Land of the Gods

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

First thing Scarlet did when she got back to the hotel in Roppongi was grab a shower, and the second thing she did was check her calls. There were a dozen messages from various friends and acquaintances but only one from Lea Donovan, and it was hours old. She opened the message and read it. Short and to the point: Hawke’s team were still in pursuit of the fourth ring, and had a lead involving a man named McKenna. That was that.

She tossed the phone onto a table and crashed down onto one of the two double beds, exhausted, A life spent burning the candle at both ends and chasing the most dangerous men and women in the world took its toll, and that toll seemed to get higher the older she got.

“Any word from Joe?” Ryan asked.

“They still don’t have it,” she replied. Ryan was next to her on the bed, and Lexi and Nikolai were next to one another on the bed beside them. Not too long ago the smutty jokes would have been flying thick and fast but not tonight. They all felt drained and hungry and dying for a drink.

Ryan read her mind and reached for the telephone between the two beds. He ordered some food and cold beers to be brought up to the room, and then he dropped the receiver down into he cradle with a bitter laugh and rolled back on to the bed. “At least we got our ring,” he said, chortling into the pillow.

The phone rang.

Scarlet flicked it onto speaker and set it on the bed so everyone could hear it. “It’s Lea, everyone.”

“How goes it, Cairo?” the Irish accent said.

Scarlet sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. It needed a wash and she felt like shit. Watching the flashing neon signs outside their hotel room, she reported the news back to Lea. “We have the Ring of Cyrus.”

Lea blew out a breath. “Thank God, and great work guys.”

Some high fives in the Japanese hotel room, and then Scarlet said, “What about you?”

“We got the Ring of Akhenaten,” Lea said, watching the surf crash along the coast. She was leaning on the back of their pickup truck in a parking lot overlooking Waikiki Beach. Dawn surfers were climbing out of their trucks and getting ready for a morning of action, but she was more interested in ECHO’s latest possessions. “So that makes four, right?”

Hawke gave a thumbs up as Lea told her about mission in Hawaii, and Scarlet reported in return the news about the Tokyo mission. He felt a massive relief that Scarlet’s crew had successfully secured their ring. Along with Alexander the Great’s ring, plus the ones they had taken from Razak and Jojima, that made four of the eight ancient gods’ rings — halfway there, but their actions had enraged many dangerous forces along the way, not only the Oracle but now the Yakuza and Razak.

“Where’s number five?’ Scarlet asked.

“We don’t know yet,” Lea said quietly. “Rich is getting back to me. He thinks we’ll have a destination within the next few hours but he wants you to bring the jet to Hawaii in the meantime.”

“Easily done,” she said.

When she hung up, they watched in silence as the rising sun lit the waters of Māmala Bay a bright copper blue. Hawke was the first to end the moment.

“Wherever we go we have an uncanny habit of making enemies,” he said, holding Akhenaten’s ring up to the light of the rising sun. Holding the ring’s shank, he gently twirled it around and studied it more closely. After exchanging photos of the rings they had all tried to be the first to make sense of the ancient map engraved on the flat gold surfaces. The markings were clear enough, but with only half the rings it was like trying to guess the combination to a six figure lock on a safe. A million combinations and no hope of success.

The lines and dots and tiny carved symbols were as clear as day, but how to fit them together so they made sense and formed a map they could use to find the Citadel was the big mystery and there was only one way to solve it — secure the other four rings. And they had to do it before the Oracle or anyone else got their hands on them if they wanted to be first to the greatest treasure of them all.

Lea’s phone rang. She answered it and put it on speaker. “It’s Eden.”

“Back so soon?” Reaper asked.

“We have new information,” Eden said, dispensing with any small talk. “When will Cairo and her crew be in Hawaii?”

“She’s leaving right now, so in around six hours.”

Eden was mulling something over. “Good. As soon as they land, I want you back in the air and on your way to the US without a second’s delay.”

“America?”

“We’ll talk when you’re in the air.”