“Maybe,” Dane said, watching as the others exchanged frustrated looks. How could he make them understand? After the way his wife had died, he felt… cursed. Like he’d bring misfortune onto the next woman he truly loved. He knew that wouldn’t fly with any of them, though.
“Dane Maddock,” Tam took on the lecturing tone of a middle school teacher scolding an underachieving student, “it’s no wonder you won’t join up with me. Willis is right. You’re not afraid of dying. You’re afraid of real commitment.”
“No I’m not. I’m a decorated veteran in case you’ve forgotten.”
“I know that. I also know when and why you quit the service.” She looked like she wanted to say more, but a knock at the door interrupted her. A moment later, the agent standing guard ushered Matt into the room. He greeted Tam and then turned to Dane.
“When I saw the Feds had taken over here, and you guys hadn’t shown, I figured my getaway driver services were no longer needed. Anyway, I just got a call from Corey. He and Avery have been arrested.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Is it at least a real arrest? Locke doesn’t have them too?”
“No. One of Locke’s men chased them into the National Aquarium and Avery wound up jumping into the shark tank, or falling in, or something. Corey bashed the guy’s skull pretty good. It’s a mess.”
Dane groaned and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he saw Tam grinning at him like a cat who had cornered a mouse.
“I guess I might need two favors.”
“Join my team and I will. We can wait til all this is over to work out all the details. I’ve got a place for all four of you, plus the little nerd boy.”
“Dude, are you seriously blackmailing us?” Bones anger was returning.
“Excuse me? You forget, I know all about you. If I wanted to blackmail you, I could have done it long ago. Defacing national historical sites?”
“That was Maddock.” Bones pointed at Dane.
“The Fremont ruins?”
“Okay, that was sort of me.” Bones said.
“Desecrating graves?”
“It was only one grave,” Dane said, “and I didn’t exactly…”
“Kidnapping a patient from a hospital in Utah.”
“Me again.” Bones raised his hand.
“Missing Italian nationals who, rumor has it, were sent after you.”
“Good. I was feeling left out,” Wills said to Bones.
“Bringing down half a mountain in Jordan. Lord only knows what you did in Utah. Breaking and entering all across Germany. And,” she paused for effect, “we found the bodies in that well.”
There was nothing Dane could say. Everything she mentioned had an explanation, a greater purpose, or was a case of self-defense, but they’d never be able to defend themselves in court. The cumulative weight of the charges against them was too great.
“But, as I said, if I wanted to blackmail you, I would have already done it. I’ve been in the field with you. I know what you can do. I trust you.” She stood and offered her hand to Dane. “I’ll get your friend and your sister out, and I’ll help you get your girl. But you’ve got to help me.”
Dane looked at Bones, Willis, and Matt. They exchanged glances, then all nodded solemnly.
“All right.” Dane clasped Tam’s hand. “You’ve got a deal.”
Chapter 28
Dane sat aboard the jet Tam had secured for a flight to England, waiting for takeoff and for her to tell him what she had learned. He passed the time by scrolling through the pictures they’d taken of the two underground Templar churches they’d discovered. It wasn’t long before something caught his attention.
“Hey guys, check this out,” he said to Bones and Avery who were seated behind him. “You see how, right at the top of the ceiling in both of these places, there’s this pie-shaped carving?” He clicked between the images to illustrate his point. “They aren’t exactly the same, but don’t they look like pieces of a map?”
“You might be on to something,” Bones agreed.
“Each one is about one third of a circle. I’ll bet, when we find the last chamber, we’ll find the missing piece.”
“And that will lead us, where?” Bones mused.
“I don’t know. I’m going to message Jimmy and ask him to see if he can match it up to any known locations.” Just then, Tam arrived.
“All right. Here’s what I’ve got.” She took the seat next to Dane. Bones and Avery listened in, as did the others, who were seated all around.. “Locke is former MI6. He was a rising star with an exemplary record, but he left unexpectedly to go to work for this woman.” She held out a photograph of a blue-eyed blonde woman of early middle years.
“Smoking hot!” Bones said.
“Oh, is that what you like?” Avery snapped.
“I just like women.” Bones smiled at Avery who made a face at him.
“Morgan Fain. She is the director of the British History Museum in Truro. The same museum that owns the Bailyn.”
“Wait a minute.” Avery cupped her chin, thinking. “One of the biggest treasure hunts on Oak Island was conducted by the Truro Syndicate back in the mid-1800’s. Could there be a connection?”
“Hers is an old and powerful family, so maybe.”
“Truro. That’s kind of off the beaten path, isn’t it?” Dane asked. He’d imagined any powerful players in England would be based out of London.
“It works for her.” Tam said, returning the photograph to the folder and pulling out a sheet of paper. “She has political aspirations, and she’s set herself up as an outsider. She’s never held public office, but she writes editorials for the biggest newspapers in Britain, and makes guest appearances on news shows. Ninety percent of the time, she’s talking politics, not history. When she does talk history, it’s about England’s past greatness.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Avery said.
“Her underlying message, and I’m paraphrasing here, is that the lowlifes and scum are dragging all of the United Kingdom down, and they’ve got to go. She wants all the resources that go to supporting the bottom feeders to go toward re-establishing their military strength and political influence. She even thinks Ireland should bend the knee and join the United Kingdom. I won’t go so far as to say she sounds like Hitler, she’s too smart to talk like that, but I don’t think she’d be too disappointed if the people she thinks are not ‘true Britons’ vanished off the face of the earth.”
“Plenty of American politicians talk that way,” Dane observed.
“True, but there’s more here than meets the eye. I don’t know for sure how the pieces fit together, but here’s what I’ve got. People have been begging her to run for Parliament for years, even talk about her being a shoo-in for Prime Minister, but she won’t do it, even though it’s obvious that’s her long-term goal.”
“It’s like she’s waiting for something,” Dane said. “What else do we know about her?”
“She’s also got people working hard to strengthen her royal bloodline. There’s no question she has royal blood but, rumor has it, she thinks she has a better claim to the throne than the current monarch or her heirs.”
“Who is she tracing her roots back to that she could make such a claim?” Avery looked puzzled.
“Arthur,” Dane said, half to himself. “Think about it. If she can produce Arthur’s weapons as proof that he was an actual, historical figure, and as evidence that she’s his heir, wouldn’t that capture the minds and hearts of the British people?”
“It’s not enough,” Avery said. “Even if she could convince people the weapons aren’t fakes, that won’t prove she’s descended from Arthur.”
“But if she finds his body, DNA testing certainly could,” Bones said. “Hey, if he really lived, and it looks like he did, that means his body’s got to be somewhere, doesn’t it?”