Ark of Fire

CHAPTER 41

“In early fourteenth-century art, a chest or box of any sort was always depicted as a flat, one-dimensional square.” Making no attempt to hide his condescension, the bespectacled scholar glanced at Boyd Braxton. “Something along the sophomoric lines of what you might draw if you were trying to depict a medieval chest. Once perspective was introduced into the artist’s grab bag during the quantocento, all of that changed, of course. The quantocento, FYI, would be the Renaissance.”

Arrogant little pissant, Stan silently fumed as he stared at the archaic verses projected onto the dining room wall.

Had the lank-haired weasel been under his military command, he would have kicked his scrawny ass between his narrow shoulders. At the moment, however, he needed the scholar’s expertise. And cooperation. Although he suspected it would take a full measure and a half of self-control to keep his temper in check.

“To Galen of Godmersham’s mind, a flat two-dimensional square would have been no different than the three-dimensional medieval chest your consortium is hoping to uncover. You guys following?”

Stan thought of how the Ark of the Covenant would have been illustrated in a church or cathedral during the fourteenth century. The weasel was right. More than likely, it would have been depicted as a plain four-sided square.

“Carry on,” he ordered, not about to reply to the other man’s question. Nor did any of his men reply. He’d told them point-blank that he’d ream each and every one of them with a piece of steel rebar if anyone let the words Ark of the Covenant slip past his lips.

“Now as far as deciphering this bear, I think the phrase in the first quatrain about ‘Salomon’s cite’ refers to Galen being in Jerusalem on crusade. And in case you guys haven’t figured it out yet, the first quatrain is also the first side of our metaphoric square.”

Again, Stan remained silent. In truth, he didn’t give a rat’s ass about the first quatrain, assuming it referred to the pharaoh Shishak and not to Galen of Godmersham. That part of the story he was well acquainted with, because it was written in the Old Testament, 1 Kings 14:25, that Shishak “came up against Jerusalem” and that he then “took away the treasures of the house of the Lord.”

What he was interested in were the cryptic messages contained within the next three quatrains. Hidden somewhere in those archaic verses, Galen of Godmersham revealed where he hid the Ark, the sacred chest that enabled God to dwell among men. And from which God would lead his holy army against the infidels in the last days.

Feeling his excitement rise, Stan glanced at the watch strapped to his left wrist.

Four days, nine hours, and twenty-six minutes until the start of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim religious festival.

Which meant he had four days, nine hours, and twenty-six minutes to find the Ark of the Covenant.