“Any word from the others?”
Min-Woo’s face lengthened into a troubled scowl. “Unfortunately, they were not able to complete their part of the mission.”
“How is that possible?” Pak’s eyebrows knit together, wrinkling his forehead.
The general set the image back in the case and put his hands behind his back. “They’d been working the site with the archaeologists from America. It seems when the sarcophagus was opened, somehow the Americans seized control. One of our men was shot and killed immediately. The other made it out of the cave with the medallion, but he fell to his death off a cliff.”
“Were the French authorities able to identify them?”
“It’s unclear at this juncture. All I know is that they’re dead and the Americans have the medallion. Their leader, a man named Tommy Schultz, was the one responsible. We believe he’s received permission from the French government to do further research on the object before turning it over to them.”
Pak crossed his arms over his chest. “Sounds like I need to pay them a visit.”
“I have others I can send. You just got back. You need to rest.”
Pak knew what the older man was saying was a test. He’d seen it before, hundreds of times. Weakness was never rewarded in their culture.
“I’ll be ready to leave within the hour, General.”
Min-Woo feigned considering his operative’s offer. “Very well,” he said after a moment. “Take your best three assets with you. This research is extremely important, but none of it matters without that medallion. Understand?”
“Clearly, sir.”
“Good.” Min-Woo pointed at a folder on the edge of the counter in the kitchen. “You’ll find everything you need to know about Schultz in that file. He’s had a history of encounters with dangerous people. So don’t let his appearance fool you. Schultz is a problem. Once you have the medallion, kill him.”
“With pleasure, General.”
5
Atlanta, Georgia
Tommy stared out the window of the seventeenth-floor office window. The city bustled below, like it did nearly all hours of the day. Atlanta had turned into a sprawling epicenter of capitalism over the last few decades. The city had grown so much that all the peripheral towns became monstrosities in their own right. Buckhead had been nothing more than a cool hangout when Tommy was in college. Now it had its own downtown area.
He looked over to the left where the rubble of the old IAA building was being transformed into what would be their new headquarters. The foundation had already been laid. With that done, things would progress rapidly.
The doorknob clicked and Tommy spun around, wrested from his thoughts. He was surprised to see Sean at the door.
“Where in the world have you been?” Tommy asked as he stood up.
Sean’s eyes danced over the room before settling on his friend. He gave Tommy a short hug and then sat down in one of the guest chairs. “I already told you; we were in Italy, working on a project.”
Tommy raised a suspicious eyebrow. “One of Adriana’s Nazi art things?”
“No,” Sean’s head moved side to side. “This was something different.”
Tommy’s eyes went to the black leather-bound box under his friend’s arm. “Is that it?”
Sean ignored the question for a moment. “I have to say, I like the new digs.” His eyes wandered again, taking in Tommy’s temporary office and the view of the city. He pointed at the construction site a few blocks away. “Keeping an eye on things from above?”
Tommy snickered and glanced back over his shoulder out the window. “That’s not why I rented this space.”
“Didn’t hurt either.”
Tommy’s lips cracked a thin smile. “True.” He decided to change the subject. “So, I found something interesting while I was in France.”
“Yeah, I saw your text.” Sean had received the text message from Tommy before returning to the United States. “You were a little vague as to what you found. And by a little, I mean you gave me nothing to go on.”
Tommy’s grin widened as he raised both eyebrows. “Seems like we both have something interesting to share. That reminds me, by the way, I could have used you in France.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. Turns out two of our assistants on the dig weren’t vetted very well. They tried to steal the artifact we found in a sarcophagus.”
“Sarcophagus? What sarcophagus?”
“That’s the part of the story you’re interested in? Not the fact that I was almost killed, along with several other people? What about a priceless and mysterious artifact almost being lost to antiquity?”
Sean snorted and bowed his head. “Yes, I apologize. Go on. Tell me what happened.”
Tommy hesitated and motioned at the object on the desk, his curiosity getting the better of him. “No, I’d rather see what you brought me first. The box is nice.”
He stared at the leather-bound box, analyzing its shape and size.
Sean smirked. His friend had always struggled with patience. They’d known each other since childhood, their bonds tested through Tommy’s parents’ mysterious death when they were younger.
“Fine, go ahead,” Sean said. “Open it. Just stop making it weird. I’m not asking you to marry me.”
Tommy’s eyebrow twitched upward. “You sure?”
Before Sean could reach out and take back the box, Tommy snatched it off the table. Sean crossed his arms and watched with a smug grin on his face.
Tommy carefully pulled the lid off the box and set it to the side. He stared into the container for a second and then looked up at his friend. “So, seriously, you’re not asking me to marry you, right? Because this looks like a yellow diamond.”
“It is.”
“This can’t be a real diamond,” Tommy said, shaking his head. “I mean, I’m no gem expert, but something like this would be incredibly expensive. Which, again, I’m just curious why you’re giving it to me.”
Sean’s smirk broadened. “You don’t recognize that rock, do you?”
Tommy held the box closer to his face. He tilted his head one direction and then another, trying to get a better angle to analyze the precious stone. He gave up after less than a minute.
“No,” he said with a shake of the head. “I mean, if this is real—and I’m still not sure about that—it’s probably one of the biggest diamonds I’ve ever seen. Where on earth did you find it?”
“Funny you should ask,” Sean said as his friend continued staring at the yellow-hued gem. “I tracked it down to some guys in Venice. They run a crime syndicate there. Jewelry isn’t really their thing, but I guess for this one they made an exception. Normally, they deal in paintings, which is how Adriana and I found them.”
“So you used your girlfriend’s connections.”
“Don’t hate the player,” Sean said with a shrug. “Do what you have to.”
“I’m still confused. Why should I know what this is, and why did you go looking for it?”
Sean crossed his arms. “Honestly, I’m disappointed in you, Schultzie. I really thought you’d recognize the Florentine Diamond right away. It’s one of the more famous missing jewels in the world.”
Tommy looked up from the box and gazed at his friend, appraising him to see if Sean was lying or not. “The Florentine Diamond? You can’t be serious.”
Sean’s stare never wavered; his pressed lips gave no sign of dishonesty.
Tommy’s eyes returned to the diamond, then to Sean, then back to the diamond once more. “It can’t be. No one has known where this thing is for—”
“Almost a hundred years,” Sean finished the thought. “Yeah, I know. I thought you’d be a little more excited about it than this.”
“Sorry. I just…is this for real?”
Sean burst out laughing. “Yes, buddy. It’s real. Promise. You’re not on some television practical joke show.”
“This…this is incredible. We’ll have to set up a
press conference, contact the Austrian government to make sure it’s returned safely…this is a huge get, Sean. Well done.” Tommy’s face beamed with delight. Anytime his agency could deliver something of incredible historical value to the world, he got as giddy as a little boy on Christmas morning.
Tommy Schultz had built the International Archaeological Agency with the money his parents left him upon their untimely deaths. With shrewd investments and good public relations, he’d grown that amount into the hundreds of millions in a relatively short time, though most of that growth had been in the last year or so.
“I’m just so excited. Thank you, Sean. Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. Seriously, don’t mention my name when you announce this. Okay?”
“As always.”
Sean Wyatt preferred to remain anonymous. He’d made enemies all over the globe during his time with Axis, a small government agency now based in Atlanta. While most of his enemies were either terminated or in jail, some were still hiding in the shadows, waiting for him to reveal himself.
“Now,” Sean said, interrupting his friend’s excitement, “didn’t you have something you wanted to show me?”
Tommy shook his head, snapping back to reality. “Right. I almost forgot. I mean, it pales in comparison. The kids are working on getting more details right now, but we don’t have some of the resources yet that we had in the old building. New hardware will be here later in the month.”
He stood up, sidled over to the center of his desk, and pulled out the middle drawer. Next, he removed a plastic bag with a golden medallion stuffed inside. “Here,” he said, extending the baggie to Sean. “Have a look.”
Sean’s eyebrows lowered as he took the bag and held it to the light. “Looks pretty old. Five, maybe six hundred years? Where’d you find it? That dig in France?”
Tommy nodded. “Yep. Found it up on the mountain above the lake. And it’s older than six hundred years. We think it belonged to Godfrey of Bouillon. The sarcophagus had an eagle on it that looks remarkably similar to Godfrey’s crest. Plus, it was on old Bouillon land. No body in the crypt, though. Very strange.”
Sean listened as he continued inspecting the medallion. When Tommy was done, Sean pointed out the writing on the back. “I assume you already translated this Latin.”
“Yep,” Tommy said. “It’s a reference to a verse from the Bible.”
“Matthew 26:52. But why is it on this medallion? And what does the nine mean?”
“Good questions. We don’t have all the answers yet, but we’re working on it. Godfrey of Bouillon was a Crusader. Actually, he was the Crusader. He led a massive siege and subsequent assault on Jerusalem and captured it. Then he was named king. Godfrey was a religious man and didn’t want to be called king. He said the only king of Jerusalem could be Jesus. That medallion,” Tommy pointed at the object, “was included in several portraits of Godfrey. What you’re holding in your hand is something that belonged to one of the greatest military figures in history.”
Sean gazed at the object with his mouth agape. “I have to say, Schultzie, I thought I brought you something nice. This, though. This is incredible.” He paused a second to think. “That story still doesn’t explain the engraving on the back.”
“Right. We had to do a little connect-the-dots work on that. As it turns out, Godfrey is part of a group of men referred to as the Nine Worthies or sometimes called the Nine Good Heroes.”
Tommy slid into his desk chair and pecked away on the computer. Then he clicked the mouse twice and turned the laptop screen around so Sean could see it.
“That is a picture of a thirteenth-century sculpture in the rathaus in Cologne, Germany. It features the Nine Heroes.”
Sean stared at the image for a long minute before speaking. “Who are all the others? And why haven’t I heard of this?”
“Oh, you know of most of them. The other eight men are Joshua, King David, Judas Maccabeus—”
“The Jewish rebel?”
“The very same. The carving features three Jews, three pagans, and three Christians.”
“Dogs and cats living together.”
Tommy snorted. “Anyway, Hector, Julius Caesar, and Alexander the Great make up the pagans. The three Christians are Charlemagne, King Arthur, and our friend Godfrey. Best we can figure, that is the nine the medallion refers to.”
Sean frowned. He rubbed his chin. “Yeah, but two of those guys are fictional. I mean, maybe Hector was real, but King Arthur? Come on. That whole Merlin story is a fairy tale.”
Tommy rolled his shoulders. “I’m just telling you who they are. It certainly accounts for the number on the back of that medallion.”
“Right. I get that. It’s just hard for me to get past the fact that King Arthur—and probably Hector—weren’t real.”
“For now, that’s irrelevant. Each of these nine men exhibited chivalrous qualities of one kind or another. That’s why they’re called good heroes and not just heroes. Some were kind to women, others were very generous, some were merciful.”
Sean set the medallion down carefully on Tommy’s desk. He pondered the information and then crossed his arms. “Well, that’s a nice story. And congrats on getting two incredibly important artifacts in a single week. That’s gotta be some kind of record for you.”
“Yeah,” Tommy said. He sounded crestfallen.
“What’s the matter?”
“I don’t know. It just seems like there’s more than meets the eye to this thing. The riddle on the back of that medallion…”
“Okay, hold on. There’s no way we know that’s a riddle. It’s probably just a way of honoring those other eight guys, you know? I wouldn’t look too much into it, buddy. Be happy you made another historic discovery. I can’t wait to see you on the History Channel.”
Tommy let out a half-sincere laugh. “Yeah, but something doesn’t feel right. I told you about the guys who tried to steal this.”
“Yeah.”
“They were Korean.”
“So?” Sean shrugged. “Who cares where they were from? A thief’s a thief, right? They probably just wanted to sell it.”
“They were North Korean,” Tommy said.
That changed things. “North Korean? Are you sure?”
Tommy nodded slowly.
“How sure?” Sean double checked.
Tommy opened a side drawer of his desk and pulled out a folder. There were pictures inside along with files on both thieves. “They were North Korean spies. Interpol had been watching them for some time. CIA, too. Not sure how the two men slipped by all those eyeballs, but they did.”
“And we hired them.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over it. I paid them.”
Sean’s head twisted back and forth. “I don’t understand. Since when did Pyongyang care about archaeology?”
“And since when did they use some of their highly trained spies to attempt to steal artifacts? I’m afraid right now we have more questions than answers. I’ve been talking back and forth with my connections in Europe. They can’t seem to piece together a motivation.”
“Did you call Emily?”
“No. I thought maybe you’d be better suited for that phone call, seeing how you two were partners and all.”
Emily Starks was the director of Axis. She’d worked her way up through the years as a field agent. Sean and Emily had worked several assignments together. When Emily became the director, Sean walked away. He always maintained the two occurrences were coincidental. She knew him well enough to know he wasn’t lying. He’d had enough of the spy game. She saw it in his eyes the day he resigned.
“Sure, I’ll give her a call and see what she knows. If the CIA has them on a list, Emily probably does, too.”
The phone on Tommy’s desk started ringing.
He reached over and picked it up. “Hello.” After a second he said, “Hold on, Tara, I’ll put you on speaker.”
Tommy hit the speakerphone button and set the receiver back in it
s housing. “I’ve got Sean here with me, Tara.”
Tara Watson and her research partner, Alex Simms, were among the best in the business when it came to digging up hard-to-find facts and evidence. They almost never left the lab, except to get coffee—something that had saved their lives in one instance.
“Oh, hi, Sean. Glad to see you made it back from Venice safely.”
Tommy glanced over at his friend. “She knew?”
One of Sean’s shoulders raised for a second. He pouted his lips. “I had some questions along the way.”
Tara interrupted. “So, Tommy, we’ve been working on this thing with the Nine Worthies, like you asked.”
“How’s it coming?” Tommy said.
“Slow. We started by digging into each character in the Cologne carving. There’s a good bit of information on most of them, except Hector and Arthur, which is what we expected. That’s not why I’m calling, though.”
“Oh?”
“Get online, and do a search for Charlemagne.”
Tommy waited for a few seconds to see where she was going with the conversation.
“Are you doing it?” she asked.
“Oh, sorry. Yeah. I thought you were going to say something else.” He spun his monitor back around and set to work typing.
“I am.” She paused and listened as Tommy pecked away at the keyboard. “See anything unusual in the headlines?”
The screen flickered and produced the search results. Two of the top links were articles about a murder in Aachen, Germany.
“A couple of news outlets are reporting a murder in Germany. There’s an article about Charlemagne…”
“Stop,” she said, sounding a tad more commanding than intended. “Click on one of the articles about the murder.”
“Okay…” He clicked the blue link and a second later was taken to the news site. After scanning the article, Tommy said, “That’s terrible. Why would someone kill that poor guy?”
“Yes, it’s tragic. I know. But take a look lower down in the article. The killer switched off all the cameras in the building. He even went so far as to delete any footage that could possibly have him in it.”
The Sean Wyatt Series Box Set 4 Page 31
