Free Herculean (Cerberus Group Book 1) by Jeremy Robinson, Sean Ellis Page A

underestimated Kenner and allowed himself to be caught flat-footed.
    “Why, the same thing as you, old chap. I’m looking for Hercules. I seem to recall a time when that’s what you wanted.” Kenner’s lips curled into a wry smile. “Not any more, though, right? Now you’re the inside man.”
    Pierce answered him with silence. He was not about to confirm the man’s suspicions by volunteering information.
    “How did you find us?” Fiona demanded. “You didn’t follow us. I made sure of that.”
    Kenner regarded her with a mixture of curiosity and disdain. “I didn’t really need to, did I? It was obvious from the start why you had come to Crete. I knew you’d end up here, especially after that little caper at the museum.” He advanced until he was standing right in from of her. “But I had to be sure.”
    He reached out a hand toward her, brushing lightly against her shoulder. She flinched a little, but her face remained defiant. Kenner drew back his hand with a flourish, like someone using sleight-of-hand to produce a coin from a child’s ear. However, what he held between his fingers was not a coin, but a tiny cylinder of plastic trailing a short length of wire.
    “You bugged me?” Fiona was livid. “You son of a—”
    “Enough,” the man with the gun growled. “You’re wasting time. Get what we came for.”
    Kenner looked over his shoulder to his accomplice. “Tsk, Vigor. There’s no need to be rude. We can behave civilly.” He turned his gaze to Pierce. “I trust we can?”
    “Putting that gun away would be a good start.”
    Kenner ignored the comment. “The transmitter wasn’t much use once you went underground, but I took the open door as an invitation. After that, it was a simple matter of following the Phaistos symbols and trying not to give ourselves away too soon.” He looked around the room, as if noticing its contents for the first time. “I must say, this exceeds my expectations.”
    He reached out for the chest containing the papyrus leaves. “The Heracleia .” His tone was reverent. “This is the book that guided Euripides and Apollodorus. The definitive source of information about Hercules in the ancient world. There are no known copies of it still in existence, aside from this one, of course. We only know of it from references in other historical sources.
    “I’ve always thought it strange that such an important and well-regarded work should vanish so thoroughly from the Earth. It’s almost as if someone set out to erase it from existence.” He cast a knowing wink in Pierce’s direction, then grunted as he hefted the gold-plated chest into his arms. “Not exactly light reading, but it should prove very illuminating.”
    “You’re not interested in the myth of Hercules, Liam.” Pierce crossed his arms. “What are you really after?”
    “ Myth? It’s the reality that fascinates me, just as it once did you.” As he spoke, Kenner commenced a circuit of the room. He produced a small penlight and shone it on the contents of each display table in turn. “I’m not blind, George. I’ve seen what’s been happening in the world these last few years. I’ve heard the whispers, the rumors. I’ve paid attention, and I’m not the only one who can see the pattern.”
    The man with the gun let out a low, threatening growl, perhaps signaling his displeasure at Kenner for volunteering too much information, or simply as a way of expressing impatience.
    Pierce nodded at the gunman. “You mean him?”
    “Mr. Rohn? No, he’s just…what’s the term they use in the movies? The muscle? The man he works for, however, is very interested in the truth about Hercules. A truth that you have conspired to keep hidden.”
    “Why on Earth would I want to do that?”
    “Must we play this tiresome game? You have seen the monsters with your own eyes; I know this to be true. Real monsters.” Kenner turned and pointed to the lion skin. “There’s the proof. The Nemean Lion. The