Jade turned to Dorion. “So how did she get involved with your search for dark matter?”
“Quite simple, really,” said Ophelia as she swept into the salon and took a seat at the table with them. “Dr. Dorion made me into a believer.”
Jade did not fail to notice the subtle shift in the posture of her two male companions. Even Professor, who had verbalized some reservations about their hostess, sat up a little straighter.
Jade was grateful of course for the rescue, but she wasn’t so easily seduced by Ophelia’s charms. The woman was about as fake as an airbrushed Vogue magazine cover, and unfortunately, just as beautiful. The blonde hair appeared natural, or perhaps expertly bleached within the last couple of days, but everything else — the smooth forehead, the complete absence of laugh lines, the full lips, the gravity defying C-cups and svelte physique — was not. Jade guessed she was probably older than she appeared, maybe even in her fifties, but there wasn’t a shred of visual evidence to support that guess.
Ophelia’s appearance was not the only thing about her that was impeccably manufactured. Her bearing, her speech, everything about her, was refined, practiced. In a word, fake.
Oh, who cares? She saved us. Maybe that’s all that matters. “A believer?”
“Following the incident at CERN,” Dorion explained. “I wrote a paper addressing the potential for space-time effects near a dark matter event horizon. It was, ah, not very well received.”
“Not by the academic world, at any rate,” Ophelia said. “I, however, thought it was a fascinating article. I do not have the technical background to judge the science, but the premise is compelling and, well, I just had to know more. I approached Paul and he told me of his experiences. He’s been working for me ever since, traveling the world, investigating ancient oracles to see if the effect he witnessed at CERN might be present.”
“How did you find us?” asked Professor.
Ophelia appeared surprised by the question. “Paul contacted me from Mexico. He told me about what happened at Teotihuacan, and said that you were in danger. I came immediately.”
“Now we know how Hodges was able to track us,” Professor muttered.
Jade shot an accusing look at the physicist. “You think maybe you should have checked with us first?”
Dorion hung his head, but Ophelia quickly interceded. “Please, do not blame Paul. What’s done is done. I do not believe that your enemies learned of your whereabouts through me, but regardless, my arrival here could not have been more fortuitous.”
Jade glanced questioningly at Professor and got a shrug in return. “Well, as you say, what’s done is done. At least we don’t have to hide anymore.”
“You most certainly do not,” replied Ophelia. “If you are willing to continue your search, I can guarantee protection and whatever else you may require.”
“What’s in it for you?”
“I should think that’s obvious.” Ophelia leaned forward, her face showing something almost like hunger. “I want to know the future.”
“I’ve told you that it doesn’t work that way,” Dorion said quickly. “The space-time effects created in a dark matter field do not show the literal future. Instead we are able to look through a window to other universes that may or may not be similar to our own.”
“A window,” Jade murmured, thinking back to the closing words of Gil Perez’s confession.
Ophelia made a dismissive gesture. “That is merely a matter of semantics. We all make predictions about what will happen, yet our grasp of the future is limited by the scope of our prior knowledge. This window you speak of will allow us to see possible outcomes influenced by factors of which we are unaware.
“I am, as Dr. Chapman has pointed out, a very wealthy woman, but my ability to remain that way is dependent on the decisions I make — where to invest, when to sell — but it is guesswork. All it takes is a natural disaster, an unexpected political upheaval, another 9/11, and millions of dollars vanish in the blink of an eye.”
“Right,” snorted Jade. “So if you know that thousands of people are about to get killed, you can invest accordingly and cash in.”
Ophelia tilted her head indulgently. “I am not as callous as you think, Dr. Ihara. While it is true that there are unscrupulous people who might seek to ‘cash in’ as you say, from such tragedies, I can assure you that I am not one of them. If I had foreknowledge of such an event, I would of course do everything in my power to prevent or mitigate the outcome. Long term stability — economic, political, social — is the surest path to success.”
“Where have I heard that before?” Professor said.
Jade knew he was referring to what Hodges had revealed about the goals of the Norfolk Group. Ophelia just looked at him, uncomprehending. “I think you would be distrustful if I told you my motives were purely altruistic, but I assure you, I’m not the devil you seem to think I am. It is quite natural for people to want to know the future. That is the very reason why there have been countless oracles and prophets throughout history. It is why people read their horoscope every day. I mean to continue with this search, and I hope that you will join me. My jet is waiting at the Drake’s Bay airport and can take us wherever we need to go. If you do not wish to accompany me, I will take you back to the United States. But I will keep looking.”
Jade looked at Professor again. “What do you think?”
Professor shook his head. “It’s your call. My mission is in shambles, and for the time being, I’m not sure who to trust. I can give Tam a call, but until she can thoroughly vet the Myrmidons and purge any agents of the Norfolk Group, I think it’s best for us to keep a low profile. Hole up in a safehouse somewhere and wait until this blows over.” He paused, as if hoping that Jade would show some enthusiasm for that idea, and when that did not happen, he continued. “But, I guess part of me really wants to know the truth about all this.”
Despite her reservations, Jade felt the same way, maybe even more so. She turned to Ophelia. “Okay, count us in.”
The blonde woman gave a satisfied smile. “Then I guess the only remaining question is the matter of where we should go next?”
“I want to know what happened to the Moon stone,” Jade said quickly. At Ophelia’s questioning look, Jade launched into an account of their experiences beneath the Pyramid of the Sun. When she touched on the subject of the dead Spaniard, Jade reached into her backpack for Perez’s journal, only to discover that it had been soaked through by the leap in to the ocean. She carefully tried to separate the pages, but the parchment fragmented at her touch.
“Well, there goes our last piece of physical evidence.”
“But you did read it?” Ophelia asked. “You remember what it said?”
“Unfortunately, what it said doesn’t help us find the Moon stone,” Professor countered. “Perez was left behind. I think we can assume that his partner, Alvaro, made it out since we didn’t find his body down there, but there’s no way of knowing what happened then.”
“What if we work backwards,” suggested Jade. “Follow the trail to its source?”
“You mean Delphi?” Dorion said. “There’s nothing there. That was the first place I looked.”