Revealing the Wolf's Way: Book 1

Chapter 22 (Demetrio)- Not Personal, Only Business

April 15th, 2032
Zagros Mountains, Iran

They had slept the night in Arastoo's family's contact's place for the night. Where the old mountain man had lived with his grandkids and great-grandchild. And the only place that had not been ravaged like the rest of the town. Yet, there were signs that the mountain man and his family had left in a hurry. This made Demetrio suspicious enough that maybe this mountain man was a traitor, or at least possible forced and coerced into giving up the expedition. But not the whole town. He pondered the possibility it could just be a coincidence. Maybe the old man was lucky and just happened to leave before the bad guys came. Maybe. All of that was enough motivation to search and investigate the house.

The three of them did just that. Not even a short while later, they found a secret crawl space partially hidden underneath the house. All they found were old suitcases that looked untouched, except for the possible signs that one suitcase was taken. They took up the remaining ones into the house. As soon as they were opened them, they were shocked at what was found. One suitcase was filled with old notebooks of varying degrees of age. Another was filled with different items pointing towards ancient Greek and Alexander's Empire in origin. While the next had the most troubling items of them all: aged Nazis paraphernalia. All three men were shocked at the find. They quickly closed that suitcase. The last one was a shock to Dimas because it held Soviet Union era Russian objects in varying states of condition. Dimas went searching in that one while Demetrio and Kaspar searched through the first one with the notebooks.

Most of the notebooks had writing in the Farsi and Arabic, most likely belonging to the old man, whose house they were residing in, and his family through the generations. The rest were in German and Russian, and one is Greek. Surprisingly, the Greek notebook seemed to be the newest along with a number of the Farsi ones. The Arabic, German, Russian, and a few of the Farsi ones were decades older. There was also three maps of the Zagros Mountains: an Ahnenerbe map from 1938/1939 with a Nazis update from 1944 and a Soviet Russian update in 1977, an Iranian map from 2001, and a Greek map from 2030. Quickly looking through everything and translating what they could, all three men were more baffled and confused then they were before. From what they had gathered, many different groups were interested in not only this specific region, but the whole mountain range die to stories and rumors of caves, structures, and tombs. Nothing that they found indicated that the cave the old man told Arastoo about, was ever discovered by these groups. Also, it seemed that the old man never told Arastoo about this evidence of such interest, especially the most recent Greek one. That was most surprising aspect. Unfortunately, none of the men knew how to read Greek fluently, so there was no way to determine what they had found.

"I just don't get it!" Demetrio broke the silence in frustration. "Did the old man keep this information from Arastoo? Where does this fit in, if at all, to this mystery? None of this makes sense!"

"Maybe it is not supposed to?" Kaspar suggested, "Maybe this was some stuff the old man collected. Could be why he was so knowledgeable about the region. Or maybe not. Maybe there is more going on here then we thought!"

They all shook their heads.

Dimas found an old framed photo of Stalin among the Soviet items. He spit on it and angrily threw it across the room. It bounced off of the wall, hit a hanging picture of the old man's family, and landed on a desk. Seeing the other men's reactions, he looked down in shame.

"Izvinite brat'ya..." (Sorry brothers in Russian) He apologized, "Old feelings. Never like the man. Bad history with family. Bad memories... Bad stories..." He then walked out of the room and house.

They decided to let him get and air and to leave him be for now. Something about the framed family picture caught Demetrio's attention.

"Kaspar, do you see that?" He asked walking over to the damaged frame.

"Yes..." Kaspar replied, "...it is interesting that in their 'rush', they failed to take this picture with them."

"Not just that, but what is behind the photo!" Demetrio slid the broken glass off and took apart the broken frame. "Look!" Behind the family photo was a letter.

"Who is it addressed to?"

"No-one, it's just blank!" Demetrio opened it up.

The letter was in Farsi and Kaspar translated:

Arastoo has received the cave. No need to stay in town anymore. Will be going to America to reunite with the rest of my family. Finally, we all get to be together again. Plus, I hear that there is another cave in America. A cave located in Washington State. I will try to venture there when I can. Thank you for helping me remove this burden. If I don't see you again, I hope that all works out for you too. Good luck and best wishes!

They just stood there staring at this letter, completely dumbfounded. Obviously, the letter never was found by who it was written to, most likely because of the destruction of the town. Or, the letter was meant for them and the old man was vague in case someone else found it. Or, or, or, or... To many ors, to many possibilities. To many questions and not enough answers. Clearly the old man would not have known they were coming, so the letter was definitely not for them. But then for who?

Demetrio went to take the letter back from Kaspar but in doing so, their fingers brushed. They looked at each other. Kaspar smiled. He placed the letter on the desk and smiled back. Then they held each other's hands.

"I was wondering when we were going to talk about our attraction to each other." Kaspar finally announced, and admitted.

"Sorry about that..." Demetrio looked away. "It was a lot going on... And... And I am not sure if I am ready to jump into something so fast again, and so soon..."

"Hey, hey! It's okay, I get it! I completely understand! No need apologize!" Kaspar pulled him into a hug.

Demetrio returned the hug in full measure, whispering in his ear. "It's just that... You are so damn hot! And gorgeous! I usually don't fall for someone this quickly... But..."

Kaspar interrupted him with a kiss on the lips. One in which made time stop and fireworks explode. Demetrio kissed him back in full measure as well. It was only after a few more seconds of kissing that they realized they were not alone, and had company.

"Sorry to bother you both, but..." Dimas said standing with his hands up as someone behind him pointed a gun at his head. The man pistol whipped Dimas to the floor.

"Not personal, only business!" The man said in a thick Greek accent.