C. Palov - Ark of Fire

Rolling onto all fours, she awkwardly shoved herself to her feet. She glanced at her left wrist. No watch. Because the cheapo Timex wasn’t waterproof, she’d left it behind at the hotel.

She wondered how long she’d been out. Hopefully not too long.

With a groan, she bent at the waist, snatching the flashlight.

“How considerate,” she muttered, wishing her AWOL partner had instead left her a bottle of aspirin.

Knowing the anger wouldn’t get her off the desolate strip of beach, Edie tilted her head back and peered upward, the sea cliff like an impregnable fortress wall. One that she intended to ascend. Just a few months ago she’d mastered the rock wall at one of D.C.’s largest sporting-goods stores.

So, I’m good to go.

Furtively, she searched the rocky shoreline, recalling that Caedmon had said something about a nearby path. Switching on the flashlight, she followed the footprints that he’d left in the sandy soil, tracking them about forty feet.

Right to the trailhead.

Afraid the flashlight might attract unwanted attention, she flipped it off, securing it in one of the elasticized loops on the waistband of her hiking pants. Hands free, she carefully began the steep climb up the incised stone steps. She wondered if it was the Barbary pirates or the Knights of St. John who had undertaken the painstaking chore of carving what amounted to a staircase into the side of the sea cliff. No doubt Caedmon would have been able to pull that particular factoid out of his hat. Had he been there.

Damn him, anyway. The man actually thought that he could take on the doomsday prophet all by himself. MacFarlane would fight him tooth and nail. And his loyal followers would use far deadlier weapons.

That thought spurring her on, Edie glanced behind her and saw that she was only at the halfway mark. Her breathing noticeably labored, she struggled to keep on climbing, stunned to realize she was pathetically out of shape.

Finally, sheer willpower coming to the fore, her leg muscles having long since turned to rubber, she reached the summit. With nothing she could do about the burning scrape on the palm of her hand, she wiped the blood as best she could against her pant leg.

At a glance, she could see that she was standing on a flat-topped ridge. A pitiless place that in the light of day probably resembled nothing so much as a big asteroid. Only the faint whiff of rosemary indicated that it could actually sustain some sort of vegetative life.

In the distance she saw a tall, circular tower. That being the only building in sight, she headed in that direction.

As she got closer to the tower, she saw a large canvas-covered truck parked outside. It was the kind of vehicle one might see on a military installation. Hoping it wasn’t loaded with armed soldiers, she headed toward it. Trying to keep as low a profile as possible, she hunched over, running in a crouched position. The way people scurried about in the movies.

She hadn’t gone far when she saw a bear of a man emerge from the tower and head toward the truck.

Boyd Braxton.

Terrified, Edie came to an abrupt halt. Needing a weapon, and needing one quick, she snatched a jagged rock from the ground.

Give me strength, God.

The same kind of strength that had enabled Samson to slay a thousand foes with the jawbone of an ass.

Edie glanced at the harmless-looking rock clutched in her hand.

If only she had the jawbone of an ass.

CHAPTER 85

Pondering his next move, Caedmon stared at the watchtower that loomed a hundred meters away. Absently, he stroked the smooth metal of the H&K MP5, wondering if a little shock and awe wasn’t in order. That would certainly ensnare MacFarlane’s attention.

And, no doubt, would get him killed in the bargain. Without ever having set eyes upon the Ark.

No, he needed a far more subtle tactic. An unexpected trap. Something that would lure MacFarlane’s men away from the tower where he presumed the Ark was being stored, enabling him to sneak inside and decapitate the serpent. And maybe, if he was lucky, he could then exit the tower with none of the bully boys the wiser. The wily fox outwitting the ferocious pack of hounds.

But how best to create the necessary diversion?

If he were anywhere else in the world, he would start a fire. However, other than a few windblown brambles, there was no combustible tinder to be had. He did have the portable laser light, a last-minute purchase. Perhaps he could do something with that.

Like a man mesmerized by a dangling crystal, he continued to stare at the tower. The Ark of the Covenant was near at hand. Yet completely unattainable.

Had Stanford MacFarlane deciphered its secrets? Had he donned the Stones of Fire, stood before the Ark, and communed directly with God?

“We’ve got a breach on the northwest quadrant. Somebody just tripped the security laser.”

Hearing that disembodied voice in his earpiece, Caedmon’s breath caught in his throat.

Edie.

He scanned the promontory, searching for that familiar, curly-haired silhouette, knowing he had to find her before MacFarlane did.

CHAPTER 86

Standing as still as a Grecian marble, Edie surreptitiously watched as Boyd Braxton threw back the canvas tarp on the military-style truck and swung open the tailgate. She assumed that he was about to unload something. Or else he was getting the truck ready to be loaded. Whichever scenario it was, it had to have something to do the Ark. Of that she was certain.

Taking deep measured breaths, she continued to watch Braxton, curious as to why he suddenly pressed a finger to his ear. Just before he pulled his gun out of its shoulder holster, turned on his heel, and took off running.

Something had spooked the man. But what could possibly have—

Oh, God! They’d found Caedmon.

Swiveling her head back and forth, squinting to better see in the murky shadows, she searched the rocky promontory.

It was like searching the dark side of the moon.

Belatedly realizing that it really was a whole lot like being on the moon in that there was no place to hide, she began to shiver.

A few moments later, four men emerged from the tower, carrying what looked to be a large shipping container. Two other men, stubby machine guns at the ready, followed in their wake.

Without being told, Edie knew that the Ark of the Covenant was inside the shipping container.

Her heart painfully thudding against her breastbone, she watched as it was loaded into the back of the truck. That done, the two armed guards took up a position on either side of the vehicle, the four load bearers returning to the tower.

Slowly, she backed away from her observation post.

She’d taken no more than three tentative steps when a large hand was slapped over her mouth, an unseen assailant bodily lifting her off the ground.

CHAPTER 87

“Keep your hair on!” a distinctly English voice hissed in her ear. “We don’t want to alert them to our position.”

Releasing his hand from her mouth, Caedmon stepped in front of her; Edie was surprised to see a machine gun strapped to his chest. A disgusted look on his face, he snatched the rock that she still had clutched in her hand.

“First they would have to know that we’re here before—”

“They do know!”