TWENTY-ONE
CHAMBERSTAPLE MANOR, EXMOOR, 2023 AD
The short drive from Challacombe to the manor house provided time enough for Jake to ponder on his predicament. Operation Black Panther had not required him to eliminate the Beast of Exmoor, but to obtain the creature’s DNA for scientific analysis. He had failed in this remit and no amount of argumentation about the impossibility of the assignment would satisfy his overlords at MI5.
In this state of mind, he parked his rented car in front of the ancient building. Almost involuntarily, his gaze was drawn to the missing gable window. From what the Devi had told him, it was there, in the sealed room, that he would find the body of Kiriamma. Or would he find only the skeletal bones?
This was the third time he had tackled the locked door, and
