I held a bag of garlic powder in one hand and a jar of oil in the other.
It was the Cop who figured it all out.
But it made the Warrior smile and smile.
Chapter Eighty-Three
Abandoned Warehouse
Outskirts of Tehran
June 16, 1:34 a.m.
I needed to sleep, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen. Instead I walked the perimeter of the warehouse to make sure it was secure. It was. We could not have been farther from the flow of life here in Tehran if we were on the moon. The night sky was immensely dark and littered with ten trillion cold points of light.
I fished a stick of gum out of a pocket and chewed it, enjoying the mint burn, glad to be rid of the lingering taste of garlic. Ghost came sleepily out of the warehouse and trudged along with me, pausing now and again to leave his mark on useful walls.
I called in for Church but was rerouted to Aunt Sallie. She listened to my report without much comment except to make a biting remark about my “letting” Jamsheed get killed.
“You’re a charming lady,” I said. “Anyone ever tell you that?”
“Eat me,” she replied. “Church will be in touch when he wants you to know something. Until then, lay low and try not to get anyone else killed.”
A crushing reply was poised on the tip of my tongue but she hung up on me.
Almost immediately the phone buzzed and I hit the button in hopes of flattening Aunt Sallie with my rejoinder.
“Hello, Joseph.”
I smiled, “Hello, Violin.”
She paused and I strained to hear if there was any background noise, anything that I could use to get a lead on where she was. But there was nothing. Ghost must have heard her voice and he actually wagged his tail. Dog’s a little weird.
“Are you somewhere safe?”
“For now,” I said, though that was only true in the physical sense. Everything inside my head felt like it was a junk pile of hand grenades without their pins and bottles of badly stored chemicals. “Thanks for the help today.”
“I wish I could have warned you, but I found out where you were by following the Sabbatarians. There are teams of them all over Tehran.”
“I’m surprised they can operate so freely.”
“They can’t. There have been a lot of arrests over the years, here and elsewhere. They are charged as spies. The church doesn’t know about them and their own people disown them. Most of them die in prison.”
“Pity,” I said. “Are they really part of the Inquisition?”
“How did you-? Oh. You must have questioned some of them.”
“Only one and he didn’t know much.”
“You’re probably wrong about that. How hard did you try?”
Ouch, I thought. Ghost stood sniffing the wind as if trying to catch Violin’s scent on the breeze. Something caught his attention and he wandered off into the shadows. Probably some interesting jackal poop. Ghost is a scatological connoisseur.
“Since I already know some of it,” I said to Violin, “how about telling me more?”
“Yes,” she said.
It took me a two-count to catch up to that. “What?”
“Yes,” she said. “I think it’s time to tell you what’s going on.”
“First-whoopee, and I mean that sincerely. Second, why the change of heart?”
“It’s… complicated.”
“That seems to be a theme lately. Care to elaborate?”
“I asked my mother.” When I laughed, she said, “I’m not joking.”
“Your mother. Lilith, right?”
“How-? Ah… Mr. Church told you. Good, that will make it easier. She’s here in Tehran and she’s asked me to bring you to her.”
“When?”
“Now. Can you get away for an hour?”
“Maybe,” I said dubiously. “Where are you?”
“Right behind you,” she said.
Chapter Eighty-Four
Abandoned Warehouse
Outskirts of Tehran
June 16, 1:41 a.m.
I spun around and tore my pistol out of its holster.
She was ten feet away and she already had her gun out and up.
Ghost came pelting out of the darkness like a white bullet, but I gave him a hand signal and he stopped thirty feet from Violin’s right flank, uttering a low growl that was full of promises. So much for wagging his tail. I guess that he didn’t like being blindsided any more than I did.
“Drop it,” I said.
“No,” she said, “I don’t think I will.”
We stared at each other.
She smiled first. Small and tentative. Then I felt my mouth twitch.
“On two?” I said.
“Sure.”
I counted it down and when I hit zero we both abruptly tilted our pistols to the sky and took our fingers off the triggers.
We stood there assessing each other, then lowered our guns. Neither of us reholstered them, though.
“Hello, Joseph,” she said.
“Hello, Violin.”
She was both similar and different to the image of her that I had constructed partly from memories distorted by the smoke and thunder of the gun battle at Jamsheed’s and partly from how I’d imagined her since that first call yesterday morning. Lean, fox-faced, with erect posture and the slightly splay-footed stance you see in ballet dancers. The MTAR-21 assault rifle hung from its strap, and she held a Ruger Mark III. 22 caliber pistol down at her side. In many ways she reminded me heartbreakingly of Grace, but she was also very different. Younger, taller, with an air of innocence about her-despite her profession-that Grace did not share. I wondered if they could have been friends.
“Come with me,” she said. “Lilith is waiting.”
“You call your mother by her first name?”
Violin shrugged.
“Is it a code name? Like Violin?”
“Nobody I know uses their real names,” she said, and there was sadness in her eyes.
“I do.”
She nodded. “And I find that so strange.”
Chapter Eighty-Five
The Warehouse
Baltimore, Maryland
June 15, 5:15 p.m. EST
Rudy set the coffee cup down where Circe could see it, but she was too focused to notice or care. Her workstation monitors were filled with multiscreen images from the Voynich manuscript and the Book of Shadows. Images came and went as Circe, sitting rock-still except for the hand controlling the mouse and her darting eyes, studied the arcane pages.
The communicator gave a soft bing-bong and Bug’s face replaced one of the screens. He was grinning.
“Hey, docs… I got some good news. Or, at least I think it’s good news.”
Circe looked up and Rudy could see the lines of stress and worry that were etched into her lovely face. That, and the desperate hope in her eyes, made his heart ache.
“What is it?” she asked.
“MindReader came through again. I had my buddy Aziz help me with some search arguments in a couple of different Persian dialects, and that gave us the edge we needed to slip through the security at the National Museum in Tehran. And guess what we found there?”
Circe’s eyes came fully alive and she half rose from her chair.
“You found it?” she demanded.
“Yes, ma’am,” beamed Bug. “I just uploaded it to the server. A complete copy of the Saladin Codex.”
“Is it in the same ciphertext?” asked Rudy.
The question dialed up the wattage on Bug’s grin. “Nope. There are fifty-four separate translations. Persian, Arabic, Pashtun, Farsi, and… wait for it, wait for it… English.”
The change that came over Circe’s face was miraculous. As Rudy watched he could see the weariness drop away, the stress burn itself to nothingness, revealing a refreshed intensity and a predatory glint that was startling and, he had to admit, a bit intimidating. For the first time he could see in her eyes the reflection of h
er father.
“Now we have a chance,” said Circe fiercely. “Damn it, now we have a real chance.”
“Let’s just hope that there’s some clue in there to help us crack the other books,” observed Rudy and he was instantly sorry he said it because the newfound confidence in Circe’s eyes diminished by half in the space of a heartbeat. He wanted to bang his head against the wall, but Circe set her jaw and almost sneered at the possibility of defeat.
“No, damn it,” she growled. “We are going to crack this. We have to.”
It broke Rudy’s heart to hear her tack on those last three desperate words.
Chapter Eighty-Six
Arklight Camp
Outskirts of Tehran
June 16, 1:50 a.m.
Violin led me to another warehouse two blocks over. The rear loading doors were open and there were several cars and small panel trucks parked inside, out of sight. Ghost sniffed the air and growled, cutting inquiring looks at me. I signaled him to remain calm and alert. Having the signal seemed to calm him-dogs are always at their most content when the pack leader has things under control. Not that I actually did, but it was nice that my dog thought so.
There were twenty-five people in the warehouse, all women. The youngest was about Violin’s age, the oldest was at least seventy. They all looked fit and trim, though, and they were all armed. The women stood in a loose circle around another woman who sat on an overturned packing crate. As we approached, the circle opened to allow us in. The eyes that turned toward me were in no way welcoming. There were no smiles, no acknowledging nods. Twenty-five sets of eyes assessed me as if I were a side of beef, and not a very fresh one.
“I brought him, mother,” announced Violin. She peeled off from my side and went to stand by the seated woman. That gave me a chance to take a closer look at the woman I presumed was “Lilith.” Each of these women looked powerful, but Lilith was different. She was magnificent, with a face that was cold and beautiful, like the death mask of an ancient queen. Sculpted cheekbones and a strong chin, straight nose and a high, clear brow. But her eyes were absolutely compelling. Endlessly deep and intelligent. And totally without mercy.
“These are the Mothers of the Fallen,” said Violin. “And this is my mother, Lilith.”
Ghost whined faintly and looked at me. It was pretty obvious that he was confused in the presence of what was perhaps a much more powerful pack leader.
“Captain Ledger,” said Lilith. “My daughter has risked much to arrange this meeting.”
I stopped about ten feet from where she sat. “So what’s the drill? Do I bow and curtsy?”
“No,” she said, “but you can mind your manners.”
“Yeah, about that?” I said. “Kiss my ass.”
Violin stiffened but before she-or anyone else-could say anything Lilith raised her hand slightly. It silenced all reaction, but I could feel all those eyes burning into me. The Mothers of the Fallen were not lining up to join the Joe Ledger fan club. That went both ways.
“Here’s the thing,” I said, “it’s not that I have any specific disrespect for you-whoever the hell you are-or these fine ladies here. Or your daughter. It’s just that I just had a real bitch of a day yesterday, and I’m tired, sore, and cranky. I’ve been chased, attacked by Sabbatarians and vampires, and people have been very mean to my dog.”
Ghost woofed.
“And,” I concluded, “your daughter put sniper scopes on me to force me into a meeting with Iran’s biggest psychopath who told me that there are nuclear bombs planted all over the Middle East. One of those bombs is in the United States. My boss gave me the impression that you know more about what’s going on, but so far you haven’t told me shit. So, if you’re looking for deference or civility, I’m fresh out. In fact, I’m wondering why the fuck you’re wasting time with clandestine meetings, cryptic phone calls, and a lot of cloak and dagger bullshit.”
Lilith smiled a little. Beautiful as she was, her smile was unpleasant. Kind of an Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS vibe.
“I won’t apologize for the confusion, Captain,” Lilith began. “Arklight is not in the habit of sharing information except under very limited circumstances. When my daughter was contacted by Rasouli yesterday she had no idea who you were. Once you provided your name, she was able to do a database search to come up with some background on you. We know about your military and police careers, and we know that you are an agent of the Department of Military Sciences. You work for St. Germaine.”
“Who?”
“Mr. Church.”
“What do you know of Mr. Church?”
“Almost certainly more than you do,” she said.
“And we’re back to the cryptic bullshit. You still haven’t explained what the ‘Mother of the Fallen’ are, what Arklight is, and how you know anything about Mr. Church.”
Lilith ignored that. “There have been times when Arklight’s agenda has overlapped with his operations.”
“‘Overlapped’ is a slippery word. I don’t know who you ladies are or what you stand for. Granted, Violin saved my bacon at the hotel when the Red Knight attacked me, and she stepped in during the Sabbatarian hit on one of our safe houses, so she gets a lot of Brownie points for that.” I saw Violin look away to hide a smile. “But at the same time she’s stalled me all day long, feeding me enigmatic bits and pieces of information. Plus there’s that whole ‘working for Rasouli’ thing. Let’s start with that, and I’d like some straight answers. No bullshit, no runaround.”
“Watch your mouth,” snapped a tall woman as she stepped up and laid a hand on the butt of a holstered pistol. She was a hatchet-faced broad who looked like she could go three rounds with Top and Bunny. Ghost growled, but I flicked my finger and he went silent but stayed hyperalert. “You will speak to Lilith with respect or-”
“Actually, sister,” I interrupted, “I’ll speak to her any goddamn way I want, and you will pretty much stand down and shut the fuck up.”
I thought the woman was going to go for it. The others were equally tense, hands touching weapons.
But then a red dot appeared on the center on Lilith’s forehead. Violin gasped. The women turned and stared in horror.
In my ear John Smith murmured, “Call it, boss.”
Chapter Eighty-Seven
Arklight Camp
Outskirts of Tehran
June 16, 2:03 a.m.
Lilith reached her hand up and touched her forehead as if she could feel the negligible heat of the red dot. When she lowered her hand she even looked at her fingers as if there should be blood there. She nodded slowly, more to herself than to me. Then she raised her eyes to me and I suddenly felt the full impact of her stare.
“If you must shoot,” she said, “then take your shot. You’ll live long enough to see me fall, but not a second longer.”
I had to admire her guts. I know from recent personal experience that it’s not easy to play it cool with a laser sight on you. She was doing a better job of it than I did yesterday.
“Lilith,” growled the woman who had fronted me, “I’ll cover you and-”
Another red light appeared out of the shadows and glowed on the center of her chest. Then another and another, touching the women on either side of Lilith. And a last one, floating right between Violin’s breasts.
“Let’s be clear about this,” I said calmly. “I give the word, you die. You make a move, you die. You fuck with me one second longer, you die. Screw with me, Lilith, and my team will pile up the bodies of these women and then I will ask you again. Is that clear enough or do I have to shoot your daughter to make my point?”
“You wouldn’t do that,” said Lilith, and Violin’s eyes pleaded silently for me to agree.
Then a voice from the shadows said, “Yes, he would.”
Ghost gave a single sharp bark of surprise and everyone turned to see a tall, blocky figure walk slowly out of the darkness. I don’t know why I was surprised. Not after the day I had. Not considering who this was-but
I was still slack-jawed.
In my earbud I heard Top say, “I swear I didn’t see him, Cap’n. Came out of nowhere.”
Yeah, I thought, he tends to do that. Spooky bastard.
Mr. Church wore a summer-weight white suit and dark tie. He carried no visible weapon and his eyes were hidden behind the lenses of his tinted glasses. He walked past me without a comment and stood in front of Lilith, but I noted that he chose an angle that did not block John Smith’s line of sight.
I heard a ripple of murmured voices around me; most of them said the name, “St. Germaine.”
Lilith got slowly to her feet and stood face to face with Church.
“You came,” she said.
He smiled at her, and it may have been the only genuine and unguarded smile I have ever seen from him.
And then Mr. Church pulled Lilith to him and they embraced.
Let me tell you something, this wasn’t the kind of hug the president gives a foreign dignitary, or the kind two football players share after a winning touchdown. No sir. This had familiarity in it that went all the way to the chromosomes, and there was serious heat there. I cut a look at Violin, who had one eyebrow arched as far as it would go. When she saw me looking she gave a tiny shake of her head.
In my earbud I heard Bunny say, “Wow.”
Church released Lilith and stood back from her, and they both turned to face me.
“Please tell your team to stand down, Captain,” said Church. “Bring then in.”
The laser lights vanished at once. I tapped my earbud. “Hold your positions.”
If Church was surprised or annoyed by that, he didn’t show it.
“How did you know where we were?” I asked. “I only gave Aunt Sallie the coordinates of our warehouse.”
“I was invited,” said Church, nodding toward Lilith.
“Okay,” I said, “I am now completely and thoroughly confused. Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?”
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