Stone of Fire: An ARKANE Thriller (Book 1)

Chapter 13

Brize Norton Airfield, England.
 May 20, 7.08am

      “So why Spain?” Jake asked, once they were seated in the 737, waiting for take-off. The plane was set up as a mobile ARKANE base, with a meeting room and galley up front and a central workspace with computers in the mid-section. Weapons, equipment and bunks were to the rear. A couple of crew were readying the plane and Jake had mentioned a team available on standby if they needed backup. Morgan could see that ARKANE was taking this search seriously and she appreciated the extensive support. In a show of good faith, she decided to share the information she had learned even though she still had suspicions about their involvement.
     “Before the attack at Blackfriars, Ben and I discussed the more ancient legends about where the Apostles went after Pentecost. It seems logical to think that the stones would be near the bodies themselves, either with a Keeper or preserved with the relics of the saints.”
     “That makes sense,” Jake said, “and it ties with our research as well.”
      “We should go after the more obvious Apostles first, so I narrowed them down. We know that I have the stone of John, so Patmos, Greece is off the list and we think that Faye has James Alphaeus’ stone.”
     Jake nodded.
“ARKANE was given Matthew Levi’s and our researchers think it was Nathaniel’s taken in Varanasi and the stone of Matthias that was stolen in Jerusalem.”
     “So that makes five,” Morgan added, “and I’m pretty sure that Everett already has the stone of Thomas. His father’s diaries describe the Maltese and Goan myths around where the Doubting apostle ended up.”
    “OK, so we know six are accounted for. What about the other six?”
      “Given our time frames, Spain seems the best place to start. It’s a short flight and we can get started quickly. The bones of St James are supposedly stored at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, in the north west. There are so many myths about what happened to the Apostles after they left Jerusalem, but James’ story is pretty stable across the many extant documents, so we should try there first. Perhaps Everett will trade if we can show some early success.”
Morgan’s voice trailed off as Jake’s eyes slid away from hers and he busied himself in readiness for take-off. He clearly didn’t share her hopes for a quick resolution. In the last 24 hours, she had been smothering her fear in the intellectual rigor of research but now a gaping wound opened, and she felt a jolt of terror for Faye and Gemma. Grabbing her smartphone, she scrolled to the pictures of her family. One of her with Gemma’s little arms tight around her neck pricked her eyes with tears. She pretending to wipe something from her eye, not wanting Jake to see her vulnerability. Elian and her father had been ripped from her life too soon, and she would not lose her sister and niece this way.
 
     Once they were airborne, Jake pulled out various maps from his bag as well as the Moleskine diaries.
     “I thought about doing the Camino de Santiago myself a few years ago,” he said, as he opened them up on the table between them. Morgan glanced up at him, surprised by his words.
“To pay for what sins? What could an ARKANE agent possibly have on his conscience?”
     The Camino was a thousand year old pilgrimage route through southern France and northern Spain. Morgan knew that the 780 kilometers were traditionally walked on foot as a spiritual journey, culminating at the cathedral of St James in Santiago de Compostela where the pilgrim received forgiveness for their sins. It was the very church they were heading for.
     “I haven’t always been so squeaky clean,” Jake smiled broadly. Morgan noticed the scar above his eyebrow crinkling. He opened the map of Santiago de Compostela, and located the main square. His fingers were long, like a piano player’s, less calloused than she had expected but there were also old scars on his knuckles, evidence of a harder side.
     “It’s only an hour or so until we arrive and we won’t have long at the Cathedral.” Jake said. “We need to know what we’re looking for. We have to think like the people who’ve protected the stones for all these years.”
     “There might not even be physical Keepers for all the stones,” Morgan said. “It’s much easier to track down people than as it is to find a stone that has been buried for millennia, so it’s possible that some were just hidden.”
    Morgan was trying to be upbeat about their prospects. One moment she found herself excited about the research and the next bowled over by the enormity of their task, but she wouldn’t contemplate failure. It was easier to comprehend her own pain and death than those she loved.
    She opened one of the journals from the package. It was a finely drawn, handcrafted book, with spidery labels and ancient names marked alongside modern cities. The world had changed since those days but the steps of holy men could still be traced, although some had multiple journeys marked and an unclear place of death.
“These diaries are amazingly detailed. Everett’s father was aware of some of the other Keepers and started to track where their stones might be. He had so much information. It’s odd that he didn’t manage to find the stones after all that research.”
     “Maybe he just didn’t have the right team,” Jake flashed a grin. She couldn’t help but smile back. They had a long journey ahead of them and she appreciated his attempt at friendliness. They studied the street maps looking for the best route in and out of the Cathedral square.
     “Don’t you think it’s strange that the Apostles scattered and never regrouped after Pentecost?” Jake said. “They had such an intense shared experience and yet it seems they never saw each other again. They couldn’t have known their message would spread so successfully throughout the ancient world, even though it meant persecution and martyrdom for most of them and their followers.”
     “They had a mission, I suppose,” replied Morgan. “Maybe Pentecost gave them certainty of the authority they held, or perhaps the power scared them and they scattered, knowing it had to be taken to the far corners of the world?”
     Morgan went quiet as she considered some of the pictures in the journal. There was a page filled with flames and agonized faces in the midst of dancing fire. The drawings were made up of thin lines with detail of realistic pain, as if drawn from life by a close observer.
     “Whatever these stones can do, it’s not all healing and marvelous acts of good. The man who drew these pictures clearly knew the dark side of fire. Perhaps the power of the Pentecost stones is not something to be taken lightly.”

***

You can buy this book and the rest of the ARKANE series in print, audio and ebook format at Amazon, Kobo and other online stores. You can sign up for my newsletter, follow me on Twitter, or like my Facebook page. For more information, see JFPenn.com Your support is appreciated. Thanks for reading!