The Belial Stone (The Belial Series #1)(47)

Tom looked away, struggling to keep his breathing even, unable to stand the sight any longer. Seeley was in trouble. Devon was the stronger of the two fighters. He outweighed Seeley by a good thirty pounds and had at least five inches on him. The guards thought it was funny that they were so mismatched.

The fights happened once a day. Sometimes the guards let the combatants live, but usually it was to the death. Even those that lived through the fight didn’t survive many days after it. They probably could have, if they’d been given medical attention. But that wasn’t going to happen here.

And the guards didn’t care. This was sport for them. Tom looked over at Commander Gregory. He stood with his arms crossed, staring down at the combatants, a smirk on his face. As horrible as the guards were, Commander Gregory was the worst.

To the commander, this was just a cockfight. The men fighting were no longer even human to him. Tom had seen Gregory take every opportunity to inflict pain, physical or otherwise, on the prisoners. Tom knew he was no exception. The Commander recognized early on that Tom could take the physical pain easier than the emotional pain. When he saw Tom’s reaction to the body pit, he made sure that from that point on Tom was always one of the men who carried the bodies over. Every time Tom did, Gregory was there, watching him.

A loud cheer arose from the guards, pulling Tom’s attention back to the fight. Seeley had somehow managed to wrestle the shovel away from Devon. He’d gotten a lucky strike to Devon’s head. Now he slammed away at him, looking like a man possessed.

Panting, Seeley paused, holding the shovel above his head. He flipped the shovel over. Using it as a spear, he drove it directly into Devon’s face.

Tom’s stomach lurched. The fight was over. He watched in horror as Devon’s blood splattered across the ground, along with bits of bone and, oh God, was that brain matter?

He tore his eyes away from the sight to look at Seeley. Swaying on his feet, his right arm clutched to his side. His eyes were wide as he stared at the bloody spectacle in front of him.

Tom looked up into Commander Gregory’s cold eyes.

“Clean it up,” Gregory barked, pointing to Tom and the man next to him.

Tom tried to wipe all emotion from his face. Denying the Commander the satisfaction of seeing him react was one of the only victories he could achieve in this place.

He walked over to Devon’s body with quick movements, his face without expression. But as he glanced down at what was left of the man’s face, an involuntary shudder ran through him. He struggled not to gag.

Please don’t let him have seen that, he pleaded silently as he looked up. The Commander stared down at him, victory in his eyes.





CHAPTER 36



Saint Paul, MN



Laney and Jake shared a bench on the campus, right on the river. Jake was on the phone, relaying the information they’d found out to Henry and coming up with their next step.

Laney was glad she wasn’t part of the conversation. Her mind was working overtime with the possibilities around Montana. Dr. Priddle’s ideas, although controversial in archaeology, were logical, if there was indeed a prior advanced civilization. But Montana? She dialed her uncle.

“Hi, Uncle Patrick.”

“Laney,” Patrick exclaimed, relief evident in his voice. “How’d the visit go?”

“Pretty well.” She gave her uncle a shortened version of the conversation with Tara. “Is it really possible the site we’re looking for is in the United States? Is there any evidence of an extremely early civilization in North America?”

“Actually, that’s an interesting question. Alternate archaeologists contend that North America was indeed home to ancient civilizations.

“What? I’ve never heard that before. Is there any proof?

“Well, that’s matter of debate. There are rumors, of course. My favorite is about a lost city found under the Grand Canyon back in 1909. And then there have been isolated findings which people argue indicate an ancient civilization’s existence. Ancient Indian medallions found in Michigan, a Stonehenge-like structure found in Miami, of all places, an Egyptian statue found in Illinois. There quite a few unexplainable artifacts that have been found in the U.S., or in some cases, reputed to have been found.”

“So if I told you Dr. Priddle appears to have gone to Montana, would that be a possible location for a second Gobekli Tepe?”

There was silence on the phone. Laney could imagine her uncle staring, unblinking, his hand on his chin. Laney had coined it his “thinking man” look when she was a child.

“From a geological standpoint, it’s possible, of course. The landmass of Montana is millions of years old.” He paused mumbled. “Hmmm, could they have gone to New Mexico? Nah, that was too late in the timeline. Central America?”

She interrupted. “Uncle Patrick? Care to share?”

“Sorry. I was just thinking about where they would have gone after. If the site was created by the Children of the Law of One, and they truly were on the run from the Sons of Belial, they wouldn’t have returned home. And they wouldn’t have stayed at the site, because that would have led the Sons of Belial right to it. Yet, they must have gone somewhere. I was thinking about the Anasazi ruins at Chaco Canyon, but they only date to the tenth century. So I’m trying to think of where…”