The Doomsday Code

‘The Hooded Man?’

Cabot nodded. ‘Yes! Know ye not of this?’

Liam shook his head. ‘We’ve, uh … we only recently returned.’

‘From the Holy Land?’

Liam thought it best to just nod briskly at that. ‘Right, yes.’

‘Then ’tis possible ye will not have heard. Two winters ago, a party of our Templar brethren had it in their care. They were to bring it back to safety. Away from danger, away from the Saracens, from Saladin. But it was that they were attacked in woods not so far from here. A party of our order’s best and bravest knights.’

Cabot looked up at the small window. ‘A squire, one who escaped the murder, told of a single hooded man. One man who attacked them and killed every last knight and many of the sergeants-at-arms. He said he saw with his own eyes blows land full square on the hood, many crossbow bolts and arrows pass through it, but whatever was inside — and surely not a man — did not but stop until the forest path was soaked with their blood.’

‘And it … the — the … Pandora?’

‘Yes,’ said Cabot, ‘he took it. He took away with him the Word of God. And it has been lost these last two years.’

Liam glanced at the other two. Word of God?

‘My fellow Cistercians do not know what they fear more, the wrath of King Richard on his return, or this — this … hooded wraith. But I know it is Richard Coeur de Lion I would fear the most.’ He almost spat the nickname Richard the Lionheart. ‘I fought alongside him. I have seen the bloodshed he leaves in his path. Thousands of prisoners beheaded at his whim, unspeakable things done to them in the name of the Lord.’ Cabot shook his head. ‘He will burn the woods of England black, level every village and put the sword to every man, woman and child in his way until he has the Grail back in his possession. He cares not for this country.’

The sound of voices outside the barn caught Cabot’s attention. ‘My brothers are unhappy at yer arrival.’ He shot a quick look at Becks. ‘And the presence of a woman. This will unsettle them.’ He got up. ‘I will be back. I trust yer intentions are friendly? Yes?’

‘We mean no harm,’ Bob rumbled.

‘We’re friends,’ said Liam. That seemed to reassure Cabot. They watched him weave his way through the darkness towards the slatted light of the barn door.

He turned to the others. ‘Did he just say “grail”?’

‘Affirmative,’ said Bob.

Becks cocked her head for a moment, consulting her database. ‘Information: there are many historical cross- references linking the Knights Templar to an object referred to as the Holy Grail.’

‘Holy Grail? What’s that?’

‘There are many references to the Holy Grail being the cup Jesus Christ drank from at the “Last Supper”. Supposedly having magical properties.’ She looked at him. ‘This is of course entirely illogical. It is more likely to refer to some religious text.’

‘We also have detailed files,’ added Bob, ‘that describe the Templars as being a military religious order set up to protect Christian pilgrims entering the Holy Lands from Muslim raiders. But also many uncited records that claim the real reason for the establishment of the Templars was specifically to seek and safeguard the Holy Grail.’

Liam cocked an eyebrow. ‘Hold on … so, does that mean this Grail and Pandora are one and the same thing?’

Both of them nodded. ‘That is a possibility,’ added Becks.

Liam’s eyes narrowed. ‘I suppose we’ve missed our one-hour return window?’

‘Two minutes and twenty-seven seconds to go.’

‘All right, no point running back across that field like mad things. We can catch the one tomorrow. Presuming Mr Cabot will put us up here for tonight, we can talk to him some more about this Holy Grail thing.’

CHAPTER 22

2001, New York

The three of them stared in silence at the wavering image in the middle of the floor.

‘Is that … is that sky I’m seeing there?’ said Adam, squinting at the shimmering mirage. It looked like the flickering reflection one might see staring down a dark well: a dancing, glinting, shifting reflection that hinted more than showed things.

‘Yes,’ said Maddy. ‘And that looks like a field or something.’

‘Good God!’ he whispered. ‘So I’m seeing a field and — and … the actual sky! From nine hundred years ago!’

‘But no Liam and support units,’ said Sal.

‘OK,’ Maddy said, stepping back to the desk and hitting a button. ‘It’s been open long enough. They must have decided to overnight it there.’

The portal puffed out of existence.

‘I hate it when this happens,’ said Maddy. ‘I wish they could just drop us a line and let us know what they’re up to.’ She tapped the desk mic to wake up the version of Bob’s AI installed on the computer system. ‘Bob?’

› Yes, Maddy.

‘Begin recharge for the twenty-four-hour window.’

› Affirmative.

Adam joined her. ‘But you said there is a way for them to communicate? What did you call it again?’

‘A drop-point document.’

‘That’s it. So why don’t we tell them to use the Voynich? You know … if they manage to find it?’

‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘Can’t.’ She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. ‘You’ve cracked it, someone else might. And, anyway, if another team are using it and we start overwriting their messages with ours, who knows what chaos that’ll cause.’

‘All right, then,’ he said. ‘What about gravestones?’

Both Sal and Maddy looked at him. ‘Uh?’

‘Well … not exactly a gravestone as such, but it’s in the graveyard at the back of Kirklees Priory.’

‘What is?’ asked Sal.

‘Inscribed masonry. There are dozens that date back to the building of the priory. You can find them if you dig around a bit.’

‘What, you’re saying I send us over to England and we snuffle around some cemetery — ’

‘No need,’ he replied. ‘I’ve been there. I went there years ago, after all that Voynich publicity died down. I wanted to know what was so important about Kirklees. So I went and checked it out for myself. There’s not much to see there, of course. The old priory building, and a gated orchard, which is all bloody brambles and stinging nettles. But I did uncover several slabs of masonry, some of them inscribed with Latin. They’re grave markers, knocked over or fallen but, you know, still intact — and you can still read the lettering. I photographed some of them.’

Maddy laughed. ‘And what? You’re suggesting they carve mission updates for us?’

He shrugged. ‘That would work, wouldn’t it? If carving a message in a stone causes one of your time waves, then surely the slight change in history would change the content of the photos I took?’ He looked from Maddy to Sal and back to Maddy again. ‘Or am I getting this all wrong?’

Maddy stared at him silently for a moment before finally snapping her fingers. ‘Yes … yes, I guess that could work!’ She glanced quickly at Sal. ‘If … we need it. But you know what? I really don’t plan to lose Liam in history again. Not this time.’ She looked at a display window showing the displacement machine’s charge progress bar.

‘Thirty minutes and we’ll open the portal again. I’m sure they’ll be right there waiting for us.’