The Trail of Four

by Manjiri Prabhu

  Isabel led Re first to the room on the right.

  ‘This ten-cornered room, called Zehneckraum, contains the tombs of the first Prince Archbishops from the seventeenth to the eighteenth century,’ she explained.

  Despite the historian’s description, Re was taken aback by what he saw. The walls had two horizontal slabs, one on top of the other, embedded into the walls. Re read the names of the different Bishops engraved into the walls along with their crests. A low light hung from the centre of the room. This was a fascinating world, deep under the cathedral.

  ‘Come, follow me,’ Isabel interrupted his observings.

  She led the way out of the crypt, around the beautiful stained-glass doors of the chapel, and into the other crypt. ‘And this is where Archbishop Firmian lies,’ she announced, her voice a whisper.

  Re stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by the graves like niches in the wall. This crypt was neater than the other one. The graves were separated by thick grey-green stone lines that formed a lantern-like pattern from the centre of the ceiling. A large horizontal lamp was encased in a metal clutch and hung from the roof, illuminating the engraved names and crests. Re stood before the Archbishop’s grave and read the inscription.

  LEOPOLDVS

  ANTONIVS

  EX LIBER. BARON

  DE FIRMIAN PRINCEPS

  ARCHIEPISCOPVS

  MD CCXXVII – MDCCXLIV

  The faint smell of dampness drifted towards him and he could sense the unusual energy in the ancient walls and earth. He felt an uncharacteristic closeness and a connection to these men of history, power and politics. A procession of nebulous images fleeted through his mind. The crypt was an acknowledgment of the power of those dead bishops, who changed the spiritual shape of Salzburg’s history.

  ***

  Stefan glanced at his watch. Twenty minutes to noon. The tourists were proving a little stubborn, wanting to hang on, asking too many questions, clicking last-minute pictures and selfies, lest they never see the cathedral again. Being polite was becoming increasingly difficult. Hunting them out from the different corners without creating a panic situation was a real task.

  ***

  Outside, in the open square, the fire engine was on standby and the cathedral had been cordoned off. Curious crowds were gathering, joining the indignant ousted tourists and Salzburgers. Murmurs and angry protests mingled with an air of fear. What exactly was happening inside the august church?

  ***

  ‘One quick look at the chapel and then we go to the other side, which has this famous art installation,’ Isabel instructed.

  ‘All right, but where’s this mystery messenger of yours with news of Justin?’ Re asked impatiently. ‘It’s getting close to twelve. We shouldn’t hang out here at noon, you know that. If the Cathedral is the third Pillar, anything could happen.’

  Isabel nodded. ‘I understand, but how can I leave without meeting this person? If he has some info about Justin, I need to know what it is. Come on, let’s take a quick peek inside the Chapel—this messenger could be waiting for us anywhere!’

  She opened the stained-glass door and stepped in. Re was taken aback by the modern nature of the chapel. It was a glamorous combination of colourful, designed glass with a kind of complicated energy symbol in the centre of the ceiling. A contraption of glass tubes and rings formed the altar, framed against a translucent backdrop, which completed the up-to-date image of the chapel.

  ‘Fascinating!’ he whistled. ‘What is this place?’

  ‘Not quite sure, but probably a sanctuary which celebrates the energy of Salzburg?’ Isabel supplied, a little uncertainly.

  Re felt a great reluctance to leave the serene place. Something about the ambience, a touch both modern and exotic, made him want to linger in the cool interiors. Candles on tall transparent stands added a traditional touch to the modern interiors. On an impulse he extracted the note Isabel had given him. The one on which she had copied Justin’s words. 5th Heart Veronique AWEF MPCL.

  He stared one long moment at it, working out permutations and combinations. An urgent sense of lurking knowledge prompted his grey cells. He had to know what the letters meant. The answer was floating somewhere in his brain but escaped his grip. Frustrated, Re glanced up again at the symbol in the ceiling.

  ‘To think that someone wishes to and may even succeed in his attempt to blast all this away,’ he said sadly.

  ‘Don’t worry, if there’s a bomb, Stefan will find it.’

  ‘I guess he will, but in any case, we have to be out of here before noon.’

  ‘Let’s go then. One last stop—the main excavation room with its art installation,’ Isabel announced.

  The excavation site was completely dark and for a moment Re thought there was nothing there. But a few seconds later, what seemed like ghostly shadows leaped onto the walls, startling him. Re noticed tiny metal figures—eerie skeletal figures with weapons and in positions of action—mounted on footsize strips along the wall. At the edge of the strip, small illuminated candles in cups cast weird shadows of the skeletal figures on the wall. From deep inside the site, right at the end, a female voice announced the time: 11.40 am. A shadow of one of the creepy figures appeared on the rocky, jagged wall as if he was flying. His eye was magnified and his expression was evil. The weapon he carried in his hand appeared hideous as it loomed large and traveled from the right, across the black wall, to the left and merged with the dark again.

  ‘Creepy,’ Re pronounced in a whisper.

  ‘Anyone down there?’ A voice shouted from up the stairs.

  Re turned and saw a pair of uniformed legs hastening down the small flight of stairs. Before he knew it, Isabel caught hold of his hand, and dragged him into the pitch black corner of the site.

  ‘What—?’ He was startled at her unexpected reaction.

  ‘Shh,’ she hushed in warning. ‘I am not leaving till I meet this guy.’

  ‘Anyone down here? Please vacate the site at once. This is an emergency,’ the officer’s voice echoed in the hollow corners of the crypt.

  The beam of a torch pierced the deep dark depths of the low hall, picking up the rough excavated earth and rock. Re crouched down beside the historian, more to humour his companion than out of compulsion. It was pitch-dark and her excited breathing echoed in his ear. The mustiness of the damp earth mixed with the scent of the candles. Re shifted uncomfortably, from one foot to the other, feeling a little claustrophobic.

  Finally, satisfied that the site was empty, the police officer retraced his steps and clattered back up to the main cathedral.

  ***

  ‘Officer Weiss! We found something!’ the uniformed man called out from across the huge hall.

  Stefan hastened to the main altar, his nerves on edge. Two of the bomb squad men were beside the high altar and one of them held up a metallic contraption in his hands.

  ‘It’s a bomb, set to go off at 12 o’clock, placed in a strategic gap inside the altar,’ the squad man informed him. ‘Disconnected,’ he added laconically.

  Stefan heaved a huge sigh of relief. ‘Fantastic job! What a major disaster averted! Keep looking.’

  Stefan glanced up at the high altar where a statue of Saint Rupert stood carrying a barrel of salt in one hand and a bishop’s crozier in the other. Opposite him, Saint Virgil was also represented. Stefan bent his head in quick, grateful reverence, acknowledging the role of the superior being in averting great loss of life and damage.

  His eyes cruised across the cathedral, a beautiful and magnificent creation of art now reduced to a hub of policemen. Four groups were spread out in far corners of the religious centre, their metal detectors set to pick out any suspicious frequencies. Stefan glanced at his watch. 11.45.

  ***

  Isabel and Re rose with a sigh. Re felt cramped but stopped himself from groaning out loud. The audio clock continued to spell out the time, as a gangly, frightening figure, like something out of a stick drawing, zoomed across the dark
wall, gaining in size. Just as it whizzed out of sight, illuminating a dark patch, Isabel gasped aloud. Her hand clutched Re’s in a tight grip.

  ‘What is it?’ he asked, alarmed.

  ‘Justin! I just saw Justin!’ she exclaimed.

  ‘Where?’ the journalist glanced around, trying to peer through the dark shadows.

  ‘In that dark patch, inside the cordoned area. Just now. He was staring at me!’ Isabel pointed with her finger.

  ‘Isabel—’ Re began, a little impatiently.

  ‘It’s true, I didn’t imagine it. He’s right here!’

  The audio clock chimed 11.50 as another spectral figure loomed into sight, illuminating dark patches of raw, excavated earth. Isabel ran forward into the dark cordonedoff area.

  ‘Re, please switch on your mobile light!’ she shouted.

  ‘Isabel, if he’s here, he would come forward to meet you, wouldn’t he? Why would he hide?’ Re asked sensibly.

  ‘I don’t know. Justin!’ she called out suddenly. ‘Justin, I know you are here!’

  Only a weird echo responded and mingled with the audio clock stating the time as 11.52.

  ***

  ‘Another one detected and disconnected,’ a policeman announced calmly.

  ‘Super job, guys. Three detected. I believe that there could be four. What do you think?’ Stefan enquired, feeling immensely proud of his team.

  ‘We’ve covered almost the entire cathedral. We began with the crypt, we just have to comb the left wing and altar,’ the squad man explained.

  ‘Hurry, then. We have very little time,’ Stefan reminded them.

  He peeked at his wristwatch reluctantly. 11.55. Still some more areas to be covered and declared safe. His heart began an erratic pounding again. Time was running out swiftly like the sand in a broken timer.

  ***

  The rain staged an entry again, sizzling like a roaring frying pan. Thick black clouds appeared like a large roof over the square. The sound of a siren pierced through the wet, overcast afternoon as another police car made way into the cathedral Plaza. The crowds had multiplied, murmuring theories around what was happening inside the cathedral. They parted to allow more policemen to block the entrance to the church. All eyes were raised towards the imposing doors. Firemen rushed to push aside the crowd, shouting out rough orders in German. The square was now almost filled with passersby, swaying with the pressure of the cordoned rope as they stepped back again, under a sea of umbrellas.

  ***

  The skeletal shadow loomed against the dark wall in its journey from small to huge, and the audio voice mechanically announced the time: 11.59. Re listened to it with a sinking heart as Isabel expelled a sigh.

  ‘Isabel, we need to leave,’ he repeated urgently. ‘We are in the midst of the danger zone, we’ve got to leave.’

  ‘But, but, Justin is here some place. I’m sure there’s some kind of exit, or hiding place. We have to find him!’

  ‘Isabel there’s no Justin here. Even if you really did see him, he must’ve left by now. It’s easy to slip out in the dark, without anyone noticing.’

  ‘But why? Why would he leave without speaking to me? No, he’s here somewhere. I can’t leave without him, don’t you see?’

  ‘No, don’t you see? We have to get out!’ Re exclaimed in frustration.

  She was too disoriented to see reason and danger. If he didn’t make a move quickly, they had had it! If it wasn’t already too late. Fear spurred him on. He caught hold of Isabel’s hand and literally dragged her away. He had no choice. The skeletal figures on the wall seemed spooky, beaming a silent, sinister rictus.

  Re was at the foot of the steps, with Isabel close behind him, when he first saw the burst of light. An atom of a second later, a ear-deafening sound exploded in the small confines of the crypt and in a swift, searing motion, they were both lifted off the ground and brutally hurled back into the dark excavation hole.

  The sound of the audio clock announcing noon was completely drowned in the explosion.

  Part IV

  FIRE

  Chapter 1

  6th October

  Chaos reigned outside the Cathedral. The shocking explosion from inside the cathedral threw a wave of panic through the crowds. Screams rent the air, as people began to run helter-skelter. Firemen rushed inside the church as policemen organized themselves in controlling the frenzied crowd.

  Inside the cathedral, a small wall had collapsed and rubble blocked the entrance of the crypt. The air was thick with dust and vision was impossible. Stefan blew away the dust from his face, his heart pounding so badly that he felt he would choke. He tried to clear his line of vision, as tears pricked at his eyes. At first sight, it appeared as if bodies seemed to be scattered around. His mouth went completely dry. Mein Gott! Stefan ran from one person to the other trying to revive his team-members. Other officers joined him as tension rode high within the cathedral. Excruciatingly slowly, some of the men stirred. Stefan could’ve cried with happiness. It was if a frozen scene was slowly melting back to life as one by one the stunned men regained consciousness.

  ***

  Re’s eyes flew open and he stared into total darkness. Disorientation set in, and in panic, he tried to locate a spot of light—any light! It was so insufferably dark, like an impenetrable wall before his eyes. Suddenly, memories gushed back into his brain, crowding together in a jumbled and incoherent chronology. A sharp pain shot into his head, as he tried to move it. He cautiously moved one limb at a time. Nothing broken, thank God. He realized that his hand was curled around his ‘Om’ pendant. Momentarily, his clasp tightened over the metal in gratitude and he muttered a quick prayer. Isabel! He sat up, trying to focus in the dark, as he straightened his skewed spectacles. The candles had blown off. Only one brave little candle at the far end was like a point of relief.

  ‘Isabel,’ Re’s voice was a croak. His tongue was filled with dust and cement and he felt like spitting.

  The darkness was dust-filled and his eyes itched.

  ‘Isabel? Where are you?’

  A groan met his ears and it was like hearing a sweet melody. She was alive! He began crawling in the direction of the sound. His hand touched a soft body and relief gushed through him.

  ‘Isabel, are you okay?’

  He felt her stir and slowly sit up. A hazy form began to take shape as his eyes adjusted to the dark.

  ‘I—I’m okay. I think,’ Isabel managed.

  ‘Let’s try to get out of this place. Think you can get up?’

  ‘My arm, I think I’ve hurt it. What happened?’

  ‘A bomb exploded. The cathedral was the third Pillar, as we feared.’

  ‘Mein Gott! Stefan—and his team—they were in the cathedral! He may be hurt!’ she cried, struggling to get up.

  ‘Easy…let me get that candle.’

  Re crossed the distance to the spooky figures. One lonesome ghostly figure smiled unnervingly at him. He quickly snapped up the candle and made his way back to Isabel, who was now leaning against the wall.

  ‘Here’s your phone,’ Re spotted it flung against the wall. ‘I wonder where mine is.’ Moments later he found it under a pile of dust and flicked it open. It seemed to be working, but there was no signal.

  ‘Now what do we do? We need to get in touch with Stefan. I can’t seem to get through to him,’ Isabel remarked, as she fiddled with her own cell.

  ‘Let me look at your arm. It’s a long cut—you’re bleeding!’ Re anxiously shone the pale light on her torn sleeve.

  ‘So are you,’ she muttered. ‘From the forehead.’

  Re touched his forehead and felt the gravelly moisture with more relief than anxiety. He delved into his pocket and pulled out his handkerchief, expertly and swiftly bandaging her arm. She bit her lip and closed her eyes.

  ‘I’m going to try and see if I can make my way through that fallen wall,’ he announced and rose.

  The darkness was getting to him. The brave lone candle was also flickering
ominously, threatening to go out and pitch them into interminable blackness. He needed to do something quick, before the walls closed in on him. Tiny holes of light appeared beyond the thick pile of rubble blocking the entrance. Re pushed at it but it wouldn’t budge. He put his mouth to the hole.

  ‘Help! Somebody help!!’

  Isabel rose at once and half-scrambled to join him.

  Together they shouted. ‘Help!’

  Desperation lent strength to their hoarse voices.

  ***

  Stefan watched as two of his men were carried out on the stretcher. Thank God they were not badly hurt. It had been a narrow miss. Had anything happened to any one of them, he would’ve never forgiven himself. Stefan loved his team like he did his family. They were as important to him as…

  ‘Help!’

  The voice was weak and seemed to come from a great distance. Startled, Stefan strained his ears over the loud cacophony of noises and shouts. The dust was clearing and the air was getting breathable again. Outside, the frenzied crowds were being composed by an efficient team of policemen.

  ‘Help, somebody!’

  This time it was so distinctly clear that Stefan wheeled around. The crypt! Someone was trapped below the rubble.

  ‘Jack, Tim! Some people are trapped here. Hurry up!’ he shouted, an urgency breaking though his inherent calm.

  He ran to the crumbled wall. Hadn’t his men ensured that no one was in? Then who… like an instinctive reminder, the image of Isabel and Re near the crypt door flashed through his mind. They had been heading down to the crypt. Isabel had waved to him. They weren’t still in there, were they?

  ‘Mein Gott!’ Stefan sucked in a quick breath. ‘Isabel!’

  ‘Help!’ the voices were stronger.

  Stefan tried to peer through the tiny slits but it was too dark.

  ‘Isabel! Are you in there? Can you hear me?’ Stefan shouted.