The Nostradamus File

CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

"There wasn't anything else we could do," Nick said. "Whoever planned it knew we were coming. They set up an ambush and kept us busy while they grabbed the Ark."

"Are you sure it was the Ark?" Elizabeth asked.

Nick, Selena, Stephanie and Ronnie were gathered in Elizabeth's office. Burps slept on his back on a cat bed in the corner of the room. He snored. Elizabeth had bought the bed on a spur of the moment impulse. Now she was wondering why she had.

"I don't know, Director. But they took the whole altar with them. That makes me think the Ark was inside it."

"The altar was big enough," Selena said. "It was made from plain wood without decoration, like a big rectangular box. A Puritan would like an altar like that. It would never have occurred to anyone to see if there was something inside it."

"MI5 took over from the local bobbies," Elizabeth said, "to clean up after you. Automatic weapons aren't that usual in England. They were looking for terrorist connections."

"They find any?" Ronnie said.

"No. But all of the dead men were in the system. All former military. Two from SAS, one from our own Rangers. They found blood trails, so you probably winged a few more."

"Mercenaries," Nick said.

"MI5 identified one of them as having worked for a contractor security company called MKTA. It's run by a former SAS Colonel named McKenzie. MKTA has been implicated in a massacre at a refugee camp in Africa. They're suspect in other incidents as well."

"No proof it was them?"

"Nothing that would hold up in court."

"What's McKenzie's story? You don't make that kind of rank in SAS without serious skills. Why didn't he stay in?"

"He was forced to resign after he allowed the torture of Iraqi prisoners. He should have gone to prison."

"Someone must have hired him," Ronnie said.

"That's where it gets interesting," Stephanie said. "I found this."

The monitor on the wall came to life with a picture taken at Logan Airport in Boston. An unsmiling, hard looking man with a short haircut and sunglasses was passing through customs.

"That's McKenzie. He showed up right after you came back from your visit to Pembroke Castle."

She pressed a key. The next shot was taken outside the terminal. McKenzie was getting into a private limousine. The rear plate was easy to read in the photo.

"That's not an airport limo. It belongs to Phillip Harrison, the main player in Cask and Swords."

"The group Adam told me about."

"Harrison has a place up in Maine on a private island, but McKenzie flew back to London that same evening. So he must have met with Harrison in Boston."

"It backs up what Adam told me. Explains why a sociopath like McKenzie is hanging out with a big banker," Nick said.

"They kind of go together, don't they?" Ronnie said. "Sociopaths and big bankers?"

"Try to be serious, please." Harker picked up her pen. "Let's make some assumptions."

"Why would McKenzie's people be in that church?" Selena asked.

"'Same reason as us," Nick said. "They were after the Ark. That's assumption number one."

Stephanie said, "Maybe they were after you."

"Why wait until we went to the church? How did they even know we'd be there? It makes more sense the other way."

"You have a point."

"If they were after the Ark and Harrison met with McKenzie, assumption number two is pretty obvious."

"Harrison hired McKenzie to find the Ark," Ronnie said.

"Right."

"So what's the next assumption?"

"How did they find the Ark?"

"The same way we did?" Selena asked.

"They didn't have the sword, or know about Cromwell. There's an easier way. Let us do it for them."

"They were following you," Elizabeth said, "and that's how they knew where to look. If they found a way to bug your conversations, that would tell them where."

"Pretty sophisticated, but it makes sense. McKenzie would know about that kind of technology."

"What's our next assumption?" Ronnie asked.

"That the Ark was hidden in the altar and McKenzie will bring it to Harrison. He may already have done it." Elizabeth set her pen down.

"We might still have a chance to intercept before he delivers it."

"We don't know where he'd hand it over to Harrison."

"I don't think he'd fly it into Boston," Selena said. "Or any other place where customs might want to take a look. He needs privacy, someplace remote."

"McKenzie owns a sea going yacht called the Bristol Angel," Stephanie said, "and Harrison owns that island in Maine."

She tapped a few keys. An aerial shot of the island came up on the wall monitor.

"This is it. It's pretty remote, up near Canada. McKenzie could take the Ark there. The weather is good. He could sail that boat across the Atlantic and never get near a customs port."

"Can we get a real time view of the island?" Nick asked.

"The satellite comes into range in about an hour. I can get something then."

"Let me guess," Ronnie said. "The next assumption is that if the Ark is on that island, someone has to go get it. Like us."

"Why we pay you big bucks, Ronnie."

"What's the name of this place?"

"Indian Island," Elizabeth said. "You ought to feel right at home."