by David Wood
“The Caesar shift?” Dane asked. Relishing Jimmy’s sudden silence, he caught the eye of an attractive blonde waitress and signaled for five more drinks. She nodded and gave him a wink that did not escape Jade’s notice. She arched an eyebrow at him, but then smiled.
“You’re smarter than you look, Maddock,” Jimmy finally said, sounding even more disappointed. “Want to take a guess at the key?”
“The what?”
“The number of the shift. How many letters over you count when substituting the new letter.” A bit of Jimmy’s cockiness was returning.
Dane thought immediately of the Wise Men. “Three.”
“All right, Carnac, which direction?”
Dane decided not to spoil all of Jimmy’s fun. “No idea.”
“The right. You should have known that. This is more of that ancient church crap. Right hand of God. Left hand is unclean...”
“True. I’m a little distracted right now. I’m sitting in a pub in Cologne, downing a few brews with a couple of beautiful women.”
“You’re such an ass, Maddock.” Jimmy chuckled. “Of course, Bones is probably there too, which sucks all the fun out of everything.”
“I’ll tell him you said so. Can you send me the translation?”
“Sure. The last word was partially rubbed out or chipped away or something, so I didn’t get it all. Emailing it to you right now. And, of course, you owe me a meal... again.”
“What would I ever do without you? Thanks Jimmy.”
Dane ended the call and punched up his email on his phone. Everyone leaned toward him as he began to read.
“As the lion roars for the king, the peacock be your guide into the depths of the well. The kings point the way to the falling ice that hides eternal l...”
It ended just as Jimmy had said– with an incomplete word.
“There it is again,” Bones said. “You know, we figured the priest just didn’t manage to get the last word out, but if he knew the words on this disc, maybe he was trying to tell us all he knew.”
“Maybe.” Dane looked up as their next round of drinks arrived. He found he had lost his thirst, though, and drank mechanically as he pondered the words. “It’s a far cry from step-by-step instructions.”
“And this should lead us to the missing skulls, you think?” Jade leaned over to read Jimmy’s email. She shook her head. “The wording makes it sound like there’s something more. But what?”
“Should we go to the police with this?” Angel asked.
“I don’t know.” Bones spoke slowly, absently spinning his beer mug as he thought the problem through. “What do we really know? The killers want the skulls of the wise dudes. I’m guessing you told them as much.” He looked at Otto who nodded. “We could give them this clue but what would they do with it? Can you see a cop who’s probably got a ton of cases on his hands taking the time to trying to figure this thing out? That’s what we do.”
“I could share this with the police,” Otto volunteered. “I will tell them it is something I found in my research. I suspect it will all be meaningless to them, but at least we will not be holding back anything significant.” He frowned as he said the last.
Dane nodded. It made sense. Still the fact that they were hiding their presence at a murder scene, though they arrived after the fact, felt wrong. He remembered that the killers had left no footprints, and he had a hunch they’d been careful not to leave behind any fingerprints or DNA.
“The safest course would be to go on with our vacation and just forget the whole thing. Then again, my gut tells me the only hope there is for finding the murderers lies with us. Maybe if we can solve this riddle we can figure out who was after the Magi’s bones and why. Even then, who knows what we can really prove?”
“I say we go for it.” Bones had the familiar gleam in his eyes that Dane associated with the start of a treasure hunt. “What better way to celebrate Christmas than solve the mystery of the lost bones of the Magi?”
Jade nodded. “You know I’m in. And you,” she turned to Dane, “live for this stuff, whether you want to admit it or not.”
Dane grinned. He and Jade were kindred spirits; both loved the sea, archaeology, and mysteries. That left only one person. He turned to Angel, whose cheeks were aglow and her brown eyes sparkling as she gazed back at him. He was suddenly struck by her beauty, and there was something in her expression that made him uneasy. He was pleased to see that Jade’s attention was once again on the stone disc, and she hadn’t seen whatever might have passed across his face. He took a quick drink, buying himself a moment to clear his head.
“How about you, Angel? You signed up for a vacation, not a mystery.”
“Are you stupid? I’m all over it. Do you know how sick I am of Bones coming home and bragging about wrestling Bigfoot and all the other crap you two get up to?” Her roguish grin was so like that of her brother that it made Dane flinch. It was one thing to notice Angel was hot. To think that Bones’ sister was hot– that was something else entirely.
Otto cleared his throat.
“There is something else I must tell you.” Not meeting anyone’s eye, Otto recounted the time after they had left him alone in the cathedral. His voice was soft, remorse weighing heavily in every word. “I told them about the three hares.” He lapsed into silence, but Dane sensed there was more.”And I gave them Jade’s name.”
Dane and Jade exchanged glances. He couldn’t tell exactly what she was thinking, but she didn’t seem too upset about it. She was tough.
“One of them knew you and he sounded very upset when I told him your name.” Now Jade did look surprised, but she kept her silence. “That was when the authorities arrived.” Otto finally looked at her. “I am so sorry. I have read adventure novels and iMagined myself a hero, but reality is something entirely different. I am not a strong man.” His chin fell to his chest and his face darkened.
“It’s all right.” Jade took his hand in both of hers. “I would have done the same thing.”
Dane knew that wasn’t true. Jade was stronger than Otto ever dreamed of being.
“This is really jacked-up,” Bones said to Jade. “If you have any rivals in your field, they’d have one of your specializations, wouldn’t they?”
Jade shrugged.
Dane looked at Bones and could tell they were thinking the same thing. There was only one group that was likely to have it in for Jade. If his hunch was correct, they were all in danger.
Chapter 7- A Theft
“Did he say what, exactly, we are looking for?” Ulrich appeared in the doorway looking annoyed. “I searched the other two rooms and found nothing but suitcases that had not even been opened. It appears Ihara’s friends checked in and stayed only long enough to drop off their luggage.” He ran his fingers through his wavy black hair. His vanity and legendary poor swimming ability had earned him the nickname Hasselhoff, though few dared say it to the quick-tempered man’s face.
“The skulls, obviously, and anything else that might connect to the three hares, the Magi, or the cathedral.” Niklas finished his search of the bag. Neither it nor Ihara’s luggage had turned up anything. The name on the identification tag read Dane Maddock. The name meant nothing to him, but he committed it to memory all the same.
“Have you found anything?” Uhlrich opened the bathroom door and peered inside.
“I have not yet finished.” Niklas felt a flash of annoyance. He did not want to leave empty-handed, but he was concerned that Ihara had taken the skulls with her. He searched the dresser, closet, and even the floor beneath the bed skirt, but came up empty. Uhlrich poked around, looking in all the places Niklas had already checked.
He was about to give up when he noticed a bulge behind the curtain. Not wanting to give away his presence to anyone looking in from the outside, he drew back the curtain just far enough to see a black backpack resting on the windowsill. Dark, hollow holes gaped up at him from sinister, horned skulls. He had found what they were looking for.
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“I’ve got them! Let’s go.”
Uhlrich’s tense face sagged with relief. He cracked the door open and peered up and down the hall before signaling that the way was clear.
They took the stairs down to the first floor and, along the way, Niklas slipped out of his overcoat and draped it over his arm, concealing the backpack. Neither Ihara nor the rest of her party knew him or Uhlrich, but there was always the slim chance she would recognize her own backpack, and he did not want to risk blowing things through a chance encounter. By the time they exchanged the warmth of the hotel for the cold December night, he knew he had made the right choice.
Four people approached, talking and laughing. Though he had never seen a picture of Ihara, he knew this had to be her. An attractive young woman of mixed Asian ancestry along with two American natives– one a tall, muscular man with long hair and a roguish face, the other an attractive twenty-something girl with captivating eyes. How many of their race did one see in Cologne? The fourth member of their group was a muscular man with blond hair and eyes the color of a stormy sea. This must be Dane Maddock. Though he smiled and spoke with his friends, his eyes locked on Niklas and Uhlrich as if he somehow knew something was amiss with them. Then again, perhaps it was because Niklas was not wearing his coat despite the snowfall that was growing heavier by the minute.
They passed close enough for him to catch a whiff of Ihara’s jasmine-scented perfume, and to realize just how tall the Indian was. Niklas was six feet tall, a shade taller than Maddock, but the Indian had him by at least half a head. Tension climbed his spine, knotting the muscles in his back and neck. He had a bad feeling about these two men and, though he and Uhlrich were armed, he would prefer not to have an encounter with them.
By the time they reached their car, the group was rounding the corner of the hotel. He breathed a sigh of relief, set the backpack containing the skulls in the back, and slid into the driver’s seat. He looked at Uhlrich, who was standing on the sidewalk staring back at the hotel. He called his name, but Uhlrich raised a hand.
“Wait a moment. I will be right back.” With that, he vanished into the swirling cloud of white.
Angel pulled up her hood, lowered her head against the wind and snow, and hurried along the sidewalk. How dumb had she been to leave her purse in the rental car? She wasn’t a girly girl by any measure, but her wallet, passport, and phone were inside it and she didn’t want to risk it getting stolen.
She was in such a hurry that she didn’t notice the man approaching her until he was almost on top of her. They had just passed one another moments before. Great! Another random stranger hitting on her. She was about to deflect his advances with a polite rejection when he reached out, grabbed hold of her French braid, and yanked her forward.
“Come quietly and...”
His words ended in a grunt as Angel drove a fist into his gut. An average person would have instinctively tried to pull away from the attacker and get loose from his grip, but Angel was not an average person. Her fighting instincts kicking in, she drove the heel of her palm up into her attacker’s chin. He turned at the last instant and her strike caught him on the jaw. He took a step back, trying to yank her off balance by her hair. Angel barely noticed the pain; she’d had much worse in the octagon. As he moved backward, she scooped one of his legs and drove him backward. He was bigger than her, and maybe stronger, but he was caught completely off guard by her aggression. He stumbled back against a parked car, letting go of her hair as he fell hard to the ground. She heard the whoosh of breath leaving his lungs and the satisfying thunk as his the back of his head cracked the sidewalk. The snow probably cushioned the impact, but not by much.
“Don’t you know,” Angel growled as she pummeled his face with sharp blows, “boys shouldn’t fight girls?”
The man flailed about weakly, trying to fight her off and regain his breath at the same time. She should probably get away while he was still too stunned to chase her, but she wasn’t known for making good decisions when angry. He caught hold of the front of her coat with one hand and pulled her toward him. She used the added momentum to her advantage, driving her elbow into the bridge of his nose. Her coat was thick, but the padding was not enough to save his nose. Two more elbows in quick succession and it was a flattened, bloody mess.
He sucked in a deep, rasping breath and let out a cry of rage. With a sudden burst of strength, he rolled her off of him. Angel scrambled away before he could pin her down. The man was up on his knees but instead coming after her, he pulled an automatic pistol from his coat pocket.
Angel’s roundhouse kick struck him in the temple and he went limp. His eyes glazed and, like a felled tree, plunged forward. Just for meanness, she added a front kick to his face as we went down. She caught him at an awkward angle, and pain shot through her ankle, but she could not stifle her feral grin.
She hesitated for a moment, wondering where the pistol had fallen and if she should search for it.
“Uhlrich?” An unfamiliar voice called from down the street. A shadow appeared in the whirling snow. Resolving into the form of Uhlrich’s companion– the odd one who hadn’t been wearing a jacket.
Still pumped from her beatdown of Uhlrich, Angel entertained a fleeting thought of taking the fight to this guy as well before common sense overrode adrenaline. Reminding herself that Bones was the dumb one in the family, she turned on her heel and ran.
Chapter 8- The Door
Jade was already awake when Dane rolled out of bed. The previous evening’s events, followed by the news that Angel had been attacked outside the hotel had kept the wheels of his mind turning until well into the night. When they discovered the missing skulls, they knew why the men had come.
He and Bones had taken turns staying awake, though neither of them expected the men to return. They had the skulls, and didn’t know about the existence of the three hares disc.
He sat up, closed his eyes, and inhaled the welcome aroma of coffee. Exactly what he needed to start this cold morning.
“It’s about time. I’ve been on the web for hours.” Jade did not look up from the tiny screen of her phone which she was using to search the internet. “I’ve already solved the mystery while you were dreaming about... sand, or whatever it is you dream of.”
“Seriously?” He sat up straight, feeling wide awake.
“No.” She turned and gave him a coy smile. “But since you’re awake, how about pouring me a cup of coffee.”
He gave her a playful swat on the hip and rolled out of bed, sparing a moment to work out the kinks from sleeping on a mattress that was much too soft for his liking. He poured two cups of coffee: black for him, two sugars, no cream for her. He sat her cup on the nightstand on her side of the bed, opened the curtains to let in the glow of the snow-frosted city, and settled into a nearby chair.
“I do have an idea, though.” Jade took sip of coffee and regarded him over her cup. When he didn’t bite, she made a mocking pout that melted into a smile. “Fine. Don’t let me have any fun.”
“Tell me, my wise and beautiful queen...”
“No!” She held up her hand. “Too late now. Just sit there, drink your coffee, and enjoy the fruits of my labor.” She picked up the hotel note pad she’d use for her note-taking. “Aside from the message on the disc, our clues are: the three hares, the wise men, and the wise and foolish virgins. Agreed?”
“I suppose you could add Bacchus to that list.”
“Might as well.” She made a note. “I tried combining phrases from the message with some of these clues, along with Germany and cathedrals or churches, and using them as search terms. I’ve come up with one place I feel good about.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“Saint Mary’s Cathedral in Hildesheim.” She fixed him with an expectant look.
“Never heard of it.”
“It’s famous for the Bernward Doors– huge bronze doors that depict scenes from the Bible.” She checked her notes. “Each door has eight panels, an
d one of them shows the adoration of the Magi.”
“Sounds iffy.” Dane held his coffee close to his nose, savoring the aroma. “There must be tons of representations of the Wise Men all around Germany, and that’s assuming the skulls are still in the country. Who knows?”
“You’re such a cynic, Maddock.” Jade sighed and handed him her phone. “Take a look at this. It’s a picture of the Three Kings panel.”
The image was impressive. The Magi were sculpted, as was the Blessed Mother holding the baby Jesus, and gave the etching a three-dimensional quality. But it wasn’t the scene itself that drew Dane’s eye; it was the door knocker in the shape of a lion’s head that dominated the lower middle of the panel.
“You see?” Jade grinned. “I thought the mention of the word ‘lion’ might be figurative, you know, Jesus was the Lion of Judah. But if it’s a literal clue, this is a good fit. You’ve got the Magi, the lion, and a cathedral. The place is filled with works of art. There’s even a shrine that includes a depiction of the wise and foolish virgins. I’ll wager that somewhere in there is a depiction of the three hares. What do you think?”
“It’s a stretch, but I suppose it’s worth a try.”
“Look, I know it’s not a sure thing but, the way I see it, we’re on vacation and it’s a place I wouldn’t mind visiting anyway. What do we have to lose except a few hours in the car?”
“That works for me,” Dane said. “But I’m guessing you’ve forgotten what a road trip with Bones is like.”
Dane didn’t know if it was holiday spirit or the presence of his sister, but Bones was much less annoying than usual on their drive to Hildesheim. Instead of playing his favorite car game– thinking of an obscenity that started with the first letter of every road sign they passed– he contented himself with singing Christmas songs, though his habit of changing the lyrics to make the songs off-color finally drove Angel crazy and she put a stop to it. By the time they arrived at the cathedral, even Bones was focused on the task at hand.
