Dane could not help thinking about Bones’ haystack comparison. It felt like every time they made a deductive leap forward, they were confronted with a smaller, but still seemingly insurmountable area in which to search for their goal.
They bought tickets for the funicular and spent the fifteen minute ride halfway up the mountain trying to see the slope as the exiled Templars might have seen it nearly seven hundred years earlier — raw, untrammeled, undeveloped. The shape of the Niesen might have seemed like the perfect signpost, but what would have been involved in transforming the mountain into a place to store treasure?
His research had enlightened him on one point. Although often romanticized — sometimes demonized — the Templar organization was far more complex than most people realized. To begin with, only about ten percent of those who joined the Poor-Fellow Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon could be called Templar Knights. The Templar order did not elevate members to the knighthood; only those of noble birth who took monastic vows to join the order — including a pledge to surrender all their wealth and property — were actually considered Knights of the Temple. The rest of the order, which numbered more than 20,000 at its peak, was mostly made up of two classes — sergeants and chaplains. The sergeants were both fighters and tradesmen — blacksmiths, carpenters, stone masons, and so forth. With an army of thousands of skilled tradesman, it would certainly have been feasible for the fugitive Templars to carve out a vault beneath this mountain peak.
They disembarked at Schwandegg but instead of joining the throng that moved to board the rail car for the second leg of the ascent, they meandered around the station and eventually descended the steps to continue their search on the mountain slope itself. Their first bit of luck came when they learned that the station was built on the foundation of an earlier watchtower dating back to the time of the original Swiss confederation.
“We need to focus our search on this building,” declared Dane. “Our Templars might have used that original tower to hide their excavation.”
They waited for the train cars to depart, one returning to the base of the mountain, the other moving on to the top, to begin looking in earnest. It was already early evening and there would only be a few more runs before the train shut down for the day. If they didn’t find what they were looking for, they would have to stay the night at the summit lodge or hike out on foot.
At one corner of the station well concealed by the overhanging viewing terrace, they found a large weathered cornerstone, and on it, more proof: a triangular depression that might easily have been mistaken for a Masonic seal, except that unlike the universal builder’s square and compass symbol, the triangle was not quite symmetrical. They had seen this shape elsewhere; it was on the official logo of the Niesen Park. But it was also a perfect match to the medallion.
Almost trembling with anticipation, Dane pressed one of the facsimiles into the depression. There was a distinctive click from within the block, and then it opened.
Despite the appearance of solidity, the cornerstone was hollow. The face with the triangle symbol was in fact a two-inch thick slab, beveled at the edges so there was no visible seam when it was closed. The heavy slab moved smoothly despite the fact that the hinges were also of carved stone.
“Was there ever any doubt?” Bones pointed a finger at Maddock. “You, me, lottery ticket.”
“If there’s really a Templar treasure here,” said Alex. “You won’t need to win the lotto.”
“One thing at a time.” Dane took a flashlight from his backpack and probed the interior of the block. The cornerstone was the threshold of a carved stairway that descended steeply, into the mountain itself. “Well, this is what we came for.”
He started to take a step inside, but felt Bones’ hand on his shoulder. “Watch your step. I’ll bet these Templar guys liked to build booby-traps. Like in that Indiana Jones movie.”
Alex wrinkled her nose. “The one with all the bugs?”
Bones shook his head. “No, that was Temple of Doom. In India. I’m talking about Last Crusade. The one with the rats and the hot German chick. I suppose there could be bugs here, too.”
“Thanks for the cheerful thought.” Alex shuddered.
Dane continued forward, but Bones’ warning was not lost on him. He didn’t think they would find bugs, rats, snakes or any other living creatures five thousand feet above sea level, but the Templars might very well have employed defensive measures to guard their secret vault. He checked the surrounding walls of the passage for slits or holes that might conceal traps, and checked each stair tread before putting his full weight down. It was slow going, but a few minutes later, he reached the bottom of the stairs about a dozen feet below the entrance, and found himself in the center of a conspicuously circular room.
There were arched openings equally spaced around the circle, and a quick check showed passages leading away to the left and right, while the one directly in front of him led to an ascending staircase. The opening behind the entrance stairs also led to a stairwell, but this one went down.
“Better get down here,” he called. “We’ve got a multiple choice problem.”
When they were all together again, Dane pointed out the openings. “Any thoughts?”
Alex walked the circumference of the room, playing the beam of her light on the arches and into the depths of the passages. “No markings, but there’s something familiar about this place.”
“It’s a standard Templar design. Most of their chapels and churches were round, like the Church of Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.”
“And Hancock’s chapel. But it’s not that.” Alex studied the layout again. “It’s laid out like a cross, no surprise there. One way goes up, one down, the others left and right…oh, duh.”
She wheeled to face them, grinning. “Spectacles, testicles, wallet, watch.”
Dane and Bones exchanged a glance, and then Bones cleared his throat. “Ummm, I should point out that you…like…aren’t wearing spectacles.”
“It’s mnemonic for remembering how to make Sign of the Cross.” She touched a finger to her forehead. “Spectacles…”
Dane quickly forestalled her. “Okay. No need to continue with the demonstration. This room is our Templar Cross laid out in three dimensions.” He held up the copper medallion. “Right now, we’re standing in the hole in the middle, and we have the four cross arms leading away. But which way do we go?”
“Up,” said Alex, confidently. “Start with ‘spectacles.’”
Bones rolled his eyes. “I’m not looking forward to what comes next.”
“We go up the stairs. Maybe there’s another seal we need to activate. Then we go down, and repeat the process, completing the cross in the correct order.”
“It beats anything I’ve got,” said Dane.
Bones however raised a hand. “I don’t like this. You were right to call it ‘multiple choice.’ This is a test, and I have a feeling that a wrong answer will mean something a lot worse than a bad grade.”