continued, “take a peek just to the right of Saint Joan and tell me what you see.”
Calvin did as instructed, and examined the area his uncle indicated. “I see nothing particularly interesting Uncle,” he admitted at length.
“Look closely at the wall,” Julien prodded.
Natalie joined her brother and inspected the area carefully. “There’s a little round stamp here,” she said. “It looks like a symbol of some sort.”
“Just so.” Julien pulled a ring of keys from his pocket, and called out tentatively, ”Finn, is anyone coming?”
“No one is about,” came the whispered reply.
“Very good. Come on back,” Julien told him, pointing his keys towards the statue. He pressed the button of what Natalie and Calvin had always thought was his car alarm, just as Finn reappeared.
Suddenly, the seal that Natalie had found receded into the wall for a moment, as if it was a button that had just been pushed. At once, the stone followed it, and in seconds, a small opening, just big enough for a man to come through, appeared behind the base of the statue.
Julien glanced back quickly to be sure they were not observed. “Get in quickly!” he said, nudging Calvin, who was standing next to him, towards the aperture.
He immediately obeyed, and crawled in, followed closely by Angelique, Natalie, Finn, and last of all, his uncle.
“I’m shutting the door,” Julien called from behind him. “It’s going to get very dark, but don’t worry. Just keep going.”
As Calvin crawled deeper into the darkness, he began to sweat. He disliked enclosed spaces intensely, especially cramped, dark, cold ones. He tried desperately to calm himself, knowing a full-blown panic attack was out of the question, especially with Angelique so close behind him. He thought with growing anxiety how mortified he would be if she would see him in such a state, and crawled miserably along. How he wished Natalie, who had no such fears, had gone first!
A moment later however, his fears subsided when he reached the end of the crawlspace and found he was able to stand up in a larger chamber. He sighed with relief and wiped the sweat from his brow hurriedly.
Angelique appeared next to him in the dark and grasped his hand. “Does anyone smoke?” she asked lightly. “A lighter would be very useful right about now.”
Julien emerged from the tunnel and brushed off his trousers. “That isn’t as easy as it used to be,” he said into the blackness. “We will have light momentarily my friends.” They heard sounds of scuffling, followed by a grunt. “Ah, here is the table!” A match was struck, and a small flame blazed to life, followed immediately by six more.
”Voila!” he said triumphantly, holding a silver candelabra aloft.
“Where on earth are we?” Natalie asked.
“Well, it’s quite a story,” Julien said, glancing around. “Take a seat, and I’ll tell you.”
The room was quite bare of furnishings aside from the table and a row of plain wooden chairs that were lining one wall. Everyone took a chair and grouped them in a small circle.
“Before I delve into the mystery of this chamber,” Julien said, “can anyone tell me what happened at the car, after I threw myself to the ground? I know you were a ways off, but did you see anything that might help us find Kieran?”
“It was pretty confusing,” Calvin said, frowning. “We were all standing on the bridge when we first noticed you and Kieran talking to that man. When we saw him push you both the other way towards the car, we started to come after you. After you went down, we saw Kieran attack the man, and we thought you’d been stabbed or something and started to run, but when we heard the gunshots we hesitated. I told Natalie to get to your boat with Angelique and call the police.”
“Then,” Finn cut in, “Calvin and I hid behind another boat and watched as the other person got out of the car. Luckily, Kieran had picked up the fallen man’s gun and started chasing the other man down the quay. They ran towards the Place de la Bastille and we lost them both in the Metro station.”
“I wish Kieran had a cell phone,” Julien said, “but he’s even more old-fashioned than you, Calvin, and despises such things.”
“What about the police?” Angelique asked. “They were on the way when we had to take off in the boat.”
Calvin shook his head. “There’s something I haven’t told you yet, and it’s going to sound crazy and paranoid, but I know I heard correctly.”
“As did I,” Finn said grimly.
“What?” Natalie asked.
“We were in the Metro, searching through the crowds for Kieran, when we passed some policemen. We were going to hail them, but we heard them talking into their radios.”
“We could hear what they were being told, and it wasn’t in our best interests,” Finn said darkly. “Whoever was giving orders to those cops told them to apprehend us, not the men who assaulted Julien and Kieran.”
“You’re kidding!” Natalie cried angrily. “What on earth is going on? We aren’t the criminals here!”
“This whole ordeal is more far–reaching than I suspected,” Julien said somberly. “This elusive threat that follows us must be a powerful and far-reaching entity, and now it seems we can’t even look to the police for protection!”
Calvin nodded, his face set with determination. “We have to protect ourselves.”
“But tell us Julien,” Finn cut in, changing the subject. “What is this place?”
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