Carpathian (69 page)

The old woman cackled a funny-sounding laugh and then lay back down. “Yes,” she said, “the Keeper of Secrets knows all.”

Niles Compton ignored the statement and then walked back into the stone-walled room.

“No, not all, but I’m beginning to understand. General Shamni is head of the Israeli Mossad.” He looked at Anya for confirmation, but her silence was enough for Compton. “He is responsible for young Anya here being husbanded through the system of Israeli intelligence until she was ready to assist in covering up all there was to know about the Jeddah. She was one of many such plants around the globe, I would suspect.”

“I’m not following,” Charlie said as he looked at the smiling old lady as she listened to Compton.

Niles fit one of the final pieces into place.

“What is the general to you?” he asked Madam Korvesky as Anya felt her heart go still at learning that her grandmother knew the general.

“He is my baby brother by twenty years,” she said as she placed a weary arm over her eyes as she silently sobbed. “I have not seen Addie since 1947.”

“Yes, that makes sense,” Niles said, looking over at Anya. “You were working for your great-uncle the entire time you were in the Mossad.” He turned back and looked at Madam Korvesky. “How long has the Israeli leadership known about the City of Moses and how long has a pact been in place to destroy what is here if discovered?”

Anya was so shaken that she stumbled and Carl reached out to steady her. She shook her head as she looked up into his face as if she was as lost as a small child.

“The home tribes have always known about the temple. Have since the time of Joshua. It was Joshua himself who sent us into the wilderness to hide what the world could never find. Men have searched and failed, sometimes they even made it to the mountain only to find the Golia there to greet them.”

“Marcus Paleternus Tapio,” Alice said as she looked over at Niles Compton as the old woman just confirmed that her research was spot-on.

“Yes, Mrs. Hamilton,” Madam Korvesky said as she went to a place in her mind none of the others could see. She slowly blinked and then she once more looked at Alice and squeezed her hand. “Not only Rome, dear Mrs. Hamilton, but Troy, the armies of Alexander, the brutes of Genghis Khan, even that little thug Hitler was trying to kill us all for the secret of the temple, but not knowing like the others that the secret lay with only a few of the true Jeddah, not our kind that broke from the tribe hundreds of years ago. No, many have searched and some have found, but none ever lived to tell the tale, as they say.” The smile was creepy to Charlie but he kept his mouth closed. The woman was enjoying laying her soul open for all to see.

“What are you protecting here?” Niles asked.

The old woman slowly sat up with the help of Denise and Alice.

“Girl-child, take them to the temple,” Madam Korvesky said as she reached up to her neck and then pulled sharply on something and then held it out to Anya. It was a small but thick five-starred medallion. She blindly reached down and felt for her came. Denise saw what she was reaching for and picked up and handed it to her. The old woman held both items out to Anya. “Take them so they shall know the truth.”

All four Americans exchanged apprehensive looks.

“Go, the truth awaits and shall explain all.”

THE EDGE OF THE WORLD HOTEL AND RESORT CASINO, PATINAS, ROMANIA

The engineering section of the basement was large and very nearly empty as most of the supplies that maintenance would be using had yet to be delivered. The group of men stood in a circle around the central figure in the center of the room. The man was held up by a car winch and cable. His wrists were nearly severed due to the weight being placed upon the bone and sinew. Marko Korvesky was near death.

Colonel Ally Ben-Nevin used a small bottle of spring water and poured it into one hand and then tossed the empty plastic to one of Zallas’s men. The colonel began to rub his hands together, washing free the blood. He accepted an embroidered Edge of the World towel and dried his hands. He then walked up to a shirtless Marko and placed the towel around his neck and then held on to its ends as he spoke. The man’s long black hair was free and soaked through with perspiration. Nearly all of the Gypsy’s teeth had been knocked out.

“Now you see what unpleasantness could have been avoided if you had only listened to reason?” he asked as he leaned in close to the broken man while pulling on the towel. “The location of the temple had already been disclosed by one of your men more than an hour ago. But still you would not speak to me. Now look at you.”

Marko attempted to raise his head but his swollen eyes didn’t know exactly where the Israeli was. The last vision he had was of his men being piled into the far corner of the engineering spaces after being executed one by one until the last man, a farmer not from Patinas, broke and told the torturers exactly where to find the hidden entrance to the temple and the City of Moses that sat beyond.

“Ah, you wish to say something to me now?” Ben-Nevin asked.

Marko attempted a smile, showing his broken teeth as he did so. Blood poured from the broken lips and gums. With a mighty effort the new king of the Gypsies spit in the Mossad agent’s face. Ben-Nevin quickly stepped back and just as one of the Russian’s men raised his weapon to dispatch Marko, the colonel stayed the barrel of the gun and shook his head as he swiped at the towel around the Gypsy’s neck and wiped his face.

“Leave him to bleed out,” he said with a calmness that made the Russian thugs respect the man from Tel Aviv far more than they had. They watched as Ben-Nevin grabbed the Gypsy’s black hair and pulled him forward making the chains securing his wrists dig in that much deeper. “Be sure you hear this before you die, Gypsy—know that I will kill your entire family not because you insulted me, but because I was going to kill them and any Jeddah that get in my way anyway.” With a harsh shake of the dying man’s hair, Ben-Nevin turned and left the basement followed by all but one man.

Marko felt his head start to swim and the sounds he was hearing seemed distant and far off and that was when his addled brain realized that he was dying and this was what it felt like to do so. The scenario was not an unpleasant one for Marko because he had failed his people so miserably in trying to make their lives better than they had ever known. But now he knew he had been mistaken. The transformation should have been done over a period of years, not months. He knew he would never be able to tell his grandmother how wrong he had been.

The single thug left behind was whistling and for the oddest reason the whistling infuriated Marko. He tried to raise his head to see the man that was whistling and walking toward him but his swollen eyes refused to focus. Suddenly a loud bang sounded at the loading dock door. The sliding aluminum panel that made up the delivery entrance for engineering was fronted by a drive that actually sank into the ground whose road led to the loading dock that was hidden from view. It was this door that shook in its frame. The man, who was whistling and screwing a silencer onto a thirty-five-millimeter Glock pistol, stopped and looked at the still shaking door.

Marko Korvesky smiled a toothless grin as his head perked up at the sudden stillness of the man that had been left behind to ensure his last breaths were taken before dawn. The door was slammed again and a large dent appeared. Then again, and again. The man with the pistol stepped back and brought up the gun and aimed at the door. The sliding aluminum panel door didn’t move.

Marko managed a laugh through his pain that froze the large Romanian thug’s blood.

“The Big Bad Wolf is at the door, little piggy, oh, what to do?” He laughed again, this time louder as the man’s eyes grew wider as a large hand slipped under the door and he saw the very long, very sharp claws thrash at empty space for a moment and then the fingers wrapped around the rubber weather stripping of the bottom edge and started to pull up. The door was locked in place at both ends so the force being exerted brought the center of the door up like a window blind being raised but with the shearing and grinding of aluminum against the steel door frame. The eyes of the man widened further when he saw what was standing on the other side of that door.

Marko was laughing hysterically and coughing up blood at the same time.

Stanus stood breathing hard and staring with its yellow glowing eyes at the man standing before it. The wolf’s left arm was still holding the shattered door as it examined the men inside. The eyes moved from the frightened criminal to the chained and bleeding figure of Marko. The beast’s eyes narrowed as it took in the bloodied condition of the king of the Jeddah. The muzzle opened wide and all thought about holding the door up left the animal as it roared and came forward toward the man, its long fingers curling in and out of fists. Its gait was two-legged and long. The beast roared a second time as it closed the gap. The arms swung back and forth as it came on.

The man attempted to raise the gun and just managed to do so as he fired prematurely. The bullet pinged off the concrete floor just as Stanus reached the man. The Golia rose to its full height and then reached out with its right hand and grabbed the man by the throat and raised him off the floor. He was taken by surprise so badly that all thought of the weapon left his mind and hand as the Romanian tore at the claws and strong fingers now suffocating the life from him. Stanus shook the man once until he heard the snap of the neck. The alpha male brought the mercenary close to its large snout and the beast leaned over and sniffed. Satisfied the man was dead, the Golia threw him against the far wall as it reached for Marko. The man cried out in pain as Stanus tried to free him. The wolf stepped back and whined as it bent at the waist and came to eye level with the Gypsy. The wolf sniffed once more and then growled in anger as it knew, unlike any animal ever created in the natural world, that the man was doomed. Stanus shook its massive head and roared as it raised its muzzle to the rafters of the basement. The roar was so long that it eventually turned into a sorrowful howl. The animal finally stopped and then the distinctive pops were heard as the beast dislocated its hips and then brought the bones free of the frontal socket, and then snapped into place on the back ones. The beast then curled the articulated fingers under and they formed a paw as it went to all four legs. The animal silently curled up in front of the dying Gypsy.

Marko didn’t know how long he was out. When he opened his eyes he saw Stanus lying at his dangling feet, curled up and whining. It was the saddest sound Marko had ever heard and for the first time in his life he truly listened to the Golia. He realized then how much the two species—Jeddah and beast—meant to one another.

“No time for sadness, old friend,” Marko struggled to say through his broken mouth. “I have one more thing for you to do,” he said as blood continued to pour from his mouth. He knew his lungs were filling with blood ever as he spoke. “You must leave me now, brother,” Marko said as his head dipped even lower as his strength ebbed.

Stanus whined and started walking in a circle and the cries were emphatic as the wolf knew that it would never see Marko again. Even with the distrust the wolf had of the Gypsy, the man was still loved by all Golia.

“Stand up, brother wolf. Stand up and take me into you for the last time. No potion, no magic to be said. Take me fully and allow me to make right that which I have broken.”

The words trailed off as Stanus roared and shook his large head in anger. Then the beast hitched up and then stood in one smooth, very fast, and fluent motion. The alpha male was now face-to-face with Marko.

“One … last … time … old … friend … allow me … to run with … you.” The words were so weak that Stanus leaned in and its ears perked up. Then the beast slowly brought its right hand up and placed the long fingers over Marko’s head and the Golia pressed the claws into the thin skin. The pain was light and the connection was made for the last time, and for the only time in recent memory a Jeddah had chosen to die within the mind of a Golia.

Stanus soon released Marko and the beast staggered to the far wall as Marko’s head hung down to his chest. The heart had nearly stilled the moment Stanus had made the connection. Marko was gone and only his broken body remained.

Stanus became still as its eyes once more narrowed to bright yellow slits. The Golia suddenly turned toward the door and its roar shook the building as Marko made Stanus aware of all that was happening.

Stanus took three large strides back to the damaged door and then started smashing the aluminum in with both of it balled-up fists as it worked the anger from its system. The door was battered to pieces in his frenzy and anger. Finally Stanus stood in the open doorway.

The howl was heard as far away as the pass. Will Mendenhall and the rest of the Airborne engineers stood in the driving rain and looked to the south.

At the same moment Marko’s mind died inside of his battered and broken body, Madam Korvesky choked back a sob. It was a thick feeling around her heart and she couldn’t help but think about Marko as a small child. The way he used to play with the Golia pups, Stanus and Mikla among them. Now he was leaving them and she knew they would never see the man-child alive again. As hard as the old woman tried to keep her emotions in check her heart was breaking for the boy who only wanted a better life for his backward people.

CASTLE DRACULA

Jason Ryan flinched and grit his teeth as the cable car rocked back and forth on the massive cables that hung four abreast over the heavy transport. The lightning was starting to make strikes along the ridge of mountaintop and every time one struck the earth Jason was amazed to see the night illuminated like day. The car slowly moved into the protection of the car barn that led to the old-fashioned-looking wooden dock. The car slowly pulled in and that was when they could all hear the thump of music coming from the club. The brightness of the heavy fluorescent lighting made Jack squint as he motioned for the others to follow him along the top of the car.