A Time of Shadows (Out of Time #8) (23 page)

Jack handed the large ringed bread to a boy standing nearby and they followed. At first Jack thought he was going to get on a tram, there was a stop nearby, but the man turned and entered a small building, shaking hands with the guard.
 

“What is that?” Tess asked, nodding toward the building he’d disappeared into.

“The cistern. We need tickets.”

Quickly, they got into the short queue. But the people in front of them, a family from Italy, argued about something instead of moving to the kiosk.
 

“Come on,” Tess said, pulling Jack around them.

The family was too busy arguing to even notice. Jack and Tess got their tickets and raced to the entrance.

They made their way down the flights of stairs and into the dark and damp world of the Basilica Cistern. Converted from basilica to cistern in the sixth century, it was used as water storage for the great palace. It was one of hundreds of ancient cisterns found underground all over Istanbul.
 

The stairwell let them out into an enormous, dark cavern with hundreds of large stone columns. Elevated walkways ringed the edges of the large pools of water below. Each column had a small light at its base just above the water-line that gave it and the entire room an eerie orangish-red glow. It was dark otherwise, except for small pools of yellow light that dotted the walkways.

Jack scanned the darkness for the Wizard.
 

“There,” he said, and he and Tess set off after him.

The Wizard walked slowly, admiring the architecture and stopping occasionally to watch the giant carp that swam in the shallow pools below. Water dripped down the sides of some of the columns like tears.

Voices and footsteps echoed off the high vaulted ceiling as people moved about the cistern. Bright flashes from cameras illuminated a section before plunging it back into darkness.

They trailed along behind the Wizard, careful not to get too close. He walked on and on, all the way to the far corner. Holding up two columns there were two bases made of giant carved Medusa heads. One lay on its side. Some said it was that way because of superstition. He stared at it for a moment and then leaned against the railing and waited.

Jack and Tess found a vantage point on a walkway across from him and watched. It wasn’t long before a man approached him and stood in front of the sideways Medusa. Jack’s heart began to speed with adrenaline and anticipation. Was it Skavo?
 

Jack couldn’t see him clearly and shifted down the path to get a better look.

“Is it him?”

Jack shook his head, frowning. It was too dark to see his face and they didn’t dare show themselves yet.

The two men looked at each other briefly and then the smaller man walked past the Wizard. If Jack hadn’t been watching carefully, he would have missed it. It was an exchange. As the two men passed each other, they each handed the other something. It was smooth and quick.

“What are they doing?”

The smaller man turned up the walkway and started for the exit.
 

“Damn,” Jack said as he passed.
 

It wasn’t Skavo. He was too small and far too young.

“Stick with him,” Jack said, nodding his head to indicate the Wizard and then turned to follow the other man.

The walkway was crowded and slick with water, and a woman slipped. Reflexively, Jack reached out to catch her. He did, but her cry of panic made every head in the place turn toward them. The young man turned back and saw Jack looking right at him. There was a short beat, and then he turned and ran toward the stairs.

Jack set the woman on her feet and took off after him. The thick humid air seemed to fill his lungs with as much water as oxygen.

Jack took the stairs two at a time and shouldered his way through the tourists coming down. The sunlight blinded him as he emerged onto the street outside.

He blinked against it and shielded his eyes. A car horn blared and he saw the man barely dodge a taxi as he ran across the street. Jack raced after him, weaving through the traffic and finally following him into a park.
 

The man looked behind him as he ran and stumbled on the brick path. He regained his footing, but Jack was nearly on him now. A large crowd of people blocked the path ahead and a large flowerbed with tall roses was to his left. With nowhere else to go, he jumped over a short fence into the grassy area that surrounded a large, round fountain.
 

But the grass was slick and he slipped again. His feet comically slid out from under him as he briefly ran in place, one hand on the ground, trying to steady himself. Jack was close enough now to see that he wasn’t a man at all. He was just a boy, not more than sixteen or seventeen years old.

Jack stopped on the other side of the fence, only a few feet away and watched as the boy regained his footing, only to forget where he was and run right off the grass and into the water.

Calmly, Jack stepped over the low fence, bent to scoop up the small bundle the boy had dropped on the grass, and walked to the edge of the fountain where he floundered.

In a panic, the boy reached into his pocket, but judging from the expression on his face, what he wanted wasn’t there. Ignoring Jack completely, he fell to his knees in the water and splashed around trying to find what the Wizard had given him.

Jack held up the bundle. “Looking for this?”
 

The boy stopped thrashing and looked at the bundle and then Jack. His chest heaved from his efforts as he stood there panting, then nodded.

Jack waved toward him. “Come on,” he said and held out his hand to help the boy out.
 

He took the offered hand but then tried to snatch the parcel from Jack.
 

Jack shook his head and grasped the boy by the back of the shirt. “Not until I get an explanation.”

A small crowd had gathered. “Nothing to see here,” Jack said and pulled the boy over the fence.
 

He gently shoved him toward a nearby bench. The boy kept his eyes on the package in Jack’s hand but sat down.
 

“I must have that,” he said.

“You will,” Jack said and then tucked it into his pocket and sat down next to him. “Probably.”

“That is my father’s.”

Now that was interesting. “Skavo’s your father?”

The boy was surprised but tried to hide it. Luckily for Jack, he was a terrible liar.

“I don’t know who that is.”

Jack sighed. “Kid—”

He reached toward Jack. “Give me back my package.”

Jack’s face was flat. “I don’t know what that is.”

The boy scrubbed his face and looked around nervously. “It is very important. Please?”

“I’ll give it to you.”

The boys’ face lit up. Poor kid was as transparent as glass.
 

“On one condition,” Jack continued. “You take me to your father.”

The boy shook his head.
 

“I’m here to help,” Jack said. The boy’s face was filled with distrust and doubt. “I know chasing you was a weird way of showing that,” Jack added, “but you ran.”

Jack moved closer to him and the boy shied away. Jack backed off and held up his hand. “Look, I really am here to help. I know your father’s caught up in something. Something dangerous. There are people who will kill to find him.”

The boy nodded.

“I’m gonna help you with that,” Jack said. “All right?”

The boy swallowed again and then nodded.
 

“My name’s Jack. What’s yours?”

“Luka.”

Jack stuck out his hand. The boy looked at it warily and then shook.

“Nice to meet you Luka. I think we can help each other. You have something I want,” Jack said as he patted the package in his pocket, “and I have something you want.”

The boy eyed the package and nodded.

Jack smiled. “Good.”

~~~

Once Jack and Luka were safely away, he called Tess.

The phone rang once, then twice. By the third ring, a knot started to grow in his stomach. Maybe he shouldn’t have left her alone. What if—

“Don’t do that again,” came a peeved voice from the other end of the line.

Jack exhaled, relieved. “Sorry.”

Silence met him for a moment and then he heard her sigh.
 

“Are you all right?” he asked, cupping the phone between his shoulder and chin as he dug into his pocket for the car keys.

“Fine, but I lost him. Slippery bugger.”

Jack didn’t care about that; he was just glad she wasn’t hurt. And besides, the further away from the Wizard and his goons they got now, the better. He unlocked the car door and held it open for Luka.

“Where are you? We can come get you.”

“We?”

Jack closed the door and looked around. “I’ll tell you about it later. Go to the Para,” he said as he went around to the driver’s side.
 

It wasn’t safe to go back to their hotel; it was too close to the action now. The Wizard might not have the best help, but he was no fool. He might not have found them there yet, but it was just a matter of time.
 

“All right, I’ll see you there,” Tess said and the line went dead.

Jack tucked the phone back in his jacket and got in the car.

Luka looked at him anxiously.
 

“It’s all right, kid. You’re in good hands.”

~~~

“What is it?” Tess asked as she looked at the metal block that had been inside Luka’s package. She leaned in to get a better look and then quickly moved back. “It’s not radioactive, is it?”

Luka shook his head. “Orichalcum. Supposedly.”

Jack remembered that was what the physicist at the university had said Skavo was after. “What does it do?”

The boy shook his head. “I don’t know. I just know my father had been looking for it.”

“Had been?”

Luka put his elbows on the table of their small hotel room and cradled his head. “He’s going to be furious with me.”

“He didn’t know you were getting this?” Tess asked.

Luka shook his head and then looked up. “He said it was too dangerous. I should have listened.”

Tess leaned forward and put a comforting hand on his arm. “I’m sure he’ll forgive you. I’ll talk to him. Just take us to him.”

Luka shook his head. “I can’t.”

Tess sat back. “Why not?”

“I have betrayed him once. I cannot do it again.”

“You don’t have much of a choice,” Tess said, her voice hard and cold.
 

Luka looked at her worriedly and then back to Jack.

“Maybe we can work something out,” Jack said, wondering if he was supposed to play good cop to her bad cop.
 

Tess started to speak, but Jack held up his hand to stop her and inclined his head to the side, silently asking that she join him across the room.

Tess glared at him and then walked to the other side of the room. Jack gave Luka’s shoulder a quick squeeze before joining her.

“There’s nothing to work out,” Tess said in harsh whisper. “He knows where Skavo is.”

“What do you suggest?” Jack asked. “We beat it out of him?”

Tess’ eyes darted over to Luka and the way she looked at him made Jack’s blood run cold.
 

“He has what we want,” she said. “If he won’t talk willingly….”

“He won’t,” Jack said sadly. He knew the boy wouldn’t give up his father. Not without a fight. Every man, no matter how loyal, had his limits, but they weren’t limits Jack wanted to explore.

It had been his one failing as a spy—his unwillingness to do
anything
to get the job done. He believed there was always another way. So far, there had been. And besides, if he were willing to do anything, he’d be just as bad as the people he was fighting against. And then what would the point of it all be?
 

When Tess turned back, the ice in her eyes melted. “Look, I don’t like this any more than you do, but the stakes are too high. We’re talking about all of history here.”

She was right about that. The cost of failure was catastrophic.
 

“Let’s try it my way first,” Jack said.

“And what’s your great plan?”

“Get Skavo to come to us.”

“What makes you think he will?”

Jack looked over at the boy. “Because
we
have what
he
wants.”
 

T
HERE
WAS
JUST
ONE
problem with going back to Bedlam. It wasn’t there anymore. Not where it used to be, anyway. The hospital had moved early in the twentieth century to its current location in Bromley. On the spot where the old asylum had been in St. George’s Field there was now a park which contained one of the Imperial War Museums.
 

Frankly, Simon thought as he and Elizabeth walked through the front gates, that wasn’t the only problem. Of all the places they’d returned to, this one held the freshest and most painful memories. It had barely been two months since they’d last been there. And it had not been a pleasant visit.
 

The grounds were peaceful now, even beautiful, but they would always be the stuff of nightmares for him. As they walked up the curving path toward the main building, Simon could feel the ghosts of his past, feel himself running along this very path, desperate to reach Elizabeth in time.
 

Elizabeth’s hand slipped into his. “Okay?”

He looked down at her in wonder. If this place held bad memories for him, he could only imagine what it held for her. Drugged, unable to cry out for help, she’d been held captive here, alone. And yet here she was, comforting him.

He nodded in answer to her question, but she knew him too well.

“I know,” was all she said. It was all that needed to be said.

They walked up the steps and into the museum. Most of the main building had been preserved, although in its current state it was nearly unrecognizable. Modern architecture meshed with the old.

Simon tried to get his bearings, but it wasn’t necessary. Elizabeth tugged on his hand. “This way.”