Temple of the Gods (36 page)

A news channel came on, showing the entrance to what looked like a restaurant. The crawl at the bottom of the screen read —
ARRESTED BY FBI. BREAKING NEWS: FORMER PRESID
— As they watched, four suited men bustled another out of the door.

Even though their prisoner was trying to hide his face from the waiting TV camera, he was instantly recognisable. Victor Dalton.

A breathless female newscaster attempted to keep up with the story. ‘These pictures, taken just minutes ago, show former US president Victor Dalton being removed from a restaurant on Washington, DC’s K Street by FBI agents. The details are still sketchy, but from what we understand, the disgraced president has been charged under the Espionage Act,’ her voice conveyed near disbelief, ‘on suspicion of releasing classified information to unauthorised personnel.’ On screen, Dalton was shoved into the rear seat of a black SUV. ‘As yet, we haven’t received any statements from the Justice Department or the White House, but as soon as we do—’

Warden muted the sound. ‘Well?’

‘Well . . . wow,’ said Nina, not sure how to react. ‘I take it that was your doing.’

‘It was. We knew Dalton had a grudge against the Group – he blamed us for not keeping him in office after his little videotaped indiscretion, even though it was obvious his position was untenable. We didn’t realise he’d actively sided with Glas against us until it was too late, but we certainly weren’t going to let it stand.’ There was a disquieting matter-of-fact ruthlessness to his voice.

‘So what happens to us?’ Eddie asked. ‘First thing he’ll do will be try to drag us down with him. Seeing as we blackmailed him into getting us into Silent Peak.’

‘I wouldn’t worry about that,’ said Warden, with another grim un-smile. ‘He’ll have much larger concerns than personal vendettas. Some of the other skeletons in his closet will come to light.’ He retracted the screen, then glanced through a window. ‘Ah, we’re almost here. We can continue this discussion in my home.’

The limo slowed, turning through a set of automatic gates on to the lengthy drive of an especially large house. It pulled up outside, the driver quickly exiting to open the door for his passengers.

‘Nice pad,’ said Eddie as he got out. ‘So this is how the top one per cent live.’

‘More like the top one per cent
of
the top one per cent,’ Nina replied. Warden’s home was an elegant three-storey building that had been styled after a British Georgian mansion – or, for all she knew, genuinely was one that had been transported across the Atlantic brick by brick. Either way, its value would be well into the multi-million-dollar range . . . and she imagined it was not the investor’s only property.

Warden led them inside, taking them down a long hall displaying artworks traditional and modern to a door at the far end. He paused at it. ‘Before we go inside, I’ll first ask you both to remain calm. The Group sometimes has to make deals with people we would rather not work with. My other guest is one of those people. And I know that you’ve had bad experiences with him in the past.’

With that, he opened the door . . . to reveal Alexander Stikes in the large room beyond.

‘What the
fuck
is he doing here?’ Eddie yelled, taking up position to shield Nina. ‘Get that bastard out of here, or I’ll do it for you!’

Stikes was seated on a long couch, not in the least surprised to see the new arrivals. He moved his left arm to reveal a gun in a shoulder holster beneath his jacket. ‘Let’s not have any unpleasantness, shall we, Chase? We’re all guests here.’

‘Not for long,’ said Nina. She rounded on Warden. ‘If that murdering son of a bitch is working for you, I think any business we might have had is finished.’

‘If you’ll let me explain,’ he said, quietly but firmly. ‘As I said, sometimes needs must. Mr Stikes had obtained the statues—’

‘Stolen,’ she cut in, with a hate-filled glare at the former SAS officer.

‘Stolen, yes, but he had possession of them. That forced us to negotiate with him.’

‘And Sophia,’ Eddie growled. ‘Where does she fit in? Is she one of your fucking Group too?’

‘Absolutely not,’ snapped Warden, with genuine loathing and anger at the accusation. ‘Sophia Blackwood was Harald Glas’s responsibility. For God knows what reason, he took her in after your last encounter with her in Switzerland. When Mr Stikes contacted us through Ankit Jindal, Glas sent her to act as our representative – without consulting the rest of us.’

Eddie was becoming more furious by the moment. ‘Are you telling me,’ he said in a low, deeply threatening voice, ‘that Kit was working for
you
?’

Warden lowered his head. ‘Unfortunately, yes. And all I can do is apologise for what happened.’

‘
Apologise?
’ Eddie exploded. ‘He
murdered
my friend to protect Stikes – to protect those fucking statues! Fuck this. Nina, we’re going.’

He turned to leave, but Stikes stood, reaching for his gun. ‘You’re not going anywhere, Chase.’

‘Stikes!’ Warden practically barked the name. ‘Sit down and shut up. And put the gun away. You don’t do a damn thing unless I tell you to. Understand?’ Stikes’s face was a picture of thinly veiled anger as he returned to his seat.

‘Jindal was working for us,’ said Warden, addressing Eddie and Nina again. ‘His position in Interpol meant he was perfectly placed to watch for any information on statues like Takashi’s. After you found the first statue in Egypt, we were planning to have Takashi send the second one to you in the hope that you would use them to locate the third. Unfortunately, Pramesh and Vanita Khoil found out about it. Our computer security wasn’t as good as we’d thought, apparently. They arranged to have Takashi’s statue stolen in order to stop us.’

‘I take it they weren’t on the Group’s wavelength,’ said Nina.

‘Hardly. We want to end global conflict; they were actively encouraging it to bring about their insane new world. But we were using Jindal to guide you down a particular path, so that you would find all the statues and bring them together. We had no idea what lengths he would go to in order to do that. It was . . . it was a mistake.’ The amount of effort it took for Warden to force the words out suggested it was not an admission he made frequently, if at all.

Eddie was far from impressed. ‘You should have chosen your people better.’ He stared pointedly at Stikes. ‘You still should.’

‘Again, the only thing I can do is apologise. The last thing we wanted to do was alienate you. We need you, Dr Wilde – and we’re willing to do whatever it takes to make things right.’

‘What do you mean?’ Nina asked.

‘Exactly what it sounds like. What do you want? The opportunity to conduct your archaeological research without being hindered by the political considerations and budget limits of the IHA, perhaps? You could have your own foundation – funded by the Group, with absolutely no restrictions. Would that be an appealing proposition?’

‘Nah, we’re not interested,’ said Eddie. No response from his wife. He nudged her. ‘Are we, love?’

‘I don’t know . . .’ she said. ‘You’d be willing to do that?’

Warden nodded. ‘We’d be willing to do whatever you like. You’re in a position occupied by very few people through the entire course of history, Dr Wilde. You can choose the direction taken by the whole of humanity: into a bold new future, or carrying on towards ruin as things are now. The decision is yours.’

‘Nina, you’re not seriously thinking about saying yes, are you?’ Eddie demanded.

‘I’m thinking that . . . I need to think about it,’ she replied, before turning back to Warden. ‘If I said yes, what would you need me to do?’

‘Bring us the statues, so we can locate the meteorite,’ said Warden. ‘After that, at some point we’ll need a blood sample from you, as I said, but that won’t be necessary until the earth energy collection stations are nearing completion. As for whatever you might want in return, we would see to it right away. After the meteorite is found, of course.’

‘Of course,’ Nina echoed quietly. Another short silence, then: ‘I need time to decide. You’ve given me a lot to think about.’

Warden nodded. ‘I understand.’

‘There’s one thing you can do for me right away, though.’

‘Which is?’

She pointed at Stikes. ‘Get rid of him. You should never have hired him in the first place.’

‘I’ll see to it.’

‘
What?
’ snapped Stikes, standing sharply.

Warden waved him to silence. ‘Give me your number,’ said Nina. ‘I’ll be in touch. And if we could get back to New York as soon as possible, I’d appreciate it.’

‘I’ll have you flown there,’ the Group’s chairman told her. ‘My driver will take you to the airport. But please, Dr Wilde . . . don’t take too long to reach a decision.’

‘You’ll know as soon as I’ve made it. Come on, Eddie. Let’s go.’

Eddie said nothing, silently fuming as they left the room. Once they were gone, Stikes rounded on Warden. ‘You’re not going to do what she wants, are you?’

‘Why not?’ he replied. ‘She’s vital to us, and if indulging her obsession with archaeology is the price of her cooperation, it’ll be well worth it.’

‘I meant about firing me!’

‘Relax, Stikes.’ Warden took a seat. ‘You’re useful. For now.’

‘Thank you,’ Stikes replied caustically. ‘In that case, I have some
useful
advice: don’t believe her. She won’t go along with it – and Chase definitely won’t, however much money you wave in front of them. I know them.’

‘We’ll see.’

‘I’m sure we will. So we should have a contingency plan in place.’

‘Do you have something in mind?’

Stikes’s cold gaze turned towards the door through which Nina and Eddie had exited. ‘As a matter of fact, I do.’

It wasn’t until they were back at their apartment in New York, away from anyone who might report what was said to Warden or his people, that Eddie finally felt free to unleash what had been bottled up inside him for the past hours. ‘Have you gone fucking
mad
?’ he erupted at Nina the moment the door was closed. ‘What the hell are you doing, going along with them?’

‘Eddie—’

‘You know you can’t trust ’em, especially not Stikes!’

‘Eddie—’

‘And it’s because of them that Mac’s dead! They hired Kit, he was working for them – and now Stikes is too!’

‘
Eddie
—’

‘This is what you call us sticking together, no matter what? I can’t fucking believe that you’d even—’

‘
Eddie!
’ She grabbed his arms, getting right in his face. ‘Of course I don’t trust him! I said all that because I needed to buy some extra time.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Yeah!’

‘Oh.’ His shoulders slumped. ‘I feel like a bit of an arse now.’

She smiled and briefly kissed him. ‘I’ll let you feel the whole of one when we go to bed. But no, I don’t trust Warden or this Group of his any more than you do.’

‘So you wanted to buy more time, okay. But for what? Warden’s going to want an answer pretty soon – and there’s still Glas to worry about.’

Nina paced across the room. ‘We need to find out the truth about the statues – and, more important, the meteorite. What it can really do, how it does it – and how dangerous it might be. Not second-hand, like the Kallikrates text, or whatever Warden says about it. I’m sure Glas would have his own opinion too. No, we need to go to the source.’

‘Where’s that?’ Eddie asked.

She stopped and faced him. ‘Atlantis.’

T
he North Atlantic in November is an inhospitable place. Even though the weather on this day was not particularly bad, there was still enough of a swell to cause the research vessel
Gant
to pitch unsettlingly beneath the wet-slate sky. The helicopter’s landing on the pad at the ship’s stern was bumpy, to say the least.

‘Welcome aboard!’ called Matt Trulli, waving as Nina and Eddie hurried through the drizzle to meet him. ‘Great to see you both. Been up to anything exciting?’

‘You could say that,’ Nina replied with a pained smile. ‘You know, the usual.’

‘Ah, right,’ Matt said knowingly. ‘So what got destroyed this time?’

Eddie started to count items on his fingers. ‘A skyscraper, a helicopter, a secret US base . . .’

‘Jesus, mate, I was kidding!’ He shook Eddie’s hand firmly. ‘Seriously, though, I’m glad to see you again. I knew you were innocent.’

‘Thanks,’ said Eddie, smiling. ‘Would be nice if that were the end of it, but nope, we’ve still got problems.’

‘Which is why we’re here,’ said Nina. ‘Can we go inside?’

‘Sure.’ Matt brought them through a hatch into the ship’s interior, then headed down a passage. ‘Should warn you, Hayter’s about as happy as you’d expect that you were coming.’

‘How’s progress been on the excavations?’

‘Pretty good, I’d say. He can give you the details, but the biggest problem’s been that there’s a fairly huge piece of wreckage from the
Evenor
right on top of where you want to look. Too big to lift, even for
Sharkdozer
; we’ve had to cut it up. Most of it’s been moved now, though.’