Sean looked over at his friend and smiled. “Not too late to go find someone.”
Tommy shook his head. “No. I’m good. But let’s hurry. Last thing I need is to get arrested for grave robbing.”
Chapter 21
The rickety doors creaked open as Adriana fearlessly led the way inside. Sean and Tommy cautiously followed her into the shadowy sanctum of Jonathan Stuart’s crypt. They all turned on their cell phones’ flashlights that instantly bathed chunks of the room with bright LED light. Their nostrils filled with musty air and dust. A mouse scurried across the floor and disappeared through a crack in the far corner.
The crypt ran around ten feet in length and eight feet wide. In the center, a massive stone sarcophagus sat around four feet high. The sides and top were carved flat from heavy granite.
Sean leaned close to the stone box and inched toward the head. He shone his light on the surface and ran his free hand across it, scraping away years of dust and fallen cobwebs. Tommy waved his hand around in an attempt to dispel the debris Sean’s action had aroused.
Adriana angled in from the opposite side of Sean and stared at the engraving on the top.
It read, Here lies His Majesty’s servant, Lieutenant Jonathan Stuart. May he rest in God’s peace forever and ever.
“That’s a pretty nice parting sentiment,” Tommy commented when he’d twisted his head and read the sarcophagus lid.
“Indeed,” Adriana said, pointing at the emblem below it. “The royal seal of King George himself. That was reserved for royalty or people extremely close to the monarch.”
Sean looked up at his friends, whose faces were only slightly illuminated by the white glow of their phone lights. “Based on Jackson’s story, it was Stuart who originally discovered the clue regarding Holger Danske. Stuart convinced Jackson that Holger Danske was a source of great power that could somehow solidify England’s empire. That surely must have won him a great deal of admiration from the king. Anyone who could find something of such importance would be honored highly.”
“Good point,” Tommy agreed. Then his shoulders drooped. “The question is how do we get the lid off this thing?”
“Perhaps you can use this?” A new and hauntingly familiar voice jumped into the conversation.
The three Americans’ heads snapped toward the door and found Nicholas Petrov standing just outside it. In one hand he held a black pistol; in the other, a crowbar. Just beyond him, two other muscular men in burgundy rain jackets stood waiting with weapons cautiously folded over their abdomen in case a casual passerby happened to wander near.
“I was beginning to wonder if you were going to show up,” Sean said, keeping his frustration level as low as possible.
“I’ll admit, Sean, leaving me there to be arrested in the city was a pretty good idea. Unfortunately for you, I’m more clever than you give me credit.”
“Oh, I give you plenty of credit, Nicholas,” Sean waited to see if his mention of the Russian’s name caused any kind of physical reaction. It didn’t, so Sean went on. “A man with your reputation doesn’t get caught easily. I had a feeling you’d get away from Southampton’s finest.”
The only change in demeanor was the slightest expression of curiosity. “Why leave me then?”
“You didn’t give us much choice. After all, you were the one doing all the shooting.”
The Russian cocked his head to the side with a shrug. “Either way, I’m here now.” He took a wary step forward, sure to keep the gun leveled at the trapped quarry. “If it’s not too much trouble, I would appreciate it if you would open the box.” He turned the gun and aimed it at Adriana. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, woman. Please, drop the blade.”
While Sean was talking to Petrov, Adriana had lowered her free hand to her hip and raised her boot. She always kept a dagger there, strapped to the inside of her right ankle. She thought her movement had been subtle enough for the Russian not to notice, but he had somehow.
The knife clanked to the hard floor, rattled a few times, then went silent.
“That’s better,” Petrov said. “Now, please, stop stalling, and remove the lid.”
“Don’t want to have your goons outside do it?” Sean slung one more jab.
Petrov’s reaction was simple enough. He raised the weapon at Adriana’s head. “By removing the lid, you buy her a few more moments of life in this world. Or I can make you watch me kill her, then execute the both of you before I bring my men in to remove the lid. It’s your choice, but I’m pulling the trigger in three seconds.”
Sean didn’t wait for Petrov to start counting. “Fine. I’ll remove it. Just lower your weapon. You don’t need to bring her into this.”
“I will point the gun where I find it to be most effective.” He jerked the barrel slightly.
“Okay. Okay. Take it easy.” He turned the crowbar around and shimmied the thin edge into the narrow opening until he felt it was deep enough. He pulled down on the top end of the bar and felt the lid lift slightly. “Tommy, I’m going to need you to push it that way. Addy,” Sean gazed over at her for a second, “you should probably step back.”
Petrov kept the gun trained on her but allowed her to shuffle back against the wall.
Sean leveraged the crowbar again, this time bringing it a few inches from its seat. As it came up, Tommy pushed hard on the outer edge. At first, it didn’t move much, but when Tommy leaned harder into it, the lid began to slide toward the other side of the room with a low, grinding rumble.
“Watch out,” Sean said, grunting as he helped Tommy continue the top’s momentum.
The weighty piece of stone teetered on the opposite edge of the sarcophagus for a second and then tipped over, crashing to the ground with a loud thud. Adriana jumped out of the way, barely avoiding getting her feet crushed.
A fresh plume of dust wafted into the air, catching the beam of light from Adriana’s phone in a wide, shiny beam. Tommy coughed a few times and covered his mouth with his forearm.
Petrov seemed content to let the dust settle in the crypt before making his next move. When the lid had fallen, he took a cautious half step back out of the chamber to stand clear of any danger. Now he was back in the threshold. Some of the light debris still lingered in the air.
“Miss Villa, please step outside. Move slowly, no funny business, or I will kill you right here.”
Adriana hesitated for a second, casting a questioning glance over at Sean, who only responded with an almost unnoticeable nod of the head.
She obeyed the order from the gunman and made her way by the fallen lid, inch by inch, until she’d reached the entryway. Petrov stepped to the side and allowed her to pass. She was immediately grabbed by one of the gunmen who pressed the end of his gun barrel to her temple.
Sean took a breath, suppressing his anger. “We did what you wanted, Petrov. Now let her go. She doesn’t need to be a part of this.”
The Russian shrugged. “She should have thought of that before she came with you.” He motioned to Tommy with the gun, waving him in the direction Adriana had gone. “Please, join her outside.”
“You can go to—”
“It’s okay, buddy,” Sean snuffed out his friend’s retort. “Everything’s going to be fine.” He didn’t know how. In fact, he wished he believed it himself. Everything wasn’t going to be fine. They’d been trapped like rats, and unless there was some kind of a miracle, Sean didn’t see any way out.
Tommy eased his way through the entrance and into the arms of the second gunman.
“Good,” Petrov said. He finally started to seem somewhat satisfied with the circumstances. “Shine your light into the box. I want to see what it is you came here for.” He moved a few feet closer to the sarcophagus, eyeing Sean suspiciously.