The Minoan Cipher

CHAPTER FIFTY

The three black Mercedes GL class SUVs carrying Salazar and his lieutenants emerged in a line from the garage under the Auroch Industries tower. The caravan wound its way through the Cadiz traffic to the highway that led out of the city.

After traveling around twenty miles, the SUVs took a ramp off the highway, drove to a secondary road, then turned onto a little-used country lane that ran past a heavily wooded section enclosed by a fence festooned with ‘No Trespassing’ signs.

The SUVs pulled onto a driveway marked by a ‘Private’ sign. The lead driver remotely activated the gate. The vehicles followed a gravel driveway hemmed in by thick growth. The tract of land was under the control of a realty trust anonymously owned by Auroch. After traveling a few miles, the vehicles parked in a cul-de-sac. Salazar’s driver got out and went around to the back of the SUV. He opened the hatch door and lifted out a wooden box. Then he followed Salazar, trailed by the other lieutenants, all heavily armed, onto a path leading into the woods.

They walked past a shooting range, stopping to pick up pairs of ear protectors, then continued on to a cleared rectangular area a couple of hundred feet across. In the center of the open square was a metal platform resting on a waist-high steel framework.

Salazar was still fuming over the Santorini debacle. He had left the island empty-handed, and one of his men had been killed during the exchange of gunfire on the cliffs. He was already down the two fools who had fatally botched their mission to kill Leonidas. Then, on the way into the city from the airport, Lily Porter called to say the High Priestess had died. She had called for a Gathering and expected him to be at the Maze.

“I will look forward to bearing witness to your ascension,” Salazar said.

Lily made no attempt to acknowledge the compliment. “Tell me what happened.”

“My men broke into the Greek woman’s house. Hawkins must have had warning. He and another escaped along the caldera cliffs. One of my men was killed in the chase.”

“No sign of the device?”

“We searched the house and found nothing.”

“It’s fortunate the Priors were able to carry out the will of the Mother Goddess.”

It was a subtle rebuke. Lily showed no sympathy for the loss of his man. More telling, she had said nothing about his previous failures. The failed attempt to stop the ship expedition, to deal with Hawkins and the loss of the translating device. She was keeping her anger in check, but he knew that he would soon be finished. The situation was deteriorating even without the troublesome security breach in Oregon.

Salazar had to move fast on all fronts. As the next in line, Lily would be anointed the new High Priestess, giving her vast powers of life and death and total control of Auroch Industries. Before the death of the crone, Lily lacked the power to go head-to-head with him. The authoritative tone to her voice now, signaled that she was already enjoying a taste of the authority that would come with her rise to the High Priestess throne.

Salazar saw this not as a challenge but as an opportunity. With a single blow he could destroy the new High Priestess and her assistants and eliminate the last two Priors. With the core of the Believers gone, he would take total control of Auroch. Once the mission in the United States was carried out, he would be sitting at the top of a multi-national corporation that controlled most, if not all, of the world’s mining, petroleum and gas extraction operations. With the money and power that came with an energy monopoly, political influence would follow. He would be able to do what he wanted, where he wanted. His first step would be to eliminate, or bend to his will, the members of the Way who held key positions in the company. And that would be easy once they saw there was nothing to fear from the priestesses or the Priors.

In a supreme irony, the bull that the Believers held sacred would be the key to carrying out his goals.

Salazar’s driver placed the box on the ground, lifted out an object and set it on the platform. The bull’s head was around twelve inches high, fashioned from a greenish-black material. Sharp, curving horns gleamed in the sunlight. Red eyes blazed from the broad face.

Salazar ran his fingers over the bull’s crown and down the blunt muzzle to the white line defining its snout.

“Gentlemen, this is a Minoan vessel called a rhyton, and was designed to hold liquid which can be poured out through the nostrils. The original was found in the ancient city of Knossos and was made of Serpentinite with inlays of shell, crystal and jasper. The horns were born of gilded wood.”

He turned to his explosives expert. “Bruno, could you tell us how this rhyton differs from the original?”

“Glad to, Mr. Salazar. The head here is made mostly of PETN, the same explosive being used for the show we’ll be putting on in the U.S. The horns enclose chemical detonators.”

“And this is the triggering remote,” Salazar reached into his right ear with his fingertip and dislodged a contoured piece of pink plastic. He held it in the palm of his hand. “This is capable of sending a signal more than a hundred feet. Shall we give it a test?”

He led the way behind an earthen bunker. Small viewing ports enclosed in tinted blast-proof glass allowed a view of the platform. Salazar and his men donned ear protectors, then he took the ear plug in his fingers, turned a knob on it and pressed three times. The bull’s head vanished. In its place was a miniature sun of yellow and red fire. Even with the protectors, the explosion hurt their ears.

As the blast echoed through the forest, Salazar walked through the smoke and inspected the splintered trees around the edge of the clearing. The head had disintegrated. There was no shrapnel damage, but the shock wave from the explosion would have been fatal to anyone in the open.

He complimented his explosives expert on the extensive kill zone.

“Thanks,” Bruno said. “The second bomb I had built will work just as well, killing anyone within a radius of thirty feet.”

“That will be more than adequate. The targets will all be clustered in a small area of the sanctuary of the snake goddess. The procession of the priestesses will move toward the Horns of Consecration, flanked by the Priors and by musicians chanting and playing the pipes. The new High Priestess will dispatch the victim. I will present the rhyton to catch the blood of the sacrifice. The attention of everyone in the room will be on the altar. I will slip out of the sanctuary and trigger the bomb.”

“Okay. The bomb goes off. What next?”

“The Auroch security guards will be waiting in the courtyard for the announcement that the ceremony is over, waiting for the new High Priestess to emerge. They will rush into the sanctuary after the explosion. Finding only the dead, they will come out of the shrine. They will be confused. We will quickly dispatch them. Once that is done, I will broadcast a message to the Faithful worldwide saying that everyone in the old order was killed and that I am taking charge.”

“What about the big dogs?” another man asked.

“The Daemons will be in the ceremonial room with the Priors.”

“What’s the time table, sir?” the man asked.

Salazar looked at his watch. “The ceremony is set for tomorrow night. I’ll deliver the second bull’s head personally. You will accompany me. Your loyalty will soon be rewarded. As soon as I’m in power, I’ll make you rich beyond your wildest dreams.” He glanced toward the empty bomb test platform and in an uncharacteristic display of humor, added, “And that’s no bull.”