Unearthly Power (23 page)

Sean’s grin went from ear to ear as he sat on the corner of the bed looking at his friend. “You finished?”

“Yeah, I think so. I can only call you an ass so many times before it starts to lose meaning.”

“Well, you’re okay in my book too,” Sean replied.

Alex shook his head and let out a heavy sigh as if everything he said was nothing more than a waste of breath. The look on Sean’s face indicated that he had, in fact, heard what he said to him, and just as clearly showed that he didn’t really care. He was who he was, no apologies necessary. He took a seat on a singular chair in front of the room’s only desk and turned to look at his friend.

“What about Daniels? It’ll only be a matter of time before he finds out what you are up to. You piss him off and we might wind up behind bars.”

Sean looked at him as the smile vanished from his face. “I don’t know. Hopefully we can wrap this up soon and hand him the leftovers.”

“I’m going to go back to the lobby and see what kind of local maps they have. Maybe they can help narrow down our search area. You want anything?” Sean asked.

“Yeah, get me a soda.”

Sean nodded his head and walked out of the room. As soon as he turned the corner of the building, he was grabbed by two pairs of strong hands. A moment later, everything turned black.

Five men were standing in the dark recess between the two buildings. One of them had cut the wires from the building light above only minutes
before. Once they had the keycard removed from his wallet, they placed his body into the waiting van. Four of the men went to his room, opened the door, and rushed in to subdue Alex in the same manner. When they were both in the van, two men returned to the room to search it, clean up all traces of the disturbance, and lock the door behind them before returning to the vehicle. They drove off with the less important of the two things they were sent to find.

Sean was the first to regain consciousness. His vision was blurry and his head ached from where he had been struck. He could feel the throbbing behind his right ear. When he was able to focus, he saw that he was in the middle of an empty warehouse. He could feel that he was restrained to a chair. He looked down to see the ropes holding him fast by his ankles, legs, wrists, and chest. He turned to his left and saw Alex sitting next to him, unconscious but breathing. He was bound in the same way. He yelled out once to whoever may have put them in this position, but then thought better of it as the result only served to amplify the pain in his head.

He tried to move the chair but it wouldn’t budge. He looked over at the one Alex was in and noticed that it was bolted to the concrete floor. Whatever their captors had in m
ind, one thing was for certain: they were meant to stay where they were. Sean decided to retain his strength and did his best to remember what had happened.
He recalled leaving the room; he was going to the front desk and then . . . he stopped . . . no he was grabbed from behind. No, there were men in front of him and behind him
. That was all he could remember. He could hear Alex start to stir about. He watched him as he went through many of the same motions that Sean had gone through. When it was obvious he could see clearly Sean said, “Sorry, they didn’t have any soda.”

“Where in the hell are we?” Alex asked with a wince, revealing the pain he felt from his wound.

“I think we’re still in New York. Looks as if it’s still dark outside,” he said indicating the scene through a small window high along the wall.

“Thanks. You’re just a wealth of information.”

“Glad to help.”

“Any idea who grabbed us?” Alex asked in a more serious tone.

“Not yet, but I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.”

“You don’t seem too worried about it.”

“I’m not. It’ll only give me a little more to bargain with.”

“How do you figure that?” Alex asked as he turned to look at him.

“They gave me a headache and pissed me off. If they want to negotiate something with me now, they better have a lot to offer.”

Alex looked at him in stunned silence. A moment later he said, “I don’t think you really understand how this game is played. They are the ones who have us under control; it isn’t the other way around.”

“We’ll see.”

Alex shook his head and was rewarded with a reminder of his own contusion. The conversation was also a
clear example of what he had said to his friend earlier in the evening. He was starting to think he may be the one with serious issues for hanging around this guy for so long. They sat in silence until one of their captors finally made an appearance. It was the last thing either one of them expected.

             
T
he man who entered the room wore faded brown clothing consisting of a button down shirt, canvas pants, and leather boots. His complexion was dark, but it seemed more natural than seasonal. His hair was black and his features appeared somehow foreign. He had a thick black mustache and eyebrows that seemed to be in competition. At first Sean thought he was Mexican or possibly Puerto Rican, but it was somewhat different than that. He had enough experience while in the Navy to differentiate the finer physical features of ethnicity. He decided none of this really mattered at the moment. He’d wait to see what this was all about.

He pulled a small plastic chair from a nearby room and dragged it across the floor until he was directly in front of the two men. He sat down and looked them in the eyes. When he was apparently satisfied with whatever he had in mind he asked, “Which one of you is Rylan?”

“Who’s asking?” Sean replied.

“I’m the one asking the questions here,” he said with a mild accent.

“Well, good for you. The thing is, unless we get some answers you don’t get any.”

The man stared at him and decided he was the one he wanted. “You are Mr. Rylan,” he said in a self-satisfying tone.

Sean looked at him without response.

“You don’t seem worried about where you are or what is happening to you.” The man said
a bit curiously, taking note of Sean’s behavior.

“I’m sure you are only bursting at the seams in anticipation of telling us,” Sean replied.

Their captor looked as if he didn’t fully understand what had been said. Alex looked as though he wanted to strangle Sean. Several minutes passed before anyone spoke again. It was as if they were in a challenge of wills. Finally the stranger spoke.

“Where is the rod?”

“What rod?”

“You know what I am talking about. Don’t try to play games with me. Where is it?”

“Sorry ol’ chap, I don’t know what you are talking about.”

Seeing that the men before him were not going to cower because of their situation, he changed tactics. “We have intercepted both of your messages to Silas Chandler. We knew you would be coming here and we had people looking out for you. It is a minor thing to keep the few places where you could find lodging under surveillance,” he finished in a manner indicating they should be impressed by his efforts.

“So what?” Sean said.

The man seemed to be losing his patience by the curt and unproductive responses he was receiving. “So I want to know where the rod is!” he demanded.  

“If you want to talk to us, let us out of these,” Sean said, pulling at his restraints. “Otherwise, you can jump and shout until you turn blue and it won’t do you any good. I already have one madman to deal with; another one isn’t such a big thing.”

Before he completely lost his temper, another man walked into the open bay from the same room. The boys guessed he had been listening from behind the wall.

“Cornelio. That is enough. Leave us,” he said as he walked into the room. The man who had been questioning them got up from his chair. He gave the two men a cold look before walking away.

He was of similar size and appearance as the first man. He was an older man whose neatly trimmed mustache was flecked with white. His eyes were intelligent and his demeanor was composed. He walked over and stood in front of Sean.

“Do you know who we are?”

Sean was taken aback by the question. He hadn’t been thinking about these strangers in any other fashion than what he had experienced with them this night. When he stopped to think about it he remembered what the first guy had said: ‘We have intercepted both of your messages to Silas Chandler.’ That meant that they knew about Professor James’
s communication device. If they were not Chandler’s men, then they had to be related to the professor in some way. Sean knew now what the connection was.

“You’re members of the Order of Christ.”

The man smiled in appreciation. “That is correct.”

“You were either monitoring the professor or he was supplying you with information.”

“Good,” the man said nodding his approval.

“Professor James told me he was one of you. He must have told
you what I found on the wreck. But if he was one of you, why is it that you haven’t inquired about his whereabouts and his well-being?”

“If Professor James was still with us, he would either be with you or we would have heard from him by now. In fact, until we saw your initials at the end of your messages we thought he may have been acting on his own in some way. Am I correct to infer he is dead?”

“Buried at sea.”

“We didn’t kill him,” Alex offered.

“No, I didn’t think you had.”

The three men stared at each other waiting for something more to be said. There was confusion among them all, even though some pieces of the puzzle were starting to fall into place for Sean.

“We have much to discuss. I think I know why you are here and it may end up serving both of our interests. If I let you up will you control your behavior?”

Sean was surprised by the offer. “Sure.”

The man smiled at him and said, “Keep in mind that I have ten men with me in and around this building who are all armed. It would be unproductive if any of us were to die here when there is so much at stake.”

First he cut Alex out of his bindings
and then Sean. As he was doing so, two similarly dressed men entered the building from the far end. They watched with interest, but without any concern. Sean noticed that they all carried side arms. If they had more firepower than that, he wasn’t aware of it. They rubbed their wrists after being loosed from their bondage to encourage circulation. The man who freed them stepped back and returned his knife to its sheath. He took his seat and indicated they should do the same.

Sean looked at his friend and saw that he was really
okay. Apart from the headaches they were both suffering from, they were no worse from their abduction. He wasn’t happy about it, but he decided to see how things would play out. Even though they were
released
, they were still being held against their will.

“Why don’t you start by telling me what Professor James told you. That way, I won’t have to repeat what you already know,” the man said.

“Why don’t you tell me your name? Then I’d be glad to tell you,” Sean countered.

“Forgive my manners. I am Leandro.”

At that statement, Alex was about to interrupt. He found it to be a little absurd that the guy was apologizing for not giving his name, but kidnapping them and holding them against their will was supposedly acceptable. Before he could comment on that fact, Sean spoke.

“I doubt there is much I c
an add to what you already know, since the professor was keeping you up to date. We have the rod. Chandler has the ark, my sister, and the professor’s daughter. The only two parts of that equation that matter to me are the girls. I intend to get them back.”

“What I would like to know,” Sean continued, “is how the professor fits into all of this. I mean, you all look like you are from another country—Portugal if the professor was correct
about the origin of your Order. So how was he also a member when he was from here? Or were you just using him?”

The man smiled in reply. “Yes, we are from Portugal, but our membership is from all over the world. Everyone has their gifts. The professor was a learned man. He contributed to the Order with those gifts. We already knew about Silas Chandler and his interest in finding the ark. We didn’t realize he was actually on to it until we heard from the professor. It was too late for us to become directly involved at that point.” He paused while he looked as if he was running a series of events through his mind before deciding where to restart the conversation. “We were kept informed through his typed messages, as you are already aware. When we saw you sign on with your initials, we
assumed he was dead. We waited here, expecting your arrival at some point, and hoped to gain possession of the rod before we returned the ark to its proper place.”

“But who are you?” Sean asked. “Are you some military element of your religion?”

Leandro looked at him for a moment before speaking. “You could say we provide a special service to our Order, services like this.”