Not even minutes before, the chapel had fallen silent as the occupants heard rounds of gunfire crack outside. Stunned, the men looked at each other, and in a moment of calamity, leapt to their feet. A few took guns from their jackets and found cover behind pews.
Dorothy’s breath left her. Dizziness crept into her consciousness as she heard what must have been a full-on battle outside.
With each weapon that appeared in the hands of these mysterious men, the dizziness escalated. Bracing herself at last on a nearby pew, she looked up toward Mr. Jackson for some sort of direction. He stared absently ahead as if completely at a loss for what to do. The very real danger of the gunfire outside entering the church caused terror to grip her body. Looking around became even more difficult, and paralysis all but took over.
A couple of the older gentlemen stepped into the aisle next to her. One had a pistol drawn. The only weapon she’d seen of that kind was her father’s hunting rifle, but she’d never even touched it, despite many offers from her father to do so. Being so close to the horrifying events escalating outside, she fell backward into a stumble as they came near. The only thing she could imagine was that the police were intercepting them. These men had to be criminals.
One overweight balding man gently took Dorothy by the arm. His gesture was in no way threatening, but his touch burned her cold skin. She reeled backward into another stumble, and he let go without a fight. A round pink face softened into compassion, eyebrows relaxing and brown eyes softening.
“We should find a safe place for you,” he said.
“What in the bloody hell is going on here?” she barked.
“It isn’t safe here.”
The freeze was over. Now that terror clutched her, the will to survive took control. Sweat jumped out from her brow as her lungs clenched. Rushing energy broke through her body, splashing heat back into her skin. She clenched her mouth so tightly that she found herself biting her tongue. With the stance of a cornered beast, she glared at the man in front of her.
“Who are you people? What is going on here?” her tone was calm but carried a clear warning.
“Please, Miss Wilkinson,” Mr. Jackson said from the pulpit, apparently having observed the conversation. “You must get out of here.”
“I demand to know what is going on, or I will call the police.” The calmness was leaving her voice. Inflamed eyes darted around, looking for anything she could use to protect herself. She saw only hymnals, prayer books, and candles.
“Miss Wilkinson, you must go to the temple,” said Mr. Jackson. “The Grand Lodge of Quebec. Sinclair’s letters are there.”
“There is no time, go, now!” The large man said, losing his patience after she didn’t respond to Jackson.
He reached to grab her, but she wouldn’t have it. Survival instincts completely overcoming her motor controls, she opened her hand and laid a flat slap on the approaching man’s face. The strike echoed through the air, and although she felt a shimmering thud in her wrist, it was quickly shoved aside by adrenaline. She twirled on her heel to run but was too fast and not stable enough. The heel snapped beneath her, and she fell tumbling to the floor.
At that moment the doors were broken open and hell poured through.
In the fall of 1947, Will Shakespeare saw the world collapse around him. Shakespeare, a secret soldier for the Knights Templar, barely escapes the slaughter of his entire knighthood at the hands of a rogue militant arm of the Vatican in a small Montreal church. With orders to escort Templar business associate Dorothy Wilkinson back to her home in Bermuda, Will must locate and rescue the most important secret treasure in human history before it is devoured by a hurricane in the watery caves beneath her father's property. The spiraling quest sends Will and Dorothy into uncovering dark secrets that make up the origins of the knighthood as they confront the traps and puzzles that masterfully protect the world's most coveted treasure.
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Genre – Action, Adventure
Rating – PG
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