The Alien Orb (12 page)

Bryson handed it over seeing that he knew
something, and the archeologist twisted and unscrewed the area that
held the diamond, and removed it from the ring.

“
People concealed small objects in
them,
”
the
archeologist stated.
“
Just below the jewel!
”

His fingers probed in it and he removed a
small piece of paper!

Chapter 20

The Secret Map

He unfolded and stretched it out, perhaps
done for the first time in hundreds of years, and someone shone a
light over it and its details became clearer and some of the men
grouped around him, and they examined it.

“
It
’s
an old drawing of
this
castle,
”
Mitchell replied first, seeing something
that confirmed his beliefs.

But Bryson realized that it was more than
that and that it was an ancient plan of it from a side view,
showing where something was, and he knew it because it was so
important that the person had it hidden in the ring, and he had
seen something similar in the other castle. It had far more detail,
and more than what it had looked like when first seen, and it was
an accurate map of the interior.

Bryson
’
s thoughts went wild and he wondered
what they had been up to! The other castle was just a place
haunted, but this place in places never made sense anywhere! What
did they find? What were they doing here? And why were there so
many secrets involved?

Mitchell took
it, and held it over his light, and he and Bryson considered the
faint lines for a moment. He tried to realize what he had been
like. What had he actually been like? And what had he thought of
the castle?

“
Could
be anything to do with the treasure?” one of the men finally asked,
desperate for clues.

They examined it for clues to its identity,
and why it was there!

It could be
more valuable as assumed but on the other hand it could be
anything! They studied it from different angles, until they started
losing interest.

“
That
looks like a faded cross marking something?” the man that had asked
if it could be anything to do with the treasure asked, pointing at
a very faint cross that he had found.

Bryson was
surprised that he had not seen it, and that the others never seemed
to have noticed it.

“
Where
do you think that is?” the man finally muttered, like he knew where
it was and wanted to confirm it.

“
It’s on
the top floor and surely not far from here!” Mitchell finally
answered, seeing they were not coming out with anything. “So let’s
go and have a check ...”

After a few seconds of examining it the
others started climbing out, into the room above, and Bryson put it
away in his pocket.

The ring was valuable and could well prove
there was more, and showed they had wealth, which he had known
already by the massive castles and estates, and last treasure they
had found. Yet he could not work out why there would be two
treasures!

As he
climbed out he vaguely wondered how safe the castle structure
itself really was, and if it was safe to be in, as it had been
built by ancient craftsmen with only a basic knowledge. Who would
know if they had only designed it to last a few decades at the
most? Yet if it had stayed up the amount of time that it had it
must be strong enough not to collapse! They could have easily built
it to last! He had only seen castles with no roofs that were
crumbling away, and he had never heard of one such as it falling.
Yet he had heard of
parts
of modern
structures collapsing!

As they walked
along the corridor Bryson noticed some signs of value in paintings,
and took photos of them. There could even be a connection between
something in them and the clue!

Chapter 21

The Discovery

What Bryson was
surprised at was how easily and firmly they had identified where
the mark on the map was in the castle, and he had not even
considered that it had been when they had arrived there!

The man who
had found the mark on the map seemed to be the best at it, and they
all looked at the rooms there.

As Bryson
examined the best places to look he remembered the plan of the
castle and removed it, and he started trying to see what the mark
was at, and he suddenly noticed the man that had found the mark and
Mitchell were measuring the floor in the corridor, outside the
rooms, and he wondered what they were thinking.

The map looked
different in the light from outside at a window, and he saw things
that had not been recognizable before and it slightly surprised
him, as he had expected it to have dulled lines and blemishes,
especially because of its already bad condition and ancient
age.

Bryson glared,
partially blinded by a sudden illumination from the sun, and its
powerful glare from the snow. Then when it decreased he saw more
detail and faint lines that had faded and that had not been visible
before, and he wondered if the others had seen stuff that he had
not seen there, and why they never bothered asking to see it
again?

He studied
things on it astonished at missing them and saw where the exact
location of the small cross mark was marked at the castle, even
though it was so faint that he could easily have taken it to be a
badly drawn mark or correction rubbed away.

Yet
though he knew that it was something its size was not big – it
looked too small to be significant – and it was not just a bad
drawing as it had been
carefully
drawn there! And he considered why the person had gone to
such lengths to draw it so well into the sketch, and wondered how
the man in his tomb had died and what the person had been like, and
why he had been buried there?

Bryson stood
up and joined Mitchell and some of his men measuring the room, who
took it that he knew what they knew.

Bryson
gradually realized what he had missed and that there was a large
distance between a room wall and the wall in the room next to it,
and when he knocked the wall it did not sound as solid, and it was
not as solid as the stone walls in the other rooms.

He was sure a
small chamber existed there, and wondered why it had been hidden
away, and why they had been so secretive and had marked it on an
old map?

Nonetheless,
how could they check it? Where could the entrance to it be? It
could be sealed, but there could be a way to climb into it!

Bryson
considered it for a moment and realized that was what Mitchell was
considering, and he wondered if he would knock a hole in the wall
of the room where the map cross had been marked? Their faces still
some showed puzzlement, indicating that he had a problem and had
not realized how best to get into it.

Bryson started
tapping the room wall and listening to see how hollow it was in
different places.

Mitchell
decided to do more, suddenly looking more energetic!

“
It
would be a shame to ruin this wall,” Bryson explained, considering
the hole that they had made in the floor to enter the chamber
beneath the floor. “It could make a hell of a mess!”

The man who
had found the mark on the map suddenly used the opportunity to show
them what they were missing and went over to the corner of the room
and lifted up the edges of the wallpaper, showing them that there
was, in fact, a gap going around the entire wall, and looked like a
large crack and was deliberately concealed.

“
What do
you think it is then?” Bryson asked, confused, not fully grasping
what it was or what he was explaining it was.

“
We’ll
need to find a way to tug it out from the side at the door as the
hinges are at the other side,” he replied, and Bryson shrugged and
decided to wait for him to show him what he was talking
about.

He went to
different places of the wall examining the crack and inserted a
tool into the gap, which allowed him to grip the wall and yank it
slightly outwards, proving nothing was holding it, and Bryson
recalled an inner library that they had found at the last castle,
and realized that the wall was really a giant doorway concealing
something behind it, and he helped the man pull it out, and soon
realized that it opened out on hinges at the opposite side.

It opened out
like a giant door revealing a hidden chamber full of old books and
scrolls, and Mitchell’s men saw value in the books and the
information they could hold, and Bryson wondered why the map had it
marked on it and why someone would keep just books as a secret?

Chapter 22

The Police
Investigation

A bright large fire burning furiously in the
fireplace in the lounge enticed Bryson in and to a seat, where he
intended to rest and go through all the things that they had found
in detail, and he was sure he missing things and that he would
realize them now, while resting on his own.

Yet as soon as he sat down three of the
policemen marched in, and looked him over!

The heat from the fire made the
central policeman
’
s eyes bulge out as they entered further in,
making their way to the fireplace, and Bryson saw he was the
policeman in charge there.

“
So
you’re
Bryson!
”
he exclaimed, looking about him.
“
I
’
m
Lieutenant Spelman. I’m in charge at the moment
...”

“
Have you found
anything?
”
Bryson asked, becoming interested, examining their official
clothing, wondering what they would make of the disturbances there,
and wondered if they had encountered anything or what they had
heard and thought of it.

“
Where are the
others?
”

“
They
’re
at the top floor
rooms,
”
he
answered authoritatively.

“
They’ll
all be back down soon?” he asked.

“
I don
’
t know when they
’
ll be down! But
I
’
m sure
most of them will be down soon ... It
’
s dark now! Have you found anything
out about the death of the man in the kitchen?
”

“
Various things! But we
don
’
t have
the killer yet!
”

“
So have you found any fingerprints or
DNA?
”

“
You
’
re one of the scientists here! This
place is strange!
”

“
Strange? Stay here long enough and
I
’
m sure
you
’
ll
never see anything as strange again!
”

The policemen showed signs of confusion and
surprise, but Bryson was sure that they had been informed of some
of the things that had happened there or had already seen
something. He was sure someone in the ex-military men with Mitchell
had been telling them what had happened. It was also them that had
called the police in and he was sure one of them also knew
them.

In distance Bryson realized that there were
noises of trouble, and action by the police, and he realized that
something was happening, especially going by the reactions of the
police in the room, and a policeman rushed in the door.

“
We had him but he
escaped!
”
he hollered, breathing faster.
“
We know where he went and two of our
men are going after him!

“
We were investigating the castle
where his footprints were and we found him at the floor of a room.
He escaped down a tunnel there!
”

They followed him out and they rushed over
to the room, and Bryson sensed that he was going to be in danger of
getting it!

At the side of the room the carpet had been
rolled over, and the person had removed a hidden entrance to a
tunnel and had escaped without covering it over, and Bryson heard
scrambling movements and panic-stricken voices deep in it, where
the police were clearly chasing the killer out towards the
wood.

It was worse than he had imagined! More
police were rushing in determined for action, and they were
contacting the rest of the police force, and he now positively knew
that they never knew of the dangers out there and that great danger
was there! And yet if he told them, warned them, he not only knew
that it would be a mistake, it could very well make things far
worse.

He just did not know what to do and was too
tired, and he hoped that Merton and Mortimer would appear and help
prevent things escalating further.

Then he realized that they might be able to
catch the man before he left the tunnel, and he thought he could
either catch him or make them go faster, and he rushed into the
tunnel with the others.

“
That guy was sneaking around up
there!
”
Bryson gasped, speaking to a policeman at his
side.

“
If he escapes we may never have a
chance to get him again.
”