Scott Mariani - The Doomsday Prophecy

‘I’ll get you home soon,’ he promised.

‘You saved me. I haven’t thanked you.’

‘You can thank me when it’s over.’ He closed his eyes again. Waves of hot and cold were washing over him. He needed to get this bullet out.

She nodded. ‘I don’t understand. How do you know my parents?’

‘I’m one of your dad’s students.’

‘You? A theology student?’

‘I get that a lot,’ he said. ‘I was a soldier before. But now I’m looking for a new direction.’

‘The Church?’

‘Maybe.’

She smiled. ‘What a waste. You’re far too dishy to become a vicar.’

‘Thanks. I’ll bear that in mind.’

‘Have you got a girlfriend?’

He shook his head.

She smiled again. ‘You’re not gay, are you?’

‘Not that I know of.’

‘Good.’ She moved a little closer to him. Brushed a lock of hair away from her face. ‘I wonder how much longer she’s going to be away for.’

‘Alex? Probably quite a while.’

‘I’m glad we can talk like this,’ she said.

‘Me too.’

‘You’re nothing like any of Dad’s other students I’ve ever met. They’re all wimps.’

The sun was overhead now, rays filtering through the branches. Zoë squinted up at the dappled sunlight. ‘Getting warmer,’ she said. She peeled off her heavy jumper and laid it down on the ground. She was wearing a flimsy top underneath. She leaned forward and smiled again.

‘Your bangle just slipped off,’ Ben said, pointing down at the gold bracelet that was lying in the leaves.

‘Shit. That’s always happening.’

‘You should be careful,’ he said. ‘It looks expensive.’

‘It was my great-grandmother’s.’

He nodded thoughtfully, and was quiet for a few moments. ‘Shame about Whisky,’ he said suddenly.

‘Yeah, it’s loosened me up a lot,’ she answered. ‘Wish we had more of it.’ She giggled.

He shook his head. ‘I wasn’t talking about the drink. I was talking about Whisky. He got hit by a car. He’s dead.’

Her eyes widened in horror. She drew away from him, her body snapping rigid. ‘What? When did this happen?’

‘While you were partying on Corfu.’

‘Those bastards never told me,’ she said.

Then she clapped a hand over her mouth, realising what she’d done.

‘No, they didn’t tell you,’ he said. ‘Because it’s not true. I just made it up. Your dog’s alive and well. And I think you’ve just given yourself away, Zoë Bradbury. You walked right into it.’

She went red. ‘I don’t know why I remembered that. I don’t remember anything else.’

He grabbed her wrist and held it tight, ignoring the pain in his shoulder. ‘No, of course not. Apart from the fact that your father is a theologian and all his students are wimps. That you don’t eat meat. That you’re wearing your great-grandmother’s bracelet. That a couple of weeks ago you were living it up on a Greek island. You know what I think? I think you know a hell of a lot more than you’re pretending.’

She struggled against his grip. ‘Let me go!’

He shook her. ‘No chance, Zoë. For once in your life, you’re going to tell the truth.’

Zoë broke away from him and crawled out of the shelter. Ben followed her, grabbing for her ankle. She kicked back at him, and caught his injured shoulder. He cried out and collapsed in the dirt as she scrabbled out and made a run for it. ‘Where do you think you’re going?’ he yelled after her.

Zoë ran through the trees, swiping branches out of her way.

Then she stopped and screamed. A figure stepped out from the bushes.

It was Alex, hot and red-faced from her long hike. Her hair was messed up and full of leaves, and her jeans were soaked to the thigh from where she’d been wading through water. ‘Zoë? Where are you off to?’

Ben caught up with them, panting and clutching his shoulder. His eyes blazed as he saw Zoë. ‘Right, you little fucker. You’re going to talk.’

Alex stood there looking bewildered. ‘What’s going on here? I just came back to tell you good news. There’s a farm up over the ridge, about two miles away.’

‘What’s going on is that this one’s got her memory back,’ Ben said. ‘She’s been holding out on us.’

Zoë burst into tears and fell to her knees in the dust.

Alex stared in disbelief. ‘Is this true?’

‘Come on, let’s have it,’ Ben said. ‘Where’s the ostraka? What’s this all about? What do Jones and Slater want with it?’

‘I don’t know,’ Zoë sobbed.

‘You won’t leave here until you tell us the truth,’ Ben said.

‘I mean it!’ she screamed up at him. ‘I don’t know what they want it for. I was only using it to blackmail Cleaver!’

‘Then tell me where it is,’ Ben said, trying hard to curb the fury in his voice. ‘Then maybe we can get out of this. We can use it against them.’

Zoë was shaking her head violently, her face streaked with tears and dust. ‘I can’t tell you where it is,’ she sobbed.

‘Why not?’ he demanded.

‘Because… because… I can’t say it.’ She burst into tears again, and raked her face with trembling fingers.

Alex stepped over to her and took her arm. ‘Don’t be afraid. We’re trying to help. Tell us. Then we can all cross over to the farm. It’ll be over soon.’

Zoë wiped her eyes and glanced up at Ben with a look of fear. She sniffed, hung her head.

‘Well?’ Ben asked.

‘I can’t tell you because… it doesn’t exist.’ Her shoulders sagged. ‘There. I’ve said it. Happy now?’

Ben was stunned into silence for a few seconds. ‘What?’ he said quietly.

Zoë sat up, her feet planted apart in the dirt. ‘It was all a bluff,’ she whispered. ‘It was all lies, all right? There is no evidence. I made the whole thing up.’

Ben was struggling to make sense of what she was saying. ‘But the fragment you sent Cleaver, that you got Skid McClusky to take him in the box. It was for real. Cleaver had it verified.’

Zoë shook her head tearfully. ‘He had it radiocarbon dated, that’s all. The fragment was the right age. Why do you think I chose it? But the inscription on it was meaningless. Nobody could have verified that. I only found a few shards. For all I know it was some ancient Hebrew recipe book or an accounts sheet. There wasn’t enough left to make sense of.’

Ben stared at her, his rage mounting. The pain in his shoulder was gone. ‘A recipe book,’ he echoed.

‘I wasn’t even sure Cleaver would fall for it,’ she blurted. ‘It was just a crazy idea I had one day on the Turkish dig. I didn’t have to work out the details because I knew I could bluff it. I thought it would be a way to get back at the bastard, shake him up a bit. That stupid book. Who’s he trying to kid?’ She reddened. ‘And why should he get all Augusta’s money? She was my friend first. I should be the one to have it.’

‘And this is the truth?’ Ben said. ‘There never was any evidence about St John and Revelation?’

‘If there is,’ Zoë sniffed, ‘it’s still buried in the sand somewhere.’

Ben started shaking as it sank in. He thought of Charlie. In his mind he was replaying the moment when his friend had been blown to pieces. ‘I don’t suppose it would make any difference if I told you about the people whose lives have been destroyed thanks to your little scheme,’ he said. ‘Never mind your family are going crazy with worry. Nikos is dead. Did you know that? Do you even care?’ The pain was returning now, like a piece of molten steel in his flesh.

Zoë glanced up at him in alarm, then screwed her eyes shut and said nothing.