Eden Relics (A Zac Woods novel #1): Author royalties for Cancer Research

by N Williams

  ‘We’ll do it on our terms. Let them sweat a little. Can’t imagine they’ll like being stuck in a cave for too long.’

  ‘They’re big bastards too,’ chipped in Gates, ‘and they won’t be able to squeeze through any narrow holes to get out.’

  ‘Even better! So all I need from you two is a quick but thorough debrief, so we know exactly what we’re dealing with. And when I say thorough, I mean it, gentlemen. I want everything. Understand?”

  Following the Inspector back up to the ground floor level of the castle, Zac was relieved to see a full urn of coffee and a plastic-wrapped crate of several dozen bottles of water. Peeling one of the bottles from the pack, Zac cracked it open and dropped in two soluble tablets.

  It was time to reveal all.

  *

  Zac and Gates quickly ran through the events of the previous week, telling Detective Inspector Boyce everything they knew. When they got to the car chase on the mountain road they were both shocked to hear that a body had been found in a hedge near the location of the crash.

  Zac was furious with himself. ‘We should have taken the driver with us.’

  ‘And how were we to know they’d wake before the ambulance got there, and kill the poor sod?’ Gates said defensively.

  ‘The weapons were more than just a little indication as to what we were dealing with. We should have thought.’

  ‘Well it’s too late now, I’m afraid,’ Boyce added.

  There was no point in getting into this just now. He needed to know everything else too. If he was to get the drop on these men he had to know their motivation, and that was something the two friends couldn’t really help him with. They told him about the meeting with Stockwell and the crazy stuff he spouted about relics and their worth to society, but Zac could only guess as to his involvement in things. There was nothing to pin Stockwell to the murders, especially since his assistant Farrell had been shot and killed by the thugs.

  ‘I suppose we’ll have to call Mr Stockwell in for questioning as soon as we finish with this business. But for now - thank you. You’ve done enough. You should have come to me at the outset. Being ex-job you both know better than to do things alone. Look where it’s got us. This is the end for you two. No more involvement. Go home and let us finish the job. We’ll be in touch.’

  Zac was about to protest, but Boyce cut him short. There was no room for negotiation.

  The two friends knew he was right, but it wasn’t over.

  CHAPTER 66

  Mac slumped down into a deep recliner opposite Zac. He had taken a taxi from his home as soon as he had the call from Sally and charged the fifty mile trip to Zac. ‘The old recording had me puzzled for a while. It made sense that the relics were somewhere below the castle.’

  ‘Been there, done that,’ sighed Sally.

  ‘But you were looking in the wrong place.’

  Zac sat up. ‘What do you mean? There’s only one entrance from the castle into the cave.’

  ‘Yup. That’s the “Castle Cave” mentioned by some of the people who worked for Madame Patti during her time there. After they all died off, the legend of the hidden cave died with them. But what we are forgetting is the reason the entrance to the cave is there in the first place.’

  ‘You’ve lost me,’ said Gates, scratching his head.

  ‘Look. It’s simple. We all know that Patti was said to have been a bit of a girl.’ He looked at Sally in the hope of understanding. None being apparent, he continued. ‘She liked to have fun?’

  ‘Oh. Liked to have fun. With men you mean?’ Sally offered.

  ‘Exactly! Now whether that was true or not we’ll never know. But one thing we do know is that she had a railway line built as an extension of the Swansea Valley line to end up on the mountain above her home.’

  ‘Penwyllt,’ Zac agreed.

  ‘That’s the place. Well I wondered about the proximity of the station. Think about it. Spend a fortune on the line only for it to end a couple of miles from the castle.’

  ‘That’s an easy one,’ Zac cut in. ‘Trains have to run on the flat. There’s no way they could handle the hill down from the mountain in Penwyllt to the castle in the valley below.’

  Mac was beginning to lose patience. ‘Jesus, Zac. I know, all right? I’m getting to the point here if you’ll let me finish.’

  Zac zipped his fingers across his mouth.

  ‘So, if she spent a fortune on the line it must have been worth it to her, yes?’

  They all nodded. ‘Probably saved her hours on the travel from Craig-Y-Nos to Swansea and then on to London,’ said Sally.

  ‘True, but it’s well known...’ he rifled through some web-page printouts to find the sheet he wanted, ‘...that she had another reason for it too, to make trips to the castle easier and more discreet for her “friends.”’ He handed the sheet to Zac and Sally who began to scan the lines of text. ‘And one of the well known visitors of that time was Mr Hot Pants himself…Edward the Seventh.’

  Zac nodded. He knew of the rumours about rich and famous people using the railway to visit Adelina, but he still couldn’t see where this was leading. ‘Why would Edward the Seventh trudge down through a cave to get his leg over. Just can’t see it happening.’

  ‘It seems that these visits would be undertaken at night, to keep the identity of the visitor secret, perhaps it was for her more than Edward? Don’t think Edward was too bothered about who knew about his antics. But if she went to all that trouble, why would she then involve a carriage driver and footmen and a whole host of others to ship the guy down from the mountain by carriage. Doesn’t make sense,’ agreed Gates.

  ‘I have to disagree,’ said Sally. ‘It’s not a long way, is it?’

  ‘A couple of miles downhill, over what would have been rough track, to the castle and then the same back up the hill to return to the station.’

  ‘So what are you suggesting?’ Gates said, struggling to maintain interest.

  ‘I’m not suggesting, I’m saying she had a tunnel built from the station on the mountain all the way to the castle so they could move between the two locations in secret and in safety. The tunnel wasn’t built to access the cave for the purpose of hiding the relic. It was built before that as an access route between the station and the castle for her secret guests.’

  ‘But that can’t be right. The tunnel we were in led into the mountain in the opposite direction…’ Zac’s words trailed off. ‘If what you’re saying is right, there’s another cave leading the other way?’

  Mac grinned. ‘That’s exactly what I’m saying.’ He flicked through more sheets of paper until he found an aerial satellite image of the area surrounding the castle. ‘Look,’ he continued, pointing to the plan view of the station, ‘this is the station.’ He placed the map on the floor in front of the others. ‘Look at this object next to the building.’

  Zac and the others could see a grey rectangular shape within metres of the old station building. ‘What’s that?’

  Shrugging his shoulders, Mac continued. ‘I think it’s some kind of concrete cover set into the ground. Now, if my theory is correct, and let’s be fair I’m not often wrong, this is the location of the other cave entrance. This, I believe, will take you straight to the castle, and I’m pretty sure this is where the precious relics will be.’

  Sally stood and walked to the kitchen. ‘I still don’t see why Adelina would be a part of all this. I know she clearly was, but why go to all this cost and danger? She was a wealthy and successful singer. I just don’t see it.’

  ‘Adelina already knew most of the world leaders. She had performed all over the world and had even been awarded the Russian Star some decades earlier. I have no idea why; we can only imagine…’ Mac replied.

  ‘I bet you could imagine something pretty kooky,’ added Gates sarcastically.

  ‘Too right,’ smiled Mac. ‘How about her being a double agent...someone ideally placed in the upper echelons of society with access to the world leaders? She was b
orn into a wealthy Italian family, had lived as a young woman in what was then the affluent area of the Bronx in New York, and then the UK.’

  ‘Come on, you can't be serious?’ sneered Zac. ‘Adelina Patti a spy?’

  ‘Okay…I know it sounds crazy, and I'm not suggesting that she was some sort of singing James Bond…’

  ‘Jamie,’ interrupted Gates as all heads turned towards him. ‘Jamie Bond. Adelina was a woman. She couldn't be James Bond, now could she?’

  Mac looked as if he was about to explode. ‘Do you want help with this shit or not?’

  Gates looked suitably castigated. ‘Sorry, go on,’ he mumbled.

  ‘Spies have often been women. Ladies with access to powerful men.’

  Sally cut in. ‘Yeah, amazing what some of the idiots tell you if they want to get in your knickers.’

  ‘Never had that experience darling,’ laughed Gates.

  ‘I know it's hard to believe, but it makes sense. Adelina was an incredibly powerful woman.’

  Even the sceptical Gates could concede that point.

  ‘There's one other piece of information I found in the diary.’

  ‘What is it this time? Was Adelina the grandmother of Dan Brown?’ mocked Gates.

  Mac had decided to ignore the big man. ‘If you look at the maps of the discovered caves in the area you’ll see that on the north side of the valley - right opposite the castle - are the famous Dan-yr-Ogof caves - over thirteen miles of twisting and turning passages leading into the mountain. Well, there are twenty-odd miles of caves on the south side of the valley too. These aren't open to the public, but the Swansea Valley Caving Club regularly explores them. They have a place up on the mountain in Penwyllt.’ Mac pulled two folded sheets of paper from the manila folder and opened them up for the others to see the maps of the two cave systems. ‘If you look at how these caves are positioned you'll see that they both seem to end at points leading into the valley. Many people have suggested that the caves were indeed once linked but that the glaciation ten thousand or so years ago wiped away the connecting tunnels, leaving the distinctive U-shaped valley.’ Mac began to smile. ‘But what if it wasn't all swept away? What if some deep tunnels remained beneath the floor of the advancing ice pack, like a tunnel that still links the north side of the valley to the south? Or, one that went most of the way, but then just needed a little human intervention to complete the link?’

  Zac peered at the maps and could see how it was possible to surmise such a thing. ‘But this is pure speculation. There's no proof of it.’

  ‘Perhaps there is,’ grinned Mac. ‘When the castle was converted to a hospital during the middle of the last century, we know a cave was rumoured to be beneath the castle. They called it the Hospital Cave. That’s the place you entered through the altar. But you only went north. What if there’s a continuation to the south?’

  ‘If that was true then surely that link would have been found by now?’ stated Sally.

  ‘Like most best kept secrets - not if it was hidden in plain sight.’

  Mac fished out the aerial photograph of Penwyllt again and pointed at the grey rectangle set in the ground. The object looked familiar to Zac, but he couldn't quite place it.

  ‘I am convinced, my sceptical friends, that that is the entrance to the lost cave.’

  CHAPTER 67

  Bourse and Tourrain waited for some signs of movement from above. After twenty minutes, they knew they were being played. They had now been underground for eight hours, and Tourrain’s stomach was making compelling complaints. Every hour a shaft of light would appear above as the cover was gingerly removed and quickly put back in place when the two captives let off a shot.

  ‘If the bastards don’t make a move soon I’m going to go up all guns blazing,’ Tourrain spat.

  ‘No need. They don’t want to lose their men. They know they can’t come down without us getting at least one or two of them and their health and safety namby-pambies wouldn’t like that. They negotiate first then drop a stun grenade down. They’ll wear us out first and try to get us to use up all our ammo. They think we don’t have another option.’

  ‘So what do we do?’

  Bourse already had a plan. He had spent the passing hours looking for an alternative and had found something promising.

  ‘Look here.’ He pointed to the wall behind the ladder. The stone in this part of the cave had been cut away by hand at some time in the distant past. The cut marks of a pickaxe were clearly to be seen all around them in the area above their heads. It was obvious that a man-made section had been cut through from the castle into the cave below. But the area behind the ladder looked devoid of the cuts. Bourse shone his light at the gaps between the stones and then began to smile.

  *

  The police had to be patient. They knew they had the two killers trapped below ground. It was unlikely they would get out via some unknown route, but Boyce had taken no chances. Using maps provided by the local caving club he had posted small teams of armed officers at each of the known cave entrances around the valley. This included closing down the show-caves a little further up the road and securing the entrances to Ogof Fynnon Ddu - 1 and 2 - on the opposite side of the valley.

  Now they could wait. Boyce was prepared to starve them out if necessary. Better that than losing another life. Too many had been lost to these animals already.

  After eight hours, the thugs were still in the vicinity of the entry point to the cave. They had obviously got wise to Boyce’s plan to get them to waste their ammunition; the hail of fire had reduced to single shots the last couple of times they had removed the cover to the ladder. Perhaps that was also a good sign. They might already be low on ammo.

  Boyce had been in two long planning meetings with Silver and Gold Command, both of which were a waste of time. They all recognised the fact they’d eventually have to enter the cave and the plans in place were not going to keep his men safe. Still, those plans wouldn’t be needed for another few hours. He’d persuaded the commanders to let him wait a while longer before committing his men to an operation which would undoubtedly become messy.

  CHAPTER 68

  Within thirty minutes, Zac parked the X-Type alongside the grey anomaly he had seen in the aerial photograph. The sky had been clear in Swansea, but here, just twenty-five miles away, the blue had morphed to grey and heavy wads of rain-packed clouds threatened to burst at any moment.

  The view along the old railway line, down the valley, had recently been altered. The huge tri-vanes of a national grid windmill turned slowly, only the head of which stood prominently above a ridge of black wet limestone.

  ‘So is this it? You can't be serious,’ said Zac, pointing to the six large concrete slabs set into the ground near the station.

  ‘This is it,’ nodded Mac. ‘What you see before you is the remains of the station entrance to the quaintly named Hospital Cave.’

  The six slabs were each about nine feet by three feet in size, and each had two heavy iron rings set into the concrete - one at each end - for lifting into place.

  Zac kneeled and peered into the narrow gaps between the slabs. ‘I’ve known about these things since I was a child but no one I ever spoke to seemed to know why they were here. I presumed they were just covering some sort of rain culvert or sinkhole.’

  Mac stood with his arms folded, seemingly pleased with himself. ‘I told you; the best place to hide a secret is in plain view. At the time these things were dropped in place I bet only a handful of people knew the true purpose of them. Over the decades those people have died and now we walk past them and just wonder about their purpose.’

  Gates shut the boot of the X-type and handed Zac a flashlight.

  The light reflected off something below.

  ‘I think it's full of water.’ Zac grabbed a small pebble from the side of the slab and dropped it through the narrow gap. The quiet splash confirmed his fears.

  ‘Even if we could get one of these blocks out of the way there's e
very likelihood we wouldn't be able to use the passage, even if it was once used as you suggest.’

  Gates was surprisingly in favour of at least trying. ‘I think I know of a way to find out.’ He pointed towards the limestone quarry behind them. The yellow arm of a digger could be seen above a solid wall of stone. ‘Looks like someone’s been working here recently.’ The quarry was periodically used for stone for construction projects. The last one had been a couple of years ago when the new gas pipeline was being run from Pembroke through the south of the country.

  ‘Give me five minutes,’ Gates said as he set off into the quarry.

  It took less than a minute before Zac heard the sound of a heavy diesel engine thunder into life. Another two minutes before the bright yellow paintwork of the digger bounced out of the quarry towards him. Gates sat behind the wheel, grinning like it was his birthday.

  The digger hissed to a stop next to the stone slabs, and Gates dropped down from the cab. ‘Always wanted to drive one of these big boy’s toys.’

  Sally shook her head. ‘What's that saying about men and their vehicles?’

  Gates shook his head. ‘Not in my case, Sally my dear. I'd be more than happy to prove it when this is all over.’

  Sally blushed as Zac laughed. ‘Okay, let's just get down to the job in hand...’

  ‘That's what I was offering,' chuckled Gates like a naughty schoolboy.

  Sally punched the big man on the shoulder. ‘You're incorrigible.’

  ‘How are we going to lift these things?’ asked Zac. 'If we dig around the blocks we might weaken the structure.’

  ‘No need,’ answered Gates as he fished a heavy chain out from beneath the driver’s seat of the digger.

  He quickly set about fastening the chain to two of the iron rings set into one of the concrete blocks and then wrapped the end around the bucket on the end of the digger's arm. ‘That should do it.’

  Gates jumped back up into the cab and revved the diesel.