“But Jack… he treated you like a son.”
Bodie shrugged. “Second time in my life I got orphaned then.”
Cross finally found breath. “But why? Why?”
“You can all ask him when you see him.” Heidi stepped to the middle of the room then, eyeballing each member of the team in turn. “But for now, I want you to listen to my relic hunter story.”
Bodie studied the guys as they rose, brewed drinks and settled down. They owed the CIA agent this; at least he did and they knew it.
“What’s going on?” Heidi began. “That’s the foremost question on your minds. We have an interesting scenario. An intriguing one. Guy Bodie has been a thorn in our side for years. International relic smuggler. Purveyor of ancient artifacts, stolen at great risk but expertly planned and executed. Admired and hated by criminal and police organizations the world over. You are a rogue, a villain, a specialist and a connoisseur, and your team ain’t far behind you. Proactively sought in many different ways, and yet special teams from all walks of life study your jobs as works of art. And yet it took just one man to bring it all crashing down. A man you all loved and trusted.”
Bodie’s eyes flashed. “Do carry on.”
“I mean no disrespect.” Heidi held up both hands and bobbed her curls up and down. She shifted around the room so that she could see everybody at the same time, and Bodie caught himself watching her long legs a little too closely.
Jesus, Guy, I know you’ve been in prison a while, but get a grip.
But he guessed Heidi could handle herself. She was here. She’d found them and executed an operation before his own team were even close. That fact by itself demanded admiration.
“You guys got everything you need?” She looked around. Cross held up a steaming coffee mug and nodded. Cassidy settled back with water, long red hair draped over the back of a padded chair. Jemma and Gunn sat forward in expectation.
“What’s going on?”
“All right. As explained, the CIA broke Bodie out for a reason. Apologies, Guy, but if we didn’t need you we’d let you rot in there until you were dead. Some still think it’s the best place for you.” Heidi mimicked balancing weights. “And I’m holding them at bay. But we need results.” She took a breath. “The Statue of Zeus,” she said.
Bodie stared, waiting for more, but nothing came. “Is that supposed to mean something?”
“Well, does it?”
Gunn tapped his knees with his fingers, imitating himself using a laptop — one of his more annoying habits. “If you mean the Statue of Zeus, then yes, we know what you mean.”
Heidi nodded. “Good.”
Cross looked over at Bodie, miming: “Do we?”
Bodie shrugged and mouthed: “Roll with it.”
Heidi glared at both of them. “The Statue of Zeus,” she said. “To quote Sam Gunn here, was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. You’re familiar with those, I guess?”
“The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.” Cassidy nodded.
Cross snapped his fingers. “Pyramid of Giza, right? The only one still in existence.”
“The Lighthouse at Alexandria?” Jemma added her two-cents.
“I’m more interested in the seven wonders of the modern world,” Bodie admitted. “Shakira. The V12 engine. Jean-Claude Van Damme—”
“Stop there,” Heidi said disapprovingly. “We’re on a timetable here and I’d like you to respect that. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was a colossal figure seated on a throne, sculpted around 435 BC by the Greek, Phidias, at the sanctuary of Olympia at Greece. Around it was erected the Temple of Zeus. A sculpture of ivory plates and gold panels, it depicted Zeus himself seated on a throne festooned with precious stones and ebony. It was destroyed during the 5th century AD, and no copy has ever been found. It was said that a single glimpse of this statue would ‘make a man forget all his earthly troubles.’”
“We could do with some of that now,” Bodie said. “So what has anything got to do with a two-and-a-half-thousand-year-old obliterated statue?”
“A bit of background — the statue was erected at Olympia, yes? Which was the original site of the Olympic Games. The statue was there near the beginning and during the ancient games. No single account out of hundreds agrees on how it was lost, and we’re talking an immense piece of art here, people. Old school here—” she nodded at Cross “—was right about the Giza pyramid being the only surviving ancient wonder.”
At that Cassidy laughed aloud; Gunn and Jemma sniggered. Bodie waved it down. “Cross doesn’t like to be reminded that he’s the oldest of us.”
Cross glared. “Let her carry on.”
Heidi, despite her urgency, looked slightly embarrassed. “Right, well, this brings us to a recent event, which I’m sure you’re all familiar with. Except you, Bodie, since you were on vacation.”
Cassidy guffawed at that, clearly warming to the CIA agent. “Kicking back with the boys.”
Bodie stared at them both. “Eleven days,” was all he said.
Jemma and Gunn now looked uncomfortable. “About that—” the dark-haired American began.
“No time,” Heidi said. “Sort your issues later.”
“What’s the rush?” Cassidy was almost the most fiery.
“Because, several hours ago, the Archaeological Museum of Athens, one of the world’s foremost museums, was destroyed in a presumed terrorist attack. People were killed. People were injured. That’s why.”
Bodie sat back, mouth suddenly dry. “Destroyed? My God.”
A somber silence fell over the room. Bodie eventually said: “You mentioned the word ‘presumed.’”
“I did. Well spotted. The world has been told, through news media, that a cowardly suicide bombing was carried out in Athens. The CIA, well, we believe that the entire event was carried out to cover up a theft.”
“They killed all those people, devastated all those families, to steal something?” Jemma said, her tone revealing her utter disgust.
“The kind of people we’re dealing with have no regard for life. No morals or regrets. No matter what is in their way — your husband, mother, even your child — they will sweep and smash and strike it away without thought, without any concern, an act that would actually ease their anxieties rather than exacerbating them.”
“Which people?” Bodie asked.
“We’ll get to that. Now do you see why we’re in a hurry? The man that perpetrated this act is on the run with whatever he stole. He’s running to his masters. And, in truth, we’re absolutely terrified that he might do something like this again. Today. Tomorrow. Very soon.” She looked around the room. “We need to catch this man, and recover what he stole. Before they strike again.”
CHAPTER TEN
Bodie listened hard, every sense attuned, as Heidi Moneymaker explained more details.
“Information came to light a few weeks ago. Excavations at old Olympia are, of course, still ongoing, as they are at so many ancient sites across the world. An old map was found, nothing spectacular at first. But, on examination, this map was thought to reveal where the Statue of Zeus was taken after it was dismantled and stolen in the 5th century AD.”
“So not destroyed?” Gunn asked.
“That was always one of the theories. That it was stolen, transported away and later razed in a great fire. The map, though early in its assessment, appears to support this theory. We kept apprised of the findings, as we are apt to do on many continents, in so many diverse situations.”
“For the good of America,” Cross muttered.
“Let’s not get into that. Once the map took on a more important role, and more people became involved in its study, we took a sharper look. It was then that we understood what we were dealing with here. A map that, through the travels of the Statue of Zeus, would lead us straight to the door of the enemy that stole it, and now shapes the world’s greatest and most devastating events.”