The Cleric's Vault (9 page)

“Exactly,”
she smiled at him.
 
“But there was
something else that Coronado learned of that is of far greater importance.”

Starks
and Wyatt looked on, intrigued by the exotic woman silhouetted by the sunlight
now pouring into the great room.
 

“Your
friends, McElroy and Schultz realized that there was something more to the
chambers than just a treasure.
 
They know that the rooms point to somewhere important for some of the
ancient peoples of this hemisphere.
 
What they didn’t realize is what lies at the end.”

“The
end?”
 
Emily moved to the edge of
the couch, completely intrigued.

Their
host turned to face them both.
 
She
sipped the last of her coffee and set it on an end table nearby as she stepped
closer.
 
“The end of the path.”
Sean nodded.
 
“That’s what Joe
called it, essentially.
 
He said
that the chambers were beacons, a trail to lead them home.”

“Yes.
 
He is mostly correct in saying that.”

“Mostly?”

“There
is something else that your friends don’t know about.”

The
audience of two waited, anxious to hear the revelation.
 
She leaned close to both of them,
eyeing one then the other.
 
“It is
rumored the fourth and final chamber is the resting place of an ancient power,
one that, if discovered, could change the course of human events forever.”

Chapter 19

Atlanta, Georgia

Tommy
hadn’t slept well during the night.
 
He didn’t like sleeping in unfamiliar places.
 
Other people always kept their home temperatures either too
cold or too hot.
 
Not to mention
the fact that he liked to have a floor fan going to provide a little background
noise.
 

Will’s
house had been a little cold but he’d had worse.
 
His inability to get any rest had more to do with the events
of the previous night than his sleeping environment.
  
A friend murdered for the second time in the last
month and the ensuing shootout had rattled him more than anything.
 
Regret and anger mingled in his head as
he sat overlooking downtown Atlanta from Will’s mid-town condo.
 
He scratched his messy hair and looked
down at his phone.

No messages.

Tommy’s
thoughts went back to the events of the previous night.
 
He’d been playing them over and over
again in his mind.
 
Who was the killer?
 
They had to be a pro.
 
The only trace of the mystery
shooter the police found were bullet casings laying all over the floor of the
hallway and near the lab entrance.
 
There were probably more police stationed there since the occurrence.
 
It was still odd they couldn’t find
anything.
 
No fingerprints.
 
No blood.
 
Nothing.

He
sat, thoughtful, for a few moments and then moved his hand across the glass-top
coffee table to grab his cell phone.
 
His fingers scrolled the touch screen until he found Sean’s name and
pressed it.
 
The other line rang a
few times until the familiar voice came over the other line.
 

The
phone began to vibrate in his hand.
 
Tommy looked down and saw it was Sean.
 
“Hey, man,” he said into the device.

“You
doin’ okay?” Sean’s voice asked from the other end.

“I’ve
been better,” Tommy replied.
 
“Got
shot at last night over at Tech.”
 
He hesitated then added, “Terrance is dead.”
 
His response skipped all pleasantries and got straight to
the point.

Tommy
let the words sink in for a minute.
 

“What
happened?” Sean asked after a moment of thought.

“Someone
broke into his lab.
 
They must have
been looking for what we had him working on.
 
I guess when Terrance wouldn’t give it to them, they shot
him.”

“Does
the family know yet?”

“His
ex-wife has been notified.
 
But his
son is over in Iraq right now.
 
Not
sure if they told him yet or not.”

“I
don’t mean to be insensitive but did the software work?” Sean asked, carefully.

“Yeah.
 
We got the translation, though I
haven’t got a clue what it means yet.
 
I’ve been trying to work it out most of the morning, but I think I’m
gonna have Joe take a look at it.”
 
His voice trailed off.

“You
ok, buddy?”

“Not
really, man.
 
I can’t help but feel
like it’s my fault that Terrance and Frank are both dead.”

There
was a long silence.
 
There was
nothing Sean could say that would change how his friend felt.
 
But he said it anyway.
 
“There’s no way we could have known
this would happen.
 
We were just
doing what we always do.”
 
Tommy
continued, “I’ll be ok.
 
I just
wanted to touch base with you.”
 
He
changed the subject in hopes that his mood would lighten.
 
“How’s Vegas?”
 
A laugh came through the earpiece.
 
“What’s funny?”
 
Tommy’s face turned curious.

“Emily
and I bumped into a hit squad last night.
 
We barely got out thanks to some help from a new friend.”

“Hit
squad?
 
Emily’s there?”
 
His tone changed drastically.

“Yeah.
 
There’s a group called the Order of the
Golden Dawn that is interested in the same thing we’re looking for.
 
Ever heard of ‘em?”

“The
Order of the Golden Dawn?
 
They
haven’t been around since the 1920s.”

“Apparently
not.
 
A bunch of them tried to take
out me and Em last night.”

“What’s
she doing there?”

“Still
trying to figure that out.”
 

There
was another moment of silence.
 

“I’m
going to call Joe and see if he can help with this translation,” Tommy said.

“You
think his wife will let you talk to him?”
 

Tommy
laughed.
 
“I hope so.
 
He knows more about this stuff than
both of us.”

“Good
luck, buddy.
 
You safe?”

“Yeah,
I’m at Will’s place right now.
 
He
was there when the shooter returned last night.
 
I crashed at his place.”

“Alright.
 
Let me know what Joe says.”

“Will
do.”

Chapter 20

Las Vegas, Nevada

Sean
hung up the phone and slipped it back into his pocket.
 
He’d gone upstairs to speak privately
with Tommy and also to give the ladies a few minutes to get to know one
another.
 
He was still suspicious
of the mysterious Spaniard who had miraculously come to their rescue.
 
Maybe it was just part of his training
and experience.
 
In his mind,
someone always wanted something.
 
It was a rare thing to find a genuine Good Samaritan who was just out to
step into the line of fire and help a stranger.
 
Her story seemed legit, though.
 
But he felt like he needed to more.
 
A part of him wanted to know more.
 
And for now, they were just going to
have to trust her.
 
He hoped she
was one of the good guys.

He
climbed back down the stairs and found the two women talking casually where
he’d left them.
 

“How’s
Tommy?” Starks asked as she saw Sean appear at the base of the stairs.

“He’s
fine except that he got shot at last night.”

Emily
looked concerned.
 
“Lot of that
goin’ around.”

Adriana
spoke up.
 
“Your friend is in grave
danger.”

“He’s
ok,” Sean answered.
 
“He spent the
night at a cop’s house last night.
 
That’s where he is right now.”

She
shook her head.
 
“You cannot trust
anyone.
 
Especially not the
police.
 
The order has their
fingers in many pockets.”

“Should
we trust you?”

“Probably
not,” she squinted her eyes.
 
“But
if I wanted you dead you already would be.
 
And unlike someone who would use you to find something I
needed, I have brought you something.”

“What
do you mean?” Emily interjected.

“Come
with me and I will show you.”

Sean
and Emily gave each other a “why not” glance and followed the Spaniard towards
the rear of the house.
 
She led
them down a flight of stairs that headed towards the garage.
 
When they entered, they saw the
familiar surroundings from their arrival the night before.
 

“I
still wanna take a ride on that duke,” Sean commented coolly as they walked
past the bright red sport bike.

Adriana
cast him a playful glance.
 
“You
would look silly on the back, I think.”

He
snorted and the side of his mouth rose to a flirty grin.
 

“I
like her,” Emily poked quietly.

Their
host stopped at a plain looking door at the other end of the garage where a key
panel kept the portal locked.
 
She
punched in a random sequence of numbers and a moment later the mechanism opened
with a click.
 
“What I am about to
show you has only been seen by two sets of eyes in over three thousand years,”
her tone was respectful and serious.

Sean
and Emily looked at each other briefly with wide eyes.
 
“Why are you showing us?” Sean asked.

Adriana
eyed him sincerely.
 
“Because you
are not searching for the treasure for worldly gain.”

She
pulled open the heavy door and a small burst of air escaped from within.
 
Inside, a series of florescent lights
came on automatically leading into a staircase cut from the stone of the
mountain.
 
The three entered and
followed their hostess down the stairs that led further and further into the
man-made cavern.
 

After
walking for a minute or so, the group entered a circular room.
 
It had been carved smooth out of
rock.
 
The walls were decorated
with odd-looking engravings. There were Petra glyphs from Assyria, Sumer,
Babylon, Egypt, as well as others that seemed far more unique, possibly from
farther back in history.
 
A small
safe sat atop an old wooden stand off to the side.

“How
did you find this place?” Emily questioned as she turned around in circles,
staring at the wondrous display of history surrounding her.

In
the middle of the chamber, a pedestal stood alone rising up from the rock
floor.
 
An oddly shaped piece of
gold lay on top of it.
 
The object
was designed to look like a leaf from a tree.
 
It was decorated intricately with lines and cellular
irregularities just as a real leaf would have.
 
From one end to the other, the piece was probably eight
inches long and four inches wide at its broadest point.

Sean
stepped closer to get a better look at the strange plate.
 

“I
discovered this room after years of searching,” Adriana said.
 
“It was actually luck that led me
here.
 
Initially, I was not even
searching for anything related to the golden chambers.”

“What
were you looking for?” Sean asked.
 

She
cast him a cryptic smile.
 
“I was
looking for a painting.
 
It had
been taken by the Nazis during the second World War.”

“Searching
for stolen World War II loot?” he grinned, cynically.
 
“Lot of rumors about that kind of stuff.
 
Hard to find, though.
 
The Nazis were very meticulous about
how and where they hid things.
 
Who
was the artist?”

“Van
Gogh.”

He
was impressed and gave Emily a sideways glance showing it.

“How
did a Van Gogh lead you to Nevada?” Sean inquired.

“It
is a long story, Mr. Wyatt.
 
Like I
said, it was mostly luck that led me here.
 
I also had a little help from some new friends as well as
some old ones.
 
The painting’s
maker has little to do with why I am here, though.”

Sean
doubted it was mere luck.
 
Still,
he didn’t press the issue.
 
“How
long have you had this?”

“Not
long.
 
A little over a year,” she
said plainly.
 
“I had the house
built around it to keep it safe until I could figure out the next piece of the
puzzle.”

“Next
piece?”
 

“Francisco
Coronado’s expedition was mostly a disaster.
 
He lost money, resources, and years of his life in the
pursuit of the cities of gold.
 
However, it wasn’t a total failure.”
 
Adriana pointed to the golden leaf.
 
She continued, “Coronado had considered
that the men who had told him the stories of Cibola and Quivira could have been
delusional or simply liars.
 
But he
believed that there was probably an element of truth to what they’d said.
 
So, he was careful to investigate every
possibility.
 
“He met a shaman from
a local tribe in what is now New Mexico.
 
The old man gave Coronado a riddle.
 
He said that if the Spaniard was able to unravel that
mystery he would find the treasure that he sought.”

“Coronado
figured out the riddle,” Sean said quietly, running a finger along the unusual
piece of gold.

She
nodded.
 
“Yes.
 
He found it here in this cave.
 
Even though the medicine man had
underestimated Coronado, he still knew that the explorer would only uncover a
piece of the greater riddle, one he could never hope to unravel.
 
“So, he left the piece here in this
chamber to return in secret.
 
He
soon after became ill and never returned to the mountain.
 
However, he did leave clues in some of
his writings as to how to get back here.”

“Writings?”
 
Emily asked.

“The
Diary of Francisco Coronado.”