The Belial Stone (The Belial Series #1)(37)

CHAPTER 27



Havre, MT



Tom woke up with his teeth chattering. He forced his arms to move, the blood feeling almost sluggish in his veins.

Sitting up, he shook his legs, which were tingling from the cold. Damn, it must be near freezing. He could see his breath as he exhaled. He swung his arms around himself, trying to generate some heat.

Seeley sat up next to him. “It’s f*cking cold, man.”

He looked horrible. Seeley’s lips were blue and there were dark circles under his eyes. His normally warm complexion would now rival a vampire’s.

Tom was pretty sure he didn’t look any better. He pulled the bedroll from the ground around his shoulders, trying to stave off some of the cold. “No kidding, man. Don’t think I can do many more nights like that.”

Seeley nodded and stood up, shifting from one foot to the other. “They can’t throw us a damn blanket? How the hell we supposed to dig for them all day, when we’re freezing all night?”

Tom watched the farm truck pull up and drop off a new batch of recruits. “Don’t think they care, man. We’re not exactly irreplaceable.”

“No shit. Do you think last night was a fluke or is it gonna be like this from now on?”

“Don’t know, man. I mean, it’s October. Gets pretty cold at night back home around now, too.”

Seeley nodded and shifted to jogging in place. He stumbled over one of the other men who’d been sleeping next to him. “Shit, man. Sorry.” He scrambled back to his feet.

The man didn’t respond.

“Buddy, you okay?” Seeley asked.

Tom looked over at the still form. No little puffs of cold air appeared around the man’s nose or mouth. Tom leaned down and pulled the man onto his back. The man’s arm flung out with the movement, hitting Tom in the leg. He focused on the man’s chest. It wasn’t moving.

Tom stood up and shook his head at Seeley.

“Damn.” Seeley looked over at the enclosure. “What do you think’s gonna happen when the ground gets too cold? We’re not gonna be able to dig.”

Tom looked at Seeley, and then to the entrance when he heard a gunshot. The initiation demonstration was in full swing. Tom watched two men pick up a body and lumber over to the body pit. As they tossed the body over the edge, one of the men fell to his knees and puked. A guard kicked him in the back.

Tom looked back at Seeley and shook his head. “When the ground’s too hard, we’re of no more use.”





CHAPTER 28



Baltimore, MD



Laney placed Drew’s paper onto the wrought-iron table. She’d taken refuge on the expansive, back veranda on the Chandler estate after the meeting had broken up.

Needing to sort through everything, she’d picked up a copy of Drew’s paper to finally read it. She’d had the paper for almost forty-eight hours and she still hadn’t had time to sit down and really go through it. If she was going to find answers, she knew that’s where she needed to start.

Now that she had read it, though, she wasn’t sure she was any closer to finding those answers. She stared out at a family of deer munching away on the grass a hundred yards away while her mind tried to pull together the logic of Drew's argument. Her uncle was right, Drew did seem to argue that there was an ancient weapon of mass destruction buried at a sister site to Gobekli Tepe.

Her uncle had said that Drew had attributed that information to Cayce. That, however, was only partly true. He had also attributed it to the Book of Enoch. Drew mentioned that the Book of Enoch also referred to an ancient weapon. But that was all he said. He didn’t elaborate.

Laney had only a passing familiarity with the book. She knew it was popular at one point within the early Christian church. She certainly didn’t remember any mention of an incredible weapon. She was most familiar with the last part of the book, which depicted Enoch’s visit to heaven. Toward the book’s beginning, he spoke about Watchers or, as they are better known, fallen angels. But try as she might, she couldn’t recall anything about a particular weapon that fit Drew’s description.

She looked up at the windows that made up one side of Henry’s office. Henry and her uncle were manning the phones, calling in every marker, favor, possible source, to see if they could track down any information about the sister site. Danny was scouring the internet for information as well. Jake was getting in touch with his military contacts.

She felt useless. A criminologist could tell you why people did horrible things, not where they were doing them. And she wasn’t really making any headway with Drew’s paper. All she had were more questions.

If she had spoken with him before, maybe… Grief welled up inside her. She blinked back the tears. How could he be gone?

Looking to distract herself, she focused on the family of deer again. Four of them stood eating grass, occasionally glancing around before returning to their meal. A rabbit skittered across the ground not far from them and birds called to each other from the trees. She smiled at the innocence of the scene.

All that was missing was for the woodland creatures to join hands in a sing-along, and then the movie scene moment would be complete. I’ll have to get Max out here. He’ll love it.

Her smile faded. The baseball-sized hole that had taken up residence in her chest reminded her that wouldn't be happening. She couldn't go near Max, or Kati, right now without endangering them.