Stones: Hypothesis (Stones #2) Read online

  They travel the world in the company of celebrities.

  He watches as a young teenage Leo stands at the top of a long flight of stairs, looking down on the main floor as uncles and aunts, maids and butlers quietly sob while gazing up at him. He feels the downpour of rain on a dark February afternoon at an old cemetery, surrounded by black suits and dresses, veiled faces and handkerchiefs.

  Then Matt remembers why he is there.

  He gently pulls the curtain shut on the flow of data emanating from Leo and turns inward, searching his own memories like one might go through a closet full of old clothes. Quickly breezing past a multitude of childhood images, he shoots forward to the recent past, slowing down as he approaches the present, and stops at a point just a few days prior.

  There he is, standing at the water’s edge on the ocean shore in the darkness, warm sand under his feet, the light of the moon making a shimmering line out to the horizon.

  The Woman stands in front of him, feet barely touching the water. She reaches out her fingertips to touch Matt’s eyeballs.

  Leo, come, Matt says. See the vision.

  He feels the presence of another in his mind and instinctively pulls away, shutting the curtains behind him, closing off the memory.

  I saw something, but it’s gone now, Leo says.

  With effort, Matt opens the curtains again and finds the memory.

  Here it is, Matt says. Come and see. You must become me.

  It feels like opening one’s bare chest to a row of poison snakes. Fighting hard, Matt resists the instinct to draw away. Focusing on the memory, he pulls it back and opens it up.

  CHAPTER 62

  Leo drops into the village. He sees the mud brick cottages and the fields of grain. He sees the Woman walking to the most humble of the cottages, kissing her husband and child.

  He hears the sound of thunder in the distance.

  The Woman rises and leads the people outside the village. A black tide of warriors flows over the top of the hill and down toward them, charging.

  He sees the serene look on the Woman’s face, devoid of fear.

  Then he sees the Woman’s head lifted off her shoulders by the curving arc of a sword, the eruption of blood, her lifeless body falling to the dirt. The Woman’s hand falls open, the white Stone rolling from her fingers.

  He sees the grinning warrior pick up the Stone with a gloved hand and drop it into a leather bag.

  Then there is nothing but blackness as Matt’s memory of the vision snaps shut.

  CHAPTER 63

  Matt opens his eyes in the room. His breath is heavy and his chest aches from exertion. Rivers of sweat pour down his forehead onto his soaked shirt.

  “Are you OK?” Leo says.

  “I’m fine.” Matt wipes his face. “Just a little tired. It was hard to hold the memory open for you to see.” He looks up at Leo. “Did you see it?”

  Leo relaxes his back and puts his elbows on his knees, looking down. “I saw her. I saw how they killed her and her people. They took her Stone.” Leo looks up. “Why?”

  “The Stones are powerful,” Matt says. “Men will kill to possess that kind of power.”

  Leo’s eyes open wide, as if the idea that men would kill for power is a new revelation to him. “But the Stones are good. They can heal. Why would anyone kill to possess them?”

  Matt finds himself again speaking the words he so often heard from his dad. “You have much to learn.”

  “But—”

  “Listen to me.” Matt puts his hand on Leo’s shoulder. “You have to understand this. Ryzaard will do anything to possess the Stones. He will kill without mercy, just like that warrior you saw in the vision.”

  “But why did she die?” Leo says. “The Woman in the vision had a Stone. Why didn’t she use it to protect herself? Why did she have to die?”

  “Good question.” Matt shifts his Stone from hand to hand. “I’ve been pondering it, and I think I know the answer. Maybe that’s why the Woman gave me the vision, to teach me something important. So I can share it with you and others. But I’m not sure you’ll like what I have to say.”

  “Tell me.”

  Matt brushes his hair back, as if to clear the way for a new understanding. “The Allehonen want us to succeed. They teach and guide, here a little and there a little. But they don’t take over. They let matters run their course. It’s a level playing field. Good and evil are given an equal chance, at least in this world. Good doesn’t always win. Even good people die.”

  Leo stares forward. “So what does that have to do with us?”

  “Everything,” Matt says. “And here’s where I need you to listen. There’s a real chance we will fail, Leo. You must comprehend that. Ryzaard may win and kill us both. He may succeed in taking over the world. There’s no guarantee that good will prevail, even with the Allehonen on our side. Freedom for all is too precious. They won’t take it from us, and they won’t take it from others.”

  Leo nods his head slowly, looking past Matt’s shoulder. He is either lost in thought or completely confused.

  Then Leo’s eyes light up with understanding. “But there’s more. Even though the Woman was killed, even though she lost everything—”

  “She became one of the Allehonen.” Matt nods in agreement. “A being of infinite beauty, wisdom and joy.”

  “She did her best, and even though she died, look what she became.” Leo’s face fills with a smile. “So that means we don’t have to be afraid of dying.”

  “That’s right,” Matt says. “No fear.”

  CHAPTER 64

  Kent walks out of the airport into the open air, a backpack hanging off one shoulder. A light rain is falling. The air is thick and viscous with humidity, and it almost requires effort to move through it. A thin film of moisture sticks to his skin like a hi-tech protective layer.

  “You’re killing me,” Jake mutters under his breath. “I was born and raised in the desert. I can’t survive in a world drenched in sweat like this.”

  “You’ll survive. Just think, no more dry skin, no more dandruff. After a few days, you won’t want to go back.”

  They cross a wide street in a light rain and jump on a long escalator that drops five hundred feet through a tunnel descending below the surface of Bangkok. Kent studies the advertisements on the wall to the right. There’s a holo of a monkey wearing a bright red Santa hat and sunglasses and sitting squarely on the head of a Buddha statue. He reads the words underneath.

  Come to Lopburi, Thailand, home of the Amazing Macaques.

  “That’s where we’re going, my friend.” Kent points at the holo.

  Jake tilts his head back slightly.

  “Did you just roll your eyes?” Kent says.

  “Remember?” Jake pushes up his aviators. “I don’t have any.”

  An hour later, they are enveloped in soft seats, shooting smoothly across the Thai countryside in a bullet train, gazing out at the blur of rice patties and lush jungle rushing by. It reminds Kent of his many trips to Japan with his wife Yoshiko and little Matt, going north from Tokyo to visit her family in Hokkaido.

  “How long before we get there?” Jake asks.

  Kent looks over at Jake, imagining that he’s a six-year-old Matt in the seat beside him. “Less than an hour.”

  “What’s the game plan?”

  “First, we’ll find a local hotel and check in. Just like a couple of tourists. Grab a quick bite to eat off the street and wait for dark. Then we pay a visit to the temple. See what we can find out.”

  “Then what?” Jake says.

  “What is this, some kind of interrogation by the I-FBI?”

  Jake exhales a long stream of tension and worry. “I don’t know. I just have a bad feeling about this. Like maybe we’re being followed. Getting stuck in a foreign country isn’t my idea of fun. If anything happens, it’ll be hard to melt into the countryside. We don’t even speak the language.” His aviators stare out the window at a line of power poles only meters a
way. They shoot by like a picket fence. Rain streaks down the glass. Lush green mountains stand still in the distance.

  “Speak for yourself,” Kent says.

  A young Thai woman pushes a snack cart down the aisle. Kent pulls a jax out of his backpack and brings it up to his mouth. “Do you have any chocolate?”

  Jake looks confused.

  Words of spoken Thai in a silky female voice emanate from the jax. Kent gazes up at the woman. She smiles and hands Kent a large bar of Meiji chocolate, straight from Japan. He bows his head slightly and hands her a coin. She takes it and moves down the aisle past them.

  “At least they still take American money here.” He opens up the chocolate, breaks it in half and hands the bigger piece to Jake.

  CHAPTER 65

  Ryzaard looks out the window at the Pacific Ocean spread out below him. It’s a fine day for flying. A gentle ping on his jax lets him know the latest updates are ready on the two men they are following to Thailand.

  Alexa stretches her legs on the cushion opposite Ryzaard in his private cabin. She is reading the same material. “Sounds like they beat us there by a few hours.”

  “That’s the plan,” Ryzaard says. “We don’t want to swoop down on them before they find the Stone for us.”

  “Are you sure they’ll lead us to a Stone?”

  “I’m not sure of anything, but if I were betting—”

  Ryzaard’s jax crackles. Jing-wei’s face appears on the holo screen.

  “Dr. Ryzaard,” she says. “I thought you would like to know the latest on developments in China.”

  “By all means,” Ryzaard says. “How is Miyazawa doing?”

  Jing-wei smiles. “I sent you the video of the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Shinto shrine in Beijing, the first one built in China in over a hundred and fifty years. It was quite a spectacle, all of it broadcast on the government’s official Mesh site.”

  “Good work,” Ryzaard says. “I appreciate your attention to detail in quietly smoothing the way for this.”

  Kalani’s face pushes into the holo screen next to Jin-wei’s. “Don’t forget about me,” he says.

  “And what was your contribution?” Ryzaard says.

  “Just followed your orders. Found my way into General Chou’s personal Meshfile, past the quantum cryptics and the twenty-seven layers of the Dragon’s Labyrinth.”

  “That’s all true, but not the whole truth.” Jing-wei butts into the conversation in an uncharacteristic way. “He couldn’t have done it without the six cluster systems I pulled together.”

  “True,” Kalani says. “But power alone isn’t enough. You have to know how to use it.”

  Ryzaard laughs at the interplay. “You’re both geniuses.” He turns his attention to Jing-wei. “Does Miyazawa suspect we laid the groundwork for his grand expansion of Shinto into China?”

  “No way,” Jing-wei says. “Based on his private conversations with colleagues in Japan, all of which we are tracking, recent developments have only convinced him of his own infallibility. He thinks he’s the greatest Shinto priest since the mythical creation of Japan.”

  “Excellent. Any indication that he knows of the Stones?”

  “None whatsoever,” Jing-wei says. “Naganuma managed to keep that secret from him. I don’t know how.”

  “We shall do the same.” Ryzaard bumps his jax, and the holo screen goes blank.

  After a few seconds, the jax pings again; Elsa Bergman’s face appears on the holo.

  “Dr. Ryzaard,” she says. “I have a progress report on the trading protocol.”

  Ryzaard leans forward. “How is it working?”

  “Jerek’s remote-sensor technology functions like a charm,” she says. “As long as you are within satellite range, the trading protocol will be fully functional with all three Stones, as if they’re still here in the building.”

  Ryzaard looks down at the harness on his chest. The three Stones nestle in separate slots. A thin line of telltales flashes green next to each one.

  “Very good,” he says. “It’s still experimental. Let me know if you notice any drop in performance.”

  “Understood,” she says.

  “One more thing.” Ryzaard relaxes back into his chair and lets his gaze drift out the window. “How is the little man in the round room doing?”

  “According to our new doctor, Little John is doing just fine,” Elsa says. “His internal organs have been ravaged, but a room-full of life-support mechs is keeping him alive and awake. It’s amazing how machines can force a human body to adapt to a state of constant high alert. And the hourly adrenaline shots have boosted performance of the protocol.”

  “Excellent report,” Ryzaard says.

  Her image dissolves into nothing, and the holo screen collapses into a floating green dot that slowly fades from view.

  Ryzaard stands up and reaches into a steel cabinet on the wall, removing a chilled bottle of champagne. “Alexa, my dear, we are back on track.” He pops off the cork and pours two glasses on the table between them.

  Just as he raises the glass to his lips, his jax makes a low whining sound.

  Alexa picks it up. “It’s Diego Lopez. Must be urgent.” She hands the jax to Ryzaard.

  “What is it, Diego?” he says.

  “Good news.”

  Ryzaard’s eyebrows jump up as he takes a sip of champagne. “I am always in the mood for good news, especially from you, Diego. What is going on?”

  “It’s the location protocol. I focused all our resources on Thailand, the area around Lopburi where you’re headed. The results just came back. Positive. There’s definitely a Stone there.”

  “Thank you, Diego. Just as I suspected. Keep tracking it and inform me of any changes.”

  “Will do.” Diego’s face fades into nothing.

  Leaning his head back, the realization that Ryzaard is about to acquire a fourth Stone sinks in.

  Almost too easy.

  He drains the rest of the champagne and puts the empty glass on the table.

  CHAPTER 66

  The eastern sky above Rio de Janeiro begins to lighten, sweeping away the stars as blackness gives way to purple.

  “The sun will be up soon,” Leo says. “We should go before the people start coming. It’ll be too hard if we wait.”

  “Funny,” Matt says. “We’ve been awake all night. Do you feel tired?”

  “Now that you mention it, no.”

  “Neither do I. Strange.”

  Leo reaches for his backpack. “Where are we going?”

  “Good question.” Matt picks up the leather-bound book and turns the pages. “I’ve been thinking about it ever since I came here.”

  “Isn’t is obvious? We have to find your girlfriend and get her away from that monster, Ryzaard.”

  Jessica’s images flashes into Matt’s mind, stabbing him with fear. Taking in a deep breath, he pushes it back. “It’s tempting. Believe me, I want to see her alive and safe. But it’s too risky. If it turns into a fight, Ryzaard might just decide to kill her out of spite. We need more Stones. He has two, maybe more. The only way to be sure we can overpower Ryzaard is for us to have overwhelming power. We need at least one more Stone Holder to join us.”

  “What are the choices?”

  “Six countries, all spread out.”

  Leo walks over to Matt and looks at the book in his hands. “Which ones?”

  “Canada, Africa, Thailand, Greece, Russia, Egypt.”

  Leo looks up at Matt. “How do we decide?”

  “Maybe it doesn’t matter.”

  “Maybe it does,” Leo says. “Can we ask the Allehonen?”

  “We could. But I’m not sure they’ll answer. They aren’t the type to talk much or give specific instructions.”

  Leo sits down in the middle of the floor. “Let’s give it a shot.”

  Sitting down in the lotus position, Matt takes out his Stone and holds it in his right hand. He closes his eyes and begins to meditate, hands hangi
ng down on his lap, the fingers of his left hand cupped in the fingers of his right.

  Leo imitates his every move.

  “Just reach out to them with your feelings,” Matt says. “Relax your body and mind. Open yourself to them.”

  “You mean pray?”

  Matt smiles but doesn’t answer.

  They wait in silence. Breathing in. Breathing out. Empty minds.

  The room grows visibly lighter. Matt cracks open his eyes, hoping to see the Woman standing a few feet away. Instead, the first rays of the morning sun have cut through the narrow gap between apartment buildings and entered through a window. His eyes drop back down.

  After five more minutes of silence, Matt relaxes and lets his eyes open. “I think we’re on our own for now.” His fingers find the leather book and rummage through the pages.

  Leo scoots next to him. “They speak English in Canada. Maybe we should start there.”

  Matt’s lips move as he scans the pages. “Interesting,” he says, his voice barely audible.

  “What?”

  Matt looks up at Leo, startled out of his reverie. “There’s a nickname that goes with each of the Stone Holders.”

  “What does mine say?”

  Matt flips to the end of the book and opens to the last page. “You’re the Healer. No surprise there.”

  “What do the others say?”

  Matt goes back to the beginning of the book and moves through it page by page. “Let’s see. There’s the Eskimo, the Pharaoh, the Oracle, the Swine, the Monkey—”

  “The Monkey?”

  “That’s what it says. The Monkey.”

  “Africa, right?” Leo’s eyes light up. “I’ve never been to Africa before.”

  “Take another guess. It’s not Africa.”