The Templar Heresy

53

With the motorbike tailing the car, Farooq hadn’t found it a problem to follow Angela and Bronson all the way to the castle.

He was now using a pair of powerful compact binoculars to watch them, and was relaying what he saw to Khaled, sitting beside him.

‘He’s locked the car,’ he said, his voice sounding puzzled, ‘and they’re walking over to the visitor centre. It looks as if they’re going to explore the ruins. But you told me that this wasn’t a Templar castle, didn’t you?’

‘I did and it wasn’t,’ Khaled snapped. ‘It was a Crusader fort, and at no time did any Templar knight even visit the place. But we’re not looking for a Templar knight, and whatever clue those two think they might find here must have been left by somebody else. It doesn’t matter who was involved back in the Middle Ages. The point is that the only reason Bronson and the woman could possibly have for being here is because they discovered some pointer or clue that we missed in Jerusalem. So what we have to do is find it, and the easiest way to do that is to follow them and see what they look at.’

‘So what we do now? Are you sure they’re not just here to look around? As tourists?’

‘No. I can promise you this is something more. Tell the man on the motorcycle to go back down the hill and to wait in the village, because when they leave that’s the road they’ll take. Call the other car, tell them where we are and have them wait somewhere on this road as backup. And we’ll drive into the visitor centre, park and then the two of you can buy tickets for the castle and follow Bronson and the woman wherever they go. Whatever they stop and look at, you stop and look at, and take pictures of it as well. They haven’t seen either of your faces, so you shouldn’t arouse any suspicion. You’ll just be another couple of tourists wandering around an ancient monument. I’ll stay in the car, for obvious reasons, and if they do anything that seems peculiar or out of character, call me immediately.’

Less than five minutes later, their driver stopped the car on the edge of the parking area, as far away from the target vehicle as he could get, and he and Farooq stepped out of the Ford and strode across to the entrance to the visitor centre. Khaled remained in the car, an almost invisible shape sitting in the shadows of the back seat, but with all his attention focused on the visitor centre and the ruined castle that lay beyond it.

Once they had identified this final clue, he thought that the desolate countryside they had driven through since entering Jordan would offer an unlimited number of places where they could conclude their business with the English couple in private and without interruption.

Though following the trail to find the relic was still his first priority, Khaled was also keenly looking forward to attending to the two of them. Especially the woman.