“That’s right,” Tommy agreed. “I’d forgotten about that.”
“There’s a memorial here that was built in honor of the engineers who tried to keep the boat going as it went down. I can take you there if you like. After you find what it is you’re looking for.”
“Not sure if we’ll have time,” Sean said. “But we’ll see.”
Jim nodded, taking no offense at the refusal of his offer. He carefully guided the SUV through the light traffic of little cars and motorcycles. Up ahead, a crowd of people milled about in what looked like the English equivalent of an outlet mall. Right in the middle of the pedestrian roundabout, an awkwardly placed medieval stone wall rose up from the ground, reaching close to three stories tall.
“That’s the thing you’re lookin’ for,” Jim said, pointing at the odd structure.
“Really?” Sean seemed surprised. “That’s Bargate?”
“Yep. Kind of a strange thing, isn’t it? I think it was originally built several hundred years ago as part of a castle or a fortress of some kind. They took down the rest of the building but left the gate, I suppose as some kind of historical reminder or something.”
He turned the car onto a side street between two clothing stores and then into a tight parking area wedged between cinder block walls. There were several spots available, and Jim slipped the SUV into one between a Citroen and a Volkswagen Jetta.
“Do you need me to come with you, or is it all right if I stay here with the car?” Jim asked politely.
“I think we’re good,” Tommy said. “We’ll roam around for a little while and see what we can find.”
“Of course, you could come with us if you want to,” Adriana added. “I’d hate for you to sit here with nothing to do.”
Jim smiled at the offer. “Don’t worry about me. I have my phone. I never get bored as long as I have it with me. Feel free to text me if you have any questions or would like me to help with anything.”
“Thanks, Jim,” Sean said. “Hopefully, we won’t be too long.”
The three Americans exited the vehicle and stepped out onto the sidewalk. The shopping center seemed to be the focal point of activity for the city. Despite the wall of buildings blocking the view to the bay, the distinct salty air filled the visitors’ nostrils, mingling with the scents of steamed onions, sausage, and deep-fried fish. A woman with two young children walked by, heading toward a modern building. A blue-and-yellow sign on the façade read, Bargate Shopping Center. Several tourists posed for pictures in front of the medieval wall. A few of the younger ones took self-portraits with their phones.
Sean started to take a step out onto the sidewalk but froze in place for a second before turning around and moving back into the confines of the parking area.
“Where are you going?” Tommy asked, confused by his friend’s sudden change of direction.
Sean stopped when he was a few feet farther behind the walls. “Take a look for yourself. The two guys in the gray sedan, four cars down on this side of the street. They’re just sitting there, waiting.”
Tommy and Adriana both glanced down the side street and simultaneously took a step back.
“Well, now they know that we know they’re here,” Sean said at the awkward reaction of his companions.
“What should we do?” Tommy asked.
“Last thing we need is to get in a shootout here in England. They don’t look too kindly on firearms.”
“So what then?” Adriana glanced over, her brown ponytail whipping around her head.
“No use in hiding now. I find that in times like these, the direct approach is often the best one.”
“I was afraid you were going to say that,” Tommy sighed.
Sean walked back out onto the sidewalk with the other two following closely behind, turned left, and headed directly toward the gray sedan. The two men inside shifted uneasily as he approached, but made no move to leave the automobile. Sean waved as he passed by.
The man in the passenger seat was the Russian. The driver was one of the men from the shootout in front of Sean’s property. He wondered how much longer it would take Emily to get an ID on the men. At the moment, he couldn’t worry about that.
They stopped at the crosswalk and jogged across to a boutique that appeared to sell plates and knickknacks for the kitchen, then slowed their pace as they entered the throng of people hovering in the plaza.
“Okay,” Tommy said, “now what?”
Sean glanced over his shoulder. Through the busy mass of bodies, he saw the doors to the sedan open. The Russian and his assistant got out and hurried across the street. The question in Sean’s mind was where were the others? He knew better than to think this guy would only bring one person with him. There had been three others at his house in Atlanta. He turned around and narrowed his eyes, searching the faces for anyone that might look familiar. At the moment, he didn’t see anyone he recognized, but that hardly helped him relax.
“We’ll need to keep an eye out,” he said. “I doubt they’d be stupid enough to try anything with all these people around.” He motioned with a nod of the head to a few policemen standing by a guardrail nearby. “Plus, you’ve got a few cops here. Right now, we’re safe. We may as well start trying to find Jackson’s clue.”
“Right,” Tommy said. “Let’s move over to the gate and see what we can find.”
The three moved as one, through the throng of shoppers and sightseers to where the brick and asphalt changed to concrete in front of the massive stone gate. A cable boundary hung loosely from heavy steel posts surrounding the area, more to keep cars from parking there than to prevent people from getting close. In front of the pale wall, the foot traffic decreased significantly. Only travelers and history seekers loitered in the area.
The gate featured a single portcullis that stretched to a pointed arch, with a rectangular column on either side that reached up to the top of the barbican’s ramparts. Two arrow slits in the shape of crosses loomed over the entryway.
“Let’s look around,” Sean said. “But stay together. If we get split up, that might make it easier for those guys to get the upper hand.”
“Agreed,” Tommy said.
The three moved closer to the structure, examining every inch of the surface.
“What was the riddle again?” Sean asked the other two. “Something about paying the toll?”
Tommy answered, quoting the last line from the diary. “The southern gate opens for those who pay the toll.”
Adriana frowned. “But the gate is already open,” waving her hand at the gaping void.
Sean had noticed the same thing. “Right. I wonder if there’s another gate.”
They walked around the left side of the wall and to the back of the structure near the entrance to the shopping center’s entrance. The rear opened wide, featuring five entryways leading into the building. Above the openings, four windows faced out toward the sea. A sculpture of a regal-looking man in emperor's attire stood between the two inner windows.
“This would be the south side of the gate, I suppose,” Tommy said, looking back toward the wharf.
“Who is the guy between the two windows?” Sean wondered out loud.
Adriana had the answer, as she always seemed to for odd questions like that. “King George III. He wanted to be dressed in emperor’s clothing for the sculpture because he wanted to be compared to Hadrian, founder of the Roman colonies in Britain.”
“Read that online, didn’t you?” Sean winked at her.
She passed him a quick smile and a shrug. “I like to know things.”
Sean stayed alert, scanning the crowd constantly. “Let’s do the touristy thing and get a picture. Stand over here.” He took out his phone and pointed at a spot on the concrete that would allow him to get a view of the plaza and more of the faces in the crowd.