The Lost Kingdom

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

Hayden Jaye stared into the heart of chaos, wondering how to make sense of all the evidence scattered around her. Never in her life had she known so many clues to exist that led nowhere. First — the Lost Kingdom. It was out there somewhere, probably submerged between China and Taiwan, though the jury was still out on that one — their language translator, David Daccus, still engrossed in his thankless task of deciphering the symbols and characters nobody had ever managed to decode in all of human history — those found on the Niven Tablets.

Or had they?

The USS Queenfish was looking more and more like it might have been an exploration vessel, and had been ordered to sink the Awa Maru to conceal its real intentions in the South China Sea. Such an appalling tragedy. Either way, it had helped spirit away a fortune in glittering treasure and an ancient, priceless one — the Peking Man. And now Dudley, his crazy crew and the Pythians possessed the old Chinese treasure and a potential map to an even older and more controversial one.

The lost kingdom of Mu. It would be a find beyond belief, she reasoned, but also an enormous bone of contention between China and Taiwan. As if they didn’t have enough already.

Their curator back at the Steel Mountain facility was busy checking for an old translation of the Niven Tablets, but had come up with nothing so far. The physical tablets had been saved by Hayden and her team, but Dudley still escaped with the photographs. Hopefully it would take the Pythians time to put so many pictures together, but her gut and Karin’s knowledge of cutting edge technology, told her otherwise.

“Seconds,” the Blake woman told her. “Once they get the photos loaded onto the right machine it will render them in seconds.”

As time marched on she decided to take a break and call Matt Drake. It would be early morning for him on the night Chika was due to infiltrate the Yakuza. She paused with her finger hovering over the button. Should she risk the call? The team could be in the middle of something finicky.

What the hell… Mai once made a call that saved Smyth’s life!

Fortunately, the call was answered immediately. “Yep?”

“Matt? Can you talk?”

“Aye, could do with the break actually. Things have gone right to shit here.”

Tell me about it, Hayden thought. She sighed aloud. “What’s happening over there?”

Drake ran her through the high- and lowlights. Hayden listened then poured herself a black coffee. “Quite a dilemma. Remember, Dahl and the others are still likely to get the job done. Mai may be down, but never count her out. My issue would be with Chika and Yorgi and the length of this so-called trial. Can you get another night out of it?”

Drake said he didn’t know. Hayden caught the edgy tone and decided to change the subject a little. “Bringing you up to speed,” she said. “The Pythians have the fossil. Dudley’s still on the loose with help from his old gang. We believe the lost kingdom may be real and that the Pythians are trying to find and use it in some way.”

“Any idea where it is?”

“Oh, yeah, plenty. But this damn language has to be translated — which takes time — or we have to find an old translation. Nothing has turned up so far.”

“An old translation? You’re saying the US already did it and kept it all a secret?”

“I know. Big shock there, right?”

“But why? Surely it’s a great archaeological find that the whole world can get behind?”

“We’re not sure. It may have something to do with a sunken ship. Or diplomacy. Or nothing more sinister than passing time.” Hayden shrugged even though he couldn’t see her.

“I guess China wasn’t a world power back then,” Drake said intuitively.

“Sure. We’ve thought of that too and the current consequences. Either way, this can’t end well.” Hayden put the coffee down as her stomach started to growl, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten in about twelve hours. Looking around the office, at the team all working on adrenalin and enthusiasm she suddenly realized that everyone might need to take a break and refuel. She shouted out as much, insisting that everyone take a couple of hours off.

To Drake she continued, “We know for sure the Lost Kingdom lies somewhere under the South or East China Sea, probably near China and Taiwan. The boundaries are disputed as you know. With that in mind I’m already organizing a first-class diving team in the area as well as several other specialists in their field. I was hoping you guys might be able to supervise.”

Drake was quiet for a moment, but then his reply was exactly what she wanted to hear. “I guess I’ll go rescue ‘em all and then head to Taiwan then. No worries. Catch you later.”

If only everything were so simple.

Hayden signed off and motioned to Kinimaka. “Let’s get out of here for a while.”

“Home?” Their rental was only fifteen minutes away.

“Why not? You can knock me together some of that sausage, eggs and rice you love so much.”

“Sweet bread?”

“Damn right.”

The couple said their goodbyes and headed out of the office. Hayden heard Karin and Komodo ordering from the on-site restaurant. She couldn’t force them to relax, just hoped they would have the sense to realize that sometimes taking a breather was better than powering through. Kinimaka drove their large 4x4 through the early afternoon traffic, a big man in a big car, taking care not to sideswipe anything. As ever her antennae was up, but nothing appeared out of the ordinary.

Once home, Mano headed into the kitchen whilst Hayden took off her jacket and flung herself down onto the sofa. Staring straight ahead, vegetating, she found herself studying the few ornaments and single picture they had placed on the white mantelpiece. All was well, she was sure, but where had this new pastime come from?

Tyler Webb. During the Pandora event the Pythian leader had promised to come into their homes; even boasted about having pictures and video of them, but had never shown an ounce of proof.

Why?

Now she heard the noise from the rear of the house and it wasn’t Mano. It wasn’t her imagination. The rear French doors had just slid open or closed — the catch made a peculiar sound whenever they did so. Drawing her weapon she advanced through the front room and turned a dog-leg to reach the rear. Nothing looked out of place. The doors were closed.

But—

Something didn’t feel right. Was there a faint cologne in the air? A fading imprint in the carpet? Her eyes fixed on something and she called Mano through.

“You see that?”

“What?”

“The picture on top of the bookcase. It’s facing the wrong way.”

“Okaaay. Do you want me to set it straight?”

“Mano. I think somebody’s stalking us.”

The Hawaiian’s face passed through a multitude of emotions, mostly hilarity to surprise and then to seriousness. “Because the frame’s the wrong way around? It fell down yesterday. I probably replaced it backwards.”

“You did?” Hayden felt a moment’s relief. But her gut still told her something was wrong. “How did it fall down? Did you knock it over or did you find it on the floor?”

Kinimaka reached out to hold her, but she twisted away. This shouldn’t be happening to me. I’m an ex-CIA agent and leader of the best special operations team on the planet. Was this how it began? How people felt every day when they knew something was different but couldn’t quite put their finger on it?

Was this how it all started?

First the niggling nervousness and then the denial. Next the deep fear, the burning sensation in the stomach and again the denial. Then the paranoia; evaluating every little thing until every little thing began to drive you crazy. Truth be told, you could find suspicion in just about everything, every day of your life.

The man with the phone — was he texting or taking her picture? The guy three shops over — was he following her? The slightly cracked open wardrobe. The shadow that crossed her window. The crackle that may or may not be the boards settling.

Kinimaka walked over and righted the photo. Hayden watched, then took out her cellphone and began to take pictures of the room. She ran through the house as her boyfriend finished making their meal, cataloguing everything. No mental notes this time, no room for error.

Downstairs, Mano was waiting. “All good?”

She forced a smile and picked up the proffered fork. “All good.”

“Find anyone?”

“Funny. Look, don’t you remember Tyler Webb saying he had pictures of us?”

“Oh yeah.” Kinimaka laughed. “But the guy’s a total whack job freakazoid. Now just try that sweet bread.” He smacked his lips loudly.

“Mano,” Hayden said softly. “What if he was telling the truth? What if he’s been watching us for weeks? What if he’s been in our house? With a camera?”

Kinimaka put down his fork. “This isn’t like you, Hay. You’re stronger than this. Tougher. Some maniac with a god complex trying to unsettle you is all it is. Any case,” he started shoveling eggs into his mouth again. “All he’ll get is me falling over two or three times and you stepping out of the shower.” He waggled his hand. “Meh.”

Hayden kicked him under the table. “Hey! There’s a lot of guys would like to see me step out of the shower. And into it for that matter.”

“Do we have time to test the theory?”

Hayden didn’t even check her watch. “Stupid question. C’mon.”

As they left the table, their meal almost eaten, Hayden fought down the unsettling feeling that the sound of the rushing water would leave her deafened, that the smoked glass screen and even Mano himself would leave her practically sightless, and that she had never once taken her gun into the shower.

Why did she feel the need to now?