The Minoan Cipher

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

On the ride into the city Abby peppered Hawkins and Calvin with questions about the recon mission. She absorbed every detail, from the description of the castle walls to the shape and size of the drone. By the time they reached the boat that would be their unofficial command center, she had analyzed the possibility of success and balanced it against the probable rewards.

“I don’t mean to be pessimistic, Matt,” she said, “but the cost-benefit ratio doesn’t look good for Kalliste.”

“You must have read my mind. Maybe our basic assumption is wrong and Kalliste isn’t behind those walls. Or, worst case, she might be dead, and that’s something I can’t accept.”

“Then it’s something I can’t accept, either.” She glanced at Hawkins’ stony profile. “Kalliste’s special to you, isn’t she?”

“Very special, but not in the way you might think. You know better than anyone how mean and crazy I got after the Navy cut me loose. I thought I’d flushed all the bile out of my system after I changed careers and landed in Woods Hole. But I was fooling myself. Every time my bum leg twinged where the doctors patched it together, the rage would come to the surface. It still does, sometimes. Kalliste understood that.”

“Unlike your loving wife.”

Hawkins could have kicked himself. Abby was still guilty about ditching him after she could no longer take his bitter outbursts.

“Hell, Abby, I was the one who let you down.”

Sitting in the back seat of the car, Calvin cleared his throat more loudly than necessary.

“What say we work on the assumption that Kalliste is in the castle,” he said. “We know she’s been kidnapped, and that Salazar had a hand in it. Smartest thing is to figure out what to do.”

“Sorry for subjecting you to our apology competition,” Abby said. “As usual, you’re a fount of common sense.”

Calvin let out a whooping laugh. “If I had any common sense, I’d be back in New Orleans, strolling down Bourbon Street, instead of trying to figure out where to find a copy of Siege Warfare for Dummies.”

“I’ve got a better idea,” Hawkins said. “Let’s do some foraging in the galley.”

They climbed down into the cabin. Hawkins rummaged around the galley and found a bottle of drinkable wine in a cupboard and spicy sausage in the refrigerator. Calvin came up with rice, canned tomatoes and kidney beans. In short order, they were sitting down to a hearty meal. They talked about the Navy, mostly, three old friends and comrades sharing their fonder memories.

After they cleaned up the galley, Hawkins set his electronic tablet on the table and played the video Chad had shot on the castle flyover. The video showed that behind the castle walls was an open courtyard surfaced with large, irregular paving stones.

“I don’t get it,” Hawkins said. “The walls are protecting empty space, like a Hollywood movie set. There’s nothing there.”

“Maybe it’s there but we can’t see it,” Abby said. “I met with Captain Santiago’s brother again to talk about the Inquisition deed that transferred the castle property to Salazar’s ancestor. I was curious about the references to the property being unclean or unholy. Francisco said the castle may have been built over pre-Christian ruins and that old pagan gods were thought of as demons. The deed was also written in the ancient Linear A script, which suggests a Minoan palace or temple.”

“Are you saying that the castle is there to protect buried Minoan ruins?”

“Castillo de Cuernos means Castle of the Horns. The bull was sacred in Minoan mythology. Can we take a closer look at the plaza in the center of the enclosure?”

Hawkins zoomed in on the screen image. The enlarged photograph showed something that hadn’t been apparent on the more expansive view. Some paving stones were shinier than others. The stones with the sheen were not placed randomly, but were laid out in parallel rows that ran from one side of the enclosure to the other.

“I didn’t know the Minoans had solar panels.”

“Ground level is a funny place to put solar panels,” Abby said.

“Maybe we’re not looking at ground level,” Hawkins said. “The last time I visited Santorini, Kalliste took me to see the archaeological excavation of the ancient Minoan town that had been buried in the Theran eruption. Let me show you what I’m thinking.”

He Googled the town’s name, Akrotiri, and pulled up photos of tourists wandering through the network of streets lined by one and two-story buildings. Columnar steel supports had been placed throughout the ruins to support a corrugated roof. Translucent fiberglass panels built into the roof allowed light to filter through, casting the ruins in a soft ocher glow.

“I get it,” Abby said. “We’re not looking at a courtyard. This could be a roof made to look like a courtyard.”

“Figures,” Calvin said. “The castle walls kept the ruins hidden, but once planes and satellites were invented they had to cover it up somehow. Only way to confirm is to take a close look.”

Hawkins tented his fingertips, and said, “Any idea how we’re going to do that?”

Seeing blank looks all around, he said, “That’s what I figured. Time to get to work.”