Templars Quest Trilogy: The Lost Ark (Books 1-3 The Templars Quest Chronicles)

by Thomas H. Ward

  “I’m glad they’re gone.”

  “Yeah it was almost too easy. We haven’t seen the last of them,” I replied. “I’m sure … we’ll see a couple of their trucks … in the ravine, on our way back.”

  We slowly trudged back up the steep hill. Near the top, I shouted, “Adam, we’re coming in! Don’t shoot!”

  Adam and the dogs ran over to greet us. “You guys ok?” he asked.

  “Yeah, they left when we started shooting them.”

  Quanah asked, “Did you kill more Ghosts?”

  Maggie replied, “Yeah, but it was no big deal, Chief.”

  I said, “I gotta eat something to get my energy back.”

  Maggie broke out the portable stove and started to heat some MREs up for everyone. We had gone all day and night with no grub. While she was cooking, we each had a couple shots of JD.

  Maggie handed an MRE to the Chief. He smelled it and asked, “What is this?”

  Adam said, “It’s Army food.”

  “It smells like dog food.”

  “Hold your nose and eat it. It’s good for you,” Maggie told him. “See the dogs like it.” Both dogs had gobbled down the MREs before we even had taken a bite.

  Changing the subject, I said, “Ok, here’s the plan. We’ll eat and rest here until the sun comes out and dries up the trail a little. I wanna leave by noon.”

  POWER OF THE SWORD

  APRIL 28, 2026

  The sun was just starting to rise and the sky was clearing up. It looked like it was going to be a nice day.

  We cleaned our weapons and were in the process of getting ready to move out, when Maggie spotted some vehicles heading our way. I looked at them using the Cobb 50 scope. To my surprise, it was two of our Humvees coming to the rescue.

  Half an hour later, Captain Baldwin, Black Horse, and Walker climbed out of the first truck. I greeted them all with a hand shake. “Boy, I’m glad to see you guys. How did you find us?”

  Baldwin said, “Oh, we have our ways. When you didn’t come back yesterday, I figured something must have happened.”

  “Did you see any other trucks on your way here?”

  “No, why?”

  “Well, we had a little run in with the old Templars last night.”

  “What happened?”

  “I killed Canfield and another guy. Then Maggie and I sniped them, killing three more. Then they left. End of story. Maybe with Canfield dead, they’ll stop chasing us for the sword.”

  Baldwin shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. We have to find out how they’re tracking us.”

  “Thanks for reminding me. Adam, bring me the sword. I wanna check the box for a GPS bug.”

  Adam said, “Ok, but there’s no bug in it. I know every little thing about that box.” Adam got up and went to remove the box from under the back seat of the truck.

  He came running over to me. “Something is wrong.” He placed the sword box on a rock and opened it. We looked inside and were shocked to see a wooden branch along with a note written in Latin.

  Adam read it out loud. “The treasure belongs to those who find it.”

  “They got the sword and this note means they can read Latin,” I exclaimed, while looking at Adam. “How in the hell did this happen?”

  “I don’t know, Grandpa.”

  Quanah said, “I know, maybe a ghost took it.”

  I inquired, “Did you see anyone, Chief?”

  “I saw no one.”

  “Where were you at, Adam?” I asked.

  Adam hung his head down. “It must have happened when we took the dogs for a little walk around the hill top.”

  “Shit, these guys sneak right into our camp and steal the most important item we have.” I was upset because I thought Adam would know better than to leave the sword unguarded. On the other hand, it was also my fault for leaving Adam and Quanah alone.

  I carefully felt around inside the silk-lined wooden box. Running my fingers over the cloth, on all sides, and feeling the corners. In one corner, I felt a bump the size of a quarter. “I think the bug is here.”

  Pulling out my knife I made a slit just big enough to remove the item. Adam said, “Please be careful, don’t damage the box.”

  Using my fingers, I lifted it out. It was a GPS bug alright, about the size of a quarter, but a little thicker. I held it up for everyone to see. Then I smashed it into pieces with a stone.

  Maggie said, “They must have been watching us. When no one was around, they came to the truck and took the sword.”

  Baldwin butted in, “Don’t worry we’ll get that sword back. How long ago did they leave?”

  “It was around 4 am,” I said.

  “Which way do you think they’ll go, Jack?”

  “If I was them, I’d go back to Route 281, then go to I-40 and head west. They certainly can’t go to Lawton. One thing to our advantage is they still have to figure out what the clues mean.”

  Adam said, “Yeah, that could take them weeks.”

  “They’ll need to stop somewhere and study the sword clues.”

  Baldwin said, “We can’t go back the way we came because our trucks are too slow. We’ll never catch them once they’re on I-40. Does anyone know where this trail goes to?”

  Black Horse replied, “It goes all the way to Amarillo. Up ahead, about 10 miles, it runs into Route 183. We can get on 183 and then it is just a few miles to I-40. There is an intersection there.”

  “Good, maybe we can cut them off and ambush them at the intersection. Everyone mount up. Let’s roll.”

  Pulling off of Ghost Hill, heading west, the Hummers took the lead. They could make faster time than my F-250 on the bumpy trail. It wasn’t long before they were out of sight.

  On the way, Adam commented, “If they unsheathe the sword and touch the blade, God will punish them if they’re not worthy.”

  Maggie asked, “What do you mean?”

  “I’m just saying something bad could happen. That’s why I told Grandpa Jack not to touch the sword blade.”

  “Oh, I’m not worthy in the eyes of God,” I commented.

  “Maybe you are and maybe you’re not, but that is up to God. I just didn’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

  After seeing with my own eyes, the sword behead Christian de Molay in a flash of light, guided by the hand of an unseen Angel, I knew its power. Adam was right, don’t touch the sword unless God tells you to. It sounds so crazy, I can hardly believe it myself.

  “What if they are worthy?” Maggie asked.

  “Then they will have the power of the sword,” Adam said.

  “What does that mean?” I asked.

  Adam replied, “I don’t really know what it means or what will happen. I only know they’ll have the treasure map.”

  Chief Quanah asked, “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “It’s a long story, Chief, and we’ll tell you later,” I said. No one spoke after that. Adam’s words gave us all a lot to think about. I thought, maybe we should just let them have the sword.

  Driving along, it occurred to me, that Adam doesn’t control the sword, it controls him. What if we find the treasure, then what will we do with it? Will God like the fact that we found his treasure? Will the power of the sword and possibly the Arc of the Covenant strike us down? Are the Bible stories about its power really true?

  The more I thought about it, the more I wondered if we were doing the right thing. If God wanted us to find the treasure, why is he making it so darn difficult?

  After an hour of a bumpy motion sickness on the old trail, we reached Route 183. I put the pedal to the metal to catch up to Captain Baldwin. He was already at the cloverleaf intersection preparing for the ambush.

  We observed various cars and trucks zooming down the highway past our positions, headed west. I carefully peered at each one to make sure they weren’t the old Templars.

  A couple of hours had gone by, and the old Templar convoy still hadn’t shown up. I
tried to flag down a car, headed west, but it didn’t wanna stop until we pointed our guns at the driver.

  The driver, a young looking man who was clearly afraid of us, advised me that he saw some trucks back down the road, at a rest stop. In the car with him were four little kids, and I assumed the woman was his wife. He asked me if we could spare some food for his kids. Maggie gave them a box of MREs for helping us out. The woman thanked us and said, ‘God Bless y’all,’ and they drove away.

  I couldn’t help but wonder where this young man was going and why was he putting his family in danger. Driving on the expressway is dangerous because of Free Roamers, terrorists, and just plain terrible people who would kill you for your car and money, if you had any. His kids could be taken and sold as slaves to the highest bidder, or a sicko child molester could get them. They are the scum of the earth and I’ve killed a few of them over the years, I’m proud to say.

  Everyone mounted up and we drove east to find the rest stop and possibly the Templar convoy. After twenty minutes, we spotted them and pulled over to check them out, from half a mile away. Pulling out the binoculars Baldwin and I carefully scanned the group of trucks. From the angle we were at, we couldn’t see anyone moving around.

  I commented, “They’re checking out the sword and licking their wounds.”

  Baldwin said, “Here’s the plan. We’ll enter the rest stop from two sides, using the entrance and exit ramp, cutting them off so they can’t escape. If they don’t surrender and shoot at us, we’ll blast them to hell. Jack, you follow my Humvee.”

  Everyone agreed with the plan so it was put into motion. We zoomed into the rest area as fast as possible, but saw no people. The Templars convoy was in a single line along the grassy area, next to some picnic tables. We could only see the driver’s side of the vehicles and not the passenger side of their trucks.

  It was strange that no one was visible. Baldwin yelled, “Be careful it could be a trap!”

  Everyone dismounted with guns ready and surrounded the Templars pickup trucks. Adam and the Chief stayed in my truck as we started the search.

  Rounding the front of the black pickup, I stopped dead in my tracks, as did the others in my group. On the ground lay the old Templars in their white mantles. They were clearly all dead.

  It was a shocking sight as none of them had eyes and their faces were charred black. Lower jaws hung down, leaving mouths wide open, as if they were screaming. I could almost hear their cries of pain. It was abnormal because other parts of the bodies were untouched. The white mantels, which displayed the crimson cross, were not burned in any manner. There wasn’t a drop of blood to be seen.

  All twelve bodies looked identical, with burned out eyeballs and charred black faces. The old Templars were all laying on their backs, in a distorted twisted manner, with their hollow eye sockets facing the sky. It was an unearthly sight which told you supernatural forces were at work. The bodies were in a semi-circle around the Sword of Jerusalem, which was stuck straight into the ground about four inches deep. The scabbard was a few feet away, on the grass.

  I glared at the blade, which was glowing red, pulsating on and off. The metal blade looked red hot, like it just came from a blacksmith’s forge. I shouted, “Don’t touch the sword! Don’t go near it.” All our men, including Baldwin, stopped dead in their tracks. Some of the warriors backed away a few more feet. “Adam, come over here right now!”

  Adam came running and stopped next to me when he saw the awful sight. He commented, “They touched the sword. God didn’t deem them worthy and struck them down.”

  Adam started to move towards the sword, but I grabbed his arm, stopping him. “Do you think it’s wise to touch the sword after seeing this?”

  “I need to clean it and put it back in its scabbard. Once in the scabbard, everyone will be safe.”

  Still holding his arm, I asked, “Are you sure it won’t hurt you?”

  “Yes, I’m sure, Grandpa. Don’t worry so much.” I released is arm.

  Adam walked up to the sword and it started flashing faster and faster. Adam slowly reached out to take hold of the handle. Suddenly, when his hand touched the grip, the sword turned glowing white, like a light bulb. It flashed the same intense white light as when the sword killed Christian de Molay.

  Adam didn’t move for a few seconds, it was as if he was frozen. I yelled, “Adam, are you ok?” He didn’t reply. I moved closer to my grandson. I wasn’t sure what action to take, if any. Was he being hurt by the sword? It sure appeared so to me. His body started to shake and his head was looking straight up at the sky.

  Without further concern about myself, I grabbed his arm to pull him away and felt a force, almost like an electric shock. A strong tingling ran through my body. Frozen in place I couldn’t remove my hand from Adam’s arm. I tried with all my strength to pull my hand away, but I couldn’t escape from the connection. I thought, we’re being electrocuted.

  Yet, it was a slightly different feeling. I can’t explain it exactly, but it was a force or power that didn’t actually hurt. The force was probing my body and brain. Yes, it was probing my brain. It was reading my memory. My life flashed before my eyes. It ran like a 3-D movie in my head. I saw everything I had done. All the good times and bad times of my life were on display. The people I had killed were in the movie. I clearly saw their faces as I killed them for a second time.

  There was Leroy, the guy I killed with a shotgun, blowing off his head. Leroy was the scumbag doper who murdered my little brother, Mike, while he was in line at a burger place. Leroy killed little Mike in cold blood and only received a six year sentence. My brother Ron and I made a plan to kill his ass, when he got out of jail.

  We ambushed him at a stoplight and I pulled the trigger from ten feet away, as he went for his gun. His head exploded like a ripe watermelon. It was an eye for an eye, because no one was going to murder my brother and get away with it. It was the first premeditated murder I had committed. But, I didn’t think of it as murder. To me it was justice. ‘Vengeance is Mine,’ saith the Lord, and I was his instrument.

  I was being judged for everything I ever did in my life, whether it was good or bad. All these memories, some of which I didn’t like, were popping up in the front of my head, zooming by incredibly fast.

  I faintly heard Baldwin and Maggie yelling at me. Finally, I freed my hand from Adam, and I fell to the ground. Baldwin helped me up, just in time to see Adam pull the sword from the ground, point the blade at the sky, and kiss the ruby handle. The white glow suddenly stopped. He wiped off the blade, and slid it into the scabbard.

  Adam asked, “Are you ok, Grandpa?”

  “I … I think so. Are you alright?” I replied, still dazed by what just occurred.

  “Yes, I’m fine. We were just judged to see if we were worthy to receive the sword.”

  “Has this happened to you before?”

  “Yes, a couple of times.”

  “Baldwin, how long were we connected to the sword.”

  “Maybe ten or fifteen seconds, why?”

  “Because, it seemed like hours. My whole life flashed in front of my eyes.”

  Adam laughed and said, “That’s right, it was reading your life. Now I know why Grandpa De Molay chose you to be my guardian. He knew you would be worthy to handle the sword.”

  Maggie asked, “Adam, how does the sword do that? Is it controlled by God or an Angel?”

  “I don’t really know for sure. The sword doesn’t talk. I only know that God has spoken to me in my dreams.”

  Captain Baldwin said, “Glory to God.” All his men repeated it in unison and made the sign of the cross.

  Baldwin commented, “You see men, Adam does own the Power of the Holy Sword. This is the second time the sword has helped him.”

  Adam replied, “I’m only the caretaker of this sword, not the owner. No one can own God’s treasure.” After saying that, he put the sword in the box, and placed it under the backseat of my truck. I, for one, was glad that he did.


  While watching the Templar Warriors dig graves, Chief Quanah and Black Horse were talking to Walker in Comanche. I had no idea what was being said, but I guessed they asked Walker how the sword could glow like it was on fire, and how did it kill all those men?

  Baldwin and his men buried the old Templars in shallow graves. He said a prayer over each man, asking God to forgive them for their sins. After that we mounted up and headed back to the safety of the Comanche Nation.

  Arriving there without further incidents, we parted ways with our Comanche friends for the night. When we dropped Chief Quanah off at his home, he commented, “Ghost Killer, you will have to tell the tribe stories of our trip. It was exciting for an old man. I need rest now.”

  We told the Chief good night. With no further comments, he turned and with shoulders slumped, walked slowly into his house.

  Maggie asked, “Do you think he’ll be alright?”

  “Yeah, he’s just tired like me,” I said.

  At the motel room, I pulled out my bottle of JD and had a few drinks to wind down. We were so worn out from the lack of sleep that we didn’t bother to eat anything. Adam fell fast asleep on the floor with the dogs nuzzled up next to him. Maggie flopped into her bed still wearing her combat gear.

  As I was dozing off, I couldn’t help but wonder what the future had planned for us. I’ll find out soon enough, like it or not.

  Signing off for now.

  GOD BLESS AMERICA, LAND OF THE FREE, and HOME OF THE BRAVE!

  Jack Gunn, a.k.a. Tocabaga Jack

  If you have any ideas where the treasure is located, let me know.

  Email me at ThomasHWardBooks@gmail.com.

  I WILL REPLY.

  DRAMATIS PERSONAE

  Adam de Molay – A future Knights Templar leader. Sent to Jack Gunn, by God.

  Black Horse – Medicine man for the Comanche Nation and father of Billy Bob.

  Big Bear – An old Indian who runs the Comanche Nation Motel.

  Billy Bob – Lost son of Black Horse who lived in Indianola Mississippi.

  Canfield – A Templar of the old order, who wants to steal the Sword of Jerusalem.