Solomon's Throne (14 page)

Rei fumbled in her backpack and came out with a business card. “Van Rensberg. Adelbert van Rensberg.” She handed him the card. “You gonna call?”

“Yep. Time to see if our brother has talked.” He dialed the phone.

“Detective van Rensberg? This is Gideon Quinn, from the Mount Nelson Hotel last night? Yes, that’s right. Xavier International.” He listened for awhile, shaking his head at Rei. “Ok, will you let me know when he comes around? Thanks.” He punched off his cell phone. “Still unconscious.” He sighed. “Shouldn’t have hit him so hard, but I didn’t know if they had guns, or how fast the other guy was gonna react.”

“You did what you could with what you had. Actually, it was pretty awesome.” She smiled at him. “Like being married to Jason Bourne or something.”

“Yeah right. But thanks. Anyway, the doctors expect him to come around. All his vitals and scans are fine, just a heck of a concussion, I guess. So van Rensberg will let me know when he does, and hopefully he’ll be able—and willing—to talk.” He gathered their trash. “Ready to go look at that chapel again?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be. But if there’s any crawling needed, you’re doing it this time. I’m gonna have bruises!”

Back in the church, they found a group of school children being given a history lesson by a their teacher. They fidgeted and giggled and generally ignored everything the teacher said, like school children the world over. Rei and Gideon sat in the back pew, Rei drawing another carving. They were really quite nice, these carvings, but it was pushing the boundaries of her patience to sit still and draw while the clue might be in the room somewhere.

At long last, the teacher wrapped up her talk and the kids all popped up as one and ran for the door. The teacher, accompanied by three or four moms, hustled outside so as not to lose track of any of her charges. The sudden quiet was unnerving.

“Here we go,” Gideon said, his voice seeming very loud in the still room. He started at the back of the right wall. Rei joined him, and they worked slowly forward. The carvings began to look alike after awhile, but there was no discernible X anywhere.

“I’m licked,” Rei said, sitting down on the step to the altar. “And blind.”

“Nothing.” Gideon sat down next to her. “So it’s not the castle, or it’s not the church. Or it’s not the
inside
of the church…”

“Uh huh. Very helpful.”

He got to his feet and hauled her up. “Well, at least we’ve eliminated something, right? And you can have antelope for dinner, so that’s good news.”

“Oh yeah, best news I’ve had all day. Don’t they have a Bambi story or something here? I only like to eat ugly critters, like chickens.”

They left the church, and the Castle of Good Hope. It didn’t live up to its name on that day, but tomorrow was still out there, holding its promise.

The evening had been uneventful, and they had, indeed, opted to eat once again in the hotel restaurant. Rei once again passed on the springbok. The detective had called to report that there was no change in their prisoner, and the leisurely walk back to their new cottage had been much less exciting than on the previous night. They had enjoyed an after dinner liqueur from the stocked mini bar, and sat on the patio enjoying the sounds of the city, and of the unknown birds nesting and flitting around in the garden.

Early in the morning, a taxi drove them to Lions Head. Turning off Kloof Nek Road and onto Signal Hill Road, they could see the small parking area. To their left was the strange shape of Lions Head. Only one car was in the parking lot, and the day was shaping up to be overcast and a bit gloomy, so they hoped that no more tourists would show up. They arranged for the taxi to return at 2:00, and swung their full backpacks on. The hotel had provided bottled water, packages of nuts and dried fruits, and boxed lunches for them to eat on the trail.

Looking up at the mountain top from the start of the trail, Rei was doubtful.

“Jeez, Gid, that’s steep!”

“It’ll be fine… You work out.” He tightened the shoulder straps of his pack.

“I work out? I don’t work out. I walk to work through Hyde Park when it’s not raining. I run to catch the Tube. Occasionally I take the stairs instead of the lift. I lug groceries. That’s not working out!
You
work out, and I talk about working out with you.”

“Come on, babe, it’ll be fine. I’ll help you if you need it. You want to put some of your stuff in my pack?” They had packed their bags pretty equally that morning, but looking at the hike ahead, Gideon agreed, secretly, that it was going to be tough on his wife. She
did
walk a lot, but London was fairly flat. This was steep. In fact, he wasn’t completely sure how they were going to get to the cross carved on the seaward side at all, but he kept this doubt to himself.

They rearranged the packs so the water and food was in Gideon’s, and Rei had only her hat, sunscreen, and the chisel and small trowel she’d borrowed from a grounds man at the hotel before their unsuccessful trip to the Castle of Good Hope. Giving her a thumbs up, Gideon started up the trail. They wound around to the southwest, and hiking up a mild incline. The trail turned back towards the mountain, to the northwest, and began to get steeper.

“Hang on a sec!” Rei said. She removed her backpack and took off the light jacket she’d been wearing. “Jeez, it’s getting hot! And don’t walk so fast—my legs are a lot shorter than yours.” She got a bottle of water from Gideon’s pack, took several long swigs, and handed it to him. He finished off the water, and she put the empty bottle in her own pack. “Least I could do,” she said to his raised eyebrows.

“Good of you.”

They set off again, Gideon trying to shorten his naturally long stride, and keeping an eye on his wife without seeming to hover. She was red in the face and breathing hard, but was doing fine so far. He looked up and thought the real trouble was probably not too far ahead.

The car park had been on the other side of the mountain for most of the hike, and they had seen no one on the trail. As they came around to the east side, a lone middle aged man was making his way back down from the right-hand fork in the pathway. He smiled and waved cheerfully, and said, “You probably want to stay to the left. It’s a little longer but there’s some chains to help you up the last bit.” He passed them with a purposeful stride.

“If he can do it…” Rei muttered. “Wait, did he say chains?”

They could now see the car park. The original car, presumably belonging to the hiker they had just passed, was still there, as was a small black SUV. No one was visible, so Gideon assumed that whoever the car belonged to had already started the hike. If they were younger, or in better shape, they would likely overtake them. If they were monks… Well, they didn’t want anyone to see their hunt for the clue at the cross, whether brothers, tourists, or local hikers, so they’d better hurry it up.

“Rei, we need to speed it up…”

“I’m going as fast as I can!” she snapped.

“There’s another car down there.” He pointed it out to her. “Whoever that belongs to, we don’t need them up at the cross when we’re there.”

“Whoever…You mean it could be Petros’ friends?” She quickened her pace. “Crap! If I make it down from here, my butt’s gonna hurt.”

The last section of the trail did, indeed, have chains along it, to help hikers pull themselves up. Rei stopped and stared at them.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”

“Come on, we’re almost there. You can do it!” Gideon was getting more frantic to reach the cross all the time. He knew Rei had done her best, but she was no match for motivated young monks, if that was, indeed, who the SUV belonged to.

“I know, I know… keep your hat on.” Rei fiercely grabbed a chain and hauled on it, muttering under her breath.

“I’m assuming you’re giving yourself a pep talk?” Gideon joked. Rei just glared at him.

“You’re barely even sweating! What’s wrong with you?” She asked.

“I. Work. Out. Plus I
was
in the Army, you know. It wasn’t that long ago.” He kept going, feeling dread building up in his muscles, adrenaline starting to pump. Finally, they reached the top.

“We’re here! Oh, thank God!” Rei plopped down on the ground. “Wow… look at that view! That’s that island where Nelson Mandela was a prisoner… What’s it called? Robben Island? Incredible.”

“Yeah, gorgeous. Now come on, Rei! We have to look
now.”
He had seen a glimpse of three men about a third of the way up the trail as they had rounded the last corner. They all had dark hair, and were all dressed in black cargo pants and black tee shirts.

“They’re right down there.” He pointed vaguely to the trail below them.

Rei scrambled up and started scouring the rock face. The cross, carved so long ago, was huge and weather worn, but still visible. On the ground under it were ancient stones, covered with lichen and soil, having stood the test of many millennia. Gideon decided he should stand guard, as there was only one way up to the top, and they had the advantage of height. What they’d do if and when the men arrived… that was another story.

“Gideon! Gideon, look!” Rei was trying to keep her voice low, but the excitement was unmistakable. “Here!”

Gideon ran over to her and looked where she was pointing. Sure enough, under the downward stroke of the ancient cross, weathered dark like the rest of the stone, was an X carved deeply into the surface. It no longer stood out, although when it was first made it probably showed white against the weathered rock face.

“This is it!” She said. She slouched off her backpack and withdrew the chisel and the trowel. “It’s got to be somewhere under these rocks. See if any of them move!”

Gideon got down on his hands and knees and started pressing the rock face. The stones had all obviously been there for years upon years… Would anything be loose after four hundred and fifty years? He didn’t know, but he did know they were running out of time.

“Gideon, stay around the cross… He must have used it as a true ‘X marks the spot’ mark, don’t you think?” She was tapping her chisel against the rock face, and peering closely to see if she could see any seams or gaps. Gideon was right beside her, trying to lift the large stones out of the way.

“Here!” He was rocking a stone the size of a shoebox. “This one!” He continued to push the rock back and forth until he could get hold of the back edge. He wedged the fingers of both hands under the stone and heaved. It fell forward and down the solid pile of stones, landing at the bottom with a crash.

“Jeez, loud enough?” Rei hissed. She got out her small LED flashlight and peered into the hole the rock had left behind. “There’s something in here!”

“I hope it’s not a snake…” Gideon mumbled as he reached his hand in. The hole was deep, deeper than the stone had been, and his arm disappeared to the elbow. He fumbled around, then came up with a metal tube the size of small telescope. Rei reached for it and started to open it.

“No! Not here, they’re coming! Put it in my backpack and let’s get out of here!” He turned so Rei could unzip the pack, and she buried it under all the food and supplies. Zipping it up, she got to her feet.

The two hurried back to the trail.