White Jade

Chapter Three

Selena Connor didn't look like a fiftyish, gray-haired professor. It wasn't the way she looked that got Carter's attention, though that would have been enough. It was the way she came into the room, all contained, taut energy, with the rippling grace of an athlete. She was in her thirties. Her hair was short and reddish blond. Her face was tan from the outdoors. She had high cheekbones and violet eyes. There was a small mole above her lip.

She wasn't wearing a baggy suit or big glasses. She had on a smooth silk jacket and slacks and a pale blouse that picked up the violet color. In her left hand she carried a black leather computer case.

Carter stood and Harker introduced him. They all sat down.

Harker said, "What have you got there?"

"My uncle's laptop. He'd never left it with me before. I haven't looked at it, but I thought you might want to." Her voice was controlled. There were lines of tension in her face.

Got the lid on, Nick thought.

"Doctor Connor," Elizabeth said.

"Please call me Selena."

"Selena. The people who killed your uncle were after a book he acquired in Bhutan. We need to know what's in it."

Selena gave Harker an odd look. How did she know about the book?

"It's gone. I don't know where it is. I haven't read all of it, but it's a copy of an ancient text about immortality, mostly written in Sanskrit. Books like that are rare, but this one is unique. What's in it is impossible."

"Impossible?" Harker tapped her pen against her lip.

"Part of it is written in Linear A. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I'd never believe it. Linear A is one of two written languages from the Minoan Empire, before 1600 BCE. There are no books written in Linear A. There shouldn't be anything Minoan in the Himalayan region at all."

"You're sure the book is gone?"

"My uncle kept it on his desk, but it's not there now. He was going to scan it onto his computer."

"So it might be on that laptop you brought."

"It could be."

Harker began tapping on her desk. "The money from your uncle's accounts went to China."

"China? Part of the book is about the first Chinese emperor, Qin Huang."

"Emperor Huang?" Carter said. "The one with the soldiers and horses?"

"Yes. Huang placed an army of terracotta soldiers and horses outside his tomb. Chinese farmers found it in '74. It's a big tourist attraction."

Selena brushed a wisp of hair away from her forehead.

"The book described Huang's search for immortality. He was obsessed with it. It also repeated old stories of treasure in his tomb. Everyone knows where it is but it's never been excavated."

Harker told Selena about the intercept.

"Then you know who did this! Can't you arrest him, this…Colonel, or whatever he is?"

"We don't have hard evidence. Besides, he has diplomatic immunity."

Nick's ear began itching. Since he was a kid it had itched when things were about to get complicated, a personal early warning system. Then again, sometimes it was just an itch. He scratched it.

Harker set down her pen. "Maybe there's something on that laptop. Let's take a look."

Selena handed her the case. Harker took the computer out and plugged it into a port on her desk. The display booted up on the wall monitor. The screen filled with folder icons.

"Lots of files." She clicked on one labeled Beijing. The file was a list of bank account numbers in the Chinese capitol.

"That might help track the money. I don't see anything about a book."

Selena said, "It looks like financial files labeled by location, like the Bahamas or Caymans, or by industry and city. There's one labeled Li Shan. That's where the emperor is buried. Open that one."

The file was a draft proposal to excavate the tomb of the First Emperor, complete with time lines and cost breakdowns. There was nothing about the book in the file.

"There's a file with my name," Selena said.

"Let's see it."

It was a letter from William Connor to his niece, dated a week before his death.

They read the letter again. Selena sat rigidly in her chair. Carter watched her. It was an old habit, watching. It told him things. Right now it told him Selena was wound up tight. Close to her uncle, he thought, but she wasn't going to let anyone see it. How she really felt.

He knew what that was like.

Harker said, "Do you know what he was talking about? The place he hid the book?"

Selena's voice was controlled, neutral. "My family found gold in California in 1850. There's a house at the old mine property. In the front yard there's an ore cart full of rocks from the mine. When I was a child I hid things under the rocks. That must be where he put it. I'm surprised he didn't put it in one of his safe deposit boxes."

"No safe deposit box keys have turned up." Harker twirled her pen.

"He had at least three."

"The FBI searched his office and home. We'll check with them."

"If they have the keys, they know what's in the boxes." Nick looked at Harker. "I'll ask Jordan when I talk with him."

"Do that. Then I want you to go to California with Doctor Connor and retrieve that book. Does that work for you, Selena?"

"Anything that helps."

"Why do you want me along?" Carter said.

"They didn't get the book. If they think Selena has it they might go after her. I want you to keep an eye out." She looked at her watch and turned to Selena. "It's too late to get a flight today. We'll book one for tomorrow. What airport, Selena?"

"Sacramento. The mine is only an hour away."

"We'll arrange a car."

Carter said, "We can use mine. It's already there." He'd flown out of Sacramento. His truck was in the long term lot at the airport.

"Good. Hook up with Jordan before you go. Call me after you find the book. We'll search the rest of these files and follow up."

"What do I tell Jordan?"

Harker tapped her pen on the desk. "Tell him about the financial accounts. We'll keep the book to ourselves for now. There's no need for the Bureau to know about it."