Free Sins 03 - Sins of Treachery by J.F. Penn Page B

his eyes.
    “It’s a map, or a series of them,” Simon said, smiling with perverse pleasure at his brother’s ignorance. “Grandfather told me about it after his first heart attack and he pleaded with me to follow the directions, to take the path he had always wanted to. It has taken most of his lifetime to work out the symbols within the book, to understand where it leads. But he was on so much morphine by then that I dismissed his ranting. That must have been when he sent the letter to you.”
    Simon remembered how his grandfather had implored him to take the book to the location it revealed, for the final piece to complete the Great Work must lie there, a power beyond imagining. Perhaps it could also be a way to replenish their fortunes, Simon thought, for the book also contained lists of ancient jewels, hidden for many years. He hadn’t taken the words seriously at first, but after he had taken the book for himself, he had begun to feel an increasing need to go on the journey it demanded. He felt a pull, a rising desire to discern what the book revealed and a pulse of latent power that begged to be unleashed. Perhaps the answer lay in these maps, Simon thought.
    Gest spread the pages out on a worktop, scanning them quickly. “This all looks authentic, Si, and I know you’re as aware as I am of the state of the bank accounts. We need whatever this points to.”
    “Even if it takes everything we have left?” Simon replied, looking around at his beloved lab, wondering if the risk was worth it.
    Gest grinned, and his eyes sparkled with a lust for adventure.
    “Every cent,” he said. “For we’ll get it back a thousand-fold. Remember his stories, Si, the ones he told us as boys. Diamonds and precious stones without name, all just waiting for us to pull them from the ice. And now we have the map to get us there.”
    Gest embraced his brother, spinning him around in the lab. Simon reluctantly gave into his merriment, smiling for the first time since his grandfather’s death and finally understanding why the map had been left to his headstrong, reckless twin.
    ———
    Two months later, Simon shook his head as he remembered that moment in the lab, the beginning of this trip to the frozen wastelands of the far north. The maps had indicated a little-known stratum of caves within the Arctic Circle but their ship could take them no further and now they had to take dog sleds for the final section of the journey inland. The trip had finished the last of the bank loans that Gest had secured against the mansion and the lab equipment and Simon cursed his own weakness at letting his brother mortgage his life’s work. His jaw ached from days clenching it, as each thunk of ice crunching on the side of the hull had reminded him of the miles of frozen water between them and civilization. For now there was no going back.
    The specialist team Gest had hired were finishing the last checks of the equipment they needed to carry inland, and Simon watched the handlers bring the sled dog teams out from the ship. The Siberian Huskies and Alaskan Malamutes leapt about and yelped, shaking their shaggy fur, tongues hanging out as their hot breath frosted the air. To Simon, they were reminiscent of wolves, with sharp teeth and thick fur, animals suited to this cruel environment and ready to do battle with Nature.
    “Cry havoc,” Simon whispered, “and let slip the dogs of war.”
    He zipped up his fur-lined coat, his hand skimming the top pocket where his name had been sewn in violet letters to help the crew tell the identical twins apart. As if he could be mistaken for his brother, Simon thought, as he watched Gest arguing with the expedition leader, making sure the man was following his instructions to the letter.
    Since his brother’s attention was elsewhere, Simon bent to check the position of the book within his pack. He had wrapped it in protective and waterproof layers, but he still felt a need to reaffirm its safety. As he put