The Cathari Treasure (Cameron Kincaid) (15 page)

The others crossed the sidewalk
to the Escalade huddled in a group.

“Every one climb in the back,”
said Cameron.  He stuck the .357 back into his belt, and reached to pull
the back door open.

Nicole was first to climb
in.  Cameron kept the P226 pointed toward the restaurant.  He briefly
looked away from the Lotus Flower to see Marie and Lady Yada outside of the
Escalade helping Lady Mani up into the seat.  Then Cameron noticed for the
first time that there was someone in the front passenger seat of the second
Escalade parked behind them.  The tinted side windows had prevented
Cameron from seeing inside the SUV before, the windshield however was clear.

“That son of a bitch,” said Cameron.

Marie quickly turned her head to
Cameron, “What?”

When Cameron did not answer,
Marie searched the direction of his gaze.  In the front seat of the second
Escalade sat Christophe, the waiter from the CN tower.  Christophe had
given them the symbol they needed to find the Perfect and then he had betrayed
them.

Christophe’s eyes were on
Cameron and Marie.  He had watched them flee the Lotus Flower and now was
shocked to see them looking back at him.

“Watch out,” said Cameron. 
He swung the P226 from the direction of the restaurant over Marie’s head toward
Christophe.  Christophe’s eyes widened and Cameron’s lip curled. 
Before Cameron could squeeze the trigger three shots rapidly cracked out,
coupled with two tinny thuds and a wet thwack near his head.  He shifted
to see into the Escalade.  Nicole was covered in blood, Lady Mani face
forward on her lap.  Cameron swung his gun back toward the
restaurant.  No one was there.  Another automated burst of gunfire
shot down on them and this time Cameron was able to determine that the shots
were coming from the second floor.  He spun his body around, pulling the
.357 out and up with the P226 so that both hands could lock loaded onto the
window where the gunman that had fired the rounds was leaning out over the sill. 
Cameron shot twice, hitting the gunman at least once.  Marie slammed the
back door and screamed to him, “Mister Kincaid, drive, drive!”  Still
looking up, gun pointed high, he pulled himself into the driver’s seat. 
Another gunman pulled the first out of the window and started to lean
out.  Cameron got two more shots in the direction of the window before
turning the key and slamming the truck into gear.  He swung his door shut
as the Escalade sped away from the restaurant and looked back through the side
mirror.  Crumpled and frail on the curb were Lady Mani, Lady Yada, and
Ananda, freed from their last lives in this realm.

* * *
* *

Toronto

After the initial shots rained down
from above The Lotus Flower no more followed the black Escalade up Yonge
Street, no more gunmen ran out from the crowded restaurant, and the second
Escalade, with Christophe in the passenger seat looking on in disbelief, did
not pursue Cameron and the women.

Inside the traveling Escalade
fast prayers flowed from the back seat in whispers, some words decipherable and
others not.  The other cars moved slowly or not at all as Cameron
maneuvered the Escalade passed them.  He could hear his heartbeat thumping
in his ear and his breathes filled his lungs deeply with sweet air tainted with
the fruity scent of the air freshener.  A few blocks up, after repeatedly
cycling through the side and rearview mirrors, Cameron turned left toward
Trinity College.  When they reached the parking lot Cameron pulled into
the space next to where he had parked the old Chevy.

Cameron exited the Escalade,
P226 in hand.  He turned quickly in a circle scanning the parking lot
around them and the peripheral buildings.  Cameron then pulled the handle
of the back door.  A jolt shot up his arm when the door did not budge
taking his focus from the parking lot to the Escalade.  The tinted window
blocked his view of the back seat.  As he pulled again on the handle, he
heard the locking mechanisms switching on and off.  Marie was manually
unlocking the door, which had automatically locked when they sped from the
restaurant.

Cameron turned back toward the
parking lot and scanned again while Marie and Nicole climbed out of the
Escalade behind him.  Satisfied that for the time being they were safe,
Cameron reached back into the front of the Escalade, took the .357 from the
passenger seat where the gun had been tossed.  He then tucked both the
.357 and the P226 into his waistline, the P226 in the small of his back and the
.357 in the front under his flat stomach.

“Into the car,” said
Cameron.  “We have to be quick.”

“Agreed,” said Marie.

“Why did we stop?” asked Nicole,
“Why do we not keep this car?”

“Satellite navigation, one phone
call and they have our location instantly, or shut us down for that matter.”

“What is shut us down?”

“The Escalade can be turned off
remotely by the satellite system.  It’s an anti-theft thing.”

“Wondrous,” said Nicole.

The three opened the doors to
the Chevy and climbed in.  “Do they not know this car as well?” asked
Nicole as she shut the door to the back seat.

“I’m sure they do.  We have
a better chance with old tech though,” Cameron tapped the dashboard. 
Cameron had thought that through already and was impressed that Nicole had made
the connection.  Christophe must have identified the Chevy back at the
tower and followed them to the restaurant.  He was confident the Rex Mundi
was so sure their ambush would be sufficient in accomplishing their mission
that they arrogantly did not bother leaving anyone behind to guard the
Chevy.  Contrarily Christophe may have followed them alone to the
restaurant before alerting his comrades.  Either way the Chevy was free
and clear, providing they leave now.

“We can hit 401 north of here,”
said Cameron.  “Do we have a destination in mind?”

“Quebec,” said Nicole.

“Quebec, really?”

Marie answered for Nicole,
“There are others there that will help us and can transport Nicole to the
safety of the Nova Scotia countryside where she will be guarded by the
brotherhood.”

“The brotherhood, what do you
mean?  A fellowship of Cathari?”

“Not exactly.  These men
are chevaliers like you Mister Kincaid.  Knights whose order has been
caretakers of the treasure in times of strife for 800 years.”

Cameron began cycling through
the mirrors again, tapping on the steering wheel with the ends of his fingers
while he did.  “Knights, brotherhoods, others that can help.  I have
to say that my experience over the last few days has me less than drawn in.”

Nicole continued her prayers in
the back seat.

Marie’s voice was calm, “I am
sorry, Mister Kincaid.  Truly.  We could not foresee all that would
happen on this journey.  There was no way for us to know that the paths of
the Parfaits would end that way.  You have to believe though…”

“I don’t have to believe
anything,” Cameron interrupted.  “The others that were to help you have
all ended up dead or gone, including those sweet old people we left on the
sidewalk in front of the restaurant.”

Marie stayed silent only for a
moment and then continued with no difference in her tone, “You have to
understand then.”  On hearing this, Cameron’s lips drew tight and he felt
his teeth sliding across each other.  Seeing Cameron relent, or at least
listening, Marie repeated herself, “You have to understand, that though the
details of our journey still remain a mystery to Nicole and myself, the path is
foretold as it has been for others since the time of Christ.  What you see
as tragedy the Holy Spirit has determined.  The Parfaits were pure and
left the husks that housed them to return to the realm of our Lord. 
Nicole will get to the end of this journey and when her time comes, she will
leave this realm for the next as well.”

“Even now, after all of this,
you still think so?”  Cameron wiped the moisture from under his nose and
then pulled his hand away, expecting to see blood.  There was none.

“Even more now Mister
Kincaid.  We did not truly know that you were chosen as our protector,
until now.”

“In for a penny, in for a
pound,” Cameron said in a lighter voice.

“Excuse me, Mister Kincaid.”

“Oh something my Grandmother
used to say.  Listen, I gave you my word I would see you safe, and though
this is more than I bargained for, I will see it through.  Quebec it
is.  We’ll stop at the cabin again on the way through and get some
rest.  Does that sound ok with you?”

“Yes Mister Kincaid, that sounds
quite ok.”

* * *
* *

Lake Ontario

The prayers continued as the
Chevy drove back up the lakeside.  Cameron listened to the rise and fall
of Nicole’s whispers, oddly harmonious with the drone of the roadway. 
Hours had passed before Cameron realized that he was not sure how far they had
come.  The adrenalin from earlier combined with the trancelike serenity of
the long drive had held him in a state of vacuity.  With the adrenalin
finally spent, he was suddenly aware of the force of cool air blasting from the
vents across his chin and that his cheek was almost numb with cold.  He
reached over to the culprit vent between the dashboard and the window and
flipped the fins so that the air was no longer blowing in the direction of his
face and then pulled his hand up to the bridge of his nose to lightly and
quickly massage his eyes beneath their lids.  He may as well have been
sleeping since they left Toronto and, thinking that was not all too safe,
decided that they should pull over soon so that they could stretch their legs.

Cameron took the next exit and
drove the Chevy into the parking lot of a grocery store.  Marie was
sleeping and Cameron thought she needed the rest.  In the rearview mirror
he could see Nicole sitting with her back upright and her eyes closed chanting
a prayer in the same rise and fall of whispers that she had since they drove
out of Toronto.  There was no point in Cameron asking her to join him in
the market, as he was pretty sure she was not even aware the Chevy had
stopped.  He reasoned that if she wanted to stretch her legs she would and
proceeded to open his door and get out of the car.

When Cameron stood, he
instinctively wanted to stretch.  As soon as his brain sent signals
through his body to do so, his body responded with a thousand messages from his
extremities to let him know that a long time had passed since he was a
practicing commando.  Stopping to stretch had been a good idea, getting a
run in later may be an even better one.

In the market Cameron found what
he was looking for, a fresh Lake Ontario Brown Trout, the size of his thigh,
with brilliant yellow lined black speckles on a field of orange.  Marie
and Nicole said they ate fish, this Brownie would do fine for dinner.  For
vegetarian cuisine, Cameron picked out some asparagus and ginger root and the
makings for pesto stuffed mushrooms.  Along with a raid of Pepe’s wine, he
had the makings of a fine dinner that could easily put this insane day behind
them.

When Cameron walked out of the
market the dusk of the sky had shifted to night.  Marie was still
sleeping, Nicole was still praying, and the cabin was close.

* * *
* *

Lake Ontario

The Chevy’s headlights lit the
back wall of the cabin, as they had when they passed through on their way to
Toronto.  When the ignition switched off the sudden silence consumed
Cameron.  Nicole had stopped praying and had been staring out at the
darkness for some time.  In the silence, the cabin was stuck out of
time.  All that had happened since they left the lakeshore this morning
did not affect the cabin timbers in front of them or the trees by their
sides.  Even the one sound that came when Cameron opened the Chevy door,
the crashing of the waves against the stone laden break wall that shot out from
the shore, was the same as when he had closed the door mere hours before. 
The waves were the same rhythm, the same tempo.  The waves roll in, the
waves roll out.

Cameron swung his leg out of the
door and on to the ground.  Nicole was getting out of the back seat. 
He turned his head back to Marie.  Marie’s face and blouse were a shade of
amber under the tarnished dome light.  She was still sleeping.  Why
not, this had been a long day if ever there was one.  Cameron reached up
and rubbed her shoulder, “Hey there, wakey-wakey, we’re back at the
cabin.”  Marie did not stir.  Cameron turned his head to Nicole in
the back seat, still slowly getting out of her door.

“Nicole, why don’t you give it a
try?” asked Cameron.

“Marie,” said Nicole in a
singsong voice, “We are back at the cabin.”

Cameron walked around to the
back of the car to get the groceries from the trunk.  “Mister Kincaid, you
had better come here,” said Nicole, her voice now serious.  When Cameron
closed the trunk, he saw that Marie’s door was open and that Nicole was
standing next to her.