“That is a good example, yes,” Don pointed a resolute finger at his friend.
“What happened?” Nina asked.
Purdue shrugged, “I read about this lake where the alkaline levels are through the roof, for one thing. And subsequently, any animal or bird venturing into the lake or drinking from it became…”
“Stoned?” Nina giggled.
Purdue chuckled, “Yes, they were petrified, Nina. They practically became mummified by the high concentration of alkaline along with extremely elevated sodium deposits that make the lake inhospitable to animals.”
“Although it is a reach, I believe something similar is happening to these bodies,” Don speculated.
Purdue agreed. “They are not mummified, because the organs are still full and shaped like healthy, functioning organs. It has to be a rapid transformation… like trolls exposed to UV light,” he winked, referring to a Norwegian movie they watched at Purdue’s mansion before the expedition meeting.
“Too right!” Don laughed. “Well, I am not quite sure if it makes sense even to people who know this stuff, actually,” he admitted. “It is after all just a theory.”
“Carry on, old boy,” Purdue insisted. “What is the difference, then?”
Don looked both intrigued and a little unnerved. He shrugged, “From what I gather here, the chemistry of these men’s bodies was altered by intense heat concentrated on them, savvy?”
“Yes.”
“But here is the missing marvel,” he continued, still scrutinizing the print-out. “There was something else involved to bring about this unrealistically sudden transformation that not even Alchemy has mentioned in any of its teachings or texts,” Don admitted, rubbing his darkening jaw in thought. He looked up at them, still fraught with uncertainty. “This is an unprecedented side of both alchemical and scientific study, guys. There is something in this equation that either does not belong here, or that has somehow remained secret for centuries.”
“That is positively fascinating!” Nina said with a mouthful of cottage cheese she scooped up from the tub with her finger.
“It is,” Purdue agreed. “Now I really cannot wait to get to Ostrava. I am sure if that warehouse really exists there will be ample evidence of the element we might be looking for to complete this heinous transformation.”
“On that note,” Don said, clearing his throat. “We are due in the parking lot within eight minutes.”
“Yes! Nina, are you ready, dear?” Purdue asked.
After wolfing down two slices of toast and gorging herself with the chunky plain cottage cheese, Nina was bloated with food and very uncomfortable. Nothing would have profited her better than getting a move on.
Outside, Heidmann was waiting in the car. Don and Nina followed Purdue into the parking lot, but something was missing.
“Where is Costa?” Purdue asked Heidmann.
“I have no idea. Maybe he overslept,” the indifferent archeologist shrugged.
Nina and Purdue exchanged a knowing look.
“There he is!” Don announced. “Come on, Zorba! Tick-tock, son!”
The Greek professor looked disheveled and a bit hung over, but Nina could only see Sam’s features simmering through the handsome man as he approached. Even now he had the same skew gait Sam exhibited when he had been through a particularly wild night, but his big dark eyes still peered right into her soul, even when Costa was unaware of their power over the fetching Scottish historian.
Nina did not realize that she was gawking until Don nudged her out of her spell with a grin.
“You like Zorba, don’t you, love?” he teased under his breath. At first, Nina wanted to react defensively, which was her go-to, but instead she winked at Don. She simply liked him too much to be mean to him. He just nodded and said, “Nina, you can sit between Costa and me in the helicopter. I’m sure Dave and James will have to talk about their infiltration of the as yet un-pinpointed structure.”
“Aye, that is true,” she agreed and shifted into the backseat of the SUV.
They were well on time, but they still had to pick up Purdue’s German pilot who stayed over at his sister’s house in the city. With traffic the trip to the airport was tedious. Had it not been for the relatively good music on the regional radio station the group would have been properly annoyed by the slow movement of proceedings.
An hour and a half later they arrived at the airfield. Flying down southeastwards across Germany it was a relatively quick transfer although it took the party approximately three hours to make their way out of Germany toward the border between the Czech Republic and Poland.
“Ostrava is situated near the border, a few miles off,” Heidmann told Purdue. The helicopter pilot had already fixed the coordinates on departure from Hamburg, but Purdue requested more details on the location of the warehouse Heidmann had visited before.
“And the warehouse is in the city?” Purdue asked as he surveyed the terrain beneath them while they approached Leoš Janáček Airport to check in.
Heidmann shook his head. “No, the warehouse is a way out, eastward. Let me see if I can find a route there on my iPhone.”
While the pilot communicated with the air traffic controller, Nina and her colleagues were all quietly looking down to see what the town looked like. It was a bit warmer here than it was in Germany a few hours ago, which Costa especially welcomed. After they had touched down, Purdue sorted out their administration for the craft and other necessary papers before joining the group.
While he waited for his copy of the aircraft’s permit, Purdue received a call from Britain. His screen displayed the number of the British Museum, which he thought nothing of, guessing that it was probably an update on the repairs at the museum since the awful earthquake had wreaked its havoc.
Chapter 19
“Hello Dave, I’m so sorry to bother you,” Prof. Helen Barry apologized from her locked office. “But I simply had to inform you of recent developments here in London.”
“Of course,” Dave replied. “No need to apologize if you think it important, Helen.”
Helen felt reluctant to rock the boat, should it just be a random attempted kidnapping, but she still felt compelled to inform Purdue in case something happened to her. After all, even with all her colleagues and the respect of a myriad of philanthropists Helen was very much alone and friendless. She thought to just put it out there to the most genial of those she knew, Dave Purdue that she might be in peril.
“Look, over the weekend, some strange things occurred. Soula and her husband were leaving for Greece the next day, so she invited me to have dinner with them, right?” she stammered, wringing the electrical cord of the phone around her finger.
“Alright…,” he urged her to continue.
Helen checked one last time for eavesdroppers before cautiously telling him about the close call she and the Greek millionaires had suffered in the streets of Stoke Newington. He listened ardently to the whole story after which Helen paused for his response.
“You are right, Helen,” Purdue agreed. “It sounds like an attempted abduction. Who do you think would be behind it? It is hardly feasible for an enemy in her homeland to venture all the way to London to kidnap her for ransom. Suffice it to say that I think it must be a local entity out to seize her.”
“That is precisely what I reckoned,” she murmured. “But I have no idea who here would know about her wealth apart from…” she hesitated, desperately trying to avoid speculating, should she be accusing someone wrongfully, “…Dr. Heidmann.”
“Funny you should say that,” Purdue told her while keeping his voice down. “We, Dr. Gould, Dr. Graham and I, have been having the same thoughts on the man’s questionable intentions over here.”