With no light whatsoever, Don was practically blind as he stretched his eyes to see into the blackness. As his sight adapted to the dark, he saw something in the distance. Narrowing his eyes to see better, he discerned two tiny red specs floating stationary in the dark. Again the occasionally calming rainfall allowed for him to hear the engine again.
At once it hit Don like a hammer. “Holy shit! It’s the van! Oh please don’t be dead. Don’t be dead, guys!” he gasped, forcing his weary body to scamper for the red lights. He barely made it past a ditch he did not see, falling like a fallen tree as his ankle twisted under him.
“David!” he cried, unworried about being heard by enemies or snake-haired women. “David! Over here!”
From the darkness nearby a rustle of leaves announced the approach of footsteps. Too tired to care, Don just held his ankle and waited. From the wet night, a sharp beam of white light darted all over the place, lighting up tree bark, leaves, branches, weeds and falling droplets as it grew brighter. It fell on Don’s face, and he gladly stared into the painful sting of the glary light. His heart throbbed with elation as he recognized the sweet voice of Dr. Nina Gould in the cold black ahead of him.
“Nina!” he called.
“Aye! We’re coming, Don. I can see you,” she answered, sounding better than the crisp hiss of a popped beer bottle cap.
“Thank God!” he panted. “I thought you had left already.”
They picked him up, flinging his arms over their shoulders. “We were leaving, but Nina asked me to stay a while longer, just in case,” Purdue smiled. “And here you are.”
Nina did not ask for Costa, the true reason she had asked Purdue to wait for a while. As they approached the minivan and she glanced back into the emptiness, a feeling of depression gripped her as she realized that Costa had been lost to her.
Chapter 24
With the news from Don that he had not been able to find Costa or Heidmann in the wake of the close call, Purdue decided to return to the lodge to regroup and ascertain the damage.
Nina kept her discovery in the hand of the petrified soldier secret for now, just until she had time to peruse the scribbling on it. It was not a small note as she first through when she saw it in the statue's fist. In her hand, it felt like a few pages about the size of a writing pad, folded neatly, hopefully holding valuable information.
They left the other two members of the group behind in hopes of hearing from them soon. Purdue reluctantly drove away from the warehouse, genuinely hoping that the two men would be unharmed.
Overhead, above the slanted roof of the warehouse, the thick clouds wept onto the Czech soil where the scent of fresh mud filled the air. Inside the structure, Heidmann was searching Costa’s jacket pockets, turning up nothing but useless cashier slips and chewing gum wrappers. The failed artist turned collector steadily grew more impatient as he rummaged yet was left unrewarded for his trouble.
He had no idea if Costa had what he wanted on his person, but it was worth searching him for it nonetheless. Finally, he just patted down the unconscious Costa, wishing he had rather killed him, a feat he intended to accomplish once he had obtained the information from Costa himself. When Heidmann ran his hands along Costa’s side, he felt nothing. His left hand wandered across the cataleptic professor’s chest and felt a lump under his shirt. Heidmann caught his breath in excited anticipation, tugging carelessly at the seam of the black turtleneck to lift it up over the object between Costa’s pecs.
Heidmann looked around at the mutilated remains of the guards as if wary of their resurrection. It made him chuckle. His own panic was amusing, perhaps because he was so close to claiming the very thing he had been chasing for so many years. Costa’s sturdy hand fell on his just as his fingers found the elusive marble relic that had been secured as a pendant around Costa’s neck.
“That does not belong to you, you greedy bastard!” Costa seethed.
Heidmann was horrified, trying to quickly rip the heavy donut-shaped stone from his adversary’s neck, but it was too late. Costa’s back eyes blazed with hatred as he latched his powerful hand onto Heidmann’s. Scuttling furiously like a trapped rat, Heidmann retreated with all his strength and inched them both closer to the edge of the platform. The scaffolding was but one story high, but in his predicament, Heidmann just needed to separate himself from the keeper of the stone.
Kicking and tugging with all his might, Heidmann could not free his hand from Costa’s. With one last valiant effort he used his entire weight to pull free, but Costa, having anticipated the move, suddenly released Heidmann’s hand. The momentum flung the collector from the platform, and he fell hard on his side onto the dirty, blood-stained floor. It knocked his lights out for a second, but he came to just as the Greek professor leapt from the scaffolding.
Heidmann did not waste time crawling to the nearest body to seize a firearm from the corpse’s hand. While he checked the chamber, he heard the light foot Costa land. Heidmann turned and got back on his feet, aiming dead center at Costa’s forehead.
“You know I won’t hesitate,” Heidmann sneered gleefully at the stand-off. He was grateful for the gun he never thought he would be able to get in time.
“Mrs. Fidikos told me about the men you sent to kidnap her and Professor Barry. All the while I had the stone, not Soula,” Costa smiled.
Heidmann looked confused, but he had little time to conclude his business with Costa and so proceeded with his own claim. “Give me the Stheno stone! If you give me Stheno, I might leave you alive.”
Costa rolled his eyes. “In what sick little world would I give you the Stheno, James?”
“I can just shoot you right here and take it from you,” Heidmann retorted, bouncing the barrel of the gun up and down in his grasp to remind Costa of his bullets. “And then you may as well tell me where the Medusa is.”
“You did not do your homework, James,” Costa said plainly. “You cannot shoot me while I have Stheno. Unlike Medusa, her sisters were immortal, and while I hold her, so am I.”
Heidmann’s heart raced as Costa started moving opposite him, reaching for the round stone under his shirt. “Besides, nobody knows where the Medusa stone is. Not even me. It was just a strange coincidence that I ended up on the search for the Medusa with the very man who has possession of her sister stone,” Costa revealed. “Why are you not using yours, Heidmann?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Heidmann shrugged impatiently.
“We all know you have been blackmailing Soula, threatening to expose her roots to the world if she did not give you Stheno. We also know that you have Euryale, Stheno’s sister stone, in your claws. You are trying to assemble all three Gorgons, James. We all know that,” Costa cleared the confusion for Heidmann, eradicating any false pretenses of the collector.
“Why else do you think you ended up on this excursion, idiot?” Heidmann growled. “I was the one who suggested you to Helen Barry for Purdue’s party! Me! I knew if we were together on this trip in the godforsaken lands of Eastern Europe, I might get a moment alone with you so that I can take what belongs to me. I deserve this more than anyone! And by the way, I never orchestrated any abduction. What the hell would I want with Helen Barry or Soula Fidikos? Maybe you should check your own backyard for that snake you think I am.”