Ripper (25 page)

“How many men do you have on our French friend down in the infirmary?”

“Two in the room, two in the hallway.”

“As soon as he’s able to be moved, put him in isolation down on level eighteen, with only a cot and a blanket.”

Everett nodded as they waited for the elevator. “The
president wants Farbeaux turned over immediately to the FBI. He says now that we have him, he’s going to stay a guest of the United States for a very long time.”

Jack looked at Everett and then raised his left eyebrow. “I want you to conduct the debriefing of Colonel Farbeaux. The president doesn’t get him until that’s concluded,” he said as the elevator doors finally opened.

“I thought you
would have wanted to have that little conversation with Henri?” Carl said as he watched Jack step into the elevator. Finally, when no answer came from his boss, Everett stepped in beside the colonel. “Europa, level seven, please.”

“Level seven.”

The elevator started up on its air-cushioned ride as Jack leaned back against the rear of the glass car.

“Europa, location of Director Compton, please,”
Jack inquired as he closed his eyes once more.

“Director Compton is currently on level seventy-two, specimen vault 789000.”

“Location of Lieutenant McIntire, geology department?” he asked next.

“Lieutenant McIntire is currently conducting research on geological abnormalities found in current volcanic cones in the Central Pacific.”

“Have Lieutenant McIntire stop her research and join us on
level seventy-two at the appropriate vault please. Now stop the elevator and take us to level seventy-two.”

“Yes, Colonel,” said Europa as the elevator came to a very fast and hissing stop. Then as Collins looked at Everett the elevator reversed and started down into the bowels of the Event Group Complex.

“You going to tell me what’s going on?” Carl asked.

“Any word yet on the properties of
that magic elixir we took out of Perdition?” he asked instead of answering his friend.

“They haven’t touched the sample yet. The director wants some of our people currently on assignment to be in on the opening phase of the research. He’s also recalled the former head of our infectious disease department who now works for the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. The doctor and his daughter
are on the security clearance list. So I guess if the director is recalling old personnel back into the fold, this stuff must worry him to no end.”

“The director thinks it may be a virus?”

“He doesn’t know yet, but he says if a reaction can happen that fast on Guzman, he can’t take any chances.” Everett turned and faced Collins. “But I guess you would have known that if you had read the same
report I did.”

“Patience, Captain.”

As the elevator doors slid open and Europa announced their desired location, Jack shook his head when he thought Carl was going to ask another question. Both blue-clad men stepped into the hallway on level seventy-two and went directly to the security arch that led to the vaults. One of their security men was at his station at a small, clear desk and stood
when they approached.

“Is the director still in the vault area?” Jack asked as he placed his hand on the glass security scanner and had his prints and the moisture content in his hand analyzed for his DNA. Europa cleared the colonel for entrance and then did the same for Everett.

“Yes, sir. He and the assistant director are classifying several new artifacts that have been transferred down to
the new vault level.”

Jack went down the curving, plastic-lined hallway that hid the granite strata underneath. Level seventy-two was one of the newest vault areas in the complex and was just now starting to fill up with the treasures of the world’s past.

Collins ran his large hand along the wall as he headed toward the only vault door open on this level. Everett watched him and noticed that
it was like Jack was taking it all in for the first time.

“We’ve done, I mean, the Group has done good things here, right?” he asked before stepping up to the open thirteen-foot steel door.

“If you mean has the Group fulfilled its charter? I think so. How many parallels in history have we uncovered that may have averted a war? Given the president something extra that he would never have known
if it wasn’t for the Group? Yeah Jack, we’ve done some very good things. Everyone at the Event Group, past or present, has all done what was asked.”

Jack just nodded his head and gave Carl a ghost of a smile. “That helps.”

Everett watched Jack knock lightly on the sill of the giant vault door and then step over the threshold. He was about to follow when he heard a voice that usually gave him
pleasure.

“Hey, Captain, we having a clandestine meeting down here?”

Everett smiled as he took in the battered face of Sarah McIntire. Both of her eyes were black and blue and the right was still nearly closed. She had a large bandage on her head where she had received sixteen stitches from Dr. Gilliam just two hours before. He lost his smile as he realized at that moment why they were there.
It didn’t enter his mind until he saw the shape that Sarah was in. It all clicked as he allowed the diminutive McIntire to enter the vault first.

Jack was impressed with this particular acquisition they had uncovered in a small valley just inside the South African province of Natal. The vault was lined with artifacts and weapons from a period of revolt in what was once a part of the British Empire—Zululand.

Collins watched as Niles turned toward him with pride. He and Assistant Director Virginia Pollock were standing near a glass enclosure with hydrogen hoses running into it. There was another hose that fed the small enclosure with humidified air to keep it at a constant 67 degrees.

“What have we here?” Sarah asked in that never-ending wonder she always had for the vault areas of the complex. Collins
turned and looked at his beaten but happy Sarah McIntire and wasn’t surprised at the wonder of a schoolgirl as she took in the new find.

“Actually, you can thank the colonel’s department for this one. They went on a hunch and raided a very wealthy South African gentleman and relieved him of this and other valuable historic finds. It turned out that this gentleman still longed for the days of
apartheid. He stole everything here and was responsible for one of the most blatant grave robberies of the twentieth century,” Niles Compton said as his eyes flitted from Sarah to those of Colonel Collins. Niles patted the glass enclosure. “You’re looking at the remains of a great king, at least in most of the world’s eyes. Here is a man that took on the British Empire in their more heady days. His
body was stolen from a simple gravesite back in 1981. No one even realized the theft had taken place.”

Jack smiled at Sarah and both he and the lieutenant turned to study the body inside of the enclosure. Everett stayed back and just watched. Not the enclosure, Niles, Virginia, nor Sarah, but Collins.

Sarah rubbed up against Jack as she looked at the shriveled but somehow still proud corpse
of a man from their past.

“Say hello to the onetime king of the Zulu nation,” Niles said proudly. “I give you Cetshwayo—the man who defeated the British army at Isandlwana, Transvaal Province. It amounted to the Empire’s version of Custer’s Last Stand. It would be like us standing here looking at the body of Crazy Horse.”

Jack’s eyes moved from the body lying in its enclosure to the weapons
lining the vault’s walls. There were spears, muskets, and lion’s skins, along with zebra skin shields. Large crates of more short-handled spears and artifacts sat on shelves.

“This man had all of this stuff in his possession?” Sarah asked as she smiled and looked at a far-away Jack.

“All of it. We were mostly interested in collecting the stolen remains. The president wants to make it a gift
to the Zulu people, after—”

“We study and release,” both Sarah and Virginia Pollock said at the same time. They knew Niles wouldn’t give anything up until the old king had been documented from head to toe for their records.

Niles lost his smile when he looked from the enclosure to the face of Jack Collins. He cleared his throat and then his eyes traveled to those of Carl Everett. He patted Jack
on the shoulder. “So what brings you down to my territory, Jack?” he asked, knowing full well what was about to happen.

Jack turned and walked over to the far wall and Europa’s temporary computer terminal.

“Europa, are you online?” Jack asked, looking at the blank screen that would one day soon hold a talking tour of the vault they were now standing inside.

“Yes, Colonel Collins.”

“Please
give me a hard-copy printout of document 1877, security Collins, please.”

Without comment, Europa did as ordered and started printing out the document Collins had been working on since his return to the complex. He waited out the moment in silence and then pulled the single page from the printer. He handed the single paragraph to Niles, who refused to look at it. Instead he nodded at Virginia
and she moved out into the rock-lined hallway. Niles followed.

“Before we see what Jack’s brought us, I want to show you a few more things of recent acquisition,” Niles said as he waited for the three people to catch up with him and Virginia.

All of the vaults on this level were brand new. Niles walked to a large vault thirty feet away and then slid his ID card down the security lock.

“I had
these flown here from our original complex inside Arlington National Cemetery.” Niles swung open the door and waited for his people to enter.

Sitting on tables and on the vault’s floor was what remained from the evidence taken in the 1916 raid on Perdition’s Gate.

“We hope to get some answers here. We’ll start analyzing what we have as soon as our people get in from the CDC in Atlanta.”

Jack
once more tried to hand Niles the sheet of paper Europa had printed out for him. Compton once more stepped out of the vault and waited for the others to follow.

“I think all of us will get a kick out of this one,” Virginia Pollock offered as Niles opened one last vault at the far end of the level. This vault, being the last on the level, was by far the largest. It rivaled the vault used to house
the Ark in size and dimensions.

Collins shook his head but followed the director and assistant director inside.

“Wow!” Sarah said as she took in the display inside of the giant new vault. Even Collins and Everett were impressed with what they were looking at.

“Jack, do you remember when Virginia and I went on vacation at the same time last year?” Niles asked.

“Yes. Are you telling me you and
her are responsible for finding these?” Jack asked, amazed at what he was looking at.

“Well, no, not exactly, but we wanted to be in on it, and we both knew you wouldn’t let us out of the complex without a security detachment tagging along, so we lied and went on vacation to South Florida. We had to be in on this expedition. After we found them, well, we arranged to have them misplaced, and to
tell you the truth, the National Geographic Society who funded the expedition is tossing a fit all the way to Washington over us ‘borrowing’ these artifacts. After we’ve had our fun with them, we will arrange for their find to be … well … found once more.”

On the polished tiled floor of the vault and arranged in a semicircle around the stainless-steel vault were some of the most recognizable
aircraft the world had ever known. There were five Grumman TBM torpedo bombers from the forties as clean and shiny as the day they rolled off the assembly line.

“Are these aircraft what I think they are?” Everett said, knowing the old tale from not only his navy days, but from every program on the Bermuda Triangle he had ever seen.

Niles stepped up to the computer terminal next to the large
vault door and hit a small switch that activated Europa’s description of the contents of the vault. The sound came over the speaker buried into the rock ceiling far above their heads.

“United States Navy Training Flight 19 out of U.S. Naval Air Station, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, lost on 5, December, 1945. The Operational Archives Branch, Naval History & Heritage Command, had ordered the Board
of Investigation convened at NAS Miami to inquire into the loss of the five TBM Avengers in Flight 19 on a clear day. The flight and its training crews were never heard from again, and it was concluded by the Board of Investigation that the flight was lost due to pilot error. On June 3 of last year, the National Geographic Society commissioned a search of the area after underwater depressions had
been found inside the original search area. The five TBM Avengers were located exactly where the search parties in 1945 had estimated the flight went down. The Avengers were found in 375 feet of water and were located inside of an immense underwater cavern. The aircraft were in pristine condition as they didn’t show any sign of salt water deterioration after sixty-five years in Florida’s hostile
waters.”

Niles reached out and shut off the presentation. He didn’t need it, as the event regarding the lost flight was a private indulgence that the director of the Event Group had taken a special interest in, even as far back as high school.

“Ammunition, fuel, everything was intact. There was no deterioration of the aluminum used in the Avenger’s manufacture. The cockpits were dry and their
canopies were closed. The aircraft show no sign of being ditched after running out of fuel. Well, we know now that they didn’t run out as each torpedo bomber had at least 300 gallons still in its tank. There were no signs of the pilots or their crews.”

“How could these planes still be intact?” Everett asked as he ran his hand along the wing of one of the giant single-engine aircraft.

“That’s
why we have to study them,” Niles said as even the preoccupied Collins reached out and touched one of the dangling belts of fifty-caliber ammunition hanging from an exposed port in the left-side wing. The rounds on their belt looked to be new. There were no signs of water corrosion or crash damage anywhere on the dive Avengers. The tires on the landing gear were still pliable and filled with air.