THE UNYIELDING TRUTH

MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

"Nate," Luke said, in an exasperated tone. "Cut the crap, man. Tell me what's really going on."

"It's about Dad, about his personal life."

The brothers sat across from each other at a squared, high-top table inside Murphy's Taproom. On a rainy Wednesday night, the pub was alive with listless chatter, clinking glasses, and the endless stream of alcohol.

Luke drained his beer. "That's what this is about? Do I really look like I care about that man's personal life?"

Nate sighed. "Luke, our father was--"

"Was kind of uninvolved?" Luke interrupted. "Seriously, why on earth did you drag me out all the way to Manchester?"

"Okay," Nate said, "I don't think Dad's death in that underground excavation in the Himalayas was an accident. I think someone killed him, and it's because of what he found on that expedition."

Luke glared at him. "And you believe that?" he asked. "Because we're talking about a father who was more interested in his own hobbies. Being on the cover of magazines, earning tenure at Stanford University. Need I go on? Besides, who would go to great lengths to kill a renowned explorer?"

"Let me show you something before you go overboard," Nate said. He rummaged through a leather satchel propped next to his stool and handed a manila envelope across the table to Luke.

Luke opened the envelope, pulling out sheets and photos, placing what looked like evidence on the table. After thoroughly scanning the contents, he glanced up at Nate and asked, "What is this?"

"It could be a lead," Nate answered. "Four months ago, I hired a private investigator to do some digging when things started to feel really suspicious. Dad had a private office here in New Hampshire, and I think he was smuggling something from that excavation into the States."

"Michelle Reyes," Luke said, pushing across a photo. "Isn't she a close colleague of Dad's who lectures part-time at Stanford?"

Nate shook his head. "She used to lecture at Stanford. However, in the last eight months, she's been missing."

Luke's eyes widened. "Missing?" he repeated. "I don't understand. You think she took a sabbatical? Early retirement?"

"I don't think she's in Kansas anymore, let's just put it that way."

"Jesus," Luke said.

After a moment Nate continued: "I know you probably don't want to hear this, but there are a few things you need to understand. Dad had alot of secrets. Best I can piece it together he and Professor Reyes were involved in a secret organization. A cabal of fanatics with roots tracing back to the Dark Ages."

Luke raised an eyebrow. "So you're telling me Dad was apart of a cult? You're right. I don't want to hear it because there's no way this is feasible."

"Couldn't hurt to consider the possibility," Nate acknowledged. "Look, I get that this is all really weird, but Dad was in too deep. I believe this organization may have been funding all of his expeditions. They may have been, I don't know, using him to acquire important things for them."

"Uh-huh, sure they were. And what do you think they were hoping he'd find in the Himalayas? A magic lamp?"

Nate scowled at him. "You're missing the point, Luke. Maybe if you weren't so jaded, you'd be more open to taking this seriously."

Luke laughed. "Jaded?"

"Do you ever look in the mirror, Luke? I know it's not my business---"

"Now see," Luke said, "you're not wrong about that. And if you really gave a hoot about me, how come relatives like Aunt Laura or our cousin, Cecile, get to receive occasional drop-ins? What's it been, six or seven months now since you got discharged from the Navy? In all that time, how often have you come by or called to see how I am?"

Before Nate could answer, a waitress in a dark red button-up approached the table with a silver tray. "Can I get you boys a refill?"

Luke looked up at the waitress and said, "We'll have two Yuenglings, please. You can put it on my brother's tab."

"Got it," the waitress said and departed the table with their empty glasses on the tray.

When she left, Nate answered to his brother, "I know, and I'm deeply sorry. But Luke, I need your help with this. No matter how busy we've ever gotten, we've always found time for each other."

"So," Luke said, "about this private office of Dad's . . ."

*********************************

Luke and Nate stood in front of a frosted-glass paned door at the end of a short, empty hallway on the building's third floor. The lights in the office were off and the door was locked. As Nate managed to pick the lock, he gently pushed the door open to his father's office, and flicked on the lights.

The large, but lavish office was decorated in a style that vaguely resembled a men's club from the fifties, with rich wooden cabinets and rare antiques housed in glass display cases. The walls were lined with ebony bookshelves and a massive desk at the far end of the room, with papers laid out in small stacks alongside an old covered Dell computer. Behind the desk, there was a large coarkboard covered with tacked up newspaper clippings, aerial photographs, and maps.

"It looks like a private study in here," Nate said as he observed a volume on the bookshelf to his right.

"I guess," Luke said. He didn't seem all that impressed; he shuffled through a stack of unopened mail that had been set beside a nearby coffee table. "I don't know how he could live like this."

Luke wandered over to the large desk and quickly peaked through one drawer after another. Nothing appeared to be out of sorts. Then, as he opened the bottom drawer to his right of the desk, he grinned and retrieved a velvety purple Crown Royal bag.

"Hey, Nate," Luke said excitedly. "Look at this."

Nate came over, and narrowed his eyes at Luke. "Really? You want another drink?"

"Let a man be," Luke said with a laugh. "I'll admit, Dad sure loved his Crown."

He opened its strings, and instead of finding a fine-cut glass bottle full of whiskey, he dumped out a multi-faceted piece of citrine into his palm. It started to glow as he stared down at it, flaring like a supernova as light shot all around him and Nate, whirling faster and faster. Finally, as if it had suddenly ran low on batteries, the whirling light dissipated.

Luke felt a chill run down the back of his spine.

"What in the hell just happened?" 

Nate shrugged. "Your guess is good as mine, brother."