The Royal Stones of Eden (Royal Secrecies Book 1) (16 page)

The weapon was in the trunk. After he unzipped a leather cover, the spotter retrieved his M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System (M110 SASS) with a suppressor attached. A grin of satisfaction formed and a chuckle sneaked out of his mouth as he only imagined the eagerly and anticipated result.

He looked around to see if anyone might be spotting
him
. He was ready for a quick getaway. He knew that the impending sound of the firing of the M110, similar to that of a very small but single firecracker pop, might alarm someone in this kind of community. He had always thought that the weapon made a small clicking sound, but this neighborhood had retirement ears, and some people wore hearing aids that were more sensitive than some of his cheapest monitoring equipment.

Sam was still asleep. The noise of the front door stirred him, and the sound of familiar voices caused him to wake up.

“Sam? Where are you, man?”—it was David’s voice. The sliding glass door opened, and David and Mattie walked out on the deck. David did the introductions.

“Sam! How are you, buddy? This is Mattie. Mattie this is Sam, a fellow member of my security team.”—Mattie gave a speculative look. David gave an addendum to the doubtful Mattie, “Honest, he really is!”

“David, you were right! He bugged your place, dude! He heard you say ‘San Francisco,’ and then he told me to follow you! Tom told me that you were at one of the beaches here. So I came looking for you.”—while Sam spoke, Mattie soaked in the new friendly face of Sam Malloy, David’s security assistant.

He must be a spy hired to snoop on Peter Jenkins, Mattie thought. What next?

On a hill, and just within a range of 1000 yards, the black-haired man was in a prone position on a combination of dirt, grass, and gravel. His spotting scope trained on Sam, he said, “I could nail all three if I wanted to—and was quick enough!” He aimed for Sam’s big chest and started to squeeze the trigger gently when he felt it.

The coldness of the blade did not hurt, but it shocked him to stiffness. The metal of the 154CM knife was held tightly, securely and without wavering against his neck folds. The knife pressed firmly against his throat.

“You never were that quick, Robbie!”—it was Thomas Childers who straddled him as he adjusted his grip even tighter. “I always had the jump on you, didn’t I?”

Below the hill, Mattie, David, and Sam sat and drank their cold beer on the shaded deck. They talked about the past as Mattie took it all in.

“Mattie, while we were in Egypt, Sam Malloy approached me and asked me to help the U.S. government spy on Peter Jenkins. Peter was suspected of buying weapons of mass destruction from Egypt.”—David smiled at Sam, who then chimed in.

“Yeah, either that or he was suspected of building some kind of new experimental bomb, right?” Sam replied.

“I didn’t believe Sam, but I needed the money at the time. I took the job, but I never thought that Peter was a criminal,” David said, and he paused. “Sam, why didn’t you tell me about Peter’s experiments?”

“Because I didn’t know—until I was promoted to a lab assistant, just a few days ago. He apparently goes through assistants quickly!”—Sam then looked at two men approaching from a nearby hill. They came closer with every staggered step. “What the hell!” Sam blurted out.

It was Thomas Childers and a companion. Tom walked toward them as he held the man at knifepoint. He prodded the man with a knife but held a military rifle to his side.

This day keeps getting stranger, Mattie thought. It is definitely interesting.

“Hello, Mattie! Hello, David! Good to see you, Sam!”—Tom, as his friends called him, never seemed younger than today. “This is Robbie, an assistant of Peter’s!” He continued as if nothing was surprising about any of this. “Anyone hungry?”

“Can anyone that speaks ‘spy’ sort this out for me, please?” Mattie said as she followed everyone into the house and closed the sliding glass door behind her. It was Sam that then added his humorous touch.

“I think it will have to wait until we have Tom’s soufflé, Mattie!” Sam said while he assisted Tom with securing Robbie in a nearby room. Sam shook his head with astonishment while he walked behind Tom and Robbie. I have lost my edge, he supposed, because he abruptly realized that Robbie had followed him from the coffee shop.

In the living room, Mattie and David sat down on a couch, looked at each other, sighed, and, oddly enough, laughed while they released the tension that gradually faded between them.

After lunch, there was a brief discussion concerning the humor of Thomas Childers. They laughed as they talked about the spectacle of seeing Tom walk down a California hill, with a three-piece suit on, and loaded with weapons. Then, it was time for the meeting.

The meeting was in a conference room. The room was accessible only by elevator, and it was lined with lead. The room was equipped with audio and video feeds from the internet, large monitors on two sides of the room, padded chairs, and a large rectangular and glossy table. It was in sharp contrast to the squeaking steps above, with rooms of wooden floors, and stylish Victorian rugs.

At the head of the table, there was Tom, and to his right was Sam. Mattie and David sat on Tom’s left. A large monitor at the end of the table was on, and it displayed a picture of Robbie Lock. Tom began to talk like another person, someone that they had never seen or heard before.

“Robbie Lock, alias Robin Lock!”—Tom asked David to dim the lights. “...Accomplice of Peter Jenkins, owner of Jenkins and Hughes Pharmaceutical. Five years ago, Robbie and Peter were observed by government officials purchasing large shipping crates in Egypt.”

Mattie grabbed David’s hand under the table and squeezed it after she heard the phrase “five years ago.” It was another reminder of the deception she had been subjected to. David rubbed her arm in assurance, and Mattie interjected a question.

“What is so unusual about large shipping crates being purchased?” she asked.

Tom touched a button on a remote control that changed the picture on the monitor. It displayed a photo of empty crates, and then he answered Mattie.

“They purchased empty crates, and then they shipped empty crates. They were shipped to America from Egypt. Ultimately, they were shipped to Salt Lake City, Utah. It was the location of a new scientific laboratory being built there,” Tom said.

Mattie in a sea of confusion and bewilderment retorted, “So what? How is that criminal?”

Why all the questions, and why did I bring her into this, David thought. She doesn’t belong here at all.

It was then that David volunteered an answer for Mattie. It was obvious now that many things had happened on the trip to Egypt that she knew nothing about.

“Mattie, it wasn’t criminal, but it was highly suspicious, and we believed the exact weight of the containers was forged. The boxes were weighed before and after their shipping. According to the official shipping records, the crates weighed about 900 kilograms, or about 2000 pounds, before they were loaded on a ship. The contents were supposed to be textile clothing or fabric—but when Sam and I inspected the contents, using the excuse of a random inspection, we found nothing in it but straw. That photo is a picture of the crates after the straw was removed and the crates searched.”—David looked to Tom to take over the conversation but wondered what Tom’s role in any of this was.

Tom added, “The whole thing was a diversion, or, as I suspected and confirmed later, it was a plan that failed—shipping crates meant to ship something—but never did. Sam—that was about the same time that I approached you about our agency, wasn’t it?” Sam nodded in affirmation while Mattie turned her eyes toward David.

The lies continue it seems, she thought. What else has David not told me?

The monitor then displayed a photo of Peter Jenkins, and a photo of a shipyard in Egypt followed it. Afterward, Tom shut off the monitor.

“David, I must apologize before I begin. When I first met you, with the intention of gaining employment as your personal assistant—when was that? Ten years ago, right?—just after your grandmother died, I believe.”—David nodded and looked down at his lap as if some old melancholy stirred within him. David was confused about Tom saying, “our agency.” David was in the dark also.

“My initial goal was purely, and simply, and
honestly
to just live the rest of my days out as your personal assistant, and ...”—Tom paused awkwardly as he pulled out David’s old, but familiar, white stone from his pants pocket. “...and to guard and watch over this!”—David released the hold of Mattie’s hand, and he stood up. He gawked as he grabbed the stone, and his eyes watered in a sea of remembrance.

“How did you find it?” David demanded. “Where was it? I thought I misplaced this five years ago when I was in Egypt.” He sat down while he still clutched the stone within the view of a puzzled and curious Mattie.

“As a manner of speaking, you
did
lose the stone, David. Rather, I took it and hid it from you to keep it safe. I hid it from Peter, and now, from Robbie,” Tom replied to him.

“Why would you do that? It’s just a white rock. You were in Egypt? You were involved with Sam?”—David was full of questions.

Tom opened a briefcase that he had laid on the table in front of them just before the meeting. He then took out a globe-shaped crystal that had a golden hue to it and sat it on the table.

“Take a look at this!” Tom said to David.

David sat the white stone down, and then he picked up the globe. Mattie reached out and touched it also. The globe randomly pulsated with a radiant and bright yellow color.

“Hold it close to the stone,” Tom said. As David moved the globe closer to the stone, the brightness intensified. “It’s a stone catcher, and a seer stone, or rather—what would you call it?—a crystal ball!”

“Why is it yellow?”—David was fascinated with the color and wondered about its source of power.

“It’s pure gold in a rather unique and ancient form. The age of this is not calculable, my friends. But
this
is how I found you, David. I was seeking this white stone—not to steal it, but to guard it—I wanted to keep its power away from anyone that would misuse it,” Tom defended.

“I think you should start at a better beginning because I am totally lost here.”—after David had spoken, Mattie offered her agreement to that statement.

Tom began with the story that Willie had told Peter Jenkins five years before. He explained the first Guardians and their mission. Their goal, he said, was to protect the entrance to an ancient garden. He told them of the Anakites that had arrived later and their destruction. Tom disclosed the reason that later Guardians were organized and explained their divisions in history. He made them clearly understand that the Guardians were formed to protect the royal stones from misuse by either the seeking of their destruction or by the keeping of their locations secret. He stopped at the point of the arrival of Robin of Locksley, in the meadow where King Arthur was.

“Wait a minute!”—David, the historian, spoke.

Perhaps his education was going to be of some use after all, Mattie thought.

“Malkuth stones, you called them—kingdom stones—royal stones—stones of royalty. Why, because of King Arthur?—and, Gan Eden, Garden of God—the Garden of Eden…”—David’s mind spun in excitement while Sam yawned with boredom—and Mattie waited with much expectation for the answer from Tom.

“David, there is much more to this story,” Tom said. “Let’s take a break and check on Robbie, shall we? Sam, let’s get some coffee—upstairs!”—with a forward hand gesture from Tom, Sam lifted himself up with the help of his trusty cane. He left with Tom and got in the elevator while Mattie and David stayed in the conference room.

Mattie leaned over her chair to David and nudged his ear with her nose. “No wonder you didn’t flinch about my story about the stones,” she pointed out. “You said you were going to tell me something earlier this morning on the beach.”

David obliged her and shared with Mattie his story about the man in the cloud that he had seen as a child. She learned about the stone that came out of the cloud and toward a young David. He revealed the whole story to her. He even told her about being bullied by Ricky Harrington and the circumstances surrounding the death of his parents.

David was extremely curious about Mattie’s life and
her
story, but he determined to press her only slightly. It is true that he had hidden part of his life from her, but he was suspicious that her secrets were even more mystical and incredible than his own were.

“What else do you remember about
your
story?” he timidly asked.

“Every day I remember more and more. It is like a past life, but not really. It is more like a present life that I forgot about,” she added.

Upstairs, Sam made coffee while Tom inspected the room where Robbie was locked up. Robbie was tied up with frayed and bulky rope, and he sat on a chair in his makeshift jail. He blurted out, “Soon to be dung in my pants, you know?”

“Hold on!” Tom replied. He untied Robbie and led him to a bathroom. “You know, you really need to work on your profanity. You don’t have it down after all these years?” Tom reminded him again that he always had the edge on him, ever since they had met many lives and years ago.