Solomon's Throne (15 page)

“We’re going to have to take that path the other guy was on… These guys won’t come that way, they’ll follow the official one. I hope.” Gideon said. He went as quietly as he could on the loose pebbles at the base of the rock face, Rei following behind. They could hear the men coming up the trail now, because they were using the chains to pull themselves along. The rattling rang out through the otherwise quiet day.

Gideon and Rei scooted along the secondary trail, crouching low and trying to take cover behind the inadequate scrub marking the very top of the path. As they went farther, smaller trees and shrubs provided more cover, but there were sheer drops off to the side, and the path was very narrow and steep. Adrenaline kept them going, and they got to the fork and veered off to the left. Gideon started to run, looking back and gesturing to Rei.
Hurry!

They could hear yelling by the black clad men, now at the top of the trail. Gideon hadn’t had time to replace the rock that had covered the hiding place, and it would be obvious to the monks that, not only had Gideon and Rei eluded them, they had found something. Gideon didn’t know if they’d seen the secondary trail—he and Rei wouldn’t have known about it had they not seen the man descending from the top earlier—but he didn’t wait around to find out. He stopped, grabbed Rei by the hand, and ran full out, dragging her behind him.

Fortunately it was all downhill. Unfortunately, it was rocky and steep and winding, and they were already tired from the hike up. Rei felt like she was disconnected from her legs, and her lungs had long ago given up getting sufficient oxygen. Her heart was pounding, and she couldn’t hear anything but its beat, and the sound of their footsteps pounding on the path.
At least we haven’t been shot at,
she thought, and then gave up thinking and just concentrated on not falling down. They reached the bottom of the path, and realized that it was too early and their taxi hadn’t returned. They stood, confounded, for several seconds, until the crashing of the men descending the mountain stirred them back to action. Gideon knew that, if the men had rounded the last bend, they could probably see them in the car park, and, if they had guns, would be able to use them soon. They had two options: first, they could follow Signal Hill Road to the right or to the left. If they went south and made it to the crossroads, they could take any of four roads that went off that intersection. But they would be on the roads, and there was no traffic at all that he could see. So the men could get in their black SUV and catch up to them in no time.

The other option was another secondary trail. Looking at the hasty map the concierge had drawn for them, they could go north on the secondary path, and that would fork two different times, giving them the option of going back up to the top of the trail head, west to Clifton Beaches, or either of two trails to continue north. Along the way there were patches of thicker trees, and he felt that they could hide more easily on any of these paths than on the road.

“This way!” he whispered, and led Rei north, along the trail. He knew she didn’t have much more energy left, but he had no idea what their alternative was. It was keep moving or get caught. All he knew was that he absolutely didn’t want to lose the clue.

Racing down the secondary trail, it was apparent that it wasn’t hiked nearly as often as the main trail up to Lions Head. This was good news in that it offered more cover. It was bad news because it was more difficult to have good footing as they plunged ahead. Gideon was trying to listen behind them to see if they were being followed, trying to keep Rei going and on her feet, and also trying to review the map of the trails to determine a course of action.

They were still heading north, running parallel to Signal Hill Road. There was a tree line in between, but if the men got in their SUV and followed the road they would be seen. Gideon felt it was imperative that they get away from the road, but he knew that the first fork wasn’t for quite some distance. They had gone uphill from the parking lot, so would be much less visible from anywhere but the top of the mountain, but the road was really bothering him. He decided that they needed to turn to the west, towards the beach. They would hit the first of the secondary trails eventually, or could keep heading west and hit the second one. Further still, they’d hit two roads and then the beach. Certainly some opportunity would present itself by then.

He veered sharply to the left, pulling Rei with him. “Come on!”

They plunged into the thick growth, and went ten yards or so before Rei stopped, bending over and gasping for breath.

“I’ve got to stop. I can’t breathe! And my heart is about to explode…” She had sweat dripping down her face, and her shirt was soaked through. She went down to her knees, head hanging.

“You ok? You don’t look so good.” Gideon asked.

Rei glared at him. “Uh, no. Not too good. Thanks for asking…”

He looked behind them anxiously, but didn’t hear anything. He quickly slipped off his backpack and pulled out a bottle of water. He unscrewed the cap and handed it to her.

“Here. I think we can walk through these woods. In fact, we’ll be a lot quieter if we do. I don’t know how far we’ll have to go, but hopefully we can lose them in here.”

Rei gulped the water, then handed it back. “Walking I can do. I honestly just can’t run another step. Not right now. Now if they pull guns on us…ask me then.” She got to her feet.

They had crossed the first trail cautiously, but didn’t see anyone in either direction. Gideon knew that the terrain was going to start sloping down from there to the next trail if they stayed due west, so he turned to the southwest to stay on higher ground. They couldn’t see Lions Head, so he was counting on no one up there being able to see them. He could see the water occasionally between the trees, and he knew there were roads along the four Clifton Beaches. It was a week day, but maybe there were tourists, and the accompanying taxis, down there.

They crossed the second trail, and the land flattened out. In front of them was the water, and white beaches with big granite boulders. They risked a glance up on Lions Head, and saw a lone man in black, looking east over the parking lot. They kept moving toward the water, heads down.

They crossed the first road, and saw no traffic in either direction. Just a few feet further on was Victoria Road. They could see a few bathers on the beach, a few surfers out in the water. They slowed down and looked both ways. To the north, they saw cars parked along the side of the road, and turned right to make their way to them.

“Maybe there will be a cab,” Gideon said. Rei merely nodded, head down, close to exhaustion.

They walked a hundred yards to the cars. Most were empty, obviously belonging to the people on the beach, but the final car in the line was a cab. His “on duty” light was off, but the driver was sitting in the driver’s seat, reading a newspaper. The window was down, so Gideon leaned in.

“Hey! Can you give us a ride? We were up there,” he pointed up to Lions Head, “and got off the trail somehow. We’ve got a cab supposed to come back to the car park for us, but my wife isn’t gonna be able to make it. Can you just take us to the Mount Nelson Hotel?”

At the mention of the nice hotel, the driver perked up a bit. He looked at Rei and saw her bedraggled state and smiled.
Tourists.
“Sure, climb in. Do you want to go back to the parking lot and see if your cab is waiting?”

Rei and Gideon responded at the same time, “NO!”

The cab took off south down Victoria Road, and the couple collapsed against the back of the seat in relief.

Back at the Mount Nelson, the Quinns packed up all their belongings in record time. They’d tipped the cab driver very well, and told the front desk as they passed that they would be checking out. Something had come up, Gideon said to the front desk manager, and Mr. Xavier would be very pleased if they would email him the receipt for the room to the address on file.

“Of course, sir! We hope you have enjoyed your stay in Cape Town.” The young woman smiled at them.

“Oh yes, we hope to get back one day.” Rei smiled back but kept walking.

They gathered their bags, not waiting for the bellman, and went back through the lobby to the front drive. The valet whistled for a cab, and soon they were driving away from the lovely pink hotel.

“Where are we going?” Rei asked.

Gideon thought for a moment. He leaned forward to talk to the African who was driving. “Say, is there a hotel at the airport?”

The man shook his head. “Not really at the airport, sir…” He thought for a moment. “There is a nice hotel not very far from here, though. A Radisson. And they have a shuttle to the airport.”

“That will be fine. Thank you.”

The driver nodded his head.
Tourists.
He had always thought the Mount Nelson was a very nice hotel, but you never knew what went on, he supposed. He drove to the Radisson, and helped to unload the small bags. He received his generous tip with a smile, and thought, as he often had, that Americans were crazy.

Gideon checked them into the hotel on their personal credit card, afraid that the Xavier International accounts might be monitored. For all he knew, his personal ones were too, but he had no other option. He didn’t have a lot of cash in rand, and he knew that they had to produce their passports book a room in any event. Hopefully they would be able to decipher the clue—if this really was a clue—and make arrangements for the next location quickly. Until then, they absolutely needed food, water, baths and rest, and this was going to have to do.

Their room was spacious, on the top floor and facing the water. Rei didn’t go to the window as she usually did to check out the view. She collapsed on the bed.

“I have never been so exhausted in my life. I am pooped. Really. I don’t think I can even take a bath, I’m so tired.”

“I don’t know that I’ve ever known you to be too tired to take a bath!” Gideon leaned over and kissed her forehead.

“Tell me about it…” She closed her eyes, then suddenly sat up. “Oh my God! The clue! Tell me you still have the clue!”

Gideon reached over to the dresser and got his backpack. He patted it. “Right here.” He dug it out and laid it on the bed. Rei sat cross legged.

“Can you hand me my carry on bag?” When Gideon gave it to her she pulled out her notebook, then gently picked up the metal tube and looked at it. It was made of thin, hammered metal, about a foot long, and several inches in diameter, but not heavy. The top fitted on well, and there was a decaying leather strap that had sealed the top onto the base. When she began to untie the strap, it fell apart and dirt particles sprinkled the bed covers. She looked at Gideon, and then gently removed the top. She peered in, then tipped it over.

Onto her hand fell a rolled parchment, a scroll with a red blob of wax. On the wax was pressed a seal, which consisted of a simple solid cross topped with a crown. Rei used her fingernail to very gently pry off the wax seal, and set it on top of her notebook. Taking a deep breath, she gingerly unrolled the scroll.

The original vellum had been of very good quality, and Gideon thought that it was very lucky that Father Eduardo hadn’t used paper. Paper would have been a lot more readily available than an old fashioned vellum parchment, but the good priest apparently knew something about longevity, and sincerely wanted his treasure found. On the scroll was writing, a dull rust color, in the form of a letter, with calligraphic letters at the start of each paragraph.

“The ink had lead in it. That’s why it’s this rusty color. It was originally black… I can tell it’s in Portuguese, but the ink has migrated a bit so some of it’s fuzzy. Hang on.” She carefully put the wax seal on the bedside table and opened her notebook. She began to slowly write, four or five words, a pause. A few more words. Another pause. Gideon saw that she was deep in the translation, and he started taking off his filthy clothes.