Matthew nudged Alex with his elbow. He nodded his head to where Jesse was looking at books. Alex walked over to Jesse.
“Did you find something?” Alex asked in a low voice in Spanish.
“I thought I bought this book.” Jesse’s glowing finger pointed to a book on ancient churches. “God, I could swear I own this book. And look, it’s next to . . .”
He pointed to an old book on beekeeping.
“I’ll be damned,” Alex said.
Alex took the book on beekeeping off the shelf. She flipped through the pages before turning the book over and shaking it. Nothing came out. She took down Jesse’s book on ancient churches and shook it. An index card flew out of the book and skidded across the floor. Raz bent down and picked it up. He looked at the writing and scowled.
“It’s your handwriting,” Raz said. He gave the card to Alex. “How did these books get here?”
Alex shook her head. She looked at the card and scowled.
“What is it?” Raz asked.
“It’s the longitude and latitude of the valley where Nazo, Farooq, Felicia, and Emal lived,” Alex said. “This is the exact location of their home.”
“What?” Raz asked. “Let me see that.”
She gave him the card. He looked at the numbers and nodded.
“This is the location that you used to set up the satellite to make sure the opium dealers don’t move in,” Alex said.
Raz widened his eyes and gave her a firm nod.
“Look in the book of ancient churches,” Jesse said. He jumped up and down. “Look in the . . .”
Alex picked up the book Jesse had owned. She flipped through to Afghanistan.
“There was an ancient church on that site,” Alex said. Reading from the book, she said, “In the days after Christ’s death in Jerusalem, pilgrims fled to Ultima Thule.”
Alex shook her head.
“What is it?” Raz asked.
“Just this weird feeling of déjà vu,” Alex said.
Chapter Twenty-three
“I was standing . . .” Alex walked to where Margaret was kneeling.
“ . . . here,” Alex said. “Jesse was there.”
Raz went to where Alex pointed. Jesse floated to his right.
“He was reading from that book,” Alex held out the book to Raz.
“In the days after Christ’s death in Jerusalem, pilgrims fled to Ultima Thule,” Raz read.
“I said, ‘That’s weird because Ultima Thule is a mythological land,’” Alex said.
“Borders of the known world,” Raz said. “Virgil described it as a far-off land or an unattainable goal.”
“That’s right,” Alex said. “It was on every medieval map. No one knows if it was shorthand for the places they hadn’t explored or if they actually thought it was a place.”
“It’s Sweden, isn’t it, sir?” Margaret asked.
“Norway,” Alex said. “But that’s just a guess. It could have been Sweden or Scandinavia in general. It’s the Latin name for the island of Greenland while ‘Thule’ is Latin for the island of Iceland.”
Alex nodded.
“We bought these books because of that passage,” Alex said. “Read the next line.”
“Christian pilgrims found a safe haven in Ultima Thule,” Raz read. “Christianity blossomed in the safe harbor, and pilgrims went out into the world to spread the Christ’s word. Joseph of Arimathea left Ultima Thule for England, where he consecrated the Chalice Well with a few precious drops of Christ’s blood, which he’d preserved in a tube he wore around his neck.”
“And Jesse said . . .” Alex started.
“That’s ridiculous,” Jesse said. “Joseph of Arimathea was never in Ultima Thule.”
“What did Jesse say?” Raz asked. His eyes searched her face to see if she was all right.
“Joseph of Arimathea was Jesse’s favorite saint,” Alex said. “He knew everything about him. We went to every known site, including the Chalice Well. Jesse said that he was never in Ultima Thule, Norway, Scandinavia, Greenland, or whatever. He was dubious about the Chalice Well story, too.”
“It’s a long way from Jerusalem, where he’s buried,” Raz said.
Alex nodded. She turned around to look at the alcove and then turned back to Raz.
“Check and see if this is right,” Alex said. “The book says that Joseph of Arimathea went on to what is now Afghanistan and started a church in the valley where Nazo and Emal were raised.”
Raz read the book. He looked at Alex and nodded.
“We bought these books,” Alex said. “There’s something in this bee book about that valley, too.”
“Had you been . . .?”
“No,” Alex said. “That’s the thing. We’d never been to the valley. A year or so after we found these, we were in Afghanistan looking for someone who’d been kidnapped in Pakistan. Because Jesse wanted to find this church, we went to that valley and met Nazo’s father, the twins’ grandfather. He kept bees.”
Alex looked at Raz.
“The border at that time was almost non-existent. People moved back and forth at will. There were enormous Pashtun refugee camps in Pakistan left over from the Russian war. The camps served as home base for every kind of tribal commerce — legal and illegal. We needed a place to gather intel, and Nazo’s father welcomed us. He’d heard about the work we’d done in the tribal areas and wanted to help. He was so proud of his family, his land . . . Emal, the doctor, and his amazing Nazo. That’s what he called her.”
Alex gave a sad smile.
“He was a wonderful man,” Alex nodded.
“Did you find the church?” Raz asked.
“We found something,” Alex said. “Nazo’s father showed it to us. He loved Jesse.”
Alex smiled at the thought. Then she scowled. She cocked her head to the side and thought for a moment.
“I think Farooq is the one who was kidnapped,” Alex said.
“What?” Raz put his hands on his hips in disbelief.
“Joseph?” Alex asked.
Joseph stuck his head out from an alcove.
“Did we stay at Nazo’s father’s farm while we were looking for Farooq?” Alex asked.
“We did,” Joseph said. “Jesse wanted to see if he could find one of his beloved churches. Something about Joseph of Arimathea, not Jesus’s father, and . . . I don’t know what else. Churches.”
Joseph shook his head and shrugged.
“But it was Farooq?” Alex asked.
“It was,” Joseph nodded.
“Thank you,” Alex said.
“Sure.” Joseph pointed back into the alcove, and she nodded.
“Huh,” Jesse said. “It was Farooq.”
“Weird, huh?” Alex nodded. “And that map? The one we’re looking for? It’s a map of Ultima Thule. We found all three on the same day. We couldn’t afford the map.”
“The map’s got to be here,” Jesse said.
“That map has to be here,” Alex said. “We have the books . . .”
“How did these books get here?” Raz asked. “No one has had access to your books. No one. What the hell is this place?”
Alex looked at Raz. He looked furious, which meant that he was afraid for her.
“We need to leave,” Raz said. “Now.”
“We have a map of Ultima Thule over here,” Colin said.
Alex moved toward Colin’s voice.
“I don’t like this,” Raz said. “Not one bit. It feels like a set-up.”
“A set-up?” Alex asked.
“We conveniently find everything we could possibly hope to find,” Raz said. “We find a connection to bees, a connection to Nazo’s valley, the cartographer’s tool set . . .”
“The bookstore assistant has disappeared,” Joseph said.
“French Intelligence is nowhere to be found,” Matthew said.
“That can only mean . . .” Raz said.
“They’re coming for us,” Alex said in a low voice.
&nbs
p; “I agree with Rasmussen,” Trece said. “We’re sitting ducks here. They can get us when we leave. They can get us inside this fucking store. We can’t get to our vehicles without exposing ourselves.”
“We’ve been set up,” Raz said.
Joseph looked up at Trece and then glanced at Alex. She caught his eyes, and nodded.
“Lock and load, ladies,” White Boy yelled from the back door. “We’ve got company.”
“Who came up with the plan?” Alex asked.
“Sir,” Vince said. “Leena and I have developed a strategic defense plan which . . .”
“Sir?” Margaret asked in an uncharacteristically loud voice.
Vince turned to look at her. Margaret’s entire face was red with a flush.
“That thing I found,” Margaret said. She held up what looked a two-inch-by-four-inch piece of golden-colored metal. “That Eloise Le Grande said to hold onto it — that we might need it.”
“You,” Alex pointed to Vince and Leena. “You have command. Set up. Rasmussen and I will follow this lead. Colin, bring me the map.”
“You heard the Fey,” Joseph said.
“Let’s do this thing,” Matthew said.
A laser beam appeared in a gloomy corner of the store.
“GET DOWN!” Alex yelled.
The team dropped onto their bellies only a second before bullets shattered the glass windows and tore through the door and walls. Alex and Raz dropped down next to Margaret and MJ. Shots followed any movement in the room.
“These are pros!” Matthew yelled.
“Looks like French military,” Trece said.
“Stay down,” Joseph said.
“They’re firing in a military pattern,” Trece said regarding the shooters’ tendency to fire two rounds in quick succession.
“Sir!” Margaret yelled.
Alex looked at Margaret. There was a loud crash as White Boy pushed a bookshelf over to hold the door closed.
“She spoke to me in Navajo,” Margaret said. “Good, clear Navajo, like my grandmother’s Navajo.”
“Do you have the object?” Alex asked.
Margaret held out a pointed piece of gold-colored metal. The pointed end seemed to be an exact match to the point of the compass rose in the floor. There was a round hole near one end of the metal. There were two small holes about a quarter of an inch from the non-pointed end. There was an inch-by-half-inch piece of the same metal attached to the non-point end of the metal. Alex reached into her pocket, and her head rose off the ground. Raz’s hand pushed her back down. Two rounds nipped the edge of her jacket as they flew over her.
“Stay down,” Vince said. “We haven’t set the perimeter yet.”
Alex looked toward his voice. He, Leena, Royce, and Trece were working moving furniture and bookshelves to secure the building. Colin was moving from team member to team member to make sure everyone was all right. White Boy was building a defensive station out of books. Colin yelped, and Alex looked in his direction. His right arm had been grazed by a bullet.
“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit,” Colin yelled.
MJ belly-crawled over to Colin’s location to wrap his arm. Alex tapped Raz, and he looked at her.
“What is it?” Margaret asked.
“It’s a key of some kind,” Alex said. “Do you mind if I hold on to this?”
Margaret shook her head. Alex tucked the metal object into her pocket.
“Move!” Trece said.
Alex, Margaret, and Raz belly-crawled away from the wall. From where they were, she saw that Vince, Leena, White Boy, and Trece had built defensible positions in the open bookstore. White Boy belly-crawled over to them. Pressing himself against the bookshelf, he knocked the books off the shelf at the end of the alcove under which MJ had found the maps. Trece belly-crawled to him and joined him in knocking the books off. Together, they moved the shelf away from the wall, exposing the small cinder block room with no windows where MJ had found the maps.
“Sir,” Vince pointed to the room.
“I’ll stay to . . .” Alex started.
“Rasmussen,” Vince said. “Get the Fey into the room.”
“Cover me!” Raz said.
“You heard the man!” Vince said. “Troy — over here.”
He pointed to a position behind a bookcase near the back door. Troy scrambled to the door. He set up his MK 12 Mod 0 sniper-enhanced machine gun. Troy looked through the scope to see who was out back.
“Jakker, keep him loaded,” Vince said.
“Done,” Zack belly-crawled to where Troy had set up.
“I see . . . at least thirteen combatants,” Troy said. “You want me to take them.”
“Not yet,” Vince said. “Leena, take the front.”
Currently their second-best sharpshooter, Leena belly-crawled to the station near the front door. She took out her Mark 12 Mod 0 sniper-enhanced machine gun.
“Cliff!” Vince said.
“On it, sir,” Cliff moved to help keep Leena’s weapon loaded.
“Rasmussen, why haven’t you . . .” Vince started.
“You need my guns,” Alex yelled.
“Sir, we have another fifteen combatants on this end,” Leena said. “And sir, they arrived in what look like French military vehicles.”
“No,” Vince yelled. “I need you to get ahold of French Intelligence. I need Rasmussen to negotiate a truce, and I need Sergeant Dusty to call in help. Now get into the safe room.”
“Olivas, Carmichael,” Vince said. “Engage. Return fire. Non-lethal only. If this is French military, we don’t want to start an international incident. You copy?”
“Return non-lethal fire only,” Troy said at the same time Leena said, “Return non-lethal fire, sir.”
Troy and Leena began firing their rifles.
Hunched over, Raz grabbed Alex’s right arm, and Sergeant Dusty grabbed her left. They dragged her into the room.
“Trece — with Carmichael,” Vince said. “White Boy — with Olivas.”
Trece set down the sixteen-pound M249 SAW he’d been carrying next to Leena and began firing. White Boy set up station next to Troy.
Alex moved to get up.
“I’m a Green Beret, God damn it!” Alex yelled at Raz.
“So am I, sir,” Sergeant Dusty said. “But command asked us to connect to the authorities.”
Alex scowled at Sergeant Dusty, and he gave her one of his “You’re acting crazy” smiles. She shook her head.
“They have to believe that someone will lead when they can’t,” Raz said. “They need you in here.”
Alex looked out. Vince had assigned the rest of the team to positions around the shop. They were taking non-lethal fire and returning the same. Glass, metal, and cinder flew through the air along with bullets.
“Something is not right here,” Alex said. “I’m calling Dom.”
“Incoming!” Trece yelled.
Three flash-bang canisters flew into the shop. The team had just enough time to look away before they went off. Their eyes were protected from the flash by their sunglasses, but their ears took a beating. The canisters began to smoke.
“Dom!” Alex yelled into her cell phone.
“Where the fuck are you?” Dom asked in an explosion of angry Parisian French. “My men have been looking for you all over the city! You were supposed to . . .”
“Pick up our vehicles and meet you at the store,” Alex yelled. “That’s the message you left on my cell phone this morning at zero-three hundred hours.”
“What?” Dom asked.
“We met your men and the shop assistant at the store,” Alex said. “Your assistant was here.”
“No, you did not, because the fucking shop assistant is fucking sitting right next to me,” Dom said. “My fucking assistant is out right now looking for you. Where are you?”
“We’re at the store!” Alex yelled.
“God damn it,” Dom said.
The phone went silent. A few seconds later, the chaos in t
he store ended.
“They’ve stopped firing!” Matthew yelled.
“Hold!” Vince yelled.
The only sound in the store was the hiss of gas from the flash-bomb grenades.
“Dom?” Alex asked into her cell phone.
Raz looked over at her. He was on his cell phone to the Paris police. She glanced at Sergeant Dusty who was on the phone to US European Command. She shrugged.
“Alex?” Troy asked. “Your uncle is walking across the back parking lot. Would you like me to shoot him?”
“Wing him a little,” Trece said. “Fucker.”
Alex got up from the floor of the little room and walked into the store. All of the windows were gone. Glass and brick fragments littered the wood floor. She stepped over the grenades and walked to what had been the back door.
“Oncle Dominic,” Alex yelled to Dom from the door. She held her arms open wide as if he were coming to visit her at her summer cottage. “Comment allez-vous?”
He scowled at her but kept walking in her direction.
“We got word that a combat military team had taken over the store,” Dom said. “After the arson attempts, French command assumed, I assumed . . .”
“Bonjour Oncle Dominic!” Alex said and attempted to hug him.
Shaking his head, Dom scowled at her.
“They looked in at you,” Dom said. “You could have indicated who you were, and . . .”
“You didn’t honestly expect that, upon seeing laser targeting from military weapons, a combat-ready military team would pass out flowers and sing songs, did you?” Alex asked.
Dom scowled at her.
“You told us to come dressed like this,” Alex said. “’Come armed to the teeth,’ you said. ‘Look like American thugs,’ you said.”
Dom’s scowl darkened.
“‘Shake something loose,’ you said,” Alex said.
“Yes, but I never said to meet us at the store,” Dom said. “That message is not from me.”
“Then why was your assistant here?” Alex asked.
“Since you killed the last one, I’m not sure which assistant you mean,” Dom said.
Finding North Page 22
