The Norse Directive (13 page)

“Hopefully,” Sean echoed her sentiments.

“Anything else for us?” Tommy asked.

“Not at the moment.”

Sean had been pondering something for the duration of the conversation. He spoke up when he had an idea. “Tara, Sean here. Can you get access to the security cameras?”

She hesitated for a second. “Yeah, I think I can do that. I could do it a lot faster if you give me the necessary codes and passwords. Why?”

“I’ll text you the information. I need you to look through the surveillance footage and look for the spot where we were attacked. It should have been somewhere around midmorning. See if you can zoom in on any of the men in the images, and if so, take a snapshot, and send it to me.”

There was another moment of silence on the other end as Tara took down a note of what Sean needed. “Gotcha. I think I can handle that. Anything else?” she asked again.

Sean shook his head at Tommy.

“No, I think we’re good on this end. We’ll talk to you again when you get that cipher figured out. It’s late over here, so we’re going to try to get some sleep.”

Tara laughed through the speaker. “Sleep? What’s that?” she asked in a playful tone. “Talk to you fogies tomorrow.”

Tommy ended the call and put the phone back in his pocket. “Let me guess. You’re going to see if Emily knows who those men were.”

Sean shrugged and smirked. “They seem to know a lot about us. I just want to play on an even surface.”

London

When the three Americans stepped out of the hotel, they were greeted by a pleasant surprise. Though a few gray clouds still swished through the sky, the sun occasionally poked through, warming the city and its residents. The streets still glistened from the night’s heavy rain. Mobs of pedestrians hustled along the sidewalks, checking their smartphones, waiting by crosswalks, or standing at a bus stop. A steady stream of cars drove by, their drivers likely on their way to work for the day.

Jim stood by the SUV with an equally warm smile on his face. Sean couldn’t help but think that the driver’s awkward grin seems a little out of place on such a brutish man. At some point, Sean wanted to make it a point to learn more about the guy’s past. For now, however, he would be content to let Jim just do his job.

“Good morning, lady and gents,” he greeted them, opening a rear door for Adriana behind the right hand driver’s seat. “I trust you were able to get at least a few hours of rest.”

Sean had tossed and turned most of the night. As predicted, sleeping on new hours was a difficult thing for him to adjust to. Tommy and Adriana seemed to be fine, and she had slept like the dead for the majority of the early morning hours.

When the three awoke, they made their way downstairs and beyond the lounge where a small cafe provided a simple breakfast of biscuits, English muffins, beef sausage, eggs, and a variety of fruits and cheeses. All three were also glad to see the cafe offered coffee, which they sipped gratefully.

“The accommodations were excellent, as always,” Sean said, dodging the part about not sleeping well.

Jim’s eyes squinted with his proud grin. “A fine place, this. You know they say that Winston Churchill used to frequent this hotel.”

“Is that so?” Tommy said as he slid into the front seat.

“That’s what they say.”

A few minutes later, the SUV turned onto the M3, heading to Southampton. With the skies clearing, the group was able to take in the full scope of London as they sped along the road leaving the city. Old buildings mingled with new, towering masterpieces of modern architecture. On the outskirts of the city, there were fewer high rises, giving the feel of a bunch of small towns that grew together hundreds of years before. Thick patches of trees and chunks of forest surrounded the outlying communities, eventually giving way to vast, rolling farms. Occasionally, a castle would pop up on the horizon, sometimes still in pristine condition as if time had never touched it. Others were mere shells of themselves, reduced to ruin by the elements and centuries of neglect.

About halfway into their two-hour journey, Tommy had just begun to wonder why he’d not heard back from Tara or Alex when his phone started to vibrate in his pocket.

“Hey, kids. What have you got?”

“Good morning to you as well, sir,” Alex’s voice sounded craggy.

“Sorry, Alex. Good morning. What have you got?”

“Not one for pleasantries are you? You do realize it’s like three in the morning over here, right?”

Tommy detected the hint of irritation and apologized. “I’m very sorry, Alex. We appreciate your extra effort on this.”

There were a few seconds of silence before Alex started laughing. “I’m just messing with you, man. You know we love this crap.”

“I should have known.”

“Yeah, well I do have something for you. We were able to translate the stacked cipher. Tara said she told you about that.”

“She did.”

“Okay, good. It took a bit of doing. Those things are pretty rare. Fortunately, our software worked out the key. I’m sending you the translation now. You should be able to use that to unravel anything you might find that was written with the same kind of code.”

Tommy’s phone vibrated again, and he checked the screen. A new email had arrived from Alex’s account.

“Got it.”

“Great. I’m going to go get some sleep now. Here’s Tara. She said she needed to talk to Sean.”

“Thanks, Alex. Good job by both of you kids.” He handed the phone over to Sean. “Said Tara wanted to talk to you.”

Sean put the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

“Hey, Sean. I was able to pull some images from your security database. I’m glad you guys were able to get out of there. From the looks of it, that was a bad situation. Smart move going back through the rear entrance.”

“Thanks. Are any of the pictures clear enough to get a proper identification?”

“Oh yeah,” she said emphatically. “There are four or five really good ones. I’m sending them to your email now.”

Twenty seconds later, he felt the phone in his pocket vibrate. “Perfect. Thank you, Tara. You two go get some rest. We’ll touch base with you if we need anything else.”

“Will do. Always happy to help.”

Sean ended the call and passed the phone back up front to his friend.

“Were they able to get what you needed?” Tommy asked.

Sean reached into his pocket and pulled out his device. After a few taps on the screen, he scrolled down and then zoomed in on an image. It was a nearly perfect photo of the big Russian. He flipped through a few of the other pictures and found them to be of comparable quality. “Yeah. These should do nicely.”

He opened up a new message and added the files to it, then typed in Emily’s email address. His thumbs flew across the miniature keyboard, spelling out the sentence, “
I need an id on these guys asap. Thanks.”
After sending the email, he typed out a quick text message and sent that as well, knowing that she could possibly see the phone message faster than the email.

Sean put his phone back into his pocket and looked up at Tommy. “What about you? Decoded the cipher?”

Tommy finished scanning the screen of his device before answering. “Yes, they solved the cipher. Looks like it’s a key, which means we need to expect to see some kind of encrypted message.”

“No other information beyond that?” Adriana asked.

“Not yet.”Jim had been wearing a bewildered expression for the last ten minutes. When his passengers hadn’t said anything for a few minutes, he spoke up. “So what kind of business are you all here for?” 

“Same old,” Tommy answered as he stared out the window.

“It sounds like you’re into some deep stuff.”

“You have no idea,” Sean commented whimsically.

Jim’s face contorted slightly. “Are you here for some kind of excavation or something?”

Tommy took this one. “To be honest, Jim, we aren’t really sure. We don’t even really know what we’re looking for. The only thing we think we know is that we are supposed to go to Bargate in Southampton. We have no idea what we will find or where to even start.”

The driver raised his eyebrows. “Have you ever been to Southampton?”

All three passengers shook their heads.

“Oh, well, it’s a delightful town. Wonderful pubs, great seafood, and the people are quite friendly.”

“Sounds like you’ve spent some time there.” Sean’s comment carried a pinch of hope to it. If Jim knew his way around the area, it could save them time.

“Sure. I’ve spent many a day and night in that town. I enjoy going to watch the soccer team too.”

Sean had a thought. “Do you happen to know anything about Bargate?”

Jim considered it for a second. “Only where it is. I don’t know much about its history or anything like that. It’s surrounded by a shopping center now. Always a lot of people milling about.”

“At least it’s in a public place,” Tommy said and instantly wished he hadn’t.

The driver cocked his head to the side. “Public place? Why does that matter? You aren’t doing anything illegal, are you?”

“We certainly hope not, Jim,” Adriana soothed the situation with her caramel voice.

The idea that they could possibly be involved in some kind of shady activity seemed to excite the driver rather than put him off. “I’m no saint,” he admitted. “So long as no one has to get hurt and it doesn’t involve thieving, I don’t mind a little walk on the other side of the line, if you catch my drift.”

Tommy turned around and grinned at Sean. “I think Jim is our kind of driver.”

Forty-five minutes later, Jim steered the SUV off the M3 and into the peripheral villages of Southampton. Cars dotted the sides of the streets outside residential cross timber homes. A few people strolled casually along the sidewalks, far fewer than in London, and in much less of a hurry. An elderly couple walked together, holding hands as they ducked into a butcher shop.

Up ahead, tall white masts bobbed back and forth on the horizon, signaling that the group was approaching the coastline. As they drew nearer, the boats at the wharf began to reveal themselves. Most of them were rugged fishing vessels. A few trolled toward the open sea, leaving the bay behind to try their luck. The car veered around a curve, and the boats disappeared behind the buildings that lined the road.

“Southampton was where the Titanic departed.” Jim broke the silence with what at first seemed like a random fact.  

“That’s right,” Tommy agreed. “I’d forgotten about that.”

“There’s a memorial here that was built in honor of the engineers who tried to keep the boat going as it went down. I can take you there if you like. After you find what it is you’re looking for.”

“Not sure if we’ll have time,” Sean said. “But we’ll see.”

Jim nodded, taking no offense at the refusal of his offer. He carefully guided the SUV through the light traffic of little cars and motorcycles. Up ahead, a crowd of people milled about in what looked like the English equivalent of an outlet mall. Right in the middle of the pedestrian roundabout, an awkwardly placed medieval stone wall rose up from the ground, reaching close to three stories tall.

“That’s the thing you’re lookin’ for,” Jim said, pointing at the odd structure.

“Really?” Sean seemed surprised. “That’s Bargate?”

“Yep. Kind of a strange thing, isn’t it? I think it was originally built several hundred years ago as part of a castle or a fortress of some kind. They took down the rest of the building but left the gate, I suppose as some kind of historical reminder or something.”

He turned the car onto a side street between two clothing stores and then into a tight parking area wedged between cinder block walls. There were several spots available, and Jim slipped the SUV into one between a Citroen and a Volkswagen Jetta.

“Do you need me to come with you, or is it all right if I stay here with the car?” Jim asked politely.

“I think we’re good,” Tommy said. “We’ll roam around for a little while and see what we can find.”

“Of course, you could come with us if you want to,” Adriana added. “I’d hate for you to sit here with nothing to do.”

Jim smiled at the offer. “Don’t worry about me. I have my phone. I never get bored as long as I have it with me. Feel free to text me if you have any questions or would like me to help with anything.”

“Thanks, Jim,” Sean said. “Hopefully, we won’t be too long.”

The three Americans exited the vehicle and stepped out onto the sidewalk. The shopping center seemed to be the focal point of activity for the city. Despite the wall of buildings blocking the view to the bay, the distinct salty air filled the visitors’ nostrils, mingling with the scents of steamed onions, sausage, and deep-fried fish. A woman with two young children walked by, heading toward a modern building. A blue-and-yellow sign on the façade read,
Bargate Shopping Center.
Several tourists posed for pictures in front of the medieval wall. A few of the younger ones took self-portraits with their phones.

Sean started to take a step out onto the sidewalk but froze in place for a second before turning around and moving back into the confines of the parking area.

“Where are you going?” Tommy asked, confused by his friend’s sudden change of direction.

Sean stopped when he was a few feet farther behind the walls. “Take a look for yourself. The two guys in the gray sedan, four cars down on this side of the street. They’re just sitting there, waiting.”

Tommy and Adriana both glanced down the side street and simultaneously took a step back.

“Well, now they know that we know they’re here,” Sean said at the awkward reaction of his companions.

“What should we do?” Tommy asked.

“Last thing we need is to get in a shootout here in England. They don’t look too kindly on firearms.”

“So what then?” Adriana glanced over, her brown ponytail whipping around her head.

“No use in hiding now. I find that in times like these, the direct approach is often the best one.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that,” Tommy sighed.

Sean walked back out onto the sidewalk with the other two following closely behind, turned left, and headed directly toward the gray sedan. The two men inside shifted uneasily as he approached, but made no move to leave the automobile. Sean waved as he passed by.

The man in the passenger seat was the Russian. The driver was one of the men from the shootout in front of Sean’s property. He wondered how much longer it would take Emily to get an ID on the men. At the moment, he couldn’t worry about that.