‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean… I know when you turned forty, you didn’t treat it as a big deal. But for me…’ Another lengthy silence. ‘Maybe this’ll sound silly and petty. But I found Atlantis when I was twenty-eight. In academic terms, that’s still practically just a kid. I hadn’t even had my PhD for long. But then there was this mad rush, all these incredible discoveries, fame of a sort, running the IHA… and then it stopped.’
‘But you did plenty even after you left the IHA,’ he said, puzzled. ‘You found the Ark of the Covenant, and then after that you found the Midas Cave. And while you were at it you saved a load of world leaders from being gassed and stopped North Korea from shipping out a plane full of nukes. That’s not bad going.’
‘I found the Ark five years ago, Eddie. The Midas Cave was two years ago. What have I done since then?’
‘You made a TV series? Two, actually. And you wrote your books about everything you’ve done—’
‘Exactly!’ she cut in unhappily. ‘That’s all I’ve done — I’ve gone back over things I already did when I was younger, regurgitated my own work for a new audience. I haven’t done anything new. And that’s been making me think lately: what if I’ve already done everything I’m ever going to achieve? I’m not a wunderkind any more. I’m forty, and I’ve accomplished so much already that I’d wondered if there isn’t anything left for me to find. But this city, Solomon’s palace… that’s something. And this time, it’ll be documented on camera. Nobody’ll be able to doubt it.’
He was puzzled. ‘Nobody does doubt you.’
‘Are you kidding? Do you know how many emails I get accusing me of being a fraud, an agent of the New World Order, the frickin’ Antichrist? I got some abuse right to my face here in Jerusalem from some fundamentalist types who think that because I wasn’t struck dead on the spot when I opened the Ark, I must have fabricated the whole thing.’
‘They did, eh?’ said Eddie, feeling a flash of anger that someone had threatened his wife and he hadn’t been there to force an apology. ‘They really thought we’d blow Macy’s college fund on a fake Ark?’
‘People believe all kinds of things, and they get very angry when someone challenges them. But this is one discovery nobody will be able to deny. So that’s one reason I want to do this. And another is… to prove that I’ve still got it, I guess. Yeah, I’m forty, I’m a mom, I did all these things when I was younger — but I can still do them now.’
‘Who do you need to prove that to?’
‘Myself, as much as anyone,’ she admitted. ‘Consider it my mid-life crisis.’
‘Couldn’t you just buy a sports car? Although wait, that’s what men do. Women have boob jobs.’
‘I know you’d rather I had a boob job — and you can stop smiling!’ she added in faux outrage.
‘I’m not,’ said Eddie, smiling.
‘This is what I want to do, though, Eddie,’ she continued, serious again. ‘I need to do it. Not just for myself, either — I really do think a major archaeological site will be looted if I don’t get to it first.’
‘You always have to do everything yourself, don’t you?’ he said. ‘But I won’t talk you out of it, will I? I can tell.’
‘You know me.’
‘Yeah, I do. And that’s probably going to knock twenty years off my life…’
‘Don’t say things like that. You need to be around for Macy for a long time yet.’
‘And so do you! Wandering around the Congo jungle isn’t the best way to guarantee that, though.’ Now it was his turn to fall silent, as he made a decision he suspected he would come to regret. ‘Okay. You go and find your bloody lost city.’
She was delighted, but also surprised. ‘Really? Are you fine with this?’
‘No, but I’m going to do everything I can to keep you safe.’
‘I wouldn’t expect anything less.’
‘Two things I want. First, I need to know what your plan is so I can figure out who to contact in Africa. So, start at the beginning. When are you going?’
‘As soon as possible — in the next few days, if we can. I need to get permission from the Congolese government, but I can use my United Nations connections for that.’
‘All right. How many in your team?’
‘Me, a four-person film crew, and another archaeologist. An Israeli, David Ziff.’
‘And where are you going?’
‘I’ll send you the city’s GPS coordinates, but the nearest major town is a place called Butembo. It’s on the eastern side of—’
‘I know where Butembo is,’ he interrupted. ‘Worked over the border from it in Uganda and Rwanda back in the day.’
‘Anyway, that’s the nearest place with an airport. I think it should take two days to reach the city from there; a day overland to a village called Nakola, and then by boat upriver. Once we’re there, we explore, film what we find, then head back. Do you think you’ll be able to find people to help us?’
Eddie considered the matter. ‘I can probably get TD — Tamara Defendé, you remember her?’
‘Of course.’
‘She’s worked in DR Congo before, I can get her to fly you and your team in. People on the ground, though? I know some good blokes, but no idea if any of ’em are available right now. I’d have to check.’
‘If you could, that would be fantastic. Thank you.’ She hesitated. ‘What’s the second thing you wanted?’
‘The second,’ said Eddie, ‘is that you can tell our lass yourself that she won’t see you for an extra two weeks! I’m not dropping that one on her.’
‘Oh. Yeah. I should, shouldn’t I?’
‘You really, really should. Macy?’ he called. ‘Your mum wants to talk to you.’
Macy hurried in and eagerly took his phone. ‘Mommy? Hi!’
Eddie leaned in the doorway, turning away so she wouldn’t see his dark expression. It was clearly visible to his father, though. ‘Something up?’ asked Larry.
‘You could say that. Nina’s decided that not only is she going to be filming for another couple of weeks, but she’s going to the middle of the bloody African jungle.’
Larry shook his head in disapproval. ‘Why didn’t you just tell her that’s unacceptable and not let her go?’
Eddie snorted. ‘You’ve met my wife, haven’t you? Red hair, green eyes, about five-five, makes the average mule look as stubborn as an easily persuaded jellyfish?’
‘Then you haven’t tried hard enough. I wouldn’t just give in to something like that.’
‘Of course you wouldn’t, dear,’ said Julie, with exaggerated sweetness. ‘Now go and play with your toy trains.’
‘They’re scale models, not— Ah, very funny.’
Eddie smiled, but then heard a sound of dismay. He turned back to Macy. ‘Are you okay, love?’
She looked stricken. ‘Mommy said she’s not coming back!’
‘I don’t think that’s really what she said, is it?’ He gently took the phone from her. ‘Is it?’ he asked his wife.
‘Of course it’s not!’ cried Nina, almost as upset as her daughter. ‘I just said I wouldn’t be home for another two weeks.’
‘She’s five, love. To her, that’s like three thousand years!’ He hugged Macy, then switched the phone to speaker. ‘Mummy is coming back, don’t worry.’
‘I absolutely will, honey,’ Nina promised. ‘I miss you so much, and I can’t wait to see you again. I’ll be home as soon as I can.’
Eddie decided not to remind her that could be the day after tomorrow if she chose; the last thing he wanted Macy to witness was a parental argument. Instead, he said: ‘We’ll talk to Mummy again later, okay? I need to make some phone calls for her. Is that all right?’ Macy nodded, but did not look happy. ‘Nina, I’ll see who’s around in that neck of the woods. But first, I need to cheer up our little girl!’