by K. T. Tomb
“That’s just the heat and exhaustion getting to you, Phoe. Before we started searching, even you believed that we were on the right track. Don’t lose hope now.”
“Who the hell are you to tell me not to lose hope?” she snapped. She didn’t really want to fight, but she was so tired and frustrated that she would have taken on a mountain lion inside of a VW. She saw Peter begin to bristle and an idea came to her suddenly. “If you’re so fucking smart, how did you get us into this mess?”
“What?” Peter snapped. “What the hell are you talking about? How am I to blame for this mess?”
“You’re the dumb ass that got yourself and the rest of the team kidnapped. If it hadn’t been for that, I wouldn’t have had to make this stupid deal.” Out of her peripheral vision, she could see the beaming smile of Sergei. He was delighted to see them fighting. She hated to attack Peter the way she did, but if he knew what she was up to, he might not put a realistic touch on it.
“Oh. I see, and you’re so fucking smart that you avoided being captured yourself. Brilliant, Phoe, fucking brilliant! You must be having heat stroke because your brain isn’t working for shit!”
“Says the almighty Mr. Intelligent himself. You know, most of your intelligence is a fraud. You’ve learned how to put the right words together to sound like you know what you’re talking about, but you really have no fucking clue.”
“You know what, screw you! You want to find the Ark, you find it by yourself. Oh, that’s right, you can’t do it without me, can you?”
He’d delivered the line she was hoping he’d go for. “Actually, I can,” she said moving up to Sergei’s side and locking her arm around his. “I have to be accompanied by a man, but it doesn’t have to be you. Why don’t you just go work with Kalan?”
“That actually sounds like a pretty good idea.” Without another word, he stormed off toward Kalan’s quadrant, leaving her alone with Sergei. Had she not truly pissed him off, he wouldn’t have ever gone for the idea of her being left alone with a stranger. Phoe hoped that once he calmed down a minute he’d realize what he’d done and come back.
“So, you’ve finally come to your senses, then,” Sergei gloated as she walked with her arm locked in his.
“I’ve had my senses the whole time, I just had to figure out a way to get you alone.” Her eyes were scanning the brush and shrubs around them. “Now if we can just find a cave or something,” she purred.
“What exactly did you have in mind?” he beamed.
“Exactly what you’ve been wanting all along.” It turned her stomach to flirt with him suggestively. The idea of his hands on her repulsed her, but she needed an opportunity to escape long enough to get a call or a message to Simon. She only needed to blurt out one word, his mother’s maiden name, in order for him to know that it was really her.
“Well, with that as motivation, perhaps I’ll wake up my own eyes and help you search.”
“Mmmm… two are better than one.”
She couldn’t have planned it any better, though indications on the quadrant map that she held in her hands had suggested that the cave existed and was one of the factors for making her take the risk to fight with Peter. She saw it well before Sergei, but kept it to herself.
“There is a cave right there,” he pointed out, proud of himself and eager for what was coming his way.
“Let’s hurry before the Iranian catches up and Peter decides to come back.” She tugged on his hand and started in a trot toward the cave. If she could incapacitate him long enough for her to get the break she needed, things just might be salvageable for her and her team.
She led him into the cave and turned on her flashlight. As she flashed it around on the walls of the cave and led him in deeper, she spotted a single, ancient symbol. She’d come back and examine it when she wasn’t working on her plan to get rid of Sergei.
“This should be about far enough,” he said, pulling back on her hand and drawing her into him. When she was against his chest, he let his hands run over the firm curvature of her behind. “I’ve been waiting for this since I saw you in Santa Fe.”
“Oh really?” she cooed. “I’ve been waiting for this!” As she spoke, she drove her knee up into his groin, then turned on the heel of her other foot, spun around and drove an elbow into his temple as he reached for his groin. As he started down, a solid roundhouse kick snapped his head around, the heel of her foot colliding with his jaw. Sergei crumpled to the floor of the cave.
Using the flashlight, she located his gun and tucked it in the waistband of her jeans, then used his belt to fasten his hands snugly behind his back. “Fucking pervert,” she muttered and then stepped back toward where she found the symbol on the wall. It had been very faint and it took her a bit of time to locate it, but once she did, she knew exactly what it was. The four-pointed star had a circle in the center and four pairs of wavy lines extending from the center circle outward between the star points. The entire configuration was enclosed in another circle. It was the star/sun symbol of Shamash, an ancient Mesopotamian god in the pantheon. Its existence in the cave left no question in Phoe’s mind that she was in the right place.
She had no sooner found the symbol and examined it before she heard Peter’s footsteps and soft voice. “Phoe, are you in here?”
“Yes.”
“I thought I saw a flashlight,” he replied.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m better than okay.”
“What? Why?”
“I found the cave.”
“What ca…”
“Check this out.” She shined the light on the wall.
“The star/sun of Shamash,” he whispered, moving closer for a better look. “Nice job with the fight.”
“Glad you picked up on that,” she said. “I was feeling sort of bad about some of the things I said.”
“You got pretty harsh, but it was effective. Get you a Golden Globe. Where is he, by the way?”
“Tied up back in the cave.”
They started back through the cave to where Sergei lay on the floor with his hands tied.
“You’ll never get away with this and Nicholai will kill all of you for double crossing him.” Sergei gasped.
“Let me see your scarf,” Peter said.
Phoe removed the scarf that she wore under her hat and handed it to him.
Peter reached down and wadded it into Sergei’s mouth. “I was getting tired of listening to him.” He stood. “Shall we?”
Peter led the way down the tunnel until they came to a pile of rocks that gave every appearance of being a cave in. Peter shined the light on the ceiling above the pile. “It didn’t come from there. Somebody piled these rocks here.
“Well, then?”
“You do realize that these rocks have probably been like this for nearly 2500 years, right?”
“Just help me move them.” Phoe had already started tossing rocks aside. After several minutes of moving rocks, she stopped to take a breath. “Did you actually make it over to Kalan?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“I told him that you had a plan and to be ready to move the first opportunity that he got.”
“How did you know it wasn’t a real fight?”
“I saw the devil dancing in your eyes when you glanced over at Sergei.”
“Very observant.” They spent several more minutes moving rocks. It seemed like they hadn’t even made a dent in the pile, though there were two growing piles on either side. “Dancing devil?” she asked as she stood once more to take a breather.
“Yep. I’ve known you a long time, Phoe. It’s pretty hard to get anything past me.”
“Is that a challenge?” Her eyes flashed.
“Oh, hell no.” Peter knew better than to offer any form of a challenge to Phoe.
Chapter Sixteen
But God struck down some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they looked into the ark of the LORD. The peop
le mourned because of the heavy blow the LORD had dealt them. And the people of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God? To whom will the ark go up from here?”
-1 Samuel 6:19-20
With the pile of rocks finally giving way in front of them and the two piles on either side taking up most of the remaining space, they began to pull crumbling pieces of what appeared to be Persian wool, woven into what must have been rugs. Phoe felt a chill go up her spine. What if she reached in and accidentally touched the Ark?
“We better slow down a bit,” she said.
“I was just thinking the same thing,” Peter replied.
“Well, well, what do we have here?” It was Nicholai’s voice. She and Peter hadn’t heard it due to the noise they were making while moving the rocks. “Hoping to have the Ark to yourselves, no doubt?”
They turned and saw not only Nicholai, but several of his men and a few of the Iranians flanking him and brandishing weapons.
“I’ll take that,” Sergei said, stepping forward, snatching the pistol out of her waistband and then striking her with a backhand that knocked her to the floor of the cave.
“You son of a bitch,” Peter said, stepping forward.
“Do it,” Sergei taunted, leveling the gun at Peter’s chest.
“Miss Phoenix,” Nicholai began again. “After all of this time that we were taking care of you and your friends, I really thought that you’d treat me better than this.”
“So sue me,” she snapped.
“Even though you’ve treated me so badly, I’m going to keep my end of the bargain. As soon as we have solid proof that the Ark is authentic, your brother and your friends will be free to go.”
“Yeah? What about me?”
“Well, I was hoping that we’d be able to make another arrangement, perhaps several of them. I could make it well worth your while.”
“I already told you, I’m…”
“Yes, I know, you’re not for sale. We’ll see soon enough.” He turned toward the men on either side of him. “Go on then, get the thing uncovered; let’s see what we’ve got.”
In a few minutes, Nicholai’s men had the rocks cleared away and were peeling away several layers of tattered and decayed rugs. As they pulled the last shreds away, the unmistakable sight of the two cherubim spreading their wings toward each other to form the mercy seat were revealed.
“The Ark of the Covenant,” Nicholai breathed. “Okay… let’s get it out of there, covered up and transported back to the warehouse. Unless, of course, Miss Phoenix, you’d like to take a look inside.”
“No thank you,” she replied. “But you need to let my friends go. I kept my end of the deal.”
“Yes, you did and your friends will be set free, in due time. Once I am assured that this is an authentic version of the Ark, instead of a replica like the one in Aksum. That could be taken care of more quickly if you’d take a look inside.”
“You said nothing of authentication,” she replied. “The deal was to find the Ark for you. I’ve done that.”
“So, you don’t want to look inside then?”
Phoe considered it for a moment. She was curious to look inside and she wanted her friends set free, but if something happened to her, to Peter and to Kalan who they had just brought into the cave at gunpoint, the others might never be set free. “No thank you.”
“In many ways, Miss Phoenix, you’ve already authenticated it for me. Do you really believe that an ancient gold chest still carries the power of God inside of it? God doesn’t exist. All of this was merely a fable made up by the Hebrews. There is no god and there are no gods. Throughout history, men have made up deities to give themselves something to believe in, something to explain the inexplicable.”
“Then why do you want the Ark?” Peter asked. “If it’s just a box layered in gold, what good is it to you?”
“Because others believe it is valuable. Okay, enough of the chit-chat. Tie these three up, put them with the others and get this thing transported.” He turned back to Phoe while she was being tied. “It’s a pity to see this happening to you; I hoped that we could make a very profitable arrangement. No matter, I have other resources.”
“What about our deal?” Phoe spat.
“Well, the six million was for the ransom of your friends, but I’m going to need another four million for you.”
“Fine. Let them go and one of them can go get the four million.”
“No. I prefer to have it all in one lump sum. Unless, of course, you want to work on installments.”
Phoe knew exactly what that meant. “Go to hell!” she replied.
“Suit yourself. Okay. Let’s get a move on.”
Peter, Kalan and Phoe were escorted out of the cave and into the bright sunlight. Hoods were placed over their heads and they were placed in the back of a truck for transport, but would be unable to retrace or have any sort of way of knowing where they were being taken.
“I’m sorry that I got you guys into this,” Phoe muttered from behind the hood to the others.
“I’m equally sorry, Phoe,” Peter replied. “I should have had better security for us after you made your call. I overlooked it and allowed us to become a bargaining chip.”
“I don’t think it would have made a difference. I think Nicholai is highly connected. Somehow more so than Simon Kessler, though I would have thought that to be impossible.”
“More powerful than you think,” Kalan piped in.
“What do you mean?” Phoe asked.
“Once I finally got a glimpse of him, I did some of my IT magic and came up with a name to match the face. Semion Usmanov, one of the most powerful and wealthiest men in the world. It’s sort of ironic actually.”
“What’s ironic?” Peter asked.
“Semion is the Russian equivalent of Simon.”
Trust Kalan to come up with something as trivial as that when their lives were in danger. It wasn’t necessarily that he was irreverent; he just had the kind of mind that was constantly making connections and drawing conclusions. It was an awesome attribute to have in your IT guy, because it made him a virtual walking databank. He was like a windup toy, turn the key, set him down and watch him go.
“God, Kalan, does anything get under your skin?”
“Plenty of things, actually, but at the moment, I’m not overly concerned.”
The light went on inside Phoe’s head. “What do you have up your sleeve?”
“I’d rather not say. Some people have big ears.”
“I told you not to comment about my ears,” Peter chuckled, covering with a joke.
There was no more conversation on the topic. There was no point in tipping off Nicholai or Semion’s team to what was coming their way. Phoe knew that, however he did it, Kalan had somehow gotten a message or left a clue for someone who would get them some help. Even with someone watching over his shoulder, Kalan’s intelligence had outwitted their captors.
Chapter Seventeen
They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with castanets, harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals.
When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The LORD’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.
-2 Samuel 6: 1-7
Though Sergei was a part of an historic occasion, not to mention a very intriguing one, it was difficult for him to keep his thoughts focused upon what was unfolding in front of him. The Ark of the Covenant had been set on a table and flanked by golden lamp stands, just as had been described in the Hebrew texts. An archeologist who was well acquainted with Ark lore was brought in to do the task tha
t Thalia Phoenix had been meant to perform.
The thought of the smooth curves of the body of Thalia Phoenix had stayed with him ever since he saw her strip in front of him. He had memorized every delicious detail and had fantasized what it would be like to caress her body, kiss it, lick it, suck on it and penetrate her roughly from behind. Making her scream in pain and abusing her for what she had done to him in the cave, brought a particularly vile expression to his face as he considered his sweet revenge.
Since Thalia Phoenix had made herself expendable, he had asked to have her and Charlotte as sort of a bonus. Nicholai had reluctantly agreed, but told him that he would have to wait until they had a chance to examine the Ark.
“It could be that we’ll need Miss Phoenix again if this doesn’t prove to be real. I want her unharmed. That Charlotte, however, she’s not important.”
Had Sergei not been obsessed with Thalia, he might have taken out at least a portion of his frustrations upon Charlotte, but his need for vengeance actually hatched an even more sinister plan. He would have them both together and enjoy watching the reaction of each as they watched the other being violated. He licked his lips while he visualized the images and heard the sounds of their screams in his ears.
Sergei’s fantasizing was interrupted by Nicholai’s announcement, “Gentlemen, gather around and enjoy the historic occasion that is about to unfold.” There was a video camera set up to record the event and Nicholai turned toward the camera.
“It is my distinct privilege to be a part of unveiling the authentic Ark of the Covenant before you today. To assist me in this venture, may I present Dr. Josef Markovic, renown archeologist and leading expert in Ark of the Covenant lore.”
“Thank you.” Dr. Markovic bowed slightly toward the camera.
“Doctor, do we have an authentic relic before us?” Nicholai asked. Sergei moved closer and stepped a little bit to the left in order to get a better view of what was taking place.
“It is my opinion, based on what I can see on the outside, that we do, indeed. However, as we are all well aware, the true proof of authenticity will be found on the inside. Inside, are the original Ten Commandments, allegedly written by the very finger of God, a jar, or more likely a clay pot, with manna (or the bread of heaven) and the staff of Aaron that miraculously grew a bud. If these items are indeed inside the Ark, then we will be able to examine them more closely, perhaps use some of our modern technology to date them and be able to authenticate them and consequently the Ark as well.”
