The tour had been excruciatingly long, though far shorter than he likely imagined. The escape had been terrifying, but it was over. Everyone was alive, nobody had been permanently hurt, and nothing had been damaged.

  The question was, what now?

  He already knew Reading and the others were involved based on what Boran had said. Leather was already in the city, and Acton had little doubt the man’s team was already searching for him. If he knew Reading, he’d have reached out to his Interpol colleagues, and someone would have contacted Kane to see if their CIA friends could help.

  Things were in motion to save him, but did he want to be saved?

  Even if he were rescued from these four men, even if these four men were captured or killed, there were other Keepers spread around the world. They could kill Laura tomorrow as they left Istanbul, or next year while she shopped for groceries. This situation had to be resolved to the satisfaction of the Keepers, not himself. And then there was the fact he was dying to know the truth as well.

  He could see no other choice. He had to not only cooperate with them but embrace the mission. He had to work with them so they could succeed in discovering the truth together, and while doing so, get them to trust him. He had to know what their endgame was. What would it take for them to release him, satisfied that he had done what they expected so Laura was safe?

  They stepped into one of the dozens of cafés they had passed, and he was led to a table deep inside and away from prying eyes. They all sat and Turkish coffees were ordered. They waited in silence until their drinks were delivered and the waiter had left.

  Acton decided it was time to see where he stood. “I need to know what you expect of me.”

  “Your cooperation,” replied the leader.

  “And you have it.” Acton leaned forward, lowering his voice slightly. “Listen, we have the tablet, and no one was hurt. Stage one, complete. Now we’re heading into Syria to find out if what this stone says is true. I don’t have a problem with that. I was going to go there myself. You have my full cooperation from this point on. I don’t want to get killed any more than you do, and me being treated like a prisoner means I can’t defend myself against any Syrian lunatic that might intercept us. And trust me when I say, I have no qualms about killing Syrian soldiers or any of the types we’re likely to encounter there. I just need to know one thing.”

  “And that is?”

  “When will you be satisfied?”

  “When we know the truth.”

  “Even if the truth is what’s on that tablet?”

  “That would be impossible. We are going there to prove it is blasphemous.”

  Acton leaned back, holding up both hands. “Fine, fine. I will get you there, I will tell you my opinion, then you will decide what to do with the information, correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. So, the moment I bring you to the location, then I give you my assessment, I’m free to go?”

  “Yes.”

  His heart hammered. “And my wife? No harm will come to her?”

  “None.”

  Acton smiled broadly and picked up his coffee. “Then, gentlemen, we have a deal. I’m part of the team.”

  The leader smirked. “Very well, Professor, but if at any time I sense otherwise, I’ll make sure you see your wife die.”

  31 |

  Operations Center 3, CIA Headquarters Langley, Virginia

  “Can we get any other footage from the area? We need to know if they’re still inside, or if they left out the back or some other side entrance.”

  Child and the others worked the tapped video sources as Tong connected her headset. She dialed Leather’s number as one of the images on the large display showed satellite footage of his team’s vehicle as it turned onto the street where Acton had last been spotted.

  “Hello?”

  “It’s me. It should be directly ahead. On your right, twenty meters.”

  “You’re sure he’s still inside?”

  She glanced at the others, everyone either shrugging or throwing up their hands. “Negative. We have footage of him entering, but there could be other ways out that aren’t covered.”

  “Understood.” There was a pause. “Stand by.” The voice changed, as if he were no longer talking to her. “They look like our guys, don’t they?”

  She snapped her fingers and Child zoomed in on the front of the café where two men had just stepped out wearing the same clothes from earlier.

  “Affirmative. It looks like they might be getting ready to leave,” said another voice in the background.

  An SUV pulled up and the two men opened the doors on the passenger side. Three more stepped out from the café.

  “That’s Acton!” exclaimed Child, stating the obvious.

  “I’ve got eyes on the target. Moving to intercept,” said Leather.

  “Understood,” replied Tong as they watched Leather’s SUV pass their target’s then cut to the right, blocking them. Acton was shoved into the back as the others jumped inside, the doors slamming shut as the hostile driver put the vehicle in reverse and backed up before jerking the wheel to the left then quickly surged forward again, passing Leather’s team as the man rushed toward his client.

  A client leaning out the window with a gun, firing it at those seeking to save him.

  Everyone sat stunned for a moment before Child finally broke the silence. “What the hell just happened?”

  Tong sprang into action. “Follow that SUV. We need to know where they’re taking him.”

  “Wherever the hell he wants, by the looks of it. He’s working with them!”

  “We don’t know that. Now follow him.” She activated her mic. “Ground team, report!”

  Leather and the others checked on each other before he responded. “We’re all right. No casualties. It looks like he wasn’t aiming at us.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Then who the hell was he aiming at?”

  “Our tires. He took out two of our tires.”

  “We’ve got locals coming into the area!” announced Marc Therrien, one of the senior analysts, from the back of the room.

  She gave him a thumbs-up. “Colonel, we’ve got locals inbound. Suggest you get out of there ASAP.”

  “Understood. Ground team, out.”

  The SUV was cleared of anything identifiable, then she monitored as the team split up, everyone blending into the crowd, each slowly changing their appearance as they did so.

  These were pros, even if they didn’t technically work for the CIA.

  But they were not her primary concern. The question was why had Acton fired at those who could save him? Yet that’s not what had happened. He had taken out their tires.

  “He doesn’t want them following him.”

  Child spun in his chair. “Huh?”

  “He took out their tires. If he wanted them dead, he could have easily shot them. He’s an expert shot. But instead, he took out their tires so they couldn’t follow. He’s still being coerced, but he’s convinced them that he’s on their side.”

  “How the hell did he manage that?”

  “Because it’s probably true,” said Therrien. “This guy is an archaeology geek. He wants to know the truth as much as they do.”

  Tong disagreed. “He’d hardly put people’s lives in danger just for that.” She pursed her lips as she stared at a replay of the confrontation. “He’s still being coerced. If he’s rescued, then he can’t fulfill his mission, which means they follow through on whatever threat they made.”

  “What’s his mission?”

  “Guiding them to the location indicated on the tablet would be my guess. He gets them there, and they let him go, cleaning the slate. He doesn’t, they follow through.”

  “Killing his wife?” suggested Child.

  “That would be my guess. Whatever it is, it’s bad enough that he’d rather not only stay with them but warn us off as well.”

  “Then what are we supposed to do if he doesn’t want our help?”

  “Oh, he’ll want our help, that I can guarantee you.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Because he’s heading into Syria, and there’s no way in hell that’s going to go well.”

  32 |

  Istanbul, Turkey

  “I told you they were good.”

  The leader frowned at Acton then flipped his fingers at him. “Gun.”

  Acton cleared it then handed it over, having liberated it from one of his captors only moments before. He had decided on the brash action for two reasons—one, he’d rather be the one shooting at Leather’s team, and two, he had to send a message by shooting out their tires.

  Back off.

  “The next time you take one of our weapons, you’re dead, and so is your wife.”

  Acton stared at the man. “Listen, I just did you a favor. They can’t follow us now, and they’re all alive. If one of you had fired, you would have killed innocent people. This way, we’re all still relatively clean in all this. Nobody is dead, nobody is hurt, and all we’ve really done is stolen a tablet that in the end, we can return.”

  “The tablet will never be returned.”

  Acton seized the opportunity to dig a little deeper. “What do you mean?”

  “If it is of historical significance, it will be placed in the Vault of Secrets. If it is fake, then it will be destroyed as the blasphemous forgery it is.”

  “If it’s real, why wouldn’t you destroy it?”

  “Because we may be mistaken. Simply because you say it’s real, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re correct. By preserving it, someday the truth might be revealed, then it can be safely destroyed. But until we know for certain, it shall be preserved.”

  Acton sighed. “I don’t understand you people. You claim to want to protect the Church from any harm, yet you won’t destroy something that could damage the Christian faith irrevocably. And how do you plan to get it in the Vault? Your way in was blocked.”

  “We don’t need to get it inside the Vault. His Holiness will do that for us.”

  Acton’s eyebrows shot up. “He will? That’s mighty nice of him.”

  The man chuckled. “The tablet will be delivered to him, and he’ll know what to do.”

  “You’ve done this before?”

  “On many occasions. It is part of our mandate. The Vault is filled with things we’ve discovered, and that the clergy and others have discovered on their own over the millennia.”

  Acton leaned forward, a question begging to be asked. “And if we find what the tablet claims? What will you do then?”

  The man bristled. “That, Professor Acton, will never happen.”

  33 |

  Great Palace of Constantinople Constantinople, Eastern Roman Empire AD 1070

  “Your husband does not fare well.”

  Eudokia regarded her brother-in-law, a most distasteful man, and thankfully not from her bloodline but that of her late husband. John Doukas, named Caesar as her husband died, was to have been co-regent with Michael Psellos until her son, also named Michael, was ready. But those were her husband’s plans, not hers. She had quickly moved to sideline the two co-regents, instead ruling in the name of her sons as co-emperors, their mother pulling the strings of an empire.

  It had infuriated the Doukai family of her late husband, and with Romanus now emperor for over two full years, with one son now blessing the marriage, and another child on the way, things were even worse. The Doukai were terrified of losing their brief claim to the throne, and she had to find a way to placate them until he returned, lest they take action and depose him while he fought for the empire.

  “There have been some delays in his plans, mostly because of traitors that he already said were within our midst. It merely proves he was right, and once his reforms of the army are complete, we shouldn’t face such things in the future.”

  “Ridding the empire of its dependence on mercenaries is no easy task.”

  “If it were easy, then it wouldn’t take a great man to accomplish.”

  “A great man. You think highly of your husband, don’t you?”

  “Of course. He is my husband, the father of my youngest son, and my emperor.”

  “Yet I thought you married him for the good of the empire, not the good of your womanly desires.”

  She eyed the pig. She could order his throat slit this instant. It would take a single call to her guard who stood outside the door, then a flick of her wrist. It would be within her right, yet it would cause too many problems that could lead to the very rebellion she was attempting to avoid. “My womanly desires aside, I did what was best for the empire. We needed a strong leader with a military background who could take command of our armies and bring in the reforms necessary to restore the empire to its former glory.”

  “Former glory? I thought we were doing quite well before he came along.”

  “Then you are naïve, which is why I decided you were unfit to be co-regent.”

  John bristled, shifting in his chair. “If you weren’t who you are, you would be whipped for your insolence.”

  Eudokia smirked at him. “And if you weren’t who you are, I would have your throat slit for yours.” She smiled. “Now that we have the pleasantries out of the way, I want you to hear my plan, so I may assuage you of any concerns you might have about the current situation.”

  John stared at her. “Your plan? What plan?”

  “The plan I have had since the very moment I decided to marry Romanus. The plan I have kept to myself, and now share with you, since you have so brazenly attempted to turn my own son against me.”

  “I don’t know of what you speak.”

  “Then what I have been told must be untrue, which is a relief. For if I had found proof, only your head would be appearing before me today.”

  John paled slightly, confirming everything she needed to know.

  “Now, to my plan. Michael is to be emperor. Let there be no doubt of that. The Doukai bloodline will rule after Romanus, and his future sons will follow him.”

  John recovered his composure. “Does Romanus know this?”

  “Yes. He understands that I rule behind the scenes. He is merely a figurehead, necessary to gain the respect of the army he is reforming. He will die in battle eventually, and when he does, Michael will assume the throne. Any child I bear with Romanus will be at least twenty years his junior. There is absolutely no threat to the Doukai claim to the throne.”

  “And should Romanus not die in battle?”

  “Then glory be to the Roman Empire! If he does not die, and claims victory after victory, the power of the empire simply continues to grow, its future secured by his successes, and when he dies an old man, Michael will inherit a throne far more powerful than he would have.”

  “Old age? By then his sons will be old enough to challenge, and Michael could be an old man as well. And you could be dead.”

  She chuckled. “And you will likely be dead as well.” She sighed, holding up her hands slightly. “Very well, I’ll make you a promise, between you, me, and God. Should Romanus survive, on the tenth anniversary of his ascension, I will name Michael emperor, and Romanus will retire.”

  “Fantasy!”

  She eyed him. “Excuse me?”

  “No man will give up the throne of the greatest empire that has ever existed, on the say-so of a woman.”

  “You underestimate me, and you misunderstand him.”

  John laughed. “Oh, do please enlighten me!”

  “Romanus doesn’t desire power. He sought it to save the empire through rebuilding the army. He will step aside eagerly if he is allowed to maintain command, guided, of course, by Michael.”

  John shook his head. “Fine. I’ll humor you. Let’s say this is even plausible, what will you do if he decides to defy you?”

  She leaned forward, all pleasantness gone. “Then I will slit his throat myself while he makes love to me.” She jabbed a finger at John’s shocked face. “There is nothing I won’t do for my children, or my empire.”

  34 |

  Istanbul Ataturk Airport Istanbul, Turkey Present Day

  Laura rushed off her plane and into the charter terminal. Inside, she spotted Leather and his team waiting past customs. She was dying to speak to him. She had made certain before she left that she had full communications capabilities, unwilling to be out of touch as her husband had been. She had read all the updates and spoken to Reading and Leather on several occasions until things got violent.

  Then Leather had issued the order.

  No more open communications.

  She still had the encrypted emails, so knew what had happened, but she wanted to speak to Leather directly, to hear what she couldn’t believe. Her husband had opened fire on his own security team. Yes, that wasn’t exactly what had happened according to the report, but it was how her mind was interpreting it.

  She wanted more. She needed more. She needed to look into Leather’s eyes and hear the words spoken. He had seen James’ face as he fired. What was his expression? How had his eyes appeared? Was he frightened or angry? She had a million questions, yet had to control herself for the moment, as not only was she dealing with an on-edge customs official, several police were standing with Leather who no doubt wanted to question her about her husband.

  She might not get that opportunity to speak to her head of security.

  She cleared and rushed toward Leather, giving him a hug, the man returning it awkwardly. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

  “Ma’am, this is Captain Demirel. He’s with the Turkish Police Service. He has some questions for you.”

  “Professor Palmer, it’s a pleasure. I wish it were under better circumstances.”

  She shook the man’s hand. “As do I. How can I help you, Captain?”

  “I need you to come to the station with me. I have some questions.”

  She tensed. “Am I under arrest?”

  “No, of course not. This is simply routine.”

  “Then I’d prefer not to. How about we meet at my hotel in one hour, and I’ll happily answer any questions you may have?”

 

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