‘There’s a — a goddamn panorama here!’ Nina cut in. Another picture showed a great swathe of the carved landscape surrouning the model city. ‘They might as well have printed a treasure map!’
‘What do you mean?’ Ziff asked, surprised.
‘I mean, I put the data from the model into a topographical analysis program. And it found Zhakana!’
He was shocked. ‘Where?’
‘Eastern Congo, the Democratic Republic. It’s in the middle of the jungle, but it should be accessible by river. And these photos tell the whole world where it is! If I could find it, so can anyone else.’
‘Just because they can find it doesn’t mean that they will. Jungle exploration is hard work, as we both know. And DR Congo is not a country many people would choose to visit.’
‘People will do a hell of a lot if they think there’s something valuable at the end of it,’ she countered. ‘One of the reasons the International Heritage Agency was set up in the first place was to control this kind of information and stop tomb raiders from looting newly found sites. But this? Anyone with a map, a computer and patience will be able to use these pictures to find Zhakana. And there’s nothing we can do to stop them.’
‘I can contact the Jordanian government. They can put pressure on the newspaper to take down the pictures.’
‘It’s too late now. Once something’s on the internet, you may as well put it on a billboard in Times Square.’
‘So what should we do?’
‘We need to have a full meeting, try to figure out damage control. Beyond that, though? I have no idea.’
‘I’ll call everyone to the site.’
‘Great. I’ll see you soon.’
Nina huffed in angry exasperation as she hung up. Finding whoever had leaked the pictures was now less important than trying to minimise the damage, both to the ongoing work at the First Temple and whatever might happen at Zhakana. But what could she do?
Contact the IHA was her first thought. But she had left the agency over half a decade ago, her last dealings two years previously, and Dr Lester Blumberg was still its director. She and Blumberg were not on each other’s Christmas card lists, to put it mildly.
So how to protect the new discovery from looters?
She didn’t know much about the Democratic Republic of Congo, other than that the first word of its name was practically ironic and that while it was rich in natural resources, it was also unstable and fraught with violence. Someone would have to locate the site on the ground, then arrange with the Congolese government to secure it.
But who could she trust to do that, and who had the contacts necessary to protect the site once it was found? And who would pay for it? She considered herself very comfortably off thanks to her television work, books and film deals, but not nearly enough to fund an expedition out of her own pocket, and she couldn’t imagine Eddie being happy about her doing so even if she could. So who…?
An idea took on form. She almost dismissed it out of hand, but then gave it greater consideration. Why not? At the very least, she had to try.
She scrolled through her phone’s contacts. The number she found was American, the area code 323: Los Angeles. There was a ten-hour time difference between Jerusalem and LA, so it was evening in Hollywood. The person she needed to speak to might still be available.
Nina gathered her thoughts… then made the call.
Two hours later, she arrived at the Temple Mount and entered the dig’s tent. Ziff and his team were there, as were Fisher and the film crew. ‘What happened?’ said the elderly Israeli. ‘We expected you over an hour ago.’
‘I know, I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I had to make a call, which lasted a lot longer than I expected. But I’ve got some good news.’
‘You have found out who sold the photographs of the First Temple?’ asked Talal.
‘No, I’m afraid not.’
‘This leak’s kinda destroyed one of our unique selling points,’ said Fisher. ‘We could have had a worldwide exclusive — the first time Joe Public saw the map room, it would have been on our show. But now, by the time we reach the air it’ll be old hat.’
‘Well, hopefully the rest of the documentary should still draw the crowds,’ Nina said. ‘But this call was about something else.’ She addressed the whole film crew. ‘A proposition — for you.’
‘For us?’ said Lydia, confused.
‘Who did you call?’ Rivero asked.
‘Mike Konigsberg, in LA. And after he heard what I had to say, he got the network head on a conference call right away.’
Fisher was not happy. ‘Wait, you called my boss behind my back?’
‘This wasn’t about the current show. This is something new. I told David this morning that the leak of the map room pictures means that sooner or later, and probably sooner, someone will use them to find Zhakana.’
‘Because that’ll be dead easy to do,’ Lydia scoffed.
‘I’ve already done it.’
That brought surprised reactions from the documentarians, though not from the archaeologists. Ziff had been selective in sharing the news. ‘It’s in the jungle, in the Democratic Republic of Congo,’ she went on. ‘It’ll be hard to reach — but not impossible. The site is two days’ travel from the nearest airport. The problem is that now the images from the map room are out in the open, anyone else can get there too.’
‘Only if they’re crazy enough to go Apocalypse Now into the Congo,’ said Rivero.
‘Or Heart of Darkness, more accurately,’ Nina said.
‘Heart of what? Anyway, it sure as hell isn’t somewhere I’m in any rush to visit.’
‘That’s a pity,’ she replied. ‘Because what I discussed with Mike and the network — what they’ve provisionally agreed to back — is a documentary expedition to find Zhakana. They want to follow up the current series with a journey into the unknown, literally. Whatever’s out there, whatever we find, we’ll be the first people to see it for thousands of years.’
‘They already agreed to fund it?’ asked Lydia.
Fisher looked thoughtful. ‘It’s a good hook. Documentary meets reality TV. Indiana Jones, live — or live-ish. It could work.’
‘You said we,’ noted Howie.
Nina nodded. ‘That’s right. You guys are already out here, and you’ve seen everything leading up to the map room’s discovery, so you know the background. Plus you already work as a team, so Mike thought you’d be the obvious choice to do it.’
‘Nice of him to ask us first,’ Lydia objected. ‘And you, too!’
‘I did tell him you’d probably want to think about it,’ Nina assured her.
‘Aw, that’s real good of you!’ The sarcasm was biting.
‘It’s definitely worth considering,’ Fisher said to her. She was not convinced.
‘How long would this take?’ asked Rivero. ‘We’ve been out here for almost three weeks already. I kinda want to see my girlfriend again.’
‘I don’t know,’ Nina admitted. ‘I’d guess we’d be on the ground for about two weeks.’
‘You would be going as well?’ asked Ziff.
‘Well, yeah. I mean, it’s my series, it’s about the things I’ve discovered. And I found the map room.’
‘We all found it!’ Talal protested.
‘You wouldn’t even have looked at that wall if I hadn’t been there. But the main reason the network was willing to consider this is because I proposed it, and it’s conditional on my involvement.’
‘So they won’t do it without you, but they will do it without us?’ said Lydia.
‘Pretty much, yeah. Mike wants to know if you’re interested. But we’re kind of on the clock,’ she warned. ‘The main reason I proposed this is so we can find Zhakana before anyone else — looters, treasure hunters, even locals out for a quick buck. So don’t take too long thinking about it, because if it goes ahead, it’ll be soon.’