Clive Cussler - Pirate

He continued past the greenbelt, when Aldridge called. “Bit of a problem,” he said after Remi put him on speakerphone. “I just got off the phone with Swift’s wife. He’s just returned from meeting with someone about the caves. I’m assuming these are the men you’re worried about.”

There was no doubt in Sam’s mind who Swift met with, which meant Fisk and company were probably on their way to the caves. “Thanks for the update.”

Remi shifted in her seat to get a better look as Sam continued down the street. “I don’t see any other ivy in the area. Maybe that’s really the entrance.”

“It certainly looks like it. Right now, I’d like to find a place to park without being seen.”

“You think it’s really there?”

“The treasure?” Sam said. “Wouldn’t Percy have found it in all his wanderings? Or someone else during the last eight hundred years?”

“I was thinking more of a clue.” She gave a faint smile. “Who knows? Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

Sam drove a bit farther, making a U-turn as the rain started up again. “A lot of other treasures out there waiting to be found. If we don’t find this one, it isn’t the end of the world.”

Remi picked up her phone. “Slow down. I’ll take a few pictures on our way out.”

He let his foot off the gas while Remi took a few photos of the ivy vines cascading down the stone wall. Now that he had a better look at it, he realized the crumbling, ivy-covered wall against the side of that low hill didn’t really seem to belong to anything — maybe left over from some other time before the current houses had been built in the area.

That had to be it, he thought, when he saw a blue BMW turn the corner up ahead. He threw the car in reverse and backed into the drive across from the park.

“What’s wrong?” Remi asked.

“Company.”

Rain splattered down on the windshield, blurring their vision, but Sam wasn’t about to turn the wipers on and risk being seen. Not after seeing the BMW pull up to the park. Ivan and Alexandra were in the front, Jak and Nigel in the back. Ivan got out of the driver’s seat, opened the back door, pulling Nigel out by his arm. Jak and Alexandra followed close behind, the four walking into the park.

A moment later, Fisk’s black Mercedes pulled up behind the BMW. He and two stocky, dark-haired men got out. Sam saw the bulk of handguns beneath their matching brown leather coats. “Fisk’s brought reinforcements.”

Sam and Remi watched as they entered the park, walking toward the wall of ivy. Apparently Alexandra was left to guard Nigel while Jak and Ivan picked up a couple of sticks, poking them into the thick ivy vines, searching for the entrance. Ivan turned toward Nigel, saying something, and Nigel nodded at the ivy as though he had some knowledge of the location. Jak moved to the opposite end, poking his stick in and out of the vines.

“We have to do something, Sam. We can’t let them take Nigel down there.”

“I wasn’t expecting so many men. We rush in now, we might as well be stepping into a viper’s nest.”

“At least they’re not golden lancehead vipers.”

Fisk said something to Alexandra, who moved closer to Nigel as he and his new henchmen started exploring the greenbelt. Right now, the odds of a rescue didn’t look good. They’d be seen the moment they left the car and started walking down the drive to the park.

“So what’s the plan?” Remi asked.

“You mean, miracle?” Trying to rescue Nigel while avoiding five armed men and possibly one armed woman — with very little cover other than a few hedges — was going to be a lot harder than they’d anticipated.

“There’s always Bree,” Remi said.

Sam glanced over at her. “What about her?”

“She’s passed on information to her cousin before. Why not now? Why not make them think they’re in the wrong location? They leave, we follow, and find a better place to get to Nigel.”

Sam weighed the risks. Lazlo and Selma had gone to great pains to make sure that the only information Bree passed on to her cousin was that she hadn’t been in touch with Sam and Remi. They had the perfect setup, Bree passing info on to Larayne, Larayne passing it on to Jak or Ivan. If it worked, Avery’s henchmen would soon be racing off to explore some other tunnels.

If it didn’t and those men found the tunnel entrance and took Nigel down there, he doubted he’d get the man out alive. “Looks like Bree’s our only option.”

Remi made the call, giving Selma a quick rundown on what they needed. She held out the phone for Sam. “Selma said that Lazlo finished the translation.”

Whatever Lazlo had found could wait. They needed to get Nigel out of there, and he got right to the point. “Remi told you what we need. Will it work?”

“It should,” Selma told him. “We’ve monitored every call between Bree and her cousin since Snake Island. As far as Larayne knows, we don’t know where you are.”

“Which plays into this perfectly.” The wind gusted and rain poured down, but none of them moved from the park. “Try to get it so Larayne asks Bree if she’s heard from us first. If Bree offers up the information, her cousin might become suspicious.”

“Understood. And if Larayne does ask? What disinformation are we passing on to her?”

“Anything that will move them away from the cave entrance. They know it’s in the vicinity, but they haven’t found it yet. We need them out of the area or we’ll never get Nigel out.”

“We could use the priory where Robin Hood was buried.”

“I think we need a better connection to King John — and something closer.”

“There’s Nottingham Castle,” Selma said. “Documented caves and tunnels, some of which even fit the names on the map.”

“Let’s go with the castle. If we can get them out of this area, we might have a better opportunity to get Nigel.”

“You’re not going to search it?”

“There’s no reason to. Even if we did get in, we don’t know what we’re looking for.”

“That’s what I was trying to tell you. Lazlo finished the translation. It’s a riddle. Above death, below death, with my last meal.”

“Which means what?”

“Lazlo thinks the Celtic knot engraved on the center of the cipher might have something to do with the riddle. That type of pattern is called interlacing. Sort of like basket weaving. Above and below , like in the riddle. The Celts were known to hide things in the pattern. Pull off layers of the interlacing to see the pattern below. Maybe it’s a pattern of the tunnels that leads to the treasure. We haven’t quite figured out the answer to the riddle, but we’re working on it.”

The riddle could wait. “Have Bree make the call to her cousin,” he said.

A few minutes later, Selma called back, saying the conversation went as expected. “Hopefully, you should see some action on your end once the information’s passed on. Assuming they believe the information.”

They did. Just as Jak poked his stick into the ivy, his arm nearly disappearing through the vines, he backed up, reached into his pocket, and pulled out his cell phone. After a brief conversation, he called Fisk over.

“Look at Nigel,” Remi said. “I think he’s trying to make a break for it.”

Alexandra’s attention was fixed on Fisk and Jak. Nigel edged away from her toward the ivy, then bolted through the vines, disappearing from view.

“I don’t know if that was brilliant or idiotic,” Sam said, one hand on his gun, the other on the door.

“Can’t be any more brilliant and idiotic than our plan trying to get them to move.”