Washington, D.C.
Once Natalie had climbed out of the shaft, Ed gave her a second to dust off and then he started removing the mangled cobwebs stuck in her hair.
“Yuck,” she said.
“Don’t worry, these spiders have been long gone,” he said. When he finished, he wiped his hands of the cobwebs and stepped over to the wall.
“I don’t think so,” she said, aiming her light directly above the trap door.
Ed saw the spider and laughed, “Well then, I stand corrected.”
Natalie shivered, “That’s okay. I’m over it.”
Ed began pulling at the remainder of the boards, which were loosely nailed into the semi-rocky wall. There were cobwebs attached to the back of the boards as he removed each one. A piece of wall with writing on it came loose and fell to the floor. He reached down and grabbed the broken piece, wiped it, and then put it back in place.
As he held it, Natalie leaned in with her light directly on the etchings. “The words are carved into the stone, or...” She corrected herself, “more like scratched.”
“I would gather that whoever wrote this used the nails that the boards were held up with,” he said, handing her the broken piece. He placed each of the boards down, retrieved his light, and stood back. “It’s definitely a message.”
Natalie stood next to Ed with her light aimed directly at the scratches on the wall and then slowly read it,
“None...of...us...have...revealed what they seek.
Only three left alive for a brief time.
She lowered her light a few inches, illuminating the next group of scratches and began reading,
“8-1-3-2-I-K-2”
“Numbers and letters,” she said.
After a brief pause, Ed said, “It’s a code.”
“It’s a message and a code,” Natalie added.
Ed nodded as he examined the remainder of the wall, “That it is.”
She stood back and said, “I’m not very good at figuring out codes or puzzles.”
Ed analyzed the words and numbers briefly. He stepped back, aimed his light, carefully examining every detail of the wall. He then looked around the room once and settled back at the trap door. He knelt down and said, “Unfortunately, I believe it’s the last message of those dying men.”
Natalie breathed, “Oh my god, you’re right.” She turned around and aimed her light down the shaft. “So they were trapped in here?”
Ed aimed his light back at the message. “From this message it would definitely appear that way.” He stood up, stepped around the shaft, and stood in front of the cabinets, examining the area around them. He knelt down, opened the first one on the right, and briefly inspected the contents on the shelves. He closed the doors and then examined the center cabinet’s contents. Very interesting, he said, now stepping over the statue. “Now if we can just figure out who you are,” he said, looking down at it and frowning.
Natalie walked over and asked, “Have you figured something out?”
“Well,” Ed sighed, as he thought, “according to that message, those men may have been tortured for information.”
“But the message says that they did not reveal what their captors wanted.”
“When that message was written, seven were now dead, leaving the remaining three to write and hide that message behind those boards.”
“And then they killed them,” Natalie said.
“So,” he continued thinking out loud, “they must have been left alone for a while to have carved that message into the wall.” He let out a sinister chuckle. “That would be the secret this brass individual would have to tell us.”
“But there is no name written around it; how are you going to figure out who it is?”
“You mentioned yourself that you were working on a thesis,” Ed said, as he continued to examine the statue’s details.
Natalie suddenly became very quiet. She stepped to the head of the statue and aimed her light on the face. “Are you saying this is an actual Knight Templar?”
Ed stood up. “I didn’t tell you yet that there is another one of these statues down below at the end of the passageway.”
“You mean, this isn’t just an old murder scene. I mean...Oh, my god...My professor...”
“Yes,” Ed finished her thought. “This may be the proof you are looking for that the...”
“The Templars were here,” she said excitedly. “This discovery is big, I mean very big.”
“It’s inconclusive at this time, but definitely an option to look into,” Ed said as he noticed several loud noises coming from the main tunnel. After a few seconds, multiple voices were now echoing from outside the space.
“Just a moment,” he said, and stepped over the statue and into the tunnel. Several men with hard hats were analyzing the rock and boulder wall and another was bringing in a small air-powered jackhammer. Natalie followed behind him with her light back through the narrow entryway. There was now a gap in the center of the boulder wall.
Ed then backed up and aimed his light upward illuminating a heavy wooden beam with obvious rope markings directly in the center.
“What I need you to do,” he said, directing his attention to the man in charge, “is find out what was over this spot before the neighborhood topside was built.”
“I can do that,” he said.
“There are a pile of skeletal remains at the bottom of a shaft in the room we came out of. I would like those bodies removed and sent for a forensic examination as soon as possible, preferably now.”
The man nodded.
“In addition,” Ed continued, “I want this tunnel kept as secret as you Americans can get. Inform the CIA director personally; do not use any other way of communicating.”
The man seemed caught off-guard by the statement and answered, “Yes, sir.”
“How many have seen this?” Ed asked.
“So far only my men, you,” he turned to Natalie, “and now her.”
“Splendid,” Ed said. “That should make it easy.” He then turned around, climbed out over the boulders, and then helped Natalie out.
“What is it?” she asked, also caught off-guard by his sudden change in attitude.
“We just made a huge discovery. I’ll explain later, but first let’s record the writing on the wall; I’m no longer concerned about preservation. Let’s go find Alex Pike.”