Indiana Jones and the White Witch Page 4

  "There are at least thirty dead here," Gale said abruptly. "Cut down, murdered, in cold blood."

  "Another fifty hurt," Caitlin added. Her voice, despite her physical injuries and the shock of emotional trauma, was strong, yet subdued, as if her presence and her words were enough to emphasize whatever she might say.

  "Who?" Indy asked simply.

  "We are not sure," Caitlin said, then after a pause: "Yet. But we shall know who they are, and then we will find them."

  Indy gestured toward the devastation about them. "They used high-power explosives. That much is obvious." He settled to the ground beside Caitlin, who was sitting cross-legged, erect and proud.

  "We saw from the airplane. The flames, and the shock waves of explosions," Indy went on. "Impossible to miss what was happening."

  "They were—are," Gale said hesitantly, "mercenaries. They knew where this glen was, who was here. They planned well, they moved like..."

  "Professionals?" Indy offered.

  "Yes," Caitlin said. "Trained, practiced, ruthless."

  "Go on, please," Indy prompted.

  "What they did," Caitlin said, measuring her words, "was calculated, methodical, brutal. All to serve a purpose. They came here in motorcars. We don't know how many. They were upon us, in our midst, almost before we realized their presence."

  "But—" Indy turned to Gale. "When we drove here, the roads that vanished, I mean—"

  "That was afterward, Indy," Gale explained. "Before? No one has come here to harm another person for years more than I remember. After the attack, well"—she shrugged—"you have a saying for something like this."

  Indy nodded. "We do. Locking the barn door after the horse has ran away. Doesn't help."

  Indy looked to Caitlin. "They came in, without warning, and opened fire?"

  "Yes. Explosive charges. Powerful enough to destroy buildings, kill people, set fires. The blasts... they demoralized our people before they knew what was happening. Then this group—"

  "Forgive me for breaking in," Indy said quickly. "How many were there?"

  "Perhaps twenty. After the explosions, they did not kill and wound without reason. What they did was calculated. They killed to break the spirit of the people, who were already fighting back with arrows and spears. It is not a primitive defense. One of our arrows can penetrate the bodies of three men. But it was too late. They cut down our best fighters, then they killed several women and children. After that, they held children with knives at their throats. They laughed. If we did not do what they wanted, the children would die. At such a moment, demoralized and shocked as we were, there was no time to invoke the old ways."

  Was he missing something? Indy looked to Gale. "They, who are they?"

  "I wasn't here." Gale deferred to Caitlin.

  "Their faces were evil, but they were strangers to me," Caitlin said. Recent memories seemed to set her eyes ablaze. Instinctively her grip tightened on the sword hilt. "As I said, they were professionals. They worked as a team. And they knew where to go for what they wanted."

  Her last words made Indy sharply alert. Whoever, whatever this group was, they had come here, armed to the teeth, ready to kill and maim for something beyond mere killing.

  Before he could ask more from Caitlin, she rose to her feet like a great cat. "I must go. I am needed." She looked up as if she could see through the night, across the hills and thick trees. "Besides, the others are close by now."

  Indy showed his confusion.

  "It has to be the authorities," Gale said quickly.

  "We shall cloak ourselves," Caitlin added. "No one will be able to find their way here."

  Indy climbed to his feet, gesturing. "Caitlin, that would be a mistake."

  She looked at him, a questioning expression on her face. "You hardly know us, yet you make so strong a statement," she said slowly.

  Indy knew he was treading on dangerous ground. This woman was seething inside with pain and hatred, wanting, needing to strike out. He felt he was much too close to that sword.

  "I know," he told her. "Understand that I have no more liking for the authorities, the police, than you do, Caitlin. But there's no way you can keep quiet about what happened here today. The explosions, the fires. The friends of yours who were killed. And how many of the attackers did you and your people get?"

  "Nine."

  "You just can't make them vanish. Not without repercussions that won't die down." Indy glanced at Gale; she nodded for him to go on. "Besides, I have a few contacts of my own with the authorities. Right to the top, Caitlin. And they may know more about the people who attacked you than you imagine."

  Her eyes fixed on him like those of a cobra. "You can learn their names?"

  "I can't promise. Except that I promise to try my best," he said quietly.

  "If anyone can," Gale broke in, "it is Indy."

  Caitlin moved closer until she stood directly before Indy. He had never seen eyes like those. She was incredibly alive. An aura seemed to flow from her.

  "Why would you do this?" she asked, her voice strangely distant.

  Indy held her gaze, their eyes locked. That was one beaut of a question. She was right. Why would he do this?

  "I don't know why," he told Caitlin. "Only that I will."

  He was beginning to understand the urge to help her. She was everything he had found in his travels through the world. She was all the great women of history. The queens and the leaders, princesses and priestesses. Everywhere he had gone, through temples and pyramids, tombs and castles, fields of battle, the conquering of nations, all was here in this one incredible human being. To turn away now would be to turn away from everything he stood for. Even that didn't make much sense to him, but Indy knew, he absolutely knew, he was committed. Gale moved by his side, her two hands holding his arm. That, too, was a sign for Caitlin.

  She made no speech, asked no more questions. "Thank you," she said, bowing slightly. She turned and moved into the night gloom between the fires.

  "Do you know what has just happened?" Gale asked Indy.

  "By God, I do not," he answered, more sharply than he intended. While Caitlin stood before him he felt mesmerized, engulfed in a flow of energy. Hieroglyphics and cuneiform and languages whispered from clay carvings and stone seemed to float about him.

  "You have been made a part of us. Of all of us, here," Gale continued in answer. "Let me tell you something else, Indiana Jones. I've never seen anything like this. Never. It is as if..." She sought the words. "It's as if you two have known one another for hundreds of years. As if in some ancient time you were brother and sister, and now after a long absence you've been joined together again."

  Indy turned to her. "When did you become a romanticist?"

  Gale smiled, a secret she almost voiced. Instead she held her silence.

  Indy looked about the Glen. "Before the authorities get here, Gale, you'd better tell me what happened. All of it. Everything," he emphasized.

  "It's... terrible," Gale said, her voice faltering.

  "You can fall apart later, Gale," he said, his voice deliberately harsh. "Right now I need information."

  Gale nodded. She took a deep breath. "They tortured Athena. Caitlin's mother..."

  4

  In reflected firelight Indy saw tears moving slowly down Gale's face. That sight hit him with a force that was almost physical. On opposite sides of the world, he and this woman had flown and driven and sailed into and through danger. Never once had Gale Parker yielded an inch of strength, flinched from fire or steel. Yet those few words about Caitlin's mother acted like a knife in her heart.

  Instinctively Indy rested his hand atop Gale's. "Hey, stop right there, carrot top," he said gently. "If this is too much for you, I'll—"

  She wiped away the tears with the back of her hand and took a deep shuddering breath. "I'll be all right, Indy." She showed a bare trace of a smile, her sadness coming through. "You just never know when this bloody stuff hits you. Athena was... well, a second m
other to me." She sat up straighter, strength flowing back into her body and mind. "I'll be fine, Indy."

  He nodded, then thought of a question that had been nagging at him. He also knew if he guided Gale through her pain by seeking specific answers, she'd be better able to handle the shock of losing loved ones.

  "You said they, these men, tortured Athena. Why? And how did they know who she was?"

  Gale shook her head. "I can't answer all that. Only what happened."

  "Then start at the beginning. From what I've heard and seen, this group came in by car. Drove here. They apparently knew exactly where to go. They also knew how important it was to hit this place with as much surprise as possible. That way no one could prepare any defense. Right so far?"

  "Yes. Caitlin's already told you what happened. The first thing they did was to kill wantonly. To frighten everyone into submission."

  "But they didn't succeed?"

  "No. Some people were out of sight when the shooting started. They were coming in from the woods. When they heard the explosions and saw the fires, they ran as fast as they could. They had been hunting with longbows, spears, swords. Just as their ancestors hunted for food. Even as the... the—"

  "Invaders—whatever. Go on."

  "Even as they were shooting people the hunters fought back with their bows. They're powerful and deadly. They took down several of the attackers. But they couldn't do much against rifles, weapons like that. And the invaders split into two groups. Their leader, whoever he was, led a small group up to the great hall. Somehow, he knew that Caitlin and her parents would be there. By then Caitlin and some others were aware of what was happening. They let the men come into the great hall and then they struck back, from the sides, from high ledges inside the building."

  Gale finished her own cup of wine that had been at her side before she went on. "Caitlin went charging directly at their leader. With her sword. They opened fire on her. From what I've learned, she cut down at least four."

  Indy gestured to interrupt. "Wait a moment. You said they shot at Caitlin."

  Gale nodded.

  "And they hit her?"

  "Yes."

  "With rifles? Rifle bullets?"

  "Yes. She was also in a battle with two men who had swords. She was wounded badly then."

  "Gale, what you're saying is impossible. I've just spoken with Caitlin. She had enough holes in her clothing, where she was struck, to have fought with a dozen men. Yet she's walking around!"

  "I know, but—"

  "No, let that go for a moment. Apparently after this group got inside the great hall, the fighting stopped?"

  "Yes. By now, the men in the open had grabbed several children, held knives to their throats. Warned Caitlin and everyone else that unless they gave in, stopped fighting, they would kill the children." Gale swallowed hard, struggling to continue.

  "What then?"

  "In the hall. They held Athena. Caitlin's mother. One man, Caitlin remembers someone called him by name. Scruggs, I think. I'm not sure. He was laughing. While two men held Athena he went up to her. He had a curved sword. He—"

  Indy waited as Gale straggled to speak.

  "He sliced off her ear."

  Indy sat, frozen, listening.

  "He threw the ear at Kerrie, Caitlin's father. Told him he would chop off her fingers one by one, and then go back to the other ear and then her nose. Kerrie broke free. He charged Scruggs. He had no chance. They grabbed him and sliced his Achilles tendon so he couldn't walk. They told him to give up what they came for or he would see his wife cut to pieces." Gale shuddered again. "Kerrie had no choice."

  "Where was Caitlin during all this?"

  "She had climbed atop the rafters, the big wooden beams, high in the hall. There was nothing she could do. Too many men, too many guns. Several men were carrying submachine guns. They would have opened fire on her. All she could do was to study the faces of the men, try to remember everything she could about them."

  Indy sat quietly for several minutes. Gale seemed relieved to be able to lapse into silence, to regain her composure as she fought to relate the terrible events.

  Finally Indy seemed jolted by a thought. "These people, the gunmen... what were they after? Why did they come here? What is so important that they'd brutalize and kill like madmen? This isn't some nickel-and-dime robbery. There's no way the government won't get into this affair. They'll bring in the heavyweights. Scotland Yard, they'll be in this up to their armpits."

  He paused and looked directly at Gale. "What were they after? And did they get it?"

  Gale stared at the ground.

  "What was it? Jewels? Diamonds? What!"

  "It's... it's for Caitlin to say," Gale murmured.

  "You're not giving away family secrets!" Indy said, half shouting. "You can't keep this quiet! When the police get here, they'll turn this place upside down and inside out unless they get full cooperation. Don't you understand, Gale? Some thirty people are dead, and—"

  "Enough, enough," she shot back.

  Indy rose to his feet. "You want to stay here or leave with me now?"

  Her eyes widened, a hand raised in protest. "You're leaving us? After what you told Caitlin?"

  "After what I told Caitlin, yes," he snapped. "This is like boxing with shadows. Everybody talks in half sentences. I said I'd help, in any way I could. But I can't help anyone by being led around blindfolded."

  "I—"

  "Go or stay—which is it?" he demanded. "I can't see any use in getting tangled up with the police. I'll sound like an idiot, and if that's what I'm going to be like, I'll do it all by myself. The last thing I need is help like this."

  She didn't answer. Indy shook his head, disappointed, and started for his car. He didn't look back, but suddenly heard the sound of a woman running. He stopped. Gale was at his side, holding his arm. "Let's walk. Away from... from the smell of blood. It's easier to talk this way. And you're right. You'll have to find out. Even Caitlin will tell you."

  He nodded. They walked along a path, deep in the woods, that rose to a nearby hill.

  "They were after the map," she said in a rush.

  "Gale, please. You can do better than that."

  "Sorry. It's just that I've never spoken about this to anyone. For more than fifty years, Caitlin's family has been the keeper of a map. From what I understand, it marks the location of an enormous fortune in gold. Bullion, mainly. Also ancient gold statues and figurines. Supposedly they're from long-lost cultures or civilizations and they're priceless."

  She turned to look at Indy. "That's not all. There are also coins. Coins from ancient Rome, from the Holy Land, and other places."

  "You realize," he said slowly, "this could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars?"

  "Yes, I know."

  "These statues. Are they well-known? To museums, places like that?"

  "They're known, but hardly anyone has seen them. I think they were part of a collection from somewhere here in England. And the coins, well, I've heard something about a special arrangement a long time ago between our government and the Vatican. I can't be certain of everything I've just told you, but basically that's it."

  "And this map tells where it is?"

  "Is, or was. I don't know."

  "Where? The gold, or treasure, whatever it's called. Where is it supposed to be?"

  "That's the crazy part, Indy."

  "So tell me about what's crazy."

  "It's not here. In England, I mean."

  "Where, then?"

  "I think it's somewhere in your country."

  He froze. "In the States?"

  "I think so. You'll have to get more information from Caitlin or her father."

  "You're right. This is crazy. Why would a fortune in bullion, and statues, and coins have been sent to the United States? And when?"

  "I've told you everything I know."

  "I'm trying to figure how the Vatican got mixed up in all this."

  "I can't tell you any more,
Indy." Her voice was almost pleading. "I just don't know."

  "Sorry. I didn't mean to hammer on you," he apologized. He was pushing too hard. She'd had enough in one day to break the spirit of a dozen strong women. "I'll wait to talk with Caitlin. Or her father."

  "I can't promise they'll tell you any more."

  "I wouldn't ask you to promise anything for someone else, Gale. But I'll bet my bottom dollar they'll lay it all out for me. That's the only way I can be of any help."

  "Caitlin is going to need you."

  "Didn't you say that the invaders were going to kill Athena if her husband didn't give up the map?"

  "Yes."

  "Five'll get you ten that they have another copy. I know they do."

  "What makes you so sure?"

  "These people are very sharp. They're survivors. More than a thousand years right here. Armies have marched through these woods, destroying castles and fortresses, churches, whole towns. But St. Brendan is still here."

  "What's left of it," Gale said angrily, then turned her head sharply. "Indy, over there." She pointed.

  Indy turned to see the lights of approaching cars. At least four or five. "The police. We'd better get back to the main hall."

  Five police cars, each with four constables. And a division chief and a detective. They looked with disbelief at the carnage about them, at the gutted homes, still smoking. The sight of nine bodies, slain with arrows or crossbow bolts or hacked with swords, shocked them to stunned silence. When they were led to the great hall, where the bodies of thirty men, women, and children had been laid out in neat rows, covered with white cloth and silk, the policemen knew they were in over their heads. They moved slowly among more than fifty wounded, including children with glazed, uncomprehending eyes.

  "It's a bloody war," the division chief said, unnecessarily. He turned to a constable. "Get a call in to London right away, We'll need twenty ambulances, from the looks of it. If they haven't got that many available, have them send up a lorry or two. The dead won't mind not riding in style."