The Lucifer Code (11 page)

The young men who had been flirting with Brigid ran to the doorway. Dawson met them with the pistol in his fist.

‘Get back,’ he ordered coldly. ‘Get back or I’ll kill you.’

The would-be heroes griped and cursed, but they backed away before the pistol.

‘Your sister,’ Dawson said, as he eased out of the supply room and forced the young men backward. ‘Have her call me as soon as she gets your message. Understand?’

‘Yes.’

Casually, Dawson stepped over the unconscious man, held the would-be heroes at bay with the pistol, and went through the security door at the back of the bar. The alarm blatted loudly and the sound rolled through the alley.

He stepped his pace up to a jog. A full run would have inspired some of the young guys to chase after him. Young guys were wired like that. But a lope told them he wasn’t afraid. He also kept the pistol in his hand. Luck was with him at the other end of the alley. A cab coasted up the street. At this time of night, a driver could make good money running people between bars and homes. He changed cabs three more times before he headed back to the airport. By that time, with all the walking and changing bars, he was certain the police wouldn’t be able to pick up his trail.

Back aboard the private jet, Dawson settled into the comfortable seat and poured himself a glass of expensive bourbon. His heart rate was back to normal, but he kept thinking of how frightened Brigid MacKenna had been of him. A dark part of him liked that a lot. He sipped the bourbon as they waited for tower clearance, then called the vice-president.

‘It’s done, sir.’

‘Good, Jimmy. I take it you’re all right?’

‘Right as rain, sir. Couldn’t be better. There are times like this when I really regret leaving the field.’

Webster chuckled. ‘I’m glad you’re all right. And I understand completely. When something needs doing, there’s nothing like getting your hands dirty to make sure it’s done properly.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘You’re certain Miss MacKenna will be calling?’

‘Absolutely, sir.’ In his mind Dawson saw Brigid’s face etched with fear. ‘I’d say once Cleena gets the message, calling that number will be the first thing on her mind.’

‘Now then, we need to talk about what we next have on tap for Professor Lourds. We’re going to need to expose him as an enemy of our great country.’

Dawson took in a breath. ‘Sir?’

‘It’s true, Jimmy. There are some things that I haven’t yet told you, and I’m going to tell you some of them now. We’re going to need a team in Istanbul to pick the professor up as soon as he surfaces. This is a dangerous thing we’re working on, Jimmy. A lot is riding on our success. We have to be slicker than we’ve ever been before. But you and I can do this.’

Catacombs

Yesilkoy District

Istanbul, Turkey

17 March 2010

‘You’re going to kill me? If they don’t kill me, you’re going to kill me?
That’s
your plan?’

Cleena thought she heard anger in Lourds’ words, but it might only have been hysteria. Though either emotion would have been understandable.

‘Shut up,’ she whispered as she held tightly to Lourds. ‘I’m trying to save your life.’

‘
My
life?’ Lourds sounded as though he couldn’t believe it. ‘They didn’t start shooting until you grabbed me. I’d already saved my life.’

‘No, you just postponed the execution.’

‘It was working for me.’

‘Look,’ Cleena snarled through gritted teeth, ‘they were going to kill us no matter what. And truthfully, it would be easier for me to get out of here without you.’

‘Oh, really? And if you didn’t have me to hold hostage, who would you use as a human shield?’

Cleena knew Qayin and his men were moving in the darkness. They wouldn’t stay down much longer and reloading her weapon wasn’t an option. She couldn’t do it before they’d be on her.

‘Here’s how this works,’ Cleena whispered. ‘Either you come with me or I shoot you. I won’t shoot you to kill you, but I will wound you. Qayin and his lackeys will be concerned about you now that they’ve seen you can read their mysterious little book. They’ll busy themselves trying to save you. I’ll take my chances in the confusion, but you’ll still remain in their clutches.’ She shook him by the collar. ‘So, Professor, this is your last invitation. Do you want to come with me, or do you want me to leave you here?’

‘Is there an option number three?’

She shook him again.

Lourds gave a brief nod. ‘Let’s do this while my legs are still under me.’

Slowly, Cleena backed out of the room. Instead of reaching the door, she bumped into the wall.

‘What’s wrong?’ Lourds asked.

‘The bloody door isn’t where I left it.’ Cleena slid down the wall.

‘Are you lost?’

‘No. Perhaps a little distracted and disoriented.’

Lourds sighed. ‘Some rescue.’

‘Still thinking about the option of shooting you. It’s getting more attractive.’

The professor shifted, juggling the book in his arms and clapping his hat on his head. He pulled a Zippo lighter from his pocket and flicked it to life. The yellow and blue flame shimmered in the darkness and chased back the shadows.

‘Do you see the door now?’ Lourds asked. He focused on watching Qayin and his followers. The men slunk back into the shadows like cockroaches.

Cleena glanced over her shoulder. The light from the flame exposed a rectangle of blackness.

‘Yes,’ she answered.

Qayin called out of the darkness left in the big room. ‘Professor Lourds, I would advise you not to trust this woman.’

‘I don’t trust her any farther than I could throw my left eyeball. However, trust appears to be a capricious thing down here at the moment. I already know I can’t trust you. She’s still a question mark.’

Cleena backed through the door and glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was behind her. The next room was as big as the last and just as empty.

‘Do you know where we are?’ Lourds whispered.

‘They weren’t handing out maps when they brought us down here, and I didn’t get the chance to leave a trail of breadcrumbs.’

‘So you’re just as lost now as you were a few minutes ago? Only in a bigger room. And these catacombs go on for miles beneath the city.’

Catacombs were one of the most necessary engineering feats for thriving ancient cities. In centuries past, they’d served to store water, food and house the dead. The thought of graves lodged somewhere in the dark walls left Cleena chilled.

‘You are very irritating. And, for your information, stating the problem doesn’t solve it.’

‘Recognizing the problem provides focus.’

‘Do you have to have an answer for everything?’

‘I’m a professor. It’s my job.’

‘Professor,’ Qayin called.

‘He’s closer,’ Lourds whispered.

‘I can hear that. I’m just lost, not deaf. And now that we’re out of that room, they’ll creep up to the doorway.’ It was what Cleena would do in their situation.

‘Professor, are you listening?’ Qayin called.

‘I’m listening.’

‘Don’t listen to him,’ Cleena snapped.

‘I’m buying us time,’ Lourds said.

‘Leave the book,’ Qayin urged. ‘Leave the book and we’ll let you go free. Unharmed.’

‘I don’t believe him,’ Lourds whispered. ‘Do you?’

‘No.’ Cleena kept backing up, dividing her attention between the doorway, the professor and the area behind them.

‘We can find someone else to read the book, Professor,’ Qayin called.

‘Right,’ Lourds whispered. ‘As if they haven’t already been trying. I bet I’ve been the only one they’ve found.’

‘Kind of high on yourself, aren’t you? You seemed to be struggling with that translation.’

‘I read part of it. In twenty minutes, I might add. Under pressure. And without my resource material.’

‘You’re really modest, too.’

‘I’m good at what I do.’

‘They’ll put that on your tombstone,’ Cleena whispered.

‘I thought the objective was to get out of here alive.’

‘Ah, so you
are
listening.’

Lourds cursed.

‘Professor?’ Qayin called. ‘Do we have an agreement?’

Cleena thought desperately, then seized on an idea. She glanced at Lourds and the Zippo he held in his hand. The lighter had to be getting hot.

‘Set fire to the book,’ she said.

Lourds baulked and looked startled. ‘What?’

‘Set fire to the book. If they care about it as much as they seem to, they’ll be more interested in saving it than in pursuing us.’

Lourds wrapped his arm tightly around the book and held it to his chest. ‘I’m not going to burn this book.’

‘It’s not your book.’

‘It’s not
their
book.’

A fresh wave of irritation swept through Cleena. ‘You don’t know if that book is even a real artefact. It could be a fake.’

‘I don’t think someone went to all the trouble to fake an artificial language based on outdated Greek for an April fool’s joke. We don’t know what we have here.’

‘Is that book worth our lives?’ Cleena asked.

‘I don’t know. Maybe.’

Qayin spoke again. ‘Professor, if I’m prepared to try to have another linguist decipher that book, then you have to know that I’m also prepared to shoot you and the woman at this point. I’ll take my chances with finding another translator, but I won’t lose that book.’

‘Set fire to the book,’ Cleena commanded again.

‘No. I have a responsibility as a scientist to protect it.’

‘So you can get your name on an article in some dusty science magazine?’

‘That’s not what this is about.’

Cleena cursed. ‘Are you really this stupid?’

Lourds suddenly yelped in pain and dropped the Zippo. The lighter hit the ground and the flame went out. Darkness immediately surrounded them.

‘Oops.’

Unbelievably, Lourds bent down as if to search for the dropped lighter. Cleena jerked on his shirt collar to get him moving.

‘Come on!’ she yelled, then threw a hip into him and knocked him to one side.

Lourds staggered and almost fell. He gagged as she kept hold of his shirt collar and guided him towards the door she’d seen on the other side of the room.

‘I can’t see,’ Lourds protested, and struggled to slow their headlong pace.

‘Neither can they. Keep moving.’

‘We’re going to hit a wall.’

Qayin and his men opened fire behind them. Bullets ricocheted from the stone walls, trailing sparks in their wake.

‘Okay. I see your point.’ Lourds stepped up his pace so he was dragging her after him.

Behind them, Qayin’s followers retrieved their lanterns. Streams of fluorescent lights bounced over the wall ahead of them in time for them to correct their direction before they smashed into stone. Cleena and Lourds sprinted into the next room and took advantage of the partial lighting from the lanterns of their pursuers.

The gunshots echoed inside the chamber and the sound was enough to let Cleena know that the area was immense. Several stone pillars stood out in the darkness ahead of them and created a maze of obstacles. She pulled on Lourds’ collar to slow his breakneck pace.

‘To the left,’ she ordered.

Immediately, Lourds veered to the left. He rounded a thick pillar and halted when she pulled him against it. She fell into hiding beside him and took time to reload her pistol with a fresh magazine. She only had one left after that. The odds weren’t in their favour.

‘What are you doing?’ Lourds asked. ‘Shouldn’t we be running?’

Cleena peered round the pillar and took a two-handed grip on her pistol. ‘Running sounds fantastic to me. Do you know
where
to run?’

‘Haven’t you been here before?’

‘This is my first time.’

‘At least you were conscious when you were brought in.’

‘I was somewhat distracted getting to know all my new friends and trying to work out if they were going to double-cross me. Which they did.’

‘You obviously stink at measuring character …’

Cleena lost the rest of what he was saying when one of Qayin’s followers exploded through the doorway. The swinging lantern he carried made him a perfect target. She aimed for the centre of the man’s body and squeezed the trigger three times in quick succession.

At least two of the bullets caught him and pushed him backwards. He sat down hard and his lantern rolled away. Thankfully, the light played over the doorway so Cleena could see if anyone else approached. Just as she realized the light was going to play in her favour, Qayin or one of his followers realized the same thing. A burst of gunfire shattered the lantern. Cleena waited a moment and fired at where she remembered the doorway was just to keep their opponents on their toes. Almost immediately, a hailstorm of bullets struck the pillar they were hiding behind. Stone chips stung her face as she ducked to safety.

‘Well, that’s narrowed the odds to four to two,’ Lourds whispered. ‘Those odds are a lot better.’

‘Really?’ Cleena responded. ‘Which two did you want to take?’

The professor sighed. ‘Okay, four to one.’

‘Now be quiet. I’ve got to listen. I’d suggest that you do the same before they creep up on us in the dark.’

‘They’re going to be just as hampered by the darkness as we are.’

‘Not if you keep talking.
Shut up!
’ Cleena turned slightly away from the direction of the door to better use her peripheral vision. She held the pistol ready in her hands and tried not to think of Brigid alone in the world.

Beside her, Lourds suddenly started.

Angry with him even though that noise was not enough to alert Qayin and his followers to their position, Cleena said, ‘Be still.’

Before she could say anything else, someone clapped a rough, calloused hand over her mouth. She twisted and tried to bring the pistol up, but even as she did someone grabbed her wrists. Instinctively, she fired at the shadow that stood out in the darkness round her.

Her body and the body of the man who held her trapped the muzzle flash between them. The hard white-yellow light illuminated the man who held her. A dark robe swaddled his body and his face was a pallid oval within a peaked cowl.