The Prisoner's Gold

40

Later in the day, they all gathered in Papineau’s room for another briefing.

They all wore variations on their ‘uniforms’, the specialized outfits Sarah had designed with the first aid kits and survival gear tucked into various pockets. Cobb had told everyone to be prepared to leave the hotel at a moment’s notice, so they had dressed accordingly.

To avoid looking like a team, they all wore shirts of different colors. McNutt wore a gray T-shirt with an Indian motorcycle logo. Papineau selected a beige safari shirt with buttons, long sleeves, and multiple pockets. Maggie wore a colorful blouse that helped her blend in with the locals. Sarah opted for the black, long sleeve jacket that came with the pants. Meanwhile, Garcia’s shirt, which looked one wash away from completely falling apart, had HASBRO emblazoned across the chest.

Dressed in a black T-shirt, Cobb started the meeting. ‘Okay Maggie, what did you find in the documents? Any mentions of Polo?’

‘I haven’t had time to read all of the records yet. They were written with an ancient flair that has been tough to decipher. That said, Marco Polo is mentioned — but not by name.’

‘That’s a relief,’ McNutt said while sprawled on Papi’s bed. ‘It would have sucked if those books were just full of egg roll recipes.’

Maggie glanced at him. ‘Joshua …’

He immediately sat up straight against the headboard. ‘Sorry, ma’am.’

Sarah stared in awe, envious of Maggie’s way with him. ‘I’m not sure how you were able to train him, but can you teach me?’

Cobb ignored the comment. ‘If Polo isn’t named, how do you know it’s him?’

Maggie answered. ‘He is referred to as bakgwei, which means “white ghost”. There couldn’t have been that many Caucasians in the area at the time. As I told you yesterday, most of what was recorded in those ledgers was a long list of boring facts scribbled by government underlings — and absolutely nothing about egg rolls.’

McNutt lowered his head in shame.

She continued. ‘So when something out of the ordinary came along, it was usually written about in great detail. In this case, a Caucasian man carrying a paiza and acting as an emissary of Kublai Khan? That’s certainly going to be mentioned.’

‘Maggie,’ McNutt said, ‘if I can’t joke about egg rolls, you can’t joke about pizza.’

Maggie shook her head. ‘Not pizza, Josh. He was carrying a paiza.’

‘What’s that?’ Sarah asked before McNutt could.

‘A paiza — or a gerege in Mongolian — was a foot-long, three-inch-wide golden tablet. It was engraved with a message that read: “By the strength of the eternal Heaven, holy be the Khan’s name. Let him that pays him not reverence be killed.”’

She glanced around the room to emphasize her point. ‘This tablet was essentially a passport, a foreign ambassador’s ID, and an American Express Black Card all rolled into one. It told everyone in the empire that they were to assist Polo on his mission, or they would be put to death. That meant free food, free lodging, free women, free soldiers … whatever he desired.’

‘I have something like that in World of Warcraft. It’s awesome!’ Garcia bragged.

Everyone in the room just stared at him.

He quickly got the point and pulled up an artist’s rendering of Polo’s tablet. Gold in color, it had a number of etchings at the top and two columns of Chinese characters running vertically down the middle. With a few keystrokes, the image appeared on the flat-screen TV that was mounted on the wall.

‘What was his mission?’ Cobb asked.

‘It wasn’t described — most likely because it was confidential. He did fondly mention the Loulan Kingdom and asked several questions about that area, but it wasn’t clear whether he was heading there after he left.’

‘And where was this?’ Papineau asked.

‘It was in the town of Lanzhou in Gansu province,’ Maggie answered.

A few seconds later, a map of modern-day China appeared on the TV. A red dot indicating Lanzhou was blinking in the middle of the landmass.

Maggie glanced at the map and shook her head. ‘I’m afraid this map is a little misleading. Remember, most of what is western China today was not a part of China then. At the time, Lanzhou was one of the last outposts of civilization and a gateway toward the frontier of the west.’

‘Sorry,’ Garcia said as he typed furiously. A moment later, a neon-green outline of Ancient China was superimposed over the modern map. ‘This was China during Polo’s time.’

Maggie smiled. ‘Thank you, Hector.’

‘Is that important?’ Papineau wondered.

‘I think so,’ she said. ‘I’m reading between the lines a lot, but I think by the time Marco traveled to Lanzhou, the three Polos were already planning to leave China.’

‘What makes you think that?’ Cobb asked.

‘Intuition, really. Things said, things left unsaid. It’s the way Polo is described by the government scribes. It seems that after a while he had become accustomed to the privilege of the golden tablet. Some of Marco’s actions … it’s hard to put into words.’

Maggie, still finding her footing, paused to gather her thoughts.

Sarah found her indecision troubling. ‘Is it possible that you’re seeing things that aren’t actually there? I’m not trying to accuse you of anything, but I know from our previous missions that treasure has a way of messing with your head. Trust me, all of us have been there. You start making up crazy theories to fit the facts, all in hopes of finding the pot of gold.’

Sarah glanced at Cobb, who subtly shook his head.

Now wasn’t the time to add more pressure.

Maggie considered the question for an uncomfortable moment while the others remained silent. ‘Yes, I guess it is possible. Remember, I’m giving my opinion here. We don’t have a clear roadmap to follow, so all we’re left with are my impressions and interpretation of events. That said, I have a possible location after my reading — but all I have to back it up is a hunch.’

‘I’ll be honest,’ Sarah said, ‘I’m happier putting my faith in your hunch than on all the guesses that the rest of us could come up with. As far as I’m concerned, you’re the expert.’

Cobb smiled warmly at Sarah.

It was the right thing to say, whether she meant it or not.

Maggie beamed. ‘Thank you, Sarah. I appreciate your confidence in me. Unfortunately, the area that I’m thinking of is one of the most politically turbulent areas in Asia. We can get in, but we are sure to face several issues with security.’

Papineau opened a bottle of water and poured some into a glass.

He didn’t like the sound of her initial warning.

She continued. ‘Polo mentioned — and the scribes recorded — many of the travels he undertook as a diplomat for the Khan. He traveled far and wide across China and the neighboring kingdoms. He claimed he was always impressed by the people and the cultures he encountered, and the scribes recorded his enthusiasm. He is recognized as being very progressive for the time, keeping an open mind about the unusual sights and practices he encountered. Still, by this point in his journey, I feel Polo was evaluating potential hiding places for the wealth he had accumulated. Of all the places Polo mentioned in Lanzhou, he seemed most impressed with the people he found in the region we call Xizang today. Besides Taiwan, it’s the biggest cauldron of raw feelings and political animosity in all of China.’

‘And where is Xizang?’ Cobb asked.

Garcia’s fingers were a blur on his laptop. As soon as Maggie mentioned the name, he had started looking for a map of the region to put on the TV. But his efforts screeched to a halt when he realized which part of China she was talking about it.

‘Oh crap,’ he said as all eyes turned to him.

‘What’s wrong?’ Cobb demanded.

‘Xizang is the Chinese name for Tibet.’