by Alan Baxter
He yelled Rose’s name. And again. Grief tore at him, shredded the breath in his lungs. He vowed to hunt Lily down and take her apart piece by piece until she gave him the name of everyone who had even heard the name Illuminati, and then...
“I’m down here.” Rose’s voice was weak, drifting up from the darkness. “But I don’t know how long I can hold on.”
Crowley scrambled to the edge of the bottomless drop, adrenaline surging as relief washed over him. In the wan light lancing down from above he could just make out Rose hanging down in the darkness. She clung white-knuckled to one of the thick ropes that had supported the pivot-point of the bridge, her forearms and legs locked around it in a death grip. She was coated in dust but for two tracks where tears had cleaned her cheeks. She had come to rest against the side wall of the cavern, far from either edge, some five or six meters below the edge. She was entirely out of reach.
“Hang on!” Crowley said, struggling to come up with a solution.
“Don’t let me fall, Jake.”
“I won’t.” He tried to calculate the length of the rope she clung to, imagined her using her feet against the cavern wall to run left and right, set up a swinging action to bring her towards the edge. But it wouldn’t work, the rope was too short and would only swing her up too high. Then another idea struck him. “You hold tight, I promise I’ll be back in a couple of seconds!”
“Where are you going?”
He grinned. “Don’t go anywhere!” He turned and bolted off down the passage back towards the chamber where they had found the pyramid. He played the beam of his light around when he got near the portal, looking for the stuff they had emptied from Rose’s pack to put his pack and the pyramid inside. And there it was! A coil of thin nylon rope for climbing. Strong and a spare, only ten meters, but it would be enough. It had to be enough. He grabbed it and ran back, uncoiling it as he went.
He was pleased to see Rose still there, eyes wide but determined. “You’re going to have to work with me now,” he said. “I know you can do this.”
“Do what?”
He gathered the rope he had collected into a loose coil and began spinning one end of it. “I’m going to send this out to you, okay? You have to let go with one hand and catch it.”
“I don’t think I…”
“Yes, you can! I know you can. Grip tight with your knees and ankles, keep one hand locked, and catch it with your right hand. Ready?” Before she could protest again, he sent the rope sailing out across the gap. He was pleased to see it was just long enough to reach her, but Rose remained clinging to the large rope, unable to let go and grab for it.
He coiled it up again. “See how it reached you?” he said in a calm, encouraging voice. “You can do this. Grab for it this time.”
Rose swallowed hard and grimaced. She shifted on the rope, squeezed her legs tightly, then tentatively held out her right hand toward him. He smiled, swung the rope, and sent it out again. She snatched at it, but it slipped past and dropped to Crowley’s side of the abyss.
Rose made a noise of fear and frustration, but her fire was up. She scowled, shifted her position. “Again!”
Crowley wound up the rope, got it spinning, then cast it out again. This time she grabbed it and held on. “Attagirl!” Crowley said. “Now, here comes the difficult part.”
“What do you mean? Just pull me in.”
“I will, but it’s not going to bring you all the way to the edge. Just hold on tight and you’ll see.”
Rose wrapped the nylon rope several times around her wrist and gripped it tight. Crowley braced his feet and began to pull. She moved across the cavern wall like a pendulum in slow motion, rising as she came, but arcing a couple of meters away from the lip of the abyss. She frowned as she saw the problem.
Eventually, sweating and straining, Crowley had her level with the edge, still two meters from solid rock. “I don’t have the strength for you to think about this for long,” he said. “You need to let go of that big rope now and trust that I can hold you on this one. And you have to hold tight.”
“Holy crap, Jake!”
“You can do it. We can do it! On the count of three, you let go of the big rope, grab both hands onto the nylon rope and hang on. I’ll hold you and haul you up.” Crowley’s arms began to tremble with the weight already; he knew he didn’t have the endurance for much longer. He hoped his plan wouldn’t drag him over instead and they’d both fall to their deaths.
“On three or on go?” Rose asked.
Crowley laughed. “We’ll do it as one, two, three, go. Okay?”
“Okay.” Her voice trembled, but she was ready.
It had to be now before his strength failed. Crowley shifted back, braced his feet wider against the rough rock floor. He took a deep breath, locked every muscle in his body and shouted, “One! Two! Three! Go!”
On Go, Rose screamed in determination and let herself drop. He saw her free hand clutch and wrap into the nylon rope, then she was below the edge and every part of him jarred as her weight pulled the rope taut as a bowstring. He grunted and hauled, his feet skidded and shifted against the stone floor, and he was sliding toward the edge. He cursed, eloquently and extensively, dragging back on the rope and digging back hard with his heels. The edge got closer, one meter, half a meter, dust swirled up from his scrambling feet, then he finally arrested his forward motion. But it wasn’t over. His shoulder and hands burned with the effort, his entire body trembled, but he grit his teeth and growled like a beast as he leaned hard into the rope, almost laying back flat against the ground. He pushed back one step, then another. Then another.
“Almost there!” Rose called up.
Crowley let out an incoherent shout and hauled back once more, then her hand and arm appeared over the rock edge. The tension went out of the rope as she pulled herself up and stumbled forward. He fell back, sat hard onto the ground, then she had fallen into his arms. He held her and she wrapped her arms around his shaking body. They both trembled violently, both gasping for breath. Slowly, Crowley’s heart rate began to settle back down.
“You did it,” Rose said in a slightly broken voice. “Thank you, Jake!”
She kissed him, hot and shaking on the lips, then put her head against his chest again. He held her, thought only of regaining his breath and letting his strained muscles relax by increments.
After several minutes, Rose stirred against him. A soft sob escaped her. “I can’t believe...” she said. “She’s my sister. We didn’t always see eye to eye, but I thought I knew her better than that.”
“You’re not the first to be fooled by someone close.”
Rose shook her head. “This isn’t the first time she’s crossed me.”
Unthinking, brain still reeling from the exertions, Crowley said. “Liam?” He realized he might have hit a raw nerve he had no business probing and glanced down at her.
Rose didn’t look up, but nodded against him. “She stole him from me. He was good and kind and naïve, I guess. I knew he’d come back to me once he saw her for what she was. You know, saw that she was playing with him. I was prepared to talk about that, to give him another chance. But she talked him into going rock climbing.”
“That wasn’t his thing?”
“No. It’s hers. Always has been. She’s an adrenaline junkie for that stuff. But she knew it was the last thing he wanted. He was deathly afraid of heights, but she talked him into it anyway. Probably shamed him, questioned his manhood. That’s how she is.” The bitterness was evident in Rose’s voice.
Crowley thought he could figure out the rest. “I’m guessing it didn’t go well.”
Rose shook her head. “He fell. He died.” She looked up at Crowley at last, tears filling her eyes. “Since then, I haven’t let anyone get too close to me. I just can’t...”
She buried her face in his chest and he stroked her hair, cursing himself for every time he’d pushed her for an explanation. Like he had had any right to demand anything from her and woul
d only have been dredging this stuff up every time. He remembered the story she had told of a girl she had been with, but she had also said she liked guys. Through none of that had he considered there might have been someone special. Someone really serious. What an idiot he was.
He had to say something, even if it was stupid. “For what it’s worth, I don’t find Lily all that attractive.” He winced. He hadn’t meant to say something that stupid!
Through her tears, Rose laughed, punched him in the chest. She sat up and kissed him again, lightly on the lips. “So, how are we going to get out of this now? I’m more than grateful you got me out of there, but we’re on the wrong side and there’s no bridge anymore.”
Crowley’s gaze traced the walls of the chamber, the rough and folded rock with many crevices and gaps. Pretty straightforward if they retrieved some more of the stuff they had left near the pyramid chamber. “I hate to say this,” he said, “considering the story you just told, but I think it’s going to take some advanced rock climbing.”
Rose smiled sadly. “For me, that’s not a problem.”
Chapter 53
Grand Canyon, South Rim
The sun broke the horizon as Crowley and Rose reached the top of the Bright Angel Trail and emerged at the south rim of the Grand Canyon. It had taken all of their skill to free climb their way out of the Anubis cavern, then a further challenging climb down from the hidden city. Arms and hands trembling from their efforts, they had hiked through the night to get back to the Canyon edge. The final leg, an exhausting trek up the steep switchbacks of the Bright Angel Trail, had taken nearly everything Crowley had left to give. After the efforts of hauling Rose out of the chasm, then everything that had followed, he wanted to just lie down and sleep for a week. His legs felt like water, his stomach growled with hunger. At least they had kept their canteens with them and had managed to stay hydrated.
Rose looked worse than he felt, but as they stood at the top of the trail, basking in the early morning sun washing over them, she allowed herself a smile. “Pretty glad we’re in good shape, eh?”
“Hardcore.” Crowley drank deeply from his remaining water supply then handed her the canteen. “Finish it up. We can refill soon enough now.”
“I need to rest. Get some food.”
“No time.” Crowley grimaced at her dismay. “We have to catch up with Lily before she hands the capstone over to her Illuminati cohorts. She had, what, an hour head start on us? I’m convinced we’ve narrowed that gap at least partially. How fit is she?”
Rose made a rueful face. “She’s in good shape. Does triathlons and stuff like that. Part of her obsessive nature, you know? Pushes herself.”
Crowley squinted into the dawn light. “Hmm. Maybe we haven’t closed the gap that much then.”
“Except we were really pushing it. Lily thought we were dead, so she wouldn’t have tried to gain on us.”
Crowley heard the catch in Rose’s voice when she said the word ‘dead’. He took her hand. “I’m sorry.”
“My own sister. Threw a bloody grenade at us! Whatever family love I might have thought we had has clearly long since passed for her.”
“Yeah. And that’s not your fault, nor is there anything you can do about it.”
“I can grieve.” Tears stood on Rose’s lashes.
Crowley pulled her into a hug. “Yes, you can do that. I’m sorry.”
After a moment Rose pulled away, wiped at her eyes angrily with one grubby sleeve. “So let’s get the bitch. Where do you think she went?”
They moved on, staggering toward the parking lot, ignoring the glances of the few early morning tourists.
“Denver airport,” Crowley said. “At least, I reckon that’s where she’s probably headed.”
“If she drives it, that’s a good eleven hours,” Rose said. “But if she catches a plane...”
They dropped into their rental car, both groaning at the relief the comfortable seats offered. Crowley tried to recall details of the local area. He pulled out his phone and hit the maps app to confirm his guesses. “The closest airport is Flagstaff.” He tapped more, pulled up details of the airport. “It’s small, only one airline plus private planes. Is that a likely candidate?”
“Private planes?” Rose sneered. “Exactly the kind of place where one of her rich Illuminati friends might fly in and out?”
Crowley grinned. “You’re brilliant. That’s a fine point. I need to call Cam.”
He dialed the phone, drummed the fingers of his free hand on the wheel while it rang. Then Cameron finally picked up.
“Hey, Jake.”
“I need to you to do some hacking for me immediately.”
“And hello to you too, mate!”
“Sorry, man, but I’m not kidding. The situation has got really messy.”
Cameron’s tone became instantly serious. “Notepad at the ready. What do you need?”
“I need you to find out who has private planes at the Flagstaff-Pulliam Airport in Arizona. Then compare those names to the names of the Illuminati on the Denver airport capstone.”
Cameron was silent for a moment, then he said, “What?”
“I know how it sounds. Just do it, please!” Crowley thought for a moment as he heard keyboard taps from Cameron half a world away. He remembered the gray marble capstone at Denver airport, and the men credited with its laying. “Actually, start with the names Claude W. Gray and Benjamin H Bell.”
“You got it,” Cameron said. “Leave it with me and I’ll get back to you ASAP.”
Crowley drove, pulled out of the parking lot and headed for the highway. “Get some rest,” he told Rose. “One of us might as well.”
She laid her head back against the headrest and closed her eyes. Crowley tried not to think about how she must be feeling, the thought that her sister had really tried to kill them. The woman was a psychopath, no question. Wrapped up with the Illuminati and the Anubis Cult. Which he assumed were one and the same, or at least the Cult was a group within the Illuminati. And now he and Rose had finally learned what the Anubis Key was, they had immediately lost it to Lily and her lunacy. What could they be planning for it? Crowley gritted his teeth and pushed the speed up, barreling along the highway in the quickly brightening day. Whatever she was planning made no difference; their task was the same. They had to stop her.
They were almost to the airport when Crowley’s phone rang in the center console. Rose jerked up in her seat and grabbed it. “Cameron,” she said, and answered the phone. “Hey, Cam. Wait a sec, I’ll put you on speaker. Jake’s driving.” She tapped the speaker, then said, “Go ahead.”
“Okay, guys,” Cameron said. “I’m afraid I don’t have much, but it might be what you need. There is one jet at Flagstaff registered to a Graybell, Incorporated. I don’t see any connection to the men you mentioned beyond the similarity in name, but it’s the closest thing to a match I can find.”
“That might be it,” Crowley said. “You find anything else at all?”
“Well, I dug into Graybell, Incorporated and found that they’re a corporation headquartered in Denver. And they have ties to a German outfit called Graue Glocke.”
“Gray Bell,” Crowley translated.
“Exactly.”
“I know this is an odd question,” Crowley said. “But any connections to the Illuminati?”
Cameron chuckled. “I’m used to odd questions from you. And yes, the Graybell corporate logo is a stylized pyramid with a smoking capstone. Could be Masonic.”
At the mention of a smoking capstone Crowley and Rose exchanged a quick glance, both with eyes wide.
“You think they knew all along what the Anubis Key was?” Rose asked.
Crowley shrugged. “Who knows how much they knew, how much they told Lily, any of that. Cam, what kind of business is Graybell?”
“Let me see.”
As Cameron tapped more keys, Crowley braked and turned off into the small road leading to Flagstaff airport, chain link fences, low
buildings and gray concrete only a hundred meters ahead.
“Chemical,” Cameron said. “They claim to be working on drought solutions... advanced methods of cloud seeding... methods for cleaning polluted water...”
“Wait!” Crowley said, remembering what Lily had let slip. “Did you say cloud seeding?” He glanced at Rose and she nodded. She remembered too.
“Is that important?” Cameron asked.
Panic swept through Crowley at the swift train of thoughts the information had set in motion. He fell automatically into the tone of command suited for the military. “I need you to get on the horn with any authorities to whom you have connections. Let them know there’s a terrorist on board that Graybell plane and it must be intercepted at the Denver Airport. I don’t care what you have to do, who you have to talk to. Make them believe you.”
Crowley parked the car crookedly at the side of the small road and grabbed his phone as he leaped out.
“Hang on,” Cameron said. “They filed a flight plan for Los Angeles.”
“That's bull,” Crowley said, staring up at the sky.
“How do you know?”
“Because their plane just took off and it’s definitely headed east.”
He watched as a sleek, white plane with Graybell emblazoned on the side climbed slowly into the clear blue sky. A smoking capstone logo was printed boldly on the vertical stabilizer.
“Bloody hell,” Cameron said. “I’m on it. What are you going to do?”
Crowley grimaced, cursed. “I’m going to catch them.”
Chapter 54
Flagstaff Airport
