by John Lyman
“I’ve been terribly worried about you,” Leo said, squeezing her hand. “I heard things got pretty nasty in Madrid. I’m glad you showed up here today, because I was getting ready to head down into Spain to look for you.”
“I know. Albert told me you mentioned my name after you figured out he was a Cathar. He had a feeling you would be leaving soon to go look for me.”
“What did you mean when you said that Albert is a part of your group?”
Evita blinked up at him. “Why don’t we go into the cabin? It’s getting dark and I want to hear what you’ve been up to. I promise I’ll explain everything to you tomorrow after we leave.”
“Leave? Why would we want to leave? I can’t think of a more perfect spot to hide out for awhile.”
“I’ve found a better spot, Leo ... one not owned by the Church. The location of these cabins is probably already known to those who may be looking for you.”
“You know about the meeting with Acerbi in New York ... the crash?”
“Yes. We’ve been keeping up to date on everything that’s been going on in the outside world. The world is about to become a very dangerous place my love, especially for people of faith.”
Leo stopped and held her at arm’s length as he looked into her liquid brown eyes. “You keep saying we, Evita. What’s going on around here? What is this group you keep talking about?”
“You’ll see, Leo. It’s wonderful!”
CHAPTER 54
Working on the assumption that the cabins might already be under observation, Leo and Evita had quietly snuck out of the cabin before the sun had risen over the mountains and made their way over the misty, fog-shrouded forest floor into a ravine that led to the highway below. In the crisp fall air, every snap of a twig sounded louder than usual, making them freeze in place for a moment before they continued along a wet and rocky path that skirted a steep drop-off. Below them, in a dense mass of green foliage that covered the bottom of the ravine, they could hear the morning cries of birds as they pushed forward to a spot where they could observe the highway without being seen.
“I wish I would have thought to leave a car up here,” Leo said. “We could have left last night right after you arrived.”
Evita leaned on his shoulder and smiled. “That’s the last thing you need. Any car registered to you would have been like a flashing beacon as soon as you started it up. That’s why we drive only old cars when we absolutely have to. No computer chips in them. But I’m afraid driving anything will soon become a liability.”
“Sounds like you and this group you keep talking about have it all figured out.”
“At least you had the good sense to get rid of your cell phone,” Evita said. “The world has changed, Leo. In just the past few weeks the world we woke up to just a few months ago has vanished. I’m glad we had a chance to talk alone last night. You were smart to come here, because by the sound of things you wouldn’t have lived very long if you had decided to return to the Vatican. Already we’ve heard reports that the majority of the members of the College of Cardinals have resigned. I didn’t mention this last night, but the pope’s funeral was yesterday, and according to reports it was a pretty rushed affair. I know how close you two were, and frankly I didn’t want to spoil our first night back together.”
Leo’s face became a mask of sadness. “Did Acerbi attend?”
“Yes. Our contacts in Foix said he even made a speech about how wonderful Pope Michael was. It made us all sick.” Evita looked back up the highway. “Let’s keep going. We need to stake out the road that leads up to the cabins. Albert will pick us up on the highway near the entrance.”
After walking for almost half a mile, they could see the entrance road leading up to the camp from the highway, and there, parked along the highway, was Albert’s old rusty truck. Sliding down an embankment, they were almost to the truck when a military-looking police car suddenly rounded a curve with its lights flashing and pulled up behind Albert’s truck. Exchanging glances, Leo and Evita flattened themselves against the forest floor and peered down at the scene from behind a large tree.
Wearing the same khaki uniforms Leo had seen worn by the men guarding Acerbi at the UN, two men stepped from the vehicle and approached the truck. Peering into the cab, they shrugged their shoulders, and while one began scanning the surrounding forest, the other returned to their vehicle and reached for the radio.
Seconds later, Albert came strolling down the hill with his truffle pig in tow. “Good morning, officers.”
“Are you the owner of this truck?” Leo heard one of the men say.
“Yes. Is something wrong?”
“What are you doing here?”
“Hunting for truffles, but I haven’t had much luck. Probably too high up, but you never know.”
“Do you have any identification, sir?”
“Of course. I have a drivers license if that will do. What kind of police are you? I don’t recognize the uniforms.”
“We’re members of the new corporate security force. We just arrived in the area to train with the French police.”
“Well, welcome, but I don’t think you’ll be too busy. Not much crime around here.” Albert began thumbing through his wallet for his driver’s license. “Are the French police still going to be patrolling the highways?”
The two men looked at one another before the shorter one spoke. “Actually, they’re going to be absorbed into our security force after the French government formally agrees to join the corporation.” The man reached into his pocket and produced a color brochure. “Here you go, sir. This will explain everything. We think once people get to know us they’ll like the new system. No matter where you go in the world the same professional police force will be there to help you.”
Albert handed over his license and smiled. “Sounds good.”
“I’ll be right back, sir.” The officer returned to his car and spoke on the radio before walking back over to Albert and handing him his driver’s license. “Everything checks out, sir. You’re free to go, but you’ll have to get a new license as soon as the government hands over control to the corporation. If you have a computer you can do it all online ... no problem.”
“Thanks, I’ll remember that.”
“Have a nice day, sir.” With that, the two officers stepped back into their vehicle and turned off the flashing lights before pulling back onto the highway and speeding up the mountain.
Evita let out a silent gasp. “I can’t believe it. They’re already here. Let’s get moving before they come back.” Standing up, she whistled to Albert before she and Leo slid the rest of the way down the embankment to the highway.
Albert lifted his pig into the front of the truck and peered up the highway. “Get in the back ... and hurry. Their sudden arrival was no accident. They’re looking for the cardinal. The noose is already tightening, and I fear the trap is about to snap shut if we don’t get out of here.”
In a scene reminiscent of a time during the Second World War, when the French Resistance smuggled downed American and British fliers over the Pyrenees into Spain under the noses of the Nazis, Leo and Evita huddled under a canvas tarp as Albert swung his truck around and sped back down the mountain road.
Driving through Foix, Albert spotted several trucks full of troops wearing the same type of uniforms and turned down a side street before heading out of town. Half an hour later, after stopping several times to make sure they weren’t being followed, he turned off the highway onto a dirt road that meandered through the forest until finally they came to a dead end at the base of a sheer cliff. Peering out from under the canvas, Leo’s eyes widened when he saw something amazing. A section of the sharply angled rock wall at the base of the cliff began to move, and like a gigantic vault door it swung open to reveal a tunnel that disappeared into the mountain. After scanning the surrounding forest and checking his rearview mirror one more time, Albert stepped on the gas and drove into the tunnel as the massive camouflaged door swung closed b
ehind them.
CHAPTER 55
In the absolute darkness of the tunnel, Alfred was forced to switch on the truck’s headlights before he could proceed. Listening to the sound of the motor echoing off the tunnel walls, Leo could feel the temperature drop as they continued deeper into the mountain, until finally, in the distance, he could just make out a faint glow at the end of the tunnel.
A minute later they rattled into a large cavern and parked next to several older-model cars. Like Albert’s truck, they were all old but apparently in good repair. Jumping from the back of the truck, Leo and Evita were greeted by the familiar faces of Javier Mendoza and Dr. Raul Diaz.
Mendoza flashed a toothy grin. “Ah, Cardinal. For awhile we were afraid you had sprouted wings.”
“It’s good to see you, Javier, and you too, Dr. Diaz.”
“Has Evita filled you in on our little hideaway?” Mendoza asked.
Leo looked around the man-made cavern. “Not exactly.”
“I wanted it to be as much of a surprise to you as it was to us when we arrived,” Evita giggled.
Mendoza sighed. “You mean you haven’t told him anything?”
“I was saving that for you, Javier. Besides, I think seeing it has a much greater impact than any description I could come up with. Why don’t you lead the way?”
Mendoza slapped Leo on the shoulder. “Well then ... let’s go.”
With Albert and his pig following along behind, they entered a small tunnel that angled upward. “You all live down here?”
Reaching out to take his arm, Evita’s thin white hands contrasted sharply with Leo’s tanned muscular forearms. “Yes, we’re all mole people,” she giggled. “You’ll never see sunlight again.”
Walking ahead of them, Dr. Diaz glowered over his shoulder at Evita’s joke.
“He hasn’t changed very much,” Leo whispered in her ear.
“He misses the city ... and his lab. He just got here yesterday. We were hoping to introduce him to a lady friend, but so far his loveable personality has been somewhat of a deterrent.”
Continuing on, they came to a dilapidated-looking freight elevator set inside a vertical shaft that rose several hundred feet straight up into the mountain. Stepping inside, Mendoza lowered the wood-slatted doors and waited for the others to enter before they began their rapid ascent up past rock walls that whizzed by as the cable pulled the elevator toward a dot of white light above.
As soon as they stopped Leo found himself peering out into a bright space where natural sunlight filtered through the skylights above and crisscrossed the room, bouncing off the white walls and illuminating the fine dust particles that floated in the dry mountain air.
Rows of cardboard boxes were stacked almost to the top of the soaring, angled ceiling, while new-looking mechanical equipment stood mounted on top of wooden pallets in front of a garage door located at the end of the building. Through the skylights Leo could see blue sky and clouds, and outside, through tall windows, he could see trees full of birds chirping in the sunshine. “Where are we?”
“We’re in the above-ground storage area,” Evita said. “This is where we store critical mechanical equipment and some of the more perishable items like food for next week’s supper.”
Leo’s eyes followed a stack of boxes to a skylight in the ceiling. “I have to say, I really wasn’t expecting this, especially after driving into a tunnel at the base of a mountain.”
“Neither were we when we first arrived,” Mendoza said. “Come on, there’s someone we want you to meet.” Mendoza opened a side door, and as soon as Leo stepped outside he knew he had entered another world. Standing at the top of a gently-sloping hill that overlooked a vast expanse of greenery, he could see manicured, tree-covered grounds bordered by a fast-moving stream, and surrounding it all was a gigantic wall constructed from huge blocks of dark granite, each as tall as a man and as wide as a house. It was an impressive feat of engineering, especially since it had obviously been built at the top of a mountain, but there was something jutting above the trees in the distance that was even more impressive. Looking up, Leo beheld a sight that took his breath away, for he was looking at a medieval castle, and it was bigger than any castle he had ever seen before.
Standing erect with her head held high, Evita tossed her hair back over her shoulders and gripped Leo’s arm. “Well ... what do you think?”
For a moment Leo was speechless. Standing in a surreal world that looked like a picture in a story book, it took him a while before he could gather his thoughts. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s magical. I mean, if I didn’t know better I’d think I was standing in the mythical land of Shangri-La.”
“Close. You’re standing in a Cathar stronghold that was built for the times when our people would be threatened again, but unlike our ancestors we have no intention of letting ourselves be captured and burned at the stake just because we refuse to follow the edicts of an evil man.”
“A Cathar stronghold?”
“Exactly,” Mendoza added, “but Evita and I had no idea it existed until a few weeks ago. The Cathars who built it have kept it a closely guarded secret from the outside world. We have everything we need to sustain us for years to come. Most of our storage facilities are underground, but we try to live up here in the sunshine. Come on, you’ll see.”
Against the sound of muffled laughter filtering through the trees, Leo stumbled forward as his mind tried to take everything in. Behind the castle, a waterfall cascaded from a cliff near the summit of a snow-capped mountain, and as they got closer he saw a small lake that separated the castle from the park-like grounds surrounding it. It was like walking through a scene on a postcard, and as they got closer to the castle, he could see people with their children and pets strolling next to the water.
“How did you find this place?” Leo asked, his mind overwhelmed by everything he was seeing.
“It found us.” Evita said, skipping ahead. “Come on, Leo, I’m dying for you to meet Julian.”
CHAPTER 56
THE VILLA IN ISRAEL
On the windswept beach fronting the Mediterranean Sea, Ariella and John were picking up seashells. Ever since they had learned of the death of Pope Michael and Cardinal Leo, neither of them had felt like doing much of anything. Leo had been like a second father to both of them, and it was on this same beach that he had officiated at their wedding almost two years before.
The loss had hit John especially hard, for Leo had been a mentor to him. His sudden absence had left John feeling adrift in a sea of uncertainty, especially now that Adrian Acerbi was poised to take over the world under the guise of solving all the problems that had plagued mankind since the beginning of time. His speech to the UN had been a joke, John thought, but it had gone over big with the masses that yearned for a father figure to protect them from every imaginable form of evil. Yet it had been to evil that the people had unknowingly run, and the result of their decision to welcome him with open arms would soon become evident.
Already countries were relinquishing their sovereign rights, giving up centuries of freedom that had been purchased with the blood of their sons and daughters, all because they were afraid to stand up to an obvious dictator who held the hammer of technology over their heads. It was Armageddon without a shot being fired, but people seemed blinded by Adrian’s chiseled good looks and powers of persuasion. He had mesmerized them with outlandish promises for a golden future, and very few people seemed capable of peering beyond the smiling face to see what really lay behind his thin façade. He was the Antichrist, and he was here. The dark star had risen.
Holding her long, chestnut hair away from her face, Ariella turned away from the wind. “Why don’t we walk back to the villa and have supper with my father?”
“Maybe we should go back to our own house so we can change first,” John replied, looking down past his red swimming trunks at the sand covering his feet.
“We can rinse off and change at the villa. We still have some cl
othes hanging in the closet upstairs.”
“I don’t know, Ariella. I kinda feel like staying home tonight.”
“You’ve been kinda feeling like staying home every night. Look, John, Leo’s gone, and there’s nothing we can do to bring him back. We have to move on, and if he were standing here right now he would be telling you the same thing.”
John looked out over the sea and thought back to when he and Leo had first arrived in Israel—when they had sat on the beach in front of the villa and he had seen Ariella for the first time. Time had passed so quickly, yet everything Leo had ever told him was still fresh in his mind.
“OK, let’s go,” he finally said. “I’ve been anxious to hear your father’s plans anyway.”
Slowly the two made their way back up the beach and crossed the weathered boardwalk over the dunes to the back of the villa. Lying by the pool, Lev Wasserman adjusted his sunglasses and laid his newspaper aside as he motioned them over. “Haven’t seen you two in awhile. What’s up?”
Ariella giggled. “We thought we’d come over and raid your refrigerator.”
“I’ll have the cook make us dinner. Have you been watching TV?”
“Yeah,” John said. “The situation looks pretty bleak. At least Israel is still holding out.”
“Unlike the Americans, our people have been led into a trap before,” Lev said, “but to be honest I don’t know how much longer we can hold out. Russia was one of the first countries to capitulate, and already Acerbi has commanded them to begin moving their forces in our direction.”
“Do you think he’s bluffing?”
“No, I think there’s going to be a war. Funny how his speech at the UN went on about how all of this was supposed to prevent war. People will soon see who they’ve put their trust in.”
