The Templar Tunnel: A Dan Kotler Short Thriller by Kevin Tumlinson

Author:Kevin Tumlinson
Language: eng
Format: epub

CHAPTER

FIVE

Now this is a vacation, he thought. And he meant it. Mostly.

For the past six years, Kotler and his partner, Agent Denzel, had worked to track down terrorists and thieves, to put an end to smuggling operations and to thwart the plans of secret societies bent on creating a new world order. For all he knew, that could be what was happening here as well, in these tunnels beneath the streets of Acre.

But unlike those cases, in which the fate of the world hung in the balance, the stakes here were more personal. Kotler was on his own, alone, facing the darkness ahead and the bad guys behind. And the only fate he had to be concerned with was his. In its way, that was kind of refreshing.

Before becoming a part of the Historic Crimes Unit, Kotler had never had to worry much about the fate of the world. His own skin was enough to have to protect. But he’d taken on his role with HCU without hesitation. With that had come the weight of responsibility, of worry and concern for others—his partner, Roland; his girlfriend and boss, Liz Ludlum; and all the men and women who served in Historic Crimes. Plus, most importantly, the lives of everyday people, who might not even suspect that some threat to their existence had crawled its way out of the catacombs of history.

So being here, surviving by his wits and resources, with no consequence greater than his own life to worry about, that was kind of a relief. A weird sort of vacation, but he found that he liked it.

He’d like it a great deal more if he survived the experience, though.

The tunnel he was now exploring was decidedly different from the side trail or the main tunnel. For a start, this one did have sconces and braziers. There were old torches here, long abandoned. Some still had wads of linen, to be used as fuel.

Kotler had no means of lighting these, or he certainly would have. Presumably any initiate who solved the chamber puzzle would be carrying a flint and striker. Their reward would be a light source, it seemed.

Kotler had only his phone, which had dropped to 28% battery life since passing through the chamber wall.

It would have to do. And he would have to hurry.

This tunnel also differed in the type of terrain. Rather than a continuous downward slope and a series of twists and turns, as he’d endured in what he now thought of as the “initiate tunnel,” he now found himself mounting a set of stone steps, moving at a generally upward angle the further he went, and in a more or less straight line.

He had no way of knowing where this was headed. But he had some hunches about it.

The initiate tunnel was clearly a test. The chamber was the rite of passage. And when a young soul passes such a test, there is a reward.

The fact that Kotler was ascending as he moved seemed to reinforce that idea.

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