SUMMATION (8 page)

           The friend jumped in again. "Oh, I bet they're
seals. Wax seals. They put them on to see if anybody tampered with the box. They
would put hot wax on something, like an envelope, and put their ring or seal or
something to mark it and let it cool. If someone opens it, it breaks. Kind of
like the ones on the back of semi's now, only now they're aluminum or plastic
and have numbers on them so you know if someone opened it." He looked at
it again, nodding to himself. "Yea, I'd bet money on that. Must be
something important inside."

           That's what Frankie thought.

           Or at least was hoping.

           "What about that?" Tony asked,
pointing to the symbol.

           "I don't know. Just a mark on the case. I
don't know if it means anything or not. Oh, and on the side there was a fancy
cross. Some kind of metal." He flipped the paper over. "Not a regular
cross. Something fancy. Like this."     

           He drew a cross, then started adding little
circles to the edge of the arms of the cross. Kind of goofy looking. Not like
anything any of them had ever seen.

           "And this? Just a letter - just a capital
E? That's it? Nothing else anywhere on the box? That seems a little odd. Not to
mention the goofy cross design. You sure about that?"

           "Well, pretty much. I don't know much about
it. That's why I'm here."

           "What's inside it?"

           "Don't know. Haven't opened it. It's uh, we
don't want to, uh, can't break those seals or whatever -it might lose some
value as an old find. You know, like you don't clean an old coin kind of thing?"

           The boys looked at each other again. Tony
shrugged his shoulders. "Possible, I guess. So what exactly do you want?"

           "What is it? What could be inside of it? Is
it valuable?" Frankie was trying to think of what to say without giving
away any information. "Anything about it would help."

           "Why not take it to some University or
something? They'd be able to tell you all about it. They might even buy it off
ya. You don't need us for that."

           This wasn't going quite as Frankie had planned.

           Of course, nothing ever did.

           "Well, we were going to do that, but we
want to know what it is first so they don't try to rip us off."

           "Oh. Yeah. That makes sense." Tony
spun around in the chair facing the keyboard, and started typing. "Let's
try a couple things real quick."  He tried some simple descriptions "Lock
Box Cross, E" "Lockbox 6 locks" "Lockbox yellow ribbon"
and so on.

           There were hits on each of those key words, a
few on some descriptions, a few more on others, but some finds were a real
stretch.

           Lockbox was a pretty common word, it seemed. Everything
from an iron box carried on stage coaches in the Old West to a term for keeping
various government funds and deposits separate from other funds. Companies used
the term for having a third party collect payments for them. A variety of other
definitions rounded out the collection. Dozens of photos supplemented the
descriptions, but nothing was close. Not anywhere close.

           Tony stopped, looking at the screen, then
Frankie's drawing, eyebrows furrowed.

           "Let me try something else." He
started typing again, this time only on the topic of crosses. Soon dozens of
crosses filled the screen. As he scanned down, dozens more. Frankie had no idea
there were that many kinds of crosses, all having their own name. He panned
down the screen, all three trying to find one that matched Frankie's drawing.

           Nothing.

           He clicked on another site, with another
collection of crosses. A few more that were new, and lot they'd already seen.

           Still nothing.

           He tried a third with the same result. Most of
the crosses were just repeats from the previous site. It was one of those cases
of a good idea that just didn't seem to pan out. He went ahead to another site.
A lot fewer choices on this one, and all these were duplicates as well.

           "Well, that sure didn't work. I thought it
would have. Unless the sketch is off."

           Frankie looked at the sketch, trying to remember
the box. "I could be wrong, but I think this is pretty close. Can you just
check a few more?"

           "Hey, it's your dime. No problem." Tony
clicked on another site.

           Two more sites.

           Nothing, still.

           And then, on the next site, there it was. Nothing
special. Just one of dozens on the page. But there it was. Just like Frankie
had drawn it. Complete with the circles.

           "Well I'll be damned," said Tony. "There
it is. Just like you said."

           Frankie smiled to himself. He wasn't such an
idiot after all.

           "Khachkar" or "Siroun"
Cross, the title said. From Armenia. Apparently from a pagan background, prior
to Christianity, but adopted as a Christian symbol. From the sounds of the
article, it wasn't at all unusual for the early Christians to adopt or co-opt a
symbol, or adapt or modify symbols from the local culture and make them their
own as well, a practice that occurs, even today, much to the dismay of
establishment church leaders.

           Tony looked thoughtful again. "So it might
not be a regular cross after all. That sucker might actually be really be old. Let's
try it again, with these included". Tony took the lead and started typing.
He now included "Khachkar" and "Siroun" in the searches he'd
tried before. Far fewer hits, now that it was more specific, but still many
pages, each with numerous sites to search through. The hits were getting pretty
random, however, some with just simple variations of the word. Mostly just
drawings and comparisons of different types of crosses. Nothing helpful. Lots
of pages, but not much help.

           "Anything else at all you can think of that
might narrow it down some? Anything else you can tell me at all for the search?"
He turned to Frankie, putting his hands on his knees and leaned forward. "Maybe
the owner's name? Or where he lives? Anything?"

           Frankie was afraid to get too specific. If there
was something really valuable, as he suspected, the last thing he needed was
for word to get out that he had found it. Not only would he lose the treasure,
but probably lose his pension as well, and maybe even end up in jail. No, he
had to be careful. "Well, the guy who owns it lives here in Rome, if that
helps."

           Tony turned back and started to add "Rome"
to the description, then paused. "You know, as old as you say it is, and
with a cross, here in Rome, maybe it had some history with the Vatican. Not
real likely, but we might as well try it."

           Frankie froze. Had he said too much already? That
was quite a leap, unexpected. Just a lucky guess. Coincidence.

           But still worrisome.  

           Frankie didn't know what to say, and wisely said
nothing.

           Unusually wise for him.

           "Of course," Tony continued, "If
the cross isn't a Christian cross, it might have nothing to do with the
Vatican. What the hell." He shrugged his shoulders and continued typing. He
clicked ENTER, and waited.

           One entry popped up.

           "Demon Star". That was it. One entry. Along
with a drawing that wasn't all that different from Frankie's. All three of them
stared at the screen, amazed that they'd actually found something. Not only the
cross they'd been searching for, but the lockbox as well. Just like Frankie's
drawing.

           Tony double-clicked the item and waited a moment
for the article to pop up.

Demon Star

The Demon Star, according to legend, is the remains of a
meteorite that fell in the area of what is now southern France or eastern Italy
in approximately 1200 to 1210 A.D., and was reportedly transported to various
locations in what is now northern Greece. The meteorite was to have been used
in various ceremonies, and then placed in a specially adorned lockbox to be
hidden. Followers of a long vanished pagan sect thought it was a sign from God
that they were to overthrow the rule of Rome, especially the religious
domination of the Catholic Church.

            The box was to have disappeared shortly
thereafter. Many feel that the box and star were only symbolic, not actual
items, as neither the box nor the remnants of the meteorite it may have
contained have ever been seen or reported since.

            For further information, click HERE.

Tony clicked for more information, but the screen just went
blank. He tried to click back, but the original site would not come back up. Going
backwards, the site was simply not there.

           Puzzled, he tried to reenter the same search
terms, starting from scratch, but this time, nothing came up. He tried the
exact same search terms, but still, nothing. He then tried searching for the "Demon
Star", but none of the references went to their original site.

           Tony just shrugged his shoulders again and
turned around. "Beats the hell out of me. I don't know what happened
there. One minute there, next gone. Website must have crashed. Anyway, that was
it. A meteorite in a box. There's your treasure."

           "That's it. A box of rocks." Tony
looked at his buddy, and they both started laughing. Frankie was puzzled. He
didn't get the joke.

           "What's so funny?"

           "What's dumber than a box of rocks?"
asked Tony. Not waiting, he answered himself. "Anyone
looking
for a
box of rocks."

           Frankie turned red. Some treasure. A fucking box
of rocks. After all that.

          
Shit
.

           He stood up, knocking the chair over backwards. He
didn't even bother picking it up.

           "Hey, man, anything else you want us to
find?" Tony was still laughing.

           "Fuck you, asshole." Back to the old
Frankie. He stormed out, still hearing the laughs. The rest of the room stared
at him as he stomped out. Some Neanderthal pissing in the pool.

           He headed home without so much as a glance back.

           Tony turned back to the computer, clearing the
screen. His buddy crumpled up Frankie's drawing and tossed it into the can.

           Not a bad afternoon. Cash AND entertainment.

* * *

           Someone else was also very happy. It had been
many years, and although he obviously had not sat at a computer watching all
that time, the electronics had, and flashed him on the screen.  Someone had
found the box. Maybe.  The search parameters used by the boys flashed alongside
it.

'iron lockbox yellow ribbon seals Vatican Khachkar cross'

           This was not a random or wild guess hit. The
description showed they had more information than was originally posted on the
site that had been prepared as bait. When it had been set up, he hadn't
actually expected a result; he was just covering his bases. Curiosity seekers
might accidentally hit the site, and find the generic information, and move on.
But if someone hit it, and actually had information, he would know it by the
way they searched, and by their clicking for more information.

           That was why he designed the site to close down
after the first contact. He could always put it back up if he needed. But this
was good.  He knew that
this
person had actually seen it or had first-hand
information. Maybe. Not just a guess. Probably. He tried to temper his
enthusiasm. Could it be? Finally?

           He continued reading the header information. This
information encoded the location of the requestor. Using the information, he
quickly ran it down using some additional software he had paid a lot of money
to get, and a lot more to make sure the seller forgot who bought it, narrowing the
IP address to an internet café in Rome. That made it even more reasonable and
probably legitimate. He printed out the information to keep a hard copy, and
fired up his e-mail. Looking through the list for a moment, he selected a name,
then transferred the information to the body of the letter. He was dialing his
phone at the same time.

           "I have a job for you," as he pressed
SEND.

           One phone call led to another, and in less than
forty minutes two men were standing outside the café listed as the address the
computer had directed them to. They stepped inside, and Manny, the smaller of
the two, spoke briefly to the clerk. Their badges looked real enough, the
request reasonable, so the clerk pointed to the computer where the two boys
were still playing. The men approached them, badges still out.

           "Boys, we have a few questions."

           "Hang on a sec," replied Tony,
concentrating on the game.

           The larger man reached over and yanked the plug
from the monitor from the wall, turning the screen black.

           "What the fuck?" asked Tony, turning
around to see who had messed with his game, starting to rise from his chair.

           The same man gave him a shove back into that
same chair.

           The boys recognized instantly that these two
weren't messing around, and uncharacteristically shut up, no smart replies from
either one.

           Manny quickly flashed his badge, then stuck it
back in his pocket.

           "What's up," asked Tony, finally, his
voice cracking. Embarrassed, he cleared his throat. "I mean, what's the
matter? What did we do?"

           "What can you tell me about this?"
showing them a printout with a sketch, one very similar to the sketch they had
seen on line. In fact, it looked as if it had been printed directly from the
web site. Had it?

           "Why? What's the big deal?" The boys
started standing up.

           Both were pushed, roughly, back into their
chairs.

           "Sit down. Where did you get this?" The
men had turned on their 'threatening' look, so useful during the collections
and enforcement activities they usually performed.

           It was usually pretty effective.

           It was certainly working now. Both boys suddenly
looked scared.