A giant chandelier hung from the ceiling in the center of the room, glistening with hundreds of little crystals. Four cubed pillars wrapped in English oak stood at the corners of the lobby. Roaring lions’ heads jutted out from the surface, carved directly from the same piece of wood. Tommy admired the craftsmanship as he strode by one of the reliefs before reaching the concierge.
He returned to the other two a few moments later and handed them each a card key.
“This is a lovely hotel,” Adriana said as she slid the key into an empty pocket.
“It really is,” Tommy said, staring up and around at the huge room. “It’s a little off the beaten path, which is nice because you won’t have to deal with as many tourists here. The location is great though. Here, we are kind of in the middle of everything.”
She nodded.
“It’s rumored,” Sean said, “that Winston Churchill stayed here semifrequently to get away from his primary residence.”
Adriana frowned. “I would think he would have spent more time out in the country or somewhere away from the city.”
“True. He did like to get out and enjoy the countryside at the prime minister’s other residence, called Chequers, but he also loved the city of London. Being the prime minister of one of the most powerful nations in the world doesn’t lend itself to a ton of anonymity. During the war, however, he found it necessary to evacuate his home at 10 Downing Street due to the bombings or other security threats.”
She shook her head at him and smiled. “You really are such a nerd.”
“You both are,” Tommy said, turning and leading the way toward an elevator at the other end of the room. He twisted his head around and looked back at them as they laughed. “We all are.”
The rooms of the Hotel Baccard were luxurious despite their modesty. The interior designers had done all they could to make the most of the somewhat small spaces, featuring hunter-green curtains and golden ropes to accent them, a cherry writer’s desk in the corner and accompanying leather chair, and a beige microfiber club chair by the window.
Tommy entered the room across the hall and joined Sean and Adriana a few minutes after getting settled. “What time do you guys want to get up in the morning?”
“I doubt I’ll sleep much,” Sean answered. “It’s always hard for me to adjust to the new time zones when I travel.”
“Really?” Adriana said. “I never seem to have that problem.”
“You’re lucky,” Tommy commented. “Let’s just say 7:30. Sound good?”
The other two nodded.
The phone in Tommy’s pocket trilled suddenly. His eyebrows lowered, signaling he had no idea who would be calling him at that time of day. Then again, back home it wasn’t that late yet.
A quick look at the screen told him it was Tara. He hit the green button and answered. “Hey, Tara, I’m going to put you on speaker phone. What’s up?”
Tommy hit a blue button on the device’s screen and held it down so everyone could hear.
“I assume you arrived in London without any other incidents.” The young woman’s voice crackled through the speaker.
“No problems on this end,” Tommy reported. “Got something new for us?”
When she spoke, her voice carried a tense excitement. “Do we ever. Remember the pictures of those symbols you sent us from the diary?”
“Of course.”
“Right. Obviously, you remember. Anyway, from what we can tell so far, it looks like our friend Francis constructed what we call a skyscraper cipher.”
“Skyscraper cipher?” Adriana frowned.
“Yeah,” Tara answered. “Obviously, that’s not what they called it back then. Originally, it was called a stacked cipher. Essentially, you have to look at the symbols from a three-dimensional perspective. Each line and shape has its own meaning. They stack them on top of each other to produce a code that is three, four, even five levels deep, just like constructing stories of a building one on top of the other. By doing the cipher this way, unraveling the secret it contained was almost impossible two hundred years ago.”
“I can see why,” Sean chimed in. “Do you have any idea what it says?”
“We’re still working on that. Alex is running a program right now that peels back the layers and looks for a common thread. From what we can tell, though, these particular symbols are most likely the cipher key.”
“That means we’re going to probably find more symbols like that,” Tommy said.
“Exactly. If you guys are on the right track, you will probably find another one of these. Hopefully, we will have the key unwrapped by the time that happens.”
“Hopefully,” Sean echoed her sentiments.
“Anything else for us?” Tommy asked.
“Not at the moment.”
Sean had been pondering something for the duration of the conversation. He spoke up when he had an idea. “Tara, Sean here. Can you get access to the security cameras?”
She hesitated for a second. “Yeah, I think I can do that. I could do it a lot faster if you give me the necessary codes and passwords. Why?”
“I’ll text you the information. I need you to look through the surveillance footage and look for the spot where we were attacked. It should have been somewhere around midmorning. See if you can zoom in on any of the men in the images, and if so, take a snapshot, and send it to me.”
There was another moment of silence on the other end as Tara took down a note of what Sean needed. “Gotcha. I think I can handle that. Anything else?” she asked again.
Sean shook his head at Tommy.
“No, I think we’re good on this end. We’ll talk to you again when you get that cipher figured out. It’s late over here, so we’re going to try to get some sleep.”
Tara laughed through the speaker. “Sleep? What’s that?” she asked in a playful tone. “Talk to you fogies tomorrow.”
Tommy ended the call and put the phone back in his pocket. “Let me guess. You’re going to see if Emily knows who those men were.”
Sean shrugged and smirked. “They seem to know a lot about us. I just want to play on an even surface.”
Chapter 17
When the three Americans stepped out of the hotel, they were greeted by a pleasant surprise. Though a few gray clouds still swished through the sky, the sun occasionally poked through, warming the city and its residents. The streets still glistened from the night’s heavy rain. Mobs of pedestrians hustled along the sidewalks, checking their smartphones, waiting by crosswalks, or standing at a bus stop. A steady stream of cars drove by, their drivers likely on their way to work for the day.
Jim stood by the SUV with an equally warm smile on his face. Sean couldn’t help but think that the driver’s awkward grin seems a little out of place on such a brutish man. At some point, Sean wanted to make it a point to learn more about the guy’s past. For now, however, he would be content to let Jim just do his job.
“Good morning, lady and gents,” he greeted them, opening a rear door for Adriana behind the right hand driver’s seat. “I trust you were able to get at least a few hours of rest.”
Sean had tossed and turned most of the night. As predicted, sleeping on new hours was a difficult thing for him to adjust to. Tommy and Adriana seemed to be fine, and she had slept like the dead for the majority of the early morning hours.