Faye waited until the trio was safely in their vehicle and down the street before she shut the door.
“What the hell was that about?” Maddie asked, mystified.
“The consequences of curiosity,” Faye murmured cryptically. She didn’t elaborate.
The operations director took a seat on the now vacant couch. She appeared distinctly grouchy. “Do you ever answer your phone anymore? Maybe I should just buy a house down the street given the number of times I’ve had to drive over here during the past week!”
“I am sorry for the inconvenience. Now that Zach is gone, things can get back to normal.”
Maddie scowled. “Maybe, maybe not.” Her tone was ominous.
Sitting down in her purple arm chair, Faye leaned forward, “What is it, dear?”
“We may have a situation.”
“A what?”
“Griffin called for sweepers to be sent to a location on Mount Ida. Apparently, our guys had a run-in with some local bandits.”
“Oh dear.” Faye felt a growing uneasiness. “Did you speak with him? What happened?”
Maddie shrugged helplessly. “I haven’t been able to reach any of them. I only found out about the sweepers because the Anatolian Ops Division contacted me for authorization.” She paused. “But that isn’t the worst of it. I just got a transcript of Hunt’s last phone call to the Nephilim.”
“Yes?” Faye asked guardedly.
“Hunt and that Daniel character were getting ready to leave Turkey. He said they got the relic.”
“But that’s good news!” Faye exclaimed. “Apparently they aren’t suspicious that it’s a fake.”
“No,” Maddie’s gloomy expression didn’t change. “That part went OK. But Hunt said they had some trouble recovering it.”
“You don’t think they encountered our team, do you?”
“I don’t know if it was the whole team. I can’t confirm anything from our end because I haven’t had a report for days. I’m hoping it’s because they’re already on their way back home. When I called the hotel where they were staying, all I was told was that their party had checked out.”
“Then what on earth is the matter, dear? You look positively stricken.” Faye wasn’t used to seeing the operations director appear quite this worried about anything. The image alarmed her.
Maddie rubbed her eyes wearily. “Hunt said he ran across one of the people from Karfi. One he thought he’d taken care of before.”
“Good heavens! That means he spotted Griffin or Cassie or Erik and knows at least one of them is alive!”
“That’s just it. He said he tied up that loose end. From the physical description he gave Metcalf, I think he meant Erik.”
Faye was too shocked to speak.
Maddie sighed. “I hope to goddess this is bad information but, if it isn’t, Erik may be dead.”
Chapter 41 – Swap Meet
“Come in, my boy, come in!” Abraham’s face was beaming.
Daniel stepped tentatively over the threshold of his father’s prayer closet.
Unexpectedly, the old man wrapped his son in an embrace. He held him for several moments before saying, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Daniel winced at the unexpected contact as well as his father’s choice of scriptural text. Obviously, he fancied himself to be the voice of God now. Flustered, the young man stepped back a few paces and cleared his throat. “Ahem, yes, well…Thank you, Father.”
“This is a day of great rejoicing for the Nephilim. Come, sit down and tell me all about your travels.” He indicated the two chairs drawn up to the small table under the dead diviner’s portrait.
To Daniel’s mind, the portrait seemed to be glowering less fiercely today than usual. Not that the thought gave him any comfort. His head was still too full of other images. A golden bee flying through the air to land at his feet. A young man flying off the edge of a cliff to meet his death.
He sat down as instructed and drew a small wooden box out of his coat jacket. “Here it is,” he said simply. He pushed the box across the table to his father who fell on it eagerly.
With trembling hands, the old man opened the lid. He seemed overcome with deep emotion. Daniel thought he saw his father brushing tears out of his eyes.
The diviner gazed hungrily at the golden bee. “So long, so long,” he murmured. “I have waited many years to behold this sight.” He took the object out of its wrapping and held it up. Even in the dimness of this heavily-draped room, it gleamed.
Abraham looked up in surprise as a new thought struck him. “Where is Mr. Hunt?”
“He accompanied me to the gates of the compound and then instructed the driver to take him back to the city. He did say he would contact you later about his fee. I got the impression that the prayerful atmosphere within our walls upsets him.”
Abraham nodded sagely. “It is often the case that the Fallen are uncomfortable in the presence of sanctity. No matter. I understand he acquitted himself admirably during your trip, did he not?”
Daniel hesitated. He wanted to say that Hunt acquitted himself as befitted a cold-blooded murderer, but he bit back the words. “He insured that we recovered the artifact without hindrance. There was a young man. He—”
“Yes, I heard about that.” Abraham cut him off. “Mr. Hunt did the right thing under the circumstances and afterward escorted you out of the country before any entanglements with the law might arise. All quite satisfactory.” The diviner was smiling again. Almost grinning in fact. Even the thought of collateral damage couldn’t suppress his elation, it seemed. He turned the bee over in his hands, noting the script on both sides of its wings. He peered up at his son. “Have you translated this yet?”
Daniel shook his head. “Not in any depth. I ran into some difficulty with my computer program and didn’t have all the necessary reference material with me in
