The Lost Chalice (The Relic Seekers Book 3) (18 page)

“I have a contact at TSA. A guard who used to work for me. He can get someone out there.”

“He doesn’t know what the Reaper looks like. Hell, nobody really knows what he looks like.”

“He knows Kendall.” Nathan shifted in his seat. “He was . . . close to her. That’s why I let him go.”

“Another man with the hots for her?” Damn. “Is he going to intercept them?” Jake asked. “That could be dangerous.”

“Don’t try to stop him,” Raphael said. “We need to know where Luke is taking her.”

“Call him the Reaper,” Jake said. “The man you knew isn’t the same. I don’t care where he’s taking her. I plan on stopping him.”

“I’m not sure that’s the best thing to do,” Raphael said.

“I’m sure,” Jake said. “We can’t let him get away with her.”

“Stop thinking with your hearts,” Raphael said. “We have to play this smart. We have a chance to find out where he’s been hiding. We don’t know where he is going in Prague. If we follow at a discreet distance, we can find out exactly what he’s doing and kill him there.”

“Why wait to kill him there?” Jake said.

“You’re not telling us something,” Nathan said.

Raphael was silent. “He has something I need. Something that belongs to the Protettori.”

“What?”

“A relic. I believe it’s the fourth relic sketched in the Reaper’s journal.”

“The fourth relic is missing?”

“Yes. I believe Luke—the Reaper—has it.”

“What is it?” Nathan asked.

“The Tree of Knowledge.”

Nathan turned to look at Raphael, and the car drifted toward the guardrail. He jerked it back. “From the Garden of Eden?”

“Yes.”

“That makes sense,” Jake said. “The Spear of Destiny gives him power. The Fountain of Youth and the Holy Grail give him eternal life, and the Tree of Knowledge gives him wisdom.”

“He has the whole tree?” Nathan asked.

His expression of awe disturbed Jake. Who cared what part of the tree he had. They had to destroy it or destroy the Reaper. God, now he was thinking like Brandi.

“Not the whole tree,” Raphael said. “A piece. We’ve had it for many, many centuries. It was one of our most valuable relics. We only recently realized it was missing. We discovered that the box our portion was kept in was empty. We don’t know who took it or when it went missing, but I believe the Reaper is somehow connected to its disappearance.”

“So you can’t kill him until he tells you where he’s hidden it,” Jake said. “I wondered what the fourth sketch in the journal was.”

“The Tree of Knowledge,” Nathan said. “Imagine that. I can’t wait to tell Kendall. She won’t believe it.”

They had to find Kendall first. Jake pushed aside the grip of fear. “I’m surprised he was alone. Seems he usually has his minions do his dirty work.”

“He’s desperate,” Raphael said. “He can move faster if he works alone.”

Jake pushed aside the fear gnawing at his guts. “You should have killed him anyway. He wouldn’t have Kendall now. Forget about the tree.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“I don’t see why not. You’re powerful, older than him, and you’ve been drinking from the Fountain of Youth. If anyone can kill him, it should be you.”

“I can’t kill him. Members of the brotherhood can’t kill each other.”

“Can’t?” Jake asked.

Raphael brushed a knuckle across his cheek. “I’ve never seen it happen, so I can’t say it’s impossible, but if it weren’t, it would be very difficult and carry great consequences.”

Nathan scowled. “That’s bloody insane. Didn’t the Reaper kill most of the Protettori?”

“He had others do it for him,” Raphael said.

“So you can mastermind the destruction, but can’t personally carry it out,” Nathan said. “Here I was thinking you were the one who would finish him off.”

“It won’t be me.”

“I guess we can draw straws,” Jake said to Nathan.

“I’ll kill him,” Nathan said. “I’m not officially Protettori yet.”

He’d have to get to him first. No one was going to threaten Kendall and live.

Nathan navigated a turn, taking them off I-95 near the Pentagon. He accelerated at an alarming speed.

“There’s the car,” Jake said. The black Porsche was parked on the side of the road that led to the airport. Nathan slammed to a stop behind the car. His eyes were alight before he opened the door and got out. “Careful.”

Raphael got out just as quickly, and they sped toward the car. Jake followed, holding his gun. The car was empty. “They’ve ditched it,” Jake said.

“He could have taken them anywhere,” Nathan said. “Can he fly around like you can?”

“Once he had similar abilities, but I thought he had lost some. It appears he’s regaining those powers in spite of being injured in the temple. I found him at the Abbey House in Glastonbury.”

“What were you doing there?” Nathan asked. “I thought you went to Prague.”

“I went to get more water from the fountain first. Since I was already there, I decided to check in the Abbey House. That’s where he thought Kendall was staying. He was watching for her. I waited and followed him to Washington, DC.”

“You can’t track him now?” Jake asked.

“No. But if he’s injured, and he’s already gone from England to DC, he must be getting too tired to teleport,” Raphael said. “He’s probably had someone pick them up.”

Nathan called Fergus and had him make arrangements for a flight. There weren’t any private jets available, so they would have to fly commercial. Again.

Nathan hung up, frowning. “They found one of the rogues.”

“Where?” Raphael asked.

“He was in jail for urinating in public. Fergus just got back from bailing him out. The others are still missing. Hank thinks some of them may be hiding in the catacombs. They seem to think we’re sorcerers. They don’t understand the change in time. What was Marco thinking?”

“He didn’t know they were the ones who had gone rogue,” Raphael said. “I’m the one who put them there. I believe he thought we needed more help to fight the Reaper.”

Jake shook his head. “And now Marco’s on the way to Prague to find the Reaper.”

Marco didn’t particularly like flying, but he didn’t like using the gateways either. They were hard on an aging body. He settled back in his seat and watched the people around him. Times had changed so much in the centuries that he’d been alive. He remembered traveling on horseback or taking a carriage. It was a simpler time. Things were complicated now. So much technology and new ideas, but humans were much the same.

He knew that what he was undertaking was a dangerous thing, but what else could he do? He had tried to wake the sentinels so the Protettori would have more help, but when he left the room, they were still stone. After that failure, it was up to him to stop Luke. The Reaper. Marco closed his eyes, feeling every year of his great age. He was aware that he might lose his life, but if he could keep Kendall, Nathan, and Jake from danger, it would be well worth it. And he still had a few tricks up his sleeve.

Raphael wasn’t happy about leaving his dagger in the car. Jake supposed he was used to traveling by portal, but Nathan promised him he’d replace it if something happened to the weapon.

“It can’t be replaced,” he said.

“Don’t tell me it’s as old as you,” Jake said.

“Close,” Raphael said.

“Jesus,” Jake said.

Raphael’s hand flew out and slammed into Jake’s chest. “Don’t say his name in vain,” the guardian said with a growl.

Jake couldn’t say anything for a few minutes. He was trying to catch his breath. He didn’t retaliate, since Raphael had good reason to feel that way after presiding over the crucifixion of Christ, watching him die. Jake rubbed his chest and considered that he may need to clean up his language. He didn’t want to antagonize the guardian. They needed to be unified if they were going to take on the Reaper and rescue Kendall and Brandi.

This trip was longer than the one he’d taken with Raphael, but it should have been more comfortable thanks to Nathan’s money, which allowed them to travel first class. They had more leg room, which they all needed, particularly Raphael, but the attention he drew made discussing their plans to find the Reaper impossible. Even dressed in jeans, Raphael looked frightening with his tattooed face and frustrated frown. Nathan wasn’t helping matters. He was trying to hide his face so he wouldn’t be recognized, which drew even more attention. One flight attendant dared approach him with a smile, but she made herself scarce after she got a glimpse of his scowl.

When things settled down, Raphael quietly told them what he remembered of his “landing” in Prague when he’d followed the Reaper through the gateway, but there was very little to go on. “I saw him walk inside a tall building. A church, maybe.”

“Bloody hell. That’s all you remember?” Nathan asked. “There are hundreds of churches in Prague.”

“I was lying on a street corner, near death. I could hardly see straight,” Raphael hissed, his face dark. A small child who’d been staring at him curiously quickly vanished below the back of his seat.

“I thought you could extract memories,” Nathan said. “I’m sure you did it to me. Can’t you do it to yourself?”

“No.”

“Don’t suppose that’s also one of Nathan’s newfound talents that you could give him a quick lesson in? Let him read you?”

“I don’t yet know what he’s capable of,” Raphael said. “If we get the Reaper out of the way, we might have time to find out.”

“We can’t do that if we can’t find him,” Nathan said, his tone harsh.

“And you blame me?” Raphael said. “If it weren’t for me, you’d still be back there stuck in the Reaper’s invisible chains like flies in a spiderweb.”

“So we’re just going to get a car to drive us around to look at churches until we find one that looks familiar?” Nathan barked out a laugh. “That’s a rotten plan. Why didn’t you have someone else kill him when you had the chance? Then we wouldn’t have to worry about his abilities.”

“It’s not time.”

“Not time? What are you waiting for?” Nathan said. “He’s already found the Fountain of Youth, and now he has Kendall. What more do you want?”

Raphael looked suspiciously secretive. “He has something I need.”

“He has something I need too!” Nathan yelled. “Kendall!”

After they convinced the flight attendant that Nathan and Raphael weren’t fighting, Jake leaned close and growled in Nathan’s ear. “If you don’t calm down,” Jake whispered, “your eyes are going to start glowing and people are going to start screaming. Then you can forget finding Kendall. They’ll lock you up in a lab and study you like a rat. Chill. Your team will keep us informed where the Reaper’s jet lands.”

“I can’t let anything happen to her.”

“
We
won’t,” Jake said. “I’ve got as much to lose as you. Maybe more.”

Nathan frowned. “You’d better not be playing with her heart. I’ll rip yours out and feed it to you.”

“I’m not playing at anything. And the same goes for you. She believes you’re Adam. If you’re not, you’d damned well better let her know now. I don’t want her hurt over him more than she already has been.”

“Can you two shut up so I can rest?” Raphael said.

“Try not to snore,” Jake muttered.

“I don’t snore.”

“You don’t think the Reaper would hurt her . . . ?” Nathan asked.

Jake pushed away the dark thoughts pressing in on him. “No. He needs her healthy.”
For now
.

Nathan looked out the window, his face tense. “Hank’s sending some of my hotel security guards to the airport in Prague to see if they can spot them.”

Raphael cracked one eye. “You have a hotel there?”

“He has hotels all over the world,” Jake said.

“Hmmm . . .” Raphael closed his eyes again, and in minutes he was softly snoring.

“We don’t have anything to go on,” Nathan said, and then pointed to the dozing guardian. “He must have seen something he can identify?”

Jake could feel his frustration. “Raphael’s our only chance,” he said in a whisper, “unless your hotel security guard catches sight of Kendall. So don’t piss him off. We don’t want him vanishing from the plane.”

“I hadn’t thought of that.”

“I hope he hasn’t either.”

Ten minutes later, Raphael gave a loud snore and bolted upright. “I know where it is,” he said loud enough to startle everyone near him, as well as a few of the sharper hearing passengers in coach. He lowered his voice. “It wasn’t a church. It was a town hall.”

“A town hall? That’s where the Reaper went?” Jake asked.

“I’m almost sure it was. I heard a clock chime. It had a distinctive sound. The place is a historical landmark. The clock in the tower has the twelve apostles on it.”

Jake shoved at Raphael’s arm, which was digging into Jake’s elbow. “I’ve heard of cuckoos in a clock, but never apostles. Where is it?”

“It’s near the Old Town Square.”

“I know that area,” Nathan said. “I could see the Reaper having a place there. It’s old and full of history.”

“Just like him,” Jake said. “What would he do inside a town hall? I expected a castle or something grand.”

“The tower is old,” Raphael said. “Maybe there’s some significance.”

“I can’t see him taking Kendall to a town hall. He must have a place there. He’ll have to convince her to help him.” Jake’s stomach turned just saying the words.

When they landed in Prague, it was evening. Nathan touched base with his team and learned that the private jet they believed Kendall was on had already landed, but the guard hadn’t seen any sign of the woman.

“We have a starting point anyway,” Nathan said. “Assuming you’re right about the clock.”

They hired a car to take them to the tower. This wasn’t the first time Jake had been to Prague, and the other trip hadn’t been fun either. It had involved chasing a jewel thief. The owner had paid Jake well to find it. Jake hadn’t told the man that it was his mistress who’d taken it. She was a pretty thing with way too much charm, and she’d made him feel sorry for her. But he’d given his word to recover the jewel, so he returned it without exposing the mistress’s secret, for which she had been very appreciative. Foolish of him. If the jewel’s owner had found out, Jake would probably be missing some important parts of his anatomy. The man was very powerful and had a violent temper.