“What did Bezanov want from you?”
“Initially, information, mostly about what was underground.”
“The phospherite.”
“Yes, the phospherite. What seems obvious to me now is that the phospherite made Transteppe a strategic asset from Russia’s point of view, and it gave Andrei the opportunity to enlist the government in his own private plans to take control of Transteppe. It’s exactly the kind of gambit a chess player like Bezanov would concoct. I haven’t figured out by what means he plans to take control, but he will try. He’s driven, and he doesn’t stop halfway.”
“Did Hayden know?”
“Probably, and remember? He wasn’t surprised by the uprising.”
Claire pulled the conversation back to Sergei. “You said your brother was a guest.”
“After the uprising, I realized that my position as a Russian at Transteppe had changed. Bezanov no longer needed me as a geologist. Moreover, even my limited knowledge of their interest in the phospherite might prove embarrassing, as it would suggest that taking over Transteppe was the point of the uprising. Obviously, he could kill me …”
Sergei said this casually, and Claire paled.
“But that was not a sure thing, and he didn’t know whether I had taken out some ‘insurance.’ So I let him know that I would continue to play ball and keep quiet, but only once I knew for certain that my brother was with my cousins in Finland. What I figured out was that after the uprising, my brother shifted from being an asset to a liability from Andrei’s point of view. Once he was released, my leverage was gone, too. Since the pretense was that he was a guest, it was easy for Andrei to get him freed without involving the judiciary. I’m not even sure Mikhail ever knew he was a prisoner.”
As he said this, a cloud came over Sergei’s expression. He looked at Claire and thought about how easy it had been to gain the release of his brother—almost too easy.
Claire noticed his changed mood. “What are you thinking?”
Sergei snapped back into the present. He tried a joke. “I was wondering whether he would take Mikhail back.”
Claire gave him a look that let him know she didn’t buy his joke, but she moved on to another thought. “Did you know that there would be an uprising in Petropavl?”
“No, Bezanov would never trust me with information like that. But, given their interest in the phospherite, it was easy to figure out Primorskichem was planning something. That’s why I left the bread crumbs for you and Mr. Hayden. Rob felt betrayed at first, but I think he forgave me once Mr. Hayden filled him in. I hope so, anyway. Rob is a stand-up guy.”
“You mean a comedian?”
Sergei gave a wan smile. “OK, so not all my jokes are funny.”
“Thank you for trusting me.” Claire looked into his eyes. She held his gaze and smiled.
Sergei hesitated a moment and then said, “There’s one more thing.”
Claire noticed the change in tone.
“Remember when I told you that I got an email from Ludmilla?”
Claire tried not to show her panic. “Yes?”
“What I didn’t tell you was what I left out in my reply to her email.”
“Un-huh?” Again, Claire kept her voice level, even though her pulse was going wild.
“What I didn’t say in my reply was that I’d met someone worth living for, and dying for.”
Claire launched herself across the table and gave Sergei a fierce hug. “You better not be doing any dying, buster! I want you alive!”
Claire had planned to ask Sergei about the investigation. She didn’t know whether Rob had told Sergei about the janitor. She thought about the janitor and Bezanov’s intricate schemes and wondered whether the oligarch had anything to do with Hayden’s death. It seemed too far-fetched to put as a question to Sergei. Anyway, she wanted nothing to spoil this moment.
71
With Transteppe at a standstill, Sergei felt no compunction in extending his stay for one week more in order to work on the analysis of the petrified material inside the ulna they had set aside from the array. Sergei had taken the bone over to the geology laboratory so that he could use their sophisticated equipment for scans and assays.
Claire couldn’t believe how happy she was. The only cloud was his coming return to Transteppe and the unknowns of his entanglement with the faceless men Sergei referred to as “they.” The couple tried to keep up a professional face for the outside world, and Katie, particularly, seemed to relish the dance of feigned ignorance, saying to Claire things like, “If you happen to run into Sergei, could you ask him about …”
Meanwhile, the other investigations pursued by Benoit and Francisco were proceeding on schedule. The publicity surrounding the Nature letter and the Times articles opened the funding spigot, and Claire started the process of shifting some of the research budget to more traditional sources.
Claire and Sergei were up all night the day before he left. He’d tried hard to reassure her that he would be safe—that Andrei had nothing to gain and everything to lose by attacking him now—but, try as she might, it was hard for her to believe him. The body count surrounding Russian business deals had been headline news for years, and Bezanov sounded worse, not better, than the oligarchs she had read about.
The next morning, Claire entered the workroom early. She was still feeling the glow of the intimacy left in the wake of Sergei’s decision to open up to her. His candor demolished any remaining defenses protecting her heart, and she felt herself opening up to him in a way that had never before happened with the previous men in her life. Claire smiled at the thought that the one man she felt she could truly trust was a Russian whose Machiavellian skills would have served him well in the time of the Borgias.
She turned on the lights. At this point Claire was focused on the badlands where they had first uncovered the bones, and she spent a good deal of time looking at the photos they had pinned to the walls. It was more than fifteen minutes before she looked down at the worktable. At first she didn’t notice anything, but then when she returned her attention to the walls and whiteboard, she had a sense that she had overlooked something. The array was in the center of the table where it had always been.
The Lucite box containing the jadeite was also there, but inside the box, instead of the stone there was a folded piece of paper. With trembling hands Claire unfolded the note. She knew exactly what had happened before she read the first words. It said, “I’ll bring it back in one piece. I promise!!! But please don’t come after me—and please don’t hate me.”
Through the pounding in her ears she remembered Hayden’s subtle warning as well as her own questions about how Katie would react to the restrictions on publishing—questions she should have asked about Katie’s earlier life. Claire realized in an instant how perfectly Katie had executed this caper. She knew Claire couldn’t bring in the authorities without alerting them and the world to the significance of the jadeite, and they were nowhere near ready to go public. Even worse was the realization that what Katie was doing was not so very different than what Claire had done when she first took the bones.
Claire pulled out her phone but was not surprised when the call went to voice mail. Katie was not taking the call. Claire thought a minute and then sent a text: I know where you’re going and what you’re doing. Call me or I’ll stop you.
Twenty minutes later, the phone rang. Claire took a deep breath, trying to control her anger and her hurt. She clicked answer and said nothing.
“Hi, Claire.”
Katie sounded subdued.
There was a lot Claire could have said, but she also knew that she had no right to berate anyone. “You know, you could have asked me.”
A pause. “You know I couldn’t. If you think about it, you’ll see I’m actually protecting you by not asking—you never could have agreed.”
Claire thought about that.
“I mean it when I say I’ll bring it back.”
Claire softened a bit. “Why did
you do it?”
“You heard Keerbrock. If we’re not going to publish, maybe this is the best way to really know what it means.”
“You realize you’ve blown it with regard to your degree.”
“I just hope that what comes next makes it worth it.”
Claire thought a bit. “If you care about integrity, if you care about our friendship, you’ll bring it back. I’ll give you ten days.”
“Thank you. I won’t let you down,” said Katie through sobs.
Claire thought about how Katie had helped her function after Hayden was killed and checked herself again from saying the obvious retort: “You already have.”
72
Zoe gave Katie a big hug when she drove into Boisbeaux at seven the next morning. Katie looked exhausted in a sweat-stained T-shirt and dusty jeans.
“You OK?”
“Not even a little bit. But I’m here.”
They walked toward the veranda.
Katie almost stumbled. “I’ve been driving twenty-four hours. I need to sleep. I need a shower, but first fill me in.”
“OK, as I said in the emails, it’s been very strange since you all left. Flo is really out of sorts. She keeps calling out. The others are unsettled. It’s quite clear that stone set off something.”
“You’re sure you’re OK with Flo touching it again?”
“No, but it’s what she wants. She can always pull away, right?”
“Right.”
“I hope you didn’t burn too many bridges to do this.”
Katie’s eyes filled with tears. “Probably all of them. Hope it’s worth it.”
“Where’s your monitoring equipment? In the car?”
Katie wiped her eyes and pointed to her head. “Right here.” She looked around. “Where can I crash? We’ll start this afternoon.”
¬
Six hours later Katie emerged from Zoe’s guest room looking refreshed. Zoe had given the staff the rest of the day off, saying that she would take care of the evening feeding. Zoe wanted to have this session in the barn, but Katie insisted that they do it in open air.
“It’s a risk, Katie. These are elephants, not bunny rabbits.”
Katie rolled her eyes. “Please—after some of the stuff we’ve done? I’ll sign any release you want. Nobody’s going to sue anyway if I get stomped—more likely you’ll get a medal and a parade.”
“Why is it so important to do this outside?”
“So I can see how other elephants react. Also, I want Flo to know it’s her show.”
Katie had changed clothes and was wearing a borrowed pair of khaki shorts and top—the uniform for the sanctuary. Zoe wanted Flo to know that Katie was official. Katie had thick gloves on her hands. They were hot, but the insulation prevented her hand from transmitting heat to the stone. Zoe let them in, locking the gate behind them. Zoe was carrying a basket of treats. Katie was carrying the foam-lined briefcase. “Let me go ahead.” Zoe started to shake her head. “Really, I’m OK.”
“I’ll keep ten feet back, no more.”
“OK, here goes.”
Walking slowly, Katie approached a clearing. They’d chosen it because it was on high ground and well away from the feeding area. In the distance, she could see Flo and farther off some other elephants. Katie turned toward Flo and held up the briefcase. Flo lifted her trunk and then started walking toward her, quite fast. Watching, Zoe tensed. There was no turning back now.
Flo slowed down as she got closer to Katie. Slowly and deliberately Katie opened the briefcase and took out the jadeite. Facing Flo, she held the stone in her hand. Flo flared her ears with excitement, but she approached Katie slowly. Almost politely, she held her trunk just away from the jadeite. With one hand, Katie took the tip of her trunk and slowly moved it over the stone. Then she let go. Flo trembled and started making rumbling sounds. Flo kept the tip of her trunk on the stone. Katie felt the combination of trembling and rumbling in the ground. The rumbling grew louder.
Watching from ten feet away, Zoe tensed further. “The others are coming. Might be a good idea to fold our tents and skedaddle.”
Speaking softly and keeping her eyes on Flo, Katie said, “This is why I came. I’m staying.”
“Then I’m getting closer. They’ll listen to me—maybe.”
Answering Flo’s rumbles, the other elephants slowly assembled in a circle, much like the defensive circle elephants in the wild might form around a wounded comrade, only in this circle they were all facing in. The group included two gigantic males. Katie looked as vulnerable as a mouse inside this circle of huge forms.
Once the circle was formed, the rumbling increased. Then Flo took her trunk off the stone and stepped back. Another female elephant came forward and offered its trunk to Katie, who did as she had with Flo and ran the tip slowly over the stone. “That’s Gertrude,” whispered Zoe. After a few seconds, Gertrude gave a small start but kept her trunk on the jadeite. She too began trembling and rumbling. Then she retreated. Katie took the opportunity to shift the stone to her other hand, while another elephant came forward.
After all the females had touched the stone, one of the two giant males advanced. “Leave it to the guys to let the girls check out whether it’s safe,” Zoe remarked. “But be ready to run.”
“Where to?” asked Katie, offering the stone to the male, who slowly moved his trunk toward the jadeite but held it an inch or two away from the stone.
“Smart, best to let him decide,” said Zoe approvingly.
The giant animal touched the stone hesitantly. After a few seconds, he pulled his trunk away and let out a giant trumpeting roar that shook the ground. Katie started but held her ground, steadily holding the jadeite in front of her. The big male quieted down and then approached again. This time he didn’t pull away, and Katie could feel his excitement. After a few moments of touching the stone, the big male slowly backed up into the circle, and the other male came forward.
Once all the elephants had touched the stone, Flo advanced. She touched the stone and started rumbling. The other elephants joined in, and the rumbling became organized. It was like the loudest and lowest didgeridoo ever imagined, or Tibetan throat singing played at half speed. The waves traveled through the air, down into the earth, up into the heavens, and perhaps through dimensions inaccessible to humans. It gave Katie goose bumps.
“Can you feel it?” Katie asked, her voice choked with emotion.
Zoe could only nod.
The elephants had been swaying, but now the swaying became synchronized, passing from one elephant to another as though they were doing the wave.
Katie started swaying, too, moving rhythmically and slowly from one foot to the other, gradually falling into step with the elephants.
Still swaying, Katie looked over at Zoe. “Do you feel what I feel?”
“I think so. What is it?”
“A connection to the cosmos. Peace. I want it to go on and on and on.” Katie slowly put the stone in the briefcase. Then she raised her arms to the sky and slowly turned in a circle, letting the waves completely wash over her. Despite the overwhelming presence of these most chthonic of creatures, Katie felt as though she was transcendently light, barely tethered to the earth.
After several more minutes, the rumblings began to fade. The elephants fell silent, though they still swayed. Then Flo made the same rumble she had after the first time she had touched the stone.
“She’s saying thank you again.”
Katie reached forward and gently stroked Flo’s trunk. “I wish I could say thank you in elephant.”
One by one, the elephants slowly broke off from the circle. The vibrations seemed to linger.
Speaking to no one, Katie said softly, “That was worth any price.”
Neither Zoe nor Katie spoke again until dinner. Zoe went to put out greens for the giant animals. Katie started preparations for the meal. Once again it was to be rice and sauce.
73
The next morning, Katie helped Zoe with
some chores around the sanctuary. They returned to Zoe’s house for a break from the heat. Zoe was sitting on the veranda when Katie emerged with her rolling bag.
“What are you doing?”
“I’ve got to set things right.”
“What about Flo?”
“I don’t know. At some point the staff is going to start wondering why they’re getting all this time off. Claire wants this kept quiet. I’m not going to be the one that screws the secrecy. Look what I’ve done already.”
She’d started lugging her suitcase to her car when they both saw a car coming up the driveway. Katie stopped to look as a Toyota pulled up to the house. Claire got out, and Keerbrock creakily exited from the passenger side. Katie dropped her bag and ran up to Claire, throwing her arms around her, sobbing, “I’m so sorry.” Keerbrock looked thoroughly uncomfortable—what was it with these women and all the hugging and crying?
Claire patted Katie’s back until the sobs quieted. “While not endorsing your method of cutting through red tape, Will convinced me that we had to be on hand to see what happened this next time.”
Katie jumped up and down like a teenager. “All I can say is prepare yourself.”
Zoe looked really uncomfortable. “Katie! It’s one thing for you to put yourself at risk, but I don’t think it would be too good for Boisbeaux’s future if a Nobel Prize winner got stomped.”
Keerbrock perked up. “What’s this about getting stomped?”
“No one’s getting stomped,” said Katie. She turned to Zoe. “We can take them into the circle one at a time, and only if they want to.”
“Want to what? And what’s this circle?”
Katie laughed. “I can’t even begin to describe it.” She thought a second. “But you should be happy, Dr. Keerbrock. If it can’t be described, there won’t be a paper.”
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