The Venetian Betrayal (50 page)

Cassiopeia bent down before the tombs and examined the lettering. Her fingers traced the words on each with a gentle touch. . . "I can't read this, but it has to be Alexander and Hephaestion."

He understood her awe. But there was a more pressing matter. "That'll have to wait. We have a bigger problem."

She stood upright.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Take off those wet clothes and I'll explain."

ZOVASTINA LEAPED INTO THE POOL, FOLLOWED BY VIKTOR, AND swam through the opening that looked so similar to the symbol on the elephant medallion. She'd noticed the resemblance immediately.

Easy strokes propelled her forward. The water was soothing, like a dip in one of the saunas at her palace.

Ahead, the overhead rock wall gave way.

She surfaced.

She'd been correct. Another chamber. Smaller than the one on the other side. She shook the water from her eyes and saw that the high ceiling seemed backlit by ambient light that leaked in from openings high in the rock. Viktor emerged beside her and they both climbed out. She surveyed the room. Faded murals decorated the walls. Two portals opened into more darkness.

No one in sight.

No other beams of light.

Apparently, Cotton Malone was not as naive as she'd thought.

"All right, Malone," she called out. "You have the advantage. But could I have a look first?"

Silence.

"I'll take that as a yes."

Her light studied the sandy floor, spangled with mica, and she spotted a moisture trail through the doorway to her right.

She entered the next chamber and spotted two funerary plinths. Both exteriors were adorned with carvings and letters, but she wasn't fluent in Old Greek. That was why she'd recruited Ely Lund. One image caught her eye and she stepped close and gently blew away debris that clogged its outline. Bit by bit a horse was revealed. Maybe five centimeters long, with an upstanding mane and a lifted tail.

"Bucephalas," she whispered.

She needed to see more so she said to the darkness, "Malone. I came here unarmed because I didn't need a gun. Viktor was mine, as you apparently know. But I have your three friends. I was there when you called on the phone. They're in the house, sealed away, about to be consumed by Greek fire. Just thought you'd like to know."

Still silence.

"Keep an eye out," she whispered to Viktor.

She'd come this far, wished too long, fought too hard, not to see. She laid her light atop one of the sarcophagi's lid, the one with the horse, and pushed. After a moment of valiant tugging, the thick slab moved. A few more shoves and she cleared a pie-shaped opening.

She grabbed the light and, unlike in Venice, hoped she would not be disappointed.

A mummy lay inside.

Sheathed and masked in gold.

She wanted to touch it, to lift the mask away, but thought better. She did not want to do anything that might damage the remains.

But she wondered.

Was she the first in over twenty-three hundred years to gaze upon the remains of Alexander the Great? Had she found the conqueror, along with his draught? Seems she had. Best of all, she knew precisely what to do with both. The draught would be used to fulfill her conquests and, as she now knew, make her an unexpected windfall of profit. The mummy, from whom she could not remove her eyes, would symbolize all that she did. The possibilities seemed endless, but the danger that surrounded her brought her thoughts back to the reality.

Malone was playing his hand quite carefully.

She needed to do the same.

MALONE SAW THE ANTICIPATION ON CASSIOPEIA'S FACE. ELY, Stephanie, and Henrik were in trouble. They'd watched from the other doorway, the one Zovastina had avoided, as she and Viktor followed the water trail and entered the funerary chamber.

"How did you know Viktor was lying to us?" she whispered.

"Twelve years of dealing with random assets. That whole thing with you at the palace? Too easy. And something Stephanie told me. Viktor's the one who fed them Vincenti. Why? Makes no sense. Except if Viktor was playing both sides."

"I should have seen that."

"How? You didn't hear what Stephanie told me in Venice."

They stood with bare shoulders scraping against oblique walls. They'd removed their pants and wrung the water from them so as not to leave any further trail. Once through the tomb's other two rooms, filled with artifacts, they had quickly re-dressed and waited. The tomb consisted of only four interconnected rooms, none of which were large, two of which opened to the pool. Zovastina was most likely enjoying a moment of triumph. But the information about Stephanie, Ely, and Henrik had changed things. True or not, the possibility had grabbed his attention. Which was surely the idea.

He glanced out toward the pool. Light danced in the funerary room. He hoped the sight of Alexander the Great's grave might buy them a few moments.

"You ready?" he asked Cassiopeia.

She nodded.

He led the way.

Viktor stepped from the other doorway.

Chapter
EIGHTY-EIGHT

STEPHANIE NOTICED THAT THE SICKENINGLY SWEET AROMA WAS not as strong in the back passages, but nonetheless lingered. At least they weren't trapped any longer. Several turns had led them deeper into the house and she'd yet to see another open exit.

"I've seen how this concoction works," Thorvaldsen said. "Once Greek fire ignites, these walls will burn quickly. We need to be out of here before that happens."

She was aware of their dilemma, but their choices were limited. Lyndsey was still anxious, Ely amazingly calm. He had the countenance of an agent, not an academician, a coolness she admired considering their predicament. She wished she possessed more of his nerve.

"What do you mean by quickly?" Lyndsey asked Thorvaldsen. "How fast will this place burn?"

"Fast enough that we'll be trapped."

"So what are we doing in here?"

"You want to go back to that storage closet?" she asked.

They turned another corner, the dark hall reminding her of a corridor in a train. The path ended just ahead at the base of a steep stairway, leading up.

No choice.

They climbed.

MALONE STEADIED HIMSELF.

"Going somewhere?" Viktor asked.

Cassiopeia stood behind him. He wondered about Zovastina's location. Was the dancing light merely a ploy to draw them out?

"Thought we'd leave."

"Can't let you do that."

"If you think you can stop me, you're welcome to--"

Viktor lunged forward. Malone sidestepped the move, then locked his attacker in a bear hug.

They dropped to the floor and rolled.

Malone found himself on top. Viktor struggled beneath him. He clamped a hand onto the other man's throat and sank his knee deep into Viktor's chest. Quickly, with both hands, he yanked Viktor upward and slammed the back of his skull into the rocky floor.

CASSIOPEIA READIED HERSELF TO LEAP INTO THE POOL AS SOON AS Malone broke free. At the same instant Viktor's body went limp beneath Malone, movement out of the corner of her eye drew her attention to the doorway where they'd been hiding.

"Malone," she called out.

Zovastina rushed toward her.

Malone sprang off Viktor and found the water.

Cassiopeia dove in after him and swam hard for the tunnel.

STEPHANIE TOPPED THE STAIRS AND SAW THERE WAS A CHOICE OF routes. Left or right? She turned left. Ely headed right.

"Over here," Ely called out.

They all rushed his way and saw an open doorway.

"Careful," Thorvaldsen said. "Don't let those things out there spray you. Avoid them."

Ely nodded, then pointed at Lyndsey. "You and I are going after that flash drive."

The scientist shook his head. "Not me."

Stephanie agreed. "That's not a good idea."

"You're not sick."

"Those robots," Thorvaldsen said, "are programmed to explode, and we don't know when."

"I don't give a damn," Ely said, his voice rising. "This man knows how to cure AIDS. His dead boss has known that for years, but let millions die. Zovastina has that cure now. I'm not going to let her manipulate it, too." Ely grabbed Lyndsey by the shirt. "You and I are going to get that drive."

"You're nuts," Lyndsey said. "Frickin' nuts. Just go up to the green pool and drink the water. Vincenti said it worked that way. You don't need me."

Thorvaldsen watched the younger man closely. Stephanie realized that the Dane was perhaps seeing his own son standing before him, youth in all its glory, simultaneously defiant, brave, and foolish. Her own son, Mark, was the same way.

"Your butt," Ely said, "is going with me into that lab."

She realized something else. "Zovastina went after Cotton and Cassiopeia. She left us in this house for a reason. You heard her. She purposefully told us those machines would take a little time."

"We're insurance," Thorvaldsen said.

"Bait. Probably for Cotton and Cassiopeia. But this guy," she pointed at Lyndsey, "him, she wants. His babbling made sense. She doesn't have time to be sure an antiagent works, or that he's being truthful. Though she may not admit it, she needs him. She'll be back for him before this place burns. You can count on it."

ZOVASTINA LEAPED INTO THE POOL. MALONE HAD BESTED VIKTOR and Cassiopeia Vitt had managed to elude her.

If she swam fast she could catch Vitt in the tunnel.

MALONE PLANTED HIS PALMS AND PUSHED HIMSELF UP FROM THE pool. He felt a rush beneath him and saw Cassiopeia surface. She deftly sprang from the warm water and, dripping wet, grabbed one of the guns that lay a few feet away.

"Let's go," he said, retrieving his shoes and shirt.

Cassiopeia backed toward the exit, gun leveled at the pool.

A shadow clouded the water.

Zovastina's head found air.

Cassiopeia fired.

THE FIRST EXPLOSION STARTLED ZOVASTINA MORE THAN FRIGHTENED her. Water cleared from her eyes and she saw Vitt aiming one of the guns straight at her.

Another bang. Unbearably loud.

She plunged beneath the surface.

CASSIOPEIA FIRED TWO TIMES AT THE ILLUMINATED POOL. THE gun seemed to jam so she worked the slide, ejecting a cartridge, loading a new round. Then she noticed something and faced Malone.

"Feel better?" he asked.

"Blanks?" she asked.

"Of course. Rounds stuffed with wadding, I imagine, so there'd be enough kick to at least partially work the slide. But not enough, obviously. You don't think Viktor would have given us bullets?"

"I never thought about it."

"That's the problem. You're not thinking. Can we go now?"

She tossed the gun away. "You're such a joy to work with."

And they both fled the chamber.

VIKTOR RUBBED THE BACK OF HIS HEAD AND WAITED. ANOTHER few seconds and he'd roll into the pool, but Zovastina returned, breathing hard as she emerged from the water, and rested her arms on the rocky edge.

"I forgot about the guns. They have us trapped. The only way out is guarded."

Viktor's head hurt from the pounding and he fought an irritating dizziness. "Minister, the guns are loaded with blanks. I changed all the magazines before we escaped from the palace. I didn't think it wise to give them loaded guns."

"Nobody noticed?"

"Who checks rounds? They simply assumed the guns aboard a military chopper were loaded."

"Good thinking, but you could have mentioned that to me."

"Everything happened so fast. There wasn't time and, unfortunately, Malone gave my skull a good pop on these rocks."

"What about Malone's gun from the palace? That was loaded. Where is it?"

"In the chopper. He changed it out for one of ours."

He watched as her mind rolled through the possibilities.

"We need Lyndsey from the house. He's all that's left here now."

"What about Malone and Vitt?"

"I have men waiting. And their guns are loaded."

Chapter
EIGHTY-NINE

STEPHANIE STARED OUT THROUGH THE OPEN PANEL INTO ONE OF the mansion's bedchambers. The room was elaborately furnished in an Italian style and quiet save for a mechanical whir from outside an open door, which led to the second-floor hall.

They stepped from the back passage.

One of the Greek fire machines whizzed passed in the hall, spewing mist. A pall hung heavy in the room, evidence that the robots had already visited.

"They're quickly basting this house," Thorvaldsen said as he moved to the hall door.

She was just about to caution him to stop when the Dane stepped out and a new voice--male, foreign--shouted.

Thorvaldsen froze, then slowly raised his arms.