The Norse Directive (11 page)

The woman nodded and removed her cell phone from a front pocket. She hurried through the doors and disappeared inside.

The police would be there within a few minutes, which was good for Coop and Charlie. Possibly not so good if they showed up and found Sean’s Audi looking like Swiss cheese. 

“Get back in the car,” he directed Adriana under his breath. “We have to hide the car.”

Adriana didn’t need to be told twice. She skipped around the SUV’s hood and jumped back into the passenger seat. Sean quickly got back in, leaving the back door open as he did so. The engine revved to life again, and before the nurse could completely turn around, he stepped on the gas and squealed the tires.

Sean looked back and saw her start to take a few running steps in their direction. The phone was pressed to her ear, and she was yelling something. A moment later, Sean zipped the SUV around the corner of the building and disappeared from sight.

“What now?” Adriana asked. “There will be police surrounding the place in less than two minutes.”

Funny. He’d thought the same thing.

“We need to ditch the car,” he said with a hint of regret. “They’ll be looking for this. And there’s no way that nurse didn’t just give the cops my plate info.”

“Where then?”

He slowed the vehicle down a little and then suddenly jerked the wheel to the right, turning into the parking garage.

Adriana saw where he was going and raised a questioning eyebrow as she turned her head toward him. “In there?”

“Sometimes the last place people will look is right under their noses.”

He spun the wheel to the left, driving the SUV up a ramp and then around a curve onto the second deck of the parking garage. He leaned forward, checking the ceilings and corners for any cameras. Some hospitals had installed security cameras to prevent crime. So far, he hadn’t noticed any, but he kept his eyes peeled as the vehicle rolled to the end of the row of cars and ascended the second ramp.

“What about Charlie and Coop?” Adriana asked quietly as if someone would hear her.

“We’re not just leaving them. I just want to ditch the car so it doesn’t draw too much attention. Although Coop’s in good hands. He’s going to be fine.” Sean didn’t tell her that he had some doubts about that. At the moment, it didn’t seem prudent to be completely honest. “Charlie will watch after him. Truthfully, it’s probably safest if they stay here. If those gunmen know where we’re going, I’d rather not have the two of them around if things get crazy again. I already feel a little guilty about Coop getting shot.” Sean turned the SUV up another ramp toward the fourth floor. So far, they’d not seen anyone except a large woman in purple scrubs waddling her way into an elevator. She’d not paid them any attention, instead focusing all her attention on the smartphone in her hands.

“You think your friend, Charlie, is going to be okay with staying here at the hospital?” She didn’t sound like she was sure that was the best course of action.

Right now wasn’t the time to get into a disagreement. He also knew that Adriana was a woman that appreciated certainty.

“A hospital is a much safer place for them than riding with us. Besides, he’ll probably want to stay with Coop.”

Sean found an empty parking spot and swung the SUV around in a dramatic arc before backing it in against the concrete wall. The two got out of the vehicle and ran the hundred feet to the stairwell.

Once they’d made their way back down to the main level, Sean led the way to the emergency room. Hospitals had always been confusing places to him. There were so many narrow halls and corridors, all leading to different, seemingly random areas. As a boy, he’d got lost for half an hour in a hospital when he was visiting his grandfather. Fortunately, the hallways at Emory were well marked with locations and directions. Getting from the parking garage to the ER took less than two minutes.

Sean burst through the door and found himself staring face to face with a large woman in pink scrubs.

She was momentarily caught off guard, but quickly regained her composure. “Are you the one who dropped off the guy with the gunshot wound?” Her heavy Southern accent reminded him of childhood trips to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia.

He hesitated for a second before answering. “Yeah. Is he okay?”

The young nurse nodded, but her face looked grim. “He’s lost a lot of blood. If you hadn’t got him here when you did, it might have been a lot worse. They rushed him into surgery. The other man you dropped off is in the waiting area if you want to join him.”

Sean nodded appreciatively. “Thank you.”

They found Charlie sitting on the edge of a fake-leather chair in the surgery waiting room. He had his elbows on his knees and rocked back and forth in a short, quick rhythm. Sean had never seen his friend so distraught, not even when he’d been staring down the barrel of a gun the previous day.

“Charlie,” Sean said as he and Adriana approached. The older man looked up with a worried expression.

“I wondered if you left or not.”

“No, buddy,” Sean said, shaking his head. “We just wanted to put the car somewhere it wouldn’t draw as much attention, you know, with it being shot up and all.”

His friend snorted a laugh. Then his face grew grave again. “Coop’s in surgery.”

“We know,” Adriana touched the old man’s arm. “He’s going to be fine, Charlie.”

So much had changed in such a short amount of time, Sean thought. Forty minutes ago, they were finishing breakfast and coffee, talking to Tommy about a strange, ancient treasure. Now everything had gone the way it always seemed to in Sean’s life. Guns, bullets, and blood every time it seemed like things were calming down.

“I hope so,” Charlie said, snapping Sean’s thoughts back to the moment.

“He’ll be okay,” Sean said, putting his arm on Charlie’s other shoulder.

Charlie’s head drooped again. “I feel like it’s my fault.”

Sean frowned. “Hey.” He waited until Charlie’s pale eyes met his. “None of this was anyone’s fault but the bad guys. Okay? Your friend wanted to know more about a family heirloom, and you helped him with it. There was no way for either of you to know any of this would happen. So let that crap go.”

Charlie thought for a minute before speaking again. “I suppose you’re right. But I still feel bad. And there’s no reason for you two to get dragged into this.”

Adriana raised an eyebrow. “Don’t worry about us,” she said, smiling. “We can take care of ourselves.”

The situation had changed drastically, and Sean knew it. His next concern came to the forefront while Charlie was talking. If the men who’d attacked them knew where he and the others were going, that would be the next place they’d appear.

Sean excused himself from the other two and pulled his phone out of the front pocket of his khakis. A few seconds later, Tommy answered on the other end.

“What’s up, man?”

“Well, we have had a change of plans. I need you to get everybody either locked down or evacuated from the building. We were just attacked by some kind of hit squad. The guy from yesterday brought some friends to the party. They ambushed us at the house this morning as we were headed to your office. My guess is they probably know where we were going.”

Tommy listened carefully before saying anything. “These guys must really want that coin.”

“Apparently.”

“Where are you now?”

Sean looked around the waiting room, more out of instinct than anything else. He’d learned long ago not to become too comfortable in public settings. That’s when bad things could happen. “We’re at the hospital. Charlie’s friend, the owner of the coin, was shot. I think he’s going to be all right. I’ve definitely seen worse. But he’s in surgery right now. I need you to come to us.”

“Understood. I’ll bring the kids too. They may have some more information you’d be interested in hearing.”

“Sounds good. Thanks, bud.”

“No problem,” Tommy hesitated for a second. “Sorry about your friend. I hope he’s okay.”

“He will be,” Sean said, as much to convince himself as anything. “Just hurry up, and get out of there.”

Atlanta

Sirens blared in the distance. It would have been impossible for the gunfight to go unnoticed in the peaceful suburban area. Petrov figured they had less than ninety seconds to get clear.

He and his men had opened fire on Wyatt’s SUV in plain daylight. Wyatt had gone one direction, then been herded to Petrov’s end of the street where he peppered the vehicle with hot metal. He continued walking toward the SUV, hammering it with a fresh magazine of bullets as the Audi changed direction again. Only when Wyatt shot through the metal gates did Petrov spin around and hurriedly return to his sedan.

Once inside, he stepped on the gas in an attempt to catch up to the fleeing target. Wyatt’s gate had closed too quickly, though, and the iron supports would have done more damage to Petrov’s car than the other way around. He was forced to slam on his brakes and back out of the driveway entrance.

The man playing the role of the plumber limped over to Petrov’s car, dragging his bloody leg behind him. He waved at the Russian, trying to get his attention. Petrov rolled down his window.

“What your plan?” the man gasped through clenched teeth, his accent distinctly from Eastern Europe.

“Distract the police.”

A baffled look replaced the agony on the man’s face. “How do you expect me to do that?”

Petrov raised a black handgun and squeezed the trigger three times. The long sound suppressor on the end kept the noise resigned to a puff with each shot. The rounds lodged deep into the man’s chest and sent him reeling backward onto the asphalt.

The Russian set the gun back on the passenger seat and sped down to the other end of the street where the two remaining men awaited orders. “Follow me. I know where they’re headed.”

“What about the police?” the American mercenary asked. The man’s head was shaved, and his trapezius muscles bulged around his neck, almost tearing his skintight black T-shirt.

“We’ll lose them on the way.”

Neither of the remaining men asked about the dead man Petrov had left at the gate. They didn’t care, so long as it wasn’t them that were dead. The code of mercenary life was to survive at all costs. Sometimes that meant leaving coworkers behind.

The two jumped into their SUV and tucked in behind the sedan. The two cars turned down a side street three blocks away, disappearing from view just before the first police car arrived on the scene.

Petrov slowed down slightly, despite his foot feeling the natural urge to speed through the back streets of North Atlanta. The last thing they needed was to be noticed fleeing the scene by one of the swarming police officers. Casually, the Russian led the way through the outskirts of the city, careful to obey all traffic laws if at all possible.

After several minutes of watching rearview mirrors and twitching at every sound that resembled a siren, the convoy reached an intersection just a few hundred feet from the interstate. The light went from yellow to red before they could get through, so Petrov stopped at the white line to wait his turn. Across the street, in the lane going the opposite direction, sat a city police car.

Petrov glanced in the rearview mirror to make sure his two men were keeping their cool. Both of the muscular hit men acted as casual as possible, even appearing to keep up a conversation complete with fake laughs and smiles. The Russian returned his stare to the police unit on the other side of the intersection, disappearing intermittently as cars crossed by in the other directions.

The reflection of the lights turned yellow, and Petrov noticed the cop suddenly reach for his radio. He seemed to be staring directly at the sedan and the SUV behind it. Petrov’s fingers gripped the leather steering wheel a little tighter, and he readied his foot to hammer the accelerator. They were so close to getting clear of the area only to be found by a random officer.

The blue lights flashed on the top of the squad car, and it suddenly swung around in front of one of the cars in the turn lane and sped away down the street to Petrov’s right. The light turned green, but he didn’t notice at first. His eyes still stared off in the direction the policeman had driven.

He snapped back to the intersection and stepped on the gas before his comrades behind him had to wake him up with a polite honk of the horn. The two vehicles eased through the crossroads and down the sloping interstate on ramp.

Close call averted. For now.

Atlanta

Tommy strode purposefully through the hospital corridor, his canvas laptop bag slung over one shoulder. The minute he’d hung up the phone with Sean, Tommy evacuated the entire IAA part of the Georgia Historical Center. His agency only took up two floors, and one of those was for secure storage of artifacts. The other floor housed the research facilities, labs, and offices. With most of the IAA agents out in the field at the time, only he and three others had to leave, one being the receptionist, the other two being Alex and Tara.

Wary that he might be followed, Tommy took an extra twenty minutes to reach the hospital, ducking down offshoot roads and alleyways to throw off anyone who might be trying to keep up. While he desperately wanted to reach Sean and the others as quickly as possible, he also didn’t want to lead trouble to their doorstep again. From what Sean had told him, they’d somehow lost the hit squad for now. He wondered, though, if they could find them again. Really, it wasn’t question of if, but when. Tommy had spent enough time in the field, dealing with the seedy underbelly of the world. He’d seen his fair share of thievery and killing. Wealthy men, men without morals, would do anything to get what they wanted. From time to time, that put Tommy and his IAA agents squarely in the crosshairs.

He turned a corner and found the waiting room where his friends sat on burgundy-upholstered leather chairs. Sean was the first to see him and immediately stood up, grinning from ear to ear.

“Glad you made it out okay,” he said, full of relief.

Tommy nodded and slipped his bag over his head and onto one of the seats. “Yeah, I told everyone to get out of the building as soon as we got off the phone. Of course the kids resisted. They do love their toys.”

“They didn’t come with you?”

“Nah. They went to the safe house over near Inman Park. They’ll be fine there. Only a few of us even know about that place. Plus, there are plenty of toys for them to play with.”

Sean knew what his friend meant when he said, “toys.” Alex and Tara had a reputation for being addicted to laboratories and research equipment. It was part of why they almost never seemed to leave IAA headquarters. The only thing Sean could compare it to was when he’d lost track of dozens of hours in the photography lab in college, back before the digital age, when cameras still used film. He’d gone into the dark room at one point and come out four hours later, thinking only thirty minutes had gone by. Considering that comparison, he could understand the kids’ love for research.

“Adriana,” Tommy gave a short nod. “Good to see you again.”

She replied with a smile. “You as well.”

“Charlie,” Tommy stepped over to the older man, who stood and offered his hand. Tommy gripped it firmly for a few seconds, shaking it twice before letting go.

He sat down next to his laptop bag and crossed his legs. A second later, he had the computer on his lap. The others took a seat as well. “I don’t mean to dispense with the pleasantries, but I’m assuming that since these men tried to kill you, time is probably of the essence. Yes?”

“Affirmative,” Sean answered.

“Good. I just didn’t want to step on any toes. Although I am sorry about your friend, Charlie. He’s in good hands here at this hospital.”

“I appreciate it,” he said gruffly.

“Now,” Tommy directed his inquisition at Sean, “you said there was a diary?”

Sean’s eyes grew wide. “Yeah.” He hesitated for a second. “But Coop had it. And the coin.”

“He doesn’t anymore,” Charlie cut in. He reached into his jacket and pulled out the small leather book. “He gave it to me on the way in.” Charlie stood momentarily and handed the journal and the coin over to Tommy.

There were a few dark smudges on the outside from where Coop’s bloody fingers had handled it.

“Ah.” Tommy examined the outside of the diary and then reverently opened the first page. “Late eighteenth century.”

Sean winked over at his older friend as if to say, “I told you so.”

Tommy read through the pages, turning them carefully so as not to damage them. When he reached the final line, he flipped back to the pages containing the odd symbols, and then returned to the last entry.

“The southern gate?” he asked, more to himself than to anyone else.

“We were wondering the same thing,” Adriana spoke up.

“And we have no idea what the part about the toll means,” Sean added.

Tommy frowned and ran his fingers across the keys on his computer. A few seconds later, a new page appeared on the screen. “Nothing comes up for the term southern gate, at least nothing promising.” He entered in a few more search terms to try to clarify what he was looking for. Still, nothing seemed to fit.

Sean pondered the riddle for a moment before saying, “The diary says that he only finished a quarter of the journey. Jackson found the first coin, but none of the other four.”

“And he didn’t say where he found the first one,” Adriana threw in.

“Right.” Tommy processed the information with a finger pressed against his right temple. Two doctors in white lab coats approached but continued walking by the group, their conversation echoing through the corridor after them.

“Did you ever find out where Francis Jackson was from?” Sean asked, breaking the silence.

Tommy frowned for a second, trying to remember if he’d been able to get that information, then shook his head. “I don’t think so,” he said. “But I’ve got all the information the kids were able to dig up on a shareable document. Seems like I remember seeing where Jackson was from on that.”

He tapped rapidly on the keyboard, and a few seconds later used his forefinger to scroll down a list. Near the top, he found the detail he was looking for. “Says here, Jackson was from Southampton, England.”

“Is that where he was born or where he spent his last days?” Sean wondered.

“Why does that matter?” Charlie butted in.

“Because...” Sean stood up and began pacing around. He felt like he always thought better when he was pacing. “If Southampton was his birthplace, it likely has nothing to do with our search, and we’ll need to find where he died. But if Southampton was where Jackson spent the end of his life, then we can narrow our search.”

“It was where he died,” Tommy interrupted.

He pecked away at the keys again. Suddenly, his face perked up. “Ah ha. Looks like we might have a winner.”

Adriana leaned closer, and Sean stepped over to see what his friend had discovered.

“Bargate,” Tommy said. “Looks like Bargate is a famous location in Southampton. It appears to have been there for an extremely long time, certainly before Francis Jackson’s lifetime. Might be worth looking into.”

He spun the laptop around so the other three could see the screen better.

“Wait a minute,” Charlie protested after taking a short glance at the computer monitor. “Don’t tell me you three are going to fly all the way to England based on some ancient riddle you found in some crazy man’s diary.”

Sean’s eyes shifted over to Charlie. “Come on, Charlie. You know that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

“Well, we need to make sure that’s where we believe Jackson left the first clue,” Tommy said. “And on top of that, Sean, you should probably leave this sort of thing to the professionals, seeing that you don’t work for IAA anymore.” He raised a mischievous eyebrow.

Adriana almost laughed out loud but covered her mouth with her hand.

“Funny,” Sean said, putting his hands on his hips. “But we do need to make absolutely certain that’s the first place to go. Traipsing around the world on a wild goose chase isn’t the most prudent of plans.”

Tommy turned the laptop around and began typing once more. He hit the enter key, clicked the mouse pad a few times, and then scanned the page he’d landed on. “Says here that Francis Jackson was buried in the Southampton Old Cemetery.”

“Wait a minute,” Charlie interjected again. “Don’t tell me you’re gonna go dig up some guy’s grave in all this.” He had a scowl on his face that accompanied the chastising tone.

“Ideally...” Sean waited a few seconds before continuing. “No. But I don’t think we can rule it out at this point.”

This time, Adriana couldn’t keep from laughing.

“I’m kidding, Charlie. We aren’t going to dig up Francis Jackson’s grave unless we absolutely have to. And if that is necessary, we’ll go through the proper channels. I’m sure Tommy’s got some connections to the right people over there to get us the permits for such a thing.”

Charlie shook his head. “Let’s just hope you don’t have to get them. If you ever go pokin’ around my grave after I’m done, I’ll haunt your dreams until you join me.”

Tommy burst out with a short bout of laughter and then continued reading on the screen.

Another doctor in a lab coat approached the group. This time, the guy didn’t continue down the hall. He stopped when he reached them. “Are you the people who brought Mr. Cooper in?”

“Yeah,” Charlie stood up. “That’s us.”

“Are any of you relatives of Mr. Cooper?”

The question sent a blade through everyone’s throats. A question like that from a doctor usually didn’t carry good news with it.

“He doesn’t have any relatives,” Charlie said in a grim voice. He knew what was coming next. The look on the doctor’s face didn’t help.

“Oh,” the man said awkwardly. He glanced down at the chart in his hand and made a few notes. “So, you are friends of his?”

“Yeah, Doc. Is Coop gonna be okay?” Charlie asked with heavy concern.

The question caused the doctor to perk up. “Oh, yes. He will be fine. The bullet missed all his vital organs, so far as we can tell. He will need to stay overnight for observation, considering the amount of blood he lost. But your friend is going to be okay.”

Relief washed over Charlie’s face.

“He’s still in surgery right now, but he will be moved to recovery and then a regular room in a few hours.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Sean said. “We appreciate it.”

“You’re very welcome.” The man looked over the rim of his glasses. His tall forehead shone from the fluorescent lights overhead. “I am curious how this happened. Was he cleaning his gun or something?”

Everyone’s eyes drifted to Sean as if they expected him to answer the question. He reacted quickly. From the way the doctor had asked the question, he knew the nurse had already informed him about the bullet-riddled SUV. “I wish that were the case. We were caught going through the wrong part of town. It felt like a drive-by shooting. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a good look at the shooters.”

The doctor’s eyebrows lifted. “Oh? Have the police been informed?”

“Not yet,” Sean said. “But we will give them all the details we can.”

“That’s a good idea. The next person that drifts through that area might not be so lucky. I’d hate for that to happen if it can be prevented.”

The doctor tucked his clipboard under his armpit. “You all have a good day. I’m sorry about your friend’s misfortune. You should be able to visit him in a few hours.”

“Thanks, Doc,” Charlie said amid the thank yous from the others.

The man nodded and strode back down the corridor.

“At least Coop’s going to be all right,” Sean said, turning back to the group.

Charlie’s face turned ashen. When he spoke, his voice carried a dreary tone. “Sean,” his gaze pierced Sean’s eyes all the way to his core, “you have to make these people pay. Whoever they are and whoever they’re working for have to answer for this. I don’t care that the Russian guy beat me up and was threatening to kill me, but when it gets to the people I care about, that’s when I get mad.”

“I would hope that we don’t have to see them ever again, Charlie,” Sean said. But he knew better. It was foolish to think that there wouldn’t be another clash. All he could really wish for is that they would put enough distance between them and the hit squad. “We know they’re after the coins. Why is another question.”

“Agreed,” Adriana said, easing back into her seat and crossing one leg over a knee. So our next stop is England?”

“Looks that way,” Tommy shrugged.

“I’m stayin’ here with Coop,” Charlie stated. “I’m too old to be runnin’ around with you youngins.”

No one protested. Charlie was right. He would only slow them down, though no one wanted to say it. Staying with Coop was the best thing he could have done. Sean tilted his head back in Tommy’s direction. “Southampton, huh? You coming?”

“Well, it has been a while since I’ve had good fish and chips.”