Conjuring Darkness (21 page)

Chapter Seventeen

The sun crept away from its zenith, but the heat of the day was still intense. Kate lifted her floppy, khaki safari hat from her overheated head and pulled back the stray blond strands that clung to her face. Before confining them back into their ponytail, she looked at the long locks and begged for their forgiveness. “I promise if I get out of here, I’ll treat you to a day at that new salon.” She took a drink of water from her canteen and went back to the armed group of people that were watching her at the dig.

How long can I fool these idiots into thinking that the amulet is out here somewhere?

They seemed like such an odd group to be in the desert. Seven of them were very old women that wore long black robes with black veils over their faces. They stayed in the canvas walled tent that had been erected upon their arrival. She had seen them only once when she had been brought before them by an armed escort. The guards treated them with the respect that a subject would give to a feared ruler. When Kate dared to look at their faces all she could see above their veils was a small patch of dry leathery skin that reminded her of a mummy. Kate had an eerie suspicion they were nothing more than dried corpses that had been propped up in chairs. That is until she heard their crackling voices.

They spoke to the guards in an ancient language that shocked Kate. The language of ancient Sumer. Outside of a handful of researchers like herself, she had never heard of anyone that knew the language. The guards referred to them as the Eternal Ones, and Kate had no doubt that these were the fabled witches. They had asked where the amulet was and told the guards to threaten her with death, if she did not produce it.

A man dressed in black carrying an AK-47 shouted at Kate. “Hey! Get back into the dig, and find it. You’ve got until sundown.” There were several people removing rocks from a pile of debris. They were looking in between crevices and cracks for the amulet. Each one was dressed in black and carried a gun. Kate used as little energy as possible, reminding herself the amulet was securely locked away in her safe at home.

When she first went to visit Jakub Meier to find out what Kurt had been involved in, she knew it had been a mistake to discuss her research on the old Sumerian magic. She never figured there would be a modern day cult that had kept alive the memory of the original seven witches, who wished to open a portal to an era of darkness and demons. This cult didn’t seem to be aware of Jakub’s history with the amulet. They only knew of Kurt’s.

Kurt
. His death was no suicide. Kate was convinced now that it was a well-designed murder by this cult who had tried in vain to get him to hand over the amulet. They practically confessed to her what they had done. He had told them it was in the Syrian Desert and had left them clues that misled them far from their little safe in Virginia. He paid for his deception with his life and now it was Kate’s turn to play along.

No matter what, she would not allow the amulet to fall into their hands. She knew the witches would be able to use it to open the spirit portal at Gobekli Tepe. They would become possessed by seven ancient demons and their combined force would be unstoppable.

Kate carefully pulled a few rocks out of the way, when she noticed a glimmer in the distance. It lasted for a second, but to Kate it was a gift of hope. She felt exhilarated by the thought that perhaps someone was looking for her.

An idea crept up that perhaps it was nothing more that the sun hitting a shiny rock or maybe just a mirage from the afternoon heat. She kicked the negative thought back down with every bit of positive thinking she could possibly muster. Within an hour she spotted something else. High above her, something circled around. It was so small that perhaps it was just a bird, like the birds she used to watch while lying in the grass of her backyard. It circled around and around and that seemed odd since only larger birds of prey would act like that. This thing was very small. She looked up and for no special reason she took off her hat and waved it to the little bird as if to say, “I’m here! Please go get help!” The little bird zipped away and Kate felt her eyes welling up with tears. “Go little bird.”

One of the guards noticed Kate rubbing her eyes. He kicked sand at her, yelled for her to get back to work. She was suddenly filled with a complete disregard for her own safety and stood up. “Fuck you, dumbass! Fuck you and your dumbass old hags! And fuck your stupid little cult! Assholes!” The guard closest to her pointed his rifle at her while the others came over to see what was going on. They jeered and laughed at her. One of them fired one shot into the air and it frightened Kate so that she tightly covered her ears and fell to her knees. She had enough.

Then something strange happened. One after the other, in rapid succession each of the guards heads exploded. They flew apart like watermelons that had been hit with a sledgehammer. Kate’s hands dropped to her sides and she stood up. Her mouth hung open, as she looked at the carnage before her. All that she could say was, “Holy cats!”

On a distant ridge, neither Kate nor the guards had been aware of what had transpired up to that point.

Lexi, Ryan, and Abraham had only a short walk with some of Ryan’s gear to the high point he had selected to start scouting for Kate. The group was stealthy with the exception of Abraham who had taken another swig from his silver flask, until Ryan swatted the shiny object down.

“Put that thing away it’s like a beacon out here.” He whispered.

Just as the coordinates promised, they noticed a couple of tents in the distance. Ryan took out a small remote controlled aerial vehicle that was no larger than the size of a pigeon. It was equipped with a high tech surveillance camera. He asked Lexi and Abraham to set up the viewing monitor that resembled a small e-reader or tablet. In minutes, Ryan had the UAV soaring high above the tents. He ensured that it stayed at a high enough altitude so it couldn’t be detected while it provided a live video feed.

“There she is!” Lexi shouted. “There are guys with guns by her, though.”

“How many?” Ryan asked.

“Five that I can see.” Lexi replied.

“Okay good. I’m switching the feed to infrared now. Count all of the bright images you see. It will also let me know if there are others we didn’t see, including anyone inside the tents.”

“Now I see just six orange images. Just those five guards and Kate.”

“Good. This is easy.” Ryan grabbed a large rifle from a long rectangular case he had brought along. The rifle had a large scope that he attached a battery pack onto.

Lexi couldn’t help but notice the huge size of the bullets in the magazine that Ryan loaded into the rifle. “Is that one of those 50 caliber sniper rifles? The semi auto ones? That thing is huge!”

“Yeah, hopefully I can get close enough and we can get her out now. I will probably have to wait until the guards are close together so this could take a while. I hate to ask you this Lexi, but I need you to come with me. I’ll need you to watch them with that other spotting scope, the one that looks like a telescope while I handle the rifle. The scope on my rifle will be zoomed in too close to keep an eye on everyone.”

“I was planning on going with you anyway. This just gives me a better reason!”

“Just follow me and stay down. Low and slow. From here on out, we don’t say a word.” Ryan placed the rifle in a padded canvas case that had a long strap that he looped around his leg. He crawled on his forearms, dragging his legs and the case behind him. Lexi crawled through the sandy soil behind him. Ryan heard loud voices from the camp and quickly got the rifle out. He watched the events unfold through the riflescope. Lexi set up the spotting scope when they saw the guards gathering close to Kate.

Ryan thought they were about to execute her when he saw them fire a warning shot. It looked like they had forced her down to her knees. Ryan made a risky split second decision. He had to shoot now or it could be too late. Five shots rang out, quickly hitting each of his intended targets in quick succession.

Lexi could only offer her standard remark. “Holy cats!”

They ran down to the camp, as Kate ran toward them. The relieved sisters fell to the ground and gratefully embraced in a tearful reunion. Kate jumped back up to her feet and pulled Lexi up with her. “Let’s go, quick! Run!” Kate dropped down to one knee and grabbed her ankle. “Okay forget the running. I think I sprained my ankle. So let’s hobble! Quickly!”

“There are more?” Lexi asked and Kate nodded her head affirmatively.

“How many more?” Ryan asked.

Kate panted, “Seven old witches. They are in the tents over there. They’re as old as dirt, but I have no idea what they are capable of.”

“They can’t be in there. We looked on infrared. There wasn’t anything alive in those tents. At least nothing warm-blooded. Lexi, take Kate up to Abraham and sit tight. Keep your weapon ready just in case. I’m going to check this out.” Ryan rested his sniper rifle down and pulled out his old long barreled pistol, instead of taking the cumbersome rifle or the pistol he had given to Lexi.

He crept down to the tents and found them empty. One tent held seven large, empty wooden chairs and nothing else. The wind began to blow, the canvas material flapped in the breeze. A whispering sound surrounded him, causing the tiny hairs on his arms to stand at attention. It sounded like multiple voices that were quiet yet abrupt. They seemed like they could be questioning, answering, warning, and worrying as they circled around outside of the tent as if they were being carried on the wind. He went over to the dead guards and assured himself that they couldn’t have been making the whispers that he heard. The sun was now beginning to set, so he hurried back up the ridge to meet the others.

He arrived just as Lexi and Kate reached the place where Abraham was waiting with the rest of the equipment. “Well, there was nothing there. No sign of anyone in those tents.” Ryan said with trepidation. He wondered if he should mention the whispering disembodied voices that he heard when he entered the tents.

“I suppose they must have gotten out earlier. I haven’t seen them today. So Lexi, aren’t you going to introduce me?” Kate swept the unruly strands of hair away from her face and otherwise made an attempt at making a favorable impression on Ryan.

“This is Ryan. Ryan Kidd, and you already know Abraham Pearlman.”

Kate looked over at Abraham. “Hello professor. Wow! It sure has been a while. I can’t wait to talk to you about everything I’ve come across in my research. What are you doing out here?”

“Good to see you again, Kate. Actually, the reason I am here is because of your research, but it is a long story and we can sort it out later.”

Kate turned her attention to Ryan. “Ah, so you are the mysterious Ryan Kidd I’ve heard of. It is a pleasure to meet you. Thanks for saving me back there.”

“It’s what I do, Kate.” Ryan responded as they shook hands.

Kate ran her eyes over Ryan’s body. “Yes, I really want to thank you personally.” She wasn’t discreet at how her eyes devoured him. Hell it had been a long time since she had seen such a fine specimen. “And you really need to let me thank you properly, once we get out of this desert.” Kate gave him a smile that was dipped in mischief. “I will make it worth your while, Ryan Kidd.” Shocked at her boldness, little did Kate know, the erotic power of Inana still lingered.

Ryan smiled at Kate and thought of how she looked so much like Lexi, except for the lighter hair and a few years older. Lexi quickly intervened. “Umm Kate? I have to tell you that he’s already taken.”

“Oh I’m sure he is Lexi, but I don’t mind. I just want to borrow him!”

Ryan pulled Lexi close and kissed her. He turned Lexi, so that her back was to Kate and he let his hand conspicuously slide down over her ass. He pulled her waist tight against him. When he stopped kissing her, he spun her around to face Kate. He stood behind Lexi with his hands down around the front of her waist. Lexi smiled at Kate, with the smug look of a little girl that had just gotten the last cookie out of the jar.

“Uh, what the hell are you two doing?”

“Getting kissed by my boyfriend.”

“That was more than a kiss, Lexi. And boyfriend? When the hell did this happen?” Without waiting for an answer, Kate continued. “Wow! You move out and go from being the nerdy, boyfriendless, bookworm to this commando chick, with a hunkalicious man—who apparently has no problem sticking his tongue down your throat and grinding you against him, like you were one of those inflatable toys that-”

“Okay, we get it Kate!” The sisters were overwhelmed with laughter. Lexi sat down next to Kate. “It’s so good to see you, Kate.”

Kate started to cry and she feverishly tried to wipe away the tears. “What’s wrong?” Lexi asked.

“Nothing I suppose. It’s just that you’re my little sister, but I’ve always felt like I was raising you, and at the same time I kind of feel like I’m mom. And now look at you. Kate regained her composure and took a deep breath. “You literally traveled around the world to save me. My little sister. It was always my job to look out for you, not the other way around.”

“We have to look out for each other, Kate.”

Kate looked over at Ryan who was busy checking over his equipment. She whispered to Lexi. “I also feel bad because this is your first...he is your first everything. This has been just one hell of a trip for me. I think I’m just overwhelmed.”