by David Wood
But Maddock was ready, and at this range he seldom missed. Two shots—a bullet to the gut, a second to the head. That ended that.
He sprinted back up the hill, ejecting his spent magazine and slamming another home as he ran. He hoped there was no gunman waiting for him at the top of the steps. If there was, Maddock would make for a target that was hard to miss.
Thankfully no one was waiting for him when he reached the top. But where was Rae?
He made a mad dash for the monastery with no regard for his own safety. How stupid he had been to agree to split up. He’d been so sure no one else was around.
He burst through the door and looked around. Through a nearby doorway he saw a figure lying on the floor. Rae!
He rushed to her side. She’d been bound and gagged and left lying on her side. A trail of blood ran from a cut on her neck and dripped to the floor.
“Rae! Speak to me!”
Relief flooded through him as she opened her eyes and made a muffled sound. He hastily removed her gag.
“How do you expect me to speak to you with Echard’s nasty handkerchief in my mouth?”
“Are you all right?” he asked, touching the cut on her neck. It was just a nick and he breathed a sigh.
“I’m fine, just untie me.”
He removed her bonds and she sat up and gingerly rubbed her wrists.
“What happened?”
“Echard was waiting for me. He grabbed me almost as soon as I came in.”
“And the amulet?” he asked.
Rae smiled. “He fell for it. I think you were right. He’s never seen it up close. As far as he knows, he’s got the real item.”
“That’s a relief. I’m just sorry it meant damage to your perfect neck.”
“You’re a neck man? That’s a first.”
“I am now.” On an impulse, he planted a kiss on her neck where Echard’s blade had scored the flesh. Rae grabbed his face in both hands and kissed him hard on the lips.
“That’s for saving my life. I heard shots. What happened?”
He filled her in on what had happened.
“Where did Echard go?”
“I don’t know. He went out a back window.”
Maddock made a quick search but could not find any sign of the man.
“I’m sorry I led you into a trap for nothing,” he said.
“It’s all right. Your plan worked. Hopefully that’s Echard off our backs.”
31
Maddock and Rae knew something was wrong as soon as they reached the dock where Sea Foam was moored. The entire crew was waiting for them on the aft deck. Bones was pacing back and forth across the deck like a caged lion. Maddock noticed right away that Kyle was not among their number.
Please, let him be below decks, he thought.
“Kyle’s gone,” Matt said.
“What do you mean gone?” Rae asked. “You were supposed to be keeping an eye on him.”
“We did, but then that girl showed up.”
Maddock and Rae exchanged a quizzical look.
“Thel,” Bones said. “She was here.”
“The girl you hooked up with?”
Bones stopped pacing, folded his massive arms, and made a curt nod.
“Man, when you stand like that, you look like a cigar store Indian,” Willis said.
“This really isn’t the time,” Maddock said. Rae was trembling, whether from fear or anger he couldn’t tell. “Why don’t you tell us what happened.”
“We were just hanging out, doing some fishing,” Corey said. “And then this gorgeous girl shows up. We’d never seen her before, but Kyle recognized her as the girl you met. They sat on the dock and talked for a while.”
“What about?” Rae asked.
“Don’t know. She didn’t seem interested in talking to us. Next thing we knew, they were gone.”
“You didn’t see them leave?” Rae said.
“It was like they were there one moment and gone the next.”
“They said he took a drink from her flask,” Bones said.
“And now Bones is convinced she’s a Finfolk,” Willis added.
Maddock blinked. “Finfolk? The shape-shifting sea creatures?”
“You’ve heard of them?” Bones asked.
Maddock explained that, in the mythology of the Orkney Islands in Scotland, Finfolk were amphibious, sea-dwelling beings who abducted humans to be their spouses.
“The Finwife would take the form of a beautiful woman, often a mermaid, to lure a potential husband. Finmen would take the form of a handsome sailor.”
“In that case, Matt is definitely not a Finman,” Willis said.
Rae rounded on him. “Can we be serious for a minute? My brother is missing.”
“He hooked up with a fine lady,” Willis said. “Nothing sinister about that. And I don’t believe in Finfolk, no matter what that old woman said.”
“Old woman?” Maddock asked. “I think we all need to compare notes.”
Each pair filled the others in on the day’s events. Willis described the events at Mermaid Hole, and Maddock filled everyone in on what had transpired at the Hermitage.
“What about the bodies?” Matt asked.
“Hid them in the jungle, covered them up best I could. I doubt they’ll be found. And I used the pistol I took off of Echard’s hired thug, so if there’s a ballistics match to something in the police’s system, it won’t point to us.”
“I don’t understand how you can talk about this in the way normal people discuss taking out the garbage,” Rae said.
Maddock didn’t respond. Her choice of the word “normal” stung a little, but it was true. Among their crew, only Corey could be considered “normal” where violence was concerned. The rest had been hardened to it a long time ago.
“He did take out the garbage,” Bones said. “It’s never pretty, but sometimes we have to make hard choices.”
“What should we do about Kyle?” Maddock asked. As much as he wanted to agree with Willis’ take on the matter, he couldn’t. As incredible as it seemed, he was convinced that something sinister was at play here, and that everything was connected. There were too many coincidences to believe otherwise. The amulet and ring, the Lusca, the Waters of Life, the strange water Thel had given to Bones. The dots connected but he couldn’t make out the image they formed.
“We have to find him!” Rae said. “This girl is obviously a member of a weird cult that drugs and kidnaps people. She must have dosed him with the same thing she gave to Bones.”
“But the Lusca, and the ring and amulet...” Bones said.
“These people are clearly fascinated with folklore. They probably call themselves Finfolk and they absorbed these other stories into their traditions.”
“The girl in the old picture looked just like Thel,” Bones said.
“It was probably her mother. The cult has probably been around for generations.”
“What chased our boat? What killed Val?” Bones demanded.
“I don’t know. Right now, the only thing I care about is figuring out where this girl has taken Kyle so we can get him back.”
“How could a cult of kidnappers exist under everyone’s noses like that?” Matt asked.
“People disappear all the time in the islands,” Rae said. “Their bodies are never found. We attribute some to drownings, others to crime, and the rest we figure they got island fever and took off to the mainland. It’s possible, especially on Cat Island.”
“Let’s assume that Kyle has, in fact, been abducted,” Maddock said. “Where do we look first?”
“Mermaid Hole,” Bones said immediately. “For hundreds of years the locals have been warning people away from the sinkholes under that lake because of the mermaids. Something’s down there. I’m sure of it.”
“The Finfolk?” Willis said. “Man, that’s crazy.”
From the door that led to the pilothouse, someone cleared his throat. Corey stood there, a nervous look on his face.
“Guys, I just tried to contact Gomez, just to get his take on this. He didn’t show up for work today, and his boat was found adrift. Lots of damage, apparently.”
Maddock winced. Gomez was a good egg.
“What is happening?” Rae whispered.
“It’s not complicated. We found the amulet and set the freaking Lusca loose,” Bones said.
“There’s something else.” Corey held up a legal pad covered with notes written in his precise hand. “While Amos and Andy were doing shots last night, I was chatting with a couple of ancient dudes who told me all kinds of stories as long as I kept the beer coming.”
Maddock nodded. Corey had an inquisitive mind and carried a note pad and pencil with him at all times. It was one of his quirks.
“Anyway, this talk about Finfolk reminded me of a story.” He consulted his notes.
“The first British settlement in the Bahamas was at a place called Preacher’s Cave on the Island of Eleuthera, back in the 1600s during the English Civil War. They were refugees fleeing religious persecution from other colonists in Bermuda. They were called the Eleutheran Adventurers.”
“We don’t really have time for every little detail,” Maddock said.
“Unlike when a certain someone lays out a grid,” Willis muttered.
Maddock flashed him a dark look. “Hit the high points, Corey.”
“Okay, fine,” Corey said. “Storms forced their ship to hit the Devil’s Backbone Reef off the coast of Eleuthera. The survivors built a permanent settlement there, and converted a cave into a place of worship.”
“Preacher’s Cave,” Matt said.
“Circle gets the square. Anyway, one of the weird stories about this place is that the colonists captured a woman they claimed was a mermaid. Their minister, a man named Roman, was convinced that she was simply a woman possessed by the devil, so they tried to perform an exorcism on her. Things must have gotten a little rough because she died. A few days later, the colony was attacked by what they claimed were a group of mermen. One colonist was killed and two women abducted. In time, the story made its way back to Europe, and the Catholic Church sent a man to the Bahamas to root out these so-called devil creatures. According to the story, he tracked them to Cat Island, even captured a few. By torturing them, he eventually found the way to their lair. But he never learned their secrets, whatever that means. Eventually, the church tried to cover up the story.”
Maddock felt dizzy. Impossible as it seemed, the pieces were indeed falling into place.
“Bones, how rusty is your Spanish?”
“Not as rusty as your French. Seriously, dude. Who takes French?”
“That’s the class the pretty girls took at my high school.”
“That’s the class the prudes took, which is perfect for you.”
“I can read it,” Rae said. “I’m not great with the spoken language, but my comprehension is good, especially when I can read at my own pace.”
Maddock handed her the journal and she began to page through it.
“I’m just skimming but this is definitely the guy.” As she paged through, tears welled in her eyes. “God, he did awful things to them.”
“Does it say what secrets he was trying to learn?” Maddock asked.
She flipped forward. “He wanted to command the great beast, Leviathan.” Her eyes grew wide. “And unless I’m mistaken, this is a map that will lead us to their lair.”
She turned the journal around so the others could see the curving, twisting lines that covered the page.
“So, we’ve got a map,” Bones said, “but no starting point.”
“Corey, any idea?” Maddock asked.
“Oh, now you want the details? The only thing that might be a clue is something one of the old guys said. When his buddy said there had been a cover-up by the church, he laughed and said they ‘literally’ covered it up.”
“How does that help?” Rae asked.
Maddock mentally assembled the pieces of the puzzle.
“I think I know where we should start.”
32
“So, you’re telling me the Hermitage was built to cover up the torture chamber?” Bones asked as they crested the hill and approached the old building. The two men, along with Willis and Rae, had returned to the top of Mount Alverna, while Matt and Corey made inquiries at every local business and home, not that there were many of either.
“That’s my theory,” Maddock said. “It seemed odd to me that Father Jerome, a brilliant architect, put a ton of work into constructing not just a home for himself, but a place of worship at the top of the tallest hill on one of the remotest islands in the Bahamas. And he’s got the stations of the cross, all fantastic works of art, plus a church, even a replica of the tomb with the stone rolled away.”
“What’s your point?”
Maddock ran a hand through his damp, sweat-soaked hair. “This is the kind of place where anyone would come for worship, even make a pilgrimage to. But this kind, generous guy put it at the top of the tallest hill of a remote island with a tiny population. Even today it’s not easy to get to. Why?”
“It was his retirement home,” Rae said. “He wanted rest and contemplation.” Despite her obvious concern for Kyle, she was holding up well.
“Put all this work into something that was just for himself? Doesn’t sound like the wonderful, generous guy he was made out to be.”
“Covering up horrendous crimes doesn’t sound like a nice guy, either,” Willis pointed out.
“Agreed, but it happened so long before he built this place. It’s almost as if he were trying to consecrate this place after all the evil.”
“If that’s the case, then where do you think we should look?” Bones asked.
“I don’t know. What might be a symbol of cleansing away evil?” Maddock asked.
“The altar?” Rae suggested. “That’s where someone would be baptized.”
“Makes sense. Willis, you check that out. Rae, I’d like for you to show Bones which window Echard climbed out of.”
“Okay, but I don’t see how that helps us.”
“Echard disappeared awfully fast. I’m playing a hunch.”
“Just point to the window, but don’t get too close to it,” Bones said, understanding immediately.
While Maddock and Rae watched, Bones moved in for a closer inspection of the ground beneath the monastery window. He knelt, looked for a few seconds, and grinned.
“Here is where he hit the ground.” He pointed to a spot near the wall. “A lot of rocks here, but he still left a nice trail. Come on.”
Bones guided them down the hill behind the monastery. Next, the trail made a sharp turn to the left, rounded the crest of the hill, then came to a halt in a thicket of Caribbean Pine. Bones stood there for a long time.
“What do you see?” Rae asked.
“It looks like he knelt down here,” Bones said. “I can see knee prints, and there’s a whole bunch of sign, like he was shifting around.”
“I’ll bet he hid here and waited for us to leave,” Maddock said.
“Lucky he didn’t ambush us,” Rae said.
“Lucky for him,” Maddock said. “Where did he go when he finally left this spot?”
Bones narrowed his eyes, gave his ponytail a tug as he sometimes did when he was concentrating. “That way.” He pointed up the hill back in the direction of the monastery.
They climbed the hill and found themselves standing beside a sundial set on a stone pedestal.
“This is where the trail ends,” Bones said.
“Can’t be,” Rae said. “He had to have gone somewhere.”
“Wherever he went, he didn’t leave tracks. Too many rocks.” He turned to Maddock. “Any ideas?”
Maddock didn’t reply. His attention was fully focused on the sundial. Something about it wasn’t right, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Sundials were traditionally engraved with a motto, and this one was no exception.
“And, behold, there
was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven,” he read aloud.
“You quoting the Bible, Maddock?” Willis had returned from his inspection of the altar and had come up empty.
“Just reading the engraving. It’s weird. Usually a sundial quote is a pithy saying, something that reflects the personality of the owner. But a quote about earthquakes?”
“That’s not even the whole verse,” Bones said.
“How do you know that?” Maddock said.
“I grew up in the Bible Belt. I was immersed in that stuff. I didn’t pay attention, but a few things filtered through.”
“So, what’s the rest of the verse?”
“I can’t quote it exactly, but I know the angel rolled back the stone.”
All eyes turned in the direction of the replica tomb of Christ which stood just downhill from the sundial. And then Maddock realized what was out of place.
“That’s it! The sundial is oriented all wrong. It should point to true north.” True north was different from magnetic north, which was what a compass would show. In this part of the world, the gnomon, the part of the sundial which cast a shadow, should be adjusted several degrees east of magnetic north. But this one wasn’t remotely accurate. Maddock explained this to the others. “Father Jerome was an architect and a sculptor. Those things require precision.”
“Also known as being anal,” Bones said, “which Maddock is all about.”
Maddock ignored him. “In this case, the gnomon is pointed in the direction of the tomb.”
“You said you checked it out,” Rae said.
“Maybe I missed something. Maybe one of you will see something I missed.”
They made their way down to the tomb and made a thorough inspection. They scrutinized every inch of the tomb, but found nothing.
“Maybe the stone disc rolls?” Maddock offered. He and Willis poured all their strength into the effort, but they couldn’t budge it.
“Where’s Bones?” Willis asked, mopping the sweat from his brow. “He’s avoiding the heavy lifting.”
As if in reply, the stone disc began to move. Slowly, almost silently, it rolled to the side, revealing a steep pathway that plunged deep into the mountain.
