“We need information.” She ran a hand through her close-cropped hair.
Rakoto waited, heart in his throat.
“Have you had any visitors today?”
“I have,” he said in a hoarse grunt. He cleared his throat, forced a measure of confidence into his tone. “Two sets of visitors in one day. More than I usually receive in a month.”
“Dane Maddock.” It was not a question.
Rakoto saw no point in lying to these people. In fact, he suspected it would be in his best interest to cooperate fully. He had no stake in this foolish legend quest.
“American with blond hair and blue eyes? Traveling with a big Native American and a Scottish girl?”
The woman frowned slightly, then nodded. “Tell me everything.”
Rakoto recounted his conversation of earlier in the day. The woman listened, nodding impatiently. She interrupted him only once.
“He had a ring?” she asked, her voice sharp like the crack of a whip. “Describe it.”
He described the ring, omitting the way he felt when he looked at it. He had a feeling these people had no time for such nonsense.
The woman turned and looked at her companions, who flashed twin smiles, predatory like lions on the hunt.
Rakoto’s heart raced. Clearly this ring was important to them. But was it important enough to silence him? He couldn’t believe the turn of events in his life that had led him to even contemplate such a thing. He was a simple man. He wanted no part of dangerous people.
“Do you know where they went?”
“Yes. At least, I know where I told them to go.” He told her about the royal village of Vatumasina and of the legends that connected it with Hebrew tradition. She probably didn’t need to know all of that, but he felt the need to keep talking, to forestall the moment when they decided what to do about him.
When he finished, the woman stared at him for ten heart-stopping seconds.
“Anything else? Anything at all you forgot to tell me?”
Rakoto considered. There was nothing else, but he wanted to keep talking, make himself useful, to prolong with might be the last moments of his life. But to tell her more might suggest he had held something back. He looked around for a weapon, knowing there was none. And even if there was, what could a man of peace do against three armed assailants who looked as if they knew what they were about? He shook his head.
“I have told you everything,” he rasped, his throat a desert. He breathed a sigh of relief as the woman turned toward the door. “Blessings be upon you.”
One of the men reached for his pistol. Rakoto took a step back.
“No,” the woman said. “The killing could be used to track us.” She turned to Rakoto. “If anyone else comes, you have had no unusual visitors. That includes Maddock.”
“I understand,” Rakoto breathed.
He stood there, frozen in place, until long after the three had gone. Finally, he summoned the strength to walk to the door and steal a glance outside. No sign of them. He closed the door, locked it behind him, and hurried home. He hoped he never heard another word about Solomon’s Mines for the rest of his life.
Chapter 31
“What the hell is going on?” Bones stared up into the darkness at the spot where they’d just been shut inside the chamber. “How about I climb back up there?”
“Hold off on that for now,” Maddock said. “I’m not sure they’re trying to trap us here. Besides, they’ve got our weapons.”
“What makes you think they’re not up to something?”
“I don’t know. A feeling, I guess.” He reached into his pocket for his Maglite, then froze. “Don’t turn on your light,” he said to Bones.
Bones didn’t argue. His friend could usually recognize the tone in Maddock’s voice that said, trust me.
The floor had begun to sparkle. A faint cloud of silvery blue specks led back into the darkness.
“Maybe they wanted us to follow the path.”
“I wish we’d gotten a look at the space around us first. No telling what we’re walking into.”
“I think we need to stick to the path. Why else would they black out the light above us?” He had a feeling that, if they turned on their lights, the path might vanish and not return anytime soon.
“In that case, you lead the way, bro.”
They followed the sparkling path, careful to keep to the center in case Maddock was correct that sticking to the path was essential. In the darkness, it almost felt as if they were standing still. Finally they rounded a corner and a brighter glow illuminated their surroundings.
The sparkling path on which they walked led into a small cave. A figure sat facing them. Maddock tensed, but relaxed when he saw it was a statue of a robed man seated cross-legged, as if meditating. On the ground in front of him, Solomon’s Seal shone inside a blue circle of light.
“Uh, Maddock?” Bones said. “Is that a flashlight in your pocket or do you think that statue is really hot?”
“What?” Maddock looked down to see that the Maglite in his pocket had somehow turned on. But it wasn’t his flashlight.
“The ring,” he said. “It’s glowing.”
He took Solomon’s Ring and held it out in his upturned palms. The seal shone with dancing blue light, the twin of the symbol carved into the floor.
“This is odd,” Maddock said.
“Do you think this is the entrance to the mine?” Bones asked, a touch of doubt in his voice.
“Doubtful. This isn’t mining country.”
“The ring is supposed to be the key to the mine. Why don’t you try and open the door just in case?”
Maddock wasn’t sure what to do. He slipped the ring onto his finger. A chill passed over him, raising goosebumps on his flesh. A sense of a strange presence filled the air around him, as if someone else were there.
Feeling foolish, he made a fist, held out his hand, and said, “Open.”
Nothing happened.
“Try, ‘open sesame,’” Bones offered.
“I don’t think that’s the trick.” Maddock let his hand fall to the side, but he didn’t remove the ring. He still couldn’t escape that feeling that they weren’t alone.
“You know what this reminds me of?” Bones said. “A séance.” He pointed to the symbol on the floor. “You’ve got what looks like a pentagram. You’ve got the dude sitting there waiting to talk to the spirit world…”
Maddock nodded. “I think you might be onto something.”
“Well, I am a freaking genius, as you well know.”
Maddock laughed. “Let’s join our friend on the floor. Don’t touch the circle.”
“Dude, you hook up with one ghost hunter and suddenly you’re an expert?”
“Just a hunch. But hey, if you want to cross the circle, be my guest.”
Bones looked doubtfully at the seal on the floor. “Nah, I’m good.”
They took up spots on the floor outside the circle. Maddock rested his hand on his lap and looked at the statue. “I guess we can at least adopt a spirit of welcoming, like we did at the séance in Williamsburg.”
A silence settled over them as they waited, anticipating. Nothing changed. He racked his brain, trying to remember what Kendra and her ghost hunter friends had done to connect with the spirit world. One of the men had rung a bell three times. He had no bell to ring. The only thing he had on him at the moment that was made of metal was his Maglite.
And the ring!
He took out his flashlight and tapped it against the ring three times. On the third tap, light flared from the ring. A bright blue beam shot out from the ring and struck the statue in the chest.
A shroud of flickering blue light surrounded the statue. It swirled and pulsed, gradually forming into the ghost of a man. Maddock and Bones stared at the strange apparition as it looked from one of them to the other.