Steadying himself, he looked at the stones again. And realized his mistake.
The middle one, while different, was really just a mirror image of the top one. They were one and the same, copies just written in reverse.
The bottom one…
Montross leaned forward. Pushed it—and felt his feet tensing, ready to jump at the slightest movement. Not that he’d have the chance.
But then the wall ahead shook, dust fell from the ceiling, and a thin sliver of light appeared at the left, steadily growing as the block pulled aside.
Light? Xavier squinted. He turned off his flashlight. The stone slid farther. Run back, he thought, and had a flash of a cluttered room, something like a storage area, with crates and boxes pulled back from the wall, from the open wooden door on the other side. Just a glimpse, before the four men in black suits raised their weapons at him and surged through the opening.
Back in the shadows, around the last corner of this point of the labyrinth, Xavier crouched. On his knees. I’m not going to die, he thought. I would have seen it. And then he cursed himself. Too often this gift of foresight about his death led him to a false sense of security. He failed to fully scout out other more uncomfortable situations.
But he was far from without resources.
Calderon walked through his mercenaries as they encircled the red-haired man who had emerged, squinting, from the doorway.
“Ah, Xavier Montross. We meet at last.” Calderon cocked his head. Something was odd. Montross was too calm. He’d just emerged from what should have been a stiflingly hot, oppressive and dank labyrinth, and yet he wasn’t even sweating. His hair was perfect, no dirt on his face, nothing to tell of any ordeal. Like he had just awoke from a peaceful nap.
Isaac scampered between two of the soldiers, approaching Montross from behind. Jacob, meanwhile, had taken an interest in the doorway. The open section of flimsy drywall that had concealed the sandstone entrance beyond it.
“Jacob.” Calderon called to the boy. “Wait.” He moved closer to Montross, easing between two of the guns. “We don’t know what’s down there.”
“I do,” said Isaac. With a sneer, he kicked out with a swipe that should have bent in the back of Xavier’s right leg—but his foot passed right through and Isaac tumbled, off balance and with a cry of shock.
Montross’ image gave a wink—and then disappeared. Furious, Calderon gripped the head of his cane like a sword hilt. “Inside—now! Get him, he can’t be far!”
Or could he? This was it, Calderon thought. One of the gifts bestowed by the Emerald Tablet, a power he needed, and one only he fully understood. Its implications were all-encompassing, not just on a personal level, but what it could do if interfaced with the right technology, such as what they had built up in Alaska.
If Montross had practiced, if had deciphered the Tablet and perfected the skills, he could be anywhere.
But he wasn’t, Calderon realized. The door had been physically opened from the other side. He was close.
Worth a shot, Montross thought as he breathed his consciousness back into his body, just as air would fill his lungs. He had just enough time to start to run back the way he had come, intending to get far enough to trip one of the traps he had avoided on the way here. But it was too late.
They were on him. Pinning him to the wall. Hands behind his back, secured with plastic bonds. Then hauled back out, into the light, surrounded by crates, dust, and two boys.
“Ah, my newly discovered nephews.” Despite his predicament, Montross found it wasn’t that hard to smile, and to mean it. “You actually look a bit like your father, but those green eyes of yours—all Nina.”
“Well, Xavier…” said a voice he had heard many times, but only in visions. In dark, smoke-filled rooms, and once on a massive glacier under the midnight sky, observing the Northern Lights over a sleeping radar facility.
“This time in the flesh.” Mason Calderon leaned forward, both hands on his cane. His skin was lustrous, shining in the lights as if he’d applied a liberal dose of makeup before a stage performance. His eyes were hooded but sharp, moving rapidly, taking in everything about his captive. Thin white hair was slicked back from his high forehead, except for a lone curved strand that fell across his face like a scimitar blade.
Montross stood up straight. “Well, you got me. Not too much effort for you, I hope. But, sorry to say, I’m all you’re getting. The other birds have flown the coop.”
One of the boys moved around so he could stand by his brother. They both glared up at Montross with an oddly similar glints in their eyes. One had slightly finer hair, more chestnut than his brother’s walnut-colored tangle of curls. “We can still get them, father.”
“No Jacob,” Calderon replied. “Not without trusting this man here to guide us.”
“We can do it,” the other boy insisted.
“We can see as well as he can.”
Montross gave a little chuckle, but he had to admire the kids’ guts. Definitely a potent mix of their parents’ qualities.
Calderon shook his head. “Sorry boys. Besides, I believe Montross here did what he set out to do. He bought Caleb and Alexander time to head back and get out the main entrance, hoping to fool us here.” He smirked. “Good thing Nina will be there, waiting.”
Montross shrugged. “Maybe they’re not coming out. Lots to do down there. While traipsing through history’s looking glass, I saw all kinds of ceremonies, people living for years in those ventilated chambers, tunnels that connected to faraway exits, ports along the Nile and farther.”
Calderon sighed. “And I doubt I even need to ask, but I assume you do not have the keys on you?”
Montross laughed. “Wishful thinking, but of course not.” He nodded over his shoulder. “They’re back in there.”
Calderon cocked his head, and Montross knew the man was weighing his words, deciding how much stock to put in Montross’ answer. But at this point, he didn’t care.
Montross took a deep breath. “So, Senator Calderon. You’ve got the Emerald Tablet. Or at least, my former associate does. And you believe she’s now in your employ because of these…” Montross raised his chin toward the defiant boys, who were glaring at him with twin looks of menace. “…these lovely angels. But you don’t have the translation. Nor the keys to get into that box.”
“We will, soon.” Calderon twirled the cane in his fingers, tracing the golden scales of the dragon, letting his index finger glide across the length of the spear thrust through its skull. “Although it’s not essential. From what you’ve just shown us, you’ve confirmed that proximity to the Emerald Tablet alone can get me what I need.”
“Yeah,” Montross said, “but my mind’s better tuned toward it, or am I wrong and you’re actually a psychic yourself?”
Calderon flinched. His eyes narrowed. The twins looked at each other.
Isaac grunted. “But we are, aren’t we ‘Dad’?”
“Righto,” Jacob chimed in. “We can do it, can’t we? Give us the tablet-thing. We’ll show you.”
“Boys, don’t get ahead of yourselves.” Calderon never took his eyes off of Montross. “You may be right, Xavier. Which is why Nina will soon have these boys in that chamber. We’ll get the box, then go after Caleb and Alexander. There’s no way for them to escape, we’ll find them and those keys. Once the translation is in my possession and the Tablet’s secrets are mine, I’m certain that I will be able to duplicate your abilities. And much more. Its arcane instructions, I’m told, will fully reactivate what time and evolution have blocked.” He fondled the dragon’s wings, then smiled. “But more importantly, I will have what I need to complete our facility’s true purpose.”