Then, they saw it. Up ahead, cut into the smooth stone, was a narrow hole. It stood about eight feet tall, and three feet wide. The opening had not been cut smoothly, and the edges of it were jagged, making it appear as though it were a natural recession in the rock.
No one said anything for a few moments. Then, Jabez spoke up. “We are on very sacred ground,” he said as he bent down to one knee.
His men did the same, all with heads bowed in silent prayer or meditation. Sean wasn’t sure what to do so he simply bowed his head. After half a minute, the men all stood again. Jabez gave an approving nod towards Sean, which he took as meaning it was okay to go forward.
Sean removed a flashlight from a coat pocket and turned it on, proceeding into the darkness of the cave. Adriana and Jabez’s men did the same, leaving Firth standing out in the cold.
“Are you sure it’s safe to go in there?” he asked. The last of the brethren entered the cavity without responding. Finally, the old man produced a flashlight of his own from a coat pocket and followed the group in.
Inside, their flashlights cast a dim glow on the stone walls. They were in a narrow corridor, roughly hewn from the mountain stone. The group proceeded in single file, with Sean in the lead and Firth in the back, much to the latter’s dislike. For someone so apprehensive to lead the way, he certainly didn’t enjoy bringing up the rear.
As they moved deeper into the mountain, the air became thick, damp with moisture. The walls were wet to the touch, though the ground under their feet remained mostly dry. After winding their way through the tunnel for several minutes, the passage opened up into a larger space. As each person left the corridor and entered the giant room, more and more light was cast upon the walls, enabling the visitors to get a better look.
Flashlight beams danced along the grayish-brown walls that extended high to a domed ceiling fifty feet overhead. The rock had been carved out with laser precision. Unlike the jagged passageway through which they’d come, the sides of the enormous room were perfectly smooth.
Jabez’s men set their duffle bags down and produced flood several battery-operated floodlights. As each lamp was turned on, the incredible sight before them began to piece itself together. Across from the corridor, a mural of astounding detail had been carved into the wall, spanning sixty feet across. The images engraved into the stone depicted a story in a seven stages. All of them featured an enormous boat. In one of the pictures, animals of every kind were lined up in twos, making their way to the ship. Other images displayed eight people in long, flowing robes performing some kind of examination on the animals. Another part of the mural portrayed a bearded man standing on a hill, speaking to a throng of people. The next scene showed the boat on ocean waters.
Below the mural of the flood story, three dark doorways were cut into the wall. But the thing that got everyone’s attention wasn’t the shadowy portals. Strewn across the floor, and the stone steps leading up to the doorways were dozens of bodies.
Firth jumped back at the sight, startled for a man who had surely seen his share of skeletons, given his field of expertise.
The decomposed corpses were decorated in a strange variety of clothing. Some appeared to be warriors from the Bronze Age. Their shields and short swords were still in remarkable condition. A few bodies bore the armor of Roman Legionnaires. Some of their large shields had massive dents in them.
Sean moved slowly across the floor towards the scene. He stopped near a skeleton of a man whose shield bore the Templar cross, his tattered white cloak had darkened with time, and become brittle.
Adriana had stepped away from the group and was checking out a body off to the side. “Sean, you should take a look at this.”
He quickly took a few big steps over to where she was standing and immediately realized what had gotten her attention. At their feet were three corpses in a much lesser state of decay than the others. But it wasn’t just the tissue and bone that had piqued their interest. The bodies were clothed in Russian Red Army uniforms.
“Professor?” Sean got the older man’s attention. He was still standing near the entrance of the room. “How long ago did these men die?”
Firth shuffled over to where Sean and Adriana were standing, Jabez followed closely to see what was going on. The professor slipped straight into research mode as he knelt down with his flashlight in hand and examined one of the bodies.
“Based on the state of decay and the timeframe of when those uniforms were used, it appears they were here sometime in the late 1940s, perhaps early fifties.” He made the statement as if it were irrefutable fact. “But what are they doing here?”
“Interesting you should ask that, Professor?” a new, gravelly voice interjected into the conversation.
Everyone spun around to see who else was in the room. Jabez’s men started to withdraw their weapons, but they couldn’t react fast enough. Five men and a woman in winter coats and black pants were standing in the doorway to the corridor with weapons aimed at the group. From behind them, an old man stepped crookedly through the mercenaries, followed by a taller, narrow figure.
Sean’s face grew grim as he realized they’d just walked right into checkmate. “Lindsey.”
Chapter 51
The air was almost sucked out of the room. Sean cursed himself under his breath for not being more careful. It was starting to become a bad habit. All those years of government work and training were apparently wearing off. The old man stepped towards him as Jabez’s men were forced to lower their weapons slowly to the ground. Lindsey’s men watched them all carefully, making sure no one made any sudden moves. Sean elected not to raise his hands like Firth, a few feet away, choosing instead to keep them at his side.
“How’d you find us?” Sean asked coolly.
“We followed you, of course. Seemingly, as we have been doing for the past few months.” Lindsey’s voice sounded harsh like he’d caught a cold. The cool, damp air of the cavern probably wasn’t helping with that.
“Yeah, you’re pretty good at that,” Sean replied. “And I know a little something about following people.”
Lindsey stopped a few feet short of Sean. The older man was a few inches shorter, and looked up as if assessing his nemesis. “Yes, Mr. Wyatt. I know all about your exploits with Axis. You were quite the little soldier, weren’t you?”
“I was okay at my job.”
Lindsey snorted a quick laugh, which began short fit of coughing. Sean noticed Will Hastings start to move towards the older man, but Lindsey held up a dismissive hand, keeping Will where he was near the door.
“I wonder, how you feel about all the lives you have taken, Sean? Do you have nightmares? Do you feel remorseful about the killing?”
Sean shook his head. “Every life I took was to save another. The people I killed were evil, pure and simple.”
A sinister smile eased across Lindsey’s wrinkled face. He took a step towards the steps leading up to the three doorways then turned around. “It seems you and I aren’t so different after all.”
Sean’s eyebrows lowered, curious as to what the mad man meant.
“You see,” Lindsey went on, “I too, believe that the wicked people of the world should die. It is the work of God to eliminate evil to give the world a chance at redemption, at salvation.”
“Oh, I see,” Sean took a slow step to the side. “You’re talking about your little plan, the one where you send out that super virus all over the globe and kill off ninety percent of the world’s population. That plan?”