The Cup

by Alex Lukeman

  "Keep going," Haddad said.

  After four more blows the bricked up opening crumbled, revealing a lightless passage behind. An ancient odor of dust and something unpleasant wafted into the room.

  "We've done as you asked," Jalal said. "Let us go."

  "All right," Haddad said.

  He pulled the trigger. The burst took Ibrihim in the chest and knocked him back against the wall. He fell forward onto the floor. Haddad swung the muzzle and shot Jalal. He walked over and fired a single shot to the head of each man, then spat on the bodies.

  "Shia dogs," he said.

  CHAPTER 52

  A Hercules C-130 carrying Nick and the others approached Lebanon at 35,000 feet, the maximum height for a HAHO jump. They'd spent a half hour on pure oxygen to purge most of the nitrogen from their blood before climbing over 10,000 feet. The depths of the ocean were not the only place where humans could come down with a painful and fatal case of the bends.

  Selena had made one military jump at high altitude, but a HAHO jump was a different ballgame. The jump over the Himalayas had been high up but the target hadn’t been that far below and she's been down in a matter of minutes. Even with her long history of sky diving and sport jumping, the Tibet mission had taught her that what she'd learned as a civilian paled in comparison to what the military went through on a mission.

  As in Tibet, Selena had a fitted mask and plenty of oxygen. Jumping that high and then gliding for many miles meant long exposure to the cold outside the aircraft and increased danger of hypoxia. To combat the cold she wore a high altitude suit and heavy over gloves. Her chute was a high glide ratio variation designed specifically for HAHO jumps. There would be no freefalling on this mission. They would pop chutes as soon as they left the plane. Nick had warned her that the shock when it opened would be unlike anything she'd experienced before. Then they would begin a long, flat glide to the target in Darraya, more than fifty miles away.

  Selena was nervous. A jump like this was right up at the top of special forces skills and a lot could go wrong. It was a long way from the life she'd led before the Project.

  Unlike Tibet, their gear had been distributed to equalize weight. They would be a long time in the air. Heavy objects fell faster under a chute and she weighed less than Nick and the others. It was enough to alter her rate of descent and make it impossible to keep the team together. The result was that she was burdened with more than usual to make up for the weight differential.

  The container with her gear rested at her feet, under the orange strap bench where she sat. In the air she would be a flying pack mule, but she wouldn't have to carry it all on the ground.

  Two physiology technicians Nick called PTs kept an eye on the team, looking for any sign of altitude sickness or symptoms of something going wrong. All through the flight they'd been monitoring the team's oxygen levels, watching for signs of distress.

  "ETA, twenty minutes."

  The voice of the pilot came over their headsets.

  "Saddle up," Nick said.

  He helped Selena with her gear and her chute, checking that everything was as it was supposed to be. He didn't let her see his concern about her being on this mission. HAHO jumps made the dangers of normal parachuting seen like a ride in an amusement park.

  Ronnie came over after helping Lamont and checked Nick's gear. He made a minor adjustment to a strap.

  "How you feeling?" he asked Selena.

  "Honestly? Nervous as hell."

  Ronnie laughed. "You'll be fine. You'll also be the only woman who's ever done this."

  "Sure," Selena said. "Too bad no one will ever hear about it."

  "Just remember, when that chute opens it's going to be one hell of a jerk. Be ready for it. After that, it's a piece of cake."

  One of the PTs came to where they were standing. "We're four minutes out. Get ready to change over to your oxygen bottles."

  At two minutes everyone switched over to personal oxygen. The ramp opened, sucking heat from the plane. They moved toward the back. Selena felt her heart pounding. All she could see through the opening was darkness. The sound of the wind blended in harsh chorus with the sound of the engines.

  The jump master's voice sounded in her ear piece. "Thirty seconds."

  "Remember to stay close," Nick said to Selena.

  They lined up for the jump, Nick first, Selena second, Ronnie and Lamont behind. The red light on the jump indicator turned to green.

  "Go," Nick said.

  He leapt from the plane. Trying not to think about it, Selena jumped into space after him and popped the chute. It felt as though a gigantic, unseen predator had snuck up behind her and tried to tear her arms off her body.

  The cold struck like a hammer through the heavy clothing and gloves she wore. Without the mask her face would have frozen within seconds. She kept an eye on her oxygen gauge and maneuvered the chute to keep formation with Nick, gliding in front of her, a dark blur against a deeper darkness.

  Below, the coast of Lebanon fell behind. She took one last look. An intermittent string of lights ran down the coast against the blackness of the Atlantic beyond. Ahead lay darkness and the murderous battlefields of Syria.

  CHAPTER 53

  Darraya at night from a thousand feet looked like a vision from Dante's Inferno. Fires smoldered in dozens of places, casting a reddish gloom over the doomed city. The smell of smoke and decay drifted in the air. Shattered buildings rose like broken teeth along the desolate streets.

  Bright rows of tracers arced through the night below, an eerily beautiful shower of death. Nick had told her there were nine rounds you didn't see for every one you did. An occasional flash from Assad's artillery on the edge of the city was followed by a burst of light somewhere in the ruins.

  They landed two blocks away from their target. At the last possible instant, Selena just missed impaling herself on jagged pieces of steel rebar sticking out of the rubble. Nick felt the shock of the landing in his back. As long as he kept moving it wouldn't stiffen up on him, but he knew he'd pay for it later.

  They pulled in the chutes, balled them up and dumped them behind a broken wall. Then they stripped off the insulating clothing and broke the containers open for their weapons and supplies.

  For this mission, Nick had picked MP7s as their primary weapon. The 4.6 X 30mm ammo fired by the H-K could punch through any body armor made, along with the person wearing it. Each of the guns was fitted with a suppressor and a thirty round magazine. They all had a pistol strapped to their chests and a knife on the thigh.

  "Weapons free," Nick said.

  They charged their weapons.

  Monocular night vision units cut through the darkness and turned the grim landscape into a bizarre painting in green and black. They took some getting used to but Nick preferred them, because they preserved normal vision in one eye. It was too easy to become temporarily blinded by sudden light when both eyes were looking through a unit.

  Each carried a radio, survival pack with food and a medical combat pack. They'd brought C4 and detonators and extra loaded magazines for the MP 7s. They had plenty of ammunition if they needed it. They had stun grenades, regular grenades and smoke.

  Each was equipped with a personal satellite communication system that let them talk with each other and with Stephanie back in Virginia. Hood was monitoring the mission at Langley. If needed, he could break in. If he did, it meant trouble was on the way.

  They tossed the empty containers and high-altitude clothing over the wall to join the chutes. Nick consulted his GPS.

  "This way." He gestured.

  They moved in single file. By now, Selena had learned the tricks taught by the experience of combat. Her eyes were constantly moving, sorting out images from the night vision unit from her normal vision. At first it was disorienting to see differently through each eye, but it wasn't the first time she'd used the device. It didn't take long to adapt. She was aware of her breath, the sound her boots made on the broken rubble under her feet, t
he rhythmic pounding of her heart. She could smell herself, a sour odor of sweat, adrenaline and stress.

  A stream of tracers shot by overhead, streaks of fire in the night.

  Stealing through the ravaged streets of Darraya, she had never felt so alive in her life.

  They reached the Syriac church. It had been a large building, almost a cathedral. Part of the roof still stood. The front wall and most of one side wall were gone. The interior of the church was a jumble of broken debris. Pieces of stone and concrete were piled along what had been the front of the building.

  "Now what?" Ronnie said.

  His voice was quiet. The comm system was sensitive enough to pick up a whisper.

  "Adam said there's a trap door somewhere in there. People are using it, so they'll have made some kind of path. No one's going to climb over this wall to read a book. Let's check the side."

  They moved down the alley between the church and the building next to it and found an open door. The path was obvious, once you looked for it. They reached the trap door. It was open, thrown back against the rubble.

  "Would they leave it open like that?" Selena asked. "That doesn't seem right."

  Nick glanced over the edge and saw the stairs leading down.

  "There's a light showing down there. It's steep, we'll have to go down single file and the passage is narrow. Pull the night vision once you get close."

  Lamont looked over the edge of the opening. "I don't like it. We're sitting ducks for anyone down there."

  "We don't have much choice."

  "How about we toss a stun grenade in, just to be sure?"

  "That's a plan. Reminds me of the bad old days in Iraq."

  He took a stun grenade from a pouch on his belt.

  "It's probably just civilians in there," Selena said.

  "We can't take the chance," Nick said. "If there are civilians, they'll get over it."

  When he reached the foot of the stairs, Nick pulled the pin on the stun grenade and tossed it into the room. The sound of the grenade was enormous in the confined space. Selena's ears were ringing even though she'd covered them. Her eyes had been shut tight, but the bright blast of light given off by the grenade sent spots dancing across them.

  Nick was into the room in a second, weapon held to his cheek and shoulder. The others were right behind him.

  "Place has been torn apart." Lamont kicked at a book on the floor.

  Nick bent over the bodies on the floor. He touched one of the men.

  "Still warm. These two have been shot. They don't look like combatants."

  They looked at the passage in the wall and the broken bricks in front of it.

  "This was sealed up," Nick said.

  "Someone's looking for the Grail," Selena said. "It can't be anything else."

  "He might still be here," Lamont said. "Down that tunnel."

  "Only one way to find out," Nick said.

  He stood to the side of the entrance and glanced in.

  "I can see a wall little farther on. Follow me in. No lights."

  He turned off his flash and pulled the night vision unit down over his left eye. The others followed him in.

  CHAPTER 54

  Not long before, Haddad had slung his rifle over his shoulder, picked up one of the oil lamps lighting the room and started down the passage.

  On the street above, an artillery shell landed somewhere close to the ruins. The earth shook. Bits of dirt showered down on him. Haddad held up the light and looked at the roof of the passage. The mortar holding the stones together was old and brittle, crumbling. Another shell landed, dropping bits of mortar on the centuries of dust covering the floor.

  The passage went straight, curved right and then left. After a hundred steps it opened into another room. Open shelves filled with bones lined the sides, four high.

  A catacomb. These infidel dogs can't even bury their dead properly.

  An ancient hint of decay hung in the stale air. Haddad sneezed.

  A low stone stood few feet from the wall at the far end of the room. A Syriac cross stood upon it. Two ancient candles set in wooden holders flanked the cross. Haddad used the lamp to light them.

  The flame of the candles threw flickering shadows about the macabre room. The stacked bones in the crypts gleamed in the light. The empty eyes of the grinning skulls seem to be watching him.

  The cup has to be here, he thought.

  He hoped it wasn't hidden amid the bones. Death didn't bother him. Raqqa was filled with death and skulls. But it would take time to go through all those bones. Sooner or later someone would discover the bodies outside and things would get complicated.

  No, the logical place would be the altar or nearby.

  He examined the wall behind the altar for any sign of a loose stone or hiding place. There wasn't anything there. The wall was solid, part of the church foundation.

  He leaned against the corner of the altar and felt it move.

  Allahhu Akbar! It's underneath!.

  He put the lamp down, took the AK off his shoulder and laid it on the altar. With both hands, he pushed against the corner of the heavy altar. It pivoted in an arc, stone scraping against stone, revealing a compartment hollowed out in the floor underneath.

  In the compartment was a wooden box.

  Haddad reached down and lifted the box from its hiding place. He straightened, picked up the lamp from the floor and set it on the altar. He wiped dust away and held the box up to examine it.

  It was made of olive wood, polished to a high gloss. The quality of workmanship was obvious. The box was square. The diamond cross was carved into each side. Whoever had made it had spent a lot of time making it beautiful.

  He had also done something to conceal the way it could be opened.

  Haddad turned the box around in his hands. All the sides looked the same. He pressed against one of them. It moved and clicked but nothing happened. He held it between both hands and pressed. Both sides moved, but the box remained closed.

  Everything was smooth. There was nothing to grab, no obvious lid, no keyhole. The more he looked at the object in his hands, the more Haddad felt himself growing frustrated.

  Another shell struck near the church, rattling the bones of the dead monks. He heard a loud explosion echo through the passage behind him.

  That was close, he thought.

  A skull fell off its shelf and rolled across the floor to his feet. The vacant eye sockets looked up at Haddad as if to mock him. He kicked the skull across the room. It shattered against the wall.

  Another shell struck and then another. Dust poured down from the ceiling.

  I have to be sure, he thought. I have to get this open.

  He reached for his knife with his left hand, a heavy fighting knife taken from a British soldier. Lamont's voice came from behind him.

  "Freeze, asshole!"

  Haddad was facing the altar, his back to the entrance of the room. The AK lay inches from his right hand.

  They'll question me. Water board me. Sooner or later I'll tell them what I know.

  He began to recite the Shahada, the prayer of acceptance and surrender.

  "In the name of Allah, the magnificent..."

  Haddad grabbed the rifle and started to turn. Nick and Selena and Ronnie and Lamont all fired at the same time. The bullets ripped through him, spraying blood and bone and tissue over the altar and the wall behind. The box flew out of his hand as his body was driven back against the altar. The AK dropped from lifeless fingers. He fell against the altar and slipped to the floor.

  "Stupid," Lamont said.

  Selena walked over to the box and picked it up. It felt warm in her hands.

  "The altar was moved," Nick said. "There's a space under it."

  "I think this was in it," Selena held up the box.

  "Is that what I think it is?"

  "What else could it be?" Selena said. "The Grail must be inside."

  "Open it up. Let's see," Ronnie said.

  Selena turne
d the box around in her hands.

  "I don't see any way to do it."

  "We'll figure it out later," Nick said. "We need to get out of here. It will be light soon."

  "Let me search this guy before we go," Lamont said.

  He went to Haddad's body and started going through his clothes. There was nothing except a well used pocket copy of the Koran, a scrap of paper and some Syrian and Iraqi currency. Lamont pocketed the items.

  "Done."

  Nick looked at Haddad's face.

  "I'll be damned. This is the guy Stephanie showed us. Our spymaster."

  "Looks like his spying days are over," Lamont said.

  "Time to boogie," Nick said. "Selena, you take care of that box."

  They followed the passage back to the library, stepped over the bodies of the students and climbed back to the surface. It was still dark. A fire had started nearby from the shelling. Whatever was burning threw enough light to make the night vision units useless.

  Nick stood by the open trap door and called for extraction.

  "Spooky One, Bird Boy."

  "Copy, Bird Boy. Ready to fly?"

  "Affirmative."

  "Copy that, I have your location. Out."

  "Spooky One?" Selena asked. "Bird Boy?"

  "It wasn't me that thought it up. You can thank Hood."

  An artillery shell landed nearby. In the brief light of the explosion, Lamont saw shadowy figures moving toward the church. They had weapons.

  "We've got company," he said. "Looks like a dozen or so. They're armed."

  "I thought this was too easy," Ronnie said.

  "Coming here?" Nick asked.

  "Looks like it. I don't think they want to borrow a book."

  Nick looked around. The only way out was through the side door they'd used to enter.

  "We make a break for it, they'll see us."

  "They have to come through that door, just like we did," Ronnie said.

  "Yeah. Better hope they don't have an RPG with them."