The Templar's Secret (The Templar Series) (25 page)

Seating himself in the van’s open doorway,
Calzada belched, the pair having toasted their murder spree with a bottle of Dom Pérignon that they’d nicked from Casa de Pinós.

Caedmon
, huddled next to Edie in the van’s cargo hold, could only fantasize about taking his revenge. If he went full tilt, Calzada would draw the Beretta semi-automatic that was shoved into his waistband and reward his ill-considered heroics with a nine millimeter bullet to the brain. Or, even more horrific than that, his swordsman would behead him. A falchion, with its blocky, curved blade, required little finesse, having been a favorite with crusading foot soldiers.

As though he’d suddenly read
Caedmon’s mind, the mute raised the falchion in a threatening fashion. Growling like a rabid animal, he forcefully thumped on his chest with his balled left fist.

The macho theatrics set Edie to trembling.

‘Look away,’ he urged in a low voice, the sight of that well-honed blade unsettling to an extreme.

Averting her gaze, Edie, instead, peered over at him, her eyes brimming.
Caedmon could see that she was holding on to her emotions by a very fragile thread, a tear breaking free from its mooring and rolling down her face.

‘
Hey,
Bella
, I also shed tears,’ Calzada said, pointing to a blue teardrop that was tattooed in the corner of his right eye. ‘But do not hold it against Roberto that he takes pleasure in a job well done.’

Sadistic pleasure at that
,
Caedmon silently appended.

‘
There were three of you in India. Evidently, Cerberus has lost one of its snarling heads,’ he remarked, trying to steer the bastard’s attention away from Edie.

‘
Que!?
’ Calzada stared at him, uncomprehending.

‘
I refer, of course, to your companion, Javier Aveles.’

‘
He stayed behind to keep an eye on the Indian bitch.’ Closing his eyes, Calzada smiled wistfully. ‘That one makes my prick twitch. Same goes for the daughter.’ Opening his eyes, he looked over at Edie. ‘You, too,
Bella.
I could fuck all three of you.’

Caedmon
glared at the mustachioed Bête Noire, rage hardening his belly. He very badly wanted to smash his fist in the other man’s face.

‘
What’s the matter, English? You look constipated. Did I say something to upset you?’ Calzada raised the champagne bottle and took a noisy slurp. Wiping his mouth with his shirtsleeve, he looked over at his cohort. ‘Hey, homie, toss me that bag.’

In the process of cleaning the blood off the falchion blade with a dirty rag, the mute stopped what he was doing and passed Edie’s leather satchel over to
Calzada.

Setting the bottle down, the Bête
Noire unzipped the bag and unceremoniously dumped its contents on to the floor of the van. With a cavalier air, he rifled through Edie’s personal effects.
Passport. Purse. Lipstick. Hairpins. Nail file. iPad. Sunglasses.
Wearing a fool’s grin, he plucked a cellophane-wrapped peppermint from the messy pile and ripped it open with his teeth. ‘Umm.
Menta
,
my favorite.
Gracias, Bella.
’

‘
My pleasure,’ Edie muttered.

A few moments later, as he removed
a Nikon D3X from a separate camera bag, Calzada whistled appreciatively. ‘Somebody likes to take pictures. How much this set you back?’

‘
It’s for my job. I’m a photographer,’ Edie informed him in a quavering voice, clearly upset that he was handling her camera.

‘
That’s not what I asked,
Bella
.’

Bending her head, Edie stared at the ribbed floor
of the van. ‘It cost five thousand dollars,’ she murmured dejectedly, no doubt fearing it would soon become a sunken cost.

‘
I always wanted a good camera. You can’t take a picture worth shit with a cell phone.’ Leaning against the van’s open doorway, Calzada bent a knee. Languidly swinging his other leg, he proceeded to review the photographs stored in memory. ‘The old dude had a high opinion of himself, didn’t he? You can see it in his face. That fucker got what was coming to him. Isn’t that right, homie?’

Diaz grinned, showing off a gold-plated tooth.

‘Hey, I got a good idea –’ he handed the camera to Diaz – ‘I want you to take my picture with
Bella
.’

The comment elicited a terrified whimper from Edie.

Patting the spot next to him, Calzada said, ‘Slide your ass over here so Roberto can shoot the photo.’

When Edie balked, refusing to budge,
Caedmon gently nudged her with his elbow. ‘Do as he says,’ he urged, worried that her truculence might antagonize the pair. Calzada and his ‘homie’ had violent predilections, killing for the sheer joy of it. The wise course of action was appeasement. As distasteful as that was.

Evidently coming to the same conclusion, Edie awkwardly crawled over to the other side of the van. Lips quivering, her face drained of animating
color, she seated herself beside Calzada.

‘
Make sure that you use the flash,’ Calzada instructed as he smoothed a hand over his hair. ‘I want a good picture.’

Caedmon
watched as the bastard roughly grabbed hold of Edie’s chin and, pursing his lips with clownish exaggeration, kissed her cheek. The spectacle incited a burst of impotent rage. Powerless to intervene, he had to bide his time. Wait until he could attack from a position of strength.

A few seconds later, the flash went off.

When, in the next instant, Edie made a move to return to Caedmon’s side, Calzada cuffed a hand around her upper arm. ‘Stay where you are,
Bella.
Don’t you want to see our portrait?’ His lips curved in a maniacal leer as he reviewed the photo on the Nikon. ‘We make a cute couple, huh? And now I have a memento to remember you by.’

‘
A m-m-memento?’ Edie stammered, a confused look on her face. ‘Wh-what are you talking about?’

Calzada
licked the end of his index finger before jabbing it in middle of Edie’s forehead. ‘Just because you give me a hard-on doesn’t mean that I’m not going to put one right between your eyes.’

‘She’s done nothing to warrant your enmity
,’ Caedmon was quick to point out, the conversation having suddenly veered on to
very
dangerous ground.

‘
The bitch is dead freight. Eye candy, that’s all she is.’

‘
Not true. As a researcher, Miss Miller is integral to finding the
Evangelium Gaspar
.’ A bead of perspiration trickled down the side of Caedmon’s face, his fury laced with a heart-pounding terror. ‘I implore you to reconsider.’

Lip curled disdainfully
Calzada shook his head, the plea for clemency falling on deaf ears.

Panic-stricken, her eyes glistening with unshed tears, Edie clasped her hands together. Silently begging for her life.

Stay strong, love. Chin up.

Since it was impossible to negotiate with a savage,
Calzada and Diaz no better than the beasts in the field, Caedmon cleared his throat and said, ‘I demand that you immediately call G-Dog.’

‘
You don’t give me orders, English,’ Calzada snarled. Grasping the stippled grip on the Beretta, he yanked it out of his waistband. He then straightened his arm and twisted his wrist forty-five degrees, holding the gun at an angle.

A cock-eyed way to hold a firearm; one made popular by American gang-bangers.

Caedmon held his ground, staring the bastard directly in the eyes. In those telling moments, he could see that the man had no soul, Hector Calzada a human in name only. He lowered his gaze, refocusing his attention on the stainless-steel gun barrel that slightly moved with each indrawn breath.

It would take little incentive for
Calzada to pull the trigger.

‘
Are you afraid of me, English?’

‘
I’m wary of any man who wields a gun with such jaunty exuberance,’ Caedmon replied.

‘
Do you know what will happen if I pull the trigger?’ When no answer was forthcoming, the question perversely rhetorical, Calzada smirked. ‘Your brain will be blown out the back of your head, splattering bloody chunks all over the van.’

‘
Leaving you to find the
Evangelium Gaspar
all by yourself. Are you up to that challenge?’ Caedmon deliberately waited two beats before returning the smirk. ‘I didn’t think so. Call G-Dog.
Now!
’

Calzada
’s heavy-lidded eyes narrowed, reptilian-like, into brown slits. An instant later, proving himself a true psychopath, he chuckled. ‘I like you, English. You got steel ping-pongs.’ Shoving the Beretta back into his waistband, he snatched Edie’s iPad from the floor and proceeded to access the Skype application.

As he waited for the call to go through,
Caedmon knew that he had to play to his strength as a medieval historian who, along with his research assistant, was uniquely qualified to find the
Evangelium Gaspar.
Whatever was contained in the ancient gospel, the Church had been very keen in 1308 to retrieve it. The fact that G-Dog was a Roman Catholic priest was proof positive that they were still intent on finding it.

Truth be told, he was incensed that the Church was involved in this murderous
plot. Given that the pontiff had recently died, Caedmon could scratch him off the suspects’ list. But the fact that Anala was kidnapped soon after Gita contacted the Vatican Secret Archives in regards to Fortes de Pinós made him wonder if perhaps a cardinal or bishop had orchestrated the abduction. His gut feeling was that the priest, G-Dog, was merely a lackey. If true, it begged the question . . .
who was his master?

After updating the priest about the events at Casa de Pinós – ‘
We took care of the old dude’; an outrageous understatement if ever there was – Calzada passed the iPad to Caedmon.

‘
You consulted with the enemy,’ the priest promptly accused.

‘
How was I to know that the Marqués de Bagá was your enemy?’ Caedmon shot back. Then, going on the offensive, he said, ‘I will consult with
anyone
who can help me find your damned gospel. I told you that I’ll find it and I shall.’

‘
Who’s the woman sitting beside Hector?’ the priest demanded to know.

‘
Miss Miller is my research assistant.’

‘
I can pop her, G-Dog, no problem,’ Calzada said in a loud voice from the other side of the van. ‘Take care of her like we did the old
patrón
.’

The remark made the priest visibly nervous, his demeanor putting
Caedmon in mind of a terrified rodent. It was clear that playing the warlord did not come naturally to the man. Unlike his two underlings who were rabid with bloodlust.

‘
Based on the information obtained from the Marqués de Bagá, I now know where the
Evangelium Gaspar
is hidden,’ Caedmon announced, dropping his bombshell in a clipped, expressionless tone of voice. ‘But I won’t be able to find it without Miss Miller’s assistance.’

‘
I’m . . . I’m not sure . . . I will call you back in a few minutes with my decision,’ the priest stammered before abruptly disconnecting the call.

Caedmon
stared silently at the iPad screen. G-Dog obviously had to consult a higher authority. And he’d wager that it wasn’t God Almighty
.

Someone at the Vatican
, more than likely.

‘
That
was too close a call,’ Edie said with a shuddering sigh. ‘Now I know how death-row prisoners feel when the warden issues a stay of execution.’ Readjusting her seatbelt, she glanced in the rental car’s rear-view mirror. As though it was a billowing white sail cresting the horizon, the service van tucked in directly behind them, Hector Calzada at the wheel. ‘I don’t understand how anyone
can revel in bloodshed.’

Caedmon
also peered into the rear-view mirror as he navigated the Volkswagen Passat in and out of the heavy northbound A-6 traffic. ‘Be grateful that you can’t comprehend the heart of darkness,’ he said quietly. ‘Therein is the quick path to madness.’

Distressed by that thought, Edie opened the glove compartment and removed a packet of chocolate
cookies s that she’d purchased at the airport.

The flight from Mumbai to Madrid had been
grueling. Because the only available seats had been in economy, her tailbone had yet to recover from the thinly padded seat cushion. And with three infants onboard, sleep had been out of the question. Added to that was the emotional duress of knowing what would transpire if they didn’t find the
Evangelium Gaspar.
They now had less the four full days to meet the ransom deadline, the clock ticking with a funerary persistence.