The Cathari Treasure (Cameron Kincaid) (14 page)

“The actual consoling happens
now,” said Marie.

* * *
* *

Consolamentum Two

Lady Mani laid her hands on Nicole
so that Nicole could receive the Holy Spirit.

Then looking upward, Lady Mani
said, “This Holy Baptism by which the Holy Spirit is given to the Church of God
has come from the Good Men to the Good Men and shall until the end of the
world.  As my Father has sent me, so send I you.  As when he breathed
on them and said unto them ‘Receive Ye the Holy Ghost’, whatsoever sins you
remit they are remitted unto them, and whatsoever sins you regain, they are
regained.”

Marie leaned over to Cameron
again, “That means if she sins, loses austerity in the slightest,
all
of those she has blessed will have lost their blessing.”

 “If you wish to receive
this power you must know that he has commanded that you shall not commit
adultery or murder or lie, that you must not swear any oath, that you shall not
seize or rob, nor do to others what you would not have done to yourself. 
That you must forgive whoever wrongs you and love your enemies, pray for your
detractors and accusers, and bless them.  If anyone strikes you on one
cheek, turn to him the other also, and if anyone takes away your cloak, to
leave him your coat also, and that you should neither judge nor condemn.”

“Also you must hate this world
and its works and the things of the world, love not the world or the things
that are in the world.  If any man loves the world, the love of the Father
is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and
the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of God but is of the
world.  The world will pass away, but he that does the will of God abides
forever.”

Cameron looked to Marie for
clarification.  “The material world is a lie of the evil Rex Mundi,” said
Marie.

Lady Mani shifted her eyes to
Nicole’s, “And Christ said, ‘The world cannot hate you, but me it hates because
I bear witness of it that its works are evil.  I have seen all the works
that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and vexation of
Spirit.  Hate the solid garment of flesh.’  By these witnesses, you
must keep the commandments of God and hate the world, and if you continue well
to the end, we have the hope that your soul shall have life eternal.”

“I have this will,” said Nicole,
“pray to God for me that he will give me his power.”

Marie took her cue and with
Ananda and Lady Yada said, “Parcite Nobis.  Good Christian we pray you by
the love of God that you grant this blessing, which God had given you, to our
friend here present.”

Nicole then said, “Parcite
Nobis.  For all the sins, I have ever done in thought, word, and
deed.  I ask pardon of God, of the Church, and of you all.”

Then Marie, Ananda, Lady Yada,
and Lady Mani replied, “By God and by us and by the Church, may your sins be
forgiven and we pray God to forgive you them.  Adoremus, Patrem,
et
Filium et Spiritum Sanctam.”

Ananda walked over beside
Nicole, Lady Yada, and Lady Mani.  The four once again recited the Lord’s
Prayer followed by a passage from the Bible.  Cameron knew the verse at
once as he had heard the lines so many times in his youth.  The passage
was from the book of John, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God.”

Though he recognized the words
of the first and following passages of the book of John, they now were shadowed
with the beliefs of those around him.  Particularly the last line they
recited, “For the law was given by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ.”  Truth came by way of Jesus thought Cameron, at least what they
interpreted to be the truth.

Cameron absorbed Marie’s words
and listened to the final prayers for peace that Lady Mani spoke aloud to
Nicole.  He tried to comprehend how the weight of being a Perfect would
bear on Nicole, for the rest of her life.  He could understand the idea of
living an austere life, such as a nun or a monk.  To fully comprehend what
this would mean in their faith was something else.

Cameron did not have long to
think.  Below the apartment, people began to yell.  There were
gunshots and then more yelling.  The commotion from the first floor
restaurant reflected in the faces of everyone in the room.

Ananda’s jaw slacked and he
turned toward Cameron, unsure of his next action, “It is the worst.  They
are here.”

* * *
* *

Toronto

Ananda slowly reached into his
pocket and then offered his hand to Cameron.  In Ananda’s hand, Cameron
saw the dull brass key for the padlock on the bottom of the door.

From downstairs, they could hear
screams and more gunfire.  Cameron looked at the key and then into
Ananda’s lost eyes, “I’m sorry sir, I don’t think we’ll be leaving that
way.”  He then raised his voice to the women, “Marie, Nicole, help Lady
Yada get Lady Mani dressed and gather up whatever they need.  I am going
to try to buy us some time.”

Nicole embraced Lady Mani. 
The old woman no longer showed the strength that emanated from her only moments
ago when she performed the consolamentum.  Now her vibrant eyes became
childlike and her frail body began to shrink.  Lady Yada put her arm
around Lady Mani.  “Here child, let’s help her to the bed,” said Lady
Yada.

The gunshots had stopped and now
the only yelling came from two urgent and authoritative voices.  Cameron’s
commando training kicked in.  The muffled words coming from the yelling
voices did not matter, the tone told Cameron what he wanted to know. 
Someone was being interrogated in the kitchen while the other voice barked out
orders.  The picture came clear to Cameron.  He calculated at least
four armed and disciplined individuals were running around downstairs and they
would soon figure out that the people they were looking for were on the second
floor.

Marie turned to Cameron, “Please
hurry.”  She still sounded somewhat calm.

“You won’t even know I’m gone,”
said Cameron.

Cameron made his way back toward
the front of the apartment.  He reached under his shirt and pulled the
P226 from between his belt and lower back.  Though he did not think anyone
could hear him below, he stepped as lightly as he could.

Cameron stopped short of the
door and froze.  He listened to see if the gunmen downstairs had found
their way into the small hidden room and the adjoining stairwell.  The
pocket doors were not that well hidden and there were many implements in the
kitchen that could be used to make someone talk.

Cameron inspected the padlock
and chain again and then the room.  The chain reinforced metal door made
the entry as secure as possible without rebuilding the whole wall.  The
only way that anyone was getting through the door was to push through the
entire doorframe and, from the sound of the assault, Cameron bet the men downstairs
would figure that out sooner than later.  No doubt, the men would have
explosives.  Barricading the door with the sofa could be enough of a
deterrent to buy some time.

Cameron went over to the sofa
and attempted to drag the heavy piece of furniture over to the door by lifting
the end.  The large sofa did not budge.  On closer inspection,
Cameron realized the heavy sofa was a sofa bed.  That would make sense, he
had not seen a bed for Ananda, and was pretty sure that the cot in the bedroom
was Lady Yada’s.  The heavier the better, Cameron had to quickly find a
way to get the oversized sofa away from the window to the front of the door.

As an elite Legionnaire, Cameron
was required to use his mind and his body.  Sometimes brawn was all that
was necessary.  He went over to the far end of the sofa and set his P226
on the floor.  Cameron lay on his back, contracting his body tightly to
fit in the space between the sofa and the wall.  His feet pressed firmly
on the wall and his shoulders up against the sofa, Cameron pushed his legs and
shoulders away from each other with all of his force.  His muscles tensed,
bulged, and turned to tight bricks.  He could feel his face flush and he
let out a growl, exerting his will into his shoulders over the strength of his body. 
Slowly the sofa began to slide behind him toward the door.  The wooden
legs squealed as they scraped across the wooden floor.  When his growl had
used all of the air his lungs held, the movement stopped.  Sweat was
beading on his face and his legs and shoulders were on fire.  Before
Cameron’s momentum was lost, he pulled in a chest full of air through his
clenched teeth and let out another explosive growl as he extended his legs from
his body in a fluid thrust.  Then Cameron had met his limit.  He could
push himself no farther from the wall.

Cameron rolled over onto his
hands and knees and looked down the length of the sofa, still too far from the
door.  The sofa would need to be no more than a hands length from the
metal door form a proper barricade.  Time was running out to restrict the
door from opening enough to stop someone from entering.  There was more
yelling and then automatic weapons fire.  The yelling stopped instantly
and was followed by a crash that came more from behind the door downstairs. 
The gunmen were at the bottom of the stairwell.  They would not take that
much longer to get up the stairs.  The sofa only needed to be moved a
little farther to make a difference.

Cameron scanned the room
perchance he had missed something.  The only other piece of furniture in
the room was the table.  Cameron’s blood coursed through him in the
terrible rhythm of his heart beat, intoxicating him with adrenalin. 
Cameron pushed himself to be focused, mindful of his surroundings, and fully
aware of every opportunity and alternative.  Of course, the table was the
right size.  He raised himself up onto his knees, wrapped his hands around
the single long leg and then pulled the table down toward him.  The red
sash lamp and the Buddha statue fell to the floor.  Cameron pushed the
tri-stand against the wall and squeezed himself between the tabletop and the
sofa.  Again, he clenched his teeth and let roll a growl.  The
position was to his advantage.  This time the sofa moved quickly behind him. 
The tabletop crackled against his feet as the sofa slid against the door in one
swift motion.

Satisfied, Cameron again rolled
over to his knees, swiped his hands together, and then picked up his P226 and
stood.  No sooner was he on his feet then the handle of the door began to
jiggle.  In his own commotion, Cameron had not heard them come up the
stairs.  Without pulling the drapes back, he looked down on the
street.  On the street in front of the restaurant were two black Cadillac
Escalades and outside of each stood an armed man wearing a sport coat and dark
sunglasses.  On busy Yonge Street, the Escalades and these professional
gunmen did not turn any heads.

* * *
* *

Toronto

Cameron made his way through the
kitchen toward the back of the apartment.  Through the wall, he heard the
quick creaking steps as other gunmen joined their comrades outside the door.

In the bedroom, Cameron found
the others huddled by the French door to the deck.  Ananda pressed the
thin drape against the glass and craned his neck to view what he could of the
courtyard behind the restaurant.

“What do you see down there?”
asked Cameron.

Nicole answered for the old
man.  “We saw one of the gunmen out in the yard.  He went back under
the deck.”

“I do not see him now.  Perhaps
he is gone,” said Ananda.

“He’s not gone, he’s guarding
the door, we’ll have to go through him,” said Cameron.  A deafening thud
came from the front of the apartment.  The dull heavy sound was startling
and unnatural.  “Don’t worry, it’s going to take them some time to break
that door down.”  Another thud came, followed by another, then another.

Cameron stepped up next to
Ananda and craned his own neck to seek out the guard.  “I’ll have to go
out there to get a better look,” said Cameron.  He slipped his hand behind
the drape, unlatched, and then opened the French door wide enough to fit his
upper body.  Leading with his P226 held high, Cameron leaned out the
door.  He looked down on the deck to choose where to place his first
step.  Between the boards of the deck, Cameron could see the courtyard
below.  The gunman was standing below the edge of the deck.

Cameron froze and then turned
his head toward the roof of the building.  The building to his right was
at least four stories and though the next three buildings to the left were only
two floors high, the last building on the corner looked to be about
fifteen.  Cameron pulled himself back into the apartment and pushed the
door shut.  “Ok, I spotted him.  Escaping by rooftop is unlikely. 
The buildings around us are too tall.  I’m pretty sure I can take him out
but we will have to move quickly.  There are steps around the end of the
deck.  You can get down that way.  I will take a more direct route.”

The thudding stopped.

“Why have they stopped?” asked Nicole.

“That was quicker than I
thought,” said Cameron.

Marie looked to the front of the
apartment, “You think they have given up already?”

“Oh, they haven’t given
up.  They just moved to plan B a lot sooner than I thought they
would.  We have to move now.”

Cameron opened the door, looked
down through the boards and then out to the rail.  He sized up the
distance and launched himself out the door.  His first step landed
mid-deck and propelled him forward to the rail, which he grabbed with both hands,
still holding the P226.  Using his momentum Cameron hurled himself over
the rail and down onto the gunman below.  The gunman heard Cameron’s
footfall above him and looked up toward the center of the deck.  When the
gunman realized that Cameron was falling toward him he was too slow to
react.  The gunman tried to bring his rifle up to block Cameron,
sabotaging himself in the process.  Cameron’s feet pushed the rifle into
the gunman’s skull knocking him unconscious before he hit the ground.  The
blow pushed Cameron back farther than he had intended so he improvised a
somersault and finished on one knee, his P226 pointed at the back door of the
kitchen.

Cameron could see the kitchen
through the closed screen door.  There was no movement or sound coming
from the bright white room.

Cameron looked at the stairs to
his right.  Nicole and Marie were waiting at the top holding Lady Mani
between them.  Lady Yada and Ananda leaned over the railing right behind
the other three.  Cameron put a finger across his lips and waved them
down.  He raised himself off his knee, his eyes peering through the door
into the kitchen.  When the others had joined Cameron he asked Ananda in a
whisper,  “Is there another way out of this courtyard?”

Ananda shook his head pointed at
the screen door,  “Through there.”

“Ok then, everyone stay close.”

Cameron kept his gun leveled at
the doorway as he closed in on the screen.  He kneeled next to the gunman,
unconscious and bleeding on the cement pad, and pulled up the rifle from under
the gunman’s arm.  “Put this in that trash can,” said Cameron.  He
handed the rifle to Ananda.  Ananda held the rifle at arms length, walked
to the trashcan, and deposited the assault weapon as quickly and silently as he
could.

Cameron began to step toward the
door when he noticed something reflecting the light from near the gunman’s
waist.  Cameron knelt down again and felt toward the object with his
fingertips, keeping his eyes on the door.  When his fingers found their
mark, he wrapped his hand around the object and pulled up a long metal dagger,
the same as the one he took off from the assassin in New York.  Cameron
slipped the dagger into inside pocket next to the first and then went to the
screen door.

Gently Cameron pressed two
fingers against the screen and pushed to the side.  The screen door opened
silently.

Cameron was ready.  He
would not need to think to shoot.

No one was there to challenge
him.  The kitchen was empty.  Slowly they made their way into the
room.  The burners were still on, heating skillets and boiling pots. 
On the grill, vegetables cooked untended.  A few more steps and they were
almost to the pocket door of the small room leading to the stairwell. 
Cameron was about ready to peek in when he heard a voice from inside the door. 
“This will be quick,” said the voice.  “See, he’s finished.”  Cameron
stopped and lifted his hand flat palmed to signal the others to do the
same.  There were rapid footsteps coming down the wooden stairs, someone
running down the steps.  Cameron placed the P226 eye level at the edge of
the doorframe.  If anyone stepped out the doorway of the stairwell, they
were finished.  Cameron placed his other hand over the one holding the gun
to fortify his imminent shot.  No one came out of the door.  Another
voice, different from the first yelled, “Get ready!”

A thunderous blast came from
above them.  Plaster dust misted from the ceiling.  Plan B had been
to blow the metal door.

Immediately after the
concussion, the sound of quick creaking steps thumped from inside the
doorway.  The gunmen were rushing upstairs toward what was left of the
metal door.

Cameron was curious as to
whether the explosion was enough to push the heavy sofa from behind the
door.  He did not care enough to stay around to find out.  In a fluid
motion, Cameron took two quick steps toward the doorway and spun to target
anyone unfortunate enough to be standing there.  The small room was empty,
everyone that was there a moment before was now getting, or trying to get, into
the apartment upstairs.

Cameron pivoted toward the door
to the dining room, and as he spun the corner of his eye caught site of
something on the floor.  Lady Yada gasped.  The young man in the
shiny blue suit was face down on the floor, the back of his shiny blue jacket
now maroon and dotted with dark red holes.  The young man was the person
Cameron heard the gunmen interrogating.

Cameron had not doubted these
invaders meant business.  He was now able to see the business they were
in.

* * *
* *

Toronto

Cameron peered quickly out the
small porthole window of dining room door to see what they were up against and
then quickly pulled his head back.  A lone gunman, wearing a sport coat
and sunglasses, stood inside the dining room with his back to the kitchen door. 
The gunman was much taller than Cameron and would be the only resistance until
they were outside where at least two more gunmen waited.

“What is out there?” asked
Marie, “Are they dead?”

“No.  The kitchen staff is
seated at the tables with the customers.  Everyone looks a little shaken
up.”

Above them, the thudding started
again, this time in short bursts.  Cameron was pleased the sofa was
causing them delay.

“So we can walk out?”

“Hardly, wait here a
second.  I don’t want to make a scene out of this.”

Cameron pushed open the door,
getting the attention of the tall gunman standing guard, though not before
Cameron had his P226 pressed into the middle of the gunman’s back. 
Cameron placed his other hand up on the gunman’s shoulder, “Ease back big fella. 
No need to upset anybody more than we have too.”

The gunman said nothing and let
Cameron pull him backwards through the kitchen door.  The others had lost
looks on their faces.  The giant in the sport coat dwarfed Cameron, not a
small man himself.

“Ok, big fella, raise your
hands,” said Cameron.  He reached around to the front of the gunman,
grabbed the rifle out of his hands, and tossed the weapon over the
counter.  Cameron then reached around again and took a heavy .357 from
inside the gunman’s jacket.  He tucked the handgun into his own waist.

The gunman started to slowly
turn toward Cameron, his hands still raised.  “Hold on,” said Cameron.

With his hand to the side of the
gunman’s chest, Cameron eased the big man around.  He frisked the sides of
the man’s jacket.  He felt something on the man’s side, pushed him back,
and reached again into the man’s jacket.  From a sheath on the gunman’s
chest, Cameron pulled another dagger.  “Nice,” said Cameron, “I’m
collecting these.”

“Fine, take it,” said the gunman. 
He did not lower his hands.  He gave the group a sickly smile. 
“There is no way you will make it out of here.  I will have it back soon
enough.”

With a lightening blow, Cameron
brought the grip of the P226 across the side of the gunman’s head.  Marie gasped. 
The eyes of the others went wide.

“Don’t be so sure,” said
Cameron.  The giant gunman dropped to his knees.  Cameron grabbed the
gunman’s jacket by the back of his collar, “Get back on your feet.  You’re
going to lead us out of here.”

The gunman lumbered back to his
feet.  “Sure, I’ll lead you.  But I’ll be leading you to your grave.”

“Move,” said Cameron as he
pushed the gunman around to face the dining room door.

“Mister Kincaid?” asked Marie,
“What is the plan?”

“The plan is to waltz out of
here and keep going.”

When they entered the dining
room, all eyes were upon them.  Those near them stared in silence while
others in the benches whispered amongst themselves.  Cameron pushed the
gunman forward, shielding his gun inside his jacket.  He turned his head
slightly back to the others following him.  In a low voice Cameron said,
“Let’s keep moving as fast as we can.”

The faces at the tables blurred,
the eyes all the same, deep and wide.  Cameron scanned the street outside
the front of the restaurant.  Through the glass wall, he could easily see
the same two gunmen standing by the driver’s doors of the two black
SUV’s.  The gunmen were looking up and down Yonge Street and not directly
at The Lotus Flower.

“We’ll need to make this quick,”
said Cameron.  “We only get to do this once.”

“Prepare to die,” said Cameron’s
hostage.

Cameron saw a reflection on the
glass wall of two men getting up from a table behind him.

Cameron did not hesitate to spin
and crack off two shots from his P226.  The two men, guns drawn, peered at
Cameron with surprise, dark red holes dotting their foreheads.  Cameron
knew that at least one gunman would be seeded amongst the tourists in the
dining room.  There had been two.

Cameron’s hostage was slack
jawed.  Cameron pushed the giant into the glass door, drew the P226 high,
and reached for the .357 tucked into his belt.  Caught off guard, the
gunmen raised their assault weapons.  Cameron pointed the handguns to
either side of his hostage’s head, “Drop them, or your guy gets it first.”

Unfazed by Cameron’s request the
gunmen directed their automatic rifles in his direction. 

The giant hostage raised his
hands and screamed at his colleagues, “Don’t shoot you idiots!”  That was
the last thing he said before both gunmen opened up on him.  With
anticipation and without hesitation, Cameron dropped the barrels from the head
of the hostage to the gunmen now firing in his direction.  He squeezed
both triggers, targeting the bridge of the gunmen’s sunglasses.  The two gunmen
fell to their knees at the same time as the hostage they shot.  All three
were dead.  Before the gunmen were flat on the ground Cameron had his hand
on the driver’s door of the front Escalade.

Behind Cameron, the others were
clustered inside the door of the restaurant.  Cameron waved his free arm
back at them, “Let’s go!”  Nicole and Marie carried Lady Mani out of the
restaurant while Lady Yada and Ananda held open the heavy door.  All five
scurried toward the Escalade.  Cameron pulled the driver’s door open and
pointed the P226 inside.  The Escalade was empty and the keys were in the
ignition.