Carpathian (62 page)

“We don’t have a choice but to allow Zallas to make the next move,” Ryan volunteered. “He and that asshole Colonel Ben-Nevin will eventually make a play for the temple, that much we know. But when will they make the attempt and then how do we warn the people up in the pass so they can defend against them?”

Jack knew Ryan voiced correctly the two serious questions facing them. He turned and paced away toward the large living room of the suite and then sat on the edge of the sofa and lowered his head in thought.

“Colonel?” came the voice of Pete Golding.

Jack didn’t respond at first. He kept his head lowered and was thinking of the most surefire way to get Niles and Alice, or at the very least Mr. Everett, word that the village and the pass at Patinas would be under serious threat in the next twenty-four hours.

“Colonel Collins?”

“Oh, shit!” came the startled voice of Ryan.

“Jack, I think the fairy-tale aspect of the mission you just mentioned just reared its ugly head,” Sarah said as the room became deathly still and quiet.

Colonel Jack Collins, United States Army and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, slowly stood, turned, and faced in the direction of Sarah, Pete, and Ryan as they stared at the large plate glass window. Suddenly all of the old wives’ tales and stories invented to scare the little children of the world was at the window and looking at them. For the first time in the storied career of Jack Collins he allowed his mouth to go slack and he felt his stomach do a back flip as his eyes met those of a true and very much real Golia.

“My God,” Sarah said as she wanted to move but felt her feet glued to the floor. It was if the giant beast was holding them in place with just a look.

The wolf was looking in through the left side of the large window and that told Jack and Ryan that the beast was hanging off the stone wall of the hotel with no handgrips other than the claws on its hands and feet.
True mountain climbers
, he thought. The animal watched them with its yellow, piercing eyes. The ears flicked once, twice, three times as it looked from face to face. The mouth came partially open and that was when Pete, who was standing closest to the window, saw the gleaming white teeth and impressive strength of the Golia’s jaw. He took an involuntary step away from the glass.

The beast growled and the four heard the deep and booming baritone as the glass shook. The animal looked again from face to face and then finally settled on Jack, who, unlike Pete, took a few tentative steps toward the window. This made the beast react even more as it released one of its handholds and then held the open palm toward the glass.

“I may be crazy, but I don’t think it wants you to get any closer,” Sarah said as she went back a full step.

Collins couldn’t help but smile as he examined the large digits of the animal. The claws were as long and as strong as any natural defense he had seen in nature. The fingers and thumb were articulate, and the hand, although humanlike, still held the wolf quality that had been shown in movies for more than a half century. He smiled even wider as he realized that everything that Alice had said about this beast was true. It was spectacular.

As they watched, Stanus reached out and placed his hand on the cold glass. With the double panes they saw the outer one bend in and at that time, and they would all report it later, the animal seemed to smile. The hand came away and then they all were shocked beyond words when the Golia, with the use of only one securing hand, swung away from the hotel and dangled in front of the large window. Jack and Ryan saw the bunched muscles and knew without further examination that this animal had to be one of the strongest land creatures in the world. Collins estimated the Golia to be no less than eight hundred pounds.

Suddenly the Golia spread the fingers of its right hand wide and held it to the glass and then that strange turn-up at the corners of the wolf’s mouth occurred again just as if the joke was on the people standing stunned inside the hotel suite. As they watched in shock the animal raised its hand and brought it up to its thick, curled brow and then the hand went up, paused as if it were shading its eyes, and then smiled even wider making Jack freeze. Then they all witnessed as the yellow glowing eyes dimmed for the briefest of moments, so minuscule was the change that they would all wonder later if it had happened at all. The yellow actually changed to blue, and then almost as quickly back to the yellow color of the blazing sun. The hand came to the window one last time and then one claw appeared and was placed against the outer pane of the weatherproof glass. The single claw and its sharpened tip scratched the window and before their astonished faces the number 6 appeared. Then the beast fell away.

The room was absolutely still and silent. Every face was turned to the window and the number 6 that had been scratched there. The personnel of the most secretive agency in the American government and members of teams that had countless excursions into the world’s most bizarre situations and members of a Group that found amazing elements about the real world and people that were hard to scare, continued to stand in shock. Pete leaned against the wall and then allowed his knees to buckle as he slid down into a sitting position.

“As much as I love Alice Hamilton, and as brilliant as I know she is, I really thought she was nuts on this one,” Pete said as his eyes went back to the now empty space at the window. “But that, boys and girls, was no wolf species that was ever found in the fossil record.”

“Why should it be,” Sarah said as she finally forced herself to turn away from the window. “It’s a Golia, just as Alice has said all along.”

Ryan slowly turned and was about to say something and then stopped. He instead went over to the large bar and poured himself a small shot of whiskey and then downed it. He was used to all sorts of danger, as most ex-fighter jocks were. But to face something like that with only a few millimeters of glass between you and a myth that could not possibly exist really placed a crimp in Ryan’s self-image of being unafraid of most things.

“What is it, Mr. Ryan?” Jack asked, knowing exactly what the naval aviator had seen. He had seen the same thing and was wondering if he was slowly losing his ability to interpret what he was seeing correctly.

Ryan slid the small shot glass so hard down the bar that it hit a bottle and nearly shattered it, bouncing off the bottle and onto the floor.

“You’ll think I’m nuts,” he said as he tried his best to avoid the eyes of Sarah and Jack. Pete was still ensconced in staring at the large window.

“Well, then we’re all heading for the insane asylum because I think I saw what you did,” Sarah said. “Jack?”

Collins smiled and then joined Ryan at the bar and figured he could allow himself one on-duty drink—after all, how many times do you actually see a werewolf at your window and know for a fact that it was real? He poured himself a shot and then quickly drank it. He set the glass down and smiled.

“You mean when the Big Bad Wolf changed its eye color to one that matched Captain Everett’s perfectly, or was it the fact that the damn thing saluted me?”

Pete Golding looked over at Jack, who poured himself a second shot and sipped at first, and then finished the whiskey.

“You mean the captain is—”

“Yes, I think that was Carl and he’s…” Collins laughed and then poured a third shot, thought a moment and then pushed it away shaking his head in wonder. Pete lowered his head and said the words that Collins couldn’t.

“He’s a werewolf?”

“Oh, man, this is way too much, way too fast. You mean this thing Alice has been talking about is actually real. I mean, a Lost Tribe of Israel, all right, yeah, sure, I can buy that, after everything we’ve seen the past few years, no problem. But the captain a werewolf? Okay, I have to really consider quitting this job.”

The mission was taking a turn they never really believed could happen.

“Well, it proves one thing,” Sarah said as she walked over and picked up the shot glass that Jack had sent flying off the bar and then placed it back near the colonel and placed a hand over the lip.

“And what’s that?” Jack asked eyeing the glass and the hand over it.

“Operation Grimm,” she said and then finally smirked and looked at Ryan, Pete, and then back at Collins. “Alice was damn near perfect in naming her Event, wasn’t she?”

The question went unanswered as the morning broke on the day of the grand opening of Dracula’s Castle, and the last night of the Jeddah.

17

PATINAS

Carl had felt the beast stiffen and fight against his suggestion of contact with Jack and the others. Everett had not known if the Golia would allow him to manipulate his body control long enough to give Collins the heads-up. He did manage to see the astonished faces of his friends through the double-paned window and knew that either they saw the signs he had given them or they had just been too shocked to see an actual Golia that they hadn’t registered anything from Stanus other than the enormous teeth and muscled body. But Carl knew the whole experience had been worth it when, for the first time in the many years he had known Colonel Jack Collins he saw the man actually take a step back from a situation and his eyes widening. It would make for great conversation in the complex mess hall.

*   *   *

Stanus was running at full speed up the side of the mountain, as if the large brain of the animal knew something was happening up at the pass and the Golia needed to be there. Carl was trying to see what the Golia was seeing but only succeeded in bringing the animal to a complete stop a mile past the castle. The sun was up and the morning rays were being diffused by the large storm slowly coming up from the south. Stanus shook his head while staying on all fours. Everett felt the animal start to fight him. The beast continued to shake its massive head hard enough that saliva was starting to fly from the growling mouth. Suddenly in his sleep state Carl felt his stomach heave, once, twice, and then a third time.

Stanus struggled to get to his hind legs, and using one of the large pine trees for support raised its muzzle to the morning sky and let loose a howl that frightened the man inside the head of the giant wolf. The large, thick, purple-colored claws dug into the bark and tore loose a four-foot section of the tree as Stanus struggled to get Everett out of its head. The beast hit the ground and rolled. The activity was forcing Carl to place every ounce of his sleeping mind into calming Stanus. Anya had said that a Golia can only be hitchhiked on for sometimes as little as five minutes before it will start to become uncooperative about hosting the traveler.

Carl felt the sensation of the animal’s being start to fade from his vision as Stanus not only hit the ground hard and rolled, but the animal was actually shaking its head as if that alone could shake loose the stranger that was inside it. Suddenly Everett felt the power of the Golia ebb into nothingness as his strength left his body. He no longer could feel Stanus around him. He could no longer feel the raw emotion of the animal and knew that the spell was done. His mind seemed to tumble as the power of the wolf left and did not return. His body was deflated, his mind now putting out useless information of confusing thoughts and animalistic rage.

Captain Carl Everett’s time as a werewolf was over.

PATINAS PASS, THE TEMPLE OF MOSES

Carl thrashed and rolled half on and half off the old Army cot. His arm flew off and hit the stone floor. Madam Korvesky had just been brought in and laid upon a hardwood bed that was higher than the cot Everett was on. The old woman reached out and took Anya by the hand and stilled her from going to Everett.

“No, girl-child, let him come to the surface on his own, do not interfere, you know better than that.”

“But Stanus has dislodged him completely; he’s never done that before.”

The old woman smiled and then lay back on the wooden table just as Niles and Charlie Ellenshaw walked inside. Niles held up the large black bag and showed it to a very nervous and angry Denise Gilliam. She nodded her head and then gestured for Niles and Charlie to enter.

“Stay close, I’m going to need you two.”

Ellenshaw exchanged an uneasy look with Niles Compton, who knew what the doctor was going to ask.

On the cot Everett finally vomited onto the floor of the small stone enclosure. The red substance spewed onto the stone blocks and then when he thought he had most of the souring potion out of his stomach it heaved once more and then the last of the poisonous fluid finally convulsed from his stomach. Anya wrested her hand from her grandmother’s and hurried to Carl’s side and with the aid of Niles and Charlie lifted Everett back to the cot.

“That is worse than waking up the morning after a Shanghai drinking binge,” Carl said as he squeezed his eyes closed against the flare of the several torches that lined the walls. He blinked and saw that an electric light had been strung into the small hut and was focused on the table next to his bed. Anya held Carl’s hand for the longest time as his mind attempted to come back fully into his head.

“Stanus has shown you the ability of the wolf, and now you will pay for that,” Anya said and placed a hand on his forehead and then wiped off the gleaming beads of sweat.

“Captain, did you find out the disposition of your people at the resort?” Madam Korvesky asked.

“I … think I did … hell, now I’m not too sure.”

Anya smiled as she looked down at him and then worried over his lack of color. The spell had taken far more out of Carl than she realized it would. She now knew that the strength Everett was using to hold the mental link with Stanus had proven far too much for the large American. He was now exhausted and there wasn’t anything he could do now but rest.

“What is happening here?”

They all turned to see Marko Korvesky standing in the doorway. Two large Gypsy men were on either side of the smaller Marko and all looked angry.

“Grandmother, you know bringing them in here is strictly forbidden by Jeddah law.”

The small laugh from the old woman made Marko cringe as he took in the face of his sister as she stood over the American.