by David Wood
Suddenly, she broke the surface, gasping for air. Half blinded by the salt water, she swam for the edge, wondering when the feeding frenzy would begin. Her vision cleared as she reached the side and found herself staring at a pair of shiny, black shoes. She looked up into the barrel of a gun.
“Dead end,” the man said. “Now, give me the map.”
The map! What had she done with it? She remembered tucking it into her bra when Corey first hurried her away from their pursuer.
“It’s right here.” She reached her numb fingers into her shirt and pulled out a sodden wad of brown paper. “It got a little wet.” She held it up to the man, wondering if she might be able to pull him down into the water when he reached for the map, but he stood stock-still.
“You carried it into the water?” He trembled, either from shock or rage, and his finger twitched on the trigger.
“I didn’t exactly plan to jump into a shark tank. It might not be ruined. Take it.”
“You’ve bloody well ruined it, I’m sure.” He chewed on his lip, thinking for a moment, and then his eyes lit up. “But you got a look at it.”
“No,” Avery said immediately. “I didn’t have a chance before you came after us.”
“We’ll soon find out. We have people who are very good at getting answers. Now come on.”
She heard a sick thud, and the man’s eyes rolled back in his head. His knees buckled and he tumbled into the tank. Jimmy stood there, smiling, holding the lid of a toilet tank.
“I passed a bathroom on the way up. It was the only heavy thing I could grab.”
“I’m glad you did. Here, pull me up.” She was surprised at the strength with which he hoisted her up. He’d never seemed very physical. “Thank you.” She gave him a quick hug. “Now, let’s get out of here.”
“I’m afraid you will be leaving,” said a voice behind Jimmy. Two police officers stood, weapons drawn. “But it’s going to be with us.”
Chapter 27
As the two men converged on him, Locke whirled about and made a dash for the stern rail. Surprised by the sudden chaos, Dane was an instant late with his attempt at tackling the fleeing man. Three strides and Locke vanished over the edge. Dane regained his feet in time to see Locke swimming for the speedboat, which was on its way to pick him up. Angel was no longer aboard, and he soon spotted Bones helping her swim to shore.
Relieved, he turned around just as shots rang out. One of the attackers was firing wildly into the crowd, which broke apart as everyone fled for safety. His partner had gone over the rail after Locke, but he wasn’t a strong swimmer and was losing ground with every stroke.
Dane didn’t know who these guys were, and what he really wanted was to get the hell out of there, but he couldn’t let this madman kill an innocent person. He sprang onto the gunman, pinning the man’s arm to his side as he wrestled him to the ground. He wound up on top of the man, one hand pinning his gun hand to the ground, the other at his throat.
“Who are you?”
The man’s blue eyes, so pale as to almost be white, shone with icy contempt. He worked his lips and then spat on Dane. Dane raised his fist, intending to turn the guy’s nose into a waffle, but a sharp voice rang out.
“Hold it right there! CIA!”
Dane froze as three men, weapons trained on him, came running up.
“Put your hands in the air,” one of them barked.
“I will as soon as you relieve this guy of his weapon.” He wasn’t about to give the albino a chance to take a shot at him or anyone else.
In an instant, the government agents, all clad in plain clothes, had him and the other man cuffed. They were patting him down when a familiar voice rang out.
“Oh no! Oh hell no!”
As he turned his head to face the music, he couldn’t help but smile.
Tam Broderick was an attractive woman, with a solid, athletic build, dark skin, and big eyes. At least, she was pretty enough when she didn’t look like she was about to waterboard someone. They’d met under unusual circumstances and forged a temporary alliance. Since then, they’d spoken a couple of times, but only to discuss a situation he and Bones had stepped into the previous winter. She marched up to Dane, her hand resting on the Makarov he knew she carried, and stopped, her face inches from his.
“Dane Maddock.” She spoke his name like a curse. “Every time I get a lead on the Dominion, you stick your big, ugly nose in and jack it all up.”
“My nose is not big,” he said. “I know for a fact that you like my nose.”
“Save the wise comments or I will cut you.” She was still angry, livid in fact, but there was now a flicker of amusement behind her glower. “Now tell me, why does the Dominion keep following you around?”
Her words hadn’t registered the first time, but now they brought him up short.
“Wait. Locke is with the Dominion?” The Dominion was a shadowy organization about which little was known, yet Dane and Bones had a knack for running afoul of them. Had it happened again?
“Who is Locke?” She threw her hands up in the air.
“The guy who went over the side. The first guy, that is. He kidnapped Bones’ sister and we were getting her back.” He looked around, wondering where Bones had gone.
“And you didn’t think to notify the authorities? Never mind, don’t bother.” Tam sighed. “Let him go, but take mister pale and pasty into custody, and see if you can fish his partner out of the harbor.” She turned and looked down into the water. “Don’t hurry. Looks like he’s a floater.” Tam put her hands on her hips and fixed Dane with a disapproving stare while her man uncuffed him. “Give him his weapon back,” she said. The agent gave her a quizzical look, but followed orders.
“Where are the rest of your boys?”
“Matt’s waiting in the getaway vehicle. Willis is down below, incognito, as it were, and Bones and Angel ought to be climbing out of the water by now.”
“Let me get this straight.” Tam pressed her fingertips to her temples. “You boys tried to stage your own rescue operation in the middle of the Inner Harbor, where who knows how many innocent people could have gotten killed?”
“We didn’t choose the location,” Dane said. “And yes, we rescued Angel.”
“No we didn’t.” Bones and Willis, both in handcuffs, were being ushered to Tam by a pair of agents.
“What do you mean?” Dane felt cold all over. “I saw you with her.”
Bones shook his head.
“It wasn’t her. They found a girl her size and coloring, then beat her beyond recognition.” Bones glared out at the water, as if he could take flight and chase down Locke and his men.
“Where do you think she is?” Dane couldn’t remember feeling more helpless.
“Enough!” Tam shouted. “I want to know who the hell this Locke is and why you almost got a whole mess of civilians killed out here.”
“Calm down, girl,” Willis said. He and Tam had fought side-by-side in the Amazon, and were on friendly terms. “Nobody likes an angry black woman.”
“I am not an angry woman, I just have a low tolerance for stupidity.” She glared at Willis until the smug grin melted from his face. “I suppose you can take the cuffs off of these two dummies too, and give them their weapons back. You boys won’t try to run, will you?”
Bones and Willis shook their heads, both looking like chastened schoolboys.
“Even the dagger?” the agent standing behind Bones asked, holding up Carnwennan.
Tam’s eyes narrowed as she looked at the odd weapon.
“What kind of knife is that?” She took it from the agent and held up for a closer look. “You boys have a whole mess of explaining to do.”
“I know,” Dane said. “But not until we go somewhere private, and the sooner the better. We’ve got to find out what Locke’s done with Angel.”
“Fine,” Tam sighed. “I commandeered an office downstairs. We’ll go there.”
“Do you want us to go with you, Ma’am?”
The agent who had handed her the dagger looked at Dane and the others like they were about to sprout fangs.
“No. Just take the lead here. You know what to do.” When the agent looked uncertain, she raised her voice. “Agent Paul, as hard as it might be to believe, I owe my life to these three stooges. I’ll take one man to guard the door, but that’s it. I’ll be safe with them. Besides, they just might be able to help us.” She turned back to Dane. “Come on. This sounds like it’s going to be a long story.”
On the way downstairs, Dane remembered something.
“So, when did you become CIA? Last I knew, you were FBI.”
“Oh, right about the time somebody stirred up a branch of the Dominion in Germany.” Her glare left no doubt whom she meant. “All of a sudden our little domestic problem became international.”
“Hey, I filled you in on that right away,” Dane protested.
“Yes you did.” She sounded neither pleased nor upset. “Funny how you keep butting heads with the Dominion, but you don’t want to join in the fight against them.”
Dane didn’t bother to argue. They’d had this conversation before. The previous summer, Tam had asked him and his crew to join her in her work rooting out the Dominion.
When they settled into the small office in the museum section of the Constellation, he wasted no time bringing her up to speed.
“So, we’ve got the dagger and the spear, but Locke still has Angel,” he finished.
Tam looked down at the dagger lying across her lap.
“You’re telling me this thing is...”
“Carnwennan. King Arthur’s dagger. We also have his spear.”
“Oh, holy Lord Jesus.” She rested her head in her hands. “Would it kill you to have an ordinary life?” She sighed for what felt like the twentieth time, and handed him the dagger. “You really expect me to believe not only was King Arthur real, but that thing belonged to him? It doesn’t exactly look ancient.”
“Think about what we found in the Amazon,” Bones said. “Then ask yourself if this seems any more unlikely.”
“I don’t suppose it does, at that, but it’s hard to get used to.” She stood and moved to the window that looked out on the harbor. “You’ve got the spear and the dagger. Aren’t you missing something important?”
Dane, Bones, and Willis exchanged glances. They’d discussed this very subject. The way they saw it, the final map could only lead to one thing.
“We have a lead on one more map,” Dane said. “My sister is looking into it.”
“Avery Halsey?” Tam turned around and grinned at him. “You finally found her?”
“Yeah, she’s... Wait a minute! You knew about her?” Dane trusted Tam, but to find out she’d been keeping a secret like this hidden from him? It was hard to swallow.
“Not until recently. I’ve done my homework on you and your whole posse. By the way,” she turned to Willis, “there’s a stripper in Detroit who said to tell you the baby is yours.”
“What?” Willis gaped at her.
“Don’t worry about it. I checked. The boy’s daddy is a five foot nothing Latino.” She smirked.
Willis sagged, visibly relieved.
“How do you know all this stuff?” Bones asked.
“I’m with the government, sweetie. We’ve got resources you’ve never dreamed of.”
“Any other long lost relatives I should know about?” Dane asked, only half-jokingly.
“Oh no. You don’t get access to privileged information.” She paused. “Unless you’re ready to take me up on my offer.”
Dane grimaced. Arguing with Tam was pointless. She was one of the most focused people he’d ever met.
“You never told us how you wound up here,” Bones said. “What’s the Dominion’s connection to all this?”
“I don’t know how they’re connected. For months I’ve mostly combed through the phone and financial records of suspected leaders in the Dominion, but I haven’t gotten anything solid. Just suspects from every walk of Christendom. And then, after not hearing a peep from them since your Christmas vacation...”
“Shitter was full!” Bones said in his best Cousin Eddie voice.
Tam went on as if he hadn’t spoken.
“...we finally got a hit on Heilig Herrschaft. You know, your German Dominion buddies. Two suspected members, twin brothers, were instructed to be here at one o’clock today and to intercept something the Dominion wanted. We were waiting for them to make their move, so we could get them and whatever it was they were after.”
“And then Maddock screwed it up,” Bones finished.
Dane ignored the jibe. His thoughts drifted back to something Tam had said moments before. She had tremendous resources at her disposal. But would she agree to help them?
“Tam, look, I’m sorry we interfered. You do know we had no way of knowing the Dominion was involved?”
She sat down in an antique wooden chair and drummed her red lacquered fingernails on the armrest.
“I’m sensing you’ve got more to say and, whatever it is, it’s going to make me cuss. I don’t even have my swear jar here.”
“We need help finding Angel. The only clues we have are Locke and the museum. For all we know, they’ve taken her to England. We don’t have a prayer of tracking her down, but you can.” He took a deep breath. “Please?”
Despite her prediction, Tam didn’t cuss. She stared at him for a full ten seconds. Bones and Willis looked on, afraid to break the silence. Finally, her features softened.
“You’ve got a thing for this girl, don’t you?”
Dane couldn’t stop his face from reddening, nor could he keep himself from looking at Bones. To his surprise, both Bones and Willis looked to be on the verge of laughter.
“The lady asked you a question, Maddock.” Bones crossed his arms and smiled expectantly.
Dane couldn’t find his voice.
“Wait a minute!” Willis laughed and slapped his thighs. “You’d take on a whole army with nothing but your bare hands and never flinch, but can’t admit you like a girl?”
“He doesn’t like her,” Bones said. “He loves her. He can’t hide something like that from me.”
“I want to hear it from him,” Tam said, clearly enjoying the moment. “Well?”
“Maybe,” Dane said, watching as the others exchanged frustrated looks. How could he make them understand? After the way his wife had died, he felt... cursed. Like he’d bring misfortune onto the next woman he truly loved. He knew that wouldn’t fly with any of them, though.
“Dane Maddock,” Tam took on the lecturing tone of a middle school teacher scolding an underachieving student, “it’s no wonder you won’t join up with me. Willis is right. You’re not afraid of dying. You’re afraid of real commitment.”
“No I’m not. I’m a decorated veteran in case you’ve forgotten.”
“I know that. I also know when and why you quit the service.” She looked like she wanted to say more, but a knock at the door interrupted her. A moment later, the agent standing guard ushered Matt into the room. He greeted Tam and then turned to Dane.
“When I saw the Feds had taken over here, and you guys hadn’t shown, I figured my getaway driver services were no longer needed. Anyway, I just got a call from Corey. He and Avery have been arrested.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Is it at least a real arrest? Locke doesn’t have them too?”
“No. One of Locke’s men chased them into the National Aquarium and Avery wound up jumping into the shark tank, or falling in, or something. Corey bashed the guy’s skull pretty good. It’s a mess.”
Dane groaned and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he saw Tam grinning at him like a cat who had cornered a mouse.
“I guess I might need two favors.”
“Join my team and I will. We can wait til all this is over to work out all the details. I’ve got a place for all four of you, plus the little nerd boy.”
“Dude, are you seriously blackmailing u
s?” Bones anger was returning.
“Excuse me? You forget, I know all about you. If I wanted to blackmail you, I could have done it long ago. Defacing national historical sites?”
“That was Maddock.” Bones pointed at Dane.
“The Fremont ruins?”
“Okay, that was sort of me.” Bones said.
“Desecrating graves?”
“It was only one grave,” Dane said, “and I didn’t exactly...”
“Kidnapping a patient from a hospital in Utah.”
“Me again.” Bones raised his hand.
“Missing Italian nationals who, rumor has it, were sent after you.”
“Good. I was feeling left out,” Wills said to Bones.
“Bringing down half a mountain in Jordan. Lord only knows what you did in Utah. Breaking and entering all across Germany. And,” she paused for effect, “we found the bodies in that well.”
There was nothing Dane could say. Everything she mentioned had an explanation, a greater purpose, or was a case of self-defense, but they’d never be able to defend themselves in court. The cumulative weight of the charges against them was too great.
“But, as I said, if I wanted to blackmail you, I would have already done it. I’ve been in the field with you. I know what you can do. I trust you.” She stood and offered her hand to Dane. “I’ll get your friend and your sister out, and I’ll help you get your girl. But you’ve got to help me.”
Dane looked at Bones, Willis, and Matt. They exchanged glances, then all nodded solemnly.
“All right.” Dane clasped Tam’s hand. “You’ve got a deal.”
Chapter 28
Dane sat aboard the jet Tam had secured for a flight to England, waiting for takeoff and for her to tell him what she had learned. He passed the time by scrolling through the pictures they’d taken of the two underground Templar churches they’d discovered. It wasn’t long before something caught his attention.
