Two days after the bomb Nick and the others were in a lab at Langley with Clarence Hood. The lab had a scanner and a CIA technician named Edwards to run it. Nick gave the box to the tech to put in the device. Everyone wanted to know what was inside. No one had been able to open it.
"All set, Director," the tech said
"Turn it on."
Edwards turned on the machine. The interior of the box appeared in blacks and grays and shadows on a wall monitor. The shape inside the box was distinctive, darker than the rest of the image, about nine or ten inches long.
"It's a cup," Selena said, "like a big egg cup. I really didn't believe it until now."
"You can see the locking mechanism for the box," Nick said, "all those sliding pieces and gears. I was hoping we'd be able to figure it out when we saw how it worked, but that looks hopeless."
"We could cut into it with a laser," the tech said. "I can set one up if you like."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Nick said.
"Why not?" Hood asked.
"I can't explain it, but I have a strong feeling that's the wrong thing to do. We should wait before we do anything else."
"You think it's booby-trapped? Rice wants to know if it's the Grail."
"He's waited this long, he can wait a little longer. Tell him it's a cup. Tell him we're concerned it might be destroyed if we force the box open."
"I don't see anything that looks like a trap," Edwards said.
Hood held up his hand. "Actually, you haven't seen anything. Not the box, not anything that might be in it. Remember the papers you signed when you began working here?"
"Yes, sir."
"Understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good." He turned to Nick. "What do you want to do?"
"I want to take it with me and think about it."
"I can stall Rice for another day or two, but after that he's going to want that box on his desk, not yours."
"I understand. Just give me a little time. There's something about this, I can feel it."
"Intuition? Elizabeth has always relied on her intuition and it usually works out. I suppose I can cut you the same leeway."
"If I can't come up with something in the next two days, I'll hand it over to you and you can take it from there."
"Fair enough."
Outside Langley, the team stood together in the parking lot. Nick took a deep breath. It was the first day of November. His birthday was coming soon. He wasn't looking forward to being another year older.
"There aren't any fires to put out at the moment," he said. "We all need a break. It's Thursday today. Come in Monday and we'll talk about how things will work with Harker out of the picture."
"Sure thing, Kemo Sabe," Ronnie said.
"How about we get together for pizza on Saturday night?" Lamont said.
Ronnie shook his head and sighed.
"Do you ever think about anything except food?"
"Man's got to eat," Lamont said.
CHAPTER 63
Nick drove back with Selena to their loft. A black Cadillac limousine idled on the street in front of the building.
"That figures," Nick said.
Selena looked at the car waiting there. "Is that who I think it is?"
"Yup. Looks like it."
"Do I get to meet him?"
"Nobody meets him. I haven't met him. He's a voice behind a piece of black glass."
Nick drove into the underground parking garage. They got out.
"I'm going with you," Selena said.
Nick picked up the box with the cup. They walked up to the first floor and out the main entrance to where Adam's car waited. The chauffeur stood by the rear door.
"I'm very sorry, Doctor. Only Nick, please."
"She gets in with me or we're going upstairs."
"It's all right, Nick. Don't worry about it. It's just the way it is. I'll be upstairs"
The chauffeur touched his ear. Then he opened the door.
Nick climbed in and the door closed. A minute later, the car began to move. Adam's electronically distorted voice came over the speaker.
"Good morning, Nick. I see you have brought the Grail with you."
"Then it is the Grail," Nick said. "The real deal."
"Oh yes, as you say, the real deal. Within that box is the cup held by Joseph of Arimathea at the crucifixion of Jesus."
"We haven't been able to open it."
"Are you sure you want to see what's in the box? Things change when one is permitted to view the Grail."
"Of course I want to see it. Lots of people got killed looking for it. There's a lot of blood on this box."
"That is the nature of life. Some things require sacrifice."
"Spare me the backseat philosophy," Nick said. "Good men died for this. I don't think they intended to be a sacrifice."
"Not consciously, perhaps. Sometimes there is a deeper purpose at work that goes beyond what we recognize at an outer level. It motivates us at unexpected moments to do unexpected things."
"Are you saying we're not in control of our lives?"
"Do you honestly think you're in control?"
"Within a reasonable limit, sure. Maybe I can't control things like natural disasters and crazy political leaders who start a war, but in the actions of my life, yes. I have responsibility for what happens to me."
"Responsibility and control are not the same thing," Adam said. "You are a very responsible man, Nick, otherwise you would not have been chosen for the tasks that have been set to you."
"Set by who? What do you mean?"
Nick felt the wooden box in his lap move. With a series of clicks the top lifted up and the sides fell away. Nick looked down. The Grail lay inside, on a bed of pure, red silk.
The limousine vanished.
He was standing in a large crowd, all of them looking at something. Some in the crowd seemed angry, others were crying. He was dressed in a course woolen robe that reached almost to his feet. He looked down in confusion. Instead of shoes, he wore leather sandals.
What the hell?
He looked up and saw where he was.
Not possible. This isn't possible.
He was on the Hill of Golgotha. Three crosses rose against an ominous, darkening sky.
Not possible, he thought again. This can't be happening.
His eyes moved to the central figure, slumped in agony, head dropped forward onto his chest. A group had gathered at the foot of the cross. A man dressed in fine clothes held up a cup to catch the blood dripping down.
Sudden warmth exploded in Nick's chest, like a sun bursting open. He looked at the man dying on the cross and a great wave of sadness swept over him. Unbidden tears ran down his cheeks.
His life started to unfold before his eyes. He watched himself being born, watched the boy he had been growing up, the anguish with his father, the fear and sadness of his mother. He saw all the people he'd ever loved or hated, remembered thoughtless decisions he'd made that had caused people pain, moments of kindness he'd managed to scrape together. He couldn't control it. It was as though someone had pulled a plug and he was draining away through it.
The world as he knew it crumbled away as he watched. What he thought he believed in. Who he thought he was. Why he was doing the things he was doing.
It felt as though he'd fallen off a cliff.
When it stopped, he didn't know how long he'd been sitting there in the back of that car. He felt exposed, shaken to the core. The box on his lap was closed. The Grail was no longer visible. He took a deep breath and exhaled. His face was wet.
"Do you understand now?"
Adam's voice was gentle.