The Templar's Legacy (Ancient Enemy) Read online

  Kiss her!

  Terrified, I leaned down to kiss her and had barely started when she pressed close, pulled down my head and kissed me. Her mouth had the sharp taste of vodka, and her kiss was fire and passion. It overwhelmed me with its heat. Her body was alive, and her smell intoxicating. Her lips were soft and demanding. If we hadn’t had on clothes we probably would have ended up doing it right there on the floor. It was glorious. Not something that I’d ever imagined would happen to me. Then the music ended.

  Colette pulled away from me, wide eyed and startled. I must have crossed some line. I stood there uncertain what to do. It seemed like forever, but could only have been a second before she gave me a sly smile and took my hand. She turned and led me through the crowd and out the back door to the parking lot. Dumbfounded, I had no choice but to follow her like a pull toy.

  The outdoor air hit me with a wall of cool instantly chilling the damp clothing clinging to me. I involuntarily shivered as Colette pulled me along the backside of the brick building and stopped behind a handy brick column. She turned on me, grabbed me, and suddenly I was holding her as her legs wrapped around me and her mouth covered mine. I counterbalanced and automatically grabbed her by her derriere. It was something I had fantasized about for months. It was every bit as firm as it looked. Oh my god. I was Patrick Swayze. We came up for air and she dropped. Her heavy, breathy, French played havoc with my shredded self-control. “Take me home, Finn.”

  The evening acrobatics left me stunned and bemused, but she didn’t have to ask me twice. We headed for the car and hopped in. Even though I kept sneaking glances at Colette, it wasn’t until we were halfway through the city that Colette’s changed posture and demeanor pierced through my happy, bemused fog. She sat tensely in the seat, checking the road behind us.

  “What’s up?” I asked.

  “I think I’m in danger, Finn.”

  I slowed down and prepared to pull over, so we could talk.

  “No! Drive, do not go slowly.”

  “What? Why?”

  “When we walked to the car, I saw a man in the parking lot watching us. I think he is the one who killed Pietro.”

  Still a bit high from the intensity of Colette’s reaction to me, I wanted to laugh. Somebody had suddenly switched the script of my life with a cheesy spy thriller. “No way! Why would he follow us to a dance club? How does he even know you?”

  “Finn, there are things we need to discuss, but later. Right now, please trust me that we are in danger if we do not get away from this man.”

  Spring’s reaction was different than mine. I could almost see her clapping her hands in joy the same way Colette had.

  Cool! It is like we’re in a spy movie, Finn! I’ve changed my mind. Colette is awesome! Do you think she’s a diamond thief or a spy?

  What? Don’t be silly.

  You could be like Steve McQueen! I’ll bet we can lose this loser tailing us. Then we can park somewhere dark and let her have her way with us.

  Not in my Dad’s car! And Steve McQueen? Really? We need to upgrade our cable to get you some newer movies.

  Steve McQueen’s awesome. He was so studly that half the people in America must carry his DNA... I’ll bet she’s with Interpol.

  Spring, we are not in a spy flick, and we are not doing high-speed chase! That’s just movie stuff.

  Oh. Disappointment followed her into silence. Well, before tonight, you thought the whole chick wrapping her legs around you was just goofy movie stuff, too. Hey! Maybe we are in a movie! Or, maybe we’re living in a show like Jim Carrey in The Truman Show!

  I wrenched my brain away from Spring’s ramblings and forced it to deal with the reality of being tailed while driving my Dad’s car. “Okay, what do you want me to do?”

  “We must escape from him.”

  “How? This car isn’t exactly built for speed.”

  “Do as I will tell you. First, exit the highway.”

  I did as she asked and soon found myself gliding down an off-ramp. “Turn left at the light.”

  I pulled up in the left lane and stopped at the light beside another car sitting in the other left turn lane to my right. I took the time to look nervously in my rear-view mirror at the lights of a larger car, which pulled up behind us.

  “Now, you must do exactly as I say. Do not hesitate.”

  I nodded.

  “Good, when I say so, you must very quickly turn to the right.”

  “To the right?”

  She nodded. I looked at the lady driving the car next to us.

  “But, I’ll hit the car next to us.”

  “No you will not. Go now! Allez!”

  The light was still red, but my foot automatically followed her command. I floored the gas and leaped into the intersection, turning right. My dad’s car didn’t have a lot of punch, but it gave me all it had, and I zoomed down the street. Just as I was about to give a whoop of excitement, my career as a getaway driver ended in a flash of red and blue lights from the car behind us.

  “Aw, crap!”

  Colette turned to look behind us and said, “No, c’est bon, it’s good Finn, he will be scared away.”

  I pulled over and dropped my head against the steering wheel. “Crap!”

  Colette put her hand on my arm. “It is all good, Finn.”

  I looked over at her and saw her eyes were wide with concern, compassion, pity, or something similar. Whatever it was, it helped. I reached over in front of her, got out the car registration and proof of insurance, then waited for the nice police officer to come give me a ticket. I looked around to see if the other car was waiting for us somewhere, but it was dark and I had no clue what it looked like, anyway.

  It’s just a ticket Finn, observed Spring.

  Yeah, but I’m going to have to pay for it.

  No big deal, we just made $1500 in the last couple of days. You can afford it.

  That lightened my mood considerably. I guess you’re right. It’s just a ticket.

  Of course, the nice officer didn’t just take my license and registration, he politely asked me to get out of the car and then proceeded to force me to recite the alphabet backward and walk in a straight line. It was utterly humiliating.

  The dark cloud that had formed right over my head started raining on me as I sat heavily back into the car. I didn’t dare look at Colette, but just glowered at the road in front of us.

  Colette started laughing.

  I turned my scowl on her. “What’s so funny?”

  “You are so funny!” She reached up and put her hand on my face. “You are such a good boy.”

  The words alone were condescending, but the fond look on her face took the sting out of it. I suddenly felt sheepish and self-conscious. “I just don’t like to get in trouble with the police.”

  “Yes, I can see zat, but we must go now. Drive forward and we shall look to see if still he follows us.”

  Oh yeah, the guy who wanted to hurt Colette was still out there. I followed her directions as we drove randomly through a city neighborhood. After a dozen turns and stops, she was satisfied that we weren’t being followed. We got back on the highway at a different intersection and were soon cruising home.

  Colette sat far to the right. I glanced at her shadowed figure beside me. “Okay, who is this guy and why do you think he killed Pietro?

  She sat silently for a moment, then said, “His name is Fergus McCormick. He was once my lover.”

  Gah! “What?”

  “We were to be married, but he wanted to own me and tell me what to do, so I canceled the wedding.”

  My heart sank.

  What do you expect? She’s older than you and very pretty, even if she’s too small to make lots of children. Of course, she’s had sex. Probably a lot of it.

  Gee, thanks for cheering me up, Spring.

  No problem. If you’re intimidated, we can work on making your penis larger.

  Gah! Stop it.

  Spring giggled and I tried to process what C
olette had been saying.

  “I’m sorry Colette, could you say that again?”

  “I moved to Italia to get away from him, and there I found Pietro, but Fergus, he has a terrible temper and he followed me and threatened Pietro. It was very terrible, so I left and came to the United States to finally be rid of them both.”

  I tried to trashcan my emotions and thought about this for a minute from her perspective. It really sucked.

  “Zat is why I was so angry with Pietro when he followed me too.”

  I searched for something to say. The memory of our passionate encounter came flooding back. I almost told her that I understood why men would follow her across the ocean to be with her, but caught myself in time.

  “Now you think this Fergus guy killed Pietro?”

  “Yes. Fergus, he is very jealous and has a terrible temper.”

  “Why did you even agree to marry him?”

  “It is as they say, women, we like the bad boys, no?”

  Great. I’m sure my performance tonight had torpedoed any chance I had with her.

  You are such a putz, Finn. If she likes bad boys, be a bad boy.

  I don’t know how.

  Death of an Irishman

  We had quite a bit of time on the way home to plan our next move. I didn’t want her to go back to her hotel room alone. It seemed obvious that this Fergus dude knew where she was living since he was able to follow us after I picked her up. I didn’t want her staying home alone, so I invited her to stay at my parents. I knew (hoped) they wouldn’t mind. She agreed readily and pointed out that being the jealous fellow he was, Fergus might be gunning for me as well. She thought it was best that neither of us were left alone.

  Of course, Spring was excited by all the drama and had the time of her life suggesting places that Colette and I could do it in my parent’s house.

  We arrived at the hotel a bit after midnight. Colette insisted that I wait for her in the car at the entrance and keep watch while she packed and checked out. She ran inside, and I waited. Time moved very slowly, and by the five-minute mark, I was jumping in my seat. I kept looking around the parking lot, searching for some guy with a gun pointed at my head.

  What the hell am I supposed to do if I see some guy with a gun? I whined to Spring.

  Just act cool, hop out of the car and kick him in the nards.

  Gosh, that sounds so easy, I wonder why I didn’t think of that.

  That’s because you sleep through most of the spy movies we watch.

  After another fifteen minutes, I saw a man walk past my car into the front lobby. It was hard to tell in the yellow light, but I thought he might have red hair. He wasn’t particularly big and scary, but you didn’t need to be to use a gun, did you?

  After an internal argument, I jumped out of the car and raced into the building in time to see the man walking down the hall. Colette’s room was on the second floor. I breathed a sigh of relief and went up to find her. When I got to her room, I knocked on her door and waited for her to answer. When I couldn’t wait any more, I knocked more insistently and called through the door. My heart started racing again.

  “Colette? It’s Finn. Are you all right?”

  I heard a soft scrape on the other side of the door, and I exhaled when Colette answered it. My relief didn’t last long. Colette’s eyes were wide, and her face was drawn and troubled. There was blood on her shirt.

  “Oh my God, Colette, you’re bleeding!”

  She shook her head and said, “Non.” She waved me into the room with short jerky movements. When I was inside, standing close to her, I saw that not only was there blood on her shirt, there was a gun in her hand. She reeked of blood.

  Panic seized me. “What happened? Are you alright?”

  She nodded and pointed the gun into the room.

  I looked past her and saw a man lying still on the floor.

  “Holy... Who’s that?”

  “Fergus.”

  I walked up to the still form and saw blood had spattered around the man’s head and a pool of it had soaked into the tan carpeting. The whole room had the sharp copper scent of blood and something else. Something that smelled like death. Apparently, Colette wasn’t the source of the smell. Flashbacks of standing over Dave and Gregg’s bloody forms threatened to overwhelm me.

  Freak out later dude. Stay with me.

  I blinked and forced myself back to the present. I looked back to Colette. “You shot him?”

  She stood with her arms limp at her side, the gun pulling down her right arm and shook her head. She looked as shocked as I felt.

  “What happened?”

  “When I came in, he was here, dead. He is still warm.”

  I looked at the corpse and back to her and then to the gun in her hand. Suddenly, I knew what must have happened. “You picked up the gun that shot him?”

  She looked at the gun in her hand. “Oui.”

  Episodes of CSI came flooding into my brain. “You shouldn’t have touched it! The gun will have your prints on it now.”

  “Zey would be on the ze gun anyway.”

  “What why?”

  “He is my gun.”

  I goggled at her. “Why do you have a gun?”

  She blinked at me and spoke to me without inflection, “For the protection. Everyone has a gun in the United States.”

  I sat down heavily on the bed, looked down at the corpse, and wondered who might have done this. I believed Colette’s story. I could see the truth in her eyes.

  I don’t know Finn, maybe she’s a spy! A deadly seductress pulling you in with her feminine wiles.

  Oh come on Spring. Why would she be here hanging out with us then? Besides, you know her. In the time we’ve known her, have you ever seen anything to make you think she was capable of this? Has she ever done anything suspicious?

  Well, she seems inexplicably attracted to you. That’s pretty suspicious.

  Gee, thanks.

  Don’t mention it. Once we get some meat on your bones, you’ll make our dead hunk here look like a girlie-boy.

  I caught myself starting to think about what she was saying. Spring! Stop it. We’ve got a real dead guy here. Colette’s not a spy, and she didn’t do this.

  I don’t know, but it would be totally rad.

  And totally silly. Okay, let me think this through.

  I hoped I’d been looking thoughtfully at Fergus as I had my silly conversation with Spring. I asked, “Do you know this guy?”

  “It is Fergus.”

  Oh, right. She already told me that. “This is the Fergus who was following us?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well how did he get here first? Who shot him? Why would anyone just shoot him and leave? I’ve got to call the police.” As you might be able to tell, I was a little anxious.

  She shook her head. “No! Do not call the police.”

  “I have to, Colette, this guy was murdered! His murderer is still out there! He might come back!”

  She nodded. “I must leave, and you must come with me.”

  “Huh? No! That’s a bad idea. Then the police will be after us, too.”

  “Zey will be after me anyway. They will think I shot him.”

  “No they won’t! I’ll tell them I was with you all night.”

  “But you were not with me all the night, Finn.”

  Oh crap, she was right. I hadn’t been here when she came into her room. I thought hard. “Look, I’ll tell them you were with me all night and we came up here together. I know you couldn’t kill someone.”

  She eyed me speculatively. “Will they not have the cameras here?”

  “Yeeees.” An idea popped into my head. “But, I think I can fix that. I’ve got to go downstairs, but I’ll be back in a few minutes. Can you stay here while I deal with this?”

  She lowered her brows. “What are you going to do?”

  “Hey, I’m a science guy. I’ll take care of the cameras.”

  “Are you sure this is something you can
do?”

  I nodded emphatically.

  You’re going to go to hell if you keep lying like that, said Spring.

  If this is the worst thing I do, I’ve got no problems.

  After I left the room, I went over the command I was going to give the night clerk. When you are a gamer like myself, you spend a lot of times thinking about how to phrase wishes, so they couldn’t get turned against you. The key was to think of all the different things that might go wrong and to account for them in the wish. I kept telling myself this wasn’t much different. Once downstairs I went to the front desk. No one was there, so I dinged the little bell. A kid my age came out from around back. His name-tag announced him as Eli. I couldn’t think of any smooth way of asking, so I just said, “Excuse me, but do you have cameras recording the lobby here?”

  He nodded and pointed to the camera bubble sticking out from the wall over my head. Okay, so obvious and I were still not talking to each other.

  “Are the pictures stored on site or off?”

  “On site.”

  “Good.” I narrowed my eyes, since that seemed like the thing to do when you were about to use Jedi mind tricks and said, “I want you to do whatever you have to do to destroy everything that has been taped for today and then come back here when you are done.” I put my will into the command and felt the answering heat from my Caduceus as I tapped into its power. My use of the power brought up my sight, and I noted the man’s dull red aura as he turned around and went into the back room. I congratulated myself on my well thought out command and the fact that it actually worked. I didn’t know how they stored the video, so this way, he would do whatever was necessary.

  I was dealing with the wave of fatigue that swept through me after the shocks and exertions of the night when I heard a smash in the back and then a series of loud smacks.

  Oh crap, what was he doing back there? I ran between the two marble-topped counters and into the back. The kid had a black box on the floor and was busy beating it with a hammer. The box was crushed and dented in places, but it was obvious he wouldn’t be able to destroy it completely. If there were a hard drive in the box, it probably wouldn’t even get damaged.