toll, only the antidote provided by the Vatican was ensuring she could function. But now that a reunion with Trish and Jason had been taken from her, she realised it was the only thing that had been getting her out of bed each day. Yes, she cared about finding a second underground world, a world that might be even more fantastical than Sanctuary itself, but without her friends by her side, the world and everything in it was a darker shade of grey.
‘It’s possible?’ Sarah said, looking from Zinetti to Avery. ‘And you expect me to believe that?’
‘Believe what you will,’ Zinetti said.
Sarah glared at the sly Italian, who glared right back, before Avery said something in Latin which Zinetti reacted to with anger.
The two cardinals locked eyes before Zinetti said something else in his mother tongue, then spat on the floor at Avery’s feet.
Ruben, his eyes full of fury, took a menacing step towards the Italian, but Avery grasped his wrist to hold him back.
‘I think it’s time you left,’ Avery said, ‘Your Eminence.’
Zinetti had already turned his filthy gaze on Ruben, before glancing at Sarah and then looking back at Avery. The Italian made a sharp tutting noise with his mouth, the sound full of contempt, and then he stalked away, muttering to himself.
Sarah couldn’t have cared less about their feuding, all she wanted to know was what had happened to Trish and Jason, supposing they were ever there in the first place.
‘We think those who seek to destabilise Rome may have been behind their disappearance,’ Avery said.
An image of a man with a face full of tattoos flashed before Sarah’s eyes. Sarah looked at the Irishman. ‘The Knights of the Apocalypse?’
‘Yes, we have reason to believe Alexander Konstantin, or his followers, have abducted your friends.’
Sarah’s eyes narrowed. ‘And what reason is that?’
Avery glanced at Ruben and then said, ‘Perhaps you’d better see for yourself.’
Sarah also looked at the monk, but, as usual, his grave expression was as unreadable as his thoughts.
‘Show me,’ she said.
Ruben strode off towards the centre of the camp and Avery held out an arm, inviting her to follow.
As they traipsed through the makeshift compound they passed Chen and some of her explorers, their expressions ranging from mild interest to fearful pity as they met Sarah’s gaze.
Unnerved, Sarah couldn’t even feel the icy wind which rippled the fabric of the white tents around them. Crunching over ice, rock and compacted snow, she followed Ruben until he stopped at a small tent, outside of which stood two Swiss guards, replete in their dark red armour.
Both soldiers held state-of-the-art rifles in their armoured hands, their movements’ alert, as they scanned the surrounding terrain through their sophisticated visors.
Ruben opened the flap and ducked inside.
Sarah followed him in, as did Avery, who was behind her.
Various items of clothing and camping utensils lay strewn around the small enclosure, and two sleeping bags remained, one either side, where the occupants had left them. Deep slashes ran down the length of the sleeping bags, exposing the white stuffing inside.
It wasn’t the chaotic interior that drew Sarah’s attention, however, but the stark red letters that had been scrawled onto the shelter’s rear panel, letters that formed four distinct words:
EGO SUM REX GLORIAE
‘I am king of glory,’ Avery murmured.
Sarah wasn’t listening, as something else had caught her eye. Pushing past Ruben, she knelt down and flipped over a small plastic table. Her heart sank. There was no mistaking what she was looking at, and there was also no mistaking where it had come from or who it belonged to. She reached out and picked up the well-worn red and blue jacket and ran her hand over the logos and badges that adorned its arms and chest. She flipped it over and stared at the singed lettering adorning its back:
DEEP REACH
SURVEY TEAM
ALPHA SIX
The jacket was Sarah’s. Trish and Jason had obviously brought it with them to give to her. The last time Sarah had seen it was back in the Cloud Forest Biological Reserve in Costa Rica, just before she’d been found by the GMRC, all those months ago.
‘The S.E.D.,’ she said, touching the logo that had meant so much to her and the man she’d loved:
A flood of memories washed through her mind, accompanied by feelings of joy and a deep sense of loss. ‘Riley,’ she whispered.
She loved him still.
She looked up to find Ruben watching her and then turned to Avery. ‘You said it was possible someone got here before us,’ she said, her tone accusatory.
Avery held up his hands. ‘Zinetti’s words, not mine.’ The Irishman looked around the tent. ‘I think it’s safe to say Konstantin’s fanatics were here, but we don’t know for sure they took your friends. It’s possible they left before the knights arrived.’
Sarah stifled a sarcastic retort. ‘But unlikely.’
Avery didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to.
‘If he has them,’ she said, ‘then where are they?’
‘We don’t know.’ The tall figure of Major Lanter entered the tent behind them. ‘There’s no sign of any tracks into, or out of, the camp, which means they must have come and gone before the snow melted.’
Sarah frowned as she furiously tried to solve the problem of her missing friends. ‘What about a helicopter? They could have flown them out, couldn’t they?’
Lanter shook his head. ‘We’ve been monitoring air traffic in this region ever since the first expedition arrived. No aircraft comes or goes without us knowing about it.’
Sarah suddenly had a thought. ‘Did Konstantin have something to do with the previous expedition going missing?’
Lanter shook his head again. ‘No. There would have been more of a struggle; we’ve seen no sign of anything like this,’ – he gestured at the chaotic scene before them – ‘and there would have been a lot more blood.’
Sarah nodded, but his words drew her attention back to the words painted onto the tent’s interior. The words themselves meant nothing to her, it was what they were written in that concerned her – terrified her – for the Knights of the Apocalypse had used the most emotive of media with which to write their message: the medium of blood.
Chapter One Hundred Forty-Four
Sarah paced around the interior of the dig site’s main tent, her Deep Reach jacket clasped firmly in her hands. So far, no one had come close to allaying her fears about Trish and Jason’s welfare, although considering only Avery had tried, that wasn’t really saying much.
She might have been surrounded by Swiss guards, Chen and her explorers, and the clerical trio of Avery, Zinetti and Ruben, but she felt more alone than she ever had. If something had happened to Trish and Jason ... she couldn’t bear thinking about it. If they had really been abducted, or worse, were dead, it would break her heart beyond repair. She felt like crying, and probably would have if the drugs she’d taken weren’t helping to numb her anguish.
The worst thing was the anger she felt that her friends had left her all alone in a world that didn’t care. Such selfishness made her feel even worse; they could be dead, and all she could think about was herself. If she hadn’t hated herself before, she did now. Is that the only reason I love them so? she wondered, because they keep me company? It was a disturbing thought and one she didn’t want to dwell on. She gave herself a mental shake. No, I love them, I care for them. Yes, I like them around, wish they were around, but I don’t need them by my side to love them ... do I? She considered the question and realised she didn’t, of course she didn’t, but it didn’t stop her from tormenting herself about it.
Her thoughts returned to the problem at hand: find Trish and Jason. But how? If they escaped before Konstantin’s knights arrived, it’s likely they’ll die of hypothermia … they might be close to death already. The thought that they could be nearby and in need of help forced her anxiety even higher. She sat down on a rickety chair and covered her face with her hands. Or are they being held captive somewhere? she thought, or worse, tortured for information? Avery had said the Knights of the Apocalypse had wanted Sarah for information, and he had also said she would have been killed once they’d got it. Sarah recalled the words she’d seen: Ego sum Rex Gloriae. She knew enough Latin to know what the phrase meant, and Avery had confirmed its translation to her when he’d spoken it aloud: I am king of glory. It was meaningless. And why shouldn’t it be? she thought. It’s not a clue to their location, it’s a mindless phrase used by a madman. A madman who might have his hands on the two people who meant more to her than life itself.
Sarah let out a growl of frustration. Thinking was getting her nowhere; she needed to be out there looking for them – anywhere but waiting to hear the worst. She jumped up, and as she did so the door to the main tent opened and the Australian, Mia Chen, entered, followed by her team of explorers for hire.
‘Fuck!’ One of the men rubbed his gloved hands together. ‘It’s colder than the Devil’s freezer out there.’
‘Don’t you mean Jack’s freezer?’ said another. ‘The Devil’s would be hot.’
‘Jack? Jack who?’
‘Jack Frost, you idiot.’
The first muttered a curse and a couple of the others chuckled at his expense.
Chen sat down on a stool, while her men spoke amongst themselves. She removed an energy bar from her coat, opened it and bit off one end. As she chewed, she considered Sarah, who stood before her.
‘I’m sorry about your friends,’ Chen said.
Sarah couldn’t work out if she was being sincere or not, so she didn’t reply.
‘Nice coat.’ She pointed at Sarah’s Deep Reach jacket. ‘What happened, did they try and burn it?’
Sarah looked down at it and shook her head. ‘No, it was already like it.’
‘Shame, I would have bought it off you otherwise.’
‘It’s not for sale.’
Chen laughed. ‘Everything’s got a price,’ she said, as Major Lanter entered the large tent, ‘and so has every person, too.’
The Swiss guard removed his helmet and placed his rifle down next to it on a desk. A moment later, Avery, Ruben and Cardinal Zinetti followed the Swiss Guard’s leader inside.
‘I want to look for my friends,’ Sarah said to Avery.
‘Major Lanter has it in hand,’ Zinetti said, dismissively.
‘We’ve sent up drones,’ Lanter told her. ‘They’ve got a long range and a whole host of sensors, if anyone’s around, we’ll find them.’
Sarah nodded. At least someone was looking.
Avery touched her arm. ‘Are you okay, Sarah?’
‘What do you think?’
He gave her a tired, consolatory smile and Sarah remembered the man wasn’t getting any younger; to be out in such harsh weather must have been tortuous. He sat down heavily on a chair and Sarah felt a twinge of guilt. He was the only person looking out for her and she only had harsh words and cold looks for him. He works for the Vatican, she thought, what does he expect? But despite her long-standing animosity towards his church, the man himself had been nothing but good to her. And besides, she thought, you need all the friends you can get. She looked up at Ruben, who handed his cardinal a flask of warm tea.
The main tent was crowded now and a glimpse through one of the fabric windows told her the sun was already setting. Which also meant the temperature was falling. Even if she’d wanted to go on a fruitless search of the surrounding area, it was too late now. What had Ruben said about praying? You had to mean it? She sent out a silent prayer for Trish and Jason and waited for a sign from God that it had been received. When none came she could almost hear Jason making a joke about it. ‘What did you think would happen?’ She could hear him now. ‘That God would wiggle his fingers and make us appear out of nowhere?’ She smiled at the thought and at how Trish would have reacted. She felt a deep pang of loss. She missed them so much.
Avery Cantrell surveyed the brightly lit tent. ‘Is that everyone?’ he said, as two more Swiss guards entered.
Major Lanter nodded. ‘I’ve left half my unit guarding the perimeter.’
‘Good, then let’s get started.’ Avery motioned to Zinetti, who dimmed the floodlights and powered up a projector.
The chatter in the room died down and Avery stood up and moved to stand in front of the white screen illuminated by the projector’s light. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, you have seen by now that the c
onditions are not what we thought.’
‘So much for them being snowed in,’ said one of Chen’s explorers.
Avery squinted into the dark interior, trying to see who’d spoken. ‘Quite so.’
Sarah moved to one side to listen to what Avery had to say. However, she couldn’t help but notice an aerial photo of the surrounding area pinned to the tent wall next to the white screen. A dozen mountains dotted the elevated plateau, with the dig site positioned at their centre. She wondered which one Konstantin and his knights were using for cover, if any.
‘Since there’s no one here to guide us,’ Avery continued, ‘it’s left up to me to bring you up to speed on what we know.’
The cardinal nodded to Zinetti, who clicked a button to bring up the first holographic slide.
Sarah recognised the section of Anakim frieze she’d been shown back in the Vatican’s secret vault. The time she’d spent investigating it was still hazy, due to the seizure she’d experienced while there, but seeing the object again sparked her memory back to life.
Avery pointed at the ancient artefact and the Anakim forms depicted across its shiny black surface. Cracks crisscrossed the sculpted relief and the diamonds representing a starlit sky glittered like the jewels they were.
Chen whistled in appreciation. ‘Tell me there’s more of this frieze at this site.’
‘That’s why you’re here,’ Avery said. ‘Find the rest of this object and we may find the clue to Agartha’s location.’
‘They don’t look human,’ another explorer said.
Sarah glanced at Chen and her team and realised they’d never seen an Anakim before. They had no clue what they were dealing with, which made Sarah wonder what else these explorers didn’t know. She looked round to see Zinetti watching her. They knew she’d say nothing; who would believe her?
Ancient Origins: Books 4 - 6 (Ancient Origins Boxset Book 2) Page 78