Guardians of Stone (The Relic Seekers) (31 page)

“Open it!” he yelled.

She touched the wood, and a wave of emotion hit her like a blow. She jumped back. He grabbed her by the hair, and she felt the gun dig into her side. He cursed again and kicked the coffin. She heard a crack and he shoved the lid aside. Like most other corpses in the catacombs, the body was nothing but bones with a bit of flesh for glue. Her captor’s gun lowered slightly as he peered inside. She grabbed the thigh bone and swung it at him, but he dodged the blow.

“You bitch.” He hit her in the head with the gun. White lights flashed behind her eyes. Her knees buckled. She grabbed the edge of the coffin to keep from falling, and he shoved her from behind. She threw her arms out, trying to stop her fall. She landed facedown on top of the skeleton. Before she could move, the lid closed, leaving her nose to nose with the corpse in the dark.

There wasn’t enough room to roll over. She was trapped. She panicked, struggling and screaming. With every breath she took she pulled death into her lungs. Every move caused the cold bones to dig into her skin. The skull, the ribs, arms, and legs.

She heard her captor’s muffled voice. “Let me know when you’re ready to tell me where the key is.”

She closed her eyes and forced herself to stop struggling, trying to stave off the panic. But when her own thoughts calmed, she felt the corpse’s memories seeping into her brain. His family.
His life. His death. Her senses were on fire, skin and body burning, mind clawing for sanity again.

Shut down. Shut down. You did it before when you needed to survive. Do it now.

She let her mind slide away from the hard, cold bones, and the damp muskiness of the bits of remaining cloth. From the smell of rotten wood. From the laughter of the corpse as a boy, from his agony in death. It was working...until she heard a muffled roar, followed by a scream. There was another roar and something crashed, followed by the sound of splintering wood. The coffin lid flew off and before she could scramble out, she was lifted off her feet. It was too dark to see. She leaned back and made out two dark shapes. The closest one had glowing eyes.

T
HE DOOR TO
the catacombs was still open when Jake got there. They must have come this way. He’d just entered when he heard a roar that made the hairs on his neck stand, followed by a scream. He ran past the coffins and bones lining the walls, his gun drawn. Another roar sounded. He rounded a corner and in the beam of his flashlight, he saw a man rip the lid off a coffin and fling it behind him. Jake ducked as it flew past his head and smashed into the wall.

The man lifted someone out of the coffin as easily as if she were a rag doll. It was Kendall. Jake could see her blonde hair. The man crushed her to his chest. He was going to kill her. Jake yelled out as he ran, hoping to distract the man long enough to get a clear shot. He raised his gun and the man turned. Jake saw two eyes glowing in the dark. He raised his light to the man’s face. What the hell! “Nathan?”

Kendall opened her eyes and leaned back, her shocked gaze moving from Nathan to Jake. “Jake, what are you doing with that gun?”

Jake kept the gun leveled at Nathan. “Kendall, step away.”

Nathan pushed Kendall clear and turned to Jake. His eyes looked normal now.

“What the hell just happened?” Jake asked. “Your eyes were glowing.”

Nathan picked up a flashlight that he must have dropped in the fight. “You’re imagining things.”

“I didn’t imagine those iron doors ripped off their hinges and that heavy coffin lid you tossed like a Frisbee.”

Kendall looked at the bent doors. “You did that?” she said to Nathan.

“It was just adrenaline. I heard you scream.”

Adrenaline could do strange things to a man. Jake had seen it, even felt it, but something about this felt unnatural. He remembered Nathan punching the concrete wall in the underground cell at the hotel, and his eyes shining that night at the inn, and how quickly he’d evaded Jake when he tried to follow him.

Kendall had moved around beside Jake. She touched his arm. “Put the gun down, Jake. It’s just Nathan.”

Jake lowered the gun, staring at Nathan. He wasn’t just Nathan. Jake didn’t know what he was, but this was more than adrenaline. Maybe it was this place, with its strange statues and hidden spears. They were near one of the lanterns, so Jake lit it, giving them better light.

“What happened to him?” Kendall asked, looking at her assailant.

Nathan stared at the body, his expression as stony as one of the statues.

“Looks like he broke his neck,” Jake said. He guessed Nathan had done that too. He turned to Kendall. “What were you doing inside the coffin?” He saw the gleam of bones inside. Thinking of lying in there with a skeleton made Jake’s stomach knot.

“He was trying to make me tell him where the key was.”

Jake wished Nathan hadn’t killed the guy so he could do it. But rage wouldn’t do any good now. “What key?”

“He said the box won’t open without it. He seemed to think it was buried with the old monk.” She looked back at the coffin behind her and rubbed her arms, even though she was wearing a jacket.

“How did you find me?” Kendall asked Nathan.

“I was in the woods when I saw him move the stone,” Nathan said.

“Thank you, but when we get back, I quit.”

“Quit?”

“I’m not working for someone who kidnaps me because I don’t go where he wants me to go. Even if you thought it was for my own good.”

“I thought you were going to die. What are you doing here now?” He frowned at Jake, as if it was his fault.

“Don’t look at me. I tried to keep her away. And she’s not the only one quitting. You can do whatever the hell you want. I’m done with you.”

“I apologize, but it was for your own good,” Nathan said, his face tight. “I’m not going to be responsible for your deaths.”

“My own good?” Kendall said. “I’m sick and tired of both of you telling me what’s for my own good. I’m a woman, dammit, not a kid.”

She looked like a witch, her hair all over the place, her face smudged with Jake didn’t know what, and there was a finger bone stuck in her belt.

“How did you get away from the hotel?” Nathan said.

“Fergus is trying to save your ass,” Jake said. “If it was up to me, I wouldn’t bother.”

“He let you out?”

“Jake escaped first,” Kendall said. “Then Fergus told us where to find you.”

Nathan shook his head. “I might have known.”

“When I told him you were going to die, he asked us to find you.”

“I’m going to die?” Nathan said.

“Another one of her visions,” Jake said. “We’re both going to die if she doesn’t save us.”

Kendall gave him one of her should-be-patented glares. “That’s not exactly what I said.”

“What did you see?” Nathan asked.

“Three bodies. One was yours, another was Jake’s.”

“Whose was the third?” Nathan asked.

“I couldn’t tell. I don’t know why, but I need to be here. I trust my visions...most of the time.”

“Well, it looks like we’re all here to save each other,” Jake said. “Except him.” He looked at the dead guy. “Any idea who this guy and his crew belong to?”

Nathan shook his head.

“They were well trained, whoever they were. I just got rid of his buddies.”

“Did you kill them?” Nathan asked.

“No. Just incapacitated them.”

“Maybe they’re working with Brandi or the guy with the ring,” Kendall said.

“What guy?” Nathan asked.

They explained about the mysterious guest who they believed had murdered the historian.

“I have a feeling he’s your Reaper,” Jake said.

“What did he look like?” Nathan asked.

“He was in disguise when I saw him. Kendall got a better look at him at the inn.”

“The inn? He was there? Bloody hell.”

“He was average height and weight,” Kendall said. “Hard to describe, except for his ring. It was gold and it looked really old, with a big red jewel. It may have been a ruby.”

“I think it’s him,” Nathan said. “There was a ruby ring that disappeared a few years ago. It was part of a rare collection that belonged to a well-known dealer in antiquities. I was about to buy the ring when it vanished. The dealer turned up dead, and the collection had disappeared. Everyone assumed the Reaper stole it.”

“These guys must be working for him,” Jake said.

Kendall shook her head, staring at the dead guy. “I don’t think so. I asked him if he worked for the Reaper. He had no idea what I was talking about.”

“How many people are after this thing?” Nathan rubbed his chin.

Jake noticed that Nathan’s split lip had completely healed. So had his hand after punching that hotel wall. Jake’s eye was still bruised from the fight. He must be testing some kind of drug. “There are at least three parties after this box, including us,” Jake said. “If the Reaper had the box, I think he would have killed us. So assuming the first three thieves, including Thomas, worked for him, either party number two stole it from him or one of his thieves took it for himself.”

“Thomas was undercover,” Nathan said.

“Why do you say that?” Kendall asked.

“I talked to him after he was stabbed.”

Kendall’s mouth dropped open. “
After
he was stabbed!” she said, her eyes sparking. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I didn’t think it was important for you to know then.”

Jake shook his head. “After I told you I recognized him from Iraq, you still didn’t think I needed to know?”

“I was trying to sort some things out.”

“It might have helped if you’d let us sort it out with you,” Jake said.

“This is getting us nowhere,” Kendall said. “What happened with Thomas?”

“The morning I stopped by the inn—”

“Thanks to the tracking device,” Jake reminded him.

Nathan scowled and continued. “I saw someone watching the inn. Thomas came around the side. I didn’t know who he was then, but when the other guy started following him I was suspicious, so I followed him as well. I found Thomas in the graveyard. He’d just been attacked. He was dying, half-conscious, and mumbling about stopping someone, saying
that
he
couldn’t get it and that
they
were in danger. I figured it was you two.”

“And you didn’t think we needed to know?” Jake clenched his fists. He wanted to punch Nathan. If Kendall hadn’t been there, he probably would have.

Kendall shook her head in disgust.

“What was the point?” Nathan said. “You were supposed to be on your way home and out of this mess.”

Jake glared at Nathan. “If the Reaper is who you say, I doubt we would’ve been any safer in Virginia.”

“I can protect you in Virginia. I can’t when you’re running around God knows where. That’s why I had my guards grab you when you didn’t leave. You two are in danger.”

“Everybody calm down,” Kendall said. “We have to stick together until this is over. There are at least two people, maybe entire groups, who want us dead. If Thomas warned you that we were in trouble, and if ‘it’ referred to the box, then it sounds as if he was on our side. He was probably warning us off with that note at the hotel.”

“He knew he was dying,” Nathan said. “Maybe he had a change of heart. He gave me the cross. I guess the chain broke. We’re still trying to find out who Thomas really is, but we keep hitting dead ends.”

“Did he say anything else?” Jake asked.

“He said one more thing: ‘Tell her I love her and that I’m sorry.’”

Jake looked at Kendall. “Who? Kendall?”

“He died before he could say anything else. That’s why I wanted you to go home. There’s too much we don’t know. Finding the box isn’t worth it.” Nathan looked kind of sick when he said it, Jake thought.

“And you think you can handle it alone?” Kendall asked.

Had she already forgotten the coffin lid splintered into kindling and heavy iron doors being ripped from their hinges? Still, adrenaline—assuming that’s what it was—would go only so far.

“I’ll bring more men if I need them,” Nathan said.

Kendall frowned. “I thought you said Jake was the best.”

“I don’t want him here.”

“Why don’t you want him in danger? Because he’s like a brother to you?” Kendall asked, echoing what Fergus had said. “You sure as heck fight like brothers.”

Brothers, right.
But he couldn’t help glancing at Nathan to see what his reaction was.

Nathan scowled. “I just have other things I need him to do.”

“Sure,” Kendall said dryly.

“I’m not leaving,” Jake said. “You can do what you like with her, but good luck. She’s as hard to get rid of as a tick.”

“I’m staying. According to him,” Kendall said glancing at the dead man, “whoever has the box still needs the key. We have to keep him from getting it.”

“Marco mentioned a key as well,” Nathan said. “He said it was for the box. Maybe it is with the monk.”

“Marco’s a strange bird,” Jake said.

“He seems confused at times,” Nathan agreed. “But if everyone’s talking about a key, we’d better find it before they do. Someone already has the bloody box.”

“Another thing to find,” Jake muttered.