Conjuring Darkness Read Online Free PDF Page B

lonely feeling.
    She wasted no time and immediately went to the bedroom closet. The combination was simple to remember thanks to Kate’s clue. The numbers corresponded to the months and days of their parents’ birthdays. The inside of the safe had a couple of drawers and a big compartment underneath.
    She pulled open one of the drawers and retrieved an envelope. Inside, she discovered the old coin mentioned in Kate’s letter. The size of the coin surprised her. She imagined that it would be small, like the ancient Roman coins she had seen. While those old relics were only the size of a penny or smaller, this coin was twice the size of a silver dollar and more than twice as thick. It was heavy and she wondered if it was made of gold. Its finish was smoothed by the centuries but its golden luster still shined.
    She carefully studied the markings on it. One side had an intricate design that appeared to be an ornate seven pointed star. Toward the outer edge were several symbols that looked like they could be Hebrew, but she wasn’t sure about that.
    She flipped the coin over and saw the image of a woman with large wings that stretched out from her back. Her hands were pointing down with palms turned outward in front of her and the head had two curved horns. The feet were not human, but those of a bird of prey. The talons dug into the flesh of a captive animal. Lexi presumed that it must be a lion.
    The surface had several of the same kinds of symbols. They had as little of a meaning to Lexi as the ones on the other side. The coin made Lexi feel uneasy and she felt a chill run up the back of her neck. She gently set the coin back into the drawer as if it were something fragile or dangerous.
    The larger compartment had a door that she opened. She was greeted by a pile of cash. The money was all counted and bundled with paper wrappers according to denomination, just like the ones she saw at the bank. There were 100s, 50s, and some 20s that totaled $90,000. “Holy cats!” Lexi shouted out loud.
    She whispered, “Kate, why would you keep all of this cash in this safe and not in some bank account? What were you expecting to need it for? Maybe this was Kurt’s idea.” She closed up the safe with the thought that it would be better to leave everything inside, until it was needed.
    Her next step was to make contact with the man that was apparently going to be her security guard for the trip. Her eyes filled with unshed tears as she walked into Kurt’s old home office. It was strange how everything looked like he had just walked out of the room and would be back any minute. Lexi realized that Kate still couldn’t bring herself to pack up anything. She had simply decided to leave the room alone to defer renewed grief for another day. Kurt’s old desk chair had a black leather swivel chair with a tall back. Lexi always thought it was the most comfortable chair ever designed.
    His polished mahogany desk still held a calendar and displayed the date he died. Several pictures were on the desk. The most prominent was a snapshot taken of Kurt with Kate, smiling as if they had eternity before them. Randomly placed frames held more pictures of him, some with other men, all armed to the teeth. Some of them were in the desert and some were in jungles. These were the remaining fragments of Kurt’s danger filled days as a CIA operative.
    Lexi took a minute to look at the men, trying decide if any of them would be the man she was going to meet. Every one of them were sculpted masterpieces of muscle. She pulled the key that she had received in the package out of her pocket and slid it into the silver drawer lock.
    The drawer contained various papers and a single manila folder. The folder had a yellow post-it note that said, “Kate, here are the instructions if you ever need to reach Kidd in an emergency.” 
    Lexi removed the envelope from the drawer and laid the contents out before her on the desk. There was a sheet of paper that had a