“And then the Commando takes the gun and goes upstairs. They all hear him fire the weapon — all six rounds. A few moments later the Commando comes back downstairs, all red in the face and worked up and he says ‘You fuckin’ assholes coulda told me they were blanks — I had to strangle the bitch!”
Without a word, Hawke lashed out and pinned Devlin to the ground by his throat. He had respect for the Irish Ranger Wing but they were no match for a former RM Commando and SBS man. If he wanted to he could have killed him on the spot. The Irishman would have been unable to offer any real resistance and Hawke wouldn’t have broken a sweat.
The tent was tense as everyone waited for Hawke to do whatever he was going to do next, but then he pushed the Irishman away with a powerful arm and stormed out of the tent into the storm.
“You total fuckin’ eejit, Danny! I told you Joe’s wife got killed, what the hell were you thinking?”
“It was just a joke, for fuck’s sake!”
“You’re just a joke,” Kim said with disgust. “And put that damned bottle down. You’re holding onto it like it’s a life jacket.”
Devlin looked at the Frenchman for support. “You were in the Foreign Legion, man. A joke’s a joke, right?”
“Some things are not funny, mon ami,” Reaper said gruffly. “Making jokes about a man killing his wife when his wife was murdered are one of those things. I am surprised you could be so… crass — is that the right word?”
Kim nodded. “It is, Vincent.”
Reaper looked at her and smiled. “It’s Reaper if we’re on a mission. I’m just saying.”
Scarlet fixed Devlin in the eye. “Are you a professional arsehole or just an enthusiastic amateur?”
“Now that’s just rude, Scarlet.”
Her face grew colder. “I took an instant dislike to you, you know.”
“Why?”
“Just to save time, I think.”
“Ouch,” Devlin said, swigging from the bottle. “You’re as sharp as an ice pick.”
“You’re going to apologzie to Joe,” Lea said flatly.
“I am not.”
“You are, Danny,” Lea said, moving to the entrance. “What you did was totally out of order.”
Before waiting for a response she pushed out into the night in search of Hawke, scanning the horizon for the Englishman. The first thing she noticed was that the storm had blown itself out. She had read that the weather moved fast in this part of the country, and it was no joke. The clouds were blowing away to the east and revealed a sparkling grove of stars in the black sky.
Standing on the next rise, a few hundred meters to the west on another large cairn was Joe Hawke. He was perched on top of an uneven block of granite with his hands in his pockets and staring up at the sky.
As Hawke looked up at the constellations he was dimly aware of someone making their way over the rocks toward him. He turned to see Lea Donovan approaching him. She stood beside him and pushed her arm through his arm.
“He’s a fool, Joe.”
“Forget about it.”
“Me and Danny go way back and I’d trust him all the way but he can push things too far.”
“He’s making a play for you.”
She looked shocked. “He is not.”
He knew she wanted to talk about it but his mind was elsewhere. The Danny Devlins of this world were nothing to worry about when you were up against the likes of the Oracle and his secret cult.
In his right pocket, he turned over the small box that contained the engagement ring he had bought back in Washington. It never seemed to be the right moment to ask her. Something always came up and kicked it along the track. “Come on,” he said at last. “We need to get some sleep if we’re going to wake up before dawn and find out what the big surprise is.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Hawke woke first. He had never needed an alarm clock to wake up early, and even as a child he was able to train himself to wake naturally at a precise time and usually got it right. Today was no exception and when he checked his watch he saw it was just before dawn.
Even before he opened his eyes he was aware of Lea beside him, one of her arms over his chest. Reaper and Devlin were enjoying a less intimate arrangement and their two separate sleeping bags were either side of the entrance.
He yawned and woke Lea. Moments later they were all outside the tent. Ryan and Kim were already outside.
“And what about Cairo?” Hawke said, leaning inside her tent.
“Piss off,” Scarlet said. A boot sailed past his head and thudded down in the muddy ground. “I’ve decided to have breakfast in bed.”
“Get up,” Hawke said. “Now.”
“But it’s still night.”
“Dawn’s about to break, Cairo.”
“All right, all right. Let’s get this show on the road, fuckers,” Scarlet said, clambering out of her tent. “Any sign of Zito?”
“Not yet,” Ryan said.
“Maybe Kloos kept his mouth shut,” Kim said, but not too convincingly.
“Talking of Kloos,” Devlin said. “What did he say about this legend again?”
Ryan climbed up on the highest granite slab of them all and looked out across the mountainous horizon. “He said that the son of Arianrhod will reveal where the Sword of Fire rests.”
Hawke turned to Ryan. “And who might that be, mate?”
“Arianrhod was an important part of ancient Celtic mythology, and the mother of Llew Llaw Gyffes,” Ryan said, lighting up a cigarette and flicking the match into the breeze.
“Give us one of those, will you?” Scarlet said. “Smoked all mine.”
He handed her one and took a deep drag on his own.
Hawke watched Ryan’s eyes for a moment. A new coldness was moving in, for sure, but he wasn’t the boy’s father. Maybe when all this was over, he’d have a chat… “Who was that last bloke you just mentioned, mate?”
“He was a major hero in Welsh mythology, tucked away deep in the fourth branch of the Mabinogi.” He breathed out another long cloud of smoke and sniffed. “Point is, he was symbolized by Perseus, the slayer of dragons. I was thinking about this all night and now I posit that the reference to the heavens in fact means stars. Jesus, I could do with a drink.”
Hawke shot a quick sideways glance at the young man but said nothing.
“So we’re looking for something in the stars?” Lea said.
“A constellation?” Kim asked.
Scarlet sighed. “No, a Klingon mothership. What do you think?”
“Hey, I was just asking.”
“Which one’s the Perseus constellation?” Lea said.
“There,” Hawke said, raising his arm. “The bright star just there is Mirfak, the brightest star in the Perseus constellation.”
“Most of these constellations have an important role to play in traditional Welsh mythology,” Ryan said. “The Milky Way was originally called the Fortress of Gwydion. Every one of these stars has a part to play in these ancient legends, including Perseus there.”
They followed Perseus down to the horizon and one by one the stars in the constellation began to fade.
“Look!” Lea said. “The Sword of Perseus is pointing precicely to that smaller peak down there.”
“Craig y Castell,” Ryan said. “The tip of Perseus’s sword is pointing to Craig y Castell.”
Then it happened.
The sun broke the horizon in the northeast and struck the western slopes of the caldera directly beneath the peak of Craig y Castell. They watched in silence as one particular rock glowed almost as bright as the sun itself.
“It faces the sun at dawn in such a way that it’s acting like a mirror,” Ryan said, shielding his eyes from the glinting, gleaming piece of smooth granite.