Convergence

by Brian W Claspell

  The Russian had recovered quickly and now had two guns in his hands. Jenny got a shot off that hit him directly in his forehead before he had completely recovered. Two shots were fired before he fell. The first grazed Ricardo’s shooting arm. The second went into the ceiling.

  Jenny quickly moved to make sure the Russian was dead. Grabbing his phone she looked at the recent text. The last sent text listed the hotel they were sitting in and a note that indicated that he was going in to get the thing. A response was from the unknown sender was, “Be there in less than 10 minutes.”

  Jenny said, “Grab the plates and the notes, we have to go.”

  Ricardo was quickly on the phone texting. He looked at Jim, “Take the professor and the plates. I will get Dragos and me out of here. We can settle on price later.” He was insistent and direct.

  Jenny looked quickly at Ricardo, “We can’t leave you.”

  Ricardo just responded, “We will just slow you down. I can get us out of here and can answer the questions that will likely be asked. Call me later when you are someplace safe.”

  Sirens could be heard in the distance. Jim and Arthur had managed to put the plates, the one casing on the table and the notes in the backpack and were out the door with Jenny in less than two minutes.

  49 – The Even Colder Russian Air

  The cold Russian air made it difficult to think and difficult to work. After eight weeks of attempting to translate and continuing to excavate a site, he was no closer to finding additional plates or even discovering the meaning behind the one they had found.

  Professor Thomas also realized that his communications with the states were getting more scrutiny. There was a greater distrust of what he might be saying. The code made for a few awkward sentences which made the senior USSR military officer suspicious that there were innuendos that were being communicated that were not understood by the Russian interpreters. He was right about the messages but looking in the wrong place.

  Professor Thomas knew that it was only a matter of time until it was discovered that he was passing messages onto his team across the sea. He started staying later to translate and to leave what he was sure would be his final message. It was vital information that only he knew.

  It took a couple of weeks to complete the task, carefully removing the wax seal in a way that it could be sealed back as he finished. He slowly and lightly etched a code on the back of the plate–not the message, but a code to decipher the message. Cleverly, he used the front of the plate’s existing text to communicate the message. It would require a few minor changes to the original plate facing but only the keenest observer would notice. The archeologists in him dreaded this part of the code. He would save it for last because of that and because there were likely a couple of keen observers right in camp that would notice the differences.

  Even if the changes in the front were noticed, and he was sure they would be, no one might ever consider taking the plate from the sealed case. Then, even if they did, there were only a dozen people or so that could translate the codes. Finally, if they were translated and the front of the plate was decoded for his message, it was so cryptic that one would have to know what they were looking for in order for it to make any sense.

  Nothing is fool proof, but Professor Thomas felt that there were enough safeguards in place that only his intended audience would be able to get the message. Coming from behind the Iron Curtain, he was uncertain when they might get it. The only certainty in his mind was that his next message to his team in the states would be his last.

  He would communicate where he had hidden the key information that his team would need. The next night he would make the necessary minor changes to the front of the plate. Then, he knew, it was just a matter of time before he was discovered and would befall a tragic death.

  As he sealed the plate for the last time he tucked two pieces of paper into the back of the plate. The first contained the original manuscript/hieroglyphics from the other side. He knew that they had already been photographed, copied and catalogued – but he needed to preserve one more copy. Then he added the second note to his new friend that would likely never forgive him. It was written in Russian, “Sorry Sven. My most sincere apologies. Sam.”

  Chapter 50 – The French Police

  Detective Pierre finished getting statements from Ricardo as Dragos was being attended to by paramedics. There were no cameras to record the events or even who entered and left. The best witness, the real waiter was found dead in a broom closet. The whole story just didn’t add up, a random Russian guy having a grudge against a Romanian who had used an assumed name. It just didn’t seem to fit. It was a good thing that Detective Pierre knew Ricardo. The official report would not even mention that Mr. Martinez was in the building. Ricardo’s detective friend encouraged him to leave town, but kept his name out of the formal investigation.

  As he finished jotting down his notes he was heading out when a Major Luan flashed her badge. “I am from the Ministry of Intelligence. We have been tracking this Russian. What can you tell me about what happened detective?”

  Detective Pierre saw a beautiful blonde haired woman in front of him. She seemed confident and spoke perfect French. Yuri watched Ricardo and Dragos out of the corner of her eye as she listened to Detective Pierre explain the situation. “He had brought some things into the country with him.”

  Pierre motioned for one of the other officers. He looked at Yuri. “We just found this wood frame. It looks like it has wax along the edges. It looks a little like a picture frame but who can be sure. I guess it might even be a small tray from the hotel but I doubt it. We are sending it to the lab to be analyzed just in case it means something.” He took it from the officer’s hand and handed it to Yuri.

  Yuri looked at it closely, “It is probably nothing. But let me take your number in case I need something further.”

  Detective Pierre handed her a card and then turned to say something to another officer. When he turned back he could see Major Luan already out the door on her way down the street.

  As Yuri walked out the door she mumbled. “Impatient stupid Russian.” Yuri was already on the phone calling and texting several French connections. She insisted that Amir get to France as soon as possible with the professor. She knew that it would not be long until she had the second plate.

  Chapter 51 - On the Run

  Jenny was about three steps ahead of Arthur and Jim all the way back to the hotel. About the only thing that Arthur could ask was’ “Where are we going? What just happened?”

  Jenny slowed down just long enough to discuss with Jim, “It has to be Yuri.”

  “Do you think?” Jim blurted out sarcastically.

  They walked right into their hotel, right past Trevor who was reading a French paper – only he didn’t speak any French. Jenny found this amusing. She couldn’t very well pass any signals onto Trevor or the other few agents around the hotel with Arthur around. It might blow their cover.

  Jenny packed several fake IDs and enough spending cash for a while. She jotted a quick note and was ready to head out the door in less than five minutes. On the way out the front door she dropped the note next to Trevor’s feet. Trevor would pick it up after they were by and out of sight, “will call.” It was simply enough to indicate trouble but not panic. Jenny wasn’t sure Trevor would get it but he did.

  They walked a few blocks and then hailed a taxi. Jenny would take them on a nearly hour tour between subway trains, taxi’s and walking to be sure their trail would be hard to follow should someone be on their way. They made their way out of the city to a hotel outside of the city where they paid cash for two adjoining rooms. Little was said until they got into the room. They opened the suite door but congregated in one room.

  Jenny sat on the edge of the bed. Jim was in the desk chair and Arthur was on the small sofa. “So how do you know you can trust us?” Jenny asked, looking at Arthur.

  “Well, I am not dead. That is different than the people that are ar
ound me.” Arthur said as he was clearly trembling. The gravity of the situation was starting to sink in and he had nothing left to give to maintain composure.

  Jenny pressed anyway. “How do we know that we can trust you?”

  “I don’t really care. I lost my wife . . .” Arthur paused so that he could clarify. “No, my wife was killed with an old friend of mine in London a couple of days ago. Then I find out that a professor who I only knew by reputation was murdered in Russia. And he had sent me an email. The attachments that were part of the email were removed. Surprisingly I got scared and ran to Paris to meet this guy I had never met named Dragos. Now Dragos gets shot. Is he dead also?”

  “I think he will live. But why meet Dragos?” Jenny continued.

  “I am an expert in my field, ancient languages especially Mediterranean area languages. Dragos had a plate and thought I might be able translate quickly. He was wrong though, I looked at it and it was clear it might take months or even years.”

  Jim pulled the plates and set them on the bed. Then he took the pieces of paper and handed it to Arthur. “Can you translate that paper?”

  “The first is a near duplicate of the front of the plate. See?” Arthur laid the paper right next to the plate. Then he pointed to some similarities and to some of the few differences. “There are some differences but I am not sure why.”

  Jim continued. “Can you translate the second piece of paper? It looks different.”

  “Yes. Well, no. But I can tell you that it looks like modern day Russian. I don’t speak it but surely someone does.” Arthur spoke confidently.

  Jenny pulled her phone out and typed a few words into the phone. Then she thought for a moment. “Sorry Sven. My most sincere apologies. Sam.” She paused and looked at Arthur and Jim. “That is the translation. The real questions are who is Sven and who is Sam?”

  They all thought for a moment on this new information. Jim spoke first, “I think what we really want to know is what Sam is sorry about.”

  Jenny had her phone busy searching several websites for Sven and Sam and plates. She was fairly certain that someone was out there looking for a search on these items but she was just as certain that her phone was secured from being traced.

  Arthur focused on the front of the plates, occasionally turning over the plate to look at the markings on the back of the one plate.

  Jim lay across the bed and watched the news. He didn’t understand a word but it was clear that there had been a shooting at a hotel. He gathered that there was one fatality and another injury or two. His mind kept wondering back to the original conversation about danger. He knew that he had clearly passed that threshold now.

  Jenny stopped her search abruptly so much so that Jim noticed. “What is wrong?”

  “Uh, my phone was being traced.” Jenny said nervously.

  “I didn’t think that was possible.” Jim responded.

  “It is possible. It is just not probable. They didn’t lock in on our location, but they will know the right side of Paris. We probably have less than two hours before we should move on.” Jenny said a little frustrated. “We should leave in 30 minutes to be safe.”

  The level of uncertainty concerned Jim. However, Arthur was in a different world. He was oblivious to the entire conversation. He spoke as though everyone were just watching him. “I know why?”

  “Why what? Jim asked.

  “Why Sam was sorry? That was your question, right?” Arthur said with a slightly confused look on his face wondering how Jim hadn’t followed the conversation.

  “Yes. Sorry. Why was Sam sorry?” Jim pressed further.

  “Sam altered the plate that has the writing on the back. The other paper is probably the original contents of the plate.” Arthur said satisfied that he had a good hypothesis.

  “Well, that is a good guess. I mean it doesn’t look quite like the front of the plate. There are some similarities but it is clear even to a layman . . .” Jenny was interrupted.

  “No. I mean the front of the plate was altered. This was an authentic ancient record that Sam altered. Sam was a brilliant archeologist and professor, why would he alter a record like this?” Arthur was talking out loud to Jim and Jenny but seemed to almost be talking to himself.

  “You know who Sam is?” Jenny asked.

  “Yes. And I think I understand where the plates were found.” Arthur explained that as a young professor with a young family he had been given the opportunity to go to the USSR to participate in an archeological dig. He and his wife had opted not to take a long assignment in the USSR. Arthur enjoyed his assignment in the UK and had no interest in tracking across the USSR for who knows how long. He had heard that his friend, Professor Samuel Thomas, had a tragic accident while on this expedition. Arthur’s wife just reminded him how unsafe it would have been if he had been the one to go.

  “That explains a lot, but why would someone want you dead. Just because you saw the plates that you can’t translate? That does not make sense.” Jenny explained.

  Jim looked at Arthur. He could see the glistening in his eyes. It is one that every parent sees as their child realizes how to do something for the first time. Jim had seen it in his children many times. “He can’t translate the plates but he can translate the message on the back of the plate.”

  Jenny looked questioningly at Arthur.

  Arthur looked at the back of the plate. “I believe that I can.” He continued to study the back of the plate for a moment and then continued. “Me and perhaps ten other people.”

  “Why ten?” Jim asked as he started to get the same glistening in his eyes.

  “We had a retreat while I was in college with Sam and nine others. It was a mixture of professors and students. We spent most of the summer devising our own ‘ancient language’. It was Sam’s exercise in teaching how languages are created and how to look at interpreting them. In the end we learned a lot about creating languages and a lot about interpreting them–exactly what Sam had intended. But we also had a unique written language that only the ten of us knew.”

  “And you and Sam were two of them.” Jenny pushed now.

  “Yes. Most have died over the years. I keep in contact with Professor Alto in Cairo occasionally. Even sent him a copy of the email I got with the picture of the plates. However, he never got the attachment. I think Timothy Rugsby or something like that went to work for some computer company in Silicon Valley. I saw his picture on a dotcom startup once. The only girl was Terri somebody. I lost track of her but she was a student–probably still living someplace. Everyone else died somewhere along the way starting with Sam.”

  Jim continued. “Well, get translating.”

  Jenny reminded that they should move to another location and then translate. They packed up what little they had and went down the stairs. As Jim stepped out of the stairs, he saw Yuri at the desk. He stepped back into the stairwell and let Jenny know.

  Jenny pulled her gun and waited. She watched the slight reflection off of the light fixture on the ceiling to see if Yuri would take the stairs or the elevator. She could only make out shadows but there was not a lot of activity in the hotel. It was lucky for them that she chose the elevator.

  Stopping at the front desk, Jenny asked the hotel clerk for a recommendation on a good restaurant just inside the city. She got one and said ‘Merci’ before the clerk could explain that she had company. That was Jenny’s intent as she made her way out to the side of the parking lot where she selected a car and hotwired it.

  Chapter 52 – The Near Dead End

  Yuri was resourceful in finding people. She would simply track them using a conversation with a taxi driver, cameras from the Metro and a little luck. This time it wouldn’t be so easy to track Jim and Jenny. It wasn’t likely that they found a taxi. She knew that they had either obtained a ride with a local resident or stolen an automobile. Both of these would be hard to trace quickly.

  She knew that the restaurant was a dead end but made her way there anyways. It w
as her only clue at this point. If the Captain found Jim had the plate, she might not meet the Captain and find out what he knows about her parents. There was not time to wait for the date with Jim either, that might be too late.

  She was sure that by this point Jim had figured it was her chasing him, but she was not sure if they had discovered that there was something on the back of the other plate. Her next stop might be the hospital to see if Dragos could shed some light on the situation or perhaps a call to Ricardo. First she would need to check-in with the Captain–an unpleasant but necessary step.

  Yuri called the secured number, “I don’t have it yet.”

  “Are you having trouble fulfilling your end of the bargain?” The Captain said in his rough and now clearly disappointed sounding voice.

  “You didn’t say anything about a second plate. That has caused some complications. You need to be more specific with your information.” Yuri explained. She did not like excuses but was forced into having one at this point instead of having the plate in her hand.

  “Who does have it?” The Captain asked.

  “There was somebody with Dragos that took the plate when Dragos was shot.” She paused and then suggested the improbable. “I think we should meet and discuss the situation.”

  “Find me and the plate. Then we will meet.” The Captain said firmly. It was what Yuri expected but had hoped that the Captain might relent based on the developments.

  “We will meet tomorrow at 4:00. I will have the plate.” She proceeded to give the Captain directions on where they would meet and told him to come alone. She would have the plate and the translation from Professor Alto.

  Yuri made two more phone calls. The first call was to Ricardo. Ricardo’s phone was out of service. She requested that he call her at his earliest convenience. If she could reach Ricardo she might be able to arrange a hasty date with Jim. The second phone call was to Amir giving him instructions to get the professor to Paris as quickly as possible. Amir knew that meant a chartered flight in the air within an hour.