Carpathian (49 page)

“What do you think, Alice?” Niles asked as he turned away and studied the milling crowd of happy Gypsies that must have traveled from every village and town from the Czech Republic and the Russian steppes to get here. As Alice said, these people were the real thing.

Alice smiled and looked around her and then up at the mountain peak. She was trying to envision the interior and spy the true and hidden secret of the Jeddah.

“This is a Gathering to announce something. Or maybe to welcome someone home,” she said looking over at Compton with a wink.

“You mean this could be for our missing Mossad agent?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean, and if I were to think clearly on this with her here and Captain Everett missing … well, there could be a connection.”

Niles got a worried look on his face as he glanced at the empty web belts of the 82nd Airborne engineers. It was what wasn’t on those belts that concerned him: They had no weapons of any kind.

“Well, shall we pay our respects?” he said instead of voicing any concerns about their vulnerability. He would allow Alice to ride the wave a little while longer.

“By all means, let’s.”

Alice and her Event Group walked three thousand years into history.

*   *   *

The sun was slowly sliding behind the mountains to the west bringing on a false evening that cooled the milling crowd of Gypsies outside the gate of the small house. Charlie Ellenshaw was studying the activity through the slats in the rickety old barn. He blinked when he thought he saw a familiar face in the crowd standing a head taller than the rest. Charlie removed his wire-rimmed glasses and rubbed his eyes and then replaced them and looked again. A smile slowly crossed his lips.

Everett was examining the barn for weaknesses in case he decided not to play gentle captive any longer. Thus far he figured he could be out in about as long a time as it took to raise a boot and kick out one of the ancient slats that had seen far better days. They were open on three sides of the barn. The fourth and back side was butted right up against the mountain which served as its rear wall and which must have played hell during the rainy season. Carl looked up and saw that the hay loft reached all the way to the broken roof where he spied the craggy rocks as they climbed high above the barn.

“I’ll be damned, they made it to the village,” Ellenshaw said as he turned and got Everett’s attention.

“The director?” Carl asked as he stepped down from a small shattered corral gate. “Well, Will is out there anyway, and a couple of the Army guys.”

Everett walked to the wall while brushing remnants of hay and Lord knew what else from his blue denim shirt. He went to the widest crack and looked out. He saw Will standing among the large crowd of Gypsies. He smiled when he saw Alice and Niles wedged between the engineers of the 82nd.

“Come on, we’ll go out the south side, there are fewer people over there and the wall seems ready to fall down anyway.”

Everett turned to face the cracked and broken wall and started to raise his right leg and boot. That was when he froze. He slowly lowered the foot and his hands which had been spread for balance during his kick. The yellow eyes staring back at him made the blood freeze in his veins. Ellenshaw slowly turned to Carl with a smile after viewing their friends.

“I can’t wait to report what we’ve seen to Alice, she’s going to … oh, shit,” Charlie said when he saw what had frozen Everett in mid-kick. The wolf was actually standing on the far side of the wall and was looking in at them. To Charlie the operative word was
standing
.

“Don’t move, Doc,” Carl said as he never allowed his eyes to look away from the beast that was staring in with those menacing yellow eyes. Its ears were up and the size of the animal as it stood on two legs made the captain feel as if he were but a small child facing a Great Dane.

Before Carl could blink an eye the animal leapt up and away out of their view. Everett took a quick step back as he heard the wolf on the top of the barn. Dirt, leaves, pine needles, and other debris collected over time fell on them from the massive weight being applied to the old wood above them. Their eyes watched the giant animal move across the roof, each beam of wood shaking and then bending under the wolf’s massive weight.

“That’s the big one, isn’t it?” Charlie asked as he leaned further back against the wall he had just been looking through. “The one Marko and Anya called Stanus … I don’t think he’s very friendly.”

Carl didn’t voice it, but he had to agree with Ellenshaw. The animal that had come to their rescue earlier seemed to him to be the surly type. And it hadn’t been too pleased to see him and Charlie with Anya and Mikla. And now here it was paying the prisoners a visit. Carl winced as he heard nails being wrenched free from where they had been secured for a century or more. Then before either could move a muscle the beast jumped into the barn and landed in the shadows and light beams coming in from the outside. The black giant came to its full height after absorbing the impact of its landing from thirty-five feet up. They both heard the deep growl coming from the wolf’s throat. Everett allowed his eyes to cover the distance from the angry countenance of the beast to the long and very articulate fingers as they curled and uncurled at Stanus’s sides as the animal moved its weight from one foot to the other keeping a balance that had been practiced since birth.

“This is the most amazing thing I’ve—”

“Doc, now is not the time for a Carl Sagan narrative.”

Stanus stepped forward into a large sunbeam that was slowly starting to dim as the sun moved further behind the western mountains. The ears were up but the growling was intensifying. The large head swung from the more formidable Everett to that of Ellenshaw, who managed to hold his ground even though he was facing a thing he said could never exist.

Before Everett could react, the beast moved with lightning speed and took the captain by the neck and then raised the 235-pound man clear of the dirt floor. Carl took hold of the thick muscled arm to alleviate the stress on his neck as Charlie made a move to assist. Stanus simply leaned forward and growled, this time his long black ears laid flat against his skull, giving every indication that it was no longer tolerant of the men that didn’t belong. Stanus brought its ears up as Charlie took a step back against the far wall. The giant wolf that couldn’t possibly exist just two days ago finally brought its full attention back to Everett.

“Uh, can we talk about this?” Everett managed to squeeze the words out against the growing tightness constricting his breathing.

Stanus growled and then relaxed its hold on Everett’s throat as it leaned in and smelled the captain from the top of his blond hair to his neck. The intake of air was deep and slow as the Golia seemed to be deciding something as it breathed deeply. The mouth slowly opened and came forward. Everett was looking at the largest set of teeth he had ever seen. But yet the captain realized that the animal wasn’t threatening him, he was testing him to see if he would panic—at least he was hoping that was what the beast was doing. Everett opened his eyes and steeled himself to make the beast blink first. He was so intent on doing this that neither he nor Charlie heard the sound of the barn door being opened. Only Stanus allowed its eyes to flick in that direction as its large and sharply pointed brow rose as Carl seemed to have passed some sort of ritualistic test.

“Put the American down, Stanus.”

Everett, though he couldn’t breathe, recognized the voice that came from behind him.

Stanus turned its head to face the man Everett couldn’t see. The growl was deep and this time very menacing. The ears lay down once more and then Stanus unceremoniously allowed Carl to slide through its fingers until he landed on the dirt floor where the captain took a grateful breath as he leaned over massaging his neck.

“The mountain, Stanus, go home, you shouldn’t be down here, there are far too many who don’t know the Golia are here. Even amongst our own people there are eyes we would rather not behold the miracle. Go home, Stanus.”

Carl watched as Marko held his ground as Stanus took a menacing step toward the Gypsy. The arms were outstretched and the long claws were working to get at something. Everett could see Marko’s dark eyes looking at the moving claws. Then the confrontation seemed to end as Stanus stood straight and then the long, powerful arms relaxed as it took two tentative steps back into the shadows of the barn. It took two more. The yellow eyes going from Marko to Everett and then back again until the only thing they could discern in the darkness of the barn were the yellow eyes and then in a flash of black-on-black movement, Stanus vanished up and into the rafters and then they heard the weight of the beast as it crunched onto the wood of the old roof as it scrambled onto the mountain to vanish.

“Maybe a leash law would help,” Carl joked as he slowly picked himself up off the ground. He rubbed his neck and throat trying to ease the pain of having his larynx crushed.

Marko looked from Everett to a very scared Charlie, who moved quickly to assist the captain. The dark eyes roamed over both men.

“A leash, that’s very humorous. I think I would like to be the one to watch as you put that leash on Stanus, or any Golia you come across.” Marko turned and gestured for the front door.

“My sister insists that you be allowed to join your friends who have arrived from down below.” He turned and looked at Everett. “The man and woman I invited are not among them. I suspect your dark-haired friend scares the Russian at the resort.”

“And you know this because…?” Carl said as he went to a pail of water and splashed some of the stagnant liquid on his face.

“Because I am a Gypsy, and I know your friends mean Dmitri Zallas harm. For right now I cannot allow that. In later months, yes, maybe you can take him, but for now he is needed. So after tonight, collect your friends and leave this mountain. You do not belong here.”

“You’re not a very friendly fella, are you?” Carl said as he stepped up closer to the much smaller Gypsy. He swiped at the water still on his face.

“After tonight my word will be law. My plans for the betterment of my people will begin as soon as the power is mine to direct our new course.”

“And your sister, just what is her opinion on this new course for the Jeddah?”

Carl could see that knowing the information on the Jeddah was a little unnerving to the Gypsy prince. He could tell that he wasn’t used to an outsider that had so much accurate information on a legend that had been hidden successfully for thirty-five hundred years.

Marko made a face and smiled as if the question had been asked by a small child.

“My sister, what does that have to with my plans? She is an outsider now, maybe not trusted by her own people any longer. She is the younger and could never be crowned queen as long as I am alive.”

“Then all of these people are here to see you get your deserved reward?” Everett persisted as he noticed that Marko was losing a little of his cool demeanor when the subject of his sister came up.

“You may join your friends, but make no move to go into the pass. I think we can drop that ridiculous pretense.” Marko looked into the taller captain’s eyes. “NATO, it never ceased to amaze me how easily the Russian sold the Romanian government a bill of goods by getting NATO to cooperate in getting the land grant settled. And you’re supposed to be the light of the shining world? I think I would rather do business with the Slav.” Marko turned and left and they noticed the barn door was open.

“What a great guy,” Charlie said and then looked at the spot from where Stanus had vanished. Dirt was still falling from the damaged areas of the roof where the beast had walked. “It’s like that wolf and that young man have the same temper problem.”

“Yeah, well, here’s one for the books Doc,” Everett said as he finally faced Ellenshaw. “When that wolf had me by the short and curlies I had the distinct impression it was trying to see if I was a part of something it didn’t like very well, and as these thoughts struck I kept picturing the man who just left here.”

“So what are you saying?” Charlie asked as they started walking toward the barn door.

“What I’m saying, Doc, is that I don’t know if Stanus is very trusting of his friend Marko. It was smelling me and trying to decide which side of the line I would fall on.” He smiled and laughed. “Hell, I don’t know, but that wolf and Marko are connected somehow and it’s not in a very friendly way. Marko has lost something with that animal and Stanus feels lost. That’s what I felt, Doc, now call me crazy.”

“How can I do that, the name’s already been taken.”

Both Carl and crazy Charlie Ellenshaw laughed and made their way out of the barn and into one of the largest celebrations in Jeddah history.

PALMACHIM AIR FORCE BASE, TEL AVIV, ISRAEL

The three Mercedes cars sped onto the old tarmac and vanished beyond the old hangar. Moments later the side doors opened and several black-clad security personnel entered the darkened structure. They saw the gray and white camouflaged men of the commando unit and studied each before they stepped aside. All eyes watched as the prime minister stepped over the threshold of the sliding door. He had his hands behind his back and his head was lowered in thought, just as every picture of the man ever taken seemed to show. He was dressed in a simple blue sweater that covered a white shirt. He had no tie and his gray hair was not covered in his customary black hat. The prime minister finally looked up from his thoughts. The eyes were sympathetic to the man as each soldier knew what a daunting task it had become to be the leader of a nation that had enemies on all sides. The commandos knew and respected the man even though he seemed to be far left of the political center—something the military of Israel had started to embrace.

The prime minister of the state of Israel moved silently toward the communications area of the hangar as each commando watched him. He looked up and nodded his head as the door was opened for him.

General Shamni moved in his sleep and then he opened his eyes when he felt the presence in the room. He looked over from the cot he was sleeping on and saw that the prime minister was sitting in a chair not three feet away. His glasses were perched on his forehead and he was leaning forward and smiling.