The Codex (An Armour of God Thriller Book 2)

by Daniel Patterson

  'Sleep well, Zack' he said before he'd left the room. He'd made sure of it.

  He had to get out of here.

  "Ah, you look better my friend." Mikkel's sunshine face popped around the doorframe, and he followed it into the room. He made himself comfortable on the chair next to Zack's bed.

  "Mikkel! It's so good to see you. You didn't leave town?"

  Mikkel shook his head. "Of course not. I'm staying in Tasiilaq, so I can take you back to Nuuk when you're better."

  "Have you seen Sydney?"

  "Not since the lobby the other day."

  "So you didn't take her to the airport?"

  "No."

  A chill ran down Zack's spine. "Then she still could be in Greenland..."

  Mikkel smiled. "My friend, I am not the only mode of transport here. I'm sure if she wanted to get to the airport she could find a way." He hesitated at the grim look on Zack's face. "I am sure she is fine. Maybe she went to a spa. More important now, how are you?"

  "I'm being messed with, that's how I am," Zack said. He was grumpy. He hated being tied down when he knew he needed to be able to protect himself.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  ZACK TOLD MIKKEL ABOUT the events of the previous night. "They're trying to keep me here, Mikkel. I don't know why, but I have to get out of here."

  "I don't know." Mikkel frowned. "People here don't have an agenda like they do in your Hollywood movies. They just try to help. They're keeping you here until you are well enough to go."

  Zack shook his head. He didn't care how nice the people in Greenland were. He knew all too well what Dingo was capable of, and he had connections. If Dingo found the lost city, he would take all the credit for himself. If he found the Bible, he'd sell it to the highest bidder. It would be lost forever.

  "Please, Mikkel. I have to get out of here. You know how important ancient artifacts are. This is Greenland's heritage we're talking about."

  Mikkel was patriotic. He knew he would catch him with that.

  "Alright," Mikkel answered. "So we go."

  That took Zack aback.

  "Just like that? Go?"

  "Why not?"

  "Just walk out. Through the front door?"

  "You will find out if they really are trying to keep you then."

  Zack pulled off the tape holding the IV in the back of his hand, and then gingerly removed the metal needle from his flesh. He swung his feet over the side of the bed and stood up. His legs felt strong, and he bounced back and forth a bit to test them.

  "I would put some clothes on," Mikkel suggested, nodding at the hospital gown he was wearing.

  Zack went into the bathroom and looked at his unshaven face in the mirror, and his eyes rose to the white bandage wrapped around his head. Hardly inconspicuous. He found the tape holding the whole thing together, pulled it off, and unwrapped it. The injury was in the back where he couldn't see it in the mirror. Feeling with his left hand, he found a shaved spot with a lump in the middle. A few stitches adorned the center. He finished dressing quickly, worried he would be caught by the Sumo nurse and tossed back in bed any moment.

  Back in the main room, he stuffed the statue in his pocket and looked at Mikkel. "Let's go."

  Mikkel looked amused. He stood and gestured toward the door. "After you, Adventure Man."

  He stepped into the corridor where he was not tackled by large burly orderlies or men in black. Growing bolder, he walked past the nurse's station.

  One of them called out, "Mr. Cole. The doctor hasn't cleared you yet..."

  "Tell him I cleared myself," he told her, accelerating slightly so that Mikkel had to hurry to catch up with him. They were not followed.

  Unmolested, they stepped out of the hospital building, and sunlight and fresh air surrounded Zack. He breathed in deeply. It smelled great.

  Mikkel had borrowed a car, an ancient rusty Citroen. Zack hesitated, wondering if the vehicle would support both of their weight.

  "She's not pretty," Mikkel admitted. "But you should see the woman I borrowed her from."

  They got in and headed, rattling and backfiring, toward the hotel.

  Still a few blocks away, Zack saw something alarming. "Wait a minute, pull over here," he commanded Mikkel.

  Mikkel pulled over and stopped in front of the local fish and tackle shop. Zack stared out the front windshield. Dingo, Waterson, and Ives were standing on the curb. They looked like they were waiting for someone.

  Mikkel followed his gaze. "Those are your friends from the airport?"

  "They're not my friends. They're nothing but trouble."

  A moment later another two men joined them.

  "I recognize those two," Mikkel said. "Those guys are from the rescue team that pulled you and Sydney out."

  Zack had no recollection, but then again, he'd passed out the moment they'd been saved. "You know them?"

  "Yes, I volunteer on the team sometimes. Those two are young. Extreme sports jocks, always showing off. Stupid. I wonder why they're with your friends?" Mikkel mused.

  They watched as the group piled into a sleek black SUV and drove off.

  "I suppose you want to follow them?" asked Mikkel.

  "You suppose right," Zack said.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  TASIILAQ DID NOT HAVE an airport, but did have a heliport which was seeing more business than usual with the influx of visitors, and that was where the black SUV went. Mikkel drove past the heliport to avoid suspicion. Soon as the search and rescue helicopter droned overhead. Mikkel circled back and parked next to his helicopter.

  "Wait a minute... How can we follow them without them seeing us?" Zack asked.

  "We won't," Mikkel said as they boarded. "But with all the extra people digging around here they won't know it's you. Your friends are working with the search and rescue team. The only place they know is the rescue site. We'll go there."

  Mikkel started it up, and they were airborne.

  They flew the rest of the way in silence. They passed at least half a dozen excavation teams scattered along the glacier's path, and it didn't take long to get to the site. By the time Mikkel dropped altitude to land, Zack was jittery.

  Mikkel brought the helicopter down a far enough distance away so the team wouldn't spot them. They laid down on the snow, and Mikkel handed Zack a pair of binoculars.

  Despite the parka he donned in the helicopter, Zack was instantly chilled to the bone. He shivered as it brought back flashes of the ice and cold they'd endured while they were in the moulin looking for a way out.

  They watched as Dingo's team prepped equipment. They had set up a couple of tents to protect their gear—and they had a lot of it.

  "They look like they're pretty serious," Mikkel asked.

  "They are."

  "How do they know what they'll find down there?"

  Good question. Zack lowered his binoculars and looked at Mikkel.

  "Don't look at me, my friend. You never told me what you found."

  "I'm sorry. You're right. A fair amount of paranoia creeps in when you deal with these sorts of people."

  Mikkel shifted back to watching the team again. "They don't look so bad to me," he said. "They look kind of dumb."

  "Well, the dark-haired guy is just out for adventure. He relies on luck and timing and manages to snatch what he can and run. The blond one—I don't know, but he looks like trouble. The older guy...he is the one to watch out for."

  "He's really bad news?"

  Zack nodded. "The worst."

  "Like the front page, CNN bad news?"

  "Not at all. He's the kind of bad news that no one talks about because they disappear."

  "Disappear? Or disappear disappear?"

  "Disappear disappear."

  "Those search and rescue dummies have no idea what they're getting themselves into," Mikkel said and started to push himself up on stiff arms.

  "Where are you going?" Zack asked.

  "To go to the chopper and radio them."

&nb
sp; Zack put a restraining hand on Mikkel's arm. "We can't give ourselves away now," he said.

  "I'll just call them. Tell them we have a rescue to go to. They leave your bad guys right where they are. Stranded."

  That wasn't a bad idea. Zack looked back at the camp and watched as Dingo turned. He was now facing Zack and Mikkel. Zack sank lower into the snow. Dingo wouldn't be able to spot them without a set of binoculars, but still...

  Dingo pulled a handgun out of his belt and checked it. He glanced over his shoulder, but the other men were in a deep discussion and paid him no attention. Dingo slipped the gun back into his belt and slipped his thick jacket over it to conceal it again.

  "He has a gun!" Mikkel said. "I'll bet it's not even registered."

  Zack felt even colder now.

  Ives turned away from the hole. He froze and stared intently in Zack's direction.

  They can't see us, can they? It has to be a coincidence.

  But then Ives pointed right at him.

  Suddenly the faint howl of barking dogs disturbed the silence. Zack scanned the surrounding landscape and spotted two dogsled teams, with two men on each sled about a mile away and headed right toward them.

  "We have to—" Zack started to say turning to Mikkel, but his friend was already gone.

  Zack sat up and swung his body around. Mikkel stood at the helicopter, frozen in place, staring at the approaching dogsled team.

  "What are you doing?" Zack shouted.

  Mikkel had a guilty look on his face. "I wanted to radio the search and rescue guys, but I think they saw me when I got up."

  The barking of the dogs got louder. Zack whipped his head around. One team had split off and headed in Dingo's direction. The other team was still coming toward them. They were getting closer, and it was clear they had guns.

  Zack jumped up and ran for the helicopter. "Let's get out of here!" he shouted, but Mikkel still stood motionless.

  "Mikkel, let's go!" he shouted, but his voice was drowned out by the sound of a dozen or more barking huskies.

  He turned, ready to fight for his life, and found himself face to face with two very ominous military looking men. One of the men spoke in rapid Danish and motioned with his rifle toward the helicopter.

  Mikkel found his voice and seemed to be very much relieved as he greeted the men.

  Zack watched the other sled team race toward Dingo's group and then turned his attention back to the unintelligible conversation taking place in front of him.

  Mikkel nodded at the men, turned to Zack and said, "We have to leave. This area is part of an investigation into a couple of explorers that got lost."

  Zack pulled his hood a little closer to his face and turned away from the men. They weren't paying any attention to him anyway as they set off to assist the other men in convincing Dingo's team to go home as well.

  "Who were those men?"

  "Sirius Sledge Patrol. Danish Special Forces."

  "Whoa! Seriously? Military on dogsleds?"

  "Yeah, They're a special military unit that guards the Danish sovereignty in Northeast Greenland National Park. They don't generally patrol this far south but were called in to assist in the investigation."

  "They didn't recognize me?"

  "They're investigating a man and a woman. I told them you were a tourist come to watch the ice melt," Mikkel said.

  Zack watched as an animated conversation took place between Dingo and the Sirius Patrol team, mildly disappointed that it was not accentuated by gunfire. Taking Dingo and his team out of the picture permanently would have solved a number of problems. But outnumbered and outgunned, Dingo's team began to pack up.

  Satisfied that no more work could be done by anyone that day, Zack hoisted himself into the helicopter next to Mikkel, who had already boarded. It only took a moment to start, but it felt like forever. Finally, the helicopter lifted into the air, and they pulled away.

  "I'm getting you back to your hotel in Nuuk. Tasiilaq is probably not the best place for you to be right now."

  "We can pick up gear while we're there," Zack said.

  "You still want to come back after that?" he asked.

  "Especially after that. They're serious about it, and they won't stop until they find something. I can't let that happen."

  Mikkel nodded without saying anything more. Zack was stubborn almost to the point of stupidity, and even though he knew it, his stubbornness also meant he would never admit to it.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  THE CAFÉ BARISTA IN Nuuk was dark inside, lights hanging from the ceiling burning low and giving the place an intimate feel even with all the people packed inside. Almost everyone here was a foreigner. Zack was glad he didn't recognize any of them from his seat in a corner booth.

  As soon as he ordered, Zack noticed Sydney sitting at the bar, sipping a cup of coffee. A mixture of emotions ran through him from elation that she hadn't gone, to anger that she was still here and so, in danger.

  She looked at him but made a point of refusing to make eye contact. He pulled out the soapstone figurine and placed it on the table in front of him.

  The waitress interrupted his thoughts, returning with a warm bowl of suaasat and an ice-cold bottle of Faxe Kondi.

  "Can I get you any—" The woman stopped dead. She had a thin face with thick lips, which gave her the appearance of a fish, especially now with her eyes bugging out. Following her locked gaze, Zack found the woman was staring at the statue.

  Did she know what it was? Was that even possible?

  The waitress backed away from them, never taking her eyes off the little statuette until she was halfway across the café and broke quickly for the back room.

  That was strange.

  Zack put the little figurine into the pocket of his jacket. "Better you stay hidden," he said to the troublesome artifact.

  Five or ten minutes passed before Sydney got up and disappeared down the narrow passage that led to the restrooms.

  Zack let out a breath.

  What was she still doing here? Is she after the Bible?

  He considered going after her but didn't want to give her the satisfaction. Plus, if she really was going to the ladies room then...that could be awkward. She'd walked out on him, and he wasn't about to chase her. He wanted to work alone. He worked better alone.

  Zack tried to focus on all the things he would need to do tomorrow. He made a list in his mind. It grew longer by the second. Dingo was hot on his trail, and he had to get everything organized as quickly as possible. He'd have to update Father Giovanni and alert the Greenland National Museum of the discovery before Dingo took credit. There had to be other people brought in, people they trusted. He knew some of the best people in the business. Well, not as good as him, of course, but good enough. And there were even a few he trusted for this kind of endeavor. And then there was the matter of equipment and, of course, time was of the essence.

  Zack sat back up and reached for his soda.

  A thick hand grabbed the bottle and pulled it away from him first. Zack followed the arm the hand was attached to up to a man's heavily muscled shoulder. There, on the black sleeve of the man's jacket, was a patch that read Danish National Police.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  A HEAVY FACE GLARED down at Zack. The eyes in that face were less than friendly.

  Zack sat up the rest of the way. "Is there a problem, officer?"

  The policeman sat down across from Zack. There were four men just as big as this one and wearing the same uniforms standing around the booth now. His highly attuned sense of danger told him there was something wrong here.

  "Sir," the officer sitting at the table with him said, "I am Captain Kurkul of the Danish National Police. We are the police force here in Greenland, by the grace of Queen Margrethe the Second and the Kingdom of Denmark. We need to speak with you."

  "Speak to me about what, Captain Kraken?" Zack asked.

  "It's Kurkul, Captain Kurkul." The man's scowl darkened.

 
Zack didn't know what local law they had run afoul of. But it wasn't the first time a police agency or government functionary had gotten their hackles up over some minor thing he'd done. Or, in some cases, some major infraction that he'd committed. He knew the look. This was the look.

  Over the man's shoulder, Zack spotted Sydney, who had just come out of the restrooms. He shook his head in a barely perceptible motion. He could see in her face that she read his message loud and clear. Don't come over here. Leave. Get out of here now.

  She turned and slipped into the mass of people around her just as Captain Kurkul turned to scan the crowd in the direction Zack was looking.

  He turned back to the table, still holding onto Zack's drink. "Looking for someone? Your lady friend perhaps? Where is she?"

  "What lady friend?"

  "The one you brought with you from America."

  "Oh, her." Zack shrugged. "She left. I'm not as charming as I look, apparently. She went back to the states."

  The police captain was looking at him intently. Finally, the man shrugged and set the matter aside. "Imagine that," he said. "But I'm not here to talk about your private affairs. You have something that belongs to Greenland, and by extension, the Kingdom of Denmark. I'd like you to hand it over to me. Now."

  Zack laughed. "Officer, I don't have anything belonging to Denmark, not even any Danish currency. I hope they'll take American Express to pay for these drinks."

  Captain Kurkul leaned in closer, his teeth grinding together. "You have a piece of national heritage in your pocket. You will return it. Now."

  Zack understood. The soapstone statue.

  He expected everyone in the bar to be watching the spectacle of five police officers interrogating a foreigner. But everyone was keeping their eyes carefully averted. No one wanted any part of what was happening there, lest they get caught up in it, too. They didn't want to risk the guilt by association.