Bad Land (13 page)

Chapter 25

“Just keep your head down and don’t stop walking.”

Samantha nodded as the elevator doors slid open and Marshall took the lead, walking through the forest of cubicles to Diane Whitmer’s office.

Marshall walked as quickly as he could, nodding hellos where he had to and avoiding eye contact where he could. It would have been a good plan had Marshall not looked like he had just escaped a hospital. The bandage on his head and his wrists dropped more than one jaw in the office. The two made it to the large oak door that marked Diane’s office. Marshall gripped the handle and ushered Samantha in. He closed the door behind them as quickly and quietly as he could.

“Okay, that’s done, now let’s find this book before someone finds us in here and starts asking questions. “

“Sounds good,” Samantha said. “What does the book look like?”

Marshall was already studying the large bookcases that stood in Diane’s office. He was thinking back to the previous day in the warehouse when the man he had known as Jonah had shown them his. “Oh, you know, thick, dark brown, ominous looking.”

Samantha was standing back and examining the room with a finger on her chin.

Marshall took out any book from the bookshelf that looked liked it could be the one they wanted. Any that was large, or had a brown cover was plucked from its place and examined before being replaced once more. “It’s not here.” Marshall looked over at Samantha, who was still standing in the middle of the room biting on her lip.

“Are you going to help? You look like you’re trying to bore holes through something with that thousand mile stare.”

Samantha looked at Marshall. “Think about it. If you had your most prized possession in a room like this, the last place you would put it would be somewhere obvious.” She motioned with her hand and raised an eyebrow at Marshall. “Like a bookshelf.”

Marshall could feel his face turning red at the same time he realized she was right. “Well, where are we supposed to look?”

The room was just like he had last seen it so many times before. Bookshelves and framed awards lined the walls. There was a large desk in the middle of the room, a huge window behind it, and a thick carpet underneath.

“Check underneath the carpet. I’ll check behind the frames.”

Marshall obeyed, grabbing one side of the large, richly decorated rug. He rolled it forward as Samantha went to each frame, swinging it to the side to examine the wall behind it. Marshall had rolled the carpet all the way forward until it was hindered by the chairs and desk that sat in the office.

“Nothing behind the pictures. How about you?”

Marshall was moving the chairs from in front of the desk. “Does the carpet under the rug, the part closest to the desk, look newer to you?”

Samantha squinted. The carpet was a light crème color but the portion under the rug and close to the large desk seemed brighter.

“Here, help me.”

Marshall was struggling with the mahogany desk. Samantha lent him a hand and together they pushed the desk backward, closer to the window. Marshall rolled the rug even further forward, and there was no denying the fact that someone had replaced a section of the carpet directly under Diane’s desk.

Both Marshall and Samantha dropped to their hands and knees. Marshall and Samantha ran their hands along the carpet searching for a loose spot or flap.

“Here,” Samantha said. She gently tugged at a portion of the rug and a rectangular flap folded over, revealing a metal box built into the floor. Marshall reached down and opened the metal container. Inside was something wrapped in a white cloth.

Marshall lifted the wrapped object and gently unfolded the soft material. A large brown book was revealed and Marshall laid it on the floor between himself and Samantha. “Well, here it is. We found it.”

Samantha’s eyes were wide as she gently opened the thick brown leather cover and slowly turned the yellow pages. It was all written in a different language. The symbols were strange and foreign but they had found the book that would save Diane’s life.

“Now what?”

Marshall looked at Samantha with a frown. “We have to find some way to read it. If the Lloyd family wants it so much, there has to be something in it that will help us. Maybe a weakness we can exploit or a loophole in the immortal structure. When Jonah—I mean Abraham— told us how to kill the immortals, Diane seemed hesitant to agree with him. Like she had thought there was another way. Maybe whatever that way is, however she thought the immortals could be killed is in this book.”

“We don’t even know what language it’s in.”

“It’s a kind of Native American. They were the first ones to discover the stone. They’re the ones that…” Marshall’s voice trailed off as Samantha who was still carefully turning the pages, stopped on one particular page.

It was a page like any other but this one held a picture instead of words. It was the rough sketch of a man on fire. Flames burst from around him and a twisted howl of pain contorted his face.

“This is some crazy stuff,” Samantha said.

Marshall rose to his feet, closed the hidden metal door and started to replace the rug. “We need to get to work. We have the rest of the day to try and translate as much of this book as we can and figure out a way to stop them. If we can’t, Diane Whitmer is dead.”

The two replaced everything in the office like they had found it and speed walked out of the
Hermes
. The ride back to Samantha’s place was uneventful and Marshall soon found himself once again sitting at her kitchen table. The book was open in front of him to his left and her laptop on his right.

“Need anything?” Samantha asked as she looked out the kitchen window, examining her street for anything out of place.

“Do you have beer?”

Samantha turned and frowned. “Yeah, I do, but it’s not even lunch time yet.”

Marshall let out a big sigh. “Well, between the pain in my wrists and head and the fact that were going to a showdown with a group of immortal beings, can you blame me?”

Samantha walked over to her refrigerator pulled out a beer. She handed it to Marshall. “Here. I can help. What’s the game plan?”

“We need to find common words to decipher. I think if we can translate enough of this we—”

“Marshall, we have hours before we have to deliver this book in exchange for someone’s life and we need to find an answer. Wouldn’t it be easier to just find someone who already can speak this language?”

“Yeah, I guess, but where? Who are we going to get to help us on such short notice?”

“Maybe we can call a college or a museum of some kind.”

Marshall took a draught from the cold beer and smiled as a thought formed. “I think I might know a certain coroner who can help us.”

Samantha gave him a look that said he was crazy. “Are you that much of a lightweight? What are you talking about?”

Marshall’s phone had been lost or taken from him the previous night but he picked up Samantha’s from the table. “May I?” he asked with a mischievous grin.

“Please, be my guest.”

Marshall punched in a few numbers and held the cell phone to his head. He winced as the phone brushed part of the bandage he wore around his forehead. The pain had mostly subsided, but only mostly.

“Hello?”

“Joseph, it’s me.”

“Whose phone are you calling from?”

“Samantha’s. I need to talk to you.”

“Who’s Samantha?”

“I’ll explain later. I need your help. Can you get off work?”

“One, this already sounds shady, and two, who’s Samantha? Is she hot?”

Marshall leaned back from Samantha, who sat in the chair next to him still thumbing through the ancient book. “Yes, but that’s not important right now. How’s your Indian?”

“What?”

“I mean can you read your Native American language still?”

“Dude, that’s pretty racist. I’m Chumash—get it right. Yeah. I can probably get by. Why?”

“Just get to this address and I’ll explain.” Marshall pulled the phone from his ear and looked at Samantha for her address.

She tore her eyes away from the book and gave him a sly smile. “You think I’m hot, huh?”

Marshall’s face turned bright red and he stumbled for words. Joseph’s voice on the other end didn’t help. “Oh man, she got you good. I can’t wait to meet this chick.”

***

“Remember, if we tell him too much, we endanger his life, too. It’s a book that we found and we think it could be worth money. That’s it.” Marshall hated lying to his best friend. He’d already involved Samantha, but then, he had no choice. Now he did.

“Got it. Might want to take off those bandages, he’ll just have more questions if he sees you like that. The bleeding should have stopped by now.”

Marshall nodded and Samantha slowly unwrapped his wrists and forehead. The bleeding had stopped and his wrists just looked like raw pieces of meat. He couldn’t see the back of his head, but the cool air stung his scalp.

“How’s it feel?” Samantha asked, giving a wince of empathy.

“It’s fine. I can barely feel it.”

“You’re a horrible liar.”

There was a knock on the door and Marshall looked through the peephole just to make sure it wasn’t a dark cloaked figure. It was Joseph standing on the porch looking right back into the keyhole. “Let’s hope he can’t tell.”

Marshall opened the door and welcomed his friend with a warm smile. “Hey, man, thanks for coming so quick. Come on in.”

Joseph stepped inside and raised his eyebrows as he examined the house and Samantha. “Nice—place. It must be yours. I’m Joseph.”

Samantha smiled and took his hand. “Samantha. Thank you and it’s nice to meet you. Please come on in and take a seat.”

The trio walked into the family room and sat on the comfortable couches. “So you guys found some kind of old Indian book?”

“Yeah, it’s right here.” Marshall picked up the book from the coffee table taking care not to bend or twist the binding and laid it carefully in Joseph’s hands. “We were hoping you could read it for us and tell us what it says.”

Joseph took the book and opened the front cover. His eyes widened more and more with the turn of each page. “Where did you say you found this?”

“Oh, I found it today at a yard sale. It was super cheap and looked really cool, so I figured what the heck,” Samantha said.

They sat in silence as Joseph turned page after page.

“Can you read it? What does it say?” Marshall asked.

“Well, it looks like it’s written in Chumash but a much older version than is spoken today. I can make out most of it but other words I don’t recognize.”

“What is the book about?” Samantha urged.

Joseph squinted at the book one last time and then looked at each of them in turn. “This is some weird stuff. It looks like a history or a recounting of a tribe of ancient Indians.”

Marshall was becoming inpatient with his friend. It was approaching six o’clock and they had just a few hours left until they would be face to face with the Lloyd family. “Weird, is there like a overlying theme or—” An idea popped into Marshall’s head and he reached over and turned the pages of the old book until they were looking at the picture of the person on fire.

“We found this picture and thought it was really disturbing. Can you read what it’s about?”

Joseph eyes doubled in size as he read the page opposite the picture. “It’s broken and there are words I can’t make out but basically it says ‘the only way to kill them is to send them back to ash. The eternal beings can only be laid to rest by fire.’”

Marshall and Samantha looked at one another in triumph. As much triumph as they could muster after finding out the only way to kill someone was to light them on fire.

“What kind of book is this?” Joseph flipped through the pages to another section.

“Who knows, man—sounds like a book of fairy tales or something. Samantha was hoping it would be worth money, but—,” Marshall said. His mind was reeling with the possibility of being able to kill one of the immortals now and all the implications that brought.

“Well, thanks so much for taking a look at the book. Can I get you something to drink?” Samantha asked politely as she reached for the book and practically grabbed it out of Joseph’s hands.

“Ummm… no, no. That’s okay,” Joseph said in a dazed manner. He was still trying to comprehend what he had been reading. “I hate to be rude but I need to get going anyway. I have an early shift at work tomorrow.”

Marshall and Samantha both let out a sigh of relief. They had plans to make and if Joseph was going to be left in the dark, they needed him gone to make them.

“No worries. Thanks for stopping by,” Samantha said as they rose and walked to the door.

“No problem. we’ll have to all hang out sometime soon when I don’t have to leave so quickly,” Joseph said. He hesitated at the door and looked at his high school friend. “Whatever is going on, be careful.”