The Nostradamus File

CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE

The Ark was a little less than four feet long and covered in thin sheets of hammered gold. It was two feet wide and two high, small enough to fit inside the altar stolen from St. John's. The gold had fallen away in spots, exposing dark wood underneath. Cedar, maybe, Nick thought.

Regular, geometric designs were stamped into the gold. Two golden figures knelt on the lid with heads bowed, their long wings extended toward the middle of the Ark.

The cherubim. Just like in the Bible.

An elaborate, carved railing went around the lid. There were supposed to be rings for poles to carry the Ark, but they were missing. One of the feet was gone. The others were carved like lion's claws.

They moved into the room. The man in the chair stopped humming. He still had his back to them.

"McKenzie?" he said. "I thought you went to bed." He rose and turned toward the door.

It was Phillip Harrison. His face went white when he saw the guns pointing at him.

"Who…? What are you doing here?"

"Ronnie, watch the hall," Nick said. Ronnie took up station by the door. His MP-5 was a dull black in the candlelight.

"Do you know who I am?" Harrison said.

"Why do big shots always say that when they get caught?" Nick asked. "Like it should make a difference. I know who you are, Harrison. You're someone who's about to spend a long time in a very unpleasant place."

"How dare you."

"That's the other thing they always say," said Selena.

"I don't know who you are, but you have made a very serious mistake." Harrison had regained his composure.

Over his shoulder, Ronnie said, "Can this guy say anything original?"

Selena was looking at the Ark. "It's beautiful," she said.

"Do you know what this is?" Harrison looked at Nick. His eyes had an odd gleam in the flickering light.

He's nuts, Nick thought. Something about the eyes.

"I have been searching for this for years. God spoke to me. He brought this to me. Do you really think He will let you take it away?"

"God talks to you?" Nick said. His ear itched. He reached up to scratch it.

"Nick." It was Ronnie. "Someone coming."

"Selena, cover him. Harrison, you try anything, she'll shoot you. Do you understand?"

"I don't believe you."

"You should," Selena said. "You killed my friend. Sit down." She poked him in the chest with the barrel of her MP-5 and gestured at the chair. It was a persuasive argument. Harrison saw the expression on her face and sat down.

To the right of the door the hall ran along the side of the house and ended at a tee on the far end. The other way led back to the laundry room and the porch. Ronnie saw a quick movement at the tee end. Someone ducked back out of sight.

"Company," he said. "They must have found the guard."

"How many?"

"I don't know. What do you want to do?"

Nick's ear was burning. He tugged on it. A round object rolled down the hall and stopped short of the door.

"Grenade," Ronnie yelled. He ducked back into the room.

The grenade was a flash bang. It went off in the hall with a deafening blast and blinding white light. The warning and being inside the room kept him from being blinded, but the noise and the concussion gave Nick an instant headache. He was dizzy. He reached blindly around the door frame and fired at the end of the hall.

Selena was stunned by the sound. Harrison jumped up and wrapped his arms around her and reached for the gun. She struggled against his bear hug and they staggered into the table. It tipped. Candles fell over and rolled across the floor. One came to rest under the cloth drape, still burning. The ark tilted and crashed onto the floor. One of the cherubim broke into pieces.

Nick and Ronnie fired into the hall. Answering shots came from both ends.

The drapes in the study were old, sewn in a day long before the thought of fireproof chemicals. Shimmering blue fire shot straight up the cloth. Suddenly the window was engulfed in a sheet of flame. The house had wooden floors and ceilings built of dry Maine pine. Flames crawled along the ceiling and found the paper books and wooden shelves. The wall caught fire. The room filled with heat and thick, black smoke. Smoke roiled out of the open door, into the hall.

Selena head butted Harrison in the face. He loosened his grip. She kneed him in the groin. She got her left arm free and brought her fist around and punched him hard in the ear. He yelled. She broke his grip and brought the MP-5 across and slammed it into his head. He went down on the floor, unconscious. On an impulse, she reached down beside him and grabbed a golden piece of the broken cherubim with her left hand.

"Selena!" Nick yelled.

She ran to the door, coughing, clutching the piece of ancient wood, her MP-5 in her right hand. She smelled her hair curling from the heat. She looked back. The Ark was burning with golden light.

"Harrison," she said. She started back into the room. Part of the ceiling came down in a cascade of sparks and flame. Nick grabbed her arm.

"Leave him. Go left. Lay down fire as we go."

They went out the door, guns blazing. The hall was choked with smoke. Bullets came from beyond the smoke, smacking into the walls. They ran. A round smashed into Nick's armor and knocked him down. Ronnie pulled him to his feet.

Nick felt sharp pain with every breath as he ran. Cracked a rib, he thought, for sure.

They reached the back porch. Behind them, the hall filled with dense smoke. Flickering, orange-red light glowed in the choking clouds. Shots from outside ripped through the porch screens as they burst through the back door. Glass shattered behind them. Ronnie and Nick fired at the same time and a voice cried out. Selena triggered a burst and her gun locked open. She couldn't hold onto the piece of the Ark and load a magazine at the same time. She let the MP-5 hang from its sling and drew her pistol and began firing at moving shadows as they ran for the woods.

Then they were in the safety of the trees.

Behind them, the house burned with fierce, roaring flames. The fire broke through the roof. Glass blew out of the windows as the flames raced through the upper stories. Nick had never seen anything burn so fast.

No one was shooting at them anymore. They moved farther back into the trees.

Then the house exploded. The burning roof lifted into the air. A column of flame a hundred feet high erupted into the night.

"Holy shit," Ronnie said.

They ducked as debris whistled through the woods and burning pieces rained down from the sky.

"Must have had something nasty in the basement," Nick said.

They waited. No one came after them. The sound of big diesel engines starting up came from the direction of the water.

"McKenzie's boat," Nick said. "He's leaving."

Ronnie looked a question.

"No, let him go," Nick said. "We'll let someone else worry about it."

He coughed and gasped and bent over in pain.

"You're hurt," Selena said.

"Armor saved me. But I think I've got a couple of broken ribs."

He looked at her. Her face was blackened, one side of her hair was singed.

"Let's find a boat and get out of here," Ronnie said.

Nick looked at the fire raging where the house had been. "The Ark is gone."

"Not all of it." Selena held up the piece of the broken cherubim.