The Medici Letters: The Secret Origins of the Renaissance

by Taylor Buck

  Jack looked around him, scanning for any additional attacking spider-robots. He felt a surge of adrenaline pump through his veins.

  He’s here—Forbes.

  Morgan Forbes had created his own mobile GPR units… and his were equipped to attack. That also meant they had visual abilities… Forbes was probably watching him right now.

  “Chester,” Jack said, “Forbes created mobile GPR scanners—crawlers. He also managed to outdo yours…”

  “What do you mean? Outdo?”

  “I mean his have onboard AI smart enough to engage an assault. The damn thing tried to attack me.”

  “You mean… literally?” Chester asked.

  “Yes! It leapt at me… I had to swat it away… like a bug.”

  “Sounds like the widow model…” Chester mumbled to himself. “But how the hell would he know about that?”

  “I don’t know,” Jack said as he crossed the room. “Do me a favor. I need your eyes outside.”

  “You got it.”

  Jack ran down the central hallway and reached the staircase. A noise grabbed his attention… something familiar. Click, click-click… Sounds coming up the stairs. Long mechanical appendages appeared from the cellar stairwell. The dark spear-like legs gave way to the full frame of the robot—shiny and menacing in the darkness. It was scampering up the stairs toward him.

  Geez, there are more of these things?

  “Chester, I found another one! He’s sending more of them in.”

  “I know,” replied Chester sounding frazzled. “I can see at least 4 more of them outside. They’re moving in toward you now.”

  Jack grabbed the door to the stairwell to shut it. Just then, he felt a hot sensation on his arm… accompanied by a piercing sting.

  Something is burning me.

  He slammed the door closed and grabbed his arm. He could see a red streak spread across his forearm. It was bright red, pink almost… and blistering. It was as if the robot had…

  Of course. It triggered something in Jack’s memory… the heat lasers. Chester had mentioned some kind of light saber device that TerraTEK had in production. These things are equipped with heat lasers? You’ve got to be kidding me.

  He heard the robot behind the door scratching at the wood, clawing to get in… as an animal would. Jack quickly searched around the kitchen. He opened the drawer beside him and pulled out a rolling pin. Thick. Oak. Solid. Without hesitating, he ripped open the door and swung the rolling pin in a cricket-style swing, low and rising. The pin connected underneath the spider and sent it flying back down the stairs into the dark. Jack heard it tumble noisily, crunching and clanging all the way down to the bottom.

  “Jack!” Chester shouted.

  A faint fluttering sounded from outside catching Jack’s attention. He turned to see the hummingbird fly past the window. Meanwhile, Chester was shouting his name through the earpiece.

  “Jack!”

  “What?”

  “You’ve got company,” Chester said.

  “I know! I’m taking care of it.”

  “No, not that—”

  “Cullen!” a voice boomed from across the room. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  An imposing figure stood in the hallway—a tall, rugged man with dark hair, dressed in desert khakis, a tattered oxford and weathered fedora. Morgan Forbes. Jack wasn’t the least bit surprised. This time, he had been expecting him.

  “I could ask you the same thing,” Jack replied, turning around to face him.

  Forbes stared at Jack with a burning gaze and made his way into the kitchen. “I’m working, Jack. I was hired to scan the Medici villas and that’s exactly what I’m doing. I sent in my GPR scanners to provide a reading, which they were doing before someone destroyed two of them…two very expensive GPR bots, I might add.”

  “Your robots…” Jack snapped angrily, “attacked me. I was defending myself. Tell me Morgan, why exactly would you create GPR bots that were directed to attack people?”

  Forbes looked at Jack condescendingly, as if the answer were obvious. “You ought to know by now…I’m not exactly one to play it safe. My devices are programmed to defend themselves if necessary—they clearly must have deemed it necessary to do so.”

  “Not exactly subtle,” Jack said displaying the burn across his forearm.

  Forbes observed the wound rather indifferently. “Could have been a lot worse.”

  Jack gripped the rolling pin tightly in his hands and gritted his teeth.

  “Why did you do it?” Jack asked. “It’s obvious now that it was you from the start… why would you hurt Kathleen?”

  Forbes shook his head and clucked his tongue disdainfully. “Jackie, you really can’t look past your own obduracy can you? I mean, here you are, clearly looking for the same thing I am… and somehow you think that I care enough about your inept existence to take Kat from you?”

  “Why not?” Jack said. “You tried it before, why not try it again?”

  Forbes slammed his fist on the sandstone counter. “That’s enough!” he yelled. “I’ve had enough of this. You need to get your facts straight, Jack.”

  Forbes crossed his arms and leaned against the counter, staring directly at Jack. “Let’s put this to rest, shall we?”

  Jack stared back disdainfully, wondering if he should jump across the kitchen island and end the whole thing right then and there.

  “That night, when Kat was drugged… it wasn’t me. I would’ve never done anything to hurt her. Never.” Forbes eyes were narrowed and intense. He looked at Jack with a wild and untamed gaze, almost frantic, before his eyes trailed off and cast down to the hardwood floor. For a moment, Jack saw faint despondency in his face. Then Forbes met eyes with Jack again. “Just know that it wasn’t me.”

  “Then who?”

  Forbes looked away again. “You remember Libya... I have no doubt you remember Abdul.”

  Jack’s face hardened.

  “We were working with his men to get information on the tablet. My god, we were so close. We nearly had it…” Forbes let out a heavy sigh.

  “Then, what?” Jack demanded.

  “Jack,” Forbes said gathering a look of resolve. “It was a ruthless bunch. Barbarians. Savages. She should have never been there.” He shook his head. “Come on, Jack. You know as well as I do that Kat had no business showing up in Benghazi like that. It was a suicide miss—”

  “It wasn’t just them, Forbes,” Jack interrupted. “You also wanted something you couldn’t have…”

  Forbes opened his mouth to protest and then stopped himself, seemingly countering his own reply. He hung his head as he stared at the kitchen floor and nodded as if to accept his own objection. “I loved her… Of course I did. It was no secret.”

  “Please…” Jack scoffed. “You didn’t love her. That’s a lie. You don’t love people, Morgan, you love yourself…and Kathleen saw right through you. Besides, if you loved her, you would have been there that night.”

  “I tried, Jack. I did what I could… she had information that they needed. Like I said—they were a brutal bunch.”

  “Brutal? Brutal? You knocked her out and drugged her to get the information you wanted. That’s not brutal… that’s sadistic.”

  “I didn’t do anything,” Forbes said pointing to himself. “I left town before any of that happened. I didn’t lay a finger on her. Get that through your head, Jack.”

  “That changes nothing!” Jack yelled, slamming his fist down on the table. “You were aware and you did nothing to stop it. It’s as if you left those bruises yourself.”

  Forbes kept a vacant stare fixed on the kitchen floor. He appeared flustered and defensive—yet vaguely remorseful. This kind of behavior was a far departure from the man that Jack remembered. “I buried that night long ago,” he finally answered. “It’s been twelve years. It’s not something I can go back and change.”

  “So you’re telling me that you had nothing to do with Kat’s accident in Switzerla
nd?”

  Forbes shook his head. “You have my word. I didn’t hear about it until I saw you in Siena. I looked into it right away and tried to find out the details but there’s nothing in the news about it. I couldn’t find a thing.” He looked at Jack for a response. He didn’t get one. “Anyway, I’m very sorry Jack… how is she doing?”

  Jack hesitated, still not wanting to divulge details to the man he utterly despised. “She’s still in a coma.”

  “Damn,” Forbes whispered under his breath.

  “So what are you doing here, Morgan?” Jack asked curtly. “Who are you working with?”

  Forbes took a moment to ponder over whether or not he wanted to answer that question. He had no obligation to respond, but somehow he felt he owed it to Jack.

  “A man who calls himself Il Drago, contacted me.”

  “The dragon?” Jack said. Where had he heard that name? Il Drago. It sounded remarkably familiar.

  “I’ve worked with him in the past,” Forbes said. “He’s… well connected. I’ve never met him in person and only communicated with him over the phone. He contacted me while I was in Colombia last week and told me the infamous Medici treasure had surfaced. He also mentioned that he had come upon a key leading to the treasure. Needless to say, I was interested. He asked me to come immediately. He knew I could find it… and he was right.”

  “You take orders from a guy you’ve never met?” Jack asked.

  “Trust me,” Forbes said beneath slanted eyebrows. “I wouldn’t give the guy a second thought if it wasn’t in my interest to do so. He’s the same guy who led me to the Aphrodite Medallion two years ago in Athens.

  “Still… rather suspicious, though, wouldn’t you say?”

  Forbes grinned wryly. “You know me, Jack. I’m not exactly one to color inside the lines.”

  “So the key…” Jack said. “Do you still have it?”

  Forbes leaned against the counter behind him and let out another sigh. “Not exactly. It was taken last night from my hotel room…” He looked inquisitively at Jack, somewhat accusingly. “Now you wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

  “Actually, yes. I saw it happen,” Jack replied.

  “Wait. You what—?”

  “But it wasn’t me. I snuck into your hotel room last night and witnessed it myself.”

  “What!” Forbes was turning red. “Are you bloody insane?”

  “Morgan, there’s a third party involved here that has been a step ahead the whole time.”

  “Jack, what the hell are you talking about? What third party?”

  “I don’t know exactly. I’ve been tracking someone or something that last few days. I think it’s the person responsible for Kat’s accident. Whoever it is broke into your hotel room last night and left with the key. I chased after them but they got away.”

  “Wait a minute… were they dressed in black? Like some kind of ninja assassin or something?”

  “Yes, exactly.”

  Forbes’ eyes moved to the windows. “I’ve seen the same thing,” he said looking around nervously. “It… well something’s been following me around.”

  “You and me both,” added Jack. “The question is—who are they working for and what do they want?”

  “I haven’t a clue,” Forbes said.

  “Well, that’s why I’m here,” said Jack. “I’m trying to find all of this out.”

  Forbes let out a small chuckle. “Don’t tell me you’re not also here for the treasure.”

  “Listen,” Jack said leaning forward. “I’ve been working with the Medici Preservation Society to uncover the treasure. It’s no secret, but it’s only because I know the assassin is after the same thing. I’m here to find the man who put Kat in a coma, and I’m getting closer and closer. Right now, I’ve narrowed that down to you and whoever this assassin is. If you’re telling the truth, then I’ve got my answer. It’s been following you and evading me. But with both of us here tonight… our chance at finding the assassin has increased tenfold.”

  Forbes nodded.

  “As far as the treasure goes… Kathleen risked her life to find this treasure, and now it’s just within my reach. I’ll be damned if I let it fall into the wrong hands now.”

  Jack’s words were a blatant spear to Forbes being there. He knew it, but he didn’t bother acknowledging.

  “I gotta ask,” said Jack. “What led you here exactly, Morgan? I mean… out of all of the Medici villas in Italy, what led you to this specific one. The chances of us meeting here are astronomical.”

  Forbes stepped back and cocked his head to the side. “You’re joking, right?”

  Jack looked back blankly. Was he missing something? He clearly wasn’t joking.

  “Alberti,” Forbes stated, as if it was obvious. “The entire estate was designed by him.”

  Alberti… Suddenly, it was as if a lightbulb shattered within Jack’s psyche. It took only a second for Jack to link the connection. Leon Battista Alberti. Through all of the figures involved with the Medici, Jack had neglected to remember one of the most celebrated polymaths, or Renaissance men, of all time. Architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, cryptographer and mathematician… Leon Battista Alberti was a master Humanist. He was also credited as a central role model to both Lorenzo Medici and Leonardo Da Vinci. He’s recorded in history books as a founding Renaissance Humanist who seemed to have a mysterious grasp on the arts…

  Of course! Jack thought. How had I not factored him in earlier? But something still wasn’t right.

  “What do you mean, he designed this villa? Michelozzo designed this. He designed all of Cosimo’s villas.”

  “A common misconception,” Forbes said. “Michelozzo is the architect most people attribute the Medici villas to, but evidence suggests that Leon Battista Alberti irrefutably built the Medici villa at Fiesole. It’s been validated by highly reputable historical experts—geniuses in the field.”

  “Yeah? Like who?” Jack pressed.

  “Well, you’re wife for starters,” Forbes replied half-attempting to hide his smirk. “Kat even said it herself.”

  Jack felt confused and slightly wounded by Forbes’ comment. What was he referring to? Had she known about the treasure all along and not told him? Jack’s mind was spinning. He felt defensive. Uninformed. Out of the loop. Thankfully, Forbes proceeded to elaborate.

  “In her report, taken from her keynote at last summer’s World Tech Conference, she revealed that Alberti was involved with the Medici on a great many levels. He was one of Cosimo’s closest friends and also the architect of his fourth estate—at Fiesole.”

  Jack scanned his memory for any trace of recollection. He had been so uninvolved with Kathleen’s research this past year that it was entirely possible they hadn’t discussed it. With him losing his job…and the media attention from his book… he realized they had kept work matters to themselves. In fact, Jack had probably pushed it away. It was a tough year and Jack had been pulled in different directions… he hadn’t been involved with Kat’s work at all—like he used to. Like they used to do… together.

  He looked around the room. The location… the gardens… the open floor plan and signature loggia. The villa at Fiesole was almost entirely contradictory to the others…a welcoming getaway, a true example of Humanist architecture—and the perfect guise for an inconspicuous treasure to reside.

  If what Forbes was saying was true, Leon Battista Alberti was one of The Four. He would have had knowledge of the Thēsauros and he would have used it to accelerate his learning, as Cosimo put it. It made perfect sense. Who else impacted the Renaissance artists more than he? Alberti literally wrote the book on Renaissance art—3 of them, actually. They were all guidebooks in which Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botticelli, Raphael and many other humanist disciples devoutly pored over.

  Alberti used the Thēsauros to draft the blueprint for Renaissance art… a blueprint that resides somewhere below where I am standing. “So,” said Jack. “Maybe you
’re right. But even if Alberti is the fourth, we still don’t have proof that the treasure is buried here.”

  Forbes walked slowly to the south window overlooking the city. The church spires were barely visible in the distance as the sun neatly tucked behind the skyline. “That’s where you’re wrong, Jack. You really shouldn’t doubt yourself. You’ve got the scent for this, ya’ know?”

  “What do you mean?” Jack asked.

  “I mean you’re a treasure hunter, Jack. You should have never given it up. Both you and Kat.”

  “We gave it up for each other,” Jack said. “Not that I expect you to know what that means.”

  “Point taken. I’ll give you that, old friend. She’s a diamond in the rough.” Forbes removed his hat and bent the curve of the brim, carefully shaping it. His sweaty hair was matted down across his forehead.

  Jack placed his hands on the table in front of him, palms down. “How are you so sure the treasure is here?”

  “The treasure is here all right, Jackie,” he said pulling out what looked like a rolled up sheet of paper. “But we’re not going to get there from here.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Jack watched Forbes spread out the paper, pressing it and kneading it outward to flatten it. It was odd looking—unlike any kind of material he had seen before. The texture was translucent and reflective yet the form was curiously malleable. “You’ve already got a GPR reading of the estate?” he asked.

  Forbes turned off the overhead light. The room suddenly went dark. The paper in front of them immediately responded by illuminating itself with a shimmering glow—as if compensating for the drop in light. Jack tried to hide his intrigue, but the object before him was mesmerizing.

  “Is that—?”

  “Nanofibrillated cellulose,” said Forbes. “My work in progress. Tiny, transparent transistors spread across a sheet of cellulose… totally organic. I happen to have a patent on this particular variety.”