Outside, the warm blue waters of Biscayne Bay slowly melted into Card Sound. Tiny paradise islands were everywhere, little keys of palm trees and white sand dotted here and there like gems on a blue velvet cloth. They had boarded the chopper straight from the private jet in Miami and were now descending to land on the Oracle’s private paradise island of Copperhead Key.
A small island in the Florida Keys, Otmar Wolff had bought it for the princely sum of $105 million dollars. He had used it for many things over the years — entertaining politicians and greasing the wheels of power, planning his archaeological ventures, even holding depraved parties for his fellow cultists. Its thirty acres offered total privacy and came with a small airfield and full service and dockage for up to fifty tons.
Kruger glanced out of the window just in time to see the clearing at the center of the island and the ominous outline of an airship sitting in the tropical dusk. A number of Athanatoi cultists were busy working in the airfield. Seeing it, the South African knew the plan the Oracle and Faulkner had been cooking up really was about to happen and there was no turning back now.
As he waited to be summoned inside, he turned to his left where Lea and Devlin sat. “All the trouble and misery you caused is coming back around again to you now. I literally cannot wait to watch you die.”
Devlin winked and cocked his head, earning him a ferocious pistol-whipping with the gun’s grip. The Irishman’s head smacked back against the fuselage and then slumped forward. He was out like a light.
Kruger blew Lea a kiss and then the Oracle ordered him to enter.
He stepped inside the modest cabin at the rear of the chopper and found the Oracle screwing the cap up on a bottle of sparkling, glittering liquid.
The elixir.
“What do you want, Dirk?”
His eyes followed the golden liquid in the bottle. The Oracle slipped it inside his pocket and breathed a shallow sigh of relief. When was he going to get some of this stuff — this magical elixir that promised eternal life? He looked back up to the Oracle and gave his reply. “The pilot just told me we’re landing on the island imminently.”
“Good. Are all our preparations in order?”
“Yes, sir. What exactly is going to happen tonight?”
The Oracle smiled. “Tonight we destroy America.”
When they landed, a number of Athanatoi cultists quickly whisked Lea and the unconscious Devlin away from the chopper and into what looked unnervingly like a dungeon. Like her, they removed his gag and untied his hands and then dumped his body down on the slimy stone floor before chaining him up beside her.
One of them kicked him in the ribs for good measure before they slammed and locked the floor. The foul chamber was plunged into almost total darkness, the only light shining through the bars in the tiny hole in the door.
She ran to him and lifted his head up from the cold stone. “Danny! Are you okay?”
With his head cradled in her arms, he started to stir. “Holy Mary Mother of Christ flying on the back of a flamingo, what the fuck was that?”
“He belted you because you winked at him, you idiot.”
“You think it knocked any sense into me, girl?”
“Like buggery it did,” she said, climbing to her feet. “What the hell were you thinking, winking at that son of a bitch like that? He could have killed you, Danny. You’re lucky to be alive.”
Groaning with pain, he crawled up to his elbows and rubbed the fresh wound on the side of his head. “On reflection, it wasn’t the best idea I ever had.”
“You’re a fool, Danny Devlin, but a brave fool.”
He looked into her eyes. The chains grated on the flagstone floor as he brought his hands up to brush against her face and then he leaned in to kiss her.
“Danny, no.”
He stopped, lowered his head and sighed. “I’m sorry…”
“I love Joe.”
His shoulders slumped down and he shook his head, but then she heard him laughing. “You’re right, I’m such a fool.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“You won’t tell Joe?”
“No.”
“Thanks, because I think he’s strictly a second chance only kind of guy.”
She sucked in her lips but then returned his smile. “You’re right on that one, Danny and we all love you being on the team.”
“I read you loud and clear, Lea Donovan.”
Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness now and she scanned the dungeon in search of anything they could use as a weapon, or even an escape route. It was a large, filthy space of cold, wet stone with water trickling down from unseen cracks and mould and fungus growing in damp, dark corners.
Metal chains hung from the walls and then she saw it — a skeleton in rags hanging by its wrists from a metal ring fixed into the far wall, its feet just touching the floor. She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. “What the hell has been going on down on this island, Danny?”
He shook his head. “We have to get out of here, Lea, or that’s us in a couple of years’ time.”
He was on his feet now, beside her. He pulled up the collars on his jacket, dusted himself down and swept his hair back. He turned to her, anxious but still in control. “I need to lose a few pounds but I don’t think that particular diet plan is for me.”
She twisted her head and pursed her lips. “Don’t speak ill of the dead. Did you never hear that?”
He shrugged. “I’m just sayin’, that’s all.”
“Eeijt.”
They spent a quarter of an hour trying every crack and corner as far as their chains would let them move. They checked the door for any weaknesses but it was solid metal with only a small face-sized, barred window and there was no getting out of that. Then they heard the sound of a key in the door and took a step back as the Oracle and Kruger stepped into the cold dungeon.
“Still here?” Kruger snarled. “Must be losing your touch.”
“Get lost, Dirk,” Lea said.
“Unlock her,” the Oracle wheezed. He looked like he was starting to fade.
Kruger walked over and unshackled her from the wall. “You’re coming with us now, Donovan. We’re going for a little flight.”
The Oracle turned and walked back up the stairs.
Devlin stepped forward. “She’s not going anywhere without me, Kruger.”
The South African laughed heartily. “You’re not going anywhere, but don’t worry about being lonely. We’ve organized a new cell mate for you.”
With his words still hanging in the air, an enormous shadow loomed on the wall of the circular staircase behind him. It looked like a monster was approaching and then he realized that was exactly what was happening.
Kruger stepped out of the enormous monster’s way and laughed. “Meet Boboc.”
Boboc now loomed into view. At least seven feet high, the Romanian bodybuilder was wearing a white vest which revealed an upper body totally covered in tattoos. Vampires and dragons fought for supremacy on his chest and arms, claws and tails and forked tongues twisted up his neck and throat, the ink twisting all over him in black and blue tendrils. In one hand he held a hatchet and the other gripped a flail mace.
Devlin took a step back as he took in the seven-foot monster with the medieval arsenal in his hands. “Holy Mother of God.”
Kruger saw his fear and smiled. “Mr Boboc here has never been accused of being bad company. Apparently, the Oracle is going to increase his reward for every hour he can string out your death. Neat, huh?”
“You get away from him, you hear?” Lea cried out.