The Midas Legacy (Wilde/Chase 12)

by Andy McDermott

  Olivia nodded. ‘That’s right.’

  ‘And a rich man. I also did some historical research.’

  Another nod. ‘The Gardes have never been short of money. Which, incidentally, your mother refused to take. She had a trust fund, but after our argument, she never claimed it. It’s technically yours now. It’s quite substantial.’

  ‘I don’t need money.’

  ‘I know. You’ve made your own way in life, very successfully. I don’t know if it will mean anything to you, but I’m proud of that.’

  Nina was uncomfortable with the praise, but covered it. ‘So. After forty-some years, my grandmother reappears.’

  ‘You accept that I am your grandmother?’

  ‘I’m prepared to accept the possibility. In which case, the question is: why now?’

  ‘I told you last night,’ said Olivia, with a gentle smile. ‘I’m almost ninety, and I wanted to give my granddaughter her mother’s work before it was too late.’

  ‘And the page on top of the pile just happened to mention Talonor, right? Kind of funny how that happened.’

  She had expected the elderly woman to respond with surprise or embarrassment at being caught, but instead her smile merely became more knowing. ‘You noticed, then. I admit, I would have been a little disappointed if you hadn’t.’

  ‘So you set it up that way on purpose?’

  ‘Of course! I would say I had an ulterior motive, but that sounds overdramatic. I just wanted to be sure I would catch your interest.’

  ‘Consider it caught. Why?’

  ‘Your family history is also my family history. And Laura’s. Before she met your father and joined his crusade to find the lost civilisation of Atlantis, she was searching for a more specific part of it.’

  ‘The Midas Cave.’

  ‘The Midas Cave, yes. Tobias Garde saw it once, all those years ago, and spent the rest of his life trying to find it again. Whatever it contained, it was something wondrous, which nobody else has seen since.’

  ‘Except the monks who hold the secret.’

  ‘Perhaps not even them. You know that Tobias went back to Nepal?’ Nina nodded. ‘The monastery where the monks lived, the starting point of the journey to the Midas Cave, had been destroyed. It could have been by war, or a natural disaster – no one knew. There was nobody left who could tell him anything. He spent years exploring the mountains, but never found the cave.’

  ‘And since then,’ said Nina, taking out the annotated map, ‘the family’s been trying to follow in his footsteps?’

  ‘On and off, yes. Laura was particularly intrigued. Enough to have put all this work into finding it.’

  ‘But then she met my father and put her efforts into finding Atlantis instead.’ She gave the words an accusatory edge, wanting to see how Olivia would respond.

  But if she had hoped to draw out her grandmother’s ulterior motive, she was disappointed. ‘And they got so close,’ Olivia said instead, with a mixture of approval and sadness. ‘As you said, they almost found it.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Nina replied, her lips tightening. ‘And then they were murdered.’

  The older woman nodded, staring down at her daughter’s research. ‘Those responsible,’ she said at last, ‘you didn’t say what happened to them. I understand why; your book is about the archaeological discoveries you’ve made, not what you went through to find them. But . . . was justice done?’

  ‘They got what they deserved,’ was Nina’s quiet reply.

  ‘Good.’ A long pause, neither speaking, then Olivia looked up. ‘It took you to see Laura’s work through, Nina. She would have been so proud of you. The reason I wanted to give you her research is that I hoped you might see her other work through.’

  ‘The Midas Cave?’

  ‘Yes. It’s not an understatement to say that this,’ she indicated the folders, ‘represents years of work on her part. She scoured every scrap of information we had about Tobias and his expedition, searched out other historical sources, even wrote to a Nepalese monastery—’

  ‘I know. I saw their reply.’

  ‘Before she met Henry, this was her obsession. She wanted to retrace Tobias’s steps, rediscover whatever wonders he’d found in the cave. Now it seems like . . . unfinished business.’

  ‘That I might be able to finish for her.’

  Olivia smiled. ‘You are the world’s most famous archaeologist. If anyone can bring our family’s history full circle, it’s you. It deserves to be you.’

  ‘And if I do, what’s in it for you?’

  That finally drew a startled response. ‘That’s rather cynical.’

  ‘Born out of experience,’ Nina replied. ‘Painful experience, sometimes.’

  ‘So I gather. But all I want is to know that Laura’s work wasn’t for nothing.’

  ‘So if I find the Midas Cave, you don’t want to know where it is?’

  ‘Well of course I want to know where it is,’ Olivia said, a little condescendingly. ‘It’s a family mystery we’ve been trying to solve for generations! But if you’re concerned that my goals are solely financial, I can assure you that, like you, I don’t need money. I have enough to see me through. Actually, considering my age, more than enough!’ A chuckle, then she became more contemplative. ‘You completed your parents’ work when you found Atlantis. It would mean a great deal if you could complete your mother’s work too.’

  ‘It would,’ Nina said quietly.

  ‘I’ll let you decide what to do, then.’

  Olivia stood and they said their goodbyes, then the elderly woman left.

  Now it was Nina’s turn to stare at her mother’s notes. She composed her thoughts, taking a moment to reach a decision, then picked up her phone and made a call.

  6

  ‘Nina,’ said Oswald Seretse, greeting her with a smile. ‘Always a pleasure.’

  ‘Likewise,’ Nina replied, shaking the diplomat’s hand. ‘You’ve got a new office. Nice.’

  ‘Yes, the benefits of a promotion.’ The windows looked out across Manhattan from the Secretariat Building’s thirty-fifth floor. When Nina had been the director of the International Heritage Agency her view had been similar, but in a smaller office several storeys below. ‘I now act as UN liaison for four other agencies in addition to the IHA.’ After an exchange of pleasantries about each other’s families, he asked: ‘Now, what may I do for you?’

  Nina took a breath. ‘I’d like a favour, Oswald.’

  She was not surprised when he didn’t immediately offer his assistance. ‘What is it?’

  ‘I want access to the IHA’s files on the Secret Codex.’

  He gave her a curious look. ‘I thought you already had it.’

  ‘Only the abstracts. Lester decided I wasn’t worthy of full access for security reasons.’ She tried not to make her disdain for her successor too clear. ‘I’d like to see everything.’

  ‘For what purpose?’

  ‘A personal project. I’ve come across something that might be linked to one of Talonor’s expeditions, but I’d need to see the raw text to be sure.’

  Seretse sat back. ‘As you are aware,’ he said carefully, ‘I am not actually an archaeologist myself. A decision like that, especially considering the security implications, really needs to be made by the IHA’s director.’

  ‘Right.’ Nina’s disappointment was plain in the single word.

  ‘While my personal instinct would be to say yes, I am sure you remember how you would have felt if I had made such a decision over your head when you were running the agency,’ he said drily. ‘But Lester is here today, so we can ask him in person if you wish.’

  She nodded. ‘That’d be great.’

  After checking via Seretse’s secretary that Blumberg was available, they took an elevator dow
n to the IHA’s offices. At the reception desk was a familiar face, who reacted to Nina’s appearance first with surprise, then delight. ‘Well, hell-o, stranger!’ said Lola Adams. ‘I haven’t seen you for a while!’

  ‘I know, Lola, I’m sorry,’ Nina told her friend and former assistant. Their once-regular meetings for coffee had become less frequent of late. ‘But you know what it’s like when you have a kid. How is Gino, by the way?’

  ‘He’s great, thanks. He’s at pre-K now – he’s getting big! How about Macy?’

  ‘The same. At the rate she’s growing, she’ll be taller than me by the time she’s about eight!’

  The big-haired blonde smiled. ‘Dr Blumberg’s in his office. You can go right in.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Seretse replied. ‘Nina?’

  She followed the diplomat into what had once been her own office. The decor had completely changed since her last visit; unsurprisingly, since she and Eddie had crashed an airship into the building’s side while averting a poison gas attack on a meeting of world leaders, necessitating considerable refurbishment. But the layout was also different. She had positioned her desk facing the door, back to the windows to minimise the distraction of the view across Manhattan, while the new occupant had placed his workspace at one side of the room to give himself an uninterrupted outlook.

  ‘Ah, Oswald,’ said Blumberg, getting up to greet them. ‘And Nina Wilde too! This is a surprise. Especially after our last meeting.’

  ‘Hello, Lester,’ Nina replied, staying polite; after all, she wanted something from him. ‘How are things going?’

  ‘Very good,’ said the Minnesotan. ‘We’ve made several impressive new finds along the route of the Exodus through Egypt and Israel.’

  ‘Thanks to your discovery of the Ark of the Covenant,’ Seretse added to Nina.

  Blumberg nodded – a little testily, she thought. ‘But we’ve made our own discoveries, too. We have a new dig in Armenia that seems very promising, and we’ve also got operations pending at Calakmul and Xi’an.’

  ‘Sounds like everything’s under control,’ Nina said with a small smile.

  ‘I like to think so. What brings you here?’

  She glanced at Seretse to prompt him, figuring her request would have greater weight coming from Blumberg’s superior. ‘Nina was hoping to be granted access to the classified files relating to the Secret Codex,’ he said.

  ‘The Secret Codex?’ Blumberg echoed, nudging his glasses higher on his nose. ‘Like I said last time you were here, those files are classified for a reason. We don’t want treasure hunters and tomb raiders tearing up Talonor’s sites.’

  ‘I’m well aware of that,’ said Nina, annoyed at being patronised. ‘But I’d hope you trust me not to drop the whole thing on to Wikileaks.’

  ‘You are of course beyond reproach in that regard,’ said Seretse, moving smoothly to calm the waters. ‘Perhaps if you explain to Lester your interest, he may see no harm in granting your request.’

  Blumberg gave her an expectant look. ‘All right,’ she said. ‘I’ve received some research relating to a find made in the nineteenth century, in Nepal. It may be connected to Talonor, but without being able to read the Secret Codex, I can’t confirm that.’

  ‘Talonor certainly travelled through what is now Nepal, according to the Codex,’ said Blumberg, nodding. ‘Whose work are you basing this on?’

  ‘Someone I hold in the highest regard – an unimpeachable source.’

  ‘I’ll need a little more than that.’

  Nina narrowed her eyes. ‘Let me put it this way. If it hadn’t been for this person, I wouldn’t have found Atlantis, and we wouldn’t be standing here in this room, because the IHA wouldn’t exist.’

  ‘I see,’ said Seretse, with an understanding tip of the head. Blumberg appeared confused, so he added: ‘Surely you have read In Search of History by now, Lester?’

  His reaction made it clear to Nina that he had lied to her the previous month about doing so. ‘I . . . Well, of course!’ he hastily replied. ‘Congratulations on the movie, by the way, Nina. Have you seen it?’

  ‘I was at the premiere last night. It’s certainly . . . got a lot of action. But,’ she went on, unwilling to let him change the subject, ‘regarding the Secret Codex, I’d like to correlate what it says about Talonor’s journey through Nepal with this new research to see if I can pinpoint the location of the nineteenth-century find.’

  ‘It’s been lost?’

  ‘Unfortunately, yes. I have a general idea where it might be, but can’t narrow it down without more data. If I identify it, then I’ll obviously be more than happy to share that information with the IHA.’

  Blumberg fiddled with his glasses again as he considered his options. ‘You’d be willing to sign a confidentiality agreement in return for access?’

  ‘Yes, I would,’ she told him, irritation rising. ‘You know you can trust me.’

  ‘Of course,’ said Seretse. Her last statement had not been directed at him, but she was glad of his support.

  ‘Okay, then. All right,’ Blumberg said. ‘I’ll get Lola to print out an agreement for you, and then I’ll approve your access.’

  ‘If that is all, then?’ said Seretse. ‘Thank you, Lester. I appreciate your time. And I am sure that Nina does too.’

  ‘Yes, thank you,’ she said. ‘I’m very grateful.’ A non-committal sound from Blumberg, then politenesses were exchanged and she and Seretse left the office. ‘Thank you, too,’ she told the diplomat.

  ‘Considering how many lives you saved here at the UN, it was the least I could do,’ he replied as they returned to the reception area. ‘Now, you will just need to sign this agreement.’

  ‘It won’t involve giving up my firstborn, will it?’

  Seretse looked amused. ‘I believe that clause is hidden in the very small print.’

  They both turned as someone called Seretse’s name. ‘Your secretary said I might find you here,’ said a new arrival, waving a dismissive hand at the protesting Lola as he passed her desk to meet the Gambian.

  ‘Fenrir,’ said Seretse, surprised. ‘What are you doing here?’

  The tall, broad-shouldered blond man was around sixty, though with the almost ageless features of someone who had taken care to live cleanly. Nina pegged his accent as Scandinavian but couldn’t pin it down precisely. He wore a well-tailored suit bearing a striped pattern that stood out as positively loud against the flat greys and blues favoured by those working at the United Nations. ‘I need to talk to you about issues arising from the Iranian nuclear deal,’ he said. His pale eyes glanced briefly at Nina, then snapped back in a double-take. ‘Are you Dr Nina Wilde?’

  ‘I am, yes,’ she said.

  ‘Then I feel extremely privileged to meet you.’ The man smiled. ‘If not for you, I would be dead. I was at the United Nations during the attempted attack on the General Assembly. Thank you.’

  ‘This is Dr Fenrir Mikkelsson,’ said Seretse. ‘He is one of the directors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and also the senior UN negotiator for the recent nuclear weapons treaty.’

  ‘Then I should be the one feeling privileged,’ Nina told Mikkelsson, shaking his hand. ‘Getting countries like North Korea to agree on limitations was a pretty impressive achievement.’

  ‘It will not last for ever,’ he said. ‘Such things never do. But for now, the world feels a little safer, no?’

  ‘I’ve got a three-year-old daughter, so I’ll take a little over nothing at all.’

  ‘I agree. I have a daughter myself, although she is much older.’ He gave her an appraising look. ‘If I may ask, are you returning to the IHA?’

  She shook her head. ‘No, I’m here on business.’

  ‘An archaeological matter? Another remarkable discovery, perhaps?’

  �
�Just a personal project. A lot less important than whatever you need to talk to Oswald about, I’m sure! Don’t let me keep you.’

  ‘Then I hope your project goes well.’ He turned back to Seretse. ‘Shall we discuss it in your office?’

  ‘Of course,’ Seretse replied. ‘Although you did not need to come running down here to find me. I would have returned shortly.’

  ‘It is not a problem. And exercise is always good. Good morning, Dr Wilde.’ The two diplomats departed.

  ‘Okay, weird,’ said Lola. ‘Wonder why he didn’t just have Mr Seretse paged?’

  ‘Must have been pretty urgent,’ Nina said. ‘Anyway, have you got a form for me?’

  ‘Yeah, Dr Blumberg told me to print it off for you. What’s it for? Are you getting involved in archaeology again?’

  ‘I was never uninvolved,’ she said as Lola took several sheets of paper from her printer. ‘Oh, jeez. Don’t tell me it’s all of that?’

  ‘Afraid so. Most of it’s just boilerplate, though.’

  Nina skimmed through the legalese. ‘No “take my firstborn” clause, so . . . done,’ she said, signing it.

  Lola took back the pages. ‘I’ll email you a confirmation and login details as soon as I can. Oh!’ She leaned closer eagerly. ‘Tell me about your movie! Is it good?’

  ‘If you like Grant Thorn movies, you’ll probably love it,’ was the best the redhead could come up with. ‘Anyway, sorry, but I’ve got to go. I’ll see you soon.’

  ‘Don’t leave it so long this time!’ Lola called after her.

  True to Lola’s word, by the time Nina returned home and checked her phone, an email from the IHA was waiting. She resisted the temptation to log in at once, instead joining her husband and daughter. ‘How was the zoo?’ she asked Macy.

  ‘It was awesome!’ the little girl trilled. ‘We saw some bears, and a red panda, and three different kinds of penguins!’

  ‘Yeah, we had a nice time. Especially as we stayed longer than we’d planned,’ said Eddie pointedly. ‘What about you? You get what you wanted from the IHA?’

  ‘Yes.’