God's Lions - The Dark Ruin (11 page)

Looking over his shoulder, he saw the ever-present guards following behind at a discreet distance, their automatic weapons at the ready.
Could these men be trusted if the time ever came for them to lay down their lives for his son?
Colette had assured him they were the best, for she had been the one responsible for screening everyone hired to guard the family, and she had been relentless in her quest to obtain the best. When it came to protecting her family, her energy was limitless, and those that didn’t measure up to her expectations soon found themselves out of a job.

“What are you two doing out here in this heat?” Father and son turned to see Colette marching from the house with a frown on her face.

“Father wanted to go for a walk.”

“It’s 110 degrees out here, Eduardo. This heat isn’t good for someone who’s spent the past forty years in the shadow of the Pyrenees. Why don’t you two go for a swim? It’s almost lunch time. I’ll have some Cokes and sandwiches sent out to the poolside cabana.”

“Sounds delicious, my dear. I’ll just go change into my swimming trunks and ... Eduardo froze. He had just seen something—something he couldn’t explain. His wife’s form had wavered before his eyes, and for a split second he thought he had seen a dark, winged creature standing before him, occupying the space where Colette had been standing just seconds before.

The old man stepped back, for in that instant he knew that the creature had recognized his fear. Suddenly he stumbled forward.

“Father!” Adrian screamed.

Eduardo’s face began to turn a dark shade of purple as small flecks of white foam dribbled from the side of his mouth. Rushing to his side, Adrian and the guards gently lowered him to the ground. Grasping at the air, he tried to mouth a few words, but it was obvious from the frozen look in his eyes that he was unable to speak and that his body was no longer responding to his commands.

“Someone call an ambulance!” Adrian yelled to the guards.

“It’s on the way, sir,” a guard said, bending over to shade Eduardo from the blistering sun.

Kneeling at his side, Collette took his hand and stroked his head as he stared up into a cloudless Babylonian sky. Trapped in a body that refused to obey the signals from his brain, Eduardo wondered if his time had come. The shadow of death was upon him, and like a worn seam in old fabric, he could almost feel his soul tearing loose from his body until suddenly, something jerked him back into the world of the living.
Someone or something wasn’t ready for him to die just yet.
Even though he couldn’t move, he was still alive, and he was aware of everything going on around him.

Releasing Eduardo’s hand, Collette stood over the limp form of her husband’s body lying awkwardly on the ground halfway on and halfway off the sidewalk. He was looking up at her with a pleading stare, and as he watched, he saw her image blur again for a split-second as a faint smile edged at the corners of her mouth, for the emotional response of joy was a strange sensation for a demon. Colette was no longer Colette. She had been lured by her dreams to the ruins in Turkey, where the demon had been waiting to take over her body. The time for Adrian’s transition was fast approaching, and the Evil One was beginning to sow his dark seeds.

The house in Sanliurfa seemed unusually quiet. Lying in bed beneath a quilted comforter, Leo stared up at the ceiling and tried to decide on a new course of action. One thing was clear. They would be going back to Orencik to explore the area for themselves, with or without the help of the village elder and his men.

A knock on the door from one of the household staff vaporized his thoughts. “There’s a telephone message for you, Cardinal.”

Leo tossed his sheets aside. “Did the caller leave a name?”

“It was from the Vatican, sir. They want you to call them on your satellite phone.”

“Thank you.” Leo struggled from under the covers and reached for the satellite phone next to his bed. He had forgotten to purchase an adapter for his battery charger that was compatible with the Turkish electrical system, so he had been leaving the phone off to conserve power.

After switching on the slate-gray phone and waiting for the green light signaling satellite acquisition, he punched in the number for the main switchboard at the Vatican.

A shy-sounding female voice answered. “Hello, Cardinal.”

Leo immediately recognized the voice on the other end of the line. It was that of a young nun Leo had met only once when he had toured the switchboard office at the Vatican so that he could put faces behind those he talked to on a daily basis; an attention to detail that had made Leo so invaluable to the pope.

“I was told I just received a call.”

“Yes you did, sir,” the young nun giggled. “The Holy Father has been trying to reach you. Hang on ... I’ll put you through. He’s waiting.”

“Hello?”

“Marcus?”

“Leopold ... I’m glad they were able to find you so quickly. How are things going in Turkey?”

“As well as can be expected given the information we have to go on. I was planning on calling you tonight with an update. We’re beginning to think Eduardo was looking in the wrong spot for whatever it was he was looking for.”

There was a long silence at the other end of the line.

“Your Holiness?”

“Yes ... I’m still here, Cardinal. I’m afraid I have some disturbing news for you. Eduardo Acerbi suffered an apparent stroke today at his home in Babylon.”

“Eduardo ... a stroke?”

“Not too surprising actually, considering his age. We must be sure to keep him in our prayers.” The pope paused again, always a sign to others that he was choosing his next words carefully. “I must tell you something else, Leopold ... something I probably should have told you sooner. Eduardo called me when you were still hiding out in the mountain cabins before Christmas.”

“Excuse me, Your Holiness. Did you just say Eduardo called you?”

“He did ... on the day he left France for Turkey. He and my father were friends.”

Leo gripped the phone, his green eyes staring off into space.
The pope’s father and Eduardo Acerbi had been friends?
The silence now came from Leo’s end of the line.

“Leopold?”

“Why have you never mentioned this to me before, Your Holiness?”

“At the time, any connection between myself and Acerbi would only have made things more complicated. The fact that my father knew Eduardo was nothing more than pure coincidence. They were just business acquaintances, but with everything that was going on at the time, people would have seen conspiracies around every corner. I wanted your mind to be clear ... without doubt. I was as surprised as everyone else when he suddenly surfaced last year after his disappearance forty years ago. I honestly thought he was dead like everyone else. I only met him a few times when I was a child.”

“Why did he call you?”

“To be honest, I believe he was seeking some kind of absolution for having to take the life of his son, Rene, although he denied that was the reason. He said he was calling to make a plea for his other son, Adrian. He seems convinced that the boy is not who we think he is, and he wanted us to call off the dogs, so to speak.”

“I guess that would make sense, Your Holiness, especially since Adrian appears to be nothing like Rene. Personally, I’m having a hard time believing it myself. I think we’ll know more when we hear from Lev Wasserman and his team in Patmos. They’re following up on a particularly interesting lead they discovered in the code.”

“Watch your back while you’re in Turkey, Cardinal. I have a bad feeling about all of this, especially with the timing of Eduardo’s stroke. Would you like me to send Francois with some of his Swiss Guards?”

“No, I think our original plan of keeping a low profile is still the way to go. The Carmela is due to arrive here tomorrow with the rest of the team. If it looks like we’ll need any additional backup I’ll give Francois a call.”

“That’s your decision, Cardinal. Just don’t wait until it’s too late.”

“I’ll be careful, Marcus. Thank you for calling. It’s good to hear a friendly voice out here in a strange land.”

“Keep me updated on your progress, Leopold. I’ll keep you in my prayers.”

Leo found himself staring straight ahead, still clutching the phone in his hand when the line went dead and the phone erupted in a series of annoying beeps. To Leo, it seemed that life was full of beeps. Beeps to remind us when the phone was off the hook, beeps reminding us to fasten our seat belts, beeps when things were backing up. Maybe whatever they were looking for would erupt in a series of beeps when they found it. The thought made Leo smile as he laid the phone down and switched it off.

He remained sitting at the edge of the bed, thinking back to his brief meeting with Eduardo at the farmhouse in Foix the year before. Leo had felt a genuine fondness for the old man and had wanted to speak to him again about the site in Turkey, but for some reason Eduardo had refused to answer his calls. Now, with news of his stroke, it seemed as though Leo’s questions might never be answered.

Standing, Leo stretched before heading for the shower. It was almost time for supper, and he could only imagine the effect this news would have on the others as he toweled himself dry and slipped on a black dress shirt and a pair of tan slacks.

Unlike the night before when everyone had gathered around a long table in the courtyard, small groups of people were scattered in small alcoves around the central courtyard. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Leo peered behind gossamer curtains as he walked past the separate alcoves, finally spotting Mendoza sitting with Evita and Dr. Diaz in a corner space filled with candlelight.

“Ah ... Leo. You’re starting to behave like a Spaniard with your little siestas.”

“I wish I could sleep, but at least I have time to think while I lie there trying to drift off.” Leo paused to watch the moving shapes cast by flickering candles against the stark white walls. “I just received a call from Pope Michael. Eduardo Acerbi suffered a paralyzing stroke today at his home in Babylon.”

“We know,” Evita said, patting the cushioned seat beside her. “Come, sit ... have a glass of wine with us.”

“Spanish intelligence?”

“We received a call from the Madrid station chief an hour ago.”

Grasping the offered wineglass by the stem, Leo collapsed down into the deep cushions that lined the wall next to Evita. Taking a long sip, his mind was gripped by thoughts of what might be lying in wait for them in the hills a few miles away as a slight breeze pushed the gossamer curtains deeper into the room, hinting at forces beyond. Surely, he thought, the same breeze that drove the curtains inward was linked together with other winds that circled the Earth, and while a simple breeze could be a presence barely felt, at other times it could be fierce, as in a brutal storm that created great havoc and left unimaginable carnage in its wake. Was the force that awaited them in the hills outside Orencik just a breeze, or was it a full-blown storm? Was it benign, lying just beneath the surface, or was it fierce, ready to spring forth across the land to crush anything in its path? Whatever it was, they would soon find out, because he and his team were about to enter the eye of a potential maelstrom.

Running his fingers through his thick, gray-tinged hair, he was happy to be in the company of people he trusted and loved. It reminded him of his youth in rural Pennsylvania when he would sit with his father and uncles on Sunday afternoons before they all headed back down into the coal mines early the next morning. Up in the fresh air of the rolling green countryside, all was peaceful and calm, while down below, beneath thousands of feet of solid rock, black dust swirled around loud machinery, waiting for that one spark that could ignite an underground inferno.

Setting his empty wineglass on the table, Leo leaned back in his cushioned nest and stretched. “Before we proceed, I think we need to meet with Lev and the rest of the team onboard the Carmela. We have no idea what we’re facing out there in those hills, and I want to spend some time with Daniel going over as much of the Bible code as possible before we continue. Somewhere there is a clue to what we are facing, and we’d be fools to rush in without being better prepared.”

“I agree with Leo,” Mendoza said. “I think we’re on the right track by focusing our search in a different area, and there’s no sense in rushing things, especially when we’re facing something that could potentially be very deadly.”

“Also, our presence here is obviously no longer a secret,” Leo admitted. “So I’ve decided to call the Carmela and ask Nava to pick us up in the chopper tomorrow. I believe the time has come for us to meet with Lev.”

Evita leaned in close and spoke softly. “Who will you be taking with you?”

“You, of course ... plus Morelli and Javier.”

“That’s four. The chopper only holds three passengers.”

“Their new helicopter is larger. It holds six.”

Evita smoothed a wisp of long black hair from her face as her eyes met with his. “I need to speak with you alone, Leo.”

Taking the hint, Mendoza and Diaz both rose. “I think we’ll grab some food and meet you two back here in a few minutes,” Mendoza said, downing the remainder of his wine.

After they left, Evita looked down at the tile floor without speaking as the tears began to flow. “Do you still love me, Leo?”

Stunned by the question, Leo reached out and touched her arm, only to have her move away as she wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand.

“Of course I still love you!” he said. “Why would you ask such a question? What’s wrong?”

“Because I happen to know the pope has given you his permission to marry, yet you still haven’t asked me. You ask if something is wrong. Well let me ask you ... is it?”

“It hasn’t been made official yet. I was waiting ...

“The official announcement doesn’t preclude your asking, Leo. I thought at least you would have brought the subject up by now.”

“I’ve been forced into a delicate balancing act here, Evita. I had planned on giving you a ring when I ask you to marry me, but I can’t be seen shopping for an engagement ring until the Vatican formally announces the pope’s decision. I wanted it to be a surprise away from all the intrigue we’ve been living with lately.”