Carpathian (34 page)

“The Romans, Lieutenant, placed men in any area where they thought an attack could originate, and Patinas was one of those areas.” Niles gestured for Alice to continue.

“After the Romans it was the Visigoths and Carpians, and after them Attila the Hun. But the one thing none of these invading and experienced war commanders ever occupied was the Patinas Pass. A Boy Scout could see the pass as an invasion route.” Alice lifted her file and then rummaged through it until she found the report she had been looking for.

“What about Dracula?” Will asked with raised brows and a hint of a smile.

“In 1241 thru 1242 during the Mongol invasion of Europe, Transylvania was among the territories devastated by the Golden Horde. A large portion of the population perished, but one thing remained constant: Genghis Khan, the ablest general ever to invade Transylvania, never took the Patinas Pass and there was never anything written in history about the khan to explain why he didn’t take and hold it. Something is not right on that mountain. It has remained inaccessible to invading armies since the dawn of written history. From Rome to the Habsburgs, the region was left alone for no apparent reason. Finally, after assisting Vlad the Impaler in his war with the Ottoman Empire and the invading Turkish armies, Prince Vlad,” she looked directly at Mendenhall, “or Dracula if you insist, deeded the land as a protected area after the war was finally won. The mountain with no name officially began its protected status. An explanation was never given forth by the prince even until the day he was executed.”

Will looked at the large satellite recon photo of the pass and saw that the winding road through the small village disappeared many times underneath massive ledges of rock and earth. He counted a hundred good ambush points for defending troops, and with the harsh terrain surrounding the Patinas Pass he could also see how rumors and legends of dark things roaming the Carpathians came about.

“As we deal with historical truth we must disallow any suggestion of the supernatural to enter the equation. Whatever is up there, and I believe my wolves are, they are not a legend or a myth, but something capable of scaring three of the most brutal men the world had ever seen, the Emperor Trajan, Genghis Khan, and finally, Vlad Dracul. I won’t even mention the German army in 1943. All of these men feared something in those mountains. These facts are not in dispute, Will, nor is the fact that historically speaking we have ventured into a world we know nothing of, and there just may be monsters in the rocks. No, Will, no myths, no legends of vampires and werewolves, cold, hard, historical data tell no lies. And this is when we learn that superstition and science can be one and the same.”

“I apologize for making light of it, I’m sorry,” Mendenhall said when he saw that his banter had brought the academic wrath of Alice down around his ears and she responded as any good schoolteacher would: she backhanded him with fact.

Alice relaxed and then smiled at Will and stood and patted his chest as the meeting slowly came to a close. The 747 had started its descent into Bucharest.

The Event Group had arrived on station to confront the inhabitants of a mountain pass that has frightened the most prolific killers in European history, from Rome to the Waffen SS of the German war machine. As the 747 touched down all thoughts turned to an Event that was as unorthodox as any the department had ever been sent on.

Operation Grimm had officially been activated and the Event Group was now on the clock.

9

THE EDGE OF THE WORLD HOTEL AND RESORT CASINO, DACIAN HOT SPRINGS, ROMANIA

The sun had been up for two and a half hours but the resort looked as if it had several thousand guests in attendance as the workers who had toiled hard at their labors were now packed and headed for buses that would take them back to Bucharest, Prague, Ukraine, and other points of the redrawn Eastern European portion of the globe. They would return and struggle through their countries’ worsening economies the best they could. Many of these men and women were more than happy to be leaving the wondrous resort they had built far behind them, never to be seen again.

Janos Vajic and general manager Gina Louvinski watched the line of chartered buses as they left the resort. Vajic glanced down at the woman, who had her clipboard clutched to her chest as she watched the last of the buses leave just as the first of the many hundreds of black stretch limousines started up the circular drive.

“This is like the return of Ceau
ş
escu and his thugs,” Janos said as he watched the first of the arriving guests. “Please inform our host that the first of the mob has started to arrive.” Janos turned and allowed the sliding glass door to open automatically before he stopped and faced Gina with a wry smile on his clean-shaven face. “You can use a different descriptive for his friends if you like.”

“I don’t know, I think
mob
was a pretty apt description.”

Janos pulled a cell phone from his suit pocket and opened it. The reception bars were at zero.

“When are the cell towers supposed to come online?” he asked as he angrily slammed his phone closed.

“Not until next week because of weather concerns.”

“Damn, I don’t like the idea that the only way we have of reaching for help is our antiquated phone system with weather moving in.” Janos thought a moment and then turned to Gina. “Make sure our engineering staff is made aware that we need to keep the phone service up and running.”

Janos looked outside and saw that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. He grimaced and had that horrible feeling in his gut that the gorgeous blue of the world would soon give way to darkness.

PATINAS PASS, ROMANIA

Several of the more burly men of her village managed to get the old woman out of bed and after the women had dressed her they had moved her while still ensconced in her large wooden chair out into the grassy square at the heart of Patinas. They propped her broken ankle onto a large cutting of firewood until she was comfortable. The breakfast fires had long been extinguished and the men for the most part had left for the high pastures. Madam Korvesky thanked the men and allowed them to depart for their chores. The women stayed long enough to exchange the morning’s gossip about the doings far below, and then they too eventually drifted away in twos and threes and went about their task of making life livable in the pass.

The old Gypsy woman allowed the sun to caress her face as she stared upward into the crystal blue sky. To her the Carpathians were the most misunderstood mountains on the face of the earth, and she knew well that her people had worked hard to make them seem so. But in her opinion these mountains were God’s last great masterpiece—beauty hidden amid the stone and steam of the pass.

She lowered her face as she heard the small bell around the neck of the goat at the gates leading to the road chime, and then she heard the goat bleat out a warning. Madam Korvesky turned and watched the goat for a brief moment until the animal went to its knees and continued to chew its cud, relaxing after an initial sound, or smell, had frightened it. She always ordered one of the young goats to be tied at the front and back gates of the village, just as a warning to the men, women, and children that there may be Golia about and to be aware of their thoughts.

“I see the pain medication and the antibiotics I got from that filthy Slav below at the resort have helped you. You survived the night.”

She didn’t turn to face her grandson but she did turn her face up to the sun once again.

“You sound almost disappointed, Marko.”

“You know that isn’t so. I want no harm to befall you. After all, you’re all I have.”

The old woman kept her eyes closed and her face turned to the warmth of the sun. She took a deep breath as the Percocet tablet she had taken earlier seemed to be helping not only herself, but she thought maybe it had also helped Mikla somewhere out on the flatlands.

“You also have your sister, don’t forget,” she said as Marko had already turned to leave.

“She isn’t a part of my life any longer. She left the people to join a world we know nothing of and now she will never be a part of the people again.”

“Unlike you, man-child, she did as she was told. She left her home because I said she had to.” The queen finally lowered her face from the warming rays of the sun and fixed Marko with a harsh glare. “And she will always be a part of us, make no mistake, my prince,” she said and then chuckled at the use of the title.

“If you say so, Grandmamma.” He smiled. “Now you take care of that leg.”

“You will not be tending your flock today?” she asked as he turned his back on her.

“No, I have other tribal business.”

“And what is that?”

“Nothing you need to worry over.”

“I believe your queen asked you a question, grandson,” she added sternly.

Marko stopped and took a deep breath before he turned to face her with his smile still lining his features above the black beard.

“I and a few others will see for ourselves this new world that has arrived on our doorstep—after all, I am young and must keep up with my sister as far as knowledge of the outside world is concerned.”

“I believe you have gained much of that knowledge the past few years, Marko. You have changed, and don’t think that I don’t know of your courting the evil that has arrived on our mountain.”

Marko decided that he no longer needed to respond to her accusations. Soon the people would see that his way into the future was the right way. Not the old way, but the human way. He was their leader and there was no returning to the old ways. No longer would the Jeddah be subject to the laws of the ancients. They would now join the people of the world and they would no longer struggle in the mountains to live, they would reap their reward for three thousand years of exile and finally use that which they have guarded for so long. That was the real sticking point between him, his sister, and grandmother—they all knew the time had come to abandon the old ways, but it was only he who wanted the rewards they deserved.

The sound of the goat’s bell sang out as the small animal stood and was looking nervously across the road and into a stand of barren trees and rock.

“The Golia seem to be agitated. They are out of the temple this fine day.”

Marko ignored her comment and then turned for the front gate, sidestepping the agitated goat as he did. The small animal kept its sharp eyes on something hiding across the road.

The old woman watched for the longest time just as she knew she was being watched in return. She suspected Stanus was there and he was wary of something. She thought maybe it was worry, or even anger at Mikla for vanishing as he had on her orders. Either way, the giant wolf was acting strangely and that fact alone worried the queen of the Gypsies.

All around the village of Patinas the Golia watched every move made by man, woman, or child. They were starting to feel they had been betrayed by the men and women they had lived with since the time of Abraham and Joseph.

Things had changed in the pass and whatever it was had the Golia on edge like no other time since their arrival in the pass three thousand years before.

OTOPENI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, BUCHAREST, ROMANIA

The Boeing 747-200 taxied into the secure area of the international airport that was home to the Romanian air force and its 90th Tactical Airlift Flotilla. The Americans were using their status as part of the current NATO alliance maneuvers around the eastern Danube. They were a part of that exercise and attached to the group mapping the Patinas Pass. The president had used the awesome weight of the Oval Office to get the clearances.

The white and red 747 was flagged into a large hangar by United States Air Force personnel stationed there to handle American airlift capabilities while the maneuvers were in progress. As the four massive General Electric engines spooled down from their long and arduous journey, the giant hangar door slowly started to slide closed. Outside the hangar the engine noise of the 747 was replaced by the high turbine whine of two U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters and that noise was soon joined by the start-up sounds of a brand-new Sikorsky Executive S-76C
++
helicopter borrowed from the State Department and the ambassador to Romania.

The procession down the rolling steps of the aircraft started with Niles Compton replete in khakis and baseball cap. He was followed by Mendenhall, Ryan, and then Alice, who was flanked by the much larger Captain Everett. Then the science teams led by Pete Golding and Charlie Ellenshaw came down the long set of stairs. Finally, Jack and Sarah dressed in casual attire followed. They carried clothing bags for the nights and days they would be at the Edge of the World. Pete Golding and Jason Ryan were also similarly equipped, with the exception of Collins’s and Ryan’s nine-millimeter sidearms hidden away in their suit carriers.

“Dr. Compton?” asked an Air Force loadmaster and his assistant.

“I’m Compton,” Niles said as he reached the base of the stairs.

“Sir, your transportation is right outside for your flight to the Dacian Hot Springs bivouac area. We have a Sikorsky executive craft waiting as requested.” This remark elicited a dirty look from Will Mendenhall that was directed at Jason Ryan over his chance inclusion as a passenger on the luxurious helicopter while he had to vibrate to pieces in the Black Hawk.

“Thank you. Is there any further communication from Colonel Guillen of the 82nd Airborne since last night?” Niles asked as he stepped by the two airmen.

“No sir, they are waiting on your team for the reconnoitering of the pass itself. We have a report that the storm we have been monitoring has caused a lot of flooding in low-lying areas along the Danube in the south and west. There’s scuttlebutt that the maneuvers and the examination of the Patinas Pass may be canceled. The Romanian army could be called away for emergency relief. I’m afraid we have to rely on them to transport your equipment. They will follow as soon as we can get some of these people in line, just as soon as we can find someone that speaks English.”