The Minoan Cipher (A Matinicus “Matt” Hawkins Adventure Book 2)

by Paul Kemprecos

  The parade marched further into the room, passing between the biers. The procession continued to the far end of the hall and stopped in front of an altar made of black basalt. Rising from the altar was a horn-shaped sculpture. Framed by the horns was a mummified body that sat in a throne-like chair. On either side of the mummy was a stone pillar with a bronze-bladed double axe sticking out of it.

  Chad only glanced at the hideous dead face before his eye was drawn to the figure lying on the altar itself. Kalliste was bound hand and foot, like a piece of meat ready to be carved up. Chad knew exactly who was going to do the carving; the tall, glassy-eyed woman in the flounced skirt who stood off to the side of the altar holding a long-bladed bronze dagger in her hand. She was staring at him.

  The music had stopped. Everyone seemed to be expecting something. He saw the woman wrinkle her brow and thought maybe she had seen through his disguise. He realized his behavior was raising suspicion. He snapped out of his daze. Recalling Salazar’s instructions, he placed the rhyton next to Kalliste’s head, then stepped aside. The woman smiled and turned to address the others in the procession. She spoke in the unknown language. He didn’t understand a word, but judging from the glittering eyes of the priestesses and the evil grins of the dog-handlers something bad was about to go down.

  He glanced at the unconscious form on the altar. He couldn’t let these creeps hurt Kalliste. Screw Salazar. He reached into the pocket. His fingers found the remote control, gave the knob a twist with his thumb and forefinger, and he waited for the right moment to press the button three times.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE

  After escaping the Minotaur’s lair, Hawkins and Calvin followed the map to a stairwell that took them up three levels. Their ears still rang from the missile explosion and they relied on hand signals to communicate.

  The passageways at the upper level were narrower and better lit than the depths of the Labyrinth. They navigated the warren of corridors at a fast trot, heading in the general direction of a large chamber marked with the snake symbol. The map showed that the big space had entryways on the front and back. The front entrance opened onto an antechamber and a wide flight of stairs. Hawkins decided that the stairway area might be busy with comings and goings, choosing to use the back door to gain entrance.

  He edged around the corner. The corridor was unguarded. He and Calvin dashed to a double-door made of wood held together with metal straps, and tried the latch. The door was locked. On their missions in Afghanistan, Hawkins and Calvin had developed their own sign language to cover unique situations.

  Hawkins pointed to the lock, then to his forehead like the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz.

  Any idea how to do this?

  Calvin made a cranking motion with his hands.

  We drill it.

  Calvin extracted a battery-operated drill from his pack and quickly drilled a circle of holes around the lock. Hawkins drove his rifle butt into the serrated section of wood; it fell inside.

  He forced the door with a shoulder slam. The entryway opened onto a corridor that ran left and right. A strange piping music filled the air. He pointed to his ear. Calvin nodded.

  “Yeah, my hearing’s come back too. Maybe we should split up.”

  Hawkins said, “Let’s do a recon, then decide.”

  Hawkins made a random choice and headed off to the left. They sprinted along the corridor which made a right angle turn into the shadows of the colonnade, and ducked behind a thick column. The vantage point gave them a side view of a stone altar surmounted by horn-shaped sculptures similar to those Hawkins had seen at Knossos.

  As he peered around the column, he noticed the spider-web of cracks, like those in the walls of the lower level where Calvin had spiked the bull robot. A building inspector would condemn this dump in a second.

  Calvin, who was looking through a pair of binoculars, murmured, “This is a freaking freak show.”

  He handed the glasses over. In the torch light Hawkins saw several women dressed in long ruffled skirts and wearing round, flat-topped hats. A bald, blue-headed man—who could have been a brother of the attacker he’d killed on Spinalonga—was holding a tether attached to the same animal pictured in the photo Lily had shown him.

  Another man stepped forward from the crowd toward the altar. His head was shaven but unpainted. Hawkins recognized Salazar from his photo and watched him place a dark object on the altar where Kalliste was curled up.

  As soon as Salazar stepped aside, a woman who wore a taller hat than the others came forward to take his place. Holding a dagger at her waist, she slowly pivoted her body. She wore a long, multi-colored robe pulled back to display her breasts.

  The woman turned in his direction and paused. Hawkins recognized Lily even though her face was covered with heavy make-up. Her eyes were shut tight and her lips were moving. She turned again and stopped. Hawkins surmised that she was offering the knife to the points of the compass. Her lips were moving.

  No time to lose.

  “We need those tear gas grenades pronto,” he said.

  Calvin dug out the canisters and handed one to Hawkins, who mentally kicked himself for not putting Calvin in place on the other side of the room. Even a delay of seconds could cost Kalliste her life.

  “You’re faster than I am with this bum leg. Get to the other side. Give me a single laser flash. I’ll do one flash back to let you know I saw the signal. Count to fifteen. We’ll toss the grenades and move in. Take out anyone in your way. We grab Kalliste and go.”

  Calvin took off at a speed Hawkins could never reach with his patched-together leg bones. Seconds later, as Lily made another quarter turn and stopped, a pinpoint of light blinked almost exactly across from where he stood.

  Hawkins bit down on the air cartridge mouthpiece and began the countdown.

  Lily had completed her 360-degree turn. She lifted the dagger above Kalliste. Hawkins tossed the grenade. In his haste, he made a bad throw. The grenade hit the floor around ten feet from where Lily was standing and skittered toward the blue-headed man.

  The dog monster saw the spinning canister coming his way and lunged away from the threatening object, jerking the leash out of blue-head’s grip.

  A grenade arced in from Calvin’s position. His aim was better, and the hissing canister slid into the crowd. The women in the long gowns scattered in flight amid a chorus of shrieks.

  Hawkins slipped his CAR-15 off his shoulder and moved out from behind the column. He walked with cool deliberation toward the altar. Blue-head had seen him approaching and had his rifle at his waist. But before he could squeeze the trigger, he launched into a coughing fit from the gas rising around him. Hawkins snapped off a shot. The bullet caught the man in the chest. He dropped his weapon and crumpled to the floor.

  Hawkins continued past the twitching body through the billowing gray clouds of gas. Lily was coughing violently, but when she saw him coming toward her she struggled to bring the dagger back over the altar.

  Hawkins aimed the carbine. “Drop the knife, Lily.”

  She got her coughing under control and stared at him with watery eyes that still managed to blaze with fury.

  In a surprisingly clear voice, she said, “I am not Lily. I am Potnia.”

  “Don’t care who you are. Drop the damned knife.”

  Her hands tightened on the hilt of the dagger. Hawkins would have killed her if Lily hadn’t been distracted by the arrival of a second blue-head. He had been on the other side of the crowd where Hawkins hadn’t seen him. He, too, was without his dog monster.

  Hawkins had no time to move his aim from Lily to the new target. But as the blue-head brought his gun to his shoulder, preparing to cut Hawkins in half with a quick blast, the attacker’s body stiffened. The rifle fell from his fingers and he pitched forward onto his weapon.

  Hawkins heard a voice yell, “Hoo-yah!”

  Calvin stepped from the gas cloud, lowered his carbine and stuck the air tank regulator back into his mouth. Hawkins w
ent to give him a thumb’s up, but he faced a new threat. Lily had turned her attention from Kalliste. She staggered toward Hawkins, one hand holding the dagger above her head, and screamed in an unknown tongue. Her face was a mask of fury.

  Her drug-induced frenzy was no match for tear gas. She got into a coughing fit and dropped the dagger so she could place her hands over her mouth. Still coughing, she whirled around and disappeared behind the gas cloud.

  Hawkins signaled Calvin to keep watch and went over to the altar. Kalliste had inhaled tear gas and was coughing convulsively in her slumber. He shouldered his CAR-15 and lifted her in both arms. As he turned away from the altar, he heard Calvin shout:

  “Hawk. Watch your back.”

  A figure appeared out of the gas cloud, holding the lapel of his robe against his face as a makeshift gas mask. He uncovered his face for a second to see where he was going. Hawkins immediately recognized him from the material Molly had sent him.

  Salazar.

  Calvin had removed his air tank to warn Hawkins. He raised his carbine to shoot but when he got a whiff of gas and started coughing. The moment’s delay gave Salazar a second to shout: “Hawkins. Don’t shoot! It’s me. Chad.”

  Hawkins hesitated. Salazar spoke again, this time in an English accent.

  “For godsakes, guv’nor, lower that blasted gun.”

  Hawkins yanked the mouthpiece from between his teeth. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “I’ll explain later. I know the way out of this dump. Follow me.”

  He covered his face again and pointed. Hawkins lifted Kalliste onto his shoulder. With Calvin taking up the rear, they followed their unlikely savior.

  The tear gas had done its job. No one stood in their way as they raced between the rows of mummified priestesses to the chamber door, through the antechamber, then up the stairs. They stepped into the Tripartite Shrine and were headed for the exit when they heard angry voices coming from ahead.

  Salazar had been pacing back and forth in the courtyard outside the entrance to the Tripartite Shrine, waiting impatiently for the explosion Leonidas was supposed to trigger with the remote control. What he got instead was an explosion of disheveled priestesses. They burst through the door of the shrine and fell on the ground where they gasped for air, or vomited, or both.

  He grabbed a priestess by the arm and ordered her to tell him what had happened, but she couldn’t give him a coherent answer. He turned to Bruno.

  “Take the men inside and find out what’s going on. If you come upon that fool Leonidas, shoot him.”

  Bruno summoned the other guards and they plunged through the entrance and raced through the shrine to the stairway leading down to the Maze. He paused for a second at the top of the stairs when he inhaled a breath of tear gas, but the mask hiding most of his face filtered out some of the irritants in the gas. He and his men were well paid for their dirty work. And when Salazar gave an order, it was wise to obey.

  He told his men to follow him into the Maze.

  Chad had been leading the way out of the shrine when he heard Bruno shouting. He herded Hawkins and his friends into the shadows of an alcove. Bruno and his men passed, and they were on the move again. Chad paused to peer out the entrance door, but saw only the stricken gang of priestesses. He motioned for the others to follow him.

  Still holding Kalliste in his arms, Hawkins looked around the courtyard for an avenue of escape. His eye fell on the Auroch helicopter.

  “Did you come in on that chopper?” he asked Chad.

  “Yeah. It’s Salazar’s personal chariot. You know how to fly one of those things?”

  “I don’t, but my partner does.”

  “I’ll warm up the engines. You follow,” Calvin said.

  He tossed his carbine to Chad and raced toward the helicopter. He moved fast, even burdened with his gear bag. Hawkins followed with Chad behind him. He stopped when he heard Kalliste groan. She was waking up but was still too groggy to walk on her own. He was about to start off again when he heard a mellifluous voice say, “You’re not leaving the party so soon, are you, Mr. Hawkins?”

  He turned and saw Salazar holding an automatic rifle pointed at his double. Chad dropped his gun and raised his hands in the air. Hawkins looked from one Salazar to the other. Chad had done an amazing make-up job.

  “I’m afraid so,” Hawkins said. “Things are getting too confusing at this party.”

  “Then let me un-confuse you. I’m the real Viktor Salazar. I’ve seen your photo. It’s such a pleasure to meet you in person at last.”

  “Can’t say the feeling is mutual, Salazar. What’s a big businessman like you doing with this gang of looney-toons?”

  “My family has served the Way of the Axe for centuries, but that arrangement will soon end.”

  “You’re handing in your resignation?”

  “In a manner of speaking. I’m throwing off the yoke that has bound the Salazars for centuries. There are matters far more important than these fools realize with their costumes and their thirst for blood. I’m talking about power and influence on a global scale. Soon to be mine alone. Lily and her minions are the past. Auroch is the future. Tell your friend to return from the helicopter.”

  Calvin had started the chopper’s engines. As the rotors spun in preparation for take-off, he glanced out the cockpit window and saw Salazar holding a gun on Hawkins and Chad. There was no alternative. He got out of the helicopter and walked back to join the party.

  Salazar watched Calvin approach, hands held high.

  “Your friend shows good judgment,” he said. “You wouldn’t have made it very far. The castle’s defenses are automated. The pilot has to activate a signal to disable the drone. We have unfinished business to take care of, Leonidas. You disobeyed my orders.”

  “You fired Leonidas, Mr. Salazar. My name is Chad.”

  “I don’t care what you call yourself now. You never pushed the button on the remote.”

  “You mean this remote?”

  He unwrapped his fingers from around the ear-piece, which he had palmed before raising his hands. He had given the button two punches. He pressed the button one more time. He wasn’t sure what it would accomplish, but he hoped it would distract Salazar long enough for him to make a grab for his gun before Bruno and the goons arrived.

  The priestess sanctuary had up-to-date ventilation and temperature control systems to prevent the mummies from further deterioration and the gas was quickly sucked out of the chamber. The security guards who’d been searching the Maze for Kalliste had heard the commotion in the sanctuary and came running back to the chamber. They saw the dead bodies of the Prior and gathered protectively around Lily, who stood in front of the altar, staring up at the mummy of the High Priestess.

  The drugs had worn off and she saw the priestess not as a beautiful hallucination, but as she was, a horror of dehydrated flesh. But she still heard the voices calling from the dark caves of Sumer that had spawned the perverted religion and the secret society that came to call itself the Way of the Axe.

  The voices in her head chanted over and over again.

  She must die. She must die.

  “Potnia.”

  She turned at the new chorus of voices that had called her name. The priestesses had returned to the sanctuary. Their gowns were soiled and their make-up smeared all over their faces, but their eyes still burned with fanaticism.

  She smiled. “Welcome back, sisters.”

  She must die.

  Lily understood why she had brought down the displeasure of the Mother Goddess. The offering had been insufficient. She wanted more blood than Kalliste could provide.

  Lily would purge Auroch of those who opposed her, reward the ones who came to her side and launch a campaign like none before to slake the goddess’ thirst. The Inquisition would be child’s play by comparison.

  She picked up the bull’s head rhyton and held it to her breast.

  She must die.

  A second later Chad trigg
ered the remote. The explosion vaporized Lily and pieces of the bull’s head ripped into the priestesses and the security guards clustered closely around her.

  The shock wave knocked over the flaming braziers setting the altar boughs on fire, swept aside the pillars holding the double-edged axes and slammed into the colonnade. A shower of red-hot clay fragments rained down on the rows of mummies. Within seconds, the Old Ones had burst into flames.

  CHAPTER EIGHTY

  Those in the courtyard heard the explosion as a muffled whump coming from below the Tripartite Shrine. The ground shook. A couple of sacral horn decorations fell off the roof. A metal support holding the camouflage canopy buckled. The covering over the shrine listed at an odd angle.

  Salazar realized what had happened. He raised his rifle to shoot Chad, but stopped with his finger on the trigger. From the corner of his eye he had seen two gray blurs racing toward him across the courtyard. He reached instinctively for the double-axe medallion that normally hung around his neck, and realized he had given it to Chad to wear. He swiveled and let off a burst of gunfire. The fusillade missed the speeding Daemons by yards.

  Salazar threw his weapon at the creatures in a failed attempt to divert them and began to run for the helicopter. He had only gone a dozen feet when the first Daemon bowled him over like a ten-pin and brought its massive jaws down on his throat. The second monster dove in, fighting to be in on the feast.

  The monsters were half-mad from the stinging gas when they saw the group standing near the shrine. They had been trained to focus on those not wearing a medallion, carrying a weapon or on the run, and Salazar qualified as a target.

  Hawkins looked away from the disgusting sight and loped for the helicopter with Calvin by his side. Chad, who had retrieved his weapon, again took up the rear. They made it to the helicopter. Calvin got in and leaned out to pull Kalliste through the door.