The Secret of Excalibur_A Novel

by Andy McDermott

  “So we go to Jordan first,” Mitchell decided. “I’ll make the arrangements.”

  “What about the castle?” asked Chase. “What if the Russians go there first?”

  “They won’t know what to look for,” realized Nina. “Bernd said the owner refused to let him search the place.”

  “Yeah, but even if they don’t know, we don’t know where to look either.” Chase looked thoughtful. “Unless we get somebody to do some research while we’re in Jordan.”

  “Let me guess,” said Nina. “You know an attractive woman in Austria who can help us.”

  “Actually, no.”

  “Really? I’m surprised.”

  He grinned. “But I know one in Switzerland.”

  Nina sighed. “I’m not surprised.”

  Mitchell regarded him dubiously. “This whole operation’s classified, remember. I’d prefer not to get anyone else involved if I can avoid it—especially not civilians.”

  “Don’t worry, you can trust her. Besides, we don’t have to tell her anything about this earth energy business.”

  “But you’ll need to warn her about the Russians,” Nina said. “What if they turn up while she’s there?”

  “Don’t worry!” Chase repeated. “All she needs to do is check the place out and see if she can persuade the owner to see us, then wait for us to get back from Jordan. There’s no way I’m going to ask her to do anything dangerous.” He frowned slightly. “Although knowing Mitzi, she’ll probably want to do it anyway.”

  EIGHT

  Switzerland

  After the State Department jet landed at Zurich airport the following morning, rather than heading for the city itself, Mitchell drove another waiting SUV into the surrounding mountains, guided by its satellite navigation system to where Chase’s friend Mitzi Fontana had agreed to meet them. Surprisingly, it turned out to be nothing but a steep alpine pasture … which was playing host to a very unusual sporting event.

  “What the hell are they doing?” Nina asked, regarding the scene in amazement—and not a little worry for the health of the participants.

  Chase let out a disbelieving chuckle. “I told you she’d want to do something dangerous. But bloody hell, this is something new.”

  Stretched across the bottom of the pasture was a high net, a white paper tape running between two poles a few feet in front of it. Beyond that, a rough path of flattened grass wound about a hundred yards up the bumpy hill to a relatively level area where the competitors were waiting. It was a racecourse, but those taking part were neither on foot nor in any kind of vehicle. Instead, they were strapped inside giant inflatable spheres resembling transparent golf balls.

  Chase couldn’t see Mitzi among the spectators, so he wasn’t the least bit surprised when he saw that one of the first two contestants had long blond hair. “Oh, Christ,” he moaned as a man yelled out a countdown from three in German.

  “She’s in a ball?” Nina asked nervously.

  “She’s in a ball.”

  “Go!” the man shouted. The plastic bubbles began to roll down the hill, picking up speed with alarming rapidity. As far as Chase could tell the occupants had absolutely no control—they were just along for the ride, whirling around like clothes in a tumble dryer as the balls bounced off bumps, boulders and even each other.

  It was over in about fifteen seconds, Mitzi’s sphere breaking the paper tape just ahead of the other ball and careering onward into the net, rolling up into the air before dropping back to earth and coming to a stop. People hurried over to hold the spheres steady as the occupants unstrapped themselves and slithered out. The defeated racer, a scrawny young man with a goatee, immediately slumped to the grass, while Mitzi managed to stand, if rather unsteadily. She spotted Chase and the others watching nearby and waved excitedly, only to wobble and almost fall backward before someone supported her.

  “I’ll give your friend this,” said Mitchell, “she makes one hell of an entrance.”

  They walked over to her. Nina realized that the curvaceous and pretty blonde was somewhat younger than any of Chase’s other international “girlfriends,” only in her early twenties. “Eddie!” Mitzi cried, beaming broadly as they approached and hurrying, still a little off balance, to embrace him.

  “Hi, Mitzi!” Chase replied enthusiastically. “Steady on,” he added as she kissed him full on the lips. “Don’t want to make my fiancée jealous.”

  Still hugging Chase, Mitzi looked around at Nina. “Hello. You’re engaged to Eddie? Congratulations! And congratulations on discovering Atlantis too. I read the article about you in Time.” She released Chase, then regarded him questioningly. “You were hardly even mentioned! What happened?”

  “Ah, I’m not bothered—fame’s not really my thing,” said Chase with a dismissive shrug. “Now fortune, I wouldn’t mind that!” Mitzi giggled.

  Introductions were made, then Chase glanced at the inflatable spheres, which were being lifted onto large hoop-shaped carts to be winched back up the hill. “So what’s all this?”

  “It’s called Zorbing,” Mitzi told him. “It’s a lot of fun.”

  Chase grunted. “Looks like a load of balls to me.”

  Mitzi giggled again. “So what brings you to Switzerland? You know I’ll always do anything to help you. Even though you’re now off the market.” She smiled at Nina. “You’re very lucky.”

  “Yeah, sometimes I think so,” said Nina, noting with amusement that Chase actually seemed faintly embarrassed by the younger woman’s attention. “How do you two know each other? Did you work together?”

  “No, nothing like that,” Mitzi answered. She squeezed Chase’s arm. “Eddie rescued me. And my mother too, about four years ago.”

  “Just doing my job,” Chase said modestly.

  “It was much more than that. You changed my life—I mean, as well as saving it! I used to be rather quiet,” she said to Nina, “a stay-at-home sort of girl. Kind of a geek.”

  Mitchell nudged Nina. “Nothing wrong with that, huh?” She smiled.

  “But after meeting Eddie,” Mitzi continued, “I realized that life is there to be lived, that there was so much out there to experience. I wanted to do everything—just like him.”

  “I haven’t done everything,” said Chase. He looked up the slope, where the spheres were being unloaded from the carts. “I’ve never rolled down a hill inside a big plastic ball, for a start.”

  “Maybe you should,” Nina suggested mischievously.

  Mitzi’s face lit up. “Yes, you should! Come on, you can race me.” She grabbed his hand and tried to pull him up the pasture.

  Chase stayed put. “Don’t be daft!”

  “It won’t take long. I’m friends with the organizers, I can get you in the next race.” She tugged at his arm again, more insistently. Chase looked helplessly at Nina, who grinned and gave him a go-on nod. With a sigh, Chase acquiesced and allowed Mitzi to lead him up the slope.

  “So how long have you and Nina been engaged?” she asked.

  “About a year. Not long after I last saw you, actually.”

  She let out a comically exaggerated sigh. “So I missed my chance.”

  “Nah, you deserve better than an ugly old sod like me.”

  “I don’t know. All the men I meet who are my own age? They’re such … boys!”

  Chase laughed. “I still owe you the money for that parachute, by the way.”

  “Don’t worry,” Mitzi insisted. “Although Mama was not very happy when I told her about it.” She huffed, the universal sound of exasperation with parents. “You should come and see her while you’re here. I know she’d love to see you again.”

  “Well, we’re in a bit of a rush, but … yeah, we can pop in.”

  “Where are you going next?”

  “Jordan.”

  “Jordan!” Mitzi said excitedly. “I’m going there later in the year, to see the ruins at Petra. Why are you going?”

  “Can’t say much, I’m afraid—top secret. But you�
�ll be doing us a huge favor if you can help us out with something in Austria.”

  “Top secret? It all sounds very mysterious. Is it something like finding Atlantis?”

  “Something like that. I’ll tell you all about it after we’re done.”

  She smiled. “I can’t wait.”

  They reached the level area of pasture where the spheres were waiting. Mitzi spoke in German to one of the organizers, who agreed to let her and Chase go next, then used her smile—and low-cut top—to disarm the two young men whose places they had usurped. That done, they began their preparations.

  “A neck brace?” said Chase as he was handed a stiff padded black collar with Velcro fastenings. “Most sports don’t need these until after you’ve fucked yourself up. You sure this is safe?”

  “Of course!” Mitzi said as she fastened her own collar. “Don’t tell me you’re nervous.”

  “I’ve just got a thing about modes of transport with nobody in control. I’ve been in ’em a couple of times, and it usually ends with an explosion.”

  Mitzi grinned, then clambered into her sphere. Grimacing, Chase entered his own, squeezing through a narrow tube into a second, smaller sphere held in place by hundreds of taut nylon cords attached to the outer skin. Lying against the inner wall, he fastened a harness around his chest, then gripped a pair of straps above his head. Spread-eagled, he looked across at Mitzi, who smiled back at him. “Ready?” she called.

  “Nope.”

  “Er ist bereit!” she said to the organizer, who immediately began the countdown.

  Chase scowled at her. “Buggeration and fuckaagh!” he yelled as his sphere was shoved over the edge of the slope.

  The world suddenly became nothing more than a dizzying whirl of sky and grass and sky flashing through his vision, faster and faster. Plastic creaked and nylon twanged as he hit a bump, then for a moment he was airborne before the sphere bounced back down to earth and continued its descent, now barreling him along on his side rather than head over heels. Another noise, a squeal of plastic on plastic as he collided with the pale blur of Mitzi’s sphere, then suddenly he felt himself rising sharply into the air, only to roll back down the net at the bottom of the field. The sphere was grabbed and pulled to a standstill, but to Chase the spinning sensation showed little sign of stopping. He blearily unfastened his harness and slithered out through the tube, seeing Nina and Mitchell seeming to zigzag toward him as the world spun.

  “You lost,” said Mitchell. “Tough luck.”

  “How was the ride?” Nina asked.

  Chase just about managed to stand upright, the ground still swaying under his feet. “Jesus, I’ve done parachute drops in thunderstorms that were smoother than that.”

  “Maybe you’re getting old,” Mitchell suggested. Chase glared at him.

  A beaming Mitzi reeled over to Chase and supported herself on his arm. “Woo! Didn’t I tell you it would be fun?”

  Chase made a noncommittal noise. “You know, if you want a real adrenaline rush, you should join the army. None of this extreme sports bollocks.”

  “You’re just saying that because I won,” she said, pouting. “Besides, people might shoot at me!”

  “You don’t have to be in the army for that to happen,” Nina told her ruefully.

  “So will you help us?” Mitchell asked.

  “Of course! Just tell me what you want me to do,” Mitzi said. “We can talk about it at my parents’ apartment.”

  An impatient look crossed Mitchell’s face. “We need to get moving.”

  “It’s okay,” said Chase. “It’s more or less on the way back to the airport anyway.” He rubbed his head again and groaned. “And I could do with a nice long sit-down …”

  • • •

  Zurich gleamed in the morning sun, the crisp light shimmering off the lake to the south of the city. A line of clean white snow capped the surrounding peaks in postcard-perfect fashion, evergreen forests sweeping down to the red-roofed urban fringes. The view was quite beautiful, Nina thought—and all the more impressive because she was seeing it from the heart of the city itself.

  The penthouse’s rooftop terrace was larger than Nina and Chase’s entire New York apartment. Considering where they were, she guessed its owner was extremely high up in the financial world—which turned out to be the case.

  “I’m sorry my husband couldn’t be here,” said Brigitte Fontana, handing her a cup of steaming café crème. She was a more toned and tanned version of her daughter, though her clothing was decidedly less revealing. “He’s in China at a financial conference, in Shanghai.”

  “Shanghai?” said Chase. “I was there last year.”

  “On business or pleasure?”

  “Business.”

  “Ah.” Brigitte gave him a knowing look. “It went well, I hope?”

  Chase made a pained face. “It was … mixed.”

  “So when’s the wedding day, Eddie?” asked Mitzi, handing two more cups to Chase and Mitchell. “I hope we’re all invited.”

  “Course you are! We just haven’t settled on a date yet.” Chase squeezed Nina’s hand. “It’s been kind of a busy year.”

  “But it obviously worked out well for both of you,” said Brigitte. “Congratulations!”

  “Thank you. So,” Nina asked, “how did you meet Eddie? Mitzi said he rescued you?”

  “That’s right. He—”

  “We were kidnapped!” interrupted Mitzi with surprising enthusiasm.

  “Mitzi,” Brigitte warned, pained by the memory.

  Her daughter ignored her. “A gang took us hostage to force Papa to give them access to his bank’s computers. But he hired Eddie and his friend Hugo to rescue us instead. And they did.” She gazed admiringly at Chase as she sat.

  “What happened to the kidnappers?” asked Mitchell.

  “Oh, Eddie kil—”

  “They didn’t hurt anyone again,” said Brigitte quickly. “But Eddie and Hugo saved our lives.” She looked across at Chase. “I was so sorry to hear what happened to Hugo. I didn’t even know he had died until I read about the discovery of Atlantis.”

  “Thanks,” said Chase uncomfortably. The official story concocted by the IHA had his partner, Hugo Castille, dying in a diving accident at Atlantis; while that was technically true, it omitted the very much premeditated chain of events leading to it.

  “Poor Hugo,” added Mitzi sadly. “He was so nice.”

  Brigitte nodded, then sipped her drink. “So Eddie, Mitzi said you have a favor to ask; you know we will always be happy to give you anything you need.”

  “It’s not so much a thing as a person,” Chase answered. “I’d like to borrow Mitzi for a while. Don’t worry, I’ll bring her back in good shape.”

  Mitzi giggled, but Brigitte’s mouth tightened into a hard line. “Oh. Actually, that’s something I’m not happy about. Not after what happened last year.”

  “Last year?” Nina asked Chase. During their search for the Tomb of Hercules he had gone to Switzerland to find his ex-wife, but Sophia’s involvement had made it a part of the adventure about which she had not inquired too deeply.

  “I asked Mitzi to help me with some stuff,” he explained. “She got me some gear, and gave me a lift.”

  “She got you guns and explosives, and then you jumped off a bridge from the roof of her car at a hundred kilometers an hour!” Brigitte snapped.

  “I had a parachute …”

  She regarded him disapprovingly. “Ever since you rescued us—and I am grateful for that, and always will be—Mitzi has turned into an adrenaline junkie. Skydiving, or waterskiing, or—or bungee-jumping, even. She can’t enjoy herself without risking her life!”

  “Oh, Mama!” cried Mitzi, exasperated. “I’m a grown woman, I can take care of myself. I’m just having fun!”

  “Don’t worry, she won’t be doing any of that,” Chase assured Brigitte. “Not unless it’s the world’s most extreme library.”

  “Library?” asked Mitzi, crestfa
llen.

  “Yeah. We need someone to do some research for us, about some castle in Austria.”

  “Oh.” She sounded hugely disappointed. “Well, of course I’ll help you, but … are you sure that’s all you want me to do? You don’t need me to help you climb a mountain or anything?”

  “Nah, just check out this castle and persuade the bloke who owns it to talk to us. Are you up for that?” He looked at Brigitte, who still didn’t seem happy. “And you?”

  Brigitte sighed. “As she says, she’s a grown woman.”

  “Because if it bothers you, we can do it ourselves,” Chase offered. “I mean, I wouldn’t want to make you mad at me or anything.”

  She managed a faint smile. “After everything you’ve done for us, I think that would be hard.”

  “Of course I’ll do it, Eddie,” Mitzi insisted. “It might not be as exciting as the last time I helped you, but who knows? Maybe I’ll discover something that surprises you.”

  Chase smiled at her. “Knowing you, you’ll have found what we’re looking for before we even get back. And don’t you worry, Brigitte. She’ll be fine, I promise.”

  Mitchell opened his case and handed a sheaf of papers to Mitzi. “These are what we have on the castle and its owner, and what we’d like you to find out for us, if you can.”

  “I’ll have everything you need by the time you get back,” she told him confidently.

  “Great stuff,” said Chase. He finished his drink and put down the cup. “Well, sorry to have to rush off, but we’re kind of working against the clock.”

  “Exactly what are you looking for?” Brigitte asked.

  “I’m afraid we can’t tell you at the moment,” said Mitchell, “but it’s very important to the IHA and the United Nations.”

  “We really appreciate you helping us out,” Nina added. “Thank you. Both of you.”

  Brigitte nodded. “I wish you a safe journey, then. And I hope you find whatever it is.”

  “Good luck!” Mitzi chimed.