The Norse Directive (20 page)

Atlanta

Tara pulled back a loose strand of blonde hair and tucked it neatly behind her ear. Her eyes never left the object on the laboratory table as the other hand expertly peeled back one of the brittle pages.

“You really should wear a hat when you’re doing something like this,” Alex said. He hovered over her like a fog, watching her every movement.

His brown hair was combed to the side with a part near the left center of his high forehead. His thick black glasses completed the look of a lab researcher. Other than the mask over her face, Tara could have pulled off the librarian or the scientist look.

“I’m fine,” she said just above a whisper. “And I only wear a hat when I’m at a baseball game or at the Kentucky Derby.”

Between the two of them, Tara had the higher passion for sports, while Alex preferred to sit at home and spend his time on a different kind of addiction: various television series.

Tara teased him about it on an almost weekly basis. Thanks to his Netflix subscription, he had an almost unlimited supply of television shows to watch throughout the week. While he spent the majority of his time in the IAA lab, he always cut out an hour or two for good television just before bedtime.

She gently turned another page with a pair of tweezers. Alex scanned the page with the high-resolution camera as he’d done with all the others before.

“I wonder why we haven’t seen any other underlining after those six letters. Got a theory on that?” she asked, turning another page.

“It’s strange. They only underlined the one word. We’ll need to talk to Tommy to get some context.”

“Talk to Tommy about what?” A familiar voice entered the conversation from across the dimly lit room. Most of the light the two were using came from two mechanical lights propped on the table.

Tommy’s question nearly caused Tara to rip the current page out of the book, but she held steady enough to keep from doing any permanent damage.

“I’m working here,” she said with the slightest irritation. “You know, I could have ruined this thing. Shouldn’t sneak up on people when they’re working on potentially priceless artifacts.”

Tommy put up his hands apologetically. “I’m sorry. Couldn’t resist.” He made his way through the labyrinth of tables, chairs, microscopes, and other lab equipment. He was followed closely by Sean and Adriana. “What do you have so far?”

“Not much,” Alex answered, taking an image of the next page. “We’re documenting everything at this point.”

“But we did notice one oddity,” Tara added.

“The thing you needed to talk to me about?”

“Yeah,” Tara confirmed. “There were several letters underlined throughout the book. Seemed weird to us, especially since they were all jumbled up. In order, it didn’t spell out anything.
LTACSE.
”

“It reminded us of one of those word puzzles where you have to figure out what order the letters need to go in. Not exactly the toughest code to crack except that the underlining was done in invisible ink. We used our radiant heat lamps to make sure we weren’t missing anything.”

“Good thinking,” Sean said, clearly impressed with the thoroughness of the project. “What’s the word?” 

“Castle,” Alex answered. “The word castle was what we came up with. Not sure why that was the message the owner of this wanted to get across.”

Tommy scratched the stubble on his face for a second. “Most of the events of Hamlet happened at a castle.”

“The Kronborg Slot,” Adriana corrected.

On the flight back to the United States, the three spent a few hours researching the different aspects of Shakespeare’s tragic tale and brushing up on what’ they knew about the area. The setting for the story took place in a castle Shakespeare had visited during a journey to Denmark. He was so inspired by the design and surroundings of the castle that he made it the main setting for
Hamlet
.

After arriving back in Atlanta, the three parted ways to get a little more sleep at their respective residences, Adriana going with Sean. After a few hours of rest, showers, and a quick rendezvous breakfast at their favorite coffee shop, the three made their way to IAA headquarters in downtown.

At first glance, the location where
Hamlet
took place didn’t matter much, but several words being underlined with invisible ink changed everything.

“So we were right. Whatever it is we’re looking for might be located at the Kronborg Castle.” Tommy seemed a little ashamed of himself. “Shame we didn’t just fly straight there.”

Sean chuckled. “Don’t beat yourself up too much. It’s only money.” He grabbed his chest as he laughed. It still ached from where the bullet struck his money clip.

He was right. They’d done what research they could on the plane, but eventually all three of them had succumbed to fatigue and the need for a good night’s rest. Sean remembered when he was in his early twenties, staying up for thirty consecutive hours didn’t seem like such a big deal. Now, it wasn’t the same. All the more reason he was glad he’d retired from such ventures.

“I probably would have thought of it,” Alex prodded, as he remained focused on the task at hand. “But I think differently than the rest of you.”

Tara took offence. “Excuse me. Pretentious much?”

It was far too late for Alex to apologize, though he certainly tried. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that I’m kind of a weird thinker is all. It wasn’t like I was saying I’m smarter than everyone else.”

The three older people in the room watched the conversation with hushed amusement. Sean and Tommy had seen it play out before. It was Adriana’s first experience.

“So you think you
are
smarter than the rest of us?” Tara asked, the entire time carefully maintaining her rhythm of turning the old pages.

“No!” Alex said so loudly it bordered on yelling.

Tara smiled. “I know you don’t. I just like pushing your buttons.”

He shook his head and went back to the discussion of the castle. “You guys should definitely check out that fortress. It’s pretty impressive. And it certainly seems like the previous owner of this book had a special place in his heart for that particular spot.”

Sean glanced over at his friend. “Looks like we’re heading back across the pond, buddy.”

“I know. I wish we’d thought of this sooner. Could have saved us a trip. London to Copenhagen is such a long way to travel.”

Sean put his arm around his friend’s shoulders. “All part of the adventure,” he said with a broad smile that nearly stretched from ear to ear.

“While we’re here, we should check on your friend at the hospital,” Adriana suggested.

“Good idea,” Sean agreed. “And we should probably see if he killed Charlie.” He winked as he finished the last sentence.

Before anyone else could add more to his attempt at humor, Sean’s phone started ringing in his pocket. “Excuse me for a minute.” He glanced down at the screen but didn’t recognize the number. The call was coming from somewhere in Europe, London if he didn’t miss his guess. Then he remembered the request Jim had put in regarding Petrov.

Sean made his way to the far side of the lab to take the call. “Hello?” he answered, still unsure if it was their English driver or not.

“Sean, it’s me, Jim,” he clarified. “Got a minute?”

“I’m all yours.”

“I don’t know if anyone is listening in on this conversation so I will have to be brief. There’s way more at play here than I thought.”

“Okay. Hit me.”

“Petrov was working for a guy named Gerard Dufort. He’s a big-time scumbag, really wealthy too. He lives in Paris but has connections all over the world. There are as many as a dozen legitimate multimillion-dollar businesses connected to him. Although most of his money originally came from the trust his parents set up before they died.”

“So he was born into it,” Sean said. “Based on the fact that you used the word
legitimate
,
I’m guessing he’s got his fingers into some things that are less than on the up and up.”

“Right. On top of all that, it gets pretty shady.” Jim paused for a few seconds before elaborating. “The darkest thing I’ve heard is that he runs a human trafficking ring. No one is really sure where the transactions happen, but he owns enough properties that it could be from almost anywhere.”

Sean considered the information. “Sounds like this Dufort needs someone to teach him a lesson.”

“People have tried. No one’s been able to convict him of anything. He has most of the Parisian politicians in his pocket, and Interpol won’t touch him. There’s definitely something fishy going on with him, but whenever someone tries to pin something on him, it either goes away, or they end up dead.”

That last part made Sean remember something he’d wanted to ask Jim at the beginning of the conversation. “You said Petrov
was
working for Dufort.”

“You don’t miss much, do you?”

“Not usually. I try to pay attention. It’s an old habit, I guess.”

“Good man. Well,” there was a slight hesitation before Jim went on, “French police found Petrov’s body this morning. A tourist stumbled across it a few miles outside of the city. There was a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.”

The last bit of information threw Sean for a huge loop. “Why would Petrov kill himself?” It didn’t make any sense. Unless he owed money to someone. The big Russian didn’t seem like the type to owe. He seemed more like the collector.

“He wouldn’t,” Jim answered. “It gets stranger. The reports say that his face was pretty beat up, like he’d been in a fight. And one of his arms was severely broken.”

Sean wasn’t sure what any of it meant. The man that had tried to kill him was dead less than twenty-four hours after their encounter. But why? Sean’s mind ran through various scenarios, trying to connect the dots that would bring about the answer.

“What else do you know about Dufort?” he asked after a minute of silent contemplation.

“Enough to know that he would kill his own mother if she weren’t already dead.”

The gears in Sean’s head were spinning at mach speed. Dufort was the one behind all this. He was pulling the strings. That much, Sean realized now. But to kill his head mercenary would mean that Dufort either believed he had all the pieces to the puzzle, or that Petrov had screwed up.

“I don’t suppose you know anything about how Dufort usually dispenses with people, do you?”

“I’ve only heard some of the rumors.”

“Tell me.”

“Ah, it’s stuff that sounds more like urban legends, really. But the word on the street is that when Gerard Dufort has somebody killed, they’re never seen or heard from again.”

Sean absorbed the last bit of information. “That means he wanted to make a statement.”

“Say again?” Jim sounded thrown off by the statement.

“Dufort’s victims are not usually found, according to what you’ve heard. And you said that Petrov’s body was found by some tourists outside of town?”

“Yeah. Kind of weird, actually. It wasn’t very well hidden. Looks like they wanted to make it look like Petrov really killed himself.”

“That, or Dufort wanted to make a statement,” Sean added. “Odds are, Dufort knows we are on the same trail. He might be trying to scare us away. Nothing would do a better job of that than letting us know that he is willing to kill one of his most trusted aides to get what he wants.”

“So, you’re going to walk away from this one?”

“Not a chance.”

Jim sighed. “I figured not.”

“Thanks for your help, Jim. I’ll be in touch. We may have need of your services again sometime.”

“Happy to,” the Englishman said and ended the call.

Sean strode back over to the others. Alex was just finishing the final scan of the book, and Tara was removing her mask, stepping away from the table.

“Petrov is dead,” Sean announced, his voice subdued.

Tommy’s eyes brightened for a moment then narrowed. “Why don’t you seem happy about that?”

“He worked for a wealthy Frenchman named Gerard Dufort. It seems this Dufort is not one to be trifled with. Turns out, he’s dirty. Real dirty. Jim said the rumors are that he runs a human trafficking ring out of Paris, but no one has been willing to take him down. He’s got heavy influence with the local authorities and the French government.”

“Sounds to me like they’re on the take,” Tommy commented.

“Right.”

“But why kill Petrov?” Adriana asked. “Why now? He surely delivered the coin.”

“I wondered the same thing. Maybe they had a disagreement. Based on Dufort’s reputation, I doubt Petrov would say much to the man, but you never know.”

“Why kill him now?” Adriana posited.

Sean crossed his arms and straightened his back. “The only thing that makes sense is that Dufort knows about the book.” He pointed at the open copy of
Hamlet
. “Maybe not specifically that it is a book, but that there was another clue Petrov was supposed to bring back. From Jim’s description, the body wasn’t exactly hidden. So either Dufort wants us to back off and give up, or it could be something else.”