by Mina Carter
“Yeah, we are the real deal. I guess I didn’t expect it either, Ben. She is definitely something else.” Ryan smiled, as he looked at Lexi in the distance.
“Well, you know what? I think it’s great. I’ve always said that you seem like the kind of guy that will always be a lone wolf, but I’m happy that I was wrong. Oh, hold on.”
Ben started another discussion in Hebrew. When he finished he looked down quietly as he put his phone away. Slowly Ben looked up again at Ryan, his face had a grave look. “It seems like your girl Kate has been traveling back and forth along the border area. The same area I mentioned. Here let me give you the coordinates before you leave. I’m afraid I have bad news.”
“What is it?”
“She’s been seen meeting with a group of well-armed local thugs. He’s not sure who they are though.”
“Damn! That is exactly the kind of thing I figured would happen.” Ryan expressed his concern with the escalating threat.
“Well, I’ll be here in Haifa if you need me. It’s been a while since I’ve been in this place. I think I’ll look around this evening and see what kind of trouble I can get into.”
Lexi and Abraham had their own discussion on the pier, while Ben and Ryan were talking. She finally told Abraham about the owl and the dreams. “Abraham? Why would an owl be following me? Does that mean I am in some sort of danger?”
“Well, I think we are all in a little bit of danger. I don’t know about the owl. Normally I would say it is just a coincidence, but now—knowing what we are dealing with, I would say that it is Lilitu that has been following you. Be sure to keep that amulet on you, it might be your only protection. It may be OUR only protection from her.”
“Abraham, can you tell me what my parents were researching?”
“Well, they were concentrating on locating several Sumerian temple sites. The types of sites are the ones where researchers have found the bulk of what we know in regards to the people that lived in that era. I never worked with them in the field. My association with them was only because we were in the same field of study, and we all have to share information to be able to do our work.”
Lexi pleaded. “There must be more. You must have received something, anything from their research that could tell me if they found something that would give someone a reason to hurt them. Did you?”
“Lexi, I would tell you if I did. What I can tell you is that on the few times I met them I was impressed, not only for their academic prowess. I was impressed at how they deeply loved each other. They were completely devoted to each other. They were inseparable those two. When I heard about...well, I was terribly saddened by the news. All I heard about it was that it was some mechanical problem with the airplane. Why do you ask if someone was trying to harm them?”
“No reason, I suppose. It was some theory or rumor that Kate’s husband mentioned, but then again he was the ultimate conspiracy theorist.” Lexi became silent as she thought about how Abraham had described her parents.
I wonder if it could be like that with Ryan. What happens when all the excitement of this trip wears off? Will he just keep getting pulled into more and more of his adventures? Or maybe...he really is ready to get away from that and try something new. I have GOT to stop thinking like this because no matter what I want to happen, I can’t and won’t force him to do anything.
Ryan and Ben hauled the baggage up the pier to the waiting duo. “Are you guys ready? Ben and I will get these things onboard, and then we need to shove off.” The two men took the bags and quickly loaded them onto the yacht. Abraham and Lexi followed.
Once they were loaded up and ready to go, Ben turned to face them, wishing them luck. “Hey Ryan, take care of that boat. I had to sign for the thing and if it doesn’t come back the way it left here, I’m really screwed. On second thought, if something happens to it, just sink it. I’ll blame it on something.” Ryan and Lexi waved from the deck before making their way inside the bridge to the controls.
Ryan pushed a series of buttons and the engines roared to life. He laughed and acted like a kid with a new toy. “Lexi! Isn’t this thing awesome? Now, this is no garbage scowl. No sir. This is the kind of yacht you see tied up in Monaco, with the rest of the rich and famous.”
“It’s great. Um, but isn’t it just going to draw attention? I mean, unless you wanted to look like billionaires on an excursion. There’s just one problem. Look at us. I mean we look okay, but you don’t come off a yacht like this—carrying a bag that says DOLCE & BANANNA. Yeah. That’s just one of the knock offs they were selling at the street market.”
“Well I’m not going to let that small detail deter me. We’ll just tell the people we’re Americans. Believe me people all around the Mediterranean are convinced that there are only two kinds of Americans, movie stars and rednecks. We’ll just be the redneck version, but you’ll have to work on the accent some.”
Ryan typed in the coordinates for their course northward. He put one arm around Lexi’s waist and smiled. “You know something? Whenever I look at you I just smile. I really do. Even with everything that’s been going on with this spooky magic stuff I‘ve smiled so much lately that my face kind of hurts.” He surprised her when he pulled her close and kissed her. The kiss was soft and tender, yet filled with affection and love.
Lexi loved that he didn’t hold back with her when it came to his emotions. She could tell that his love for her had to be strong enough to elicit a spontaneous and passionate kiss.
Once they were a couple of miles offshore he told her, “Hang on tight.” He kicked the engines into full throttle. Lexi was thrown back by the sudden surge of power. Ryan again swept her in with one strong arm. She laughed at how Ryan could sometimes be surprisingly boyish and cute, yet always be the epitome of masculinity. Even though she had regained her balance, he held her up against his muscular body. The slow rhythmic rise and fall of the yacht was making her sleepy. Lexi nuzzled against his chest and closed her eyes, wishing they could be lying in bed together.
A salty taste foamed in her mouth and her head began to throb. She looked up at Ryan. “Hey, I’m not feeling so-” she quickly snapped her mouth shut. Her stomach churned with a sudden urgency.
Don’t puke. Don’t puke. Oh God I’m going to puke on him.
She started to run, but was soon reduced to crawling across the deck to a trashcan that was attached to the bulkhead, in the rear of the bridge.
“Go ahead, Lexi. Puke! It will make you feel better for a bit.” Ryan shut down the engines, quickly jogging after her. He bunched her hair together and held it up behind her, out of her way as she vomited with abandon. He called out for Abraham, who came running up to the bridge. “Abraham, can you keep an eye on things here for a bit. Lexi isn’t feeling too hot.”
Abraham looked at Lexi, who was still on her hands and knees. She looked back through watery eyes that sank into her greenish yellow face. She attempted to speak, but felt too miserable. “Look Ryan. I think she is trying to say something.” They both looked at her quivering lips. Abraham decided to take a guess. “What is that thing she always says? Oh yes. She is trying to say holy cats. Ha ha.”
Lexi looked at Abraham and lifted one closed fist in his direction. She flipped up her middle finger up before rolling over into a fetal position.
“I’ll be back in a little while, Abraham.” Ryan effortlessly picked her up and carried her down to the main cabin. He laid her down on the bed and went to retrieve his first aid kit. He returned with a bottle of pills and a bottle of water. “Here Lex, take one of these with just a little bit of water. It will make you feel better.”
She swallowed the pill and closed her eyes. Lexi fell asleep to the feeling of Ryan’s hands gently stroking her hair.
The second day of the trip brought smooth blue seas, without the swells that had taken Lexi down the night before. Ryan stopped the boat and he joined Abraham on the back deck. “Hey Abraham, I think we ought to pull in right after sunset, so we need to kill a little
bit of time out here or it will be too early.”
He pulled one of the rugged looking equipment boxes out and opened it up. “I want to check out a couple of the weapons.” Lexi walked out from the interior and joined them. “Hey Lexi. You look like you are feeling better. Did you finally get your sea legs?”
“I’m feeling much better. Sorry about that, and thanks for taking care of me. Oh and by the way, I’m a sympathy puker. So don’t expect me to hold anyone’s hair out of the way for them if they are going to be throwing up.”
Lexi nodded to Ryan’s weapons. “It looks like you’re going to be doing some shooting. Where’s the target?”
“I was wondering that myself. Anyone have any ideas for targets?”
“Ryan, why don’t you look around out here while Lexi and I take a peek inside?” Abraham and Lexi started snooping around the rows of cabinets and storage areas, until Abraham pulled a box out of the closet. “Now, that’s something you don’t find every day.”
“What did you find, Abraham?”
“Well, it appears that Ryan’s friends were prepared for one hell of a party. This is an entire case of condoms.”
“I guess they were feeling pretty ambitious!”
“Yes, of course.” Abraham laughed, “You want to know something, Lexi? Ryan really cares for you. I can see that very easily. Whenever you are together you two just radiate a sense of bliss that isn’t often seen. I saw that same magic with your parents and I really hope things work out for the two of you.”
“I do too Abraham, but am I enough? Will I be enough to keep him from being the lone wolf who is always roaming the world looking for danger and excitement? It could go either way with him, I’m afraid.”
“Yes. A man like Ryan is an adventurer, but all of life is an adventure. It doesn’t always have to be jumping out of an airplane and into a firefight to feel a passion for living.”
Abraham looked at the box and then tossed it aside as he thought about what Lexi had said. “You know something? You are an adventurous spirit yourself, Lexi. Maybe you both need that in your lives. Maybe you can find it together.”
Just as Abraham finished his sentence, Ryan walked through the door wearing a holster that carried a pistol. He noticed the box that Abraham had tossed aside. “Hey Abraham, what’s this?”
“A lifetime supply of condoms.”
“Perfect. I could really use these right about now.”
Lexi’s mouth hung open in dismay as she watched Ryan pull a condom pack out of the carton and rip the foil wrapper open with his teeth. Only one syllable droned from her throat. “Uh.”
Abraham interjected. “Now that’s what I like to see. A man with confidence and determination.”
Ryan walked outside to where he had his weapons laid out. Abraham and Lexi followed behind him like a pair of curious puppies. He lifted up a semi-auto pistol and unrolled the condom over the pistol’s slide and barrel.
“There! Now that pistol has some protection.”
Abraham and Lexi doubled over in laughter at the very sight. “What’s so funny? It keeps the saltwater, sand, and any dirt from getting into the barrel and slide. When I shoot it the bullet will bust right through it, no problems.”
“Nothing ruins the mood like a busted condom when you’re unloading.” Abraham joked and then Lexi joined him in a fit of uncontrollable laughter.
“Alright, alright, I get it. Well we could also blow up some of them like balloons and have targets.”
“Or, we could use some of these inflatable beach balls and other things I’ve found.” Lexi held up new beach balls, still in the clear plastic packaging. Everyone readily agreed, and soon they had brightly colored targets floating in the water behind the yacht. “So what is with the weapons, Ryan? Level with us here. You are expecting some trouble. It’s pretty obvious.” Lexi walked up to the display of weapons and picked up one of the pistols.
“Alright. Right before we left Haifa, Ben gave me some news from what his contact had observed. Kate has been busy crossing the Syrian border back and forth. She was seen traveling with a group of heavily armed thugs. I just don’t know who. I’m pretty sure she isn’t on a tour with a church group. I think it would be best if you and Abraham stay on the boat once we dock, and let me go and pull her out of there by myself. I can bury the amulet also. I won’t be able to do any of that if I am too busy protecting you two.”
Lexi looked over the pistol and walked toward the edge of the boat. “You mind if I give it a try, Ryan?”
“Ah, sure. But let me show-” He spoke, just as Lexi instantly assumed a perfect close-quarters combat stance. Her feet were positioned apart from each other and her knees were slightly bent. She appeared to be in a partial crouch. Both of her arms were out in front of her, and her elbows were bent. Her hands firmly gripped the pistol, which she had pointed out toward the sea. Two loud gunshots punctuated Ryan’s sentence. Out in the water, the farthest two beach balls laid helplessly deflated from Lexi’s expert assault. Ryan looked at Abraham and then back to Lexi. “Wow! Good shooting, Lex.”
Lexi turned to Ryan. “I’m going with you, Ryan...and I’ll be carrying this. If you guys would like a Judo demonstration, we can do that also. Back home in Montana, my skills are legendary.” She spun around, and with four more shots, she deflated four more of the targets that had drifted sixty yards away. Abraham was awestruck and only mumbled. “Holy Cats.”
Chapter Fourteen
JAKUB AWOKE TO the sound of a loud knocking at his door. Somewhere among the distant backstreets a dog sounded an alarmed bark. He reached over to his bedside table and pulled the small digital clock a few inches closer. The blurred red numbers became clearer to him as the rapping noise repeated.
Who could this be at midnight? “Hold on!” He shouted in Hebrew to the unknown visitor. Jakub sat up on the bed and shuffled his feet to find his slippers in the dark room. He slowly walked to the doorway of the front room and turned on the switch by the wall. Jakub growled when he realized the door had not been locked after his visitors had left. A voice from behind the door called back. “Doctor Meier? Hello?” It was a female voice. The accent was American. “Oh, please come in.” Just as he finished his words he remembered that Lexi had a British accent, not the American one that he heard from the voice. The door opened and a young woman about the same age as Lexi entered, quickly pushing the door closed behind her. Jakub didn’t recognize the smiling girl with loose red curls. Her red dress had a very revealing low cut.
Her tone was mockingly pleasant as if she were talking to a small child. “Hello Jakub. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you.”
“Who are you? I don’t know you.”
“Maybe JAKUB wouldn’t remember me. No. You’ve been a very bad boy, Jakub. Giving away my amulet like it was nothing, tsk tsk. Did Shandor try to stop you?”
“Shandor? Shandor is dead. I saw his body. In Warsaw. I-”
The woman put her hand out and uttered a forceful command. “Shandor! Come forth. Shandor!” Jakub’s face went blank and his features drooped. Within a minute he was revived. “Shandor. You don’t recognize this body, but I assure you it is I.”
“Marcella!” The voice of Shandor spoke from Jakub’s body. “Marcella, I am sorry. When you put me in the body of the boy Jakub, I couldn’t stop his spirit. He is very strong. I—I tried. He finally locked me away when he gave away the amulet.”
“You are such a fool Shandor, and you will be a bigger fool if you try to deceive me. You had one job Shandor. One job. When you found the amulet in the desert so long ago I told you to guard the amulet and to be prepared to bring it when you were told. You abused it. You used magic that you didn’t understand and you let Jakub throw it away. Listen to me now the time is coming, soon. Finally it will be time for the alignment of the star of Inana and the stars of The Seven.”
“Yes. I know. A woman named–”
“Silence Shandor. I know about the woman named Lexi. I know that she has brought
the amulet here.” Marcella sat down and spoke quietly. “I’ve been watching the girl Lexi. I’ve been with her in this body, and she knows me as Marcie. I took this body to get close to her because as the cycle of the stars took their first steps to the alignment, I was drawn to her. I felt her connection to the amulet. Now I can understand why I let her live. Is she with her protector still? The man named Ryan Kidd?”
“Yes, he is taking her and they also have an old Rabbi who knows about many ancient things.”
“Ancient things? Ha! How can he know what happened so long ago. Even I cannot. You call me Marcella, but that is the name of the woman I took when my spirit finally found a place to rest after drifting on the wind for so long going from body to body. So many years that I don’t even remember the name I was given when I first walked this earth. I only know that I’m in the service of my master. I serve her dark needs until the alignment when we will destroy her enemy The Seven, and the Seven Witches of The Seven.”
“Tell me, who is your master?”
“My master is Lilitu.”
Shandor feigned ignorance. He did not want to alert Marcella to the truth of the matter. “Lilitu?” Shandor was in a precarious situation. He continued to withhold information from Marcella. He wished that he could have succeeded when he almost trapped the demon on the Polish border so many years ago.
“Yes, you probably know her by the name of Lilith. The demoness of the darkness. The demoness who screeches in the night and feeds her hatred with the bitterness of man. I am her servant, powerless against her will and you Shandor, are my servant. We must get the amulet. You will need a new body for our journey. Wait here until I return.”
Marcella slipped away through the door and as soon as Shandor was sure that she had left, he sat down on the bed. Jakub? Jakub? I know that you are in here with me. When the monster returns I will be leaving you. If you wish to save your soul, you must do something. You must stay quiet and let your body lie still. Do not resist anything. I will implore her to leave this place with me. Remember what I once said, that sometimes you have to play dumb? Dumb like a fox. That has helped me many times.
