The Relic Hunters

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Bodie understood one thing immediately — if he had thought the prison was a kind of hell then he had been very, very wrong. Hell was right here, right now, for everyone affected by the incident and the aftermath.

And though he had lived an outgoing, streetwise, dangerous and often violent life, nothing had prepared him for this. The sheer trauma caused by the moment of impact, the terrible aftermath — he would never forget one second of it. On picking himself up he found a piece of metal shaped like a dagger just lying next to him. Ragged, deadly, it showed him the difference between those that got lucky and those that didn’t. Injured civilians lay between himself and the bus, most sitting up, some lying still and groaning. The area in which the explosion happened was a parking bay — fortunately not a place many lingered around. The only ones injured were those returning to the bus.

Flames billowed through the broken windows, so hot they warped metal. Black smoke plumed toward the sky. What struck Bodie at first was the absence of noise, no screaming or yelling, no running steps. The nightmarish unreality of it all lay over the scene like a fine mesh — waiting to crack.

Bodie saw several things happening though — two of them were Cassidy and Cross, one ex-military, the other an incredible conundrum, both certain to have witnessed something like this before. They were checking the wounded, shepherding those that could stand and hobble away, dragging those that couldn’t to safety. Bodie forced his body upright and then checked himself for damage.

A body loomed next to him. He blinked. It was Heidi Moneymaker, a dripping gash across her forehead, regarding him with haunted eyes.

“All this…” she gasped. “For him. For the Hood. We… we failed.”

Bodie reached down and unclasped the gun from between her fingers. “Don’t blame yourself. The people that did this are the worst kind of evil.”

Heidi put a finger up to her temple; it came away bloody. “Did I get hit?”

“Yeah, just a scratch.” Bodie walked her quickly over to the drinks machine and, in a particularly surreal moment amid the chaos, paid for a bottle of water and used it to clean up her head. Jemma was on her knees, talking to a man with a shoulder wound and Gunn was sitting with his back to a wall, dazed.

“It’ll be fine.” Bodie gently dabbed away.

Heidi grabbed his hand. “We have to go.”

“We can’t. They can’t. I can’t. We can’t leave people like this.”

Heidi’s face creased with anguish. “The cops are on their way. They catch us and the Hood gets away. The Illuminati will never be found. We’ve never come this close before and they’ll make sure we never do again.”

Bodie heard sirens and made a decision. Head still spinning, he jogged in sight of the members of his team, signaling them. One by one, they ran over. Cassidy came last after helping sit a young woman up and bind a gash on her arm. The redhead was dotted all over with blood — none of it her own.

“Services are almost here,” he said. They could see flashing lights in the distance. “We should get clear. Jemma?”

“Wait,” Cassidy said. “People need our help.”

“Three minutes,” Bodie said. “They’ll be here.”

“Not the point,” Cross said. “If one person bleeds out because we—”

“If we don’t go,” Heidi said quietly. “The people that planned this attack will stay free to plan the next. And the next…” She spread her hands, her laceration still weeping blood. “We’re behind already.”

Bodie nodded. “She’s right. Look, better people than us are coming to help them,” he said. “We can do it a different way.”

Reluctantly the team looked to Jemma. “Plans are pretty straightforward,” she said. “If Heidi can get the chopper moved there—” she nodded to the field beyond the station “—we can make it and take off behind that ridge.” Bodie saw a progressively rising crest to the right of the station. They would be a speck before anyone might catch sight of them.

“But…” Heidi warned. “Once clear, we have to lie low. If luck is against us they’ll be hunting us too next. It may even be that the Illuminati use their influence to point the finger our way.”

“We’re almost out of Greece,” Jemma pointed out, walking faster.

“You keep mentioning these Illuminati bastards.” Cassidy spoke the word like it was a bad taste in her mouth. “I think you owe us a more detailed explanation. Who the hell are they?”

Heidi nodded, focused ahead. “I agree. Let’s just get clear first.”

She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, and looked sadly back at the devastation.

Bodie spoke quietly. “You’re not to blame, Heidi.”

The CIA agent nodded grimly. “Oh, I know that. I just look back there and wonder what I’d do if my own daughter had been involved. I… I—” She shook her head, unable to finish.

Bodie saw the complex emotions waging war in her head. A human disaster always wrenched at the humanity of anybody that wasn’t already dead inside. He placed an arm across her shoulders and helped her to the chopper. They didn’t look back. The authorities had more than enough to concentrate on. Bodie considered their stand on keeping everything quiet, an American operation, but again decided the pros outweighed the cons.

“Any of you have kids?” Heidi asked suddenly as they approached the chopper.

The lack of an answer was answer enough.

“You never stop worrying,” Heidi breathed. “Not even for a minute. Even… even when they refuse to speak to you.”

Bodie knew the agent was feeling overwhelmed with the human suffering she’d witnessed, the callous attack. He helped her onto the chopper and remembered Cassidy’s comment about the Illuminati. It would help redirect her mind.

“Heidi,” he said. “Tell us the worst of what we’re up against.”

“References to the Illuminati first started appearing in the 1700s. We don’t know why, since it’s also been said the first member of the society was Adam. Their original goals were noble, worthy ones, but power can corrupt even the incorruptible and it’s believed the rotten apples soon infected the entire cart. First roots were dropped in Bavaria, blamelessly, but it wasn’t long before they, along with the Freemasons, were outlawed. Now, of course, they could continue only underground and this act alone helped contribute to their change of ideals.”

“You’re saying the man that outlawed this new society actually made them a worse kind of enemy?” Gunn asked.

Heidi met his gaze. “I’m saying look much deeper than that. Read between the lines. Burrow among them like a snake, a poisonous snake. What do you see?”

Bodie knew. “That somebody — deep inside the Illuminati — orchestrated events to make it happen. They planned for the society to be taken underground.”

“Yeah. Once there, it gave them a new kind of freedom.”

“No rules,” Cross said, rolling an aching shoulder.

Cassidy glanced over at the oldest member of the team. “You okay, Eli?”

No banter. No bickering. Bodie saw the anxiety and concern generated by the event on all their faces, knew it was reflected on his own.

“I’m good,” Cross said.

Heidi continued as the chopper flew low over the tree tops. “So the secret society was born. Legends grew. Some were true, others fragments of the truth. It all helped seal their notoriety. We do know that the Illuminati were responsible for many events that shaped our world today. The French Revolution. The outcome of the Battle of Waterloo. Even the assassination of JFK.”

Bodie raised his eyebrows. “Shit, you’re telling us that for real?”

“Well, the last is unsubstantiated. But it’s viable. They have agents planted worldwide in governments, corporations and the police force. If they want something to happen, it generally happens. They shape their own future, as they see fit to arrange it. They congregate in ‘lodges’ and aspire to higher ‘degrees’ of participation and even rank through different colored lodges. It is only the higher degrees that are privy to the innermost secrets and far-ranging plans. I would state categorically that those below a certain level have no clue as to the monster they nurture, encourage and support.”

“And the Hoods?”

“A whole different savage. The Hoods are loyal to the point of death. And unquestioning. They would bring a building down to kill one man. Kill thousands as a distraction. They would raze anything, anyone, to their master’s command.”

“So they can’t be reasoned with,” Cassidy said seriously. “Good to know.”

Heidi looked at her, equally honest. “Do not talk to them,” she said. “Do not show them mercy. Kill them.”

“Not a problem.”

Heidi waited for the chopper to land and then depart. Their flying days were at an end for a short while at least. They seated themselves around a clearing beside a dusty road, waiting for a car to arrive. Heidi continued her brief history.

“With Lodges, Grand Lodges and Premier Grand Lodges, the Illuminati’s structure became murky. No doubt yet another agreed intention. Grades were equally incomprehensible. The Nursery. The Scottish Knight. The Mage and the Priest. They sprang up outside Bavaria, around Germany and the United Kingdom. Their influence grew. And they survive to this day.”

“Despite the conspiracy theories? The scorn? The disbelief engineered in people when they imagine the things they read in books may be real?”

“Tell me,” Heidi said. “What was the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled off?”

“To convince people he wasn’t real,” Jemma said. “Obviously, that’s fiction.”

Heidi nodded. “Of course. But the message stands. The public gets fed all its Illuminati knowledge through Hollywood, the daily rag and Internet conspiracy theorists. It’s entertainment. Escapism. If they thought for one minute even half of it was real there would be a rebellion.”

“Hollywood’s a part of it?”

“Imagine the most influential dens of wealth, power and iniquity on the planet. It is inside all these that you will find the Illuminati, and all their copycats.”

Cassidy rose as a black SUV approached, hands hovering close to her weapon. “Back to the real world and where to next? The Hood won’t be using the bus anymore, nor the train. My guess is he’ll be finding a car. Just like we are.”

“Agreed.” Heidi squinted at the SUV. “Public transport is a big no-no for him now, and the map, of course, is everything he cares about. He will never stop.”

Bodie made a move toward the parked vehicle and spoke to Heidi. “Have you guys had any contact from your men at Athens? Surely copies of the map were made.”

Heidi made a face like she was sucking on a nettle. “You’d think. You really would. But archaeologists… they’re an odd bunch. Secretive. Distant. Unsociable. A decent archaeologist wouldn’t breathe unless he’d first assured himself it was authentic. They keep quiet, work hard, sharing their findings only among trusted friends until they can share it with anyone else. And, to be fair to them, their findings are judged, evaluated and discussed the world over. They have to be sure.”

“So, you’re saying… what?” Bodie shrugged.

“You don’t photocopy a relic, Bodie. But, early on in the examination, you might scan it and send a copy, by email, to your trusted friends. We’re checking. Only problem is, the Hood checked before we did. And then he cleansed the museum’s system.”

“Crap. But he’s on the run. Ineffective.”

“The Hoods are an army. They’re everywhere. Now get in. We have a lot to do.”