"Well, at least your eyes were opened," Weezy said.
Jack nudged him. "And you still have your skin. "
"But little else. "
He felt bad for Eddie.
"Let's try the back. "
As they walked around the side, Jack peeked through the bars on the first-floor windows and saw lights on. They turned the corner in time to see a man in dirt-smeared work clothes exiting the rear door lugging a jackhammer.
Jackhammer?
"Tearing the place down?" Jack said.
The guy seemed surprised to see them. "I'm pissed enough to do just that. You with AFSO?"
"AFSO?"
"Ancient Fraternal Septimus Order," Eddie muttered.
Oh, right.
"You mean the Order? I've done some work for them. "
True enough - he'd been the groundskeeper here.
"You get paid?"
Jack nodded. "On time, to the dime. I get the feeling you've got a different story. "
The guy gave Jack a narrow look. "What's it to you?"
"Maybe we can help. "
The man shrugged and rested the jackhammer on the ground. "All right. This guy from the Order hired me to put together a crew and excavate a section of the basement. "
"Excavate?"
"Yeah. Break through the floor and start digging. "
"For China?"
"No, just until we found something. "
"Like what?"
"He called it an 'artifact. '"
Weezy stepped closer, eyes narrowed. "What did he say it looked like?"
"Didn't. Said we'd know it when we saw it. "
Jack said, "And what were you supposed to do when you found it?"
"Stop digging and call Kris. "
Kris? Jack had heard Szeto's bully boys call him Kristof. And in the last hour of his life Szeto himself had mentioned a "special project. "
The One comes to me now. In fact, he has engaged me for special project in your hometown. Isn't that interesting?
Yeah. Very interesting. This had to be it. But just to be sure . . .
"Black hair, likes leather, perpetual five-o'clock shadow?"
The guy's eyebrows rose. "You got it. You know the SOB? Where's he hiding?"
Another guy in work clothes came out the back door with a number of shovels over his shoulder. He gave them a sullen look, then nudged the other worker.
"You comin', Tommy?"
"Yeah. On my way. "
Had to keep this guy talking.
"Kris. . . " Jack said, looking thoughtful as the second guy walked away. "Not sure at the moment. Haven't seen him since sometime last week. But I might be able to find out. Sounds like you have a problem with him. "
"Yeah. Like getting paid. He gave me an advance and I hired the crew and we got started. But the second payment is way late and he ain't returning my calls. "
And he never will, Jack thought.
"So you're calling it quits?"
"Till we get paid, yeah. If I don't get paid, I can't pay my crew. And we're not working for free. "
Jack said, "I'll check around. If I see him, I'll tell him to give you a call. "
The guy picked up his jackhammer. "Yeah, you do that. Meanwhile, I'm somewhere else. "
"Well, good luck. " Jack stepped toward the door. "I'm gonna take a look at what you've done. "
"You can't go in there. "
Jack kept moving. "Yeah, I can. "
Tommy paused, then shrugged. "Whatever. " He headed for his truck.
Weezy and Eddie followed Jack inside, through the mudroom that led to the small kitchen. Tommy had left lights on and, while the place wasn't exactly warm, the heat was on - most likely to keep the pipes from freezing.
The place had changed. The refrigerator looked relatively new but the stove seemed like an antique.
"Remember the tour Drexler gave us way back when?" Jack said.
Eddie shook his head. "Not us. Just you and Weez. The only time I was in here was that night you found Cody. "
Jack wondered if Weezy had ever told him the real story of what had happened that night.
"This is as far as you got before you chickened out. "
"I was scared of the Order then," he said, his voice low. "Wish I'd stayed scared. "
They moved through a short hallway into the conference room where the chairs had been upended and placed on the long table in the center of the room. The sigil painted on the ceiling looked faded. Dying light through the barred windows picked up dust motes in the air.
"Where are the paintings?" Weezy said.
Portraits of past leaders of the Order had lined these walls; now only rectangular smudges remained.
Eddie looked around. "The place looks like it's been abandoned. Or put on the back burner. "
Weezy said, "And that's strange, because it's the oldest Lodge in the Americas - or at least the site is. "
Jack didn't care if they turned it into a whorehouse. Only the basement interested him.
He opened the cellar door and flipped the light switch. The space below lit up. Weezy stayed close behind him on the way down.
"Who's this Kris and is he looking for what I think he's looking for?"
"Kristof Szeto was one of the Order's enforcers. "
"That guy you slammed with the truck door?" Eddie said.
"The same. Also the guy who put out the hits on Weezy last year. We had a run-in on Thursday and he told me he was working on a project in my hometown. "
"'Run-in'?" Weezy said.
"Yeah. "
"Would that 'run-in' be the reason he's not returning calls?"
"It would. "
No reason to get into Drexler's involvement and administration of the coupe de grace.
"Will he ever again return calls?"
"Not without a seance. "
"Oh, brother," Eddie muttered.
Weezy sighed. "Before he lost the ability to return calls, did he perhaps say what this 'project' involved?"
"No, but he told me who had put him up to it: the One. "
Weezy stumbled against his back. "What?"
"Exactly. "
"The One? But what - ?"
"That's all I know. "
The basement had changed too. Last they'd seen it, the space had been piled high with antique furniture. Now it lay empty except for scattered chunks of broken concrete and three six-foot piles of freshly dug earth.
Weezy clutched Jack's arm as they approached the dirt.
"Look at this. It can only mean . . . Jack, he's got to be looking for the altered sigil of the Seven. "
"That's my guess too. "
"But why?"
"Well, I'd be surprised if Rasalom didn't know we have the Compendium. "
She frowned. "How could he?"
"Between what I heard from Thompson and Szeto and Drexler on Thursday night, they've been making connections between you and Eddie and me and my Tyleski identity. I'm sure Thompson mentioned somewhere along the way that Tyleski stole the Compendium from him and he wants it back. And I'm sure Drexler must have mentioned it to the R-man. "
Weezy said, "And if he knows we have the Compendium, and knows the Compendium contains the Other Naming Ceremony. . . "
". . . then the last thing he wants any of us knowing is his Other Name," Jack added, nodding. A thought struck. "Could that be why he put Dawn across the hall from you?"
"To spy on me?"
"Or to steal the book. "
Weezy looked offended. "She wouldn't! Tell me true, Jack. Do you really think she'd do something like that?"
"I'm reaching the point where, except for a very select few, I'm wondering if anyone is incapable of anything. " He caught her glare, so he added, "Oh, all right. I don't think she'd do that to you. "
"Thank you. I like to think I'm a half decent judge of people. "
"Well, t
hen, does your judgment tell you why she was moved in there?"
"Eddie gave us a possible explanation. "
Yeah, one that had made Jack very uncomfortable.
"I might have another," Eddie said. "Maybe the One had some way of influencing Dawn or tapping into what she knew. "
Jack stopped and stared at him. Weezy did the same.
Eddie looked embarrassed. "Hey, just tossing it off. This guy is supposed to be more than human and I - "
"No-no," Jack said. "It's not as crazy as it sounds. She lived in his house for most of her pregnancy. Maybe. . . "
Weezy said, "Well, if he knew I was studying and cross-referencing the Compendium, and he learned from Drexler that you and I had been in the buried town - "
"Wait!" Eddie said, waving his hand. "What buried town?"
"Long story. "
"According to you they're all long stories. "
"I'll tell you later. "
"Why didn't anyone tell me before?"
Jack and Weezy replied in unison: "Because you were a blabbermouth. "
And then they both cracked up.
Eddie wasn't laughing. "Real funny. A riot. "
Jack turned and stepped to the edge of the deep hole in the basement floor. When the underground corridor below had flooded back in the eighties, a lot of silt must have washed in from the lake, collapsing side walls, burying everything.
"Ras must have decided the safest course was to dig up the special sigil and either destroy it or find a safer place for it. He assigned Szeto the job, Szeto hired Tommy and his crew, but Szeto became . . . incapacitated and couldn't follow through on paying the workers. So there's good news and bad news. "
Weezy and Eddie joined him at the edge.
"What's the good news?" Weezy said.
"They didn't find it. "
Eddie said, "I think I can guess the bad news. "
"Right. We get some shovels and replace Tommy and company. "
MONDAY Chapter 7
Rasalom barely recognized the face in the mirror. His right cheek and ear had been severely burned. They were healing but would remain scarred. The disfigurement did not matter in and of itself. He was not vain. And once the Change began and he was transformed, the scars and loss of a hand would not matter. He would be renewed.
But until then, these scars would attract attention. He did not like the idea of people staring.
Well, it would not be for long.
Then again, it might be a very long time if he did not locate that baby. He had to return to the mainland - now.
He left the bathroom and made his way through the front room, feeling stronger, and somewhat steadier on his feet, but still nowhere near who he had been forty-eight hours ago. He needed to lean on the furniture.
"Where are you going?" the cow said as he passed her.
She remained on the floor beside her dead dog, caressing the fur of its carcass. How long would she stay there? Until it rotted?
He didn't answer her. Instead he opened the front door and stepped outside. The air was icy but still, and the sky a speckled black dome. With so little light pollution here, he could make out the crowded stars and dust lanes of the Milky Way arching above him.
If his plans held, all this would change - day would become night, and the stars would mutate into new formations.
The South Fork of Long Island glowed faintly straight ahead and to his right. He raised his arms to each side, spreading them like wings. He stood swaying, a human cross, then willed himself to rise.
Nothing happened.
He tried harder, but remained earthbound.
Unease filtered through him. Was it because he was still so weak?
He lowered his arms and stared at the stump of his left wrist. Or had the loss of his hand affected his mastery over gravity? Through the years he'd used that mastery judiciously and with caution - it wouldn't do to be seen floating in the air - and had found it of limited use. An occasional convenience. But now, when he needed it, it had deserted him.
"What are you doing out there?" the cow called from behind him. "Come in here right now before you catch your death of cold. "
No, he would not catch his death from a cold or any other infection. Viruses and bacteria had no chance against his immune system. But a too-low body temperature could stop his heart like anyone else's.
Perhaps it was just as well he couldn't lift in his weakened condition. The ability might fail him while airborne. He needed more strength.
He could go back inside and begin slow work on the cow with a knife. No one would hear her screams as he fed on her agony and fear. But he saw no guarantee that would be enough. He would most likely have to take the boat back to the mainland anyway. That meant witnesses. And if evidence were found in the house, he would be subjected to the inconvenience of a police investigation.
All reasons why he rarely harmed anyone himself. So much better to induce someone else to commit an atrocity.
Patient . . . he must be patient.
He returned to the house.
MONDAY Chapter 8
"How much farther, do you think?" Eddie said, panting.
Jack and Eddie were both in the hole, digging their way east along the dirt-filled subterranean corridor. They'd fill buckets with the excavated dirt, which Weezy would pull up on ropes and dump into the basement.
Jack had driven down to Spurlin's Hardware and bought shovels, an aluminum ladder, lanterns, and the rest of the equipment. Then he'd picked up sandwiches and drinks at the Krauszer's down on 206.
"We should be getting close," Jack said. He looked back and up toward the hole in their ceiling and basement's floor. "What do you think, Weez?"
Her face appeared in the opening. "If memory serves - "
"And it usually does," Jack said.
" - you should have just a few more feet to go. If. . . " She hesitated.
"If what?"
"If the flood didn't wash it deeper into the passage. "
Jack remembered the force of the water as it had surged against him back when they were teens. Quaker Lake lay to the west, just beyond the other end of the passage. That September, swollen by record September rains, it had broken into the passage, flooding it and nearly drowning Jack.
"If it moved even ten feet, we're sunk. We're going to have to find Tommy and company and pay them ourselves. No way the three of us can dig that far. "
"We don't have the authority to do that," Eddie said. "This Szeto guy must have cleared it with the Council first. No way they're going to clear it for us. "
"Who says they have to know? We can - "
"Hey, guys!" Weezy said in a hushed voice. "Quiet for just a minute. "
Jack glanced at Eddie and they shut up. Finally Jack said, "What's up, Weez?"
Her voice filtered from above. "I swear I heard someone upstairs. "
Jack didn't like that. He climbed the ladder and retrieved his Glock from his jacket pocket.
"Maybe Tommy came back," he said as he led the way upstairs.
Both the front and rear doors were locked, which meant nothing if someone had a key. But it had begun to rain about an hour ago and the floors inside the doors showed no trace of moisture.
"You're sure?" Jack said.
Weezy shrugged. "I'm not saying I heard someone, but I know I heard something. Maybe just the building settling. "
"I think it would have pretty much settled by now," Eddie said.
"It's got part of a buried town beneath it, so who says it will ever be fully settled?"
Eddie nodded. "Point to you. "
"Just to be sure, I'm going to take a room-to-room look-see. Anyone want to come along?" Jack said.
They both volunteered.
The first floor was easy - only the kitchen, the conference room, the front room, and a few closets. All empty.
A different story upstairs: lots of
small rooms - almost like a dorm - and crammed with the furniture that had once filled the basement. Took longer, but same result: empty.
"All clear," Jack said. "Back to digging?"
Eddie shook his head. "I've got to tell you, I thought I was in shape, but I'm bushed. "
Weezy laughed. "I know I'm not in shape, so imagine how I feel. "
Well, the hour was late, and Jack had to admit he was feeling a little sore himself. Working out wasn't the same as working.
"Okay, let's knock off and see if we can find a motel and crash for the night. "
"And risk not being able to get back in?" Weezy said.
"We'll get back in. "
She gestured around them. "Why don't we stay here? Heat, electricity, running water, lots of rooms, no linens, but we've got mattresses. "
"I don't know," Eddie said.
"Come on. It'll be fun. Where else can we stay? The Lonely Pine Motel? These mattresses here are ancient but I bet they're better than the ones at the Lonely Pine. "
Jack said, "I can't do anything in the morning without coffee. "
"I'll run down to Krauszer's for you. Come on. I've got an alarm on my phone. I'll set it for an early start in the morning. "
Well, why not? They were already trespassers. Might as well become squatters too.
"As long as I get my coffee. "
TUESDAY Chapter 1
Weezy's voice woke him.
"Jack? Eddie?"
It echoed from down the hall and she sounded terrified.
He leaped up from the bare mattress and looked around in the dark. He was fully dressed except for his work boots. He'd rolled his jacket into a makeshift pillow. He felt around for the flashlight and the Glock he'd left on a bedside table.
They'd left a light on in the hall before calling it a night. What had happened to it?
"Guys!" she called again, her voice quavering. "Can you come here?"
"On my way," Jack said.
He found the flashlight and turned it on, then grabbed his Glock. Couldn't imagine why he'd need it but he preferred to have it with him rather than on the table.
The piles of upended chairs and bureaus and such scattered around the room cast weird shadows as he hurried toward his open door. He flipped the switch on the wall as he went by but the ceiling light didn't go on. Odd. It had worked before.
Light flashed in the hall, though, and it turned out to be Eddie with his own flashlight.
"Weezy?" Eddie said.
"I'm in here," she called from two doors down where she'd chosen to spend the night.
Jack reached the darkened room first. A flick of her wall switch proved that her light didn't work either, but Jack's flash beam found her wrapped in her coat and crouched on the bed, holding her unlit flashlight and looking terrified. He entered with Eddie close behind him.