Solomon's Throne by Jennings Wright Page B

And what a welcome sight it must have been. It’s just amazing.”
    Gideon leaned over his wife and peered out the window. “It’s sure beautiful, but I have to say, I hope we aren’t spending a lot of time here.”
    “Oh…” Rei’s disappointment was brief. “You’re right…” She turned away from the window to look at her notebook, open on the tray table. “I have some ideas, and I’ve been studying Father Eduardo’s journal since we left Lisbon. There really aren’t that many places that he could have hidden a clue, at least not that’s still here. So if we’re going to find it, we don’t have that far to look. The main problem, as far as I can tell, is that if this clue is gone, the hunt’s over. He only wrote about this one location in the journal. We know that he followed the spice route, but that could be dozens of places. Portugal had lots of outposts, both for trading, and for provisioning ships who were traveling. And also to try to expand the Empire. So if we don’t find this one, we could literally look for years and not find the next one…”
    “Great…” Gideon grumbled.
    “We just have to pray that he chose well… I do think we can narrow it down some, with what we already know about him.”
    The captain came on the public address system and announced their imminent landing and preparations. The weather in Cape Town was 69 degrees and sunny, which was good news to the sun-loving Rei. The couple began to put away all their electronics, put on shoes, and wrap up their headphones.
    “Sucks that my Kindle is considered an electronic device… I doubt it could crash the plane,” Gideon complained. He pulled out the South African Airways magazine once again. “I’ve read all this, and it wasn’t so great the first time.”
    Rei handed him Sky Mall. “Here ya go, hon. Do some Christmas shopping.”
    Gideon flipped through. “Ok, for your mom, we’ll get this zombie rising up out of the ground….”
    Rei whacked him with her paperback. “Keep it up, funny man. You might have nose hair clippers in your stocking.” She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “At least Mr. Xavier popped for first class. My butt hurts from these seats, but they’re pretty darn comfy.”
    “First class treasure hunting all the way… If we don’t find the first clue, I hope he doesn’t make us pay him back!”
    “We’re gonna find it.” She ran her fingers through her auburn hair, and put it up in a messy bun. “If we can find this one, we will. I just feel it.”
    “Well feel this one then, because I won’t be real happy if we have to report back that Cape Town was a dead end. Short of tearing Goa apart, which would be about as successful as following the entire spice route, we’re going to have to piece it together from here.”
    Rei blew out a sigh. “I know. I’m feeling a lot of pressure on it… but when we get to the hotel, we’ll look at the places that are old enough, and try to figure out a plan.”
    “How will we know if we’ve found the right place, though?” Gideon asked.
    Rei smiled. “Our Senhor Xavier had a sense of humor—apparently, X marks the spot.”
    “What? You’re kidding?”
    “Nope. X for Xavier. Quick, easy and inconspicuous.” She grinned.
    “Holy cow.”
    “I know! It’ll make the best treasure hunt story ever if we find it, and if Mr. Xavier makes it public. Anyway, we’ve got a few scribbled notes, but the descriptions aren’t going to help us much til we find the right structure. You can’t exactly Google ‘where’s the small crack near the carving in Cape Town.’”
    “Is that what he says?”
    “Pretty much. He didn’t want it to look like he was leaving clues, so he just made quick drawings, and short notes. I’m trying to read between the lines, so to speak. We know he did want someone to find it, so we just have to assume we’ll figure it out when we have more information.”
    “Alrighty then…” Gideon sighed. The wheels