The Cleric's Vault (27 page)

Chapter 51

Washington, DC

Emily
turned around with a glass of scotch.
 
Jennings was standing in the doorway of her kitchen pulling something
out of his jacket pocket.
 
For a
second, she wasn’t sure what he was doing.
 

“Please
excuse me,” he said as he withdrew a handkerchief from the folds of his
coat.
 
“Coming in out of the cold
and all the stress has made me sweat a bit.”
 
He dabbed at his forehead as she brought the drink over to
where he was standing.
 
“Thank
you,” he said gratefully.

“If
you aren’t going to call the police, you need to lay low for a bit,” she spoke
suddenly and walked by him back into the living room.
 

“I
have an extra room upstairs you can sleep in tonight and for the next few
nights if you need to.”

“Emily,”
he cut her off.
 
“I can’t impose
like that.
 
I don’t want to put you
in any kind of danger.”

“I’ll
be fine,” she responded quickly.
 
We have no social or personal connections so there is no reason for
anyone to think you came here.”

He
followed her back into the living room and sat down with a sigh.
 
“You’re sure I’m not imposing?”

She
shook her head.
 
“Don’t be
ridiculous.
 
I’ll get the guest bed
ready for you.
 
Tomorrow we can
figure out what is going on.”

He
nodded and took a drink.
 
It seemed
like he was beginning to settle down.
 

Emily
headed up the stairs, satisfied that her guest was going to be ok for a while.
 
In the back of her mind, though,
something didn’t quite add up.

Chapter 52

Cuenca, Ecuador

“We
are in position and have the targets in sight.”

Agents
Weaver and Collack heard the transmission as they sped down the bumpy road
leading into Cuenca.
 
“Good,”
Collack answered.
 
“Let them find
whatever it is they’re looking for.
 
Then take them out.
 
But
leave Schultz alive.
 
The rest are
expendable.
 
We are en route.
 
ETA is ten minutes.”

“Roger
that,” the voice responded.

*****

Sean’s
face filled with confusion.
 
Mauricio shook his head slowly and pulled a black gun from within his
black blazer.
 
His two other men
who had stayed behind with the group did the same, keeping their weapons
trained on Wyatt and his companions.

“What
is this, Maury,” Tommy asked.
 
“Playing for the other side now?”
 
Schultz’s face washed over with disappointment and betrayal.

“Not
the other side, my friend.
 
The
treasure of Carlos Crespi is only the tip of the iceberg.
 
There is more to be found, once his
lost relics are discovered.
 
And
you are going to show me the way.”

“Where
is the woman?” Delgado finally realized she wasn’t with them anymore.
 

“She’s
gone,” Wyatt answered.
 
“Ran off to
see a friend or something.
 
She
wouldn’t tell me where.
 
You don’t
need her anyway.
 
She isn’t
important.”

Mauricio
considered the statement for a moment then said, “I’ll have one of my drivers
track her down once we’re inside the building.”

“I
guess I was wrong about you,” Sean said.
 

“Quisas,
amigo.
 
Perhaps.”

*****

“Sir?”
the voice came over the radio again in Weaver’ and Collack’s earpieces.
 

“Go
ahead,” he responded.
“We have a situation here.”
 
The
voice didn’t wait for the question.
 
“The men with Wyatt and Shultz are holding them at gunpoint now.”

This
was an unexpected development.
 
Angela and James both looked at each other somewhat bewildered.
 
“Can you hear what they’re saying?” she
asked after a few seconds of thought.

“Not
really.
 
Something about a
treasure.”

“Delgado
must be making a play.
 
Stay close
but don’t make a move.
 
We will be
on site in six minutes.”

“Roger
that.”

The
two looked at each other again as they sped along the old road into the
city.
 
“This changes things a bit,”
James said flatly.

“Not
really.
 
They were all hostiles
anyway.
 
Let’s sit back and see what
they do next.
 
My guess is Delgado
is wanting the same thing we want.
 
We let them force Wyatt and Schultz to get it for them; then we take
it.”

*****

Will
stared hard at the man nearest him but said nothing.
 

Mauricio
noticed the unspoken interaction.
 
“Don’t try anything, policeman.
 
He will cut you down if he has to.”
 
Then he motioned towards the entrance of the cathedral.
 
“Now, quickly.
 
Everyone inside.
 
If you try anything, I will shoot you.”

Sean
shook his head but said nothing as the three men moved slowly towards the huge
stone structure.
 
Once inside its
wooden doors, the familiar musty smell old churches always seemed to have time
filled their nostrils.
 
The vast
expanse opened up into a high arched ceiling.
 
Longer than it appeared from the outside, the building
stretched at least two-hundred feet to the other end where it opened up into a
wider worship area.
 

The
group moved a little further into the foyer, and the giant wooden door closed
behind them.
 
Once it had shut,
Mauricio’s demeanor changed completely.
 
Suddenly, he and his assistants lowered their weapons.
 
The two men accompanying him kept their
weapons in hand and moved quickly down the center of the church towards the
presbytery.
 
“Sorry for that little
ruse, my friend,” he began as he holstered his weapon.
 
“But we are being watched.”

 
“What is going on?” Tommy
exclaimed.
 
“Watched?
 
By who?”

“We
must move quickly.
 
Hurry, follow
them,” was all he would offer.

Sean
and Tommy were completely lost.
 
Will simply did as he was told and hustled behind the two, armed men.

“I’ll
explain everything soon,” Mauricio urged as he turned and started jogging down
the aisle.

Sean
hesitated.
 
“What about Adriana?”

Delgado
stopped, “We must hurry.
 
We will
find her later.”

Unsure,
Sean glanced at his friend as if looking for an answer he knew wasn’t
there.
 
It seemed they didn’t had a
choice at the moment.
 

Shame
they were in such a hurry, Tommy thought as he ran past stone columns that
supported dramatic domed arches and side porticos.
 
Up ahead, the presbytery was ornately highlighted with a
crown-like altar, topped by a crucifix and centered underneath another
cross.
 
The ornate construction was
held up by four, spiraled columns of white stone.

The
group reached the end of the aisle and veered left towards a side door.
 
Just through it, a narrow corridor
extended in both directions.
 
They
turned right and headed through the dark hallway, moving towards the back of
the church.

*****

Hunter
Carlson observed the scene from a bar on the other side of the plaza.
 
He casually sipped a golden beer and,
to everyone else, appeared to be just another tourist.

His
eyes, though, were trained on the hit squad he’d been watching for the last
half hour.
 
He’d noticed them when
they arrived, dressed in utility service clothing and maintenance
uniforms.
 
It was a good enough
disguise.
 
They’d set up cones and
taped off an area as if they were working on something in one of the sewage
drains.
 

But
to him, the two vans stuck out like sore thumb.
 
It would surprise him if they had gone unnoticed by Wyatt
and his group.
 
Still, he decided
to sit back and see how things played out.
 
The winner in a Mexican standoff was always the guy who
showed up last.
 
Let everyone else
shoot each other then scoop up the loot.

Across
from where the hired guns were positioned, a black sedan pulled into a parking
space on a side street with its headlights off.
 
A new player had just entered the game.

*****

James
and Angela were careful to make sure they didn’t attract a lot of attention and
cut off the lights to their car before stopping in an alley near the
square.
 
They immediately
recognized their team positioned directly across from the cathedral.
 
Quietly, they slipped out of the car
and James touched his earpiece.
 
“We are here.
 
What’s the
situation?” he asked in a whisper.

“They
just went into the church.
 
What
would you like us to do?” the voice responded.

“Hold
here.
 
We will set up just outside
the entrance.
 
When they come out,
we grab them.
 
No shots fired here
in the open.
 
We don’t want the
locals getting involved.
 
Keep it
quiet and quick.
 
We can take them
outside the city and finish them there.”

“Roger
that.”

*****

Towards
the end of the hall, Mauricio’s men had stopped and were holding open an
interior wall door.
 

Sean
and the rest stopped and looked through the opening.
 
Inside were candelabras, robes, sashes, an old desk, a
bookshelf with a sparse collection of books, and a few goblets that looked like
something out of the middle ages.

“A
storage room?” Will asked.
 
“Why
don’t we just go out the back?”

“Just
trust me,” Mauricio answered.

Will
shrugged and looked at Sean who extended an arm as if to say “you first.”

Mauricio’s
assistant held the door until everyone was inside.
 
Once the door was closed, Delgado’s other man stepped over
to an old, iron wall sconce and pulled it down slowly.
 
The ancient lever creaked as it
moved.
 
Clearly, it hadn’t been
used frequently.
 
Just like
something out of a movie, the bookshelf started sliding out away from the wall.
 
Old-looking light bulbs flickered
on in a stone, spiral staircase on the other side.

“Seriously?”
Sean asked in a sarcastic tone.
 
“A
secret tunnel?”

“The
priests had it installed long ago because they were afraid of looting during a
period of unrest with the government.
 
It leads under the city streets to a place where my drivers are waiting
to pick us up.”
 
The robust Latino
man smiled with pride.
 
Tommy
patted him on the shoulder in approval and headed down the spiral, stone
staircase.
 
The rest followed into
the dimly lit corridor.
 

The
staircase ended in a stone, arched hallway, dotted ever twenty feet with small
lights hung on candle sconces. “So what’s going on?” Sean asked as they strode
quickly down the stairs into the bowels of the city.
 

“My
connections go deep, my friend,” he looked back and smiled as he walked along,
panting slightly from the activity.
 
“After you told me what happened, I suspected that whoever was after you
in the States would follow you here.
 
Since they want what you want but don’t have a clue where to find it or
perhaps even what they were looking for, we let them have a little false
information to buy us some time.”

“You
told them we were coming here?”
 
Tommy looked befuddled.

“In
a manner of speaking,” Delgado continued.
 
“This is not the church of Carlos Crespi.
 
This is Iglesia de San Blas.
 
It is much older and fit the part of our little act
perfectly.
 
It looks like an
ancient building where secrets would be kept.
 
I doubt the men who are after you have researched it at
all.”

“Nice
work, amigo,” Sean said with a grin as they rounded a curve.
 
Up ahead, faint lights could be seen
through a metal grate at the end of the passageway.
 
Fresh air began to mingle with the musty air of the tunnel.

“So,”
Tommy interrupted, “they think we are inside that church trying to find clues
to Crespi’s vault, but that isn’t Crespi’s church.
 
Now where are we going?”

“The
Church of Maria Auxiliadora.”

*****

Hunter
Carlson was growing restless.
 
The
group had been in the church for around thirty minutes.
 
What was taking them so long?
 
The team of assets watching the church
seemed content to wait.
 
He knew they
had all the exits covered since he’d observed them setting up a perimeter
around the building previously.
 
Still, he’d had enough waiting.
 
Pulling a hat down low over his head and bunching up his green, canvas
jacket so that the collars covered part of his face, he set off across the
plaza’s cobblestone streets towards the entrance of the building.

“Sir?”
 
The voice came through the earpiece
again.