The Miracle Strain (39 page)

"Okay, Hol," Tom mumbled as his daughter walked out into the garden. But Jasmine could see he was barely listening, his face frowning at whatever was in the paper. Suddenly his face turned pale. "Shit!"

"What? What is it, Tom?"

Tom Carter felt something cold uncoil in his stomach as he read the type before his eyes. The main story was about the President's trade visit to China, but beneath it with the title " Latest News" was the headline HUNT THE PREACHER and two pictures--one showed a profile of Maria Benariac taken shortly after she was sentenced; the other was the official photograph of witnesses to her execution. He could just make out Ezekiel De La Croix, but that wasn't what surprised him or filled him with dread.

The article stated that although Maria had been executed and certified dead, her body had disappeared from the morgue. And when he read about the method of execution--lethal injection--his unease deepened.

What was that story Mother Clemenza had told him about in Corsica?

Maria neutralized the poison in the bee stings. Isn't that what the former nun had said? Neutralized the poison.

He remembered how shocked Maria had been when he'd told her how the genes worked.

Shit, she was planning on being resurrected.

"What is it, Tom?" Jasmine asked again, leaning forward.

He passed her the paper. "The witch has apparently got on her broomstick and flown away."

Jasmine read the article openmouthed. "What does this mean?"

"Don't you see? She planned on being executed by lethal injection---poison. Then using her genetic ability to neutralize the poison in her body, and bring herself back. She knew she could neutralize poison; she'd done it once before on someone else."

"I don't believe it. Anyway it wouldn't work on herself--would it? And who did she expect to help her get out?"

"I don't know," said Tom, turning to look out the conservatory. Holly was bending over the rose bed, smelling the flowers. Beyond her he could see Ted walk across the lawn to the shed at the bottom of the garden. He wore his Boston Red Sox cap but something about his gait was different. He wasn't stooping as he usually did. He looked taller too. Tom watched him open the shed door and step inside.

What had Holly said?--"I didn't know Ted was here thisweekend. I thought he was going to Martha's Vineyard withMarcy."

He was.

A sudden coldness rushed through him, more rage than fear. Tom reached across the table and grabbed Jasmine by the arm. She looked up from the newspaper, surprised.

"Jazz, don't ask any questions," he said. "Just go out the front door and get the police watching over the house. Tell them Holly and I are in danger. Do it now!"

"Why? What--?"

"That's not Ted out there. Just go!"

Holly was now ten yards from the house, walking toward the shed. A spade rested against the side by the door.

Tom didn't dare call out to her, in case it alerted whoever was inside. Instead he rushed out of the conservatory and raced across the lawn toward her. She was close to the shed now.

Tom ran as fast as he could, ignoring his injured leg.

The shed door began to open toward him. Tom was ten feet away, six feet from Holly. A hand holding a gun reached from behind the door.

"Holly!" he screamed. "Get back!"

Holly turned frightened, puzzled eyes toward him. Good, if she was scared she'd run faster.

"Go back into the house!" he shouted. "Run! Run as fast as you can!"

As she ran past him, Tom threw all his weight against the shed door. He heard the crunching of bone as the door crushed the man's arm, forcing him to drop his gun. Frantically Tom reached for the spade resting against the shed, jumped around the door, and hit out as hard as he could. As he fell the man tried to roll away and reach for the fallen gun, but Tom rained blows down on his body, forcing him to shield himself with his arms. Tom kept hitting him and hitting him. Only when the man lay still did Tom finally stop, panting from adrenaline and exertion. Now that he was calmer he recognized the man from the Tel Aviv Airport and his helicopter trip to meet the Brotherhood. What was Gomorrah doing here?

Shaking, Tom threw the spade to the ground and reached for the gun. Why was this man who worked for Ezekiel De La Croix's Brotherhood here with a gun?

Then he saw the scar on the man's forearm. The same crossshaped scar he had seen on Maria Benariac's forearm. Finally he understood. Tom's spent rage returned when he remembered Karen Tanner's words, "We may never know who was behindthe Preacher."

Maria had been a member of the Brotherhood all the time. Ezekiel's Brotherhood was responsible for killing Olivia and trying to stop Cana--after they had got what they wanted from him. He realized now that Holly and he would never be safe so long as the Brotherhood continued to exist.

"Tom, are you okay?" shouted Jasmine, running up behind him. She was flanked by two cops.

Too angry to speak he gave an abrupt nod as he walked past her toward the house and Holly. He remembered the tracker Jack had made him swallow on his first visit to the Brotherhood's cave. He now knew who had moved Maria's body from the penitentiary and where they had taken her.

"Tom," said Jasmine. "Where are you going?"

He didn't turn back when he eventually spoke: "To finish this."

Chapter Thirty-One.

Cave of the Sacred Light

Southern Jordan

And on the third day the Inner Circle knelt in ceremonial robes before the Sacred Flame--which now burned stronger and whiter than ever. Ahead of him Ezekiel De La Croix could see the open door leading to the Vault of Remembrance. On the altar before it lay the New Messiah. Maria Benariac's corpse was wrapped in a white shroud with only her pale face showing. The pungent oils, herbs, and spices that anointed her body vied with the cavern's usual aroma of incense and burnt wax.

Ezekiel felt exhausted but exhilarated. Gomorrah should have dispatched Carter and Washington by now, so he could concentrate on Maria. He hadn't slept more than a few minutes since the day she died, and could barely keep his eyes open. He desperately wanted to rest, but couldn't risk missing the moment when Maria awoke. When that happened and she passed her hand through the flame, his part in fulfilling the prophecy would be over, and he could rest for an eternity.

The plan had worked better than he'd hoped. Brother Bernard had arranged for the guards to be paid off with relative ease. After all, where was the harm in keeping silent and turning a blind eye when a dead prisoner was taken from the prison? It wasn't as if she was actually escaping.

By all accounts the body had been spirited away so quickly that rumors were already circulating in the prison that Maria Benariac had risen from the dead and walked out. If only they knew, thought Ezekiel with a tired smile.

Brother Olazabal's brethren in the New World had arranged the ambulance from the prison, and the plane to fly the body from the private hangar at Logan Airport. Brother Haddad and his Brothers in the Holy Lands had arranged for the necessary papers to bring the "deceased son" of one of the Brethren "home" for burial on Jordanian soil.

On arrival in Amman the body had been transported to Asbaa el-Lah by the Brotherhood's helicopter. Once she was safely ensconced in the Cave of the Sacred Light, Brother Helix had prepared the ritual oils, herbs, and spices with which they had anointed her body. Finally, almost a whole day after the execution, Bernard and Luciano had taken the ritual shroud from the Vault of Remembrance and wrapped her body from head to toe, leaving only the New Messiah's face exposed.

Now there was no more to do. Except to watch and pray.

The third day had already arrived and they still waited.

Ezekiel shifted his weight on the prayer mat, stifling a groan when the movement reawakened the ache in his numbed muscles. He glanced at the others keeping the silent vigil alongside him, checking their faces for any signs of fatigue, trying to gauge their commitment to this endeavor. All knelt, motionless, their heads bowed as if in deep prayer. All except Brother Bernard. Since Ezekiel had explained how Maria had cured his ulcer even the skeptical Bernard seemed to believe. But from the furtive looks the stout Brother was casting at Maria's inert body Ezekiel could tell his doubts were returning.

Bernard suddenly turned and caught his eye. "Leader De La Croix, how long must we wait?" he hissed, fracturing the quiet of the cave.

"She didn't say. She only said that we should be patient and have faith."

"It's been almost three days,"

"It took as long before," chided Helix from Ezekiel's right.

Now all the Brothers looked up.

"But..." started Bernard, scratching his goatee. "What if...?"

Ezekiel cut him off, guessing the fear he was going to express. "She will. Have faith!" He shrugged off the icy fingers of doubt that threatened to walk down his own spine. He couldn't even countenance the possibility that Maria wouldn't return. He had stood by and watched the New Messiah die---let her be executed without doing anything to intervene. Maria had to come back. She'd promised him she would. Any other outcome at this stage was unthinkable.

"All I'm saying, my Leader," wheedled Bernard, "is that perhaps we should consider a fallback--"

Ezekiel turned his black eyes on the Brother's round face and fixed him with his most baleful stare. "Have faith, Brother Bernard! She will return!"

"According to the coordinates we must be here," shouted Karen Tanner above the noise of the helicopter's rotors, pointing to the map on her lap.

Tom Carter felt a rush of nervous exhilaration as he looked through the glass at the five pillars of rock marooned in the desert below. On the sand near the tallest rock, a helicopter and two vehicles were visible. In the air to his right he could see three helicopters crammed with a joint task force of Delta Force, FBI, and Royal Jordanian Army personnel.

"Won't they know we're here?" Tom asked.

Karen adjusted her shades and gave a grim smile. "Oh, they'll know we're here soon enough. But they won't have enough time to do anything about it."

Tom believed her. It impressed him how quickly Karen Tanner had acted after he'd told her about Gomorrah and the Brotherhood. The FBI had easily pinpointed the location of the cave once Jack Nichols's anonymous friend had given them the tracker coordinates from Tom's first visit here. Then, after a few hurried phone calls from the Director of the FBI and the U. S. State Department to the Jor danian authorities, the Task Force had been dispatched within hours. Karen had tried to leave Tom behind, but nothing was going to stop him from seeing this through to the end. And, as he'd told her, he was the only person outside the Brotherhood who had ever been to the place before.

"Dave, what do they have?" Karen Tanner asked the man to her right. Wearing shades and desert fatigues, Dave was studying an array of data on his laptop. Like all the men from the Delta Force team, he hadn't supplied his surname, and Tom wasn't even sure whether Dave was really his first name.

"Sensor readings give us three men on the surface, but as for underground--that's anybody's guess. Given the data and what Tom's told us from the last time he came here, I believe the place relies more on secrecy than force for protection."

"Well, they've lost their protection." Karen reached for her walkie-talkie and patted the pilot on the shoulder. "Chuck, get us down as close to the tallest rock as you can. Fast and low, okay?"

Karen shouted orders into the walkie-talkie and all four helicopters immediately dropped in altitude, closing on their target. Tom felt his stomach contract as he looked down and saw two antlike figures running between the vehicles and the cave. His nervous excitement must have shown on his face because Karen gave him a tight grin. "You wanted to come along for the ride. Well, the ride starts now."

Brother Bernard had only just stopped voicing his doubts when Ezekiel De La Croix heard the sound of running feet from the stairs. It annoyed rather than concerned him at first. He had expressly told the three men above and the guard outside the cavern to leave them undisturbed. The noise grew louder and he could hear shouts now. Then two sharp reports. Gunshots? What was going on? The other members of the Inner Circle were now exchanging worried looks.

Brother Bernard stood. "I'd better investigate."

Suddenly the doors burst open and a group of men in uniform flooded into the chamber.

This couldn't be happening. Not here. Not now.

Surprising himself with his own agility, Ezekiel leaped up and ran behind the altar, putting himself between Maria and the open door to the Vault of Remembrance. Reaching under the altar cloth he felt for the ceremonial dagger and slipped it into the cord of his ceremonial robe. The others still hadn't moved---couldn't move. Only Brother Bernard was standing.

"Everyone, stay where you are!" ordered the auburn-haired woman in a blue coat with FBI emblazoned on the back. At least eight uniformed men stood on either side of her. "My name is Special Agent Karen Tanner of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. And in co-operation with the Jordanian authorities we are arresting you on suspicion of abduction, multiple homicide, and conspiracy to murder." Behind the Americans, Ezekiel could see a squad of what looked like Royal Jordanian troops.

His quick scan took in the Inner Circle: Bernard standing motionless, his eyes staring at the gun in the nearest FBI man's hand; Helix calmly shaking his head in disbelief; Luciano reaching for the sky like an outlaw in a John Wayne film; Haddad and Olazabal frozen, staring like rabbits into the headlights of a speeding truck.

Blood pounded in Ezekiel's temples. This was a nightmare. It couldn't end like this. How did they find this place?

Crouching behind the altar he began to pull the New Messiah toward him from the table, until her corpse fell with a dull thud at his feet. He had only one objective now--to protect the body. Nothing else mattered.

"Don't move, sir!" shouted a tall blond soldier, raising his pistol and walking toward him.

Then he stepped out of the shadows. And at that moment Ezekiel hated him more than any living thing. The atheist must have betrayed them on his last visit. The scientist had eluded Gomorrah and led these people here. He was going to ruin everything.

Ezekiel watched Carter gesture to the soldier to back off, and then saw him walk toward him. Don't waste time on the blasphemer, he admonished himself. Concentrate on protecting the New Messiah--keeping her safe. He quickly checked behind him to see how far away he was from the open door to the Vault of Remembrance. Less than a yard. And next to the door he could see the rope pull hanging from the heavy wooden stake that jutted waist-high out of the stone wall. Maintained but unused since it had been first installed in the early years, the drastic precaution was to be used only in moments of extreme emergency. But surely this qualified.

He forced his racing mind to remember the instructions he'd been given on his inauguration to the Leadership.

He glared at the unarmed Dr. Carter coming closer and closer, seeing his own anger at betrayal reflected in the man's blue eyes.

"Be careful, Tom!" he heard Tanner shout when the blasphemer reached the front of the altar, less than four feet away. The scientist was directly between Ezekiel and the crescent of armed men, almost on the white flame, momentarily shielding him from their guns.

Now was the ideal time to make his move.

Seeing Ezekiel De La Croix standing over Maria Benariac's elaborately shrouded corpse brought a cauldron of emotions to the boil in Tom. To think that he had eaten with this man, dealt with him, even felt sympathy for him--when all the time he had been biding his time, waiting to finish what his bloody Brotherhood had started in Stockholm. This wizened, black-eyed dwarf had killed his wife as certainly as Maria had. In many ways he was worse than Maria; if she was the foot soldier obeying orders, then he was the general who had given them.

Tom could guess why they wanted him dead, but he wanted to hear this man tell him. He needed to understand what warped rationale the Brotherhood used to order a man's death simply because he had dedicated himself to saving lives. No doubt it had something to do with that fanatical bullshit Maria had spewed at him in the GENIUS laboratory: tampering with God's work; undermining the divine order or some such crap. But he needed to understand why a whole organization committed to finding and protecting a Messiah they believed would save mankind also saw fit to kill people--to kill him. He needed to know this to make sense of Olivia's assassination.

He stepped closer to Ezekiel and sensed, rather than saw, the agents train their guns more intently on the Leader of the Brotherhood. He had been impressed by how speedily they had dispatched the guards. Two on the surface had tried to fight back with handguns, giving the third time to close the concealed door to the Great Stairs. But the attack had been too fast and too fierce. The helicopters hadn't even landed before agents were streaming across the ground. The three men had been incapacitated in minutes, all wounded but none killed. The guard below had taken more time, because Karen's team hadn't realized he was alone. But the man hadn't even known they were under attack and he was soon overpowered. Carter had only been a bystander but he'd felt the adrenaline rush as he'd followed the team into the Brotherhood's lair.

Now he was face to face with the man who had changed his life irrevocably.

"So you think Maria's coming back, do you?" he asked as he walked past the Sacred Flame, his hands within reach of the altar cloth.

Ezekiel didn't answer him, just crouched behind the altar like a cornered rat, black eyes staring with unconcealed hatred.