The Nostradamus File

by Alex Lukeman

  What about children? She had avoided thinking about children. The kind of work she did, Nick did, it wasn't a good situation for having kids. But she was almost 35. The old cliché about the biological clock popped into her mind. How much longer could she wait? Did she want children or not? If she didn't have children, her family line would stop. Cease to exist. Just like the Earl of Pembroke.

  When the detective had asked for her number, she'd had a sudden image of the two of them in bed together. In some ways Hanson was like Nick. Strong, dark-haired, competent, unafraid. A rugged man who carried a gun.

  Are you that shallow? she thought. Dark hair and a gun is enough to turn you on? She thought about Nick. A wave of unease swept through her. He could be killed, any time, any day. I could lose him in an instant. I've been pushing it away. How can I give everything over to someone who might leave me forever at any moment?

  The next thought chilled her. He has to feel the same way about me. He already lost one lover.

  For the first time, she sensed the fundamental problem between them. In her heart, she believed that whatever they had couldn't last. Not because he would leave her for another, or because she wanted someone else. Because a bullet or a bomb could snuff out either one of their lives in an instant.

  It felt like someone had thrown a bucket of ice water over her.

  There was nothing to do but take it one day at a time. The thought didn't make her feel better, but she could handle one day at a time. At least she could handle it today.

  She got up and poured another drink.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  Lev Gefen sat in Harker's office and wondered how this was going to work out. All he knew about the Project was what Ari had told him and what he'd learned from the intelligence files. Like all Special Forces personnel everywhere, he was sure no one else was as good as his own unit, though he had to admit the Project knew what they were doing. Either that, or they were damn lucky. Good units made their own luck.

  "I've reviewed your record," Elizabeth said. "I think you'll fit in."

  "Those files are classified."

  "Yes, they are." She offered no explanation. "Do you have questions for us?"

  "Who will be in command in the field?"

  "Nick is in command," Elizabeth said. "If he's unavailable, then Ronnie or Selena will take over."

  Gefen looked uncomfortable. "I mean no disrespect, but she does not have the same experience as the rest of us. In combat she would be at a disadvantage. Especially hand to hand."

  Elizabeth's voice took on an edge. "Selena has proved herself as capable as anyone else on the team."

  Selena bit back her first thoughts. "Perhaps you'd like to practice a little hand to hand in the gym?" she said. "Just a friendly match. No pads."

  "I am considered expert in Krav Maga," Gefen said. "It wouldn't be fair."

  Krav was a highly effective martial art developed by Lev's own Israeli Commandos. It was meant to stop multiple attackers when weapons were not available. Injuries were common in training, even with experienced instructors.

  "My. Perhaps you can show me something. Unless you're worried I'll beat you."

  Lev smiled. "It will be my pleasure to, ah, show you something."

  Nick and Ronnie looked at each other. Nick suppressed a grin.

  "After this meeting, then?"

  "As you wish."

  Elizabeth had watched the exchange, her face betraying nothing of her thoughts. Now she said, "Lev, you'll be staying here, in the guest quarters downstairs. It's quite comfortable. I want you to work with everyone, on the range, in the gym. Just for a few days until we have a mission set up. Give you a chance to get to know one another."

  Half an hour later everyone gathered in the gym to watch the match. Lev Gefen had at least fifty pounds on Selena and several inches in reach. Both he and Selena wore loose, black outfits. If Gefen was surprised at the black belt around Selena's waist, he didn't show it. He had one of his own.

  "I'll try not to hurt you," he said.

  "I appreciate it," Selena said. She smiled.

  Nick was acting as referee. "Ready? Remember, don't do any real damage."

  Lev and Selena bowed to each other. Gefen attacked. Selena blocked with her arms and tried a leg sweep. Gefen blocked her sweep, countered with his elbow. Selena brushed it aside and half turned. Her leg shot out in a blur, heel extended The blow landed on his upper thigh and knocked him all the way across the mat.

  "That would have been your knee," she said.

  Gefen's face got red. He attacked again, a flurry of elbow strikes, kicks and punches. Selena blocked and parried, took a body blow, whirled and knocked Gefen's legs out from under him. He went down hard on his back. Selena was on him, her knee resting lightly on his groin, her hand a sharp fist poised high overhead for a killer strike.

  "You're dead," she said. She tapped him on the forehead and moved away in a fluid, quick motion. Nick marveled at her agility. It was if she had springs in her legs.

  Gefen got to his feet. Nick waited to see how he would handle the ease with which Selena had beaten him. For an Alpha male like Gefen, getting beaten by a woman was probably a new experience. It was the kind of situation that revealed more about who someone was than all the files and training in the world.

  He bowed. "I underestimated you," he said. "I apologize if what I said gave offense."

  Selena bowed back. "No offense taken."

  "Welcome to the team," Harker said.

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  Phillip Harrison called Croft on a secure link from his Boston office. The view from the office was spectacular. Harrison could look down like Zeus from Olympus on the Charles River and the city. It was a sensation he enjoyed, knowing he was far above the worker ants below. He watched a group of racing sculls cut thin, white lines on the river surface.

  "Weisner is gaining ground in the Israeli election but he needs a boost," Harrison said.

  "What do you want to do?"

  "We implement plan B. Stage an assassination attempt on Weisner. Kill one or two of the people next to him. Don't warn him. That way it will look completely authentic. Make sure you've got a convenient Palestinian patsy handy, someone who's not too smart. We need to do it quickly."

  "He's speaking at a big rally in Tel Aviv in two days. It can be arranged. What is the status on the Ark?"

  "We have no leads at all. If there was anything in that tomb, the Project has it now. They'll follow up on it and we'll follow them. Then we'll see."

  "They've been a real problem."

  "Yes, they have. Once we know where the Ark is, we'll eliminate them. In the meantime, we have to be patient."

  "Boyd is getting nervous."

  "He ought to be. His financial position is overextended. He needs to see the price of crude go up."

  "It will go up. As soon as the shooting starts."

  "I'll talk to him," Harrison said. "He's in too deep for second thoughts."

  "Do you think we'll find it, Phillip?" There was something wistful in Croft's voice.

  "You mean the Ark?"

  "Yes. Imagine. The real Ark of the Covenant. I wonder if it looks like the pictures and drawings people make of it? The two angels with their wings stretching in, all golden."

  "Cherubim, Arthur, not angels."

  "What's the difference?"

  Harrison didn't feel like giving Croft a rundown on the hierarchy of angels. "When we find it, it won't matter."

  "Do you think it had any real, mystical power?"

  Yes, but I'm not going to tell you that, Harrison thought. "Only what people gave it," he said.

  After he'd hung up, Harrison thought about the Ark. When it was in his possession he would use it to sweep away the non-believers. He would use it to motivate a new crusade. The Holy Land would be safe again.

  God would surely be pleased.

  CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

  The team and Lev Gefen sat in Elizabeth's office. Stephanie had brought in fl
owers from the garden, a touch of fresh color on Harker's desk. An East Coast summer simmered outside, humid and hot. Inside the office, it was pleasant and comfortable.

  "I've been thinking about the coat of arms on that pouch we found in the church," Selena said.

  "What about it?" Elizabeth said.

  "The crest shows ten birds around the edge of the shield, with horizontal stripes. I looked it up. That's the crest of the de Valence family, William and Aymer, the 1st and 2nd Earls of Pembroke. William died in 1296, Aymer in 1324."

  "That was the 1st Earl of Pembroke's tomb we opened," Nick said. "Makes sense the pouch would have his crest."

  "Except that isn't his crest. There's more than one 1st Earl of Pembroke."

  "How can there be more than one?" Ronnie asked. He had on one of his Hawaiian shirts, a red and white pattern of impossible flowers glowing with almost psychedelic intensity.

  "The title goes with the estates, handed out by the King or Queen. It keeps going until that line dies out. When a new family takes over, the numbering starts again. William Marshal died in 1219. Almost eighty years before William de Valence held the title."

  "Then what's the other guy's crest doing there?" Ronnie said.

  "That's what I've been asking myself. We need to make some assumptions based on what we know so far."

  "Go on," Elizabeth said.

  "De Molay sends the Ark and maybe the Templar treasure to England, so the Templar Commander can hide it. That's la More. La More is tortured and dies, but doesn't reveal where it is. La More is the one who placed the letter in the tomb. That's assumption number one."

  "That seems logical."

  "Number two is that there's a good reason to use that pouch to hold the letter, with that crest."

  "Okay."

  "Why put it in the tomb?" she asked.

  "To hide it," Nick said.

  Gefen watched the exchange. It was the first time he'd seen how everyone worked together. How they figured things out.

  "Of course. But why does it have that coat of arms on it? It's not la More's. It doesn't belong to the man buried in the tomb. Why a crest at all? A coat of arms was a message. It told you who the person was, their heritage. It was a medieval ID for all to see."

  "For the big shots," Ronnie said.

  "That's right. Peasants didn't have crests, only nobility."

  "I think I see where you're going," Nick said. "You think the crest is a message."

  "Yes. A clue to where the Ark was hidden."

  "What do you think it means?"

  "I don't know. Something about the Earls of Pembroke, but not William Marshall. De Valence."

  "De Valence was alive when de Molay wrote that letter?"

  "The father was dead. The son was alive."

  "Was the son a Templar?" Lev asked. It was the first thing he'd said.

  "I don't think so," Selena said. "If he was known to be a Templar he would have been arrested."

  "So why point in the direction of de Valence?" Nick said.

  "Say that again, what you just said."

  "Why point in the direction of..."

  "That's it!" Selena said. She was excited. "The crest is meant to point you at de Valence."

  "This is all speculation," Gefen said. "How can you make a plan based on this?"

  "It's all we've had from the start," Elizabeth said, "speculation. It's got us this far."

  Ronnie cracked his knuckles. "What do the guy in the tomb and de Valence have in common?"

  "They both held the title of Earl of Pembroke," Selena said.

  "What else?"

  "They held the same estates. The main castle still exists. It's in Scotland."

  "Scotland might be a good place to stash something you didn't want anyone to find."

  "You think the Ark is in Scotland?" Lev felt completely confused.

  "Maybe we should take a closer look at that castle," Ronnie said.

  "No problem." Stephanie had her laptop. It was hooked into the Crays and the monitor on Harker's wall. The monitor lit. She entered a search for Pembroke Castle.

  "Lots of links." She clicked on one. An article and picture came up on the screen.

  "Big castle," Ronnie said.

  The castle had high ramparts of stone, a tower keep and walls 20 feet thick. It sat on land that stuck out like a thumb into the Pembroke River in West Wales. Three sides were surrounded by the river. The fourth side had a thick wall, a gate and tower. Beyond the castle was the town of Pembroke.

  They read the article. "The place was mostly restored in the last century," Nick said. "If something was hidden there, wouldn't they have found it?"

  "Not necessarily," Stephanie said. She clicked on a different link. "Here's something interesting. The castle is built over a limestone cavern carved out by water erosion. The Earls used it for storage. It's called Wogan Cavern."

  A picture of the cave appeared on the screen.

  "Caves are good places to hide something," he said, "but if anything was there, it's long gone."

  "Sometimes there's more than one cave in a limestone formation like that," Selena said. "There could be connecting caves. If there are, something could be hidden in them."

  "I'll task a satellite for a deep scan," Elizabeth said. "If there's another cave it will show up."

  CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

  Nick took Lev Gefen to the part of the old Nike site that had been converted into a shooting range and armory. He opened a wide cabinet to reveal a full array of personal assault weapons. They all had one thing in common; deadly efficiency.

  Lev looked at the racks of weapons. "Interesting," he said. He took an MP-5 from it's place, checked to see if it was loaded, held it to his shoulder. "I always liked these. We use the Tavor C21."

  "That's a fine weapon in the field," Nick said. "We mostly use the MP-5s and the SIG-Sauer. We've switched over to .40 Smith and Wesson. Makes it easy to keep the ammo straight."

  "A good round. That is what we use in our pistols. What you call a Baby Eagle."

  "The Jericho 941."

  Lev nodded.

  "Pick a pistol. I take it you didn't bring yours."

  "No. Ari told me you would take care of it."

  Lev took a Sig-Sauer P229 from the rack. All the pistols were flat black. No stainless styling to catch a stray ray of light and give away a position. "This will do."

  Nick nodded. "The 226 is a little more accurate, but these are easier to carry. Let's practice."

  Nick ran man-sized silhouette targets out to the end of the shooting lanes. They loaded up, put on glasses and ear protection and began firing. After a half hour, they stopped.

  "Nice shooting, Lev."

  The Israeli's targets were consistent. Tight groups centered on the body. Occasional two shot groups to the head, for variety. Gefen could shoot. Nick hoped he didn't have to find out if the Israeli could do the same thing when the targets were shooting back.

  There was a meeting with Harker and the rest of the team in half an hour. They began cleaning the guns.

  "Your file says you're married."

  "That's right. My wife's name is Rachel. We've got two children."

  Lev ran a cleaning brush through the bore of his pistol. The distinctive smell of Hoppe's No. 9 filled the room. He set the pistol down and took out his wallet. He showed Nick pictures.

  "This is Aaron. He's five. And this is Rebecca. She's seven."

  The children were laughing, splashing each other in a backyard pool. "Rebecca thinks she's the boss, but Aaron always gets even. They're good kids. This is Rachel."

  His wife was dark haired, with strong features and a wide smile.

  "You're a lucky man, Lev." For just an instant, Nick wondered what it would be like to have children. Megan had wanted children. He thought of Megan and pushed the image away. Megan was gone, a long time ago. Now he was with Selena. She hadn't brought up the subject of children and neither had he. Sometimes it was best to let things be.

  Gefen
put the pictures away, picked up the gun and began running patches through the barrel. He kept changing them until they came out clean.

  "How about you, Nick? You are with Selena, no?"

  "You could say that." Nick looked at his watch. "Let's finish up. Time to get upstairs."

  There was something in his voice. Lev decided not to pursue it.

  Harker had satellite images up on the big screen when they entered her office. Ronnie and Selena and Stephanie were already there.

  "Glad you could join us," Elizabeth said.

  "Sorry." They sat down.

  "This was taken yesterday," she said. "It's a deep infrared scan of Pembroke castle. You can see the difference between the castle walls and buildings and the underlying cavern. The structures on the surface are warmer, so they're very distinct. The darker space underneath on the river side is the cavern. Look at the end away from the river."

  The shape of the cavern was a large, oblong egg under the castle grounds. There was a smaller shape on one side, with a thin line signaling a different heat gradient between it and the larger cavern. There was another vague heat differential within the smaller space.

  "It's another cave," Nick said, "sealed off from the big one."

  "It looks like there's something inside it," Ronnie said. "Those different gradients."

  "The barrier isn't very thick. You should be able to break it down without too much trouble. Set it up, Nick," Harker said. "We have to know if the Ark is in that cave. Whatever you do, don't get caught. We don't need another international incident."

  "How soon do you want us to go?"

  Harker picked up her pen. "Yesterday would be good."

  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

  The Welsh village of Pembroke was dominated by the 12th Century castle. The main street of the town was lined with two and three story houses with steeply pitched roofs, laid out along a stretch of quiet water called the Mill Pond. The houses were painted in faded pastel colors, green and lavender, yellow and red. The town had the feel of age about it, as if time had started to leave it behind.