Pandora's Box

G J Saunders
Published: 2013
Categorie(s): Fiction, Drama, Action & Adventure, Romance,
Science Fiction
Tag(s): mystery "science fiction" "pandora's box"
1
Chapter 1
Nestled on the side of Lake Varna near Bulgaria's Black sea
coast, the August light was already fading as an ancient clay
pot was being painstakingly released from where it had rested
undisturbed since 4000 BC.
The dig was being supervised by Dr Pandora Summers from
University College in one of the most exceptional archaeologic-
al sites in Europe.
Pandora had taken a break and was on the point of calling a
halt to the day's work when an excited student, trowel in hand
rushed up to her.
"You have to see this, it's unbelievable"
Pandora made her way back to where the clay pot was being
delicately uncovered.
"What?"
"Look, closer at the crack near the base there's a "
The student was lost for words.
"It must be a mistake, a trick of the evening light." Pandora
bent down for a closer examination.
"My God you're right This is impossible. Stop all work I
want photographs."
The vessel which had lain sealed and buried for over six
thousand years contained a faint, just visible source of light
which was now shining through the recently uncovered crack
in the base of the jar.
***
On the other side of the World, as far from Bulgaria as you
can reasonably get, could be found a man who chose to be
known simply as The Collector. He had made his home on the
South Island of New Zealand in a remote and beautiful piece of
land in Otago a short helicopter ride from Queenstown. Known
as Shadow Fall Farm, the property had a view over a vast and
dramatically beautiful landscape within sight of the
2
magnificent Southern Alps. Sparsely populated and remote, it
was an ideal place for a wealthy man who wished to lose con-
tact with his former world.
Queenstown is the skiing Mecca for many locals and attracts
visitors from all over the world. Many European ski instructors
take advantage of the different seasons in the Southern Hemi-
sphere to extend the time when they can employ their skills.
Queenstown sits next to Lake Wakatipu alongside the snow-
capped Coronet Peak.
The collector made his considerable fortune as a merchant
banker. He pulled out of the sector well before the financial
crisis, which he saw as an inevitable consequence of the un-
bridled laissez faire attitudes that had emerged in the banking
industry. The Collector put his money into profitable medium
sized companies scattered in every corner of the Globe.
His focus had always been on money the accumulation of
it. However when his fortune became virtually uncountable, his
passion waned. He still knew within a few dozens of millions
what he was worth but took his wealth for granted and left
those he employed to administer his vast assets. Now his in-
terest lay in collecting. His financial strength allowed him to
own anything that was for sale, but he found no challenge
there. The Collector's passion centred on works of art, precious
and unusual items that would enhance his personal museum.
Things that money may not necessarily buy. Things that may
not necessarily be for sale.
His collection included precious and unusual gems, a piece of
moon rock which fell mysteriously into his possession, art
works which had somehow disappeared from their legitimate
owners. This and much more had emerged in his collection. His
appetite for more was insatiable and he had links to a network
of people who were constantly on the lookout for Items of
interest.
His New Zealand property sat remote and blended, almost
camouflaged, into the tussock landscape. The buildings were
extensive and exhibit an opulence that is normally only found
in the mansions built by dictators of impoverished countries.
For The Collector the isolation gave him security, but he
maintained easy access to anywhere in the country and beyond
3
in his private aircraft; a helicopter at Shadow Fall and a small
jet at Queenstown airport.
The Collector lives with his wife Perdita, a recent acquisition.
She may almost be considered as a part of his collection but no
one would admit to the suggestion. Perdita has a rare beauty,
young and just the sort of woman you might imagine a man
with a vast fortune could attract. The marriage was contracted
on condition that when she lost her looks, they would divorce
and she would walk away with thirty five million dollars. Not
surprisingly she agreed but as time passed she found herself
with a regret that would not go away. Despite this apparently
soulless arrangement there is a genuine affection between the
them though, as for love
The Collector employed a small staff of carefully selected
servants and technicians and a farm manager and his staff who
run the High Country sheep farm. The farm, a fully productive
and profitable one, runs without the collector's input or in-
terest. It does however lend a mundane legitimacy to the prop-
erty. No one could imagine the vast wealth and unusual collec-
tion that was hidden at Shadow Fall.
As the Sun was setting over Lake Varna it was also starting
to cast its morning rays across Shadow Fall Farm. The collect-
or was an early riser and he left Perdita still snoozing, enjoying
the still half asleep bliss of one who is free of responsibilities or
worries. He slipped on a track suit and headed across the
deserted hallway which led to the conservatory. The name con-
servatory was something of a misnomer, this particular room
was a large glazed expanse which joined the main part of the
house to the less obvious structure carved into the hillside
where the museum was housed. The conservatory covered an
area hardly smaller than a football field. The glazed walls
stretched up twelve metres to an automatically ventilated roof.
There was a tropical garden with manicured lawns sweeping
down to a large swimming pool with changing rooms and a
marble paved sitting area. At the far side against the hill were
locked doors which when opened revealed the museum. The
conservatory was the Collector's favourite place on his prop-
erty, always kept at a near tropical temperature summer and
winter he could relax and contemplate his collection in his own
private Garden of Eden.
4
He walked across the verdant lawn and reached the East
wall. The sun was just casting a barely visible pink tinge onto
the winter sky. The morning stars in the crystal clear heavens
were still visible but fading fast as the Sun rose. Today was an
anniversary; it was his sister's birthday. She was the only one
who had ever understood him, the only one who had ever really
loved him. She was the only one he had ever loved. When she
had died of cancer, he was still only thirty, he was so involved
in his quest to make his fortune that he failed to visit her in her
last few days. A trip across the Atlantic would have cost him
precious time, or so he thought back then. Now he would give
his fortune to go back and correct the only real regret of his
life. As he looked at the fading stars he made a wish that some-
how she would know how much he loved her and how much he
regretted not saying goodbye.
Taking his time he walked round to examine the banana
trees which had small, almost ripe fruit that had taken from
last summer to mature. Winter had the countryside gripped in
its icy claw but, apart from the length of the day, in the conser-
vatory, one could enjoy a perpetual summer. Slipping off his
tracksuit he dived into the pool and swam his usual ten laps.
He pulled himself from the water, towelled himself dry and
walked back into the main part of the house through the auto-
matic environmental control doors. He heard the pat of Jessy's
paws as she came up, tail flailing as she always did to greet
him. He bent down and fondled the sensitive part around the
base of her ears. A Black Labrador a little too fat as most were,
she was quite unaware of the luxury she was lucky enough to
be living in. To her all this was just normal. Not so for the
Collector.
His life had started in much poorer circumstances, born in
Glasgow; there was still a trace of accent, though it had been
softened from years in New York, London and now his own per-
sonal paradise in New Zealand. He had dragged himself out of
poverty by force of his own stubborn will and considerable in-
tellect and had made the fortune which was now apparent. He
often thought that if things had gone differently for him, he
could easily have ended up as a Glaswegian gangster and at
times his ruthlessness betrayed exactly those traits.
5
"Hello darling." Perdita was up and dressed. The Collector
was still shocked at just how beautiful his wife was. A former
model, her natural elegance and charm made her stand out in
any gathering. She would have to lose her looks by a consider-
able margin before he would invoke his termination contract
with her.
"What plans for today?" She asked. Every day was a new ad-
venture for them. The world really was their oyster.
"How about a drive along the lake, then we can take lunch at
The Sonata."
"Sounds like a plan to me." she said.
"Perdy, You are happy here aren't you? I know our arrange-
ment is a little unusual, but I want you to be happy, not just act
the part."
"I am the happiest I could ever be." She gave him one of her
killer smiles hoping to disguise the lie.
She was not sure if he believed her. He was equally uncer-
tain by her reply. In fact she was not unhappy, but there were
things The Collector would not give her Like children for ex-
ample Like an old age together.
The Collector was a man of his word. He never lied, if he
promised you something, he would deliver one hundred per
cent guaranteed. That was the case whether the promise en-
tailed pleasure or pain. He could certainly deliver pain as some
unfortunates had already discovered.
Christina, the housekeeper, served them their breakfast and
then he spent half an hour or so in the media room catching up
on the world news. His secure email in-box was again empty.
Only one man had the address. Benson, he was paid a hand-
some retainer and additionally by results. The Collector em-
ployed Benson to find collectables. Because the collectables
were often sourced under conditions of dubious legality, the
direct links to the Collector were kept to a minimum. Benson
was charged with using the utmost discretion and kept his own
contacts at arm's length. Only Benson knew the identity of his
patron, although the existence of such a person was suspected
by many of the world's police forces. The Collector had made it
clear that if Benson ever allowed his identity to be known, by
accident or design, then the consequences would be dire.
6
The empty in-box was a disappointment; it had been months
since he had taken the Beethoven hand written letters into his
collection. It was time for another space to be filled.
His mind re-focused on the day ahead. He called David
Peterson his pilot cum chauffeur on the internal phone.
"Is the Porsche ready to go?"
"As always, sir."
"Good man, bring it round to the driveway will you."
"Yes sir, which Porsche will you be driving today?"
"Oh sorry; the 911 turbo."
"Come on Perdita, the car's ready."
Perdita had been waiting patiently for half an hour and
needed no hurry-up. She was dressed for the weather in a
woollen knee length skirt with a loose fitting cashmere sweat-
er. A matching scarf was knotted loosely about her pretty neck.
She wore a pair of Italian soft leather calf length boots with
fashionably high heels.
With a speed limit of 100 km per hour, 500 HP was probably
a little excessive for any road car in New Zealand. The Porsche
however remained an experience to drive even at modest
speed. He edged the car down the loose metal driveway past
the stand of pine trees and down towards the main road. From
down here the only buildings visible were those belonging to
the farm, even the servants' cottages which were separated
from the main house were still hidden behind the trees.
He eased the car onto the road and prodded the throttle. The
car snarled the typical flat six engine note and leaped forward
like a pouncing tiger.
"Not too fast, darling." Perdita gripped the edge of her seat
nervously. She was not a thrill seeker. The Collector eased off
and they rolled along just below the speed limit down towards
the Lake.
They joined the lake at Glenorchy and followed the eastern
side of the blue water down past Mount Creighton on the
Glenorchy-Queenstown Rd. The road was free of snow, but at
this time of year ice was always a possibility. The low Winter
Sun flashed across the silver paintwork of the car as it purred
along the spectacular road. The clear bright blue sky and the
crisp air was a joy and free for the taking. Perdita slipped on
her designer sunglasses, they would have cost a week's wages
7
for a working man. If the idea had crossed her mind she would
have said that it was hardly her fault what sunglasses cost
these days.
By the time they had reached Queenstown they both felt that
it was time for a leisurely coffee break. The town was buzzing
with tourists, it was high season for the skiing fraternity and
the visitors were keen to sample what was on offer both on and
off the slopes. Few went away disappointed.
Perdita and her husband found a suitable place with a view
of the gondolas swinging gently on the cable taking the holiday
makers up to the Skyline restaurant. They ordered flat whites
and biscotti.
"Another empty in-box this morning." He said just to make
conversation.
"Just what is it with you and your collecting mania?" Her
voice was light-hearted but held a slightly mocking tone. Per-
dita just could not understand his passion. It was a question
she had posed before and would do so again until she got to
understand what drove this man.
"We all need something to be passionate about, to strive for,
when you have more money than you need you look for
something else, I've told you how I feel before. The trouble is
you just have no idea what makes me tick!"
She took his face in her slender manicured fingers, her crim-
son nails contrasting against his pale skin, and leaning across
the table kissed him on his mouth leaving just a trace of lip-
stick which she wiped with a couple of strokes of her thumb.
"My darling." she said, smiling for emphasis "No one on this
entire planet knows what makes you tick."
He considered her words for a few moments and came to the
sad conclusion that she was right. He turned his head away to
hide the unexpected moistness in his eyes.
8
Chapter 2
The evening was falling fast as Pandora tried to clarify her
thoughts. What had been uncovered here did not fit into the
normal expectations of archaeology at all. Was she out of her
depth even trying to control the situation? The question rocked
her self-confidence.
The points she could be sure of were:
1, The pot from the Neolithic Age had been buried for some-
where in the order of six thousand years.
2, There was a faint light source inside the pot.
3, That was impossible.
Her training had equipped her with good organizational
skills and she had a keen appreciation of the first principal: Do
no harm to the site and to any artefacts. The other command-
ment was: Document everything.
John Preston arrived with the photographic equipment and
set up his tripod at the side of the dig. "The light's starting to
fade Doctor Summers, I'll take what I can in the ambient light
and then I can set up some flood lights."
Pandora was acutely aware of the interest the discovery
would generate and had an instinctive desire to keep things
secret until they had a better idea of what they were dealing
with.
"I think flood lights may attract too much attention, there are
other groups not far away and I don't want them wandering
over to see what the excitement is. Do what you can with the
ambient light John, in fact it will probably show the glow from
the crack better than if strongly illuminated."
There were seven in her party, only four were there at the
moment and Pandora decided that she would keep the discov-
ery among just the four of them until she had discussed the
situation with her Professor back in London.
9
"Susan can you collect some of the plastic sheeting so that
we can cover over the site, I don't want rain or prying eyes to
be an issue. Listen all of you " She raised her voice and
waved her team over. Her confidence, at least the appearance
of it, was back.
"I intend keeping this whatever we have found, confidential
until I get more advice from London. I ask you all to keep abso-
lutely silent about what you have seen until I tell you
otherwise."
"Does that include Jenny, Peter and Karl?" asked Susan.
"I know that sounds a bit extreme, but for the moment the
fewer who know about this the better. Do I have your
agreement?"
All those present acknowledged their willingness to keep
things quiet.
"Thank you for your support with that, I promise the rest of
the team will be involved when I feel more confident with what
we are going to do. It's just possible that after all this excite-
ment, there may be a simple rational explanation for what we
have seen. But I have to say I can't come up with anything at
the moment."
"Bioluminescence of some kind is my bet." Suggested Peter
Jenkins. "Glow worms, that kind of thing."
"Thank you Peter, that may well be the answer."
Pandora thought the chance of a living organism remaining
alive and active after such a length of time was remote.
"For tonight I want to wrap all this up as soon as John has
finished with the photography. My priority tomorrow is to re-
move the pot as soon as possible and take a look at just what
we have unearthed."
When the site had finally been covered and was as secure as
they could make it Pandora gathered the other three around.
"I would like you all to write up notes on what you observed
today as the pot was uncovered. No conferring please, I want
three different perspectives, four including my own. You can
add your opinions on what we are dealing with if you like but it
is observed facts that I really want Oh and straight away be-
fore your memory and your imagination get too confused Any
questions?"
10
"Yes, what's for supper?" Peter was a post graduate student
with a keen sense of humour, as keen as his appetite. His com-
ment raised a laugh and eased the tension which was quite
palpable.
Pandora, no she was not particularily enamoured with her
given name, was twenty eight, attractive, single and the eldest
of two sisters. She lectured at the University College London,
younger than many of the staff; she was liked by the students
who saw her more as one of them than a member of the dusty
faculty. Professor Deakin saw her as a useful member of his
staff, an asset to be utilized but ultimately as a threat to his
own position. For the moment they worked reasonably well to-
gether but an eventual conflict was inevitable he felt.
Pandora was vaguely aware of a coldness in the relationship.
She avoided open conflicts as much as possible and felt that
her long term future would probably be at another institution.
Following the advice she had given earlier, she wrote up her
own notes in as much detail as possible before wondering what
the best way of contacting the professor was. Phone or email?
She came to the conclusion that the phone was the best option,
she wanted a quick response and she was unsure how secure a
normal email connection would be.
The decision was one thing; actually getting Deakin to an-
swer his phone was another. Eventually after multiple attempts
she finally got through."
"Professor Deakin speaking, who is this?"
"It's Pandora Professor "
"I hope you know I'm in the middle of dinner with the Educa-
tion Minister, can't this wait?"
Pandora briefly explained the situation.
"Look here, you are absolutely sure of your facts "
"I'm sure of my facts. Not sure of what they mean and not
sure of what to do. Professor, I need the advice of someone
with your experience."
Pandora knew how to massage an ego when necessary.
"Very well, give me an hour to consider this and I will call
you back." He ended the call with his thoughts racing. This
could be extremely lucrative for the College not to mention his
own academic reputation. He suddenly found that the Minister
of Education was of rather less importance than he had led Dr
11
Summers to believe. He made his excuses and withdrew from
the table with a slightly indecent haste pausing only to drain
his glass of a rather exquisite Pauillac.
Pandora knew she would get little sleep that night but the
wait for Professor Deakin dragged on well into the night. Bul-
garia was two hours ahead of English time which made it quite
late before her mobile chimed.
"Pandora, there is no question what to do, get the damned
pot out of ground and bring it back here post haste."
"Yes, but what about the local authorities, actually the pot is
the property of "
"My dear girl, Britain has been riffling the world of its an-
tiquities for centuries. Do you think Lord Elgin would have had
scruples about taking what he had found? Good God girl, half
of ancient Egypt is sitting in the British museum. We will
hardly be creating a precedent. Just get it home, we can debate
the ethics at our leisure over tea at the Dorchester."
Pandora felt that Deakin, who rather over-played the part,
really did belong to a different era. However she had done
what she wanted which was to switch the responsibility to him.
In truth she wanted the artefact back in London as much as he
did.
Bleary eyed after a fitful sleep, Pandora dragged herself from
her tent. It was barely light but it looked like fine weather was
in store. She made her way over to the dig. Despite the early
hour she was not the first one there. Susan and Peter were
hovering over the plastic covers, eager to start work, but un-
willing to make a move until Dr. Summers had arrived.
"Did you sleep well?" she asked.
"You have to be joking, not a wink!"
"The other three are back, we haven't said anything but "
"I'm going to start them on a dig across the rise, on the nec-
ropolis site, I do feel guilty, and it's as if I don't trust them but
this is such a delicate matter. Professor Deakin wants the pot
back in London as soon as possible and that could put us in dif-
ficulties with the local authorities, the fewer who are involved,
the better."
By nine o'clock it the sun was making its presence felt the air
was already hot; the Black Sea coast would have been ideal for
a holiday. It had everything the Riviera had to offer except the
12
inflated prices. There was however work to do. The covers
were removed from the dig revealing that nothing had changed
from the previous evening. The glow from the base of the pot
was however much less noticeable in the bright morning light.
Carefully the remaining earth was trowelled from the sides and
down to the base.
"The pot should now be free. Get the trowel underneath and
gently free it from the sediment base "
Gently the trowel was slid under and the pot was free.
"OK good now lift it slowly "
It was immediately apparent that the base was completely
detached from the main part of the pot so a thin wooden board
was placed underneath as support and the whole thing care-
fully lifted free of its ancient resting place.
It was placed on a wooden table in the main tent. Four pairs
of eyes were locked onto what appeared to be just a normal six
thousand year old clay pot. A clay pot with a hardly visible light
shining from the crack which they now knew circled the entire
base. The top of the pot was sealed with a lid which appeared
to have been tied down with some form of cord which was now
mostly decayed. There appeared to be possible traces of resin
or wax used to seal the lid down.
"Well are we going to look inside, or what?"
It was Peter who spoke but his words were on every one's
lips.
"Photo's first please." Instructed Dr Summers.
Eventually the jar was carefully separated from its base and
put down next to it.
There was a general gasp of astonishment with what met
their eyes.
"More photos please John "
Sitting on the detached base of the pot balanced a golden
box, intricately carved with a minute geometric design. To
Pandora's eyes the design seemed abstract but it was not
without repetition of the symbols and she wondered if it might
actually be some form of script. It was in the shape of a cube,
each side a little over 6 cms. Somehow the entire surface of the
cube was glowing in the way that a piece of white hot steel
glows. In the case of the cube the glow was much less bright
almost ethereal and somehow unsettling.
13
Pandora put on a pair of cotton gloves and gingerly touched
the surface of the cube. It felt surprisingly normal, no obvious
heat or anything at all strange. She lifted it from the base of
the pot and saw that the underside was no different to the rest
of the cube. It appeared perfectly symmetrical and untouched
by the ravages of time. It looked as if it had just been made
fresh from some elven jewellers workshop.
"Is it a box?" asked Susan.
"There is no obvious lid or way to open it, but of course that
may mean nothing, many boxes are made with a trick to open-
ing them which is not apparent at first look. The weight indic-
ates that the box may be hollow, it's lighter than I expected
Again this is so unusual that I can't even begin to guess."
Susan felt compelled to touch the object; it was somehow in
conflict with her sense of normality. When Pandora had placed
the cube down on a soft piece of cloth, Susan very delicately
stroked the top left corner with her bare index finger "
"Ouch "
Her finger snapped away automatically as if from an electric
shock or from touching something hot.
"What happened, are you hurt?"
"I don't know, it just felt strange, sort of tingling, there was
no real pain it was just the shock, I was not expecting it to feel
so odd." Susan took a step back clearly unsettled by the
experience.
Pandora realized that this artefact needed more than she
could offer to uncover its secrets. Despite Susan's reaction
when she touched the box, Pandora felt compelled to experi-
ence what Susan had. She took off a glove and gingerly placed
a finger on the surface on the artefact. She reacted in the same
way as Susan; the experience was difficult to explain. It was
unlike anything she had ever felt before.
"I have to get this back to London, any opinions on how we
can best pack it safely? Bear in mind that I don't want to have
to explain myself to customs I will have no official
documentation."
John offered his opinion:
"I'm used to lugging camera equipment around, a lot of that
stuff can be quite delicate. I have a spare bag which is
reinforced, well-padded and would not attract unwanted
14
attention It's the normal sort of thing that a traveller might
have over his or her shoulder."
Peter made his observation:
"Look, the box, the cube, whatever we call it has sat safely
inside the pot for five or six millennia why not put it back and
take the whole thing. Just crate it up with foam packing around
it."
"That leaves it open to questions by customs, and I can't
carry a crate as hand luggage I don't really want to let it out
of my sight."
"I don't think customs will be a problem, just go through the
blue door and unless you look like a drug smuggler or
something no one is even going to even stop you."
"I think you're right but if I did get caught in a spot check
things could turn nasty. Going through the blue door is effect-
ively saying that you have nothing to declare."
"You do have nothing to declare."
"Nothing I want to declare!" Pandora corrected.
Once again Pandora decided to let the Professor make the
decision. His response was immediate and unequivocal.
"Just pack up the cube nice and snug and bring it as hand
luggage, at this stage the pot is of far less interest. I'm sure
you will have no problem now that we are part of the E.U."
They used bubble wrap to cocoon the cube. It seemed almost
too prosaic, a silk lined Faberg box would have been more ap-
propriate. Once taped up, it was secured in John's photograph-
ic equipment bag.
The taxi ride to the airport felt to be one of the longest ones
of her life and the wait for her flight seemed interminable.
The Professor proved to be right however. She passed out of
the airport arrivals with her hand luggage and no one even
spoke to her. As she settled into her seat on the Heathrow Ex-
press she let out a sigh of relief. Just 15 or 20 minutes to Pad-
dington then a short taxi ride to St Johns Wood to meet with
Professor Deakin. It would be a relief to be rid of her package.
She made a quick call to Deakin to let him know that she had
arrived safely and would be at his home within the hour.
Pandora suddenly felt sleepy. After a couple of days of stress
and little sleep she could finally relax. She just allowed herself
15
to close her eyes for a minute when a voice with an Italian ac-
cent said:
"Do you mind if I put my luggage up here?"
Pandora's eyes half opened and saw a tall dark haired guy,
nicely dressed pointing to the space over her seat.
"That's fine." she said. "Need any help?"
"No no There it's done. Thanks."
Pandora's eyes closed again, just to rest them. Obviously she
would not fall asleep The train rumbled on and gathered
speed making a soothing and repetitive almost hypnotic
sound
"Wake up miss we are at Paddington "
Pandora woke with a start, unsure where she was for a
second. She blinked her eyes. Falling asleep like that was just
not what she did. She took a mouthful of water from her bottle
of Evian. As Pandora stood and opened the luggage locker she
was suddenly wide awake.
"Oh God no "
The locker was empty.
16
Chapter 3
"I'll take your details miss, and if the bags turn up I'll contact
you. I have to say, in cases like this it's usually an opportunist
thief and anything of value will be long gone. We sometimes
get the bags, even maybe your passport might be found. You
say there was a camera bag and a holdall?"
Pandora was not at all sure if she should have got the police
involved but an efficient and business like police woman just
happened to be patrolling the station and was drawn to her ob-
vious panic.
Pandora wandered around in a daze hoping to catch sight of
something, a straw to grasp, but there was nothing. She sat for
a moment near the statue of Paddington Bear, head in her
hands. How could she tell Deakin? What could she do?
"Pandora? is that you?" A figure had emerged from the Star-
bucks just opposite and was headed her way.
"What's the matter?" He asked. Pandora raised her eyes and
saw with pleasure an old friend.
"Stewart Stewart Moss Oh am I glad to see you."
Pandora jumped to her feet and flung her arms round
Stewart's neck. She was certainly not the kind of woman to
normally make public displays of emotion but she burst into
tears as her friend from her Cambridge days held her in a com-
forting hug.
"Come on now, this isn't like you Do you want a coffee or
something?" he asked pointing back to where he had just come
from. "I could use something a little stronger." She said regain-
ing her composure.
They soon found themselves in a nearby pub. Stewart had a
pint of real ale in front of him; the sparking bubbles rising
through the amber liquid to the creamy head invited his atten-
tion. He felt his attention was needed elsewhere just for the
moment. Pandora had already half finished her brandy.
17
"Do you want another?" he asked pointing to her drink.
"Actually, yes " She drained the contents of her glass and
Stewart got her a refill.
"Thanks Stewart, I don't usually drink much any more "
She thought back to their student days when they both new
how to party. That was before she had grown up of course.
"OK tell me what all this is about "
"I just had my luggage stolen, I've just flown in from Bul-
garia and I was bringing back something rather important.
And now it's gone, probably my career with it."
"It can't be that bad. Just what has been taken?
"Well apart from my bank cards and passport I had
something we discovered in a dig at Varna "
"Well an old artefact can hardly be that important, and a
thief wouldn't know what to do with it anyway My bet is that
it'll turn up."
"You might normally be right, but what we found was
unusual."
Pandora felt that she was in danger of telling Stewart too
much, but she did trust him. Under his mop of unkempt hair
was a brilliant brain which was moderated by one of the kind-
est and selfless personalities she had ever known.
"I can't say any more Stewart "
He looked at her with a feigned sadness "Not even to old
Stew-pot?"
She smiled. "No I'm sorry, maybe later when this has all died
down."
"OK, what's your immediate problem let's think rationally."
"I have no money, I can't get home, and I have to tell Deakin
that I have totally screwed up a simple courier job and lost
what may be the most significant find in human history!"
Stewart raised his right eyebrow in an exaggerated show of
disbelief.
" In human history." he repeated.
The fact that Pandora didn't laugh and admit to any exagger-
ation surprised him.
"Yes, I think perhaps so." She had let too much slip now and
relented under Stewart's renewed questioning. She told her
old best friend everything.
18
I'll come with you to see Deakin, he won't be able to shoot
you in front of a witness, then we can get you home and you
can make the calls to sort out your bank cards. Believe me, to-
morrow things will look a lot better."
"Don't you have to be somewhere?" She asked, hoping the
answer would be no.
"I'm just in town for the day but all my business is done. Ac-
tually I don't need to be back in Cambridge until Monday. I'm
actually a free agent at your disposal."
Professor Deakin opened his front door at the first knock. His
face revealed his welling anger as much as his cutting words.
"You stupid, stupid girl, How could you have let this happen."
Deakin was incandescent; he had the urge to strike Dr Sum-
mers across her face but was inhibited by propriety and the not
inconsiderable mass of the oaf she had deigned to bring with
her.
"Well it's just up to you to retrieve the item Christ I can't
even bring myself to speak to you any more. Get out of my
house."
The meeting had gone exactly as expected. They left St
John's Wood with Pandora feeling humiliated and numb. Her
cheeks burned with embarrassment. Stewart put his arm
across her shoulder.
"Well that went quite well under the circs."
Despite herself Pandora chuckled, the look of total pomposity
on Deakin's face was just too ludicrous to take seriously.
"Right let's get you home, are you still sharing the flat with
you sister?"
The taxi pulled up outside her two bedroom flat and she led
Stewart inside.
"Pandora, Hi. How's my big sister "
"Hello Lucy, not bad."
The sisters hugged.
"Tell me all about it, I've just got time for a quick cuppa with
you and Is that you Stewart?"
"Hi Lucy long time "
She spoke against the side of her hand, pretending that she
didn't want Stewart to hear.
"You should tell your guy he needs a haircut."
19
Stewart laughed and made a grab for Lucy who pulled away
in a fit of giggles. Stewart always felt more at ease with the
little sister for some reason.
"So why do you have to be off as soon as I get back from the
other side of Europe." Asked Pandora.
"A hot date." she mouthed.
"Do I know this hot date?"
"No, I may bring him round for your inspection if he lives up
to expectations."
Lucy managed just a couple of gulps of her tea and then
jumped up.
"Got to go darlings, Bye Stewart see you soon." She headed
for the door and then spun on her heel.
"Oh almost forgot, there was some stuff left for you. A taxi
dropped it off there's a note I dumped it in your room. OK
bye."
Lucy's bubbly personality exited the front door leaving be-
hind a trace of her "hot date" perfume and a sudden silence as
the mood sank back to where it had been before.
"I better go and see what that delivery is all about."
Stewart wondered if he should make his exit too, Pandora
seemed to be getting her composure back.
There was a sudden squeal from Pandora's room.
"Stewart, come here, quick! It's my luggage I'm saved!"
He stood in the doorway as Pandora hugged the life out of
him in relief. She held a hand written note:
"Miss Stewart, I must apologize. In my rush to get off the
train I swept up your bags up along with mine. Luckily your
name and address were in the holdall so I put them in a taxi to
return to you. I am so sorry for the upset." It was signed Gio-
vanni Spitarri.
"Thank God there are still some honest people left in the
world."
"I think most people are honest, most of the time." Stewart
added. Pandora was not in the mood to argue the point; sud-
denly the whole world was honest and good. Ten minutes earli-
er her opinion would have been the opposite.
"Well, are you going to show me this Earth shattering discov-
ery?" Stewart asked. Pandora went back into her room and
brought out the photographic bag. She soon had the parcel in
20
her hands and laid it on the table. With extreme care she re-
moved the tape and then the bubble wrap. They both fell silent
as the cube stood naked in front of them. Back in the ordinary
setting of her flat, the artefact seemed in stark contrast with
its every day surroundings.
Stewart held out his hand towards the cube.
"No don't touch it with your bare skin, there's some sort of
electric shock or something "
"I'd love to get this in my lab back at Cambridge. It is just not
possible that it can belong to the Neolithic age. Just what
secrets does it hold?"
"Well I thought we would need a physicist to give us a tech-
nical interpretation of what we found. Maybe you will get the
job But I guess that will be down to Deakin."
"Talking of him, don't you think you should give him a call
put him out of his misery."
"My inclination is to let him stew for a while, he could have
shown me just a little sympathy, and it was obvious that I was
as upset as he was. More so even."
"Shall I call him?" Stewart asked.
"No it's better if I do it"
Pandora dialled the Professors number.
"It's Pandora."
"There's no point in apologizing the damage is done. I have
no confidence in your abilities any more "
"I've got it back!"
"What, well why didn't you say so bring it round straight
away."
As Pandora hung up she muttered to herself what Stewart in-
terpreted as "Miserable self-centred bastard." But he could
have misheard the normally polite woman.
The golden cube was re-enclosed in its polythene bubble sar-
cophagus and put back in the bag.
"Shall I come with you, or, have you done with me for today?"
Pandora looked at him for a long moment with questioning
eyes. It was a complete mystery to her why she had allowed
Stewart to drift out of her life.
"The come with one, if you can."
"Love to."
21
This time the professor opened his door with a smile on his
face.
"Come in my girl, sorry about my performance earlier but I
was so disappointed "
"That's not a problem." Pandora lied.
"Right what have you got come and use my display table.
Pamela, could you get our guests some sherry."
"Hello Mrs Deakin, how are you?"
"Very well, my dear. And you?"
The professor's wife was a quiet, small woman who lived in
her husband's shadow but she had a good kind heart and
seemed content enough with her lot. She spent her day fussing
around the house like a captive sparrow administering to her
husband's needs.
Pandora introduced Stewart to her deliberately keeping the
Professor waiting.
"Yes, yes, come on Pandora show me what you have."
Pandora put on a pair of surgical gloves and placed the
golden cube on Deakin's table. He stood astonished for a
second and then moved his hand to touch it.
Pandora looked at Stewart and gave him a clear signal to
keep quiet.
"Ouch! Ouch! Good God what was that " The professor
reeled back shaking his fingers.
"Oh I'm sorry I should have warned you I'm certain it will
have done no harm, but I understand the shock is quite
unsettling."
Deakin took a mouthful of sherry and sat down.
Pandora's eyes met those of Stewart and there was a barely
perceptible exchange of smiles.
"There's more to this than meets the eye Pandora." The pro-
fessor said as he held his glass out to Pamela for a refill. Pan-
dora took the opportunity to make her own comment.
"Yes I think this object has moved out of our sphere to some
extent. I suggest we need a physicist to examine it. Maybe Ste-
wart could help" She indicated towards her companion with
a nod of her head.
"Oh you are a physicist young man. I agree with you in prin-
cipal, Pandora, but No offence to Stewart, maybe someone of
top capability is needed I'll make some calls."
22
"Stewart is very capable; he's at Cambridge in "
Deakin cut her short.
"Nevertheless Who is your head of department young
man?"
"Look Professor if I don't have your confidence, then I am
happy to stand aside." Stewart intoned.
"'Good so be it." Deakin was happy to have scored the
point.
"Well Pandora, if there's nothing more, I'll see you first thing
Monday morning at college. Pamela show our guest out will
you dear."
As the taxi headed back to Pandora's flat She apologized to
Steward for his off handed treatment.
"That's OK I don't have to see the old buffer again, but how
can you stand working with such a person?"
"In truth I can't, and mostly I rarely see him. Just when he
needs me to do something."
Stewart shrugged.
"I guess I should be thinking about getting home "
"Oh I hoped we could share a take-away or something I've
got a bottle of plonk in the fridge; unless Lucy helped herself
You could crash out on my couch later."
Professor Deakin had meanwhile wasted no time in calling
his contacts.
"A top man who could undertake an examination of an unusu-
al artefact yes Dr Moss you say head of department at
materials research sounds just the man you'll see if he's
available. Excellent, I'll see you at the conference in Basel next
month. Goodbye Peterson old chap, regards to Fiona."
Back in Cambridge on Sunday morning Stewart was on his
back under his classic Austin Healey. It was undergoing the
delicate procedure of an oil change, most of which had found
its way onto Stewart's shirt. He fumbled in his pocket for his
phone as it started chiming and pulled himself from under the
car.
"Hello, Stewart Moss."
"Hello Stewart, Its James Peterson."
"Oh hello Professor, what can I do for you?"
"Just had Professor Deakin on the phone, do you know him?
Bit of a pompous ass actually but don't say I said so Anyway
23
he's looking for a materials specialist. I said I'd try and get you
on board "
James Peterson ended his call with Stewart and immediately
dialled Deakin's number.
"Yes Dr Moss has agreed to take your project on; he'll drive
down to London on Monday and meet you at college."
On Monday morning Pandora met up with Deakin and they
both stood in awe of the mystery that was the cube. It had
been brought to the college by Deakin and stood unceremoni-
ously on his desk. One could almost imagine it as an exotic pa-
per weight. It was still glowing faintly as it had done since be-
ing found. This fact was both unsurprising and astonishing at
the same time.
"I managed to pull a few strings over the weekend and was
able to convince a top materials scientist to join our little
team." Professor Deakin looked smug. Pandora already knew
who the top man was. Stewart had rung her straight away on
Sunday morning after he had taken the call.
Deakin's office phone rang.
"Hello Oh good, bring him up would you."
"Hello Stewart." Pandora took him by the arm and walked
him over to Deakin.
"You are Dr Moss?"
Deakin had turned bright red.
"Well this is all a little embarrassing I hope you will accept
my apology young man err Doctor Moss."
"No apology needed." Stewart smiled.
There was another of those knowing glances from Pandora.
"Let's have a look at what we have here."
Stewart spent five minutes with nothing more elaborate than
a magnifying glass."
"OK after a quick look I can tell you my initial impressions:
We have to open our minds to all possibilities so, I can say
stating the obvious, this is a real object It's not something
like a hologram or a projection of some sort. The design on the
surface appears not to be random or to my eye just decoration,
but I think it is more functional. Think of a three dimensional
zipper or maybe an elaborate origami type of folding sorry
I'm not making much sense. The material looks like gold but
I'm pretty sure that it is not. If you are correct about its age,
24
then the lack of any corrosion is very unusual, it appears as if it
had been constructed yesterday. From the weight, I can't draw
any conclusion, other than that it has mass. It was certainly
manufactured by an intelligent designer and I know of no hu-
man technology that could have made it today and certainly
not six millennia in the past. As for its apparent inexhaustible
ability to emit electromagnetic radiation Well we know it has
to follow the laws of thermodynamics There must be an en-
ergy source contained in its structure which will inevitably be
running down. What is it for? Who made it? I don't know. But it
was made, it does, in my opinion, have a purpose. I have to get
it back to my lab in Cambridge and do some deeper probing."
"Dr Moss if I understand what you are implying then am I to
assume Are you saying this object is Alien of another
World?"
"It is either from another world or it was made by people
whose greatest known technology was making and firing clay
pots. Which is the most reasonable explanation in your opinion
Professor?"
Deakin had no answer, both explanations were equally unbe-
lievable but he had no better hypothesis.
"Very well take it to Cambridge, but no destructive testing
obviously. Would it be acceptable if Dr Summers accompanied
you to document your progress?"
Stewart knew Deakin meant Keep an eye on you. but was re-
laxed about Pandora's eyes being involved.
"I'd be happy to have her input." he said "I have my car, we
could go together."
"Is that all right with you Dr Summers?"
"Completely."
"Oh and I feel we must still keep the existence of the find
completely confidential." added Deakin.
Stewart was not really sure why such an Earth shaking dis-
covery should be kept secret but in fact quite relished having
the opportunity of undertaking its first examination in
seclusion.
Back in Cambridge the box was subjected to series of basic
examinations. Pandora hovered in the background feeling
mostly useless. Her questions appeared to be just a hindrance
to the progress so after an hour she took herself off for coffee.
25
"So what do we know so far?" Asked Pandora on her return.
"Well, we know that its radiating light, so I checked with a
broad spectrum detector to see if it was radiating at any other
electromagnetic frequencies you know radio, X ray, infra
red."
"And "
"Nothing so far. There was also no ionizing radiation either,
err radio activity."
"I guess that's good to know."
"Well, low level radio activity is quite harmless and it might
have pointed to a power source."
"What's next?"
"I'm going to do a fairly basic scan of the box and see if we
can get a look inside. This equipment is basically exactly the
same as the scanners that are used at airports so it should be
quite safe, I don't want to do any damage with anything too
high energy."
It was a quick process but the results were hard to explain.
Stewart looked bemused.
"So, what has it shown?"
"Maybe the scanner has malfunctioned it's not given me
any image at all hold on."
Stewart placed a ball point pen, which just happened to be
handy, on the box and scanned it again."
"Wow!"
"What is it?"
"Look on the screen the pen has shown up, but the box
supporting it hasn't. It makes the pen look as if it's floating in
mid-air Let me try something else "
Stewart put the pen behind the box so that the box would
shield the pen from the scanner. He scanned again.
"I don't believe this look."
Pandora looked at the scanner screen.
"I can see the pen Stewart but not the box, how is that
happening?"
Stewart shook his head.
"It's basically not possible. Somehow the scanner can't see
the box at all, but it doesn't shield anything behind it. It is as if
the radiation is passing straight through the box in the same
way that light passes through glass."
26
Without warning the broad spectrum detector which was
continually monitoring and recording any signals suddenly
went off the scale.
"It looks as if we may have triggered something with the
scanner; the box is broadcasting a radio signal across quite a
wide frequency range Anyone within miles will be able to
pick this up It almost looks like a data stream "
"Can't you do something ? Can't you stop it?" Pandora was
starting to panic, this would be sure to alert the authorities.
"The scan is already off, there's nothing else I can do unless
you can see the off switch "
27
Chapter 4
The burst of radio signal lasted just over 12 seconds and then
stopped.
"Wow, that was fascinating." said Stewart apparently uncon-
cerned. The data, along with a time code was automatically
recorded.
Pandora breathed a sigh of relief.
"At least it was short. Do you think anyone could have picked
it up?"
"Almost certain to have, but the short duration and the lack
of anything intelligible that is intelligible to us, I should say,
would mean that it would probably be dismissed as a random
static event not worth investigating."
"Stewart, I have to admit that that sudden reaction to the
scan has me worried What if this thing is dangerous ?
Could we set off something harmful ? Could it even be a
weapon of some kind? How safe do you think it is.?"
"I guess I have been a little hasty. I'm used to studying things
that nature has thrown my way. Nature may be amoral but it
doesn't lay traps for you, but this thing maybe built by a devi-
ous mind who knows."
"Let's make haste slowly then. Are there tests you can do
that would be unlikely to set anything else going?"
"I have to say that I can't be certain about anything but
weight and measurements should be OK. I'd like to get a close
up look at its surface. An optical microscope will be safe. I was
going to try X raying it if the scanner produced nothing, but
after the reaction to the scan, I'm a little reluctant."
Pandora looked pensive; there was something else that had
been on her mind.
"Stewart, we have to ask ourselves why this object was
sealed in a pot in the first place. The people of Varna were no
less intelligent than we are, just maybe ruled more by
28
superstition than us They must have had a reason for sealing
it away. I think they either revered the object as sacred some-
how, or feared it and wanted it gone."
"I can easily imagine that the people who sealed the cube in
the pot would have considered it magical, supernatural be-
cause even with my scientific background, I am finding it hard
not to think of it in just those terms. In some ways it appears to
be contemptuous of my attempts to probe its secrets."
"I feel just the same." added Pandora.
"Do you want to stop work on it Pandora? I can fully under-
stand your fears."
"Frankly Stewart I just don't know."
"This is what I suggest, I'll just do the basic weighing and
measuring today and we can think about how far to go later.
Maybe we should discuss this with your favourite Professor."
"Hmm, maybe."
"What about the radio emission, you suggested it might be a
data stream."
"Yes, that was just a guess; actually that's not really my
field But I might know someone who has experience in look-
ing at that sort of thing but it would mean expanding the
team."
"Would he have to know where you got the signal?"
"I suppose not, initially, but if there is some kind of message
it would be hard to keep him out of loop "
"Another question for Deakin maybe." Sighed Pandora.
"Why don't you go out for some fresh air and clear your
thoughts, I'll carry on for a while with the basics."
Pandora was quite happy to agree.
"You can take the Healey if you like."
"Are you sure?" Pandora knew that the car was Stewart's
pride and joy.
He tossed her the keys.
"Thanks, I won't be long, maybe I'll take a walk along the
river." It had been a while since she had walked the streets of
Cambridge a town she had known well as a student. As Pan-
dora unlocked the car door she felt a sudden warmness to-
wards its owner. To be trusted with his baby in such a casual
way meant more than she could express even to herself.
29
It was a nice day and there were couples on the river en-
gaged in the time honoured ritual of punting. At this time of
year most students had left for their holidays and Cambridge
felt almost deserted compared to her recollections of the town.
Stewart busied himself with the box. He checked to see if it
carried an electric charge. The shock effect against bare skin
was another unexplained phenomenon. There was no electric
charge that he could measure. He weighted the box and took
the dimensions. It was an exact cube. In fact with the precision
he could measure, every edge, every angle was exactly the
same. That in itself would be very difficult to achieve, there
would almost always be a small deviation somewhere.
Despite the restriction on destructive testing, he attempted
to remove a microscopic flake from one of the corners and
found the surface to be completely unyielding. It was certainly
not made of gold which is a soft metal. The box could not be
marked with the hardest steel or a diamond tipped probe.
He had just rigged up an optical microscope when a re-
freshed Pandora came back into the lab.
"Anything new." she asked, slipping the car keys into
Stewart's pocket.
"I come bearing gifts." She said handing him a plastic
wrapped sandwich and a takeaway coffee.
Steward suddenly noticed that he was quite hungry.
"Cheese and onion; my favourite."
"I remembered." smiled Pandora.
"Well I can confirm it's definitely an enigma." He said with a
smile in answer to her question.
"Let's have a look through this." The microscope showed that
the surface was unusually smooth.
"Pandora take a look, the magnification is at 500 times."
Stewart attacked his sandwich while Pandora took her turn
at the eyepiece.
"Yes it looks unlike anything I've seen, the surface is perfect.
The finest engravings I've seen at this magnification look quite
rough. Even polished flat surfaces are covered in fine
scratches this is just so smooth. I can't imagine how it was
done."
"We are working on a nanotechnology project which involves
building up material from single atoms, from the ground up if
30
you like. I have a feeling that this was made by a similar tech-
nique though it's far in advance than anything we can do
yet."
Stewart sat down, he looked deflated.
"All I've managed to do is just confirm what I could see with
the naked eye."
His phone rang, chiming a melody that Pandora recognized
but was unable to name.
"Stewart Moss "
"Ah, Stewart my boy, Professor Deakin here. Just wondered if
you had any news yet I appreciate its early days "
Stewart told him the little he had discovered and also about
the burst of possible data.
"It would be well worth getting another opinion on the sig-
nal if you don't mind involving someone else." Stewart added.
"I'm reluctant to widen our little coterie unless necessary."
"I understand that, but so far it looks like the only avenue we
have. The potential dangers of doing further electronic probing
are holding us back."
"What does Pandora think?"
"I'll let you speak to her "
Stewart handed her his phone, she had heard the conversa-
tion so far.
"Professor, my view is that it is too dangerous to probe any
more with powerful scanners. I think if we need to make pro-
gress we have no choice but to bring in a data expert."
"So Moss knows such a person, who is he?"
"I don't know, here's Stewart again."
"Professor, the person I know, I have to admit, has his
flaws gambling is his weakness I'm afraid, but his analytical
brain is first class."
"What's his name?"
"Adrian Bancroft."
"Do you trust him?"
Stewart was slow to answer.
"I hear from your reluctance to reply that the answer may be
in the negative." Noted Deakin.
"I trust his mathematical abilities, less so his ethics."
31
Deakin recognized and acknowledged his own questionable
ethics which surfaced from time to time. Although he would
never admit to them outside his own thoughts.
"Very well as long as this chap isn't an out and out villain,
let's use him for our own ends. But keep his information on a
need to know basis." Deakin ended the call.
"So what does this Adrian Bancroft do?" asked Pandora as
she brushed the hair out of her eyes.
Stewart took another bite of his sandwich.
"Mathematician, but he does work for SETI. A lot of the data
gets sent around the world for analysis."
"SETI?" The word rang a bell but Pandora needed reminding.
"Don't laugh, the work they do is completely serious scientif-
ic study."
"I wasn't laughing Stewart, but you need to remind me what
SETI is!"
"Oh sorry Search For Extra Terrestrial Intelligence."
Pandora couldn't help herself and started to giggle.
"Little green men Area 51 and all that."
Stewart stood silent for a moment. But he could see the
funny side and started to laugh himself.
No honestly, it serious stuff The search is scanning the sky
using massive antenna arrays and radio telescopes. NASA
provides funding among others These are the guys who first
who identified Pulsars."
"Yes I'm sorry Stewart, I did know once you reminded me, I
was just winding you up."
Stewart prodded her in the ribs which started the giggles
again.
"It's good to be with someone that I can let go with." Pandora
said suddenly feeling a little shy.
"I know." Replied Stewart.
There was an awkward pause
"You see the sort of thing that SETI is looking for, may be ex-
actly what we may have received from inside the cube."
"So where can we find this ethically flawed Adrian Bancroft?"
"I'm hoping at the mathematics department I've got his
number somewhere "
After a short search he punched the number into his phone.
32
"Adrian, Hi, got a project you might be able to help with No
we'll come over to you see you shortly."
There was no way he wanted Bancroft in his lab at this stage.
Stewart put the cube in a secure observation case which he
had prepared earlier. He started a time-lapse image capture
device going in case the low level optical radiation changed.
He made sure the radio frequency detector was still operation-
al. Finally he downloaded the cube's signal to a USB flash
drive.
"OK I think that's all, let's go and have a chat with our
mathematician."
***
"Stewart."
"Adrian."
The two men shook hands.
"This is Pandora."
"Hello, let's go through to my office."
He led the way though a corridor of ancient darkened wood
panelling into a room which could have come straight from
Victorian times except for the definitely twenty first century
computer equipment.
Adrian Bancroft was shortish, just slightly overweight and
had thinning hair, not quite a bald patch yet. He had not yet
reached the august age of 40 but was not far away. He had the
peculiar and disturbing habit of suddenly leaning backwards
during a conversation as if he had seen a cricket ball racing to-
wards his head. He dressed in a fashion best described as
1950's shabby, complete with bow tie. Which was surprising
since he was not even born until twenty years after that decade
had ended. Maybe he had a stash of his grandfather's old
clothes mused Pandora. Bancroft was a true eccentric in the
classic British tradition. Surprisingly, despite his flaws, he had
an usually successful record with the gentler sex. Pandora ap-
peared immune to whatever his charms were.
"Now Stewart, I hope this project of yours involves some de-
cent recompense, as it happens I find myself a little strapped
for cash at the moment."
Steward and Pandora exchanged glances.
"I'm sure something could be arranged Based on results, of
course." Said Pandora.
33
"Quite so So what data have you got?"
Stewart handed over the flash drive. It went into the desk top
on Adrian's desk top.
"Mm well interesting, very interesting. Where did you get
this?"
"Can't say actually it's a bit hush hush." Answered Stewart.
"OK why don't you guys leave me to it for a day or two, I'll
get back to you with my findings."
As they left Bancroft's office Pandora made an observation:
"He suddenly seemed in a hurry to get rid of us as soon as
he saw the data come up on his screen in fact."
"I noticed the same thing I hope my trust in him wasn't
misplaced."
Adrian Bancroft's computer programme was designed to ex-
tract anything that might look like an intelligent signal from
the background noise. In this case it was immediately apparent
to the mathematician that there was no noise just an intelli-
gent signal.
34
Chapter 5
As there was little more for her to do Pandora returned to Lon-
don. She had decided to go back to the Varna dig. The excite-
ment caused by the cube had been replaced by frustration. Her
hopes rested on Adrian Bancroft finding something and frankly
after her meeting with him, she had little confidence that he
would be able to so.
She arrived back home in the evening and found Lucy again
on the point of going out.
"Pandora Hello, how's it all going ?"
Lucy had not been told about the discovery but was astute
enough to have picked up that something unusual was
happening.
"Generally, good Specifically, not so."
"Well now you're talking in riddles What does that mean?"
Pandora clarified her answer:
"I'm fine Lucy, but a project Stewart and I are working on
has run into a bit of a brick wall It was quite exciting but sud-
denly things have come to a halt."
"Tell me more, I'm intrigued now."
"Well it's supposed to be secret "
"Secret I've got to know now come on spill the beans
sister."
Pandora hesitated but in the end relented; she would only
tell Lucy the bare bones.
"OK, in Varna, we uncovered a pot, about six thousand years
old "
"That's impressive but hardly Earth shattering!"
"I haven't finished yet "
Pandora collapsed into her favourite arm chair.
"Any chance of a cup of coffee?"
Lucy shrugged and turned on the kettle in the adjoining
kitchen.
35
"And " Lucy prompted.
"Inside the pot was an object that didn't belong there, could
not have come from there It was a modern artefact and yet
the pot had been buried for six thousand years."
"Wow are you sure the pot wasn't dug up earlier and the
artefact added and re-buried I'm thinking practical joke
That would be "
"No, I can guarantee that didn't happen."
Lucy brought over the coffees and sat opposite her sister.
"So what's the brick wall?"
"We're trying to find out about the artefact, with no luck and
we are running out of ideas. There's a limitation on how much
technology Stewart can use on the find."
"Why?"
"Err; it appears to be susceptible to err damage so we are
pretty much stuck with basic testing."
"OK So, just what is this artefact?"
"I can't say "
Lucy put on her best "lost puppy" expression and took a sip
from her coffee which was a little too hot.
"Just a clue you've got me intrigued now you know I'll
just keep on pestering you 'till you give in, so let's not waste
time cut to the chase!"
"The truth is, we don't know exactly what it is. It is a sort of a
box, a golden cube. That's the brick wall, we just can't find out
what it is."
"OK, that will satisfy me for the moment, but there's more
you're not telling me "
"No, not really. When I find out what it is, if I ever do, you'll
be the first to know."
Pandora had said more than she wanted to and diverted the
conversation onto her sister's love life.
"How was the date the other night?"
"Complete flop seems he was a Jehovah's Witness or some
weird cult and spent the entire evening trying to recruit me in-
to the fold!"
"Oh bad luck, and tonight's date?"
"This one is really fit I'll let you know."
36
Lucy decided she didn't need her coffee and let herself out
eager to start her night out. Pandora was left alone she found
herself missing Stewart's company and decided to ring him.
"Hi, it's me."
"Hello how's my partner in crime?"
"I'm OK; I think I might as well head back to Varna There's
nothing I can do here for the moment. I feel a bit like a spare
tail on a dog" she said, using the polite form of the expression.
"Oh OK "
Pandora thought she detected a little disappointment in
Stewart's voice at the news that she was going back to Bul-
garia, but she may have been mistaken.
"I'll go into the lab early tomorrow, see if I get any brain-
waves. I've got notes to write up which I should have done
today, but I got side tracked "
"Are you sure there's no reason why I should stay on and
help you I don't want to disappear if you need me."
Stewart tried hard to think of something but
"Not really. You better get back to something useful, I've en-
joyed your company over the past day or two though "
The next morning Stewart got into the lab at about five past
eight. As he entered the still dark room his eye was drawn to
the eerie glow coming from the containment chamber. Without
turning on the fluorescent lights he walked over for a better
look. The cube was glowing as before but in the reduced light
it looked astonishing. He wondered what the Neolithic people
would have made of this piece of magic. As he stared at the
cube, it unexpectedly changed from gold to blue and then after
a few moments to red and back again to gold.
As he watched the detector suddenly reacted Another data
stream was being broadcast. By the time he had walked over to
get the lights, it had stopped again. He checked what the re-
corder had captured. To his eyes it looked exactly the same as
the previous time. The duration was again 12 seconds. He
would have to get Adrian to compare the two data streams.
His first thought was that he wanted Pandora to know about
the new observations. He dialled her mobile number.
"Pandora, have you left for Bulgaria yet?"
"No."
"I think I have an excuse, err, reason for you to stay "
37
Pandora was on the first train back to Cambridge. It was el-
even when she burst into the lab. They hugged as if they had
been apart for a year not a few hours.
"Take a look at this "
He dragged Pandora to the containment chamber.
"What, it just looks the Oh wow it's changed colour When
did this start?"
"According to the image recorder it first changed at 22:57
last night and has been oscillating between the three colours
about every seven seconds since then."
"I think we've found the optimum Christmas tree decoration."
Pandora laughed.
"Also there's been another data stream. It happened at 8:08
while I was watching the colours. Adrian already has a copy
and I'm waiting for his call."
"It's as if the box is trying to tell us something."
"I know, but what If this is from an alien world, maybe the
colour sequence gold, blue, red is a recognised signal maybe
a warning."
"Now you're scaring me, what sort of warning."
"I don't know, it may not be a warning at all "
"Stewart Let's suppose this box is a bomb. How dangerous
could it be do you think it's only a small cube after all?"
"That's a difficult question to answer If the box was full of
gunpowder it would blow a decent sized hole in the lab wall.
If it was TNT it would blow up the lab We have to assume the
box was made by an advanced civilization it wouldn't use
crude chemical explosives It would be more likely to turn the
mass of the box directly into energy."
"Like an atomic bomb?"
"I doubt very much that our box is an atomic bomb, not in the
crude way that our technology makes them, but the same basic
principal a small amount of mass yields a huge amount of en-
ergy. For example 1 gramme of matter, a few drops of water
say would, if we knew how to unleash it, yield the equivalent
explosive power of more than 21,000 tons of TNT. Our box has
a little over 250 times that amount of matter. Let's just say it
would make a mess!"
Pandora went pale.
38
"Among people who think about these things," Stewart ad-
ded. "The current view is that any civilization with the capabil-
ity to do that sort of thing would be far too intelligent to waste
it's time making weapons."
"Unlike us humans you mean, I hope you're right."
"From my observations Pandora, humankind has a long way
to go before it can consider itself truly intelligent."
Pandora nodded, though she thought there might be
exceptions.
"So you don't think it's a weapon?"
"Frankly, it makes no sense to me, why would an advanced
civilization plant a bomb and just abandon it for thousands of
years?"
"I hope you're right Stewart."
"So do I."
Stewart's phone rang, it was Adrian.
"Just to confirm, Stewart, that second data stream is exactly
the same as the first one You really have to tell me where
these signals are coming from It could help me unravel
things if I knew more."
"OK I'll be in touch."
Stewart ended the call.
"That was Adrian, the second signal was just a repeat, but
he's pushing for more information "
"Would it really hurt to show him the box?" Asked Pandora.
"Well as long as we have control of it I don't see what harm
he could do Maybe just show him a photo to keep him quiet.
Do we ask Deakin?"
"No damn it, it was my team that found the box, it's time I
started taking responsibility Deakin is just out for the person-
al glory. Let's show Adrian a photo and give him a few details."
***
"That's an amazing story Pandora. The box is invisible to
scanning as well you say. It's the most amazing thing I've ever
encountered. Do you think I could keep the photo?"
"I'm sorry Adrian, but we need to keep the whole story as
secret as possible for the time being. Anyway the less you
know the safer you'll be."
39
"Yes I see what you mean." Adrian replied, tapping the side
of his nose to indicate he understood her meaning about being
safer, which he didn't.
"So, have you managed to uncover anything in the signal?"
"Yes, it's a digital signal, definitely not random, there appear
to be repeated sequences as you would expect in an intelligent
message but I can't tell if it is a sequence of numbers or let-
ters, or something else entirely the permutations are huge. If
you were trying to decipher a coded message from a known
language, then you would have a starting point. But from this
"
Eventually Stewart and Pandora were able to make their
escape.
Adrian's brain had spent as much time working out how he
could make a profit from the discovery as it had on trying to
decipher the message. He picked up his phone and retrieved a
number from a small well-thumbed note book.
"Kelly, my darling. It's Adrian Bancroft. I was just sitting in
my dusty office when your beautiful face just came to me from
nowhere. I suddenly got the urge to see you again We used
to have such fun Pick you up at seven Fantastic."
Kelly Marsden was an attractive woman of thirty five, she
would admit to twenty nine and in fact looked younger than
that. Wearing a pretty summer cotton dress, printed with a
flower motif, with her chestnut hair which fell seductively yet
somehow demurely across her shoulders and her soft green
eyes she looked like a nice sweet young girl. The reality was a
little different. In many ways she was out for what she could
get and in this respect she rather resembled Adrian. She had a
prodigious appetite for sex and on their last encounter had left
Adrian physically drained and herself pleasantly satiated. His
phone call out of the blue suggested more of the same to her
They were already undressing each other as they climbed the
stairs to Adrian's studio apartment. Adrian had moved resid-
ence since the last time they had met almost a year ago. Kelly
barely noticed his new and cherished view of the winding river
Cam which presented itself through his bedroom window like a
framed painting
40
As they lay on the bed still out of breath with beads of sweat
sparkling on their naked skin Adrian got to the other reason for
his sudden re-awakened passion for the sweet Kelly.
"Darling "
"Mm "
"You remember last time we met, you said something about a
guy who was interested in paying for information about "
"Collectables yes of course. I mentioned it at the time be-
cause, with your connections I thought you might come across
something and I know you are always looking for a little ex-
tra cash " She gave a little girlish giggle.
"Exactly so Does this guy still move in the same circles as
you?"
"Dudley, absolutely I thought you knew, we got married
just after last Christmas darling, he's such a sweet man I
suppose you'd like his number?"
Adrian, despite his own relaxed morals, was taken aback by
the marriage revelation. However he eagerly agreed that the
number might prove useful.
"I'll let you have it when we've finished darling "
Kelly started walking her fingers across Adrian's chest in a
most seductive way and gently licked his nipples with her pink
tongue. Adrian wasn't at all sure he could oblige again so soon
but gave it his best shot.
***
At 4.33 am the following morning. The laboratory detector
responded to another burst of signal from the cube.
When Stewart got into the lab at 8:30 he noticed straight
away as he had set the computer to flash up a message on the
screen in the event of any activity. He had started comparing
the signal with the previous two when Pandora came into the
lab. Despite Stewart's offer of a spare fold-up bed, she had
taken a room at the Viscount, a presentable but inexpensive
hotel within walking distance of the lab.
"Hi, how was the hotel?"
"OK, but I'm not a hotel sort of a girl actually."
"The offer of the fold-up is still there."
"I'll think about it I don't want to be a nuisance to you
Anything new?"
41
"Another signal, I'm 90 per cent sure it's just another repeat.
But one thing I've noticed, the time between the signals is
getting shorter and You couldn't"
"Couldn't what?"
"Be a nuisance "
Pandora smiled.
"What could it mean that the repeat time is getting shorter?"
"Well I've only come up with one theory so far It looks as if
it might be a countdown eventually the time between the sig-
nals will become zero "
"Oh no! What's going to happen then?"
"Well I said I don't think it's a bomb, and I still don't but what
events need a count down?"
"A rocket launch, New Year's Day could be anything."
Stewart set to work on a spread sheet. He entered the initial
time of the first signal and the times of the next two. After a
few moments he produced a graph with the projected time se-
quence down to zero.
"OK this looks to make sense. The second signal repeated
after 13 hours and a few seconds. The second signal was after
12 hours and 25 minutes, the third was after 11 hours and 50
minutes. The time has reduced by 35 minutes and a few
seconds each time. That's a simple arithmetic progression. The
calculation is simple assuming the signal continues repeating
as it has done so far we will reach zero on the 15th at 15:38."
"That's only a couple of weeks away!"
***
Across London there was a phone call:
"James my son just got a call from one of my contacts, a
certain Dudley Parminter who has information about
something very interesting "
"Henry I don't want to know names just tell me what we're
talking about."
"Seems there's this gold box that, don't laugh, this is straight
up could be an alien what's-name artefact."
"You've got to be kidding me Henry. My man didn't come
down with the last shower he'd laugh his socks off if I gave
him that."
"Look, God's honest truth, I quizzed Dud err my contact
real well. I didn't believe him myself at first but it seems this
42
came from a University professor who's investigating the box.
It's all top secret, but, get this the box is being looked after
by a bunch of amateurs, some Cambridge boffins should be a
doddle for the right team to lift it."
"OK at the risk of being made to look like a fool, I'll pass this
up the line If you're right about this we could be in for a de-
cent pay day I'll be in touch."
43
Chapter 6
The helicopter was flying fast and low, it skimmed the pristine
snow and followed down the slope into the bottom of a narrow
gully. It felt almost like skiing skiing in a cocoon at a two
hundred clicks. With the minimal ground clearance they were
maintaining, the impression of speed was fantastic. Suddenly
the aircraft lifted into the air and curved up and around the
side of a solid cliff of ice and snow and then down into the next
valley. A swirl of powdery snow was driven up behind them in
their wake and was left spiralling in the frozen air as the heli-
copter powered down the valley just feet above the virgin
white winter-scape.
"Show us what it's got David "
The collector was in awe of the skill his ex-air-force pilot had
behind the controls a machine, car or aircraft he was an ace.
The collector only employed the best.
David gained height and for a moment the sense of speed
was lost as the helicopter reached the top of its climb. As it
arced downward, the two occupants became suddenly weight-
less for a second. The machine tilted forwards so that the men
felt there was nothing underneath them but the ice and rock of
the mountains. Then the plunge down took The Collector's
breath away. The sense of speed returned as the machine
hurled down into another valley. This one was open and spread
out in front of them like a vast white playground. They were
skimming just above the snow going at near maximum speed
250km an hour.
"Fantastic flying!" He yelled over the sound of engine and
chopping blades.
"We should be getting back, the fuel is running low."
"Up here you're the boss David, whatever you say."
The machine slowed as it climbed up above the peaks and re-
vealed the view across to the horizon. There was just a light
44
cloud cover with a high base and from their present altitude
the landscape stretched out before them like a Lilliputian
World. David curved eastward and soon the lake could be seen
picked out by the Sun. From up here it sparked like a silver
jewel. They flew over the length of the northern arm of lake,
not because it was a direct route but because it was there.
They then gained height again and soon saw home territory.
David made his usual skilful touch down on the landing pad
and as the Rolls Royce engine wound down, calm descended
once again on Shadow Fall.
A small tractor was brought to tow the Bell Jet 407 back into
its hangar.
The collector slapped his pilot on the back and shook his
hand.
"That was just brilliant, thanks for that."
"It was my pleasure sir, now if you'll excuse me I have to put
my baby to be bed." David followed the mini tractor towards
the hangar.
The collector looked out across the tussock and saw two
riders approaching from the lower slopes of the valley. He
shielded his eyes with the flat of his hand to get a clearer view.
They were maintaining a slow and relaxed canter and heading
his way. He waved and waited for them to reach him. One of
the riders was Perdita; the other was Christina, his house
keeper.
When he had employed Christina, she asked if she could
keep a horse on the property. The collector was fond of
horses from a distance, but could not ride and had no desire
to do so. But he found the idea of horses on his property was
an attractive one and immediately agreed.
Christina was a born and bred South-lander and an excellent
natural horse woman; she had enough savings to buy a decent
animal and proposed visiting the upcoming horse sale at Du-
nedin. The collector offered to buy her a horse if she would
teach Perdita to ride and the deal was struck. Perdita had been
on horseback as a child and loved the animals but had not been
in the saddle for years. She was overjoyed at the idea.
On the day of the sale, the three of them, accompanied by
John Philips the farm manager, arrived to see what was on of-
fer. Christina was immediately drawn to a magnificent
45
thoroughbred chestnut but it was reserved at an extortionate
price so she found a handsome but less exceptional almost
black animal with white socks and a star on its forehead which
she was more than happy with. Together with Perdita they se-
lected a mild mannered Arab cross with a kind eye and a lop-
ing gate. This was an ideal mount for an inexperienced rider.
For Perdita it was love at first sight.
"Are you happy with your choice, Christina?"
"Oh yes that horse will be fantastic, thank you."
"It's just that I saw you looking at the chestnut, he's a fine
chap don't you think."
"Yes sir but rather expensive."
"Perdy, you happy with your pick?"
She was. The Collector had a few words with Philips and got
him to bid while he took the two women for coffee.
Under instructions, Philips bought all three horses and
Christina was presented with the magnificent chestnut as a
gift.
The two riders had now reached their destination. Perdita
dismounted and slipped a chunk of carrot, which she pulled
from her pocket, under her horse's soft muzzle. The feel of the
gentle lips carefully taking the offered treat gave as much
pleasure to Perdita as the carrot did to her horse. Christina
took her reins, I'll take care of them she said and walked the
horses to the recently constructed stables.
"Thanks for the ride Christina."
"It was my pleasure, madam."
Perdita turned to her husband.
"Hello darling, good flight?"
"Fantastic, that 407 goes like a sports car, at least with
David at the controls And how was your ride?"
"Yes it was very enjoyable not as fast as yours. I'm really
starting to feel really at home in the saddle now, It's a great
feeling, the power of a horse underneath you, both of you
working together, quite special You should try it."
"Hmm maybe."
"By the way, I almost forgot your secure in box has been
blinking "
"Has it This is turning into a pretty good day."
He immediately headed for the homestead.
46
"I'll see you back there." He called over his shoulder as he
paced the gravel driveway up to the main gate eager to see
what message Benson had sent him.
Once inside, without bothering to change he typed in his
lengthy password and read the message, it started with the
date and time and continued:
There's a possibility of an artefact of unusual origin, possibly
ALIEN!
Currently held in UK at Cambridge. The description I have is
of a small golden box that from time to time sends out a short
radio signal - so far undeciphered. If proven correct this box
will be the most valuable find in the history of mankind.
The box is at its most vulnerable at present as the authorities
are unaware of its existence.
Are you interested?
The message was unsigned.
The collector was stunned. He wanted unusual collectables,
but this if it was really alien, would exceed his wildest
dreams.
His reply was made straight away and consisted of three
small words: "Yes, yes, yes!"
The Collector's message had come to him from Charles Ben-
son in New York. He described himself as an entrepreneur
which meant he had his fingers in many pies. Many of the pies
he fingered did not actually belong to him.
He had met The Collector years ago and they had identified
each other as useful mutual contacts. Benson was a consum-
mate deal maker and had an ability to find things that others
wanted. The Collector, even back then, saw the possibilities of
such an individual.
Benson was in his fifties, silver haired and carried his some-
what overweight frame rather well in his expensively cut suits.
He adorned himself with substantial emblems of wealth, heavy
gold ring, Rolex watches and so on, which gave him an air of
success and the confidence, however unwarranted, of those he
met.
Benson had established a network of contacts which spread
across the world. Some were legitimate business contacts, oth-
ers were not. His dealings with the Collector were these days
confined mostly to the latter category.
47
For a considerable reward, he had been able to source many
of The Collectors museum pieces. Now from his tendrils which
stretched into the United Kingdom came what he hoped would
be the most significant find of all.
The collector fired of another email:
"This is so interesting; I would like to be involved in the ac-
quisition at each stage. Please keep me informed step by step.
The rewards for you will be substantial. As usual the utmost se-
curity is needed."
He ended the message with a warning:
"Don't forget, if anything goes wrong I will know who to
blame."
The Collector found Benson to be useful to him but knew that
the American's motivation was only self-interest. He felt no af-
finity for the man and trusted him only so far. He thought it
prudent to occasionally issue a vague warning. A warning with
unstated consequences. Benson knew that he would be unwise
to incur The Collector's displeasure.
Benson wasted no time in organizing a team in the UK. He
already had contacts with several people who were skilled the
sort of operation he had in mind. For a project of this nature
his first choice for team leader was a woman. Juliette Gilot.
She was French but lived in London and had just a trace of ac-
cent which added to her charm. Her background was with the
French security services but for her own safety after a bungled
operation, she found it prudent to live outside her native coun-
try under an assumed name. She undertook commissions
which utilized her particular skills.
Tall, slim, blond with blue eyes, she had the look of a Scand-
inavian. Still athletic at forty she was sophisticated and attract-
ive if not pretty. Her appearance still managed to turn heads
when she was dressed for the part. The phone call came at just
before six in the evening, lunch time in New York.
"Charles, I assume this is not a social call. I expect you have
an offer of work for me."
"Indeed I do. I need to organize a small team. I thought im-
mediately of you as the ideal person to head up this little
group."
"You flatter me."
48
"Not at all, you have all the skills needed. The job will involve
surveillance to locate an item and then the item will need "lib-
erating". Once that has been accomplished you involvement
will be over. There is a large sum on offer Does it grab your
interest?"
"Charles, you make it sound too easy Naturally I have an
interest but I would be foolish to commit myself to something
with so little detail Tell me more, what is the item?"
"The item will appear as a gold box but it has greater signi-
ficance for my Patron who is very keen to own it."
"What size is this box?'
"I am not sure of its exact size; it would be part of the sur-
veillance to establish the exact details."
"Do you mean to say, Charles that the buyer is not certain
that he wants it until after we discover more about It.?
"No He wants it badly. He knows enough about it already
to want it but not exactly what it is."
"You are making your usual cryptic sense Charles."
"Juliette, it's a box of unusual origin that only a handful of
people have seen, there is no accurate description of it."
"Fascinating!"
"Are you in Juliette?"
"Who is in possession of the item at the moment?"
"Some University academics."
"Good, a soft target I suspect. Do we have names for these
academics or photographs?"
"Names yes and I know where they can be found."
"That should be enough, I can handle the rest. OK Charles, I
think I can do this for you. Subject to negotiating a fee of
course."
"Good, very good. Now, I have some names for your team, or
would you rather come up with some of your own?"
"I always prefer to work with people I know unless I need
specialist assistance Is there any indication of that being
necessary?"
"No I think it should be a straight forward operation as long
as we act quickly."
"Thank you Charles, give me a day to organize a team, anoth-
er two men should be enough to handle this. I will call you
49
tomorrow for detailed instructions Oh and Charles, make me
a realistic fee offer, I don't want to waste my time."
Juliette knew who she wanted. Walter was officially a private
detective. But one who would do anything if the price was
right. His "surveillance" skills were of a suitably professional
level she knew of no one better at following a target without
being seen except possibly herself. Walter also had the ad-
vantage of looking very ordinary, the sort of man who would
not warrant a second look. The other was a young lad, Mickey,
who she had been forced to beat up rather badly after he broke
into her flat. If it had been someone else's flat, the lad would
have been successful but confronted with Juliette's abilities he
came off second best. Strangely she had taken a liking to the
cheeky young lad and had felt remorse for the broken arm and
bruised ribs. Mickey was keen to advance his career in a more
professional way and became her eager student in the ways of
"undercover work". What Juliette didn't know about Mickey
was that he saw himself as a big time gangster. His distorted
sense of reality may have changed Juliette's mind in selecting
him for her team if she had been aware of it.
Nor did Juliette know that Mickey had recently acquired a
Glock automatic pistol on one of his "midnight shopping" ex-
peditions. That piece of information would certainly have
changed her mind.
50
Chapter 7
The following lunchtime Pandora found herself with nothing
useful to do and went into town to do some essential shopping.
She couldn't help feeling guilty at leaving her team in Varna to
their own devices and was musing on the possibility of return-
ing there. It was becoming increasingly clear to her that
whatever secrets the box held would not be uncovered by her,
probably not by Stewart either. It was decoding the signal that
held the best hope. That was out of their hands, worse it was in
the hands of someone Pandora didn't altogether trust.
As she wandered around the shops she kept seeing a young
guy, maybe nineteen or twenty with a bad case of acne and
short cropped hair. His appearance was quite distinctive and
Pandora could easily recognize him. He seemed to be roaming
about aimlessly but always reappeared not far from her after a
few moments. Pandora found this unsettling. She was already
on edge with the idea that the box was counting down to some
unknown event. The thought that someone was following her
increased her discomfort by an order of magnitude. Eventually
she saw Mr Acne, as she had named him, jump on a bus and
disappear. She sighed with relief and headed back to her mod-
est room at the Viscount. She needed to unload her purchases
and get some lunch.
She made a call to Stewart:
"Hi, anything new?" She asked.
"Adrian still has made no real progress, he says the signal is
almost certainly an intelligent message of some kind but can't
say what."
Pandora was in a suspicious frame of mind after the recent
events and asked:
"You don't think he's making progress and keeping the in-
formation to himself do you? For sale to the tabloids for
51
example, those people would fall over themselves with offers of
cash for a story like that."
Stewart thought for a moment, in fact the idea had not
crossed his mind before, he just tended to trust people, took
them at face value. But
"I hope you're wrong, but, now you've raised the issue, he
has been asking a lot of questions like where do we keep the
box? He's framed the questions under the pretext of wanting to
be sure that our security is sound but he could equally have
more devious motives."
"You haven't told him where the box is have you?"
"Not specifically no, but it wouldn't take a genius to work out
that my lab would be a good place to start looking not to
mention the fact that Adrian actually is a genius. The man's IQ
is off the scale!"
"Hmm, this is all making me feel even more nervous."
Pandora paused to gather her thoughts.
"Stewart I may be wrong but I had the feeling I was being
followed this afternoon. Everywhere I went there was this
young guy just on the edge of my peripheral vision. I tried
walking in a circle to give him the slip, but he was still there. If
he hadn't been so weedy looking, I would have been quite
frightened."
"What happened were you able to give him the slip?"
"In the end he caught a bus and disappeared but I found it
unsettling."
"That doesn't sound good, are you at the Viscount?"
"Yes, just got in I was reluctant to come back while I
thought I was being followed. I didn't want him to know where
I was staying."
"OK, that was sensible. I'll come round; we need to make a
plan. I'll see you in about forty five minutes."
It took Stewart just a few minutes to finish what he had been
doing. He looked at the box in its containment chamber and
realized just how vulnerable to theft it was. Naively, the
thought had just not occurred to him before. It was only what
Pandora had just said about being followed that had raised his
awareness. As he watched the cube's hypnotic colour change,
the sensor detected another signal. He looked at his watch
14:18, exactly as predicted by his graph. With the signal that
52
was recorded at 19:38 last night, there could be little doubt
now that box was on a countdown. But a countdown to what?
He made an on the spot decision to make the box safer and
packed it in a plastic container, sealed the lid and placed it in-
side a vacuum chamber which was one of many pieces of
equipment in the lab. To anyone unfamiliar with the vacuum
chamber, it would not be obvious that anything would be hid-
den inside. It just looked like a heavy gauge stainless steel tube
with pipework leading to a pump, pressure gauges and heavy
bolts holding it together. Just an ordinary piece of specialist
laboratory equipment. There was a glass inspection window at
one end which he blocked off with a piece of metal foil from
the inside and then tightened up the cover with the bolts.
He felt happier knowing that the artefact was not on display
any more. Anyone wanting to find it would have to take the
whole lab to pieces.
On his way out he made sure the deadbolt lock on the heavy
door was secure and made his way out to where the Healey
was parked. Happy that everything was secure he made his
way the short distance to the Viscount Hotel.
He didn't notice the tall woman riding a motor cycle keeping
a discrete but steady gap behind him.
"Come in Stewart, grab a chair." Pandora poured him a glass
of red wine and topped up her own.
"Have you had any lunch?"
"Yes I'm fine I had a sandwich earlier."
"Stewart, I think we should just hand the box in to the au-
thorities It's getting to be too much for us to deal with."
"Have you spoken to Deakin?"
"I rang him while I was waiting for you His opinion as I ex-
pected is that we need to maximize the benefits for the college,
and his own reputation I suspect."
"In other words he wants to hold onto it until we can prove
its origins?"
"Yes. I think that sums up his position."
"If you go against his wishes will he make things difficult
for you?"
"I think he will He'll probably drive me from the college; he
could put quite a bump in my career path."
Stewart looked serious.
53
"That would be bad for you, and for the college as well I
suspect."
"Deakin wants something to boost his reputation. Something
he can publish."
"The way things are going, we are going to reach zero on the
countdown long before we can answer any questions about
what it is long before any papers can be published"
"The countdown is partly what worries me Just what will
happen at zero hour?"
Stewart looked at Pandora searchingly.
"Are you really scared?"
"Yes I am. I don't feel in control of the situation we don't
know what is going to happen when the countdown is over.
And now there might be someone following me."
"If you really want to hand it in then I'm a hundred per cent
behind you. It's your decision as far as I'm concerned."
"Thanks Stewart it's good to know I have your support, I
know I'd have a battle with Deakin to contend with if I called
the authorities I'm not sure I could handle that on my own at
the moment."
"I guess the big problem we have is not knowing what will
happen when the countdown is over. There may be a spectacu-
lar event, or maybe the signal itself is the event and when the
countdown is over, the signal will just stop and the box will be-
come dormant again."
"What's your best guess, Stewart?"
"I fundamentally believe that really intelligent beings would
be at heart good. I don't think an advanced civilisation would
be roaming the universe leaving "land mines" for innocents to
stumble onto. So I think your box will turn out to be benign. Its
function may be beyond our capacity to understand. A philo-
sopher, an evolutionary biologist actually, Haldane I think his
name was, said that, the universe is not only stranger than we
think, it is stranger than we CAN think."
"That's quite a profound idea it's almost as if the box is
showing us just how pathetically little we really understand."
Stewart spent a few moments in thought. He took a sip of his
wine and then said:
"Suppose we could fine somewhere safe to keep the box until
the countdown has passed. Somewhere remote where it would
54
be unlikely to do any harm and where no one could find it.
Would that be a sensible compromise?"
Pandora took a mouthful of her wine, mirroring Stewart. She
let it roll across her tongue. Stewart thought she looked sad
and vulnerable; he wanted to hold her but did nothing.
"Actually." She said "There is a place I know "
"Tell me more "
"My parents have a farm in Dorset "
"Yes I seem to remember you mentioning it."
"Well in the far corner at the base of a rocky cliff is the
fenced off remains of an old quarry. There's a pond of water,
quite deep in the middle, and I was forbidden to go there as a
child So obviously I spent a lot of time climbing the fence and
catching tadpoles, making rafts and so on "
"Doesn't sound too promising so far "
"Ah but in the top corner next to a sheer rock face, are the
remains of an old explosives store. It was strongly built out of
cast concrete with a heavy iron door and I suppose we could
even fit a safe inside It might just be the perfect spot, quite
remote, on private land and no one ever goes there."
"I think you might have just made a sale."
Pandora managed to smile at Stewart, she took his hand.
"You know Stewart; I feel a little better now that we have
come up with a plan, even if it's just a short term one."
"Where does one get a safe do you think?" Asked Stewart.
"Oh I have one of those in my bedroom in London!"
"Really!"
"It was left by the previous tenant; it's bolted inside a
cupboard."
"Will it come out; is it small enough to move?"
Pandora nodded. "You just have to open it and the bolts are
accessible from inside. I think it was intended to keep docu-
ments and so on safe it's only about this big " She held her
hands apart to indicate a cube about the size of a small mi-
crowave oven.
"You do have the combination?"
"Yes, there's even a booklet that explains how to change the
combination."
55
"Do you feel like driving down to London now, this afternoon
and getting it? Then tomorrow we could visit your parent's
farm with the box."
"Yes, sounds good, you could sleep on my couch again. If
you're lucky we may be able to get Lucy to cook you some of
her famous Penne Bolognese, I think you'd like it "
***
The drive to London was uneventful. But Stewart was a little
wary, the thought that Pandora was under surveillance made
him keep a lookout for anyone following them. He chose not to
share his fears with Pandora who was still on edge even
though she was putting on a brave face.
It was early evening when they arrived and the flat was
empty. Pandora showed Stewart the safe. She punched in the
code on the electronic pad and with the aid of a key soon had
the door open. The safe was empty and the bolts attaching the
safe to the wall's studs were easily visible.
"Got any tools?" Stewart asked.
"Ah "
"Good job there's a tool box in the Healey then "
He went out to the car which was parked in front of the flat
and returned with a socket set.
It took only a few minutes to undo the bolts but the safe was
far heavier than they had expected. It took both of them to
lower it to the floor.
The front door opened and Lucy came in, back from work.
She had taken a year's study break, in order to see the world
but had got side tracked as she often did.
Her personality was as bubbly as ever.
"Burglars " She called attacking Stewart with a cushion.
"Lucy, put that offensive weapon down and get busy. I've
promised Stewart that you'll provide him with pasta."
The two sisters hugged and Stewart got a kiss.
"What's happening with the safe?"
"We just need somewhere secure to keep the box."
"Have you discovered any more?"
Lucy was on a fishing expedition, still intrigued by all the
secrecy. If there was one thing that caught her attention it was
a secret.
"No, Lucy it's quite frustrating "
56
It was clear that Pandora didn't want to discuss the box and
Lucy let the subject drop for the moment. Instead she took
out her frustration with a sharp knife on a couple of innocent
onions.
After dinner which lived up to the promise, all three of them
struggled with the safe and finally had it in the Healey's boot.
"I really love these old cars." Lucy said while polishing her
fingerprints off the red paintwork with her sleeve.
"Yes well you haven't just rattled your way down here from
Cambridge in it." Laughed Pandora.
"It's even further to Dorset." Added Stewart. "Sure you can
make it."
"Oh, only joking, the old girl is quite comfortable actually."
"Dorset!" Chimed Lucy. "Are you going to the farm? Another
piece of the jigsaw falls into place!"
They sat talking until late.
"I think we better leave Stewart to the couch." Pandora said
to her sister.
"Oh aren't you two sharing "
She seemed disappointed.
"OK, I'll see you in the morning. Good night my darlings."
Lucy disappeared into her own room.
57
Chapter 8
The next morning the two of them said their good byes to Lucy
and headed back to Cambridge to collect the box. It was still
quite early when they set off and the light traffic allowed them
to make good time. Stewart parked the car in its usual spot,
and they made their way through the still deserted college. As
they approached Stewart's lab he stopped suddenly as he saw
the door swinging open.
"Stay here." he whispered to Pandora and peered through
the doorway.
"Be careful Stewart " Pandora whispered.
He edged his way inside the lab and saw that everything
looked fairly normal. No vandalism or damage was visible.
More importantly there were no intruders still inside.
"It's OK the place is empty come in."
Pandora gingerly followed Stewart inside. The door lock had
apparently been pulled out with a slide hammer or something
similar. It was obvious things had been moved, the place had
been systematically searched, but there was very little
damage.
"This looks like the work of professionals." Pandora
observed.
"I have to agree. It looks as if they were here for something
specific the box."
"Where is the box?" Asked Pandora.
"I hope it's "
Stewart undid the bolts on the vacuum chamber.
"It's still here Thank God I was spooked enough yesterday
to hide it!"
"Well done you!" Pandora said.
She was concerned that some "professionals" were after the
box but also angry that someone had betrayed them.
"Do you think this is down to Adrian Bancroft?"
58
Stewart nodded.
"That would be my best bet "
"What are we going to do now?"
"I think we should carry on with the plan, the sooner this box
is somewhere safe the better I just hope we won't get fol-
lowed. These people are obviously determined to get the box
and they haven't succeeded yet, I doubt they will have given
up."
"So you do think I was followed yesterday?"
"Probably they would have to find out our comings and go-
ings to know where to start looking. I wouldn't mind betting
that I was followed too."
Pandora fell silent. Her expression darkened.
"What if we led them to London ? Lucy could be in
danger "
"I know, but when I drove down to your place I kept a close
lookout for any vehicles that might be tailing us. I didn't say
anything, but after what you said about being followed I was
on the lookout."
"And you didn't see anything?"
"Not a thing That's no guarantee of course, if these people
are good at their job But you spotted the guy following you
so they are not perfect."
"I'm going to ring Lucy to warm her."
It was still only eight and Lucy had not left the flat yet.
"Lucy, don't get over worried but I think it would be a good
idea if you went to stay at a friend's place for a few days."
"This is about that box isn't it?"
"Yes Stewart's lab was broken into there was no damage
and we still have the box, but We may have been followed
they may target our flat next."
"Oh God no "
"Don't panic Lucy darling, can you stay at Fiona's for a few
days? I'm certain if our place is going to be broken into it will
be very soon, probably today Whoever these people are, if
they think the box is in our flat they won't want it to be moved
before they get to it, so they will act quickly."
Lucy was close to tears. Pandora could hear her sniffing into
a tissue.
"What about calling the police?" Lucy asked.
59
"Better not I'm so sorry about this darling, everything will
be all right. These people have no interest in you, just the box.
Actually Stewart is pretty certain that we weren't even fol-
lowed to London I'm probably just over reacting."
"OK Pandora, ring me soon and you be careful too."
Pandora ended the call, and blew her own nose.
"I'm beginning to wish we had never found that damned
box!"
She found herself burying her face in Stewart's chest as he
closed his arms around her.
***
They drove around Cambridge for fifteen minutes going up
and down the ancient roads while they kept a close lookout for
any signs of being followed. There were none. Stewart headed
for the motorway south. It was relatively easy to see if you
were being followed on the motorway by speeding up and slow-
ing down to see if anyone did the same. It looked as if they
were in the clear and the mood brightened.
The route took them down to Southampton then across the
New Forest. It was a nice day and the Healey 3000 purred
along unlike a car in its sixth decade. Stewart could definitely
feel the weight of the safe in the boot in the way that the car
cornered but driving a classic was supposed to be an involving
experience.
The car eventually turned into the lane which led to Beacon
Hill Farm and Stewart slowed to walking speed to avoid the
worst of the bumps, the Healey's ground clearance was not a
strong point. They came to a halt on a flagstone paved court-
yard surrounded by farm buildings on the lower side. There
was a view down to some rolling pasture straight ahead. On
their right stood the sandstone farm house where Pandora had
grown up. The house was old, a hundred and eighty years per-
haps, and like an old man had a somehow stooped appearance
but with a welcoming and trustworthy visage. The woodwork
was in need of painting in some places but the big heavy door
with brass knocker, shone with a new white coat and there
really were roses clinging to a trellis around it.
"This scene looks as if it has been lifted from a Constable
painting!"
Said Stewart.
60
"I know "
Her parents were expecting them. Susan, Pandora's mother
came out when she heard the car pull up and gave her eldest
daughter a look which said "It's been too long since your last
visit." She followed this up with hugs and kisses.
"Your Dad's down on the bottom meadow, doing some fence
repair work I think." Her voice was now a little frail but her in-
tense blue eyes sparkled like those of a young woman.
"This is Stewart " Pandora really wanted her parents to like
him for a reason she could not quite explain.
Susan offered her time worn fingers to Stewart and they
shook hands warmly in a way which implied an unstated ex-
pectation of a long friendship.
"Come in, I've got the kettle on."
They were just engaged with instant coffee and fresh baked
date and walnut cake when Dan burst into the Kitchen. He held
out his arms.
"Come here my lovely "
Pandora was crushed by her father's embrace. Held in those
arms she felt, despite her age and position in life, that she was
back to being a little girl in the safest place on earth.
"You must be Stewart "
His firm handshake spoke of an honest and open man that
you could trust. Dan felt Stewart's handshake to be of the same
order. They smiled at each other.
"Well Mother where's my coffee?"
Pandora had already explained the evening before on the
phone what they had wanted to do and Dan was keen to help.
"Now lad, that safe will be in the boot I expect "
"Yes, Mr Summers."
"Good God lad, call me Dan Well let's have a look then."
Years of farm work had left Dan with a strength not usually
found in a man of his age. Stewart was surprised to see him lift
the heavy safe out of the car's boot on his own. He thought
back to the night before when it taken three of them to put it in
there.
"I'll get the tractor to take it down to the quarry." He said
and headed off into one of the out buildings. There was the
sound of a starter motor struggling against the engine
61
compression and then rattle of the diesel and a cloud of ex-
haust smoke as it started.
There was a back loader, with hydraulically driven lift fitted
to the back of the machine. A large tool box and some welding
equipment were already there. Stewart and Dan lifted the safe
onto the back loader.
"OK all aboard "
Pandora was used to riding on the back of her dad's tractor;
it was new experience for Stewart. The ride, as they bounced
down towards the far corner of the property made his old
Healey feel like Bentley by comparison.
Stewart could see why this place had come to Pandora's
mind. It was perfect. The access was only through the farm so
it was very unlikely that anyone would come down here by ac-
cident and it was well away from the farm house. The explos-
ives store was solid, dry and was perfect for what they had in
mind.
Dan busied himself with connecting a hydraulic line to the
tractor's drive and fitted a drill to the other end.
"Got any bolts for the safe?" Dan asked.
"Only the ones that held it in Pandora's flat." Stewart
answered; I hope they will be long enough."
"Well I put some sturdy ones in the tool box just in case."
He got Stewart to mark up where the holes should be and
made short work of drilling through the concrete with a ma-
sonry bit. As the two men held up the safe Pandora slipped
bolts into the holes and then went round the back of the con-
crete building and threaded the nuts on.
"Couldn't someone just unbolt these if they wanted to steal
the safe?"
"I've thought of that." Her father said." He used the oxy-
acetylene to weld the ends of the bolts making it almost im-
possible to remove the safe without cutting gear.
"Job done "Dan was satisfied with his work.
"Now are you going to show me the secret artefact?"
"It's still in the car, let's go and get it."
They took the box inside the house and put it on the table
next to the remains of the date and walnut cake. Pandora
couldn't help a little laugh at the contrast between the so nor-
mal setting and the other worldly look of the box.
62
Her parents hovered over the artefact.
"It's so beautiful " Said Susan "And so strange "
"It affects everyone the same way." Pandora said. "It's like
a piece of magic brought to life "
"I hope you're going to stay for lunch I've started preparing
it."
"Fantastic Mum but we need to get back straight after."
On a family farm, things were done properly, as they used to
be. The main meal of the day was taken at what was now called
lunchtime. It was a substantial affair giving a good break from
the mid-day Sun and providing energy for the afternoon work.
"You'll take a drop of cider, lad?" Asked Dan as he opened a
large screw capped bottle.
"Err "
Stewart had heard tales of country cider.
"It's OK Stewart, this is from Dad's orchard, it's made for
drinking, not getting drunk no stronger than a pale ale."
"In that case, I'd love one."
After the meal which was by far the best one Stewart had
eaten in years. He heaved himself to his feet and patted his
stomach.
"Sorry I should have warned you." Smiled Pandora.
"No that was fantastic "
The two of them walked back down to the quarry and se-
cured the box inside the safe and fitted a padlock on the iron
door. They both took keys and Pandora gave Stewart a copy of
the combination.
"Sleep well little box, don't get up to any mischief in there "
Pandora's words were light hearted, but were said with real
conviction real hope. She desperately hoped that she had not
brought danger to her parent's farm.
As they walked back to farm house in the early afternoon
sun, through a sweet scented meadow ripe for being cut for
hay. Stewart was starting to see the appeal of a pastoral life-
style. The peace was all enveloping.
"Now don't you leave it so long next time my girl." Susan
kissed her daughter and Dan squeezed her in his safe arms
once again. As Stewart got behind the wheel of his car, Dan
slipped him a couple of bottles. This is a drop of scrumpy lad
63
Don't drink it 'till you've done with driving for the day, mind
you."
He tapped the side of his nose and winked.
As they joined the road Pandora smiled with satisfaction.
"Dad must have taken a shine to you He never gives his
scrumpy away."
They drove back to Pandora's flat in London and were
pleased to find there was no sign of a break in.
The first thing Pandora did was call her sister:
"Are you OK?"
"Yes, I feel fine now; I've got a bed at Fiona's for tonight and
thought I'd go back home tomorrow."
"Well we're here now and there's been no break in yet so I
think by tomorrow it will be safe."
"That's a relief How were the parents?"
"Lovely as ever they seemed to like Stewart."
"Well why wouldn't they?"
"I know I know " She turned to look at Stewart and found
him smiling at her.
"I'll see you soon, Lucy, keep safe."
Stewart caught Pandora's eyes and held them in a long gaze.
He felt the connection between them growing stronger by the
day; by the minute.
"Do you want to come back to Cambridge?" He asked.
"Yes I think so; I wouldn't feel too safe here on my own to-
night. Can you drop me off at the Viscount?"
Stewart nodded that he could.
"You know," he said "Despite everything, today has been one
of the best days I've had in a long time."
Pandora just smiled; she knew exactly what he meant.
***
The Collector was keen for an update. He sent a message to
Benson asking for details of the progress.
A reply was sent within an hour:
A team has been set up. Headed by a top operative.
The people who are in possession of the item have already
been identified and located. A laboratory has been searched
with no result. We suspect that the item will be moved between
locations. Our surveillance continues. It may take some time to
64
locate the Item. But the recovery should be a simple matter
when we do.
The collector was pleased with the progress so far but
wanted to hurry things along. He sent another message:
Good work so far. Think outside the square and get me a
quick result. If you deliver within a month I will double your
fee. That will be, as I am sure you know 20 million dollars.
Move things along if you want it.
Almost as soon as he had sent the message he realized that it
was a mistake to pressure Benson. The man was capable
enough but he was driven by greed and prone to acting first
and thinking second. It was too late however; the message was
already in Benson's in-box.
The collector closed down his computer and decided to take
his dog out for a walk. Exercise for them both, but also to clear
his thoughts.
"Jessy come on girl." She raced to him at the sound of his
voice.
He found Perdita and said that he would be an hour or so. He
tucked a shot gun under his arm just in case he saw some rab-
bits which were again becoming a pest to local farmers.
He headed up hill along a well-worn path that had been
made by the sheep that grazed the hills. Jessy ran on ahead ex-
cited to be in the crisp open air. The collector's thoughts
strayed from Benson, a man he had never warmed to, and fo-
cused on why he was so captivated by building up his collec-
tion of curios. He could find no answer, fundamentally it was
pointless, he knew that, but the urge was still there like an ad-
diction for which there was no cure.
65
Chapter 9
Benson got his message and saw the offer of twenty million
dollars. He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his forehead.
His hands were trembling and his heart pounded at the
thought of the money.
"My God twenty million "
His thoughts raced: That sort of money would set him up for
life. He could do what he had wanted and head for Florida or
maybe a Mexican resort town on the coast. Down there with
twenty million, plus what he had already put aside, he could
live like a king for the rest of his life.
He wondered how he could speed up the process of acquir-
ing the box. He knew from experience that just telling people
to speed up was pointless, a financial incentive would help ob-
viously, but he needed an idea that would bring quick results.
It did not take long for his devious mind to hit on one.
He dialled the number he had for Juliette. In London it was
nearly 2:00 am Juliette had been in deep sleep and it took her a
while to answer the insistent ringing.
"Who is this ? Do you know what the time is?" her voice
was still slurred by the sleep she had been unwillingly dragged
from. In his excited state, Benson had forgotten about the time
difference, it was still not yet 9:00 pm in New York he had
stayed late in his office to check his messages.
"Never mind about that, Juliette. I have been instructed to up
your fee if you can hurry up the process."
Trying to focus her mind, Juliette took a sip of water from her
bedside glass and switched on the light which made her eyes
blink.
"Ah, Charles Benson, I should have guessed and a good
morning to you too What do you mean hurry up, how can I do
that, we are working through a process. Observation until we
66
know the location and then the collection It will take as long
as it takes!"
"We need to put pressure on the two who have the box in
their temporary care."
Juliette sat up in bed, her blond hair falling in an unruly
tangle across her face. She swept it from in front of her eyes.
"Be more specific, will you Charles, I'm not a mind reader
certainly not at this ungodly hour."
"We should kidnap one of them; probably the woman would
be the easiest then a simple exchange for the box. The whole
thing would be under our control we wouldn't have to wait for
a chance observation things would move along "
"I'm not sure about kidnapping, that has lifted the whole op-
eration into a different sphere How much is the fee proposed
to be increased to?"
"I'm authorized to up your payment to a hundred thousand
dollars."
"Good night Charles." She hung up the phone.
Juliette decided that she would have enough time to make
herself a warm drink before Benson rang back. She made her
way to the kitchen and put a sachet of hot chocolate in a mug,
turned on her kettle and lit a cigarette. She was just exhaling a
plume of smoke towards the ceiling when the phone rang
again. Juliette took her time answering the call.
"I will need at least two hundred for a kidnapping you
know the going rate. Please don't insult me or waste my time
Charles or I'll walk away from the whole deal."
"Juliette, don't be hasty I had no intention of insulting
you I apologize for the misunderstanding."
He paused for a moment. Two hundred he thought this is
easier than I expected.
"So if I increase the offer to two hundred, you will undertake
the commission?"
Juliette detected from the barely concealed eagerness in his
voice that Benson was ripe to be plucked.
"Two hundred in advance, there will be up front expenses for
me in an operation of this sort, and a further fifty on successful
completion. And Charles I'm talking of pounds not dollars."
67
This shook Benson he was not expecting such a demand. But
on reflection it was a paltry sum compared to his twenty
million.
"Two hundred thousand pounds plus another fifty thousand
when you deliver the box You drive a hard bargain Juliette
Very well I can live with that."
"Charles, as always it is a pleasure doing business with you. I
think you can expect a result in a day or two."
Juliette spent the next hour jotting down on a note pad her
plan of action. A relatively simple operation for her. She then
returned to bed and slept soundly until morning as if the phone
call had never happened.
Juliette had left Walter and Mickey in Cambridge and was
back in London when she had taken the call from Benson. Once
the two targets had been found there was no need for her to be
involved in the surveillance. Her skills would come into play
when the box had been found. Now things had changed, she
needed to muster and talk to her troops both of them.
She made an early call to Walter.
"It looks as if we will need to push things along Walter, will
you collect Mickey and meet me at the train station this morn-
ing I'm due in at eleven fifteen I need to discuss things the
operation is moving up a gear."
"If things are going to get complicated I know it's not my
place boss, but do you really think Mickey is up to it I'm
pretty sure he let the woman clock his face on the first day of
surveillance I think he lives in a fantasy world half the time."
"I understand your fears, Walter; I wouldn't have picked him
in the first place if I thought the job would get complicated as
you put it. I was just doing him a favour you know the story
about me knocking him about "
"Yes boss, I know but he's a liability in my opinion."
"I am only going to use him as a lookout, you and I will be the
main players I'll explain more later at the station."
"OK see you at eleven fifteen."
"Oh, and Walter at our meeting, the matter of money will
come up The sum I mention is what I will be paying Mickey,
if he agrees to take part that is. Your share will reflect the part
you will play and will be more generous. I don't want Mickey
thinking he's not getting as much as you."
68
"Understood."
Walter and Mickey were staying at separate boarding houses
in Cambridge. Walter made a call to the young lad and told him
about the meeting.
"You can find your way there OK."
"Leave it out Walter, I know where the 'kin railway station
is."
"OK I'll see you just before eleven."
Juliette's train was on time and the three of them found a
corner where they would not be overheard and importantly in a
security camera blind spot.
"All right gentlemen this is the deal. They want us to kid-
nap the woman and bargain her return in exchange for the
box."
"That could get nasty, what if they won't play the game I'm
not into all that cutting off fingers and stuff and turning the
screws."
"I know Walter, I'm certain it won't come to that. From what
we've seen so far it looks as if Dr Summers and Dr Moss are
quite close. I think he will give in to our demands straight
away remember these are people who live in their ivory
towers, they have no experience of the tough side of life. My
bet is Dr Moss will fall like a house of cards."
"And if he doesn't?"
"We can always just walk away from the deal, all we will
have invested is our time, but I guarantee it won't go wrong."
"I'm in." Said Mickey "Is it worth any more now that the
stakes have been lifted?"
"That's a good question, Mickey. In fact, if everything goes
well you will be earning twenty thousand pounds for a few days
easy work."
"Cool Shit I'm definitely in if that's the deal."
Juliette looked at Walter.
He shrugged his shoulders as if he couldn't be bothered ar-
guing any more.
"OK, may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb."
"That's good; I'll start organizing what we need."
"When are we going to lift the woman?"
"I should be ready to move on her by tomorrow, for today I'd
like you two to take turns on watching Dr Summers, we need
69
to know where we can find her, can you organize that amongst
yourselves?"
"No problem, boss."
Walter took the first watch; Pandora was still at the Viscount
where she had been since the red Healey had dropped her off
the day before. He parked his Focus across the street under
some low hanging trees which shaded his position well but
gave him a view of the Hotel entrance and the window to
Pandora's room.
Pandora made a call to Stewart from her hotel room.
"I feel at a bit of a loose end now that the box is stored away,
not sure what to do with myself could we have lunch
together?"
"Yes, that sounds like a good idea. I'll walk round to the Vis-
count at about one thirty does the Viscount do lunch?"
"Yes I'll organize a table "
***
Mickey was back in his boarding house. The idea of twenty
grand to spend was spinning in his head. But there was also an
itch somewhere there in his under developed brain that was
trying to tell him something. It was not telling him that he was
bored with nothing to do he already knew that. It was the
seed of an idea not quite germinated yet.
He pulled his suitcase, more of a rucksack actually, from un-
der his bed and studied the grubby dark blue canvas for a few
moments and then unzipped one of the pockets. He removed
something. Something quite heavy and wrapped in a piece of
an old towel. He laid it on his bed and slowly removed the
wrapping. It was the Glock. Mickey smiled at the sight of the
gun. He picked it up and held it sideways like he had seen in
the American TV shows he watched. It made him feel like a big
man powerful dangerous. With this he could do anything.
No poncy French bitch would knock him about if he had this in
his hand.
Mickey had found the gun in the flat of a small time drug
dealer. He had broken in looking for money, maybe a little
coke if there was any Mickey didn't see himself as a drug
dealer, didn't like the scene really. Armed robbery would be his
thing except But now he had the gun. There was no more
ammunition in the flat, just the full clip already loaded. That
70
would do for the moment. He gave a sly smile as his itch crys-
tallized into a full grown thought.
Instead of settling for twenty K he could take the box him-
self. If a lookout was worth twenty then he could sell the box
for a whole lot more a hundred a hundred and fifty He
hadn't thought who he would sell the box to though; as usual
his plan was a work in progress.
Walter spotted Stewart over the top of his newspaper as he
entered the Viscount. After a few moments he folded his paper
and left the car. He put on a fluorescent orange safety jacket
and picked up a clip board and pen. He knew that no one
would give him a second look dressed like this and walked up
to the entrance. He peered inside pretending to make a note of
the state of repair of the building. He could see the dining
room and noticed Pandora and her guy sitting down to lunch.
"Good." he thought. "That will give me time for a spot of
lunch too."
He returned to his car, took off the safety jacket and drove
about five minutes to a pub where he had a ploughmans lunch
and a half of bitter. He would have preferred the full pint two
even, but not when he was working. It was pleasant in the pub,
not too busy, just enough customers for him to blend into the
background. He lingered a little longer than he had intended
but by the time he got back to his observation point, the tar-
gets were still at lunch.
By mid-afternoon, nothing had changed. He called Mickey
who was slow to answer.
"Yeah?"
"It's Walter, I think it's time for your shift bring the Fiat to
the Viscount the two pigeons are both inside. When I see you
I'll move on and you can grab my parking spot."
"OK, understood."
Mickey was pleased to have something to do while he mulled
over his plans. He took Walter's parking spot and watched the
entrance. His radio was playing some gangster rap which he
was well into. Not too loud, he didn't want to attract attention,
but he needed something to keep him awake.
After about half an hour he saw the targets leaving the Hotel.
They were arm in arm; the girl had her arm tucked around his.
71
"Mm, not a bad looker either." He thought studying
Pandora's shapely form as she walked along. Mickey's own love
life was of the five minutes down a dark alley sort. He knew
some school girls who would do anything for a twenty. But he
was sure things would change when he became the big man."
He followed at respectable distance. Keeping them in sight
but also keeping himself out of view. Just like he had done the
last time he followed the woman.
"Piece of piss this surveillance; Walter makes such a fuss
about it, what a tosser." He thought.
"Stewart " Pandora's voice had a touch of alarm in it
though she felt safer with Stewart by her side. "I think Mr
Acne, the guy who followed me the other day is behind us
again."
They stopped by a shop window and Stewart positioned him-
self so that he see who was behind them. He saw Mickey, also
stopped, apparently tying a shoe lace except his canvas
shoes were equipped with Velcro straps.
"Let's split up for a moment and see who he's following."
Pandora was uneasy at the suggestion but tried not to let it
show.
"OK but don't go too far away."
Stewart slipped away and crossed to the other side of the
road. He then headed back the way they had come. He had a
clear view of Mr Acne now and watched as he appeared con-
fused, not sure who to follow. In the end he continued tracking
Pandora.
Stewart doubled back and broke into a run.
"Hey you I want a word "
Mickey took to his heels and ducked down an alley then
round a corner, over a wall and through the back entrance of a
shop. After checking that the coast was clear, he left the shop
through the normal entrance and sauntered back to the Fiat.
He was pleased to have given them the slip, but annoyed at be-
ing spotted. He wouldn't mention this he also knew the wo-
man would have to be back at the Viscount before long.
"Did he get away?"
"Yes that little bugger's light on his toes he just vanished. I
hope I run into him again sometime I'll wring his scrawny
neck."
72
Pandora couldn't help smiling at the thought of Stewart
wringing someone's neck. She knew it would never happen.
"Well at least that confirms that I am in someone's sights
doesn't it."
"I guess so." Stewart paused and then said: "Pandora do you
want to call the police."
"To be honest, I'm as jumpy about the police as I am about
the one's following me. I can't help feeling that what we are do-
ing concealing the box which I have no legal right to and
which may be very dangerous is not exactly legal."
"OK but one thing is certain, you're not staying at the Hotel
tonight alone. My offer of the fold up bed is no longer an offer,
it's an order."
"An offer I can't refuse in other words OK."
She took his arm again.
"Let's walk to the college and get my car, we can drive to the
Viscount, and you can pick up your stuff and book out."
"What would I do without you Stewart?"
Mickey was starting to get edgy. There was still no sight of
the woman, if he had to admit to stuffing up there would be
hell to pay. But Mickey was in luck. The familiar red sports car
pulled up in front of the Hotel and the pigeons got out and
went in. Just like homing pigeons Mickey thought. He was still
smiling at his own joke when they came out of the Hotel carry-
ing the woman's luggage.
"Shit I must have spooked them." he said out loud.
He started the Fiat, drove a little way down the street and
turned so that he was behind them. Mickey had an idea where
they were going to the guy's place. He kept his distance and
soon his suspicions were confirmed.
Mickey parked in a secluded spot and started watching.
When he handed over again for Walter to do the evening
shift the homing pigeons were still there.
73
Chapter 10
It was early, just after six on a grey morning when the un-
marked police car drew up outside Stewart's flat in Cambridge.
Two officers, a uniformed police woman who's red hair was
threatening to burst from under her hat, and her sergeant in
plain clothes walked up to the entrance. The police woman
knocked insistently on the door.
Pandora was woken from her sleep by the banging. She
slipped from under the covers of the fold up bed which had
proved to be surprising comfortable, and pulled on a sweat-
shirt over her pyjamas. As she made her way to the door, Stew-
art emerged from his room with a crumpled dressing gown
hastily tied around his waist.
"I'll get it." He said.
The police woman spoke; she betrayed her origins with a
strong Irish lilt to her voice:
"Are you Doctor Moss?" She asked.
"Yes, what's this about?"
Ignoring his question she continued:
"Is there a Doctor Summers here Sir?"
Stewart was pulled from his sleepiness by a sudden feeling of
alarm.
"Yes she's just in here, look what do you want?"
"May we come in for a moment sir; we have a few questions
for Doctor Summers."
Stewart held open the door and the two officers entered. The
sergeant showed Stewart his identity card and said:
"I'm Sergeant Bowen, this is constable Reilly I wonder if
we could have a few words in private with Doctor Summers."
"What's this all about?"
"It's all right, Stewart " Pandora was standing there behind
him.
"Would you like to come in here?"
74
She led the two officers into the lounge where her fold up
bed was still taking up most of the floor space. She hastily
pushed it to one side and offered her visitors a seat.
Sergeant Bowen took over the questioning. He was dressed
in a tweed jacket that looked too heavy for the time of year and
had a greying goatee beard which gave him a slightly forebod-
ing appearance.
"Doctor Summers, It has come to our notice that you may be
in possession of some illegal treasure trove that was brought
into the Country without authority "
Pandora's shoulders dropped, she had been half expecting
this but it was still a shock. There would be no point in lying
about it now. She simply nodded and cast her gaze to the floor.
In a way it was a relief to be rid of the responsibility.
The sergeant continued:
"I think it would be better if you would come to the station
where we can clarify our facts and you can make a full state-
ment. It will depend on what you say as to what charges are
likely to be pressed. But make no mistake miss; we see this as
a serious matter."
Pandora was resigned to her fate.
"OK, you want me to come now?"
"We will wait for you to get dressed, the sooner we get this
sorted the better for everyone."
The police officers waited in the hallway.
Stewart had overheard most of the brief conversation and
was worried about what would happen to Pandora.
"Are you arresting Pandora?"
"Not at this stage, sir but that may be inevitable, depending
on what we discover from her statement."
"How did you find out about this ?"
"Information was passed to us from a member of the public
sir, I'm sure you realize that we are unable to disclose names."
The sergeant looked straight into Stewart's eyes.
"Doctor Moss, I feel I should warn you that your own conduct
in this matter is not without concern for us. At this stage we
need to get a clearer picture of the situation, but I would like
you to consider your own position very carefully."
"I see can I come with you when you take Pandora."
75
"No sir that would be unwise. I suggest you wait here and if
Doctor Summers is not able to satisfy us with her account, you
will be informed in due course."
"So you may not hold her for long?"
"That is indeed a possibility sir. But I can make no promises."
Stewart felt helpless. He went to his room and got dressed.
He returned just in time to hug Pandora as she was led from
the flat.
"Don't worry." He said "This will all work out OK in the end
Pandora I I " The words would not come. He knew what
he wanted to say; to tell Pandora how he felt about about her.
Pandora already knew what his feelings were; how could she
not when her own were the same.
"I know me too."
She held his fingers for a brief moment and kissed his cheek
before being led away. Stewart watched as she was escorted
into the back seat of a white Astra. The sergeant sat next to
Pandora while the police woman drove away unhurriedly. As
Stewart watched the car disappear into the early morning still-
ness he determined that the next time he spoke to Pandora he
would cast off his foolish timidity and speak to her of their fu-
ture; of how he felt; of love.
Pandora's mind was blank; it was as if her brain had decided
to stop thinking about what was happening. All this was start-
ing to become too overwhelming. She turned to look back at
Stewart and saw him mouth the words that would not come be-
fore "I Love you." His concerned face disappeared from her
view as the car moved down the street. She thought that this
must be as bad for him as it was for her worse even. Why had
they not expressed their feeling for each other like normal
people?
She watched the woman in front who drove the car skilfully,
briskly but without rushing. She could see that she would be
quite attractive if not for a rather ugly scar which ran down the
side of her left jaw onto her neck. It looked like she guessed
boiling water had been splashed on her, possibly as a child.
Pandora felt sympathy for the Irish red head despite her own
predicament.
"Doctor Summers, before we go to the Station, there is
something I would like you to see. Reilly will be driving us to
76
premises where there is an artefact which sounds to be much
like the one that you have been handling. Before we get the
forensics team involved I would like you to take a look at it in
situ."
Pandora was astonished by this there couldn't possibly be
another box, not in Cambridge, surely. This information jolted
her brain into action again. She decided that, whatever the po-
lice had found would have to be something far more mundane.
If she had not been feeling so preoccupied with her own sad-
ness, she would have been intrigued.
The streets were still mostly deserted and the police car had
soon crossed the town and drove down a winding back street
finally coming to rest by an old brick walled warehouse. A rel-
atively modern roller door had replaced what would have ori-
ginally been some wide wooden doors. There was a small wick-
et door let into the main roller door which allowed personal
access.
The police woman took Pandora's arm and led her to the
opening which her sergeant had unlocked.
"It's just though here." She said.
They entered a dark brick room with a stained concrete floor.
There was a damp smell and the room appeared empty. Up to
the left was a row of narrow windows, decorated by a lace net-
work of old spider webs. A faint glimmer of daylight managed
to penetrate the glass which was almost opaque from years of
unwashed grime. The early morning light caught the flecks of
dust as they danced in the air of the deserted room. At the far
wall opposite, Pandora saw a heavy door which was partly
open and revealed another smaller room inside.
The officers conducted Pandora across to the doorway.
"What I want you to see is in here."
Sergeant Bowen put his arm around the door and without en-
tering the room himself, flicked a switch. The low glimmer of a
single light bulb hanging by a wire from the ceiling gave a little
illumination.
"After you Doctor." He said, standing aside with his arms
held open in a guiding gesture for Pandora to enter first.
Pandora looked for any sign of an artefact; there was nothing
of that sort at all. As she turned towards the sergeant to ask
what she should be looking at, the door was closed behind her
77
and she heard the alarming sound of two heavy bolts being
drawn. She rushed at the door, but it was too late she was
imprisoned.
"Let me out "
Pandora banged on the door.
"Let me out what is the meaning of this?"
There was no reply.
Sergeant Bowen removed his false beard, changed his jacket,
got into the Astra and drove slowly away.
Constable Reilly, removed her uniform, her red wig, and
slipped the green contact lenses from her eyes. The false scar
was carefully peeled away from her neck. The items were place
in a back pack. Juliette left the warehouse and locked the ac-
cess door. There was a Honda CBX 600 parked just a few paces
away. Juliette removed a helmet with a dark visor from the
storage box and put the back pack there in its place. She
mounted the machine and rode casually away.
After a while Pandora stopped banging on the door. It was
obvious that there was no one there. It was equally obvious to
her that the two people were not from the police. It had clearly
something to do with why she had been followed. These people
must want the box, but what value would it have. To Pandora
the value was in discovering what secrets the box held, she had
never thought of it as having a monetary value it was beyond
that, truly priceless.
Her eyes slowly became accustomed to the gloom and Pan-
dora looked around the room. It was not too bad. Her captors
had gone to some trouble to make things bearable.
There was a camp bed with a sleeping bag and a new pillow
both in their unopened packaging. In the corner by the door
was a sink. She tried the taps cold water only but there was
good pressure and it looked clean, normal town supply. There
was a container of liquid soap and a clean towel. Slightly less
appealing was the bucket with a toilet roll sitting on the top, at
least it had a lid which sealed down tight.
On the other side of the room was a table, actually a sheet of
quarter inch plywood resting on two trestles. Placed neatly on
the table was some bottled water, a pile of sandwiches indi-
vidually wrapped in cling film, a bag of apples and an assort-
ment of magazines. The walls were of the same brick as the
78
main building. There were no windows but a draft was blowing
under the door which caused the light bulb to swing slightly
causing a disturbing movement in the shadows it cast.
Pandora looked for anything that would help her escape.
There were no tools, not a knife, not a spoon. There was noth-
ing metal she could use to dig out the mortar from between the
bricks. She scanned the floor in vain for an old nail or
something that might have been dropped. It looked as if the
room had been swept recently, probably in her honour. In her
flustered state when she had been picked up, she had brought
nothing with her, nothing in her pockets, not even a few coins.
She felt completely helpless. She went over to the sink and
splashed some cold water on her face. The hot tap was
unconnected
She looked under the sink. There was no pipework connected
to the hot tap, maybe she could get it free. It was fitted into the
porcelain basin and held with a large brass nut tightened
against the threaded section of the tap's inlet. Pandora twisted
the tap and felt it move. Because it had never been connected
to the water supply, the nut had never been fully tightened.
Pandora continued twisting back and forth and little by little
the nut loosened until she could remove it completely. The tap
simply pulled up and was free of the sink.
It was not a perfect tool but Pandora found that by scraping
against the mortar between the bricks she could break the ce-
ment away. She had to decide where to start her excavation.
She knew the way she had come in led to another room which
was probably also locked. She tried to remember the lay-out of
the building. Pandora had not been taking much notice but it
seemed to her that the wall behind the table was an exterior
wall. She decided to start work on that one. Scraping and chip-
ping she made slow but steady progress.
Stewart's phone rang.
"Hello "
An ice cold voice, a woman's voice with an Irish accent,
spoke slowly and clearly:
"Doctor Moss, Pandora is being kept prisoner. She will be re-
leased back to you when, and only when you bring the box to a
place of exchange. Make no attempt to contact the police or
you will never see Pandora again. I will call again."
79
"Hello hello who is this ?" The line had already gone
dead.
Stewart was in panic. Pandora being taken by the police was
bad enough but this had completely floored him. He felt in des-
perate need of someone to talk to but there was no one. He
couldn't frighten Lucy or her parents Deakin! He was a straw
that was worth clutching. He didn't have his number Pandora
had it on her phone. He found Pandora's phone among her
things and searched for Deakin. There was no entry under that
name, he tried Professor. There were a few but none of them
Deakin. Stewart realized that he didn't know Deakin's first
name. He scrolled down the entire list of entries. There were
two names which made him pause "Hephaestus" and "Epi-
methius" he noticed that his own number was ascribed to the
second name, now was not the time wonder about that. Stew-
art was no classics scholar but the first name, if he was cor-
rect, belonged to the god whom Zeus had ordered to create
Pandora, the first woman on Earth in Greek mythology.
Knowing Pandora's wicked sense of irony he felt sure that
this would be the number he wanted.
He tried it:
"Hello Professor Deakin speaking."
"It's Stewart Moss, we have a problem "
"Not lost the box I hope." Deakin said in jest.
"Pandora has been kidnapped; they want the box in ex-
change." There was silence on the other end of the line.
'Hello are you there?"
"Yes, yes I was just thinking Who could have known about
it? I told you both to be absolutely discrete and not to let the
existence of the box get beyond our small group."
"I think the leak must have come from Adrian Bancroft."
"Damn it to hell Moss, this is just too bad. Your performance
has been below standard and as for Pandora she fully deserves
to have reaped the predicament she finds herself in."
Stewart was convinced that it was a waste of time talking to
this man; he was in need of some wise counsel not pointless
abuse.
"Moss, on no account let these villains have the box in fact
bring it to me immediately. It appears that I am the only one
capable of taking care of it. And what's more Hello "
80
Stewart hung up Pandora's phone. He felt angry now which
was an improvement on the self-pity he had been mired in all
morning.
As he sat fuming at Deakin's total lack of empathy Stewart's
s own phone rang.
"Look Deakin I have no intention of leaving Pandora in cap-
tivity she is far more valuable than any artefact "
"I am truly pleased to hear that." Said the ice-cold voice.
"I am a civilized person Doctor Moss I do not wish to up the
stakes by harming Pandora. But I will do what I have to in or-
der to fulfil my contract. Are you willing to be cooperative?"
"Yes, all I want is Pandora back safe the box has no value
to me without her."
"Do you have the box at hand?"
"It will take me half a day to recover it. It is being kept some-
where safe."
"Get the box and take it to the Corn Exchange on Wheeler
Street. Come alone and be outside the main entry at Five this
evening. You will be met."
"Is Pandora safe?"
"She is perfectly safe and if you follow my instruction and do
not involve the police, she will be back with you in time for the
late news. Don't disappoint me Doctor Moss I do so hate it
when I have to resort to unpleasantness."
81
Chapter 11
Stewart made a hasty call to Pandora's parents. He made the
conversation sound casual and said he would be coming to col-
lect the box so that he could run some more tests and that Pan-
dora was busy with other work and could not come with him.
Just a routine thing.
At last he had something constructive to do and drove to the
farm with a determination that at all costs he would save Pan-
dora. The weather had deteriorated further and he had to con-
tend with a constant light rain on the way to Dorset. He was
hardly in a fit state for driving such a distance, his mind went
over and over the events of the morning like a movie clip set in
a loop. These people were good the performance as cops was
completely believable. He wondered what other surprises they
might have waiting to trick him again.
He found himself at the New Forest and couldn't remember
how he got there, the whole journey was just a blur but he
pressed on regardless. When he arrived at the farm he desper-
ately wanted to unburden himself to Pandora's father but in-
stead put on a brave face and acted as if there was no problem.
If all went according to plan Pandora would be safe by the
evening and her parents would have been worried for no reas-
on. A trouble shared is a trouble doubled.
There was no difficulty in recovering the box from the safe. It
had rested in Varna for thousands of years; its brief stopover in
Dorset would hardly register as an event in its time-line. As he
took it in his hands, he wondered if it somehow had an aware-
ness; if it knew what its purpose was. If it knew where it was.
He could not answer that question but whatever secrets it
held, whatever questions it posed, the box was no longer an
item of value to him but an unwanted burden he would be glad
to be rid of.
82
Stewart made a short stop at the farmhouse on his way back
to his car. The rain had stopped and there was a watery sun
threatening to break through the thinning cloud cover.
Pandora's parents greeted Stewart like an old friend and gave
him coffee which he needed. The cake he could not face. He
promised that he and Pandora would soon be back to visit, he
could tell that the couple missed the company of their daugh-
ters. He had only spent half an hour at the farm that morning
but it was becoming a place that held a growing attraction for
him. The peace and solitude tugged at his core.
He soon found himself on his way back to Cambridge. His vi-
tal cargo was in a soft leather bag on the passenger's seat. As
the Healey made steady progress back to Cambridge, he no-
ticed with alarm that the temperature gauge was starting to
edge out of the normal range. The last thing he needed was
break down. The gauge held his attention as the miles slipped
under the car's wheels. He was on the edge of Southampton
when the needle finally nudged into the red sector of the dial.
He pulled into a petrol station to fill up. He popped open the
bonnet and slowly eased the radiator cap off using an old rag.
There was a hiss of steam as the cap was finally released.
"Looks like you some water mate." A fellow customer made
the astute observation. Instead of leaving Stewart to his own
devices though, he brought over a watering can which was left
by the pumps for just such an eventuality.
The radiator took most of what the can held. Stewart looked
for signs of a leak but there was nothing to see. He thanked the
man and set off again. Thankfully the temperature had re-
turned to normal and the gauge showed no sign of edging up.
The car had done quite a few miles over the last days and Ste-
wart realized that he had not checked the water for some time.
A classic car was not something you could just use like a mod-
ern car it needed constant loving care. Stewart's attention had
been diverted elsewhere since he had encountered Pandora at
Paddington. It was only a few days ago but it was already hard
to imagine not having her around. He had to get her back safe;
there was a conversation that he had to have with her.
It was already pushing towards four when he finally got back
to his flat. He desperately needed a shower and then forced
83
himself to eat a peanut butter sandwich despite his lack of ap-
petite; it was the first food he had eaten all day.
Almost immediately he made his way to the Corn Exchange
his nerves felt as tight as a violin strings tuned to concert
pitch. He could hear the blood pounding in his ears as he
drove. He parked a short walk from the entrance and checked
the time. He was too early, twenty minutes before the agreed
time, but was too tense to sit and wait in the car. He took the
bag and set off towards the entrance where he was supposed
to be met.
There was a tap on his shoulder and a voice next to him said:
"Good to see you are keen to conclude our business Doctor
Moss."
Stewart turned and recognized Sergeant Bowen from earlier.
He knew now that he was not a sergeant, not a policeman, and
his name almost certainly would not be Bowen, but it was a
useful label. If you can attach a name to a phantom its power
will be diminished.
"Is that the box in the leather bag?"
"Yes."
"Follow me; we will be taking the bus."
After a short ride they resumed walking. Bowen took him on
a route which was obviously designed to foil any followers.
There was no need for that as Stewart had kept to his bargain.
They arrived at a car park and Bowen opened the door of a Fo-
cus. The car had signs on the doors saying "Davenport Build-
ers" there was a phone number and some reference to loft con-
versions. Stewart was hardly interested. They both got in.
"Before we go any further, I just need to know that you do
have the box in your bag."
"You are not taking it until I get Pandora back."
Stewart looked angry, ready to defend his position in any
way necessary. Bowen had no intention of causing a confronta-
tion; he just wanted his part of the operation to run smoothly.
"Just keep calm; I have no intention of breaking our agree-
ment. Doctor Summers will be returned as soon as we get the
box. I just want to be sure this is not a wild goose chase, just a
glimpse, you keep hold of the bag."
Stewart realized that the request was reasonable under the
circumstances and showed Bowen a glimpse of the box which
84
nestled inside the darkness of the bag. The affect was as it al-
ways was, Bowen was awe struck he stared at the glowing ap-
parition trying to make sense of what he was seeing.
"OK I guess there's no mistaking that! Let's go and get that
girl of yours."
Stewart thought that Bowen could almost be a decent guy if
he had picked a different trade But he still wanted to break
his neck.
Bowen started the car and they drove off, again taking an un-
necessarily circuitous route. Fifteen minutes later they arrived
at an old brick-walled warehouse. They waited in the car for a
few minutes. No words were exchanged. Stewart imagined that
this delay was another precaution to make certain that no one
had tracked them. Bowen took a call on his mobile.
There was nothing Stewart could glean from the message,
but it appeared to be an all-clear because as soon as Bowen
had finished the call he got out of the car and led Stewart
through the doorway into the main room of the warehouse.
The Irish woman, no longer dressed in police uniform, was
standing by the far wall. She made an impressive figure with
her tall stance and long red hair.
"Have you got the box Doctor Moss?" It was the same ice
cold voice that he had heard on the phone.
Stewart held up the bag.
"I want to see Pandora first; you get nothing unless she's
safe."
The woman nodded. This is what she had expected.
"Of course." She nodded to Bowen who withdrew the bolts on
the door.
Pandora, who had spent most of the day scraping mortar but
had not yet freed a single brick, had stopped work when she
first heard voices. She was close to the door listening intently
when the bolts were pulled back.
The door was opened a crack and Bowen's bulk blocked the
entry.
"Take a look Dr Moss."
Stewart rushed up to the door.
"Are you all right Pandora ?"
"Stewart Thank God Yes I'm fine what's happening "
The door was pushed shut again and relocked.
85
The Irishwoman took a step closer.
"The box please, Doctor."
Stewart held out the bag.
"I'll take that "
The voice came from the outer doorway. Silhouetted against
the daylight Stewart could not see who it was. As the figure ad-
vanced on him, the first thing Stewart saw was the gun held in
a trembling hand, pointing at his chest. Then he recognized
him Mr Acne. Stewart had wished for another meeting with
him but did not expect it would be like this.
"You fool, put that gun down before someone gets hurt." Juli-
ette was as shocked as Stewart. She had not seen this coming
and was completely unprepared for it.
"Things are different now I'm making my move to the big
time." Mickey grinned at Juliette.
"No more orders from a woman."
He waved the gun around erratically.
"Be careful " Juliette shouted. "Where the hell did you get
that stupid gun?"
She took several paces towards the gun wielding Mr Big.
"That's close enough "
Juliette could see that he was twitching with excitement, his
hands were shaking and sweat was glistening on his oily skin.
His eyes were blinking wildly like a rabbit caught in
headlights.
"Give me the box."
Stewart stood motionless; this was obviously not part of what
had been a carefully executed operation. He did not know what
to do. He looked across at the woman who was clearly in
charge or had been. His eyes asked her for a lead but all he
saw on her face was shock.
"Give me the box!" Mickey shouted, his voice becoming shrill
almost falsetto.
Again Stewart hesitated.
"Give me the fuckin' box " He screamed at Stewart.
His eyes were wide open now, the whites clearly visible and
he was close to breaking point. He made a pointing gesture
with the Glock at Stewart's chest.
A loud bang echoed around the empty room reverberating
across the dusty bricks like the snap of a suddenly released
86
tension. Everyone in the room jumped out of their skin at the
sound.
The gun had fired and Stewart, for an instant had an aston-
ished look on his face, then he fell, it seemed in slow motion,
first to his knees and then forward, his chest falling over the
leather bag as his head smacked against the filthy concrete.
There was the sickening sight of a pool of blood spreading out
across the floor.
Mickey dropped the gun and made a dash for the bag, he
was in total panic. The gun had gone off by accident he hadn't
meant to do it.
"Oh shit, shit, shit " He yelled as he ran. He was tipping
over the edge of hysterics.
Juliette had got to Stewart first and as Mickey dropped to his
knees and grovelled to pick up his prize, she kicked him in the
side of the head. Mickey fell unconscious next to his own mo-
tionless victim.
Juliette, pulled the blood soaked bag from under Stewart's
chest and took a pace back, horrified. Things had gone terribly
wrong. She knew that she had to carry on regardless and sal-
vage the mission. Juliette resumed her carefully thought out
plan. Once again she carefully removed her disguise.
"Just stick to the plan." She said to Walter "This was not our
doing, nothing has changed for us."
As she spoke the words, she wished she could believe them
herself. Juliette walked out of the warehouse stopping only to
pick up the gun with her gloved hand.
Walter nodded but could find nothing to say, he was ghostly
white. He looked down at the two men, at the blood and felt
sick. A few moments later he heard the sound of the motor bike
accelerating away. He felt suddenly completely alone.
The plan had been to disappear and leave Doctor Moss to
free Pandora. That was no longer possible. Walter was not an
honest man but neither was he heartless or without his own set
of ethics. He was unwilling to walk away and leave Doctor
Summers to her own fate locked in a cell with no hope of res-
cue. Nor was he willing to leave without changing his disguise,
but once he had done that he could no longer risk letting Pan-
dora see him.
87
He hesitated for a moment and then realized what he had to
do. He followed the plan and removed his disguise He un-
peeled the self-adhesive vinyl signs from the car's doors and
got back in the Focus. He drove for about two miles and pulled
up by the side of the river. He dialled 999 asked, with an as-
sumed Scots accent for an ambulance. He gave the address,
got them to repeat it back to him and ended the call without
giving any other details. He threw the phone into the river. He
then drove to where his own car had been left inside a
deserted lock-up. He parked the Focus some distance from the
building, emptied a can of petrol inside the passenger area and
left a short-fuse incendiary device on the seat. As he drove
away he watched in his mirror as the car burst into flames. An
hour and a half later he was just another anonymous punter
back in London.
By then Juliette was also back in London. She had stopped
briefly in the outskirts of Cambridge to clean the gun of any
forensic evidence and had thrown that too into the river.
The box, which fascinated her as much as all those who had
seen it, was placed in her wall safe. The safe was carefully con-
cealed in a deep recess behind the wide screen television. It re-
quired that the television be unbolted from the wall to access
the safe but also meant that a casual intruder would not easily
find it.
Juliette bundled everything she had used or was connected
with operation, the disguises, clothes, the blood stained bag,
make-up, everything, into a plastic rubbish bag which was
destined for incineration. The motorcycle which had been
stolen months earlier for an aborted job had been cleaned of
evidence and abandoned in a supermarket car park with the
key left in the ignition. She knew that it would be taken for a
joy ride by some unsuspecting accomplice and the connection
with her would be completely broken.
The Astra and the Fiat which were also stolen had been
taken that morning to waste ground and burned. That was the
last useful job Mickey had done before his delusions took over.
There remained no physical evidence, apart from the box, to
connect Juliette to any of the events of the past few days.
The last thing she did before sliding into a hot bath with a
large glass of cognac was to send a message to Benson
88
confirming that the box was ready for collection. It had been a
successful day in terms of the outcome, but it had been a day
Juliette wished she could erase from her memory.
89
Chapter 12
Pandora was in a state of intense anxiety. Still confined in her
prison, she could hear what was happening in the outside room
but could not make sense of any of it. Some sort of confronta-
tion and then the bang. She jumped nervously at the frighten-
ing sound. Had that really been a gun shot? She searched for
another, a less horrifying explanation for the sound.
Eventually Pandora heard her captors leave and then
everything fell silent. But there was no release, where was Ste-
wart? She frantically called for him but there was no answer.
She rattled the door in desperation but nothing happened. Ste-
wart did not come and set her free. Fearing the worst she
slumped by the door and sat silently trying to come to terms
with what she thought had happened.
It was the wail of the ambulance which broke her reverie.
The sound came closer and closer until she could hear the am-
bulance entering the lane where she was held. It was a sound
which meant rescue, but it also held the fear in its wail of what
she would discover in the outer room. She could hear muffled
voices and banged violently on the door again.
"Let me out I'm in here."
This time the door was opened by a woman in paramedic uni-
form. Pandora pushed past her and rushed into the main room.
She stopped suddenly at the chilling sight that met her eyes.
She was hardly able to bring herself to look at the body which
lay stretched, face down on the hard cold concrete. She knew
it was Stewart. She wanted to hold him, to comfort him, but
she could not move. Her eyes met those of the other ambu-
lance officer. He was kneeling over the body, his face had a
grim expression, there was nothing he could do. He shook his
head slowly from side to side telling Pandora that there was no
hope.
90
By the time the police arrived in a blaze of flashing blue
lights, Pandora was in the ambulance, wrapped in a thermal
blanket. Her thought process had shut down, she was just
numb. No tears, no screaming grief Pandora just sat staring,
her unfocussed eyes looking straight ahead but seeing nothing.
A uniformed policeman poked his head round the door. He
looked at the woman ambulance officer who had her arm
around Pandora.
"Is she up to answering any question yet?" He asked.
"No, she's in shock; I doubt she'll even hear what you say."
"Has she been hurt in any way?"
"There are some superficial cuts to her hands, looks like she
was trying to dig her way through the wall Doesn't look as if
she was harmed physically by her captors. We will be taking
her in for a check over."
"OK, any ID. on her?"
"That wasn't my priority, but I don't think so. I asked her
name and she said Stewart,"
"She's going to Addenbrook A and E?"
"Yes."
"OK Ms Stewart then "He made a note of the name.
"You may as well get on your way looks like we'll be here all
day."
When Inspector Wilkinson arrived at the warehouse, the
forensics team had already made their preliminary observa-
tions. He surveyed the scene, just one body on the concrete
floor. The light which filtered its way through the narrow win-
dows and suspended dust revealed the body of a young man,
late twenties, early thirties Too young to be dead.
"Hello James. I can't help feeling we'll have to stop meeting
like this."
It was the forensics investigator who spoke, dressed in the
normal full body white suit designed, not to protect him, but to
prevent contamination of the site.
The humour that the two colleagues exchanged was
something of a ritual, almost a sacrament to diminish the dis-
tress of a murder scene, to make it normal; bearable. Both of
the men had been involved with violent deaths for most of their
working lives, but it was something they never got used to.
Each time was a horror, and while they no longer showed the
91
outward signs of distress, each new corpse etched away at
their belief in the goodness of mankind. The job was ultimately
soul destroying, they both knew it, but it was what they did.
James Wilkinson was fifty three, since making Inspector
eight years ago he had matured into the position and was well
regarded by his colleagues. He was a little above average
height, slim and with a kind smile or a stern scowl depending
on the circumstances.
Bevan Hendricks was of West Indian decent, born in Notting-
ham, and was ten years younger than Wilkinson. He was short-
er than the Inspector by a hand span though he had a heavier
build. He was a naturally cheerful man with a sharp intellect.
James considered him to be the best forensics pathologist he
had worked with.
"What have you got for me Bevan?"
"Come on James, it's too soon to have drawn any
conclusions."
"You always say that Bevan, and then spend half an hour
reeling off a list of observations Come on, what happened
here."
"OK, this is what I think But you'll have to wait for my writ-
ten report before I will confirm anything. A single shot to the
chest, he would have died within seconds. There's no exit
wound so the bullet will have bounced around his chest and
done a lot of damage. It will still be in there so I can't even
guess at the gun well actually it will have to have been fired
from a fairly low velocity weapon so probably a pistol. There's
no other indication of damage to the victim apart from an im-
pact wound on his forehead as he fell."
"How far away was the shot fired from?"
"I can't tell that at this stage except to say that it was not
close, there is no evidence of powder residue or scorching. Ac-
tually if you look over here "Bevan took the Inspector a few
paces towards the door.
"You can see some splashes of liquid."
James could just pick out what he was being shown.
"Yes, and there's a trail which leads to the body."
"Take a sniff." The Inspector got down on his knees and did
so.
"It's, piss, urine You might have warned me."
92
Bevan Laughed.
"Yes I think it's urine but until I check it out I can't confirm
that. I think that whoever shot him, well literally wet himself
and then ran to the body if you look at the side of the victim
you can see a somewhat larger pool . Don't get too close, I
don't want the site contaminating."
"It's not the first crime scene I've been at Bevan."
"Sorry It's just my habit to warn people."
He pointed to a few dark spots soaked into the floor some
distance from the body.
"There's also some small blood drops not connected to the
main pool from the victim, nor does it look like splatter from
the bullet wound. This blood may well belong to the gunman."
"Ah that's good, let's hope we have his DNA on file."
Inspector Wilkinson always started an investigation with
optimism.
"Time of death?' Asked the inspector.
"Ah the post mortem interval, wondered when you'd get to
that recent, no rigour, the body is still warm, less than three
hours, I'd say closer to an hour ago maybe less."
Bevan stood and turned to face James.
"If I'm right," Bevan adjusted his glasses. "This was not an in-
tentional shooting but one that provoked panic in the assailant
when he realized what he had done."
"OK Bevan thanks, anything else?"
"Not yet, this is a big area to cover, and there's the room
where the kidnapped woman was held to check over as well."
Bevan hesitated.
"Of course, I suppose you noted the drag marks in the
blood?"
"Err Yes what do you make of them?"
"Well, to my eye it looks like something was pulled from un-
der the victim's chest after he had fallen A bag of ransom
money, do you think?"
"That means that there could be a blood stained bag some-
where. Thanks Bevan."
The Inspector raised his voice and spoke to his men.
"I want the immediate area searched with a fine tooth
comb we are looking for a pistol I need that weapon so get
93
to it. Also a blood stained bag may have been discarded so
keep an eye out for that too."
The Inspector needed to speak to the only witness they had.
He made his way to Addenbrook Hospital and eventually found
the woman in question who he discovered was called Summers
not Stewart.
"How are you feeling? Ms Summers."
"Terrible but at least I've got my senses back."
Pandora was still pale and had a throbbing headache. Stress
always manifested itself in that way for her. She managed a
weak smile for the policeman.
"I'm Inspector James Wilkinson, he showed her his ID. Can
you tell me what happened from your perspective?"
"The story is a long one but the bits of it that are relevant
are "
Pandora tried to think of how she could sum up all that had
happened in a few words. How she could make sense of it. In
the end she just kept it brief and to the point.
"I was kidnapped, to be exchanged for an item I was keeping.
I was kept in the room where the ambulance people found
me I was only there since this morning. Stewart a dear
friend, brought at least I think, the item to the warehouse for
my ransom I could not see what happened but they opened
the door for an instant to show Stewart " Pandora's voice
trembled as she recalled the last time she had seen Stewart
alive. "To show Stewart that I was unharmed "
Then stinging tears bit against her eyes. For the first time
since she had seen Stewart's lifeless body she cried and the
bitter tears would not stop.
The next day Pandora's composure had returned and she was
taken to the station for a formal witness interview. She was
asked to give a description of her kidnappers and then to give
an account of what had happened in her own words.
"There were two involved in my kidnapping. They pretended
to be police Quite convincing actually. The man was middle
aged, he had a small beard, quite ordinary looking. He said he
was Sergeant Bowen, I expect that was a false name. The wo-
man was Irish, long red hair, taller than the man, freckles. She
had vivid green eyes. He called her Reilly."
"Any distinguishing marks on either of them?"
94
"No Oh wait the woman had a scar on her neck." Pandora
indicated on her own neck where the scar was.
"What sort of scar from a cut?"
"No it looked like burn or a scold I got the feeling it was an
old one, possibly from her childhood."
"Did they refer to each other by any other names?"
"No, the conversation was kept to a minimum; they didn't
really talk to each other."
"And there were only the two of them involved?"
"In the actual kidnapping yes, but the day before, we that's
Stewart and I, were followed by a young kid, late teens or early
twenties, skinny, short cropped hair, bad acne."
"You are sure he was following you?"
"Well, yes, he had followed me before When Stewart tried
to confront him he ran off and disappeared."
"You say he followed you before?"
"When I was on my own, the day before, he was always be-
hind me I got quite worried. In the end he got on a bus and I
wasn't sure if he really had been following me then he turned
up again yesterday."
"Good, this is all helpful information. Now if you will, please
tell me about what it was the kidnappers wanted You men-
tioned an item."
Pandora told the full story of what had happened from find-
ing the pot in Varna until finding Stewart dead. In hindsight it
was probably a mistake to talk about the box but she hadn't ex-
pected to be disbelieved.
The police were disappointed that she had come up with
such a fanciful account and assumed the trauma of the murder
had caused her to become delusional. Bringing alien artefacts
into her account put everything else she had said into question.
Inspector Wilkinson arranged for a psychologist to examine
her. His report baffled the Inspector, he already knew what it
would say but he was wrong!
It said that Doctor Summers was a highly intelligent woman
with no evidence of delusional thinking and that she was con-
vinced that what she had told them in her statement was the
truth.
The Inspector had his doubts about Doctor Summers state-
ment confirmed however, when Professor Deakin denied any
95
knowledge of the strange artefact. He implied that Summers
had been overworking. Deakin's, instinct for self-interest,
coupled with his natural cowardice and total lack of loyalty,
made him distance himself from the affair as soon as he sniffed
a whiff of controversy.
The inspector had little interest in what the mysterious box
was, if indeed there was a box at all. His focus was on bringing
the kidnappers, and especially whoever had killed Doctor
Moss, to justice. He passed the report of the box and his brief
investigation into it on to his superiors where he imagined it
would be eventually be lost at the back of a filing cabinet or
disappear into the electronic ether.
What concerned him most was that there was so little to go
on. This had not been an amateur operation in his opinion;
there was hardly any forensic evidence just a blood sample,
probably from the killer. The DNA was not from Doctor Moss
but nor did it match any other samples they had on record.
Neither the bag nor the firearm had been recovered. No one
had seen or heard anything other than Doctor Summers. In-
spector Wilkinson was still not convinced, despite the psycholo-
gists report, that she had a complete grasp on reality.
For her part Pandora had not the slightest interest in convin-
cing Inspector Wilkinson that the box was real she no longer
cared, all it had brought her was worry and grief. It had prob-
ably cost Pandora her post at the University. It had cost her
more than she could formulate in words. More than she could
yet fully comprehend. But above all it had cost her Stewart.
Stewart was gone before they had found the courage to ex-
press their feelings. It was a desperate waste that Pandora
could not come to terms with. As for Deakin, Pandora no
longer wished to have any contact with him. She now had noth-
ing but contempt for the man.
The police still needed to know where Pandora could be loc-
ated so she left a message saying that she would be returning
to her flat in London. She could see no reason to stay in Cam-
bridge; there was nothing for her there any more.
She took the train home. Lucy met her at the station, grey
faced and lacking her usual bubbly personality. They took a
taxi home. Once the door on the outside world was closed they
96
held each other and wept before getting profoundly drunk on
red wine.
97
Chapter 13
The Collector received the message from Benson within hours
of Benson having been informed of the success in acquiring the
box. He was astonished that it had taken so little time. Perhaps
his reservations about rushing Benson had been ill founded.
Benson had already started making references about the trans-
fer of his fee to his account in the Caymans. The Collector had
not become wealthy by transferring large sums of money until
his transactions were complete. In this case he would need the
box in his possession before such a large sum of money would
change hands. He messaged Benson with congratulations on
the good work, but advised him to be patient in terms of his ex-
pectation of a swollen bank account. He reinforced the need to
keep his own identity and whereabouts absolutely secret and
ended the message with the words. "Have no fear; I will always
deliver what I promise." Benson well understood that the
words were as much a threat as a promise of reward.
Benson had to arrange for the box to be transported across
the world. With the heightened security at airports, attempting
to get anything unusual onto a plane was becoming extremely
difficult. But there was pressure for a fast delivery. The inform-
ation he had about the box indicated that airport scanners
would not be a problem, but a normal customs search at the
destination could blow the whole project. He needed a special-
ist courier to undertake the job. He knew just the person. He
gave Delancey Parks a call.
***
It was the day of the funeral. A dreary and depressing day. A
day Pandora wished would be over. She went up to Cambridge
on her own for the ceremony. She was saddened to see so few
people there. Stewart's parents were both dead, he had no sib-
lings and as a reserved man, few friends. There were two cous-
ins and Pandora overheard with distaste that they were already
98
squabbling over Stewart's estate. Stewart had died intestate,
still a young man, he had not even considered his death and
had made no provisions. What assets he had were up for grabs
and the vulchers, both of them, were gathered.
After a brief secular ceremony the body was taken for crema-
tion. Pandora kissed the closed coffin as it was wheeled to the
hearse, and bid him a final farewell. She was over the initial
shock, but had still not come to terms with her loss. She could
not believe; not contemplate that she would never see his face
again. She would never take him to her parents again; never
wake on a spring morning next to him and feel his arms around
her.
Pandora was in no mood to partake in the refreshments that
are habitually provided at times like this, but felt she would
like to shake hands with those she knew. She was relieved, but
not surprised, that Deakin had not made an appearance.
Stewart's friends were lost for words as she shook hands or
hugged them.
The two cousins were strangers to Pandora, but she felt ob-
liged to make herself known to them before disappearing back
to London. She walked over to the women with an outstretched
hand. They were of a similar age to herself, possibly a few
years older. One was slightly overweight and wore a dark dress
and an inappropriate hat. She carried her handbag like a
weapon. The other was slim with a pinched expression and
spoke through her nose. She was dressed in a business suit
and heels and spoke first:
"You must be Pandora; Stewart wrote about you, it seems he
was very fond of you."
"Yes we were quite close." Pandora said, the acute aware-
ness that she would never see him again biting at her tear
ducts. "Please accept my condolences at the loss of your cous-
in." She managed.
"Thank you just how close had you two become?"
"I had known Stewart years ago as students and had met
again quite recently In that short time we got quite close."
Pandora dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.
"Well just because you were close to our cousin, I hope you
don't think that will entitle you to any share of the proceeds of
his estate."
99
The suggestion hit Pandora like a fist. She hadn't even con-
sidered the possibility. She felt insulted by the idea. Instead of
attempting to explain her feelings, Pandora simply tuned on
her heel and walked away.
As she made her way to the street in search of a taxi, a man
approached her from behind. His pace quickened and he
walked beside her.
"Doctor Summers, can we talk?"
Pandora turned and saw a man she did not recognize. Tall,
distinguished, well dressed in an elegant suit. He was older
than she was by ten or fifteen years and had the bearing of a
military man she thought.
"What do you want to talk about?"
"Perhaps we could talk in my car, it's just here."
He pointed to a dark coloured Jaguar saloon.
Pandora felt slightly alarmed, her recent experiences had left
her with a diminished trust in people.
"It's all right, Doctor Summers, this is not another kidnap-
ping attempt." He smiled at her and she felt that he was prob-
ably trustworthy. More importantly, he had captured her curi-
osity. He opened the back door and held it while Pandora got
in. He then let himself into the car and sat in the back next to
her. As the door closed the outside street noise was hushed,
there was the pleasant smell of leather, the seats were soft and
comfortable and Pandora relaxed a little.
My name is William Montfort and my department is inter-
ested in your account of the artefact."
"And what department might that be Mr Montfort."
"Please call me William."
"William, not Bill?"
"I'm afraid if you call me Bill, we will not be friends."
Pandora managed a smile, more out of politeness than an ex-
pression of her mood.
"Then you must call me Pandora."
"Thank you, I will to answer your question my department
is involved with national security, you will not have heard of its
name and it may be better if it remains that way."
"I see What makes you believe in my story when the police
clearly do not?"
100
"You are an intelligent woman. I think it unlikely that you will
have made up the story Let's just say, Pandora, that the po-
lice have a different focus to us anything out of the ordinary
tends to attract our attention."
"Well the box is certainly out of the ordinary."
"Am I correct in assuming that, apart from the thieves who
now have the box, you are the only one who has handled it
accepting of course that Doctor Moss is sadly no longer with
us?"
"There are a few others who have seen it."
"And they would be "
"Well there are three students still in Varna who unearthed it
with me, and Professor Deakin has actually examined it "
Pandora thought about her parents but decided not to men-
tion them.
"That's all I think."
"So Professor Deakin has seen it, you know he has denied
any knowledge of the box."
"Yes, the man is Let's just say I have removed him from my
Christmas card list."
It was Montfort's turn to laugh.
"I have to say from the police reports that he does not sound
like a man who would be on my list either. At least not my
Christmas card list."
"You have access to the police reports then?" Asked Pandora,
who was beginning to see that this man had a good deal of
authority.
He did not answer the question, but the conclusion was
obvious.
"The other name that cropped up was that of Adrian Ban-
croft, did he see the box?"
"No, Stewart said not, but he did see a photograph Stewart
suspected that he was the one responsible for leaking the exist-
ence of the box."
"I think I will give that gentleman a visit." Said Montfort al-
most to himself.
"Pandora, would you be willing to spend a little time at my
office when we can flesh out the details I already have?"
"Yes I don't mind that, but I'm going back to London as soon
as I can get to the station."
101
"My office is in Whitehall; perhaps I could drive you to your
flat in London?"
Pandora hesitated but in the end agreed. She had formed the
opinion that William Montfort was not a risk, not a risk to her-
self anyway. They both took seats in the front of the Jaguar and
as the car purred its way onto the main road she couldn't help
noticing the two cousins arguing with each other on the pave-
ment. Pandora could not imagine either of them driving
Stewart's Healey, it would probably be sold. She wondered if
she could buy it herself, just for sentimental reasons, she Knew
Lucy would love to drive it.
As Montfort dropped Pandora at her flat he arranged to pick
her up again at two the next afternoon. He apparently had
someone else to see in the morning.
***
Adrian Bancroft arrived at his rooms just before ten in the
morning. William Montfort was waiting for him.
"Can I have a few words Doctor Bancroft?'
"What about?"
"If we can go inside." He indicated the main door with an
outstretched arm.
Adrian was alarmed by the look of the man, clearly an official
of some sort but from his bearing, someone high up, a top floor
man dangerous.
Once inside, in his own territory, Bancroft calmed down a
little and offered his guest a seat. There followed a frank ex-
change of views in which Montfort had to resort to a measure
of physical persuasion. It was a skill in which William Montfort
was adept but preferred not to use unless necessary. The out-
come was that Montfort was given an account of Bancroft's in-
volvement in the affair and a name the only relevant name
Bancroft had, Monfort was sure of that. While the genius math-
ematician was left dabbing his bloody nose with a tissue.
***
The box was still glowing, still counting down, but it was un-
seen inside Juliette's safe. She wanted rid of the box. Not only
to collect the remainder of her fee, but also because the box
sitting in her safe made her feel uncomfortable.
She made a call to Benson.
102
"Yes, I understand Juliette; I have already sent a courier who
should arrive in London tomorrow. I was going to call you this
evening with the details."
"Who is the courier?"
"Her name is Delancey Parkes, very good at her job. Where
do you want to meet, or should she go to your flat?"
"Do you fully trust her?"
"Completely."
"Then it would be easiest if she came straight to my flat."
"OK I'll get her to call you and let you know the time. I will
transfer the remaining fee to you when I hear from her that
she has the box. Your part is over now Juliette, relax and enjoy
the money."
Outside the building, concealed in the shrubbery, a lone fig-
ure had a pair of binoculars trained on Juliette's window.
***
Pandora was collected by William Montfort as arranged and
they went to his office which was situated in the department of
energy building which Pandora found somewhat strange. But
then her whole world had become rather strange over the past
few days.
They took a lift which rose for an unusually long time and
opened into a lobby with several closed doors. The decor was
definitely last century with an abundance of carved marble.
This contrasted with Montfort's office which was very modern
by comparison. Stainless steel was much in evidence; a large
pale wooden desk took prominence in the centre of the room.
There was deep pile carpeting and comfortable leather chairs
and a couch along one wall. There were no windows as far as
Pandora could tell. The walls were decorated with some large
paintings, all by the same artist whose name meant nothing to
her. They were in an abstract form, splashes of muted colours
which Pandora found to be attractive in their own way, but
could not help the feeling that a chimpanzee could have
painted them. Pandora would readily accept that she was no
art expert.
It was unusually quiet in the office with no sound of the
traffic from the street below. William drew a chair closer to his
desk for her and indicated to Pandora that she should sit. He
took his own seat behind the desk.
103
"Have you any objection to my recording the conversation."
He asked casually.
"No, none at all."
"It's just easier than trying to make notes while I talk can I
offer you some tea or "
Pandora notice no sign that he had started any recording
device and wondered if the conversation was being monitored
by someone else.
"No tea thank you, I'm fine shall we get on with this?"
"Of course, Now I have the statement which you gave to
the police concerning the box I take it you still stand by what
you said at that interview."
"Yes, it was all true no matter how incredible it may
sound."
"The first question I have for you is one you may have diffi-
culty with Why did you conceal the find from the
authorities?"
"In hind-sight I should not have done that At the time the
box seemed to be just of scientific interest I have to admit I
had a selfish wish to unlock its secrets myself. When it became
apparent that it was beyond me, we had already gone too far in
keeping it secret."
"OK I suppose there is no point in pursuing the issue at the
moment."
"If I could go back, William, I certainly would not follow the
same path."
"Very well We, by which I mean my department, would like
to examine the box naturally that means recovering it first. I
spoke to your colleague Doctor Bancroft earlier today. I was
able to persuade him to give me a name. It would appear that
Doctor Moss Stewart had been correct in his suspicions
about Bancroft. He had sold, for a trifling sum, the information
he had about the box. He gave his contact your name and
Stewart's name and also where you could be located By the
way, he is still working on trying to decode the signal but so
far with no success. He has promised that I will be the first to
know if he makes progress . I think I am safe in letting you
know that Doctor Bancroft is now under continuous surveil-
lance by my department."
"And the person he contacted, have you traced him?"
104
"Not personally, but he has been spoken to by an associate.
Unfortunately this man was just a go-between, again making a
small sum of money for information. His own contact used a
mobile number which is no longer in use. The trail has gone
cold for the moment I'm afraid, though some very skilful people
are working on it."
William leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his
head.
"Pandora, is there anything else you discovered about the
box that was not in your report to the police?"
"Well yes, after a while I stopped talking about the box, it
was clear to me that the police were more interested in the
kidnappers identities, the box seemed to hold little interest for
Inspector Wilkinson. I think he was too sceptical about what I
told him."
"That is the impression I have too can you enlighten me
about your other findings?"
"Yes you may find more technical details at Stewart's lab;
he made a lot of notes. The box is a small cube about 60 cm in
height. It weighs about 250 grammes. When it was first found
it was glowing a golden colour but the last time I saw it, the
box had started oscillating between gold, blue and red on a six
or seven second rotation. It is hypnotic the colours seam to
merge into each other.
If you touch the box with bare skin, you get a mild shock, al-
most like an electric shock, but not exactly It's almost an
emotional affect rather than a physical one. Frankly I can't ex-
plain it, it needs to be experienced.
The box, and remember it may not be a box at all, that's just
what it looked like from a human perspective, appears to be
made of a very strong material, Stewart was unable to take a
minute sample from it or even mark it."
Pandora paused for breath, she found herself talking fast as
if she desperately needed to share the information with
someone.
"Take your time Pandora, this is fascinating information."
"The surface structure was so smooth under magnification,
that Stewart suggested that it might have been constructed an
atom at a time, apparently, that's something we can do on a
small scale, but Stewart said it was beyond our technology
105
with something like the box When Stewart tried scanning the
box, with no result by the way, it triggered the broad spectrum
emission which is the signal Adrian Bancroft is working on
but the signal is repeated at a set time a time that is getting
shorter Stewart worked out that if it continued the same
way, it would reach a point when the time between the signals
became zero. He called it a countdown."
"A countdown and when will it reach zero?"
Pandora closed her eyes as if counting the days.
"I think in another five days."
106
Chapter 14
Delancey Parkes, late twenties, petite at five feet thee, and
with a disarming smile, arrived from New York that evening
and took her room at the Hilton Green Park Hotel. She care-
fully nurtured her image as a frothy headed, spoilt young wo-
man. Beautiful and sexy but without intellect. In fact the truth
was very different. She had a sharp mind and maintained a
careful focus on the job she was doing, despite her scatter-
brained appearance. Delancey found her act to be useful in de-
flecting suspicion that she might be involved with anything
criminal. Playing the part of a vacuous young woman allowed
her to get away with things that would normally prove difficult
to explain. She was dressed for business, her curly blond hair
cascaded across her shoulders. She wore a pink suit, low cut
white silk blouse and heels slightly too tall for comfort. She
also wore rather too much jewellery which made her appear to
have more money than taste. Her disguise did have a down
side; it made her stand out in a crowd. But once she had been
seen and categorized as a silly young thing, she quickly be-
came invisible.
Once installed in her room she made a call to Juliette and ar-
ranged to meet her at seven thirty to collect the package. She
had carefully discussed the requirements of her contract with
Benson. The delivery had to be fast, that meant she would have
to fly most of the way. Luckily the airport scanners would not
detect the package otherwise flying on a commercial airline
would not be possible. But there were other conditions that
caused their own problems. The customer was paranoid about
his secrecy and wanted her to travel overland, in low profile,
though New Zealand. It seemed he was concerned that a flight
to Queenstown was too close to his home for him to be com-
fortable with if she were being followed. None of that was im-
possible to manage but increased the complexity,
107
unnecessarily so as far as Delancey was concerned. Besides
she was never followed, she was a professional.
***
There is an often quoted saying: To a man with a hammer, all
problems look like a nail. Although not completely blind to oth-
er possibilities, William Montfort tended the fit the profile. To a
man in national security as his focus, all problems look like ter-
rorism. To his mind, although he believed that what Pandora
had told him was true as far as she was concerned, his own in-
terpretation of the box was that it was a terrorist weapon
which had been planted to be found and brought innocently in-
to the County. The evidence which did not support this view
was seen as ambiguous and he gave it less weight when com-
ing to his conclusion. He needed to find that box.
Montfort and a small team of technicians arrived at Stewart's
lab and began an investigation of his findings. His computer
was the most useful piece of equipment for them. There was
actually very little else, certainly no physical evidence of the
box's existence, but the frequency analysis of the signal was in-
teresting. As was the calculated zero point of the countdown. It
was the fifteenth of September at 15:38. If something cata-
strophic was going to happen, that date was too close for com-
fort. There was too little time left.
One of the technicians pointed out a fairly obvious fact but
one which had not occurred to Montfort:
"Sir, it's possible that we could use the signal burst to locate
the box."
"Well done Brian, what sort of range could we track it at?"
"From a quick look at the signal that Doctor Moss recorded,
there seems to be a peak of signal strength at 15 GHz but it
tails off on either side. In principal, with a sensitive enough re-
ceiver we could pick up the signal from thousands of miles
away except."
"I know, we need line of sight at that frequency."
"Not exactly Sir, but near enough and at the power the signal
has it would be a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack. If
the box were in an electromagnetic shield, like a heavy metal
box, there would be hardly any signal at all. To stand any
chance we would need height to scan for the signal."
"What sort of power is the transmission?"
108
"According to Doctor Moss's data it's less than five Watts,
that's only about double what a mobile phone puts out. It defin-
itely was not intended to be a long range signal."
"We would have to triangulate the signal as well to locate it I
suppose?"
"Yes but we have one bit of luck on our side we know the
exact times when the signal bursts will occur."
Montfort made a call on a secure and coded line to his super-
iors. He needed helicopters with specific signal tracing capabil-
ity and he needed them fast.
***
Delancey's taxi pulled up outside Juliette's flat. As she got
out of the cab her appearance caught the attention of the fig-
ure in the bushes. Once Mickey had regained his conscious-
ness and slinked from the warehouse, he had spent most of his
time watching and following Juliette who still had the box as
far as he knew. The box that was his passport to the big time.
He had kept a low profile and so far had gone unseen. Juliette
had hardly left her home since returning to London and Mickey
had been able to keep a close watch on her. He desperately
wanted the box and he knew that there would be a handover
soon which would give him his opportunity. But despite his
keen desire to get his hands on the box, he was starting to
grow weary of keeping watch on his own. At last there was
something of interest happening.
The sexy babe had caught his eye and not only for the obvi-
ous reasons. He decided to follow her and see if she was meet-
ing Juliette.
As Juliette opened her door to the young woman, Mickey felt
sure his suspicions were confirmed. Unless he acted now it
would be too late. He knew he should stay calm and choose his
moment but the rush of adrenaline was too much. The voice in
his head said Go Go Go! He sprang at the door and grabbed
the woman from behind. He had a knife in his hand. The
woman's body felt soft and sensuous as she squirmed against
his skinny frame. Her perfume almost overpowered him with
lust as he squeezed her tight, the knife flashed as he held its
edge against her pretty throat. He wanted her almost as much
as he wanted the box but his voice told him One thing at a time
Mickey
109
Juliette had thought that Mickey would be long gone by now,
licking his wounds and dreaming up a new fantasy.
"What are you doing you crazy kid?"
"Hello Juliette you know what I want give me the box or
this little darling will be gargling her own blood."
"Come, on Mickey why can't we be friends, just put down
the knife and we can talk about what money I owe you."
"Oh no, you tricked me, and beat me up twice!" he
spluttered. "I can't trust you any more I thought you were go-
ing to look after me; be my friend; teach me the tricks of the
trade."
"I will I can make it all right Mickey "
"No It's too late just give me the box, or I swear I'll
stick her like a crazy bitch"
Mickey held the point of his flashing knife against Delancey's
throat and pressed until the woman screamed.
***
Montfort had managed to organize helicopters equipped with
sensitive signal locating receivers in short order as if it were a
simple matter for him to summon up the military. There were
just eight in all preparing to scan from the South coast up to
the Midlands. Flying at high elevation would give them a
chance of finding a signal that land based equipment could not
match but eight were hardly enough for scanning such a large
area. However it was all he could convince his superiors to al-
locate at short notice. Montfort knew it was a long shot. The
box could have been taken anywhere by now. It may even be
out of the country.
According to Stewart's calculation there should have been a
signal at 13:08 that afternoon. The next one was scheduled for
00:48, twelve minutes to one in the morning. He wanted his
crews in the air ready to listen for that signal. As the time
passed, success was slipping away, yet he had to sit and wait
for the box to send its signal. Montfort paced the floor in
frustration.
***
Despite her appearance, Delancey was well educated and
had completed a degree in psychology before turning her at-
tention to an easy and lucrative lifestyle as a courier of contra-
band. She had quickly drawn a conclusion about Mickey's state
110
of mind. He showed an immature personality, slightly delusion-
al and was probably fixated on Juliette as a mother figure but
showed, as far as she could tell, no evidence of serious psycho-
pathy which would be needed if he were to kill a stranger in
cold blood. Delancey took the calculated risk that he would be
unlikely to use the knife.
She spoke softly to him in her most seductive voice:
"Mickey, darlin' you wouldn't hurt little old Delancey would
you?"
At the instant that she felt Mickey's grip soften, she raised
her right leg and then slammed the heel down on Mickey's
foot. A stiletto heel may impair the wearer's comfort but it
makes a formidable weapon. Mickey screamed as the slender
steel shaft was driven though his canvas shoe and into his foot.
Juliette responded instantly; her training at the French DGSE
was not forgotten. She grabbed Mickey's knife from his hand,
and dazed him with a palm punch to his head. She quickly
stood behind him as his knees buckled and took his head in her
hands.
Delancey shuddered at the sound of his cervical vertebrae
shattering as Juliette snapped his head round.
There was just a surprised gurgle from Mickey as his lifeless
body fell to the floor at Juliette's feet.
Delancey's cool composure was finally broken, she stood
trembling. Juliette took her hand and led the young woman to
her bedroom. She went back into the sitting room and poured
a large glass of bourbon. She took it into her room, handed it
to Delancey and closed the bedroom door.
There was a plastic tarpaulin sheet in the kitchen which she
rolled the lifeless body onto, wrapped it up and secured the
grim parcel with tape. She pulled Mickey unto her spare room
and closed the door.
She then calmly unbolted her TV from the wall, slid it back
on its hinge and opened the safe. She removed the box which
was inside an M&S shopping bag. When she opened her bed-
room door, she found Delancey much recovered and the glass
empty.
"I'm sorry you got caught up in that, Delancey. He was a
problem I thought I had solved."
111
"I guess you've solved the problem now How did you learn
to do that that neck break thing?"
"A former life don't ask would you like another drink?"
"I would, but I think I would prefer to leave now, if you don't
mind Do you have the package?"
Juliette handed her the bag.
"Don't touch the box with your bare skin it bites."
Delancey shrugged and put the box in her handbag.
As Juliette let her out she said:
"Don't worry there will be nothing to connect you in any way
with what happened tonight Just try and forget it ever
happened."
Delancey gave Juliette a weak smile and was gone. She
walked about half a mile before calling a taxi. Her idea was to
distance herself from the scene of the murder before any one
saw her, but also to clear her head. Just try and forget it ever
happened No chance of that. Despite her young age Delan-
cey thought of herself as a tough customer; seen everything;
done everything. Tonight proved to her how wrong she had
been in that assumption.
When Delancey reached her hotel she inquired about the
hotel safe as if she was a complete innocent in in such matters.
"Oh yes, Miss completely secure, heavy iron construction, im-
pervious to attack."
"Good, will you put this little trinket in for me? I'll collect it
early tomorrow morning when I check out. My sweet boyfriend
just spoils me to death with his expensive gifts." She giggled as
she handed the tightly taped package over for safe keeping and
then headed for her room. She had an appointment with her
mini bar; it was amnesia she really wanted.
Back at Juliette's apartment she hastily dialled a number.
"Walter, I'm so sorry to do this to you but I'm in trouble "
In a shorter time than she had expected Walter was at her
door.
"Have you got a plan, boss?"
"It's a bit risky and not at all pleasant but yes."
Walter nodded, his expression said: I'm with you, whatever it
involves. It was what Juliette had hoped to see. Despite her ice
cool demeanour, cracks were beginning to show around the
edges.
112
"Thank you Walter I will not forget this."
"I'm not saying I told you so boss, but "
"I know, I always knew, but that stupid kid got under my skin
damn it."
They waited until it was fully dark and then Walter went to
his Transit van and brought up the small roll of carpet he had
in the back which Juliette had asked him to bring. They rolled
the body in the carpet and carried it down to the van, one each
end of the gruesome package. They slid it without ceremony
through the back doors. Walter pulled off the wire to the rear
number plate light as an added precaution and they headed to
a particular stretch of motorway that would suit their purpose.
Juliette unrolled the body from the carpet with gloved hands
and removed the tape from the tarpaulin. Mickey was revealed
in the dim light inside the van. He looked peaceful Juliette
thought; she hoped he was at peace. He had been a liability to
her since she had met him, and now in death he still was. Juli-
ette made sure that there was no forensic evidence on his
body. She checked his wallet. There were a few notes, a bank
card and driving licence. Nothing else, no family photographs,
nothing. He had been a loner. She put the wallet back in his
pocket; it contained nothing to link Mickey to her or the oth-
ers. Taking a deep breath Juliette rolled Mickey to the back of
the van.
Eventually Walter found what he wanted, a heavy articulated
truck and trailer unit travelling fast, probably heading to the
Continent with a tight schedule to meet. He overtook the truck
and got a hundred metres ahead lining his van up with the
wheel tracks of the truck; he slowed and gave Juliette the sign.
She kicked open the doors and pushed the body from the back
of the van with an uncontrolled scream of anguish.
About twenty seconds later the heavy truck's wheels crushed
the unseen body beyond recognition. The truck driver did not
see the body and barely noticed the slight jolt as his wheels
rolled over the slender youth. He did not stop; he had time to
make up.
Walter took the next exit and glanced at his watch. It was
twelve minutes to one. Pandora's box let out another signal.
Across the country no signal was received by the helicopters.
The box was secure in the heavy metal safe. The next signal
113
was due at eleven fifty three in the morning. Montfort resched-
uled another flight for that time. He was beginning to lose all
hope of locating the box.
114
Chapter 15
The next morning Delancey had a serious hangover. She lay in
bed, unwilling to move but knowing she had little option. From
her bed she had a view out across Half Moon street to the
hotel opposite Fleming's of Mayfair. She could see the large
gold coloured letters proudly displaying the name, shining in
the early morning sunlight. Delancey slipped her legs out of
bed and gingerly sat up. She needed fresh air and took the few
paces to her balcony door. From here, looking to her right, she
could see across Piccadilly to the trees of Green Park which
looked fresh and verdant after the gentle summer rain that had
fallen overnight. She took some deep breaths. Her hangover
was a direct consequence of consuming most of the contents of
her mini bar. This was certainly not what she did normally
when on a job and she was angry with herself. The drink had
softened the distress of her experience of the previous evening,
but in the cold light of day there was still no amnesia just a
throbbing pain behind her eyes and a churning stomach. Even
less appealing was remembering the sight of the body and
even harder for her, the sound of his neck as Juliette snapped
it. The memories were still all too real.
It was the first dead body she had seen. Harder to come to
terms with was the way in which he had died, and her own in-
volvement in his sudden demise. She had allowed herself to be
followed which she thought could not happen. The incident was
a trigger for her to consider just how professional she really
was. She left her balcony and the sound of the morning traffic
below and forced herself to make a start on her day.
Delancey could not face breakfast but drank water and took
paracetamol. As she put on her make-up and her dizzy blond
uniform she had the sudden dread of one day finding that she
had actually become the woman who was staring back at her
115
from the hotel mirror. At that moment she swore to herself that
she would not let that happen.
Most of the jobs she took were relatively straight forward.
This one, although it paid rather well, had got off to an unfortu-
nate start. Delancey hoped the rest of the journey would prove
to be less eventful. She had certainly planned the journey with
care and had covered all the eventualities that she could think
of. But Mickey's death was a totally unforeseen occurrence and
Delancy's confidence had taken a beating.
She collected her special package from the safe and put it in
her shoulder bag which she would be carrying as hand lug-
gage. She was flying with Virgin Airlines to Australia; it was a
direct flight to Sydney with just a stop at Hong Kong for refuel-
ling and change of crew. Flying time was scheduled for about
twenty two hours, little short of one full day but on a long flight
like this one, the prevailing weather conditions could make a
noticeable difference to the actual time. Her plan was to rest
overnight in Sydney and then take a flight to Auckland the fol-
lowing morning. Flights between Australia and New Zealand
were almost treated like domestic flights; at one time pass-
ports were not even needed. It was a little more difficult these
days but Delancey expected no trouble on the Tasman leg of
her journey.
It was a long time to be in an aircraft without a break but
once though the security check Delancey could relax for a
while. She hoped to sleep for most of the flight. She checked
out of the hotel and took a taxi to the airport. The driver an-
noyed her with his incessant chatter, normally she would have
enjoyed engaging in a little flirty banter with him, but today
her pounding head and churning stomach was in control.
She was relieved when she finally arrived at Heathrow and
could pay the driver off. Delancey's nerves were also stretched
by the unknown factors which she had to contend with. The un-
usual package which may trigger who knows what reaction
from the airport's electronic scanning equipment just added to
the stress and made her job more difficult. She had the assur-
ance from Benson that the scanners would not detect the box
but how did he know for certain? Airport security was con-
stantly being upgraded and maybe they had new and better
equipment.
116
Once at Heathrow she checked her luggage in and carried
the box in her shoulder bag. Delancey could feel herself getting
more and more nervous as the time for her flight drew closer.
She had trained herself to keep her composure. The last thing
a contraband courier needs is to look nervous when confronted
by customs or security. But today she was finding it difficult.
The flight was due to take off at 11:45 Delancey kept looking at
her watch. She knew that checking her watch was a sure sign
that she was nervous, exactly the impression she did not want
to give, but she was nervous.
***
William Montfort had another signal due at 11:53 and was in
contact with the helicopters. He had set up temporary
headquarters at an air-force base and was in constant contact
with his team. He needed them to be in position ready and
waiting in good time. Every signal he missed meant that he
was closer to failure; closer to the countdown and whatever
that would bring. He could not allow that to happen.
***
Delancey joined a queue of passengers and edged her way
towards the security check. As she approached the moment of
truth. She managed to strike up a conversation with another
passenger, a young man, probably a student and easy prey for
her flirtatious charm. Anything to make her look unconcerned.
She was laughing at a shared joke as it was her turn to be
checked.
The security officer looked her over. He was skilled in ap-
praising people. It was his job. He could tell from the way she
was chatting inanely to the other passenger, that the attractive
but silly woman was unlikely to be a terrorism threat. Actually
the ones you have to look out for are easy to spot, usually for-
eign, always serious looking, furtive He had made a study
and was an expert.
"Have you got any of these items in your hand luggage
Miss?" The routine questions were starting to bore him as
much as they annoyed the passengers who resented the delay
and inconvenience.
He showed her the form.
117
"No knives, scissors, knitting needles, tweezers, make-up,
hair sprays, toothpaste, drinks If you have a lap-top it will
need to be scanned separately guns, toy guns "
The list was extensive and got longer every day as the secur-
ity agencies thought of more and more things that could be po-
tentially dangerous. Delancey remembered hearing on a radio
programme that the greatest improvement in aircraft security
had been achieved by simply locking the door to the flight
deck.
"No Honey," she smiled "just the bomb in my bra do you
want to check it out?" Delancey turned to the passenger she
had been joking with and they both bust out laughing.
"Yes very funny, I've never heard that one before Just
pass along though the body scanner will you please Miss."
"OK next "
She was through, as Benson had promised there had been no
problem.
She made her way to the departure lounge for another wait,
but now she was home free for today anyway.
As she took her seat in business class Delancey sighed with
relief and settled herself in for a long and hopefully relaxing
journey. She wondered what films they would be showing.
As the aircraft taxied along the runway Montfort's heli-
copters were already in the air. Listening for a signal.
At 11:58 the jet had reached its cruising altitude and the
automatic pilot was maintaining the flight path to Hong Kong.
The box delivered its signal on time. The pilots noticed a little
static on the radio but it was of brief duration not worth
reporting.
Montfort got the news almost immediately. Two of the heli-
copters had picked up a signal. It was actually coming from
above them and moving fast. They were unable to get an exact
fix on the location as the signal duration was too short but it
was something at last and had confirmed that, in principal, the
box could be traced.
Montfort drew the obvious conclusion. The box was in an air-
craft and it was almost certainly by now out of the UK air-
space. Montfort contacted his department with the information
he had, and instructed that all the flights on traffic control
radar should be checked and a list be made of the ones that
118
were possible targets. From the limited data available the box
appeared to be heading in an easterly direction towards North-
ern Europe but its final destination could be anywhere. Once
outside British jurisdiction Montfort had no authority to act,
but he could alert other local security agencies to the issue.
The next signal was not due until 22:23, and by then it would
be too far away for the UK team to receive the signal. As Mont-
fort had feared, the box had slipped out of his grasp.
***
Delancey was settled and comfortable, her hang-over was fi-
nally receding and she found herself slipping into a welcome
state of relaxation. She felt that she might be able to manage a
little lunch, "I wonder if they have Champagne?"
The jet arced its way across the sky leaving a vapour trail
high in the late morning air. The flight took it across Northern
Europe, towards Russia and then on toward Asia and its refuel-
ling stop.
The potential destinations for the box were more than Mont-
fort had expected. Aircraft traffic had become so numerous
that at any moment there were hundreds of planes in the gen-
eral vicinity. Montfort arranged that all the friendly Countries
that might be the destination were sent the relevant informa-
tion. It was all Montfort could do. He consoled himself with the
thought that his own territory was now free of the threat and
stood down the helicopter search teams with mixed emotions.
Finally after almost a full day and night in the air Delancey's
Jet touched down in Sydney. Once again she felt a surge of ap-
prehension as the next testing phase loomed ahead. She had
spent most of the flight quietly keeping to herself and making
little conversation. She had inhabited her own personality for
most of the flight, but now it was time to assume her dizzy
blond persona again.
Clutching her one piece of hand luggage, she made her way
from the plane and towards the customs and passport control
area. Airports all look much the same, although it was
Delancey's first arrival at Kingsford Smith, it all looked very
familiar.
In the distance across the polished floor tiles of the airport
she saw them: Two military policemen.
They saw her too; they had been waiting for her.
119
"There she is corporal." said the officer in an unnecessarily
loud voice. "After her Corporal."
Delancey started to run towards the baggage claim. She al-
most fell on the slippery polished surface and kicked off her
shoes abandoning the stilettos which were impossible to run in.
"Stop her " The officer shouted towards a bemused airport
security guard. He took off after the woman at a sprint and saw
her bound over the barrier by the quarantine area and slip
through the exit her stockinged feet still scrabbling for grip.
Delancey was not dressed for running, her tight skirt was slow-
ing her progress, she needed to use cunning and dived into a
crowd of people who were waiting to meet passengers from the
plane and ducked down, there was no point in heading for the
main exit, she would be too easy to catch in the open. Delancey
turned right and headed towards the domestic arrivals area,
dodging left and right past people who were casually meander-
ing around. She passed the information desk and ANZ bank;
ahead she spotted the toilets and quickly slipped inside. She
locked herself in a booth, breathing heavily, still clutching her
bag. The guard had seen her progress and was not far behind
her. He was carrying a little too much weight and was breath-
ing hard; the woman had proved faster than expected. He hes-
itated for a moment at the door, unwilling to enter the ladies,
eventually he burst through the door.
"I know you're in here, don't make me break down the door."
The guard could hear Delancey's out of breath gasping. And
rapped on the door to her booth.
The two military police followed the guard in.
"Have you got her?"
"Yea mate she's in here, come on out miss, it's all over." He
gasped between gulps of air.
Delancey unlocked the door; there was nowhere else to run
to.
"Well done, we'll take over now Corporal, handcuffs I
think." The officer patted the security guard on the shoulder.
"What's your name mate, I'll make sure your supervisor hears
about your quick thinking well done."
"Ah, no worries, it was nothing." The security guard said still
out of breath from his unexpected work-out.
120
The corporal brought over Delancey's shoes for her and then
fitted the handcuffs to her slender wrists. He took her shoulder
bag and handed it to his officer and then took a firm grip of her
arm.
All eyes were on them, as they marched her with bowed head
and a defeated expression on her pretty face, out of the airport
and into a dark coloured Holden Calais. The eyes of an observ-
ant newspaper reporter who made a good living from grabbing
interviews with passing celebrities were especially taken by
the spectacle.
The Holden drove off along the M5 East Freeway into the
cool air of an Australian Winter's morning.
121
Chapter 16
Five minutes later the dark coloured Holden Calais was driving
down towards the coast road on its way to Brighton-Le-Sands
and the Novatel hotel where Delancey's local support team had
booked her a room for the night.
"I thought that fat security guy was never going to catch you
Delancey." Laughed one of the men. "That was one neat way to
slip unchecked past customs."
"Thank you gentlemen it was kinda fun, I had to slow down
to make sure the guard could see where I was going I swear
I could have made it clean into the parking lot." Delancey was
quite pleased with her performance in the little drama which
had neatly sidestepped the airport customs. It was a variation
on a theme that she had used before and probably would
again but not for a while.
"Have you managed to get the things I need?" She asked.
Her plan meant that she had to abandon her suitcase, and
while there was nothing in it of value or more importantly, that
could be used to trace her, she was now left with just her
shoulder bag.
"Yep, in your room. There's a suitcase with clothes and make-
up, and the brown wig you asked for is in here."
He opened a small briefcase and showed Delancey her newly
acquired New Zealand passport and air ticket for the next
day's flight to Auckland in the name of Joanna Brown, there
was the wig and a small amount of Australian currency. There
was also a few hundred New Zealand dollars in an envelope
and importantly a credit card which had been set up for her
also in the name of Joanna Brown.
"Oh and here's the jumper you asked for "
He leaned over to the front seat and pulled a light grey
sweater over and handed it to Delancey.
122
After parking the car at the hotel, the two men removed their
fake uniforms and replaced them with tracksuits. Delancey put
on the wig, a pair of glasses and wiped off most of her make-
up. She took off her pink jacket and pulled on the sweater. Her
appearance was transformed from dizzy blond to pretty
librarian.
The two men showed her the way to her room on the fourth
floor. It was bright, airy and spacious with a modern decor.
There was a large balcony with a delightful view across the
blue expanse of Botany Bay. She could see the airport runway
in the distance which stretched out into the Bay. Just below her
she could see the golden sands of the beach which ran along
the coast road in front of the hotel. Despite being winter, there
was not a cloud in the brilliant blue sky and Delancey watched
for a while as some pleasure boats churned the azure water in-
to a brilliant white wake which trailed behind them. She
thought that this could be a place to visit again when she had
less urgent matters to deal with.
It was away from the city but just a short taxi ride to get
back to the airport for the next day. Delancey was pleased with
the arrangements her Australian contacts had made, they had
certainly earned the fee which she had already deposited in
their account.
Handshakes were exchanged and the two Aussies left. All
that remained for them was to replace the car's genuine num-
ber plates on the Holden and their job would be over. A nice
little earner for a morning's work.
Delancey needed to get the box secured in the hotel safe.
She changed her skirt which did not quite complement her new
quieter profile and went to reception with the box. It was soon
nestled safely in the heavy metal structure. Although Delancey
had no idea that the box was sending out signals, by putting it
in the safe, she was also making her own position more secure.
The signals were starting to come closer together now, the
next one was due at 8:18 London time, that was 19:18 Sydney
time.
***
The Australian National Security Service had received
Montfort's warning about the possible terrorist bomb and was
preparing a helicopter at the airport for the evening when the
123
next signal was due. This was just seen as a precaution, the
chances of the bomb coming to Sydney were, in their opinion
quite small.
The coming and going of the security personnel attracted the
attention of Greg Fellows, the reporter who had earlier seen
the military police chase down and arrest the young woman.
Maybe there was a story here. He called in to the office with
what he knew. They checked with the military liaison depart-
ment who denied all knowledge of any arrest at the airport. As
far as the news desk was concerned, such an emphatic denial
was absolute conformation that something unusual was
happening.
Delancey took advantage of the hotel's facilities and spent
some time in the steam room, easing the aches that twenty two
hours in an aircraft inevitably bring. She then showered and
changed into jeans and a sweater and took a walk along the
beach. This was the legendary Botany Bay. Captain Cook would
be amazed to see the place today Delancey thought.
Despite the clear blue sky, there was a cool wind which man-
aged to dispel the illusion of a summer's day. But it was still an
enjoyable walk after her long flight.
She took a late lunch at an Italian restaurant which over-
looked the bay and then returned to the hotel at an easy mean-
dering pace. The afternoon was intended to be spent with a
book which she had purchased in the hotel. But somehow it
caused her to feel sleepy so she abandoned all pretence of
reading and napped before taking a light meal in her room.
She turned on the TV while she ate her salad, there was a
local news programme on and she was alarmed to find herself
watching a report concerning an event at the airport:
"A spokesperson for the Australian military intelligence today
denied any knowledge of a potential terrorist attack on Aus-
tralian soil. Earlier today a woman thought to be involved, was
arrested after a prolonged chase around the airport involving
much of the airport's security officers and a contingent of milit-
ary police. The woman was able to avoid capture for some time
before being surrounded in the toilet facilities. The unnamed
woman was eventually escorted away by military police. Our
correspondent also understands that a helicopter search team
is preparing to do an air sweep in the vicinity of Kingsford
124
Smith airport. The Military is keeping tight lipped about the af-
fair. We will keep you informed as the evolving story
develops "
Although Delancey could make no sense of the talk of a ter-
rorist attack or helicopter sweep, the woman in the prolonged
chase could only be a reference to herself. There was nothing
she could do about it but was far from being relaxed about the
news report. Luckily there had been no film coverage or photo-
graphs of her chase which meant she was unlikely to be recog-
nized. However Delancey decided to remain in her room for
the rest of her stay at the hotel and attract as little attention as
possible.
As the clock turned to 19:18 the box emitted another signal,
but inside the metal walls of the hotel safe the signal was
blocked. The Australian security team stood down the heli-
copter search after there was no sign of a signal. They as-
sumed that the terrorist threat was not meant for Australia.
***
It was early morning in London and Pandora was still not
dressed when she received the phone call from Montfort:
"Hello Pandora, I hope it's not too early to call but I thought
you would like to know about some developments."
"Um yes, I suppose, what have you got?"
Pandora had been trying to forget about the box and all that
it had brought to her.
"Well, it looks as if the box is out of the Country, we are un-
able to tell exactly where it has gone but we picked up a signal
two days ago and it was clear that the box was on an aircraft
heading for destination unknown."
"I see, the countdown must be getting close to zero by now."
"Another three and a half days, yes."
"I hope Stewart was right and the countdown will just result
in some benign event wherever the box is. I still feel respons-
ible for bringing the box to life."
"I don't think there is any point in blaming yourself for the
events of the last few days Pandora; bigger forces have been at
play here, I'm afraid."
"Mm, I expect you're right."
Pandora was not quite sure what he had meant by that.
125
"The other thing that you might wish to know, and the main
reason for my call, is that the body of a man has been re-
covered. His DNA matches the blood found at the scene of Doc-
tor Moss's death. The police suspect he is the one who fired
the gun."
Pandora did not want to hear any of this another dead
body, when was this going to end?
"Oh "
"Yes, the body was in a bit of a mess but it looks as if it could
be the man who was following you in Cambridge."
"So how did the man die, was it an accident or did something
more sinister happen to him? Do the police have any idea?"
"No, not really From what I understand, there was nothing
to indicate that he had been murdered but on the other hand
the circumstances were unusual. His body was found on the
motorway and had been run over by a number of heavy
vehicles before the police were alerted. It could have been an
accident or suicide, the evidence just isn't there to come to a
definitive conclusion Well that's all I have at the moment
Pandora. If I hear any more I'll let you know."
"OK thank you for thinking of me William, goodbye."
Pandora hung up her phone. The mental image she conjured
up of Mr Acne being spread across the motorway did nothing
for her mood. And there was another issue which she had to
face up to.
It was time for the new term to start and Pandora was not
sure if she still had a job or not. Her career seemed less im-
portant to her now but she decided that she would have to talk
to her Professor and find out where she stood.
Deakin had also thought over the matter. His perspective
was different to Pandora's. He was disappointed to have lost
the opportunities that the discovery of the box promised, but in
effect nothing had changed from the end of the last term. He
decided to make no major changes to Pandora's status, she
was still valuable to him and the affair could be hung over her
head like a Damocles' sword. The idea gave Deakin a feeling of
satisfaction. Pandora had been getting above her station of late
and this affair would redress the balance to an acceptable
degree.
126
Later that morning when Pandora had decided she could no
longer put it off she made the call.
"Professor Deakin it's Pandora."
"Good morning Doctor Summers, I had intended calling you
myself, but with the pressure of my commitments, I had not yet
been able to schedule it." He paused for breath and then con-
tinued without giving Pandora the chance to speak.
"I think after considering the mistakes for which you were
responsible, but also taking your previous adequate perform-
ance in to account, I can overlook the unfortunate affair for the
moment. Naturally your advancement will now be frozen for
the next year or two and I will be looking for an improvement
in your general performance before I will be able to guarantee
your medium term future with my department."
His style of speaking and the content of what he had just said
was more than Pandora could tolerate.
"Professor, when I needed your support in the last few days,
I found no trace of it, no trace of loyalty, no trace of decent hu-
man behaviour. I shall not be continuing in your department
this year. I intend taking a sabbatical until I can find a position
in a different and more compatible university. Goodbye."
It was not the outcome that Pandora had intended when she
made the call. A helping of humble pie and then back to nor-
mal but that man was just insufferable.
The call had somehow lifted a weight from her shoulders.
Pandora felt suddenly free to follow her dreams, whatever they
were.
***
In her hotel room in Sydney, Delancey was still concerned
about the media broadcast. She decided to call Benson and
seek his opinion. It was unusual for her to call her client during
an operation but the circumstances were unusual in this case.
She explained about the broadcast and listened as Benson
replied to her with a detectable tightening of his vocal cords
which betrayed a definite trace of panic in his voice.
"Shit, shit I don't need this Not when I'm so close
Listen Delancey, on no account can we let the Collector know
about this, you know he is paranoid about his own security and
any sniff of trouble and he could easily cut and run. You could
be in big trouble with that guy."
127
"I think you might be overreacting a little Charles, I'm sure
your customer will still want the item. At this stage I am more
concerned about how the authorities traced me to Australia
If in fact they did. Do any of your contacts have any more
information?"
"All I know is that there were scans made by the UK security,
as far as I know they found nothing."
"Why didn't you warn me of that before Charles? You could
have put me in a danger that I was not aware of. In fact
Charles, you did put me in danger and that is unacceptable."
"My contact in the UK led me to believe that the search was
abandoned when nothing was found, so I thought there was no
need to worry you unnecessarily."
"So what alerted the Australians do you think?"
"I think it was probably information from the UK security just
to be on the lookout. It's pretty clear that they found nothing
otherwise they would have traced you by now, Listen Delancey
just carry on with the delivery and speed things up as much as
possible. Above all don't disclose any of this to the Collector.
Do you still have his phone number that I gave you for use in
an emergency?"
"Yes of course."
"Well for Christ's sake don't use it, just get that package to
him fast and I'll double your fee."
"Double my fee? OK Charles, I'll be in touch."
Delancey was far from reassured by the conversation. Ben-
son appeared to be close to the edge. She wondered what was
at stake for him. The thing that really worried her was being
offered double the fee That was a sure sign of a man in pan-
ic. A man in panic was a danger to himself but he could also be
a danger to everyone around him.
After Benson had finished his conversation with his courier
he felt it was urgent for him to get his hands on the money be-
fore anything went wrong. He was no longer thinking clearly
but acting on self-interest driven instinct. He sent a message to
the Collector saying that the box would be in New Zealand to-
morrow and to please complete his side of the bargain and
transfer the funds as he had agreed.
The Collector was unmoved by the request and saw it as a
sign of unprofessionalism on Benson's part. He had already
128
forcefully made his position clear that the funds would be
transferred only when he had taken delivery. It was by no
means a trivial sum that was involved. The Collector was be-
ginning to have doubts about Charles Benson.
129
Chapter 17
The next morning Delancey's focus was on putting distance
between herself and Sydney. The sooner she was in another
country, the safer she would feel. There is a fine line between
over confidence and disaster. Delancey chose to be cautious.
Fortunately there had been no further reports of the airport in-
cident and she hoped it was just a case of a news man putting
two and two together and seeing it add up to a scoop.
Her procedure would be the same as when she left London.
Adopt her disguise, collect the package from the safe and get
to the airport with as little fuss as possible. Her librarian per-
sona was easier to maintain that the dizzy blond one and she
felt more relaxed in that guise. Her true character was some-
where in the middle though Delancey thought, hoped even,
that it was closer to librarian than dizzy. Sometimes she was
not too sure who she really was any more.
A growing cynicism had polished off the edges of her teenage
naivety to leave a young woman who found it hard to trust any-
one. It was hard to be herself any more.
Delancey found herself hungry after her sleep; she was fully
able to face breakfast unlike her morning in London and took
some eggs and juice in the dining room. She returned to her
room, took another long and wistful look at the view of the al-
luring bay from her balcony and packed her few clothes. A final
check in the mirror to confirm that her look conformed to the
image she had in mind, and she collected her package from the
safe.
She had the wig and glasses, complemented by minimal
make up and wore a sweater and scarf with faded blue jeans.
Over her jeans she wore a pair of calf length boots which may
have been slightly too sexy with their stiletto heels but other-
wise Delancey was happy with the look. She tied her hair back
in a short pony tail and managed to look quite unremarkable;
130
just a traveller on her way home. Delancey's lifestyle was, on
the face of it glamorous, always visiting new places and often
living the high life. It made her a lot of money but at the ex-
pense of too much loneliness, long nights in hotels rooms spent
on her own, no one to share the highs and lows of her day. No
one to confide her dreams and fears with. No one to hold her
when she needed it.
There were always taxis waiting at the hotel. The ride to the
airport was short but the drivers could charge over the odds
for the short trip, no one complained. It was a lucrative place
to make a pick up.
Delancey was soon back at the airport, confident that no one
would recognize her. As in London she passed through the
checks, her passport was accepted without comment. The pass-
port was the genuine article which had been expertly "lifted"
and altered to suit. It did not come cheap and was best used
once only. The flight across the Tasman Sea was uneventful
and much shorter than her last one at about three and a half
hours.
As she had expected, Delancey was able to pass straight
through the baggage retrieval and out into the Auckland after-
noon without being stopped. She collected her white Toyota
Corolla rental car from Avis and started the drive to her first
stop. She had arranged motel accommodation at Lake Taupo
which sat in the centre of the North Island. The lake had been
created aeons ago by a huge volcanic explosion which left an
enormous crater but now it was a peaceful tourist attraction.
The only signs of its apocalyptic past were the few hot springs
which gently bubbled and steamed in the winter air along its
edges.
It was a two hundred and fifty kilometre drive and would
take about three and a half hours, possibly a little longer with a
break. Delancey was not used to driving on the left of the road
and intended keeping her speed down and enjoying the drive.
As she finally found the motorway South after several false
turns, she was glad to be leaving the airport behind her. In
New Zealand she felt she had reclaimed her anonymity. The
Corolla purred along effortlessly at close to the speed limit. But
her thoughts kept returning to the concerns she had over Ben-
son and his sudden loss of composure. It was unlikely that he
131
could put her at risk, but maybe the Collector should be put in
the picture.
As her primary contact, and the one paying her, Delancey's
responsibility was to Benson, but she also felt that the Collect-
or should not have his safety compromised. In fact the Collect-
or was the one who was ultimately paying her fee, Benson was
just an intermediary. She was unsure what to do, her profes-
sionalism told her to carry on regardless, but her conscience
was whispering something else at her. Gnawing at her own
composure.
It was now approaching five in the afternoon, which seemed
quite wrong to Delancey; she was still more attuned to New
York time and had gone through so many time zones in the
past few days that she had a new appreciation of the term Jet
Lag. She decided to find somewhere to take a break and found
a parking spot in the next small town she came to: Matamata.
It was a typical small New Zealand town, more of a village to
her New York eyes. Even here there was a McDonalds and al-
though she would no longer have crossed the threshold of one
back in the States, it amused her to try out the New Zealand
version. She had a Big Mac and fries and a large diet Coke.
Disappointingly it was exactly the same as she remembered
back home as a child; it was no longer her food of choice, it sat
like a greasy weight in her stomach, but at least she had tried
it.
Back in the car park she decided to do something about her
concerns over Benson, frankly she had lost faith in him and fi-
nally decided to contact the Collector directly. The number
that Benson had given her was on her phone and despite what
he had told her, she made the call.
"Hello, my name is Delancey Parkes; we have a mutual con-
tact, Charles Benson. I am couriering a package to you on his
behalf."
The accent was a familiar one, reminding him of his years in
the Big Apple, despite that he was angered that his home
phone line was being used by someone he did not know about
something which should definitely be kept secret. His first sen-
tence was delivered with aggression as a sentry might shout
"Who goes there?"
"Hello Ms Parkes, how did you get this number may I ask?"
132
"Charles gave it to me for use only in emergency, he said."
"That means there is some kind of emergency?"
"Not exactly that, but I felt that I should contact you with
some concerns I have."
"Go on "
"Well, I don't know if Charles has been keeping you up to
date with the delivery of your package, but in Australia there
was a news broadcast which concerned me. It indicated that
the authorities may be looking for the item in question. I spoke
to Charles with my concerns and he sounded well in quite a
panic he gave me the feeling that he was losing his normal
composure."
"Did Benson have anything else to say?"
"He urged me to rush the delivery as quickly as possible, and
what worried me more, he offered to double my fee that is
certainly not normal for Charles. It is probably not my place to
say, but the whole operation appears to have been rushed I
was inadvertently involved in an incident where a young man
was killed and I heard rumours that one of the original finders
of the item lost his life in a bungled kidnapping."
The Collector was shocked to hear what Delancey was telling
him. His view of his caller had moderated and he spoke to her
in a softer tone.
"Benson was supposed to keep me informed at every stage
and this is the first I have heard of the unfortunate events you
are describing loss of life was not what I was expecting I
think you may be right to be concerned about Benson.
Tell me Ms Parkes, I am right to assume you have the pack-
age with you at the moment?"
"Yes, except for when I put it in the hotel safe, it has not left
my side. In fact apart from the news broadcast which alarmed
me, my part of the operation has gone according to plan so
far but I don't want to take the risk of leading anyone to you
if I am under surveillance I have to say that I really think it is
very unlikely that I am, but the possibility is there."
"I believe you were right to call me. Please give me your
number and I will contact you with further instructions when I
decide what I want you to do."
Delancey read out the number of her mobile phone.
133
"I would prefer if you did not use my number again unless
absolutely necessary. Where are you at present Ms Parkes?"
"I am in a small town called err Ma-ta-ma-ta, I was intend-
ing to drive on to Taupo and stay the night at a motel."
"Very well, Ms Parkes, I suggest you do that, but please
come no further south than the Lake for the moment. I would
like to keep some distance between us until I am confident of
my security I want to make some calls and then I will prob-
ably send someone to collect the package from you. I may
prefer to wait a day or two and see if there is any sign that you
are under surveillance. In any case I will be in touch with you
again quite soon."
The collector ended the call. He views about Benson were be-
ing confirmed. It was time he cut the man loose before any-
thing more went seriously wrong. Benson had betrayed the
first principal of security by giving out his insecure phone num-
ber; the number would need to be changed at the earliest op-
portunity. He was however impressed by the young American
woman and felt reassured by her good sense and confident in
her abilities. He was a quick judge of character and felt that
Ms Parkes was a contact to be cultivated.
Delancey continued her journey she was now uncertain
whether she had done the right thing in calling the Collector
but he seemed more in control of things than Benson was at
present. But had it been a betrayal?
It was dark before she pulled into the Lake View Motel and
checked in as Joanna Brown. It was a modestly sized establish-
ment but had no safe which meant that the package would
have to stay close to her at all times. There was a restaurant
within walking distance. Her unit was modern, well equipped
with a kitchen, a comfortable sitting room and a double bed-
room. There was even a spa which Delancey was just preparing
to take advantage of when her mobile rang.
"Ms Parkes, Just a few more words about your delivery."
"Yes go ahead."
"Tell me, has Benson paid you for your services yet?"
"No, he works on cash on delivery basis, at least with me."
"I intend dropping Benson from my employment, which
means he may not honour his commitment to you."
Delancey cursed under her breath.
134
"Please do not be alarmed, I intend paying you handsomely
for your services Ms Parkes, I have been impressed with your
professionalism and would like to add you to my list of pre-
ferred contacts we can discuss what that means at a later
date when the dust has settled from the current transaction. I
can tell you that it will be to your benefit."
"Well that could suit me very well indeed." Delancey was
relieved.
"I have made some inquiries since you called me earlier and
have been able to confirm what you told me. The facts, as you
told them, have proved to be true. I think I can confide in you
that I have also been concerned recently by Benson; it is unfor-
tunate because he has been useful to me in the past.
"I feel much the same, recently he has become quite hyped
up for some reason and I lost confidence in him."
"Yes Now one more thing, what Motel are you staying at?"
Delancey told him the address.
"Good please stay there for another day or so and watch for
signs of well I don't need to tell you your job, just make sure
you are not being followed. I will call you again and them
someone will pick up the package from you."
"That sounds straight forward. It has been good to speak to
you Mr?"
"It is better if you don't know my name Ms Parkes; I will
speak to you soon."
The phone went dead.
Delancey decided to postpone her spa and instead, with her
shoulder bag clutched tightly under her arm, she took the
short walk to the restaurant. It was time to smother the taste
of the burger with some real food.
There was a signal from the box at 20:33 New Zealand time.
No one was listening.
135
Chapter 18
Benson received the reply to his request to speed up his pay-
ment with a growing sense of panic. His fortune was within
reach, he could almost taste it, but if something went wrong he
could lose it all. He had lied to Delancey when he told her that
the security forces had abandoned the search. The truth was
he had no idea what they were doing. That was his problem. If
he had more information then a rational decision could be eas-
ily made.
His best chance of getting his money may well be to do noth-
ing and let the delivery proceed as had been organized. But if
the World's security forces were poised to strike on Delancey,
or worse, trace the Collector through her, then his best course
of action would be to press for the payment as soon as pos-
sible. Before the shit hit the fan. Benson thought that even a
part payment in advance would be better than watching the
whole deal turn to dust. Surely a part payment would not be an
unreasonable request to put to the Collector. However the
reply he had received from him indicated that the Collector
was starting to show signs of annoyance.
Benson spent the day in his office replying to messages and
smoothing the flow of other deals he was involved with. None
of his other deals were important if the Collector paid what he
had promised. But that egg still remained unhatched.
His mind played over his options and all the time he was
acutely aware of the hours slipping by. As the day progressed,
instead of solving his dilemma, he became increasingly wound
up. He was starting to feel anger towards the others involved.
Why had Delancey fouled up? Why would the Collector not pay
him his fee?
By the end of the day he was no closer to a decision. He
bundled his papers together into his brief case and went dir-
ectly to a steak house for his dinner. He ate a large steak and
136
potatoes, alone as he often did, and had more Scotch on the
rocks than was good for him. The alcohol could not soften the
pain of his indecision and certainly did not help him think
clearly. Nevertheless he made his way to the bar and ordered
another double.
Across the room he saw an attractive woman, he recognized
her as a hooker he had from time to time passed an evening
with. She had been watching him for some time. When he fi-
nally made eye contact with her, she picked up her glass and
came and sat next to him.
"Hello Charles, how are you." She said as she helped herself
from the bowl of peanuts.
"Money troubles." He said.
"I wish I had your money troubles, Honey. Is there anything I
can do to make you feel better?" She crossed and then un-
crossed her legs which sent a well understood signal.
"Can I get you a refill?"
"Mm, thanks." She drained her glass and nodded to the bar-
man for the same again.
Benson looked at the woman, she called herself Melanie.
Benson had no idea if that was her real name, but she had cer-
tainly been able to lift his spirits in the past. Sex had been the
last thing on his mind, but now he was faced with the proposi-
tion he felt the twitch of anticipation. He smiled at her as she
took her drink.
"Anything I can do for you?" She repeated.
"Maybe "
"You want to take me back to your apartment? I could spend
the night if you like soothe those troubles away." He found
in her soft voice a compelling argument.
They left arm in arm walking into the New York night. Two
lost souls. A siren blared angrily in the distance. The neon
dazzled across the warm night air.
Whether it was the drink or just his preoccupied mood, Ben-
son found himself unable to perform. Melanie maintained her
professional composure; her interest was in the money.
Charles paid her for the full overnight stay despite his lack of
satisfaction. As Melanie left she kissed him and said:
"Sorry about tonight Charles the next time is on the
house."
137
He tried to sleep but only managed to doze. He found himself
fully awake again at 6 am. There was so much money riding on
this, he needed to get a bite of the cherry while he could.
Stretched before him he could see the possible outcomes, if
he didn't act soon, time would run out. Benson was not the sort
of guy to leave things in the hands of fate. He was fundament-
ally a man of action, he could suddenly see that clearly now. It
seemed to him that pressing on with trying to convince the Col-
lector to pay something up front was what he had to do. He
knew this would be likely to incur the Collector's wrath, but on
the other side of the coin, he knew how much the Collector
wanted the box. That irrational desire for collectables was a
tool that Benson had at his disposal.
In the end he decided to contact the man directly by phone
and press his case. In New Zealand it was already 10 pm as he
made the call. Benson calculated that there was little to be lost
by a direct approach.
His calculation was seriously in error.
"It's Charles Benson, Look I can see your point about need-
ing the package in your hands before transferring my fee, but I
have up front expenses, all my agents, and there have been a
large number involved in this job, have been paid up front.
Frankly I'm in need of the money."
The collector was exasperated, another call on his private
line. The decision he had made regarding Benson was con-
firmed as being the correct one. The man was now clearly lying
about his need for cash. The Collector knew that Benson was
already more than comfortably well off. He knew because he
had largely been Benson's benefactor. He knew very well how
much he had paid him in the past.
"I won't argue with you, Benson I will transfer what I owe
you electronically within the hour."
The Collector ended the call; he had no wish to speak to the
man any further.
Benson was staggered that the Collector had agreed so eas-
ily, he had expected to need all of his best negotiating skills to
change his mind. When he had worn the Collector down he
would finally accept a part payment until the delivery was com-
pleted. Thus leaving the Collector feeling he had won the
argument.
138
But the money was now only a few key-strokes away. Once
he had the money in his account, if anything went wrong; if
Delancey were being followed, then he would be long gone
his life of luxury beckoned.
Now that his problem had been resolved, Benson found the
sleep he had missed tugged at his eyes and he went back to
bed and slept until nine.
It was a sunny morning and the day looked promising to Ben-
son. He had the excited expectation of checking his account
and seeing the newly deposited sum. An excitement he allowed
to linger by delaying checking his account.
To celebrate he had a Buck's Fizz, Champagne and orange
juice. It tasted fine on his tongue so he had another with his
plate of waffles and fat back bacon that he piled high on his
plate. The desire to confirm his new found wealth finally got
the better of him and he opened up his notebook computer and
entered the password for his Cayman's account.
There it was, a transfer made just two hours ago from
Dominion Finance one of the Collector's many companies.
Benson's jaw dropped, the sum was not twenty million but
just twenty dollars! This was either a cruel joke or simply an
error, a few noughts, quite a few, had been left off the figure.
With trembling hands he made another call to New Zealand.
The Collector had been expecting the call and was easily
roused from his sleep.
"There is no mistake Benson, I promised I would pay what I
owed you. I think twenty bucks is pretty generous for what you
have delivered. Frankly, I intend having no further dealings
with you Benson. You knew the conditions of our association
absolute secrecy, and yet I find you have been calling me on
my insecure line with talk of our transactions. Not only that
but you have given my number to others in your employ con-
trary to my explicit instructions."
"You can't do this you bastard, I earned that money, the God-
Damned box is almost in your hands, another few hours and
the transaction will be complete. I trusted you "
"And I trusted you Benson, but you have proved that my trust
has been misplaced."
Benson was gripped by anger and like a spoilt child spat out
a threat:
139
"I think you are forgetting that I know too much about your
little collection, I know names, places, items, the who's and the
where's. I could damn it, I will put you down where you be-
long unless you honour your deal with me and transfer that
money."
The collector took a deep breath and adopted a more concili-
atory tone with Benson. He needed to take the fire out of
Benson's anger. The man was right he did know too much.
"There is no point in bringing me down Charles. If you do
that you will be in the frame as much as I am. I am not going to
pay you for the deal which has been bungled good God
Charles there have been two people killed in the operation that
you were supposed to be running. Military intelligence over
half the world have been on alert and now it looks as if I will
have to complete the delivery myself."
"I warn you Mr Collector I'll happily go down myself just to
see you fry "
"Get a grip man. If you let me finish I was going to offer
you a compromise. Charles are you willing to listen to reason?"
"Yes all right go on "
"As I said, I am not willing to pay you for the job, but I
think despite your unfortunate threats, that I can come up
with a severance package you have earned that."
Benson could see that he had blown his chances, losing his
temper was a failing that had cost him a lot in the past and
now his biggest pay day of all was gone. The offer of severance
was at least something. Benson knew that his threats were
empty; he had no wish to go down with the Collector's ship.
His anger was replaced by a desire to salvage what he could.
"What sort of package do you have in mind?"
"If you leave it with me, I will organize something which I
guarantee will let you live as a wealthy man for the rest of your
life. You appreciate; it's getting late here in New Zealand. Give
me some time to put something together."
It was a straw that Benson was now willing to clutch.
"Very well I'll wait to hear from you."
The conversation was over. Both men had elevated blood
pressure from the exchange; neither felt comfortable with the
outcome. It was a truce; some space to breathe.
140
As soon as the call was over, the Collector immediately called
another number, one he had hoped he would never need to
use.
"It's me, you remember the undertaking we discussed."
"Yes indeed."
"Well I'm afraid I'm going to need you to complete."
There was a short silence on the line then:
"You are absolutely sure about this?"
"Yes."
"Any special conditions, do you want it to look like an acci-
dent, or a warning to others?"
"I want him to know who and why, but no need to make him
suffer as soon as possible."
"Consider it done."
The call was ended.
A stillness fell over Shadow fall like the prescience of a dis-
tant eagle's scream before the strike.
141
Chapter 19
Delancey had slept with the box under her mattress. It made
an uncomfortable lump but at least it was secure. To get to it, a
thief would need to disturb her out of her sleep. Another signal
had been sent by the box during the night and another one at
7:38 as Delancey showered.
The signals went unmonitored.
Delancey had to wait for instructions but had no intention of
remaining locked in her motel all day. She had the car and des-
pite a grey morning that promised rain, she would do a little
sightseeing. She was in an ideal spot for that. The motel had
brochures of tourist activities that could be found at Taupo.
Delancey still wished to keep her profile low and chose not to
go where there might be too many crowds.
The Collector had already arranged for his pilot David
Peterson to complete the delivery of the package to Shadow
fall. He had not yet told Delancey what his plans were but
would call her in plenty of time.
It was in the vicinity of 800 Km from Queenstown to Taupo. A
direct flight was outside the 407's 600Km range and a refuel-
ling stop was required at Nelson. Just before the crossing of
Cook Straight which separated the two Islands. Peterson ex-
pected to land at Taupo around four thirty in the afternoon. His
instructions were to call when he had arrived and wait at the
airfield for an intermediary who would collect the package
from Ms Parkes and bring it to the airfield. Peterson simply
had to fly back, refuelling again at Nelson. The delivery would
be complete. It would be a long day for the pilot; he did not ex-
pect to be back home before the early hours of the morning.
The Collector had calculated that by using an intermediary
and then the helicopter, the chance of being traced back to
Shadow Fall was slim. He was keen to take delivery as soon as
possible.
142
***
Brad was fifteen; he had his provisional driving licence but
no bike. It was the thing he wanted most in the world. He had
studied hard all year and done well at school. His Mum had
told him that if he did well, then there might be the possibility
of a motorcycle in his future. But even after bringing home his
much improved school results, nothing was said. That was
months ago and although he had not given up all hope, the ex-
pectation was starting to fade.
He lay on his bed looking at a spider walk across the newly
painted white ceiling. There was nothing to do on this cold
Saturday morning so he snuggled down under his duvet. The
spider was heading towards his Katy Perry poster which he
had taped to his wall so that he could see it from his bed. The
colours of the wallpaper clashed with his poster. He thought he
might be able to convince his Mum to let him paint over the
flowery design in a more subtle tone. His mind wandered as he
slipped in and out of sleep, it had been a while since he had
seen Rena his girlfriend, maybe he would walk out to her place
later. As he lay watching the spider he could hear the mynah
birds squabbling on the tin roof over his bedroom. Brad felt a
rumble in his stomach; he could do with some breakfast and
raised himself up on one elbow as a tentative first step to get-
ting up. The spider had reached Katy's face and was making
rapid progress down her neck towards her cleavage. Katy was
smiling at him as she always did. Her eyes seemed to follow
him as his feet touched down on the ice cold varnished wooden
floor.
He heard the distant note of a bike heading up the road as he
pulled on his baggy cargo pants and hooded sweatshirt. Brad
looked out of the wooden framed window to catch a glimpse of
the bike but it was still miles away. He would need new cur-
tains to match the paint, he thought or better still some blinds
like he had seen at the Warehouse. The bike was heading his
way getting closer. Now he could see it in the distance, His
breath fogging the window as he pressed his nose up close. He
thought it was a Suzuki GN 125 the sort of bike that was near
the top of his extensive wish list. As he watched, the bike
slowed and pulled up at his gate.
143
"Get down here Brad, there's something that might interest
you."
His Mum called him from downstairs; her voice was like a
siren song, full of promise. Brad did not need telling twice, his
hopes were high. He pulled his trainers on over bare feet and
took the stairs two at a time jumping the last three and landing
with a thump that rattled the old vase that balanced precari-
ously on the hall stand.
The front door was wide open and there was his uncle Steve
standing with a helmet under his arm grinning at him. The wa-
tery morning light sparkled on the red tank of the magnificent
Suzuki. It was all Brad could see, his focus was only on one
thing: a GN 125 with red paintwork. He turned to his Mum
with an expectant look.
"Yea, it's for you boy, now don't go getting into trouble with
that or it'll be back to the shop before you can spin round."
"Wow Cool thanks mum." He could not contain his excite-
ment and rushed up to his Uncle who ruffled his hair and
handed the helmet to him.
"She's fast mate, hit 160K down by Acacia Bay!" He laughed
at the exaggeration.
"Yea right " Brad had spent hours studying bike specifica-
tions and new what every 125 on the market could do.
"Go ahead give a try, take it easy at first "
Brad had ridden his mate's 50cc scooter and the battered
250 farm bike where he worked in the Christmas holidays. He
looked at his Mum as if asking for her approval.
"Go on boy, didn't buy it to just look at."
He pulled on his helmet and gingerly started the engine. It
sounded smooth as he revved it up. He clicked into gear and
gently let out the clutch. The bike pulled well, much more
powerful that his mate's scooter. Soon he was up to speed and
cruised up and down the deserted Mapara road. He went about
a couple of kilometres each way, getting used to the feel. He
sent the mynah bids scattering as he rode fast at the road kill
they were pecking at. The birds waited until the last minute be-
fore rising into the grey sky with flapping wings like a salute to
the new king of the road. It was without doubt the best present
Brad had ever been given.
144
He was finally forced to stop as his Mum waved him down
from one of his laps to come in for his breakfast.
Uncle Steve was still there drinking strong sweet tea from a
big brown mug.
"How was that, young fella got the hang of the gears yet?"
"Yes, no problem It's wicked awesome."
Brad was a man of few words.
***
Delancey pulled out a map that came in the Corolla's glove
box. She was in tourist mode for today; at least until she got a
call with more instructions. She thought she could drive
around the Lake; take in the sights. Her only concern was get-
ting out of mobile phone range. Out here she guessed the sig-
nal could drop off quickly and the last thing she needed was to
miss the call from the Collector.
She replaced the box in her shoulder bag where it had spent
most of its time since arriving in New Zealand. Delancey kept a
tight grip on the bag as she walked to the car but there was no
one else around. First she would take a look at the Town of
Taupo which sat on the North eastern point of the lake. The
view across the lake, on a clear day, was of snow-capped
Mount Ruapehu which was both an active volcano and also the
home to the major ski field in the North Island. An interesting
mix of fire and ice. Today the clouds hung low and there was
the scent of rain in the air. The view across the lake was of fea-
tureless grey mist.
There were some decent shops at the town and she could do
with expanding her small wardrobe. She really needed a jacket
and more underwear. Just a cheap padded nylon jacked would
be adequate. One of the ski jackets she had seen the tourists
wearing or something similar. Delancey planned that she
would then take a break for coffee if she could find a suitable
place before embarking on her leisurely sightseeing drive. All
she really needed was a handsome companion to share her
time with one day.
***
Brad finished his toast and scrambled eggs and headed for
the door.
"I'm off to show Rena my bike Mum "
His mother called back from the laundry:
145
"Don't you two get up to mischief, I know what that girl's
like, she can twist you round her little finger. That girl's more
trouble than a bag full of monkeys."
"Yeah, no worries "
Rena lived just ten minutes away by Suzuki power.
"Wow Is that yours little dude? It's the one you wanted isn't
it?"
"Yep You want to go for a ride, I got a spare helmet."
"OK choice. Let me get a jacket."
Rena was almost a year younger than Brad; they had known
each other since they were little kids. Rena had grown up
faster than Brad, she now saw him as too young to be her boy-
friend but he was still a mate, she still liked his cheeky laugh
and innocence. Especially she liked the way she could get him
to do anything she wanted. She knew that if she pulled the
right strings, Brad would jump just like the marionette she had
when she was still a kid. Now she also liked his bike, there
were possibilities there. Maybe she would have to rethink
whether he was too young for her.
They rode up and down the road for a while; Rena loved the
feel of the cold morning air on her face as the bike cut into the
wind. She leaned forward and shouted in his ear:
"Let's go down to Lake Terrace and get a Coke."
"OK, are you buying?"
"Ha, you're joking bro'." she laughed.
Brad parked his bike on the lake-front side of the road. He
nodded to the caf across the road. "Are you coming in?"
"No I need a smoke, I'll stay outside, you can get me a diet
Coke if you want to keep me happy." She playfully punched
Brad's arm. They walked across the road together. Rena
watched him enter the caf and go up to the counter. She
pulled out her packet of cigarettes. There were just three left
and she had no money." She felt in her pocket there was her
lighter and the craft knife she always carried with her. She lit
her cigarette and looked in through the door at Brad and the
other customers. One customer caught her attention, a small
woman clutching her bag as her life depended on it. She
looked like a teacher; Rena did not like teachers, at least not
most of them.
146
"Hey, out of here with that smoke " The waitress wagged a
disapproving finger at Rena who responded with a single fin-
ger salute.
Rena had had no intention of going in there in the first place.
The waitress shook her head and laughed to herself.
"Teenagers "
When Brad came out he had two cans of drink. He handed
Rena her Diet Coke.
"Thanks man I owe you What have you got ? L and P.
Man that's slack too sweet."
She pulled another drag from her cigarette and held the
smoke in her lungs. She had seen the films at school about
smoking, she knew the facts, but her Mum and sisters all
smoked. Anyway it made her feel cool, grown up, sexy.
"Lemon and Paeroa is Kiwi, better than your American shit
that stuff rots your teeth man."
"Oh yes, take a look at the label and see who makes your L &
P dude."
Brad read "made by the Coca Cola Corporation." on the side
of the can.
"Oh man you can't believe nothing any more."
They sat drinking from their cans. Rena greedily finished her
cigarette as if it was a last meal and then said in a matter of
fact voice:
"Brad, want to make some cash?"
"I suppose what are you talking about?"
"Just walk over to your Bike and start the motor and wait.
When I jump on, gun it and take off up Rifle Range road OK?"
"I don't want to get into trouble Rena, what are you going to
do?"
"Well if you're still just a big kid forget it; I thought you
might have grown some balls by now."
"OK I'll show you if I'm a kid or not." He gave her a slightly
nervous grin and swaggered across to his bike, put on his hel-
met and started the engine and let it idle as if he was on the
starting grid waiting for the flag to fall.
Delancey finished her coffee, it had been strong and full of
flavour, she was tempted to have a second but her drive
beckoned. She stood and walked to the door. Across the road
147
she could see her car parked just behind a skinny boy on a mo-
torcycle who appeared to waiting for someone.
She put her purse in the inside pocket of her newly pur-
chased ski jacket and zipped it up. She gripped the shoulder
bag tightly; all it contained was the small insignificant looking
package. A small package which had already cost two lives and
a mountain of money.
As she left the caf and started towards the Corolla she felt a
push from behind, which put her off balance, and then a tug on
the bag as Rena sliced through the strap with her razor sharp
knife. Delancey could feel the bag being pulled from her grip,
there was nothing she could do the strap just slipped through
her fingers.
Rena leaped on the back of the Suzuki.
"Go get out of here "
Brad wound open the throttle of his bike and it launched for-
ward. He was almost collected by a Range Rover that was com-
ing along the Terrace, but managed to swerve out of danger
and accelerated up Riffle Range and towards the Taupo Bypass
road. Rena clung on behind and let out a whoop of triumph just
as a gentle rain started to fall.
"Wicked! dude wicked "
148
Chapter 20
Charles Benson wished he had not eaten such a large break-
fast. It sat heavily behind his breastbone. The day which had
promised so much had turned to ashes. And now his guts were
giving him grief. He chewed antacids as he took the elevator
up to his Manhattan office. He had not intended going in
today maybe never again if his deal had gone according to
plan. But now the other deals he had bubbling away had sud-
denly become more important. It looked as if he had lost any
chance of more business with the Collector and now he had to
make money wherever he could. He was angry, angry with the
world, angry with the Collector, angry with himself. His fellow
elevator passengers just saw a man with a depressed look on
his face.
Benson made a few calls, stirred up the glowing embers of
deals which he had let slip when he thought he hadn't needed
them. He did this more in desperation than in hope, but he had
come back from lower than this before, he could do it again.
He had just started chewing on his fifth antacid when his sec-
retary buzzed him on the intercom.
"Mr Benson, there is a Miss Penfold to see you."
"Do I have an appointment with her; the name doesn't ring a
bell?'
"No, Sir, apparently she has a proposition for you, and hoped
you could spare her some of your time."
Benson was not in the mood for time wasters and was on the
point of telling his secretary to get rid of her, when he changed
his mind there could be no harm in seeing what she wanted.
He was in no position to turn away opportunities.
"Tell her she can have five minutes."
Benson's door opened and a tall and attractive woman came
in and sat in the soft leather chair which Benson offered her.
149
"Mr Benson, My name is Anne Penfold. A contact I have, ac-
tually a good friend, suggested that you could be the correct
person to help me. I understand that you are an entrepreneur."
She looked at him, her bright eyes seeking confirmation.
"I am a business man, Miss Penfold, and I certainly like to
think that entrepreneurship has played a significant part in my
success. In what way can I help you?"
Anne Penfold was quite tall, five-ten in her stocking feet. She
had sleek black hair which fell halfway down her back, a slim
but curving feminine body and an enchanting smile that put
people at their ease. She was dressed in a way which sugges-
ted that she was wealthy; wealth that stretched back through
the generations. Tasteful, well cut clothing completely lacking
in any flamboyance and extravagance that the nouveau rich
might prefer. Whatever she wanted, Benson detected a serious
player. His antennae were suddenly on high alert.
"Until I get to know you a little better Mr Benson, I feel it
would be preferable to just give you a general idea of what I
need. The man, or indeed woman, I need will have to be a suc-
cessful business person in their own right, and I will need to
trust them implicitly."
"Well I am happy to let you get to know me, I am sure you
will be satisfied with what you discover. But just give me an
outline of what you need."
"Mr Benson, my family has rather a large fortune which is
distributed across a number of rather disparate business enter-
prises. Recently we lost my Father who had been keeping an
overview on them. We now find ourselves somewhat rudder-
less. What I need Mr Benson is a man who can take charge. We
envisage a re-energizing and a rationalization of our busi-
nesses under a single Corporation to liberate the wealth which
sadly has not been allowed to flourish under my dear Father's
baton. Does that give you an idea?"
"Indeed it does I must say that my own business experi-
ence would lend itself well to what you need. You have cer-
tainly sparked my interest. Could I ask for the names of some
of the businesses that your family own?"
"You would certainly know the names of many of them, but I
prefer to keep such details for the one who is successful in con-
vincing me that they are suitable. My family has preferred not
150
to associate its own name with the companies it owns; there
has been a somewhat snobbish view of the tawdry nature of
the business world in the past. I feel that with the passing of
the generations, that perception is likely to change. We see op-
portunities which we wish to exploit I'm sorry I have already
said more than I had intended so early in our acquaintance."
"So where do we go from here Miss Penfold?"
"I wonder if you would do me the honour of taking a picnic
lunch with me so that I can get to know you a little better. I
have taken the liberty of arranging a hamper which sits, as we
speak, in the trunk of my car."
Benson was bowled over by the quaintness of the suggestion,
but there was not a moment of doubt in his mind that he would
agree to the unusual suggestion.
They took the elevator down to the ground floor, looking
straight ahead and carefully avoiding eye contact. They walked
together a short distance along West 75th bathed in the early
afternoon Sun. They had to dodge a woman who had two
poodles on leads which seemed intent on tangling themselves
with any other pedestrians who came close.
"Do you like dogs, Mt Benson?"
"Yes, but I don't own one apartment life is not suitable."
"Oh yes We have mostly Labradors on our Estate."
She said Estate as if everyone had such a thing.
"That's my car, the burgundy one Charles may I call you
Charles?"
"Oh of course, I would be an honour."
Benson saw her car, it was a Bentley. Not one of the new
ones much loved by rappers and air headed pop stars. This was
an immaculate seventies car, probably been in the family since
before Anne was born, Benson thought. It spoke of a level of
wealth that was beyond the need to demonstrate it by owning
the latest frippery that came on the market. It spoke of a self-
confident family, a family that could restore his lost wealth.
Anne opened the trunk and revealed an old style wicker pic-
nic hamper. There was a wide brimmed straw sun hat with rib-
bons, quite old fashioned Benson thought but delightful as
Anne secured it on her head. The hat seemed to complement
the old world, old money, charm that was seeping into his
afternoon.
151
"Would you mind?" She asked pointing to the hamper while
taking a large tartan rug in her arms.
"Not at all." Benson replied and lifted the surprisingly heavy
basket from the depths of the Bentley's trunk. He tried not to
grunt with the effort.
"Shall we go over there?' Anne pointed to a spot on the newly
mown grass by some trees. The towering office buildings of the
business district loomed in the distance. "I do so love the Park
in summer, don't you Charles."
"Yes, but you tend to take it for granted when it's there just
outside the office building every day Besides." He added as a
tentative start on his own self-promotion. "I find I spend a lot of
hours absorbed in my business interests, I hardly notice the
Park."
"Oh I hope you are not too busy to consider what I am offer-
ing Charles."
"No, no, don't misunderstand me; I will be more than able to
devote myself to your business if you give me the opportunity."
Anne spread the rug out and sat down with her legs under-
neath her. She started unpacking the contents of the hamper
and spread it before them. It was a feast: Smoked salmon,
pate, cold meats, salad, cheeses and a strawberry tart. There
were china plates and silver cutlery. She removed a bottle of
Bollinger from an ice filled silver container and handed it to
Charles for him to uncork.
"Would you mind, I find a man is far better suited to that
than I am."
Benson smiled as he took the bottle, he could not believe she
was flirting with him; perhaps it was just her manner. Anne
placed Champagne flutes ready to take the expected foaming
nectar.
"Cheers, here's to a a good lunch. I do hope you enjoy it
Charles." They chinked glasses and let the bubbles dance over
their tongues.
"I'm sure I will enjoy this, you have gone to such an effort."
Benson added.
"Well I can't take credit for more than making the selection;
our kitchen staff have been with the family for years and know
how to make everything perfect."
152
Benson was impressed; this delightful woman could be his
entry into the same world that she inhabited.
Anne piled a plate up with the delicacies she had brought
and handed it to her guest. She took a smaller helping herself.
Touching his arm to emphasise her words she asked:
"Now Charles, tell me your life history while we eat."
He was not quite prepared for that, there was much in his
past which Miss Penfold should not discover. He managed to
weave together a mixture of half-truths and exaggerations
peppered with a few outright lies which he felt would be suit-
ably impressive and what he thought she wanted to hear.
"Well I'll keep it short after completing my Masters in
Business Studies at Harvard; I started a small publishing busi-
ness. After a few years that became successful and I was able
to sell it at a handsome profit and put the money into Real
Estate and then an Export company. Things flourished quite
well under my stewardship so I started a business consultancy,
exploiting my entrepreneurial techniques. Finally I added an
agency which locates opportunities which others can exploit.
Ideas and so on which take more capital than I wish to risk. In
a nutshell that is where you find me today."
"Mm I see you have concentrated on your business life.
What about your private life Charles do you have a family?"
"Sadly, I found that being so driven by growing my busi-
nesses, there was little time left for that."
"That seems a shame Charles; my own family is the corner-
stone of my life. Now can I tempt you with some strawberry
tart, it was made by a French Patisserie near my home and I
can guarantee you will never have tasted anything quite so
exquisite."
Anne drained the remaining Bollinger into Charles' glass.
The afternoon was warm and in the Park the noise of traffic
was muted, there was the scent of new mown grass, redolent
with nostalgia for youthful, barefoot summer days.
Charles was enjoying his lunch; it was the first civilised meal
he had eaten in years. He found himself attracted to the young
woman who was probing his past in such an unusual and pleas-
ant way.
He took a second piece of the tart and then some palate
cleansing cheese. Anne finally offered a glass of fine old
153
French Cognac. By now he was satiated and in a state border-
ing on euphoria. The alcohol had enhanced the meal and his
earlier depressed mood had evaporated. He was content to
listen to Anne as she spoke softly to him.
"May I now tell you a brief story Charles?"
"Please do "
Anne poured more Cognac into his glass and began.
"Once there was a man, born into poverty, who worked hard.
He educated himself and slowly built up a business much like
you did Charles. He became wealthy and took risks with his
money. They mostly paid off, but he learned quickly from the
few that failed. His area was banking; he took full advantage of
the opportunities that that the free market and globalization
had to offer. He invested with great acuity and drove out-
rageous but ultimately successful deals. He could see however
that the financial world was rushing headlong over a cliff of
unacknowledged debt. So he changed tack anticipating and
side-stepping the financial crisis by a year. He shifted his
money into a wide range of businesses that he could own
without needing to be involved in on a day to day business. As
an ordinary investor might buy shares in a company, this man
bought whole companies."
Charles was reclining on the grass, the warm afternoon sun
adding to his feeling of well-being. He gazed up into the infin-
ity of the blue sky, listening to Anne's story. He watched a bird
high above circling, riding the thermals risings from the sky
scrapers. Could that be an eagle soaring high above them?
Surely not, not in the city. The woman continued her story.
"He found that although his wealth grew larger and larger,
he had lost satisfaction with life, there was no challenge so he
started collecting rare and unusual items."
Charles was suddenly dragged from his reverie. This was a
description of someone he knew only too well. He sat up
suddenly.
"What is this?"
"Let me finish Charles, the story is almost over. This man had
a handful of others working for him of whom he demanded loy-
alty and discretion. He made it clear that failure to be discrete
would result in an unfortunate outcome. Charles I am here to
154
deliver that man's last message for you the unfortunate
outcome."
Benson could hardly take in what he was hearing. He got un-
steadily to his feet.
"You calculating whore, this has all been a lie!" He spat the
words at her like venom. "Are you here to kill me?"
"Yes Charles."
In panic Benson took off running at the fastest speed his less
than athletic frame could manage.
Anne started to clear away her picnic things.
Benson had gone maybe a hundred yards when a single
muffled shot from a high velocity sniper rifle echoed round the
canyon of tall buildings. For someone listening for it, the sound
could barely be heard over the distant hum of traffic.
Benson fell, the remaining half of his head oozed blood for a
few seconds onto the new mown grass.
Anne walked slowly away swinging her hamper. Her hat rib-
bons trailing behind her danced in the gentle breeze. It had
been a nice picnic.
155
Chapter 21
Delancey watched as the motorcycle disappeared in the dis-
tance. The box had gone. Despite all her careful planning, des-
pite bringing it all the way from London, despite two lives be-
ing lost, a couple of kids had managed to pull it from her grasp
so easily. It would have been funny if it was not so tragic. The
Kids clearly had no idea what they had in the bag, it was just a
chance snatch and grab, they were after just a few dollars
There was no time for self-pity, she had to recover the box
and she had to do so quickly. Delancey accelerated the Corolla
down the Lake front and turned up the road that the bike had
taken her wheels spinning through the corner scrabbling for
grip. There was no sign of the kids. She pressed on, driving as
fast as she dare. The speed limit in the built up area was only
fifty, which was only thirty miles an hour. She was going faster
than that already and had a dread of being stopped. She was
supposed to be keeping a low profile not collecting speeding
tickets. As Delancey climbed up the road she thought she had
caught a glimpse of the motorcycle as it disappeared round a
bend in the road.
Delancey realized that the two kids would probably not re-
cognize her car so she could follow them at a safe distance
without spooking them until an opportunity presented itself.
She was closer now and could clearly see the bike being ridden
erratically as if by an inexperienced rider. It turned off the
road onto a larger highway; Delancey noted it was the bypass
road. On a faster stretch of road she would easily be able to
keep up with the bike which luckily was not a fast machine.
Delancey assumed that the kids would be locals and unlikely to
go too far, she relaxed a little as she found keeping pace with
the bike to be easy. Up ahead she could see a roundabout and
the bike turned right, she followed at a safe distance. The road
led back to the lake and Delancey watched as the bike stopped
156
and the two passengers got off. She parked her car a short dis-
tance from them and walked in their direction. She had no plan
but the package was too important to let slip through her
hands at this late stage. Maybe she could bargain for its
return.
The girl was looking though the bag. There was just one
thing inside, a wrapped parcel. Rena was unimpressed.
"Shit man, I thought there would be a purse or wallet at
least, what a stink."
"Rena, you're totally mental, we could have been caught, and
for what? let me look what you've got."
A voice shouted from behind.
"Hey kids "
Rena looked at where the voice had come from.
"Shit dude, it's her come on man lets go."
Delancey shouted after them:
"Let's make a deal " But the two kids were already riding
away and heard nothing.
Delancey realized she had been too hasty in calling out and
took off after the bike once more.
The bike tore up the lake side road past where Delancey had
taken her coffee break and continued up the road at speed.
She was gaining on them as they crossed a bridge and then the
bike turned left and after a short distance left again onto Aca-
cia Bay road. Through the clear arc made by her windscreen
wipers Delancey could see the girl looking behind her and ur-
ging the boy to go faster. The going was starting to get twisty
and suddenly she saw the bike rider lose control on the wet
road. The bike slewed one way and then the other and then
seemed to pivot over the front wheel. The passenger was
thrown over the bike and landed on her back but the driver
seemed to be caught under the bike as it skidded a short dis-
tance down the road.
Delancey stopped just by the scene of the accident. She
could see that the passenger, the girl, was shaken but not
badly hurt. The boy was pinned under the bike.
"Come on " Delancey said to the girl. "Help me lift the bike
off his legs."
"Get away leave us alone." Rena was waving her knife at
Delancey.
157
"Calm down girl, we need to take care of your friend; I'm not
going to hurt you Put that knife down."
Rena backed away, she felt like running but could see Brad
was trapped, he was trying to pull himself from under the bike
but it was too heavy.
"OK, you lift the bike free and get Brad out." Rena was still
brandishing the knife in a threatening way.
"Yes, if I can "
Delancey knelt down beside the boy.
"Hello Brad, I'm Delancey, looks like you've got yourself in a
mess. Does it hurt much?'
"Not too bad, I can't get my legs free "
"OK don't worry "
Delancey could see that the accident was not as bad as she
had first feared. She could see that the bike would lift off
without causing any harm to the boy.
She was not a strong woman and lifted from the saddle but
found it too heavy.
"A little help would be good." She called to the girl.
"Come on Rena I'm trapped."
Brad's call for help jolted Rena back to her senses and she
ran over and helped Delancey lift the bike free.
"Don't move, just for a minute Brad, let's make sure you don't
have any serious injuries."
"OK " Brad lay still. The enormity of what had happened
braking over him like a tsunami.
"My bike "He sobbed.
Delancey checked Brad for broken bones but found nothing.
His skin was badly scraped along his legs and he would have
some impressive bruising and aches and pains for a week or
so, but there was nothing major.
Delancey turned to Rena.
"How are you Rena, any pain?'
"Get back "
She had the knife again and was making threatening motions
with it.
"Look, all I want is my parcel, honey. It's not worth anything
but it does have a lot of sentimental value to me."
"What is it?"
"Look I'll buy the package back from you, can we do a deal?"
158
Rena wondered what could be in the package. The woman
seemed very keen to get it back maybe drugs that could be
worth a lot of cash.
"Tell me what's in the parcel first." Rena was insistent.
Brad was losing it with Rena
"Man give her the parcel back, can't you see she's helped
us "
"I said you had no balls Brad." Rena looked at the woman.
"Tell me first, then we can make a deal."
"OK, I said it has sentimental value to me I'll tell you
"Delancey's voice faltered as she explained how important the
package was to her.
"I came to New Zealand to marry this guy I had fallen in love
with, but he was killed in an accident and the parcel is all I left
of him It's his ashes." She wiped her eyes of imaginary tears
and blew her nose.
"Please Rena what if it was your man." Delancey was
convincing.
"Oh shit Rena give the lady her parcel, have you got no
heart."
"Give me a hundred bucks " Rena held out her hand.
Delancey had won.
"OK I'll give you a hundred for my dead lover." She wiped
her eyes again, opened her purse and took out the notes. Rena
dropped the bag; she felt it was gross now she knew what it
was. She would never have kept it. But it didn't stop her taking
the money.
Delancey drove off leaving the kids to come to terms with
their own problems, she had decided to go straight back to the
motel. There had been enough sightseeing for one day. On the
way back she stopped at a convenience store and bought a
filled roll for her lunch and a packet of safety pins.
She dropped the latch on the motel room door and switched
on the kettle to make a cup of instant coffee.
In hindsight the incident had been amusing, but only now
that she had recovered the package. She tried not to think of
the consequences if the box had been lost forever.
There were complimentary sachets of coffee provided and
Delancey ripped one open and poured the contents into a glass
mug just as her phone rang.
159
"Have you got a pen and paper?"
"Just a minute " Delancey searched for paper and found a
pad by the motel phone.
"Yes go ahead "
She was given some instructions and the name of a place to
go to make the hand over. There was also a code phrase for the
contact.
Very cold war, she thought as she closed her phone and fin-
ished making her coffee.
***
David Peterson had already completed the helicopter refuel
and was now well on this way up the North island. The flight
was on schedule and he should land before four thirty with no
problems. David had arranged for a late refuelling in Nelson on
the way back. He expected that it would be well after nine in
the evening by the time he was back there; it would all depend
on how long he had to wait for the package to arrive at the
Taupo airfield.
Delancey's instructions were to drive to Turangi, the next
town just beyond the Southern tip of the lake. It was an easy
three quarters of an hour drive and she had to be there by five
to make the exchange. Because she did not know the area, Del-
ancey decided to get there with plenty of time to spare. Now
that the plan was made clear to her she was able to make her
own decisions about returning home. After the handover she
would simply drive back to Auckland and get the next available
flight to Los Angeles. She would make a booking at the Sudima
Airport Hotel which she expected to arrive at by early evening.
She packed her possessions and after eating her lunch,
checked out of the motel. The box went inside a sock which
was then fastened inside her ski jacket with safety pins. Under
the padding it left no visible bulge and would not be prey to
any more opportunist kids looking for a quick buck.
Delancey drove down to Turangi and found the rendezvous.
She was early. She stopped at a stationers shop and bought a
sheet of gift wrap and some ribbon. It was still only three and
there were two hours to kill. So she retraced her tracks until
she came back to the lake and found a spot where she could
take a walk and enjoy the tranquillity. The rain had lifted and
there were some fleeting blue streaks starting to show in the
160
sky. It was still cold and Delancey was glad of her jacket. The
box made its presence known by bumping against her ribs as
she walked. It was a reassuring feel. From here Mount Ruape-
hu was finally revealed to her. It seemed both serene and
ominous, looming up in the distance.
***
Amanda Fellows had worked for the Collector in the past but
now she was married and had a four year old son. She was sur-
prised to get a call from the man after so many years. She now
lived as a farmer's wife in the Waikato and rarely thought of
her former employer any more.
He asked, because he trusted her discretion, and she lived in
the vicinity, if she could make herself available to collect a
package for him and deliver it to the Taupo airfield. The Col-
lector applied no pressure to the request; it was entirely up to
her no pressure other than the offer of five thousand dollars
for a discrete afternoon's work.
Amanda knew that what she would be delivering would not
be an everyday package. She knew that if she were caught
with it, whatever it was well it could be a problem. She had
no wish to know what the package was, if she could keep the il-
lusion that it was a completely innocent item, then the job
would not trouble her conscience. The collector showed no in-
tention of revealing what the package was either which suited
her. The five thousand dollars would come in very useful at the
moment. Once the details of her mission were explained, it ap-
peared a simple enough thing to do. She lived little more than
an hour's drive away from Turangi and the collection seemed
straightforward. She thought of bargaining the fee up but in
the end decided to accept the offer as it had been presented to
her. Amanda had always found the Collector to be generous
and had treated her well in the past.
Amanda bundled her son James into his safety seat which
was buckled securely in the back seat. Grabbed her bag and
set off on the drive. They stopped at Taupo and as she had
promised to James they enjoyed an ice-cream while looking at
the view of the lake. They arrived at Turangi at the proscribed
time and headed for the Countdown supermarket. She collec-
ted a trolley and with James in tow placed in a bunch of bana-
nas and after searching for a while, a bottle of Lindauer sec
161
sparkling wine. She then made her way to the meat counter.
Amanda saw a petite woman standing looking at the cuts of
meat. Her trolley contained only a single bottle of Lindauer, a
bunch of bananas and a small package wrapped in gift paper
tied with a ribbon. Amanda walked up and parked her trolley
next to the petite woman's.
"Have you tried the chicken here?" she asked.
"Yes, I found it rather dry."
They exchanged trolleys and went their separate ways.
Amanda arrived at the airfield just after six thirty. She found
David waiting patiently reading a newspaper and gave him the
gift without ceremony. He gave her an envelope containing
fifty, one hundred dollar notes. She also got a small package of
her own, also gift wrapped.
Amanda arrived home an hour later ready for the dinner
which she had left simmering in the slow cooker. Andrew
greeted her with a hug. When she opened the package she
found two Rolex watches, one for her and one for her husband.
She even had a bottle of wine to share with Andrew which
had cost, on balance, not very much at all.
162
Chapter 22
David lifted off at just before seven in the evening and pointed
the nose of the jet ranger south towards his refuelling
stopover.
At 22:48 New Zealand time, the box sent another signal, the
sixth of the day as the intervals between signal bursts became
closer. There were less than six hours left before zero.
In London it was 9:48 in the morning. Pandora was going to
her parent's farm to stay for a month. She needed the peace
and quiet to clarify her thoughts. If she were honest she also
needed the love she would find down in Dorset.
The one positive thing she had done since Stewart's funeral
was to approach his cousins and make an offer for the Healey.
The women had no Idea what the car was worth. To them it
was just an old car that they were glad to be rid of. Pandora
was able to buy it for a surprisingly small sum. That was fortu-
nate because she had to stretch her savings into an unknown
future.
Pandora was loading up her things ready for the drive when
the phone rang. She was surprised to discover that it was Adri-
an Bancroft. Pandora had held him responsible for alerting the
criminals to the existence of the box and although she could
not blame him directly for Stewart's death, she linked him to it
in a way that she could never forget or forgive.
"Pandora, I I felt I had to call you. My part in Stewart's de-
mise has been praying on my mind. I wish to God that I had not
said anything. But it's too late to go back. I know you will never
be able to forgive me, but I just want you to know that I am not
heartless and that the affair has cost me my peace of mind
too."
Pandora was not sure how to respond. She felt no sympathy
for the man but also there was no longer any anger. Even her
contempt for him seemed less pointed than at first.
163
"Well, thank you for saying that. I'm afraid I will always think
of you as a dark shadow over my past, but I can tell from your
voice, and that you bothered to make this difficult call, that you
are human after all."
"Well that glimmer of understanding means a lot to me."
"Adrian, the countdown is nearly over now have you been
able to make any sense of the message?"
"I have come to the realization that the message is probably
not decipherable, at least, in any way we can understand.
There are patterns and repeated phrases and so on, but I have
been thinking of it in human terms as a language that we might
understand. I believe that I could have missed the obvious, that
another species from a different world would not necessarily
communicate in what we call a language at all. I have ended up
with the view that the signal is simply beyond translating into a
human language."
"How do you mean exactly?"
"Well, let me give you a rather simplified example of what I
mean. How could you translate whale song into English or how
could you translate say the score of Mozart's Requiem into
English. Both are coded messages containing a lot of informa-
tion but a translation into English is not possible. It is not even
a reasonable question to ask. I believe my attempt to translate
the signal will ultimately end in failure. I'm sure there is a mes-
sage there but I feel it is meant for those who already under-
stand the complexity of the symbolism and are in tune with it
by their nature."
"That is something to ponder OK Adrian, I will never see
you as a friend, but nor will I be sticking pins in your effigy. I
hope you find what you are looking for one day. I hope you find
redemption."
Pandora ended the call. She did not know whether it had
eased Bancroft's conscience but somehow it had lifted her spir-
its slightly to know that he had an understanding of what he
had done in his grasping for a pitiful financial reward.
Later that day as she drove down to Dorset she could almost
feel Stewart sitting beside her in his beloved car.
She wished but no; wishes were for those who were still
capable of having dreams.
***
164
The helicopter lifted off from Nelson, there was enough fuel
now to get home. David set the controls for optimum cruising
speed and arced his way across the dark starless sky to Shad-
ow Fall. He should be home by one in the morning and he
would be ready for his bed.
The Collector had prepared a space for his latest acquisition.
He had received only the vaguest descriptions of the wonders
of the artefact and was growing increasingly excited as the
prospect of holding it approached. It would be late before it ar-
rived but he would wait up. It would be unlikely that he could
sleep anyway.
He crossed the conservatory and decided to swim for a while;
he slipped into his pool and did a few laps. He was surprised to
see Perdita walking down to the pool to join him, she rarely
swam but tonight he was captivated by her vision as he
watched her walk to the side of the pool. In the soft light he
could see she was naked as she slipped into the water, barely
causing a ripple, and swam slowly towards him. There was
something in her eyes that he had not seen before, an intens-
ity, an honesty. She kissed him without speaking and the Col-
lector found themselves making love in the water, a sensation
he had never felt before as the two bodies entwined, weight-
less in the warm water. They floated together afterwards, hold-
ing hands enjoying the afterglow, the relaxation.
"Darling, will you ever truly love me?" Perdita asked.
There was no answer.
She waited for him to say something but he was silent.
"Then I can no longer stay with you."
She swam to the edge and pulled herself from the pool. Her
decision was final; his wealth was no longer enough to keep
her. She walked back to her room without speaking.
The Collector doubted that she meant it; he would buy her
something that would change her mind. He wanted her to stay
with him almost as much as he wanted the box.
He had not yet seen the box but already it had cost him a lot.
Not in monetary terms, especially now that Benson would need
nothing. But he had thought of the man, if not as a friend, at
least as a trusted colleague. It pained him that he had been
forced to end their relationship in the way he had.
165
He swam a few more laps and then pulled himself from the
water and dressed in a track suit. There was still an hour be-
fore the helicopter was due and he wanted to stay awake for
the moment. He went to his music room and played some Wag-
ner on the surround sound system which filled the room with a
palpable energy. The Ride of the Valkyries was echoing across
the room as he heard the first sound of the Jet Ranger in the
distance.
He moved outside into the icy wind and watched the heli-
copter land in a swirl of dust. David climbed out and handed
the box over as if it were just the morning mail.
Having pulled all the right levers the box had been brought
to him across the world. It was now his. It felt like an insignific-
ant small box in his hands as he took it inside. He found Per-
dita, he needed to share the moment with her, he seemed obli-
vious to what she had said to him as if he had already
forgotten.
"Here it is "
He unwrapped the package and saw for the first time the
mysterious object. The glowing was brighter than it had been
before, the colours stronger and the hypnotic effect entranced
both of them. He had been warned not to touch the box with
his bare skin but found he was drawn to it irresistibly and
stroked the top.
He fell back, its power was growing. Perdita looked at him
with astonishment as he screamed in pain. But it was not just
pain he felt, there was more, a foggy understanding of
something came into his mind before he fell unconscious on
the floor.
There were just three hours left before zero.
Perdita did not know what to do; she called the housekeeper
Christina, from her sleep. She came over from her cottage and
found Perdita holding the Collector, his eyes were open but un-
seeing yet he was still alive breathing normally.
"What has happened?"
"I don't know It's that damned box."
Christina looked at the object and was transfixed by it. It was
beyond description pulsating in translucent colours that were
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beyond adequate description and now glowing ever brighter.
She moved to the box held out her hand.
"No don't touch it "
Christina pulled back and returned her attention to her em-
ployer. As she watched, the colour was returning to his cheeks
and he appeared to be coming aware of his surroundings
again.
"Darling are you all right?"
He managed to nod.
"Help me into the chair, will you." He said
"What happened?" Pandora asked.
"I saw I don't know what, it was an experience so over-
whelming that I could not hold on to my senses."
He collapsed into the chair.
"We need to get him to his bed." Perdita said to Christina.
The collector was too weak to argue and they managed to get
him to his room and lay him on the bed.
"I'll take care of him now." Perdita said "Thank you for rush-
ing over to help, but you can go back to bed."
Perdita lay beside him; she knew that she could not leave
him now Even if he could not love her, she could not help lov-
ing him despite everything.
They fell asleep.
The box pulsated ever brighter.
Three hours later it was 4:38 New Zealand time. Zero had
arrived.
There was a blinding flash and then an immense pressure
wave. The box had entered its final activation mode. An area of
a half kilometre in diameter around where the box had rested
was turned to a glowing and pulsating plasma. Despite the
evacuation warnings that Pandora's Box had tried to send,
Shadow Fall and its inhabitants no longer existed. The
Collector's museum of petty trivia no longer existed.
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Chapter 23
A piercing shaft of light shot up from the spot where the Col-
lector had once made his home. It reached up into the starry
sky like a slender search light. Pencil thin it thrust up into the
night beyond the sight of men and across the vastness of
space. A fragmentary swirl of snow drifted across the beam
from a passing cloud and sparkled with the refracted light from
the phenomena which would mystify and capture the imagina-
tion of all those who saw it.
The echo of the event travelled quickly round the World until
few on the planet were unaware of the Shadow Fall Phenomen-
on. No one really knew what had happened or by what magic
the beam and the undecipherable transmission were main-
tained. The media came up with stories of aliens, of unknown
terrorist weapons, of the second coming; a portent of the end
of the world. Cults of magic and mysticism mushroomed across
the planet as the people sought an understanding.
As the months passed the World's scientific community was
drawn together by the United Nations in order to find an ex-
planation for the phenomenon. There was initially considerable
dispute about the cause and the consequences but after time a
consensus was achieved by a majority of the world's scientific
community that the box had been a sleeping signal device. It
had lain waiting until evidence that technology on Earth had
advanced to a predetermined level and then by that trigger,
had releasing its signal across the universe to the beings that
had left the box on Earth millennia ago.
There could only be speculation about the motivation for sig-
nalling that the Earth had become a technological planet. The
theories ranged from reasonable to insane. Some thought that
the signal was an invitation to invasion by the superior beings
to enable our enslavement. Others thought the signal was to
alert our readiness to join the intelligent species of the
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Universe in mutual communication. A surprising number saw it
as the direct work of the Devil. Few thought that the message
would be good for mankind; those who did were quickly
shouted down by the voices of fear. All we had was our own ex-
perience of how advanced cultures had treated the less soph-
isticated ones that they had encountered. The lesson was one
of subjugation and exploitation.
At the United Nations a resolution was put forward that the
World should come together to face the threat. Many of the
World's leaders were calling for the Beacon at Shadow fall to
be destroyed. Some noted that such an action, if it were even
possible, would already be too late; the signal had been trans-
mitted for months and the message would continue across the
universe even if we shut it down. The United States Ambassad-
or addressed the gathered forum.
My friends, I speak to you as the clouds of fear roll across
our gathered nations. We face an unknown and unprecedented
threat for all of us gathered here who call Mother Earth our
home. It is our only home; it is ours by divine right and we can
not let the danger go unchallenged. Never before has the
World had to face such an adversary. An adversary of unknown
power and technology with a motivation than can only make us
tremble. The United States will not cower before such a threat.
We have never backed down from our obligations to bring
peace, prosperity and security, not only to the American
people, but to the peoples of the World. The United States,
once goaded into action, has never been defeated in a conflict
of arms; our men and women will strive until our last precious
drop of our blood is spilled and soaks into the barren dust. We
have a sacred duty to secure the freedom and future of our
people. At this time we face a dark and uncertain future, but it
is not a future without hope. I bring you hope my friends.
Many claim that we should wait and see what fate the Aliens
have in store for us. We in the United States believe that wait-
ing is not an option. The threat extends to all the peoples of
our precious planet and my President has asked me to offer our
hand in cooperation with all of mankind to free us all from this
potential disaster. The might of the United States is offered as
a gift to mankind. As we stand here united by this danger and
you are all invited to join us in striving for a future for our
169
selves; for our children; and for our children's children until
the end of time. Nothing less is worthy of the Human race. We
are a proud peoples; entrusted with the care and dominion of
this World by God. To forsake our responsibilities would be a
denial of what my Country and all thinking people believe in.
We urge you to join us in this fight for mankind. The fight for
our very survival as a species. May the Almighty look down on
us and give us the strength to do what we must.
It was proposed that a missile attack on the Shadow Fall site
should be initiated as soon as possible. The proposal was ac-
cepted and the New Zealand Government, as a committed sup-
porter of the UN agreed to allow a coalition of the Super-
powers to undertake the destruction.
A ring of missiles were placed at distance around Shadow
Fall. The few protesters were not allowed anywhere near and
sat in silent and sad protest as the allotted hour arrived. The
missiles were fired in unison at Shadow Fall - Ground Zero as
the place had been named. The outcome was unexpected. Des-
pite the massive destructive power of the one hundred missile
strikes, the ferocious energy of the exploding warheads ap-
peared simply to be absorbed by the radiating artefact that
was at the centre of Ground Zero.
When overwhelming force is ineffective, a rational response
would be to look for an alternative. For the World's super-
powers the alternative was to use even more force.
Despite protestations from the New Zealand government
who represented a country fundamentally opposed to nuclear
weapons, three such devices were positioned in a triangle
around Shadow fall. The explosion should have created a
twelve mile crater around the site and left utter desolation and
a barren radiating wilderness into the foreseeable future.
However once again the explosive power was simply absorbed.
Ten days later the signal and the shaft of light that pierced
into the sky simply and without warning stopped. The delay in
the victory remained unexplained but the call for celebration
did not go unheeded. Later investigators ventured to the site
and found nothing. There was no destruction, no radiation; just
a small indentation in the ground to mark the spot. A new
growth of virgin tussock grass was already covering what had
once been the Collector's home. A memorial was erected on
170
the site to mark mankind's first victory against an Alien
invasion.
In the few years since man had made its first tentative steps
outside our own planet and had gazed in awe from afar at the
delicate beauty of our fragile world, the Earth's population had
doubled. Those less than fifty years, when viewed from the
time scale of a human life may seem a lengthy period but from
a time scale measured from when life first evolved on our plan-
et, it is an immeasurably small instant. Yet the collective wis-
dom was calling for more growth. We had won a war, by force
of arms, against an uncertain Alien threat. The World sighed
with collective relief and things quickly returned to normal.
The event soon lost the attention of the media although it was
never forgotten and was used as a rallying cry for the mis-
guided. The relief that the threat was over sparked an econom-
ic boom and the Planet's resources were exploited at accelerat-
ing pace as everyone became richer and the future appeared
brighter than ever.
***
On Home Planet in system 55 Cancri which is our close
neighbour just 41 light years from our own solar system, the
signal was yet to reach them. When the 41 years had elapsed
and the data from the sentinel had been analysed, it might be
imagined that a memo would be posted among the members of
the Galactic Union. It might read along these lines:
It is with sadness that I must file the following report:
A sentinel signal was activated on the Blue Planet of system
Solaris. We share the same corner of the spiral arm of our
Galaxy and have long thought of these people as potential
friends. Before the automatic shut down of the sentinel, monit-
oring of the internal planetary communications revealed that
the inhabitants are driven by motivations which are not famili-
ar to our own way of life. The people of the Blue Planet appear
to be primitively aggressive and unfortunately used their
weaponry to try to destroy the sentinel. To those unfamiliar
with the term weaponry please refer to document 94A/56/224b
where an explanation is available. It is clear that these unfortu-
nate inhabitants of Blue Planet are very dangerous and the
Solaris System will be marked as an area with which to avoid
all contact. The inhabitants have certainly progressed to a level
171
of technology that would qualify them for admittance to the
Union but unfortunately there appears to have been no devel-
opment of what we would recognize as wisdom. The beings are
clearly not ready to share the collective Galactic Knowledge
from which we all benefit. The Blue Planet is in desperate need
of an inexhaustible and freely available energy supply and
while we could easily share the technology with them, there is
a real danger that it would be used for weaponry (again see
94a/56/22b). It is sadly unlikely that these people will have the
capacity to maintain their planet in an inhabitable state for
more than the next tens of generations. This is a disappoint-
ment to our Union as the people held such promise when the
sleeping sentinels were originally left to watch for their tech-
nological rise. We feel saddened that we have no option other
than to abandon them to their own unfortunate fate which we
feel is likely to be self induced extinction. Our sadness must
also extend to the other inhabitants of the Blue Planet who are
already suffering extinction from the actions of the dominant
species. I must, with profound sadness, recommend no further
action.
Message ends
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