Marjorie Thelen - The Forty Column Castle

I huffed and looked away. I hated giving him the satisfaction of saying yes. “What happens to the American couple?”

“He’s still on the loose. She’s in police custody, thanks to you. They found her in the tombs. I need him to lead me to the jewels. Tonight I hope to catch him in the act, and we’ll have all of them, if everything goes according to plan. With their demise the terrorist cell’s source of funding will be gone and their operation, too.”

Moon glow lit his face. Maybe it was the silvery play of moonbeams around us that threatened to weave me back into his spell. I was relieved to see him in one piece.

He checked his watch. “I’ve got to go. I wanted to make sure you were all right. Wait for me here, will you, so I know you’re safe?”

I avoided his eyes, and he moved his face into my line of vision. “Promise me, you’ll wait here. I’ll come back for you in the morning. Okay?”

I had to look into those deep brown eyes, and I searched the darkness and depth of them.

“Okay,” I said in a small voice.

He left through the kitchen and went out the back door. As he crossed in front of the window, I saw he was carrying the duffle bag. He couldn’t be going that far I reasoned, since he was walking and carrying a heavy satchel. Of course, I wasn’t going to allow him go without me. Not after all we had been though.

I followed him along several back streets through a Cypriot neighborhood lined with small, neat, adobe houses and shadowed by orange and lemon trees. He was headed in the direction of the ruins at the west end of Pafos. He ended up at the beach parking lot where we had parked and enjoyed each other in the back seat of the green Honda SUV. The blue Honda SUV was the sole vehicle parked there. I took cover behind the rocks on the beach. He changed clothes, put on the photographer’s vest and loaded it from the duffle bag, then took off across the rocky terrain. I followed at a distance, using the light of the moon to keep track of where he was going and praying the rocky goat path would not be my undoing. The surf pounded to the west. I hoped the sound of it would cover my footsteps. The only breeze was off the sea, for which I was grateful.

His destination was the Forty Column Castle. The moon shone on the ruined castle, the arches shadowed and menacing. I lost him as he rounded one of the massive walls outside the main entrance to the castle. I hurried so not to lose sight of him. As I rounded the wall, an arm snaked out and covered my mouth and crushed me against him. I was forced into a crouch, and a familiar voice said, “You promised to stay at Yannis’s house and wait for me.”

I couldn’t say anything because he had his hand clamped hard over my mouth. I didn’t make a squeak. He hauled me to the shelter of a mound of rubble from the excavation. I could tell by his ungentle manner of dragging me that he was mad.

“Why can’t you do what you promised,” he said in a hoarse whisper.

“You need help.”

“I have help.” He blew out a breath of frustration.

I was almost sorry I had come. Almost.

“Look, there’s no time now for talk. I don’t want to blow this sting operation. I’ve worked a long time to nail this bunch. Don’t blow this for me.”

I shook my head, not daring to talk.

“Here.” He pulled a small pistol from his vest pocket.”Take this. I’ve got to go closer and watch the entrance. Stay right behind me and don’t make a sound.”

He led the way to another pile of rubble where we had a good view of the entrance. I crouched beside him, and we watched for signs of activity. The moon slowly traveled across the sky. The shadows changed shapes in the ruins but no one showed.

“Do you really think they buried the jewels in the ruins?” I whispered.

“Yes, because we got the captured Maruti driver to talk. This is where the American couple is to meet the terrorists tonight. The jewels are hidden here. The husband is to show up and retrieve the jewels. Then we arrest him when he passes the jewels to the terrorists.”

My nerves were humming, and it wasn’t the cold since the night was mild. It was extreme fear. Zach was sitting with his loaded gun and vest filled with bullets and heaven knows what else. All I could think of was how scared I was. My small pistol had the safety on. Just thinking about the damage it could inflict made my stomach heave.

My eyes played tricks on me. I saw movement where none was. A small animal, maybe a desert rat, skittered in the bushes to the back of us. I pressed closer to Zach. I could feel the tense alert of his body in the hardness of his muscles. Mine were starting to cramp. I shifted position to take the strain off my back.

He put his finger to his lips and pointed to a spot at the far side of the ruins near the corner where an arch met the massive wall. A shadow moved stealthily, then quicker and with purpose.

We hunkered down lower in unconscious reaction. My breathing was so loud I thought the shadow would hear. But the shadow seemed intent upon its mission and scurried along the front of the castle and ducked through the first arch and into the interior.

“There has to be a second person,” Zach said so low I could barely make out his words. Sure enough, another shadow materialized from the same corner and hurried along the same route. Both figures were black and hooded.

Zach had explained the strategy. Wait until they had located and retrieved the jewels then stop them one way or another. But don’t let them leave the ruins of the castle.

“I’m counting on them leading us to the spot where they hid the jewels. If they don’t, we’ll have to dig up the entire complex up, and the Department of Antiquities would frown on that. I’m going closer.” He reached into one of his vest pockets and pulled out my cell phone. “Here, I’ve been meaning to give this back to you. If something goes awry or you hear gun fire, run away as fast as you can and call for help.”

“Right.” Running was within my range of capabilities.

I watched him do a running crouch closer to the outer wall of the ruin.

The two shadows had disappeared into the interior court of the castle. The ground inside was uneven packed dirt. There were drains inside that had been excavated but mostly hewn rock abounded. I couldn’t imagine anyone would bury treasure where it wouldn’t be obvious it had been recently dug unless they had moved rocks from the walls or drain and replaced them.

I was a lot happier now that my supporting role was on the side of the good guys and that Zachariah Lamont had turned out to be NPYD instead of a felon.

Pop. Pop. The sound was so soft, I almost didn’t hear it. But my mind knew. Silencer. Those were the popping sounds that a gun with a silencer makes. What if I were wrong? I nibbled on my nails in indecision. If I called for help now, and Zach hadn’t caught the thieves red handed, then I’d have blown the whole sting.

What to do? I wasn’t going to run away. Creep closer, I decided, to see if I could see anything. I would have to peer around a good twenty foot wall or climb up over it which meant scaling the loose rubble at the top. But creep closer I did, my heart in my mouth. My creeping consisted of a crab walk and silent cursing as my toes hit unseen rocks and plants with stickers that I never recalled seeing during the daylight hours. I heard nothing more after those two pops. I could not recall Zach saying he had a silencer for his gun.

I made it to the outer wall of the castle and listened. The night was quiet. We were so close to the harbor I could hear the lines clinking against the masts of the sail boats at anchor. No people sounds emanated from inside the roofless castle.

I took several deep breaths to try to quiet my inner trembling. It didn’t help. Everything was chattering — my teeth, hands, legs, gut, breath. I was a veritable bowl of quivering jelly. I knew if I had to use a gun it would jump right out of my hand.