7

DACIAN HOT SPRINGS, CARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS, ROMANIA

Dmitri Zallas was most impressed as he toured the Roman mud baths and hot mineral springs adjacent to the Enviro Dome. Accommodations for a thousand or more guests who would undoubtedly enjoy the spa when it was fully operational were now finished. The steam from the natural hot springs and the mud that boiled through to the surface after being cooked for a million years far beneath the Carpathians made the gardens as lush as any tropical rain forest.

“I take it your man was successful with his foray into the Patinas Pass? Were you pleased?”

Zallas lost his smile as he turned to face his limited partner. “It was worth it, but very expensive. You shall have no more trouble in the mountains above the castle.”

Janos Vajic pursed his lips and then wrestled with the question in his mind for the briefest of moments before blurting it out.

“The man is a mess,” Janos said as he stepped to the geodesic dome. They were on the eighth floor nearest the cable car entrance. He pointed down toward the maintenance area a thousand yards away from the massive pool and spa. The man was sitting on the ground with his fur coat still on in the heat of the day with his knees pulled up to his chest as workers and maintenance personnel were forced to walk around him. He pointed his man out to Zallas, whose eyes narrowed to slits when he saw the hunter. “He’s been like that ever since he returned without his hunting companions—who are still among the missing by the way.”

“They are not missing, Janos; they just went home after failing this man. He did what I paid him to do.” He turned and looked at Vajic. “I will have him removed.”

“May I broach another subject with you?”

“Does it have anything to do with my guest list?” Zallas asked as he turned away and started for the escalator to head down to the casino.

“Well, although I have major concerns about several of the more … colorful names on that list, there is but one that makes me nervous. But I have to start with my first concern, which is obvious to any fool who steps on this property: the amount of private security you have brought in. You have over a hundred well-armed men; this will not look good, not only to the guests, but to the media.”

“Get to the point, Janos, for crying out loud.” Zallas stopped at the guardrail for the giant escalator and turned on his partner.

“There are certain members of the media who have started asking questions about how the land was transferred from the state to a private concern after so many years of protection. Dmitri, they are starting to ask questions. And look at this.” He held out the large guest list with close to two thousand names on it. “Stephan Antonescu, the interior minister, is on the list. We cannot have him on the property—at least not now.”

“The sale of the land cannot be traced to us through his office. Remember it was over the very loud and media-covered protests of our good interior minister that the land grant was enacted. He maneuvered the right element into the equation, one that no one in all of Romania could argue with. As a matter of fact the people believe this to be to their benefit—I mean what more powerful ally could we have than the most formidable military organization the world had ever known backing us through sheer necessity?” Zallas smiled as he took in the shocked features of his partner. “I mean with the security of a new nation at stake, what’s a little resort when the government finally has control over the one pass in the Carpathians that not even the mighty German army could capture.”

Janos Vajic heard noise coming through the glass panes of the dome and stepped over to the front of the great construction to look out toward the south where the new highway had been built to accommodate the resort. Lined against the afternoon sun was a long column of vehicles. Janos leaned closer to the glass as the long procession of trucks drove past the entrance to the resort and then continued west where they disappeared around a bend in the highway. He tried to see the vehicles in more detail but they were just too far away. Zallas saw Vajic as he struggled with the distance and he smiled and reached into his suit jacket pocket and brought out a small set of binoculars; gold-plated of course.

“Here, use these and allow the sight to ease your concerns. Look first to the lead vehicle’s markings, and then to the rear, view the military designations on those vehicles and then I will accept your apology for your baseless concern about land rights.”

Janos accepted the glasses and held the dark eyes of Zallas before putting the glasses to his own eyes. As he focused on the lead vehicle, an older military version of the venerable American jeep but built in the old Soviet Union, was leading forty two-ton trucks. He focused on the markings along the side of the hood next to the stenciled black and gray eagle: Brigada 2 Vânǎtori de Munte “Sarmizegetusa”—2nd Mountain Troops Brigade. He turned and looked at Zallas.

“The new Romanian mountain division?”

“Yes. Now look who’s bringing up the rear, Janos, why, it’s our saviors,” he said with a smile, “and the people ultimately responsible, although they didn’t know it at the time, for getting our land grant for us and almost forcing the new Romanian government to open up land that has not seen the outside world for nearly three thousand years.”

The smile made Vajic far more nervous than the anger Zallas could show from time to time. He turned the small gold-inlaid binoculars toward the end of the long column and placed the glasses on the strange-looking vehicles bringing up the rear of the military column.

“Oh my God,” he said as the lettering on the front of the vehicle’s bumper became legible: 223-SFOD-D82nd USA.

“If you are having trouble with understanding what you are seeing I am not surprised. After all you’re Romanian so there is no reason you should. I received the information last week about our guests down there. They are the 223rd Special Forces Operational Detachment—Delta Company—the famous All American Division. Those are American airborne troops down there, Janos, and what we are looking at is the one factor that gave us all of this,” he said as he gestured around the giant glass dome. “I give you NATO. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the most powerful military force the world has ever seen.”

“What are they doing here?” Vajic asked as he lowered the glasses.

“The reason this area is so important to them is the fact that the Patinas Pass is a vital passage leading to the north of the nation. It is what’s known in military parlance as a choke point—one that was pointed out to our friends at the Ministry of Defense. Thus, our new NATO partnership has paid the full dividend. The pass is about to become militarized and the Americans are here to show them how to defend it against invasion from the south.” He smiled as he slapped Vajic on the back. “They will stay in the lowlands today and tonight and then head to the pass tomorrow to evaluate the defensive planning for an invasion that will never come.” He laughed. “It is so very easy to frighten a people that have lived under the yoke of totalitarianism for so long that they never recognize the real threat.”

Dmitri Zallas may have been comfortable, but Vajic wondered what other deals were made that wouldn’t be so beneficial to their resort.

“After the pass has been mapped and war plans made, the entire area will be up for leasing and improvement. That is my plan. The whole of the mountain will soon be ours and we will expand the property to the pass itself.”

As Janos allowed the plan of Zallas to set in, a loud whining rumble came to their ears.

Shockingly to everyone at the resort three American-made Black Hawk helicopters swooped low over the resort and then banked hard right to follow the disappearing trail of NATO vehicles.

“You see, Janos, who needs friends when you have the biggest bully on the block leading the way for you?”

“I have another issue, Dmitri. We have a hard weather front coming up from the Danube. This could play havoc with the opening night of the castle.”

“A storm?” Zallas asked with more enthusiasm than could ever have been warranted with such bad news for his opening night of Dracula’s Castle. “Excellent! What better ambience than to have a storm that night of nights.” He slapped Janos on the back.

Vajic watched Zallas turn on his heel and leave and he realized for the first time how deeply insane the Russian gangster really was. He wadded up the note and tossed it in a trash receptacle.

“Will this nightmare ever end?”

*   *   *

Four miles up the mountain and one mile above the new and improved Dracula’s Castle, the dark eyes watched the activity below. The eyes turned angry as the helicopters arrived and started making sweeps around the resort and the foothills to his mountain.

Marko Korvesky turned away from the scene below and then placed a hand onto the nearest tree and leaned heavily against it. His eyes went to the castle just below and then to the resort at the bottom of the mountain.

“What are you up to, Zallas?” he said as he watched the men finishing up their work far below. The sight of the soldiers was one Marko had never expected. As thoughts of possible betrayal entered his mind for the first time, he froze as he felt the presence behind him. He slowly turned and tried not to react to what he saw.

“You should always let your presence be known, Stanus.”

The giant Golia watched Marko for the longest time as it sat on a large boulder above the trail leading to the pass. The black fur was gleaming in the sun as its yellow eyes, now dulled by the daylight hours, moved from Marko to the valley far below. The man was getting mixed vibrations from the Golia as it sat silently and watched.

“That means nothing to us; the soldiers are nothing but more guardians for the people and the Golia.”

Marko only hoped that the half lie was good enough to satisfy Stanus and prayed the great wolf could not smell the sudden fear that the man had falsely represented the risk to the mountain, the temple, the people, and the one-of-a-kind species known as the Golia.

When Marko turned around Stanus was gone.

EVENT GROUP COMPLEX, NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, NEVADA

The proverbial last piece of the puzzle fell into place for the Event Group early that morning thanks to Pete Golding, who after being read the riot act by Niles earlier had gone straight to work with Europa, and the Cray system came through as always. She had successfully broken into the man Alice pegged as the leading authority on not only the ancient Jeddah, but also the wolves that accompany the legend. Pete had the floor inside the main conference room and he was out to impress. The circular monitors came alive with a picture of a bearded man with thick horned-rimmed glasses.

“Ladies and Gentlemen this is Professor Avi Feuerstein, former chair of medieval studies at UCLA.”

All eyes studied the grumpy-looking man in the tweed jacket.

“The good professor here produced a series of papers and letters saying that the settlement of the Hebrew homeland in Canaan was not God-inspired but one of a pure military nature against the citizens of the region right around the time of the Exodus. The man refuses to discuss the subject with anyone because of the ridicule he received for his outlandish theories. The man is virtually destitute and living in a hovel where he does nothing but his research projects he finances with his meager savings and by tutoring children in ancient Hebrew history.” Pete paused and nodded toward Alice, who was seated in her usual place beside the director.

“In all of his papers written on the subject of the Lost Tribe of the Jeddah he had never once mentioned anything about what he suspected of the Golia, who were the onetime protectors of not only the Jeddah but of all of the tribes of Israel and the northern and western borders of Egypt during the time of the pharaohs.”

Niles Compton cleared his throat, impatient for Alice to get to her point. “Does this man have the evidence you were looking for about the Jeddah and your theory on how they assisted in the mass Exodus out of Egypt?” He looked from Alice to Pete.

“Some of the information recovered by Europa doesn’t stem from Professor Feuerstein’s information about Egypt, nor does it spring from Hebrew tribal lore. It seems the man discovered a partial section of wall in a private collection that had been unearthed in Asia Minor. This wall was covered in Hieroglyphic Hittite—a long-dead language of a vanished culture and a historical enemy of the Jeddah tribe. It tells of Hittites battling forces from the great deserts of the south and against a people not known to them and with many standards and flags.”

On the many screens arrayed around the room depictions of paintings and artwork of the ancient Hittite culture shone brightly across the interested faces of the group.

“This was an army that was described in varying texts of the time as magical. They conquered all before it and no matter the tactic of the Hittite tribes they could not wrest their lands from these invaders. Soon the strange people and their even stranger god moved on to the great mountains of the north never to be heard from again.” Pete paused for the moment to make sure they were all watching as the picture changed to that of the ancient Egyptian god Anubis in an a military type stance with a large spear. It was beautifully done in black lacquer. “The Hittites spoke of the magical animals that did battle for these strange people. Beasts described as black devils of the night—gods capable of walking as men.”

“Where is this historically valuable wall the professor found?” Niles Compton asked.

“The section of wall was destroyed in a museum fire while in storage in Prague in 1974 according to Feuerstein’s notes. The fire was investigated and arson was proven.”

“Pete, I have about $20 million in support equipment and fuel waiting up at Nellis and they are awaiting our Group, can you get to the point,” Niles said.

“Right, sorry. Europa ran into a firewall where the professor had his proof hidden.” The lights changed as the pictures on the screen did. “Item number one,” Pete said as a freestanding statuette was shown on a soft bed of red satin. The way the piece was displayed reminded Alice Hamilton of the way the artifacts on the Golden Child those many years ago had been set up inside their displays.

“Ramesses II, am I correct?” asked Charlie Ellenshaw.

“Correct. This item was recovered while at auction in Paris in 1999 according to his notebook. But not before the unseen bidder placed a $500 million placement on the seven-inch statue.”

“It’s the pristine condition of the artifact,” Alice said as she studied the statue. “Not one item from that dynasty has ever turned up looking as if it had been carved and painted the day before. Whoever had this took extremely good care of it.”

“The possibility of a fake?” asked Niles Compton, who was looking at the statue closely.

“Zero,” Pete said as he pointed to the screen nearest him. “If you could lift the statue you would see the drill holes in the bottom of the carved pedestal. This was caused when the item was authenticated in 1977 by carbon 14 testing. The statue you’re looking at has been verified as 3,600 years old plus or minus five hundred years, which places this item squarely in the hands of Ramesses himself, or someone he knew anyway.”

That caused the group to nod their heads in unison as they realized Pete and Europa had done the impossible once again.

“Item number two.” On the screen a photo of a large stone block appeared and then the next view showed the giant stone in two separate halves. Alice Hamilton smiled for the first time in what seemed years to her. She was seeing an old lost friend. “Here is the picture found in his secured file.”

“Alice’s werewolf of Jericho,” Charlie Ellenshaw said aloud.

“Found inside the ruins at Tell es-Sultan, or, what’s left of the biblical city of Jericho, just as Alice said.”

“What is the professor’s take on its disappearance?” Niles asked, awaiting the confirmation Alice was seeking above all else.

“Feuerstein said it disappeared sometime after the war.”

Looks were exchanged around the table as Alice’s tale of what was seen aboard the Golden Child was now confirmed.

“While I am a firm believer of the romantic story of the Exodus as told in the Bible,” Alice said, “and while it may have been God who sent the plagues to curse Pharaoh, we can now start to see that it was the Israelite army and the Golia who secured the freedom of the Hebrew nation from what they thought of at that time was bondage, or at the very least undervalued servitude.”

“I believe you have one last item in your report, Pete?” Compton asked as he glanced at his wristwatch.

One more time the monitors changed and this series of pictures caught everyone’s attention. It was a view of another statue, of the impressively muscled Golia sitting upon a throne wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt.

“I believe this is why Ramesses II allowed his indentured servants and northern army to leave Egypt. I believe the tribe of warriors known as the Jeddah, who served the house of Levite, were getting ready to overthrow the two kingdoms. This is not the only artifact depicting the animals on the throne of Egypt. There are many more, all collected over the years and hidden away. It’s as if someone were cleaning up after the fact.”

“What is the provenance of this piece?” Virginia Pollock asked as she studied the Golia rendered in heavily lacquered carved wood.

“This artifact was sold at auction seven months ago in Ukraine in a secret bidding. The statue is in superb condition, pristine craftsmanship, and undeniable scientific proof of its age.”

“Who bought it?” Jack asked, already guessing the answer.

A photo of a bearded man with dark eyes came on the screen. “This is the recipient of the $34 million sale.”

“Dmitri Zallas,” said Collins aloud.

“Jack?” Alice asked, not knowing the name. As she looked at Niles she could see that he also knew the man whose face stared at them from the many different screens.

“Former Russian Ten Most Wanted. He left Belarus ten years ago for more sunny and profitable climes. Current residence is unknown but he is a killer anywhere he goes. His hands are in any double dealing of antiquities the world over. He is more in the market for selling than buying. Europa, get me everything you have on Zallas and his whereabouts.”

“Yes, Colonel,” Europa answered.

“Can I make a point that Charlie and myself have been raking around for a while?”

Niles nodded his head.

“History is where our answers lie, just as it always is. The real key here is the Levite material Alice uncovered that says we have a starting point in Romania. For instance we now know the Roman Empire was terrified of that region. The Turks once chased Prince Vlad Tepes into the interior of his own nation and forced him to hide among the Carpathians to escape their wrath. Then suddenly and for no apparent reason the Turks began losing every battle against Vlad the Impaler now documented to have happened. He turned the tide of war after he found allies among his own people he never even knew existed, and ones that were brutishly ruthless—thus the horrific tales and vampiritic nature of Vlad Dracul’s reputation. A reputation I might add that may have been earned and based solely on the teeth, claws, and weaponry of not only the Golia, but one of the Lost Tribes of Israel—the Jeddah.”

Niles nodded that he agreed with Pete’s conclusions much to Jack’s and Alice’s relief.

“Lieutenant McIntire, have you filed your geological report with Alice’s team on the makeup of the Patinas Pass range in Romania?”

“The outstanding feature is the thermal makeup of the pass. The plates under the Carpathians are quite active in European terms as far as tectonic activity is concerned. The waters are boiled many miles below the mountain range and breach the surface in several areas creating natural hot springs in several small valleys below the mountain. The hot springs are actual weather variants that can change the temperature and makeup of their winters; the only section of the Carpathians that can lay that claim.” She smiled. “It may be one of the reasons that region is so full of old legends; fog appears from nowhere, sudden rain falls out of a clear night sky. The old tales of vampires and werewolves sprang from this very area.”

Sarah completed her report and then sat just as a Navy signalman walked in and handed Colonel Collins a message. Jack scanned it and then passed it over to Niles Compton. After reading the communiqué he cleared his throat. He looked down at Alice as she spoke in low tones with Virginia.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the situation is changing rather rapidly as unforeseen influences in Romania are starting to make this look far more serious than just a few stolen artifacts. This may involve Romanian government corruption at a high level, thus it is now a major concern for our nation’s military—Colonel Collins, would you please explain what I mean?” Niles asked and then went to his desk and picked up his phone.

“The person going about selling artifacts from the Exodus is known as Dmitri Zallas as we learned earlier. But one thing that just came to light is what he was investing in. Europa, NATO satellite image 1245 central Romania, please.”

On the monitors an image from space.

“Enhance grid coordinates 3489 and 3412. This is a high-altitude shot from one of our military Blackbird satellites taken five years and two months ago. As you see it’s just a beautiful mountain and valleys—nothing there but several small villages. Okay, Europa, yesterday’s satellite pass-by of the same coordinates.”

On the screen a massive resort complex came into view and Jack read from the report hastily compiled by Europa. “I give you the Edge of the World Hotel Resort and Casino, owned by none other than Dmitri Zallas. It sits four miles from Patinas Pass high above it—a pass that our new NATO ally Romania is now in the process of evaluating for possible invasion scenarios coming from the south. It’s a routine examination that all NATO selectees go through—the evaluation of their country’s defensive positions for possible future use.”

“What does this have to do with Alice’s investigation?” Virginia asked.

“Europa, enhance grid 29-b.”

On the numerous monitors, including the seventy-eight-inch screen in the center of the conference room, appeared an aerial shot of the Patinas Pass.

“Thus far we have counted no fewer than thirteen small villages near the pass, with the largest being this village dead center of Patinas.” Jack used a laser pointer and hit the exact location on the gridded photo. “This is the village of Patinas. We can’t get an exact census report until Europa gets it for us.” Jack looked at Pete Golding, who only nodded his head that he understood the unspoken directive.

At his desk Niles was speaking quickly and deliberately into his phone.

“This is a point of concern here. With the NATO question at hand the CIA did some digging for the U.S. Army that Europa kidnapped before the report went to the Pentagon and stored until it was collated with the name Zallas by my information request. The land that surrounded the Patinas Pass south of the mountains and north of the same range was all protected land. This we know, but what we didn’t know was the little known fact that the land is now owned by our friend Dmitri Zallas—the very same gentleman who seems to have struck it rich in the antiquities market. His resort opens for a private party day after tomorrow. That is one of the ways into the valley we can use. The other is NATO. We can get more people in theater by also using them as a front. Dr. Compton has already cleared it with the president, so half of our team will enter the valley with invitations to the private party and the other will travel to the Patinas Pass with the NATO element of the 82nd Airborne and Romanian army engineers. Captain Everett and Lieutenants Ryan and Mendenhall will accompany Alice to the pass.”

The hands of Pete Golding and Professor Charles Hindershot Ellenshaw III shot into the air as both were about to protest their absence on the list of field representatives.

“Lower your hands, this isn’t third grade,” Niles said angrily, knowing that Jack had already requested the two professors be on the team because of Charlie’s knowledge of ancient legends and Pete’s computer genius—Collins figured they would need them both. “You’ll both be on Colonel Collins’s team. And you will follow orders.”

Both men smiled and nodded that they understood.

Collins sat down knowing Sarah’s eyes were on him. He kept his own eyes on the director as he continued.

“This Event was called because the mounting evidence Alice has presented was compelling. However, that is not the full measure of what’s happening here. We now have one-of-a-kind antiquities being sold off to private, unscrupulous characters. We’re going to find out where these artifacts are coming from. Number two, we have now confirmation from a State Department memo that the land granted to this Russian criminal was possibly attained through bribery and corruption, which could affect NATO’s ability to include Romania in the alliance. Most importantly this is an Event that has gone viral quickly. We have a chance to rewrite several very confusing pages regarding the history of the Exodus—pages that have vast implications as to the history and heritage of most everyone in the Palestine region. In other words, this is a very sensitive issue that needs to be handled by us, and us alone.” Niles looked at the clock on the wall. “Jack, how are you coming with the invitations to this gangster’s shindig he’s throwing with Jeddah money?”

“I have a fax coming through in a few minutes that will enable Europa to make exact copies of the invitation and to give her the opportunity to backdoor the computer system of the resort management company to enter the names we choose as invitees.”

“With permission.” Carl Everett spoke up for the first time during the meeting. “May I inquire as to the source of this invitation that is being provided to you?”

“The source is secure at this time.”

Carl looked away and over at Sarah McIntire, who knew exactly what it was Carl was thinking. There was only one man dark enough to have received a legitimate invitation from a man of such dubious distinction as Zallas and his international antiquities ring—Colonel Henri Farbeaux. Both Everett and McIntire knew this for a fact as soon as Jack couldn’t meet their eyes that his miscreant contact was indeed the Frenchman.

“The equipment to be used has already been loaded onto our 747-C at Nellis. From there we will fly to Bucharest. Once we land we will break into the first group consisting of our discovery team. They will penetrate the social function to ascertain the connection that exists between the resort ownership and the artifacts that have magically appeared over the last eight years. Lieutenant McIntire, Lieutenant Commander Ryan, and you, Pete, will accompany Colonel Collins and his team to the resort. Pete, you will need a secure cell link with Europa as you may need her if something turns up. I want one for my team also. The aerial photographs show the cell towers being erected but thus far are nonfunctional. We may have communication problems with the outside world, so see what can be done.”

“My duties?” Sarah inquired.

“You and the colonel will assess the situation and report back to me at NATO command at the base of the mountain. Lieutenant, you will evaluate the strata surrounding the resort for anomalies that may explain why the developer,” he made a face at the euphemism for the Russian gangster, “was so intent on building there. It may just be the hot springs, but look into it.”

Sarah wrote down her notes, deciding to hit the computer center before they left for Nellis so she could study the geological makeup of the Carpathians one more time.

“My base element will be going in as a civilian survey team there to get a good look at the pass. That means we will be going up with members of the 82nd Airborne to the villages below, and then the main village higher into the pass. This small village of Patinas seems to be the hub of all social activity in the area.”

“Why is that, Niles?” asked Pete Golding.

“The hot springs flow from the mountain near Patinas and the springs feed the entire valley system below. Besides, the larger cattle and sheep herds are near the village.”

“What personnel will be making up your team?” asked Alice as she slowly looked up from her notes and fixed Compton with her determined eyes.

“My team will be consisting of Captain Everett, Lieutenant Mendenhall, and Professor Ellenshaw, who will be using the link with Europa in the field if we can get communications up and running. So get with Pete on its operation, Charlie, in case we can figure out the COM problems. Also, Dr. Gilliam will act as both teams’ only physician. You will notice I am cutting the security element and the support teams from the list. The rest of the departments will stand down. This man may be far too dangerous to have a large Event team in the field, since we may have to get the hell out of there in a hurry. Virginia, you will see to it that all departments stick to their class schedules and their historical research.” Niles waited for Virginia to let it soak in that she wasn’t going into the field. She accepted the decision and then nodded her head.

Alice waited in silence and then looked up at Niles.

“Alice, you will accompany my team to the Patinas Pass.”

She breathed a sigh of relief at her being added to the Event. She thanked Niles with a slight nod of her head.

Charlie Ellenshaw got up from the table with a curious look on his face. He walked up to the monitor, which still held the aerial view of Patinas Pass. He looked hard into the image and then turned to face Niles.

“Niles, do you have any information on what this out-of-place structure is?” he said tapping the big screen monitor. Compton picked up the report Europa received after backdooring the real estate managing firm operating the resort.

Niles read the name and smiled.

“Well, since we’re going to the country whose name used to be Transylvania, I think it apropos that we also visit the nightclub known as Dracula’s Castle.”

Ellenshaw looked up and over at the others while muttering to himself.

“Oh, this is getting better and better.”