Michelle thought it over some more. Finally, she said: ‘OK, I can see all that. But where’s the story?’
Jake looked at her, astonished.
‘That is the story,’ he said. ‘The hidden books. Powerful people after them. Others trying to stop them being found.’ He appealed to her: ‘This friend of mine said that if this library hadn’t been hidden and the sciences had been tested, we’d have been on the moon five hundred years before we actually were. Plus treatments would have been found by now for most diseases. But the popes and kings of the time didn’t want them known. The stuff in these books contradicted the official view of the world: that the Sun went round the Earth, and all that kind of stuff. They were seen as dangerous, so they were labelled heretical, or witchcraft or sorcery.’
Jake could see that Michelle was still weighing up what he’d told her. Finally she shook her head.
‘It’s still just a story,’ she said. ‘The sort you get in the weirdo tabloids: Elvis found on the moon. That sort of thing. Without hard evidence, there’s no story.’
‘I’m the hard evidence,’ insisted Jake. ‘What happened to me. First, I saw the book that was dug up, and what happened just now when you found me, tied up.’
Michelle shook her head again.
‘That last could just be a prank. Everything else can be dismissed as hearsay. No, we need something concrete.’
Jake picked up the old cover.
‘We’ve got this.’
‘It’s just a piece of old leather with some markings on it,’ said Michelle. ‘It’s not evidence. No, we need one of these books. Something that can be tested and carbon-dated, and all those other things that scientists do these days.’
Jake hesitated, then he nodded.
‘OK,’ he said. ‘I’ll find one for you.’
It would be tough and he knew it. But if it meant he could bring Lauren back to England, he’d do it.
‘I need to be there when you find it,’ said Michelle. ‘I want to see it uncovered. I don’t want to be shown up as a sucker who fell for some scam with a fake.’
‘Agreed,’ said Jake.
‘OK,’ said Michelle. ‘So where do we find one?’
‘Well, that’s not as easy as it sounds,’ admitted Jake. ‘Like I said, the books were hidden at a variety of places, all of them said to be sacred . . .’
‘Cursed or haunted,’ nodded Michelle. ‘Yes, I got that. But you must have some idea where is most likely. Like Glastonbury, for example.’
Jake looked at her, curious.
‘Glastonbury?’ he said.
‘Why not?’ She shrugged. ‘You said that was the last place they were kept. It’s where they were taken from and hidden. No planes and trains and cars in those days. Sure, they could be spread all over the place, like the one that was dug up in . . . where?’
‘Bedfordshire,’ Jake reminded her.
‘But I bet you a lot of them were hidden near Glastonbury.’
‘You’re still thinking about King Arthur, aren’t you?’ said Jake. ‘Trying to fit him into your story.’
‘Maybe,’ admitted Michelle. ‘But, you’ve got to admit, what I said about hiding them nearby makes sense.’
‘Yes,’ mused Jake thoughtfully. Then another thought struck him. ‘And this Arthur business could work for us!’
‘How?’ asked Michelle.
‘They’re keeping an eye on me, and what I do.’
‘Who?’
Jake sighed.
‘Everybody. Certainly my own department, and MI5.’
Michelle looked at him suspiciously.
‘MI5?’ she queried. ‘Where do they come in?’
‘Like I said, in the wrong hands this information could be used to make the most dangerous weapons for terrorists. And they know I’ve been looking for the books. So if we put up a smokescreen, spread the word that at Glastonbury I’m just looking for stuff about King Arthur, nothing to do with the hidden books . . .’
‘Do you think they’ll believe that?’ asked Michelle doubtfully.
‘It’s up to us to make them believe it,’ said Jake. ‘We make a few phone calls to each other about what we’re going to be looking for at Glastonbury: Arthur and the Grail and stuff. They’re bound to be listening in, they always do. If our cover’s convincing enough, they’ll come to that conclusion.’
‘You hope,’ said Michelle, still doubtful.
‘It’ll work,’ said Jake confidently.
‘OK.’ Michelle nodded. ‘When?’
‘The sooner the better,’ said Jake. ‘Are you free this weekend?