Solomon's Scrolls, page 19
part #1 of A North and Swiftwater Thriller Series
Yuri shook his head and held up his tablet for Kim to see. “No. It’s definitely coming from Bangkok.”
Kim couldn’t see what Yuri was pointing at, but all of her aches, pains, and negative emotions evaporated in an instant. “Then why are we talking? Let’s get moving.”
“You heard the lady, Lek, get moving.”
“Okay, boss,” replied Lek, placing the van in gear.
Kim looked around the back of the minivan and went to reach for a set of clean blue coveralls when she suddenly remembered something. “Yuri, do you have something, anything, I could draw on?”
“I don’t. Lek, do you have something Kim can use?” Yuri asked in Thai.
“Yes,” replied Lek. “In the back, you’ll find a pad of paper and some colored pencils my kid left in here last night. Lucky for you, she didn’t listen to me when I told her to grab her school bag.”
Yuri passed the message. Instantly, Kim rummaged around until she found a small pink knapsack. Kim opened the bag and smiled with relief. There was a large pad of paper and more than enough pencils for what she had in mind. Kim sat with her back resting on the side wall of the van, closed her eyes, and collected her thoughts. Then, she opened her eyes and started to draw.
“What are you doing?” queried Yuri.
“I lost the map sometime last night during my escape, but it’s still in my mind.”
“You lost it?” gasped Yuri.
“Yes, but don’t worry, I still have it stored upstairs.”
“Kim, please don’t take this the wrong way, but how much time did you have with the map to memorize it?”
Kim looked up from her work. “Let me think. It was no more than a second or two, but that was more than enough time for me.”
“Less than a second?” repeated Yuri disbelievingly.
Kim recommenced drawing the map. “Plenty of time.”
1 . A rain tree
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
So, this is where it all ends—not with a bang but a whimper, thought Connor, twisting his wrists, trying to loosen the rope tying him to a reclining lawn chair. No matter how hard he tried, it was no good. Whoever had tied him up had, unfortunately, done an excellent job. Apart from a sliver of light seeping in under a far door, Connor found himself in near-total darkness. He had no idea where he was or how he got there. All he knew for sure was that his body ached everywhere and that he was famished.
The sound of a key turning in a lock made Connor sit up as best he could in his chair. He held his head high and vowed not to give his captors the satisfaction of seeing him in pain.
A man stepped inside and flipped the light switch. Dozens of fluorescent bulbs hummed and sputtered as they came to life, flooding the warehouse with light. The light bothered Connor’s eyes. He looked away for a second and blinked his eyes to get them used to the brightness.
“Ah, Mister North, it’s good to see you awake,” said Vallin, striding toward Connor. “You were out so long; I was honestly beginning to wonder if you’d ever come to.”
Connor cleared his parched throat and asked, “Where am I?”
“Bangkok,” replied Vallin, unscrewing the lid from a water bottle and helping Connor take a sip. “Easy does it. If you drink too much, you’ll be sick.”
“Thanks,” said Connor, licking the moisture from his lips.
Vallin made his way to a small table and picked up Connor’s mini-Sig Sauer pistol. “You had such interesting toys on you when you were captured, Mister North. I’ll have to get your supplier’s name when this is all said and done.” Vallin placed the gun down and examined Connor’s watch, careful not to turn the emergency button off. “I particularly like your watch. I had one just like it a couple of years back.”
“Is he awake, Jean?” asked a woman standing in the doorway.
“Yes, he is,” replied Vallin, laying the watch on the table.
It took a moment for Connor to recognize the voice and the woman’s face.
“Aside from smelling to high heaven, he doesn’t look too bad,” noted Rin, walking around Connor’s lawn chair.
Vallin nodded and helped Connor drink some more water.
“So, Mister North, where is the map?” asked Rin, standing over him.
Connor took a deep breath through his nostrils and closed his eyes. “The last time I remember seeing it was at the auction when Kim stole it. After that, who knows? For all I know, it could be in New York by now.”
Rin slapped Connor hard across his face. The sound of her hand hitting his skin echoed through the vast warehouse. “You’re lying!” she snarled.
Connor could taste the coppery tang of blood in his mouth. He defiantly looked up at his tormentor and smiled. “I have no reason to lie. I have no idea what happened to Kim after the missile struck our vehicle. Conceivably, she could be dead or partying it up in Hong Kong. So, there’s no need to hit me again, as I honestly couldn’t tell you where Kim or the map is right now.”
Rin raised her hand to strike Connor again when Vallin grabbed her arm. “I believe him. If we’re going to stand a chance at getting our hands on the map, we’re going to need him alive. At least for now.”
“You don’t really believe she’ll come for him, do you?” Rin asked contemptuously.
“Yes, I do. I’ve seen these two in action. She’ll come for him, and when she does, we’ll grab her and the map.”
Rin cursed and shook her head. “This is on your head, Jean. If she fails to show, I’ll be forced to tell The Order that you’ve failed, and they may order me to take your life as punishment.”
God, how Vallin hated being supervised by a killer from The Order. Even the name, The Order, made him want to scream in anger. Instead, he looked at Rin and smirked smugly. “Rest easy, woman; it’s just a matter of time until I get everything that I want.”
Connor didn’t like what he was hearing. They were using him as bait. He coughed to get their attention. “If I were you, Vallin, I’d be filling out my will right now.”
Vallin smirked again. “And why would I do that?”
Connor decided to do some fishing. “Because, for all we know, Kim could be lost somewhere in the jungles of Cambodia.”
Vallin wagged a finger in Connor’s face. “I don’t think so. When the rescue team found you strapped into the Humvee, they couldn’t find Ms. Swiftwater’s body. No, she’s alive and will be coming for you.”
Connor suppressed a sigh of relief. If Vallin was telling the truth, Kim was alive, and, like his captor, Connor was optimistic she’d come for him. It was now a waiting game.
Kim looked over at a darkened warehouse next to the black water of the Chao Phraya River through her NVGs and counted four armed men standing about talking next to a closed door. She slowly moved her head, checking to see if anyone else was guarding the building. To her relief, the four men seemed to be the only obstacles between her and Connor.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” asked Yuri. “We could call the Thai police and let them handle this situation.”
“Yuri, you sound just like Connor,” she retorted. “Do you honestly trust the local police to do their jobs? Because I sure as hell don’t.”
“No, I guess not.”
“Yuri, don’t worry. I’ll be fine. Your plan is sound.”
Yuri opened the glove compartment of their clandestinely-borrowed truck and retrieved a pistol. “Here, take this. It’ll make me feel a hell of a lot better knowing you’re armed.”
Kim shook her head. “I’d probably hurt myself if I tried to use it. You keep it. I’m as well-armed as I need to be.”
“It’s your call,” said Yuri reluctantly.
Kim lifted the NVGs from her eyes, opened the door, and stepped out into the night. She lowered the rusting truck’s tailgate and slung a coil of rope over her shoulder. She ensured it was snug before slipping a tactical canvas belt covered in pouches around her waist.
“Good luck,” Yuri murmured.
“Thanks. Just remember to give me ten minutes to get into position and then cut the power.”
“Will do, pretty lady.”
Kim, dressed from head to toe in dark clothes, winked and jogged toward a darkened stretch of road. She stopped beside a wire chain-link fence and opened a pouch on her belt. Kim paused for a few seconds to ensure she was alone and then sprayed liquid nitrogen in a wide circle on the fence. The metal hissed and cracked as it froze. Kim grabbed hold of the loosened fence, pulled it toward her, and gently laid it on the ground. She slid the spray can back into its pouch and slipped through the hole onto the warehouse grounds.
In her mind, she knew she had already used up one precious minute and wanted to get going. However, Kim didn’t want to make any mistakes and brought down her NVGs. Then, she picked a spot at the back of the warehouse to gain entrance and sprinted toward it. Kim’s heart raced as she closed in on the building. She came to a sliding halt and instantly grabbed hold of a drainpipe running along the side of the warehouse all the way to the roof. Kim tugged it. The pipe was solidly nailed in place.
“Okay, I’m in,” Kim reported.
“I can see you,” replied Yuri in her earpiece.
“The guards?”
“They’re still at the front of the building.”
“All right. I’m heading up top. See you soon.”
“Right, I’ll be there.”
Kim took hold of the pipe with both hands and started to climb. She used her feet as anchor points and calmly scaled the warehouse. In under a minute, Kim was on top of the building. She hunched over and carefully tiptoed across the roof until she reached a skylight and got down on one knee. As expected, the glass was covered in muck, so Kim gently wiped it with her gloved hand and looked down. She gave a nod of satisfaction when she spotted Connor on a lawn chair. Kim couldn’t tell from this vantage point if he was just asleep or unconscious. She studied the rest of the space that she could see and spotted a lone guard sitting on a chair, watching something on his phone. Kim unwound her rope and tied one end off to a sturdy pipe. Next, she jimmied the window and ever-so-slowly opened it all the way.
“Okay, Yuri, I’m ready to go,” she whispered, attaching a carabiner to her skin-tight belt and feeding the rope through it.
“Give me thirty seconds,” he replied.
“Got it.”
Kim’s stomach tightened. She tried to decide if she was more nervous than scared and concluded it was a little of both.
Back at the car, Yuri brought up a rifle with a silencer on the barrel to his shoulder. He aimed at a transformer on a telephone pole that supplied power to the warehouse and pulled the trigger. A split second later, the transformer exploded, plunging the block into darkness.
Kim instantly sprang into action, tossing her rope inside the pitch-black building. She never hesitated, dropping through the open skylight and smoothly rappelling to the cement floor. Kim’s first target was an armed guard. She quickly pulled what little rope there was left through her carabiner to free herself and rushed the man.
In the dark, the guard had no idea he was about to be attacked.
Kim tensed and balled up her right fist. She lashed out and smashed her fist hard onto the guard’s nose, shattering it. The man cried out in pain and reached for his broken nose, leaving the rest of his body exposed. Instinctively, Kim dropped slightly and thrust both fists several times like jackhammers into the guard’s sides, painfully bruising his kidneys. The man moaned and dropped to his knees just as Kim brought her right leg back and kicked him squarely on the side of his head, knocking him out cold.
“Kim, is that you?” asked Connor.
Kim stepped back from the unconscious guard to catch her breath. “Yes, it is. Are you all right?”
“Yes, but I can’t see you.”
Kim raised her NVGs and switched on a small, red-filtered flashlight. “Voila!” she said, shining it on her face.
Connor smiled. “Thank God. I thought I’d never see you again.”
Kim flipped open a razor-sharp knife and dashed over to cut Connor’s bindings. “Tell me you’re happy to see me.”
“I will once we’re out of here.”
Kim cut through the ropes and helped Connor to his feet.
“Now what?” he asked, rubbing his aching wrists. “What’s your plan of escape?”
Crunch!
Kim and Connor spun around and looked in amazement as the far wall exploded inwards. Chunks of wood and debris flew everywhere as Yuri plowed his truck through the wall and drove into the warehouse. He brought his vehicle to a screeching halt and threw open the passenger side door. “Get in!” he screamed.
They started to run when a side door flew open, and four guards rushed inside, yelling and brandishing their firearms. Kim pivoted on her heels to run, but to her dismay, Connor ran in the opposite direction. She could hear Yuri yelling and waving to her, but her eyes were fixed on Connor. She watched as Connor snatched something from a nearby table and dove for the floor. He landed with his arms outstretched, holding a pistol. The onrushing guards saw him but reacted too slowly; Connor ruthlessly cut them down one by one.
“Let’s go!” cried Yuri, snapping Kim back into the real world.
“Yeah, let’s,” added Connor, tossing his empty pistol aside.
Kim grabbed Connor’s hand, and together, they dashed to Yuri’s vehicle and dove inside.
A second later, Yuri placed his vehicle in reverse and sped back out of the hole he’d smashed through the warehouse wall, tearing off more wood and metal that gouged deep grooves into the side of the old truck. Yuri slammed the brakes, switched gears, and pressed his foot on the gas pedal. The tires shrieked on the cement road as the battered vehicle sped away from the warehouse and toward safety.
“I couldn’t see you in the dark, but it sounded like you beat the crap out of that guard,” said Connor, lying low in the back seat.
“What of it?” replied Kim, hunched down behind Yuri.
“Nothing, but where did you learn to fight like that?”
“It’s called Israeli Krav Maga. Why fight fair when you can fight to win?”
“I hear you.”
Kim grinned. “Now, Connor North, tell me you’re happy to see me.”
Connor relaxed and returned Kim’s grin. “Yes, I’m happy to see you.”
Kim winked and edged closer. “No. Tell me like you mean it.”
Connor looked deep into her eyes. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you, Kim Swiftwater.”
Kim’s heart swelled. She leaned close enough to Connor that she could feel his warm breath on her face.
“Hey, what about me?” asked Yuri, shattering the moment. “Aren’t you happy to see me, too?”
Connor and Kim chuckled.
“Yes, I’m happy to see you too, Yuri,” said Connor. “By the way, where are we going?”
“A friend’s place. You can get cleaned up there while I go and get everyone some food.”
Kim sat up, looked at Connor, and smiled—perhaps another day.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“Come again?” Connor blurted out, staring at Kim in horror.
“I lost the map. Or, more accurately, we lost it when that missile struck our Humvee, sending me flying through the air and into a creek,” retorted Kim.
Connor let out a pent-up cry. “You’re telling me this entire assignment has been for nothing?”
Kim waved her hands in the air. “No, no, you’ve got it all wrong.”
“I do?” Connor snapped. “How so?”
“I made a copy.”
“A copy?” Connor shook his head. “When?”
Kim picked up a drawing and handed it to Connor. “Voila, the Grenier map.”
Connor looked over the picture briefly and reached for a chair. He dropped down on the chair and hung his head down. “My God, we could have died in the jungle. And for what? This drawing.”
Kim gently placed a hand on his back. “But we didn’t, and now we have a good idea where the scrolls are buried.”
“Kim, this map includes Western Greenland, Canada, and the States.”
“I know. The crudely drawn map we saw in Katarina’s bunker didn’t have Greenland on it. Now, why would Captain Moore have done that?”
Connor raised an eyebrow. “To keep the gold’s location a secret?”
“Exactly.”
Connor ran a hand over his stubbly chin and studied the map, looking for clues. “I don’t know; there’s not a lot of detail on it, nor a convenient X to mark the spot.”
Kim let out an annoyed grunt. “Quit being so damned negative for a minute! It’s a start. Just be thankful DuFour’s people don’t have it.”
At the sound of DuFour’s name Connor’s gut clenched. “Kim, when I was being held hostage, Vallin made it quite clear to me that I was bait. He was after you and the map, not me.”
“Yeah, but he can’t get us now.”
Connor looked down at his mud-stained clothes and examined the buttons. “Can’t he?”
Kim’s eyes widened. “You’re wearing a bug. Your clothes, take them off and give them to me.”
Without hesitating, Connor ripped off his vest and shirt and handed them to Kim. She quickly ran her fingers over every inch and then tossed them aside.
“They’re clean. Your pants, mister.”
Connor turned around and removed his trousers and socks.
“Spoilsport,” Kim teased.
“Here,” said Connor, tossing her his clothes.
Kim moved her fingers along the seams on Connor’s dirty pants and then inspected the rest of the garment. “It’s not there. Your underpants, please.”
“What? You’ve got to be kidding.”
Kim smiled and broke out laughing. She held up a tiny, button-sized GPS device between her thumb and forefinger. “I found it in your vest. I just wanted to see how far you’d strip down for me.”
Connor shook his head. “Has anyone told you recently that you’re a horrible person, Kim Swiftwater?”
“I know. Hurry up and get dressed,” said Kim, dropping the tracker into the toilet and flushing it down the drain. “This place is compromised. I’ll call Yuri and tell him we must move ASAP.”
