by Alex Lukeman
"Yes."
"Impossible."
"Nevertheless, it's true. They also found the tracking device we planted and destroyed it."
"I suppose we should have anticipated that. Do they suspect your involvement?"
"No. They contacted me after they returned from Portugal, as agreed. I complemented them on their work and expressed dismay when they told me of the attack. Then I offered to finance an expedition to look for the treasure. I offered a one tenth share if they succeeded in recovering it. Even someone as rich as Connor couldn't possibly turn that down."
"Did they take the bait?"
"They did. The husband insisted on full operational control, but that's to be expected. After all, we hired them for their expertise in such things."
"They didn't ask questions about bothersome government regulations regarding recovered antiquities?"
"No, they didn't. Greed is always such a wonderful motivator, don't you think?"
"I sense the master's hand at work," Payne said.
"I wish he had been paying attention when our men were killed."
"Be careful what you say, Alan. He has his own way of steering events."
"I meant no disrespect."
"You had better hope he understands that."
Lunatic, Dubois thought.
"What are your orders?"
"Make the funds available to them for the expedition. Be sure you understand their plan in detail. Prepare a team to intervene if they discover anything of value. We'll let them run."
"And if they find the relic?"
"Make them disappear."
The call over, Payne got up and made his way across the keep to the chapel. It was always closed and locked, to keep the occasional unexpected visitor from seeing what was inside. He unlocked the heavy doors and entered.
Payne made the sign and approached the statue dominating the far end. With difficulty, he got down on his knees and prostrated himself on the stone floor.
He waited for a long time, hoping for acknowledgment, but none came. After a while, he rose and returned to the library.
CHAPTER 16
Three days later, Nick, Selena, Elizabeth, and Stephanie waited in the loft for the arrival of Ronnie and Lamont.
"Stephanie said, "I didn't think Lamont was going to come back. Not after Argentina."
"It took a little persuading," Nick said. "But I had him figured out. You can only sit around fishing for so long before you get tired of it. Lamont was never the kind of guy to put up with boredom."
"And Ronnie?"
"That was interesting," Nick said. "He already knew I was going to call. He's studying to be a medicine man with his uncle. I guess the old guy knows a thing or two. He told Ronnie I would call and that he should listen to what I said."
"That's weird."
It is not accurate to call it weird, Stephanie. There are many documented instances of Native American shamans demonstrating unusual abilities. Would you like to hear about them?
Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Freddie, not right now."
The bell from the street entrance sounded. Selena got up and looked at the security camera.
"They're downstairs."
She triggered the lock. A few minutes later, Ronnie and Lamont came into the loft.
"Damn," Lamont said. "I never thought I'd be so happy to see your ugly faces again."
Nick got up and hugged him. "Good to see you, man."
Lamont's coffee-colored skin was burned dark from the Florida sun. The long shrapnel scar on his face stood out in a hard, pink line. It started over his left eye and slashed across his forehead like a miniature lightning bolt, then went down the side of his nose, giving him a fierce look that hid his easy-going nature.
He'd dressed in a dark green shirt and khaki colored cargo pants. The pants concealed a Glock 23 in a special quick-draw pocket. Even though Nick knew it was there, he couldn't see it.
He turned to Ronnie. "Hey, amigo."
Ronnie was red from days spent outside on the Reservation. The tip of his large nose was peeling and he'd lost weight. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt from his collection. This one was a classic from the 50s. The colors were a little faded, but still bright. A red station wagon with wooden sides and surfboards tied on top was parked on the beach, while the blue Pacific beckoned in the background under a sun-filled sky. A happy couple in bathing suits ran toward the water. The scene repeated endlessly across the shirt.
They took seats on the couch.
"What's the story, Nick?" Ronnie asked. "You were a little short on details over the phone."
"I didn't want to say much on an open line. I figured I'd brief you when you got here."
"So, brief," Lamont said.
"You remember about Adam?"
"Is he back again?" Ronnie asked. "What does he want this time?"
"He wants us to go to Croatia and retrieve a relic. It's part of a treasure hidden by the Templars back in the fourteenth century."
Nick ran it down. How Selena had been approached by Dubois with the Templar document. How they'd gone to Portugal and been attacked. How they'd found the map of the Mediterranean and the silver dot they thought marked the location of the treasure in Croatia. He told them how Dubois was offering a tenth of the treasure if they found it, on top of a million dollars already paid.
"Tell them about Dubois," Selena said.
"Dubois is our contact with the man financing the expedition. Adam told me not to trust him. He's bent."
"Who's behind him?" Ronnie asked. "Who's putting up the money?"
"I don't know. There's something else I haven't told you."
Nick repeated what Adam had said about a battle between forces. How if they failed to recover the relic, really bad things would happen. He didn't tell them about feeling watched by something unnatural and evil.
Ronnie let out a long breath. "My uncle warned me something like this could happen, if I came back here."
"How could he know something like that?"
Ronnie ignored the question. "He said that this person you talk about, the one with the money, is a Yee Naaldlooshii, a Skinwalker. We must be careful if we go after him."
"What's a Skinwalker?" Lamont said.
"A man who has lost his soul to evil."
"You really believe in stuff like that?"
"If you'd been brought up on the Reservation like me, you'd believe it too."
"Let me see if I've got it straight," Lamont said. "We've been hired by a guy Ronnie thinks is some kind of demon, and Adam wants us to go to this old Templar outpost in Croatia and look for a relic that can turn everything to shit if it falls into the wrong hands."
Nick nodded. "That's about right."
"How do we know there's anything there?"
"We don't. We found the building in a satellite photo. I want to do a scan and see if something turns up before we go any further."
"What happens if we find the loot?" Lamont said. "How are we supposed to get it out of there?"
"We're not going to get it out of there. The only thing we have to bring out is that relic. It's not our job to retrieve the treasure."
"They already paid us a million bucks?" Lamont asked. "Whether we find it or not?"
"That's right. We'll split it. We're supposed to get ten percent of the treasure if it's recovered. But these people are liars. We couldn't keep it anyway, so don't count on it."
"Man, I could use part of a million bucks," Lamont said. "If it wasn't for the Project, I wouldn't have diddly squat. It's not like I saved up a lot of money in the SEALS. The pension's not great, either."
"What did you expect from a grateful nation?" Ronnie asked. "Flowers and champagne?"
"What I got is swamp grass and beer."
Laughter filled the room.
"You reforming the Project, Director?" Ronnie asked.
"That depends," Elizabeth said.
"On what?"
"On whether or not everybody wants to keep go
ing after this mission to Croatia. Let me tell you about how things are. The first thing you need to know is that we're under Langley's umbrella. We answer to the seventh floor but we're unofficial and deniable."
"Nothing new about that," Lamont said.
"What's new is that if we continue as a unit, we get to say whether or not we take on a mission. Before, we didn't have a choice."
"We can pick and choose?" Ronnie asked.
"That's right. I had Hood put it in writing. The agreement is stashed away where no one can see it."
"That won't do us much good if something goes wrong," Ronnie said.
"In that sense, nothing has changed," Elizabeth said. "We were always skating on thin ice before. There's a presidential finding giving us authority, so we've got that working for us. It means we can get the same logistics support we got in the past. I just have to go through Langley to get it. With Clarence at the helm, that's not a problem."
"What happens when he's gone?"
"We'll deal with that if and when we come to it. In the meantime, we need to start thinking about this mission."
"How about we send out for something before we start?" Lamont said. "Anybody want pizza?"
"You never stop thinking about food, do you?" Ronnie said.
"I've got a high metabolism, my man. I have to keep it fueled."
"Pepperoni sounds good," Nick said.
CHAPTER 17
After lunch they gathered in the living room in front of a large television. Stephanie connected the television to her laptop, so Freddie could send whatever they needed to the screen.
"All set, Nick," Stephanie said.
"Okay. Freddie?"
Yes, Nick?
"Show us a map of Croatia and the Adriatic."
The map appeared in living color. Nick walked over to the television and stood near the screen.
"Freddie, please mark the objective."
A red flashing dot appeared on an island off the coast.
"The dot marks the location of the ruin. Freddie was able to find it using the information we discovered in Portugal. The island is called Brac. It's one of the largest in the Adriatic. Great beaches and lots of tourists in the summer. There's not much happening this time of year, and nothing in the area of the ruin. Freddie, show us a map of the island."
The map of Croatia vanished. The new map appeared.
"You can see there aren't any roads on this part of the island. Anyone that wanted to see the ruin would have to land on the beach or hike in. They'd have to be pretty ambitious to climb up to it. There's nothing else in the area. No villages or houses."
"Do we have any close up shots?" Lamont asked.
"We got Hood to do a drone flyover. Freddie, can you play the video?"
Yes, Nick. I am happy to oblige.
The video began, taken from the bird's eye view of the drone. The Templar outpost was a square structure of gray stone, perched on a high hill that sloped down to a crescent beach of white sand.
The ruin was in fair condition, considering that it had been battered by winds and storms coming off the Adriatic for more than seven hundred years. The building had three stories, with the lower level built into the side of the hill.
Most of the Templar outposts had been attacked and destroyed, but this one didn't look as though it had ever been besieged. The walls were intact. Part of the roof had fallen in. There was a single, arched opening into the building, flanked by two narrow windows.
"I can't imagine anything worthwhile would still be inside," Selena said.
"A GPR scan could tell us if anything's there," Nick said.
"I already thought of that," Elizabeth said. "We'll have something to look at tomorrow."
The drone video continued past the building.
"Vehicle tracks," Ronnie said. "See them? Freddie, freeze the video."
They all looked at the tracks.
"Military," Nick said. "Look at the width of the track. Maybe a Gaz Tigr or something similar."
"What's a gas tiger?" Stephanie said.
"Gaz, not gas. It's a Russian troop transport. A light armored 4 x 4. Their special forces use them."
"Spetsnaz? What would they be doing up there?" Selena asked.
"I don't think they are up there," Nick said. "Croatia is part of the EU now. There's no reason for any Russians except tourists to be on that island and not too many of them, now that Orlov is making trouble in the Ukraine. Those tracks are probably from Croatian forces. They've got a lot of Russian equipment left over from the wars."
"There's something we need to talk about," Selena said. "None of you understand the languages over there."
"We're not planning on sticking around long enough to make friends," Nick said.
"Don't be a smart ass. What happens if you run into the locals? What are you going to say to them? You need someone who speaks the language."
"You always did that for us," Ronnie said.
"Yes, but I'm not going."
"You sound like you have an idea," Elizabeth said.
"I do. Take Valentina with you."
Selena's Russian half-sister was the product of a forbidden liaison between Selena's father and a Russian spy. Her father had been a CIA agent in West Berlin during the Cold War. Her mother, a KGB agent on the other side of the wall. Somewhere in the process of trying to use each other, they had fallen in love.
Not long ago Valentina had defected, convinced she would be arrested if she stayed in the Federation.
Nick looked at Selena. "Valentina?"
"She speaks Russian. That will usually get you by in Croatia. Plus she's tough. She can handle weapons and kick ass if she has to."
"Am I missing something here? Your sister is a colonel in the SVR. Why would we take her?"
"Was an SVR colonel. She's not one anymore."
"Sure, but her loyalty is to the Federation, not to us. We can't trust her."
"She may be loyal to the idea of her country, but she's not loyal to the regime or its policies."
"I can't risk having someone on the team with divided loyalties."
"Having someone with you who can speak Russian increases your chances of success."
"I don't know," Nick said.
"It's not a bad idea, Nick," Ronnie said. "She's tough and she's smart."
Selena suppressed a smile.
"How do we get into the country?" Lamont asked.
"You could be tourists," Elizabeth said. "Canadian, not American. It's easy enough to get you passports. We could give you a business cover. Maybe looking to import Croatian pottery, something like that."
"That might work," Nick said.
"What about Valentina?" Selena asked. "If she's going, she needs to be part of the planning process."
"The language is a problem, you're right about that. You're forgetting something, though."
"What's that?"
"We don't know if she'll cooperate. Where is she being held?"
"Not far from here. She's in a CIA safe house in Virginia. They've finished debriefing her, but they haven't decided what to do with her yet."
"Director, can you bring her here?"
"I'm not the director anymore, Nick. But yes, I can have her brought here."
"Let's face it. You're still running things. I'm more comfortable calling you by your old title."
Elizabeth sighed. "If that's what you want, Nick."
CHAPTER 18
DCI Hood ordered Valentina released to Elizabeth's responsibility. It was a temporary arrangement, dependent on how Valentina responded to the proposition that she go with them as a participating member of the team. It was also a way to test the genuineness of her defection.
Valentina sat next to Selena on the couch, with the stillness of a predator. She wasn't sure if she was in the presence of enemies or friends.
Sitting side-by-side, the relationship between the half sisters was apparent. Both Selena and Valentina had the same prominent cheekbones, one slightly higher than t
he other, a genetic gift from some forgotten ancestor. Both had unusual, intense eyes, similarly shaped. Selena's were a deep blue that often turned violet, Valentina's an intense green that hinted at secrets and hidden thoughts.
Valentina was a little shorter than Selena. Selena was tall, lithe and muscular, with the body of an athlete. At first glance Valentina appeared softer, more voluptuous, but that was deceptive. The curves of her body hid tightly coiled muscles underneath. Selena's hair was reddish blonde and cut short. Valentina's long, dark hair was coiled on her head in the regulation SVR fashion that had become second nature to her.
Both were highly skilled in deadly martial arts, Valentina in the Russian Systema, Selena in Krav Maga and the Korean art of Kuk Sul Won. Nick thought Selena would have the edge in hand-to-hand fighting. Both were familiar and practiced with many kinds of weapons.
Nick was glad he didn't have to face either one of them in combat.
Elizabeth took charge of the meeting.
"Valentina, you already know Ronnie and Lamont and Nick. I'm Elizabeth Harker. This is Stephanie Willits. She's my deputy and speaks for me."
"I know who you are," Valentina said. "You are Director of the Project. General Vysotsky talked about you. He admired you."
Her English was good, with a soft accent.
"We don't call it the Project, anymore," Elizabeth said. "We are an unofficial group."
Valentina shrugged. "As you like. I am glad to thank you in person for getting me out of Russia."
"You're welcome. You're probably wondering why you're here."
"It is pleasant to see my sister again, but yes, I am curious."
"We have a few questions for you."
"I thought I was done with debriefings?"
"Not those kinds of questions," Selena said. "We have something we want to discuss with you, but we need to know a few things first."
"What kind of things?"
"How do you feel about being here, in America?"
"You wish to know what I think of your country?"
Nick and Ronnie looked at each other. Your country, she'd said.
"For a start."
"What do you expect me to say? I have been taught all my life that America is my enemy. My experience of the West is limited to a few assignments in Europe. I am not sure what I think."
