The Nostradamus File

CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE

Nick left his building for his evening run and saw Adam's armored Cadillac waiting for him. Here we go again, he thought. He got into the car. The door closed. They pulled away.

The car was still the same inside. Black leather, new and comfortable. Blacked out windows that let nothing through. Black partitions behind the driver and along the middle of the rear compartment. Speaker grill next to his ear.

"Hello, Nick."

The distorted electronic voice was the same. Nothing ever seemed to change inside this car except his future.

"Adam."

"I hope you hadn't planned anything for this evening."

This was new. "Nothing special."

"Good. Please give me your cell phone and your gun." A drawer slid open in the partition. "You can have them back later."

Something else that was new. Adam had never made the request before. Nick had a small Colt .380 he took on his runs. With hollow points, it had enough hydrostatic shock potential to stop almost anyone.

He stalled. "Why do you want them?"

"It's a condition. I'm sorry, but it's necessary. As I said, you will get them back."

The gun and phone were useless inside the car anyway. Nick put them in the tray. It slid shut.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see. Good work with the ark."

That Adam knew what had happened didn't surprise Nick at all. He always seemed to know what Nick had been doing.

"McKenzie got away," Nick said.

"We know where he is. It's not important at the moment."

We.

"Director Harker thinks others were involved with Harrison," Nick said. "In his secret society."

"They were. That also doesn't matter at the moment."

Nick wondered what did matter. He was out of small talk. The speaker was silent.

He guessed they'd been riding for about a half hour when the car came to a smooth halt. There was a pause, then the car moved forward again and stopped. Nick waited for the door to unlock. He heard the click. He got out and stood by the car.

He was inside a large hanger or warehouse. It was mostly dark. The floor was cement. The car was parked under a bright light. The air was cool. The building smelled faintly of dust and construction.

Ahead of him was a dimly lit gallery set off by a partition of glass. He could make out the seated silhouettes of seven people behind the glass. One of them was a woman. It was impossible to make out the features of the people sitting there. A speaker grill was set in the wall under the partition. Adam's voice came through the grill.

"I apologize for the dramatics, Nick, but it's better this way. You cannot identify us. It has been decided you should know more about who we are."

"And you're going to tell me?" All his senses were on full alert. His ear was quiet.

Adam chuckled. "In a general sense. We are the Guardians."

You have got to be kidding, Nick thought. Guardians of what?

Adam continued. "Our organization goes back to the time of the Templars. I am our spokesman."

"You're Templars?"

"There have always been Templars dedicated to our task. When the Order was forced to go underground, our group was formed."

Nick was at a loss for words. Finally, he said, "For what purpose?"

"To guard the Ark. To preserve what is good in the world against the forces that would overwhelm it."

"That's a tall order," Nick said. "Why are you telling me this? What's the point of this meeting?"

He was getting angry. He wasn't sure why. Maybe because of the cloak and dagger set up. Or maybe he was tired of being manipulated by forces he couldn't control. He thought of the shrink, Milton. He'd probably approve of that thought.

"AEON is the point of this meeting," Adam said.

Nick knew about AEON. It was a centuries-old conspiracy that spanned the globe, an organization dedicated to dominating the world. Because of AEON, Selena had almost been killed. Because of AEON, the world had almost tipped into nuclear war.

Adam's voice sounded deep and metallic through the speaker. "We are the counterbalance to AEON. You and your group have been effective in helping us block them. We want you to inform Director Harker of our existence and establish a communication protocol. It is a precaution, in case a time should arise when it is not possible to meet with you as I have done in the past."

Meaning if I get killed, Nick thought, or he does. There has to be a reason for the armored car. Adam had established trust with Nick. Now he wanted Nick to set up contact with Harker, something that would never happen without that trust.

"Why reveal yourselves to me now? What's changed?"

"The world is approaching a turning point," Adam said. "AEON must not succeed in their plans for control and domination. The events in Russia were a disaster for them. It set off an internal struggle for control of the organization. That has now been resolved and they are renewing their agenda. There is a certain amount of danger involved for me. We felt that revealing our existence at this point would give more weight to our request and prepare you if a new connection must be made."

That didn't sound good. From what he'd seen, Nick thought Adam was well protected. If he was worried, something bad was in the wind.

Nick needed time to think. He changed the subject. "The Ark Harrison had in Maine was a forgery, a replica. Did you know that?"

"Yes. We have the genuine one. We have kept it safe since the Order found it concealed on the Temple Mount."

Nick had trouble taking that in. "The Ark still exists? You have it?"

"Yes."

"Where is it?"

"I want your word that you will not speak of what I am going to show you."

"I give you my word."

"Look to your left, Nick."

Nick turned to his left. A bank of lights came on, illuminating a raised dais covered with a blue cloth. Upon it, the true Ark of the Covenant shone golden under the bright lights. Seeing it, Nick realized the copy had been only a pale imitation. He took a deep breath. Something unseen emanated from the Ark, a sensation of radiant warmth that washed over him. A sense of subtle power. He wasn't a religious man, but he had an almost overwhelming urge to fall to his knees. He gazed on it for what seemed like a long time.

The lights went out. Nick turned back to the gallery. Something had just happened, with the sight of the Ark. Something important. He couldn't put his finger on what it was, exactly. Maybe it would become clear once there was time to think about it.

Adam's electronic voice echoed through the hangar. "Few have seen that," he said. "You have earned the privilege."

Nick knew what he had to do.

"I'll help you with Harker."

"We expected no less. If you wouldn't mind, please return to the car."

The driver waited by the open door. It was always the same man. Nick got in. The door closed and after a moment the Cadillac started and began to move. The ride back from wherever he'd been was silent. It seemed shorter, coming back.

The car stopped. Nick waited for the sound of the lock releasing. The drawer in the partition slid open. It contained his gun and phone. It also held a manila folder. The folder was stamped with red letters.

The folder was scuffed, old. Adam's voice came through the speaker. "We debated giving this to you and decided that you had a need to know. The papers in that folder are the only copies. They will affect you personally. I suggest you think carefully before you do anything with what you find there."

Personally? What the hell did that mean?

The lock on the door clicked. Nick picked up his gun and phone. He took the folder. The drawer slid back into the partition.

"Goodbye, Nick."

He got out of the car and watched it pull away into the Washington traffic. It was early evening. He opened the folder. Inside was a sheaf of CIA surveillance and action reports. The first one was dated January, 1986.

He saw the name of the subject of the reports and knew things were about to change in ways he couldn't predict. Joseph Edward Connor.

Selena's father.

Then he saw the signature of the case officer handling the surveillance.

William Connor.

Selena's uncle.