Ancient Echoes

CHAPTER 19



Beijing

JIANJUN WAVED THE papers from Director Zhao as he dealt with PRC customs and immigration. His face grew red, and his voice higher and louder as the discussion continued. It wasn’t nearly as straightforward as Zhao had led them to believe, but Jianjun’s background along with his Beijing accent, the same as used by the governing Communist Party, served him and Michael well.

Michael stopped listening to the bureaucratic wrangling as he considered Zhao’s words. If Zhao wasn’t lying, Lady Hsieh’s corpse must have disintegrated. But how did it happen so quickly?

Michael wondered how much his brother Lionel knew. That Lionel might be involved in something shady wouldn’t be impossible to believe. Michael and Lionel were completely different, always had been, always would be.

Calls to Lionel’s cell phone and Georgetown landline were unsuccessful, but the call to George Washington University yielded better, if unexpected, results.

Michael phoned Boise State University’s anthropology department and received even more shocking news. Lionel hadn't checked in from his remote location, and all attempts to reach him had been unsuccessful.

Assurances were made that an electronic or technical glitch must be the reason, and that Lionel and his students were fine. They had supplies, a seasoned guide, and the weather was clear and warm. A search party had been dispatched. A group that size would be easy to locate, and they expected good news to arrive any moment.

Michael hung up on the garbled platitudes. Lionel was a desk jockey, not an out-in-the-field guy. He wouldn’t know the right end of tent. He had once mentioned Idaho to Michael in connection with the French alchemical book, and now he was missing in, of all places, Idaho.

It only took Michael a split second to make up his mind.

Time to go to Idaho