Temple of the Gods

27





New York City




The case containing the three statuettes sat open on Nina’s office desk. Eddie lifted one of the trio from the protective foam bed, dancing it between its companions as if playing with a toy soldier. ‘Hard to believe these crappy little things caused so much trouble.’

‘And cost so many lives,’ said Nina morosely. After Glas had returned them to the survey ship – its crew astonished by the sight of the huge submarine emerging from the depths alongside them – Matt had been flown to a hospital in Portugal, but it would be weeks before an attempt to retrieve the bodies of Hayter and the others aboard the destroyed submersible could be made . . . if there was even anything left to recover. ‘But they might cost a whole lot more.’

‘Right now, the lives I’m most bothered about are ours. I don’t trust Glas – he still might decide that the easiest thing to do would be take out them and you in one go. I’m sure Sophia’ll have suggested it.’ He surveyed the buildings on the western side of First Avenue with suspicion, half expecting to see someone aiming a rocket launcher at them from a window.

‘I don’t trust Glas either. But I definitely don’t trust Warden. Evil billionaire with Sophia on one side, evil billionaire with Stikes on the other. It’s like being caught between . . .’

‘Two big piles of shit?’

‘I was going to say Scylla and Charybdis, but yours works too. Even if it’s kind of gross.’

‘Why can’t we ever meet any nice billionaires?’ Eddie tapped the figurine against one of its companions. ‘So, we’re finally going to smash these little buggers, then?’

Nina took the statue from him, turning it over in her hands. Had the blinds been closed, she knew, her touch would have produced a brief and faint earth energy reaction, but New York was too far from any of the mysterious natural lines of power to produce an effect visible in daylight. ‘I wish we didn’t have to,’ she sighed. ‘They’re another link to Atlantis, maybe to something even older. For all we know, they might have been made by some earlier civilisation. We know the Veteres were able to use earth energy.’

‘Yeah, and it almost killed us,’ Eddie complained. The race that had walked the earth before humans was long gone, but the ancient booby-traps it left to protect its secrets had still been active. ‘Nothing good’s ever come out of it. And it can only get worse if the Group get their hands on that meteor.’

‘Meteorite,’ Nina corrected absently, still gazing at the little statue. ‘Meteors burn up before they hit the ground.’

‘Meteor, asteroid, haemorrhoid, whatever. The point is, if Glas was telling the truth then it’s bad news all round.’

‘If he’s telling the truth? You think he might be lying?’

He shrugged. ‘There’s a chance, but . . . if he is, he’s gone to some pretty f*cking big extremes to cover it. No, he was probably about as on the level with us as someone like that ever gets.’

‘I suppose.’ She stared into the crudely carved sockets representing the figure’s eyes for a moment, then returned it to the case. ‘I suppose the next question is: how do we destroy them?’

‘Just find me a hammer,’ Eddie suggested. ‘Five minutes of bashing, then we chuck the gravel into the river. Sorted.’

‘That’s one way, I guess. But we need to wait for Glas’s representative before we do it. If he acts as a witness, at least we know that Glas’ll call off his dogs.’

‘When’s he coming?’

‘Glas said he’d be here today.’

Eddie sat back. ‘Let’s hope sooner rather than later, eh? I want to get all this over with.’

‘Me too, honey. Me too.’

The phone rang ten minutes later. ‘Nina?’ said Lola. ‘Mr Penrose is here.’

‘Damn it,’ Nina muttered. She had been fending off demands from the United Nations bureaucracy to know exactly what had happened at Atlantis practically from the moment she reboarded the Gant, but knew that sooner or later she would have to deal with the matter directly. ‘Okay, tell him to come in.’

Penrose entered. ‘Nina, Eddie,’ he said, voice grave. ‘I’m glad you’re both all right. And Mr Trulli too.’

‘Thank you,’ Nina replied. ‘I just wish I could say the same about Lewis and the others. Look, Sebastian, I know the UN wants my full report as soon as possible, but there’s, ah, a personal matter that Eddie and I have to deal with first. I’d really appreciate it if you could give us time to take care of it. There’s someone we have to speak to.’

‘I know,’ Penrose replied. His manner became hesitant, even nervous. ‘It’s, er . . . the person you’re waiting for is . . . me.’

‘What?’

‘Harald Glas sent me. I’m here as a witness, to watch you destroy the statues.’

‘You’re what?’ Eddie barked, advancing on him with his fists balled. ‘You’re in this with Glas?’

‘Let me explain, please!’ Penrose said hurriedly. He held up his hands. ‘I have, ah, a confession to make. I’ve been . . . I’ve been working for the Group.’

This admission of a spy in their midst chilled Nina. ‘Sebastian, what do you mean?’

‘I’ve been providing information to the Group for some time. About the UN, behind-the-scenes political arguments, that kind of thing. But I’ve also been telling them about the IHA’s operations – specifically, over the past year and a half, about anything relating to the statues.’ He glanced at the case on Nina’s desk. ‘It’s how Jindal knew about the connection between the two statues in the IHA’s possession and the one in South America so quickly. I told the Group; they told me to pass the information on to him immediately.’

Nina remembered that Kit’s interest in the discovery had been surprisingly quick. ‘But if you’re working for the Group,’ she said stonily, ‘why are you here on behalf of Glas?’

‘It was Harald who first involved me in all of this,’ said Penrose, not quite able to look her in the eye. ‘Many years ago. He, ah . . . he did a huge favour for my family. For my daughter, specifically; I don’t want to go into the details. But I owed him for that. So I started to repay him by providing useful information, and before long I was involved with the whole of the Group. When he split from them, I was, well, torn. I was still working for them – but I also had an obligation to Harald.’

‘You were a mole,’ said Eddie in disgust. ‘A double agent.’

‘I didn’t have a choice. These people – once you’re in with them, there’s no way out. Even if, like Jindal, you agree with their goals, they still have power over you. I had to keep helping the Group, but at the same time I was secretly helping Harald as much as I could.’

‘You told him I was in Rome!’ Nina realised. She rounded her desk, jabbing a finger into his face. Penrose flinched. ‘And you told him that we were going down to Atlantis. You got Lewis and the others killed, Sebastian. It was your fault!’

Eddie hauled him across the room. ‘You’re going out of the f*cking window!’

‘No, Eddie!’ said Nina, as Penrose gasped in fear. ‘Let him go!’

He angrily released the other man. The sweating Penrose straightened his glasses before stammering out a reply. ‘I – I know it was my fault, I know. I’m sorry. As I said, I had no choice.’

‘You’re still responsible, though. There’s no way I can let this pass. The UN’s got to be told – it’s more than just a breach of confidence, it’s a breach of security that’s gotten our people killed.’ She was trembling with a cold fury as she jabbed her finger at him again. ‘You’ll go to jail for this.’

Penrose took a long, deep breath. ‘I . . . will resign my position and turn myself in to the authorities as soon as we’re finished here,’ he said, voice quavering. ‘I always thought this might happen, sooner or later. But you do know that the Group will never allow their existence to be publicly exposed. They’ll either make this go away before it can get close to coming to trial . . . or they’ll make me go away.’

‘Unless you only tell them about Glas’s side of things,’ Nina suggested. ‘I doubt he’ll voluntarily come to court to defend his character.’

He considered this. ‘It would all technically be true, I suppose . . . yes, you’re right. But before any of that, there’s something we have to do first.’

She regarded the case. ‘Destroy the statues.’

‘About f*cking time,’ said Eddie. ‘I’ll get a hammer.’

He started for the door, but before he was halfway there the phone rang. Nina was tempted to leave it, but there was an outside possibility that it might be Glas. She picked it up. ‘Yes?’

‘Nina, Larry Chase’s wife is on the line,’ said Lola.

‘Tell her to call back.’

‘I . . . I think you should talk to her.’

The worry in her voice changed Nina’s mind. ‘Okay, put her through.’

The click of a switching line, then: ‘Hello? Nina, hello?’ Julie Chase – on the verge of panic.

‘Julie, what is it?’ Nina asked. She hurriedly put the phone on speaker. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Yes, I’m okay, but – it’s Larry!’

‘What about him?’ said Eddie, giving his wife a look of concern.

‘I just got home, and – and somebody’s broken into the house, it looks like there’s been a fight. And there’s a note, someone left a note. It said that I had to call you, Nina.’

She was startled. ‘Me?’

‘What’s going on?’ cried Julie, almost in tears. ‘Where’s Larry, what’s happened to him?’

‘Julie,’ Eddie said, ‘this note – what does it say, exactly?’

‘It – it says that if I want to see my husband again, I have to call Nina and give her . . .’

‘Give her what? Julie!’

‘There’s a phone number,’ came the words between sobs. ‘It says I have to tell you to call it.’

‘Read it out to us,’ said Nina, getting a pen.

Julie recited it. ‘Swiss number,’ Eddie told Nina quietly, recognising the first few digits. ‘Julie, listen – we think we know what’s going on, but we’re going to have to hang up so we can call this number.’

‘You know where Larry is?’

‘No, but I think we know who’s got him. We’re going to ring the number to see if he’s okay. All right?’

‘What should I do?’ she wailed. ‘Should I call the police?’

‘I don’t think they’ll be much help,’ Nina said grimly. Like Eddie, she already had a very strong suspicion about who was responsible, and that Larry would by now be beyond the reach of conventional law enforcement. ‘Julie, we’ll call you right back, okay?’

‘Can – can you get him back home?’

‘I hope so.’ She disconnected, then started to dial the number Julie had given her.

‘What about the statues?’ Penrose asked nervously. ‘We still need to destroy them . . .’

Nina waved him to silence as the call was answered by a clipped English voice. ‘Hello, Nina. And Chase, I assume you’re there too.’

‘Stikes,’ Nina replied with distaste. ‘What do you want?’

‘I’m sure you already know. Thank you for calling me so promptly, by the way. Mr Warden was getting a little concerned that he hadn’t heard back from you. So I decided to encourage you to reach a decision.’

‘Where’s Larry?’ she demanded.

‘Safe. For now. He’s a little bruised, perhaps, but then my men did warn him not to resist.’ A small chuckle. ‘I considered taking Chase’s niece or sister, but then I decided I preferred the irony of using someone he can’t stand – but won’t be able to allow to come to harm either.’

Eddie stepped up to the desk. ‘I’m going to f*cking kill you for this, Stikes.’

‘I doubt that. But I’m sure your father will be absolutely delighted to know that you care enough to threaten murder for him. Anyway, enough of the pleasantries – we have business to discuss. I do hope for Larry’s sake that you have the statues, and haven’t done anything foolish like damage them.’

‘And what if we have?’

‘Then I have no further use for your father, and I never carry dead weight. Come on, Chase, stop being obtuse. Do you have the statues?’

‘Yes,’ Nina admitted.

‘Excellent. Now, since the Group needs you as well for them to be of any use, here’s what’s going to happen. I’ll send you an email shortly, telling you where I want you to meet me tomorrow. Just you, Nina – Chase is very definitely not invited, and there will be, shall we say, unfortunate consequences for his father if I see him. Bring the statues with you, and Larry will be released.’

‘How do we know you’ll let him go?’ she asked.

‘You don’t, obviously. But you do know what will happen to him if you don’t do what I say. I never make idle threats. As I’m sure you must be aware by now.’

Nina looked helplessly at Eddie. Delivering the statues – and herself – to the Group was a course that could lead to disaster. But refusal would certainly mean Larry’s death. Stikes had already proved himself utterly ruthless in the past, and now that he was working for the Group he undoubtedly considered himself to be untouchable for his crimes. ‘What do we do?’ she silently mouthed.

Face tight with frustration, Eddie whispered, ‘Go along with him for now.’

‘Are you sure?’

He nodded as Stikes spoke again. ‘Well? Do I at least get the courtesy of an answer?’

‘I’ll bring the statues to you,’ Nina said, to Penrose’s dismay.

‘I’m glad to hear it. I’ll send you the details now. Oh, and Nina?’ Smug amusement filled the former officer’s voice. ‘Wrap up warmly.’