“Oh my,” the woman cooed. “I do hope he can swim. My name is Alex Kincade. And I understand we’re all searching for the same thing.”
“Somehow I doubt that,” Kelly challenged.
“Doubt all you like, it’s true. The Golden and Rosy Cross.
You’re quite the resourceful little group; we’d like to combine forces.”
Kelly grinned when he saw movement behind the pair.
“Good luck with that.”
“Hands up,” Nick said as he stepped behind them, his gun out. He was dripping from head to toe, his curly hair plastered to his head. “On your knees, both of you. You’re under arrest.”
Nick only had one pair of handcuffs on him. He pestered Julian until the man rolled his eyes and provided a handful of white zip ties from one of the pockets of his jacket.
“Where do you keep all that stuff?” Kelly asked.
“Doc, help me,” Nick grunted. He yanked the woman’s hands behind her back and tightened the zip tie. “You have the right to remain silent,” he said against her ear. “Professor Singleton.”
“Wait, you know her?” Kelly blurted. He had the man restrained and on his knees. Both suspects were staying quiet.
“She’s the one I spoke to on the phone. Told me who JD was.”
“JD,” she said, her voice like smooth honey. It was even nicer in person than it had been on the phone. “Like John Doe. That’s cute.”
“You teach pop culture archaeology huh? Nice cover.”
“I try,” she said with a shrug.
JD stalked toward her, and Nick put a hand out to keep him from getting close enough for her to hurt him. “How do you know who I am?” JD demanded.
“You really don’t remember anything?” she asked.
“Answer the question,” Nick growled. He poked her hard in the back.
Alex cleared her throat. “If you’re going to court me, Detective, I like roses. Red ones.”
“How do you know who I am!”
“We were colleagues, Casey,” Alex said with a hint of injury in her tone. “We find lost works of art and liberate them from their prisons.”
“Wow,” Kelly drawled. “That’s the fanciest ‘I steal things’ I’ve ever heard.”
Nick hummed in agreement.
The woman laughed. “I imagine you think it’s along the same lines as Mr. Cross’s ‘I deal antiques’ in reference to cold-blooded murder.”
Julian’s eyes widened. “You know me?”
“I know of you. I was warned you’d be out here.”
Nick recognized the signs of Julian coiling to attack, but there was no way he could get to him in time to keep it from happening. He wrapped an arm around Alex and turned her, instead, putting himself between her and Julian. Kelly intercepted Julian as he launched himself at them, wrapping him up and trying to talk him into being calm.
“They have him!” Julian snarled. Kelly had his hands full trying to restrain him.
JD edged away from them, a hint of a wild animal in his eyes, which were darting from Julian to Nick and back.
“It’s them, they took him!” Julian railed.
They were drawing way too much notice from the crowds of tourists. Nick tucked his sopping wet shirt in under the badge on his belt so it would be visible.
“We didn’t take anyone,” Alex insisted. She looked over her shoulder, and Nick turned a little so he could see Julian.
Kelly had him in a headlock, but he was trying not to hurt him so they were both struggling. “Good Lord,” Alex said quietly. “You have a leash for him, right?”
Nick tightened the zip tie, and Alex winced. “What was your endgame here, huh?” he asked. “You followed us hoping we’d lead you to the treasure?”
“Pretty much, yeah. When the clues led you here, though, I realized you were as stuck as we are. This isn’t the right place.”
Nick’s brow furrowed, and he glanced again at the others.
Alex’s Irish henchman was standing calmly aside, his hands tied behind his back, watching. He hadn’t tried to make a run for it. Julian was on his knees, head hanging, chest heaving.
Kelly stood over him, a hand on his back, murmuring words to calm him.
Nick wiped his wrist over his forehead to stop the water from dripping in his eyes. As soon as he’d heard Julian give his warning on the bridge, he’d sunk below the ripples and let the current take him downstream, then doubled back to get the drop on their unexpected company.
“Okay,” he said almost to himself. “Okay. Hold on.”
Julian glared at him, seething.
Nick turned Alex again, making her stumble as he forced her to face the others. “Tell us a story, Professor,” he growled.
“From the beginning.”
Alex cleared her throat. “You seem like a CliffsNotes crowd.”
Kelly stood and shook out his shoulders. He helped Julian to his feet. JD came closer.
“Okay, let’s start with the basics. Do you know who the Rosicrucians were?”
“Secret society precursor to the Masons,” Kelly grunted.
“They were esoteric, focused their efforts on nature, healing, and chemistry,” Nick added.
“Impressive. They are rumored to have made incredible breakthroughs, including gaining mastery in alchemy and, most famously, creating the philosopher’s stone.”
“Like Harry Potter?” Kelly asked.
“No,” Alex said, her voice cold. “Not like Harry Potter.”
“Get to the point a little faster,” Nick urged.
“The point is, those are myths and legends, but the reality behind them is true. The Rosicrucians made valuable advances with their equations and formulas. They could cure illnesses in the Middle Ages we could only hope to fight against today.
There are even contemporary sources that imply they were able to cure cancer.”
“The Rosicrucians had a cure for cancer?” JD asked. He’d pulled to his true height as Alex spoke, a look of recognition dawning on his face. He winced and smacked his forehead.
“They wrote the formulas on gold scrolls to keep them from being destroyed.”
“Exactly,” Alex said. “He hasn’t lost all that knowledge up there after al .”
“Golden scrolls?” Nick repeated.
“When the Masons rose to power, they sought to protect that knowledge. They were at war with the Catholic Church, who was in the midst of a power grab. The Pope decreed everything the Rosicrucians had discovered was magic, of the devil, all that crap. The burgeoning Masonic powers couldn’t risk the Church obtaining the scrolls and melting them down.