The Medici Letters: The Secret Origins of the Renaissance

by Taylor Buck

  “In 1884,” the young woman continued, “this place was renovated into a hotel. They tore down much of the structure, but they left some of the rooms standing… including Donatello’s.” She rolled her eyes amusedly. “Hence, the name of the hotel.”

  “Fascinating. I would love to see that room if I could,” Jack pressed.

  “I’m sorry,” she said ruefully “but it, too, is reserved at the moment.”

  “Of course. I understand. But for future reference… which room number is it?”

  “Room 511.”

  “Perfect. Thank you for the history lesson, signorina,” Jack said turning away.

  “You may want to try the inn across the street,” the girl offered. “They may have rooms available.”

  “Grazie, ciao,” Jack said and walked away. Chester followed him.

  “Well that didn’t get us anywhere,” Chester said under his breath.

  “Actually, it did.” Jack crossed the lobby and approached the front doors. Just before they exited the hotel, a man walked in from the sidewalk. He wore a tan fedora and a light colored collared shirt with rolled sleeves. His cargo pants and boots were slightly tattered and his tanned, weathered face showed a few days’ worth of stubble. He looked right out of a 50s pulp fiction comic. In his left hand was a gray plastic sack that looked to have come from a men’s clothing shop. Upon seeing Jack, the man’s eyes narrowed.

  “Jackie?” he said, his faint Aussie accent instantly apparent.

  “Morgan,” Jack answered tersely, masking his surprise to see him. He hadn’t expected to actually run into Forbes in person. “What are you doing here?” Jack asked.

  Forbes looked taken off guard. “Well, I’m… here for Il Palio,” he said. “I come almost every year.” He looked at Jack with an uneasy smile, not knowing quite what to make of the situation. “How about you?”

  “Business.”

  Forbes, caught sight of Chester meandering behind Jack, showed a look of surprise in his eyes, then a hint of familiarity, at least Jack thought so. “Business, huh? I can see that.” He turned back to Jack. “Is Kat here too?”

  Jack wasn’t quite sure where to take the conversation.

  “No, she’s not. Kathleen’s in a coma.”

  Forbes’ eyes widened. “What? What happened?”

  “Why don’t you tell me, Morgan? You probably know better than I do.”

  Forbes straightened up and cocked his head in confusion. The comment had taken him off guard. He looked around uneasily. “What did you say?”

  “Where were you last week?” Jack asked.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Forbes barked. “Not that I’m indebted to say, but I was in Colombia. Listen Jackie, I don’t know what you’re getting at, but—”

  “Of course you do,” Jack said. “Switzerland?… St. Moritz? What are you really doing here, Morgan?”

  Forbes paused and seemed to brush aside Jack’s questions. “Is Kat really in a coma?” he asked.

  “Maybe we should go outside,” Chester interjected.

  “Answer the question!” Jack yelled.

  “Don’t you bloody yell at me!” Forbes snapped. “Now, Jackie—”

  “Stop calling me that!”

  CRACK.

  Jack landed a right hook to Forbes’ jaw, and he immediately reeled backward holding his face in shock. The young receptionist yelped in terror having watched the scene unfold. Chester stepped forward awkwardly between the two men, not knowing quite how to intervene. Jack had a look of surprise at what he had just done.

  “You… you had that one coming,” he finally said. He expected a countering swing by Forbes, but his loose manner and relaxed disposition showed he clearly wasn’t planning on responding.

  “Jack,” Forbes said rubbing his jaw, “I’m not sure I did deserve that. And if you’re referring to what I think you are… you need to get your facts straight.”

  “Don’t give me that,” Jack said. “You know what you did.”

  “I didn’t—”

  “You drugged and tortured her!” Jack shouted. “I know you did. That’s how you got the information…”

  “You’ve lost your mind, Jackie boy,” Forbes said straightening the bill on his fedora. “Still got that quick temper, I see.”

  “You found the key, didn’t you?” Jack blurted, sounding brash and desperate. He could even hear the desperation in his own voice. It didn’t matter.

  Forbes returned a confused stare, flashing his green eyes fiercely as if he were curious what Jack had meant by his question. But he didn’t respond, he just shook his head and casually walked past him. “It was good to see you, Jackie,” he jeered. “Really…it was.”

  “Morgan!”

  “Jack,” Chester said quietly, pulling on his shoulder. “That’s enough.”

  Forbes continued across the hotel lobby and ascended the staircase.

  Jack noticed the receptionist had her phone in her hand—ready to call the authorities if things escalated.

  “I’m sorry,” Jack said holding his hands up and realizing the scene he had made.

  “Mi scuso. We’re leaving.”

  The men walked out the doors and entered the street.

  “Well, I gotta say,” Chester stated. “You really handled that well.”

  “That bastard had it coming,” muttered Jack. “Whether or not he thinks he did.” Jack walked across the lobby and stopped suddenly. He turned around. “Chester,” Jack said. “You and Forbes… I couldn’t help but get the feeling that—”

  “I know,” Chester said cutting him off. “As you can see he’s not fond of me either. I told you that he tried to steal our GPR plans… I’m afraid things didn’t end well for him. He probably remembers me from the investigation.”

  Jack grinned and nodded. Contempt for Morgan Forbes, it appeared, was mutual.

  “So,” Chester said turning around to face Jack. “Did we come all the way from Switzerland for you to bury the hatchet with Forbes? Or did we actually come for a reason?”

  “He’s here because he’s involved. To be honest, I hadn’t planned on actually running into him, though,” Jack said as he gazed around the streets curiously.

  “You didn’t?”

  “No.”

  “Then what are we doing here?” Chester asked, annoyed.

  “I need to find out how he’s involved with all this.”

  “Okay… how exactly are you going to do that?”

  Jack looked back at the Palazzo Donatello and scanned the façade. He eyed the balconies along the top floor. “Let’s just say a little birdy is going to tell me,” he said and continued walking.

  Chester shook his head and followed. The men crossed the cobble street and entered the bed and breakfast.

  CHAPTER 24

  SIENA, PALAZZO DONATELLO

  SEPTEMBER 9

  MORGAN FORBES ENTERED HIS hotel room on the 5th floor of the Palazzo Donatello. He nonchalantly tossed the bag he was carrying onto the bed. The altercation downstairs had been odd and unexpected. Forbes hadn’t seen Jack Cullen in something like ten years. And here he was, out of the blue, raving about his wife being in a coma… and it being my fault?

  Odd, indeed.

  Or was it? Kat and Forbes had crossed paths years before during various archeological expeditions. One time in particular had been unforgettable. The memory surfaced and then floated away. He had matters to attend to.

  Forbes turned on his lamp and reread the note that had been waiting for him. It was a hand-written note carefully placed on the desk in his room when he arrived.

  First, obtain a pair of gloves.

  A few days earlier, Forbes received a call from Il Drago. He had said very little… but what he said made Forbes eager to come right away. “…a trove of riches that fill a kingdom with such knowledge and wisdom that any man baring its verity can govern the entire world.”

  Forbes had heard of a possible treasure belonging to the Medici. It was a known myth
that had lived for centuries. Now he had been called upon by Il Drago to quietly lead the quest for discovery of the treasure which, as it appeared, was just within their grasp. Forbes knew that Il Drago’s methods were unusual, but it didn’t deter him. He wasn’t surprised to be in this situation…an Italian hotel room, following step-by-step directions written down on a piece of hotel stationery.

  There is a small key residing in a locked compartment underneath the bust sitting on the far wall. Extract the key.

  Forbes grabbed the plastic bag on the bed and put on the gloves. He walked around the room and studied the various sculptures along the walls. He saw a large replica of a bronze sculpture of David next to the door. An iconic statue. The young man leaning his bodyweight upon the sword in his right hand. He wore nothing but boots and a pointy brimmed hat with a laurel around the crown, resembling that of Peter Pan more than a great Biblical figure. Goliath’s massive severed head lay at the young man’s feet.

  Forbes’ eyes rested on a smaller sculpture on the shelf showing a man riding a horse. Equestrian Monument of Gattamelata, it read.

  Across the room, on a table in the shadows, lay a dark bust that appeared to glow ochre. It wasn’t large, roughly the size of the small globe resting beside it. Forbes walked across the room and picked the bust up in his gloved hands. He noticed the weight was considerable for its small size. He studied the face of the statue and quickly confirmed he was holding the correct object.

  Plato.

  He turned it upside down and looked for the compartment along the base. He found it quickly. Although slightly corroded and tarnished, the locking clasp along the base was in good condition. The clasp was inset just within the bezel relief where the doorway was positioned. He slowly unlatched the clasp and gently opened the small hatch. At first, nothing came out. He gave it a gentle shake and heard a freeing clatter as a dark brass object slid out onto his glove.

  A key.

  Jack Cullen was right. Forbes was there for a key.

  He continued reading.

  You are residing in the very location wherein dwelled Donatello when he created un’icona. Use your surroundings as a muse to help guide your intuition. Locate the site of the treasure spoken of in the letter from Lorenzo. A translation of the letter has been securely delivered to you via email. Once you have succeeded in determining the possible location, contact me at the number below.

  A smile crept across his lips. Forbes now had a clear outline of his mission. This is what he lived for… what he knew how to do so well.

  The treasure is out there somewhere. Use your skills to retrieve it.

  Forbes had relied on his sharp wit and intuition to lead him to many discoveries. It also helped having access to technologically advanced tools. His highly technical mind had made him millions, first and foremost as an inventor of state-of-the-art machinery. He developed many of his own excavation tools and GPR systems that aided in his search for undiscovered relics. His brilliant mind, together with his machines and inventions, proved to be a winning combination when hunting objects of value. As soon as he dug in and began peeling away the layers, he readily found the pot of gold at the end of almost every rainbow.

  I’ve already got a good start on this one...

  Forbes pulled up Lorenzo’s letter on his phone and began reading. Once he finished, he rolled out a large map across the floor and got to work.

  CHAPTER 25

  SIENA, ITALY

  SEPTEMBER 9

  “FASCINATING,” JACK SAID, marveling at the object hovering in front of him. “It’s almost completely silent.”

  Jack and Chester stood in a small room located on the fourth floor of their bed & breakfast located across the street from the Palazzo Donatello. A small, green mechanical hummingbird fluttered extraordinarily steadily in front of Jack’s face. The miniscule bulbous lens atop the bird’s head transmitted a crystal clear picture of Jack’s face back to Chester’s laptop.

  “Hold your hand out,” Chester insisted. “Go on.”

  Jack stretched out his hand beside him, palm facing up. The hummingbird skillfully descended slowly toward his hand and touched down effortlessly. Jack could easily hold the bird in his hand, which was the size of an actual hummingbird, if not smaller.

  “Okay, let’s take it out for a test drive,” Jack said.

  “Off we go,” Chester said as the bird fluttered out the window. The two men switched focus to the laptop screen, which showed the camera feed. Orange terracotta rooftops grew smaller and smaller as the hummingbird ascended into the colorful Siena sky. The setting sun bathed the town red, as if under a heat lamp. From a topographical perspective, Siena almost looked like it was being shot in sepia.

  “What happens when we lose daylight?” Jack asked

  Chester typed in a command on his laptop keyboard. A second later the screen changed from orange to florescent green.

  “Night vision,” Chester replied. “And not just any night vision, this is the most advanced night vision off the market.” Chester typed in another command and the screen switched again, this time showing white, red, yellow and green blobs. “And we also have Infrared, too,” he said. “If it’s needed.”

  Chester switched it back to natural vision. The hummingbird was now high up in the sky. The whole town could be seen through the small camera lens. Jack could distinctly see the Piazza del Campo, which included the Palazzo Pubblico and the Torre del Mangia they had seen earlier. A white building, lavish and massive, contrasted against the surrounding brick buildings and clearly revealed itself as the Siena Cathedral. The Battistero di San Giovanni also came into view along the cathedral’s southern exterior. The pattern of streets below zigged and zagged in tightly curved arches that sprawled throughout the ancient city.

  “Alright,” Chester said. “Test drive completed. She’s flying like a pro.”

  The bird dipped down and flew along the rooftops, hovering above the tiles as it swiftly followed its path back to the hotel. Chester controlled the bird just like a video game. The trackpad on his laptop acted as the X and Y axis utilizing a full 360 degrees of motion, while 4 keys controlled the up, down, left and right movement. His thumb pressed down on the space bar, acting as the thrust control. A walk in the park, especially for a kid raised in the video game generation.

  The green hummingbird landed safely on top of the Palazzo Donatello across the street.

  “Okay,” Jack said. “Forbes is staying on the fifth floor, room 511. See if you can post up outside his window and get a look in.”

  Chester lifted the bird off the roof and steered it slowly down the face of the building. “Fifth floor,” he said. “Okay, here we are. This should be 511.”

  The bird hovered beside a window. The video feed showed an opening of about 5 inches along the bottom of the window.

  “Look! It’s cracked open,” Jack said enthusiastically. “Maybe we can actually get in.”

  Slowly, the bird inched forward until it peeked inside the room. Through the camera feed, the men could see the inside of the room clearly. Jack spotted a desk, bed and a large map spread out across the floor. But most promising… there was no sign of Forbes.

  “He’s not in there,” Jack said. “We lucked out.”

  “And he left us a map,” Chester said.

  “Can you get inside?”

  Chester pursed his lips. “It’s a tight fit,” he said. “I can try, though.”

  He navigated the bird toward the opening beneath the window. Chester tapped the thrust key in short bursts as the bird hovered within the opening. As soon as the wings had cleared, he powered it through the threshold and the bird zoomed into the room.

  “We’re in,” Chester reported reassuringly.

  “Good,” Jack said exhaling his relief.

  Chester ran the bird around the room, sweeping it twice over. He stopped directly above the map and lowered elevation until it filled the screen. He pressed the return key, which caused the shutter to open and close q
uickly, storing a hi-res snapshot of the scene before them.

  “Look,” Jack blurted, jabbing a finger toward the screen. “He’s circled areas. I knew it! Forbes knows all about this. And it looks like he’s already found possible locations of the treasure.”

  The proof was undeniable. Even on the video screen, both men could clearly make out which city was mapped out before them. The circles were concentrated to a specific diameter, centered among the Tuscan landscape…

  Florence.

  Chester snapped a few more pictures of the map—even a few detailed close-ups.

  “Anything else you need while I’m here?” Chester asked.

  “Circle the room again,” Jack said. “I want to see if there’s anything else that shows what he’s doing.

  The hummingbird soared around the room, feeding the video footage back to Jack and Chester who stared intently at the screen.

  “Ok,” Jack said. “There’s nothing else here.” The bird flew by the sculptures along the wall—passing by a bust tucked back in the far corner of the room. “Let’s get out of there before he comes back.”

  Chester flew the bird back toward the window. As he got closer, he became more and more meticulous in his movements. The bird hovered in front of the opening in the window and inched nearer. He was centimeters away from passing through when the bird’s wing clipped the windowpane causing it to veer sideways. It hit the ledge below, sending the small robot into a diving tailspin.

  Chester cursed as he desperately tried to regain control.

  The bird fluttered uncontrollably, hitting the wall again and again. It clearly wasn’t responding.

  “I think the sensor’s damaged. The orientations are all off…”

  The fourth time it ran into the wall the bird’s wings seemed to lock up completely sending it spiraling down to the ground like a wounded duck. It hit the carpet floor hard transmitting a double flicker of static across the monitor Jack and Chester were ogling over. Chester tried a few additional keystroke commands, but the bird was unresponsive. The camera feed continued sending a picture—half room and half decoratively embroidered dark purple carpet. It was an eerie picture.