gave her the job of finding out more about it – I think this counts. And it beats making PowerPoint slides.’
‘Nice slides, by the way,’ Eddie told Macy with a grin. ‘Almost no spelling mistakes!’
Macy pouted as Nina returned the first statue to the case and picked up the other. Again, a shimmering glow ran briefly over the figure’s surface before disappearing. Nina was about to put the statue back down, then changed her mind and picked up the first once more. This time, nothing happened – until she put the two figurines together, linking them shoulder to shoulder in the same way as Bellfriar’s slide. Both statues glowed, the light slightly stronger than before. The effect lasted for a few seconds before dwindling.
Macy hesitantly touched the figures, but nothing happened. ‘Why did they do that? And how come it never happened before? Dr Bellfriar had them for months, and he never saw anything like this.’
‘It never happened before because only certain people can cause the effect,’ said Nina. ‘People like . . . me. I don’t know how or why – the best theory is that it’s genetic – but there’s something about my body’s bioelectric field that lets me channel earth energy through a superconductor.’ She opted, for now, not to explain to her friend that her genetic heritage went all the way back to the lost civilisation of Atlantis, destroyed eleven thousand years before – and that the actions of other Atlantean descendants had almost brought about a global genocide. ‘We discovered it when we found Excalibur.’
‘But you’ve held the statues before,’ said Eddie. ‘Loads of times. They never lit up like that.’
‘Maybe they did, and we just didn’t notice. Open the blinds.’ Nina put down the figures as Eddie did so, daylight flooding back into the room. She picked up the statues again. If the strange glow had returned, it was impossible to tell, the feeble effect overwhelmed even by indirect sunlight from outside.
‘So how are we going to proceed?’ asked Penrose. ‘The statues are somehow connected to earth energy, it seems – and earth energy is an IHA security issue. We know how dangerous it can be if the wrong person controls it.’
Nina looked into the roughly carved face of one of the statues, little more than a child’s drawing in three dimensions with a bump for a nose and vague indentations for eyes and mouth. ‘We’ve got two of the statues. There might be a third . . . somewhere. If there is, we have to find it. But first, we need to find out more about what we’re dealing with – and what these things can do.’
Macy looked surprised. ‘They’re just statues. What
‘Excalibur was more than just a sword. When it was charged with earth energy, it could cut through literally anything. We know the Egyptian statue had some great significance – it was considered important enough to be sealed in the tomb of a god along with his greatest treasures. Maybe Osiris could channel its power – maybe that’s why he was regarded as a god. So we—’ She broke off as her desk phone rang, putting down the statue to answer it. ‘Hello?’
It was Lola Gianetti, Nina’s now four-months’ pregnant personal assistant. ‘Hi, Nina. Is Eddie with you? There’s a call for him.’
‘Can it wait? We’re in the middle of something.’
‘They said it was very important.’
‘Okay, he’s here. Hold on.’
She passed the phone to her husband. ‘Yeah, hello?’ he said, eyebrows rising as he recognised his sister’s voice. ‘Lizzie, hi. Haven’t heard from you for a while. What’s up?’
He moved away to continue the call with a modicum of privacy, leaving Nina, Penrose and Macy to regard the statues. ‘What do you have in mind?’ Penrose asked.
‘We need to find out what the earth energy effect actually does,’ said Nina. ‘Which means we need to take the statues to a convergence point.’ She chewed her lower lip, thinking. ‘There are four places where I know for sure that I can find earth energy. Problem is, one is in a Russian military base, another’s in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, and one’s buried under thousands of tons of rock out in the desert in a country where I’m not exactly welcome.’
‘Jeez,’ said Macy. ‘So where’s the fourth one? Inside a volcano?’
‘Fortunately, no,’ said Nina, smiling. ‘It’s somewhere a bit easier to reach – and a lot less hot. England. In King Arthur’s tomb at Glastonbury, actually.’ She looked across at Eddie to see if the mention of his home country had caught his attention, but he had his back to her, holding his conversation in a low voice.
‘And you want to take the statues there?’ Penrose asked.
‘Yes. I think the glow we saw just now is only a residual effect – if there are any lines of earth energy around New York, they’re either too weak or too far away to produce much power. If I take the statues to Glastonbury, with luck I’ll see what happens when they get a full charge.’
Penrose shook his head slightly. ‘I’m not sure the Egyptians will want their statue to leave IHA security. Or Interpol theirs, for that matter.’
‘We’ll work something out. But we should do it fast. As you said, it’s a security issue now.’
He thought for a moment, then nodded. ‘I’ll speak to Dr Assad in Egypt and the Interpol CPCU, see if I can persuade them to speed things along. I think you’re right, though; we need to look into this – and if there’s a third statue out there, we have to find it. When were you thinking about starting?’
‘About ten minutes ago,’ said Nina.
Penrose shot a rueful glance at the paperwork on her desk. ‘And the backlog relating to the Vault of Shiva? Or the meeting of the non-executive directors? Mr Glas particulalry wanted to meet you.’
‘That’s what I like about being in charge,’ she said with a broad grin. ‘I get to delegate!’
‘I’m sure Bill and Simone will be delighted to hear that,’ said Penrose, returning the smile. ‘Okay, I’ll make the calls. Keep me posted.’ He tipped his head to the two women, then left the office.
‘So you’re going to England?’ said Macy excitedly. ‘Can I come?’
Nina was caught off guard. ‘What?’
