The Cylon Curse

by J. Robert Kennedy

  “I know your friends. Two annoying archaeology professors.”

  Reading frowned. “And how do you know them?”

  The man shook his head. “Unimportant.” He motioned toward Pulos’ car. “I see you figured it out.”

  Reading nodded. “As did you.”

  The man ushered them over to the car, the others joining them, taking up covering positions, then raised his weapon to shoot out the trunk’s lock.

  Nicolo cleared his throat, holding up a key. “Perhaps I can be of assistance?”

  The man chuckled, stepping back. “Please.”

  Nicolo unlocked the trunk, the lid popping up automatically. They all leaned in, then smiled at the sight.

  A large item, wrapped in a blanket.

  The man flicked his wrist. “Agent Reading, would you do the honors?”

  Reading stepped forward and carefully unwrapped whatever the blanket was protecting, but with each turn, any doubts he might have had as to what it was, faded.

  As well as any doubt as to who the thief was.

  She lied to us the entire time.

  With a final pull on the blanket, the urn was revealed, and Reading, as was so often the case, was underwhelmed.

  Just another clay jar.

  He stepped back. “Is this what you were looking for?”

  The man nodded, then snapped his fingers, two of his men rushing forward with a large case. The urn was packaged carefully, probably to standards Acton would have been pleased with.

  Reading turned to the man. “Now that you have what you came for, will you release Professor Galanos?”

  The man regarded him for a moment, then shook his head. “Agent Reading, we never had her.” He raised his shotgun and fired, hitting Reading square in the chest.

  58 |

  Phaleron Delta Necropolis

  Athens, Greece

  Reading groaned, his entire body aching as he tried to make sense of what had just happened. Finally able to open his eyes and relax his muscles, he suddenly grabbed at his chest, searching for a wound he knew wasn’t there—if it were, he’d be dead, or in a hell of a lot more pain than he was.

  Instead, it felt like he had just run a marathon.

  What’s this?

  He pulled a strange device from his chest then said a silent prayer of thanks as he was reminded of dealing with the Triarii and their non-lethal modus operandi. Though why these men had employed similar methods, he wasn’t sure. He rolled to his feet and surveyed the area. The hostiles were gone, and several of the guards were on their feet, checking on the others. Nicolo stood nearby, on his phone. He waved at Reading, continuing his conversation.

  Reading pulled out his phone, just then realizing that the grad student’s car was gone, the SUV the hostiles had arrived in sitting nearby, out of commission with a bullet-riddled engine block. He called Acton.

  “Hugh, what’s going on? I’ve been calling you.”

  “We were attacked.”

  “What? Are you okay?”

  “I am, but I think some of the guards might be dead. Some are definitely wounded. They used some weird Taser-like thing on most of us. I’ve never seen anything like it. They didn’t work on Korba’s men because they had body armor, so they took the brunt of it.”

  Acton cursed. “I, umm, hate to sound self-centered, but did you find the urn?”

  “We did. It was in her trunk, exactly as we suspected.”

  “That’s great! At least we finally have some answers. Where is it now?”

  “The guys who attacked us took it.”

  There was a pause. “Then I guess that’s good news as well, right? Now that they have it, they’ll let Juno go.”

  Reading shook his head. “The guy doing all the talking said they never had her. I think this is a different group. They were well-equipped, dressed as special ops types, and the guy who spoke didn’t look Arab at all. Definitely Caucasian.”

  “Did you get them on camera?”

  “I’m not sure. I literally just woke up. But right now, I don’t think our Suqut Brigade guys know the urn has been found.”

  Acton sighed. “But once they find out, Juno is no longer of any use to them. I think we have to hit them now, before the press finds out.”

  Reading agreed. “I’ll give the address you sent me to Nicolo.”

  “Okay, just tell them to be careful. We don’t want a repeat of Portugal.”

  “No, we don’t.” Reading paused as he remembered the rest of the conversation he had with the hostile. “Jim, there’s something else.”

  “What?”

  “The man who led the attack here…”

  “Yes?”

  “He says he knows you and Laura.”

  59 |

  King George Hotel

  Athens, Greece

  Adelaide sat curled up on a chaise lounge near the window, a laptop perched beside her, as she reviewed all the video captured from the house holding the professor’s wife.

  Just like at work.

  This was what she did. She sat in a dark room inside the embassy, monitoring security footage, watching for anything out of the ordinary from the visitors inside the grounds, and those loitering on the outside.

  And she was trained to follow people from camera to camera, observing their interactions with others who weren’t in the previous camera’s frame.

  She smiled, replaying what she had caught to be sure. She turned to the room, deep in discussion over what had just been said by Agent Reading—that this second team knew the Actons. It was an interesting development, one that made no sense to her, but from what she was discovering in dribs and drabs, the people in this room were wealthy, well connected, and always in trouble.

  She stared at Leather, still manning the door, and felt a twinge in her core. This was a man. A real man. Not some coddled millennial raised by helicopter parents. This was a man who had served his country, had fought God only knew how many evil people, and now protected the people inside this room, along with the students they were responsible for.

  This was a man she could see herself with.

  Though it was too soon to be planning a wedding.

  She cleared her throat. “Sorry to interrupt, but I found something you’re going to want to see.” She held up her laptop and Tommy walked over with his. He synced up the feeds then played them on the hotel room’s large screen. “Can you do a split screen? The man’s room on the left, the professor’s on the right?”

  Tommy shrugged. “Sure.” The screen split.

  “Okay, play them both at the same time.”

  Tommy tapped a key and both images began playing. “Now, on the right we see Juno being taken to the bathroom. They head out the door and to the left, then we lose sight of them. A few seconds later, we see the man our hostage-takers have referred to as ‘the fence,’ stare at the door, his jaw drops, and his eyes widen, and he struggles for a few moments, as if agitated about something.”

  “You think he saw Juno?” asked Acton.

  “Yes.”

  “But how can we be sure?”

  “Tommy, replay it, but let’s pay attention to the top left of the screen. Watch the floor.”

  The image replayed, and Adelaide pointed at the part of the image she wanted everyone to focus on, a brighter spot that was the reflection of a light coming from somewhere outside the room. Two shadows momentarily blocked the light, just before the man reacted.

  “Did you see it?”

  Laura nodded. “Two people went by, one after the other.”

  “Exactly, and then he reacted. It has to be Juno and the hostage-taker walking by. It would be too much of a coincidence for another two people to be going by at the same time.”

  Acton agreed. “Okay, but what does it mean? Is he reacting to Juno specifically, to the fact there’s a woman who has been badly beaten, or simply to the fact there’s another hostage in the house with him?”

  Adelaide shrugged. “It could be any or none.”


  Tommy chuckled. “Maybe he wanted to go to the bathroom too.”

  Mai swatted him.

  Acton smiled. “Unfortunately, it could be as simple as that. But let’s think this through. I don’t think he’d care if someone else was there, surely not enough to draw any more attention to himself after the torture he’s clearly undergone.”

  Laura pursed her lips. “I think he’s reacting to Juno herself. I think he recognized her.”

  Antoniou shook his head. “Why would my wife know a man like that?”

  Acton leaned back and folded his arms. “Maybe he knows her, but she doesn’t know him?”

  Antoniou shrugged. “It’s possible, I guess. She’s the one I put out in front of the press whenever there’s a discovery. I’m too camera shy.” His eyes widened. “And she used to be an Olympian! A decathlete! She was quite popular here in Greece when she was younger. Perhaps he recognized her from back then.”

  Acton’s head bobbed. “Possible.” He sighed. “Or maybe we’re just reading too much into this.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, if I were a hostage, and saw a woman who had been beaten, I’d get pretty pissed too.” He pointed at the screen. “Just show us his footage. Replay his reaction. Can you zoom in?”

  Tommy nodded, and the image changed to a single feed, zoomed in on the man’s face. “Good thing this is HD.”

  The image played, the man’s jaw dropping then his eyes widening before narrowing, followed by gyrations as he struggled for a few moments against his bonds.

  Acton rose, approaching the screen. “Okay, replay it again, now watch his eyes.” The image played and Acton pointed. “See, his eyes widen, then they narrow, then he struggles, with them narrowed. Now, what emotions does that suggest to you?”

  Adelaide smiled, the professor astute even outside of a dig site. “Surprise then anger.”

  Acton snapped his fingers then returned to his seat. “Exactly. He sees her, his eyes widen in surprise, then they narrow in anger. The question is why. If he recognized her, then we have to assume the anger is because they’ve hurt someone he knows. If he doesn’t, then he’s angry because of how they treated a woman.”

  Laura frowned. “A chivalrous criminal?”

  Acton shrugged. “They do exist.”

  Antoniou grunted. “To be frank, I couldn’t care less about him. He can die for all I care. I only care about my wife. And I fear the police will end up killing her in their zeal for revenge over what just happened at the dig site.”

  Acton frowned. “We’ve seen it before. Maybe we should go there?”

  Leather strode quickly into the center of the conversation, sending Adelaide’s heart pumping. “Absolutely not. Bullets could be flying, or worse.” He turned to Antoniou, calming his tone. “I’m sorry, Professor, but the best thing for your wife is for us to be out from underfoot. We’ll monitor this footage, and make sure they don’t move her. If they do, we’ll be able to tell them.” He turned to Tommy. “Can you send this feed to the police?”

  “Sure. I just need to know where.”

  “I’ll find out for you.” Leather disappeared into the bedroom and Adelaide sighed.

  “Isn’t he amazing?”

  Acton grinned. “Yup. If I weren’t straight, I’d be all over him.”

  Tommy and Mai snickered.

  Adelaide smiled at Acton. “He warned me about you two. Always getting into trouble.”

  “True, but it’s almost never our fault.”

  “Almost?”

  Acton shrugged. “Sometimes it is. Nobody’s perfect.”

  Leather returned, a frown on his face. He handed his phone to Tommy. “Everything you need should be there.”

  Tommy quickly read what was on the display and nodded, going to work.

  Leather pulled a knife from his belt then slapped it on Acton’s chest, the blade flat. “See, he’s a damned magnet for trouble. I should have stayed in the Regiment. It would have been safer, but nooo, I had to retire to the good life.”

  Laura grinned as Leather sheathed his knife. “So, you admit it’s a good life?”

  Adelaide laughed. “She’s got you there!”

  Leather looked at her. “See, I can’t win with these two.”

  She smiled. “But you do seem happy.”

  “I know! So what does that make me?”

  Acton grunted. “Some sort of fool, I’m sure. There’s probably a clinical term for it, but I’m an archaeologist, not a psychologist.”

  Leather growled. “I should be committed for sticking around you two.”

  Acton gave two exaggerated thumbs up. “I know someone! Consider it done!”

  60 |

  Outside the Suqut Brigade Safe House

  Athens, Greece

  “Time for Phase Two.”

  Utkin grinned. “I love Phase Twos. Phase Ones are always boring.”

  Tankov chuckled. “I’d hardly call taking out over a dozen police and private security boring.”

  “True, but most of them were taken out with non-lethals. Phase Two is totally lethal.”

  Tankov had to agree. This was what they were trained for. Recovery of the item had proven fun, and he did regret possibly killing some of the guards since they were just doing their job, but it was kill or be killed, and when forced to choose, it was always kill. Turning over a new leaf was proving more difficult than he had thought, though a few months ago, everyone at the dig site would now be dead, instead of just a few. And in all honesty, he wasn’t even sure if they had killed anyone, though they had certainly severely wounded a few.

  But now that the artifact had been recovered—Phase One—it was time to fulfill the second part of their mission as assigned by Sheik Khalid.

  Elimination of the Suqut Brigade members that had betrayed him.

  The fact they hadn’t, was of no concern to Tankov. These were Islamic extremists, and though innocent of crossing Khalid, they were still guilty of trying to take over the world in a violent jihad.

  They deserved to die.

  And so they would.

  Besides, he had already been paid a deposit to do so, and he had plans for that money.

  What the sheik doesn’t know can’t hurt him.

  Vasiliev, his face on a monitor to Tankov’s left, chimed in. “I think there might only be four of them left. Not so much fun.”

  Utkin agreed. “Thanks to the Greeks, they’re down a half-dozen, but it’ll still be satisfying to rid the planet of the rest of them. Should we hit them here and get it over with?”

  Tankov chewed his cheek for a moment, staring at the monitors. “I don’t know. It’s really tight quarters, and we don’t know the layout. The rear entrance is boarded up, so there’s only the front. They could have it rigged to explode.” He shook his head. “No, I think we need to force them out, then take them on our own terms.”

  Utkin shrugged. “We could always make a second entrance. Blow out the rear wall then just walk in shooting.”

  “No. These houses are packed so tightly together that any explosion like that could take out the neighbors and kill innocent people. This isn’t Chechnya where we don’t care. This is Europe. And if we did that, we’d also be guaranteeing that Professor Antoniou’s wife would be killed.”

  “Not to mention that Damos guy.”

  Tankov grunted. “I don’t give a shit about him, he’s a criminal.”

  Utkin raised a finger. “Like us.”

  Tankov smiled. “We’re high-class.”

  Utkin struck a pose. “And more handsome.”

  Tankov laughed. “Well, I won’t comment on that. Bottom line is that this will be more difficult than it would have been in the old days, but when have we ever run away from a challenge?”

  Utkin grinned. “Not since Vasiliev surrendered when you challenged him to a no lap dance rule in Prague.”

  Vasiliev burst out laughing. “Yeah, I totally failed that one! How long did I last? Six minutes?”

&
nbsp; Utkin shrugged. “Only if you’re counting the time she was in your lap. You were out so fast, we should be calling you Cosmo Kramer.”

  Tankov joined the laughter then turned serious. “Okay, enough of that. We need to get them out of there, and I think I have an idea as to how.”

  61 |

  Suqut Brigade Safe House

  Athens, Greece

  “How long do we wait?”

  Zaman’s question was a good one, and Rafiq’s only answer was that they had already waited too long. Yet what choice did they have? They needed that artifact. If they didn’t get it, Sheik Khalid would put a hit out on them, and dying for Allah was one thing, but being assassinated because one failed at stealing something, was another. One guaranteed access to Jannah, the other was doubtful.

  Though stealing from the infidel perhaps might be considered honorable. After all, the Koran said it was a sin to lie or cheat, but only a fellow Muslim.

  Allah and His Messenger are free from liability to the idolaters.

  He knew his Koran, and it guided him through this life so that the next would be eternal bliss.

  He just wasn’t that interested in getting there so soon unless on the battlefield.

  All in good time.

  He stared down the hallway, toward where Damos and the woman were held, trying to decide what to do. Every minute they remained here was another minute they could be discovered. Though no one knew about this location, messages had been sent from here, and if the professor went to the police, they could be traced.

  But he wouldn’t dare.

  Would he?

  The phone rang and he grabbed it. “Hello?”

  “There’s a problem.”

  He tensed at the voice of the lookout he had assigned to the dig site. “What?”

  “The site was hit by another team about twenty minutes ago.”

  “Twenty? What took you so long to report?”

  “I figured I better get another burner, just in case they decided to track the phones in the area.”

  Rafiq grunted. “Good thinking.” His eyes narrowed as he sank back in his chair. “Who did they hit?”