The Last Templar

Chapter 86

Vance was moving fast, across a steep trail that cut into the side of the mountain. The scattered trees and the olive groves soon gave way to a harsher terrain of rocks and dried-out bushes. Glancing back, he saw Reilly coming after him and cursed inwardly. He scanned the surrounding area. The town was nowhere in sight, and even die castle ruins and the disused windmills had now disappeared from view. The hillside rose in a steep incline to his right, and, to his left, the rocky ground seemed to curve sharply down into the sea below. There was no other choice. It was either confront Reilly or keep moving. He chose the latter.

Behind him, Reilly was breathing heavily as he tried to keep Vance within reach. His legs felt rubbery, the muscles in his thighs already burning despite the relatively short distance he had covered. He faltered on a small outcropping but managed to keep his balance and narrowly avoided injuring his ankle. Straightening himself up, he suddenly felt dizzy and took a few deep breaths, shutting his eyes and concentrating, trying to summon up any reserves of energy he could draw on.

He glanced toward Vance and saw his receding silhouette clambering out of view. Rallying himself, he willed his legs forward and resumed his pursuit.

Driving himself further along the slippery surface of the rocks, Vance finally reached the top of a crag only to realize that he was trapped. Before him was an almost vertical drop down to jagged rocks far below. A sliding sea was crashing against them in rhythmic bursts of white foam.

Turning urgently, he saw Reilly, who was climbing into view.

Reilly reached the rock face and clambered onto a large rock. He was now level with Vance, less than ten yards away from him. The two men stared at one another.

Vance was taking big gulps of air, catching his breath. He scanned the surroundings angrily, left then right. Seeing that the ground was firmer to the right, he decided to head that way.

Reilly shot after him.

Vance raced along the stepped bluff but was barely twenty yards away when he stumbled in a small fissure, his foot caught between two rocks. He recovered his footing and pushed himself forward.

Painfully aware that he had little strength left in his legs, Reilly saw his opportunity and threw himself forward in a dive, his fingers reaching for Vance's ankles. He barely made contact, but it was enough. Vance lost his precarious balance again and fell. Scrambling forward on his hands and knees, Reilly lunged at Vance's legs, but his arms were as weakened as his legs. Vance rolled over and scuttled backward, the codex still gripped tightly in his hands. He kicked at Reilly, his foot smashing into his face and sending him careening a couple of yards down the slope. Vance then pulled back and hauled himself to his feet.

Reilly's mind was a blur, and his head felt like it weighed a ton. He tried to shake the daze away and rose up, only to hear Tess's voice echoing from behind.

"Sean!" she was yelling to him. "Just let him go. You're just going to get yourself killed."

Reilly saw her climbing up and looked at Vance, who was barely making progress and was still within reach. He turned back toward Tess, gesturing wildly. "Go back. Go back and get some help."

But Tess was already with him. She was also out of breath and held onto him. "Please. It isn't safe up here. You said it yourself. It's not worth either of our lives."

Reilly looked at her and smiled, and, at that very moment, he knew with utter certainty that he would spend the rest of his life with this woman. In that instant, he heard a panicked scream from Vance's direction. He turned in time to see Vance slipping down the smooth, steep outcropping he was climbing across, his fingers clawing for a hold but finding none in the polished surface of the black rocks.

Vance's feet finally caught onto a small ledge just as Reilly started forward, hastening across the rock face. He got to the overhang and looked down. Vance was hugging the wall of stone with one shivering hand, the other still locked around the codex.

"Take my hand," he bellowed as he reached down, stretching his arm as far as it would go.

Vance glanced up, a look of sheer terror in his eyes. He inched the arm with the codex upward, but they were still a few inches apart. "I can't," he stammered.

Just then, the ledge under his feet crumbled away, removing the support from under his left leg. He reached out to hang on, and his fingers instinctively let go of their hold. The codex flew from his outstretched hand, opening as it bounced off an outcropping of rock. Pages of the diary spun into the air, floating in the salty air, spiraling downward toward the crashing water below.

Reilly didn't even have time to finish his "Don't—"

Vance's voice erupted into a tortured "No!" as he grabbed hopelessly for the papers. Then he was falling fast, outstretched arms flailing at the fluttering pages that looked like they were goading him.

He tumbled helplessly into the void before smashing onto the rocks below.

Tess reached Reilly and hung onto him. They edged outward, peering down the vertiginous drop.

Vance's body lay there, bent at unnatural angles. Waves crashed around him, lifting him up and moving him around like a rag doll. And all around his crumpled body, pages of the ancient document were gliding down into the sea, its swell swallowing up the ink that was washing off the parchment as well as the blood seeping from Vance's open wounds.

Reilly held firmly onto Tess. He stared down wistfully as the last of the pages were sucked out to sea. Guess we'll never know, he thought somberly, grinding his teeth at the thought.

And then he spotted something.

Letting go of Tess, he quickly backed up over the edge and climbed down the rock face.

"What are you doing?" she yelled, leaning over to see where he was going, her voice sick with worry.

Moments later, he reappeared over the lip of the rock. Tess reached down and helped him up, and saw that he was clutching something between his teeth.

It was a piece of parchment.

A lone page from the codex.

Tess stared at it in disbelief as Reilly handed it to her. He watched her. "At least we have something to prove we didn't just imagine it all," he managed, still breathless with the effort of retrieving it.

Tess studied the page in her hand for a long moment. Everything she'd lived through since that night at the Met, all the bloodshed and the fear and the turmoil inside her came rushing back at her.

And in that moment, she knew. She knew, without a shadow of a doubt, what she would do with it.

And without hesitation, she smiled at Reilly, crumpled up the sheet of parchment and sent it spinning over the bluff.

She watched it fall into the sea, then turned to Reilly, and wrapped her arms around him.

"I've got all I need," she told him, before taking his hand and leading him away from the ledge.