Her eyes fell upon the Abbot’s Kitchen, an octagonal building that abutted a small section of the ruined wall that had once been a part of the opulent Abbot’s Hall. Unlike the other sections of the abbey, the structure remained intact. It was considered one of the best preserved medieval kitchens in all of Europe. Isla didn’t consider it a promising possibility. She knew from research that the interior had been set up to replicate a functioning kitchen, and that the site saw significant foot traffic every day. It seemed to her unlikely that a secret passageway could go undiscovered in such a spot.
Sighing, she gazed at the dark outline of the kitchen. A sliver of moonlight peeked through the clouds, casting a silver glow upon the buttresses that supported the walls, each leading up to a cornice adorned with grotesque gargoyles. It was certainly mysterious-looking, with its blocky, fortress-like base and pyramidal roof.
She froze. Pyramids had once flanked Arthur’s burial site. Add in the Middle Eastern connection to Joseph of Arimathea, and it suddenly seemed possible that the kitchen could, in fact, be the place she was looking for. Heart racing, she made her way over to the dark building.
The door was locked. Why this came as a surprise to her she had no idea. She jiggled the handle, as if that would make a difference, and even tried throwing her weight against it. All she got for her trouble was a sore shoulder and bruised ego. Damn! She should have learned how to pick locks. Bones had boasted about his skill, said it was easy to learn. She couldn’t let her attempt be foiled by one locked door. There had to be another way in.
She rounded the building, searching for another point of ingress. She was halfway around when her foot struck something solid. She stumbled, barely catching herself before she fell on her face.
“What the hell was that?”
Not willing to risk using her torch, she took out her smartphone and tapped the screen. The faint glow was sufficient to reveal what lay in the grass before her. A cellar door!
“Now, that seems like just the thing.”
She released the simple latch that held the door closed, raised it, and shined her light inside. She could tell immediately that this was part of the original structure. It had been converted to a storage space at some point in the past, but not too recently, considering the layer of dust that coated everything. Smiling, she climbed down into the cellar and closed the door behind her.
She flicked on her torch, the sudden burst of light stinging her eyes. It was a small space, the ceiling only a few inches above her head. Sagging cardboard boxes were stacked against the wall to her left. Cobweb-coated rakes and shovels stood on her right. A cursory inspection of the space revealed nothing promising. But then, something caught her attention.
Where most of the boxes were roughly stacked, most collapsing from the weight of those above them, one section stood out. Here, the boxes were in better condition, arranged in straight columns, and even a bit less dusty than their counterparts. It was almost as if they’d been arranged that way for a specific purpose. Holding her torch in her teeth, she began moving the boxes until finally, at the base of the wall, she uncovered a roughly hewn stone, circular in shape, the faint image of a dragon carved in its surface. A rusted iron ring hung from the dragon’s nose. She took hold of it, its pitted surface cold against her flesh, and pulled.
Chapter 7
Maddock covered his ears as the grenade boomed inside the cave. Sheltered inside a cleft in the wall, he none the less felt the effects of the blast. Flying fragments of rock sliced into his back and debris rained down on him from above. The floor vibrated beneath his feet and he winced, waiting for the ceiling to collapse.
After a few seconds of tense waiting, he opened his eyes and uncovered his ringing ears. Smoke filled the cave and the floor was covered with rocks and debris, but it remained structurally sound. He took a step and felt the floor crack. All right. It was sound for the moment.
“Bones?” he called tentatively. He had no idea where his friend had taken shelter.
The beam of his dive lamp sliced through the smoke, a fine line of white in the choking darkness. It was like ground zero. The furnishings, already half-rotten, had been blown to splinters. The rusted weapons were shattered. Even the pool through which they’d entered the cave was now covered with debris. Everything was gone.
Including Bones.
“Bones! Where the hell are you?”
Maddock hurried from one pile of rubble to another, pushing debris aside, searching for a sign of his friend.
“Yell, groan, say something so I can find you,” he called to the darkness.
In response, a large hand poked out from the flotsam-choked pool. Then another. Seconds later, Bones heaved his bulk out into the cavern, rolled onto his back, and lay looking up at the ceiling.
“Was that you yelling?” he panted. “You weren’t worried about me, were you?”
“I was afraid you were lying unconscious somewhere and I’d have to haul you out.” Maddock couldn’t hide the relief from his voice. “Risky move, diving into the water like that.”
“You know me. I jump first and think about it later. It shielded me from the blast, but a whole hell of a lot of ceiling came crashing down on me. I barely got out.”
“Can we get back out that way?” Maddock asked.
“Not a chance.”
Maddock helped Bones to his feet and the two men inspected the cave. There was no longer anything to see except rubble.
“Not much left,” Bones said. “But I did manage to hold on to our share of the gold. The weight made it harder to swim out again, but I wasn’t leaving here empty-handed.”
“Assuming we can get out of here at all.” Maddock continued his examination of the cave, but he could see no means of egress.
“Always the pessimist.” Bones folded his arms and scowled at the small, blackened crater where the grenade had gone off. “Why do you think she did it? It wasn’t about the treasure. She had her half, and killing us wouldn’t get her our share. As soon as she bagged up that ruined journal, she booked it out of here.”
“I can’t say for certain, but I think it has something to do with this.” Maddock moved to the spot where he’d seen the strange carving on the ground, knelt, and cleared away the debris to reveal a pair of interlocked triangles forming a six-pointed star, surrounded by a circle and six dots. “Do you recognize this?”
“Star of David?” Bones asked.
“Close. The Star of David was inspired by this symbol.”
“Maddock, we’re in a cave that might collapse at any time. How about you belay the suspense and just tell me what the hell it is?”
“It’s Solomon’s Seal.”
“As in King Solomon? Dude with a thousand smoking hot wives?”
“Not quite that many, but he did have a ton of them. I doubt all of them were hot.”
Bones shook his head. “Why do you always have to ruin things for me, Maddock?” He paused, scratched his chin. “So, what’s the connection between Black Caesar and King Solomon?”
“I don’t know, but this has to run deeper than a woman tracking down a pirate lair, and a conspiracy involving Solomon would fit the bill. She definitely wouldn’t want experienced treasure hunters on the trail.”
Bones’ eyes lit up. “You’re talking about King Solomon’s mines?”
“That’s what my gut tells me. For what it’s worth, I don’t think Nomi saw this carving. I think she hoped the journal would lead her to the mines. When that didn’t happen, she left, and tried to kill us just to be safe.”