The Sacred Vault

by Andy McDermott

  ‘Unless she’s got another mag . . .’

  The gunfire resumed.

  ‘Why do you always have to tempt fate?’ Nina shrieked, cringing back into what little cover she had as more bullets ripped into the elevator.

  ‘You were the one fighting her! You should’ve hit her harder!’ Eddie fired back.

  The onslaught stopped. Eddie had been counting the shots; Vanita had only used about two-thirds of the gun’s thirty-round magazine. That suggested she didn’t have any more mags - but she still had more than enough ammo remaining to kill them.

  They were almost at the bottom of the shaft. ‘She’ll be right behind us,’ he warned, ‘so get ready to run.’

  The elevator stopped. Eddie rolled through the gate as it opened. Nina sprinted after him, a three-round burst of bullets riddling the floor just behind her.

  The vault door gaped at the other end of the corridor just as they had left it, the stolen treasures visible beyond. Eddie went to the alcove containing the security station and pressed himself against the wall, planning to ambush Vanita when she arrived, but Nina waved furiously at him from the vault entrance. ‘No, get inside!’ she shouted. ‘I’ll close the door!’

  ‘And she’ll just open it again!’

  ‘At least it’ll slow her down! Come on!’

  Eddie hesitated, then ran for the vault. Another rumbling boom from high above roiled down the shaft as the second elevator reached the bottom.

  The gate opened. Vanita stepped out, the gun raised. The left side of her face was burned, hair singed away where flames from the exploding transformer had caught her as she fled. The other half was twisted into a snarl. She shrieked in Hindi as she fired, a blood-spitting outburst of rage and vengeance.

  Eddie dived through the open door as the shots seared over him. One of the terracotta warriors was hit, a hole exploding in its chest. ‘Shut the door!’ he yelled, scrambling out of Vanita’s line of fire.

  Nina hit the button on the inner control panel. With a thrum of powerful motors, the massive door began to close.

  Vanita broke into a run. ‘You can’t hide! Shiva will find you! I will find you!’ She fired again, another burst striking the thick metal door as it swung shut. Reaching the control panel, she raised her hand to push the Open button—

  A much louder noise from the surface, the sharp boom of an explosion - followed by crashes as debris plunged down the elevator shaft, clanging off the girders as it fell. Vanita whirled, seeing an orange light through the open gates, rapidly getting brighter—

  Burning wreckage smashed into the elevator cars and burst apart on impact, a wave of fire and shrapnel surging down the confines of the concrete corridor. It hit Vanita, slamming her violently against the door as shards of wood and metal stabbed into her like flaming arrows.

  Even inside the vault, the pounding sounded like an animal clawing at the metal. Nina jumped in shock, then slapped her hand firmly back on the Close button. But the door showed no signs of moving. Eddie stood and went to her. ‘I don’t think she’s coming in.’

  ‘Was that something falling down the shaft?’

  ‘Half the radar station, by the sound of it—’ They both flinched as the lights went out. Darkness for a moment, then from the depths of the bunker came a rattle of machinery. The lights flickered, then came back on. ‘Emergency generator,’ he said. ‘Must cut in automatically if the main power goes off.’

  ‘You mean we’re stuck down here?’ said Nina in alarm.

  ‘For the moment. I wouldn’t open that door for a while, anyway - there might be a fire outside. But we’ve got power, we’ll have air - if this place was built as a bunker, it’ll have scrubbers like on a submarine - and I saw supplies in the living quarters. The Khoils must have set things up so they could stay down here if they needed. We’ve just got to wait for someone to come and dig us out.’

  She still wasn’t happy. ‘That could take ages.’

  ‘So? Is there something else you were planning on doing?’

  Her gaze went to the collection of antiquities. ‘You know, I could actually use the time to check the treasures. Find out if any of them have been damaged, try to catalogue everything . . .’

  She started towards them, but Eddie put his hands round her waist and pulled her back. ‘For Christ’s sake, it’s always bloody work, work, work with you!’

  ‘Well, what do you think we should do with the time?’

  He pointed at the door leading to the sleeping quarters, a smile spreading across his bruised face. ‘Seeing as we’ve finally got some time to ourselves, I’ve got a few ideas.’

  Nina grinned. ‘Just so long as they don’t involve props.’

  Epilogue

  New York City

  Nina stood before her office windows, staring out across Manhattan. Despite the December cold, it was a clear day, sunlight glinting dazzlingly off the skyscrapers. But her mood was anything but bright.

  Eddie stood beside her. ‘If you’re not feeling up to it . . .’ he said quietly.

  ‘No, I’ll be okay,’ she insisted. ‘I have to see him. I need to see him.’ More loudly, to the open intercom: ‘Bring him through, please, Lola.’

  Eddie squeezed her hand in reassurance, then stepped back at a tap on the door. Nina took a breath. ‘Come in.’

  Desmond Sharpe entered.

  Nina felt a resurgence of the feelings that had stricken her at Rowan’s death. Desmond was shorter and stockier, hair grey rather than black, but his eyes were just like his son’s. She tried to greet him, but the words froze in her mouth.

  He saw her distress, and spoke first. ‘Hello, Nina,’ he said softly.

  ‘Hello . . . Desmond.’ Nina hesitated before using his first name, almost falling back on a formal ‘Mr Sharpe’. But she had been on familiar terms with him while dating Rowan, and afterwards.

  She introduced him to her husband, who shook his hand. ‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ Eddie said simply. Desmond thanked him. ‘I’ll be outside, give you some privacy.’

  He left the room. Nina tried to assemble her thoughts before speaking, but found herself only able to begin with a superficial pleasantry. ‘Thank you for coming. Although you didn’t have to come all the way from Bridgeport. I wanted to see you at home. And - and I’m so sorry that I wasn’t able to be at Rowan’s funeral. I should have been. I’m sorry.’ Her eyes turned down to the carpet between them.

  ‘Nina, it’s okay,’ Desmond replied, stepping to her. ‘I know you’ve been . . . busy. I still keep up with the news.’

  She lifted her head, seeing his small, sad smile. ‘I’m still sorry. I should have seen you, or at least called you, much sooner. I didn’t because . . .’ He gaze dropped again, as did her voice. ‘Because I was afraid to.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I thought you’d blame me.’

  ‘Oh, Nina.’ He put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Why on earth would I blame you? You tried to help him; you . . .’ His voice became choked, hoarse. ‘You were there with him. At the end. And, do you know, of all the people he could have been with, I think Rowan would have been happy that it was you.’

  Nina looked back up at Desmond, hot lines of tears trickling down her cheeks. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered.

  Desmond left Nina’s office several minutes later. Eddie was waiting outside; the older man paused to speak to him. ‘Thank you.’ ‘For what?’ Eddie asked.

  ‘For dealing with the people who killed my son. I didn’t say this to Nina, and I hope you won’t tell her I said it, but you gave them what they deserved. I call that justice. The world needs more people like you.’

  Eddie wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that, settling for a non-committal nod as he shook his hand again. He re-entered the office as Lola escorted Desmond out, finding Nina back at the window. ‘You okay?’ he asked, moving behind her and putting his arms round her waist.

  ‘Yeah,’ she sighed. ‘Desmond and I talked about Rowan, how much we’re both going to miss him.
But it’s going to be so much harder for him.’ She leaned against him, wiping her eyes. ‘I heard you talking to him - what did he say?’

  ‘Just . . . saying thanks,’ he said, honouring Desmond’s request to keep his bitter outburst private. ‘Sure you’re all right?’

  ‘I will be. Thanks.’ She put her hands on his. They stood in silence, looking out across New York together.

  The moment was broken by the trill of the intercom. ‘Nina?’ said Lola. ‘Mac and Mr Jindal are here.’

  Nina extricated herself from Eddie’s arms, surprised. ‘I didn’t know they were in town.’

  ‘Mac was with Alderley down in Washington for some intelligence debrief - he told me he’d see us before he flew back home. No idea Kit was here, though.’

  The familiar Scottish and Indian voices reached them before the visitors themselves: ‘. . . with both of them on the team, they would easily be able to stand up to India,’ said Mac.

  ‘But how can you know? Scotland have never played in a Test match,’ Kit replied. He tapped on the open door, entering as Nina waved them in. ‘Hello! Good to see you both again.’

  ‘And you,’ said Nina. She noticed he was limping. ‘How’s the leg?’

  ‘Better, thank you. I can walk without a crutch now, which is a great relief! It still hurts, but it will heal completely soon.’

  ‘Already back at work at Interpol, are you?’ Eddie asked him as he shook hands with his old friend and mentor.

  ‘Yes - which is why I am here. But I will tell you in a minute. After Mac admits that I am right about Sachin Tendulkar being the greatest cricketer of all time.’ He grinned at the Scot.

  Eddie shook his head. ‘Not more bloody cricket.’

  ‘You should learn from this lad, Eddie,’ said Mac. ‘He’s very sharp and capable. And polite and respectful, too. Even if his grasp of the facts about sport is somewhat tenuous.’ Now it was Kit’s turn to shake his head.

  ‘So what brings you here, Kit?’ asked Nina.

  ‘Well, the first thing is that I wanted to tell you I have been promoted! I am now the Chief Investigator of the Cultural Property Crime Unit.’

  Eddie patted him on the back. ‘Nice one, mate. Congratulations!’

  ‘Well deserved, I think,’ Nina added.

  Kit smiled. ‘Thank you. But the other thing is that I will be working with you again in the future. I have been appointed Interpol’s official liaison with the IHA in matters of cultural property crime. I just came from a meeting with the UN’s Mr Penrose - he will give you all the details, but I wanted to tell you in person. And I also wanted to bring you our first new joint case.’

  He took a box from the briefcase he was carrying and opened it - to reveal the purple statuette Nina had seen amongst the Khoil’s collection of stolen treasures. ‘Interpol has not been able to identify its true owner, and so far we have found nothing in the Khoils’ records about it either. It’s possible Fernandez’s gang killed its owner, so its theft was never reported.’

  ‘Or,’ Eddie suggested, ‘maybe it wasn’t reported because whoever they nicked it from didn’t want anyone to know they had it in the first place.’

  ‘Why would anyone want to keep it a secret?’ asked Nina. ‘Nobody knows anything about it.’

  ‘The Khoils must have known, otherwise why would they have stolen it?’ said Kit. He looked across the room to the statuette’s not-quite-twin in the display case. ‘But now that you have two of them to examine, perhaps you will know too. I persuaded Interpol that you and the IHA were the best hope of identifying it.’ He handed the box to Nina and closed his briefcase.

  ‘Uh, thanks,’ she said, slightly taken aback by the unexpected ‘gift’.

  ‘Are you staying in New York?’ Eddie asked. ‘I’m afraid I can’t,’ Kit told him. ‘I have to fly back to Lyon right away - my new job somehow has a large pile of paperwork waiting for me already!’

  ‘I know how that feels,’ said Nina, putting the box on her desk. ‘Well, congratulations on the promotion, Kit. Hope we see you again soon. Okay, not too soon, as that’d mean some archaeological treasure’s been stolen . . . but you know what I mean.’

  ‘I think I do,’ he said with a grin. ‘Goodbye, my friends.’ He shook everyone’s hand, then departed.

  ‘What about you, Mac?’ said Nina. ‘Do you have to rush off too?’

  Mac gestured towards 44th Street beyond the window. ‘Only as far as the Delacourt Hotel.’ He gave Eddie a wry look. ‘I thought after the trouble last time I was there, I should give them the custom as compensation. But after that, I’d rather hoped you’d both join me for dinner tonight.’

  ‘We’d love to,’ said Nina.

  ‘I’m always up for some good nosh,’ Eddie added.

  ‘Superb. In that case, I’d better go and check in. If there’s anywhere you particularly recommend, give me a call. After all,’ a smile, ‘I know you have my number. Since that’s how you saved the world!’

  ‘Again,’ said Nina. ‘We really should start billing for services rendered.’

  Mac laughed, then his smile became even warmer as he shook Eddie’s hand. ‘You know, I thought when I first met you - God, what is it, almost sixteen years ago now? - that you had far more potential than met the eye. People like Stikes thought you were just a troublemaker, but sometimes we need somebody who’ll stir things up. I’m proud, I’m honoured, that you proved me right. Well done, Eddie. Damn good work.’

  Eddie stood straighter, beaming. ‘Thanks, Mac. That means a lot.’

  Mac released him, then kissed Nina’s cheek. ‘And you’ve done a fantastic job of civilising him. I wouldn’t have thought it possible—’

  ‘Oi!’ Eddie protested.

  ‘—but achieving the impossible seems to be one of your talents. Keep it up.’ He went to the door. ‘I’ll see you both later.’

  Nina waved as he departed, then turned to her husband, smirking. ‘Aw, look at you. You’re so happy and proud. It’s sweet. It’s like you just got praise from your dad.’

  She had meant it in a humorous way, the tactlessness only striking her after the words left her mouth. But rather than responding with irritation as he had before, Eddie appeared contemplative. ‘What is it?’ she asked.

  ‘You just made me think about Shankarpa and Girilal - about them getting to talk to each other one last time. And about Zec, wanting his son to know he’d done the right thing.’ He picked up the phone. Nina saw that the first two digits he dialled were 44 - the international code for the United Kingdom. ‘Hi, Elizabeth,’ he said when he got an answer. ‘It’s me. Yeah, yeah, I’m fine; I’ll tell you all about it later. Just a quick call - can you give me Dad’s phone number?’

  The surprised response from the other end of the line was loud enough even for Nina to hear. Eddie listened with rising annoyance to his sister’s gloating at his change of heart. ‘No - no, I’m not saying I’m gonna call him,’ he interrupted. ‘Just that I wanted his number. In case I need it. Which I don’t right now, okay? So, you got the number?’ He took a pen from Nina’s desk and wrote it down. ‘Okay, thanks. Talk to you again soon. Give my love to Holly and Nan, will you? Bye.’

  ‘So are you going to call him?’ Nina asked with a sly smile.

  ‘Don’t you bloody start.’ He pocketed the paper.

  ‘What about dinner, then? Italian? French? Thai?’

  He grinned. ‘I could murder an Indian.’

  Kit walked through the gates of United Nations Plaza on to First Avenue’s busy sidewalk. He took out his phone, glanced round to make sure nobody was paying him any particular attention, then entered a number and made a call.

  A brusque, impatient response. ‘Yes.’

  ‘Sir, it’s Jindal,’ he said. ‘I’ve just left the United Nations. Pushing to be assigned to the case paid off - the IHA now has the two statues. As the new liaison between Interpol and the IHA, I will be in a position to monitor their investigation.’

  He had hoped to receive some pra
ise, but was unsurprised when none was forthcoming. ‘You think Dr Wilde will be able to find the third?’

  ‘If anyone can, she can. I’m sure of it.’

  ‘I hope so, Jindal.’ The implication of threat was understated, but clear. ‘Is your cover still secure?’

  ‘Yes, sir. Nobody at Interpol or the IHA suspects that I’m working for the Group. If anything, the events in Delhi have given me more freedom to operate.’

  ‘Good. Keep us informed of Dr Wilde’s progress. As soon as she locates the third statue . . . the plan can begin.’

  The call ended. Kit double-checked that he had not been overheard, then disappeared into the crowd.