The Cup

CHAPTER 54

Not long before, Haddad had slung his rifle over his shoulder, picked up one of the oil lamps lighting the room and started down the passage.

On the street above, an artillery shell landed somewhere close to the ruins. The earth shook. Bits of dirt showered down on him. Haddad held up the light and looked at the roof of the passage. The mortar holding the stones together was old and brittle, crumbling. Another shell landed, dropping bits of mortar on the centuries of dust covering the floor.

The passage went straight, curved right and then left. After a hundred steps it opened into another room. Open shelves filled with bones lined the sides, four high.

A catacomb. These infidel dogs can't even bury their dead properly.

An ancient hint of decay hung in the stale air. Haddad sneezed.

A low stone stood few feet from the wall at the far end of the room. A Syriac cross stood upon it. Two ancient candles set in wooden holders flanked the cross. Haddad used the lamp to light them.

The flame of the candles threw flickering shadows about the macabre room. The stacked bones in the crypts gleamed in the light. The empty eyes of the grinning skulls seem to be watching him.

The cup has to be here, he thought.

He hoped it wasn't hidden amid the bones. Death didn't bother him. Raqqa was filled with death and skulls. But it would take time to go through all those bones. Sooner or later someone would discover the bodies outside and things would get complicated.

No, the logical place would be the altar or nearby.

He examined the wall behind the altar for any sign of a loose stone or hiding place. There wasn't anything there. The wall was solid, part of the church foundation.

He leaned against the corner of the altar and felt it move.

Allahhu Akbar! It's underneath!.

He put the lamp down, took the AK off his shoulder and laid it on the altar. With both hands, he pushed against the corner of the heavy altar. It pivoted in an arc, stone scraping against stone, revealing a compartment hollowed out in the floor underneath.

In the compartment was a wooden box.

Haddad reached down and lifted the box from its hiding place. He straightened, picked up the lamp from the floor and set it on the altar. He wiped dust away and held the box up to examine it.

It was made of olive wood, polished to a high gloss. The quality of workmanship was obvious. The box was square. The diamond cross was carved into each side. Whoever had made it had spent a lot of time making it beautiful.

He had also done something to conceal the way it could be opened.

Haddad turned the box around in his hands. All the sides looked the same. He pressed against one of them. It moved and clicked but nothing happened. He held it between both hands and pressed. Both sides moved, but the box remained closed.

Everything was smooth. There was nothing to grab, no obvious lid, no keyhole. The more he looked at the object in his hands, the more Haddad felt himself growing frustrated.

Another shell struck near the church, rattling the bones of the dead monks. He heard a loud explosion echo through the passage behind him.

That was close, he thought.

A skull fell off its shelf and rolled across the floor to his feet. The vacant eye sockets looked up at Haddad as if to mock him. He kicked the skull across the room. It shattered against the wall.

Another shell struck and then another. Dust poured down from the ceiling.

I have to be sure, he thought. I have to get this open.

He reached for his knife with his left hand, a heavy fighting knife taken from a British soldier. Lamont's voice came from behind him.

"Freeze, asshole!"

Haddad was facing the altar, his back to the entrance of the room. The AK lay inches from his right hand.

They'll question me. Water board me. Sooner or later I'll tell them what I know.

He began to recite the Shahada, the prayer of acceptance and surrender.

"In the name of Allah, the magnificent… "

Haddad grabbed the rifle and started to turn. Nick and Selena and Ronnie and Lamont all fired at the same time. The bullets ripped through him, spraying blood and bone and tissue over the altar and the wall behind. The box flew out of his hand as his body was driven back against the altar. The AK dropped from lifeless fingers. He fell against the altar and slipped to the floor.

"Stupid," Lamont said.

Selena walked over to the box and picked it up. It felt warm in her hands.

"The altar was moved," Nick said. "There's a space under it."

"I think this was in it," Selena held up the box.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"What else could it be?" Selena said. "The Grail must be inside."

"Open it up. Let's see," Ronnie said.

Selena turned the box around in her hands.

"I don't see any way to do it."

"We'll figure it out later," Nick said. "We need to get out of here. It will be light soon."

"Let me search this guy before we go," Lamont said.

He went to Haddad's body and started going through his clothes. There was nothing except a well used pocket copy of the Koran, a scrap of paper and some Syrian and Iraqi currency. Lamont pocketed the items.

"Done."

Nick looked at Haddad's face.

"I'll be damned. This is the guy Stephanie showed us. Our spymaster."

"Looks like his spying days are over," Lamont said.

"Time to boogie," Nick said. "Selena, you take care of that box."

They followed the passage back to the library, stepped over the bodies of the students and climbed back to the surface. It was still dark. A fire had started nearby from the shelling. Whatever was burning threw enough light to make the night vision units useless.

Nick stood by the open trap door and called for extraction.

"Spooky One, Bird Boy."

"Copy, Bird Boy. Ready to fly?"

"Affirmative."

"Copy that, I have your location. Out."

"Spooky One?" Selena asked. "Bird Boy?"

"It wasn't me that thought it up. You can thank Hood."

An artillery shell landed nearby. In the brief light of the explosion, Lamont saw shadowy figures moving toward the church. They had weapons.

"We've got company," he said. "Looks like a dozen or so. They're armed."

"I thought this was too easy," Ronnie said.

"Coming here?" Nick asked.

"Looks like it. I don't think they want to borrow a book."

Nick looked around. The only way out was through the side door they'd used to enter.

"We make a break for it, they'll see us."

"They have to come through that door, just like we did," Ronnie said.

"Yeah. Better hope they don't have an RPG with them."