He turned a corner and found the waiting room where his friends sat on burgundy-upholstered leather chairs. Sean was the first to see him and immediately stood up, grinning from ear to ear.
“Glad you made it out okay,” he said, full of relief.
Tommy nodded and slipped his bag over his head and onto one of the seats. “Yeah, I told everyone to get out of the building as soon as we got off the phone. Of course the kids resisted. They do love their toys.”
“They didn’t come with you?”
“Nah. They went to the safe house over near Inman Park. They’ll be fine there. Only a few of us even know about that place. Plus, there are plenty of toys for them to play with.”
Sean knew what his friend meant when he said, “toys.” Alex and Tara had a reputation for being addicted to laboratories and research equipment. It was part of why they almost never seemed to leave IAA headquarters. The only thing Sean could compare it to was when he’d lost track of dozens of hours in the photography lab in college, back before the digital age, when cameras still used film. He’d gone into the dark room at one point and come out four hours later, thinking only thirty minutes had gone by. Considering that comparison, he could understand the kids’ love for research.
“Adriana,” Tommy gave a short nod. “Good to see you again.”
She replied with a smile. “You as well.”
“Charlie,” Tommy stepped over to the older man, who stood and offered his hand. Tommy gripped it firmly for a few seconds, shaking it twice before letting go.
He sat down next to his laptop bag and crossed his legs. A second later, he had the computer on his lap. The others took a seat as well. “I don’t mean to dispense with the pleasantries, but I’m assuming that since these men tried to kill you, time is probably of the essence. Yes?”
“Affirmative,” Sean answered.
“Good. I just didn’t want to step on any toes. Although I am sorry about your friend, Charlie. He’s in good hands here at this hospital.”
“I appreciate it,” he said gruffly.
“Now,” Tommy directed his inquisition at Sean, “you said there was a diary?”
Sean’s eyes grew wide. “Yeah.” He hesitated for a second. “But Coop had it. And the coin.”
“He doesn’t anymore,” Charlie cut in. He reached into his jacket and pulled out the small leather book. “He gave it to me on the way in.” Charlie stood momentarily and handed the journal and the coin over to Tommy.
There were a few dark smudges on the outside from where Coop’s bloody fingers had handled it.
“Ah.” Tommy examined the outside of the diary and then reverently opened the first page. “Late eighteenth century.”
Sean winked over at his older friend as if to say, “I told you so.”
Tommy read through the pages, turning them carefully so as not to damage them. When he reached the final line, he flipped back to the pages containing the odd symbols, and then returned to the last entry.
“The southern gate?” he asked, more to himself than to anyone else.
“We were wondering the same thing,” Adriana spoke up.
“And we have no idea what the part about the toll means,” Sean added.
Tommy frowned and ran his fingers across the keys on his computer. A few seconds later, a new page appeared on the screen. “Nothing comes up for the term southern gate, at least nothing promising.” He entered in a few more search terms to try to clarify what he was looking for. Still, nothing seemed to fit.
Sean pondered the riddle for a moment before saying, “The diary says that he only finished a quarter of the journey. Jackson found the first coin, but none of the other four.”
“And he didn’t say where he found the first one,” Adriana threw in.
“Right.” Tommy processed the information with a finger pressed against his right temple. Two doctors in white lab coats approached but continued walking by the group, their conversation echoing through the corridor after them.
“Did you ever find out where Francis Jackson was from?” Sean asked, breaking the silence.
Tommy frowned for a second, trying to remember if he’d been able to get that information, then shook his head. “I don’t think so,” he said. “But I’ve got all the information the kids were able to dig up on a shareable document. Seems like I remember seeing where Jackson was from on that.”
He tapped rapidly on the keyboard, and a few seconds later used his forefinger to scroll down a list. Near the top, he found the detail he was looking for. “Says here, Jackson was from Southampton, England.”
“Is that where he was born or where he spent his last days?” Sean wondered.
“Why does that matter?” Charlie butted in.
“Because…” Sean stood up and began pacing around. He felt like he always thought better when he was pacing. “If Southampton was his birthplace, it likely has nothing to do with our search, and we’ll need to find where he died. But if Southampton was where Jackson spent the end of his life, then we can narrow our search.”
“It was where he died,” Tommy interrupted.
He pecked away at the keys again. Suddenly, his face perked up. “Ah ha. Looks like we might have a winner.”
Adriana leaned closer, and Sean stepped over to see what his friend had discovered.
“Bargate,” Tommy said. “Looks like Bargate is a famous location in Southampton. It appears to have been there for an extremely long time, certainly before Francis Jackson’s lifetime. Might be worth looking into.”
He spun the laptop around so the other three could see the screen better.
“Wait a minute,” Charlie protested after taking a short glance at the computer monitor. “Don’t tell me you three are going to fly all the way to England based on some ancient riddle you found in some crazy man’s diary.”
Sean’s eyes shifted over to Charlie. “Come on, Charlie. You know that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
“Well, we need to make sure that’s where we believe Jackson left the first clue,” Tommy said. “And on top of that, Sean, you should probably leave this sort of thing to the professionals, seeing that you don’t work for IAA anymore.” He raised a mischievous eyebrow.
Adriana almost laughed out loud but covered her mouth with her hand.
“Funny,” Sean said, putting his hands on his hips. “But we do need to make absolutely certain that’s the first place to go. Traipsing around the world on a wild goose chase isn’t the most prudent of plans.”
Tommy turned the laptop around and began typing once more. He hit the enter key, clicked the mouse pad a few times, and then scanned the page he’d landed on. “Says here that Francis Jackson was buried in the Southampton Old Cemetery.”
“Wait a minute,” Charlie interjected again. “Don’t tell me you’re gonna go dig up some guy’s grave in all this.” He had a scowl on his face that accompanied the chastising tone.
“Ideally…” Sean waited a few seconds before continuing. “No. But I don’t think we can rule it out at this point.”
This time, Adriana couldn’t keep from laughing.