The Double-Edged Sword

by Amy Lignor

  Turning, she offered Alexandros a small smile. “I’d better get back on the right path,” she announced, looking up at the face of Michael. “I got off it by coming here. Not sure why. I thought there was something…something here that could help my family.”

  “And there is.” Rising, Alexandros met her under the large dome. “You.”

  Without thinking, Leah hugged him. “Thank you for talking to me,” she whispered. “I don’t want to go, but I have to. I’m running out of time.”

  Alexandros held her in his arms a second longer before letting go. “New days are always clean slates.”

  Listening to the clock inside her head grow more insistent with each second that ticked away, Leah left his side and headed for the door.

  “Wait.” His suddenly loud command stopped her in her tracks.

  Watching him walk back to the bench, he returned holding the small, white flower. “You almost forgot this.”

  Leah looked down at the simple gift. “Something to remember you by?”

  “No. We’ll see each other again. I’m sure of it.” He pointed down at the flower. “But whatever you do, don’t lose that. It’s very important you keep it with you. It will come in handy.”

  Leah smiled. “How can a flower come in handy?”

  “Sometimes the smallest thing in the world holds the most power.”

  Nodding at the kind man, Leah said goodbye.

  As she walked away from the Rotunda, her speed increased. It was time to get back to her hero’s side.

  CHAPTER 41

  Standing in the chamber just outside the Throne Room turned crypt, Gareth tried to catch his breath. He held on to his sister’s cold hand, wondering how deep her sorrow must run. After all, just a short distance away from them was a body that had been massacred. And Emmanuel, her own husband, was missing. Yet Kathryn remained still, leaning up against the wall. Gareth attempted to clear his mind, try to find an explanation that would make some sense in this completely crazed world.

  Turning to the other woman, he grasped at straws. “What do you have to do with this?”

  Lange remained silent.

  He turned to his sister. “Why is she here?”

  Kathryn bit down on her bottom lip; her small frame began moving from side-to-side as if an invisible wind was trying its best to knock her down. Her voice was barely a whisper. “Lange joined UNESCO three months ago.”

  Gareth took a deep breath. His mind was scrambled, but one thing he knew for certain was that the sudden reintroduction of a greedy witch into their lives was no coincidence. She was up to something. She always was. When he’d met her years ago it took her only a short time to become an infection in his life. It had been the memory of her poisonous attitude that had kept him far away from the claws and traps of other women. Until, of course, the dawning of a new age—when he ran headfirst into Leah Tallent’s arms.

  Gareth dismissed her and did his best to offer his sister comfort. “I’m here to find Emmanuel and get you home safe.” He shrugged his head in the direction of the blonde, as if tossing her out of the world they occupied. “This old subject isn’t important. Tell me about that body in there.”

  Lange’s unwanted voice entered his ears once again. “We found him this morning.”

  “And he is?”

  Her eyebrows furrowed together on her forehead. “Identification is a bit of a problem, being that he has no head.”

  “Where the hell are the cops?”

  Kathryn looked at the ground. “I haven’t called them.”

  “Why the hell not? I understand a missing adult would have to be gone a couple days for the authorities to even care, but you have a murdered guy in there. The cops would definitely be the first people I’d call for help.” His brain was spinning.

  “We were going to do that…but Kathryn called you instead. When she heard a bus pull up outside, she ran back because she felt you arrive,” Lange Rouy spoke behind him.

  Gareth turned on her. “Then we’ll call the cops now.”

  “The cells are dead. Kathryn used the rest of her battery to call you and Leah.”

  “Crissake.” Rolling his eyes, he reached into his pocket and drew out his phone, noting that the high-priced machine was also as dead as a doornail.

  Kathryn whispered, “I wanted you and Leah. I know. It sounds dumb. But you’re the only people I know I can trust.”

  He turned his thoughts back to the sinister corpse. “Was anyone missing from the UNESCO group when they took off from here?”

  She shook her head. “Everyone was accounted for. Besides,” Kathryn swallowed, “Gareth, I think the body has been dead for a while.”

  “But you or others in your group must have entered this room during the time you’ve been here?”

  “Yes.” She nodded. “But this is the first time he’s been in here. His skin is ice cold…like it’s been refrigerated. But I swear I heard Emmanuel’s voice call out. I thought…it could be him so I ran in here and…”

  Gareth turned to Lange. “And you were where, exactly, when she found the body?”

  “I came in behind her. I was two steps too late. She raced up to the body and then…started screaming.”

  “She shouldn’t even be here,” he shot an accusation directly at her. “She’s pregnant. She and Emmanuel should be home right now painting little yellow ducks on the walls of a nursery, not stumbling around a broken down site giving themselves heart attacks.”

  A small smile seemed to flit across her lips. “Your sister has never been one to follow orders.”

  Leaning up against the wall, Gareth closed his eyes and demanded his brain to stop and listen. He needed to look at the scene. He needed to discover anything at all that would help him figure out what to do. You’ve seen disgusting things before, he reminded himself. There’s no danger here. Not now, anyway.

  Opening his eyes, he stood up straight and walked back into the Throne Room. The candles flickered and the spotlight allowed him to view the area. Not a drop of blood decorated the clean floor. It was simply a room where visitors were brought so they could ooh and ahh to their heart’s content while they snapped photos of a mysterious past. With the exception of the decapitated figure and the sound of vomiting coming from the outer hallway, all was business as usual inside the palace.

  “Before Emmanuel went missing, we all heard a voice,” Lange whispered.

  “She said that.”

  “But until today we’d heard only one. The same one.”

  “She said there were more.”

  “Today,” Lange reiterated. “But the same one had been popping up since the minute we arrived. It seemed that no matter where we went we heard a voice…the voice of a man, I think. Sometimes sobbing; sometimes calm.”

  Gareth felt his breath quicken. “And Emmanuel followed that voice?”

  “The whole team did. It really is impossible inside this place. But it was early this morning that the voices changed. For a second it was like…”

  “It was like what?” His voice was demanding. He knew he was at his breaking point.

  She jumped. “Like a parade. We heard female voices too. We looked everywhere we could think of; there’s even a compartment in this room under the floor. We found that during our dig.” Without moving her gaze from his, she nodded at the dead man. “Before he showed up. But there’s nothing in there. There are no tunnels in or out of this room—nothing.”

  “There wouldn’t be tunnels in here,” Gareth let his mind wander; he wanted to distance himself, use the technique that worked so well for Leah, by conjuring up any facts he already had buried in his own brain about Knossos. “This was where the king sat. The only thing put under this throne would have been the gold and gifts his subjects brought to him. Kings like to keep their own cache separate from the Treasury.”

  With that comment, he glared into her hazel eyes. “King Minos would’ve kept his stash hidden, so no matter what thief went looking for it, they’d always com
e up empty.”

  Not taking the bait, Lange continued, “There are so many tunnels and hallways in the rest of this place that it’s going to be impossible to find him.”

  Kathryn suddenly appeared behind him and let out a soft cry. “We have to find him.”

  Gareth turned to his sister. Carrying the spotlight, he led her away from the horrific scene. “We will. Emmanuel is fine. He probably just got turned around in here. God knows it would be easy to do. Let’s go back up to ground level and figure out a plan.” He shouted back over his shoulder—an order more than an invitation—to make sure Lange knew who was now in charge. “Come on. I need to know everything I can about this place.”

  As Gareth walked into the hallway, a new sound began echoing inside the walls. He turned the spotlight 360 degrees, studying the rooms, trying to detect where the noise that was quickly building into a thunderous crescendo was coming from.

  Confusion took over when he felt the first tremor underneath his feet. It felt as if the palace, itself, had suddenly begun to shake with fear. Backtracking a few steps, Gareth glanced into the Throne Room and felt a wave of fear shoot through him. The sudden quakes were making the corpse’s body dance on the alabaster throne. The shoulders trembled, as if the headless man was laughing at them.

  Walking away, he headed to his sister. “What the hell is that?”

  Kathryn shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  Grabbing her hand, Gareth moved quickly down the hall. Turning a corner, the spot of natural light that he’d seen before once again caught his eye, and he ran towards it. Pulling Kathryn with him, they ran out into the palace courtyard and slid to a stop. Gareth viewed the metal beast that was slowly lifting into the sky from outside the walls of the palace.

  As the chopper rose from the outer visitor parking area, moving away from the ancient structure, Gareth searched the grounds. Elation flooded his veins when he spotted the familiar long leather coat. Leah was weaving her way through the columns, her head moving like a confused bird who’d lost its prey.

  Finding his voice, Gareth yelled out as loud as possible across the terrain. He watched Leah stop her progress up a staircase, and turn around. Glancing back at the open courtyard, she caught sight of him and waved.

  Dropping his sister’s hand, Gareth finally felt the breath he’d been holding return to his lungs. Walking towards her, he offered up a prayer of thanks to whoever might be listening.

  As he closed in, Leah’s mouth opened. “Look,” she began, “I’m sorry for—”

  Gareth lifted her from the steps and crushed her against his body. His lips searched for hers, and when he found them, he gave her a kiss that held all of the love, respect, and need for her that lived within his body.

  It took a long time to break away, yet when his breath was finally depleted, he set her down and got lost in the sapphire gaze that beamed with both love and relief. “Wow,” Leah said. “Maybe I should go away more often.”

  He smiled at the familiar humor that was like a drug, but his brain screamed at him to tie her up in chains—handcuff her to his wrist so they would never be apart again. “Not a chance,” he said. “Leah, I was way out of line. I acted like a jerk. Forgive me?”

  She unveiled her signature smirk. “I’m used to you by now.”

  “Used to me being a jerk?”

  She placed her hands on his shoulders. “You make up for it in other areas. Which is why I keep you around.”

  Putting his arm around her waist, he led her across the courtyard, reveling in the comfortable banter. “Let me guess. My unmatched wit? Extreme intelligence? Courage in the heat of battle?”

  Leah’s eyes sparkled under the Cretan sun. “I suppose those help. But I was thinking more along the lines of how awful pretty you are.”

  He laughed. “You are so shallow.”

  “Duh.”

  ___

  Leaving his side, Leah marched straight to Kathryn and pulled her into her arms. “You hanging in there?”

  Kathryn clung to her so tightly, Leah almost lost her breath. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

  Trying her best to stop her from crying, Leah took a step back and smiled. “Are you kidding? Another palace with creepy stuff? I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” She felt a shot of relief at seeing Kathryn’s grin. “Besides, I had to come. You’re making me the Godmother of that thing you got baking in there,” she said, pointing at Kathryn’s belly. “And I told you already, if you think I’m taking care of it, you’re nuts. There’s no way I’m letting you and Emmanuel leave me with that.”

  Kathryn laughed. “Have I said how glad I am you’re here?”

  Looking over her shoulder, Leah suddenly noticed a blonde goddess standing behind them. If not for her hazel eyes with flecks of gold that glittered and danced under the sun, Leah would swear that one of her own stunning stepsisters had appeared out of nowhere.

  She made note of the quick look that passed between the woman and Gareth; a look which caused a twinge of anxiety to jolt through her body. “And who do we have here?”

  Kathryn cleared her throat, and Gareth stood silent. It was easy for Leah to feel the awkwardness all around.

  The woman stepped forward. “I’m Lange Rouy.”

  Leah ignored the outstretched hand, wondering why the usually talkative Lowery siblings had gone completely quiet. “Leah Tallent.”

  Along with her hand, the woman dropped her smile. “I work for UNESCO, with Kathryn and Emmanuel. I’m a friend of their family.”

  “Really?” Leah turned her gaze on Gareth. “A friend of the family?”

  “She was.” With a somewhat bored look, he dismissed the subject. “How the hell did you rent a helicopter so fast?”

  Leah reached into the pocket of her leather coat and pulled out the glossy black credit card. “You left it behind.”

  “Keep it,” he said with a grin. “You never know when it’ll come in useful.”

  Leah spotted the palace’s many open doors. “Won’t have to pick a lock here, I see.” She caught a hateful stare being directed at her by the stranger. “Did I say something wrong?”

  Disgust was apparent in the hazel eyes as she glanced at the card in Leah’s hand. “I never thought of Gareth as a person who shared.”

  “Really? Odd. I think my husband is a very generous man.”

  “Husband?”

  It was nothing more than the woman’s sudden look of absolute surprise that made Leah feel like one of her favorite animals; the lion inside her roared, as if stepping on the throat of a disgruntled blonde mouse.

  The woman’s back straightened. “Congratulations.”

  “Thank you.”

  Turning on her heel, Lange marched away from the group.

  Kathryn began, “She’s—”

  “Trust me, I could care less.” Leah smiled. Letting the silliness go with the retreating blonde, she reached for Kathryn’s hand. “Bring me up to speed.”

  CHAPTER 42

  Taking one last look at the decapitated man, Leah walked back through the antechamber; her stomach roiling. “I think we should try visiting a nice Bed & Breakfast one day instead of all these disgusting locations.”

  “Agreed.” He nodded. “Your phone work? We need to call the police.”

  As if hearing a warning bell go off in her own mind, Leah hesitated at the idea. “Gareth, with everything that’s happened, the information we know, dealing with the law just last night…maybe the last thing we need is to set ourselves up as suspects in some dude’s death.”

  Looking into the eyes he trusted, Gareth nodded. “Then call Anippe and tell her where we are. Check in.”

  “Already tried in Kissamos. Wouldn’t go through.”

  “I called you both from here. Now that you’re near a bigger city, it should work,” Kathryn chimed in.

  “But would you please go out in the hall to do it, Ms. Tallent,” Lange Rouy’s voice was clipped. “Have some respect for the dead.”

 
; “Whatever you say,” Leah replied. “Oh, and the name is Mrs. Lowery.”

  She heard her arrow strike its mark, as Lange muttered a curse behind her. Stepping from the room, she punched the buttons on the fancy phone. Waiting impatiently, she finally heard the loud ring in her ear.

  Gareth walked quickly out of the chamber and put a hand on her shoulder. “Stop,” he whispered, “listen.”

  “Oh my God,” Kathryn said.

  Turning around, Leah placed the phone against her thigh. Listening very closely, she could now hear a second ring echoing somewhere below her feet. “Jesus.”

  A sound suddenly resonated from somewhere inside the palace—an angry bellow came forth, but the words were impossible to make out.

  Leah gazed into Gareth’s emerald eyes. “Anippe’s here.”

  “And she’s not alone.”

  ___

  They ran for what seemed like miles—up and down ancient stairs, in and out of doors leading from lit porches to dark chambers, through the never-ending hallways of a long lost world.

  Leah’s heart beat so hard inside her chest that she felt like any minute it would simply shut down, stopping her once and for all. But she raced on, with Gareth by her side and Kathryn and a blonde stranger at their heels.

  Every time the phone quit, Leah hit redial, hoping that somehow the ring would lead her to her sister’s location. When the answering ring eventually stopped, her hope crumbled. “Somebody shut it off,” she whispered.

  Kathryn’s voice sounded like a high-pitched howl. “It’s useless. We’ll never find anyone in here. It’s a goddamn maze!”

  “God, that’s right,” Leah whispered. “They must be in the labyrinth underground.”

  “You’re resorting to a children’s story about a monster?” Lange snorted.

  Time stopped as Leah aimed the spotlight she was carrying at the insolent woman’s face, blinding her. “When I want your opinion, I’ll ask for it.” Turning to Kathryn, she continued, “There must be something else about this place that we’re missing. You’ve been here a while, right? What have you found here that you didn’t expect to find?”