Hunt picked at his churrascaria meat. “Anubis is very well known in historical circles. He’d be well aware that any antiquities trader would be more than interested in it. Add to that the Atlantis connection, and I’d bet dollars to donuts that—”
He was interrupted by his smartphone chirping on the table. He glanced at the screen. “Unknown number, originating outside of the US, is all I can tell.” He picked up the phone and glanced at Jayden, who nodded. “Could be you just forgot to pay your phone bill, but may as well check it out.”
Hunt put the phone to his ear, opting not to have the call on speaker mode since they were in the middle of a crowded café. “Hello,” he said, offering no de facto information.
“Mr. Hunt, how is your old friend, Anubis?”
Although no name was given, the voice was unmistakable. Daedalus.
“Speaking of old friends, Daedalus, how is Madison?”
“Dr. Chambers is doing well, I can assure you. She is even entertaining an offer of employment from my esteemed organization.”
“Put her on, let me talk to her now.”
“First things first, Mr. Hunt. Before we get serious, let ask you point blank: is the Anubis statuette a genuine artifact and not a fake?”
Hunt looked at Jayden and said in a low voice he wants to know if it’s real. Jayden nodded calmly while sipping his brew, before saying, “Real as it gets, baby!”
“How do you know?” Daedalus asked Hunt.
Hunt spoke into the phone. “We actually don’t know for certain, but it was found in the ground using professional equipment based on professional research. It appears to be made of solid gold with onyx overlays.”
Hunt steeled himself for a barrage of skepticism from the black market antiquities dealer, but instead he was confronted with a new direction. “Do me a favor and take something like a screwdriver or a knife blade and chip off a little piece of the gold. Then take a closeup picture of the interior metal and send it to me.”
Hunt muted the phone and relayed the odd request to Jayden, who responded by guzzling the rest of his beer with a shrug and saying, “If it’ll get Maddy back.”
Hunt reached down to the backpack he’d acquired to put the artifact in, not feeling safe leaving it in the rental car. He looked around quickly before opening the pack on the table. “I guess one little chip won’t make much difference.” He unmuted the phone and spoke into it.
“All right, Daedalus, I’ll do that for you. But in return you’re going to let me speak with her, correct?”
“Once I get the picture, yes. You have a deal.”
Hunt removed his Leatherman multitool and pried open one of its blades. “Give me a minute to find the best place on the artifact to take a piece out,” he said into the phone. Jayden flipped over the statuette and together they examined it carefully. The backside of the figure was adorned with black onyx as well, in the form of the chain or rope that held the ahnk necklace, as well as some kind of robe-like garment.
Jayden shook his head as they looked at it. He turned the mini-statue toward him and nodded as he stared at the soles of the feet. “These are the same golden metal, but when he’s standing up, the chunk we take out won’t be visible.”
Hunt nodded and said into his phone, “All right Daedalus, we’re going to take a small piece out of the bottom of the thing’s foot. Going to place you on hold. Give us a couple of minutes.”
“Should I hum some elevator music for him?” Jayden joked. But Hunt was already busy with his tool, testing the hardness of the metal while gripping the statuette. “Careful, don’t shatter the whole leg off.”
“I’d say I know what I’m doing, but I don’t want to hex myself.”
“Just needle out a little piece, you can do it.”
Hunt bent to the task. “Thanks for the vote of confidence. Gold is a pretty soft metal, so if it is real gold…” Hunt paused while he dug the tip of his blade into the bottom of Anubis’ left foot. "…it should be easy to…”
Hunt frowned as the tip of his blade skidded off the sole of the dog-man’s foot. “…gouge.”
“Let me give it a go.” Jayden held a hand out and Hunt handed him the multitool. Jayden turned the figure his way and then tried his luck. The blade also slipped away from the surface. “Huh. No go.” He handed the tool back to Hunt, who folded the blade away and selected a different implement, this one more like a bottle opener. Then he put it to the bottom of the foot again and applied pressure.
“Okay, I’ve made a scratch.” He pulled the tool back while admiring his handiwork.
“Keep going. I’m curious to see what it looks like inside there, now. This can’t be gold.”
“Yeah, strange. It’s heavy like gold, though. Just harder. Not impervious, though. I scratched it, so…Here we go.” Again he applied the tool to the figurine, this time gripping it harder with one hand to steady it, while applying a lot of force with the hand holding the multitool.
Suddenly a chip of metal went flying form the statuette, clattering on the table. Jayden picked it up while Hunt eyeballed the small gouge left in the sole of Anubis. He squinted as he stared into the metal foot. “It’s still mostly gold, but not solid gold. Its peppered with little flakes of silver.”
“Maybe it’s some kind of alloy?” Jayden ventured. “Gold mixed with some other metal?”
Hunt reached for his smartphone and activated its camera. “Whatever it is, let’s get a snapshot of it and give Daedalus a look.”
He took the best close-up photograph he could with his phone, as well as a wider shot that showed the chip missing from the foot, and then texted the images to the number Daedalus called from. He resumed his voice call. “Check your messages, Daedalus. Photos sent.”
“Taking a look,” came the terse reply. Minutes passed, during which Hunt and Jayden stared at the phone between gulps of beer and bites of churrascaria. Hunt was about to ask Daedalus if he was still on the line when a voice sounded through the device’s speaker. It wasn’t Daedalus’ though. That much was obvious because the voice was female. Hunt snatched up the phone.
“Maddy!”
“It’s me, Carter.”
“Hi Maddy!” Jayden leaned across the table to chime in.
“Are you okay?” Hunt asked.
“I’m physically okay, yes.” Her voice sounded stressed, though, there was no doubt about it.
Realizing Daedalus would likely cut the conversation short at any moment, he got right down to business. “Where are you?”
“I don’t know. I—” Sure enough, the voice of Treasure, Inc. was back on the line.
“You have your proof of life, Mr. Hunt. Now I’m going to have to ask that you stick to business.” Before Hunt could reply, Maddy’s voice came back over the line.
“I looked at your photos, Carter. Nice find, by the way. It looks genuine. Neolithic period. Now give me an estimate of the dimensions and weight.”
Carter did so and then she continued. “Right, so since it’s not one solid metal, but also mixed with onyx, we can’t calculate what the weight should be if it were solid gold. However, it does seem a little light to me, even allowing for the onyx. And then, coupling that with the photo, which shows the specks of silver-colored metal, I think it’s safe to say that it’s comprised of some kind of gold alloy. Possibly gold mixed with brass, or copper, or even pewter, or—”
“Or orichalcum. Thank you, Dr. Chambers, you may return to your workstation to await further orders.”
Workstation? Jayden mouthed silently.
“What is orichalcum?” Hunt asked. He had an idea, but wanted to make sure Daedalus knew what he was talking about.