Carpathian (77 page)

“Grandmother, I don’t think we’ll be going back for my hope chest.”

Alice Hamilton listened to the exchange and remembered the heavy chest that Carl Everett had retrieved Madam Korvesky’s blanket from and how hard a time Carl had moving it.

“You must, and Mrs. Hamilton, the chest is yours, Keeper of Secrets,” she said as her voice was growing weaker by the minute.

“Grandmother, we cannot return to Patinas, it’s far too dangerous, Colonel Ben-Nevin and that Russian gangster have the town and the temple.”

“Mrs. Hamilton, promise me you will return to my home and take this gift I give you. Take it to your desert temple and place it among your greatest secrets. Hide well what it is you find.”

Alice looked from the closed eyes of Madam Korvesky to Anya, who looked as confused as herself.

“Promise me this, Mrs. Hamilton.”

“I promise,” Alice said knowing that Anya was right, there was no going back to Patinas. That way was forever blocked to the retreating Gypsies now. The only way was down the mountain, either through it or under it.

Alice looked down and Madam Korvesky had fallen asleep again. She watched as Denise Gilliam came over and checked her pulse and then felt the old woman’s forehead. She shook her head and then went to several old women who were holding children on their laps. She gave the adults salt pills for the heat and she handed out what little water they had to the smaller children. The long line of Patinas refugees stretched out for almost half a mile and only the flickering of a few torches announced they were hiding in the dark at all. The heat was growing the deeper they went.

*   *   *

Will tried to close the large double doors to the temple but they were too heavy and had not been closed in the past century. They creaked and groaned and then Ryan helped by throwing his weight against them. They finally managed to get them closed just as several large-caliber rounds struck the ancient wood.

“Jesus, I think we’re trapped,” Mendenhall said as he turned and faced the interior of the tomb. The three makeshift sarcophagi stood sentinel in the center of the large temple but other than that the room was bare of anything to fight with.

“Then may I ask why you led us in here?” Ryan asked as he ran to the far wall and started looking for an escape route.

“It was the only place I was familiar with.”

As they ran around looking for something to fight with, the double doors bent inward as the men outside started to force them open.

“Oops. I think they figured out we’re not shooting back anymore,” Ryan said as they both stopped and watched the doors slowly open.

“Gentlemen, you can still survive this night, we have no wish to kill Americans, so stand still with your hands where they can be observed, and we can end this.”

“Can I assume I am speaking with that traitorous little bastard, Colonel Ben-Nevin?” Will asked tauntingly as Ryan made the “what in the hell are you doing” face.

“You may assume. Now I am out of patience. We can just as easily bury your bodies up here among the rocks and the sheep, and believe me, my friends, no one will ever find you. You’ll be just another mysterious disappearance in the dark and dangerous Carpathian Mountains.”

Ryan looked at Will and shrugged his shoulders.

“Crap,” Mendenhall said as he realized the jig was up for him and his friend. “You know, this is your fault, I mean you could have come to the rescue with just a little more firepower,” Mendenhall said as he turned toward the double doors as they opened all the way and Colonel Ben-Nevin and sixty Romanian and Russian criminals rushed into the oldest vault in the history of the world.

“What we brought would have been enough if you ever learned to shoot straight, popping off rounds like we had a million of ’em,” Ryan shot back as he raised his hands into the air.

“Well at least I can say I didn’t spend my time getting mud baths while the rest of us—”

“Hands up,” one of the thugs said as he roughly shoved Will and turned him around.

Both Will and Jason looked at each other and each was far more worried about his friend than himself.

“This really sucks,” Jason said, resigned to the fact that he and Will were now out of the game.

As the men filled the room, Avi Ben-Nevin came through the door and Dmitri Zallas was close behind. The Russian stood in the doorway and lit a cigar and then looked at the two Americans. He shook his head and gestured to the Israeli to speak.

“Thank you, gentlemen, now we can conclude this business and be on our way,” Ben-Nevin said as the ground shook around them and dust filtered down from the stone cut ceiling. “Because one way or another, for some reason or other, I don’t think this mountain is entirely stable.”

Will and Jason looked around and then exchanged uneasy looks as the tremor was far longer than the last.

The colonel was right, the mountain was feeling its oats.

*   *   *

Jack knew he had to get the people up and moving. If Sarah was right he knew they were fast running out of time. If any kind of detonation in that temple were set off it would likely trigger a massive shift in the strata and that would result in the anchor pins holding the castle’s foundation to the mountain snapping off or pulling free of the mountain.

Sarah and Niles stood when they saw that Jack was about to order everyone forward once more. Sarah knew upon looking at the people they would never make it through the heat of the natural steam vents dotting the mountain.

“I know what you’re thinking, but we haven’t a choice, we have to keep moving and assume Mr. Everett has—”

The wall next to Jack and behind Niles Compton started to crumble as something was battering the stone and earth. The entire stone wall caved in and what was standing there froze everyone in place. Stanus roared and then stepped away from the hole it had made. The giant wolf vanished and then Carl Everett stepped through.

“This way to ladies’ linens, housewares, and ancient Egyptian passageways,” he said.

The line of displaced Gypsies erupted in cheering and crying as the cool air of the outside world started to flow into the mountain and cooled their heat-induced fear.

The second Exodus of the Jeddah had found a new route to salvation.

*   *   *

Major Donny Mendohlson could tell by the lessening volume of fire coming through the noise of the storm that his men were seizing control of the rabble that had held them at bay for far too long. He was angry that the intelligence on the part of the mission planners had failed to foresee an armed force of defenders. He was far angrier at himself for considering the HALO jump the most dangerous aspect of Operation Ramesses and not the actual demolition of the site.

“As far as I can tell we were singularly lucky these weren’t trained soldiers,” the sergeant major said as he aimed his weapon toward the entrance of the temple they had just entered.

Major Mendohlson heard the noise and then aimed his own weapon at the entrance where a bright flash of lightning illuminated the opening just as a man ran through. They were getting ready to shred the intruder to pieces when the major held up his right hand.

It was Janos Vajic. He was soaked and mud-covered and realized that he had about been shot to death. He shook his head.

“We have about fifty percent casualties. We are setting up a dry place for the wounded and your medic is working on them.”

The major held the Mossad agent’s gaze waiting for the other shoe to fall.

“Eleven of your men are dead, Major.”

Mendohlson had just been handed an indication of what the butcher’s bill would be for this little foray to destroy something that couldn’t even be explained to him and his men. And now he had the dead to prove just how messed up the world had become. He turned on Vajic.

“Who in the hell are we fighting and just who is leading the defense inside that mountain?” Mendohlson asked.

For the first time Janos Vajic heard the firefight going on far beneath them in the temple. He couldn’t imagine it was the villagers of Patinas putting up such a spirited fight.

“You’re up against a ruthless bastard who is one of the richest mobsters in Eastern Europe. The man will stop at nothing to get anything he already does not own.”

“And this man has sided with this Russian?” the major asked, waiting for the Mossad agent to tell him that they were facing not only the mobster but a well-trained agent as well. Now he understood why the ambush had been so complete, the son of bitch knew his team was coming. He wanted to backhand the agent in front of him for not seeing this coming. His men were always at the mercy of pencil-pusher agents in the field that didn’t know their ass from a hole in the ground. His complaint was the same as that of any black operations soldier in the world.

“Colonel Ben-Nevin is not to leave this place alive.”

“That I can pretty much guarantee, spook,” the major replied. “Now who is fighting him, it can’t be the locals, not shooting like that.”

“It must be the Americans. I saw their vehicles near the village. I helped them escape earlier and I knew they would come here to get their people. My partner died to assist them, so don’t give me that look, I’m going in with you.”

“What in the hell are the Americans doing here? Do they have to complicate everything in the world?”

“I thought they were the NATO contingent mapping the pass, but they’re far more than that.”

“Obviously, those aren’t engineers and surveyors in there.”

“Gentlemen, we’re about to have company,” the sergeant major said as he again raised his weapon and made ready to cover the opening. “May I suggest we make our delivery and get the hell out of here before the Chinese show up—I mean everyone else is here.”

“I hear that, let’s go. We place the weapon as deep into the temple system as we can get without getting our asses shot off.”

“And then?” Vajic asked as he chambered a round into his handgun.

“Then we get the hell back to the village and hope General Shamni can get us out of this Romanian nightmare.”

As the three men moved deeper into the upper staircase leading to the first temple, the mountain started to shake in earnest.

*   *   *

Pete was one of the last to step up to the hole and peer inside. He turned and faced the captain, who handed him a small boy, wide-eyed and frightened at the prospect of going into the darkened hole. And Pete sympathized with the child, as he was terrified himself. The long line was now being led by the engineers from the 82nd, their uniforms making the farmers, herdsmen, and womenfolk of Patinas feel safer. But Pete was feeling none of this at the moment.

“That wolf isn’t in there any longer, is he?”

“We don’t have a hell of a lot of time here, Doc,” Everett said as Charlie Ellenshaw finally stepped up and then looked at Pete.

“It’s okay, Pete, I’ll be right there with you.”

“Carl and Jack exchanged looks as they realized that Pete was actually fearful of the closed-in space far more than the wolves running around. They let Charlie handle the computer man. Soon the three eased off with Charlie speaking to Pete about all the magnificent discoveries they made.

Finally the four burly men of Patinas came up with Madam Korvesky on the makeshift cot. Alice was with her and then Anya was the last in the long line of refugees. Denise Gilliam walked with her low and Jack knew the old woman must have been on her last legs.

As Collins watched them ease the old Gypsy through the large hole he turned to Niles, Everett, and Anya. He nodded at Sarah for her to explain what was running through both their minds.

“I understand the dynamics of what’s happening here. The anchor pins will not hold. I suspected the vibration was getting worse and now I think I know why. The wolves are not digging any longer. Anya, you said the Golia have been hidden by Stanus and Mikla?”

“Yes, that is right. Stanus knows the mountain is unstable because that was what he and my grandmother had planned all along.”

“If they’ve stopped undermining the foundations of the castle why are the vibrations and the tremors getting worse?” Niles asked, hoping there would be some good news somewhere.

“The castle’s grand opening. They are playing live music in there and that cannot be helping the foundations. By the frequency of the tremors the face of that mountain is getting ready to let go.”

“What are you saying, Jack?” Carl asked as he wiped sweat from his brow.

Collins turned and faced Anya.

“Look, I don’t know how the Mossad plays it, but my people and I try not to kill innocents, and that even means people that thrive just below the what is the legal line.”

Anya suspected at what the American colonel was playing at but said nothing as long as Jack’s intense green eyes bore into her own. Carl watched the exchange with growing concern as he saw Jack’s demeanor change once the villagers were out.

“I’m saying those commandos are here to destroy the temple, but how are they going to do it?”

Anya looked uncomfortable because she knew the destruction of the City of Moses by the commandos was the only fallback position they had of assuring the destruction of their home in case the wolves failed at sabotaging the foundations of the castle.

“There are over four hundred people at the castle, Major. Now I don’t mean to be unsympathetic to your plight but your concern about the world knowing your secrets has to have boundaries. Now, what weapon is being used by your people?”

Anya looked from Collins and then found Carl. She wanted him to tell her, order her to disobey not only Mossad’s orders, but worse, her grandmother’s wishes. She swallowed and knew they were short of time as the mountain trembled again, this time it lasted ten seconds longer than any other shake to that point.

“A Forger,” she said ashamedly.

Jack closed his eyes and Everett shook his head. He reached out and placed a hand on Anya’s shoulder and squeezed. She felt deflated that their secret was out to the Americans.

“Get them out, Captain,” Jack said as he looked at Niles. “I’m going back to get those boys out of there and try and get some sense talked into anyone who will listen.”