The Secret of Excalibur

‘I’d like to discuss this with Hector myself,’ said Nina, tight-lipped.

‘I thought you would. That’s why he’s on his way to England right now - he might even be at the embassy already. You can talk to him in person.’

‘Bloody hell,’ muttered Chase. ‘Bit quick off the mark, aren’t you?’

‘Vaskovich’s people will be ready to move as soon as they figure out where the sword pieces are,’ Mitchell said. ‘So we need to move faster.’

‘Huh,’ said Nina. ‘I guess we’re going to London, then.’

Chase stood and looked out of the window at the limo. ‘We’d better take your car - ours is a bit knackered. Good job we took out the damage insurance . . .’

The American embassy dominated one end of London’s leafy Grosvenor Square. It was, Nina thought as the limo rounded the anti-terrorist security blockades to pull into a guarded side gate, a singularly unattractive structure: a brutalist block of concrete and glass, completely at odds with the elegant Victorian and Georgian townhouses nearby. But for all that, the sight of the Stars and Stripes flying outside gave her a momentary swell of pride. A piece of home away from home.

Their departure from Elizabeth’s home had been hurried, with Holly and Nan surprised and sorry to see them leave, and Elizabeth saying very little, frustrated at being unable to vent her remaining anger at Chase. Mac had also been surprised; though Mitchell’s reiteration of the classified nature of the mission meant Chase couldn’t tell him anything, the brief exchange of glances between the two former SAS men reassured Chase that Mac would use his own contacts to help if he could.

Now, Peach brought them to an office overlooking Grosvenor Square, where Amoros was waiting for them. ‘Hector,’ said Nina. ‘My God, you look exhausted!’

‘I’ve had a hectic twenty-four hours,’ he said grumpily. ‘It’s not every day that my Director of Operations - and her Special Assistant,’ he added, glaring at Chase, ‘get arrested for destroying half a town. Then, as if dealing with the press wasn’t enough, suddenly I’m told it’s now a national security issue and I get hustled on to a State Department jet and flown to England without even being given time to pack a toothbrush!’

‘Sorry about that, Admiral,’ said Mitchell, stepping forward to shake Amoros’s hand. ‘Jack Mitchell, DARPA. We spoke on the phone.’

Amoros regarded Mitchell as if he wasn’t what he’d expected before turning back to Nina. ‘They’ve filled me in about the situation. I imagine you’re not entirely happy about it.’

‘Hardly,’ Nina snorted. ‘Hector, I appreciate that yes, if what Mr Mitchell says is true then there are national security issues. But if that’s the case, surely this is now a job for the CIA, not the IHA. If we’re seen to be taking sides or actively working for one particular government, it could make it a lot harder to get cooperation from other countries in the future.’

‘I hear what you’re saying, and to a certain extent I agree. But this situation is different.’

‘Yeah? How come?’

Amoros was not pleased to be challenged. ‘Because, Nina, the chickens have come home to roost. The IHA might have been set up under the flag of the UN, but it was the NATO nations, and especially the United States, that funded it. The US has put a lot of money and resources into the IHA - and over seventy lives, I’m sure I don’t need to remind you. So now Uncle Sam is asking the IHA to do something in return.’ On seeing Nina’s disapproving expression, he went on: ‘Jesus, Nina! This is exactly why the IHA was created in the first place, you know that! If this Vaskovich gets Excalibur, we could have another Atlantis on our hands - and not that sanitised fairytale version we put out to the public, but the real story, the one that almost ended with millions of people dead!’

‘But we’ve got almost nothing to go on!’ Nina objected. ‘Bernd told me that the priest at that church in Sicily was murdered by the Russians, but the local police said they suspected the Mafia. And maybe they were right, maybe the death was just a coincidence.’

‘And if this thing was there,’ Chase added, ‘wouldn’t that mean Vaskovich has got what he needs already?’

‘The murder was three weeks ago. If he’d been able to use it to get his system working, we’d know about it by now,’ said Mitchell. ‘It’s possible the piece was too small to be useful - or that Caliburn isn’t an effective enough superconductor.’

‘Or,’ Nina countered, ‘Bernd could have been wrong about the whole thing.’

‘But he might not,’ said Mitchell. ‘Which is why we have to make sure - and why we’re asking you to help us, Dr Wilde. After everything you’ve accomplished in the past few years, you’re clearly the best person for the job.’ He nodded at the picture of President Dalton on the office wall. ‘We need you. Your country needs you.’

‘This has all come from higher up,’ Amoros said, glancing at Mitchell. ‘The IHA is committed to helping DARPA find these artefacts before this Russian can.’

‘I’m convinced your friend was right about Excalibur - that it exists, and that he was on the right path to finding it,’ Mitchell said to Nina. ‘If Vaskovich uses his research to find Excalibur before we can, then he’ll have died for nothing . . . and a lot of other people might die as well.’

For the second time in two days, Nina knew she was being emotionally blackmailed - but she also knew there was no way she could say no. Not when the security of the country - of the world - was at stake.

And if Excalibur did exist, if the Arthurian legends were actually true, then she would be the one to prove it. Another great accomplishment, turning thirty be damned . . .

She turned to Chase. ‘What do you think, Eddie?’

‘Me?’ he said, shrugging. ‘Sounds like fun. Get some action and save the world at the same time - I’m up for that.’

Nina was silent, weighing her options. ‘All right,’ she said finally, ‘I’ll do it. But it’s going to be an IHA operation. Not some kind of split jurisdiction affair where somebody’s second-guessing everything I do, and definitely not a military mission. If I’m doing it, then I’m in charge.’

‘That was actually going to be the plan anyway,’ Mitchell told her, ‘so we took care of that without any problems! There are just two provisos - only little ones,’ he said with a perfect white grin as Nina opened her mouth to protest. ‘The first is that when we find Excalibur, DARPA gets to analyse it so we can figure out exactly how Merlin made a high-temperature superconductor about fifteen hundred years early. It’ll go back to the IHA as soon as we’re done.’

Nina nodded. ‘And the second?’

‘The second . . . is that I’ll be going with you.’

‘Oh, you will, eh?’ Chase said, raising an eyebrow.

‘I’ll be DARPA’s representative - but it’ll still be an IHA operation,’ Mitchell assured Nina, before snapping her a sharp salute. ‘At your service, ma’am.’

‘That was a proper salute,’ Chase realised. ‘You didn’t mention you were in the forces.’

‘Commander, United States Navy,’ Mitchell said proudly. ‘Before I transferred to DARPA.’

Nina was impressed; Chase rather less so. ‘A matelot, huh?’ he said.

‘Nuclear submarines - USS Jimmy Carter.’ Chase made a face. ‘You wouldn’t get me on a nuclear sub. Not without a lead codpiece.’

‘They’re not that bad. Well, ours aren’t - I don’t know about the Russians’. But what we need to do now is figure out where to go next. Dr Wilde, I need you to tell me absolutely everything you can remember about what Rust told you.’

‘Nina.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘If we’re working together, I think it should be on a first-name basis. So call me Nina.’

Mitchell smiled again. ‘That suits me fine, Nina.’

‘Okay . . . Jack.’ They smiled at each other.

Chase rolled his eyes. ‘So where are we going?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Nina, shaking her head. ‘The only place Bernd actually gave me a name for was Koroneou, in the Greek islands . . . but he said the sword pieces weren’t there.’ She thought for a moment. ‘But there must have been something there that led him to where he thought they were. And he said one