Stone of Fire: An ARKANE Thriller (Book 1)

Chapter 34

Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
 May 26, 4.19pm

    Morgan came to in a groggy state, her mouth dry and head throbbing. She tried to sit up, reaching for her gun instinctively. Then she saw Jake.
     “It’s OK. You’re safe. Relax now,” he said.
     Morgan realized she was lying on a couch in the study. Jake was looking down at her, his head bandaged. He offered her a glass of water and helped her to sit up.
     “What happened? What time is it?”
     “It’s thirteen hours until Pentecost dawns, and we’ve got the men from Thanatos restrained outside. We’re leaving them for the authorities. While you were down in the tunnels, Jared and I had our own little adventure but how are you feeling?”
     She sank back into the couch, visions of the killer wasps and dead men left in the vault swimming before her.
“Physically, like a two-ton truck hit me. Mentally, I’m confused.”
     Jake sat on the side of the couch.
     “What’s puzzling you?”
Morgan shook her head.
     “I’m finally starting to believe that the stones must have some kind of power. If a physicist like Wolfgang Pauli protected this one with such elaborate measures, if he was so convinced of its importance, then I have to take it seriously. But at the same time, I don’t really care. I just want Faye and Gemma back. Has Everett phoned with the final destination? When do we leave?”
     Jake motioned to the other men to leave the room, and shut the door behind them. They were alone.     
“Everett isn’t getting the stones, Morgan because the myths are true. There is real power in them so we can’t have them loose in the world especially with the comet approaching its zenith. You’ve seen what Thanatos will do to get them. They seek to use the stones to ignite a religious war, a symbol with power to galvanize support of extremists. We can’t let that happen.”
Morgan’s head was throbbing and Jake’s words were slow to register.
     “What do you mean?”
     “I’m ordered to take the stones back to ARKANE. It’s my duty to make sure that their power isn’t given to Everett or controlled by Thanatos. I’m sorry, Morgan, but you can’t take the stones. You can’t exchange them for Faye and Gemma.”
     “No!” Morgan shouted as she sprang off the sofa, rage crushing the physical pain she felt. She was like a lioness defending her pride, her family. She would not give up now when she was so close to saving them. She staggered, trying to get her balance with her bandaged arm.
     “Everett is a killer. You know he’s murdered in his quest for the stones, which means my sister will be next. I must give him the stones, or he’ll kill them. Jake, why are you doing this to me after we’ve been through so much?”
     Morgan couldn’t believe that Jake would walk away from this. His betrayal cut into her, twisting her guts so she felt a wave of nausea. She reached out to take his hand but he stepped back. She could see he was wavering but his allegiance to ARKANE was too strong for their brief friendship to sway him.
     “Those are my orders,” he said. “I have to take these stones back to England, to the ARKANE vault, to prevent them getting into the wrong hands. If they are kept apart, then the power cannot be called again. We can get the US authorities involved to help you with Faye and Gemma.”
     “But there’s no time,” she pleaded. “Pentecost is only hours away and I can’t go empty handed. He’ll kill them.”
     Morgan touched Jake’s arm, trying to get him to look at her. He had been a protector on this journey and they had become close, perhaps too close at times. She knew he had already gone further than he needed to help her and she felt a glimmer of hope that she could persuade him to stay. But he pulled his arm away and turned to leave.
     “It’s over,” he said. “Come with me and we’ll explain everything to the police.”
     A flash of anger sparked in her as he turned. At herself for trusting him, and at him for betraying her. She kicked hard into the back of his knee and as he started to fall, she grabbed the lamp from the table and swung it at his head.
     “You bastard, you never meant to help me, did you? All the time you’ve been waiting to get the stones, so you could just take them from me. You’ve been using me, just like Ben said you would.”
     Jake blocked the blow as he fell and then twisted on the ground, kicking her legs from under her so they were both on the floor. He moved fast, but she sprang up again ready for his attack, ignoring the stabbing pain in her arm and the blinding headache that threatened to overwhelm her.
     “This is crazy, I’m not going to fight you,” he said. “I’m taking the stones. We’ve called the authorities to help you finish this, for ARKANE doesn’t deal with the purely criminal side. We just want the stones. You know I would help you if I could.”
     Jake moved back as she swung at him with her good arm and then launched a kick to his head which he blocked. Backing towards the wall, he could see the fury in her face, blood soaking the bandage from her shoulder wound. She was like an Amazon goddess in her rage and he admired her. Hell, he wanted her. This stunning, fiery woman, lean muscle and curves that attracted him even as she threatened violence. He was torn between Marietti and his duty to ARKANE, the mission and this woman, who he had grown close to in the last weeks. He had been stunned by her intellect, and had spent too long trying to put thoughts of her body from his mind. She grabbed the lamp again and swung it hard. This time it connected. His eyebrow split and blood began to ooze from it.
     “Give me the stones, you bastard, where are they?” she shouted, coming at him with a flurry of blows. He hit back at her then, defending himself but still loath to engage in the fight. She blocked his moves but couldn’t land any of her own, weakened by the shoulder injury and exhaustion. Then he had to do it: time was of the essence. He punched her wounded arm, sending her twisting down onto the couch again, holding her shoulder and moaning.
     “I’m sorry, so sorry,” he said. “Forgive me.”
     He went to her then and held her as she gasped in pain, breathing in the scent of her hair as he rocked her onto his lap, her breasts soft against his chest.
     “I didn’t want to hurt you, Morgan, but you’ve got to stop.”
     She pulled slightly away from him and then head-butted him full on the bridge of his nose. Blood started dripping from it and he wiped it away with the back of his hand. Morgan jumped up, pulling her gun from the side table and pointing it at his head.
     “Give me the stones, Jake. You’re not important to me, my family is. I will hurt you, ARKANE, Everett, Thanatos, whoever I need to in order to get them back.”
     He held his hands up.
     “OK, OK. Let me get them for you, just let me up.”
     “I will kill you if they die,” she said, keeping the gun trained on him.
     As he got up he dived for her, pushing her arm up so that the shot went wide into the wall. He flipped her over roughly, pinning her down. Morgan lay panting, face down on the floor, angry that she had let him do this. Her reactions were slowed by her injuries but that was no excuse. Jake’s knee was in her back, her good arm twisted behind in his vice-like grip. This time he wasn’t letting her up.
     “Are you finished now?” he asked, twisting her arm tighter. She gasped out a ‘yes’ and felt him shift, then cold metal clicked into place around her wrist and the leg of the couch. She spat her words at him.
     “Why won’t you help me? You know Faye and Gemma will die without the stones.”
     “I’m sorry but you must understand that my mission is to stop the twelve being in one place. That cannot happen so I’m taking these stones back to England today and you’re staying here.”
     Morgan bent her head, crushed by his words, feeling the ache of her bruised body, the helplessness and frustration overwhelming her. She wept then, silent tears that welled up and could no longer be held back. Jake stood, wrenched between his desire to comfort her and knowing that he couldn’t see her again, this woman who so fascinated him with her vulnerability and strength.
     “I can’t help you, Morgan. I just can’t. The risk is too great and my duty is to ARKANE, not your family. The power of the stones is too great to let loose in the world. There will be authorities here to help you soon. A call came through from Everett and the coordinates are here on the table. It’s near Tucson, Arizona. I know you’ll get Faye and Gemma back, but I can’t let you take the stones to him.”
     Jake placed the key to the handcuffs on the floor so she could reach it by shuffling over and walked out, leaving her alone.

***

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