CHAPTER FORTY

October 2, 5:00 A.M.

Cusco, Peru, CIA safe house

CASH HAD TOSSED and turned all night. Visions of Olivia filled his mind, and he missed her so much he ached. Usually, thinking about her calmed him down, but at the moment, his thoughts created anxiety. He cursed himself for exposing her to so much danger and hated that she had seen Ian die. He had to trust the two agents assigned to protect her if Marabout and the bald man remained in Arizona, or he wouldn’t be able to focus on the job.

The CIA had been unable to track down Ian’s killers and found no evidence they left the state or the country. That didn’t set well with Cash. He wanted assurances they were long gone. In good disguises with bogus passports, or if Zara had access to a private airstrip, which she always did, the men could be anywhere by now. What terrified him the most was the possibility they were still in Sedona, near Olivia.

Cash decided to concede defeat in his battle with insomnia and get up for the day. He dressed as quietly as possible to avoid waking the rest of the team. In the common room of the safe house, he found he wasn’t the only one plagued with restlessness.

Pete didn’t even look up as Cash walked up behind him and peered over his shoulder. The scientist was sketching a scene that made Cash wrinkle his brow.

“What are you drawing?”

“This was etched on the inside of the lid of the gold box that housed the relic in Bimini. At the time, I marveled at the beauty and complexity conveyed in the scene, but I didn’t think much else about it until about two this morning.”

Cash picked up the sketch pad in order to analyze the drawing closer.

“I was pouring over my colleagues’ data last night. They think the crystals could possibly generate voltage capable of great destruction under certain conditions. Specifically, the alignment and configuration of the heads and the exposure to a significant light source or other catalyst to generate, multiply, and intensify energy might be the keys to unlocking their potential. If the voltage alternates at the proper rate, the crystals will vibrate and produce a signal.”

“Vibrations and signals don’t sound sinister enough to account for the effort Zara has gone through to amass these artifacts,” Cash stated.

Pete shrugged and took a sip of coffee. “Maybe we’re on the right track, maybe we’re not. At the moment, we’re just investigating every angle, trying to figure out why anyone would want the relics enough to go to such extremes. The one thing everyone agrees on is the crimes have nothing to do with money. The thieves could have stolen thousands of items from the museums worth much more than the unusual artifacts.”

“Agreed. Zara’s got more money than most small countries. I just find it difficult to believe a bunch of clear objects possess the ability to create a destructive force worth murdering innocent people over.”

“Depending on how the crystal is cut, the vibrations can produce harmonic or non-harmonic overtones. Harmonic overtones are desirable in the production of high-frequency crystal resonators, but non-harmonic signals are unstable and more difficult to control. My colleagues are trying to determine if the configuration etched on the lid could help multiply the vibrations as the pulses move from crystal to crystal, increasing the frequency and intensity until we end up with a powerful and unstable reaction.”

“What’s this stairway-like structure the heads are aligned on?”

“I’m thinking it must be made of some material that concentrates incoming energy and transmits the resulting product to directed locations.”

Cash wasn’t sure if he followed Pete’s line of reasoning, and the information didn’t affect their next move. He simply needed to catch Zara and get the artifacts back. Once she was dealt with, and the relics secured, the scientists could experiment to their heart’s content. He had no intention of testing any of Pete’s theories in the field, but knowledge often equated to power, so figuring out the use of the relics might help them determine a motive for Zara’s madness and enable them to predict her next move.

“If we had all the heads, we could probably ascertain the sequence needed to multiply the vibrations through trial and error, but without the actual crystals, it’s just guess work, and if the platform they’re resting on is the key, then we’re shooting in the dark. My co-workers have conducted experiments with other crystals with disappointing results. I’ll transmit a photo of this drawing and have them give the configuration a try. I suppose it’s also possible the precise composition of these crystals possesses some additional properties we haven’t identified. Until Marjorie showed up, we didn’t actually have one to test, and were relying on outside analyses done many years ago by skeptical scientists. If the material is just regular old natural occurring quartz crystal, then whoever crafted the relics must have figured out the precise way to cut the stone and the exact size and shape needed along with the arrangement necessary to multiply the effects. But the thought is simply incomprehensible with ancient technology.”

“And, you think this might be the magic sequence?” Cash asked as he laid the drawing back down on the table in front of Pete.

“Sure. If the ancients left us a map as to the locations of the relics as Marjorie suggested, why not leave instructions on how to use them? Marjorie’s theory is what got me to thinking in the middle of the night.”

“Did Zara see the etching on the lid?”

“I don’t think so. After I looked at diagram, I placed the lid face down and was about ready to remove the relic from the box when she came through the tunnel. I didn’t see her touch the lid, but I suppose it’s possible she looked after I fell through the trap door, though I doubt it, since she didn’t take the etching with her. The CIA sent agents back to the cavern and everything was just as I described. The Bahamian authorities have the gold box, so I’m sure we could get a photo, but this sketch is very close to what I saw. The scene will be engraved in my mind forever.”

Cash studied Pete’s drawing again, and it did make some sense. He had seen photographs of the museum artifacts, Pete had described the Bimini crystal in detail, and he had held the Mexico and Argentinean relics. Each was unique in size, shape, and characteristics, just like the ones in the drawing. In Pete’s sketch, two of the skulls had shaded eyes, which might represent the blue surrounding the Mexico head’s eyes, and the green Pete reported around the eye sockets on the Bimini artifact.

“What have you got there, Dr. Frankenstein?” Diane asked as she and Marjorie emerged from the kitchen, cradling cups of coffee.

Cash handed the drawing to Diane and let Pete explain. His mind recounted everything they knew for certain, which wasn’t much. They had been trying to hunt down the artifacts through the obvious route and hadn’t directly pursued Zara and her group. He now realized the mistake.

“We gotta get out of here,” he said.

“To the church?” Marjorie asked.

“No. We need to leave the country and head somewhere as far away from any crystal relic as possible.”

His teammates stared at him with confusion.

“All we’ve done is lead Zara to the relics, and to date, she’s come out on top. If we go looking for the Cusco artifact, judging from our success rate so far, it’s like practically handing her the prize on a silver platter. I say we head to some bogus location, make sure she finds out, and entice her into a trap of our design somewhere far away, so if we screw up again, we don’t risk another crystal falling into her psychotic hands, or more innocent civilians dying in the quest.”

“It’d be easy to tip her off,” Pete added. “We’re still feeding noise into the bugs we found in Olivia’s house. We can allow the listening devices to pick up a staged phone call to Olivia, telling her where we’re heading.”

“The idea makes sense, but as an archeologist, I hate walking away. I want to find the last relic and we’re so close I can almost feel the cool, smooth surface in my hands.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll come back once Zara is behind bars, or better yet, dead,” Cash stated.

“And in the meantime?” Marjorie asked.

“We’ll stick together and try not to do anything that will tip Zara off to our trap.”