Judas and the Vampires (25 page)

I had hoped we‘d benefit from local superstitions about walking among the dead at night, but there is always courage in numbers. If these guys decided to venture out into the tombs, we’d be screwed. Unpleasant visions of spending the next few years in a primitive Iranian prison flashed before my eyes, and I seriously debated on finding an escape route and kissing my coin search goodbye.

Before I could make that decision, a sharp thud resounded next to me. Jeremy had kicked a hole through the door to the tomb. I almost berated him for acting so impulsively, but then I saw the placement of the hole was near the bottom of the door, and just large enough for all of us to crawl through it.

“I used to be a kick-boxer in college,” he said. “I hope you’re right about this.”

“I just hope our asses don’t end up in prison!” Amy’s rebuke was directed more at her brother than anyone else. However, the focus of her ire was about to change.

“Jeremy, since you know the general outlay of a tomb like this, either you or I should go first,” I advised. “Amy should be next, followed by Ali, and then whoever is left between you and me.”

Jeremy nodded his approval, and before we could decide if it was him or me, he dove head first into the hole.

“You’re next, little lady,” I told Amy.

Meanwhile, excited voices were moving into the tombs, and several flashlight beams scanned the area. Our presence would be uncovered in a moment.

“I-I don’t know,” she said, after a small lizard scurried near the dark hole.

“We don’t have time to debate this!”
I warned her, whispering harshly.
“You need to get your ass in there!!”

“Amy, grab my hand and I’ll guide you!” said Jeremy.

Well at least that was mostly taken care of. But I heard more voices...getting closer. I pushed her feet in as she moved into the hole, uttering a slight yelp in response.

Shit, they’re going to find us for sure!

Alistair was next, but after he saw a pair of soldiers jogging toward our area he dove into the hole, leaving me as the only one still outside the tomb. I really didn’t know if I’d make it in time, but I climbed in after him, seeing a slight glow from the flashlights on the ground behind my feet.

I fell into the fetid musty cell, thinking I’d land in the depository and share whatever foulness was in there. But Jeremy caught me and set me down quietly while we watched several pairs of black booted feet move past the hole. If any of these guys stooped down and took a look inside the tomb they might have immediately seen us, even though we ducked down as far as we possibly could.

Both Alistair and Amy were fighting the urge to retch, and I prayed they could keep it all inside until the danger passed. It wouldn’t be easy, as it seemed someone had left a fairly new corpse in this crypt.

“It’s pretty ripe in here,” Alistair commented, keeping his voice to a whisper when the boots disappeared from beside the tomb entrance. “I imagine this place can become a damned furnace when the noonday sun hits the roof of the tomb just right.”

“Yeah, and to think there might be fifty to a hundred people buried in here with whoever that stench is coming from,” I added, snickering slightly when Amy suddenly danced where she stood. She was determined to make sure her feet and the bottom of her robe didn’t get entangled with the bones and rotted clothing of the additional dead I mentioned. “Hell we might be standing in the very depository itself!”

“That’s enough, Pops!” Alistair let his voice rise back to an angry hiss that drew Jeremy’s ire. “Don’t you have a coin to be looking for?”

Why yes, my dear boy, I certainly do!

The soldiers had stepped away, but their voices confirmed they remained in the immediate area as they continued their exploration of the graveyard. A disastrous development, if we needed the flashlight to help me pin down the exact location for the coin I sought. But the light wasn’t necessary...not even a little.

“I see the glow. It’s in the back left corner of the tomb.”

“What glow?” said Amy.

“It’s something only he can see,” Alistair told her. “From here on out we’ll be spectators unless he needs our help clear away debris.”

Especially in darkness, the bluish glow will stand out for me, like the LED numerals from a standard digital alarm clock. And although this one was a little faint, I had no doubt the coin was there. It didn’t seem as if it would take much to recover my prize, and then be on our way.

Once I reached the corner I did encounter one slight problem...well, maybe a pretty big problem in a sense. A pile of decaying corpses had been piled up to my neck. The glow came from deep within this pile, which meant the silver shekel was beneath at least several of these skeletons.

Good thing neither Amy nor Alistair had been chosen for this assignment, eh?

All kidding aside, I had dealt with far worse circumstances in the past when looking for my coins—though this was definitely the first ‘family’ sepulcher I had ever visited inside. I suppose we could’ve waited for me to try and recover the coin, perhaps aided by the eventual dawn’s light.

But something told me to grab it right then...before the unearthly cobalt glimmer dissipated. Lord knew, this excursion could be so much worse if I had to reach blindly through several corpses to locate my treasure.

I whispered for Alistair to come help me lift the bodies off the pile. At the same time, our soldier buddies resumed their patrol of the immediate area. I saw several flashlight beams pass within a foot of the gaping hole in the middle of the tomb’s plaster door. I felt compelled to get the silver sucker out from its hiding place as quickly as possible, based on the current vigil going on outside the tomb. Extracting the coin without making any noise would probably be impossible. However, moving the decayed bodies out of the way first would ensure less noise.

So that’s what we did, and before long Jeremy and Amy joined in taking turns in lifting and moving the pile out of the way. I guess one could say it was like dismantling a pile of kindling wood, since the dried and leathery remains were a lot like sticks—especially when the leg and arm bones separated from a torso. I was especially impressed with Amy, since I knew she had never done anything like this before. My boy and Jeremy may not have relished this sort of thing any more than I did, but they moved quickly and quietly with nary a grimace.

It was a great way to pass the time as we quietly switched places while dismantling the pile. We never created a disturbance loud enough to reveal our presence to the handful of soldiers hanging out in the Al-haroun bone yard.

Finally, sometime after midnight I was able to reach in under the bare skeleton of a young child and grab the shekel. A mummified withered hand gripped it tightly, as if its owner once understood the coin’s tremendous worth and was determined to try and take it along into the afterlife.

“It’s the right size and shape, Pops,” whispered Alistair. He admired it as I held it up high enough to catch the light rays from one of the soldiers’ lantern resting against the tomb across from the one we occupied. “It looks like the real deal.”

Holding one of my coins always brings me the same sensation. One of healing at first that is always followed by a painful remembrance of what the entire collection of coins means. Once the sensation of wholeness wanes, it gives way to terrible memories of seeing Jesus of Nazareth beaten and then crucified—all on account of my betrayal. I can still smell the blood and sweat that flowed off his body, as well as feel the terror and see his anguished eyes that knew exactly where to find me in the crowd demanding his torture and execution.

“Yes, I believe it is authentic,” I said, trying to enjoy a light chuckle about the irony of my becoming a late-century connoisseur for items attached to my own sordid history.

The glow had largely dissipated, and an odd mixture of elation and regret remained. Although the elation that comes with a new coin discovery is the same, the regret washing over me hurts a little bit worse. So why do I do it? Why do I avidly search for the very things that cause me such heartache? Just one reason: to get to the end and see if it’s enough to buy me a ticket into eternal paradise.

I showed my trophy to Amy and Jeremy, who seemed only mildly impressed. I suppose a silver shekel that was common coinage back in Roman times doesn’t quite compete with a hundred foot crystal tree. Rather than waste any more time doing the show and tell party, I carefully deposited the coin into my pants pocket.

“Now...we need to get the hell out of here and back to Tehran.” I moved back to the hole in the mausoleum door.

From what I could tell, the soldiers had settled in. It appeared that two more had ventured into the area. Maybe they weren’t looking for anybody after all. They seemed content, and I detected the odor of liquor. It reminded me of
haoma,
but stronger than the drink of choice for those who still practice Zoroastrianism.

“Shit!
I don’t think these guys are going anywhere soon,” I said, angrily. It would be nearly impossible to leave unless the soldiers moved on. Maybe a few more hours would make a difference. “Let’s just be ready to climb out of here quickly when the opportunity to leave presents itself.”

“I think we should bring Amy and Ali up front. so we can get them out first,” suggested Jeremy.

In the faint glow from the nearby lantern, the expression on his face was one of determination. Very good. As long as he and I were on the same page in clearing everyone out of this cramped tomb, we’d increase our chances of escaping Al-haroun unscathed.

“That sounds like an excellent idea, Jeremy,” I told him, motioning for Amy and Alistair to move up close to us. “Now, we’ll just wait....”

My words trailed off as I heard a commotion from across the street. Heavy footsteps followed the sound, along with several automobile door slams. The footsteps were getting closer...
running
toward us!

“What in the hell do you think is going on out there?” said Alistair, competing with Jeremy and me to steal a peek.

“Everybody duck down as low as you can!”
I whispered forcefully, trying to add enough ‘
umph!’
to match the growing feeling of dread washing over me. We were about to be discovered—that’s what my gut told me.
“Stay as low as you can and don’t make a frigging sound!”

We all crouched down low, to the point the tomb’s collective stench from filth, rotting flesh, and stale dust filled our nostrils. The approaching footsteps slowed when they neared our hideout. I held out hope that we might go unnoticed once more. But then several high-powered halogen flashlights were shoved in through the door hole that Jeremy had created.

The light obliterated the darkness inside the tomb. It clearly revealed everything, including the mass of ancient bones in the depository behind us and the newer corpses and loose body parts on the tomb’s floor around us. I knew what to expect and not be overly surprised. Jeremy gasped only slightly. Alistair probably knew what was in here alongside him in the darkness, but couldn’t hide his surprise when a corpse with its gaping mouth laid open was less than six inches from his face. Still, his gasp was nowhere near as shrill as Amy’s—not that I’m picking on the lone female in our group. Lord knows she had already impressed me with her courageous determination to rescue her brother.

As unprepared as we were for what just happened, we were even less prepared for what came next.

“William? What in the hell’s going on in there?!”

Chapter 21

To be fair, my friend Agent Sam Daniels from the CIA should be credited with our rescue. At least, he should get most of the credit for actually showing up in Al-haroun. The rest of the accolades should go to whoever placed a call to the Embassy of Switzerland and told them exactly where to find us in the wee hours that Thursday morning.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Zoran was the one who called. It does surprise me how this cat seems to be everywhere and nowhere all of the time.

Sam Daniels was a Georgia State Trooper for nearly fifteen years before moving on to America’s Central Intelligence Agency. I’ve often wondered if all that time spent chasing speeding cars and arresting drunken miscreants is what siphoned his sense of humor. He’s all business. Handsome in a traditional marine buzz-cut sort of way, his hazel-eyed stare and angry square jaw can kill a joke fest faster than a bad amateur comic at a stand-up club.

A slight grunt was all Sam had to say after Amy and Alistair added their gratitude to the sincere ‘thank you’ from Jeremy. I already knew better than to say anything, though I’m sure he duly noted my sheepish smirk. His eyebrows were raised ever so slightly as he eyed me with irritation that was almost fatherly. Honestly, that kind of thing rolls right off my shoulders easily, as it does from all of my colleagues. In a few years I’ll have to ‘disappear’ anyway, and if my kid and I fail to find the last eight coins in the next ten to twenty years, I can still check up on old Sam and the gang in their retirement years from afar.

Anyway, right after we climbed out from the tomb we were quickly ushered to a black limousine parked near the spot we last saw Zoran’s ancient Volvo. From there, we sped past the soldiers lined up all along Al-haroun’s main streets, and we were soon back on the highway. Our driver must’ve been given strict orders to get us the hell out of the mountains as quickly as possible, and both Alistair and Amy clung to the door handles with white-knuckle tenacity until we reached the suburban sprawl of Tehran.