The Belial Library (The Belial Series) (25 page)

Jake glanced down at her.  “A surprise.  Close your eyes.”

She looked at him, her eyebrow raised.

He nudged her.  “Come on.  Trust me.”

With a sigh, she closed her eyes, letting Jake lead her.  She could tell they were heading up a hill.  After a few minutes, he stopped.  “Okay.  Open them.”

She did and gasped.  A giant field of mammoth sunflowers stood at attention at the bottom of the hill.  Each of the stalks was over ten feet tall. He grinned, tugging her down the hill towards them.

Laney felt she’d arrived in a different world as she walked between the towering stalks.  In the middle of the field was a square clearing, ringed by the sunflowers.  It was incredible.

Jake laid out the checkered blanket while Laney inspected the flowers more closely.  They were amazing.  There must have been hundreds of them.  She felt like a Lilliputian.  

“Breakfast is served.”

Laney turned.  Jake had spread the blanket, laying out pastries, eggs, and fruit.

She sank to the ground across from him, the unease she felt around him slipping away.  “This is perfect.” 

Jake leaned forward placing a kiss lightly on her lips.  “Now it’s perfect.”

They ate breakfast and talked, really talked, for over two hours.  They shared everything that had happened in the time they’d been apart.  The connection they’d had almost since the moment they met began to strengthen. 

Laney felt content in a way she hadn’t for months.  She lay on her back staring at the clouds drifting by above them. 

Jake lay next to her.  Slowly, he began to talk about Hugo when he’d been Derek Collins.  “It’s hard to explain.  One day he was this incredible guy, practically a brother, and then he was a stranger.  One I wouldn’t turn my back to.  In Iraq, I should have reported him, but I kept thinking he would snap out of it.  That he’d be Derek again.”  Jake shook his head.  “So stupid.”

Laney rolled on her stomach to look him in the eye.  “Not stupid.  Hopeful.”

Jake reached up and pushed a stray hair behind her ear.  “One day, we got a report that a family had been attacked.  The mother and daughter had been raped.  The whole family shot point blank.  Neighbors said it was a U.S. soldier.  I knew in my gut it was Derek.  The next day, he died in a roadside bomb.  Or so we thought.”

Laney lay her head on his chest.  “I’m sorry, Jake.”

“I spoke with some Navy doctors and they mentioned frontal lobe trauma sometimes results in massive personality transformation.”

Laney nodded.  “He was a pseudo-psychopath.”

“A what?”

“Think of it as adult onset psychopathy.”

“I thought psychopaths were born psychopaths.”

It was a common assumption.  True psychopaths were born that way, a fact that had always bothered Laney.  It meant there were two-year old psychopaths running around right now, who had no chance of becoming good people.  They would grow up to prey on others. 

“Generally, that’s true.  But it’s not the only way.  In 1975, the term was coined for individuals who first demonstrated psychopathic traits later in life, generally after frontal lobe trauma.”

Jake looked up.  “Like Derek.”

“No.  Derek’s gone.  He’s Hugo now.”

Jake stroked her hair.  She rolled over, facing the sky again.  “Any idea about how to find him?”

“I’ve been thinking about that.  I have one lead I’m going to run down but it’ll have to be in person.  It’s not an over-the-phone kind of conversation.”

“When will you go?”

“Probably tomorrow.”  Jake went quiet and Laney just lay listening to his heartbeat.  She knew how hard it had to be knowing a former friend was responsible for of all this violence.

After a few minutes, Jake seemed to shake himself from the past.  “So tell me about the cave.  What was it like?”

She smiled, picturing the Shuar’s secret.  "It was unbelievable.  It still seems like a dream.  When I first got in there, there was this world map on the ceiling of the lagoon, including Atlantis."

"Accurate?"

"As far as I could tell.  There were a million discoveries, each one more amazing than the next.  But it was the library that kept pulling me back. Have you seen the sheets of symbols in the Crespi collection?"

"Yeah.  Your uncle showed me some pictures.  He said no one could make out what the symbols were.  He said most people believe they’re an unknown Incan language."

"That’s the common belief.  In the cave, there were hundreds of folios on shelves in an alcove. Each folio was filled with similar sheets in different metals  - silver, gold, some I couldn't identify.  And the alcove itself was covered in sheets of metal imprinted with symbols."

"The same writing?"

"Not all of it, no.  But I did recognize some of it."

"What language was it?"

"Enochian.  I couldn't read much though.  But I did make out some words."

“From your face, I can tell those words weren't joy or something equally uplifting.”

"No.  It was a name.  Azazyel."

Jake started.  "Are you sure?"

She nodded.  "After Montana, I looked into Enochian.  I'm not great with languages, but I learned some.  Azazyel was actually one of the first words I learned."

Jake raised an eyebrow.

She shrugged.  "A fallen angel tries to kill you, you tend to want to figure out as much of his backstory as you can manage.  Anyway, his name was on one of the books, but I didn't have time to translate the rest of it.”

“Were any of the men at the site Fallen?" 

An image of Jen flashed through her mind.  "No.  Just regular scumbag humans.  But those books.  Can you imagine what they could hold?  I think, if anything, it's a history of the world, of the Fallen, of things we can’t even begin to comprehend."

Jake’s voice was thoughtful.  "It might even be more than that."

Laney looked up at him.  "What do you mean?"

"It may be an explanation about how to defeat them.  A description of some form of angelic kryptonite."

"Do you think there is such a thing?"

It was Jake's turn to shrug.  "I don’t know.  But I’m guessing we think the authors are the Children of the Law of One, right?" 

They knew the Montana find was one of the locations for one of the Atlantis libraries hidden away by the Children of the Law of One.  A second library was rumored to be in a secret cavern underneath the left paw of the Sphinx in Egypt.  And it looked as if Ecuador was the third.

Laney nodded.  "Yes.  They’re the most likely authors."

"Well, they knew their world was coming to an end.  And they were trying to protect the knowledge they’d gathered for future generations.  I'm betting part of that knowledge included the weaknesses of the Fallen."

"Now that would be great."  The smile dropped from her face.  "Of course, we have to get the artifacts back first to see if that is in fact true."

"Don't worry.  We will."

She found herself staring at him, unable to look away.  God, she’d missed him.  His deep brown eyes, the sexy timbre to his voice, the feel of his hands on her skin.  Why had she ever let him go?

She sighed.  "I supposed we should get back and help with the search.”

“I suppose we should.”  She caught the flash of disappointment on his face.  Jake’s hand cupped her face.  “I’ve missed you, Laney.”

The butterflies in her stomach began their mad dance again.  She hesitated, feeling the pull of work.  But all that had happened between her and Jake last year and everything that had happened down in Ecuador a few days ago flashed through her mind.  Life was too short to push aside these moments and hope they happened again later.  She leaned up, her lips touching his. 

That was all the invitation he needed.  He rolled her over, pinning her to the ground, his kiss urgent. 

She wrapped her arms around him.  Work could wait.

CHAPTER 55

Laney rushed up the stairs of the Chandler headquarters.  She and Jake had stayed in the field most of the morning.  At one point, she’d even fallen asleep.  She’d woken up when Jake had kissed her.  A thrill shot through her when she thought of his lips on hers.  She didn’t know exactly what their status was, but right now she didn’t care.  She was happy.

Pulling out her phone, she quickly scanned her emails.  No message from Yoni.  She was hoping he’d have found something on Warren by now.  She shoved the phone back in her pocket.  She’d call him later. 

Opening the door to Henry’s office, she gave Henry a smile as she made her way to her desk.  She flipped on her screen.  Henry walked over behind her, placing his hand on her shoulder he leaned down and whispered, “About time you two made up.”

Laney struggled not to blush.  She turned but Henry was already heading back to his desk.  Shaking her head, she dove back into work.  The rest of the day was a never ending stream of dead ends.  Every time she thought maybe, just maybe, she’d found a lead on Warren or Hugo, she ended up disappointed. 

By that evening, all she had to show for her efforts was a screaming headache.  Just after ten, Jake fetched her.

“Time to get some sleep, Lanes.”

She shook her head.  “I just need to do a few more-“

He pulled her out of her chair.  “It’ll keep until tomorrow.  You need to get some sleep.  You can barely keep your eyes open.”

He did have a point.  She’d read and re-read the article on her monitor four times and she still wouldn’t be able to tell anyone what it said.  A little rest was probably a good idea.

Jake took her hand, walked her down the stairs, and out to his golf cart.  That was all she remembered.  She must have fallen asleep as soon as she sat down.  She woke up briefly as they reached her cottage to make her way inside.

Too tired to change, she fell on the bed.  Jake curled up next to her.  She’d slept better than she had in months. 

When she awoke, he was gone.  She leaned over to the other side of his bed and his scent was still there.   She smiled.  She hadn’t imagined him. 

Hugging herself, she got out of bed.  Fifteen minutes later, she was making her way to the main house, disappointed she hadn’t seen Jake.  Stifling a yawn, she walked into Henry's office.

Henry looked up from his desk, a tired smile on his face.  "Morning, Laney." 

She smiled as she walked over to him, slinking into one of the three leather wing chairs in front of his desk.  "Morning.  Did you get any sleep last night?"

"A little."

She looked at him, not believing a word.  "I'm guessing a very little.  Where is everybody?"  Henry's office was strangely silent.

"I sent the analysts to the lab down on the second floor.  They've set up a command center down there."

"Any luck?"

Henry blew out a breath.  "No.  More walls.  But Danny slipped into his lab early this morning.  He mentioned something about a new angle.  Maybe he’ll come up with something."

She nodded and, trying to keep her voice casual, asked.  "And Jake?"

"He took off this morning."  He glanced over at her, eyebrow raised.  "I'm guessing you knew he was going?"

Laney looked out the window, her mind trailing back to their picnic.  And his arms around her last night.  She felt the blush creep over he cheeks.   "I knew he was, just not when.  How do you think he's doing with all of that?"

Henry sighed.  "I don't know.  He's playing it pretty close to the vest.  But he’s mentioned Derek before.  They’d been pretty close before his personality shifted.  Derek even saved his life a few times.” 

A knock sounded at Henry's door.  Danny stood poised in the doorway, Moxy next to him.  That was odd.  She'd never known Danny to knock.  Henry's office was basically Danny’s office. 

"Hey Danny," Laney called. 

Danny looked at her, but didn't say anything.   He walked slowly into the room, his head bowed low.  He stopped at the edge of Laney's chair. 

Laney reached out to take him gently by the arm.  "Danny?  Is everything all right?”

He looked up, his face stricken.  "It's my fault, Laney.  I'm the reason they attacked that village and all those people died."

CHAPTER 56

Las Vegas, Nevada

Rifling through the photos of the artifacts that sat on top of his desk, Sebastian smiled.  He hadn’t felt this good in years.  It was as if the find had rejuvenating properties to it.

A knock sounded at the door only a second before it was pushed open.  His grandson Warren shuffled in, his face still bearing the hallmarks of the violence from Ecuador. 

"It is customary to wait until someone tells you to enter," Sebastian instructed.

"Yeah, sorry," Warren mumbled heading for the wet bar built into the back corner of the office. 
             

Sebastian shook his head, his eyes following his grandson, his heir, as he poured two fingers of whiskey into a crystal tumbler.  He’d hoped the trip would mature him, make him a man.  But that hadn't happened.  He was still the same overgrown child he'd been when he left.