The Illuminati Endgame (The Relic Hunters 7)

by David Leadbeater

  Bacchus dipped fingers in that blood, still warm, and held them to his lips. “Ave, Satanas,” he said for the final time and moved away.

  One by one, everyone partook of the fresh blood before filing out of the room. The mass was done.

  Bacchus felt enervated, filled with enough purpose to complete the last leg of the great journey. “The Illuminati will win the day,” he said, speaking to his Minervals.

  Adelaide bowed her head. Cronos and Discord nodded.

  Bacchus touched Adelaide’s head. “I am sending you to oversee the journey to the crucible. Use all your powers to ensure our mission does not fail.”

  “I will.”

  Bacchus broke out into a smile. “We are days away from victory,” he said. “A victory that will destroy our enemies and transform this world forever. The Great Dragon provides,” he finished.

  “The Great Dragon provides,” they said.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  “Nowhere to go, nowhere to run. I knew you’d be back here before daylight.”

  All the positivity that Bodie had been feeling fell through the floor. They were standing in the airport waiting area, chatting and dozing until their plane was due to depart. The ease of their mission here so far had perhaps lulled them into a false sense of security.

  Pang stood facing them, with Heidi and Butcher at his back. So far, an air of civility stood between them.

  “You followed us?” Bodie doubted he’d have missed the tail but was playing for time.

  “Didn’t have to. Your fake IDs pinged. We let you in because there’s only one way off this island, and that’s past me.”

  Bodie shuffled along the seat, making space. “Sit down, mate.”

  Pang looked suspicious. “What?”

  “All of you,” Lucie said. “Sit down. We need to talk.”

  The airport was relatively quiet, their plane would be only half full. They were seated in a far corner with an oblong table before them, two walls to the side and a picture window to the front. The air conditioning was turned to arctic.

  Heidi came around Pang to sit opposite Lucie. Butcher joined her.

  Pang stayed on his feet, looking down at all of them. “We’re here to arrest them.”

  “Please,” Lucie said. “You’ve seen how we work. You’ve seen the terrible threats we’ve faced. You saw what happened in Hawaii. Listen to me, Pang—this is the worst threat yet.”

  Pang closed his eyes briefly and gripped the bridge of his nose between two fingers. He cast a glance at Heidi and Butcher already seated and shook his head. “My orders are to take you straight in. No stories. No negotiation.”

  “But you do know,” Bodie said. “You’ve seen what we’ve come up against. You are not your boss, Pang. He works in black and white and with his own future in mind. But you’ve seen the crazies in the shadows. Imagine if the worst of them got their hands on a weapon of mass destruction.”

  Pang rolled his eyes. “You’re stalling.”

  “Hear us out,” Lucie asked, her eyes pleading. “I’ll give you all the facts. No bullshit. Please.”

  Whether it was because Lucie was the one asking, or their words got through to him, Bodie never knew, but Pang sat down on the edge of a seat and leant forward.

  “Shoot,” he said.

  Bodie’s mouth turned up ironically. He caught Heidi staring at him with an unforgiving glare. The smile vanished. There was an awful lot to resolve here.

  “I’ll start from where the Illuminati abducted us,” Lucie said. “You know what happened next because you followed us to their castle HQ.”

  Bodie listened as Lucie laid it all out. The ten sanctums, the ore samples, the crucible and finally Hades. She recalled how Bacchus had spoken of a great reward, a reward that would give the Illuminati the power to change the world. Her narrative fitted in with what they already knew—Butcher had researched some of it himself.

  Twenty minutes after she started, Lucie sat back and took a drink. “What do you think?”

  “What do I...” Pang blinked. “About what?”

  “About joining us.”

  Pang’s mouth fell open. Bodie couldn’t remember seeing him so shocked before. “Join you?” he repeated. “Join you? I’ve just spent the last few months hunting you.”

  “He’s right,” Bodie said. “He has.”

  Lucie frowned as if thinking about reprimanding Bodie for his inflammatory interjection but turned instead to Pang. “But this goes above that. Can’t you see? This is a world ender.”

  Pang’s mouth moved but nothing came out. Bodie watched his eyes, the miniscule expressions crossing his face. Pang was struggling to remain a soldier, to stay true to his mission, because he believed Lucie.

  “If what you’re saying is true,” Heidi said. “What will it take from here on in?”

  “If?” Lucie turned hurt eyes on her. “Surely you know me. We’ve worked and nearly died together. You’ve seen what we do.”

  “I thought I knew you,” Heidi agreed. “Until you left me at that friggin’ hotel.”

  “Wait—” Jemma began.

  “No. You had a choice. I wasn’t given one. You’re fugitives. We’re federal agents. It’s black and white.”

  Bodie turned his gaze on Butcher. “What do you think, pal?”

  Butcher looked nervous but didn’t let that—or Pang’s steely gaze—suppress his opinion. “I’ve seen enough of this Illuminati to know they’re a real threat,” he said. “We saw that when we attacked their HQ. The Hoods. The horrible things we found.” He shuddered. “And this is a global organization with a chance of getting their hands on a terrible weapon. Differences should be put aside.”

  “Wait—” Heidi began.

  “I’m sorry,” Butcher said firmly and then sat back. “That’s all I’m saying. A quarrel shouldn’t stop you from saving the world.”

  “Quarrel?” Heidi almost hissed. She bit her lip, then rose and paced with her eyes on Lucie. “What will it take?” she asked again.

  “One more ore sample,” Lucie said stiffly. “Which is at Stonehenge in England. Then we’ll have to track down the crucible and finally Hades.”

  Pang coughed. “Is that all?”

  “Yes. We’ve succeeded in tougher tasks.”

  “Oh, I know. I was there.”

  “And the Illuminati?” Heidi asked. “How far are they along in their own quest?”

  Lucie made a face. “Impossible to say. They may already be at the crucible.”

  “They know where it is?”

  “Unfortunately, yes,” Jemma said. “So every minute we sit here, they grow closer to achieving their goal.”

  “If they already know where the crucible is, that puts a totally different outlook on this,” Butcher said. “Pang, you know it does.”

  “We haven’t been crisscrossing the world to hide away.” Bodie leaned forward. “We’ve been risking our freedom trying to stop this.”

  His words seemed to get through to Pang. Their actions certainly hadn’t been those of desperate escapees. “Stonehenge you say?” Pang said. “Give me a few minutes.”

  As cagey as ever, the CIA agent plucked out his phone and walked away.

  Bodie hoped he wasn’t calling for backup. He was left staring at Heidi with time to kill. “Look—”

  “Nothing you say,” she said. “Nothing you say will ever make it better.”

  “How would you feel if Pang abducted your daughter and threatened her life?” Bodie asked.

  “What?”

  “You heard me. That, in a nutshell, is why we left you behind. I didn’t want you to have to make that choice, and I took it out of your hands.”

  Heidi looked deflated and plonked herself down. “If they can’t find you, they can’t threaten you. I have one tie to this life,” she said. “A tie that stopped speaking to me years ago.”

  “I wanted you to come,” Bodie said.

  “Me too,” Cassidy put in.

  Heidi almost raised a sm
ile. “So how was the ranch in Mexico anyway?”

  Cassidy sighed. “Not as much fun as you might expect. Bodie fixed things. I went for walks. Jemma played house, and Lucie played video games. We were quite the little family.”

  “Somehow, I can’t picture that.”

  Bodie thought back. Heidi might doubt Cassidy’s description but, essentially, she wasn’t far off the mark. “It never would have worked,” he admitted. “Which puts us in quite the quandary.”

  “The CIA have eyes everywhere,” Heidi said.

  “Keeping us from operating, from doing the job we love. And Mexico proves we can’t just buy an island and live in seclusion for the rest of our lives.”

  Heidi studied him. “I’m not here to help you, Bodie.”

  “Understood.”

  “The only way out of this.” Butcher had been listening and now sat forward. “And keep in mind, this is from a neutral. I don’t know your story. But your only chance is to offer the CIA something that they can’t get. Something huge.”

  Bodie gave the man a wry smile. “Got any ideas?”

  Butcher shrugged. Heidi frowned. Bodie addressed both of them. “Let’s be honest,” he said. “Risking our lives to save the world should be enough.”

  “You think the Illuminati are really that powerful?” Butcher asked.

  “It’s an interpretation of the prophecy,” Lucie said. “As you probably know, prophecies are notoriously vague, but Bacchus seemed to think the reward would give him some form of ultimate power. I know...” She nodded. “I know... it sounds like science fiction. But there are ancient weapons out there. The pyramid of Giza for one.”

  “You found that?” Butcher looked impressed.

  “No, that was another team. SPEAR, I think they were called,” Heidi said. “I saw the reports flashing in at the time.”

  “Legendary.” Butcher smiled, his eyes going distant as if imagining himself part of that team.

  “But it’s all just a theatre of war,” Lucie went on. “For the Illuminati, I mean. They want to be the biggest, most vicious dinosaur in the valley and whatever they find in Hades—that’ll make it happen.”

  Bodie looked up as Pang returned. He’d been hoping to grab a few private minutes with Heidi, but that clearly wasn’t about to happen anytime soon. Heidi might have decided to support them, but it was purely a professional decision.

  “I have the CIA satellite office in London on the phone,” he said. “They work closely with British Intelligence. No suspicious activity at Stonehenge for weeks.”

  “But it’s in the middle of nowhere,” Lucie said. “How could they know?”

  Pang smiled furtively. “Are you joking? Stonehenge and other sites like it are constantly besieged by tourists, sun worshippers and thieves.” He glared at Bodie. “All wanting to grab a piece of age-old mystery. They’ve had 24/7 surveillance at Stonehenge for years.”

  “Can you send agents to secure the place?” Bodie asked. “I mean, we have nine ore samples already. We need to go right now, and figure out where the crucible is on the way.”

  Pang’s jaw moved as if he were chewing on a big decision. “I’ll call you straight back,” he told the person on the phone and ended the call. His eyes never left Bodie’s.

  “If we help you with this, if we call in all resources, this is the deal. You come quietly when it’s all done. No deception. No running away, and no fighting. After we’ve stood on the necks of these Illuminati fuckers, you return to Washington with me—as prisoners.”

  Bodie fought the rising conflict inside. Even if they won... they lost. Pang would get everything he wanted. “We could just say no,” he said, “wash our hands of all this. Throw the ore samples in the ocean and leave you three wallowing.”

  “I don’t wallow,” Pang said. “I act. That’s why we’re having this conversation. And believe me, I will make sure your contribution is recognized.”

  “We’re supposed to believe that?” Cassidy’s mistrust was evident.

  “I will,” Heidi said. “And so will Butcher. If Pang tries to back out, I’ll crush him.”

  Pang ignored her but nodded once more. “You have my word.”

  “How many men can you gather together?” Bodie asked.

  “CIA? Maybe half a dozen. British intelligence? Maybe six, maybe eight. You want them to go straight to site?”

  Bodie nodded. “And get us on a CIA jet. I assume that’s what you came in on?”

  Pang shrugged. “Not exactly. Chile’s not too comfortable with government-sponsored jets flying in and out of its airspace. But we can change planes in an hour or so.”

  “Can they collect the ore sample?” Heidi asked.

  “I’d prefer to do it myself,” Lucie said. “We’d have to collect it from England anyway, so we might as well ensure it’s done properly.”

  Bodie understood her rationale. Lucie had already collected nine samples to her satisfaction. The tenth shouldn’t be any different.

  “After you then,” he said.

  It felt strange, tense and unreal. Pang had successfully negotiated their surrender, albeit delayed. Pang hadn’t turned into the blunt instrument they’d imagined. But Bodie didn’t kid himself. The stone-cold killer nestled just under the surface.

  Cassidy caught his eye. “How messed up is this?” she asked.

  “Well,” he said, “I’m starting to take bets on what could possibly go wrong.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  The last sanctum sat in the deepest darkness, at the dead of night.

  Bodie had never seen the famous site up close before. He still hadn’t. They were approaching the large parking area, crammed into two vehicles whose twin high beams pierced the murky shadows.

  Pang stayed in touch with his team on the ground. “They’re waiting for us inside the visitor center,” he said. “Ten men and two women. That should be enough to take care of any Illuminati scum.”

  “Depends who they send,” Bodie said. “Those Hoods are pretty capable.”

  Pang sniffed. “They’re not trained to our standard.”

  Bodie let it go. The large vehicles pulled up outside the visitor center and killed their lights. Bodie was left staring into pools of darkness. The visitor center itself stood to the right; an impressively large building lit only by dim security lighting.

  “They’re watching an infra-red feed of the stones,” Pang said. “It’s still as quiet as strangers in an elevator out there.”

  Bodie climbed out of the car and stretched. It had been a long journey, every minute of it nervy with the thought that the Illuminati might reach Stonehenge first. During the journey, Lucie had mapped the vortex’s ley line and plotted it on the map. It passed right through the center of the circle of stones.

  “Dawn’s in an hour,” Pang said, sniffing the air. “Maybe we should wait.”

  “That would be a mistake,” Lucie said. “Our enemies won’t squander a second.”

  Bodie stood in the pre-dawn chill. Despite the darkness, the skies were illuminated by an abundance of stars and a full moon that splashed its radiance across Salisbury Plain. There was no breeze, just a sense of ancient stillness.

  “How far to the stones?” Cassidy asked.

  “Ten minutes that way.” Lucie pointed. “The sooner we get started the better.”

  Bodie wore jeans, a T-shirt and a thick jacket. Sturdy boots covered his feet. He carried no weapons. Pang had made sure of that. His teammates were similarly dressed and in various stages of revitalization and exhaustion. The quest for the sanctums had taken its toll.

  Their feet crunched across the car park. As they neared the visitor center they saw movement, figures hurrying to the entrance door.

  Pang held up a hand and the door opened. “Moving out,” he said.

  Bodie watched as the newcomers filed by. Made up of stern-faced men and women, all wearing dark clothing and carrying concealed weapons, they presented a confident front. Bodie might have relaxed but didn’t trust the
Illuminati not to pull some big surprise.

  The men and women moved off, followed by Pang and then the rest of them. Cassidy and Yasmine brought up the rear.

  They came around the visitor center and started across the plain, following a winding path between grass verges. The night was almost silent, broken only by secret tiny rustlings and the passage of a bird. A breeze caressed Bodie’s faced as he walked. The darkness clung to every horizon, shrouding secrets that were best kept concealed. He kept looking back toward the visitor center but saw no other signs of movement.

  The group continued in relative silence for eight minutes, nobody wanting to break the early morning quiet.

  The prehistoric monument loomed ahead, growing more impressive with each forward step. Its stones were picked out in starlight and moonshine, its circle bathed in a silvery glow. Around it, burial mounds rolled across the plain.

  Stonehenge elicited Lucie’s excitement. Facts burst out of the historian: “One of the world’s foremost archaeological sites, with activity dating back to 8,000 BC. The stone rings were constructed between 3,000 and 2,000 BC. Before that, it might have been a burial ground. The outer ring consists of sarsen standing stones, the inner bluestones. It’s oriented toward the summer solstice.”

  “That’s one theory,” Jemma said.

  “Yes, yes, we all know about aliens and, of course, we know all about ley lines. I can’t imagine such a site was constructed purely to mark the site of a sanctum though.”

  Bodie agreed. “Are the Illuminati that old?”

  “No, of course not, but the Ishtari were. And they created the prophecy.” She turned to him. “Do you really think it could be some ancient weapon?”

  Bodie blinked at the enormous stones ahead. “Stonehenge?”

  Lucie shook her head. “No, no, I mean the reward. The prize in Hades.”

  Bodie shook his head, unsure what to say. They had no idea what to expect. During the plane journey Lucie had scoured every article, every document that might hold some clue as to where the crucible might be.

  She’d come up with nothing.

  They stopped before the stones. Bodie looked up at several four-meter-high towering stones as Pang’s people slowed.