Hawke considered what she said. “I like it, but remember it’s fake names at the hospital and slip away before the cops turn up, which they surely will with a gunshot wound like that.”
“Sure thing.”
“Now, can I offer anyone a lift down to the trucks?” He tapped the Skyrunner’s steering wheel. “It’s downhill after all, so no fuel required.”
Jazmin and Kamala took one look at the shot-up vehicle and declined. “We’ll walk.”
Zeke said he’d join them, but the others climbed aboard the groaning, shot-up Skyrunner and Hawke turned it back onto the track. “Let’s hope you read Orpheus’s map right, mate.”
“I did,” he said. “At least I think I did.”
“You’re not filling me with confidence,” Lea said.
“Relax,” the young man said. “It’ll be fine. When have I ever let anyone down?”
Scarlet sighed. “I’ll give you a list by next weekend.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The mood in the hotel room was not good. After the adrenaline rush of battle had worn off and Nikolai had returned with his arm in a sling, the team began to realize just how far behind they were in the race to Hades.
In the tense silence, Hawke sipped his coffee and turned to Ryan. Even with Jazmin’s knowledge, the young man was still struggling to interpret everything in the poor quality pictures of the codex.
“Any ideas?”
Ryan looked back down at the photos. “It looks like he’s saying his journey to the Underworld was made thanks to the most beautiful one.”
“A goddess?” Hawke asked.
A bruised and shocked Jazmin gave a shrug. “Maybe.”
Lea bit her lip as she thought. “What about Eurydice? She and Orpheus have one of the most famous love stories of all time. He’d refer to her as the most beautiful one, right?”
Ryan frowned. “Again, maybe. The problem is, what then? If that was the correct translation, then he’s telling us that he visited Hades thanks to Eurydice.”
“Which he did,” Lea said. “You told us he went there to rescue her, right? So now it all makes sense.”
“I don’t think so,” Ryan said. “I’m not sure he’d put it like that. Besides, here he refers to her by name. Why would he say my journey to the Underworld was made thanks to the most beautiful one, and there I rescued Eurydice? He would say and there I rescued her. I think we can rule out Eurydice.”
Scarlet sighed. “So we’re back to goddess then.”
“I’m not so certain about that either.”
Hawke said, “If it’s not Eurydice and it’s not a goddess, then what is it?”
“It has to be a location,” Ryan said at last. Tapping the text with his finger, his eyes widened. “I’ve got it — Καλλίστη!”
“Kallisti?” Lea asked.
“Wait a minute,” Camacho asked. “Isn’t that a goddess?”
Ryan glanced at him and then back to the text. “No.”
Camacho made a face. “Well, that clears that up then.”
“Maybe you’re thinking of Calliope or Callisto or something.” Ryan’s eyes were still dancing all over the text as he double-checked his work. “Both ancient Greek — the former was a muse and the latter was a nymph.”
“I guess I was thinking that,” Camacho said with an innocent shrug.
“Is all this bollocks actually going somewhere, darling?”
“It’s Santorini,” he said at last. “Orpheus entered the Underworld from Santorini.”
“You mean the restaurant in New York?” Scarlet said. “How the hell did he manage that?”
Ryan gave the phone to Jazmin, hoping a second pair of eyes might help. Turning back to Scarlet he said, “Really?”
“No, not really. You mean the island, don’t you?”
“I’m surprised you’ve heard of it.”
“Being honest, you are easily surprised though.”
“All right, break it up.” Hawke pushed them apart and set down his coffee cup. “You’re sure about Santorini?”
“I am,” Ryan said. “The ancient name for the island was Kallisti which means the most beautiful one. It’s perfectly obvious when you think about it.”
Hawke gave him a smile. “Good work, mate. Any idea where on the island?”
“That remains to be seen, but there’s quite a bit more text here which I still need to go through. He might get more specific as he goes on. Not a great surprise really.”
“Why not?” Lea asked.
Ryan looked at her like she was stupid. “Because Santorini was the site of the most devastating volcano eruption in all of human history. If there’s an entrance to Hades anywhere on this planet, then it’s going to be in a place like that, the only question is what old Dimitrov wants down there.”
“I’m still plumping for a weapon,” Zeke said.
“I keep hearing you talk about some kind of weapon,” Jazmin said. “What exactly do you mean by this?”
“We don’t know exactly,” Lea said. “All we know is a man like Dimitrov isn’t interested in volcanology or geology or anything like that. If he’s spending millions of dollars hiring archaeologists and mercenaries and weapons and transport, then he must have a damned good reason for doing it, and that has to mean either some kind of weapon or a hell of a lot of treasure.”
“And I think we can rule out the treasure when you consider he’s one of the richest men in the world,” Hawke said.
“And an egomaniac,” added Lexi.
“Right,” Lea said. “It all adds up to a weapon, at least that’s my reading of it.”
Jazmin looked confused as she considered their explanation. “But what sort of weapon could be buried underneath a volcano? Anything that far down would be beyond primitive and no threat to the world at all.”
Hawke and the others exchanged a knowing glance. “You’d be surprised what you can find when you dig down deep enough.”
“I am an archaeologist, Mr Hawke,” she said crisply. “I know what you find when you dig deep enough.”
Hawke left it there. Inducting another unsuspecting newbie into the Hall of Madness, as Scarlet had once called it, would take too long and maybe frighten her off. “At least we know where we’re headed now — Santorini.”
Across the room, Lexi drummed her steel fingernails on the table. “You mean hell, and aren’t we kind of glossing over the fact we’re about to go there?”
The atmosphere in the room changed again. The normal tension of unfinished work had quickly given way to a terrible fear of the unknown.
“You know, that sort of thing scares the shit out of me,” Camacho said quietly. “I was raised in a strict Catholic family and matters of heaven and hell were no joke.” He shook his head and gave a gentle, cautious chuckle. “What would they all make of me now, busting my ass to find a way to go to Hades?”
“I’m sure your parents would be very proud, Jackie boy,” Scarlet said, kissing him on the temple and running her hands through his hair. “I know I am.”
“Maybe it’s not real,” Kamala said. “I hope it isn’t.”
“It’s real all right,” Ryan returned. “If I’m understanding the photos of these papyri correctly, then the legends are…”
“Woah there, chief!” Zeke said. “If you’re understanding what correctly?”
“Papyri,” Lea said. “That’s how Ryan says papers.”
“A Cuban cigar and a dozen red roses to Lea Donovan,” Ryan said. “Except for the fact it’s the plural of papyrus, not papers. In this case, we’re referring to Orpheus’s specific collection of papyri, so papers simply wouldn’t do it justice.”
Zeke had lost the trail of the conversation. “What are you talking about, man?”