drank straight, relishing the rare moment of easing

  down from razorsharp alertness to others about them,

  "That was quite a session," Templin said with ,in-

  disguised admiration to Diaz. Templin kicked off his

  shoes and raised his feet to the table. He looked over

  his glass at the man in janitor overalls.

  "One of a bunch," Diaz acknowledged. "We've got

  four groups just like this Meworking day and night,

  None of them know about the others,

  "Makes sense." Templin acknowledged. "Wipe out

  one or two and everything keeps marching."

  "That's the idea." Diaz refilled his glass. "Funny

  thing, Al.

  hat.

  "I don't even know that much about what's behind all

  this. I'm running tbe shop and I'm dealing with shadows."

  "That a complaint?" Ternplip's eyes narrowed slightly.

  "I-T-11 - Qf-111- 111k -1-i- __ @@ -Mi ... ---1

  198

  Martin Caidin

  times over. I've got power, position, a great family,

  beautiful women in three cities, and a goal. No, it's not

  a complaint. It was a quirk of curiosity. If I didn't know

  Doug Stavers personally I wouldn't even mention his

  name.

  "Well, it's no secret among the top people that you

  probably saved his life in South America."

  "We saved each other's life several times," Diaz cor-

  rected. "Marden, also. It was one hell of a bloodbath

  down there. Out of every six people on both sides,

  maybe one came through."

  Templin sipped his vodka slowly. "One thing's crazy,

  for sure."

  Diaz waited.

  "We're at some incredible crossroads of history. A

  fork in the road for the human race. The world's going

  through some wild social upheavals. Society is turning

  inside out. You, me, some other people, we're at the

  controls. But the man at the top of the heap couldn't

  care less about running the world."

  " Well, shit," Diaz retorted, "look at the human race.

  They're not worth it. Not the masses, anyway. Stavers

  decided that a long time ago."

  "But . . ." A note of protest sounded in that single

  Word before he stopped.

  Diaz laughed. "Maybe I should ask you the same

  question you asked me, Al. Did I hear a complaint get

  started and then get swallowed before it came out?"

  Templin joined his laughter, but it was cautious and

  guarded. "No. not a complaint. You know me better

  than that. You know my relationship with Stavers. He

  gave ine rny life. Not just eating and pissing and breath-

  ing. He gave me meaning, pride-the whole goddamned

  ball of wax." He shook his head. "Forget it, Bob,"

  "So let me ask you another question," Diaz said, his

  sudden change of tone reflecting his inner concerns.

  " Shoot. "

  "The woman."

  "Ah, talk about a loaded question," Templin said

  softly.

  -V_ -1, --ki-a

  DARK MESSIAH

  199

  "I didn't think you were. The woman he echoed.

  "The doctor. Beautiful, young, powerful, incredibly

  knowledgeable. Speaks more languages than I can count.

  A surgeon so capable she'd need a hundred years to

  leam what she knows. She looks maybe twenty-six,

  maybe twenty-eight. Probably in her forties. But even I

  canI t figure it. A Jewish doctor who comes out of

  nowhere. "

  Templin leaned for-ward. "My job is to look after

  Doug Stavers. I do my job. This Jewish woman doctor

  shows up, she and Stavers are like two wildcats stuffed

  into a sack the way they tear after one another, and I

  figure she is not going to be alive very long. It doesn't

  figure. She's more than just a woman. Stavers has al-

  ways bad women clawing over hot coals just to get near

  him. So it's a hell of a lot more than that. They're at

  each other's throats. Nobody does that with Stavers and

  lives very long. One night I get a call to go to the

  emergency room; the infirmary. I get down there right

  away, and while I'm hotfooting it, I figure Doug has

  said screw it, and I've got a dead female body to get rid

  of. I couldn't believe it. I find Skip Marden uncon-

  scious, something hurting him so bad he's writhing

  even while he's out, and he looks like sorne devil's get

  inside him and just ripped him to shreds. We thought

  we'd lose him. But the doctor-Rebeeca, Weinstein-

  does thinjzs nobody understands, and theD Marden is

  sleeping Fike a baby, and when be comes out of it the

  next day, be feels like a bulldozer ran overhim a couple

  Of times, but he's okay. Nobody says a word, not one

  word, about what happened, but froin that day on

  everything changed. "

  They sat in silence -for several minutes, Diaz spoke

  finally. "I know about the diamond., Al."

  "I know you do."

  I was with him when we took that mountain apart

  down in South America. I didn't make the trip to India

  because I was all busted up and in the hospital. From

  what I heard it was a good thing I missed that trip.

  Only two people came out. Stavers and Marden."

  11

  2

  Martin Caidin

  "Everything and nothing. Crazy stories. Wild stories.

  None of them made sense. Fairy tales, metaphysical

  crap. Nothing I could ever really understand. I over-

  heard stuff, that's all."

  " What kind of stuff? I'm not probing, Bob."

  "The diamond of the messiah. Stuff like that. Hitler's

  name. Other names I don't even remember. I was

  busted up, on morphine to keep me from screaming. I

  needed both hands to keep my guts from spilling on the

  ground. I wasn't that interested in anything else. All I

  know is that there's a diamond like none other. I heard

  fire and ice. No sense to it. I'm repeating myself,

  damnit. I don't like to do that, but the whole thing is

  crazy. Diaz blinked several times. "When did Stavers

  get religion? That question I would love to get an-

  swered. The Reverend Douglas Stavers? From the man

  who'd spit in God's eve and kick him in the nuts?"

  Templin laughed. "You've said it all. Nothing to add,

  my friend."

  "Then one last question. Maybe you can answer it."

  ,Tll try. I really will."

  "What the hell is all this stuff about going to Mars?"

  Templin finished his drink, put down the glass slowly

  and held Diazs eyes.

  " I'll be fucked if I know," he said.

  Chapter 16

  "Now I know what they mean by Nordic music. It all

  comes true at a moment like this." Rebecca Weinstein

  gestured to take in the stunning and dangerous moun-

  tain terrain surrounding them on every side except

  directly above. "In the halls of the mountain king. The

  Valkyries. Asgard. I can see how the gods would have

  lived here." She gripped a handbar as the helicopter

  took a heavy blow from a downdraft. Massive peaks

  reared all about them, a thin reflected silvery trickle far

  below indicated a narrow stream drawing its life from

  melting snow. Mists and snow clouds blew across and

  down from the crags ;and abutments, while the blue sky

  high above mixed and churned with the white of rap-

  idly passing clouds. "I never thought it would be this

  ki@d of blue," she went on. "Slate grey or Coppery or

  black or white from snow, even green -from fbrests, but

  not this kind of dark, brooding blue."

  She offered a quick smile to Doug Stavers. "This is

  more beautiful than I'd expected. It's incredible. It's

  almost as if we were on a different planet-"

  "Or thrown back in time on our own world , Stavers

  observed, in sharing the magnificent vistas through which

  they threaded, banking and turning to follow the nar-

  rowing walls of mountain-made gorge. He looked ahead

  and then to both sides of their helicopter, shaking from

  the steady throb of choppy air spilling down angry

  peaks. "National boundaries didn't mean anything in

  those days. It was all territorial and when winter carne

  202

  Martin Caidin

  even that concept lay buried under thirty feet of snow.

  Abetter world, maybe."

  "I should be surprised, but I'm not, really, she told

  him.

  11 Oh?"

  "I expected you to sass me a bit," she said, squeezing

  his arm. "That old saw about not knowing I was so

  poetic; something like that. Now I discover that not

  only didn't you say that but you've been having the

  same kind of thoughts I have."

  Stavers nodded. He appreciated beauty and above all

  he appreciated splendor on a grand scale. He grinned.

  "If you look hard enough, and the sun is just right, and

  it becomes a visible beam because of the snow dust

  clouds, you might even catch a glimpse of the old-

  timers. This is where Thor and his people hung out."

  Her laugh was music. "Wonderful!" she cried aloud,

  clapping her bands. She turned to look at Skip Marden

  in the seat behind them. He sat wide-legged, body-

  braced against the turbulent flight, arms folded across

  his massive chest. What held her attention wasn't his

  physical presence but a sense of "faraway" in his eyes.

  "what about you, Skip?" she asked gently.

  She watched a man she had never met or even known

  existed. Sadness crossed his face, and in the changing

  reflections of sky and cloud and sudden mountain shad-

  ows she knew something deep had emerged. "I've never

  been here before," he said, so quietly and softly, his

  voice barely audible over the hammering punch of en-

  gines and rotors and wind that even Stavers turned to

  look at him. "Yet, " he stopped his words, watching a

  sudden burst of sunlight cascading down turnbled slopes,

  and then it was gone with a rush of their speed, "I have

  the sensation, it's crazy, but it's so strong, that I've just

  come home. I've never felt such a ... a," his eyes

  dimmed for an instant, "a sense of belonging. "

  "Crazy bastard," Stavers poked at him, then looked

  to Weinstein. "I think he's off on reincarnation. Patton

  was-

  "General Patton?" she interrupted.

  DARK MESSIAH

  203

  once been a great general of the Roman Empire, and

  had come back to fight another war." Stavers jerked a

  thumb at Marden. "Now he's got the idea that he was

  probably a Viking warrior killed in battle and had his

  ass hauled to Asgard by some big-titted Valkyrie," Stavers

  shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe it was right in this

  same gorge. Maybe a rock fell on his head. Maybe," he

  chuckled, "you're Cleopatra. Maybe--

  He cut off his words as their pilot motioned for

  attention. "Straight ahead," he said, pointing. "The land-

  ing pad. They've got the strobe going, just as they

  said." He pointed again to a digital readout whel '_

  glowing numbers flashed, blurred into motion, and

  stopped again. "That's the preset code, sir. Everything

  is exactly the way you wanted it."

  "Take it down," Stavers ordered,

  Their pilot was better than good. He had to be. Both

  Stavers and Marden were superb helicopter pilots and

  they knew what this man was fighting in wild updrafts

  and downdrafts, and winds that burst suddenly around

  crags. In this kind of crazy approach and landing, expe-

  rience under these conditions was every bit as impor-

  tant as ordinary skill under normal conditions. They

  rocked wildly several times as the pilot fought the cur-

  rents, lowering steadily, the iet engines shrieking, and

  then be put them down witb a solid thump onto the

  landing grid. He signalled to several men standing at

  the edge of the platform. They ran forward and at-

  tached holding cables along the undercarriage and

  tiedown rings. The pilot got a thumbs-tip signall waited

  for a voice confirmation of the tiedowns, and killed the

  power. He turned back to Stavers.

  "I'm supposed to reconfirm the moment we land and

  shut down. My orders are to remain here, keep the

  engines warm, be ready for takeoff whenever you say."

  "That's right," Stavers told him. "What's your fuel

  status? 11

  "Plenty of fuelplus two hours reserve."

  "Good. If voure not in this thing, where will you

  be?"

  204

  Martin Caidin

  quarters right there, sir. Full communications to the

  installations inside this place."

  "Very good. What's my name?"

  .1 Sir?"

  I asked you what's my name?"

  "Uh, it's on the manifest, Right here-" He started

  to look at his notes when Stavers' arm shot out to lock

  on his wrist.

  "Use your memory, pilot. Only your memory."

  The pilot's eyes were wide. "Uh yes, sir. You're

  Nelson, Shelly Nelson."

  "And hers?"

  "Quinn, sir. Dr. Roberta Quinn."

  "And our Viking warrior back there?"

  The pilot tried to smile but failed and settled for a

  grimace. "Alberto Degarmo."

  "Great. We'll see you later."

  They climbed from the helicopter. Three men in

  Swiss army uniforms, each carrying an automatic rifle,

  met them on the landing pad. Their ranking officer

  extended his hand. "Colonel Nelson, welcome to

  Transvale. I'm Major Johansen." They shook hands and

  Stavers introduced "Quinn" and "Degarmo. " They walked

  through huge blast doors- as soon as they were through

  the doors they closed @7ith a ground-rumbling thud

  behind them.

  Stavers spent several moments looking about them,

  at the smoothly carved rock turmels, the heavy cabling

  that ran along each side of the curving walls, the smooth

  floor beneath them. Overhead lights were more than

  sufficient, and be noted the heavy batterypowered back-

  ups spaced at regular intervals. The experienced eve

  works quickly and he knew Marden had picked out the

  same details. Loudspeakers. Telephones at regular in-

  tervals as well. Additional blast doors, three sets, al-

  most invisible in their slots on each side of the descending

  tunnel.

  "When was this built, Major?" Stavers asked.

  "I wasn't even born yet," Johansen replied. "It was

  started in 1936. The king and his ministers knew even

  fbon w@'(] n_@A U" fl.i, f", +1,- --1 V--'1- -

  DARK MESSIAH

  205

  "To say nothing of a military command headquar-

  ters, Stavers added.

  "Yes, sir. That, too."

  "You have full orders about us, Major?"

  Suddenly everything was tight, official, no-nonsense

  business. I do, sir."

  "Are there any restrictions?"

  "None, sir. My orders are to cooperate fully with you

  in every way. 11

  "What else, Major?"

  "Colonel Quinn, those are my orders, period."

  "Excellent. Let's go."

  "Yes, sir. Stay close to me, please," Johansen di-

  rected. "We have a rather crooked path to traverse for a

  while. This way, please. "

  A hundred yards down the curving tunnel carved

  from solid rock they stopped before a large and open

  elevator platform. "We take this up for thirty meters,"

  Johansen explained. "There are stairways on each side

  of this lift system, but we won't need to use them '"

  They stepped onto the platform, Johansen worked a

  lever and they rose slowly. "The purpose of this lift is to

  continue the tunnel after the safetv margin of these

  thirty meters, or, essentially one hundred feet. In this

  manner, if we were ever flooded through the main

  entrance, and all three barriers were breached, the

  water would still have to rise these thirty meters before

  it could continue into our systern, -

  The lift stopped and they walked to a circular area. A

  single open car on rails stood before them. I recom-

  mend we ride. We will go at least another quarter mile

  inside the mountain to the cryonics laboratory."

  They took their seats and the rail car glided off si-

  lently with smooth electric power. Stavers studied the

  tunnel; a space ran between the rails. Neat and simple;

  he knew a cable stretched beneath the car to the power

  source well beneath them, and likely the main power

  source came from hydroelectric generators near this

  particular mountain. Whatever had been constructed

  here back in the 1930s had also been updated through

  206

  Matlin Caidin

  scanners, infrared detectors and even the blast doors

  that could slam shut to close off this rail tunnel.

 

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