Bones stared up at the historical landmark, his expression conflicted. “Normally I would say, ‘Sounds like my kind of place,’ but I don’t know… the whole slave labor thing puts a little bit of a damper on it for me.”
Willis snorted. “Just a little bit.”
“One more thing,” Maddock pointed out. “These days it’s abandoned.”
“We’ll be the only ones here?” Willis asked.
Maddock shrugged. “I don’t know about that. It’s more or less open ruins. But it doesn’t look crowded.”
They saw two other vehicles parked some distance away, but no other people. They took it all in for a few moments and then Bones’ features screwed up into a puzzled expression.
“Wait a minute… Isn’t the timeline all wrong for our crazy sailor if this place wasn’t built until 1813?”
Maddock nodded. “Jimmy told me that before the palace was built, this was the site of a plantation run by a serious bad guy, and the sailor worked there. So I figured this might be worth checking out.” He nodded up the hill to the old palace.
“Bad guy how?” Willis wanted to know.
Maddock shrugged. “He didn’t elaborate. I figured he was a slave-driver plantation owner type, typical for the 1700s.”
Bones jumped out of the Jeep. “Let’s get to it.”
Chapter 19
The ruins of the Sans Souci Palace loomed gray and foreboding atop a high hill. Despite the fact that it was, literally, a shell of its former self, its majesty was evident in the impressive architecture and solid construction. Above a series of walled terraces, high windows and arched doorways looked out from the once ornate structure. The brick construction was visible beneath the crumbling veneer.
“They don’t make them like that anymore,” Bones mused.
“Yeah, but why’d they have to build it so high up?” Willis mopped his brow as he trudged up the switchback.
“Better sight lines. Makes it more defensible.” Maddock eyed the towering edifice. Sunlight shone through narrow windows cut in the stone walls.
“Defensible against who, exactly?” Bones asked.
“The British. The Spanish. Maybe pirates?” Maddock resumed hiking up the trail again. They reached the front wall of the palace and had to skirt it for some distance before they found a break in its length and continued on their way up.
Once inside the palace walls, Willis whistled out of appreciation for just how expansive the property was. “Gonna take some time to check all this out. We better get moving.”
Maddock agreed, but added, “I think it’s doubtful there could still be anything meaningful as a clue in plain sight.”
“Maybe more coded messages?” Bones thought aloud.
“Maybe. But I think we should concentrate our search by looking for something that leads down, underground. If there is anything below the palace, that’s what we want to see.”
“Let’s spread out, then, and if we find anything that leads down we’ll meet up,” Bones suggested.
The three were in agreement and set off in different directions around the palace. Bones headed inside at the closest entry point to where they stood, while Willis went right around the perimeter, and Maddock went left.
Once on the opposite side of the palace from where they started, Maddock stepped inside through an open arch. Inside was empty and barren looking, leaves and debris scattered about, even a few beer bottles, cigarette butts and food wrappers. Clearly the place was visited now and again. He moved through the floor plan, which was mostly open, rooms delineated only by great open archways. He found a stairway leading up and ascended, deciding to take a quick look even though he sought a passage beneath the palace. Upstairs it looked no different than the ground floor, though, and after a rapid walkthrough, Maddock descended the stairs back to the main level.
He listened for a minute to make sure he wasn’t missing anything from Bones or Willis, or anything else, but all was quiet so he continued with his reconnoitering of the first level. He passed through a series of new rooms, but they too were devoid of functional features. He moved into a smaller room at the corner of the palace. This room featured an intact staircase leading up to the second level. Maddock was considering walking up there to check out this end of the second level, when his gaze followed the stairway back down to where it met the floor, and lingered there.
On first glance he had assumed that the floor where the staircase joined it was broken up, the stone smashed by… by what, he had no idea, but there were many parts of this old palace that were crumbling. But now, on closer inspection, Maddock could see that the section of floor was comprised of a jumble of stones and rock slabs, of the same type as that of which the palace was made. Many of them were precariously stacked up against one another, and Maddock became curious as to whether they might conceal anything beneath them.
He kicked over a couple of the jagged slabs with his shoe, overturning them to reveal more rocks underneath them. He continued his excavation, kicking aside large pieces in order to reveal what lay beneath. After a few minutes he had moved aside enough rock to see that there were two smooth, intact slabs of stone, one above the other. He worked aside more rock, and then the realization hit him: he was looking at part of the stairway that led down, beneath the first floor.
Excited, he called out for Bones and Willis without using their names, an operational habit ingrained in him from his days as a SEAL. They signaled they had heard and were on their way, and Maddock resumed his excavation of the stairway. He proceeded carefully, assuming correctly that much of the aged staircase had crumbled and fallen away, leaving gaps and unstable spans. By the time he had uncovered enough rubble to see an open hole gaping into a black void wide enough for him to squeeze through, Bones and Willis came jogging into the room.
Maddock explained the condition of the hidden staircase. He urged them to take caution so as not to fall through, and then they proceeded to help him remove more of the rubble. The work proceeded in rapid fashion with the three former SEAL teammates working together, and in short order they had opened up enough of the stairway to get a clear look at what they were dealing with.
An opening easily large enough to accommodate a single man now yawned at their feet. Maddock aimed his flashlight down into the gap they had created.
“I see a hard floor down there, about ten feet down. But the steps are shot, so it’ll have to be a hang-and-drop to get down.”
“What about getting back up?” Bones asked.
“Since when are you so sensible, man?” Willis asked. “But here…” He rummaged into his pack and pulled out a rope. “Wouldn’t you know it, I saved the one from the other fort for good luck.”
Willis wrapped the rope around a heavy stone block and let the other end drop down into the uncovered space.
“Hold this.” Maddock handed Willis his flashlight and Willis aimed it down into the opening as Maddock dropped into the hole.
“Drop the light down.” Willis lowered it as far as he could and let it drop into Maddock’s outstretched hand. He and Bones watched as he shone the beam around.
“Worth making the trip?” Bones asked.
“Affirmative. Come on down.”
First Bones, then Willis joined Maddock, who still stood in the center of what they could now see was a small, roughly cube-shaped room.
“What is this place?” Willis asked.
Maddock started walking around. “Maybe a cellar?”
“Whatever it is, it looks like it doesn’t have any exits except for the stairs.”
“Let’s make sure.” Bones had been in similar situations with Maddock where they had ended up finding hidden passages. But after an extremely thorough search even he was ready to admit that this room was probably nothing more than a cellar.