They retreated into the arcade and Hawke slammed his muscle-bound back up against the rough stone wall as he reloaded his weapon. With only the glow of a half moon to light the courtyard, he squinted into the confusing silvery gloom.
The black shadows of more mercs bobbed up and down as they used the arcade’s support columns for cover. They were running around the outside of the courtyard and heading out to the parked trucks.
In the chaos of the fire fight and with the air think with gun smoke, he saw the archaeologist under the truck panic and break cover.
Lea had seen it too. “It’s the guy in the suit!” she yelled out. “He’s getting away with the lyre!”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
With Reaper and Ryan pinning Mukendi down outside the arcade and Scarlet and the others still heavily engaged in battle with Kashala in the main courtyard, Hawke and Lea chased the Bulgarian archaeologist into the forest surrounding the castle. As they sprinted deeper into the woods, they heard Ryan calling out behind them.
“What are you doing here?” Lea said.
Hawke frowned. “I thought you were with Reap?”
He caught up with them, SIG in his hand and straining for breath. “He’s on top of it,” he gasped, thumbing the safety catch. “Sent me to help you.”
Lea’s face was white in the moonlight. “This is chaos.”
“Our friend in the suit is getting away with the lyre,” Hawke said. “Look.”
Weighed down with the weight of the solid bronze relic, the older man was moving into the darkness but struggling to stay ahead of them. Seeing what he thought was a way to escape his pursuers, he clambered over a six-foot chain-link fence and fell down the other side into the dirt.
Ryan charged forward, stuffed his gun into his holster and leapt up at the fence. Pushing his fingers through the chain-links, he began to climb up to the top. Hawke grabbed him by his belt and pulled him back down to earth.
“What the hell?” Ryan said. “I can get him!”
“Not in there you don’t.” Hawke nudged his head to a small white sign attached to the fence a couple of panels further down. “I can’t read Bulgarian but the little picture of a wolf is giving me a serious clue about what’s behind this fence.”
Ryan peered at the sign in the darkness.
Внимание! Вълците!
“I can’t read Bulgarian either,” he said. “I really must address that.”
Lea walked over and looked him in the eye. “Are you for real?”
“Sorry, and thanks Joe. Looks like you might have saved my life.”
They heard movement in the trees and saw Kamala and Nikolai emerging from the trees to the east. They had made their journey down from the ridge in good time, back at the castle the sound of Scarlet’s team fighting Kashala’s men echoed in the windy night.
“But what about the guy with the lyre?” Lea asked.
Hawke stared at the trees beyond the fence. The sound of howling wolves drifted through the gaps in the black pine trunks. “Something tells me he’ll be back.”
“You’re pretty sure of yourself,” Kamala said.
Lea nodded. “Tell me about it.”
“I prefer the term easy confidence.”
They heard branches breaking and rustling leaves and then the sound of someone cursing and breathing in the darkness.
Hawke jutted his chin at the trees. “Here he comes now.”
As the Bulgarian ran back out of the trees, lyre in hand, Ryan clapped Hawke firmly on the back. “Looks like you were right.”
“You must help me.” The man saw them standing on the safe side of the fence at the top of the slope and now began clambering back up toward them. “I’m not one of them. My name is Parvanov. I am an archaeologist from Sofia.”
A wolf growled in the gloom and he screamed in terror as he scrambled up the rocks. He reached out for the habitat’s perimeter fence with two bleeding, trembling hands and shot a horrified glance over his shoulder at the darkness behind him.
“Please!” he called out. “They’re behind me! They know I’m here.”
“I’m not surprised,” Lea said. “Given all the noise you’re making with that great big yap of yours.”
Reaching out his hand in desperate supplication, he called out to them. “Please, get me out of here!”
“Throw me the lyre,” Hawke said.
Even now, Parvanov’s mind was still plagued with indecision. With the lyre held tight to his chest, he turned and looked over his shoulder.
“There’s no time to think it over, professor!” Lea said. “Throw us the lyre.”
A long, eerie howl directly behind him in the tree line persuaded him to yield. He took a step back and heaved the lyre over the top of the fence. Nikolai reached out and grabbed it like a falling baby. “Safe and sound, Hawke.”
“Now, help me get back over!”
Their eyes came first, tiny amber lights glinting in the night as they reflected the ECHO team’s Maglite beams. Then came the hungry growls and more ghostly yelps and howls. Finally the alpha of the pack stepped out into the clearing and looked up at the man on the rocky slope. It took another step toward him and curled its lip to reveal razor-sharp yellow fangs shining dully in the moonlight.
“You have to save me!” he said, his voice wobbling and breaking with fear. “I can help you!” he said, even more desperate now. “I can tell you things! I can tell you things about Dimitrov and Kashala that you wouldn’t believe!”
“I prefer a source I can trust,” Lea said. “And that kind of rules you out, wolf bait.”
“No!”
More of the animals moved out of the shadows until the entire pack was standing in a horseshoe around the base of the rocks. The alpha surged forward and jumped through the air with its mouth wide open.
Parvanov swung a defensive arm in a sideways motion but the wolf easily sank its fangs into him. As the professor screamed and desperately tried to shake the heavy animal off, the rest of the pack rushed forward. Moments later he was nowhere to be seen. All that was left of him now was his hoarse screams as the wolves sank their teeth into his neck and face and started the long, steady work of tearing him apart.
Lea winced. “That’s not nice at all.”
Scarlet raced up the path with her team a few steps behind her. Zeke first, followed by Camacho and Lexi. The group had been together a few seconds when they heard a noise in the trees to the south. Turning and raising guns, a wave of relief went around the team when Reaper burst out of the tree line with a big toothy grin.
“Mukendi got away,” he said with a shrug. “But I think I might have wounded him, and what the hell is that noise?”
“A vulpine feeding frenzy,” Ryan said.
“Eh?”
Lea sighed. “He means wolves are eating Dimitrov’s archaeologist.”
Reaper frowned. “Beurk.”
“Exactly.”
Hawke grimaced. “Quite. Listen, we have the lyre and I’m guessing from the sound of the screaming men and gunshots that you’re on a tactical retreat?”
“You guess right,” Scarlet said.
“In that case, let’s get the hell out of here and get back to a hotel.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
When Scarlet looked around the room, she groaned. “It’s not exactly up to my usual exacting standards, is it now?”