Dane kicked back, driving his feet into Ray’s chest. His pistol discharged, the report ear-shattering in the confines of the underground chamber, but the bullet struck only the curving wall and ricocheted harmlessly away. Ray flailed his arms uselessly, trying to keep his balance while avoiding a potential trigger step, and started to go over backward. Dane didn’t wait to see how that would play out, but sprang to his feet, pulling Alex up, and bounded forward. Bones, was already racing ahead, still taking three steps at a time, though probably not because he was afraid of setting off a trap.
They completed a full circuit of the spiral before Ray could muster pursuit, but because the mercenaries were so spread out, there was no place on the spiral where they were not at least partially exposed. More shots sounded, some of the rounds striking close enough to pepper the fleeing trio with tiny stone projectiles.
Bones reached the top and slid to a halt, confounded by one last obstacle. Dane and Alex reached his side a moment later and saw another arched doorway, blocked by a wall of blank stone. The arch appeared to be constructed of stone blocks, rather than carved from bedrock, and each one was decorated with a different symbol. There were the usual Templar marks — the distinctive cross, the Dome of the Rock, the fleur-de-lis, two knights riding one horse — as well as others that appeared to be heraldic seals — a lion, a gryphon, a two-headed eagle. There were astronomical signs and there geometric shapes.
“The final test,” breathed Dane.
One of the symbols was an obtuse triangle, exactly like the key, though larger. Clearly, the key was not meant to fit here.
“Maybe it’s like a key pad,” suggested Bones.
The shots had momentarily stopped, but the sounds of shouts and footsteps were getting louder.
“Here goes nothing.” Dane pushed the block with the triangle. It slid back an inch or so, but that was all that happened.
“Nothing is right,” muttered Bones.
“It’s a combination lock,” suggested Alex. “Try the cross.”
Dane found the distinctive Greek-cross with its equal arms flaring slightly at the end, and pressed that block.
Still nothing.
“The circle.” Alex, frantic, didn’t wait for Dane to press the block, but instead pushed it herself. There was thud from behind the slab and then it abruptly moved out of the way.
They bustled through, heedless of any further traps. Once through the arch, they saw that the slab was actually a circle, like an ancient tombstone. There were square holes cut in it, corresponding to several of the blocks on the doorpost. The correct blocks had evidently nudged the stone just enough to cause it to roll down a very slight decline. Pushing the wrong blocks would have locked the slab in a closed position.
“Get the door!” shouted Dane
Bones seemed to comprehend the message. While Dane pushed the three combination blocks back out of their recessed position, Bones braced himself against the stone circle and started pushing. It took Dane only a moment to complete his task and then he added his strength to Bones’ endeavor.
Through the arch, Dane saw the glow of lights growing brighter as Ray and his men bounded up the stairs, closing the gap. The circle began to move, slowly at first, but once its inertia was overcome, it picked up speed. Dane caught just a glimpse of a human outline, blazing flashlight in hand, before the great round slab rolled back into place, sealing out the pursuers.
Dane and Bones both slumped with their backs against the closed portal, panting to catch their breath after the exertion.
After a few moments, Bones said, “Tell me again how that improves our situation.”
“They’re out there. We’re in here.”
“I’m still not clear on exactly how that works in our favor.”
“Me either,” confessed Dane. “It was the best I could come up with on short notice.”
He got to his feet and shone his light at the door slab. Because of the decline, it would take only a little effort to roll the door out of the way again. Dane didn’t think he could rely upon Ray mistakenly pushing one of the locking blocks into place.
“We need to wedge this thing shut.” He searched the area with his light, looking for something — a loose rock or piece of debris — and finding nothing, checked his pockets. His fingers closed on the copper facsimile of the medallion. It seemed somehow appropriate to use the Templar’s key to lock the door. He slipped it into the rolling track and wedged it under the round slab.
“Look!” whispered Alex, directing her own flashlight into the far reaches of the chamber in which they now found themselves.
It wasn’t nearly as big as Dane had expected. The ceiling was perhaps twelve feet high, the room appeared to be a square at least fifty feet on each side. There were shelves along the side walls and a few tables arranged haphazardly about the center, but no other furnishings.
And no treasure.
The shelves and tables were bare. If this was a treasure vault, it had been picked clean.
The room however, was not empty.
Alex’s light fell up nine figures standing motionless in the center of the room. They might have been mannequins, posed suits-of-armor, but for two important distinctions.
Instead of armor, their attire was modern; a grayscale urban camouflage pattern uniform. They wore black tactical vests, with pouches for spare magazines and a brace of hand grenades, and a black beret with the seal of the Templars on the decorative flash. Instead of swords, they had machine pistols.
They were also alive.
Alex’s light fell up on a familiar figure in the center. He stood taller and straighter than Dane remembered, but maybe that was the effect of the uniform. He also wore a holstered pistol though his right arm was in a cast and slung across his chest.
“I was beginning to think you weren’t going to show,” said Edward Lord Hancock.
CHAPTER 23
Alex was dumbfounded. “You…how?”
Dane was having trouble grasping this development as well, but the posture of Hancock’s men — presumably sergeants in the Gatekeepers organization — told him that figuring out the mystery of the missing treasure was not the most urgent priority.
Still, it couldn’t hurt to try. He remembered that Hancock had a weakness for grandiose expostulation; maybe the old man would let something slip.
In his initial survey of the vault, he had also noticed another arched opening at the back, and chose to address this detail first. “I see you used the back door. You didn’t mention that when we visited you.”
“No I did not,” said Hancock. “You seemed like the sort of man who would eventually find his way here, so I felt it best not to let you in on that little secret.”
Alex was still lost. “I don’t get it. If you already knew where the treasure was, why…? Why any of it? Why have your brother carrying the key? Why go to the trouble of making him disappear?”
“Tradition?” ventured Bones. “You guys are all about that stuff, right? Even though the reason for it doesn’t matter anymore, you like your rituals and traditions. It’s like a connection to the old Templars.”
Hancock inclined his head as if to agree, but Dane wasn’t sure that was the whole story. “There’s more to it than that, isn’t there. It’s not the treasure you Gatekeepers are protecting at all, is it? It’s this place.”
Alex shook her head. “Why? It’s empty.”
“It’s proof. Proof that the Templars survived, proof that they had a treasure back in the Fourteenth Century.” Dane turned to her and continued. “Remember what Professor said about what the Templars would have done if they really had a treasure? They would have used it; spent it trying to rebuild the order.” He faced Hancock again. “That’s what you actually did, isn’t it? You built your little Templar state in Switzerland, turned that treasure into investment capital and…”