Curse of the Druids (3 page)

Chapter Four

“I’ve never seen such dark soil in a place where there are no volcanoes,” said Ishi, soon after we were on the highway back to Salisbury. “And the soil’s consistency… well it was not like I have seen before.”

“Legends tell us that the druids frequently cremated their dead,” said Marie, after flipping off a slowpoke driver once able to safely pass them. Her voice was calm, but I could tell she was seething inside. Despite all of her earlier optimism, she now shared the pressure of trying to locate the amulet before time ran out on us. “Burial mounds usually don’t share that soil consistency… but maybe they built the damned thing after they had burned quite a few bodies. Maybe the area’s elite didn’t want to be cremated.”

Or, maybe this was just a strange coincidence that meant absolutely nothing, with no ties to anything of archaeological note. Of course, I kept my initial thoughts private. Better to consider the pile of horseshit such comments can land me in before foolhardily jumping in.

“What do you think, Nick?” asked Marie, glancing at me knowingly, despite her eyes once again camouflaged by her shades. The sun had broken through the cloud cover, bringing a sudden cessation to the sleet and rain.

“I think it could be volcanic, since you are incorrect, Ishi my man. There are nine dormant volcanoes in the UK, and one—Mount Michael—was active in 2005. But, regardless of the source for the rich soil we’re dealing with, we need to be very careful in our approach going forward,” I said, offering an awkward smile to Ishi, who frowned and pulled out his iPad, working furiously to confirm what I just told him. “We’ve already agreed to come back here tomorrow, but we need a better back-up plan in case these guys show up again. Some kind of believable ruse.”

“Like what?” she sounded perturbed, as if her confident façade was failing. Maybe she didn’t know about the volcanoes either.

“I’m not sure yet.” I looked at the view outside the front passenger window. Hard to get used to how green everything looked along the rolling hills, with so much chlorophyll present despite the time of year and frigid temperatures of the past week. Green like the landscape in the Pacific Northwest, and surely a product of some similar soil nutrients. Not to mention nearly the same longitude and latitude. “I don’t know… maybe two of us pretend to be canvassing the area as amateurs while the other digs into the mound. Of course, that would require digging into the center of the mound, instead of at either end, like we started today. Sorry again, Ishi.”

The first chink in the amulet’s armor, so to speak. It sure as hell made the idea of aborting the expedition, cutting our losses, and hopping on the next plane to either New York or Florida all the more appealing. What looked like a ‘good enough’ plan upon our arrival seemed more and more disastrous by the moment. Maybe our previous exploits had been too easy…. But then I thought of all the time and planning Mario and I had put into the first Egypt trip so long ago. Marie’s familiarity with the foreign ministry and my own previous experience—along with the ease of getting a guide in Akiiki Mubarek—made things smooth for my second Egypt adventure in comparison to the current fiasco. Things had never quite gelled since Marie first brought up the amulet in June.

The silence in the van grew uncomfortable, and yet none of us felt the urge to speak. At least that was my assumption, based on Ishi’s angry fingers and Marie turning up the stereo. I pulled down my fedora, shut my eyes and prepared to catch up on some sleep while we drove back to Cricket Field.

“It’s obvious you don’t want to be here, Nick,” said Marie, just as I started to drift off.

“Huh?”

“You heard me.”

“You’re wrong, babe,” I told her, opening my eyes. I kept my hat pulled down and chair reclined for the moment, hopeful I could reassure her that I didn’t really think our visit was a complete waste of time, and praying her intuition would malfunction just long enough to sell the notion. “It’s just the reality of what we are up against. We need more time to adequately plan around the obstacles that have come up today. We can talk about it later, when we’re in our cozy room sipping hot cocoa next to a warm fire.”

I smiled reassuringly to sell this, while Ishi continued his keyboard assault.

“Ishi… hey, I was just giving you a hard time, my friend. Have mercy on the keys, man.”

“You’re right about the volcanoes, Nick,” he said, giving the keys a momentary recess. “But, I have looked everywhere, and
none
of them are located close enough to affect the soil at Salisbury or Wiltshire. So, Marie’s explanation makes more sense.”

“Okay. Works for me.” I gestured my surrender and closed my eyes again.

“Not so fast, ‘sweetheart’,” said Marie, turning down the radio’s volume to where it was barely audible. “I want to talk about it now.”

“What? Ishi’s point about volcanoes?”

“No—I want to talk about a plan for when we come back tomorrow!” she said, testily. “You keep talking about obstacles as problems that seem unlikely to be solved. What gives with the attitude?

Attitude? Last I checked, it wasn’t me about to blow a gasket….

“Well, I’m not trying to be a Negative Nellie here, but you need to ask yourself what you’ll do if the park authorities find us rummaging in their dirt and threaten to have us arrested. Seems to me we better hope you’ve got your prize in hand, sweetheart, and that it will somehow beam us out of trouble.”

Marie lowered her glasses to glare at me. I had a millisecond to fix this.

“Babe, I’m just trying to keep things light.”

“Being an asshole is keeping things
light?!”
she seethed. “Why can’t you have a little faith in me and quit acting like a prick every time you start to worry about what might happen, that likely won’t! I mean, seriously, Nick—every time—
holy shit!...”

She didn’t finish, the red-faced fury evaporating to a look of fright as she pointed behind us. I sat up and peered into the passenger side-view mirror. Although there wasn’t much traffic, whoever was driving the black Audi coupe had come up fast.
Very
fast.

But it wasn’t what heightened my protective instincts.

The car pulled up briefly beside us, and the passenger window rolled down. My heart raced, expecting the barrel from an automatic rifle to peer through, or perhaps a grenade launcher like we had seen in Greece.

This time, however, it was just an empty hand positioned as if it held an imaginary pistol. A hand belonging to a man of Middle Eastern descent, and who looked an awful lot like one of the bastards who stalked us in France.

The man laughed and the window closed. Then the driver slowed down… just enough to where the car could pull in behind us.

“What in the hell am I supposed to do?!”
Marie shrieked.

“Stay calm, babe… just keep driving. We’re almost to Salisbury.” I gently touched her thigh.

I considered reaching for her wrist instead, but worried she might flinch and throw us off the road. The speedometer hovered near ninety kilometers per hour, and in the passenger rear view mirror the front of the Audi hugged our rear bumper. Then it backed off just enough for us to see the front grill.

They’re not planning to immediately kill us? Why?

Well, for one thing, Yassir Ali would have a helluva time laying claim to any of the loot we took from under his nose if we weren’t alive to take him to it. But these assholes had tried to kill us before.

“What
now?!”
demanded Marie, in response to my snicker.

“I don’t think they’re planning to kill us today,” I said. “A day when traffic is sparse would seem optimum. And, yet no bullets…. There’s the exit to take us back to Cricket Field.”

“Oh, God, what if they follow us there?”

“We don’t have to take the exit. Stay on the highway and keep going,” I advised. “We haven’t seen these guys in awhile, so they may not know where we’re staying. Might not even realize we’ve rented rooms in Salisbury. You used a new alias to get us booked in Cricket Field… remember?”

“Yes.” Terror still owned her voice.

“Like I said, they might not know where we’re staying yet, darlin’. Hell, they might not know anything other than they just now stumbled on us while on the highway.”

“Just stumbled on us? Are you frigging serious?! Don’t bullshit me, Nick!”

“Okay… so maybe they had a good hunch where to find us,” I conceded. “But to assume they know everything we’re up to leaves us with just one option, and that’s to get the hell out of Dodge. Otherwise, if we stay cool, we might still have a day to try and find what we came for.”

Marie said nothing in response, and when I glanced back at Ishi, he was tight-lipped. Smart man.

In the meantime, we took a series of roads north toward Bristol. The Audi drifted back until the car was no longer in sight by the time we pulled into a rest area roughly an hour north of Salisbury. I directed Marie to park the car in the rear while we waited. Waited for another hour, actually. When there was still no sign of the Audi, she prepared to pull back onto the highway.

“Should we carry on to Bristol?” she asked, much more like her usual self: cool, calm, and covertly scheming to get her way.

“I don’t think that’s what you want to do, babe,” I advised. “It seems wisest to head back to Salisbury—albeit carefully—and find out for certain if we are truly screwed before giving your Ambrosius Amulet dream a permanent rest. Besides, Ishi’s brand new Macbook and game library are in his room at Cricket Field.”

“I have everything insured,” he said, sounding wary. “Maybe we
shouldn’t
go back.”

“Can you live with wondering what it would be like to find a relic unlike any we have ever seen, and quite likely to never see again, my hombre?” I asked, sounding like Marie. She looked over at me suspiciously until Ishi responded with a smirk, shaking his head in response. I gave her a nod to proceed back to the inn.

“I’m sorry, guys,” she said. “I hope you’ll both stay with me. I’ve got to do this—I have to find Papa’s amulet.”

“I know. Let’s hope you’re right and things work out,” I said, to which Ishi added a stern nod. “But we’ve got at most one day to find it. Better pray it’s enough time, and that we avoid a second round with those guys. Otherwise….”

I didn’t need to finish the thought. The unspoken conclusion was obvious enough.

Chapter Five

We didn’t have a repeat encounter with the Audi or its Egyptian passengers. Not that day, and as far as any of us could tell, there was no sign of them during the evening.

Even so, we remained on heightened alert. The tension assaulting our less than blissful treasure hunt hovered over us like a toxic cloud. Hovered over our every move, I should say, whether it was during our careful trek back to the B&B, or strolling around the grounds appearing casual, while seeking the flimsiest evidence of our assailants’ presence.

“Do you think they’ll find us again?” Marie asked me, when we shared our last private moment before Ishi finished moving his things into our room for the night. It seemed wisest for us all to stay together until we knew for certain the highway encounter from earlier was nothing more than a chance meeting.

“Yes,” I said, while gently massaging her shoulders. “I think it’s inevitable we will meet them again. After all, we now know they followed us to England, when we foolishly assumed they were still in France.”

“Then, they could kill us soon,” she said, sadly.

Her eyes were vacant, defeated, as if she already had one foot in the grave. She gets like that now and then, and until her temper kicks in it could be hours before she sheds the shroud of the Grim Reaper.

“They could’ve killed us today, remember?” I said, keeping my tone lighthearted in hopes of getting her to rejoin the living expediently. “They want the gold, darlin’. They can’t get the gold unless you, Ishi, and me are one hundred percent ready to cooperate.”

“And I’m not telling them shit!”

My Tawankan buddy had just entered the room, carrying his Xbox and PS4. Ready to rock, and dive into netherworlds far removed from this one. I envied him at that moment, wishing I shared his gaming passion.

But I did share something with Ishi: His passion to tell the world to bugger off, instead of moaning about like ecclesiastical evangelists, one step away from burying ourselves in sackcloth and ashes.

A wave of defiant energy surged through my entire being. Along with it came the cavalier air I had been missing as of late, like an old friend determined not to be denied access to my heart and mind any longer.

“What happened to the feisty girl who embraced danger with nary a care in the world?” I asked her, quietly, knowing the reaction I was likely to get. It came quickly, as Marie’s head swung toward me in a nanosecond, her gorgeous blue eyes ablaze with those curious gold flecks drifting as if prepared to form a phalanx and incinerate me where I stood. “Do you remember how little you cared about your personal safety when you hired me to help you find the Lost City of Gold in the Honduran jungles?”

“What?!
Do you think I’ve become weak?” she snarled, letting her voice rise and thereby inviting Ishi into the realm of our conversation. The gloves were coming off. “You can be such an insensitive
asshole
sometimes, Nick!”

“Only when necessary,” I replied. “Sometimes, that’s what it takes to get through. Especially, for a team like you and me to survive, babe. We need to start kicking each other’s ass whenever one of us is ready to give up, instead of playing nursemaid. You told me once that your father used to say ‘Dead people are all around us, waiting to be buried and forgotten. Only the risk takers get to enjoy life.’”

That got her. I fought hard not to laugh at the sight of her mouth hanging half open, without a damned thing coming out. Caught speechless—literally.

Count on Ishi to take care of the inappropriate response to get Marie’s boiling anger back on track.

“You look really funny,” he said to her, as he finished the set up of his Xbox to use with the room’s television. “And, you both sound like you’re married. Maybe you should get married.”

He chuckled as he turned on the game system, keeping the volume high enough to drown out Marie’s and my quarrel.

Well played, little buddy.

“So, what in the hell do you suggest we do?” she asked, holding me in her fiery gaze. “Just because I’m a little freaked out about a car full of guys who likely have enough guns and bombs to remove Cricket Field House and half of Salisbury from the face of the earth, doesn’t mean I’m prepared to quit my search for the amulet. Don’t even think about suggesting again for me to leave England without it!”

I liked her spunk—always had. Keeping her ire up would help us stay alive, I reasoned…. But being smart about where to direct that wrath was also part of the equation. Not sure where she and I would end up in regard to a romantic ‘life happily ever after’—especially if these guys were packing serious heat they intended to start using. A few direct hits from bullets or shrapnel would certainly take care of the ‘life’ portion of that idea.

“Marie… I’ve gotta be honest,” I said, preparing to duck out of the way from heated words or potentially flying objects—anything within easy reach of a desperate feline on the edge of going ballistic. “I’m not saying we have to take a different route in dealing with this. But maybe we should consider laying low someplace for a week or so and see what happens. We can come back—”

“No! We’re
not
leaving!!”

“Babe—”

“At least I’m
not
leaving!”

I admit I was worried things would escalate from there, especially when a knock on a wall from an adjoining room indicated we didn’t have as much privacy as either of us had assumed. But, Marie simply announced she was done talking about it, and that Ishi and I were free to do what we wanted.

Too bad my heart held better cards than my mind did.

Despite an imploring look and whispered plea from Ishi to consider leaving Ms. Da Vinci to her ill-advised whims, I couldn’t do it.

“All right,” I told her, after forcing her to look at me again.
“I’ll keep watch tonight while the two of you get some rest. If we make it until dawn without a single unpleasant event, we’ll head back out to the site after breakfast. Deal?”

No response at first, but after Ishi offered to split guard duty with me at the window, she offered a muted ‘okay’. Ishi volunteered for the first shift, and then I would relieve him for the rest of the night around 2:00 a.m., and keep watch until seven o’clock, when we would begin getting ready for ‘Bluehenge, take two’.

In the meantime, I shared a cold bed with Marie, where an imaginary line was enforced between us in the dimness. Some folks surely would’ve suggested counting sheep to get some shut-eye that night. But I preferred plotting a counter attack, in case the Egyptians foiled our next expedition. There was no denying we would be badly outmanned, no matter how things went down in a battle.

I longed for my preferred Baretta, which would’ve been impossible to smuggle inside the UK. And, we didn’t have enough time to secure another pistol or any other firearms since arriving in London. The only thing I managed to procure was another Bowie knife.

It would have to do. At least the damned thing felt great in my hands, like a long lost friend. That thought brought a smile to my face, allowing the day’s weariness to exit quietly. Soon after, I was fast asleep.