‘Good idea.’ They set off.
‘So, we’ve got this thing. Where are we going? Home?’
‘No,’ said Nina. ‘Well, not directly. There’s someone we need to talk to first – Wim Stapper.’
‘What, the guy from the ice? Why?’
She glanced at Cheng’s bag. ‘He found a Veteres artefact, somewhere off Antarctica. He’s the only person who can tell us anything more about where it came from – and what he meant by “demons”.’
‘Demons, right,’ said Eddie dismissively. ‘Didn’t Krämer say he was in a mental ward in Holland? Bit of a diversion, and we’ll have to pay for new tickets home if we’re not flying out of Hamburg.’
‘Don’t worry.’ Nina turned to Cheng and put on an over-broad grin. ‘I know someone with twenty-five thousand euros now going spare.’
‘I . . . could pay for the flights, yes,’ he agreed reluctantly.
‘Macy’ll be pissed off with us for coming back late,’ Eddie warned.
‘She’s pissed at us for going at all. Or rather, for going without her. She’ll be fine.’
‘I’m sorry for putting you through this trouble,’ said Cheng as Nina took out her phone.
‘That’s okay,’ she replied, about to call her daughter – then giving him a curious look.
He was smart, and knowledgeable, and inquisitive. Yet she had accidentally mentioned the Veteres . . . and he hadn’t asked who they were.
Krämer rounded a corner, then found his phone and dialled.
The reply was almost immediate. ‘What happened?’ snapped a woman in accented English.
‘What do you mean, what happened?’ Krämer replied angrily. ‘Who were those men?’
‘I do not know.’
‘You didn’t send them?’
‘Of course not. Why would we interfere with our own plan?’ A pause, then: ‘Do Hui Cheng and Professor Wilde have the key?’
‘Yes. So my part is over, ja? I want the rest of my money.’
‘You will have it. Where are you now?’
‘Walking towards Hans-Albers-Platz, near the Reeperbahn. Are you far away?’
‘No. There is a park between Talstraße and Hein-Hoyer-Straße, behind a large white building on Simon-von-Utrecht-Straße. Do you know it?’
‘I’ll be able to find it.’
‘Good. Meet me at the gate on Talstraße.’
‘And you’ll have my money?’
‘I will.’ The call ended sharply.
Krämer reached the bustling Hans-Albers-Platz. No sign of the men who had chased him, but he decided not to take any chances. Rather than heading directly for his rendezvous, he went east along Friedrichstraße, steering well clear of his escape route from the Große Freiheit.
Fifteen minutes later, paranoia having taken him on a circuitous path, he arrived at his destination.
Wu Shun was waiting, dressed in black jacket and tight jeans. The Chinese woman was attractive enough, Krämer thought, but there was something about her he didn’t like, and he couldn’t quite put his finger on what.
It didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to marry her, after all. He had completed his part in whatever she was doing, and now it was time to get his money and leave Hamburg – as quickly as possible. ‘I’m here,’ he said, checking their surroundings. She seemed to be alone.
‘Good. Walk with me.’ She started into the little park.
Krämer moved up beside her. ‘Where is my money?’
She briefly opened a shoulder bag to reveal banknotes inside. ‘Twenty-five thousand euros, as agreed. Did you get the money from Hui?’
‘Not all of it. Only fifteen thousand,’ he lied, hoping she might make up the difference. ‘I wanted all fifty.’
‘That is not my problem. You are fortunate I am willing to pay you at all.’ Her voice was quiet and even, but there was an angry edge to it. ‘Hui and Wilde were going to leave without the key because you doubled the price.’
‘How did— You bugged my flat?’ he yelped in realisation.
‘Keep your voice down. And yes, of course we did. This is very important to us. Your greed could have ruined everything.’
‘So could me being shot!’ he snapped. ‘I was thrown out of a window – your bugs didn’t stop that, did they? And you have no idea who those men are?’
‘No,’ said Wu, ‘but we will find out.’ No doubt, just a statement of fact.
‘Well, I wish you luck,’ said the German impatiently, ‘but now it is time for me to go. My money?’
She looked around. To their left, apartment buildings overlooked the park. The grassy area to the right was darker, trees blocking most of the nearby illumination. ‘Over there.’
Krämer checked the shadows, but saw nobody lurking in wait. He angled with her off the path. They circled behind a tree, out of the light. ‘Okay. The money.’
She slipped the bag from her shoulder, supporting it from beneath as she used her other hand to open it. ‘Here.’
Krämer stepped closer. Even in the darkness, the bundles of clean, new banknotes stood out clearly. ‘Good. I will—’
Her supporting arm suddenly moved – and a slender carbon-fibre blade sank deep into his stomach.
Krämer gasped, trying to draw back, but a fire spread through his body, incinerating his nerves and paralysing his muscles. ‘You, you . . .’ was all he managed to whisper before the hideous sensation reached his mouth. He convulsed, a strangled rasp forcing its way from his throat, then crumpled to the ground.
Wu gazed at him with no more emotion than if she had crushed a bug. A glance at the apartment buildings to make sure she was not being observed, then she crouched, checking his pulse.
She found the beat immediately, racing as terrified adrenalin flooded his system, but already beginning to slow. She kept her hand in place, feeling it become weaker, slower still.
And finally stop.
She searched him for Hui Cheng’s money. He had lied; there were ten thousand euros more than he’d claimed. Wu was not surprised. She also took his phone, to conceal the electronic trail linking them. The poison on the knife was undetectable in a standard autopsy; with nothing left on his body to raise the eyebrows of the police, it would seem like nothing more than a mugging gone wrong, a down-on-his-luck merchant sailor taking a wrong turn.
Wu straightened. The German’s dead eyes stared up at her. She returned the blade to the Kevlar pocket on the bag’s underside and set off, without even a glance back at the man whose life she had just ended.
5
Rotterdam, Holland
‘I don’t think this is a good idea,’ said Eddie, shifting uncomfortably as they waited in the reception area of the Henkeman psychiatric hospital. ‘I mean, the guy’s obviously got major problems if he’s been locked up here for four months – and you want to show him the thing he’s freaked out about.’
The key was now in Nina’s bag. They had left Hamburg with no further trouble, and her fame as an archaeologist even got them through airport security with no awkward questions about the ancient artefact. ‘He’s the only person who can tell us anything about it,’ she reminded her husband. ‘He knows where it was found – and what happened there.’
‘Krämer said he was ranting about demons! I don’t think he’s a reliable witness.’
‘What will you do if he tells you where it came from?’ asked Cheng, working on his laptop. He had already taken advantage of the wait at the airport and their overnight stay in Rotterdam to type up a record of events.
‘I don’t know. We might not get anything coherent from him – hell, they might not even let us see him.’
The wait lasted several more minutes. Finally a door opened and one of the facility’s medical staff approached. ‘Professor Wilde?’ said Dr Eline Kuiper.
‘Yes?’ said Nina hopefull
y.
‘We would not normally allow Wim to receive visitors who are not relatives. However, because of your standing, and because you may be able to help break through his catatonic state, we have decided to allow it.’ The tightness of her lips suggested she disagreed with the decision.
‘Thank you.’
‘His health is the most important consideration, though. So your visit will have limits.’
She nodded. ‘I understand. What are they?’
‘Only you will be allowed to see him, in my company. You may try to speak to him for five minutes, no longer. If he becomes agitated, you will leave immediately. Is that understood?’
‘Absolutely.’ She gave the two men a glance. Eddie was relieved to avoid the encounter, though Cheng seemed disappointed. Kuiper gestured for Nina to follow her.
‘Good luck,’ said Eddie.
‘Thanks,’ Nina replied with trepidation.
The facility was a hospital, not a prison, but it still had strict security measures. Nina and Kuiper, accompanied by a male orderly, passed through two sets of entry-coded doors before reaching the accommodation section. While all the rooms were soundproofed, Nina still heard muffled sobs and shouts from some. Unsettled, she stayed close behind the doctor.
Kuiper stopped outside a door. ‘I will check on Wim’s condition.’
‘Does he get violent?’ Nina asked.
‘No, but he sometimes becomes very frightened. Please wait.’ An exchange with the orderly, then she went into the room. Nina remained outside, feeling the weight of the key in her bag.
A minute passed, then there was a gentle rap on the door. The orderly checked through a peephole and opened it. ‘Professor Wilde, come in,’ said Kuiper.
Nina took a pensive breath, then entered.
The room was small but light, a tall, thin window reinforced with fine wire mesh overlooking a leafy quadrangle. A small table was home to a pad of paper and felt-tip pens, but there was no indication they had been used.
It was easy to see why at the sight of the room’s occupant. Wim Stapper was in his late twenties, but any youthful energy had been drained by his ordeal; his face was drawn, a body that had once been strong and wiry now merely thin. He did not react to the new arrival, gazing blankly from the bed at something beyond the ceiling.
The doctor spoke to him in gentle Dutch, but got no response. ‘This is his normal state,’ she whispered to Nina. ‘A near-catatonia. He is aware of us but does not want to respond.’
‘Why not?’
‘Most probably fear. He suffered a traumatic experience before his rescue. The only way his mind can deal with it is by hiding from the world.’
Nina regarded him sadly, feeling a pre-emptive guilt. Something terrible had happened to the young Dutchman, but the only way to find out what would be to remind him of it. ‘Does he speak English?’
‘Yes. Fluently, according to his family.’
‘Can I talk to him?’
Kuiper reluctantly nodded, then checked her watch. ‘Five minutes.’
Nina stepped closer. ‘Hello,’ she said softly. ‘My name’s Nina. I’m an archaeologist – I look for lost things from the past. Things that have been buried.’ She put a little emphasis on the last word. Stapper’s eyes flicked towards her, but then looked back at the ceiling. ‘I’ve found something – something stolen from you when you were rescued from the ice.’
No reaction for a moment . . . then almost inaudible words slipped from his lips. ‘The ice?’
Nina looked at Kuiper, who was surprised. ‘He does not usually react to strangers. But please be careful what you say next. The memory can upset him.’
‘I’ll try my best,’ said Nina, not sure how to dance around the subject. ‘Wim, I’ve got something I’d like to show you. Is that okay?’
This time, he didn’t respond. She gave Kuiper another glance, then slowly took out the golden disc. ‘I have the key.’
‘The . . . key?’ murmured Stapper. He turned his head towards her – and his eyes went wide as he saw what she was holding. ‘The key! No, no! The demons – they want it! They want to kill us all!’
Kuiper hastily interposed herself between Nina and her patient. ‘I’m sorry, but you need to leave now.’
‘No, no, wait!’ Nina begged. ‘Wim, the key! Where did you find it? What happened to the Dionysius?’
The mention of the ship instantly changed his attitude, blind fright becoming a contemplative confusion as his brow furrowed in thought. ‘It . . . it came to rescue us, came into the cave. But too late. Everything . . . turned over.’ Kuiper backed away, startled by her patient’s change of mood. ‘The spaceship was . . . trying to move, it turned everything over.’
‘The what?’ exclaimed Nina. ‘The spaceship?’
‘In the ice,’ Stapper went on. ‘Buried inside D43. It was very old. Sanna and I, we found it in the cave.’
She had no idea what D43 might be, but Kuiper filled in another blank. ‘Sanna Onvaan,’ the doctor said quietly. ‘One of the people on his ship.’
Nina made a mental note to investigate the Dionysius and its mission, but there were more important questions to be asked. ‘And is that where you found the key too?’
Stapper’s gaze returned to the orichalcum artefact, regarding it with a mixture of awe and fear. ‘Yes, yes. In a room of gold and crystal. Sanna saw where it belonged and put it in.’
‘Then what happened?’
‘Nothing, at first. Later the spaceship started to light up, but by then . . .’ His expression began to shift back towards fear. ‘We had found the demons.’
‘The demons,’ Nina echoed. ‘What can you tell me about them?’
‘Dead, but alive,’ was the contradictory reply. ‘Giants, lots of them, in glass coffins. The key . . . Sanna used the key, and one of them woke up. It—’ Sudden horror filled his eyes. ‘We tried to talk to it, but – it killed her!’ he shouted. ‘It killed her, and tried to kill me! It – it wanted the key!’
‘Now you need to leave,’ Kuiper told Nina forcefully, rapping on the door to summon the orderly. ‘He is terrified!’
‘Wim, where did you find the key?’ Nina asked as she backed away. ‘Where is this – this spaceship?’
‘D43!’ the young man cried. The orderly hurried in, firmly ushering Nina through the exit. ‘Inside D43, the ice cave! The Dionysius – it’s still there!’
The door closed again, cutting him off. Nina stood still for a moment, then looked at the object in her hands.
A spaceship? She didn’t believe for a moment that was what the Dutchman had found. Partly because it would mean accepting as fact the ridiculous pseudoscience Macy and Eddie enjoyed taunting her with, but also because of the obvious inconsistency with Stapper’s other claims. Demons were as unacceptable to her as UFOs.
Besides, she already knew a secret truth that partially explained things. The lettering on the key appeared to be a product of the Veteres – and she had seen their ancient corpses in a tomb deep within the long-hidden Garden of Eden. Humanoid, but not human, resembling the Grey aliens of popular culture; she could easily imagine someone high on the adrenalin of discovery instantly assuming they were extraterrestrial in origin. In fact, the opposite was the case: the Veteres had existed on earth before humans, a different branch of the same evolutionary tree that had also produced Homo neanderthalensis, denisova and floresiensis, as well as Homo sapiens themselves.
But it was one hell of a leap of the imagination to think such a corpse had woken up and attacked. What did that mean?
She waited in the hallway until Kuiper and the orderly emerged. ‘Is he okay?’
The doctor gave her a baleful look. ‘He has calmed down. But he is very agitated – I should not have let you see him.’
‘I’m sorry. Will he be all right?’
‘In time, I hope. B
ut you should leave. Now.’
‘Okay. Thank you for letting me see him.’
Kuiper did not reply with anything more than another glower.
The orderly escorted Nina back to the reception area.
‘How did it go?’ said Eddie.
‘Well, he told me some things about how he found the key,’ she said. ‘But I don’t know if any of them will be any use.’
‘What did he say?’ asked Cheng.
‘A lot of it was crazy talk. More about demons, and . . .’ She hesitated. ‘A spaceship.’
A crooked grin spread slowly across Eddie’s face. ‘Sorry, what?’
She sighed. ‘A spaceship.’
He cupped a hand to one ear. ‘Don’t think I heard you right. Can you say that again?’
She leaned closer, waiting for his smirk to widen – then snapped: ‘Get bent, Eddie.’
He cackled. ‘Oh, Macy’ll be so happy when she hears that. Which she will, ’cause if you don’t tell her, I’m going to!’
‘Like I said,’ Nina continued impatiently, ‘there was a lot of crazy talk. But he did mention some things Krämer didn’t know. His ship, the Dionysius, went into a cave – and might still be inside.’
‘I checked the name Dionysius on my laptop at Hamburg airport,’ said Cheng. ‘It’s a research vessel, registered in South Africa. Or it was – it was listed on the Lloyd’s Register as lost two months ago.’
‘Wasn’t Stapper found four months ago?’ Eddie asked.
‘It probably took that long before the insurance company was willing to pay out,’ said Nina. ‘And I’d hope the ship’s owners at least tried to search for it, and its crew. But if it was inside this cave, nobody would have seen it.’
‘How could it be in a cave? Krämer said they found Stapper in the middle of the sea.’
‘He also said there was an iceberg nearby,’ Cheng pointed out.
‘The ship’s inside the iceberg?’ Eddie was understandably incredulous.
Nina thought back to the Dutchman’s fragmented conversation. ‘Stapper kept mentioning something called D43. Is there a naming convention for icebergs?’
‘You’re asking me? I can barely remember whether port or starboard is left!’
The Resurrection Key Page 7
