Solomon Key

by David Wood

  SOLOMON KEY- A Dane Maddock Adventure

  By David Wood

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Solomon Key- A Dane Madock Adventure (Dane Maddock Adventures, #10)

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Epilogue

  Books by David Wood

  About the Author

  The legacy of a kidnapped African warrior turned pirate sets Dane Maddock and Bones Bonebrake on a collision course with a deadly organization that will stop at nothing to claim the greatest treasure in history. But more than riches are at stake. Enemies old and new and even old friends stand in Maddock's way in a struggle to control the mysterious power unlocked by the SOLOMON KEY.

  Praise for David Wood

  “David Wood has done it again. Within seconds of opening the book, I was hooked. Intrigue, suspense,monsters, and treasure hunters. What more could you want? David's knocked it out of the park with this one!” -Nick Thacker, author of The Enigma Strain

  “Dane and Bones.... Together they're unstoppable. Rip roaring action from start to finish. Wit and humor throughout. Just one question - how soon until the next one? Because I can't wait.”

  -Graham Brown, author of Shadows of the Midnight Sun

  “What an adventure! A great read that provides lots of action, and thoughtful insight as well, into strange realms that are sometimes best left unexplored.” -Paul Kemprecos, author of Cool Blue Tomb and the NUMA Files

  “A page-turning yarn blending high action, Biblical speculation, ancient secrets, and nasty creatures. Indiana Jones better watch his back!” -Jeremy Robinson, author of SecondWorld

  “With the thoroughly enjoyable way Mr. Wood has mixed speculative history with our modern day pursuit of truth, he has created a story that thrills and makes one think beyond the boundaries of mere fiction and enter the world of why not?” -David Lynn Golemon, Author of the Event Group series

  “A twisty tale of adventure and intrigue that never lets up and never lets go!” -Robert Masello, author of The Einstein Prophecy

  “Let there be no confusion: David Wood is the next Clive Cussler. Once you start reading, you won't be able to stop until the last mystery plays out in the final line.”-Edward G. Talbot, author of 2012: The Fifth World

  “I like my thrillers with lots of explosions, global locations and a mystery where I learn something new. Wood delivers! Recommended as a fast paced, kick ass read.”-J.F. Penn, author of Desecration

  Solomon Key- A Dane Maddock Adventure

  Copyright 2017 by David Wood

  All rights reserved

  Published by Adrenaline Press

  www.adrenaline.press

  Adrenaline Press is an imprint of Gryphonwood Press

  www.gryphonwoodpress.com

  Cover design by Kent Holloway Book Cover Designs

  This is a work of fiction. All characters are products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.

  Prologue

  Off the coast of Jamaica

  Peter Archer, or Red Pete as he was known to his crewmates, crept silently across the deck of the Blue Crane, which lay at anchor in sight of Port Royal. It was a moonless night, and the crew lay in drunken slumber after a night in port. Even the captain had imbibed to excess. This might be Pete’s only chance.

  He crept belowdecks, making his way down to the hold where Blue Crane’s human cargo was bound. His heart raced. Could he really do this? Why was he risking his life for someone he barely knew?

  “He’s your friend,” he whispered to himself. “Maybe your only friend.”

  He smelled the cargo hold long before he reached it. The foul odor of humans kept at close quarters for a prolonged period. The foul stench of sweat mingled with the stink of feces, urine, and stale air. He retched as he unlocked the hold and clambered down into the midst of the Africans who would soon be sold at auction.

  Caesar was awake. His dark skin rendered him nigh invisible down here in the blackness of the hold. He sensed, rather than saw, Pete.

  “What are you doing?” he hissed. His English was improving rapidly, but his accent remained heavy.

  “Don’t talk.”

  Pete unlocked the chains that bound Caesar’s wrists and ankles, and helped the big man to stand.

  “Follow me.” He led Caesar out of the hold and up to the next deck.

  “We’re getting out of here,” he said softly. “Everyone’s drunk. Even the captain. We’ll steal a boat and lose ourselves in Port Royal.”

  “What will we do?”

  Pete shrugged. “I don’t know. Sign on to a pirate’s crew, maybe? They won’t care who we are or where we’re from.”

  Caesar nodded.

  “I must have my ring.”

  “Your what?

  “My ring. The one the captain took from me. I must have it back.”

  Pete remembered the ring. It was very old. Not worth anything, the captain had said, yet he had worn it ever since taking it from the captured African warrior.

  “The captain has it.”

  “Show me the way,” Caesar said.

  Pete ran a hand through his stringy red hair. What was Caesar thinking? “Are you mad? If he wakes, we’re both of us done for.”

  Caesar grabbed him by the arm. Damn, the man was strong. “He will not wake. Show me.”

  Trembling with fear, Pete guided Caesar to the captain’s cabin and stood watch, determined to leap overboard if anyone discovered him. After what felt like an eternity, Caesar returned. He wore his ring and a satisfied smile.

  “He will not wake again. Let us go.”

  Every little noise sounded like a gunshot to Pete. The soft pad of their feet on the deck, every breath. He was certain his heart must sound like a snare drum to everyone on board.

  Finally, blessedly, they found themselves in the dinghy rowing for port. Caesar had never rowed before, but he caught on quickly, driving them through the water with powerful strokes Pete could never hope to match.

  Just as he was beginning to relax, the moon broke through the clouds, and he saw movement on board Blue Crane.

  “There they are!” a voice called.

  A shot rang out, the slug splashing in the water just feet from their boat.

  Caesar stopped rowing.

  “What in the Seven Hells are you doing? They’re shooting at us!”

  Caesar stared at the ship, seemingly unaware of Pete’s presence. He touched the ring on his hand and whispered something.

  Pete jerked upright as a cloud of mist surrounded them. Shouts from the ship told him the crew members were as confused as he.

  The wind began to rise, whipping the calm waters into a frenzy of whitecaps. Pete grabbed hold of the gunwale and began to pray.

  A roar filled his ears, the shouts of the crew turning to screams. He heard the sound of ripping canvas, the snap of b
roken boards.

  And then silence.

  He opened his eyes to see calm waters. No sign of Blue Crane. He turned to Caesar, unable to speak.

  “Now,” Caesar said, returning to the oars, “we will go be pirates.”

  Chapter 1

  Caesar’s Spring, Florida

  The sun beat down on his bare shoulders as Dane Maddock broke through the tree line and stepped to the edge of the water. The spring-fed sinkhole was impossibly blue, its steep sides running straight down into the dark depths. He stood there, staring down, wondering what secrets it might hide. He would soon find out.

  “Now this is my idea of a dive site.” Bones Bonebrake, Maddock’s partner and former colleague in the Navy SEALs, looked around, nodding approvingly.

  “Bones, you are not even looking at the spring.”

  “You look at what interests you; I’ll pay attention to what I’m interested in.” The powerfully built, six and a half foot tall Cherokee grinned as his eyes swept the shore, taking in the many bikini-clad young women. “Matter of fact, I think we should skip the dive altogether. There’s plenty of treasure up here.”

  “You are all class, Bones,” Maddock said.

  “And you’ve been even more curmudgeonly than usual since you broke up with my sister.” Bones held up a big hand, forestalling Maddock’s retort. “Look, I get it. The two of you broke up, the chick you were hot for turned out to be a bad guy. That would piss me off, too. But all the more reason to avail yourself of the local hospitality.”

  “That’s not exactly how it happened,” Maddock said. But, Bones was essentially correct. He and his fiancée, make that ex-fiancée, Angel Bonebrake, had agreed to take some time off from their relationship. The breakup had happened after Isla Mulheron had abandoned them in Scotland. He supposed he was splitting hairs with that distinction.

  Bones was paying him no mind. He was grinning at a pair of brunettes clad in Confederate flag bikinis. The girls were smiling back, clearly enjoying the attention. “Did you say something?” he asked.

  “I thought you didn’t like rednecks,” Maddock said, casting a meaningful glance at the women’s attire.

  “Usually I don’t, but I suppose I could make an exception.” He turned and arched an eyebrow. “Live a little, Maddock. Who knows? One of them might be into short little blond dudes.”

  Maddock smirked. Sturdily built and just a hair over six feet tall, he was hardly short or little, but most people looked small when standing alongside Bones. “Don’t be so cocky. You know how cold these spring-fed pools are. Those girls might not be so interested in you once you come back out of the water, Mr. Shrinkage.”

  “You know, that’s not cool. Besides, that was a long time ago.”

  “But it did happen. I’ve got witnesses.”

  “Screw you, Maddock. Let’s dive.”

  Chuckling, Maddock strapped on his dive gear and checked his equipment while Bones did the same. He had been looking forward to this dive ever since hearing about Caesar’s Spring. Located in the Florida Panhandle, the spring had been kept a secret by the owners of the land upon which it was located, and had only recently been open to the public. To Maddock’s knowledge, no serious divers had investigated it. The odds of anything of value being found there were slim, but that was not at the top of his list. For him, it was the chance to be the first to explore the underwater passages that fed the spring.

  “Why do you think they call it Caesar’s Spring?” Maddock said aloud, not really asking.

  “Beats me,” Bones said. “The only Caesar I’m really interested in is Caesar’s Palace.”

  “Philistine.”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Bones moved to the edge of the water and jumped in feet first. Seconds later, his head broke the surface. “Holy freaking crap. How cold is this water?” he sputtered.

  “Sixty-eight degrees year-round.” Maddock couldn’t help but laugh. “What did you expect from a pool fed by spring water? It’s not like it’s the first one we’ve dived.”

  “I try to block those out of my mind as quickly as possible. Now, get your ass in here. This was your idea, after all.”

  Maddock plunged into the water. Even in his diving suit, it was a shock to his system. No matter how many times he did it, diving in frigid water was not something one grew accustomed to.

  The daylight fled as they descended through the crystalline waters until they reached the bottom. Here, the world was blanketed in shadow, like the last hours of dusk. He flipped on his headlamp, swam to the center of the pool, and began moving in a slow circle, gradually working his way outward. Bones swam alongside him. Maddock knew his friend would rather swim to and fro without a plan, simply taking it all in. Maddock preferred a methodical approach, not wanting to miss anything.

  Looking down, Maddock could see the detritus-choked bottom, all covered in a layer of silt. It was possible, he supposed, that something of value lay beneath the ground here. They wouldn’t know without a metal detector, and perhaps not even then. Considering the site’s remote location, they would likely only find bits of rubbish and not much else. He and Bones were treasure hunters by trade. They’d enjoyed a few big scores lately, and weren’t interested in scavenging for scraps. Anyway, he wasn’t here to work—he was here to relax and forget his troubles.

  The spring was a good twenty meters in diameter, but they quickly worked their way out to the edge. Down here the lack of sunlight and the frigid waters kept the vegetation to a minimum. It was all silt and rocks.

  It wasn’t long before they found what they were looking for–an underwater passageway leading back into the darkness. It was more than large enough for the two of them to swim abreast. Bones turned to him and gave the thumbs-up.

  Maddock nodded. This was both the most exciting and most dangerous part of freshwater diving. It was easy to get lost in passageways like these. They often branched off in many directions, and if one was not careful, a diver kicking too hard could stir up a cloud of silt, blinding them. Many divers had lost their lives in Florida’s freshwater springs. In fact, in most places, the authorities had posted harsh warnings to that effect. There were no such signs here, at least not yet.

  Maddock unhooked his reel line from his belt and secured one end just inside the entrance to the passageway. With this to both help them find their way back and mark their distance, he and Bones swam into the darkness. The going was slow, but they managed to make their way along without disturbing the fine particles that coated the walls. A gentle current worked against them, but it provided little in the way of resistance. Within a few meters they found themselves in utter darkness, their headlamps slicing through the blackness. While many people would’ve found the confines of this channel constricting, even claustrophobic, Maddock found a certain peace in the utter darkness and complete silence. Furthermore, he and Bones had been in much tighter confines in the past. This was an easy dive so far.

  The channel snaked its way back into the bedrock. A few side passages, much too small for a diver to enter, branched off on either side. Maddock was pleased that he saw no signs that anyone had been here before.

  He’d always been fascinated with exploration. As a youth, he had devoured books about the great explorers in world history and in his subsequent career he’d had a few opportunities to come to find things that had gone on undiscovered for centuries or more. There was a thrill that came with knowing he was the first person to explore a place, or at least the first in a very long time.

  The passageway finally branched off in two directions, and they paused to decide their next move. Maddock looked at Bones who gave a noncommittal wave of his hand as if to say, “Whichever.”

  Maddock checked his air to make sure they were still in good shape. They could safely go on a little bit longer. But which way?

  They were spared the decision when a cloud of silt suddenly poured forth from the passageway to their right. Maddock flashed a confused glance at Bones, not that either cou
ld see the other very well with their masks on. Had something collapsed up ahead? He moved up for a closer look, and his answer came in an instant.

  A diver, flailing wildly, crashed into him. Maddock had been diving for most of his life and assessed the situation in an instant. The diver had clearly gotten lost and become panicked. Frantic, the diver clawed at Maddock’s regulator. He needed to get control of the situation right away.

  He seized the diver, a woman based on her physique, pinning her arms to her sides. She struggled and kicked, but could not break free of his strong grip. Meanwhile, Bones forced her regulator into her mouth and held it there, nodding slowly. The woman kicked Maddock hard in the shin with her heel, and he hooked one leg around hers to keep her motionless. At long last, he felt her stop fighting and relax. Soon she was taking slow regular breaths. Hoping it was safe, Maddock released her from his grasp.

  The woman pressed her hands together and made a little bob of her head to express her gratitude. Maddock nodded, then pointed to their guide line, and then motioned back down the passageway. She nodded to indicate that she understood.

  Bones led the way on the return journey, with Maddock bringing up the rear to collect the rope. With the current at their backs, they made their way quickly out into the sinkhole and back to the surface, Maddock pausing just long enough to unhook their guide line and finish reeling it in.

  They broke the surface at the water’s edge. The diver clutched the rock ledge, tore off her mask, and hung there, eyes closed, gasping for breath. Maddock and Bones took up positions on either side of her and waited for her to collect herself. Finally, she looked up and managed a weary smile.

  She was beautiful, with big eyes, dark brown skin, and high cheekbones. Her hair was shaved almost down to the scalp, which somehow seemed to emphasize her delicate features and athletic build.

  “Thank you,” she breathed. Maddock thought he heard a touch of East Africa in her voice. Perhaps Ethiopia. “I was in trouble. I can’t believe I panicked like that.”

  “You were lucky we came along,” Bones said. “People die down in those springs all the time. You really shouldn’t have been diving alone.”