Sam said, “What does any of this have to do with finding Mordred and his half of King Arthur’s mythical sword?”
“I’m getting to that,” Elise said. “Justinian had sweeping success in his achievements, mirroring those of King Arthur. He built a masterful kingdom, he implemented a new Roman law that was structured around making a more chivalrous and better kingdom for everyone, and his success on the battlefield was insurmountable, eventually increasing his Empire’s total landmass by forty-five percent during his reign.”
Sam’s lips turned to a wry smile. “Are you trying to tell me Justinian was Mordred?”
“No. I’m telling you that his General, Belisarius, was widely accepted as a military genius after conquering the Vandal Kingdom of North Africa in the Vandalic War, followed by recapturing most of Italy from the Ostrogothic Kingdom in a series of sieges during the Gothic War. He was reputed to have a weapon so powerful during battle, that no army could defeat him. Who else do we know who had such power?”
Guinevere said, “King Arthur!”
Sam felt his heart race. If they could locate Belisarius’s tomb, they might find the other half of King Arthur’s sword. “Do we know what happened to the General?”
Elise said, “In 562, Belisarius stood trial in Constantinople on a charge of corruption. He was found guilty and imprisoned but not long after, Justinian pardoned him, ordered his release, and restored him to favor at the imperial court. In 565, Belisarius and Justinian, whose partnership had increased the size of the empire by 45 percent, died within a few months of each other. Nobody knows where he was buried, but some historians believe Belisarius had requested to be buried at a secret location within Jerusalem’s most holy Temple Mount.”
Sam grinned. “All right, so we know the general location where both pieces of King Arthur’s sword might be found — the question is, how to close the gap, and find them?”
Guinevere closed her eyes for a moment and held her breath. When she opened them she said, “I have a solution!”
Sam said, “Don’t keep us waiting. What have you got?”
“Elise, you said that Excalibur and Caliburn — the Arthurian swords — were intrinsically connected because they shared the same DNA?”
Elise nodded. “Yeah, but not necessarily DNA. The swords were said to share a particular ancient stone, presumably smelted into the original iron ore used in the foundry where Merlin forged them.”
Guinevere beamed. “And consequently, both weapons were drawn together?”
“That’s right. Dr. Patterson’s notes refer to this strange connectivity between the weapons. Why?”
“Because, Caliburn — the dog, not the sword — knew when Excalibur was coming for him. It wasn’t just a fear of the inevitable, the dog knew the morning that Excalibur arrived, he knew because he felt the other weapon in close proximity to him!”
Sam started to see where she was going. “You’re right. I remember Caliburn telling us that he was frightened nearly half an hour before Excalibur attacked us at my friend’s house in Tualatin. If the dog and Excalibur share the same stone material used in both ancient swords, perhaps, just maybe, all four weapons, separated by many centuries, are still connected.”
Guinevere stood up. “We need to get Caliburn in here and find out!”
Sam stepped outside the mission room, and into the command center where the golden retriever was dozing.
The dog’s ears pricked up, and he turned to greet Sam.
Sam said, “We need your help.”
Caliburn followed him into the mission room. By now everyone had met the wonder dog. Guinevere laid out the SCRABBLE pieces on the Round Table. Next to it, she had a number of completed words for the dog’s reference, like NO, YES, and WHY?
Sam said, “You knew that Excalibur was near before, didn’t you?”
The dog gave a near silent whimper at Excalibur’s name.
Sam took that as a yes. “You share a connection, don’t you? You know when he’s near and he knows when you’re near, is that right?”
Caliburn nudged the word, YES.
Sam’s eyes narrowed. “You apparently share some material used to build King Arthur’s swords. Do you think you could find the remaining shards of King Arthur’s sword? The first one. The one that shares your name, Caliburn?”
The dog nudged the word, NO.
Sam nodded. “Okay, I thought you had a connection. But I must have misunderstood.”
Caliburn nudged the same word again. NO.
Sam leveled his eyes at the dog. “Are you saying that you do have a connection?”
This time the dog pointed to YES.
Sam grinned. “But you can’t tell me where the fragment of the sword is?”
The dog barked a sharp affirmative.
“Is that because the connection isn’t strong enough?”
Caliburn nudged, YES.
Sam thought about that for a moment. “What if I could get you close, say, the distance from here to the end of the boat, to the sword. Could you then find it for me?”
The dog barked excitedly and placed his paw on the note, YES.
Sam smiled. “All right Caliburn, you and Guinevere, Tom, and I are going on a flight to Glastonbury Abbey, England.”
Guinevere said, “That’s great, but how do you expect to take an unlicensed, non-microchipped dog on an international commercial flight?”
Sam grinned. “That’s easy. I don’t intend to fly commercial.”
Chapter Sixty-One
Jason Faulkner picked up his cell phone.
The man at the other end answered. “What happened?”
“The dog got away.”
“Again?” The man’s voice was cold and hard. “How the hell did that happen?”
“He’s not alone. He’s got help.”
“From who?”
“A marine biologist named Sam Reilly. His boat’s gone. They boarded a private jet.”
“Do you know where they’re headed?”
“Yeah, my person at the airport said they registered a flight plan for Bristol International Airport, England. That’s the closest airport to Glastonbury.”
There was a long pause on the line.
Eventually the other man said, “They’re going after the shards of Caliburn, aren’t they?”
Jason grimaced. “It would appear so, but it beats me where they think they’re going to find it. Our research never came close to finding it. One thing’s for certain, it wasn’t in fucking Glastonbury Abbey, where 12th century monks once duped an entire kingdom into believing that King Arthur’s sacred tomb was interred, just to raise finances from the relic for pilgrimages.”
“No. Maybe Sam Reilly knows something we don’t?”
“I doubt it. From what I hear, he doesn’t even believe in the Arthurian Legend.”
“Yeah, well, we know the truth. And without that damned dog, we’re in a world of trouble.”
Jason agreed, keeping his sentiments to himself.
The man on the other end of the line, dissatisfied, said, “You know what will have to be done to complete the transaction and make this all right, Excalibur?”
Jason Faulkner took a deep sigh. “Yeah, I’m going to have to locate the original Sword in the goddamned Stone.”
Chapter Sixty-Two
The Gulfstream G650 flew into Bristol International Airport just after midday locally.