The Secret of the Stones by Ernest Dempsey (reading fiction .TXT) 📕

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Let them continue on as well. They may still be useful after all if Ulrich becomes more of a nuisance.”

“Anything else, sir?”

“No. Keep me updated.”

“Of course.”

He ended the call and slid the phone back into his pocket. For a few seconds, he stood by a stone pedestal that supported a bronze urn. Things were going well, almost exactly as planned.

A new guest arrived through the side door of the adjacent room, and he decided it was time to go back to being sociable. With a big swig, he finished off his whiskey and headed back into the gathering.

For the moment, the pawns had to play the game by themselves.

50

Southeastern Tennessee

“Why did you shoot that old man? Are you crazy?” Tommy yelled at Ulrich, who swerved the giant SUV through the country roads toward the interstate.

The large guard sat in the back with the angry prisoner.

Tommy continued the tirade, “He didn’t do anything! And you killed him!” He started to reach an arm forward toward the blond driver when he felt a sudden thud across the side of his face. The world spun for a moment from the shock of the punch and his jaw throbbed as he curled up in the corner of the seat.

“Your sentiment is touching, Thomas. Do not think you are by any means safe at this point. Remember what I will do if you do not cooperate.”

Through the ringing in his ears, Tommy got the message. Sean’s parents could still be in danger, an element to this whole scenario he, unfortunately, continued to forget.

The guard reached over, about to smack Schultz back to a more alert state, when Ulrich waved him off. “That’s enough.”

He nodded his head slowly.

“Good. Now, what I need to know is, where should we go next? Hmm?”

Tommy’s voice was low as he sat up straight, eyeing the guard. “How should I know? You killed the guy that could have had the information.”

“Now, now, Thomas. You don’t know that he died. And you need to dwell on the things that can help. Tell me, what do those Bible verses have to do with any of this?”

For a long minute, Tommy stared out the window of the truck as they sped along the rolling countryside. He looked at the other cars that passed by, knowing the passengers had no idea what was going on inside the black SUV. His mind came back to the present. Right now, he needed to focus.

“I can only think of one place that has any sort of correlation with the clues at the church.”

“And that is?”

“It will take us a while to get there.”

“How far?”

“Probably four hours at best.”

Ulrich seemed to contemplate how long it would be. “You are certain?”

“As certain as I can be. I didn’t really get a lot of time to investigate back there, what with all the shooting and using me as a human shield and all.”

“What is this place?” He ignored Tommy’s sarcasm.

“It’s called Rock Eagle, down in East Georgia. That seems like the only place that would match up with the clues of the raven and the dove.” He laughed, “Actually, I’m a little annoyed that I didn’t think of it before. It seems kind of obvious now.”

“Why is that?”

“Because Rock Eagle and its sister site, Rock Hawk, are the only stone effigies of their kind in the United States. They are essentially two giant birds made out of piled rocks.” He paused for a moment and released an exhausted sigh. “You’ll see when we get there.”

Then Tommy laid his head back against the headrest of the seat in an effort to relax the pain pounding from his jaw. Ulrich watched Tommy out of the corner of the rearview mirror, wary of his every movement.

51

Southeastern Tennessee

The phone only rang twice on the other end before Sean heard, “Wyatt, you better have a good explanation for all this!”

Sean smirked, “I take it you’re at the church, then, Detective?”

“Yeah, we’re at the church. It’s a bloody mess over here. Got an unidentified corpse at the base of the stage in the sanctuary and a church worker in the hospital. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

“The corpse shot at me first,” Sean replied plainly. “How is the old man?”

“Critical but stable. Docs think he will be okay. Lost a lot of blood, but the bullet missed his vitals. He’s hurt, but he’ll live.”

“That’s good to hear. I guess they shot him to slow us down. They were gone once we got to the parking lot.”

Trent’s voice took on a quieter tone, “Look, Sean, there’s a lot of people that still want to ask you some questions. FBI’s here now. I’m way out of my backyard at this point. I got no jurisdiction at all.”

“So, do you still think I am the one going around killing people?”

“No. I know you’re innocent. We saw the security tapes from the museum. But you still need you to turn yourself in. There’s a dead man here that you did kill, and with your help we might be able to find the others and bring this to an end.”

“Sorry, Detective. No can do. We don’t have much time. Jurgenson and his other thug are on their way south. I think they are headed to a place called Rock Eagle down in Southeastern Georgia.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Kinda difficult to explain at this point. I really don’t think you would understand.”

“Sean. Listen to me. These guys are obviously dangerous. Let me help you…”

“If you want to help, find out who is behind this,” he responded with clenched teeth.

“I’m working on it.