“His idea, to show his confidence in the design. Besides, he likes to keep a close eye on our progress.”
They drove down a ramp into a parking garage beneath the main building, then got out and took an elevator to a lobby on the ground floor. A large horseshoe-shaped desk of black steel and marble was manned by three uniformed security guards, who nodded respectfully to Kari. Behind the desk, doors led into a high corridor with a glass roof through which Nina could see Frost’s office above. The place was busy.
“How many people work here?” she asked.
“It varies,” said Kari, “but usually around fifty or sixty researchers, plus the security staff.”
Nina spotted another security station at the end of the corridor by the large glass and steel doors. “You, uh… you’ve got a lot of security, haven’t you?”
“We need it,” Kari answered matter-of-factly. “Some of the samples we work with could be used for bio-terrorism if they fell into the wrong hands. And the Frost Foundation unfortunately has enemies. You’ve met some of them already.”
“Don’t worry, Doc,” said Chase, “I’ll keep you safe.”
The sight of the trefoil biohazard logo on the door made Nina slow her approach. “Are… are you sure this is safe?”
“Absolutely,” Kari assured her. “These doors are part of an airlock. They’re made of ceramic aluminum oxynitride-transparent aluminum, equivalent to sixty centimeters of armor plate. Virtually unbreakable. The only way anything gets in or out of the containment section, whether it be a microbe or a person, is with our permission.”
Kari spoke to the guards, and the heavy airlock doors hissed open. The group passed through, waiting for the inner doors to cycle. The containment section beyond was purely functional in design, almost brutal. The walls were tiled in white, the floors coated in nonslip rubber for ease of cleaning. Harsh fluorescent lights lit every corner with an even glare, and Nina also saw the eerie purple glow of ultraviolet sources, adding to the sterile air.
Inside, Kari led them to an elevator that took them up to Frost’s office. Entering, Nina suddenly felt as though she’d been transported back to the house, the design was so similar. She could even see the house itself through the windows, perched atop its crag.
But it wasn’t the view, or the architecture, or the objets d’art that caught her attention. It was the man waiting for them.
Kristian Frost was even more imposing and handsome in real life than in pictures. Well over six feet tall, and still impressively muscular despite his sixty years, in his navy blue roll-neck sweater he reminded her more of a rugged fisherman than a billionaire businessman. His hair and beard were both turning gray, but his eyes still contained a youthful energy and deep intelligence.
“Dr. Wilde,” he said, taking her hand. She was a little surprised when instead of shaking it, he lowered his head to kiss it. From anyone else the gesture would have seemed somewhat silly, but coming from him it felt perfectly apt. “Welcome to Ravnsfjord.”
“Mr. Frost,” she began.
“Please! Call me Kristian.” His English was not quite as precise as Kari’s, a deep burr in his voice revealing his Scandinavian origins. “I’m very glad to meet you. And I’m also very glad that I’m able to meet you. Hiring Mr. Chase has paid for itself already.”
“Then I guess I should thank you for, well, saving my life!”
Frost smiled broadly. “Happy to be of service.”
“But… why would anyone want to kill me? What’s all this about?”
“Please, take a seat and I will explain,” said Frost, directing her to a long sofa. She sat, Kari joining her at the other end. “I’m afraid that your theories about Atlantis have led you to be targeted by a man called Giovanni Qobras.”
“And who is Giovanni Qobras?” Nina asked.
“A madman,” said Kari.
“Oh.” Not just a killer, but a mad killer. Great.
“Qobras and his followers,” Frost began, “who call themselves the Brotherhood, believe the same thing that I do-that you do. If there’s one thing we all have in common, it’s that we believe the legend of Atlantis is true. I’ve been convinced of it all my life, and I’ve put a quite substantial amount of my fortune into attempting to prove it.” He walked over to the wide window. In the far distance, the sea glinted like tiny diamonds. “Unfortunately, without much success. As you know, there’s very little information to work from… and what there is is subject to a great deal of interpretation.”
“Tell me about it,” said Nina. “So what about this Qobras?”
He turned to face her. “You and I want to find Atlantis, to bring an ancient wonder back to the world. Qobras, on the other hand…” His face darkened. “He wants to keep it hidden, to protect the secret for his own ends. And he’s willing to resort to murder to do so. Your new theory about its location may not have convinced the committee at your university, but it certainly convinced Qobras. He believes that you’re on the right track-as do I, by the way-and he wants to stop you from proving it.”
“Wait,” Nina said. “How do you know about my theory?”
“The Frost Foundation has friends in academia all around the world. They know that any new ideas about the location of Atlantis will catch my interest, so they keep me appraised. And your ideas…” He smiled. “I’ll get right to the point. I’m willing to fully fund a survey expedition to test your theory.”
Nina could barely contain her excitement. “Really?”
“Absolutely. Subject to a condition, though.” He saw her expression fall, and chuckled. “Nothing bad, I promise. But the Gulf of Cádiz is rather large, and while I have a lot of resources, they’re not infinite. I’d like you to narrow the search, pinpoint a location.”
“But that’s the problem,” Nina told him. “There’s so little information to work from, I don’t know how I can narrow it down.”
“There might be more than you think.” She looked up at him, intrigued. “I’ll explain later. But for now… are you interested?”
“Am I interested?” she gasped. “Absolutely!”
Frost walked over to her and offered his right hand. She hesitated, then shook it. “Wonderful,” he said. “Dr. Wilde, together, we’re going to find Atlantis.”
The gleaming object hung in space, unaffected by gravity.
Nina stared at it in amazement. She’d never seen a free-floating hologram before, or even imagined they were possible outside the realms of science fiction or movies.
“What is it?” she asked at last, reluctantly looking away from the hologram to the other people in the darkened room.
“It’s something that might help you narrow down your search,” said Frost. “Or at least, that’s the claim of the man who wants to sell it to me.”
“Sell it?” Nina turned back to the hologram. The projection, hovering above a cylindrical pedestal in which colored lights flickered faster than her eyes could follow, was supposedly life-sized, just under a foot long and about two inches wide. It was a flat bar of metal, the bottom end rounded while the top was straight, a circular nub protruding from it. The color was almost like gold, but with an unusual reddish tint…
Like her pendant.
She absently fingered the metal piece hanging from her neck as she leaned closer to the hologram, moving around the pedestal to see the other side. To her disappointment, there was nothing there except a bizarre, perspective-defying inversion of its face, through which she could see Frost, Kari and Chase.