Shadows of the Stone Benders (The Anlon Cully Chronicles Book 1)

by K Patrick Donoghue

  Jennifer patted his shoulder. She’d seen this combination of symptoms many times in trauma victims. She said, “Deep breaths Anlon. Follow my voice.”

  His head cocked slightly towards her. She said, “Good, that’s good. Try to relax. Don’t try to talk yet, alright? Just nod if you are okay.”

  Anlon’s heart still pounded furiously inside as he tried to calm his respiration. He closed his eyes again and nodded yes. Tears formed in Pebbles’ eyes and she angrily wiped them away. She felt utterly helpless as she stared down at Anlon’s prone figure.

  Jennifer’s fingers pressed against his wrist as she timed his pulse on her running watch. Anlon’s skin was afire. She again turned to Pebbles, who clearly was in shock too, though far milder than Anlon’s.

  From her emergency responder training, Jennifer knew that giving people in mild shock simple tasks to perform helped to bring them back to a functioning state. She called to Pebbles, “Hey. Pebbles. Listen to me, he’s burning up. Can you go wet a cloth with cold water for his forehead?”

  Pebbles stared at her for a few seconds with a blank expression before rising from where she rested on the edge of the coffee table and scampering off to the kitchen.

  Pebbles returned with the cold compress and layered it gently on Anlon’s forehead and lightly stroked her fingers through his hair. Pebbles’ soothing touch and Jennifer’s tranquil voice combined to settle Anlon’s anxiety. He mumbled, “I’m okay, thank you, both of you. Whew, that was really intense!”

  A relieved yelp escaped from Pebbles’ mouth before she could cup her hand to stifle it. Jennifer smiled and encouraged Anlon, “You look like you were tripping on some hallucinogenic drug. I thought I had crashed a rave.”

  He laughed and shook his head to clear further cobwebs. He slowly resumed a seated position before the two women and replied, “If that’s what a hallucinogenic trip feels like…Wow!”

  “It was so real. I wasn’t here in this room; I was in some kind of marble building. Dobson told me I would see and hear things like a video. He didn’t say I would feel and smell things too,” Anlon said.

  “What do you mean, Anlon?” Pebbles asked, coming down from her own shock. “What did you feel?”

  “A woman touched me with her hand. I felt it like it was one of you. I could smell her perfume; I could feel the breeze against my face. It was incredible, indescribable.”

  “No way!” Pebbles exclaimed, “What happened, why did she touch you?”

  “I think she was trying to say trust me,” Anlon answered. “She was with four men. They were dressed very similarly. Their faces and movements were inviting and gracious. They welcomed me...Extraordinary.”

  Jennifer asked, “Did they say anything to you?”

  Anlon nodded, “Yes, the woman spoke, but in a language I couldn’t understand. I remember Dobson or Pacal telling me that they didn’t know how to decipher the language on the stones.”

  While Jennifer and Anlon conversed, Pebbles’ curiosity trumped her fear. Before they could stop her, she snapped together the two stones and gripped the handle-notches.

  She stood erect with tensed muscles and wild eyes for several seconds before there was a palpable shift in her posture and demeanor. The tension in her face waned while her eyelids slid closed. Pebbles’ mouth parted and a protracted, throaty groan spilled out. She teetered briefly causing Jennifer to rush to catch her before she fell, but Pebbles steadied herself.

  Jennifer turned to Anlon and said, “What should we do?”

  Anlon shrugged and answered, “Hell if I know, but I’m thinking it’s better to let her come out of it on her own instead of forcing her to let go.”

  “Yeah, I agree, but let’s at least see if we can get her to sit down. I’m afraid she’s going to do a header on the table or floor,” Jennifer suggested.

  They positioned themselves on either side of Pebbles and gently guided her down onto the sofa. In her trance, Pebbles didn’t even seem to take notice. Unlike Anlon, her respiration was steady and her skin was not fiery. Already, she’d held the stone for twice as long as Anlon.

  For another 15 minutes, they anxiously watched her gesture with her head and murmur incoherently as if speaking with someone unseen. To a random observer, it might have appeared as if Pebbles was having a nightmare. Without warning, her eyes shot open, she gasped and released the Master Stone. Again, the Port Stone separated and clunked onto the floor.

  Anlon sat down next to her and reached for her hand. She asked, “Can I have some water please?”

  The glass Pebbles had retrieved for Anlon still sat half full on the coffee table. He snagged it and presented it to her. She tilted the glass back and gulped down the water in three deep pulls.

  Anlon asked, “Doing okay?”

  Pebbles nodded and said, “They talked to me, I understood them. Not the words, but their thoughts I think. I can’t explain it.”

  “Really?” Anlon asked with surprise.

  “Uh huh. When you said the woman approached and touched you, you said you thought she was saying, trust me,” Pebbles explained. “So when she touched me, I said in my mind ‘I trust you’ and wham I could understand her thoughts!”

  “You’re creeping me out,” Jennifer said, “the both of you!”

  Anlon quipped, “I’m creeping myself out. Get in line!”

  Turning back to Pebbles he asked, “You were under for a good 20 minutes. What else did you see? What else did they tell you?”

  Pebbles gathered herself, clasping both hands over her mouth before slapping them on her thighs. “Do your fingers still tingle, AC?”

  “No, but they did for a bit after I let go,” he said.

  “What a bizarre sensation, the whole thing,” Pebbles mused, “but way cool!”

  “Eleanor Marie!” barked Jennifer. “What did you see?!”

  “Oh, right. You want to try it out for yourself? It will make more sense if you do,” Pebbles asked Jennifer.

  “Um, no thank you. I need to go soon, lots to chase down today and I don’t need a LSD trip before I go. Just spit it out girl. What happened?”

  “I’ll tell you what I remember, but so much flashed by it was hard to keep it all straight,” Pebbles said. “I was in the same room Anlon experienced and he was right. I could see, hear, smell and sense touch.

  “The five people sat down at a table in front of me. On the table was a diagram of the Master Stone symbols. The woman, she said her name to me Anlon! Can you believe that! She placed her hand on her chest and said something that sounded like ‘Mall-in-Yah.’ She pointed to each of the men and they each spoke their name. Then she pointed at the diagram and touched each symbol and gave each a name. It was too much information to take in. I don’t remember the names she gave the symbols or the men’s names. We’ll have to go back and watch it a bunch to learn more.

  “Anyway, she reached for my hand and I took it. I honestly felt her hand close on mine, and she led me to a small waterfall that came out from the marble wall. I don’t know how to explain it right but it reminded me of your infinity pool in Cabo, Anlon.

  “Malinyah stirred her hand in the water and visions appeared. All the while, she spoke close to my ear while holding my hand as if to say ‘don’t be afraid.’ I didn’t understand all her words, but her voice was surreally comforting.

  “I can only remember two of the visions. The first showed a planet, pretty sure it was the Earth. Another huge planet moved past the Earth, and not big like an asteroid, but huge, like a planet, and bigger than Earth. Massive bolts of lightning shot back and forth between the two.

  “The other vision was of the greeters saying goodbye to another group of men. Malinyah and the greeters stayed behind while the men boarded ships with the other crew aboard. Their parting was very sad. She squeezed my hand.”

  Anlon listened to Pebbles’ description while massaging his temples. He wondered if he was dreaming. How was such a feat possible 10,000 years ago? To not only devise a way to store inf
ormation on rock, but to embed mental impressions that were interactive, almost living. Unfathomable. Preposterous. Insane. But absolutely, without question, real.

  Devlin’s decade-long search for an ancient civilization that pre-dated known societies led him to discover a people more advanced than modern man could dream. He imagined Devlin harassed by his colleagues — Where is the culture? Where is the art? Where is the language? All you have are rocks, Devlin, nothing more. When Devlin first viewed the Story Stone, let alone the Master Stone, the sense of vindication must have burst from within him.

  He asked Pebbles, “You said they pointed at each symbol and gave each a name. Did they show visions of their purpose?”

  She shook her head and said, “No, but I’m sure it’s on there Anlon. It’s just gonna take us time to find the answers we want on the stone. My gut tells me the answers are on it.”

  Jennifer chimed in, “So I know you both have had religious experiences this morning, but can we bring it back to the here and now? I need to get going and follow up on the leads from yesterday. And Anlon, if memory serves me, you have a guest arriving in about half an hour, right? Let’s not do any more freaky-deaky trances today, okay? Let’s keep our eye on the ball. The most important thing we can do right now is find out who killed Devlin and Dobson, how they did and why, and catch them if we can. After that, you’ll have all the time in the world to explore the stones.”

  Anlon glanced at his watch. Jennifer was right, he had about 30 minutes before he needed to be at Pittsfield’s airfield. He turned to Pebbles and asked, “Can you put this all away? Jen is right, I need to scoot to meet Cesar Perez. If I bring him back here, do you want to join us?”

  Pebbles said, “Absolutely, but I need the combination for the safe. I’ll take a quick shower and I’ll be presentable by the time you get back.”

  Anlon answered, “Sounds good. We should set you up to open the safe as well. I’ll show you the combination and we can scan your fingerprints for the safe.”

  “With any luck,” Jennifer said, “one or more of our leads will give us a clearer view of the crimes and the killer.”

  XVIII

  HISTORY DEMYSTIFIED

  Anlon pulled into the parking lot at the Pittsfield Municipal Airfield just as his cell phone rang. Fishing the phone from his jeans, he answered the call, “Anlon Cully.”

  “Dr. Cully?” the caller asked, “this is Cesar Perez. I’ve just landed and Mr. Wallace’s plane is taxiing to the terminal. Where should I meet you?”

  “Good morning Dr. Perez. I’m very grateful that you’ve come. I hope it wasn’t too much of an inconvenience,” Anlon replied. “I’ll meet you by baggage claim in about five minutes. I’m parking now. I’m wearing a white dress shirt, blue jeans and brown boots. I’ve seen your picture on one of the books you wrote with Devlin, so I’ll spot you.”

  Perez replied, “Very well, my friend. I am anxious to talk with you!”

  True to form, Cesar Perez wasn’t difficult to identify when he stepped into the terminal building near baggage claim. He was a man of medium height and build with a rugged, weather-beaten face baked reddish brown by years of exposure in the field, and close-cropped, brown hair streaked with lines of grey. Yet, despite his aged appearance, Cesar moved with vigor and purpose. Anlon waved and Cesar strode towards him, his rolling suitcase trailing behind. He gripped Anlon’s hand and said with a somber face, “Dr. Cully, I am so sorry about Devlin. I was so shocked when I heard the news.”

  “Anlon, please. Thank you for your kindness, and for coming all this way on such short notice. Where did Antonio find you, Dr. Perez?” Anlon asked in reply.

  “Cesar, if you please,” he answered. “I was in Peru, but when Mr. Wallace said it was urgent and mentioned Devlin’s name, I of course came at once. I only regret I was unable to travel for his funeral, but I did toast to his memory many times the night I learned of his accident, and then again when I was told Matthew died.”

  “Completely understandable, Cesar. Peru? You must be exhausted from the overnight flight then.”

  “No, not at all. Mr. Wallace’s jet was very comfortable, plus he has excellent taste in scotch! I slept very well,” laughed Cesar. “I’m ready to help. Tell me everything!”

  Anlon laughed and made a mental note to send Antonio one of his rare Macallan’s when he returned to Tahoe by way of extra thanks. He said to Cesar, “Let’s wait until we get back to Devlin’s house. On the ride there, I’d love to hear about your current research project.”

  The drive back to Stockbridge went quickly as Cesar filled the journey with a rundown of his ongoing excavation near Lake Titicaca on the border of Peru and Bolivia, and a handful of stories about Devlin. Anlon laughed to himself, Devlin surely made an impression on everyone he met.

  They were greeted at the back porch by Pebbles, who had transformed from her “rolled out of bed” look into her “elegant research assistant” mode. She was dressed in crisp tan Capri pants, freshly ironed baby blue button-down shirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbows and gold-tinge sandals. She managed to style her bob to cover most of the fresh bandage on her forehead. For added splash, Pebbles’ diamond nose stud returned, along with two small loop rings along her right eyebrow.

  Anlon started to introduce Pebbles, “Cesar, this is my associate…”

  “Eleanor, Eleanor McCarver. It’s a pleasure to meet you Dr. Perez,” she confidently stated, extending her hand in greeting.

  “The pleasure is mine, Eleanor, and please, I am a simple man. I prefer that you address me as Cesar,” he said, graciously bowing as he lightly squeezed her hand.

  When they settled in the den, Cesar inquired, “Anlon, come now, please finally tell me why you asked to see me.”

  Anlon replied, “It’s a long story, Cesar. I guess the best way to begin is to tell you we have strong suspicion that Devlin was murdered, that his death was no accident.”

  He paused to take in Cesar’s reaction. Cesar nodded in understanding but didn’t flinch in the least. Anlon interpreted the lack of reaction as an indication that Cesar suspected the same himself.

  “We have been working with the state police here trying to find the killer, who we also suspect murdered Matthew Dobson,” Anlon continued.

  Again, Cesar showed no outward sign of surprise when Anlon tossed in Dobson’s murder. His only reaction was to bow his head as if paying respect to the two fallen men.

  “We believe both murders are linked with a research project of Devlin’s. Specifically, his investigation of the Life Stones. I should mention that Devlin made me the executor of his estate and willed me his artifact collection and the entirety of his research work,” Anlon added, throwing in the precise term “Life Stones” to judge if Devlin had discussed the objects with Cesar.

  Cesar nodded silently when Anlon mentioned the Life Stones and subtly pursed his lips into a look that said, “I knew it.”

  Anlon said, “Good, I’m glad you have some knowledge of Devlin’s research and the Life Stones themselves. I had counted on it when I sought you out. Over the last week, we’ve discovered or been told pieces of the Life Stones story, but we lack an overall, grand understanding of the story itself. With Dobson dead and Devlin’s other research assistant, Pacal, missing, we need to quickly assimilate the full story in order to catch the killer. I hoped you might be able to aid us in stringing together some of the loose pieces.”

  Cesar did not take long to answer, “You shall have my help, my friends. I will tell you all that I know. In return, I would like to hear all that you know.”

  “Of course,” Anlon answered. “May I start by asking about your connection with Devlin and his research? I’ve not read your jointly published books or articles, I only know that you collaborated with Devlin to write them.”

  “Ah, yes, that is a good place to begin,” Cesar stated, shifting on the sofa and clearing his throat before continuing. “We complemented each other, Devlin and I.

  “Your uncle soug
ht answers about the rise of modern man, while I, on the other hand, specialize in the mythology of ancient cultures. More specifically, the focus of my research centers on discerning true mythology from overlooked or misunderstood history.

  “Our lines of inquiry crossed when Devlin began to ask himself questions about a few ancient myths. Were they fables or an attempt to record history? He sought me out and our collaboration commenced.”

  Before Anlon could ask the next question, Pebbles queried, “What myths did Devlin discuss with you?”

  Cesar turned to face Pebbles and answered her directly, “We discussed many myths, Eleanor, but he was most interested in the beginning about the great flood story. You may know it as the story of Noah’s Ark.

  “Christians like myself believe the Ark story to be a true telling of events, however altered by scribes over the centuries to fit Christian doctrine. Others believe it to be a myth, a story of convenience used by Church leaders to demonstrate the wrath of God upon those who lose their way and don’t repent.

  “What most people don’t know, however, is that many ancient cultures have great flood myths. When read side-by-side, these myths have striking similarities. The world grew dark for days, a great flood washed over the Earth, lightning and huge chunks of rock crashed down from the sky as if thrown by God’s hand and whole populations were wiped out, leaving a ragtag assortment of survivors to rebuild humanity.

  “In well over 100 cultures, spread all over the globe, cut off from each other by geography and time, the same basic underlying story elements exist.

  “Devlin, in the course of pondering his own questions about the rise of modern man, read the works of a range of authors spanning nearly the last 70 years of debate about the great flood myth. He found himself aligned with the view that the stories were not myths, but were, in fact, actual recordings of a real event that occurred thousands and thousands of years ago. In that, Devlin found an ally in me.”