Maddock 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 Maddock. 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?” Maddock 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,” Maddock 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,” Maddock 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,” Maddock 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?”
“Even then, the Queen’s not going to abdicate,” Avery argued.
“Not voluntarily.” Tam’s tone was dark. “If half of the rumors we’ve gathered are true, Morgan’s reach is broad, and she’s got people in all segments of society who are devoted to her. The Dominion agent we captured mentioned something called “The Sisterhood,” but clammed up when I mentioned her name. He seemed scared. Anyway, she lives in a castle, a compound, really, outside of Truro, and her private staff is all ex-military or ex-intelligence. Guys like Locke. When I put this all together, it paints a grim picture.”
“You think, once she’s got her connection to Arthur established, she’ll move into the political arena,” Maddock began, thinking it through as he spoke, “become Prime Minister, and then...”
“She uses her connections to make sure something terrible and permanent happens to the Queen,” Bones continued.
“Not long afterward, it’s revealed that the beloved Prime Minister is descended from the legendary King Arthur,” Maddock finished.
“I’m not convinced she’s going to wait that long,” Tam said. “She’s hosting an event this weekend at her estate, and the Queen will be there.”
“Only the Queen?” Maddock asked. “What about the rest of the Royal Family?”
“Morgan might act now and step into the gap later. She might figure if she cuts off the head, the monarchy will fall. Who can tell?” Tam shrugged.
“Have you notified the British authorities?” Maddock asked.
“I’ve told our people what I suspect, but I did not tell them anything about King Arthur, which makes my suspicions pretty flimsy. What do I really have but a bunch of theories about a politically connected woman who doesn’t seem very ambitious? On paper, she looks like an upstanding citizen, if maybe a bit too conservative for some people. She gives a lot of money to charity. She supports genetic research to fight all sorts of diseases. They even named the reptile house at the London Zoo for her because of all the money she gave them. She ain’t bulletproof, but she’s close.”
“Queen and Prime Minister,” Avery said. “And if she can find a way to harness the power of Arthur’s weapons, replicate it, even, there’s no telling what she could do.”
Tam nodded thoughtfully.
“An army that can become truly invisible. Objects that can amplify rays of light into powerful energy weapons.”
“You’d never have to reload,” Willis said.
“And we haven’t even found the final piece of the puzzle,” Matt added.
“Okay, you’ve convinced us she’s up to no good. But what have you found out about Angel?”
“We’ve got her arriving in England, alive, with Locke.” Tam handed him a grainy printout of a frame of security footage. “We’ve got her being put in a van.” She handed him another printout. “And a van like this one showed up at Morgan’s headquarters an hour ago.” She took a deep breath. “I can get you in and out of the country, and I can give you what you need to pull off this rescue, but I can’t be directly involved and neither can my people. It’s on you.”
“I understand,” Maddock said. “Now, tell me all you know about this compound.”