The Atlantis Stone

CHAPTER 11

"Thank God you're okay," Elizabeth said.

Lamont, Ronnie and Stephanie were in the room. Lamont had probed at Selena's injury and taped her ankle and foot.

"You sprained it pretty bad," he said, "maybe tore a ligament. There's no way to tell without an MRI. Keep it taped up and try not to get in any more fights."

He grinned at her.

She looked down at her foot, wrapped in white tape. "Thanks. Where did you learn how to do that? I think I'll start calling you Doc."

"You learn a lot of stuff like that in the SEALS."

"It's good to see you back."

"It's good to be here."

Lamont had been in the hospital for weeks, then rehab after that. Two shots to the chest had almost killed him. He was thinner than his usual wiry self. His rich, coffee-colored skin looked washed out. Selena thought his blue eyes seemed brighter than they had before but told herself she was imagining it.

Ronnie looked at what Lamont had done and nodded approval.

"Not bad for a swabbie," he said.

"Coming from a jarhead like you, I suppose that's a compliment," Lamont said.

Elizabeth interrupted. "Ronnie, Lamont, now's not the time."

"Sorry, Director."

"We need to think about what happened." She turned to Selena. "You're positive they were Russian?"

"I'm certain. The one they addressed as major had a strong Moscow accent. You can't mistake it. They were after Sokolov's map."

Stephanie said, "Two of the bodies had Spetsnaz tattoos."

"They have to be FSB," Nick said.

"Or SVR," Ronnie said.

"Or GRU or MVD. All the Russian security forces have Spetsnaz personnel. My money's on the FSB. They're the ones who were after Sokolov."

"No matter who it was, the ante just went up," Elizabeth said. "The Russians know Selena works for us. They wanted that map badly enough to risk a confrontation on our home turf."

"Which they got." Nick scratched his ear.

"Didn't work out quite the way they expected," Lamont said.

"The cleanup team found Serbian passports on the bodies," Stephanie said.

"No way those men were Serbs," Selena said.

"I can work with the pictures on the passports. If they turn up in the database, I can identify them."

Elizabeth said, "That might help pin down who sent them, FSB or someone else."

"What are we going to do about it?" Nick asked. "This isn't business as usual. Maybe they were hoping to get the map without running into Selena, but they tried to kill her when she showed up."

"They might make another attempt," Elizabeth said.

"Would you?"

"I wouldn't try to steal it. There's no way they can get to it now. They know we'll be waiting for them."

"It wasn't in the loft anyway," Selena said. "What would they have done when they found out it wasn't there?"

"That's easy," Ronnie said. "You know what's on the map. I were them, I'd grab you and make you tell me what was on it."

"Thanks. I'll sleep a lot better tonight because of that."

"Hey, I'm just telling it like it is."

"He's right," Nick said. "If they can't get the map, Selena is the next best thing. They'll try again."

"Not those bozos," Lamont said. "They're not going anywhere."

"The Russians have plenty of bozos. They'll just send different ones."

Ronnie rubbed a hand across his close cropped hair. His face was thinner than before he'd been shot, though his Roman nose was as big as ever. He'd lost weight in the hospital, more when he'd gone home to the Navajo reservation. The doctors had patched up his body. The traditional rituals of his people had restored his spirit.

"Seems like a lot of effort for what might turn out to be a myth," he said.

Selena held up her phone with a picture of the French tablet.

"When I've translated this we'll know more."

Elizabeth asked, "When will you have it done?"

"I'm not sure. There's quite a bit here and I'm only beginning to get a grasp on it. Perhaps a few days?"

"How did they know where you lived?" Ronnie asked.

Selena looked stricken. "I hadn't thought of that. That letter was sent to my agent. I'd better call him."

She took out her phone and dialed. An unfamiliar male voice answered.

"Detective D'Angelo."

"You're the police? Is Michael Daly there?"

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

"Who's calling?"

"A friend. Would you put Mike on please?"

"Give me your name and number and I'll have him call you back."

"Has something happened?" She heard people talking in the background.

"There's been an accident," D'Angelo said. "I can't tell you more than that right now. Give me your name and number and we'll call back."

Selena hung up the phone.

"A detective answered the phone. The cops are there and I could hear people in the background."

"What did he say?" Nick asked.

"He said there'd been an accident. He wanted my name and number and said he'd call me back. I didn't think it was a good idea to give it to him."

"That was the right choice," Elizabeth said. "The last thing we need is to get mixed up with the police on this."

"Mike was in Afghanistan, a Ranger. He was a combat vet. He wouldn't have given them my address without a fight."

"He might be okay," Nick said.

"You know he isn't," she said. Her voice was bitter. "Why else would the cops be there?"

Elizabeth cleared her throat.

"I'll find out what happened. In the meantime you all have something to do. Selena, your priority is the translation of the tablet. Nick, you and Ronnie work with the new guns. Lamont, set up the combat course. See if you can add a few new twists. When Selena's done with the translation, get her up to speed on the MP-7 and then take everyone through the course. Steph, track down those thugs. Let's find out who sent them."

Later, they would look back on that day as the beginning.