“What do you mean by that?” Baldwin asked.
“What do you think I meant? If you say that Glastonbury Abbey is where King Arthur is buried, it seems like a far too obvious place to hide something. Surely all the grail and Excalibur experts in the world wouldn’t miss a clue right there in front of them. Would they?”
Her remark gave Baldwin something to think about.
“She’s right,” Mac added. “We find things like that all the time. People tend to miss the stuff that’s right in front of them. You ever open the refrigerator looking for the milk carton and you can’t see it, only to close the door, open it again, and it was right there the whole time?”
Baldwin said nothing, still considering their thoughts.
“Just saying, if you’ve been there before, maybe you missed something that was in plain sight. I’ll tell you one thing, though. Sean Wyatt may be a lot of things, but he’s not dishonest. If he said he’s going to Glastonbury, that’s where he’s headed.”
“We had a deal,” Baldwin said. “They were to drop this quest immediately and leave Europe. They’ve broken their end of the bargain.”
Helen cocked her head to the side, letting her auburn hair cascade down past her shoulder. “Sometimes deals have to be broken, if it’s for the right reasons.”
“Your friends have been warned. We will go to England. If your friends are there, we will let you go. If they aren’t, we will use you as bait.”
“Sorry,” Mac said. “But we’re on vacation. Don’t have time to take in England on this trip.”
A sinister grin crept across Baldwin’s lips. “It wasn’t a question. You’ll be coming with us. And you’ll come peaceably. And if you think those guns you have under that blanket are going to save you, you are sadly mistaken.”
He raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.
Instantly, two red dots appeared on Helen's and Mac’s chests.
Mac swallowed back the fear that welled in his mind. “You know, I was wondering where the other five were. Smart to put them outside like that. I don’t know about you, Helen, but I like this guy’s style.” He tried to remain calm, appearing cool on the outside.
“Yeah,” she said. “Pretty clever. Well, honey, I guess we’re going to England after all.”
Baldwin motioned to his men, and they moved toward the Americans. “Hand over your weapons to them. We leave for Glastonbury immediately.” He turned to make his way back to the door and stopped abruptly. He twisted his head around and looked at the couple as they peacefully surrendered to his men. “By the way, there are only eight of us now.”
He walked out of the chalet, leaving everyone inside with the somber thought. When he was outside, he looked down at the crumpled paper in his hand. It would make sense for Sean and his companions to mislead the Brotherhood. But what if he wasn’t lying? Why would Wyatt want Baldwin and his men to find them, especially after they’d immediately broken their bargain?
Baldwin didn’t know why, but something in his head told him Sean and the McElroys weren’t lying.
22
Geneva, Switzerland
“How did they know we were coming?” Han-Jae asked his three men. “The Americans knew we would be there, and when. Someone must have warned them.”
“Wyatt or Schultz?”
Those were the first names Han-Jae had considered, but there was no way to know for sure. They’d dropped off the grid after being arrested. Han-Jae called in an extra asset to watch the jail in Cologne. His man reported seeing the Americans escorted out of the building and put into two cars. He followed them to an old church on the other side of town in a quiet area full of rundown buildings.
After they were taken into the abandoned church, he didn’t see them again. If they left the building, they went out a different way than they went in. What was more troubling was the men who’d taken them from the jail.
Han-Jae’s tail reported that the man who appeared to be in charge had short blond hair and matched the description of the guy he’d seen talking to the Americans outside the Cologne city hall. The same guy who’d showed up at the hotel with eight other armed men.
He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter anyway,” Han-Jae said after a long moment of reflection. “What’s done is done. We were lucky to get out alive. Now we have to figure out our next move.”
“Which is?” Shaved Head asked.
“The McElroys said they had something important, something that might help Wyatt and his friends figure out the location of the sword.”
“Yes, but we don’t know where the McElroys went. Or Wyatt, for that matter.”
It was their biggest, really their only, problem at the moment. Sure, they were wanted men, and every cop in the country would be looking for them. Except they weren’t in France anymore.
After dropping down from the hotel window, the four men made a mad dash back to their car. They were barely able to get away before the police arrived and swept the area.
Roadblocks were set up mere minutes after they escaped Bellevaux. As Han-Jae and his crew sped toward the Swiss border, they knew they were racing against time. Heading to Switzerland was a gamble. While most of the borders were open and easily crossed, occasionally security would be tightened. That sort of thing usually happened when there were terrorists or criminals involved.
Fortunately, when they arrived at the border, the four men had no trouble getting across. Word about the hotel shootout had, apparently, not spread quickly enough.
Stuffing two of the men in the trunk may have also helped, since any reports would have suggested there were four men on the run. It was also to the North Koreans’ benefit that France and Switzerland weren’t big fans of profiling. Sometimes it seemed they’d rather let a murderer go free than arrest someone because they looked like the suspect.
Han-Jae rubbed his eyes. He was exhausted and could see the fatigue on his men’s faces. They needed to rest. He glanced down at his watch. Local time was 2:27 in the morning.
They’d found an old convenience store that had long been closed for business and broken in through one of the back doors. There were no usable supplies inside, but it gave them a place to regroup and get some rest. Han-Jae hadn’t been willing to risk getting a room anywhere. Even with their new passports, four Asian guys matching the description from a shootout in France would raise even the least suspecting person’s suspicions.
After rummaging through the office in the back and the former storage closet, they found a few jackets, packets of toilet paper, and even a tattered blanket, all things that could be used as pillows.
It wasn’t first class, but it would do. Han-Jae knew his men were hearty enough to endure far worse conditions. They’d been forced to sleep in muddy ditches during their training as soldiers. Their spy training had been even more rigorous, forcing them to go days with mere minutes of sleep. That intense training was a huge part of why any of them were still functioning.
“That’s it,” the youngest of the group said, breaking the long silence.
Han-Jae’s eyes perked slightly. “What’s it?”
“Cologne city hall.”
“What about it?” Buzz-Cut asked.
“When we were there, I heard the Americans talking about a symbol on the side of the building, the one where the priest was atop that…strange pedestal.”
“I remember which one you’re talking about,” Han-Jae said. “They said something about a church.”
“Yes. An abbey in England that Joseph of Arimathea supposedly founded. They said something about King Arthur.”
“He’s right,” Shaved Head agreed. “I heard the same thing, but I didn’t hear the exact location. There must be thousands of old churches in England.”
“It could be any one of them,” Han-Jae said.
“Not necessarily,” the youngest insisted.
He pulled out his phone and checked the battery life. The device still had 30 percent left before it needed a charge. He typed in
a few words and then hit the search button. A moment later, the screen changed and displayed several results. He tapped the first one and scrolled down until he found what he was looking for, then turned the phone around so the other three could see it.
“Glastonbury,” he said. “This is where they claim King Arthur is buried.”
“Very good,” Han-Jae said. “But that doesn’t mean the sword is there. And the codex the McElroys had is long gone.”
“Maybe,” the young man said. “But if Wyatt and Schultz were able to get away from those other men, this would be the first place they would go. It’s the next logical step.”
“Okay. I see where you’re going with this, but if the Americans went there, they’d be long gone by now,” Buzz-Cut argued.
“True. But it’s worth a shot. If they haven’t yet been there, we might still have a chance to catch up to them. And even if they aren’t at the abbey, it’s possible we can figure out what they were looking for and determine their next destination.”
Han-Jae considered the option for a long moment. “It’s our best lead at the moment. I haven’t heard anything else out of Schultz’s parents. The general has relayed no new information. That means we’ll have to take our chances on the abbey.” He leaned his head back against the glass of an old refrigerator, the white racks within long empty of the soft drinks and juices that were previously sold there. “Get some rest. I’ll take first watch. We sleep four hours, rotating a man each hour. That will give us three hours of sleep. First thing in the morning, we head for England.”
23
Glastonbury, England
Sean got out of the car and stretched his legs, working them back and forth to get the blood circulating again. Then he reached his arms to the sky to stretch them out. The other three exited the car and went through a similar ritual.
The flight from Frankfurt to London hadn’t taken long. It was a trip Sean and Tommy had made several times throughout the years. The drive from Bellevaux back to Frankfurt in the early hours of the morning, however, had been exhausting.
By the time they boarded the IAA private jet, all four were ready to collapse on anything that would make do as a bed. Even a carpeted floor would have been acceptable. Luckily for them, the seats on the plane reclined and provided a comfortable place to sleep on the short flight to England.
They didn’t wake up until the wheels touched down at Heathrow, and even then June and Tommy went back to sleep for a few extra minutes while the plane taxied to the private hangar where their car was waiting.
The sun still hadn’t come up over London when the Americans arrived. The lights of the city twinkled in the distance as some of the earlier risers began waking for their day.
After leaving the plane, their driver took them to a hotel where they got another two hours of sleep before leaving for Glastonbury in Somerset. Now they stood outside the abbey grounds, staring at the ruins beyond the perfectly manicured grass surrounding the edifices.
The sun was blunted by a constant haze of gray clouds blanketing the sky above. An occasional raindrop splattered the hood and windshield of the car, which reminded Sean and the others to make sure they had their waterproof jackets with them.
After zipping up their outerwear, the group made their way up a path toward the remnants of the ancient church.
The main structure was like something out of a fairy tale, especially with the early morning mists still lingering around the old stonework and trees. On the far end, two giant structures rose into the sky, both with dramatic sloping sides where time had worn down what was once a glorious entryway into the church. The Gothic frames where windows once hung were still there, giving a sense of what people of medieval Somerset might have once seen when they came to worship.
The Americans approached the entrance to the section of the abbey known as the Lady Chapel. Its structure was in far better shape than the rest. The walls, while worn down, were still mostly complete. The big stones used to tile the floors were still in place. Sean wondered whose feet might have touched those tiles over the years.
The four companions passed through an archway and stopped by a railing overlooking the long, narrow remains of the sanctuary. Steps led down into the bowels of the chapel on either side. The original floor of the main sanctuary was completely gone, allowing visitors to see a stripped-down version of the building.
“Pretty amazing how this part of the abbey has stayed in such good shape,” Tommy remarked.
“Especially when you consider that it and thousands of others like it were effectively shut down hundreds of years ago,” Adriana added.
“Shut down?” June asked.
“Yes. The Dissolution of Monasteries was a major event in the mid-1500s. The king at the time, Henry VIII, essentially disbanded all Catholic religious houses in the country. The government confiscated property, buildings, and money. He used much of it to fund his military campaigns. After that happened, most of the monasteries and abbeys fell into disrepair. This one suffered tremendously. I’m surprised it has remained in such good condition.”
“It doesn’t hurt that they claim it’s the location of Arthur’s tomb,” Sean said.
“Speaking of which,” Tommy said, pointing through an opening in the side of the building, “I think that’s it over there.”
The four wandered through the chapel and back out onto the grass, making their way toward a brown sign propped up on a metal rod. On the other side, they were able to read the words on the placard.
Site of King Arthur’s tomb.
In the year 1191, the bodies of King Arthur and his Queen were said to have been found on the south side of the Lady Chapel. On 19th April 1278 their remains were removed in the presence of King Edward I and Queen Eleanor to a black marble tomb on this site. This tomb survived until the dissolution of the abbey in 1539.
“That’s an interesting bit of history,” Tommy said. “But it doesn’t really help us with the symbols we’re looking for.”
“No. No it doesn’t,” Sean agreed. “Remember what the codex said. In the land where Arthur sleeps.”
“Check,” Tommy interrupted, pointing at the rectangle graveside cut into the grass.
“Right. Then it says whoever seeks the keys and finds the symbols the lady hides will discover the trophies that illuminate the way to the sword bearer’s altar.”
June raised both eyebrows. “You remembered all of that from looking at that codex one time?”
“Don’t get me started,” Tommy answered before Sean could. “He’s some kind of freak when it comes to that stuff. He killed it on tests when we were younger. Most of the kids in our classes always tried to cheat off his paper because they knew he had a ridiculous memory.”
“No, it’s not eidetic,” Sean said, sensing that would be her next question. “I’m just able to paraphrase things really well. Getting exact details is more difficult.”
“He’s being modest. I think he remembers the first twenty-seven digits of pi.”
“Sorry to break up this little Sean-worship session,” Adriana interrupted, “but we should probably get moving. The clue says to find the symbol the lady hides on high. If that’s the Lady Chapel, maybe the codex is talking about that.”
“Good idea,” Sean said.
Back inside the chapel, the four made their way around the interior, scouring the walls for the symbols described in the codex.
Unfortunately, there weren’t any symbols that were out of the ordinary. A few crosses and occasional triads of circles representing the Trinity were all they found.
“How are we supposed to know which symbols are the ones we’re looking for?” Tommy asked.
“I’m inclined to think that these symbols aren’t the ones we’re searching for,” Sean said. “Remember, the codex said that we have to find the ones the lady hides. These don’t seem like they’re hidden.”
“Yes, these are very typical of monasteries from that era, and they’re out in the open,” Adriana
said. She crossed her arms and spun around, taking in the entire structure. “Far too obvious to be the ones we’re trying to find.”
“She’s right. Let’s split up and check all the alcoves. Maybe there’s something in one of them that will point us in the right direction. Tommy, you and June check out over there. We’ll take this side.”
Tommy nodded. He and June took off toward the front corner of the building while Sean and Adriana went to the opposite corner and began investigating every recess and alcove along the chapel’s bottom floor. They moved in and out of the shallow cavities, making their way toward the grand entrance of the main sanctuary. After several minutes of thorough searching, the four met in the middle at the other end of the basement floor.
“Nothing,” Sean said. “You guys find anything?”
Tommy shook his head. “Nothing out of the ordinary. I don’t understand. Those symbols should be here.”
Sean frowned and walked up a set of steps, leaving his friends for a moment to get a better view from above. He scanned the stone façade of the walls, columns, and openings, but nothing stood out. He spun around and stared at the two big structures that formed the entrance to the main sanctuary. Most of its walls had long since been destroyed, the floor of the nave replaced by the same green grass that pervaded most of the grounds.
The other three joined him at the top of the stairs, hoping he’d seen something of note.
“The codex said the lady hides the symbols on high. So maybe the basement wasn’t the right place to start,” Sean said.
“You think they may be up closer to the roof?” Tommy asked.
Sean leaned his head to the side for a second. “I hope not. The roof was destroyed a long time ago, along with the upper walls. If the symbols were that high up, we might never find them. They’d be long gone by now.”
“What about over there?” June asked, pointing at the two opposing edifices across the way.
The Sean Wyatt Series Box Set 4 Page 43