“And I ain’t sellin’,” Crow shot back and flashed his FBI identification badge. He explained why he and the others were canvassing the area.
It was obvious to Crow that the rotund owner’s knees were too weak to support him for prolonged conversations at the front door.
“C’mon in,” he wheezed, leaving the door ajar as he waddled away.
Crow stepped inside and wished he hadn’t. The body odor stench was so thick that it nearly gagged him. This guy certainly didn’t fit the terrorist profile.
“Sit down,” the man said, pointing to a leaning chair covered with a threadbare afghan. “Jasper’s the name.”
“Crow,” he returned, easing his frame into the chair.
“Injun, huh?”
“Precisely. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get down to business. I have a lot of ground to cover tonight. For starters, have you seen anything suspicious around the neighborhood lately?”
“I wouldn’t have invited you inside if I didn’t know shit,” he replied gruffly.
“I’m listening,” Crow prodded.
“Weirdoes down the road at the next intersection,” he said breathlessly. “They’s drivin’ some kind of tan SUV and a fuckin’ loud motorcycle that scares the milk outta my cows and makes their teats dry up.”
“Your cows’ teats dry up,” Crow repeated as if making a mental note of a significant detail.
“Yeah. You got cows out on your reservation?” Jasper asked.
“I live in Washington DC, and the city doesn’t allow cows,” he replied, having endured just about all the racial stereotyping he could take from this redneck. “You were saying . . .”
“Oh yeah, the weirdoes. One’s a spic, one’s an injun like you, and the third guy’s a fuckin’ ghost.”
“Ghost?”
“Real white, like chalk.”
“Is he an albino?” Crow asked, suddenly alert and hopeful.
“Nah, he’s just real fuckin’ white.”
“Have you seen a girl with them? Black hair, tall, good looking?” Crow asked.
“What would someone like that be doin’ them weirdoes?” Jasper reacted.
“They kidnapped her, remember?”
“Oh yeah, right. Anyways, I only saw one of them today. The injun. The other weirdoes and their Explorer ain’t been around lately,” he explained.
“Can you describe the house for me?”
Jasper sighed. “Like I said, it’s on the corner of the intersection with Campo Road. Ain’t much of a house, though. It’s been abandoned for near two years,” he replied. “It’s just a run-down bungalow - used to be white. Now it’s the color of rot.”
“And what color would that be?” Crow asked, unfamiliar with questioning routines. He was not a detective.
“Shit brown, Crow.”
Crow stood. “Thanks for your help.”
“I hope they’re your guys. I hate weirdoes, and my cows would sure as hell like to never hear that motorcycle again!” He started to stand, but Crow insisted he stay seated.
Once outside, Crow deeply inhaled the fresh air and dialed Neo. His optimism was on the rise.
Neo stretched inside his car parked in front of the last house he’d visited. The residents provided him with jack shit. He was about to drive on to the next place when his sat phone rang. His heart raced. Was it possible that one of the other agents managed to locate Blossom’s whereabouts?
“Neo.” he answered expectantly.
“Agent Doss, Sheriff Berger here,” the voice announced. “I checked the phone logs of those two punks that were butchered out at the Warnke construction site.”
“Yes, yes, I remember,” he replied impatiently.
“The phone company traced them to a New York City pay phone.”
“Damn,” Neo replied. Another dead end. He was damn tired of dead ends. “Any calls to Tampa?”
“Not in the past six months.”
“Did you have any luck locating the place where those two punks stole the C-4?”
“As a matter of fact, I did and I didn’t,” Berger answered.
“Meaning?” Neo was running low on patience.
“Meaning they didn’t steal it in the state of Florida.”
Great, Neo thought. Another dead end.
“There was one C-4 robbery reported within the past six months, but that was in Upstate New York. Some big-shot demolition company,” Berger informed him. “Homeland Security has been on the case.”
Phone calls to New York and stolen C-4 in New York. Was it a coincidence? Neo knew how Nick felt about coincidences.
“Thanks, Sheriff. I’ll be in touch,” Neo said. Before he shifted into Drive, his phone rang again. This time, it was the Tampa Police.
“Agent Doss, this is Lieutenant Cartwright.”
“Oh, hello.” Neo’s heart sank again.
“We’ve located your kidnapping perp’s car,” Cartwright said.
Neo wasn’t as pleased as he should have been. “Where?”
“That’s the funny part. The VA Hospital murder victim stole it. His prints are all over it, and a quick check on the plates indicated it was stolen a month ago in Miami.”
Neo perked up. “What?”
“Looks like your kidnapper might also be our murder victim,” Cartwright deduced.
If that was case, Blossom might already be dead, or she might be tied up in one of these shacks starving to death.
“Agent Doss, are you still there?” Cartwright asked.
“Yeah. Just thinking.”
“I was, too, but I’m afraid they were all bad thoughts about the kidnapping victim.”
“Ditto. I’ll get back to you. Thanks.”
Neo had no sooner disconnected the call when his phone rang a third time. He slapped it to his ear.
“What!” he said irritably.
“Neo, it’s Crow. I have a solid lead on Blossom’s location.” He rapidly gave Neo directions to the place and asked him to pick up Grandfather on the way. Neo agreed and promised to relay Crow’s information to the other agents working the search.
Fifteen minutes later, the search party assembled next door to the bungalow fitting Jasper’s description. Neo barked out instructions to everyone and concluded his spiel by stressing that he wanted this operation to go like clockwork. The agents scattered to their positions as Neo, Crow, and Grandfather approached the front door.
Neo knocked on the door and instantly shuffled away from the entrance to avoid possible gunfire. By the appearance of the rotten door, Neo wouldn’t be surprised if it couldn’t stop a flying paper clip.
There was no answer.
Neo radioed the others, and they all reported no signs of activity within the bungalow. He knocked again, and when there was still no response, he tried the doorknob. It was locked. Neo raised his massive left leg, leaned back and kicked the door with his shoe. The door splintered around the handle and lock, swung inward on squeaking hinges, and hammered the wall behind it.
Neo sprang inside, crouched in a firing position, but there was no one to greet him.
“Blossom!” he shouted. “Blossom!”
He heard a faint thumping and a high-pitched humming. The sounds came from the bedroom straight ahead. He was about to check it out when he felt a restraining hand on his shoulder.
“I will see if Blossom is there,” Grandfather said.
“It could be dangerous,” Neo protested.
“And it could be embarrassing for my granddaughter, Neo. Please, I must insist.”
Before Neo was able to reply, three snakes slithered from the loose stones in the fireplace hearth.
Neo raised his gun to fire, but the old man’s hand pushed the gun down.
“No. We’ll do it the soundless way.” Grandfather pointed an index finger at the closest snake and mumbled a chant. Lightning flew from his fingertip and reduced the snake to ashes. The other snakes turned and disappeared into the shadowy hearth cracks.
“Wow!” N
eo exclaimed.
But the old man didn’t stick around for plaudits. He was already slipping into the bedroom.
“Blossom!” Grandfather shouted joyfully at seeing her alive and swiftly cut her bonds and removed the dog collar. He turned his back while his embarrassed granddaughter hurried into the bathroom with her clothes in hand.
“Is she alive?” Crow asked from the living room.
“Your niece is alive but needs medical assistance and clean clothes.”
“I’m on it!” Neo said, grinning from ear to ear. He called for an ambulance and ordered them to stop on the way and pick up some clothing.
“What sizes?” he shouted.
“Size seven—junior,” Blossom yelled from the bathroom, happy that she was able to shout again without triggering an electric shock from the dog collar. “Size eight and a half shoes.”
Neo chuckled as he repeated her sizes to the ambulance dispatcher. If his wife, Elizabeth, could only see him now. In his current frame of mind, he wouldn’t mind the razzing from the other agents. He was just so damned pleased that they found Blossom alive, and that they finally received one lead that wasn’t a dead end.
But Neo’s happiness was short-lived. His next call was from Rance Osborne who informed Neo that Nick and Lisa Anders, among others, were sealed inside the mysterious underground building outside Fort Meyers. He instructed Neo to get down there as soon as possible to see what he could do to free them.
Neo disliked breaking up Blossom’s reunion, but he had to tell Crow about Nick’s plight. The three Native Americans understood and expressed their concern for Nick.
“Can you work your Indian mojo and get Nick out of there?” Neo asked hopefully.
Grandfather shook his head slowly. “The structure contains more powerful protective magic than I can overcome,” he said sadly. “As I am certain Nick is aware by now, he and Professor Anders are inside the lair of the beast. Only Nick can uncover the way out.”
“But, Grandfather, Nick isn’t a magician. We’ve got to help him,” Crow pleaded.
“I am so sorry; but like I said, there is nothing we can do. Our friend, Nick, is their only hope.”
“Couldn’t we use explosives to reach him?” Neo asked.
“The building blocks are protected by a powerful spell, much too strong to be affected by explosives,” the old man replied.
“But what if Nick and Lisa can’t figure a way out? You’re telling us that no one from the outside can free them?” Crow asked fearfully.
“You understand me correctly. If Nick and the fascinating Professor Anders can’t discover an exit, I fear they will be lost to our world forever.”
22
L
isa hugged Nick as they watched the terrifying tornado spin above them. There was no sound or hint of a breeze inside. The mysterious building was tightly sealed and soundproof.
“See what I mean about this place being a live creature? It’s like the molecules are bonded into one living thing,” Nick explained.
“If the south wall is the mouth, then we must be standing in its head.”
Nick considered her statement for a moment. “You know, that might explain why the stones up here suddenly became transparent.”
“So anyone trapped inside – like us - could see out?” she guessed.
“No. So it could see outside.”
“You’re scaring me, Nick. How do you know all this?”
“I . . . I don’t know, but somehow I just do.”
“I want to go downstairs,” Lisa insisted.
“Good idea. We have to locate the exit before . . . well, never mind. You know.”
“Thanks for reminding me,” she said sarcastically.
The others were huddled in a tight group downstairs beside the empty fountain pool. Some were praying, some sobbing, and some just cursed their bad luck at being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Lisa and Nick skirted them and proceeded to inspect the walls of the circular space, careful not to touch the stones. But, after a thorough examination, neither discovered anything resembling an exit.
“Dammit, there has to be an opening. We’re just not seeing it,” Nick grumbled, staring into the floor.
Suddenly, all heads turned in the direction of a sharp ping in the center of the grotto. They observed a sparkling water thread trickle from the top of the dome into the vacant pool.
“The demon’s regenerating process has begun,” Nick whispered to Lisa.
“From devouring the nurse and your agent?”
“Looks that way. We’ve got to find a way out fast or we’re doomed.”
Lisa turned and examined the wall beside them; she tapped Nick’s shoulder. “How about that?” she asked hopefully.
Nick pivoted, and his jaw dropped. “That wasn’t there a second ago.”
An arched stone gateway appeared with the restarting of the fountain; but instead of a gate inside the arch, they found that their potential exit was effectively blocked with mortared flagstones. Earth flagstones! The mortaring was sloppy, and the stones were uncut and pieced together unevenly.
“These flagstones aren’t part of the structure, so they should be safe to touch,” Nick declared.
“Not part of the creature, you mean?”
He nodded.
Lisa faced the archway and quickly recited the two words that opened the south wall, but they failed to budge the rocks.
She pointed to the flagstones. “It’s up to you,” she told him. “You’re the one with those special gifts, remember?”
He was visibly frustrated. “Sure, I hear you, but how am I supposed to access those powers?”
Lisa took his hands and placed his open palms against the rocks. “Close your eyes and concentrate on nothing. Clear your mind completely. Focus your consciousness on a flawless white backdrop,” Lisa suggested.
“I don’t know about this,” he protested.
She gently kissed his cheek. “Trust me, Nick,” she whispered in a voice that Nick was certain he had heard before.
Suddenly, he understood exactly how to focus. He recalled his erstwhile dreams of Gabriella’s White World, a magical dream world of seamless white brilliance where objects were mere whitish shadows in that absolute light. Nick closed his eyes and summoned his memories of the White World. Gradually, his mind was swept clean of all thoughts, feelings, and consciousness of place and time. He drifted into a world devoid of emotion, feeling, sight, and sound. Unlike being under hypnosis, he was not retreating deeper into his mind’s recesses but was reaching outward beyond his being to another’s thoughts. Another’s feelings and sights.
The serenity of his White World was abruptly shattered and displaced by a hostile environment teeming with anger and hatred. A world where sooty, starless skies were scarred with ominous slashes raining lava and lightning onto a smoldering terrain. Nick was actually witnessing the meteor shower that had exiled the purebloods and destroyers to Earth. He was living in the ancient past!
A tall, long-faced man with wildly frizzed hair and demonic embers for eyes shook his fist skyward. Nick suffered his pain, his maniacal fury. He read the strange man’s mind. His name was . . . Alick Tobhor, an exiled wizard from the Earth’s parallel dimension, Kundze. He was alone in an unknown dimension and badly wounded from his fall to Earth. He realized that he would be unable to return to Kundze, so he wielded his powerful magic to summon what he needed from his home world before the dimensional energy fabric separating the two dimensions sealed forever.
Nick watched as Alick chose a meteor crater for his building site and constructed his small fortress with Sphiryx stones, individual living beings whose power was multiplied by the number of stones in the fortress’s body structure. Although the individual stones in the small fortress appeared to be isolated, Nick observed that there was an instant cybernetic bonding of consciousness, communications, and energy as each stone was added. They all functioned as one being, but Nick learned that the Sphiryx creature needed one more
component: intelligence.
He observed Alick raise his arms and chant to the fortress; the south wall dissolved into an entrance. Nick recognized the words. He sensed there was more beyond the confines of the Sphiryx stones; but for some inexplicable reason, the fragments of time between Alick’s beginning and finishing construction of the fortress were lost to him. Nick was like a stone skipping across the pond of time.
Tobhor then directed a floating procession of flagstone rocks into the grotto, where Nick watched him magically mortar the flagstones into a wall that sealed the archway Lisa had discovered.
He listened intently as Alick spoke to the newly erected flagstone wall. The rock and mortar vanished, and the visible opening led into a shadowy tunnel. Nick heard the chanted words, but they sounded like mumbo jumbo to him, and he couldn’t memorize them. Nick tried to scan Tobhor’s thoughts to uncover his rationale for not using Sphiryx stones for that particular wall, but his efforts were curiously jammed.
Nick examined the grotto’s lower level for other familiar landmarks and immediately identified the circular hole in the floor. Upon closer examination, Nick spotted one inconsistency. The pool bottom had yet to be sealed. When Nick bent over the edge and looked into its inky depths, he retreated quickly. At the true bottom of the fountain pool sat a meteor identical to the one resting in a cavern beneath Duneden, Ohio! That meteor was the mysterious source of the Duneden witches’ magical powers.
Nick peered over the edge again and studied the meteor. It was pear-shaped, with the circumference at the widest section measuring about eighty feet. Its mirrored surface glowed an eerie red-orange and released a purplish steam. It was at once captivating and ominous.
Nick stood and looked for Tobhor. The wizard seemed to be staring right through Nick with terrified, swollen eyes. Before Nick could follow his gaze, a bright flash of white obliterated his vision.
Lisa was alarmed as Nick suddenly collapsed to the grotto floor. His skin was pallid, and his pulse was nonexistent. One of the doctors gently brushed her aside and performed CPR on Nick, but after a dozen sequences, Nick remained unconscious.
“Dammit, I wish we had some paddles down here,” the doctor exclaimed. “Without them, I’m afraid that Nick’s a goner.”
The Ancient Breed Page 15
