Moving silent as a snake in tall grass, he dropped onto his belly and slithered away.
I hope I don’t end up regretting this.
A ghostly air seemed to hang around the Clava Cairns. The Bronze Age cemetery complex lay a little over a mile from Culloden, but it felt worlds away. A complex array of graves, cairns, and standing stones gave it an unearthly feel. As Maddock emerged from the trees and into their midst, he almost expected to be greeted by the ghosts of long-dead soldiers.
He’d had no difficulty getting away from the unsuspecting members of the Tuatha, who were focused on plotting their next move. None of them believed the Well of the Dead would turn up any new clues, and seemed at a loss for where to go next. The problem was, Maddock and his friends were at a similar standstill.
“At least we’re not running behind,” he said.
A pair of tourists passed by. He greeted them with a smile and a nod, and was taken aback when they frowned and hurried away. It took him a moment to realize what had elicited the reaction. His clothing was filthy, streaked with mud and covered in grass stains and dirt smudges from his crawl through the grass.
“Smooth as ever, Maddock.” Bones appeared from behind a tree that Maddock swore wasn’t large enough to hide his friend’s bulk. “You charm everyone you meet.”
“You got away all right?” Maddock asked.
“No problem at all,” Bones said. “There were only a couple of cars in the parking lot besides ours. I figured one or both belonged to the Tuatha, so I slashed their tires.”
“Nice. Where are Isla and Grizzly?”
“Over there.” He inclined his head toward one of the ring cairns.
The low, round structure loomed atop a large earth mound. The cairn itself stood shoulder height to Maddock. The base was constructed of huge, gray stones. The center was filled in with stones of varying sizes. A slit just wide enough for a man to walk through radiated out from an open ring in the center. Inside, Grizzly and Isla waited.
“What’s the situation?” Isla asked. “Have the Tuatha found anything yet?”
Maddock filled them in on what he had seen and heard. Isla expressed shock and anger at Meikle’s betrayal.
“Have you heard of this Brigid person? Any idea who she is?”
Isla flinched at the name.
“You know her,” Maddock said.
“No. It’s actually a common first name.” Her eyes took on a faraway look. “You know how, sometimes, you hear a name and it reminds you of someone you’d rather not think about?”
“Jade,” Bones piped up.
“Screw you, Bones,” Maddock said.
“Brigid was a goddess and a member of the Tuatha de Danann. She was the daughter of the Dagda, the god who was closely associated with the cauldron. I grew up hearing all about her from my parents.”
“She apparently wields some serious power. She seems to think she has enough clout to actually excavate around the well, right in the middle of an important historical site. Of course, she thinks it’s a dead end. Just wants to leave no stone unturned,” Maddock concluded.
“I think I agree with her,” Isla said. “Based on the photos of the Well of the Dead, I suspected this was the wrong place.”
“That’s what we thought about Dunstaffnage until I found the underground chamber,” Grizzly said.
“Finding something and falling through a trapdoor aren’t exactly the same thing,” Bones said.
Grizzly looked like he was about to argue the point, but Maddock cut him off.
“We need to focus on our next move. Maybe there’s another Well of the Dead somewhere?”
“It’s possible,” Isla said. “Do you think Jimmy could have made a mistake?”
“Maybe, but he’s pretty good.”
“We need to get the Tuatha off our backs until we know where to go next. Any ideas on how to do that?” Bones asked.
Maddock looked around, as if the answer stood somewhere nearby. And then it hit him.
“As a matter of fact, I have the perfect idea.”
Chapter 23
A loud knock at her door made Isla jump. She’d been on edge ever since they’d taken rooms at the small inn near Loch Ness. She stared balefully at the door for a full five seconds, trying to decide if she hoped it was Grizzly or the Tuatha de Dannan on the other side. Neither appealed to her right now. The knock came again.
“It’s me.”
“Coming.” She closed her laptop, stalked to the door, and flung it open.
Grizzly stood there, smiling and holding two bottles of ale.
“Thought you could use a drink,” he said.
“As a matter of fact, I could.” She accepted one of the bottles and returned to the small desk that occupied most of the space that her bed did not. She sat down and stared out the window at the dark waters of Loch Ness in the distance. She wondered how Maddock and Bones were making out. They’ll be fine, she thought.
Grizzly sat down on the corner of her bed and let out a long, dramatic sigh. “I wish they had me go,” he said. “I did stumble across the chamber at Dunstaffnage. I’m lucky like that. Maybe I could be of some help with the search.”
“Believe me, I wish you’d gone too,” Isla said through gritted teeth. She turned her back on the treasure hunter, opened her laptop, and logged back on. Once again, the photos Maddock had taken beneath Dunstaffnage filled the screen.
“I hope they don’t get lost,” Grizzly said. “That’s a long way to swim.”
“They’ll be fine. They dive for a living,” she said.
Not wanting to risk being spotted nosing around Urquhart Castle after hours, the two former Navy SEALs had begun their swim in a secluded area north of the ruins. The deep, steep-sided Loch provided the perfect cover. They’d be able to dive deep enough to go unseen, hugging the shore until they reached the castle. None of them held out much hope that the treasure chambers beneath the castle were more than a legend, but they were stuck for the moment, so any avenue was worth exploring.
Meanwhile, Maddock’s hacker friend had curtly reminded them that he did have a day job, but promised to take a second look at the cipher as soon as he had a chance.
“I wish there was something I could do to help,” Grizzly said. “You need any assistance with your cipher project?”
Isla shook her head. She was already deep in thought on how to proceed on that score, and she seriously doubted Grizzly would have anything to offer.
Maddock’s plan was clever, if they could pull it off. Jimmy had sent them the key to the cipher. At least, what he believed was the key. Isla would use it to create a false clue which she would send to Meikle, requesting help with another translation. With any luck, they would send the Tuatha off on a wild goose chase while she and her companions continued their pursuit of the real treasure.
But what would happen should they find it? Her editor was expecting a story, or series, about the hunt. That was no problem. She could submit any story she liked, one that would end in failure.
Grizzly would want to televise the whole thing. That wasn’t acceptable by any stretch. She’d have to figure something out there. But what about Maddock? Could she make him understand what the treasure meant? What had to happen next?
She let out a long sigh. She could do nothing about that right now. She returned her thoughts to the false clue.