When the three awoke, they made their way downstairs and beyond the lounge where a small cafe provided a simple breakfast of biscuits, English muffins, beef sausage, eggs, and a variety of fruits and cheeses. All three were also glad to see the cafe offered coffee, which they sipped gratefully.
“The accommodations were excellent, as always,” Sean said, dodging the part about not sleeping well.
Jim’s eyes squinted with his proud grin. “A fine place, this. You know they say that Winston Churchill used to frequent this hotel.”
“Is that so?” Tommy said as he slid into the front seat.
“That’s what they say.”
A few minutes later, the SUV turned onto the M3, heading to Southampton. With the skies clearing, the group was able to take in the full scope of London as they sped along the road leaving the city. Old buildings mingled with new, towering masterpieces of modern architecture. On the outskirts of the city, there were fewer high rises, giving the feel of a bunch of small towns that grew together hundreds of years before. Thick patches of trees and chunks of forest surrounded the outlying communities, eventually giving way to vast, rolling farms. Occasionally, a castle would pop up on the horizon, sometimes still in pristine condition as if time had never touched it. Others were mere shells of themselves, reduced to ruin by the elements and centuries of neglect.
About halfway into their two-hour journey, Tommy had just begun to wonder why he’d not heard back from Tara or Alex when his phone started to vibrate in his pocket.
“Hey, kids. What have you got?”
“Good morning to you as well, sir,” Alex’s voice sounded craggy.
“Sorry, Alex. Good morning. What have you got?”
“Not one for pleasantries are you? You do realize it’s like three in the morning over here, right?”
Tommy detected the hint of irritation and apologized. “I’m very sorry, Alex. We appreciate your extra effort on this.”
There were a few seconds of silence before Alex started laughing. “I’m just messing with you, man. You know we love this crap.”
“I should have known.”
“Yeah, well I do have something for you. We were able to translate the stacked cipher. Tara said she told you about that.”
“She did.”
“Okay, good. It took a bit of doing. Those things are pretty rare. Fortunately, our software worked out the key. I’m sending you the translation now. You should be able to use that to unravel anything you might find that was written with the same kind of code.”
Tommy’s phone vibrated again, and he checked the screen. A new email had arrived from Alex’s account.
“Got it.”
“Great. I’m going to go get some sleep now. Here’s Tara. She said she needed to talk to Sean.”
“Thanks, Alex. Good job by both of you kids.” He handed the phone over to Sean. “Said Tara wanted to talk to you.”
Sean put the phone to his ear. “Hello?”
“Hey, Sean. I was able to pull some images from your security database. I’m glad you guys were able to get out of there. From the looks of it, that was a bad situation. Smart move going back through the rear entrance.”
“Thanks. Are any of the pictures clear enough to get a proper identification?”
“Oh yeah,” she said emphatically. “There are four or five really good ones. I’m sending them to your email now.”
Twenty seconds later, he felt the phone in his pocket vibrate. “Perfect. Thank you, Tara. You two go get some rest. We’ll touch base with you if we need anything else.”
“Will do. Always happy to help.”
Sean ended the call and passed the phone back up front to his friend.
“Were they able to get what you needed?” Tommy asked.
Sean reached into his pocket and pulled out his device. After a few taps on the screen, he scrolled down and then zoomed in on an image. It was a nearly perfect photo of the big Russian. He flipped through a few of the other pictures and found them to be of comparable quality. “Yeah. These should do nicely.”
He opened up a new message and added the files to it, then typed in Emily’s email address. His thumbs flew across the miniature keyboard, spelling out the sentence, “I need an id on these guys asap. Thanks.” After sending the email, he typed out a quick text message and sent that as well, knowing that she could possibly see the phone message faster than the email.
Sean put his phone back into his pocket and looked up at Tommy. “What about you? Decoded the cipher?”
Tommy finished scanning the screen of his device before answering. “Yes, they solved the cipher. Looks like it’s a key, which means we need to expect to see some kind of encrypted message.”
“No other information beyond that?” Adriana asked.
“Not yet.”Jim had been wearing a bewildered expression for the last ten minutes. When his passengers hadn’t said anything for a few minutes, he spoke up. “So what kind of business are you all here for?”
“Same old,” Tommy answered as he stared out the window.
“It sounds like you’re into some deep stuff.”
“You have no idea,” Sean commented whimsically.
Jim’s face contorted slightly. “Are you here for some kind of excavation or something?”
Tommy took this one. “To be honest, Jim, we aren’t really sure. We don’t even really know what we’re looking for. The only thing we think we know is that we are supposed to go to Bargate in Southampton. We have no idea what we will find or where to even start.”
The driver raised his eyebrows. “Have you ever been to Southampton?”
All three passengers shook their heads.
“Oh, well, it’s a delightful town. Wonderful pubs, great seafood, and the people are quite friendly.”
“Sounds like you’ve spent some time there.” Sean’s comment carried a pinch of hope to it. If Jim knew his way around the area, it could save them time.
“Sure. I’ve spent many a day and night in that town. I enjoy going to watch the soccer team too.”
Sean had a thought. “Do you happen to know anything about Bargate?”
Jim considered it for a second. “Only where it is. I don’t know much about its history or anything like that. It’s surrounded by a shopping center now. Always a lot of people milling about.”
“At least it’s in a public place,” Tommy said and instantly wished he hadn’t.
The driver cocked his head to the side. “Public place? Why does that matter? You aren’t doing anything illegal, are you?”
“We certainly hope not, Jim,” Adriana soothed the situation with her caramel voice.
The idea that they could possibly be involved in some kind of shady activity seemed to excite the driver rather than put him off. “I’m no saint,” he admitted. “So long as no one has to get hurt and it doesn’t involve thieving, I don’t mind a little walk on the other side of the line, if you catch my drift.”
Tommy turned around and grinned at Sean. “I think Jim is our kind of driver.”
Forty-five minutes later, Jim steered the SUV off the M3 and into the peripheral villages of Southampton. Cars dotted the sides of the streets outside residential cross timber homes. A few people strolled casually along the sidewalks, far fewer than in London, and in much less of a hurry. An elderly couple walked together, holding hands as they ducked into a butcher shop.
Up ahead, tall white masts bobbed back and forth on the horizon, signaling that the group was approaching the coastline. As they drew nearer, the boats at the wharf began to reveal themselves. Most of them were rugged fishing vessels. A few trolled toward the open sea, leaving the bay behind to try their luck. The car veered around a curve, and the boats disappeared behind the buildings that lined the road.
“Southampton was where the Titanic departed.” Jim broke the silence with what at first seemed like a random fact.