Carpathian (71 page)

“Oh, shit, that thing does not look happy,” Jason said as he took a step back from the heavily breathing animal. His eyes traveled to the curved claws that moved as the animal clicked them together. None of them could look away from the blood as it slowly dripped from the purplish-looking eight-inch claws.

Jack eased toward the far wall and the trail just below it but Stanus growled and stepped forward to block his move. Ryan tried the same maneuver but the beast growled again and then moved to block him.

“I don’t think it wants us going that way,” Sarah said as she watched Stanus narrow its yellow glowing eyes.

Finally Stanus growled loud and jumped to the opposite wall and then, with one last look back at Collins, leaped over the stone parapet. Jack and the others ran to the wall and saw that there was another smaller trail on that side and it led to the mountain and then vanished into nothing.

“Look!” Pete said pointing through the rain.

As everyone turned their eyes toward where Pete was pointing, a large bolt of lightning streaked across the blackened sky. As the ground illuminated into a bizarre landscape of shadows and things that were blacker than evil itself, they saw Stanus vanish into a large fissure in the side of the mountain. They watched and waited but the wolf never returned.

“Well, I guess we’ll go with the Golia’s plan,” Jack said as he eased himself over the wall and then started to follow Stanus into the heart of the mountain.

“I never thought I would be taking orders from a large dog,” Ryan said as he leaped to the top of the wall and looked down and then smiled and looked at Sarah McIntire. “But I’ve woken up with a few,” he laughed and then disappeared over the side.

FLIGHT 262, HEAVY COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT, SQUAWKING FRIENDLY OVER ROMANIAN AIRSPACE

The C-130 Hercules transport circled on station alternately climbing to 28,000 feet to raise and lower the aircraft over the roughest of the storm front. Thus far they had done everything but declare an emergency in order to be able to hold station as close to the HALO point as possible.

“Otopeni Tower, this is Israeli Civilian Heavy 262, our inertial navigation system is still a little screwy, we’ll need another few minutes to get it straightened out before we turn for the south, over.”

Israeli Army Major Donny Mendohlson stood between the pilot’s and copilot’s seats and listened. He adjusted the headphones so he could hear the irritated response of the Romanian air traffic controller from Bucharest.

“Israeli 262 Heavy, continue orbiting at current altitude and speed, report any change in situation, and remain off the air until a disposition of your emergency can be determined. Over.”

“Thank you, Otopeni Tower, this is Israeli 262 Heavy, out.” The air force pilot half turned and looked at the major. “They don’t seem too happy, but we should have a few extra minutes, as they’re in no hurry to deal with us. At the moment they have over two hundred commercial flights and then the extra flights added on for the flood relief effort. But soon enough someone’s going to get suspicious in Bucharest and then we may get a close-up of those brand-new F-16 Falcons the Romanians just bought from the Yanks.”

“What do you figure?” Mendohlson asked.

“Maybe thirty minutes before we have those all-weather fighters on our asses, no more. After that we have to head south or risk a Sidewinder up our tail ramp.”

The major patted the pilot on the shoulder. “That will have to do. We go in no more than thirty.”

As the major made his way below he saw his sixty-two men of the elite force. They were busy checking the three-minute oxygen supply it would take for the jump. Two of those minutes were added for security reasons, but the air should be sufficient to get them to the ground, in what kind of shape after a HALO jump in what amounted to hurricane force winds no one could say. He knew this jump would kill some of his men and he knew that was what was expected of them.

In less than thirty minutes the far-off land of Transylvania was about to be invaded by the new and vastly improved Hebrew army.

PATINAS

The expanse of the City of Moses was the most impressive sight any of them had ever laid eyes on. As they examined the city they saw the young Golia playing in the massive temple structure that was the actual vault of secrets for the Hebrew tribe. Golia were everywhere and they cared not one ounce that the City of Moses had come alive with light and the strange voices of men.

Anya took Carl’s hand and started down the steep ramp that led into the city. Everywhere they looked steam vents of massive proportions were spread throughout the buildings. Everett squeezed Anya’s hand as they neared the bottom of the ramp and for the first time the Americans stepped out and back into history. The city could have been a miniature version of Luxor. The lions with the heads of long-lost bearded men and the statues of Anubis that they now knew had nothing at all to do with the furry little creatures thought to have been Jackals—they now knew they were the Golia. And everywhere there were the Golia pups. Everett lost track at trying to count them.

As they approached the many columned temple Alice realized that the first temple was nothing more than a ruse to keep trespassers at bay just in case someone found their way in. Security for the complex was as straightforward as a sword point. They knew who kept watch on this place and they were running and playing around them right at that moment. Anya started to climb the stone steps.

Niles walked next to Alice, who was in between him and Charlie. Will Mendenhall brought up the back and kept his eyes on the ramp behind them. Will was starting to feel that something wasn’t right.

“Wait, stop!” Mendenhall said as he raised a hand and then looked around him. “Do you feel that?” he asked as his hand and arm slowly lowered.

They all did. As they walked the steps leading to the temple the entire city wavered and shook. The sensation of movement ceased but it worried them nonetheless.

“I have never felt that before,” Anya said as she squeezed Everett’s hand tighter. She shook her head and then smiled at Carl, who could not take his eyes off the woman with the raven hair and the blue head scarf. She finally turned and walked to the giant bronze doors and stood waiting.

Alice was in her element. After all the years of waiting, searching, and arguing with Garrison Lee over the temple and the very tribe’s existence was almost too much for her. She was nearly stomping her feet in her effort to see the actual treasure of the Exodus spread out before her eyes.

“King Tut ain’t got nothin’ on this,” Charlie said as the double bronze doors were opened wide.

“The true treasure of the Exodus,” Anya said as she stepped aside and allowed the Americans to pass into history.

The sight that met them was one they would never forget.

*   *   *

The fissure in the mountain wall behind Dracula’s Castle was a tight fit, but Jack thought if the wolf could make it through they could too. A mile in he thought he had figured wrong.

“Jack, this crack in the world is a little too straight to be a natural phenomenon. It’s tight, but look at its lines. This fissure was excavated.”

The fit was so tight Collins couldn’t turn his body to respond.

“Your point, Lieutenant?” he asked in frustration.

Before he could get an answer in the darkness around them he felt the grip as it wrapped around his throat and he was pulled forward and thrown into open space.

“Colonel?” he heard Ryan say as if from a great distance.

Collins shook his head as something heavy landed next to him. He felt around and then discovered someone had thrown an unlit torch onto the floor. He heard the others as they squeezed through the last large crack and into the open space. A hard breeze took Sarah’s hair and pulled it back toward the tunnel.

“There’s quite a draft in here,” she said as she placed her arms out in front of her to keep from bashing into a wall.

“No one move—not one inch,” they heard Collins say as a brilliant flash of light illuminated the small cave they were in. The torch caught and then Jack fanned out the entire book of matches he had used to start the flame burning. As he brought the torch around it almost came into contact with a solid object that stood directly in front of him.

“Oh, crap, he’s big,” Ryan said in amazement.

Stanus stood in front of Jack and the giant Golia was sniffing at him as if the smell of Jack was a reminder to the beast that the man he had traveling with him earlier was close to this human. It sniffed the air and Stanus knew this to be true about all four of the humans inside the cavern. The animal went to all fours with an audible adjustment to its skeletal frame and confidently strolled over to Ellenshaw, Sarah, and Ryan. The beast was eye-level with the Navy man and taller than Sarah. Charlie was the only one tall enough to see over the wolf’s shoulders. Sarah slowly brought her hand up so Stanus could sniff her. Jack froze, wondering if she had lost her mind.

Instead of sniffing at Sarah’s hand, Stanus sat hard on his haunches and then brought his right front paw up and then the fingers unfolded before her eyes. The fingers reached out and the large humanlike hand stroked Sarah’s face as gently as any lover could have. Then the Golia blinked and walked to something the torchlight had failed to show them a moment before. Stanus jumped eight feet from his sitting position and landed on something round and black. Jack’s eyes widened as he stepped forward with the torch flickering and sputtering.

“Oh, my God,” Sarah said as she recognized what it was that Stanus was pacing alongside of as the Golia watched the four humans below. The earth had been taken from around the structure leaving it totally exposed to the air. The giant steel anchor pin was one of sixteen that secured the foundation of the castle to the rock strata of the mountain. The giant anchor pin ended with a drill bit that had dug its way into the almost solid stone of the pass. Steam vents had weakened the area around the pin and it had been easy to dig out the rest.

“What is it?” Pete asked as he placed his hand on the cold steel.

“It’s one of the sixteen anchor pins used to secure the castle to the mountain. If the other fifteen are like this we have just discovered where that strange vibration was coming from. It’s not the steam or the natural hot springs bringing this seismic activity, it’s them,” she said as she pointed upward in the darkness.

Above them and joining Stanus on the top of the steel anchor pin was the remainder of the Golia adults. Even Mikla was there sitting on his haunches looking at the visitors.

“I think this big guy is trying to tell us something,” Jack said as he placed the torch next to the area of the cave where the pin had penetrated. “Look at this, short stuff; it’s just like you described when you saw the engineering specs and the geology report.”

Sarah placed a hand on the pin and felt it not only moving up and down but it actually felt as if the steel was attempting to back out of the hole that it had forced open in the mountain like a knife wound.

“These thermal vents have weakened the strata of the mountain, making it almost porous. Thus it’s very weak and any geologist worth his salt would have seen that on his initial survey.”

“Unless that geologist had access to Zallas and his millions.”

Sarah had to admit that Jack was right. Through bribery this mad Russian had doomed at least part of the mountain, namely the pass at Patinas.

“I’m not following,” Pete said as he too saw the giant cracks in the rock as the pin passed through.

“Look, Pete,” Sarah started to explain as she removed the torch from Jack’s hand and then placed it by the pin and lowered it to the bottom where fresh dirt had been piled along the fissures floor. “The pin has nothing to bind itself to. It’s like shoving a sharpened knife through a cracker, no matter how sharp that knife is it will eventually compromise that cracker and it will break. The same thing here,” she said as she ran the torch along the lines of the pin. “The constant pressure of the castle being secured by these pins to the facing of the mountain wall is bringing too much pressure to bear on the sixteen anchor pins holding the building in place. And now our little amazing animals here have been undermining the locations where the pins were most secure.”

“What are you saying?” Pete asked as his mind started to grasp what the Golia’s plan was.

“They’re bringing Dracula’s Castle down, and possibly the entire resort below it.”

“No animal could possibly figure out the displacement dynamics involved,” Pete said, envious of the computing power that the brain that thought that scenario up had inside. He shook his head in wonder.

“Maybe for the Golia alone, but I suspect that the first strike of the wolves against their intruders to the mountain was thought up by something other than a smart wolf.”

“Madam Korvesky?” Sarah asked.

“That would be my guess, as I don’t think that Marko character had it in him to think this up.”

“On the other hand, I never thought it took too much explanation for the reasons why a dog digs,” Ryan said as the simple truth of the matter always hit him in the most easily describable ways. “Maybe the Golia just didn’t like these ugly steel pins in their mountain and they are trying to dig them out. I would rather believe that than think that a rather large timber wolf could outthink me on a battlefield.”

Jack smiled and looked at the young Navy man. “From what I’ve heard from Alice, these damn wolves seemed to have amassed a reputation for being just that, great warriors and tacticians. I’m leaning toward collaboration between the Jeddah and the Golia to stop this encroachment by destroying the only thing they can.”

“But an engineering failure on that scale would bring far too much attention to this area of the world for the Jeddah to cover up,” Sarah reminded Jack.

“Not if their plan was to destroy the entire pass,” Jack said as he realized the Jeddah and the Golia may be giving up their home of over thirty-five hundred years. The end for both may be near.

Above them they heard the Golia move off with the clicking of their claws on the steel pin. Jack took the torch from Sarah and then pointed it down the long anchor pin and saw that the dirt and rocks had been moved away from the steel by at least five feet in all directions. The anchor pin was basically suspended in midair with no support. And as they watched, the massive steel pin moved up and then down a good five feet. The movement of the pin was getting worse and to Jack’s horror he saw that the pin had backed out of the mountain by at least three inches since they had been standing there.