Carpathian (70 page)

Collins soon spied the maintenance ladder and started to climb. The others quickly followed and not a moment too soon as the automatic doors on the cable car closed and then the car started moving backward to return to the hotel just as its twin started the opposite run to the castle. Pete came close to falling because of the heavy vibration of the pulley equipment and the electric motors driving the $27 million system. Pete steadied himself with a reassuring hand from Ryan, who was beneath him on the ladder and securing him with his strong right hand to Pete’s ass.

Jack finally made it to a small platform that led to a catwalk which looked as if it led inside the castle. Jack looked at Sarah and her soaking-wet clothes and at Ryan and Pete, who looked even worse. Outside the storm started in earnest.

“It looks like the only way off the upper floors is through that door and we don’t exactly know where that door leads or what’s behind it.”

“The way things are going and based on what sort of animals live around here, I’m betting that it’s nothing good,” Ryan said as he looked around to make sure they weren’t being observed, as it would be a little hard to explain why four people are hanging out where only bats fear to tread.

Jack ran his fingers through his hair to straighten it a little.

“Oh yeah, that’s much better, Jack,” Sarah said with her eyebrows raised.

“Yeah, well you’re no runway model at the moment either, missy,” he said as he squeezed past her and made his way down the high catwalk to the wide door.

Jack closed his eyes as he pressed his ear to the door and listened. He heard the loud music but that was all. With a shake of his head he tried the steel door’s knob. He was afraid it wasn’t turning but realized that his hands were wet so he gripped harder and the knob turned and cracked open and Collins and the others stepped through.

As the door hissed closed on its hydraulic spring, a large hand shot out and caught the heavy gauge steel door before it closed. The black wolf wedged its fingers in the frame and kept the door from closing as it hopped down from the upper reaches of the catwalk cage. It had ripped a man-sized hole in the steel mesh screen and waited for Jack and the others to pass by. They were the same humans Stanus had seen earlier at the resort. The beast was curious as it took station in front of the door while standing on its hind legs.

Stanus flicked its large ears when the music assaulted him. The beast slowly opened the door and stepped through into Dracula’s Castle, right behind an unsuspecting Jack, Sarah, Pete, and Ryan just as the large audience broke out in applause deep inside the nightclub.

Dmitri Zallas had arrived and Castle Dracula was truly getting ready to rock ’n’ roll.

PATINAS PASS

Niles had called in Will Mendenhall and equipped him with the only weapon they had available and that was one of the small Uzis that had been taken from one of Anya’s assailants. The other two were useless, as the only rounds they had left in their clip Everett had ordered placed into one weapon. The storm was getting worse by the minute and Will had reported that the villagers were starting to gather at the large abandoned barn that sat in the lee of the mountain for the small protection it afforded from the driving rain and smashing thunder.

As the group followed Anya away from the center of the stone temple, Niles saw that Carl was slowly regaining the strength he had lost during his spell with Stanus. He was now walking without the aid of Anya, who walked beside him anyway. Director Niles Compton had never seen the captain so comfortable around any woman other than the friends he worked with. He knew it had been a bad stretch for Carl over the past seven years since the loss of his fiancée, Lisa, and he knew Mr. Everett deserved to enjoy the friendship of a woman once more.

Niles waited for Charlie Ellenshaw, who was looking around like a schoolboy inside a circus tent. He marveled at the designs carved into the solid rock of the mountain. Beside Charlie was Alice, who had her arm through the crook of Ellenshaw’s and they looked as if they were just a couple on a stroll through the most amazing park in the world. Niles saw the justification on Alice’s face and he was happy for her. This one last chance to prove a theory had been a godsend and he was happy to have had Jack talk him into the Event—
If they made it out of there
, he thought. Denise Gilliam was in the stone enclosure looking after a weakening Madam Korvesky, who had seemed to wither away faster than before right in front of their eyes after crying for no reason that Anya or the others could see.

Anya walked past the twenty-five-foot-high double wooden doors that were set deep into the stone wall of the largest chamber. Niles had thought that was the area she had been taking them to but saw now that their destination was far beyond what was visible inside the temple. He watched as Anya walked up to a seemingly impenetrable stone wall. She reached over and dislodged a torch that had seen better days. She held the weak flame to the wall to allow her visitors to see the design that had been carved by one of the master stonecutters of the ancient world. It was a beveled, deep-cut image of the Eye of Ra. Anya lowered the torch and raised the five-pointed star that was still attached to her grandmother’s chain and then placed it against the image of the most famous eye in the history of deities. The bronze five-pointed star was pressed into its twin facsimile in the stone. A depression formed and then Anya turned the star until there was an audible click that echoed in the small enclosed area of the temple.

“A key,” Will Mendenhall said when he turned to see what the Gypsy woman was doing. He had been watching the area above them where he kept hearing the rustling of something running around.

“Yes, part of one anyway,” Anya said as she raised her grandmother’s cane and then deftly snapped the handle free of the old wood. “Sorry, Grandmamma, I don’t have the time to be gentle,” she said as she placed the handle with the image of the eye molded in its center against the stone and again pressed until the handle turned and sank into the stone. Anya turned the handle with her hand to the right and then released it and stepped back. “Watch out, this may not have been opened in a while and I don’t know how much thermal pressure has built up.”

Before Niles and Charlie had a chance to ask, a wide seam opened up in the stone as a false facing of solid rock separated from the wall. The square was about twenty feet by twenty feet and now stood separate from the wall by five inches. Steam escaped from the precise cut of the hidden doorway. The hissing continued and steadily grew louder until the Americans had to cover their ears from the piercing noise. A loud crack sounded and steam blasted from the cuts in the stone and then du amazing thing happened: the wall rolled forward and then swung open with a blast of vented steam. Beyond the darkened doorway it was dark and hot.

“That is the most amazing piece of engineering I have ever seen in my life,” Niles said as he examined the technology necessary to get such a precise cut in the stone so as to seal it against pressurized steam. He shook his head in wonder.

“Yes, the Jeddah had the best master builders Ramesses could supply. One of the spoils of Egypt so many have talked about,” Anya said as she took the torch and with her arm through Mr. Everett’s she stepped through the doorway and into the darkness beyond. “Please come through but be careful not to step any further than the torch light can reach.”

Niles and the others stepped through the barrier of heat and rising steam. The temperature had to be hovering above 120 degrees. When Anya could see everyone in the weak light of the torch she lay the burning wood against a wall trough filled with kerosene. The flame caught and traveled the two square miles of hidden points where a large flame caught and illuminated the interior. As the view below them came into stark reality, Anya tossed the dying torch away and stepped to the ledge. She smiled and gestured for them to see what it was they came to Romania to see.

As they stepped cautiously to the ledge, Alice took in a sharp intake of air as the view came into focus. Stretched out before them was a city the likes of which no one had seen since the time of the Pharaohs. These were not carved replicas like the ones inside the temple, the buildings were stone blocks and the statues real. The colors caught them off guard. The monuments were painted in bright whites and stark reds and blues. The reptiles that stretched above and wrapped around the city must have taken a hundred years to carve. The pyramids were not like the small ones in the temple. The three stone structures were three hundred feet high and looked out of the small city like sentinels watching their young.

“My God,” Niles said as Carl Everett whistled.

The city was an exact replica in every detail of an Egyptian city. The buildings were not the same in number as a larger population would have, but they were exact and they had been built by the very same hands that had constructed the ancient Egyptian cities of Thebes, Memphis, Ra-Ramesses, and Luxor.

There were six giant stone lions with the heads of bearded men that guarded the largest structure other than the three pyramids. The depictions were a cross between an Egyptian sphinx and a Hebrew with a long and curling beard.

The columned building was built into the far end of the mountain and had fifteen large stone steps leading through the hundred columns. The giant statue of Anubis stood guard in front of the lions, only this time the Event Group had no illusions as to what the giant black statue represented—the Golia. The wolf head topped a headdress of red and blue and green and other colors that were so bright as to be celebratory. The gasps that came from the astonished Americans were just as Anya expected.

“Welcome to the real City of Moses, the Law Giver.”

CASTLE DRACULA

Jack Collins was stumped as how to get to the lower levels of the castle without being observed. They had to find a back way out to get to the road that traveled along the mountain. They needed to get to Patinas and get Niles and their people the hell out of there. He knew he was pressing and not thinking clearly in his anxiety to get out. They were on a main catwalk that supported the lighting system for the club. Sarah, Pete, and Ryan were staying as low as they could, expecting a lighting technician to come upon them at any moment. Pete was listening to the music below and nodding his head.

“These guys aren’t that bad,” Pete said as he heard the refrains of “Mustang Sally” coming from the stage.

“I hate to agree with the doc, but he’s right, they are good,” Ryan said, looking at Sarah, who was shaking her head.

“If you two fans of the truly weird are done, I think this is the way out.”

Ryan frowned as he hadn’t realized Collins could hear his opinion.

As they moved they were amazed at the decor even in the uppermost sections of the castle. There was everything from shields of old to long wooden banquet tables filled with exotic food lined the club. The expense of building and outfitting the castle had to have been tremendous.

Jack saw what he had spied a moment ago. It was a small vent exposed to the fresh air outside. Jack saw that the fan that would be placed over the vent for exhaust purposes had yet to be installed and that would be their exit point. As he moved he saw that the catwalk ended and the top floor opened up into a medieval balcony. Collins hadn’t seen the gap earlier. He shook his head as he saw no one near so he stepped off the catwalk and onto the rug that ran the length of the balcony. The others eased themselves down and followed Collins to the vent. Jack immediately went to prying it open. He finally managed to free it from its frame and they were all immediately hit by rain as it pummeled them through the opening. Jack nodded his head.

“Well, we were soaked anyway, let’s go.”

As they stepped free of the castle they realized they were on the north wall and it was only a short step down onto the rocks that led to the trail below.

“That was just a little too easy,” Ryan said.

“Look,” Pete said as he was pointing down onto the road they were soon to be upon.

As they looked a line of vehicles wound its way past the castle and then continued toward the north. The drivers didn’t seem to fear the massive streams of water that was now washing out the very edges of the dirt road. The sixteen four-wheel-drive vehicles moved steadily toward the pass.

“Damn it, they’re not wasting any time. That’s Colonel Ben-Nevin and his assault force,” Jack said as he wiped at the rain running down his face. Lightning rent the night sky and Sarah saw the look of near defeat in Jack’s eyes. It only became worse from there.

“Move and that will be the last thing you ever do,” came the heavily accented English voice. The sound was emanating from the mouth of one of Dmitri Zallas’s personal bodyguards.

Jack turned and saw that they were surrounded by ten men in heavy weather gear.

“Mr. Zallas expected you would be along sometime tonight. Only he expected you to make a little better time.” The men laughed as they kept their weapons pointed.

“Yeah, well, you try riding on top of that cable car and see how fleet of foot you are after braving that storm, asshole,” Ryan said as he recognized that one of the men was the very same thug he and Pete had the run-in with.

“Yes, I’m sure it is a thrilling ride. Unfortunately the situation here in Patinas has changed and Mr. Zallas can no longer guarantee your safety because of the severity of the storm,” the man said as he smiled and gestured with the gun for them to move back into the castle. “We cannot have NATO representatives sliding off one of our more rugged roads and dying in a most horrible accident.”

“Yeah, that would be a tragedy especially with our bodies riddled with bullets,” Jack said just as he realized they could not be taken back inside. He was going to have to do something stupid so the others could have a chance.

Jack turned around just before he came to the steel door and that was when he saw the wolf jump from the top of one of the castle’s parapets. The leap was a good thirty feet and the beast landed with a heavy thud, which got the attention of their captors; only it was far too late for them to react as Stanus waded into the men tearing and slashing at skin and bone. It was like the beast was possessed as it killed every man that stood on the castle wall. The Golia roared in triumph as the last man fell to the stone floor as rain washed the blood and gore quickly away. Stanus looked from the slaughtered men strewn about like so much roadkill and then focused its attention on Jack and the others, who stood frozen in shock at the sudden turn of events.