Relics

by K. T. Tomb

  Christian led her around the farm. Together, they dug through the stalls in the barn, the cellar under the house, the small stone house out back where they made and stored the cheese that they made; he even took her out into the pasture and into a cave with a trap door hidden in the floor.

  “This is where the family hid from the Nazis,” he explained as he pulled the trap door out of place and motioned for Phoe to enter.

  Greta forced her way past her and descended the small ladder into the shallow hole hewn out of the surrounding stone, checking it out before allowing Christian and Phoe to join her. It was barely enough room for Christian, Greta and Phoe to simply stand and move around one another as they made a thorough inspection of the room, looking for any secret doors, loose stones or any other possible hiding place for what they hoped to find. It was impossible for Phoe to imagine a family hiding inside such a small space; however, given that their lives depended on it, they had, no doubt, made it work. How long would they have hidden? How had they finally been discovered? She felt the weight of their sorrow upon her shoulders while she was in the hiding place, but didn’t really know how intensely until she was back out in the open air and felt the incredible sense of beauty, joy and peace that she’d noticed before. The shroud is here, she repeated over and over in her mind.

  There was a mill with a waterwheel that was set up along a small stream. Though the waterwheel was no longer in use for grinding feed, it had been kept intact. The small canal, which could be opened to divert water out of the stream and to the wheel was lined with stone. They had passed by it a number of times and Phoe had even remarked to Christian about how beautiful and intriguing it was. However, as they passed by it another time, something that she hadn’t noticed before caught her eye. One of the stones that was among those at the top of the lined canal was a little bit different.

  “Wait,” she said, stepping down into the empty stone canal and ducking underneath the wheel to get to the stone that she had seen. She ran her hand over it and felt a burst of energy surge through her. Is this it? It has to be it. She considered passing by the area and then thinking of coming back for it later, but Greta and Heinrich had already caught on to what she had seen as well.

  “That stone is not like the others,” Greta pointed out.

  Phoe could no longer hide what she was thinking. She knew that Greta had been to the dig sites in the Judean Hills and even brought samples to her when she’d requested to have a look at what they were dealing with. The thought of tricking Kraus had come and gone.

  “Get me a chisel and a bar,” Kraus ordered. “Whatever it might take to remove that stone from the wall.”

  Christian and Hans moved quickly to retrieve the items that Kraus had demanded. With the stone worked free of its position in the wall, Kraus took over, snatching the stone out of Heinrich’s hands and examining it. “There’s a seam here. It’s very minute, but I can make it out. I just need to open it up.” Grasping the chisel and a mallet as he positioned the chisel to break the seam and open the stone.

  For a moment, Phoe considered stopping Kraus from opening up the stone. A linen cloth, which had been preserved and stored in a hermetically sealed stone for 2,000 years, when exposed to air, would disintegrate into dust. The only way it could be preserved was to open the stone in a controlled environment. The temptation to speak up was overwhelming. She wanted to see the shroud as well, but something told her that it would be better if the world never knew that any shroud, other than the faux one stored in St. John the Baptist Church in Turin, Italy, existed. She remained silent.

  They all saw the folded shroud for the duration of about three seconds before it crumbled into little more than particles of linen dust.

  “You bitch!” Kraus exploded, looking up at her. “You knew it would do that and you didn’t stop me. I ought to slit your throat.”

  “Not so fast,” a familiar voice behind them said. “Who is the stupid one now, Brendis Kraus?”

  Chapter Twenty one

  With several hours’ head start, Engel had made it to Greenland in the small boat. He’d feared during the entire passage that the small hole which had steadily allowed water to trickle in through the hull would eventually sink the boat before he completed his voyage, but he had, with the help of his strength and determination, made it to within a hundred yards of the coast before he had abandoned the sinking boat and made the last portion of his journey in the icy water of the North Atlantic.

  He’d been close to hypothermia before he’d made it to the warmth of a fisherman’s cottage, stripped off his wet clothing and was warmed both inside and out. He’d paid the fisherman for his help and was able to get a lift to the airport. Though it cost him nearly all of the wages that he had saved up at the facility, he’d been able to book passage to Rome.

  It hadn’t been easy for him to find Simon Kessler, nor had it been easy for him to be trusted once he had been. Though Engel swore that he was there to help him rescue Thalia Phoenix and the other members of her team, Simon, being keenly aware that Brendis Kraus could not be trusted to keep his end of any bargain, had done a very thorough background check on Engel before he was allowed into his company.

  The interview had been a lengthy one, with Engel revealing all of Kraus’ secret facilities, most specifically the research facility off the coast of Greenland in the North Atlantic. Once the facility was located, Simon’s team had immediately started to monitor it. They had only been drawing up satellite images for a little over an hour when an inbound helicopter set down on the landing pad of the facility. Within minutes, it was relayed to Simon that they had recognized three members of Thalia’s team being escorted out to the pad and being transported to the southwest.

  The helicopter was continuously tracked while an assault team was being assembled and in transport, though they did not yet have their final destination. A little more than an hour later, a second helicopter touched down on the landing pad and the group of four, which had exited the facility and was seen momentarily on the landing pad before disappearing in the helicopter bound toward the southeast, included Thalia Phoenix. That helicopter was tracked as well and a second strike team was assembled.

  “I want to lead that team,” Engel had insisted when he heard of Simon’s plan.

  “I can’t allow you to do that,” Simon had replied. “I can’t risk that you will turn on me.”

  “Mr. Kessler,” he had insisted, “I started this. It is my fault that Thalia and her team are in the situation that they are in. Please, allow me to make this right.”

  It had taken every bit of pleading and argument that he could conjure up in order to be allowed to go on the mission with Simon’s strike team. The one that had finally tipped the scale in his favor came when it was revealed that the destination of the occupants in the helicopter, after making a stop to pick up Kraus was a small farm in the Bavarian Alps that was less than five kilometers from where Engel had lived with his family.

  “I know that terrain like the back of my hand!” Engel insisted. “If you want to be able to approach them covertly, there is no one better suited for that than I am.”

  He had finally been allowed to not only accompany them, but to lead them, though he was to be kept under very close observation by a pair of the other team members who were loyal to Simon to beyond a fault.

  Though there were a plethora of memories assaulting him as the strike team was dropped in the very same woods that he had explored as a child, Engel had been able to stay focused on the task and had and led the group into striking position by the time that Kraus had snatched the stone away from Heinrich. With everyone focused on the opening of the stone, the entire team had easily moved into position without detection.

  He was less than three meters behind Kraus when he announced his presence.

  Heinrich, Greta and Franz had all turned, producing their weapons, but quickly dropped them when they realized that they were surrounded by Simon’s strike team and had absolutely no chanc
e of surviving any sort of a gunfight.

  “You fucking idiot!” Kraus hissed. “You’ve turned against me after all that I’ve done for you?”

  “Is that why you had rigged it so that I would have an ‘unfortunate’ accident?” Engel wasn’t certain that such an arrangement had been made until he saw the truth instantly flash into Kraus’ eyes just before he started a new line of lies meant to create doubt in Engel’s mind.

  Kraus’ expression became suddenly warm and it appeared that he had been concerned for Engel’s welfare. “Actually, I had reconsidered having terminated you, but since you were nowhere to be found on the island, I am happy to see that you are okay.”

  “Cut the crap!” Engel demanded. He’d turned his attention, ever so slightly in Thalia’s direction, wanting to make certain that she was being drawn to safety. As he did so, Kraus had made a desperate reach for the pistol under his jacket.

  As the pistol was clearing the cloth of the jacket, Engel tapped the trigger on his own pistol and saw three spots of red appear in rapid succession on the chest of Brendis Kraus as he fell backward into the lush, green grass beside the Weber family’s mill.

  Chapter Twenty two

  The assault on the Edelweiss had been child’s play for Simon’s strike team. Though Engel had done a decent job of training the men, they had been sent away from the main action to watch over unarmed civilians and were not at all prepared for what had taken place.

  It was a rare thing indeed, but the team, on Simon Kessler’s dime, was transported to the Bahamas for some much-needed R-and-R. They were soon joined by not only their fearless leader, Thalia Phoenix, but Simon had even come along, escorted by the newest member of his security team, Engel Brewer.

  “Oh my God, I’m so glad to see that you are safe!” Thalia exclaimed as she took Charlotte into her arms. She didn’t want to ever let go of her again.

  “This is beginning to happen with way too much frequency, Tal,” Charlotte laughed as she broke away from her.

  “Jesus, Eric,” she said, wrapping her arms around him as well, “I’m so sorry that I got you guys into this.”

  “Yeah, well, you’re probably going to owe me for the rest of our lives,” he quipped.

  “And I will pay,” she said, drawing back from him and smiling through her tears. “Whatever your price is, I’ll pay it.”

  She had no sooner let go of Eric before Peter stepped up to her. “Cheated death again,” he said, before taking her into his arms. It was in his arms that the tears really began to flow. There had always been a very deep, emotional connection between the two of them. The connection even went beyond the one that she had with her own family. Though they had struggled with how to define their relationship, one thing had always remained between them; they trusted each other with their lives.

  “You never disappoint me,” she whispered.

  “Hey,” Jeremy interrupted. “Quit hogging her, dude.”

  “Jeremy,” she smiled, wrapping him in her arms and feeling him become a little bit tense when the hug lingered a little bit too long for him. “Thank you. You are truly incredible.”

  “Ahumm.” Kadan made the fake throat clearing sound to draw her attention to him.

  “I don’t know how you do it, Kadan,” she said. “I’m so glad you’re back with us. I’m sorry that I haven’t kept up with you very well recently and I’m sorry for your loss too.” Kadan had always been a little bit standoffish about hugs, so she simply reached out and touched him on the shoulder.

  “You’re not getting off that easy, boss,” he laughed, drawing her in for the tightest hug that she’d ever experienced.

  Not one to make an issue out of something like Kadan’s hug, Phoe squeezed back with the same intensity. When Kadan drew away from her, she noted that he turned away quickly, rubbing his eyes and trying to avoid anyone seeing the struggle with his emotions that had suddenly overtaken him.

  “Phoe,” Jonathan said, stepping forward to hug her as well. It had been a very long time in the past when she would have avoided such contact with Jonathan, but after what they had been through with the Seal of Solomon and after what they had just survived, what had been a sharp line drawn between them had become ancient history. “I’m glad that you’re safe.”

  Waiting very quietly at the very end of what had been an impromptu reception line, was Casey. She paused, put her hands on his shoulders and looked into his eyes. “How are you holding up?”

  “I’ll probably be okay,” he replied.

  “I’m sorry that I got you into this,” she said before taking him into her arms and laughed as she resurrected an old joke. “Don’t tell Aunt Sylvia.”

  “Huh?” Casey pulled back from the hug and looked at her with a confused expression.

  “I’ll explain later,” she said, turning to see Eric burst into laughter after hearing the expression.

  Though Casey was a very late addition of Aunt Sylvia, there had been plenty of interaction between Phoe and Eric with Casey’s older siblings. More than enough times to count, the cousins had gotten into some sort of trouble and knew that Aunt Sylvia, who tended to be even more aggressive than her sister Angelica, would go through the roof if they knew what they had been into. The saying had become very common among them.

  “They treated you okay?” Phoe asked. “Brenda was okay?”

  Casey immediately looked at the ground and became extremely shy. “She treated me fine,” he mumbled.

  The way that Casey reacted when she mentioned Brenda drew Phoe’s curiosity. “I think there is something more that you’re not telling me.”

  “You know,” Eric suddenly butted in, “I noticed that Brenda seemed to act a little bit differently whenever she was around Casey. What’s up with that, Case?”

  “Yeah, Case,” Charlotte joined in. “What’s up with that?”

  “I’ll tell you what’s up with that,” Phoe laughed. She recalled the starry-eyed look that had been in Brenda’s eyes when she had talked about how she was going to take care of Casey. “I think Brenda had a thing for Casey from the very beginning. In fact, I’m thinking that Casey’s captivity wasn’t traumatizing for him at all.”

  Casey avoided her eyes and tried to shrink away from the attention that had suddenly gathered around him. Surprisingly, Peter came to Casey’s rescue.

  “Hey, now, you guys leave him alone. He’s been through enough,” Peter chuckled. “After all, it was his first baptism into the Phoenix method of archeology.”

  “The Phoenix method of archeology?” Casey asked, jumping on the opportunity to escape the conversation that had been taking place about what had happened with him and Brenda while he was being held captive. “She has an actual method named after her?”

  Phoe looked at Peter. “Yeah, Peter, I have an actual method named after me?”

  “Well, not officially, but I’m sure it will catch on with a little help,” Peter laughed.

  “What is this method?” she pressed.

  “Well, it seems to be pretty commonplace for anyone around you to be kidnapped or nearly killed.”

  The fact that they could laugh about it after the fact was a testimony to how often it had happened to them.

  Casey, seeing an opportunity to get a dig of his own in against Phoe jumped in. “Phoe, I thought you said that archeology wasn’t anything like the Indiana Jones movies?”

  “You told him that?” Peter laughed. “You think lying to the kid is the best way to teach him?”

  “Can I get everyone’s attention?” Simon called out. He’d waited patiently while the reunion had taken place, but he had come along with Phoe to meet the team and to be reunited with Jonathan for a reason.

  Everyone turned toward him.

  “If you will all step over here to the table, please.”

  With confused expressions on their faces, they all stepped toward the table.

  “Please, make certain that there is a glass of champagne in front of you,” Simon instructed. “Take it
into your hand, but do not sit down.”

  They all positioned themselves around the table and took up the glass that was sitting in front of them. Simon motioned for Engel to stand beside him and then called for everyone’s attention again.

  “When Engel came to me, I was pretty certain that it was one of Kraus’ tricks. The only way that I could be sure was to have him thoroughly checked out. It turns out that he was being mostly honest with me, but not entirely.” Simon paused for effect.

  Everyone, especially Engel stared at him for several counts.

  “After sending Engel with the strike team that recovered Phoe, I continued having my team look into his background and I discovered some very interesting things. I need to backtrack before I continue. Not all of you are aware that I had placed Engel as one of my security team leaders. However, I’m afraid that I am going to have to terminate you from the position,” Simon turned toward Engel with a very grave expression and waited several beats again.

  Engel, completely confused by what was going on, wrinkled his brow and waited for some sort of explanation.

  “With the death of Brendis Kraus, his company, Kraus Enterprises, returns to the family where it ought to have been in the first place. You are the sole, surviving heir of that company,” Simon said, placing his arm around Engel’s shoulders. “What I am hoping to be able to announce before we have our toast, is that you will agree to begin talks about forming an alliance with me.”

  Though it took several seconds of silence for it all to sink in, when it did, a smile spread across his face and he turned to Simon. “Brewer Industries will certainly entertain such a proposal.”

  “To Brewer Industries!” Simon exclaimed, raising his glass.