Templar's Quest

79

0544 hours

The two men headed in opposite directions, their plan to divide and conquer.

Although Cædmon would settle for finding Kate, retrieving the Grail and getting out alive.

While McGuire surreptitiously made his way to the stairwell, Cædmon navigated a different route, crabbing along the mezzanine’s colonnaded walkway. Since they had no idea where Kate was being held, his job was to systematically open each closed door on the mezzanine level. A total of eight doors. After checking each and every room, he would then ascend to the second level and repeat the process. If that proved fruitless, he would search the third floor. Again, proceeding room by room until he found her.

He glanced at the upper levels of the atrium, counting half a dozen frosted glass walls that incandescently glowed – two on the second floor and four on the third – indicating that the lights had been turned on in those rooms. That implied that there were bodies afoot. No doubt preparing for the astral event soon to take place. However many troops were on hand, it was a sure bet that he and McGuire were outnumbered.

Approaching the first closed door, Cædmon reached into his jacket pocket and removed a small torch. He clicked it on and stuck the slender rod between his pursed lips, freeing his left hand to open the door. At a glance he could see that he had just entered the employee lounge. Like the rest of the facility, it was starkly modern, what one might expect to see in an upscale bistro. He backed out of the lounge and proceeded to the next door.

Three minutes later, having opened all eight doors on the mezzanine level and verified that all eight rooms were vacant, he headed for the stairwell at the end of the walkway. He’d taken no more than three steps when the lift unexpectedly began to glide upward.

Cædmon hurriedly concealed himself behind a concrete pillar. A few moments later, he heard a high-pitched chime. Whoever had summoned the lift descended to the mezzanine.

He furtively peered around the corner … just in time to see an armed man – a semi-automatic pistol holstered at his waist – exit the lift. One of Uhlemann’s foot soldiers, he had a mean street look about him. Clearly someone who could comport himself in a firefight or a fist fight. Oblivious to the fact that he was being watched, the armed man strode towards the stairwell. Opening the door, he disappeared from sight.

Where the bloody hell was he going?

Since the armed thug had just come from the third floor, completely bypassing the second, Cædmon surmised that he was headed to the maintenance level, one storey below. Finnegan McGuire’s current location.

Baffled by the unexpected turn of events, Cædmon slid the Ruger into its holster. Unclipping a phone from his waistband, he quickly typed a text message to McGuire and hit the ‘send’ button. Warning issued, he stepped away from the pillar.

Only to hurriedly retreat when the lift unexpectedly returned to the third floor. Presumably to pick up another passenger.

Shite! The research facility was fast turning into Victoria Station.

Holding the pistol in a two-handed grip, Cædmon waited. The skin on the back of his neck prickled. For a fleeting instant it felt as though the earth turned faster on its axis.

The chime pinged again. A few seconds later, like a theatre curtain, the lift doors slid open, a Goliath of a man emerging on to the stage.

The bald-headed brute from the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel!

Plastering himself to the pillar, he watched the black-suited Myrmidon stride across the mezzanine to the employee lounge. The instant the bald brute disappeared into the break room, Cædmon hastily made his way to the stairwell.

Circumspect, he opened the door and assessed the dim interior. When no malevolent shape emerged from the shadows, he stepped inside. He then stealthily climbed the steps, hugging the outer wall so that he could better view the shaft above.

Reaching the second floor, Cædmon paused, wondering if he should deviate from the mission op.

Decision made, he continued to the third floor.