by R D Shah
‘I am sceptical about that,’ he remarked slyly. ‘I doubt you even knew I was going to be here.’
‘Oh yes? And why are you here, then?’ Harker probed, ignoring McCray’s correct assumption.
‘Wrapping up some loose ends, you might say.’
‘That’s more of a reason than an answer, McCray … I mean what exactly have you got to do with the Skoptsy and their terrorist attacks?’
The question drew a sarcastic laugh from McCray, who shook his head with incredulity. ‘Are you trying to enforce your own vain sense of logic upon things you can’t possibly understand … or are simply unwilling to believe?’ The assassin motioned again to the numerous dead Skoptsy. ‘Everything I just said to these wretched troglodytes is true. The end of the world is being played out even as we speak. The divine wheels have been set in motion, and there is nothing that you or I can do about it. You yourself must have noticed the events now occurring throughout the world.’
‘I’ve noticed a lot of things,’ Harker replied in a far more knowing way then he felt.
‘Good,’ came the reply. ‘Then you to will know, as I do, that no earthly hand could have been involved.’
‘Maybe,’ Harker offered, ‘but what have the Skoptsy got to do with it?’
‘This pathetic sect have had their uses, Alex, but not in the way you might think. They have been surprisingly helpful in our preparations.’
‘Preparations?’
‘Preparation for the coming war.’
‘War?’ Harker almost spat the word out.
‘Yes, the coming war between the divine forces of our Lord and the dominion of evil led by Lucifer himself, for the control of this world.’
McCray’s answer was too out there for Harker to engage with credibly, but he played along nonetheless. ‘And you think, after all the bloodshed you’ve caused, that the lord God is going to anoint you as his right-hand man.’
‘Oh, don’t be so naïve,’ McCray refuted bluntly. ‘The bible is full of countless deaths perpetrated by people with God’s wrath in their hearts, and I am no different. If I had handed the child over to them instead of killing these creatures, then they would have murdered a helpless infant in the misguided notion that he was a false prophet. I, on the other hand, know better and it is my actions that have saved the child’s life. The son of God … for this child is not only our salvation but an invitation to sit at the Lord’s table.’
There were so many things wrong with what McCray was saying that Harker struggled not to shake his head and sigh in disbelief. He decided instead to continue playing to the man’s obvious psychosis. ‘Why the Skoptsy? Why not have your friends the Magi lay down the preparations? You see, I know who you are, Donald.’
McCray’s face suddenly turned ashen and he looked for the first time like a worried man. ‘Then you will know that I was betrayed by my own brother, and when the Magi turned their back on me, I turned to the Skoptsy and utilised their services accordingly.’ McCray’s confident demeanour suddenly returned too him and he beamed up at Harker. ‘It doesn’t matter anymore because the Magi are now back where they should have been in the first place … under my control.’
McCray had hardly managed to finish his words when the ground beneath him began to shake and Harker watched as his men began struggling to maintain their balance while dodging the small fragments of rock that were now crumbling off the dome overhead.
‘Well, it looks like you’ve pissed somebody off,’ Harker shouted, but McCray was already ordering his team to retreat.
‘Go,’ McCray barked, and they began to hurry out of the arena before he called out one last time. ‘Goodbye, Alex,’ the assassin shouted gleefully, ‘and enjoy your tomb.’
Before the Magi death squad was even out of sight, Shroder was dragging Harker away from the edge, and then the two of them were running back along the stone passageways that were already beginning to disintegrate all around them, until the grating noise of stone grinding against stone became almost deafening. The vibrations were getting ever more violent and, as they reached the crossroads, a large jagged part of the ceiling dropped loose and crashed to the floor just inches away from Harker, sending Shroder jumping to one side and slamming against the wall.
‘Here,’ Harker shouted, grabbing Shroder’s outstretched hand and pulling him to his feet. ‘You go first.’ He pushed the agent towards the passageway leading to an exit. As Shroder continued his zig-zagging up to and around the bend, Harker paused and glanced down the side passage to his left, and he thought of Claire Dwyer. He had made a promise to himself earlier that he would get her body out of here, but it was one promise he would be unable to keep.
Above him a thick crack appeared in the stone ceiling and Harker instinctively dived into the passageway up ahead just as the whole corridor behind him collapsed in on itself, propelling a thick plume of dust his way which engulfed him in a foul mist that stung his eyes. He clambered to his feet and headed further on up the passage towards the only source of light he could see. Figuring that Shroder had by now reached the trapdoor, he raised his shirt to his mouth so as not to inhale the choking dust and then hurried towards it as fast as he could, dodging fragments of rock that continued to drop all around him.
On reaching the ladder Harker hurled himself up and onto it with such ferocity that one of the steps snapped underneath him, jamming him painfully, groin first, into the one below it with a hefty whack. Harker was already reaching for the top of the ladder and cursing the pain he felt, when more dust from the disintegrating passage behind made it nearly impossible to see, but Shroder reached down and clutched at his jacket, hauling him upwards and up on to the relative safety of the chapel floor.
Harker was still coughing violently as Shroder helped him to his feet and thrust into his hands one of the gasmasks he had discarded earlier. Without need for any direction, Harker slipped it over his face just as the chapel tower overhead, along with the whole building, began to sway back and forth.
They burst through the doors leading back outside, and it was only Shroder swinging Harker up against the chapel’s external wall that stopped him plummeting head first into a clump of potentially radioactive bushes directly opposite. They hugged the outer wall of the chapel all the way to the path, before racing down it all the way to the end where the Range Rover was parked across the street. As Shroder sorted through his keys, Harker turned around to see the grey-concrete apartment block opposite began to fracture and twist.
When he turned back Shroder was already inside the car. The agent flung open the passenger side door with such force that the door smacked into Harker and sent him flying backwards on to the ground. The impact dazed him for a moment and he looked up to see the street ahead begin to undulate, and then to roll towards him in a rippling wave of earth and debris. As this wave passed the apartment block standing at the far end of the street, it disappeared into the ground with a thunderous roar, and a cloud of smoke billowed into the sky high above.
Harker immediately dragged himself back to his feet and jumped into the passenger side.
‘Get the suits,’ Shroder yelled, pointing to the two yellow haz-mat suits lying on the back seat. Harker reached back and scooped them up passing one to Shroder and then slipped into his own as Shroder did likewise. After a few uncomfortable and fumbling moments they were fully suited and as the sound of the car’s engine burst into life Shroder jammed the vehicle into first gear and began speeding down the main road that led out of Pripyat, as the next apartment block totally disintegrated.
Harker looked back and watched in trepidation as the final three apartment blocks also disappeared into the ground, before turning back to face the windscreen just as a stout pine tree was uprooted by the collapsing ground and began to fall across the road in front of them. ‘Look out,’ he yelled but Shroder was already manoeuvring the vehicle up onto the pavement and past the obstacle as it smacked down on to the cracked tarmac behind them.
‘That was too cl
ose,’ Harker yelled, struggling to be heard above the roar of the Range Rover’s engine and through the mask covering his face, even as Shroder accelerated faster. ‘Did you see McCray?’
‘I didn’t see any other cars,’ Shroder replied as overhead the flapping of rotor blades had them both craning upwards to get a glimpse of a Russian-made Hind helicopter through the top of the windscreen. The helicopter rose into the air and then peeled off to the west, before disappearing into low-level clouds and out of sight. Both Harker and Shroder stared at each with impressed looks on their faces. The Magi, as always, had been well prepared.
‘There must have been another exit to that chapel.’ Shroder yelled as they hit the main road with a screech from the tyres and fortunately, after a few hundred metres, the earth tremors began to ease off until after a few miles they were barely registering.
‘What the hell was that all about?’ Shroder shouted from beneath his mask.
‘I don’t know but I’m sure about one thing,’ Harker replied. ‘That spiel about the end of the world… McCray believes it completely.’
Shroder glanced into his rear-view mirror to see the large smoking hole in the ground, with pitch-black storm clouds hanging above it where the town of Pripyat had once stood. ‘Yeah, well you know what?’ He said continuing to accelerate down the road that would lead them out of the exclusion zone and back to the airstrip. ‘He’s not the only one.’
Chapter 31
By the time they reached the airport Harker and Shroder were still engaged in the same heated discussion that had been preoccupying them since leaving the exclusion zone.
‘I just can’t believe that you didn’t realise Claire Dwyer was a Templar!’ Harker persisted, unwilling to let the topic go. ‘You’re a close friend of Brulet’s … and let’s not forget you’re MI6. You boys are supposed to know everything.’
‘I’m telling you I had no idea. Sebastian doesn’t keep me fully apprised of absolutely everything,’ Shroder moaned and refuting the allegation that was being levelled at him for the umpteenth time. ‘Shit, I’m not even a Templar myself, and as for MI6 they don’t even know that organisation exists!’
‘No, I’m sure they don’t,’ Harker replied sarcastically.
‘Believe me, if the security services knew about the Templars, they’d have them under a bloody microscope.’
Harker shook his head dismissively as Shroder continued.
‘Do you really think the intelligence community would allow an entity like the Templars – and the resources they have at their fingertips – to operate without impunity? Because if you do, then you’re crazier than the Skoptsy!’
Harker rolled his eyes at this mention of the Skoptsy. ‘Maybe but, until I see Sebastian, I’m reserving judgment on everything. He and I need to have a serious talk.’
‘Well, it looks like you’re about to get your chance,’ Shroder declared calmly as the Range Rover pulled up in front of their Gulf Steam 450 jet, allowing them a view of the second, identical Gulf Stream 450 jet parked directly behind it. ‘Because, if I’m not mistaken, that’s his aircraft.’
The vehicle had barely stopped before Harker was out of the car and briskly making his way towards the newly arrived plane and its waiting set of steps. He climbed them two at a time and hopped inside, almost colliding with Captain Jones who was looking wholly relieved to see him.
‘Glad you made it.’ Jones said with a thankful smile. ‘We felt the shockwave.’
Harker gave him a complimentary nod, then turned his attention to the cabin beyond.
‘Alex!’ Chloe she jumped up out of her seat and greeted him with a heartfelt bear-hug. ‘I was getting worried.’
Behind her, Sebastian Brulet was also already on his feet and looking just as pleased. ‘We were all getting worried.’ The Grand Master offered and then turned his attention to Shroder who had just appeared through the jet’s entrance. ‘And likewise you, Michael. Thank you for your assistance at such short notice.’
‘You might not want to thank me just yet, Sebastian,’ Shroder replied, glancing towards Harker who was eyeing Brulet with deep mistrust.
‘I see,’ Brulet said gravely. ‘Then perhaps you had better tell me what happened?’
‘We found the Skoptsy is what happened,’ Harker announced drily. ‘And we also found Claire Dwyer … what was left of her anyway!’
Harker’s brutal disclosure made Brulet scowl in dismay and the Grand Master rubbed at his eyes with a sigh.
‘Tell me, Sebastian,’ Harker continued scornfully, ‘were you ever going to tell me that Claire Dwyer was a Templar?’
Brulet stared back with a sad glint in those cross-shaped pupils of his. ‘Please, Alex, allow me to explain.’
‘I wish you would,’ Harker replied flatly, ‘because at this moment in time I’m not sure how much I trust you.’
Brulet nodded compliantly and sat down with a sluggish sagging of his body. ‘I tried to tell you during our last conversation, before we were cut off.’
‘Yes, I realise that now,’ Harker replied, having already figured it out on the drive back, ‘but it was still a little late in the day to tell me about her, wouldn’t you say?’
‘Yes, it was and for that I am sorry, but I had my reasons.’
‘You always have your reasons, don’t you, Sebastian.’ Harker replied scathingly. ‘I’ve spent the last four months cursing that woman and the way she deceived me, the Templars and even her own brother, and now I find out that all the time she was working for you!’
‘She was, yes,’ Brulet confirmed, as Harker brought his palms together with a loud slap.
‘She tried to have me killed!’ he shouted angrily. ‘On more than one occasion.’
‘No, she didn’t, Alex,’ Brulet said firmly, but with a compassionate tone in his voice. ‘She actually saved your life.’
‘What!’ Harker yelled furiously, and so loudly that it made Chloe flinch. ‘How the hell do you figure that?’
Brulet placed his hands together and raised them to his lips as some of his usual and familiar confidence began to return. ‘The Templars approached Claire shortly after we learned about her brother Archie’s involvement with the relics that eventually led you to the Vatican last year, and to the consequences that followed. We knew Archie would never join an organisation such as ours, but Claire was more than willing and in a unique position, as his sister, to dig deeper. When she was approached by the Magi soon after her brother’s death, she realised she was in the perfect position to infiltrate their ranks and discover what the rest of us could not … their creation of the Christ child and the sect’s sordid and ambitious plan to take over the Catholic Church.’ Brulet paused as he interlaced his fingers and assumed a serious pose as if for fear of appearing flippant in his explanation. ‘And then you entered the picture and, as it turned out, played almost as significant role as she did. It is important that you know that at no time did she alert the Magi to your location. I’m afraid that was down to the mole within our own ranks.’
‘Lusic Bekhit?’ Harker asked, suddenly surprised at himself for having all but forgotten about the Templar double agent. The treacherous snake that had changed sides and had since vanished of the face of the earth
‘Yes.’ Brulet gave a confirming nod. ‘It was he that passed on your movements to the Magi, allowing them to track you both at all times, and in doing so always managing to stay one step ahead.’
‘But she left me to die down in the catacombs at the hands of the Magi. She just abandoned me.’
‘No,’ Brulet said with a wave of his finger, ‘it was a calculated risk on her part. If Claire had revealed herself, she would have been killed on the spot along with you. Her intention had been for us to save you but I am afraid it took us a little longer to reach you than hoped. Thankfully your ingenuity knows no bounds, or it could have been a very different outcome.’
Brulet’s answer had Harker’s mind swirling but one factor stood out. ‘You’re saying that she
contacted you in order to save me and the child’s mother.’
‘That’s exactly what I am saying,’ Brulet replied as he now leaned closer to Harker. ‘Didn’t you ever ask yourself how it was that we turned up at Vatican City so quickly, and just in the nick of time to stop the Magi from butchering you and the unborn child?’
Harker remained quiet, stunned by what he was hearing because everything he was being told was starting to make a disturbing kind of sense.
‘Without Claire we never would have found you in time, albeit a little late.’
Harker took a moment to shake off the daze as Brulet sat back in his chair and waited for the barrage of questions he was now expecting.
‘So why did she kidnap the child?’
‘She didn’t,’ Brulet replied unemotionally. ‘After the deaths of his brothers John Wilcox believed, quite correctly, that he had been betrayed and that Claire was the weak link. She was sure that he would kill her soon enough, so she contacted me with a plan for us to get to him first and finally eliminate his cruel bloodline once and for all.’ Brulet lowered his head regretfully and rubbed at the back of his wrist. ‘It was a plan that I foolishly went along with.’
‘She told Wilcox she could get the child back,’ Harker guessed. And knowing now what Claire’s true intentions had been, he had no doubt at what she would have done next.
‘Yes,’ Brulet confirmed, obviously ashamed by having gone along with it. ‘Claire and the child and his mother, Ms Genowa, were supposed to meet Wilcox under the guise of a kidnapping. We had teams already waiting at the arranged meeting place that were supposed to take Wilcox and his group down before Claire even arrived, but something happened. They were ambushed when a truck slammed into their car, killing Ms Genowa instantly, and then Claire and the child vanished.’
‘The Skoptsy?’
‘Apparently so,’ Brulet replied, clearly encouraged by Harker’s engagement in this conversation, ‘but I’m hoping you can provide us with more information regarding that, now you have returned from your visit to Pripyat … one that has ended in the complete destruction of the area, I might add.’ But Harker was far from finished with his questions.
