Relics

by K. T. Tomb

  “Are you okay, Char?” Phoe asked. She’d been worried about Charlotte and feeling several different kinds of guilt because she had gotten her into the mess.

  “My pride has suffered a little, but I think I’ll live. I know what you were doing, by the way. Thanks.”

  “I was hoping the pervert would make a move,” she hissed.

  “He wanted to bad enough.”

  With the robes on, they were able to regain at least a portion of their dignity. Only seconds after the robes were on, a young, attractive Arabian entered the room, gathered their clothing and quickly retreated.

  “Now, him,” Charlotte smiled, “I’d have gladly let him undress me.”

  “Charlotte DeCampos!”

  The comment lightened the mood for the two of them. They were in a bad position and things might get worse, but for the moment, they had survived, and they were together.

  “So, if that was the man who was following you in Santa Fe, who was the other one?”

  “I’ve never seen him before, but he seems a bit more refined. He must be pretty well connected if he was able to fool Simon Kessler’s network.”

  “So, do you think they know about everything?”

  “We have to assume that they do,” Phoe replied. “We have to also assume that they are listening to us now. They probably have a camera too. Damned perverts.”

  “Do you think they’ll hurt the guys?” Charlotte asked.

  “I don’t know yet, Char,” she replied. She wanted to tell her that she was watching them and assessing their strengths and weaknesses. She needed more information about Sergei’s employer and a sense of what they were after. She assumed that it was the Ark, but she didn’t want to give anything away. She wanted to give some assurance to Charlotte, but if she did, they would likely be listening to her and everything she tried to do would be ruined. In some situations, it was better to lie. “I think it is better to give them what they want.”

  “What do they want?”

  “I have no idea.”

  After five minutes or so passed, their clothing was brought back to them and they were told to get dressed. Charlotte used the cover of the robe to put on her clothing before she removed it, but Phoe decided to work the one angle that she had already discovered was a weakness for Sergei. She tossed the robe aside and dressed slowly and casually, playing up every movement for the camera. If she could get Sergei to let his guard down, she might discover a way out for all of them.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Miss Phoenix, you must believe me when I tell you that I did not condone the actions of Sergei. He was not following my orders by humiliating you and your friend that way. Please accept my sincerest apology.” Though his accent had the same thickness and tendency toward the Russian pronunciation of certain letters, he spoke rather elegantly. His confidence spoke of wealth and influence as did his clothing and jewelry, which included a Rolex, a couple of rings, and a pearl pin in his necktie that must have been worth a small fortune. His fingernails were manicured, and she wondered if his toenails were as well.

  “You know that you can dress a swine up in silk, but underneath you still have a pig, Mister…?” She smiled while she delivered the biting insult. She wanted to find out how he performed under pressure.

  “Let’s use the name Tchaikovsky.” He seemed unaffected by her insult.

  “Is that your name?”

  “No, but it is something that you can call me while we talk.”

  “I’d rather not insult Pyotr Ilyich in that way.”

  “What would you call me, then?”

  “How about Ivan?”

  “As in, Ivan Veliky?”

  “More like Ivan Ivanovich.”

  “But I’m not really the paranoid and vengeful type.”

  “Fine. We’ll call you Genghis or perhaps Napoleon?”

  “Ah, yes, the great French Emperor.”

  “Or Orwell’s Napoleon.”

  “So, your main intent is to make certain that I understand that I am a pig?”

  Phoe raised her eyebrows and shrugged.

  “I suppose I deserve that, given the manner in which I have brought you here.”

  “Let’s cut the crap, Boris.” The flirtatious smile that had been on her face while they bantered turned into a steady stare into the Russian’s blue eyes. “What the hell do you want?”

  “Very well, since you asked me directly; I want the Ark of the Covenant.”

  “To what end?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “No, I just wanted to see what sinister egg you were planning to hatch.”

  “How do you know that I have a sinister plan for the Ark? Maybe my plan is noble.”

  “Noble plans aren’t hatched from the eggs of serpents.”

  “I was hoping that we could come to an arrangement. Perhaps twice what Kessler is paying you?”

  “My loyalty is not for sale.”

  “I’m not buying your loyalty. Three million dollars?”

  “Not for sale.”

  “Four million?”

  “I cannot be bought.”

  “Six million?”

  Phoe hesitated a moment, not because of the amount that was being offered, but because he didn’t seem to be catching on to the fact that she wouldn’t be bought.

  “So, your price is six million,” he jumped in before she could respond.

  “You don’t have—nor will you ever have—enough to buy me.”

  “Be reasonable, Miss Phoenix.”

  “You kidnap my team, then kidnap me and hold us hostage and you are asking me to be reasonable?”

  “‘Kidnapping’ is a rather strong assertion.”

  “What the hell would you call it, then? How do you Russians say it: ‘If the sock fits?’” she mocked. Her stare would have melted steel, but the Russian did not even blink at either her defiance or her mockery. His steady gaze gave away nothing.

  “Very well, then. We’ll go about this another way.” His expression turned icy. “The ransom for your friends is six million dollars. I will take it out in trade for your services.”

  “And if I refuse?”

  “You, your friend, your brother and your entire team will… how do you say it… disappear?”

  She couldn’t be bought, but the blood of Charlotte, Eric, Peter, Kadan, Jeremy and even Jonathan could not be on her head. Besides, if she was able to buy some time, perhaps Kessler would figure out where they were. The best she could do was buy them some time.

  For his part, Nicholai was the consummate salesman. He’d made his offer and did not say another word. He would not. In the game he was playing, the first one to speak lost.

  “I will need the help of my team.”

  “You can have two of them. The others will stay behind. Insurance. I’m sure you understand.”

  “Kadan will need his computer equipment and full access to the Internet.”

  “Fine, but he will be monitored.”

  “And I will need Peter to help me.”

  “Done.”

  “The others will be treated well, given adequate accommodations and be well fed. There will be no more of the type of bullshit like Sergei pulled with Charlotte and me.”

  He nodded. “And?”

  “We will need to go to Hamadan, Iran.”

  “I will make the arrangements immediately.”

  “I need to pee, I’m hungry and I want to see my friends.” She stood, signifying that her part of the negotiation was over.

  “I am looking forward to working with you, Miss Phoenix.”

  She glared over her shoulder at him and started toward the door that had been opened for her on the outside. When she stepped through the door, she was met by Sergei. The lustful stare from what he had been treated to earlier was there the moment he saw her. Fixing her best smile upon her face, she glanced up at him. “Looks like we’re going to be working together, Sergei.” She finished the statement with a wink.

  Sergei stared
at her backside as she walked away from him and back down the hall. There was a little extra sway added in, perhaps for his benefit.

  “Seryozh! Get your ass in here!” Nicholai called from inside the room that had been set up as his office.

  Phoe knew that his eyes were on her and she allowed him to get the exact view that he wanted. When she heard Nicholai call him, she giggled softly, but loud enough that he could hear it. The young man that was escorting her down the hall glanced sideways at her when she giggled, but attempted to remain aloof.

  Had she wanted to, she could have taken the young man out and likely created mayhem with the lot of them, but the risk was not worth whatever satisfaction she might receive from kicking some ass. Until she saw her team and knew more about who was holding them and how good of a job they would do, there was no point in making a mistake.

  “Sun Tzu says, ‘He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot, will be victorious.’” She whispered the quote just loud enough for her escort to hear.

  “Excuse me?” he asked.

  “I didn’t say anything.” She feigned innocence.

  He started to speak again, but shook his head instead as they reached the door to the room where they were keeping her and Charlotte.

  The moment she came through the door, Charlotte rushed to her. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine.”

  “What did they do to you?”

  “Nothing. They just wanted to make a deal.”

  “And?”

  “I made a deal.”

  That evening, the treatment became much better for all of them and they were allowed to have dinner together. Though each of them had plenty of questions to ask and plenty of opinions to give about their situation, they all knew better than to discuss anything that they didn’t want to have overheard. No doubt, their captors had arranged their dinner to see what sorts of things might pop up during conversation.

  They kept things light, almost celebratory; after all, they were all still alive and they were together.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The Lord’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation on them and afflicted them with tumors. When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us, because his hand is heavy on us and on Dagon our god.” So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and asked them, “What shall we do with the ark of the god of Israel?”

  They answered, “Have the ark of the god of Israel moved to Gath.” So they moved the ark of the God of Israel.

  But after they had moved it, the Lord’s hand was against that city, throwing it into a great panic. He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors. So they sent the ark of God to Ekron.

  As the ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought the ark of the god of Israel around to us to kill us and our people.” So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send the ark of the god of Israel away; let it go back to its own place, or it will kill us and our people.” For death had filled the city with panic; God’s hand was very heavy on it. Those who did not die were afflicted with tumors, and the outcry of the city went up to heaven.”

  —1 Samuel 5:6-12

  As promised, the entire group was transported to Hamadan, Iran, and kept in what would pass as adequate accommodations in London, Paris or Rome, but were, by Iranian standards, quite extravagant.

  She, Peter and Kadan were allowed to leave the compound and work in a spacious office that had been set up for them with all of the equipment that Kadan deemed necessary to do his task.

  Armed with the information that she had gleaned from the diary of Esther, Phoe took charge and threw all of her intelligence and energy into the job as if it was the same exciting pursuit of any of the other ancient artifacts she had gone after in the past. Of course, in the back of her mind was the fact that failure to find the Ark might mean the death of herself, Charlotte, her brother and three others that she cared about. Even Jonathan, who, when you got right down to it, was a tolerable human being and, though she hated to admit it, had started to grow on her a little bit.

  “Let’s go back over Esther’s diary again,” Peter said. “Was there even the slightest hint of something? A suggestion of the route that she took? Was there somebody’s name?”

  “No,” Phoe replied. She was holding the notebook where she had written down the exact words that were in the ancient document that had been opened for her and translated by the keeper of the relics in the Patriarchate of Peć. She glanced at it once more, though she had already done so several dozen times over the past two days. “Only that the Ark was placed in a cave near a small town in one of the valleys near Hamadan.”

  “Well, then, that leaves us with several different valleys and a pretty vast area of several square mileage to search; we could be here for years. There has to be another clue that we’re not catching onto here. Let’s think about the Ark itself. What attributes are connected to it?

  “Okay,” Kadan jumped in. “I’ve pulled up a biblical concordance with all of the references to the Ark of the Covenant. Let’s look at them in the Greek Septuagint and the original Hebrew texts since we have our Hebrew expert here with us.” He was referring to Peter’s skill with the language.

  “Jeremy would be better,” Peter said.

  “Well, we don’t have Jeremy,” Kadan replied.

  For several hours, they studied the texts of the Torah, Joshua, Judges, both books of Samuel, both books of Kings and Chronicles, frantically taking down every attribute that they had found, hoping that something describing it would click and give them some sort of idea.

  “Wait… Stop right there a second!” Kadan’s command gave them a start.

  “What?” Phoe asked.

  “Okay. Maybe I’m grasping at straws here, but if the Ark was in the possession of a non-Israelite civilization, then it would cause tumors and other plagues, right? I’m getting that from the text, right?”

  “Yes,” Peter and Phoe agreed in unison.

  “Let’s assume that the Ark still holds all of its divine power.” Kadan’s face was lit up.

  “We don’t know that for sure, Kadan,” Phoe replied.

  “Humor me, Phoe.”

  “Okay, let’s assume that.”

  “Then the area where it is kept would show signs of tumors, right? Maybe not on the scale that the Philistines experienced, but, just for the sake of argument…” His statement was interrupted by the tapping of computer keys, a few swear words at the slowness of the connection, several unintelligible mumblings and finally, “Ah ha. Here we go.”

  Peter and Phoe made no response. They simply stared at him, waiting for an explanation. When he finally turned toward them, he started talking rapidly. “Okay, so, what do we associate with tumors in our modern age? Cancer, right? Okay, so I did some searches on the history of cancer diagnosis in Iran. Now, you have to take into consideration that Iran was well behind the US and Europe when it came to cancer diagnosis and research, but even with that, there are some telling statistics that have occurred in the last decade in a small community right near here.”

  He tapped a few more keys and then had a map of the region around Hamadan up on the larger monitor where he could view what he was looking at with Phoe and Peter. Using a stylus, he made a large, red circle around an area on the map. “This small community, right here, has an extraordinarily high number of incidences. There are even some historical references to a rather strange and unexplained phenomenon in the area. The town is mostly avoided, almost like a leper colony. Could that be what we’re looking for?”

  “Actually, it sort of fits the bill,” Thalia replied.

  “Fits it very well, if the Ark still holds the same power as it did back then.”

  “Why wouldn’t it?”

  “Search me.” Peter shrugged. “It’s certainl
y a good place to start.”

  “So, how do we start?”

  “Well, while you two were chitchatting, I was laying out a grid map and eliminating areas that have been excavated to construct buildings and whatnot. I will cut and paste each of the quadrants and have a nice set of quadrant maps for Peter and me to work on.”

  “Hold on a second,” Phoe objected. “Peter and you?”

  “Phoe, you don’t really think that the Iranians are going to allow you to go tramping around that valley, do you?”

  “Why wouldn’t they?”

  “Because you’re a woman and this is a staunchly Muslim country.”

  “But I’m the team leader.”

  “We know that, but I’m afraid they won’t see it the same way.”

  “Well, I’m going and that’s final.”

  “How are you going to arrange that?” Peter asked. “You know he’s right.”

  “If Boris, or whatever the hell his name is, wants his fucking Ark…” She stopped herself. It might not be good to refer to the Ark of the Covenant with that expletive in front of it. “If he wants his Ark, then he’s going to have to make some arrangements. You don’t think they would let a group of Americans go digging around near…” She looked at the map again. “Vafrejin, anyway, do you?”

  “I guess we need to talk to Boris, then,” Peter agreed.

  “Not we, I. It’s my arrangement and my neck.”

  “But…” Peter started to protest.

  “My neck. Don’t argue with me.” She stared Peter down, just as Nicholai had done with her a few days before.

  “Okay… your neck.” Peter turned away. “But let’s get a move on. I’m tired of this stinking place.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The arrangement that Nicholai was finally able to make with the local clerics was to allow Thalia to be a part of the expedition as long as she was accompanied by a man and kept her head covered. In actuality, it made her feel better to stick with Peter and she typically wore a hat when she was out in the sun anyway, to prevent skin cancer. Working in two groups, each accompanied by an armed escort and an Iranian observer, they began to work the likely quadrants that Kadan had printed out for them.