The Dark Temple

by The Dark Temple (retail) (epub)

  The two robed guards now pushed the sarcophagus lid back into place so that Donitz’s muffled screams became only just audible. Then they picked up the wicker baskets and awaited their next instruction.

  ‘Come to me, my son,’ the hooded one ordered, standing up.

  Lombardi rushed over and clasped both arms firmly around him. ‘Thank you, Father, for your infinitely wise judgment,’ Lombardi sobbed as fresh tears welled.

  He gently pushed Lombardi away and placed both hands on his shoulders. ‘Such flattery is most unbecoming to you, Marco.’ He then clicked his fingers and one of the robed guards reached over and slid back a metal cover so that Donitz’s face became visible. They then raised one of the baskets and directed it towards the narrow opening.

  From the gloom inside the basket something small stirred, followed by another and then another until reaching its edge, something poked into the light. Something which caused the imprisoned Donitz to scream in terror.

  The pincers of the shiny black emperor scorpion clicked together just before it dropped into the sarcophagus and onto Michael Donitz’s face. There it immediately administered a sting to his left cheek, causing him to convulse in pain within his small prison. Another scorpion now appeared at the basket’s rim but, before it could leap down, both the robed guards tipped their wicker containers forward, simultaneously shedding dozens of these small stinging beasts right on top of the man’s face.

  With the screaming getting louder and more frenzied, the slot on the sarcophagus cover was slid shut so his yells of agony and fear became muffled.

  The man addressed as ‘Father’ now turned his attention back to Lombardi, wiping away his tears with a gloved hand. ‘Now re-join the others, but know this: your doubts must be addressed. You need no rebirth, but instead a show of faith must be given.’

  Lombardi stole a glance at the sarcophagus, which was now rocking back and forth in desperation and he shuddered. ‘I will prove my faith, Father. I now make you that promise.’

  ‘Good.’ Father gestured Lombardi back to his seat. To his left, another small portion of the cave wall slid away, and a man in a black suit emerged, holding a silver platter with a glazed suckling pig resting on top. ‘Now let us eat, my sons, and discuss our plans further.’

  Chapter 15

  ‘Sebastian Brulet sends his regards,’ Stefani said as she climbed up the flip stairs and into the cabin of the Cessna Citation X jet, ‘and you’ll be happy to know he didn’t seem as pissed off as he could have been.’

  Harker slouched back in his seat and let out a light sigh. ‘Good. That’s one less thing we have to worry about.’

  They had caught a taxi straight away and had been holed up inside the jet for the past few hours, in case a quick getaway was required. There had been no news reports as yet concerning the murder of Adonis Anastas, but Harker wanted to be in the air before it received national coverage.

  Stefani reeled in the steps and then closed the door behind her, just as one of the pilots poked his head around the cloth drape dividing the cockpit. ‘Do we have a destination?’ he asked in a Scottish accent.

  ‘We do,’ Stefani replied and handed the captain a note. ‘Would you please file a flight plan, as we’ll need to leave shortly.’

  She took the seat opposite Harker and stared at him as he continued his examination of the strange artefact retrieved from the museum. ‘It means a lot to you what he thinks, doesn’t it?’

  ‘Who… Sebastian?’ he replied, continuing to rub his fingers across the undeciphered engravings, clearly deep in thought as to its origins.

  ‘Yes, I mean Grand Master Brulet.’

  ‘If you’re insinuating he’s like a father figure to me, you’d be wrong.’

  Stefani gave an amused chuckle. ‘You have to admit it does sometimes seem like that.’

  Harker placed the artefact on the table between them and stared at her knowingly. ‘When I first met Sebastian he was more of a mystery to me than anything else, and because of the unique way I entered the Templar organisation it makes my relationship with him different from most others – such as yourself.’

  This explanation was given with a sliver of sarcasm and Stefani now adopted Harker’s relaxed demeanour by slouching back into her own seat and placing both hands behind her head. ‘Do tell.’

  Harker was now enjoying the uncaring, too-cool-for-school body language Stefani was giving off and he too placed his hands behind his head and upped the ante by stretching his muscles with a satisfied groan. ‘Almost all Templars are inducted from a young age, correct?’

  Stefani continued to smile, offering a slow nod of her head.

  ‘Well, to an impressionable child the Grand Master must seem like a giant of a man – the head of a family, if you will – and along with his distinctive appearance and those cross-shaped pupils of his, it would be hard not to hold him in a certain, perhaps mystical, reverence.’

  ‘Now that is true,’ she replied and was also clearly enjoying this moment of play after those heart-pounding moments back at the museum, ‘When I was first introduced to Sebastian, I was only six and my father said that he found me in an orphanage and that I showed promise. I will admit, initially, that I found him frankly terrifying, but the conversation we then had put me at ease right away.’

  ‘Oh, what exactly did he say to such a fragile, young slip of a girl?’ Harker replied, trying not to chuckle over his blatant teasing of her.

  ‘He joked that, although he might have the appearance of a wizard, his spell-making abilities were zero and if he possessed a wizard’s name it would be “Snotbags”, because the only thing he could conjure up these days was a snotty cold.’

  This comment had Harker laughing out loud. ‘He does have a way of putting one at ease, doesn’t he?’

  ‘He certainly does,’ Stefani replied, but now looking serious. ‘You’re right when you suggest I held him in the upmost esteem from the get-go – and I still do. So, then, Alex Harker, how is it that our views of him differ?’

  Harker definitely detected a spot of flirtation materialising between them and he now made a conscious decision to curb down the tone, slowly. ‘As I said, at first Sebastian was more of a mystery to be uncovered but, as I delved deeper into your world, it developed into more of a tight friendship than anything else, and one on an equal footing.’

  ‘We all know about your delving deeper into our world,’ she replied more seriously. ‘Your adventures are quickly becoming the stuff of Templar lore, since every major recent event has found you at its centre, Alex Harker, and there are many who see your arrival as a gift from heaven itself.’

  ‘Well, I do possess a magnetic personality,’ he joked, unconsciously dipping back into flirt mode. ‘And I seem to attract some pretty unexpected occurrences, so that’s no surprise.’

  ‘Then you should also know that there are others who believe you were sent to us directly from the gates of hell.’

  This last remark caused any feelings of self-esteem to evaporate immediately, and Harker lowered his hands to his lap. ‘Well,’ he cleared his throat, ‘you can’t have one without the other can you?’

  ‘Very well put,’ Stefani replied. ‘Truth is that if the majority did not subscribe to the former assessment, you would never have been accorded the title of Jarl. But you’ll be glad to know I happen to be one of those also.’

  As he gazed across at this attractive young woman with a sparkle in her eye, an image of Chloe materialised in Harker’s mind, wearing an expression that said one thing and one thing only: ‘Grow up, Alex’. With that mental warning, he now turned to the matters at hand. ‘So what exactly did Sebastian say?’

  It was obvious she sensed the change in him and she too snapped her full attention back to business. ‘He said that he’s glad that we’re safe but that we should have informed him first before taking off on our own, and he agreed with me that we should continue investigating this rabbit hole to see where it leads.’

  ‘Just like
that?’

  ‘Just like that. But he now wants me to take our latest acquisition,’ she pointed to the crystal artefact lying on the table between them, ‘to be examined by someone in-house.’

  ‘Fair enough.’ Harker replied, realising it was the right thing to do because so far he was at a loss regarding its purpose. ‘And how about me?’

  ‘We found out that the boy who died during my father’s exorcism was previously being treated by one Dr Marceau, who made a visit to the residence just hours before… well, you know what. The police have already interviewed him, but Sebastian thinks it’s worth another – less formal – visit to find out what he might know, if anything.’

  Harker suddenly felt as if he had just been benched and Stefani noticed the change immediately.

  ‘You’re not getting side-lined, Alex, believe me, and if you want to switch places with me and drop off the object yourself, I’m happy to take a punt with the doctor instead.’

  It was a generous offer and Harker took a moment to consider this but then he shook his head and passed the artefact over to her. ‘I just don’t like dropping out in the middle of an…’

  He paused and it was Stefani who finished the sentence for him. ‘An adventure. That is what you were about to say, wasn’t it?’

  ‘Something like that, yes’ he replied, now feeling rather childish.

  ‘Only you would call chasing devil-worshippers and getting shot at an adventure but don’t worry, Professor Harker, your reputation for being in the thick of it remains safe. You’ve had more adventures in the past few years than most of us have experienced in a lifetime.’

  ‘Hey, it was you who called them adventures, not me.’ He got to his feet as she shot him a friendly smile. ‘Who’s going to look at that thing, anyway?’

  ‘Not sure yet, but I promise you we will find out exactly what it does and then keep you in the loop.’

  ‘Thanks.’ He then placed a hand around her wrist and pointed down at the artefact’s markings. ‘And tell whoever examines this that I think these two circles must represent the two kingdoms your father spoke about, and here where they intersect with the star of David, that’s us – it represents Earth or something.’

  ‘Go on,’ Stefani urged, and looking extremely curious.

  ‘I’m not really sure but what if these two circles represent other places… I don’t know, something like other realities, or perhaps the image really does signify heaven and hell, despite your father’s thoughts on the matter, and how existence is caught between the two.’

  ‘And this surrounding circle of little swastikas?’

  ‘To the Hindus the swastika was the sign of good fortune – a power symbol which was also the emblem of Ganesh, the god of good luck.’

  ‘That doesn’t sound too bad.’

  ‘I know, but in Janism it denotes the four possible places of rebirth: the animal or plant Kingdom, Earth itself, the spirit world or hell.’

  ‘That sounds less good,’ Stefani replied. ‘Sounds like deep stuff altogether.’

  ‘Most religious symbols are.’ He now let go of her hand and pulled away.

  ‘I’ll let them know that,’ she said, and then reached over to the door hatch and swung it back open, pausing as the steps unfolded down onto the tarmac outside. ‘I almost forgot to say: use this phone from now on and no other. Sebastian’s orders.’ She passed him a brand new iPhone X. ‘There’s a worry that if that assassin found us once, it’s quite possible she could track either of us via our mobiles. So why take the chance?’

  Harker was in complete agreement. ‘Never turn down a brand-new phone,’ he remarked, and he flicked it on and downloaded all his contacts via Bluetooth in matter of seconds. Once that was completed, he passed his old phone over to Stefani who placed it into her pocket.

  ‘Have you got all your information backed up at home?’ she asked.

  ‘Not a problem,’ he replied, ‘I can reload it when I return to Cambridge’

  ‘Good, then I’ll have this one recycled. And, Alex,’ she leant towards him and delivered a soft kiss on his cheek, ‘thank you for helping me out with all this on just a whim. It means a great deal. It really does.’ She pulled away and turned to the open hatch. ‘Give me a call after you’ve spoken with the doctor.’

  It was a nice gesture on her part and Harker offered her a wave in response, but then he called out after her as she descended the steps and began making her way towards a waiting black SUV. ‘Where am I actually going?’ he yelled as the jet’s engines whirred into life.

  ‘Paris,’ she shouted back. ‘Dr Marceau was renting a room in Turin but his main residence is in Paris. I’ll send you the address and set up an account for you to charge the taxi to.’

  Harker watched her climb into the back of SUV and then he waited until her vehicle began to pull away before closing the hatch door and taking his seat just as the jet started to roll forward towards the main taxiway. ‘Paris,’ he said out loud, feeling more than happy with the destination. ‘The city of light and love.’ There were worse places to go even if he would be travelling there alone.

  As he settled back further into his seat and watched the lights of the airport pass by, he increasingly began to feel good. Of course what he really wanted was to know what those weird rituals back in Rome were about, what the object they had found was used for, but most of all why that insane, dreadlocked Jamaican woman had been so dead set on acquiring it.

  Harker took a deep breath, closed his eyes and let himself enjoy the low hum of the jet’s engines. He had done his job and, although unfinished, the Templars now had everything in hand and his trip to the doctor’s would no doubt prove a cakewalk, because the police would have already squeezed the man for any information he might have.

  It was with these thoughts that he now began to drift off to sleep and yet, even though he was feeling totally at peace, something began pecking away deep in the pit of his stomach. It was the last words the assassin had spoken to him back at the museum. ‘This ain’t over boy… not by a long shot.’

  Chapter 16

  David Carter held the three cubes of sugar in his fingers hovering over the top of the steaming mug of Earl Grey tea with a mischievous smile. Better not, he decided and dropped them back into the white Silver Spoon-brand box. Dean Lercher had proved a complete pain in the arse since arriving back at the Templar vault tucked away deep within the granite rock of Mont St-Michel. Carter couldn’t tell if it was his own little joke in spiking his friend’s tea on the flight over or whether the man was still furious at having his car keys taken by Alex, but either way he continued to blow up at any chance offered to him.

  ‘Is that my tea?’ Doggie asked, appearing around the corner of the nearest walkway.

  ‘Certainly is,’ Carter replied, nudging the hot beverage towards him, ‘completely free of sugar, as promised.’

  Doggie picked up the mug and sniffed it warily. ‘Mmmm,’ he grunted and then took a sip.

  ‘So, did you find anything?’

  ‘Not really,’ Doggie replied, placing the mug back down onto the lacquered Cherrywood desk that Carter was sitting at, ‘although I did find a reference to an exorcism that went wrong – horribly wrong in much the same way as this Father Davies’s.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Yes, there’s a record of a similar occurrence back in the sixteenth century when a Catholic priest performed an exorcism on a young girl in France, and soon afterwards he himself became possessed.’

  This titbit of information piqued Carter’s interest right away. ‘What happened?’

  ‘The report was rather lax in detail but essentially the girl never recovered from her ordeal and was burned as a witch.’

  ‘Charming.’ Carter grimaced at the thought of such a horrendous death, ‘And the priest?’

  ‘Doesn’t say, except that he disappeared into the night, still foaming at the mouth.’

  ‘Sounds like rabies.’

  ‘Impossible to say but I’m g
oing to keep looking. Perhaps there’s another entry somewhere which records the poor man’s fate.’ Doggie picked his mug of tea back up, then stopped himself from taking another sip. ‘There’s definitely no sugar in this?’

  Carter looked insulted by the accusation. ‘Hey, what kind of person do you think I am? I promised you, didn’t I, and besides can you taste any sugar?’

  Doggie continued to stare at him mistrustfully. ‘No, but I do have a cold.’

  ‘Such a doubting Thomas.’

  ‘Well, my name actually is Tom,’ Doggie said before finally taking a sip. ‘So, did you find anything?’

  ‘I did, but it’s more on the satanic side of things.’ Carter began and pulling towards him a large leather-bound book, its cover cracked from age and with a thick, frayed binding. ‘It’s remarkable how much information the Templars recorded over the centuries,’ he said and as if marvelling at the thought. ‘It will take a lifetime to go through it all.’

  ‘Just the facts, David, if you please. Just the facts,’ Doggie replied dismissively and took another sip.

  As Carter began heaving open the thick outer cover, his iPhone suddenly began to vibrate on the table beneath him. ‘Number not recognised so it has to be Alex. He’s the only one except yourself that has my number at the moment,’ he informed Doggie, picking up the mobile.

  ‘Well, then, “Billy no mates”, tell him he stills owes me for that car keys debacle.’

  ‘Yeah, yeah,’ Carter groaned as he slid the green answer button across with his finger. ‘Alex, is that you? How’s it going at your end?’

  ‘Yes, it’s me and so far it’s not your average trip abroad.’ Harker was only just audible over the poor connection, ‘I’m on a plane to Paris to do some fact checking… Can you hear me OK?’

  The reception was awful and Carter pulled the mobile from his ear and pressed the speaker symbol. ‘Just about. You’re now on loudspeaker and I’ve got Doggie here with me. So, you’re coming to our neck of the woods, then?’