Icefall (Dane Maddock Adventures) (6 page)

Bones chuckled as the two of them pushed up on the trapdoor. They lifted it up and set it over to the side. Up above, faint yellow light flickered on an arched stone roof.

“
Another cathedral,
”
Dane mu
ttered. He helped the others up
and then climbed out with an assist from Bones. Looking around, he knew immediately he had been correct. This was not the Kölner Dom. The interior, though impressive in its architecture, was austere. It lacked Kölner Dom
‘
s splendor, the stained glass one of the few sources of color.

“
This is St. Martin
’
s,
”
Jade whispered.
“
It was almost destroyed in World War II and rebuilt afterward.
”

“
You can tell us all about it later.
”
Dane slid the stone back into place, took Jade
’
s hand, and led the way out.

Just before they reached the doors leading out, a white-robed man appeared. He spotted Dane, frowned, and opened his mouth to speak. And then he spotted Bones.
As was often the case, the sight
of the massive Cherokee rendered him speechless. He gaped as Bones took out his wallet,
withdrew
a twenty, and pressed it into the monk
’
s hand.

“
A da ne di.
”
Bones smiled, patted the monk on the shoulder, and led the way out.

“
What did you say to him?
”
Jade asked.

“
I told him
, in Cherokee,
to get himself a happy ending massage.
”

“
He
’
s lying.
”
Angel seemed to have given up punching her brother, and gave him a dirty look instead.
“
He told him it was a gift.
”

“
It was either that or punch the dude. I figured he has enough problems. You know, no cash, boring clothes, no babes.
”

Dane had to laugh.
“
Remind me about this next time I complain about your ugly mug.
”

“
Right.
”
Bones feigned disbelief.
“
Everybody knows I
’
m the good-looking one.
”

The winter garden in Heller
’
s Brauhaus was decked out for the holi
day season. Traditional
music played in the background, scarcely audible over the talk and laughter in the crowded pub. The cheerful atmosphere was at odds with Dane
’
s gray mood which had only begun to lighten when Jade had received a text from Otto letting them know he was all right an
d
had been released after being questioned by the police. They had sampled a few German Christmas specialties and were digging into plates of spaetzle and bottles of Kolsch, a local specialty beer, when Otto wandered in
with a bandage on his finger and
looking dazed but otherwise whole. He declined Dane
’
s offer to buy his dinner, but accepted a Kolsch and drank half of it in three large gulps.

“
I don
’
t feel right about leaving you there by yourself,
”
Dane told him.
“
We should have stayed with you.
”
The others agreed. Excited as they were about the discovery they had made, leaving the man to face the authorities alone felt wrong.

“
No, no.
”
Otto waved away their apologies.
“
The police would have taken the skulls and we would not have had a chance to look for the hidden passage. The place is now a crime scene. There is no telling how long it will be before it is once again open to the public.
”
He took another swallow of his beer, this one moderate, and wiped his mouth on his shirt sleeve before continuing.
“
I also agree with the priest. If the public knew the Shrine of the
Magi
held such grotesqueries
..
.
”
He pinched his lower lip, his eyes narrowed in thought.

“
What do you think they are?
”
Angel asked.
“
Have you ever seen anything like them?
”

“
Never. I suspect they are forgeries
–
a sinister joke left behind by whoever stole the real skulls of the
Magi
.
”

So you think the bones
of
the Wise Men really were in the shrine at some point in the past?
”
Dane had been wondering if perhaps the horned skulls had been there from the beginning.

“
If the records are to
be
believed, the shrine once contained three crowned skulls.
This was supposedly verified by priests at
Kölner
Dom. Of course, everything is in question now.
”
Otto lapsed back into
deep
thought, then his
eyes suddenly
brightened and he looked at Jade.
“
Where are the skulls now?
”

“
Back in our hotel room. I thought about leaving them in the temple, but changed my mind.
”

“
What temple?
”
Otto
’
s eyes shone
with disbelief
as they filled him in on what lay beneath
Kölner
Dom.

“
A temple to a Roman god beneath Cologne
’
s most sacred site. It is difficult to accept. Of course, ours is a tangled history.
”
He smiled sadly.
“
Why do you suppose the priest wanted someone to know about it? Would it not have been best for the church to let it fall from memory? If he was the keeper of the secret, he need not have passed it along.
”

“
Jade left out the most interesting part.
”
Dane smiled.
“
She does that for dramatic effect.
”

“
I was getting there, Maddock.
”
She blushed, giving her almond-colored skin a warm, pleasant hue.
“
But you go ahead.
”

“
You
’
ve got the disc. You tell the story.
”
Dane took a long pull of his Kolsch, savoring its sweet, almost fru
ity flavor, something between ale and
lager.
He glanced at Otto, whose eyes sparkled as he leaned in close, his beer forgotten, as he waited for the rest of the story.
”
Bones smirked and Angel grinned behind her mug.

“
But you
’
re the one who found the compartment inside the Milan Madonna.
”
Jade played along.
“
You should tell him.
”

“
Disc? Milan Madonna?
”
Otto sounded like a little boy, early on Christmas morning, begging to open his gifts.

They all took long pulls of Kolsch, prolonging the moment as Otto
’
s pleading eyes darted around the table, eager for someone to let him in on the secret.

“
It was nothing much,
”
Jade said, placing her mug on the table and reaching into her purse.
“
We found the original Milan Madonna and this was hidden inside of her.
”
She handed Otto an object wrapped in a handkerchief.

He
held it gingerly and
unwrapped it
with care
, holding it close to his chest and hunching over as if to hide it from prying eyes. Dane thought the man need not bother. The place was packed, mostly with young people overindulging in ale and holiday cheer, and no one was paying them a bit of attention.

When Otto
’
s eyes fell on the three hares, he gaped. He turned it in his hands, gazing at the ancient symbol. Apparently satisfied there was nothing more to see there, he turned it over.
“
Latin?
”
he asked as he once again turned the disc, his eyes following the writing that spiraled in toward the center.

“
That
’
s what we thought.
”
Jade sounded annoyed.
“
But nothing translates, at least not on any of the websites I tried.
”
She shrugged and made an apologetic face.
“
My specialty is the native tribes of the southwestern United States, and I
’
ve branched out into eastern Asia. My knowledge of this part of the world is comparatively small.
”

“
I think,
”
Otto said, a ghost of a grin materializing on his face,
“
that it is Latin, but in a cipher.
”

Now it was Dane
’
s turn to grin. He had suspected the same thing and had sent photographs of the disc to his friend Jimmy Letson, an accomplished hacker and a computer
whiz
of the first order. Jimmy had replied with a text that read,
I do have a life, you know
, but if Dane knew Jimmy, he was already hard at work cracking the code. Like Dane and Bones, the man relished a challenge, though his specialty was of the cyber realm rather than the archaeological.

“
Any idea what kind of cipher it might be?
”
Dane asked Otto, who was fixated on the text.

“
I cannot say at first glance,
”
he mumbled.
“
The Caesar shift cipher was commonly used in the church. One simply chooses a number to shift the letters, either to the right or to the left. A shift of one to the right and the letter
‘
A
’
becomes
‘
B
’
and so on. It is simple enough for a priest who was not a cryptographer to use, but complicated enough to fool the average person.
”

“
Could the average person even read back then?
”
Angel asked.

“
We do not, of course, know the time period when this cipher was written, if that is indeed what it
is
.
I
f it is more than a few centuries old, you are certainly correct, particularly for a
message
in Latin.
”

“
Any chance it
’
s a fake?
”
Angel asked.

Otto tilted his hand back-and-forth.
“
It is possible, but the temple and the Madonna suggest otherwise.
”

Dane nodded. It was the same conclusion they had drawn. He was looking around for a server from whom to order another round of Kolsch when his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. It was Jimmy.

“
W
hy don
’
t you give me something that requires neurons
next time, like a ten-piece kindergarten
puzzle?
”

“
I take it you
’
ve deciphered our cipher.
”
At those words, all eyes at the table turned to Dane.

“
If you can call it that.
”
Jimmy was clearly disappointed at the lack of challenge posed by the text on the disc.
“
It was one of the most common ciphers ever.
”

“
The Caesar shift?
”
Dane asked. Relishing Jimmy
’
s sudden silence, he caught the eye of an attractive blonde waitress and signaled for five more drinks. S
he nodded and gave him a wink tha
t did not escape Jade
’
s notice. She arched an eyebrow at him, but then smiled.

“
You
’
re smarter than you look, Maddock,
”
Jimmy finally said, sounding even more disappointed.
“
Want to take a guess at the key?
”