The Medusa Stone

Chapter 24

With the news from Don that he had not been able to find Costa or Heidmann in the wake of the close call, Purdue decided to return to the lodge to regroup and ascertain the damage.

Nina kept her discovery in the hand of the petrified soldier secret for now, just until she had time to peruse the scribbling on it. It was not a small note as she first through when she saw it in the statue's fist. In her hand, it felt like a few pages about the size of a writing pad, folded neatly, hopefully holding valuable information.

They left the other two members of the group behind in hopes of hearing from them soon. Purdue reluctantly drove away from the warehouse, genuinely hoping that the two men would be unharmed.

Overhead, above the slanted roof of the warehouse, the thick clouds wept onto the Czech soil where the scent of fresh mud filled the air. Inside the structure, Heidmann was searching Costa’s jacket pockets, turning up nothing but useless cashier slips and chewing gum wrappers. The failed artist turned collector steadily grew more impatient as he rummaged yet was left unrewarded for his trouble.

He had no idea if Costa had what he wanted on his person, but it was worth searching him for it nonetheless. Finally, he just patted down the unconscious Costa, wishing he had rather killed him, a feat he intended to accomplish once he had obtained the information from Costa himself. When Heidmann ran his hands along Costa’s side, he felt nothing. His left hand wandered across the cataleptic professor’s chest and felt a lump under his shirt. Heidmann caught his breath in excited anticipation, tugging carelessly at the seam of the black turtleneck to lift it up over the object between Costa’s pecs.

Heidmann looked around at the mutilated remains of the guards as if wary of their resurrection. It made him chuckle. His own panic was amusing, perhaps because he was so close to claiming the very thing he had been chasing for so many years. Costa’s sturdy hand fell on his just as his fingers found the elusive marble relic that had been secured as a pendant around Costa’s neck.

“That does not belong to you, you greedy bastard!” Costa seethed.

Heidmann was horrified, trying to quickly rip the heavy donut-shaped stone from his adversary’s neck, but it was too late. Costa’s back eyes blazed with hatred as he latched his powerful hand onto Heidmann’s. Scuttling furiously like a trapped rat, Heidmann retreated with all his strength and inched them both closer to the edge of the platform. The scaffolding was but one story high, but in his predicament, Heidmann just needed to separate himself from the keeper of the stone.

Kicking and tugging with all his might, Heidmann could not free his hand from Costa’s. With one last valiant effort he used his entire weight to pull free, but Costa, having anticipated the move, suddenly released Heidmann’s hand. The momentum flung the collector from the platform, and he fell hard on his side onto the dirty, blood-stained floor. It knocked his lights out for a second, but he came to just as the Greek professor leapt from the scaffolding.

Heidmann did not waste time crawling to the nearest body to seize a firearm from the corpse’s hand. While he checked the chamber, he heard the light foot Costa land. Heidmann turned and got back on his feet, aiming dead center at Costa’s forehead.

“You know I won’t hesitate,” Heidmann sneered gleefully at the stand-off. He was grateful for the gun he never thought he would be able to get in time.

“Mrs. Fidikos told me about the men you sent to kidnap her and Professor Barry. All the while I had the stone, not Soula,” Costa smiled.

Heidmann looked confused, but he had little time to conclude his business with Costa and so proceeded with his own claim. “Give me the Stheno stone! If you give me Stheno, I might leave you alive.”

Costa rolled his eyes. “In what sick little world would I give you the Stheno, James?”

“I can just shoot you right here and take it from you,” Heidmann retorted, bouncing the barrel of the gun up and down in his grasp to remind Costa of his bullets. “And then you may as well tell me where the Medusa is.”

“You did not do your homework, James,” Costa said plainly. “You cannot shoot me while I have Stheno. Unlike Medusa, her sisters were immortal, and while I hold her, so am I.”

Heidmann’s heart raced as Costa started moving opposite him, reaching for the round stone under his shirt. “Besides, nobody knows where the Medusa stone is. Not even me. It was just a strange coincidence that I ended up on the search for the Medusa with the very man who has possession of her sister stone,” Costa revealed. “Why are you not using yours, Heidmann?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Heidmann shrugged impatiently.

“We all know you have been blackmailing Soula, threatening to expose her roots to the world if she did not give you Stheno. We also know that you have Euryale, Stheno’s sister stone, in your claws. You are trying to assemble all three Gorgons, James. We all know that,” Costa cleared the confusion for Heidmann, eradicating any false pretenses of the collector.

“Why else do you think you ended up on this excursion, idiot?” Heidmann growled. “I was the one who suggested you to Helen Barry for Purdue’s party! Me! I knew if we were together on this trip in the godforsaken lands of Eastern Europe, I might get a moment alone with you so that I can take what belongs to me. I deserve this more than anyone! And by the way, I never orchestrated any abduction. What the hell would I want with Helen Barry or Soula Fidikos? Maybe you should check your own backyard for that snake you think I am.”

In his frantic, self-righteous speech, he did not notice Costa lifting the virgin marble relic to his left eye. Looking through it, the power of the Gorgon started to surge through him. When Heidmann realized, he did what any frightened and hopeless man would do. Five shots rang out from his barrel, but he was too late. The slugs penetrated Costa’s clothing, but his body had the resistance of solid stone, impervious to the onslaught of the lead. Behind Costa’s dark brown eyes an ancient fire grew, not one of flame and color but a fire as old as lightning.

“No! I’ll make you a deal, Megalos! I’ll make you a deal! You can share the riches with me. When I am done with Soula and her husband, I will be a billionaire, and I’ll cut you in on it. We can find the Medusa stone together!” Heidmann pleaded and suggested anything he could think of to appease Costa, but in vain.

A sharp light of purest white formed in Costa’s eyes as the power of the stone directed itself through him. Heidmann realized that he had but moments to evade attack, as the energy in Costa’s stare grew to immeasurable temperatures within seconds. He raced for the exit, but felt his feet, ankles and calves grown ice cold. Heidmann could not move anymore.

Shocked he looked down. Under his knees his legs grew grey and solid in his shoes and socks. He even took a moment to wonder why the deadly heat felt like ice, but soon realized it was the solace of burned nerve endings mercifully sparing him the sensation of the real temperatures.

“Where is Euryale, James?” he heard Costa ask behind him, as he felt his knees refuse movement.

“Oh, Jesus!” he cried as he felt the blood clot and his heart started to palpitate irregularly from the lack of circulation. “Oh, Jesus!”

Aware that looking in Costa’s eyes would turn his head and brain to stone, James kept his eyes on the professor’s torso. “This is not the Bible, Dr. Heidmann,” Costa growled in a deep rattle that lacked all humanity. “Here you cannot call on the Nazarene for mercy. Here is only a selfish king called Zeus and believe me he is no god. The only god present is me.”

“I’ll never tell you where Euryale is, you son of a bitch!” Heidmann spat furiously at Costa, making the inadvertently mistake of addressing him face to face.

He never even had time to realize his error. Soon to be the late Dr. James Heidmann, he screeched in pain as his tissue was instantly calcinated by intense heat. His flesh dehydrated so rapidly that his skin became papery before growing hard and cold.

With the swell of Stheno’s energy, Costa’s eyes shone like lightning streaks, filling his body with such immense magnetic power that his long dark tresses lifted around his head like a halo of snakes.

Moments after his opponent was effectively reduced to six feet of screaming rock, Costa pulled the Stheno stone away from his eye. Gradually, the light faded, and the magnetic force relented, returning him to his usual appearance.

“Ah! Finally you got the Stheno stone, James,” Costa coughed as he fixed himself up and replaced the pendant. “Just not in the way you expected, eh?”

The Stheno stone, named after one of the three mythological monsters, Gorgons from Greek mythology, was a sought after relic in the underworld of secret organizations. Soula had gifted it to her lover 11 years before when she acquired several artifacts from a dig where James Heidmann was leading the excavation. However, he never met the millionaires he worked for while supervising the excavation in the sub-cavernous site at Mount Olympus. Upon learning that he would not receive credit for her discovery, apart from a hefty sum of money, Heidmann had been left deeply outraged.

He had stolen one of the items, the Euryale stone and when he had accidentally killed a workman by looking through the hole at him, Heidmann had realized what it was. Ever since then, he had indirectly accosted Soula and blackmailed her family, threatening to expose the effects of the stones to the world. After stealing the two pieces for his exhibition from Soula’s Ukrainian associate, Oleg Bantra, Heidmann had hoped to sell the pieces for a small fortune,

But he never imagined that the effects of the stones would reveal themselves through a so-called act of God, of all things.