Andrew asked her, "And what?"
"Magic."
"Bullshit." Andrew started pacing. "You came all the way here for magic? Where are they taking Olivia?"
"You know I'd rather die than tell you." She glanced at what remained of the team. "Why don't you tell them, Andrew? Why don't you tell them who you are? And hey, you are so fucked up."
She strutted around the floor. Her Asian face beautiful yet etched with malice.
"You guys ever wondered why he doesn't have a girlfriend? No woman? You haven’t seen him with any woman, huh? He was a killer, the best of us. He was the one the Order sent when no one would go. He told you guys how he made the tomb disappear?"
She turned to Andrew again.
"Tell them, Andrew. How did you do it? I bet you couldn't even if it was your sister. The tomb is still in here, right?"
He sat on the edge of the large alter place by the wall. He had his face in his palm; he looked up at the woman.
"It’s here, Amelia. But I'll never tell you. None of us deserve the contents of the tomb." To the team, he said, "We have to get Olivia back. That's what matters now. Diggs, can we get a location on her now?"
"We have to get back to the monastery," said Diggs.
"Let's go."
Tami Capaldi was waiting with the van. Andrew pushed Amelia in the back, and they headed towards the monastery.
—
Arnold Hirsh was the unseen witness of the night. He saw it all, yet saw nothing of the Hacker again. He was unaware of the secret doorway in the ground. Until that moment, he had agreed that everything else in the church was none of his business. And it wasn't. Except he wanted to poke his nose into it.
When he heard the shooting, he knew things had reached a turning point. He kept out of it. Then he checked in on the carnage after. He saw the bodies of men in black cloaks. And the body of the man he had seen crossing into the church earlier.
He had rushed out of the church later and gone across the street.
"Hey, ma'am." He knocked on the window.
Tami had yawned in his face. "Hello Officer, what can I do for you?"
"Shouldn't you be moving along?"
"Soon, Officer. Soon."
Arnold Hirsh had smiled at the woman and moved along himself.
—
The monk named Joshua was another silent bystander of the night's event. He strolled piously around the church when everyone was gone, counting the bodies. With him were four monks, real monks with the devotion of God in their hearts. They silently blessed the bodies, carried them in garbage bags into wheelbarrows to be buried at a convenient time.
That night he washed his hands and performed absolution for himself and his fellow monks. He also did the same on behalf of Olivia and her people. Olivia walked into the main church afterward.
He said a prayer for the dead by the altar.
Joshua then walked into the hall of Solomon. His eyes fixed on a spot in the hall. He walked to that place and stopped. An observer outside would think him mad if they saw him caress the air.
Whereas, there in that place was the tomb that had been the root of all evil he had seen in his life and in one night.
Joshua figured out how Andrew Gilmore made Solomon's tomb invisible. It was simple. Andrew had simply rearranged the place and utilized the angle of light coming in, in the day and at night.
It was really simple, he thought again.
—
13
In the morning, after a light shower outside, there was a knock at the door.
When Andrew opened the door, with a gun hidden behind his back, a strange man was standing there. He looked like a young college professor with a portfolio in his hand.
"Good morning to you, Mr. Gilmore," the man said in a pleasant voice.
"Who are you?"
"I am Interpol, Arnold Hirsh. I am looking for this man—" Arnold Hirsh showed Andrew a mug photo of the Hacker.
"He's not here."
Hirsh chuckled. "I know that."
Diggs joined Andrew at the door. Then Miller and Anabia. Hirsh waved at them all. He asked if he may come in; Andrew said no.
"Okay. I may be able to help you get your sister back."
Andrew was about to shut the door, but he stopped. He looked at the man from his low brown hair to his glasses, his simple clothing. But hands and a neck that spoke of strength and training.
Andrew looked back at Miller and Diggs. They nodded.
Andrew invited Hirsh in. Tami Capaldi served tea; Liam made steaks in the small kitchen. Diggs opened a bottle of cognac and poured it in his tea. He asked if Hirsh would like some adulteration. The Interpol man shook his head.
He sipped his tea black, said no to the steak too. "Not healthy for your heart."
"Uh-huh," said Liam.
Andrew finished his tea and settled dull eyes on Hirsh. He asked why Hirsh was looking for the Hacker.
"It's both work and personal reasons. I'd rather not bore you with the details. He was at the church this evening, and then he disappeared. I know he was with this man—"
He showed them a photo of Emilio Batolini.
"You still have your comms on, right?"
Diggs said it was on.
"You are former CIA?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Me too. I have heard of you. You were in Beirut from ’93 ’til ’96 then went cold. What happened?"
"Clash of ideologies."
"That's something that's been going around lately," Hirsh said with some emotion. "Anyway, if we find Olivia, we will find the Hacker."
Andrew asked, "What makes you so sure?"
"Because when Roy Maxton starts a job, he never stops until he sees it through. And if he started to kill you, he never missed. If he does, he'll keep on coming back until he's done. He tried to kill you both, he'll do it again. You two are personal to him now."
Andrew Gilmore sighed.
Hirsh continued, "The Hacker isn't like any of us. He kills for sport. And that's why I have decided to take him out. Interpol wants him gone, so do the CIA. He's on the FBI's wanted list. He appears three times, I imagine."
Hirsh opened his portfolio, which was a computer built into the case. By the looks of it, it was even more advanced than what Diggs had.
"This is military tech. It won't be on the market for another two years. I have to transmit at the frequency of your comms, and it will pick up all the connected devices in a radius of five hundred miles around."
Anabia Nassif whistled. "Damn."
Minutes later, they found Olivia's position.
"Oh, fuck me!"
"What is it?" Andrew leaned over the computer.
Hirsh looked at the anxious faces. "They are back at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher."
"What the hell."
"Oh, now they are on the move."
The map showed the dot representing Olivia was moving around the church. The dot stopped and moved again. When it started moving again, it didn't stop. It came out of the church.
Andrew got up.
"They are leaving! We have to move now."
"Alright, let's."
They picked Amelia up from the room where she was locked. Then they jumped in the van and headed in the direction of the church.
A black van was parked in the street. Men in hoods were carrying a heavy square-shaped object into the back of the van. The object was covered in a black tarp.
Two men with guns hanging from their backs dragged Olivia out of the church and were taking her into another car. A tall man walked out of the church. About five Hand men were with him, ferocious-looking guys.
As Andrew contemplated what to do, a black sedan sped past. Its tires screeched, and it came to a sudden stop behind the van where Solomon's tomb now nestled. The Hacker jumped out of the sedan and shot two of the Hand men guarding the tall man.
"Who is that?" asked Hirsh.
"That's Sid, Hand’s second-in-command." Andrew's eyes sparked with an
ger. "Get Amelia from the back."
"Wait," said Hirsh. "It's too hot out there. You can't take them both."
The gun battle lasted only seconds. The Hacker was hiding at the back of the van. The tall man and the remaining guards escaped back into the church, with Olivia.
"Now's the time. You go get your sister; I'll take care of Roy Maxton." Hirsh cocked his gun. "Follow my lead."
Roy, the Hacker, was visible through the windshield. He was crouching behind the van. And he was speaking into what looked like a portable radio. Andrew looked through the side mirror and saw a Range Rover coming from behind; there were people in it.
"Roy is going to steal the tomb," said Andrew. "We can't let him."
"Alright, watch my back."
Hirsh jumped out and squeezed some rounds at Roy, who quickly ducked under the van. Hirsh hid behind a parked car and waited. The Rover parked behind Andrew's van; big Italian-looking guys stepped out of it. Emilio's men, he thought.
Andrew came out shooting too. Hands extended in front of him and moving at the same time.
He got two guys on their knees, calling God. He shot the driver through the windshield; it crashed. The fat driver flipped over and fell onto the sidewalk. The others ducked behind the Rover.
Andrew joined Hirsh, where he waited behind a parked saloon car. "Here's your chance to go inside."
Andrew nodded.
He said into his radio, "Diggs, I'm gonna need your help."
Lawrence Diggs was beside him in a flash. Andrew radioed the others in the van. "You all know what to do."
"You got it," Liam said.
Andrew and Diggs crouched around the church as the rain started drizzling again. Hirsh crept past the parked cars through the other side and rolled on the wet floor. But Roy was not under the van anymore.
—
Andrew walked into the hall of Solomon's tomb, guns up.
"Andrew, the gunslinger, is here!" announced the man called Sid. He was dark, blue-eyed, had a large jaw, and broad shoulders.
"I have Amelia. You have my sister. I want to trade."
"I knew you'd be sensible."
"Let her go. I do not need Amelia. You have the tomb now. You win."
Sid strutted about the middle of the hall; his men formed a ring around him. Olivia struggled on the floor. She was gagged, her hands tied behind her back.
"That was a nice trick, Andrew. You were the only one who could do it perfectly. Do you wonder how we found it?"
Andrew stared blankly at him. The monk Joshua was dragged out of Sheba's hall. One of Sid's men had his blade against his neck. Joshua looked at Andrew and smiled.
"He's got nothing to do with this. Let him go!"
"Nope. We can't. He knows our secret Disappearing Act. I know you don't care about the Order anymore, but we do." He glanced at the man with the blade.
"Kill him."
The blade flashed once, and Joshua slumped on the floor where he started bleeding out. Andrew's face colored. He gripped his guns harder.
He hissed, barely audible, "I'm going to kill you all."
Diggs said in his ear, "I'm ready when you are."
Andrew did what he was most dreaded for by the Order. Sidestepping, this way and that way, so that the bullets rained around him but never scratched his skin. He shot four men in the head. Diggs came out of the corner and got three men.
Sid watched helplessly as all his men fell around him like puppets whose strings broke.
Andrew put the gun to Sid's head.
"You think this ends it, huh?" Sid asked.
"I'm hoping your death would."
"But you know it won't."
Diggs untied Olivia, and they both went out from there.
"Kill me while you have the chance, Andrew."
Andrew put his gun away and said, "Amelia is waiting for you outside."
He turned his back and started walking. He heard the sound of Sid moving. He turned around just in time to see the blade hurtling towards his neck. Andrew twisted his body; the blade missed.
It dropped. Sid caught it, was swinging it back up, and twisting his body at the same time. But Andrew was the better man. He grabbed Sid and forced his huge body down onto his blade.
Sid fell on the floor, the blade hidden inside him.
—
Miller and Anabia had the tomb on the floor when Andrew came out.
Roy, the Hacker, was standing by the tomb. With him was Hirsh. Olivia smiled at him.
"What's he doing here?" Andrew asked Hirsh.
He shrugged. "Turns out, we all want the same things in the end. Except for Olivia here, who seems to want what you want."
"Which is not wanting any part of the contents of the tomb."
Andrew nodded at his sister.
They had gotten the last key—Emilio's copy—from Roy, the Hacker. But the tomb was empty.
Roy said, "It’s been all for nothing."
All eyes fell on Andrew. It was a questioning look. He said, "What, I didn't take it. It's not possible, right? Since I didn't have the key."
They loosened up and agreed that they have all been had all along. It had been a wild goose chase.
Olivia thought of the book Rodriguez sent her. The wise man's lair.
What did it mean?
Andrew, however, she didn't trust. But it was alright.
—
Epilogue
Everything went back to quiet—no arrests at the airport. Likely, Talbot had made good on his promise to make absolution happen.
Papal emissaries arrived at Emilio's quarters a week after and found his body decomposing in the bathroom. He had slit his wrists—no letters confessing suicide.
The papers said it was suicide.
No one heard from Roy the Hacker since then. Arnold Hirsh only told Andrew he and the killer had a match.
"Who won?"
"The man alive," said Hirsh cryptically.
Andrew nodded. They had met on the streets of Istanbul.
"How's your girlfriend?"
"Amelia?"
"Yup."
"Penitent."
"Oh, you're back to hearing confessions, huh."
"You could say that."
They played chess on the street, under a tree. The duo somewhat beat each other.
—
Talbot was walking down the street of Geneva one morning when he was killed in a drive-by. The medics found a twelve-inch arrow shot through his larynx.
The case was never solved.
—
Rome, Vatican City
Andrew walked into the papal office. It was as it has always been, opulent and ostensible. But he didn't care much. Even the pope indulged.
He presented a significant case in front of the old clergyman.
"Well done, Andre."
"Your Holiness. The secrets of the wise man's lair."
The pope rubbed the box gently. Then he opened it. The sight of the contents almost gave him an aneurysm. He closed it again.
"No one man should have all that power," he said.
Andrew agreed.
"Say, so you still have the Holy Grail too?"
"No, I kept it with my sister."
"But she doesn't know?"
"She must not know."
"Good."
—
Olivia packed the last box in the back of the U-Haul van; she looked at the ocean. She would miss it.
She got in the back of the truck where Tami Capaldi waited for her. She was holding a box. It was the size of a crystal ball, and there was a crystal ball in it, albeit a strange one.
"That's a gift from Andrew."
"It's beautiful."
"Yeah."
The truck moved away from the curb and took Olivia out to a new life in the city.
End
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