Empire of Dust (46 page)

"And they don't know the half of it."

"Neither do we," said Tony, looking out to the edge of the sea. "We still don't know who killed the Templars, or who made that first sand drawing. We don't know a damn thing about that Grail in the lock box back in New York, and we don't know who it was who escaped that lead casket.

"We don't know how he does what he does, how he puts dreams in Joseph's head and murder in other people's minds, how he raises a dead man so that he can suck the life out of people, or how he makes someone blow up a dam. We don't know where he is, or what he has in mind." He looked back at Joseph, then at Laika, and out to sea again. "When you get right down to it, we don't know much at all."

"But we will," said Joseph quietly. "We'll know it all."

"You really think that's possible?" Tony asked.

Joseph thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yes. Everything is there. If it's beyond our reach, that's only temporary."

"You're wrong." Tony shook his head heavily. "There are some things we won't know. Ever." His hand went unconsciously to his chest, where Miriam Dominick's cross had hung, and where his flesh now bore the shape of it, a white cross, a scar that would stay with him always.

"But that won't stop us from searching," Laika said. "Will it?" Her eyes looked into Tony's, and he thought that maybe she knew what he was feeling, the depth of his loss and his bitterness. She too had lost someone she'd loved, someone who'd betrayed her.

Her question hung in the air unanswered. He didn't know. It was only one of so many things he didn't know.

But among the things he did know was that another face had joined the throng that haunted his nights, an oval face framed by chestnut brown hair, a face with sky blue eyes and a small nose and wide mouth that somehow went together perfectly. It was one more face among the many that would walk the night with him for the rest of his life.

The silence was broken by a muffled whirring sound. Laika tensed, then reached into the handbag at her feet and took out a cellular phone. She opened it, said, "Yes," and listened to the voice at the other end.

Then she silently mouthed the name of the caller, the identity of whom, in spite of their ignorance of so many other matters, they had all known as soon as the phone had rung.

The word, formed but unspoken, was
Skye
.

Their time of rest was over. The search would continue.

R
eaders wishing to further investigate the reality of the paranormal will find much of worth in the following books:
The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal
edited by Gordon Stein, Ph.D.;
The New Age: Notes of a Fringe Watcher
by Martin Gardner;
An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural
by James Randi;
Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time
by Michael Shermer;
The Demon-Haunted World
by Carl Sagan; and the publications of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSI-COP) at
http://www.csicop.org
.

If you have enjoyed the Searchers' adventures in
The Searchers Book One: City of Iron
and
The Searchers Book Two: Empire of Dust
, watch for the thrilling conclusion to the trilogy.

In
The Searchers Book Three: Seige of Stone
, Tony, Laika, and Joseph face their greatest challenge yet—the Prisoner, free, and ready for revenge . . .

After centuries of captivity, the unholy Prisoner is finally free, and ready to recruit allies in his plan for mass destruction. Hiding from the FBI and their own superiors, the Searchers are sent to Scotland to investigate a series of "ghost" sightings that could be anything from fairies to aliens. Meanwhile, the Prisoner joins forces with a band of nationalist terrorists, and together they begin a series of horrific attacks across England. But the Prisoner has his own, larger plans—to destroy the world—and it's up to the Searchers to stop the demonic force before he starts Armageddon.