The Mountain Mother Cipher (The Arkana Archaeology Mystery Series Book 2)

by N. S. Wikarski

  “Yes?” Abraham asked anxiously.

  “I will need an incinerator. A very large one.”

  Chapter 44 – Cliffhanger

  Faye carried a tray over to the coffee table in her conference room at the vault. She sat down and added darjeeling leaves to the pot of hot water.

  “Good, you’re here.” Maddie breezed through the open door and dropped down across from Faye on one of the leather couches.

  “Any word from our intrepid team?” Faye inquired as she stirred the liquid in the pot and replaced the lid.

  Maddie shook her head. “Just my luck I was out of the office when they finally phoned. But I got a voice mail from Griffin saying they were planning to arrive back at the vault this morning with a full report. That’s why I called you to come over.” She gave her superior an arch look. “At least this time you answered your phone.”

  Faye smiled serenely. “My little world has been restored to order now that Zachary has been bundled off to his home. I am happy to announce that I am once more ‘online’ and fully functional as the saying goes.”

  “Let’s hope the world of the Arkana is about to be restored to order too,” Maddie commented worriedly. “I’ve been on pins and needles fretting over this business with Erik. I keep telling myself that it’s no use bleeding before I’m cut.”

  “A wise practice,” Faye concurred. “Any number of things might have happened and there’s no point speculating. Imagination has a way of amplifying any problem the real world can provide.”

  “Guess we’ll know soon enough.” Maddie reached for a cigarette but saw the look of mild reproach that Faye gave her. She threw the pack on the coffee table and smiled contritely. “Sorry. Force of habit. I really need a smoke to settle my nerves but I’m afraid if I climb up to the chimney, they’ll get here while I’m gone.”

  “What time did Griffin say they’d arrive?” Faye checked the color of the brewing tea.

  Maddie consulted her wristwatch. “Right about now.”

  “Have some tea, dear. That might steady you a bit.” She poured servings for both of them and handed one to Maddie.

  “Might as well.” Maddie accepted and drank the hot tea in a few gulps.

  “My goodness,” Faye said. “Would you like another?”

  The Operations Director took a deep breath. “Nope, that’ll do me for now.” She set the cup down and began to drum her long fingernails on her knee. “I just wish they’d get here already.”

  “Your wish is our command,” Griffin announced as he walked through the door trailed closely by Cassie. Bringing up the rear was Erik.

  “Erik! Thank goddess!” Maddie cried. Springing off the couch, she engulfed the Security Coordinator in a smothering embrace.

  He squirmed and tried to disentangle himself. “Maddie, let go. I can’t breathe.”

  She stood back, holding him at arms length. Her joyous expression rapidly turned to a scowl. She shook him by the arms like a rag doll. “What the hell is wrong with you? You had us both worried to death! I swear I could kill you myself!”

  Cassie and Griffin shrank back against the wall but Erik took the tirade far more calmly than he’d taken the hug. He grinned and extricated himself from Maddie’s grip. “Relax, chief. It’s all good.”

  The Operations Director wasn’t ready to calm down. “Why the hell didn’t you call?”

  Griffin cleared his throat. “If I may, that was my idea. We were afraid the Nephilim might attempt to retrace Erik’s trail once they knew he’d been hunting the relic. They might have made inquiries and stumbled across us. We didn’t want to lead them straight to HQ via telecom so we thought it best to leave the country as quickly as possible and provide explanations later.”

  “Oh, you’ll be doing that alright.” Maddie glared at the Brit. “Right now, as a matter of fact. All of you, sit down and explain yourselves.”

  During this interchange, Faye had remained silent. She’d busied herself with pouring out cups of tea for the new arrivals and distributing them around the table.

  The trio filed dutifully around the couches and sat.

  “I don’t know what you’re fussing about,” Erik objected.

  “We thought you were dead!” Maddie shot back.

  “But how did you—”

  She cut him off. “We got a hold of Hunt’s last call to Metcalf. He said he’d had some trouble on the mountain. From the description he gave, it sounded like he’d killed you.”

  Erik looked sheepish. “Jeez, I’m sorry, Maddie. It never occurred to us you’d hear about that.”

  “Especially not under those circumstances,” Griffin added. “We’re all terribly sorry.”

  “Yeah,” Cassie concurred. “We would have called if we’d known.”

  Maddie seemed to have vented most of her frustration by this time. The looks of apology mollified her temper. “OK, so now you know,” she grumped.

  Faye took charge of the conversation. “I think what Maddie is trying to say is that we’re very happy and relieved to see you all back safely.” She smiled at each one of them in turn. “I take it you consider your mission a success?”

  They all began chattering at once.

  “I’ll tell it. We have to start with the room key,” Cassie said.

  “I think we ought to begin with the bandit problem,” Griffin objected.

  “You’ll start with why Erik isn’t dead!” Maddie burst in. She focused her attention on the Security Coordinator. “You go first,” she commanded.

  “Yes, ma’am.” He saluted playfully.

  The Operations Director didn’t appear amused.

  Faye suppressed a chuckle.

  Erik was on the point of speaking when he hesitated. “You know, my reappearance isn’t going to make any sense at all if we don’t start at the beginning.”

  Maddie tapped her fingers. “Fine.”

  “Let’s see, the last time we talked was just before we went up the mountain to switch the fake relic.”

  “Has it been that long?” Cassie seemed surprised. “Then they don’t know anything!”

  “I think that’s what I’ve been saying,” Maddie commented pointedly.

  “Well, I guess I should go first then,” the girl offered. “It all started right after we buried the fake. Everything was fine up til that point. We’d gotten back to the Jeep when I realized I’d dropped my hotel key back at the site.”

  Cassie recounted how they retraced their steps, only to find the relic had been unearthed by the three Turks. She then explained how the Arkana team trailed the men through the woods and how she was captured.

  Both Faye and Maddie appeared horror-struck as the girl zestfully recounted how the trio held her at gunpoint while they decided whether to kill her or hold her for ransom.

  “You should have seen her,” Erik butted in. “She was amazing.”

  Cassie blushed.

  “I mean, she stood her ground. Didn’t lose her head. Cool as a cucumber, she cut a ransom deal with those guys. It was incredible.” He beamed at the girl.

  “Erik, stop,” she murmured, obviously pleased by his approval.

  Faye and Maddie exchanged raised eyebrows.

  “You two seem to be fast friends these days,” Faye observed.

  “The new Pythia is officially aces in my book,” Erik enthused. “You can quote me on that.”

  “I’m glad you don’t want to drum her out of the Arkana any more,” Maddie said sarcastically, “but can you get on with the story?”

  “Oh, yeah, right.” Cassie continued. “So then they took me to this run-down cabin and I wrote a ransom note to send back to the hotel.” She described how her teammates stormed the shack and rescued her.

  “You should have seen Erik,” she added. “He came in with guns blazing.”

  “Me?” he protested. “What about you. The Turk had a knife to your throat. I was gonna put the gun down before he cut you but then you stomped on his foot.”

  “She did what?” Ma
ddie and Faye were both aghast.

  “Swear to goddess!” Erik was beaming again. “Like I said, she was amazing. While the Turk was hopping around, I rushed him.”

  “Yeah, talk about amazing,” Cassie smiled back at him. “The guy never knew what hit him.”

  Faye glanced at Griffin who had remained silent during this interchange. “Dear, you seem awfully quiet. Don’t you have anything to add?” she prompted.

  The Scrivener shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Nothing that would do me credit, I’m afraid. If I hadn’t tripped over my own legs and stumbled into Cassie while we were following the bandits, she would never have been captured in the first place.”

  “Griffin!” Cassie protested. “You shouldn’t think like that. It could have happened to any of us.”

  “Yeah, dude,” Erik added. “Lighten up. If it hadn’t been for you figuring out where to find that artifact, we would have come home empty-handed.”

  “At least you would have come home alive without needing to risk life and limb,” the Scrivener murmured.

  Erik slapped him on the back consolingly. “It was a field mission, man. Stuff like that always happens on a field mission. I could tell you stories.”

  “Really?” Griffin brightened. “You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?”

  “Nope,” Erik protested. “Swear to goddess.”

  “Like the time he trashed an entire hotel room in Venice,” Maddie offered.

  “Aren’t you ever gonna forget about that?” Erik moaned.

  Maddie folded her arms resolutely. “What do you think?”

  Faye forestalled any further comment from Maddie by asking, “What happened next?”

  “We tied up the bandits and left them for the sweepers,” Griffin explained.

  “By the way, I checked with Anatolian Security while we were at the airport,” Erik interjected. “The creeps got bagged and tagged. Turns out they had a rap sheet as long as my arm.” He paused to glance at Maddie who was several inches taller than he was. “Might have even been as long as your arm.”

  “So they’re in custody with the Turkish police?” the Operations Director asked.

  “Yup,” Cassie answered. “I hope they stay that way for a good long time. Nasty guys. Bad breath too.”

  “What about the Nephilim?” Maddie asked.

  “Oh, they showed up at the worst possible second and that’s when everything got real interesting.” Erik picked up the thread. “We were about to rebury the fake artifact when we heard their car coming up the trail. We were boxed in. Couldn’t drive away and there was an empty hole in the ground where the relic should have been. If they found that, they would definitely know somebody else was looking for the same thing.”

  “And that’s when Erik came up with the most incredible idea,” Cassie burst in.

  “Are you gonna let me tell it?” he scolded but it was obvious he was enjoying her enthusiasm.

  “I just had to say that. It was absolutely genius,” she gushed. Then apparently realizing just how effusive she sounded, she waved him on. “You go.”

  “So anyway,” he began, “we had to figure out how to get the fake into their hands without them knowing they were being set up. That’s when I decided to act as a decoy.”

  “We hid ourselves while Erik staged a scene,” Griffin chimed in. “He stood by the hole in the ground where we’d found the relic. That way when the Nephilim arrived, they would think he’d just dug it up.”

  “And they fell for it too,” Erik continued. “Leroy Hunt saw me and ran down that hill waving a pistol. I hid behind one of the megaliths near the edge so he couldn’t corner me. I had the fake artifact in my hand. He was with that Daniel guy. Finally got a good look at the kid. Kind of nervous and jumpy for a Nephilim. There was a Turk with them too. He must have been their guide. Anyway, I gave them a line about how I escaped from the tomb at Karfi and my other two teammates were killed.”

  “Then they don’t suspect that Cassie and Griffin are alive?” Faye asked.

  “Nope. Swallowed the whole story,” Erik replied. “I told them that I’d give them the relic if they let me leave. Daniel was all for it but Hunt wanted to kill me. That’s when I threw the relic into the air toward them. Then I fell off the side of the mountain.”

  “You did what?” both Faye and Maddie asked simultaneously.

  Cassie giggled. “This is the genius part.”

  “They came rushing over to look and saw a body on a ledge about two hundred feet below. It was a sheer drop so there was no way for them to climb down to get a good look. No way to shoot the body because Hunt was out of range. They just had to let it go. Daniel seemed kind of broken up about the whole thing but Hunt said the vultures would get the body before anybody would know it was there. Then they left.”

  “But how did you manage to fall that far without being killed?” Faye asked in wonderment.

  “It wasn’t me. It was Fred,” Erik explained proudly.

  “You allowed Fred to die?” Faye sounded appalled.

  “Who’s Fred?” Maddie’s was mystified.

  “Our guide, remember?” Cassie prompted. “You talked to him on the phone during our last group call.”

  “Oh, yeah” the Operations Director seemed to recall. “Now I remember him. Quiet sort.” Then she scowled as a new thought hit her. “So Fred’s dead?”

  “No, he isn’t.” Griffin picked up the thread. Turning to his teammate, he added, “It really was a remarkable plan, Erik. To come up with something like that on such short notice. Absolutely brilliant.”

  “Aw shucks,” Erik said mockingly. “You guys are gonna turn my head.”

  “I’m gonna turn your head backwards Exorcist-style if you don’t wrap this story up soon,” Maddie barked. “What happened to Fred?”

  “Fred is alive and well.” Griffin smiled.

  “And living in Turkey,” Cassie added.

  “We got a couple of lucky breaks that day,” Erik commented. “The first one was the fact that the mountain is honeycombed with hermit cells.”

  “Ah.” Faye smiled knowingly. “I’m beginning to see the light.” She was apparently several steps ahead of Maddie.

  “So what if there are hermit cells?” the Operations Director asked.

  “There are tunnels that lead through the mountainside out to the rock face. You can’t see them if you’re standing up above. It just so happens that one of those tunnels leads directly out to that ledge on the mountainside.”

  “Then that would mean Fred was able to position himself while you were above acting as a diversion.” Faye summarized.

  Cassie nudged Griffin in the ribs. “She’s good.”

  Maddie turned to Erik. “But how could they mistake this Fred guy for you?”

  “It was one of those lucky breaks I mentioned before. We were both wearing the same color clothes that day. Cassie pointed it out when we left that morning. Yellow shirt, blue jeans, white sneakers. He’s blond too. From two hundred feet away, face down, he made a passable double.”

  “But I still don’t understand, dear,” Faye said. “You said you fell off the mountain. How did you keep from sliding all the way down? You couldn’t have had more than a few moments lead time before your attackers would have reached you. Where did you go?”

  “I got lucky again when we left the bandit shack. I decided to bring along the extra coil of rope that was left over after we tied them up. Because the Nephilim were standing in the middle of the stone circle and I was on the other side of a megalith, they couldn’t see that I had a piece of rope lying right next to my foot. I grabbed it when I went over the side.”

  “Heavens!” Faye exclaimed.

  “Cassie and Griffin were hiding in another hermit cell just a little below the top of the cliff. Griffin had the other end of the rope and he pulled me up to where they were hiding.” Erik glanced at his two companions. “We cut it close though. I’d just barely managed to tuck into the hole in the rock before
I heard Hunt talking right above where we here hiding.”

  “Quite an extraordinary adventure,” Faye observed.

  “I need a smoke.” Maddie announced abruptly. “Don’t say anything important until I get back.”

  Her companions watched open-mouthed as the Operations Director grabbed her pack of cigarettes and headed for the chimney.

  “She really has been worried about you,” Faye apologized. “I think the stress this morning has been too much for her, poor dear. Let’s give her a few moments to quiet her nerves. I’ll just take this opportunity to phone downstairs for some food while we wait. I’m sure you’re all hungry after your trip.”

  “That’s why she’s the Memory Guardian,” Cassie confided to her teammates. “She remembers when it’s time for a snack.”

  Chapter 45 – Relic Redux

  “Oooh, spinach dip,” Cassie enthused. “I haven’t tasted that since we left.”

  “We haven’t been gone that long, toots,” Erik objected.

  They were both diving into plates of cold cuts and crudités.

  Cassie looked at Faye quizzically. “I didn’t think there was a kitchen in the vault. Where did all this stuff come from?”

  “We do have a cafeteria, actually,” Griffin explained. “We’re miles from nowhere out here and people have to eat. I just didn’t show you that part of the facility when I was giving you your tour. It didn’t seem relevant.”

  “It’s plenty relevant when you’re hungry,” Cassie said as she built herself a turkey sandwich.

  At that moment, Maddie walked back into the conference room. Her clothes reeked of cigarette smoke but she appeared to be in a much pleasanter mood than when she’d left. “That’s better,” she announced taking her seat on the couch and immediately helping herself to the deli platter.

  Faye looked around at her team benevolently. “All’s well that ends well,” she observed.

  “All isn’t ended yet,” Maddie said, crunching into a dill pickle. “What about the artifact?”

  “Right you are!” Griffin wiped his hands on a napkin and reached into his duffle bag. He dug around until he located a small box. “Here it is.” He held it out to Faye.