‘So this vault, along with others, holds the Knights Templar’s most prized artefacts,’ Carter pressed, struggling to contain his excitement.
‘Yes, but it’s not just a vault but the vault,’ Harker replied, succumbing to his friend’s infectious enthusiasm. ‘And, given that the last page of the Gigas is kept in here, it’s exactly where we need to be.’
However, that they were so close to retrieving the final page was lost on Carter and he continued to, literally, drool over the idea that the Knights Templar still existed, and survived as such a potent organization. ‘It’s bloody incredible. I always knew in my heart that these kinds of mysterious societies existed in some form – they just had to – but that their influence is still so impressive…’ Carter was licking his lips as he scanned the rows of Perspex boxes with delight. ‘I wonder if I’ll be able to take a proper look sometime.’
‘Maybe,’ Harker lied, not wanting to squash his friend’s newly found zeal.
‘The Knights Templar…it’s unbelievable. Do you think they’ll let me join?’
‘Let’s focus on the task at hand, shall we, David?’ Harker received a disappointed look from Carter, who clearly took that to be a no. ‘But consider yourself, as of this moment, a Templar associate.’
The offer was met with glee, and Carter mouthed the words proudly.
‘Templar associate…it’s got a nice ring to it, like someone who’s in the middle of things but at the same time works stealthily from the outside, you know, to protect and serve the Knights Templar and vanquish the deviant… Do I get a badge or something?’
It was apparent to Harker that he might have over-egged his disclosure regarding the Order of the Templars and his role within it, so he thought it best he bring the thrilled ex-don back to earth. ‘You’re not a cop and so there’s no badge. You’re just working alongside, OK?’
Seeming undaunted by Harker’s reality check, Carter folded his arms and snarled. ‘Hey, I just sat through your self-serving and overly dramatic account without saying a word, so how about you offer me the same courtesy? This is unbelievably exciting for me.’
After rolling his eyes, Harker nodded. ‘You’re right, Detective. Now can we please proceed?’
‘We can, but without the sarcasm.’ Carter now began making his way towards the final aisle in search of Anthony. ‘Let us retrieve the page that’s been for so long amid the sands of time.’
‘Oh God,’ Harker groaned and then he followed. This was going to become really annoying, really fast.
Anthony was already uncoupling the vacuum pump from one of the Perspex boxes by the time they both joined him and, with a renewed sense of purpose, it was Carter who spoke first. ‘So you’re a Templar, Anthony? Well it’s an absolute pleasure to be working with you, my friend.’ He offered his hand. ‘As we were never properly introduced, my name is David Carter and I am here to help.’
Anthony glanced over at Harker with a vacant expression, then he shook Carter’s hand. ‘I know who you are, Mr Carter. We already met on the helicopter.’
‘Ah yes, but I was a bit under the weather on the way over,’ Carter replied, obviously not willing to confess the real reason. ‘But I can assure you that I am now running at a hundred per cent, and ready to serve.’
The man gave him a warm smile as Carter continued this attempt to confirm his usefulness. ‘My first question is how, amongst all these items, did you know this was the one containing the Gigas page?’
‘Now that’s a good question,’ Anthony replied before he raised up his Samsung smart phone. ‘I have an app containing a full inventory of everything stored in here. Just tap in a search, and it shows you exactly where it is located.’
‘Clever,’ Harker remarked before pushing himself in front of Carter. ‘Can we take a look, then?’
‘Of course.’
Anthony diligently unlocked the four securing clasps around the box’s lid and pulled at the side handle until, with a hiss as the vacuum seal was broken, the lid came off and he opened it fully and rested it back on its hinges.
‘This is it.’
Harker reached inside and retrieved an item wrapped in shammy cloth, then gently unwrapped it to reveal a now familiar oversized page. Standing back, he unfolded it fully.
It was definitely a page from the Gigas, and the strange text and symbols it contained were identical, although this one was in far better condition.
‘This is the one,’ Harker confirmed.
Carter peered over his shoulder and offered his own thoughts. ‘It’s a match, all right. I just wish we could translate it.’
‘We have tried to do so over the years,’ Anthony assured them as he closed the container’s lid and then cast his own eyes over the dark-coloured piece of vellum. ‘But without any success,’ he added. ‘I doubt there’s anyone living who can.’
It was an odd comment from Harker’s point of view, given that the only people he knew who could read the text had ended up bringing back the dead to the land of the living. ‘There are a few,’ he began.
‘How would you know that?’ Anthony asked.
‘Because we’ve seen them in action,’ Carter interrupted in an unusually authoritative tone, now getting ever deeper into his role as ‘associate’. ‘And it caused the dead to rise.’
‘What!’ The very idea made Anthony flinch. ‘Tristan didn’t mention anything about resurrection.’
‘He probably didn’t want to alarm you, or perhaps he simply didn’t believe me. It’s hard to accept, but we did see it happen – and the one thing I am certain of is that it wasn’t a resurrection.’ Harker was about to explain further when Carter interrupted.
‘No, it was the beginning of Judgement Day. But this is a twisted version of it.’
Anthony’s expression suggested that he was either horrified at this claim or he thought they had both gone crazy. Either way it made for an uncomfortable moment, and one that Carter now made more confusing still.
‘And the same people who performed that blasphemous ceremony wanted to torture me up my bottom with an electric cattle prod…but, luckily, Alex reached me before that could happen. Still,’ Carter said, extending his neck well over the top of his shirt collar and trying to look bold, ‘I would have taken one for the team… A bit like Ned Beatty in the film Deliverance…you know, where the rednecks deprive him of his anal virginity.’
‘Anal virginity…’ The very thought had Anthony wincing. ‘I didn’t even know there was such a thing.’
‘Neither did I until they tried to take it from me.’
‘Enough,’ Harker growled. ‘Suffice it to say we’ve been involved in some very strange goings-on during the last few days.’
‘I’ll say,’ Anthony replied, looking at Carter with some unease as Harker folded up the page and slipped it into his pocket.
‘I’m taking this page for the time being,’ Harker said sternly. ‘Tristan said I could have full access to it.’
There was no objection from Anthony and he merely nodded in agreement. ‘Where do you need to go now, then?’
Until Harker received his next call from ‘God’ they were stuck in a holding pattern and, with an anxious glance at Carter, he decided the only thing to do was sit tight and wait for the psycho to get in contact. ‘I really need to take a good look at this page, so is there somewhere we can hole up for an hour and get a drink? Maybe some coffee?’ Harker was directing his gaze at Carter.
‘Coffee sounds good,’ Carter confirmed, without a hint of resentment.
‘There’s a restaurant and some coffee shops on the lower level,’ Anthony informed them and, with a confirming nod from Harker, they made their way back towards the lift. ‘So you really saw a corpse rise up from the dead?’ Anthony asked, now opening up to the gruesome idea.
‘I’m afraid so. And it was two of them…well, three if you count the man in Berlin.’
Anthony let out a deep sigh and he looked somewhat deflated. ‘I’ve never heard of anything like it. It’s so hard to believe… Do you know what it means?’
The question had Harker shaking his head. ‘I wish I knew, but the Gigas pages seem to be at the heart of it.’
There was a sudden sense of aimlessness as to their next move, and it hung over them like a cloud as Anthony called the lift.
‘On seconds thoughts, maybe we should head back to the mainland and find somewhere to hole up there, because it’s likely to cause Michel a stomach ulcer if we stay at the Mont any longer,’ Anthony said with a mischievous smile. ‘He’ll have got enough explaining to do already, and I don’t want to give the poor man any more grief.’
The lift door slid open to reveal Michel himself standing inside with a bemused look on his face. ‘Speak of the Devil.’ Anthony frowned at the unexpected sight. ‘Don’t worry, Michel, we’ll be out of your hair as soon as we get back to the helicopter.’ He reached over and lightly patted the Manche official on the shoulder.
Michel didn’t respond but his eyes fluttered oddly, then he slowly lurched forward and dropped like a stone, slamming down face first on the metal platform with a crack as his skull hit the floor.
It happened so fast that neither Harker nor Anthony could break his fall. As they began to turn him over, it was Harker who recoiled at the sight of the freshly spilt blood on his hands.
A bloody red patch stained one side of Michel’s body just below his ribs and, as Anthony rolled him over onto his back for a better look, the barrel of an M4 Carbine poked out from inside the lift.
‘I wouldn’t waste your energy,’ a voice declared and the barrel jerked towards Anthony, who was already reaching for the Beretta in his waist holster. ‘Just don’t be foolish. I have you cold.’
Vlad stepped cautiously out from the gloom within the lift and prodded his weapon at them in a threatening manner as two other men, wearing jeans, grey Kevlar vests and black balaclavas, exited from behind him, each with a silenced 9mm machine gun. One of these men retrieved Anthony’s Beretta and pulled him roughly to his feet while the other shoved Harker and Carter back against the railing.
Satisfied his men had the upper hand, Vlad took a moment to gaze around the storage facility before lowering his gun and resting his elbows on the railing. ‘So this is it?’ he said, turning his attention to Anthony. ‘This is where the Templars keep all their most precious trinkets?’
‘Who are you?’ Anthony snapped, before receiving a heavy jab in the back from the nearest gunman with the silencer of his 9mm.
‘Be nice,’ the armed man hissed in his ear as Vlad turned his attention to Harker.
‘Our mutual friend here knows, don’t you, Alex?’
Anthony now glared accusingly at Harker, as Vlad, with a decadent smile, turned his head towards Carter. ‘And you and I still have a date with an electric cattle prod, don’t we?’
Carter said nothing as Harker moved in front of him protectively. ‘There’s not going to be anything like that happening here,’ he said firmly, and this defiance was met with a menacing look from Vlad.
‘Oh no, I think we can come up with something far worse than that,’ Vlad said before turning his attention back to survey the wide expanse of the storage facility. ‘But, before we get to the fun part, let’s get the business side of things wrapped up, shall we?’
Vlad now turned his attention to Anthony. ‘So you’re an honest to God Templar, are you? How interesting,’ he said, eyeing the man with curiosity. ‘You don’t look anything special.’
‘Tell your men to put down their weapons and you can find out for yourself,’ Anthony growled boldly, and his offer was met with an amused grin from Vlad.
‘Very tempting, but I just don’t have the time, I’m afraid.’
The single burst of gunfire propelled Anthony forward as a bullet from the 9mm ripped through the right-hand side of his chest. He collapsed in a heap on the floor, where a pool of blood began to slowly spread out from his still twitching body.
‘Now that guard dog is out of the way, we can focus on more important matters,’ Vlad said with a smile.
Harker, his ears still ringing from the gunshot, yelled out furiously. ‘The page isn’t here,’ he lied, feeling as if the thick piece of vellum in his pocket was visibly expanding in size.
‘The Gigas page?’ Vlad replied calmly and, nudging away Anthony’s hand with the sole of his boot, he bent down and pulled the Templar’s Samsung mobile from his pocket. ‘It’s not about the page,’ Vlad continued before stepping over and extracting the thick piece of vellum from Harker’s inside pocket, ‘although I might as well take it.’
Harker fought the urge to snatch it back, and then watched as Vlad passed it over to the gunman standing beside Anthony’s body. Vlad then proceeded to scroll though the Templar’s mobile. It took him mere seconds to find what he wanted, then he passed over the mobile to the gunman behind him, who then made his way down to the main floor and began searching the aisles.
‘Who the hell are you people?’ Harker demanded, sick and tired of always being in the dark.
‘Let’s start with who you are.’ Vlad flicked a gloved finger towards them. ‘You, Alex Harker, are a professor at Cambridge University. And you, David Carter, are an ex-professor – a disgraced one, no less, who seems to have found a new calling at the bottom of an empty whisky bottle. That sound about right?’
‘Apart from the “disgraced” bit,’ Carter said, his feathers clearly ruffled by the insult.
‘Call it what you will’ – Vlad waved his hand uncaringly – ‘but if I made the effort to discover who you two are, then I don’t see why I should explain who I am if you haven’t done likewise.’ The arrogance in Vlad’s tone was infuriating, but Harker remained silent as the man continued. ‘Why you seem so interested in my business, however, is something that continues to elude me.’
‘Let’s not pussyfoot around, Vlad.’ Harker was tired of playing this game. ‘You know we’re after the Gigas pages.’
‘True, but that is not why we are here. This is about seizing an opportunity.’ The condescension in his voice indicated that Vlad was unimpressed with Harker’s grasp of the whole situation. ‘The Gigas pages are indeed the key and, be under no illusions, the Day of Judgement is very real – as you witnessed for yourself back at Cervete cemetery. They once held the key to setting it all in motion but that irreversible moment has passed, and they are now as useless as the dead Templar behind me.’
‘If that’s the case, then what are you doing here?’ Harker asked.
‘The Templars have been known to us for longer than you know, and when the Dark Prince returns to consume this world, I will meet him with the reassurance that anyone who might stand against him has been destroyed. It is my gift to him and will serve to demonstrate my undying loyalty and devotion.’
‘Oh my God,’ Harker muttered, feeling as if the wind had been knocked out of him. He now finally realized what Vlad was talking about, and the unwitting role he himself had played in it. ‘You want the Templar’s Illuminismo!’
A deceitful smile crept across Vlad’s lips as he gave a slow and unnerving nod. ‘Within those pages are listed the names and details of every Templar, every hideout, and every business that those pathetically pious morons are linked to. They will be tracked down and destroyed until not a shred of the stain they have left on this earth exists, and all thanks to you, Alex. We would never have even considered attempting to waste our resources on such a task, but with your help it will be like taking candy from a baby. The utter destruction and dismantling of a sect that should have been consigned to the pages of history almost a thousand years ago.’
Vlad moved his head to within centimetres of Harker’s face and his lips pursed grimly. ‘When the judgement begins, and billions of people begin to see the world crumble around them, and their feeble minds struggle to comprehend the reality of truths that have been lost to history and replaced with science, it is of you that I will think of and the contribution you have made to making it happen.’
This last part was too much for Harker and he lashed out and grabbed Vlad by the neck, but before he could apply any real pressure, a firm blow to the back of his head from the butt of a 9mm machine gun sent him to his knees.
Carter was already helping Harker back up when the gunman searching the aisles down below called out enthusiastically. ‘It’s here, but there must be over twenty volumes.’
‘Then bring me the most recent, we’ve no need for dead names,’ Vlad shouted back, straightening his creased collar as Harker rubbed the back of his own head with a groan. ‘The only question now is what to do with you two. Should I allow you to see our masterpiece unfold or kill you here and now and then watch you, when your time comes, rise up to be judged?’ There was a sickeningly playful tone to Vlad’s voice, and he took a few steps back and stared at Harker curiously. ‘I wonder if your recent actions will have any effect on your fate. I must admit it would be amusing to see your bloated corpse and decaying brain try and rationalize your predicament.’
Vlad took a moment to consider it further, and then he gave a nod towards the gunman standing behind Carter. ‘Yes, I think I would enjoy that very much indeed.’
Just as Harker heard the metallic click of the 9mm being readied against his back, he felt Carter grasp his wrist and looked over to find his friend looking decidedly confident. It seemed odd that, in these final moments, the ex-don should have lost his fear…but as Harker looked towards where Carter’s eyes were focused, he understood why.
There was sudden movement behind Vlad and, as he stood readying himself for the no doubt gratifying execution about to take place, a bloody arm slid itself around his neck and wrenched him off balance, and then over the top of the railing, sending him downwards with a hard thud to the floor below.
Anthony gasped at the exertion the move had cost him, and he steadied himself again as blood dripped from the wound in his chest and his breathing strained due to the collapsed lung that kept him from standing fully upright. He managed one final desperate glance towards Harker as a single bullet struck the wounded Templar directly in the forehead and brought him crashing to the floor for the final time. In the same moment, Harker slammed his head backwards into the gunman’s face and grabbed hold of the 9mm. The man’s grip on the rifle was vice-like, and it was only because Carter swung his foot hard into the attacker’s heel and sent him flipping backwards onto the platform floor that Harker managed to finally wrestle the weapon away from him.
‘Go!’ Harker yelled, barging Carter towards the open lift as bullets zipped past them from the second gunman, who had seen Vlad collapse onto the floor and kept firing as he ran towards them.
Carter reached the lift first and stumbled over Michel’s body, which sent him ploughing face first through the doors As Harker dived after him, the bullets began to rain down on them, and he quickly reached up and slammed the button for level 1.
Nothing happened however and, with nowhere to provide cover, Harker did the only thing he could by raising the 9mm and firing indiscriminately. The kick from the machine gun was tremendous and he struggled to keep a grip on it as Carter continued lying flat with his face pressed against the floor of the lift. The quick offensive did its job and the gunman’s return fire suddenly stopped. Whether he was reloading his clip or just taking cover it was impossible to say, but within seconds the doors were closing. As the lift began to rise, they could hear thudding sounds from below as further bullets hit the outer door panel below them.
‘Bloody hell,’ Harker yelled as the gunfire finally stopped and, holding the 9mm in one hand, he began to pat himself down with the other. Satisfied he had not been hit, he turned his attention to Carter, who was repeating the same ritual. ‘Are you hit?’
‘I don’t think so.’
The man was panting heavily and sweating but he looked remarkably calm, given the circumstances, as he scrambled to his feet. ‘Did you see what Anthony did? If it wasn’t for him, we’d be dead.’
‘I know but it’s not over yet,’ Harker replied, and he stood up with the 9mm pressed into his shoulder and aiming it at the other side of the lift. ‘You hug that wall, and if there’s anyone up top, I’m going to start shooting.’
Carter said nothing, and with a nod, he pressed himself against the side wall as tightly as he could.
The ascent only took fifteen seconds or so but it felt like several minutes. As Harker continued to aim the gun forward, the adrenalin in his bloodstream made his arm tremble. If there was anybody waiting outside when the door opened, for them it would be like shooting fish in a barrel and he knew it, but regardless he was going to take down as many of them as possible.
The lift stopped with a bump and the doors slid open and, even before Harker had time to tell if anyone was out there, he began shooting, his nerves getting the better of him. Bullets spewed out against the opposite wall, sending plumes of dust into the air. After half a dozen shots Harker eased off on the trigger and glanced nervously around the room beyond. It was empty, and without hesitation he rushed to the wooden door leading outside and opened it cautiously. He poked his head out, his neck muscles tensing as he prepared to get shot the moment he did so, but the outer walkway was also empty. He laid the 9mm on the floor and motioned for Carter to join him as he continued outside.
The night air was cool and they were already heading back the way they had come when Carter tugged at the back of his coat.
‘Shouldn’t we bring the gun?’ he asked, looking perturbed at having dumped their only means of defence.
‘It’s a bit of a gamble, I know, but I’m not running around Mont-Saint-Michel with a machine gun,’ Harker replied, picking up the pace along the narrow winding path. ‘There are tourists staying overnight here and the last thing we need is to shoot someone by accident.’
It was a reasonable point, and even though Carter looked uneasy at the prospect, he didn’t say a word and instead concentrated on navigating the stone steps leading them back to the Mont’s second level.
‘The helicopter can get us off this rock and we’ll decide, once we’re airborne, where to go next.’
‘Sounds good,’ Carter puffed, trying to match Harker’s stride, which increased in speed with every step. ‘Anywhere’s better than here.’
They managed the journey in a couple of minutes, made easier now by the fact they were going downhill. Better still was the fact that they came across no tourists – and, even better, no psychopathic gunmen.
The last twenty metres proved the most nerve-racking, and as they approached the helicopter Harker was already swirling his hand in the air. Luckily the pilot saw his gesture, and by the time they were inside the rotors were already beginning to turn.
‘Where’s Anthony?’ the man asked.
‘I’m sorry but he didn’t make it,’ Harker replied briefly, glancing through the windscreen for any sign of Vlad and his henchmen.
‘Didn’t make it?’
‘We got ambushed. They killed Anthony and they’re going to kill us to if we don’t get out of here right now.’ Harker yelled the words, which were met with a look of confusion from the pilot. He had no idea if this aviator was a Templar too, or just one of the accompanying crew that came with Brulet’s borrowed yacht, but the man immediately took action and within seconds the Agusta was lifting up into the air with speed.
Harker took his place in the cockpit passenger seat as behind him Carter buckled himself in too, and it was not until they were ten metres into the air that a degree of calm began to settle between them.
‘I was instructed to bring you directly back to Mr Brulet,’ the pilot explained as they started to pull away from Mont-Saint-Michel. ‘We’ll have to make a stop in Lyon again but—’
The pilot suddenly went silent as there was a loud popping sound, then he jerked in his seat and lurched forward against the control stick, causing the helicopter to veer sharply to the right. Harker was flung against the side window but managed to fight against the gravity pulling at his body, grab the pilot’s shoulder and push him back into his seat. What he saw next sent butterflies swarming around his stomach. There was a circular bullet hole in the side window and a patch of blood on the pilot’s chest, which increased in size as the wound bled profusely.
Harker didn’t bother to look outside, because he already knew who had taken the shot, and instead he grabbed the control stick as the Agusta continued to descend. He had no idea how to fly a helicopter and he found himself screaming at the pilot when the controls refused to respond.
With their descent gathering speed, Harker was already pushing himself back into his seat and preparing for impact when the aircraft began to slow, and he looked over at the aviator, who was now grasping at the stick and desperately trying to take back control. The Agusta pitched forward and sped away from Mont-Saint-Michel towards the mainland, less than half a kilometre away, as the pilot fought against the extreme pain of his gunshot wound.
They could not have been more than twenty metres above the glinting, black waterline, but they were now flying straight and level as the pilot groaned through gritted teeth while struggling just to remain conscious.
Two hundred metres to go and the helicopter was on course. One hundred metres to go and they began to lose altitude, and with only fifty metres to go the pilot’s eyes were beginning to flutter as his whole body started to shut down.
‘Put us down here,’ Harker shouted, and he did the only thing he could think of to keep the man going, which was to administer a hard slap across the pilot’s face. It may have been an act of desperation and Harker could have sworn he heard Carter yell something like ‘Are you insane?’ but the pilot responded. With just metres to go, he brought the Agusta down onto a car park by the coastline, landing with an almighty crack, and he even managed to kill the rotors with a flick of a switch before finally succumbing to his wounds. The pilot’s head sagged against his chest and, as the engine wound down, Harker pressed his forefinger against the man’s neck but could feel nothing. He was gone.
Outside, a small crowd of passers-by were already beginning to gather and Harker pulled himself up from his seat to find Carter, white as a sheet, desperately clawing at his seat belt.
‘That’s why I don’t travel in helicopters,’ he cried angrily. After finally unclicking his belt, he reached for the door handle, threw it open and stumbled out onto the grey tarmac of the car park. ‘What happened?’ Carter then wheezed, unaware of the potshot the Agusta had taken in mid-flight.
‘They shot the pilot,’ Harker replied, wanting to kiss the ground after he too had exited the helicopter.
‘How?’
‘Presumably with a gun,’ Harker suggested sarcastically, still trying to dispel the panic he was feeling. To pull off a shot like that, the person was either plain lucky or a highly trained marksman, and Harker was inclined to believe the latter as he remembered events back at the cemetery and the accuracy of the potshots as they made their escape. It had to be Vlad.
‘Is he alive?’ Carter asked, looking over at the slumped pilot and the bullet hole all too visible in the side window.
Harker just shook his head sadly, and then turned his attention to the lone sound of an approaching police siren somewhere off in the distance. ‘We can’t stay here,’ he urged, pulling Carter by the arm. ‘We have to go.’
There were no complaints from Carter and they both started walking towards the bright lights of the town, brushing past a small crowd of people who were far more interested at the sight of the motionless sagging body drooped forward in the helicopter’s front seat than the two men slipping away from it and into the shadows.
With two men dead, the third Gigas page gone, and Vlad in possession of the Templars’ most important and revealing document, things had gone from bad to extremely bloody terrible, and Harker knew it. The prospect of Chloe bearing the brunt of his failure, the entire Order of the Knights Templar potentially being wiped out, and not forgetting the unearthly idea of mankind facing Judgement Day with Satan at the helm was turning this day into a real doozy. He still found the reality of Judgement Day a difficult one to swallow but, with everything he had experienced so far, it was starting to feel ever more possible, no matter how unlikely.
‘So what do we do now?’ Carter asked in a shaky voice as they put ever more distance between themselves and the grounded helicopter, but Harker found himself without an answer. To him there was only one important question, and it sickened him to think about it. With the Gigas page now lost, it wasn’t a matter of what they were going to do, but what ‘God’ would do.