He waved his hand signaling that he didn’t. Instead he asked, “Are they on their way?”
The strong, young man nodded, his expression never changing. “They should arrive within the hour, sir.”
“Good,” Lindsey said with a sneer. His eyes narrowed at the thought of putting his associates in their place.
Chapter 11
“Password?” Tommy wondered out loud. “I have no idea what that could be.” He leaned back again and thought for a thirty seconds. Where was this all going? The last several weeks had been insane. People had been killed. And even though the discovery of the chamber had been an amazing one, part of him wished he’d never seen that stone. Then he had an idea. He leaned forward and typed in the word Akhanan into the dialogue box and hit enter. The computer screen flicked and switched to a program that Tommy had never seen. It was Nichols’ culminating work, a masterpiece of programming genius that could, unscramble almost any ciphered message conceivable, even ancient dialects. At the top of the page that appeared, it simply said Tommy’s Project.
Will leaned in closer to see what the rest of the computer had to reveal.
The translation was worked out in a short amount of time, considering the obscurity and randomness of the symbols. I’m not sure what the translation means. I’ll leave that to you. I hope this helps.
Terrance
In desert mountains above the meadows’ sand, the sunlight points the way. The lions watch the gate to the spider’s lair. Though the distance is great, take guidance from the eagle’s wings to the river between the great mountains in the southern land. Leaves of three unlock the door.
“Apparently, Dr. Nichols had solved the language problem before he was murdered,” Tommy said in a reverent tone.
“What does it mean?” Will asked, curiously.
Tommy thought for a moment. The lions watch the gate. There were a lot of things he knew and understood about history but for this one nothing came to mind. “I’m gonna have to call Mac. He’s the expert on this sort of thing. But I’ll have to wait until the morning. He’ll be asleep by now.”
Will nodded, understanding. “Just give me a shout when you talk to him.”
“Sure thing.” Then he added, “Will?”
The two men had stood to leave the room. It was mostly quiet now. The hours of work done by a slew of detectives and investigators had come to an end, and the crime scene was now vacant through the windows beyond the small office, save for the humming computers.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for letting me know…you know, about this. Terrance was a friend.”
Will sympathized. “Trust me, Tommy, I’m going to make whoever did this pay dearly.”
There was an odd sort of determination in the cop’s voice, almost sinister. Tommy passed it off and led the way out the door of the lab.
Chapter 12
The mystery woman led the way down the long corridor, past the pool area outside and to a smaller hallway, ended at some stairs and elevators. Normally, Sean would suggest taking the stairs but the lifts in the Venetian were so fast he figured speed was worth the slight risk of running into more trouble. They rounded a turn that opened up into an elevator room and Sean pressed the downward arrow button. It only took a few seconds before one of the six doors signaled with a ding that it had arrived. The three rushed in and the strange woman hit the button that would take them to the level where they could access the parking garage.
Two older women in fanny packs and visors looked at the three of them with wide-eyed terror.
“Fake guns,” he waved the piece casually. “We’re with one of those reality-experience groups,” Sean said to the ladies with a smile as they stared at the weapons. “You know, we make you feel like you’re actually having the experience of being with a bunch of special agents.”
One of the ladies turned to the other. “Ooooh. I told you we needed to do one of those things, Beverly.” She turned back to Sean, “Which company are y’all with?” The woman’s deep, southern accent was unmistakable.
He raised an eyebrow. Before he could answer, the elevator mercifully reached their destination.
Saved by the bell.
The door opened and the three of them exited quickly into the hallway, careful to conceal their weapons.
Fortunately, the foreigner had the coat she could use to hide her larger gun. Probably how she got into the hotel without being noticed. Well, that and any security personnel were probably not checking her out for weapons. “This way,” she said hurriedly. They walked quickly past a few closed newsstands and coffee shops and through a pair of glass double doors. Once into the parking garage, they stopped, each one looking around to make sure the coast was clear. “My car is at the other end,” the woman declared.
Carefully, they started walking quickly towards the other side of the level. “Who are you?” Emily asked. “And why are you helping us?”
The woman turned her head and shot Emily a searing glance. “The second question will have to wait for now. My name is Adriana Villa.”
About eighty feet away, a door began to open up on the side of the huge area. The barrel of a gun emerged followed by a few of the men from before. Adriana and the others dropped to the floor behind a row of cars just as a muffled pop echoed off the concrete walls and floor.
“We’ve found them in the parking garage,” Angela said into her radio. Her team had discovered an alternate route to the parking level through a separate series of hallways and elevators. “Where are you?” she asked.
James answered in a quiet voice through the earpiece, “I’m right behind them.”
At the other end, Sean attempted to aim his gun through the maze of tires and bumpers but he couldn’t get a clear shot. “How much further to your car?” he asked Adriana as a window shatter nearby.
“It’s the black Audi SUV at the end,” Adriana replied and pointed towards a vehicle that sat another hundred feet away.
“Ok. Just stay low and they shouldn’t be able to get off a clear shot.” He hoped that was the case since he couldn’t get a clean angle either.
They began creeping along, staying low to the ground. Sean watched the feet behind the rows of cars as they split up and moved around to flank their position. Then he heard the door behind them creaking. Someone was behind them.
On the other side of the garage, James eased open the heavy service door to the garage and was instantly furious at how loud the action had been. Surely the creaking had given away his position. Still, if Weaver and her remaining men did their job it wouldn’t matter. They could squeeze their quarry into a tight space and then execute them. He shifted his weight, crouching low as he led with the long silencer barrel through the slight opening in the doorway before peeking around the edge.
Sean noticed the black box of the sound suppressor easing into view. They would be sitting ducks if they stayed put. Emily and Adriana saw what he was looking at and read his mind. They needed to get out of the aisle. Moving as one, they darted out of the thoroughfare and into the next row of cars just clear of the line of sight from the opening door. The three all stayed low, watching as the newcomer moved quickly to the first set of cars in the row where they were hiding. All they could see was feet in between the tires. The villains were going to try to hem them in.
The sound of a car engine revved from the end of the room where Adriana’s vehicle waited. It was accompanied by the deep thumping from a sub-woofer. Sean watched as a silver Cadillac Escalade rounded the turn into the parking area headed directly for the men and woman who were trying to flank their position. The driver was unaware of what was happening. As the odd scene of hit men dressed in black, armed with guns appeared in front of the driver, he stopped the large SUV. Sean couldn’t see inside because of the windows were tinted far darker than most state laws permitted. For a long, awkward moment, everything in the building was frozen in a stalemate. The hit squad was still crouched down, facing the oversized Cadillac. Then, one of the back windows began to roll down and Sean could see a familiar black object in the driver’s hand.