CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

October 4, 9:30 A.M.

Cusco, Peru

OLIVIA RAN TO her sister and flung herself into Diane’s arms. “I thought Cash was just trying to protect me from awful news when he told me you were covering our backs,” she said between sobs.

Diane met Cash’s gaze over her shoulder. She held on, hoping Olivia wouldn’t think less of her after seeing the grim realities of her job. At the moment, all that mattered was they were alive and Zara would never be able to harm anyone again.

By the time Olivia and Diane released each other, Cash had already relieved Zara of the small Argentinean relic and made a call requesting a clean-up team. The authorities in Cusco had been notified and La Catedral wouldn’t be opening to the public in thirty minutes as usual. The local police would ensure no one came inside until everything was sanitized.

“You saved my hide again,’ Cash said as he hugged Diane tight.

“Barely. I didn’t know she was ambidextrous. Besides, you would’ve pulled the trigger in time. I just didn’t want you to have to. And, the second shot could have come from either gun. This crisis is over, and you’ve got to stop beating yourself up for something in the past that can’t be changed. The Zara chapter of your life is finally over for good, and now you need to let it go and move on.”

“She may be gone, but this case isn’t quite finished. Hopefully Mustafa isn’t dead and we can make him direct us to the missing relics,” Cash replied, ignoring the last part of Diane’s comment and regretting beating Mustafa to the point where he might not be able to communicate for a while.

“We don’t need him. I know where the crystals are.”

Cash eased Diane back and gave her a doubting expression. By the way her eyes twinkled with excitement, he knew she wasn’t kidding.

“I followed Heinrich until he led me to Olivia. I realized I couldn’t take them all on by myself and save Olivia without getting us both killed, so I trailed them here, planning to help you with the rescue. But once you had her in your grasp, I was confident enough in her safety that I hurried back to the warehouse where they had been keeping her. I searched the place and found a padlocked box that I didn’t have time to break into, but I’d bet my pension the chest contains the relics,” she said as she walked over to Zara’s body and fished around in her pockets, retrieving a ring containing a key the same brand as the lock.

When the clean-up team arrived, Cash showed them where to find Marabout and Mustafa and instructed them to seal the passageway and secure the door behind the silver altar once the bodies were removed so no one would ever be able to access the tunnel again. He left Pete behind to ensure his orders were followed, and no one attempted to see where the underground corridors led, and more importantly, to be there if Mustafa regained consciousness. He didn’t want anyone to talk to the man until he got a chance to question him.

With Pete keeping an eye on the clean-up crew, the rest of the group followed Diane to the warehouse. Within minutes of arrival, the chest was unlocked and the relics revealed.

“Oh my God,” Marjorie gasped.

The trunk held thirteen lead-lined boxes and all but two contained crystal heads of differing shapes and sizes, each magnificent in its own way. Cash, Diane, Olivia, and Marjorie stared in disbelief. Several minutes elapsed before anyone could find their voice, breaking the trance-like silence.

“What will you do now? This whole experience has proven that humans are not morally advanced enough to handle the power of the artifacts,” Olivia stated. “We can’t let these magnificent relics fall into any one entity’s hands.”

As the group continued to gaze at the hypnotic crystals, Marjorie gently lifted the large head Pete had described seeing in Bimini.

“Zero,” she whispered with reverence, “the void in which the cosmos was created.”

The green tint surrounding its eyes was mesmerizing. She cradled the crystal in her palms and held the object out in front of her. The team huddled around her. A gentle draft entered the warehouse via a small vent near the ceiling. Marjorie wouldn’t have noticed the slight movement if the air hadn’t made the head sing as breath escaped through its missing jaw. To her, the melody of the song seemed to be issuing a warning, yet pleading for help. She quickly put the relic back in its box and closed the lid.

“Even though we didn’t start this, we need to finish it,” Diane said. “I feel as if we have a responsibility to our ancestors and future generations. Whether we like it or not, right here, right now, we’re the new guardians of these sacred relics.”

Cash stared at the closed box. He would have doubted his hearing if he hadn’t seen the stunned, fearful looks in everyone’s eyes. He thought about Zara and wondered how many more like her roamed the planet in search of power and wealth, or who had let the desire for revenge and the pain of loneliness fester until delusions consumed their lives. Cash considered Owen Washburn’s betrayal and knew he trusted few people in the world except for the small group standing around him.

“I have an idea, but we’ll have to make a pact to take this secret to our graves, including Diego and Pete. I’m confident with everything Pete’s seen over this mission, he’ll agree,” Cash stated.

“I must admit, Stretch Armstrong is definitely one of us now, and I’m certain we can count on him,” Diane added.

“I’ll vouch for Diego’s concurrence for whatever you have in mind, if it can ensure this never happens again,” Marjorie asserted.

“Okay then. Marjorie, pick out all the museum relics plus the Egypt crystal. Since you saw the Egypt head and reported the theft, the authorities are aware of its existence. We’ll return the Trocadéro, Smithsonian, and British Museum artifacts. The British Museum will also get the Egyptian crystal, and you’ll receive credit for the find. The rest were never recovered. Agreed?”

Everyone nodded and began quickly securing the relics for transport. Cash went to the main room of the warehouse and boxed up Mustafa’s computer. He would take it to Pete and hopefully the scientist would be able to retrieve the data and answer all the nagging questions before they destroyed the machine and any incriminating evidence. Taking out his cell phone, Cash tapped Pete’s programmed number.

“Diane was right.”

Silence on the other end indicated Pete was trying to process the information. The more they got involved in the assignment, the more they all feared the collective potency of the mysterious relics. Not only did the crystals seem to have special physical characteristics and power, their mere existence had enticed people to do evil things for generations.

“Pete,” Cash hesitated. He wasn’t sure if he could ask the young scientist to do something far outside his comfort zone and hoped he wouldn’t have to. “How’s it going over there?”

“The tunnel’s been sealed so no one will get back in without major excavation. Everything else is already done, and the clean-up team is gone.”

This time it was Pete who hesitated, but Cash pressed on, ignoring the indication that Pete had an issue of his own to discuss.

“There’s a lot about what’s happened that can never come to light. We’ve made a pact, and I know we can count on you to be with us, but Mustafa must never talk, and we know he can’t be trusted.”

Cash heard the audible sigh of relief. “Okay, Pete. What haven’t you told me? You got a problem there?”

“Uh, not any more. I was afraid you’d be mad that I didn’t see it coming and stop it, but as the crew was rigging up ropes to hoist him out of the tunnel, he got hold of a knife one of the guys was using to cut the rope into the lengths they needed to make a harness. I guess he didn’t want to stand trial or go to prison. Maybe he didn’t realize Zara was dead. I knew you wanted to interrogate him.”

“You did fine,” Cash replied, relieved he hadn’t had to ask Pete to do something that would have scarred him more than this assignment already had. “We’ll catch up with you at the safe house.”

Cash hung up and returned to the group. As with Marjorie, he had underestimated Pete. Sometimes they had to do things few had the stomach for, but both had pulled through and surprised him. Thankfully he had been wrong about the delicate-looking archeologist and the inexperienced scientist. Their grit had kept them alive and ensured the world would never find out if any truth existed to the legend of the sacred relics.