The Cathari Treasure (Cameron Kincaid) (22 page)

Cameron stopped them in front of
the café.

“Wait for it, wait for it,” said
Cameron.

“Wait for what?” asked Nicole.

Pepe replied, “You will
see.  Our friend Christophe needs to take the bait.”

“Wait for it,” said Cameron a
third time.  Nicole realized now that Cameron was looking at the metal
napkin dispenser to see the reflection of the corner behind them.

Christophe was not far behind and
would soon be making the corner.

In a softer tone Cameron said,
“Ok, now.”  He quickly led Pepe and Nicole into the alley walkway.

Christophe saw them dart into
the café-side alley walkway and followed them.  When Christophe reached
the back of the building, he found the large parking area.  Christophe
stayed inside the mouth of the alley walkway.  He peeked out into the
parking area and was unable to see Nicole and the men right away.  A large
planter at the mouth of the opening blocked his view.  He stuck his head
out farther to get a better look.  Still unable to find where they had
gone, Christophe took a few steps out into the open.  Up to the right, he
finally saw Cameron and Nicole.  Christophe reached into his waist and
pulled out a large black .44 magnum.  In the secluded parking lot away
from the park, Christophe was confident he could use the heavy weapon the other
operatives had given him.

Christophe tried to pull back
the slide as he had been shown.  Because he was nervous, Christophe could
not remember exactly what to squeeze.

In Christophe’s ear came a
voice.  “Let me help you with that.”  Christophe felt a sharp
pressure on his throat and let his hand go limp as Pepe gently removed the
useless metal from his grip.

In Christophe’s excitement, he
did not notice that the dark haired man had split off from the other two. 
The large planter with the huge bush at the mouth of the alley walkway that had
hid Christophe from the parking area also shielded Pepe from his view. 
When Christophe had stepped out into the lot he had walked right passed Pepe.

“Let me go, please. 
Please.  I will disappear.  You will not see me again,” said
Christophe.

“If I let you go, you will leave
and not return to your friends?” asked Pepe.

Christophe’s gaping open smile returned
to his face, “Oui, yes, yes.”

“I’m sorry,” said Pepe, “I do
not believe you.”  With a sudden thrust, Pepe pushed the tip of his Opinel
into Christophe’s throat at once severing his jugular and puncturing his
larynx.

Christophe’s knees went weak and
his hands wrapped his throat to block the sputtering blood.  Pepe squeezed
his shoulders to support him and gently backed him up to the building. 
Pepe slowly stepping backwards while his eyes scanned the parking lot for
witnesses.  There were none.  When Pepe felt the wall on their backs,
he gently eased Christophe down to a sitting position then kneeled in front of
him.

Blood already soaked
Christophe’s t-shirt and he gasped for breath.  His sunglasses had fallen
off when Pepe had set him down and now his eyes stared wide at Pepe, still
pleading on his behalf.  Christophe tried to speak releasing only scarlet
bubbles and short high-pitched wheezes.

Pepe said in a soft voice, “Do
not try to speak.  I would make it short for you, and I am sure you would
like me too.  I cannot.”  Christophe held one hand away from his
throat, impotently grasping at Pepe.  Pepe did not flinch, safely out of
Christophe’s reach.

“Now, now,” said Pepe, “You know
why I cannot.  Cameron told me you were a traitor.  That because of you
many people died.”

Christophe rested the arm that
he had taken such effort to claw toward Pepe.  His eyes also rested, no
longer wide.

“You will go fast enough,” said
Pepe.  “Use this time to think about your mistakes.  It builds
character.”  Pepe patted Christophe atop his tweed cap, stood, and then
walked away.

* * *
* *

Quebec

Pepe slid into the backseat,
“So.”

“I promised Marie that I would
take Nicole to Nova Scotia,” said Cameron.  “I think that will finally be the
last stop.”

“I will go with you,” said Pepe.

“I would like that.”

Nicole turned toward the
backseat.  In her hands she held up a Canadian highway atlas, “I know the
way to the retreat in Nova Scotia.”

“I am sure you do demoiselle,”
said Pepe.

“I am glad somebody does,” said
Cameron.

Nicole ran her finger down the
indexed list of provinces.  When she found the page she was looking for,
she opened the atlas to the provincial map of Nova Scotia.  “We need to
get here,” said Nicole.  She lifted the book for both men to see and
pointed to a field of white in southern Nova Scotia, not far from the
ocean.  “Once we are here, I know I can get us the rest of the way.”

Cameron did not challenge her or
care to.  He knew that she was incapable of lying, and whether or not
Nicole really could get them there, she believed she could.

* * *
* *

The Cathari Treasure

“Then it is true.
 
Je le savais,” said Pepe.

“What is?” asked Cameron. 
They were a few hours out of Quebec driving into the indigo dusk.

“Les Chevaliers du Christ, they
really exist.”

“Chevaliers, Knights, The
Knights of Christ.  Lady Mani, the old woman back in Toronto, she called
me a chevalier.”  Cameron rattled his fingertips off into a series of taps
against the steering wheel, “So did Marie.”

“Les Chevaliers du Christ, you
know, that is another name for Les Templiers.  You said Marie told you
that brotherhood we are going to meet are Knights whose order have been
caretakers of the treasure in times of strife for 800 years,” said Pepe.

“That’s what she told me.”

“My grand-mère told me that many
of the people of Acadia were descended from Les Templiers, the Knights of
Christ.”

“What are you talking about?”
asked Cameron.

“Have you been living under a
rock?  Everyone knows of Les Templiers, the Knights Templar.  The
books, the movies, really Cameron you should get out of the restaurant more
often.”

“You got me there,” said
Cameron.

“Grand-mère told me that the
Knights of Christ were fathers of Acadia, the part that is now Nova Scotia,
long before the area was settled by other French or the British.  She said
the British forced everyone to take an oath of allegiance and those that did
not fled to other parts of Canada, some to Louisiana, all descended from the
Knights of Christ.”

“Yeah, well.  After the
last few days I am not the least bit surprised,” said Cameron.

“Fascinating,” said Pepe, his
voice becoming distant.

“Sure,” said Cameron,
unimpressed.

“Ah, but you see,” Pepe lifted his
hands above his head and then dropped them on his lap, “of course you don’t
see.”

Cameron adjusted the rearview to
look Pepe in the eyes, “See what.”

“If that part is true, then the
other part my grand-mere told me may also be true.”

“And that is?” asked Cameron.

“The Knights fled from Europe
when the were being persecuted,” Pepe paused for a second and then locked eyes
with Cameron, “and with them they brought a treasure.”

Cameron cocked his brow, looked
at the road, and then back to Pepe, “Are you saying what I think you’re
saying.”

“Am I saying what you think I am
saying?  Vous êtes ridicule.  You know that is what I am
saying.  For centuries people have been guessing what the treasure was and
where they hid it.”  Pepe gestured to the young woman sitting in front of
him, “I am saying that people have been guessing wrong.  The treasure is
not an it, the treasure is a she.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Cameron
shook his head, “you read too many conspiracy books.”

“No, no, I believe this could be
true.  You said so yourself.  Marie told you that Nicole is the
treasure that can change the world.”

“I don’t know,” said Cameron.

“It is as Mister Pepe says,”
said Nicole.  They had thought she had dozed off as she had been facing
the window quietly since they left Quebec.

“It is?” asked Cameron.

“Yes.  Long ago, in the old
country, Les Templiers and les bonnes gens, the Cathar, lived together and
supported each other.  The Languedoc was advanced in thought and
education.  The Catholic Church however, after years of corruption, became
a puppet of Rex Mundi.  They thought the Cathar threatened their
church.  They believed that if they did not control the knowledge of faith
that their church would suffer.  The nobles of the north also were prey to
Rex Mundi.  They saw the wealth of the region, the wealth of Les Templiers
and wanted it for their own.  In the year 1209, the nobles of the north
and the Catholics joined forces to rid themselves of the Cathar, to take what
was the Cathar’s, and to keep people from learning the true way to
purity.  Over the course of twenty years a great crusade swept through the
Occitan, followed by twenty years of the Inquisition.  You have heard of
this?”  Nicole turned her head from the window to Cameron and Pepe, both
fixated on her story.

“Yes,” said Pepe, “I know of the
Inquisition.”

“Yes, of course,” said Cameron,
his thigh still sore from the skewers, “go on.”

Nicole continued, “By that time,
except for very few strongholds, all of the towns and forts supporting the
Cathar had fallen.  The greatest of these was the fort at Montségur, atop
the mountain, high above the valleys.  Ten thousand crusaders held siege
on the fortress for almost a year.  The attackers persisted because they
believed that those who held Montségur, held with them the legendary Treasure
of the Cathar.  Down to less than 400 defenders, the Cathar at
Montségur finally conceded to surrender.  A two-week truce stopped
all fighting, and it looked like there would be a peaceful outcome. 
However, when the two weeks passed more than 200 Cathar, Parfait and Credentes,
were brutally forced down the mountain and burned alive.”

“200 people?” asked Cameron.

“Yes, they were put into a
wooden, I don’t know the word, palissade maybe,” Nicole looked at Pepe.

“Prison, they put them into a
wooden prison.  A stockade,” said Pepe.

“Oui, a stockade.  They
force all 200 people into the stockade to burn to death.”

Cameron anxiously asked Nicole,
“And what about the other 200?  You said there were 400 Cathar in the
fort.”

 “Those left in the fort
watched this burning.  They were the supporters of the Cathar.  The
attackers believed they had taken all of the Cathar and destroyed them. 
Four Parfaits stayed hidden in the fort at his time.  Then the next night,
with the help of those left in the fort these Parfaits secretly escaped by
climbing ropes down the flat mountainside.  The foolish operatives of Rex
Mundi believed that the wealth of the Cathar and Templars had been secretly
coming out of the fort over the time of the siege.  When they learned of
the great escape they decided that the greatest treasure had gone with them
down those ropes in the dark.”

“And it did,” said Pepe, “not
gold or worthless relics.  It was the Parfaits themselves that were the
treasure.”

“That is correct,” said Nicole. 
“Those that held the fort said that the Cathar and Templar took with them their
arc of the covenant, or the Holy Grail, things that mean nothing to the
Cathar.  What escaped that night was the direct line to Christ and the
Holy Spirit.  The true treasure is purity and salvation.”

“And of the Knights?” asked
Pepe.  “How did they get here?”

“The Cathar were hid among Les
Templiers for the next fifty years.  The nobles and the church became
further possessed by the greed of Rex Mundi.  They no longer needed the
Chevaliers du Christ.  The nobles wanted the lands and wealth of Les
Templiers.  The King wanted the great treasure most of all.  The
French King and nobles killed two Popes to get an operative of Rex Mundi in
power.  Then, to put their evil plan in action, set a trap for Les
Templiers.  All over France secret sealed orders were given to the King’s
men.  When the time came, the orders were unsealed and the trap was
sprung.  Everywhere Les Templiers were arrested and all of their property
taken in the name of the King.  The King was disappointed though, even in
his surprise attack, the great treasure of Les Templiers, the treasure of the
Cathar, eluded his grasp.”

“To the world the story ends
there,” said Pepe.  “What happened to the treasure of the Templars remains
a mystery.”

“Not to the Rex Mundi, they fuel
the world with disinformation to help them in their conquest,” said Nicole.