The far tunnel was a mirror to the first one. Bones filled niches; the skeletons again broken down and separated into body parts. Only these bones were bri ght white. There was no patina of age. With growing horror, she realized that what she was looking at were not ancient remains-they were the remains of fresh kills.
One niche, a yard deep, was half full of skulls.
A work in progress.
From their tiny sizes, she could tell that some of the skulls had belonged to children, even infants.
Before Claude had finished his instructions over the phone, he had spoken of a heinous act committed by the former head of the Ordre du Temple Solaire in Quebec. The man had sacrificed his own son, stabbing him with wooden stakes, believing the child was the Antichrist. Apparently the order’s taste for infanticide was not limited to that single instance.
The tunnel ended after another bend. Voices echoed from there, sounding like they were coming from another cavernous space. Seichan motioned for Renny to hang back. She edged forward, hugging a wall, and peered around the corner.
Another room-smaller, but similarly dotted with pillars-opened ahead. Only the pillars in this room were natural limestone columns, left behind as the miners dug out this chamber, making the space feel more ancient. But like the others, these pillars were similarly decorated with explosive charges.
In the center of the room, Seichan could make out twenty people gathered in a circle, all on their knees -but they were not adorned in ceremonial robes.
They wore ordinary street clothes. One couple, arm in arm, had come in formal attire for the momentous occasion. A handful looked drugged, weaving dully where they knelt or with their foreheads lowered to the floor. Three bodies lay sprawled closer to the tunnel where Seichan was hiding: facedown, in pools of blood, as dark as oil against the rock. It looked as if they’d been shot in the back as they tried to flee the coming destruction, likely having had second thoughts about giving up their lives in a suicidal orgy.
A pair of guards, with assault rifles and wearing Kevlar body armor, stood to either side of the gathering, shadowed by pillars, watching the group, ready to discourage any other deserters.
Seichan ignored them for the moment and focused on the two figures standing in the center of the circle.
One, with silver hair and Gallic features, wore a cloaked white robe, shining in a spotlight thrown by a nearby sodium lamp. Seichan could hear the soft chug of a generator powering the room. The man smiled beatifically upon his flock, arms raised.