Chapter Forty-one

The Caverns

Ramsgate was angry. “You mean to suppress this, don’t you?”

He was speaking to Mycroft Holmes as, along with Captain Summerlee, they walked through the main chamber. All around them, the cave was a beehive of activity. As naval officers examined the partially sunken sub, marines—rifles ready—cautiously searched all the chambers.

Mycroft thumbed through a sheaf of captured documents. “Hmmm?” he asked absent-mindedly.

Ramsgate knew that Mycroft had heard every word, but repeated himself just the same. “I said you intend to suppress this!”

“Of course,” Mycroft replied affably. “You can’t publicly announce that two of the largest limited companies in the United Kingdom and …” He perused one paper in particular, “… the third largest concern in Germany, worked amicably with a group of demon worshippers to start a major war. Not good for public confidence.”

Ramsgate threw up his hands in futility.

“What would you do, Commissioner?” Mycroft said to Ramsgate with some sympathy, as he handed several pages to Summerlee while gleaning information from the few papers remaining in his hands. “Charge in and arrest the board of directors? Four of them are members of Parliament. Two of them are members of my party. One is a member of my club. We need them. It’s that simple.”

“Above the law, are they? Still, I’d like to see something done,” said Ramsgate in asperity.

“Something will be done. We’ll let them know that we know. And with luck, no one else ever will.” He stopped walking and turned to face Ramsgate. “I’m concerned about Lady Dorrington’s discretion.”

Ramsgate instantly sprang to Mother’s defence. “I have complete confidence …”

“She’s a woman, Ramsgate. They have their own inscrutable sense of responsibility.” Mycroft continued walking, eying the Dreadnought papers taken from the murdered commander in St. James Park, “And while we are on the subject … a very intriguing plan. What an incandescent intelligence this Deirdre has. Malevolent, yet darkly magnificent.”

Summerlee shook his head as he read the captured pages in disbelief. “Remarkable. But do you really think a lone woman could have conceived all this?”

Ramsgate was long past that kind of narrow-mindedness. Extended exposure to Mother had done that, but he was smart enough to know when to pick his battles, and said nothing. Mycroft simply commented, “You’ve plainly spent too much time at sea, Captain.”

They came to the detonator, now brought up to the main chamber. Mycroft fingered the device, his eyes twinkling. “I think this Deirdre had a remarkably good idea here.”

  

Outside the cavern, the detonator plunger was depressed and an explosion near the cave entrance sent rocks tumbling down from the cliff, sealing the entrance.

Nearby, Mycroft watched several Royal Marines who were manning three more detonator boxes. An officer signaled and the second detonator was set off.

  

Inside, an explosion rocked the main chamber. A cave-in started, and boulders battered the U-boat, completing the job of the leak and sending the makeshift craft to the bottom of the lagoon.

  

Up above, Mycroft nodded in satisfaction as the officer signaled for the last detonator. The final explosion would destroy and seal the evidence. No one would know what happened here, for at least as long as it mattered. Only the ruins near McGloury’s cottage remained intact.

The dolmens with their tortured faces are there still.