The men all turned to stare at her.
“What is it?” Griffin asked.
“My room key! It must have fallen out of my pocket when I took my jacket off earlier.”
“Your room key?” Griffin repeated. “Why on earth didn’t you turn it in at the front desk?”
“I forgot. OK? I was running late this morning, and there was nobody at the desk anyway.” She searched all her pockets again. “I thought I heard a clinking sound when I picked my jacket up off the ground. “Jeez! That means the key is sitting right out there in the open. Practically right next to the lily stone.”
“That key has the hotel name and room number on it.” Erik scowled. “If Hunt finds it and decides to check out who else was nosing around the megaliths, that key would lead him straight to us.”
“Maybe he’d think it was just dropped there by a careless tourist.” Fred laughed nervously.
“You want to take that chance?” Erik asked pointedly.
“I have to go back.” Cassie was already jogging up the trail.
Her companions scrambled to catch up with her.
They trotted briskly up the path through the pines and climbed the rise toward the plateau when something stopped them dead in their tracks. The sight that greeted them was inconceivable. They’d been prepared to dodge the Nephilim, but this was an entirely different matter.
“Holy crap!” Cassie exclaimed.
“What are they doing?” Griffin asked in wonder.
“Guys, get down!” Erik commanded.
The four flattened themselves against the ground and peered over the rim of the hill toward the plateau where the megaliths stood. A trio of men were circling the place where the artifact was hidden. They appeared to be Turkish. One wore traditional attire—wool trousers, cotton shirt with rolled up sleeves, an open vest and a visored cap. The other two were younger, dressed in jeans and camp shirts. All three sported the typical bushy moustache of the region. The man with the cap stooped down to pick up an object that flashed in the sun.
“Dammit! That’s my key!” Cassie whispered.
The trio seemed to be conferring about something. Then all of them bent down and began to dig around the base of the lily rock.
“How did they know something was there?” Fred wondered.
“They must have been watching us,” Griffin replied. “They may have been here the whole time we were burying the false relic. Just waiting for us to leave.”
Cassie inched closer to the top of the ridge to get a better look. “Who do you think those guys are?”
“Hunters maybe,” Erik speculated. “One of them has a rifle. It’s over there on the ground.”
“They might be poachers looking for some illegal game,” Griffin added. “Or worse. They could be trading in black market antiquities.”
Cassie turned to Erik. “Where’s that pistol you carry? It would come in pretty handy right about now.”
“It’s in the Jeep with the rest of the gear. I had it with me until you went running off after your key and we all ran after you.”
“That’s twice this has happened.” The pythia glared at him. “You know what I’m going to buy you for Christmas? A holster! A freaking holster so the next time the bad guys have guns, you’ll actually have one too!”
Erik was about to offer a biting retort when Griffin held up his hand.
“Shhhh! Look!”
Their whispers ceased. The four of them watched in consternation as the men below slid the lily stone aside. It took only a moment for them to locate the alabaster urn and dump out its contents. They laughed and patted one another on the back, passing the golden object from hand to hand.
“Bloody hell!” Griffin exclaimed.
“We have to get it back,” Erik growled.
“But it’s a fake,” Cassie objected.
“They don’t know that,” the security coordinator countered. “Fake or not, it’s solid gold, and that makes it valuable to them. Besides, we don’t have time to get another copy made and bury it before the Nephilim get here. For all we know those guys down below would dig that one up too. No, we need to make sure they stay the hell away from here.”
“Just how do you propose to do that?” the pythia demanded.
“I don’t know yet.” Erik raised himself to a crouching position. “Right now, we need to move back into the woods. They’re getting ready to leave. We have to follow them.”
As soundlessly as possible, the Arkana team backed away from the rise and ran for the cover of the pines. They waited out of sight until they saw the Turks enter the woods by another path.
“Let’s hope they don’t have a car,” Erik muttered.
“I didn’t hear the sound of a motor the whole time we were up there,” Fred observed.
“Then that means they must live nearby,” Cassie speculated.
“I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or a bad one.” Griffin sounded troubled. “If they live nearby in one of the villages, that may mean they have allies.”
“Guess we’ll see,” Erik said curtly. “Now everybody shut up, or they’ll hear us.”
The Arkana team advanced stealthily through the woods. Luckily, the three men were talking loud enough to cover any stray noise. They spoke excitedly in Turkish, joking and laughing with each other. They were clearly elated by their windfall.
Their pursuers quickened their pace to close the gap when the trio went into a ravine that was hidden by undergrowth. Cassie came around the bend first. She almost yelped in surprise when she saw the men had stopped and were standing directly below them. She backed up. Unfortunately, Griffin chose that moment to trip over a tree root and stumble into her. The pythia lost her balance and fell forward. She tumbled down the hillside directly into the path of the relic thieves. The scrivener was about to lunge after her when Erik pulled him back.
“No! Wait!” he hissed. “We need a tactical advantage. You rush in now, and you’ll get her killed for sure.”
Cassie landed on her backside with a thud.
The three astonished men stared at her for a moment.
