Morgen looked at her with troubled eyes, and then said: “We will—we can—help you clear your names, help you deal with the criminal charges that are pending against you, regardless of our success here tomorrow.”

He swallowed, looked briefly at Seth, and then back at Zoe. “I have no doubt that you will be exonerated if we can offer the proof that sits now inside that mine.” He paused again, a debater giving the judges time to absorb the information. “However, without the shroud and the Sophia Passion, your story—the facts in the matter—will be dismissed as lies, as fantasies. They are too fantastic to believe… without some sort of proof. You will either spend the rest of your lives in a prison or in hiding.

He got up and walked around the table to where Seth and Zoe sat. “Your help tomorrow makes our chances of success much greater and improves the chances that you will be cleared of all these charges. On the other hand, should we fail…” He shrugged as if trying to rid his shoulders of the implications. Seth suddenly felt the weight of the decision fall on his own shoulders.

“May I think about it until morning?” He asked.

“Of course,” Morgen nodded. “But you must sit up with us tonight as we study the plans. Preparation is all that will save our lives tomorrow. Preparation, luck, and prayer.”

THIRTY-FOUR

They arrived at the mouth of the abandoned mine about noon on Christmas Day. The weather had taken a turn for the worse. The wind whipped up off the valley with a vengeance, driving with it hard, sand-sized grains of snow that stung like cold needles when they found exposed skin. Visibility had dropped to nearly nothing as a whiteout threatened to close in around them. The sun was a vague gray disk against a uniformly gray sky. Seth and Zoe were grateful for the goggles Gunther had provided.

The snowmobiles crawled through the bright stinging murk as Gunther led them from landmark to landmark, relying on his uncanny knowledge of the area to keep them from getting lost.

Morgen sat behind Gunther on the lead snowmobile, which towed behind it a small tarp-covered sled filled with the tools, explosives, and other items he thought would be necessary. Behind him was a second machine, ridden by Stratton and piloted by one of the three men who had captured him the night before. Bringing up the rear of the procession was a third snowmobile, driven by Seth Ridgeway. Zoe sat behind him with her arms around his waist. He had tried to convince her to stay at the hut with Morgen’s other men, but she refused. “I told you in Zurich. I’ve found you and no matter what happens, no matter how dangerous things get, we’re not going to be separated again.” She could not be persuaded otherwise.

Seth doggedly kept the tail lights of the second snowmobile in sight. He could not see the lead machine, and to lose the second one would mean being instantly lost.