Page 102 of Beloved Sacrifice

“You were able to access the office?”

Weston nodded. “One of the tunnels leads right to the office.”

“And the Grand Master didn’t know about it?”

“No.”

Marek whistled. “How was this kept from the Grand Master?”

“This is where it turns to theory. I think that the Grand Masters knew about the tunnels originally, but after the art from the Esperanza was hidden in them, they closed them up, and the Grand Master of that day ordered everyone who knew about them not to say anything.”

“But there was a woman, one of the Grand Master’s counselors, who was one of the purists,” Rose added.

Weston nodded. “I think that she told the other purists, in secret. And so they knew, when no one was supposed to. Generations passed, and the people who were told to keep it a secret must have, since the current Grand Master, and the one before this—”

“And the one before that,” Rose added.

“They didn’t know,” Weston finished.

“So the art isn’t the secret because they laughed you off,” Marek repeated, making sure he understood.

They both nodded.

Marek thought about it for a second, pieces clicking into place.

Weston didn’t wait for him to puzzle it out. “The real secret is where the art came from, and how it got into those tunnels.”

“A U.S. ship sank the Esperanza? The woman on the tape said it had been taken by the Germans.”

Weston shook his head. “I think it was a cover up. Some of what I found was information that suggested the Bluebird had gone to seize the Esperanza, specifically because they’d intercepted a German message that said there was treasure on the boat.”

“A German message?”

Weston nodded slowly, staring at Marek, as if waiting for something. He went on. “On the surface, it doesn’t make sense. A Spanish ship that stopped in England to pick up art and passengers. Then a message from the Germans about the same ship.”

“Was the message meant to get the Germans to attack it and the Bluebird beat them to it?”

“No. The message was warning them to stay away from it.” Weston absently rubbed at the wax-like skin under his right ear. “I think the Americans intercepted it and went specifically to steal the ‘treasure’ on the Esperanza.”

Marek felt a little ill. “But the treasure was children. What happened to those kids?”

Rose made a sad little noise.

Weston shook his head. “Not to sound cold, but the thing I spent years figuring out was the connection. Why would a Spanish ship be full of both art supposedly confiscated by the Nazis—because there was also plenty of that in the tunnels—and art from England’s wealthiest families. What’s the connection?”

Marek sat up straight, his blood running cold.

He didn’t say anything out loud, aware that one of the Knights was only a few feet away, on the other side of a very flimsy door.

Weston nodded, and Rose looked grim.

“It makes a horrible sort of sense,” Marek said.

“And it would explain why the Trinity Masters didn’t return everything after the war,” Weston added quietly. “If it had just been a matter of the art, then they could have returned it. Played the hero card.”

Marek shook his head. “Even if it had been full of German treasure, they shouldn’t have sunk it. Even in the height of the war, the allied forces were doing their best to protect art.”

“Then they set out to steal it. A corrupt captain, someone who saw a chance to profit on misfortune. Maybe it was a ship full of men angry enough about Pearl Harbor that they’d sink anything that wasn’t an allied ship.”

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