“And they fell for it too,” Erik continued. “Leroy Hunt saw me and ran down that hill waving a pistol. I hid behind one of the megaliths near the edge, so he couldn’t corner me. I had the fake artifact in my hand. He was with that Daniel guy. Finally got a good look at the kid. Kind of nervous and jumpy for a Nephilim. There was a Turk with them too. He must have been their guide. Anyway, I gave them a line about how I escaped from the tomb at Karfi and my other two teammates were killed.”
“Then they don’t suspect that Cassie and Griffin are alive?” Faye asked.
“Nope. Swallowed the whole story,” Erik replied. “I told them that I’d give them the relic if they let me leave. Daniel was all for it, but Hunt wanted to kill me. That’s when I threw the relic into the air toward them. Then I fell off the side of the mountain.”
“You did what?” both Faye and Maddie asked simultaneously.
Cassie giggled. “This is the genius part.”
“They came rushing over to look and saw a body on a ledge about two hundred feet below. It was a sheer drop, so there was no way for them to climb down to get a good look. No way to shoot the body because Hunt was out of range. They just had to let it go. Daniel seemed kind of broken up about the whole thing, but Hunt said the vultures would get the body before anybody would know it was there. Then they left.”
“But how did you manage to fall that far without being killed?” Faye asked in wonderment.
“It wasn’t me. It was Fred,” Erik explained proudly.
“You allowed Fred to die?” Faye sounded appalled.
“Who’s Fred?” Maddie was mystified.
“Our guide, remember?” Cassie prompted. “You talked to him on the phone during our last group call.”
“Oh, yeah” the operations director seemed to recall. “Now I remember him. Quiet sort.” Then she scowled as a new thought hit her. “So Fred’s dead?”
“No, he isn’t.” Griffin picked up the thread. Turning to his teammate, he added, “It really was a remarkable plan, Erik. To come up with something like that on such short notice. Absolutely brilliant.”
“Aw shucks,” Erik said mockingly. “You guys are gonna turn my head.”
“I’m gonna turn your head backwards Exorcist-style if you don’t wrap this story up soon,” Maddie barked. “What happened to Fred?”
“Fred is alive and well.” Griffin smiled.
“And living in Turkey,” Cassie added.
“We got a couple of lucky breaks that day,” Erik commented. “The first one was the fact that the mountain is honeycombed with hermit cells.”
“Ah.” Faye smiled knowingly. “I’m beginning to see the light.” She was apparently several steps ahead of Maddie.
“So what if there are hermit cells?” the operations director asked.
“There are tunnels that lead through the mountainside out to the rock face. You can’t see them if you’re standing up above. It just so happens that one of those tunnels leads directly out to that ledge on the mountainside.”
“Then that would mean Fred was able to position himself while you were above acting as a diversion.” Faye summarized.
Cassie nudged Griffin in the ribs. “She’s good.”
Maddie turned to Erik. “But how could they mistake this Fred guy for you?”
“It was one of those lucky breaks I mentioned before. We were both wearing the same color clothes that day. Cassie pointed it out when we left that morning. Yellow shirt, blue jeans, white sneakers. He’s blond too. From two hundred feet away, face down, he made a passable double.”
“But I still don’t understand, dear,” Faye said. “You said you fell off the mountain. How did you keep from sliding all the way down? You couldn’t have had more than a few moments lead time before your attackers would have reached you. Where did you go?”
“I got lucky again when we left the bandit shack. I decided to bring along the extra coil of rope that was left over after we tied them up. Because the Nephilim were standing in the middle of the stone circle and I was on the other side of a megalith, they couldn’t see that I had a piece of rope lying right next to my foot. I grabbed it when I went over the side.”
“Heavens!” Faye exclaimed.
“Cassie and Griffin were hiding in another hermit cell just a little below the top of the cliff. Griffin had the other end of the rope, and he pulled me up to where they were hiding.” Erik glanced at his two companions. “We cut it close though. I’d just barely managed to tuck into the hole in the rock before I heard Hunt talking right above where we here hiding.”
“Quite an extraordinary adventure,” Faye observed.
“I need a smoke,” Maddie announced abruptly. “Don’t say anything important until I get back.”
Her companions watched open-mouthed as the operations director grabbed her pack of cigarettes and headed for the chimney.
“She really has been worried about you,” Faye apologized. “I think the stress this morning has been too much for her, poor dear. Let’s give her a few moments to quiet her nerves. I’ll just take this opportunity to phone downstairs for some food while we wait. I’m sure you’re all hungry after your trip.”
“That’s why she’s the memory guardian,” Cassie confided to her teammates. “She remembers when it’s time for a snack.”
Chapter 45 – Relic Redux
“Oooh, spinach dip,” Cassie enthused. “I haven’t tasted that since we left.”
“We haven’t been gone that long, toots,” Erik objected.
They were both diving into plates of cold cuts and crudités.
Cassie looked at Faye quizzically. “I didn’t think there was a kitchen in the vault. Where did all this food come from?”
“We do have a cafeteria, actually,” Griffin explained. “We’re miles from nowhere out here, and people have to eat. I just didn’t show you that part of the facility when I was giving you your tour. It didn’t seem relevant.”
“It’s
