They inched along the jagged wooden planks. The catwalk took a dogleg and ducked below a turret. Addison followed it and reached the far side of the gate. Eddie clomped after him, with Raj bringing up the rear. Addison would have preferred if Eddie were just a few hundred decibels quieter. But since there was a gas generator running outside, powering the courtyard lights, Addison felt they could get away with a little extra noise.
The catwalk fed to a winding stone staircase, leading up to the next level.
At the top of the steps, they reached a landing. Before them were two heavy oak doors. Before continuing farther upstairs, Addison motioned that they should check them out.
Eddie drew out his lock-picking set and dropped to one knee. He wiggled a pick into the first lock, pressing his ear to the door, his tongue out in concentration. Addison and Raj stood by as lookouts on the stairs.
Within seconds, Raj’s eyes bulged and he began waving his arms in silent alarm. Footsteps were plodding downstairs, closer and closer.
Addison saw a man’s shadow coming into view against the stairway wall. The shadow had a massive, tangled bird’s nest of hair . . . Ivan.
Eddie just barely managed to pop the first door open in time so he, Addison, and Raj could scramble inside. The three huddled in the dark until Ivan’s heavy boot steps trudged past.
Raj lit a strike-anywhere match, revealing they were inside a storeroom. It was packed with building supplies and digging equipment. “What are they up to?” Raj whispered.
Addison shook his head. “Doesn’t matter to us right now. We just need to find Molly and jet out of here.”
Carefully, they filed back out onto the landing. Eddie picked the second door lock faster, now that he had the hang of it. When the last tumbler clicked into place, he pushed against the door, but it did not budge.
Eddie shoved hard with his shoulder, straining against the heavy oak. “A little help?” he whispered. “I think it’s stuck.”
Addison leaned his weight against it.
It was Raj who got a running start and made a flying leap at the door. It slammed open, crashing against the inside wall.
All three friends fell into the room in a jumbled heap. They looked like a game of Twister that had gone horribly wrong. Addison switched on his pen flashlight, scrambled to his feet, and gasped. There, chained against the rocky wall, sat Molly.
* * *
• • • • • •
“It’s about time,” said Molly.
“Merry Christmas, Mo,” said Addison. He had been planning to say this when he rescued Molly, and he meant it to sound suavely heroic.
“Merry Christmas yourself,” she retorted. “Do you have any idea how much noise you just made? You’ll alert half the castle!” Molly stood up, but the chain around her ankle kept her tethered to the wall.
“Listen, we’re here to rescue you. The least you could do is show a little gratitude!” Addison crossed to the rusted chains and gave them a stiff jerk, attempting to wrench them free of the ancient, crumbling mortar.
“Ouch.” Molly grimaced. “Addison, you’re yanking my chain.”
“No, this is our real rescue attempt!”
Molly just sighed.
“Look, if you don’t want to be rescued, just say so.” Addison made a show of leaving the room.
“Of course I want to be rescued,” said Molly. “But you can’t tear these chains out of the wall. I’ve been trying that for hours. And thank you, by the way.”
“You’re welcome.” Addison bowed. “It was really Raj who got us inside the castle.”
Raj blushed.
Eddie set to work on the lock around Molly’s ankle. Raj held his flashlight for him.
Molly patted Eddie on the shoulder and turned to give Raj a quick hug. “Thank you, Raj.”
Raj blushed even deeper. “Molly, weren’t you afraid? You don’t seem like you were scared at all.”
“Of course I was scared,” said Molly. “But I knew you would all come for me.”
With a snap of metal, Eddie unlocked Molly from her leg chain.
She rolled down her sock and rubbed circulation back into her ankle.
Addison knelt down and, on an impulse, decided to do something very unusual. He gave her a hug as well. “Molly, my favorite sister, I’m glad you’re alive and all that. Now quickly: where is the tablet? We can’t leave without it.”
Molly pushed the hair back from her forehead and looked grim. “I have an idea where it is. But you’re not going to like it.”
* * *
• • • • • •
“Malazar’s room?” Eddie exclaimed. “You want us to go in there?”
“Where else would he hide the tablet?” asked Molly.
“Okay, sure,” said Eddie. “But how many times are we going to have to break into this guy’s rooms?”
“If we’re lucky, there will be more shrimp cocktail,” said Addison. “Molly, lead the way.” He felt a growing sense of foreboding. He was not a superstitious type, but he couldn’t help but notice that getting into the castle and finding Molly had gone exceptionally smoothly. Therefore, by the laws of the universe that seemed to govern his life, Addison knew that getting out of the castle would prove extremely difficult.
They sealed the door to Molly’s former cell and crept farther up the spiraling stone staircase. Molly cautioned them with a hand to keep their voices low. “I don’t know where the guards are. I haven’t been up these stairs before.”
“Then how do you know Malazar’s room is up here?” Eddie asked.
“Because I keep hearing him climb these steps.”
Addison crept silently forward. It made sense. They were in the most protected part of the castle. He stared upward into the gloom and shut off his flashlight—no sense advertising their presence. So far, they hadn’t spotted Malazar, so they could be marching right toward him. Addison craned his ears for any sound, his senses on their highest alert.
“There’s one other thing,” Molly whispered as they rounded the curving steps. “I’m not the only prisoner here.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Raj.
“The whole time I was locked up, I kept thinking I heard voices. A man or a woman, somewhere up these stairs.”
Addison frowned, processing this new information. “Stay sharp, everyone. We could have more people to rescue.”
The staircase ended at the next floor. Before them was a locked cell. Raj peered through the iron bars. “Whoever was here, they’re not here anymore.”
Addison scanned the empty cell. “We need to know their identity. Eddie, can you work your magic?”
“Sure.” Eddie swung open the cell door, which was unlocked.
The group crept inside. Addison panned the walls with his flashlight. Scores of hash marks were scratched into the walls, marking days and weeks. “Whoever it was,” said Addison, “they were here for months.”
“Blood!” cried Raj, trembling with excitement. He held up a roll of used bandage from the floor.
“Gross,” said Eddie. “Why would you touch that?”
Raj, embarrassed, dropped the bandage back on the stone floor. He wiped his hand off on his camouflage pants.
“So who was Malazar keeping here?” asked Eddie.
“I’m sure he has lots of enemies,” said Molly.
Addison narrowed his eyes. A thought was circling the edges of his mind like a hunting shark. “There’s something I keep wondering. How did the Collective know to watch the Blandfordshire Bank? How did they know the bronze tablet was in there? How did they know we’d get a key to the safe deposit box once Aunt D and Uncle N were buried? The only people who would know that information are . . .”
Molly answered for him. She spoke quietly, her eyes wide in the darkness. “. . . Aunt Delia and Uncle Nigel.”
/> Addison knelt down before the bloody rag. “Supposing they were here. Supposing they were tortured for that information . . .”
“Hold on,” said Raj. “You’re saying they’re still alive?”
“They were alive at some point,” said Addison slowly. “I don’t see any other way for the Collective to stake out Blandfordshire Bank the same week as the funeral.”
“Or for them to know the Templar safe house in Paris,” Molly piped in.
“Or for them to know the tablet would lead us to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul,” Addison added. “These guys have predicted our every move. If they’ve been torturing Aunt Delia and Uncle Nigel, that explains everything.”
“But how could they have survived that fall in Mongolia?” asked Eddie.
“I don’t know,” said Addison, shaking his head. “It’s just a theory.”
The team fell silent.
Addison felt his legs growing weak, like he might faint. He knelt down to the ground and covered his face with his hands.
“Are you all right?” asked Molly.
A tight lump grew in Addison’s throat, and for a minute he could not speak. Ever since he had lost his aunt and uncle, everything in his life had gone wrong. It wasn’t just losing the two people who had been parents to him, and raised him and Molly as their own. It wasn’t just leaving his home in New York and moving three thousand miles away from his two best friends. It was doubting himself. Doubting his every decision. He was convinced that his aunt's and uncle’s deaths were his fault and his fault alone. That if he had somehow done things differently, they would still be alive. And now, for the first time in months, he felt a remote glimmer of hope. Maybe, just maybe, they were alive after all. And if that were true, then their deaths weren’t on his shoulders. Maybe, somehow, everything wasn’t his fault.
He drew the Templar medallion from under his shirt and read the five ancient words emblazoned on its golden skin. He translated the Latin in his mind: “teamwork,” “knowledge,” “faith,” “perseverance,” and “courage.” He focused on the word “faith,” tracing each letter with his thumb.
Addison wiped his eyes and rose to his feet. He felt as if there was a fire in him that for months had slowly simmered down to cold embers. And now, that fire was roaring back to life. “So,” he said, when he knew his voice was firm enough to speak. “Where is the tablet?”
Molly spoke up. “Malazar’s room will be at the very top of the tower.”
“Well, no time like the present.” Addison confidently led his team out of the cell.
* * *
• • • • • •
Addison circled back to the staircase and found a wooden ladder that fed up through a hole in the stone ceiling, leading to the top of the tower. He set a finger to his lips for absolute quiet. Then, in a rare display of self-control, he shimmied up the ladder without any of his usual dizziness or fear.
The team followed Addison up the ladder, and even Eddie managed the feat without a sound.
In the high tower stood a single door. Addison could see there was no need for Eddie to pick it. It was already open a crack. Gently, very gently, as though petting a sleeping tiger, he edged the door open.
On the far side of the room, bent over a writing table, sat a tall, thin, pale man.
Malazar.
Chapter Thirty-Two
The Theft
MALAZAR’S BACK WAS TO the door. Addison again counted his luck. He’d been getting lucky chances ever since entering Kolossi Castle, and he knew it might run out any second. Best to work quickly.
Addison and his team peered into the room. Malazar, working by candlelight, was scribbling something into a notebook. The walls were covered with pages torn from ancient texts—architectural drawings and ancient schematics on frayed parchment. Addison had no idea what Malazar was working on, but it was clearly more than a passing hobby.
Whistling wind whipped through the open arrow loops. For a man who owned fleets of SUVs, commanded Mafia armies across Europe, and could pay off entire police departments, Malazar’s room was surprisingly barren of any sign of wealth. The room was small and sparsely furnished. This, Addison felt, would make it easier to search. Besides the writing tablet, there was only a simple cot. And beneath the cot, to Addison’s delight, was a single chest.
The chest was the only spot in which Addison could imagine hiding the bronze tablet. Solid oak, it appeared to be too big to drag without making a racket. There was nothing for it: Eddie was going to have to sneak in and pick the lock.
Addison turned to Eddie, who was already wearing a look of mortal dread. He made a lock-picking motion with his hands and then pointed at the chest.
Eddie shook his head no.
Addison pointed again. This time, he made his charades even clearer.
Eddie shook his head vigorously, like his brains were ice cream and he badly needed to make a milkshake.
Addison knitted his hands in a gesture of pleading.
Eddie still shook his head.
Molly glared hard at Eddie and crushed a fist in her palm.
Eddie swallowed hard. He reluctantly looked back inside the little room. Malazar was seated a mere ten feet from the chest. Eddie crawled slowly inside.
* * *
• • • • • •
Addison held his breath. He was terrified to look and terrified to look away. All he could do was hope that a little bit of his stealth training had somehow rubbed off on Eddie.
Eddie flattened so low to the ground, he was practically slithering on his belly. He inched his way across the room until he reached the locked chest.
Malazar shifted in his seat and looked up.
Addison’s heart stopped beating, packed its bags, and fled to Mexico. His eyes, however, kept working overtime. He could see that Eddie was sweating profusely and his hands were shaking—all signs of Eddie’s stage fright. If Eddie’s teeth started chattering, Malazar would surely hear, and then they’d really be done for. He noticed that Eddie was clenching his jaws together tightly.
Malazar crossed to the narrow window and closed the sash against the chill night air. He returned to his seat and continued writing.
Addison’s heart returned from Mexico, deeply tanned, relaxed, and ready to get back to work. For a long moment, Eddie did not move. Addison wondered if perhaps Eddie’s brain had blown a gasket with all the nervous tension. Finally, he saw Eddie’s back rising and falling as he drew deep, calming breaths.
With steadier hands, Eddie inserted his pick into the lock of the chest and began working the tumblers. In under a minute, he sprang the lock and silently eased the chest open. Feeling around inside, he removed Molly’s leather satchel.
Molly’s eyes lit up and she quietly pumped her fist.
Malazar shifted in his chair, scratching his chin with the tip of his pen.
Eddie groped around inside the chest again. This time he pulled out a pile of socks. He frowned, dug a hand back into the chest, and came up with a neatly folded stack of pajamas.
Addison watched impatiently. Soon, he saw Eddie straining to lift something heavy out of the bottom of the chest. At last, the bronze tablet came into view, glittering when it reached the light.
Slowly, ever so slowly, Eddie retreated backward on his elbows and knees, clutching the heavy slab of metal. When Eddie’s ankles were within grabbing distance, Molly and Raj simply latched on to him and slid him out of Malazar’s room.
Addison gave Eddie two silent thumbs-up. He took the tablet from Eddie and cradled it in his arms like a newborn baby. Raj gently slid the door shut as they left. Molly took her satchel from Eddie and shouldered it. Together, they eased themselves quietly down the ladder and the spiraling stone steps.
Raj had never been in the military, but he had seen enough TV to be familiar with the hand signals used for sneaking around.
He held a fist in the air to pause the group when they reached the storage room where Molly had been imprisoned.
The group strained their ears, listening to the sounds of activity around the castle. Sure enough, they heard the sound of heavy boot steps. Ivan was making his rounds, strolling the perimeter of the castle wall like the minute hand around a clock.
Addison waved everyone into the storage room that Eddie had unlocked earlier. Inside, he whispered to the group. “Ivan’s heading this way. We’ll have to wait for the coast to clear.”
Raj sat with his ear pressed to the door.
“Can you hear him?” asked Molly. “Is he past yet?”
“I’m not sure,” said Raj, frowning in concentration. “I can’t hear the footsteps anymore.”
“Let’s give Ivan another minute.”
They sat in silence. Addison could hear his fake Rolex ticking.
Eddie spoke up. “Anyone know any good jokes?”
“Just another minute, Eddie,” said Addison. “Raj, anything?”
Raj listened hard and shook his head.
Addison turned the tablet over in his hands. He studied it closely with his pen flashlight. There was a thin seam running around the edge. Addison figured there must be a way to open it up. Perhaps the tablet was designed to open only for a Templar Knight. Maybe there was some secret code the Templars knew that had been lost to the centuries. When he examined the ring carved into the back of the tablet, it tickled something in the back of his mind.
He traced the ring with his finger, lost in thought. He studied the strange glyph carved into the center of the circle. It was no language he knew or had ever seen. And yet it seemed mind-bendingly familiar. He ran his thumb over the letters and felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck. “Only a Templar Knight can open this,” he said aloud. “A Tutor Thesauri. A relic guardian.”
Addison Cooke and the Ring of Destiny Page 17
