Empire of Gold Read online

  Macy tapped the keyboard. Slides flashed on the screen, stopping at an image of one of the statues’ surface taken through a microscope. At extreme magnification, the stone was a fractal microcosm of a rocky landscape, with what seemed almost like man-made features running through it: a fine grid-like pattern.

  ‘Looks like a developer’s laying the ground for a new subdivision,’ said Nina.

  ‘It does, doesn’t it?’ replied Bellfriar. ‘I wouldn’t want to live there, though – not a lot of space. The lines are only about fifty micrometres apart, less than the width of a human hair.’

  ‘What is it?’ Eddie asked.

  ‘Some kind of carbon matrix infused into the meteoric iron. Naturally formed, of course – it looks artificial, but on this scale so do a lot of processes. What’s interesting is that it’s greatly increased the hardness of the rock, as if the whole thing has been reinforced with carbon nanotubes. Normally, this kind of stone would be around a five or six on the Mohs scale – diamond tops the scale at ten, by the way,’ he added for the benefit of the non-scientists. ‘The statues are actually harder than the porcelain streak plate I initially tried to use to test them, so on the Mohs scale they’re at least a seven – stronger than quartz.’

  His description had sparked another of Nina’s memories – this time from personal experience. ‘The rock,’ she began, her cautious, probing tone immediately catching Eddie’s attention, ‘does it have any other unusual properties? Like, say . . . high electrical conductivity?’

  ‘Actually, yes,’ said Bellfriar, surprised. ‘It’s down to the iron content, of course, but it was higher than I expected. How did you know?’

  ‘It just reminded me of something I’d seen before,’ she said, trying to sound casual. ‘But it’s not important. What else have you found out?’

  Bellfriar returned to his presentation, but Nina was no longer listening, instead running through theories of her own. When he finished, twenty minutes later, she thanked him for his work, then waited for the United Nations officials to conclude their pleasantries, trying not to seem too eager for everyone to leave.

  ‘What is it?’ whispered Eddie.

  ‘I’ll tell you in private,’ she replied under her breath, before calling across the room. ‘Macy?’

  Macy was shutting down the laptop. ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Can you take the statues to my office, please?’

  ‘Taking them back off me so quickly, Dr Wilde?’ said Bellfriar in jovial mock offence. ‘I hope you’re not disappointed that I didn’t pinpoint where they came from?’

  ‘No, not at all,’ Nina told him as the puzzled Macy closed the case containing the statues. ‘You’ve given me a lot to think about. Oh, Sebastian,’ she added as Penrose was about to leave, ‘can I have a quick word with you? We need to finalise the details of, uh . . . the Atlantis excavations.’

  Penrose covered his momentary confusion – the IHA’s undersea archaeological work at the ruins of Atlantis was already under way – and nodded as he left. Macy, carrying the case, went out after him. Nina and Eddie followed, and the four met again in Nina’s office.

  ‘Okay,’ said Eddie, ‘what the hell was all that about?’

  ‘A good question,’ said Penrose. ‘I take it you’ve realised something, Nina.’

  ‘I think so,’ she replied, shoving the papers – and the sandwich – on her desk aside to clear a space. ‘Macy, put the case down here.’

  Macy obeyed. Nina opened the case and regarded the two crude statues. ‘When Bellfriar mentioned carbon nanotubes, it made me think of something I’ve seen before. Excalibur.’

  ‘Excalibur?’ exclaimed Macy. ‘What, the Excalibur? As in King Arthur?’

  ‘That’s the one,’ said Eddie.

  ‘Wow! I knew you found King Arthur’s tomb, but I didn’t know you found Excalibur as well.’

  ‘We did, but we . . . lost it,’ said Nina. That wasn’t quite true, as she knew exactly where it was: she and Eddie had decided to hide it again to keep it out of the wrong hands. ‘But it had some very special properties . . . and they sounded a lot like what Bellfriar just described. Eddie, can you close the blinds? I need the room as dark as possible.’

  Eddie began to lower the blinds. ‘We’ve been married for a year and a half – we don’t have to do it with the lights off any more.’

  ‘Ha ha,’ said Nina, not amused. ‘Ignore him, he’s joking,’ she added to Macy, sensing that the younger, far less inhibited woman was about to ask a very personal question. ‘But one of Excalibur’s properties was that it was made from a superconductive metal – and it could conduct more than just electricity.’

  The blinds were now closed, the office in a gloomy twilight. Nina reached for a statue. ‘Okay, let’s see if I’m right . . . ’

  She picked it up – and the stone glowed faintly, the light quickly fading to nothing.

  Penrose’s eyes widened, and Macy gasped. ‘What was that?’ she said.

  ‘That was earth energy,’ said Nina. ‘It’s a network of lines of natural power that flow around the planet, and converge in certain places. If you’re in one of those places and the earth energy is strong enough, you can tap into it and use it – if you have a superconducting material to make the connection.’

  ‘Should Miss Sharif be seeing this?’ asked Penrose, a stern tinge to his voice making it clear that he thought she definitely shouldn’t.

  ‘I’ll vouch for her,’ said Nina, giving Macy a quick reassuring smile. ‘Besides, she discovered this statue, and I gave her the job of finding out more about it – I think this counts. And it beats making PowerPoint slides.’

  ‘Nice slides, by the way,’ Eddie told Macy with a grin. ‘Almost no spelling mistakes!’

  Macy pouted as Nina returned the first statue to the case and picked up the other. Again, a shimmering glow ran briefly over the figure’s surface before disappearing. Nina was about to put the statue back down, then changed her mind and picked up the first once more. This time, nothing happened – until she put the two figurines together, linking them shoulder to shoulder in the same way as Bellfriar’s slide. Both statues glowed, the light slightly stronger than before. The effect lasted for a few seconds before dwindling.

  Macy hesitantly touched the figures, but nothing happened. ‘Why did they do that? And how come it never happened before? Dr Bellfriar had them for months, and he never saw anything like this.’

  ‘It never happened before because only certain people can cause the effect,’ said Nina. ‘People like . . . me. I don’t know how or why – the best theory is that it’s genetic – but there’s something about my body’s bioelectric field that lets me channel earth energy through a superconductor.’ She opted, for now, not to explain to her friend that her genetic heritage went all the way back to the lost civilisation of Atlantis, destroyed eleven thousand years before – and that the actions of other Atlantean descendants had almost brought about a global genocide. ‘We discovered it when we found Excalibur.’

  ‘But you’ve held the statues before,’ said Eddie. ‘Loads of times. They never lit up like that.’

  ‘Maybe they did, and we just didn’t notice. Open the blinds.’ Nina put down the figures as Eddie did so, daylight flooding back into the room. She picked up the statues again. If the strange glow had returned, it was impossible to tell, the feeble effect overwhelmed even by indirect sunlight from outside.

  ‘So how are we going to proceed?’ asked Penrose. ‘The statues are somehow connected to earth energy, it seems – and earth energy is an IHA security issue. We know how dangerous it can be if the wrong person controls it.’

  Nina looked into the roughly carved face of one of the statues, little more than a child’s drawing in three dimensions with a bump for a nose and vague indentations for eyes and mouth. ‘We’ve got two of the statues. There might be a third . . . somewhere. If there is, we have to find it. But first, we need to find out more about what we’re dealing with – and what these things can do
.’

  Macy looked surprised. ‘They’re just statues. What can they do?’

  ‘Excalibur was more than just a sword. When it was charged with earth energy, it could cut through literally anything. We know the Egyptian statue had some great significance – it was considered important enough to be sealed in the tomb of a god along with his greatest treasures. Maybe Osiris could channel its power – maybe that’s why he was regarded as a god. So we—’ She broke off as her desk phone rang, putting down the statue to answer it. ‘Hello?’

  It was Lola Gianetti, Nina’s now four-months’ pregnant personal assistant. ‘Hi, Nina. Is Eddie with you? There’s a call for him.’

  ‘Can it wait? We’re in the middle of something.’

  ‘They said it was very important.’

  ‘Okay, he’s here. Hold on.’

  She passed the phone to her husband. ‘Yeah, hello?’ he said, eyebrows rising as he recognised his sister’s voice. ‘Lizzie, hi. Haven’t heard from you for a while. What’s up?’

  He moved away to continue the call with a modicum of privacy, leaving Nina, Penrose and Macy to regard the statues. ‘What do you have in mind?’ Penrose asked.

  ‘We need to find out what the earth energy effect actually does,’ said Nina. ‘Which means we need to take the statues to a convergence point.’ She chewed her lower lip, thinking. ‘There are four places where I know for sure that I can find earth energy. Problem is, one is in a Russian military base, another’s in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, and one’s buried under thousands of tons of rock out in the desert in a country where I’m not exactly welcome.’

  ‘Jeez,’ said Macy. ‘So where’s the fourth one? Inside a volcano?’

  ‘Fortunately, no,’ said Nina, smiling. ‘It’s somewhere a bit easier to reach – and a lot less hot. England. In King Arthur’s tomb at Glastonbury, actually.’ She looked across at Eddie to see if the mention of his home country had caught his attention, but he had his back to her, holding his conversation in a low voice.

  ‘And you want to take the statues there?’ Penrose asked.

  ‘Yes. I think the glow we saw just now is only a residual effect – if there are any lines of earth energy around New York, they’re either too weak or too far away to produce much power. If I take the statues to Glastonbury, with luck I’ll see what happens when they get a full charge.’

  Penrose shook his head slightly. ‘I’m not sure the Egyptians will want their statue to leave IHA security. Or Interpol theirs, for that matter.’

  ‘We’ll work something out. But we should do it fast. As you said, it’s a security issue now.’

  He thought for a moment, then nodded. ‘I’ll speak to Dr Assad in Egypt and the Interpol CPCU, see if I can persuade them to speed things along. I think you’re right, though; we need to look into this – and if there’s a third statue out there, we have to find it. When were you thinking about starting?’

  ‘About ten minutes ago,’ said Nina.

  Penrose shot a rueful glance at the paperwork on her desk. ‘And the backlog relating to the Vault of Shiva? Or the meeting of the non-executive directors? Mr Glas particulalry wanted to meet you.’

  ‘That’s what I like about being in charge,’ she said with a broad grin. ‘I get to delegate!’

  ‘I’m sure Bill and Simone will be delighted to hear that,’ said Penrose, returning the smile. ‘Okay, I’ll make the calls. Keep me posted.’ He tipped his head to the two women, then left the office.

  ‘So you’re going to England?’ said Macy excitedly. ‘Can I come?’

  Nina was caught off guard. ‘What?’

  ‘Well, you did give me the job of finding out more about these little guys . . . ’ She indicated the statues. When Nina didn’t respond immediately, she adopted a pleading tone. ‘Aw, please, Nina. It won’t cost the IHA anything – I can pay my own way.’

  ‘You mean your parents can.’

  ‘Well, what are parents for? And I’ll learn a hundred times more from you in the field than I would in an office.’

  Nina reluctantly conceded the point; since Macy was an unpaid intern and not an IHA employee, there was technically nothing she could do to stop her from simply buying a plane ticket and tagging along. ‘Okay, I guess.’

  ‘Awesome!’ Macy clapped her hands together. ‘I’ve never been to England before. I’ll need new clothes. What should I wear?’

  Before Nina could make a facetious suggestion, Eddie put down the phone. ‘Was that Elizabeth in England?’ she asked.

  ‘Yeah,’ said Eddie, voice oddly flat.

  ‘Kind of a nice coincidence. I think the best place to find out more about the statues is Glastonbury, so we can visit your folks while we’re over there.’

  ‘I’d be going to see them even if we were supposed to be flying to Timbuktu tomorrow,’ he said, grim-faced. ‘Nan’s in hospital.’

  2

  England

  The Royal Bournemouth Hospital was on the coastal resort’s eastern outskirts, and Eddie and Nina’s first stop after leaving Heathrow airport. Eddie practically skidded the rented Ford Mondeo into a space in the car park and jumped out. Surprised at being left behind, Nina hurried after him. Entering the hospital, she found him at reception, demanding to know where to find his grandmother. The woman at the desk wasn’t keen on his uncharacteristically brusque manner, but gave the information. Again, Nina was left trailing behind as he strode through the corridors.

  She caught up outside a room on the next floor, where familiar faces waited: Elizabeth Chase, Nina’s sister-in-law, and her daughter Holly. Both looked drawn and tired, but relieved to see the new arrivals. ‘Uncle Eddie!’ said Holly, hugging him. ‘And Nina, hi!’

  ‘How is she?’ asked Eddie after the greetings were concluded.

  ‘Much better than when I called you yesterday,’ said Elizabeth. ‘It’s lucky I was with her when she collapsed – the ambulance got her here very quickly, and she responded well to treatment. They’re probably going to discharge her this afternoon – they’re just doing a couple more tests.’

  ‘Thank God. Is it okay to see her?’

  ‘Yes, fine. Come on.’ Nina noted that Elizabeth checked her watch before opening the door, but thought no more of it as she followed them into the room.

  The smell alone, the tang of industrial-strength disinfectants, set Eddie’s nerves on edge. Like most people he had a dislike of hospitals, but in his case it was enhanced by the memory of friends who had been taken into one and never come out. His unease increased when he saw the frail figure in the bed. ‘Hi, Nan,’ he said, more quietly than he had intended.

  ‘Edward!’ replied his grandmother, delight evident even behind the oxygen mask covering her mouth and nose. ‘Oh, my little lambchop, come here! Give your poor old nan a kiss.’

  He went to the bedside and kissed her cheek, letting her embrace him as best she could around the mask’s hose. ‘How are you, Nan?’

  She released him, a small but deep cough escaping her throat. ‘I’ve been better. But it’s really picked me up, seeing you. And Nina too! It’s lovely to see you both again.’

  ‘We got here as fast as we could,’ he told her. ‘So they’ve got you on oxygen therapy?’

  ‘The best treatment for emphysema with a side effect of pulmonary hypertension, so we’ve been told,’ said Elizabeth. ‘Which would have been much less likely to have happened if you’d stopped smoking.’

  Nan laughed faintly, coughing again. ‘At my age, there aren’t many pleasures left in life. Except seeing my family. Oh, I’m so happy that you came, Edward. I worry about you over there in America.’

  ‘How come?’ he asked.

  ‘Well, what if you get ill or have an accident? I’ve heard horrible stories about American hospitals, the way they throw you out on the street if you don’t have enough money, being charged hundreds of dollars for an aspirin . . . ’

  ‘It’s not quite that bad,’ said Nina, amused.

  ‘So they’re going to
let you go home this afternoon?’ Eddie asked.

  Nan nodded. ‘Elizabeth wants me to stay with her, but I’d rather go back to my own house.’

  ‘No, you’re staying with us, Nan,’ Elizabeth insisted. She indicated the oxygen cylinder beside the bed. ‘You need to keep the mask on until the doctors say you’re better, and you can’t possibly carry that tank up the stairs on your own.’

  Nan seemed less than happy at being told what to do by her granddaughter, but acquiesced. ‘Don’t worry, Nan,’ Eddie said. ‘I’ll help you with all this stuff.’