Bale threw himself and the chair backwards, kicking viciously upwards with both feet as he did so. Alexi screamed. He dropped the candlestick and fell, first to his knees, and thew, groaning, he curled himself up in a ball on the ground.
Bale was on his feet now, hunched forwards, but with the chair still attached to his back, like a snail. He hopped towards Alexi’s writhing body and threw himself backwards, corkscrew fashion, chair foremost, on to Alexi’s head.
Then he rolled away, one eye on the main door of the church, the other on Alexi.
Twisting his body sideways, Bale managed to roll most of his weight on to his knees. Then he lurched upright and allowed the weight of the chair to carry him backwards against a stone pillar. He felt the chair begin to splinter. He repeated the exercise twice more and the chair disintegrated behind him.
Alexi was twitching. One hand was reaching out across the stone fl oor towards the fallen candlestick.
Bale shrugged off the remaining ropes from around his shoulders and started towards him.
47
Sabir pushed past the gardien and into the Sanctuary antechamber. It was dark in there – almost too dark to see.
The gardien threw some hidden switches and the place was transformed by a series of floodlights hidden in the roof joists. Broken pieces of wood and discarded rope lay scattered in an arc across the fl agstones. Alexi lay to one side, a few feet away from the Black Madonna, his face covered in blood. A man was crouching over him, feeling through his pockets.
Sabir and the gardien froze. As they watched, one of Alexi’s hands emerged from beneath his body, clutching a pistol. The man lurched backwards. Alexi pointed the pistol straight out in front of himself, just as if he were in the process of shooting at the man – but nothing happened. No sound emerged.
The man retreated towards the Basilica, his eyes fixed on Alexi and the pistol. At the very last moment he glanced towards Sabir and smiled. He drew a finger lightly across his throat.
Alexi let the pistol clatter to the floor. When Sabir looked again at where the man had been, he was gone.
‘Can he get out that way?’
The gardien nodded. ‘There is an exit. Yes. It’s how he must have come in.’
Sabir dropped down beside Alexi – his brain was seething with possible exit strategies for themselves now. He put one hand dramatically over Alexi’s heart. ‘This man is badly injured. We need an ambulance.’
The gardien clutched at his throat. ‘A mobile phone doesn’t work in here. It’s too near the mountainside. There’s no reception. I’ll need to phone from the office.’ He didn’t move.
‘Look. I’ve got the pistol. I’ll keep this man covered and make sure the Virgin comes to no harm. Go and phone for the police and an ambulance. It’s urgent.’
The old man seemed about to answer back.
‘Otherwise I’ll go and phone and you stay here. Here’s the pistol.’ He held it out, butt first.
‘No. No, Monsieur. They wouldn’t know who you are. You stay here. I’ll go.’ The gardien ’s voice was shaking and he looked on the verge of collapse.
‘Be careful on the stairs.’
‘Yes. Yes. I will. I’m all right. I’m all right now.’
Sabir turned his attention to Alexi. ‘Can you hear me?’
‘He landed on me with the chair. Some of my teeth are smashed.’ Alexi’s voice was blurred, as if he were talking from somewhere deep inside a sealed container. ‘I think my jaw is maybe broken too. And some ribs.’
‘And the rest of you?’
‘I’m all right. I’ll be able to walk.’
‘Okay. We’ve got about five minutes, grace in which to make our way out of here and back-up to the car. Here. Take this.’ He handed Alexi the pistol.
‘It’s useless. It doesn’t work.’
‘Take it anyway. And try to pull yourself together a little while I wrap up the Virgin.’
‘Check on the base first.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘There’s writing there. I couldn’t read it but it’s burned in. Just like on that coffer of Yola’s. It’s the first place I looked.’
Sabir hefted the Black Madonna. It was a good deal lighter than he had at first supposed. Around two feet tall, it was carved out of dark stained wood and garlanded with two crowns, one on the Virgin’s head and one on that of Jesus – in addition, the Virgin wore a golden necklet. Her body was partially encased in a sort of fabric, which was coming apart across her left breast, revealing paler wood beneath. She was seated on a chair and the baby Christ was seated on her lap. His face was not that of a child, however, but that of a wise older man.
‘You’re right. I’m going to trace it.’
‘Why not take it with us?’
‘It’ll be safer here than out on the road with us. And we don’t want a second police force on our tail. If nothing’s stolen, there’s a fair chance they’ll drop the whole thing after a few days, with nobody but the old man to question. We’ve got what we came for. I figure this is just another fragment of a larger map that will eventually lead us to the verses.’ He laid a piece of paper across the base of the Madonna and began tracing across it with the stump of a pencil.
‘I can’t stand up. I think he did more damage than I thought.’
‘Wait for me. I’ll be with you in a minute.’
Alexi made an attempt at a laugh. ‘Don’t worry, Adam. I’m not going anywhere.’
48
Sabir stopped to catch his breath. Alexi was leaning against him with all his weight. Below them they could hear the distant sound of approaching police sirens. ‘I still haven’t fully recovered from my blood poisoning. I’m as weak as a kitten. I don’t think I can get you up there alone.’
‘How much further do we have to go?’
‘I can see the car now. I can’t risk calling Yola, though. Someone might hear.’
‘Why don’t you leave me here and go to fetch her? Both of you could carry me the last bit of the way.’
‘Are you sure you’re all right?’
‘I think I’ve just swallowed one of my teeth. If I don’t choke on it, I’ll be all right.’
Sabir left Alexi leaning against the protective fence at the edge of the path. He hurried up the hill.
Yola was standing by the car, a worried expression on her face. ‘I didn’t know what to do. I heard the sirens. I wasn’t sure if they were for you or for someone else.’
‘Alexi is injured. We’re going to have to carry him up the steepest part of the hill between us. Are you up to it?’
‘Is he badly hurt?’
‘He’s lost a few teeth. He may have a broken jaw. Possibly some cracked ribs. Someone landed on him with a chair.’
‘Someone?’
‘Yes. That someone.’
‘Is the man dead? Did you kill him?’
‘Alexi tried to kill him. But the pistol jammed.’
Yola took Alexi’s feet, with Sabir taking the main weight of his body.
‘We’re going to have to make this fast. The minute that old gardien talks to the police and tells them that
