Sean Wyatt Compilation Box Set

by Ernest Dempsey

  “I guess your friend has a decent connection here, huh?” he quipped at Jabez.

  The Arab cocked his head for a second as if making such arrangements were just another typical day at the office. A few moments later, his driver was handing out room keys and giving directions for finding their rooms.

  Adriana noticed that Jabez and his four men didn’t receive a key.

  “Where are you and your men staying?” she prodded.

  He turned and smiled at her. “We will be in a home not far from here. A place like this is far too grand for simple men like us. Humble quarters are all we require. And we must also pray for strength tonight.” He smiled wide with the last part. “All of this would be an easy distraction,” Jabez waved his hand around dramatically showing off the extravagant interior of the lobby.

  The Arab turned back to Sean. “I will return in the morning to pick you up at 8:00 o’clock, Istanbul time. So, be sure you have eaten a big breakfast. It will be a few hours drive to the border. Arrangements have been made so the Armenians will know we are coming, and should not give us any trouble.”

  “That’s good to know.”

  Firth was still frowning. Sean had figured the man had grown tired of all the intrigue. The older professor was what Sean and Tommy called a “classroom archaeologist.” They rarely got out and did any exploration in their twilight years.

  “I don’t mean to be rude,” the older man said, bobbing his head and fedora as he spoke, “but I am going to bed. I shall see you in the morning.” He waved a dismissive hand and plodded off in the wrong direction through the entryway of the spa.

  Sean snorted a quick laugh, knowing in a moment the professor’s dramatic exit would be ruined with a U-turn and an embarrassing walk to the other side of the lobby.

  Sure enough, thirty seconds later Firth re-appeared and stalked quickly across the marble tiles, past the lavish beige couches, and through the correct portal. Adriana snickered slightly.

  “I suppose we should turn in as well,” Sean put out a hand for Jabez, who took it and gripped it appreciatively.

  “We will see you tomorrow. I pray the Father keeps us safe.”

  The man spun around and ushered the rest of his men out the doors. His last sentence lingered in Sean’s mind, though. He couldn’t help but wonder why they wouldn’t be safe. It was doubtful Lindsey was on the same trail. But experience had taught him to never get too comfortable. As soon as you did was when the enemy could rear its ugly head.

  He followed Adriana across the room and into a great hallway lined with bronze candle sconces. A thick burgundy carpet ran the length of it atop more of the marble tiles like the ones they’d seen in the lobby. A set of elevator doors opened up to the left as they neared.

  A few moments later, they had reached their floor and were walking down a hall that mirrored the one they’d just left.

  They’d been silent since leaving the lobby, but Adriana broke the quiet. “Sean, my father does covert operations for various governments of the world.”

  The sudden confession caught him off guard. “I’m sorry. Your dad does what?”

  “Technically, you could consider him to be a spy. Now, he mainly does contract work for different agencies connected to the United States government.”

  They stopped walking at an intersection of two hallways. A glass-ceilinged dome loomed above them. Enormous pots with small palm trees dotted the corners of the circular intersect.

  Sean’s eyebrows stitched together. “Espionage? Your father?” It was rare when someone surprised him. But he had to admit to himself this was one of those times that really caught him off guard.

  Adriana could tell he wasn’t sure about the idea. “It isn’t as bad as you make it sound. He doesn’t work for any bad people,” she defended with a slight pout.

  He shook his head, still confused. “I’m sorry. Why are you telling me this anyway?”

  “Because. He may be able to help us uncover whatever it is Lindsey is up to. My father has connections in places some of your friends may not. It could be worth a try.”

  Sean nodded slowly, finally understanding the connection. “Okay,” he agreed. “See what he can find out. I will contact Emily and see what she has turned up. Call me if you hear anything interesting.”

  She smiled wryly. “I texted him over an hour ago. If father can find anything, he will be calling soon.”

  He gave an impressed smile and walked the remaining twenty feet to their rooms. Hers was across the hall, and she looked back after unlocking it with her card key. Sean had turned around as well to watch her for a second. He cast an awkward smile across the six-foot space.

  “You don’t have to stay in your room if you don’t want to, Sean.” Her voice was confident and hopeful. The Spanish accent was intoxicating and filled his ears like music. Her figure beckoned to him as she stood with one hand on a hip. Every instinct told Sean to step across the hall, wrap his arm around her slender waist, and press his lips into hers. He could tell from the look in her chocolate, almond-shaped eyes that she was hoping he would.

  For a few seconds, Sean imagined what her firm, tight body would feel like. The outline of her athletic legs in those tight pants she always seemed to wear was almost too much to bear.

  But something made him hesitate, made him decline every natural instinct that was roaring inside his head. “I need to get cleaned up,” he basically ignored the invitation. “It’s been a long day, and we should get some rest. Please, though, let me know if you hear anything from your father.”

  Her face was the picture of disappointment and confusion. She’d thrown herself at him, and he had rejected her.

  Sean doubted many men would have done the same thing. She was better than that, though. And she deserved better. He’d met her several weeks before, and they had gotten to know each other fairly well so far. But he didn’t want to ruin that. He hoped that, someday, they could venture into a physical relationship. Maybe he was old-fashioned. At least he thought he was, more so than most people in an age of Internet dating and sexting. She pushed open the door and disappeared inside, a dejected look washing across her face. The door clicked shut, and Sean remained standing on the threshold of his own room. He owed her an explanation. He knew he did. Maybe later he would try to tell her how he felt, what he wanted.

  He banged his head against the door slowly a few times. “What is wrong with you, Wyatt?” he said quietly to himself. “What are you doing?”

  Sean unlocked his door and slipped inside.

  The room felt like many other hotel rooms he’d stayed in before. At their core, they were all the same: just glorified bedrooms. Sure, there were different coats of paint or fancy wallpaper, tiled floors or hardwood, lush sofas, and dozens of decorative pillows. In the end, though, he just wanted a decent place to sleep. None of that over-the-top stuff really meant much.

  He had to admit that the room was different than most he’d stayed in. The interior decorator had decked out the Arabian architecture with an array of colors and hues that pleased the eye, but wasn’t so distracting one couldn’t relax.

  Sean turned on the shower, one of the more ordinary places he could find in the hotel. The tiles were beige, filled in with a dark grout. It had no doors, only an entrance into the shower with a short, tiled wall going up one side to protect from splashing onto the floor of the rest of the bathroom. He let the hot water soothe his senses for several minutes before cleaning up and getting out to dry off.

  He threw on a t-shirt and boxers then noticed his phone lighting up on the dark cherry oak dresser across from the bed. It was a text message from Adriana. Sean hesitated before unlocking his phone to read it. He wondered if she was going to say something about the uncomfortable exchange in the hallway from earlier. Shrugging it off, he opened the phone’s interface and read it.

  “I have information on Lindsey you need to hear. Come over ASAP. PS, I’m sorry about earlier.”

  Sean smiled at the text, glad she
wasn’t angry at him. Putting himself in her shoes, he actually felt a little bad for her. It had to be awkward.

  He pulled on some jeans from his bag and went across the hall. When she opened the door, she was dressed in a snug, red t-shirt and some gray pajama pants.

  She still looked a little uncomfortable, and bit her lower lip in a cute gesture. Before she could say anything, he beat her to it.

  “Look, Adriana. I want to...I really like you. And I am definitely attracted to you.” His words made her face light up slightly. “But we have a lot going on right now, and I don’t want to jump into anything with you. I just want to get to know you and not have this turn into some one-nighter because we got caught up in the moment. Understand?”

  “Yes,” she nodded, still smiling. “I do.”

  “When all this is over, I think we should just get away from everything and get a little alone time. Sound good?”

  She nodded again.

  “Okay,” he still beamed at her. “Now, what did your father say?”

  Sean stepped into the room that looked almost identical to his own. He was almost a little disappointed at that fact. A tiny part of him had hoped each room was uniquely decorated.

  Adriana sat on the edge of the bed and picked up her phone. Sean assumed a casual seating position on the nearby sofa.

  “Father has many contacts in the United States. It turns out, our friend Alexander Lindsey has his hands in many pies, as you Americans say.” Sean raised an eyebrow, impressed with her use of the expression. “No one has been able to prove anything in regards to Golden Dawn and their direct operations, but it seems Lindsey and the same collection of men have accounts that get distributed into a network of investments and legitimate businesses.”

  “I’m listening,” Sean crossed a leg over his knee and leaned back.

  “These men have a secret meeting place, much like the Bildeburg group, with the exception that they meet in the same place every time and the Bildeburg group always changes the location, annually.”

  Sean’s interest was piqued. But he wanted to know something more specific. “You said these men and Lindsey are all wealthy, and they have lots of businesses. Anything I might have heard of?”

  She nodded slowly, accompanying it with a sly grin. “Most of their network is small to medium-sized organizations. Some are even at the local level. But there is one that stands out far above all the rest. Father believes that this umbrella company feeds into most of the others, providing them an in house way of laundering money and increasing their distribution channels.” She paused for dramatic effect, but Sean didn’t bite. He waited patiently for her to finish.

  “Have you ever heard of Biosure?” she asked, crossing one leg over the other and resting both hands on a knee.

  “Yeah. They’re one of the top producers of different kinds of pharmaceuticals or something like that.”

  “True,” she confirmed. “But they are also the largest provider of influenza immunizations in the entire world. Biosure distributes sixty-five percent of the world’s flu shots to more than thirty-four countries.”

  Sean uncrossed his legs. His mind had started working on what Lindsey was up to in conjunction with the information Adriana’s father had provided.

  He rubbed his face while he verbalized what he was thinking. “It’s flu season right now. That would mean Biosure will be shipping out tons of the stuff as we speak.” He couldn’t quite connect the dots on what all of it meant, though.

  “What do you think he’s planning?” Adriana wondered aloud.

  He wasn’t sure. There was something missing from the equation, and it was driving him nuts that he couldn’t figure it out.

  “We have to think about what it is that Lindsey is looking for,” he said after a moment of silent contemplation.

  “The tree of life,” she shrugged. “A source of immortality. But how does that figure in?”

  The lights went on in Sean’s mind. He stood up and went over to the sliding door that led onto a small balcony then paced back and forth in front of it. He stopped in the middle and looked over at her.

  “What if this thing that is hidden in the ark, this tree, what if it can heal anything? Sickness, disease, anything.”

  Adriana uncrossed her legs then re-crossed the other leg over top. “A cure for everything,” she realized.

  Sean pointed a finger at her. “Exactly. We need to find out what is in those flu shots.”

  “I doubt my father can do that, but I can see.”

  “Don’t bother,” Sean stopped her. “I have someone that might be able to do a little snooping around for us. Did your father say where Biosure’s main distribution facilities are?”

  She confirmed with a nod. “He said they have one in Utah, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Chicago.”

  “Atlanta?”

  “That’s what he told me.”

  Sean’s grin grew wider. “I think I know just the person for the job.”

  Chapter 22

  Cartersville, Georgia

  The phone rang on the old wooden desk next to the cabin window. A floppy-eared, reddish brown hound started bellowing loudly on the floor. The dog did it every single time the phone rang. His owners knew it was the animal’s instinct to alert the log home’s inhabitants that they were receiving a call. But it was an annoying instinct.

  A bearded man in a flannel shirt and a fleece North Face vest burst through the front door, rushing across the room to the phone.

  He spoke in a commanding tone to the animal over its howling and the annoying ringing. “Calm down, boy. I hear it, ya crazy dog.”

  The canine must have understood because he silenced almost immediately and sank back down to the floor with his chin on big front paws.

  “Hello,” Joe McElroy put the phone up to his ear, his breath coming quickly. The strong southern accent was still evident, though, even with the heavy breathing.

  Joe had been outside helping his wife get the leaves out of the landscaping when the phone rang.

  “Mac? You sound a little out of breath. Everything okay?” Sean’s voice came through the earpiece in an almost mocking tone.

  “Hey, buddy! Are you okay?” Joe’s face lit up instantly at the sound of Sean’s voice. “The explosion in Cairo has been all over the news. I knew you were going to be in that vicinity, and I wondered if you were nearby.”

  The other end of the line was silent for a few seconds before Sean spoke up again. “We were the targets of that bombing, Mac.”

  “Targets?” Joe’s eyes squinted, sending crow’s feet across the upper parts of his cheeks. “What do you mean you were the targets?”

  “The Order of Golden Dawn tried to eliminated us.”

  Joe let the words sink in as he considered what Sean was implying. He could hear his wife raking leaves outside the front door. Satisfied she would be occupied for several minutes, he continued his conversation.

  “Is everyone okay? Adriana? Tommy?” he was clearly concerned.

  Joe had been friends with Sean for a long time. He had become a park ranger near the town of Cartersville, but had helped Sean and Tommy find the first golden chamber, and took a bullet to the shoulder in the process. His arm was no longer in a sling, but it wasn’t the same as it had been before. There had been some nerve damage, and that was something that would take time and new medical practices to heal.

  “Adriana and I are okay. Tommy is in a hospital in Greece, but I think he is going to make it. We had him flown there after the attack. I didn’t think it wise to keep him in Egypt. Security would have been too big of an issue.”

  Joe agreed. “Good call. Where are you now?”

  “Adriana and I are in Istanbul.”

  “Istanbul?” Joe almost shouted, but kept his voice low so the wife wouldn’t hear the conversation.

  “Yeah,” Sean replied. “We flew here earlier today from Luxor. It’s a long story. Don’t ask right now. I’ll tell you all about it when we get state side. The reason
I’m calling is I need you to do something for me.”

  Joe cast a quick glance out the front windows. He could see the top of his wife’s head just beyond the railing on the porch. It was cold out, so she was wearing a thick cap to keep her head and ears warm.

  “Sounds interesting,” Joe said in a hushed, secretive tone. “How can I help?”

  “Have you ever heard of Biosure?”

  Joe thought for a few seconds before responding. “Yeah. I’ve seen their commercials. I think they have some kind of alternative to Viagra or something like that. Right?”

  Sean laughed for a second on the other line. “I don’t know about that. But I do know they are one of the world’s largest suppliers of influenza vaccinations.”

  Joe wasn’t sure where this was going. “Okay. So?”

  “They have a distribution center in Atlanta. Adriana and I believe the guy behind Golden Dawn is also the main stock holder in Biosure. We think he is getting a shipment of bad flu shots ready to send out.”

  “Bad flu shots? What do you mean?” Joe was lost on the idea.

  “We think he has created some kind of super virus or something. We don’t really know. That’s why we need you to get a sample and get it to the lab to have it analyzed.”

  Joe’s face twisted, perplexed by the proposition. “A sample? What do you mean a sample?”

  Sean cut through the bull like he usually did with Joe. It was something his long-time friend appreciated. “I need you to sneak into their facility, steal a sample of a shipment of flu vaccinations, and get it back to our friend Jenny Solomon at the CDC. She will take care of the rest.”

  “Wait. I don’t even know how I’m going to get into this place. You want me to just break into a high security pharmaceutical company and steal a sample of their flu shots?”

  “Pretty much,” Sean confirmed what Joe feared. “You’re the only one who can pull it off, Mac. This thing could be huge. If Lindsey is up to what we think he may be up to, there could be a worldwide epidemic coming. We have to find out what is in those shipments and shut down Biosure from sending them.”