The Malta Escape

by Chris Kuzneski

  After they collected themselves, Jones pushed the tube forward a few more inches before he used the touchscreen to curl the camera tip back to get a better view of the wall itself. Just as they had hoped, they saw nothing but the rough texture of cut limestone.

  Ulster pointed at the screen. “As far as I can tell, we haven’t damaged anything of historical significance. No masonry, carvings, or artwork. It simply appears to be a stretch of tunnel. At least I think it’s a tunnel. What type of range does the borescope have?”

  Jones shrugged as he continued to maneuver the camera. “In this atmosphere, it’s hard to say. Between the dust and the darkness, maybe ten feet. Truth be told, I was expecting a lot more range than that, but I’m getting some kind of interference.”

  Payne grimaced at the thought. “Interference? You shouldn’t be getting any interference. That camera costs more than most cars.”

  “Then maybe you shouldn’t have bumped me so hard.”

  “Unlike you, that camera can handle abuse. Where’s the interference?”

  Jones pointed to a portion of the screen that looked similar to the specter they had seen earlier, but unlike the green apparition, this one was whitish in color. “If it’s not interference, it’s some kind of video ghosting.”

  Jarkko heard the word “ghost” and took another step back.

  Payne stared at the screen and reluctantly agreed with Jones. “Shit. I think you’re right. That certainly isn’t dust. It must be a technical glitch.”

  “Actually,” Marissa said as she paused her camera, “I don’t think it is. I’ve seen something similar in other tunnels around Valletta. I think what you’re looking at are tree roots.”

  “Roots?” Jones said as he pushed the borescope forward and articulated it up and down to get the best view possible of the enigma. “I’ll be damned. I think she’s right. The damn things grew straight through the ceiling.”

  Ulster leaned closer and grinned. “Believe it or not, this is excellent news! Tree roots have less trouble growing through porous limestone than solid concrete. And from the looks of this image, this entire stretch of tunnel appears to be infested with them.”

  Jarkko heard the word “infested” and stepped back further.

  Payne glanced at Ulster. “So, what do you think? Should I keep on drilling?”

  Ulster looked at Marissa and urged her to speak up.

  “Hell yeah,” she blurted. “It looks like we found the tunnel!”

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  Buoyed by the team’s excitement and no longer worried about cutting through a historical artifact, Payne was able to increase his speed significantly.

  As they had done earlier, he did the sonic drilling while Marissa did the vacuuming. Every ten minutes or so, they would pause to take a break while Jones and Jarkko emptied the sweeper unit into one of the industrial-strength trash bags they had brought along. Their goal was to keep the utility tunnel as clean as possible, so as not to draw extra attention to their handiwork.

  Realizing that they wouldn’t be able to spend enough time inside the tunnel to thoroughly examine it in a single night, they had come up with a temporary solution to keep workers away. They had brought opaque plastic sheets to cover their improvised doorway and had printed official-looking work permits to hang next to the breach.

  But that would be for later.

  For now, they stayed focused on the doorway.

  After working for a while, Payne realized it made more sense to cut the tunnel in moveable chunks. He’d slice a few feet of concrete, then let Jarkko lift the wedge out of the hole and stack it in the utility tunnel. Originally they had planned to push a huge slab through to the other side, but the extra depth of Payne’s drilling wouldn’t allow it.

  Unfortunately, the process was taking longer than they had expected. They quickly realized they wouldn’t be able to complete the entire doorway in the time they had available, so Payne concentrated on the middle section of the chalked entryway. He would cut just enough to allow them to crawl through and get a good look at the tunnel on the other side. After that, they would decide if it was even worth the time and effort to cut an entire doorway.

  All told, it took nearly two hours to accomplish the job.

  And by then, they were practically bouncing with anticipation.

  After putting down the drill, Payne brushed himself off. “So, who goes first?”

  Ulster pointed at Payne. “You’re the team leader, and you did the bulk of the manual labor. I believe it should be you.”

  Payne shook his head. As he did, dust fell out of his hair “Truth be told, I had someone else in mind. I think it should be Jarkko.”

  Jarkko pointed at himself. “Jarkko? Why Jarkko?”

  Payne explained. “Because you’re the one who started us on this journey. Without your letter from Paul the First, we wouldn’t have even known a treasure existed.”

  Jarkko pounded his chest. “This is true! Jarkko is chosen one!”

  “Besides,” Payne teased, “if there actually is a green ghost in there, there’s no way in hell I want to be the first one through.”

  Jarkko took a step back. “On second thought, ladies first!”

  Payne laughed. “You heard him, DJ. Go ahead.”

  Jones smiled. “Normally, I would take great offense to that childish insult, but in this particular case, I’m more than willing to let it slide if it means I’m the first one in. Back in the service, Jon always had to be the first one through the door. Every. Single. Time.”

  “That’s because I was team leader, and it was the most dangerous position! I was doing that to protect you and the rest of our team!”

  “Hush!” Jones ordered. “This is my moment. Not yours.”

  “The key word is moment. Not hour. Seriously, it’s gonna be light soon. If we were at the Oscars, the band would already be playing.”

  “If we were at the Oscars, my black ass wouldn’t even be allowed in!”

  Payne nodded. “Good point.”

  Jones looked at Jarkko. “Where was I?”

  Jarkko stared at him. “You were happy to be called ‘lady’.”

  Payne groaned and handed Jones a flashlight. “Come on, DJ! Just go already. Marissa is running out of tape in her camera.”

  Jones laughed. “Fine. I’ll go. But I’m only doing this to be honored during Black History Month. It’s one small step for man, but a giant leap for me!”

  And with that, he dove headfirst through the opening.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

  Stunned by Jones’s sudden disappearance, the group rushed forward to see if he was all right. They crowded around the gap in the tunnel wall and waited for a sign from the other side.

  Five seconds passed, and then five seconds more.

  But no word came from Jones.

  “DJ!” Marissa shouted into the void. “Are you okay?”

  Payne was used to his friend’s antics, but even he started to grow concerned. He was a few seconds away from climbing through the wall to check on him, when Jones suddenly popped up and screamed while holding the fluorescent glow stick underneath his chin. Combined with his black clothing, the neon light made it appear that Jones’s face was a green, floating head. Its unexpected appearance caused everyone in the group to recoil in fright.

  Jarkko was so freaked out by the ghostly manifestation that he actually ran down the utility tunnel toward the exit, shouting expletives in his native tongue about the devil. In his mind, no treasure was worth eternal damnation.

  Meanwhile, Jones roared with laughter.

  “DJ!” Payne yelled through the gap as he clutched his chest. “I can’t believe you did that! You almost gave me a heart attack!”

  Jones kept on laughing. “You always give me shit about black ghosts, but now I know you believe in them—or else you wouldn’t have just pissed your pants! Hell, I think Jarkko’s still running. You better go catch him before he reaches his yacht.”

  “You’re lucky I didn�
�t shoot you. I actually reached for my gun.”

  “It would’ve been worth it!” Jones said as he wiped tears from his eyes before turning his attention to Marissa. “Please tell me you got that on film.”

  “Sorry,” she apologized. “Everything happened so fast, I didn’t even capture your leap through the wall. Next time give me some notice.”

  “Man,” he whined. “Every time I do something cool, no one catches it on film. First my gymnastics in the library, and now this. I need to hire a publicist.”

  “David,” Ulster said tentatively. “I don’t mean to step on your joke or stop a potential rant, but I was hoping I could pose a query of some importance.”

  Jones looked at him. “Sure. What’s up?”

  Ulster leaned forward. “Have we located the Knights’ tunnel?”

  Jones smiled at the historian. In his moment of levity, he had completely forgotten about the significance of this find. “Why don’t you come on over and judge for yourself?”

  Ulster grinned. “I was hoping you would say that!”

  Once Payne had convinced Jarkko that there wasn’t a poltergeist in the ancient tunnel, the two of them helped Ulster through the narrow opening. Marissa went next, followed by Jarkko, and then Payne, who passed LED lanterns and flashlights through the gap before he made the journey himself. By the time he reached the far side, the space was being lit by multiple lights, which gave him a good view of his surroundings.

  Stretching more than eight feet in height and width, the tunnels had been carved through the limestone to the dimensions in Cassar’s original drawings. A tangled web of tree roots hung from the punctured ceiling, giving the space an otherworldly vibe, but as Payne ran his hand along the porous walls, he could practically feel the history of the Knights in the stone.

  “What an extraordinary discovery!” Ulster announced for all to hear. “Despite the complex root structures that have grown over time and a bit of seepage from the earth above, this tunnel is in remarkable shape! I truly wasn’t sure what we were going to find, but this surely exceeds the grandest of my expectations.”

  Marissa gawked in amazement. “I know I’m supposed to be filming this, but I’m so blown away that I need to soak it all in. I’m sure this will be the highlight of my career.”

  Payne smiled and put his hand on her shoulder. “Let’s hope not. Remember, the reason we’re down here is to look for clues about the treasure. We can film and map the tunnel structure later, but for now, why don’t we focus on our ultimate objective?”

  She reached up and squeezed his hand. “That sounds good, but still, thank you for this.”

  “My pleasure,” he said as he looked at her in the glow of their surroundings. “Hopefully, this is the beginning of something bigger.”

  She smiled at him. “I couldn’t agree more.”

  “Jonathon,” Ulster called from afar. “In all of my excitement, I have managed to turn myself around. Tell me, my boy, which way is south?”

  Marissa squeezed his hand a second time. “Go help Petr. I want to take a look around before Jarkko breaks something important.”

  “Good idea,” Payne said with a grin. “He strong like bear but jumpy like cat.”

  She walked away, laughing, as Payne pulled out his phone. Despite their depth underground, it was still accurately tracking his movement and elevation. According to his screen, he was facing Marsamxett Harbour to the north in a tunnel system that supposedly had multiple corridors to the south, as it branched out underneath the heart of Valletta. Ulster was calling to him from behind, which meant Ulster had been walking south.

  Payne turned and headed in that direction. “You’re south of me.”

  Ulster called out. “Well, it seems I’ve hit a roadblock.”

  From his current position in the tunnel, he couldn’t actually see Ulster in the distance. The dangling roots were quite thick at times, and they prevented the beam of his flashlight from reaching too far into the distant gloom. He used his left hand to brush them away as he weaved his way past the thickest tangles of vegetation until he could see Ulster in the tunnel up ahead.

  Much to Payne’s surprise, Ulster was standing in front of a roadblock.

  A literal roadblock.

  Made of cut stone, the giant wall was expertly patched together by mortar and stretched across the entire width of the tunnel, thereby cutting off this stretch of corridor from the rest of Cassar’s ancient system.

  Payne glanced at Ulster. “Is that a support wall?”

  Ulster shook his head. “I don’t believe so. I have a theory as to its purpose, but I’d love to discuss it with Marissa first. Why don’t you gather the group as I continue to examine the wall?”

  It took a few minutes to wrangle the others, but once they heard that Ulster wanted to share some news, they excitedly followed Payne back to the stone barricade. When Marissa saw it, she literally gasped and ran up to Ulster to compare their thoughts. As fate should have it, both of them agreed on the purpose and significance of the wall.

  Ulster urged her to speak. “Go ahead, my dear. Tell them.”

  “Okay,” Marissa said, bubbling with enthusiasm. “Although we never mentioned it to each other, both of us were privately hoping to find a wall like this.”

  Ulster laughed. “Excellent wordplay. Simply excellent!”

  Marissa giggled when she realized what she had said. Her use of “privately” had been completely unintentional, but she was happy to have amused her mentor.

  Payne walked forward and put his hand on the wall. “I think you better explain, because right now I have no idea how this is a good thing. I mean, it completely prevents us from accessing the other parts of the tunnel system without finding—oh, hang on! Now I get it!”

  “Get what?” Jones demanded as he approached the barricade.

  “I get Marissa’s pun, and I get the need for this wall.”

  Jarkko shined his light on Ulster. “Jarkko confused. Petr explain.”

  Ulster grinned. “Despite my private nature and introverted ways, I have always enjoyed a good spotlight, whether that be a gallery opening in Vienna or a karaoke bar in Japan. In fact, I remember this one time I had gathered with some colleagues of mine at a geisha house in Kyoto, where they served the most delightful tea made out of—”

  Jarkko made a loud buzzer sound and shifted his light to Marissa. “Sorry, Petr. Time is up. Marissa’s turn to explain.”

  Ulster nodded in understanding as Marissa took center stage.

  “History tells us that Hompesch became grand master of the Knights in July of 1797, nearly a full year before Napoleon’s arrival. If our theory is correct, that’s when he learned about a massive treasure that had been hidden by the Order for centuries and realized it was his best piece of leverage to protect his organization. With this in mind, he started correspondence with Paul the First of Russia in order to save the Knights from a looming war with France.”

  She looked at Jarkko. “With me so far?”

  Jarkko nodded as she started to pace in front of the wall.

  “Unfortunately,” she continued, “the grand master of the Knights prior to Hompesch was a Frenchman named Rohan, who may have told some of his countrymen about the treasure before his death in 1797. Worried about the loyalty of the French knights, Hompesch realized that he had better move the treasure as soon as possible. But how does he do that without being seen?”

  Jarkko answered. “Secret tunnels.”

  “Exactly,” she said as she pointed at him. “Except the tunnels weren’t that secret to the knights themselves. After all, they had been around for over two hundred years, and they led to all of the major buildings in the Order’s world, including all of the inns for the knights. But as luck should have it, Hompesch was a German, and Auberge d'Allemagne—the inn for the German knights—was the northernmost structure with access to the tunnel system. Suspicious of the other langues, Hompesch confided in some of his most loyal companions and convinced them to move
the treasure to the German section of the tunnel in preparation of their departure from Malta. In order to work privately—notice the wordplay—they built a wall in the tunnel behind them to make sure that none of the other factions could discover their secret plans.”

  Jones nodded in understanding. “That makes perfect sense. It also explains why the other langues believed Hompesch was a coward. They had no way of knowing what he was doing on this side of the wall. From their perspective, he was cowering with his German knights as Napoleon approached, but he was actually planning their escape.”

  Ulster chimed in as he walked toward the right corner of the wall and crouched near the floor. “When Jonathon left my side to collect the rest of the team, I happened to notice a date etched into this cornerstone. In German, it simply reads: JANUARY 1798.”

  Marissa hustled over to inspect it. “Finally! Some proof to go along with all of this speculation! I was hoping we’d find some eventually! Truth be told, speculation like this isn’t my forte. But I’m guessing you already knew that.”

  Ulster smiled at her. “I’m quite proud of you, my dear. Putting your name on a theory with only a shred of proof to support it. That’s what true visionaries do. They stretch the realm of the understood world with the power of their imagination.”

  Jarkko walked over to wall. “Jarkko still confused. Where is treasure?”

  Marissa glanced at him. “That, my friend, is a very good question. Do you feel like taking a walk through time?”

  Jarkko stepped back. “Like ghost?”

  “No,” she laughed as she grabbed his arm. “More like a field trip.”

  She turned Jarkko away from the wall and urged him to follow her north in the tunnel. Everyone fell in behind her as she explained her theory aloud.

  “Now that we have a starting date, we know that Hompesch had roughly five months to prepare for Napoleon’s arrival in June after building that wall. During that time, Hompesch started correspondence with Paul the First and began to look for allies in the coming war with France, which had seized control of Italy on its way to Egypt.”