“You’ll know.”
Bodie let it be known that they were examining Weishaupt’s office. Murmurs of agreement were returned and Heidi again pronounced an all clear. They still had time. Jemma finally paused outside a half-open door, pointing at an indiscreet plaque.
“I guess we’re allowed inside.”
“That’s the general idea in a museum, love.”
Surprisingly, the room was relatively small. It was sumptuous though, a regalia of plush fittings, chairs and drapes, the centerpiece a heavy, deluxe desk, the floor covered by lavish carpets and the walls richly paneled, adorned by masterful paintings.
“Don’t forget,” Bodie said. “An archaeologist left something here. It won’t be obvious, it won’t be easy to spot.”
His words proved prophetic, so much in fact that Jemma told him off for saying them. Three other couples entered the room as they searched, wanderers killing time. Bodie followed a ritual — get a feel for the place, remember the placement. Forget and come back. Sit down. Think. Study. Something like this could not be rushed. Jemma searched carefully, opening up the desk and rifling drawers, searching under the chair and its coverings. Their study yielded nothing.
At length, Jeff entered the room with his partner, Cassidy. Bodie stared at the newcomer with interest.
“Ah, an archaeologist. What would you do, Jeffo?”
Jeff settled himself, looking pensive. “I’d take it all with me,” he said. “Archaeologist’s prefer to have their relics close enough to study at all times. But if I knew I was making a map? If I knew my quest would lead me from place to place?” He probed the room carefully. Bodie watched him, then watched Jemma watching him. Cassidy prowled over to the only window to scan the day outside.
Jeff moaned. “It’s staring us in the face.”
Bodie jumped up, heart jumping. “Where?”
“No. I mean it’s staring us in the face. I don’t know what it is, but I bet it is.”
Bodie pretended to reach for his gun. At that moment the door opened to admit Heidi and Gunn.
“We good?” the CIA agent asked.
“We’re sick and tired,” Cassidy said. “And can’t find nothing.”
“Jeff’s bloody useless,” Bodie said.
“And what? You were gonna shoot him?”
“It crossed my mind.”
“Everything is the same,” Jeff mused. “It’s the same because the museum wants it to look the same. But we have different paintings and photographs from different periods here. Weishaupt. King Ludwig from 1826. A photo of the founding building of the motor company Auto Union, which later became Audi, also in Ingolstadt. A portrait of Charles De Gaulle, who was detained in a Bavarian fortress as a prisoner of war. Different times, same look.”
Bodie studied the pictures, the paintings. “All right, I see your point. But dude, what’s your bloody point?”
“Spartacus and 1776, that’s here where we are right now. but ‘we returned something new’? I think,” Jeff paused, choosing his words carefully. “I think we have to look at the archaeologist himself. This was clearly a highly secret mission, this journey of his. A revenge mission too. He couldn’t risk anything. So what did he do? He left with the next clue and then donated something to this room later. Something new.”
Bodie scrunched up his face in thought. His natural, nourished inclination to mistrust told him Jeff was reaching, probably mistaken. But his deep-set, conflicting need to hold on to some kind of belief pushed him in the opposite direction.
“Jeff,” he said, “let’s go find that guide.”
They trooped out of the room. Heidi went ahead with Cross, the two of them turning more and more restless and worried. Bodie helped Jeff find the museum guide and hovered whilst Jeff asked the key question.
“Can you tell me if anything was donated to the Weishaupt room in the early 1900s?” he asked.
The guide looked surprised, but willing to help. “Happy to look,” he said in English again. “Break up the day.”
Twenty minutes later and Jeff had the information. Bodie and he left the guide and returned to Cassidy and Jemma who were loitering close to Weishaupt’s office.
Jeff grinned at the redhead. “We’ve got it.”
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
Back inside the room and Jeff went immediately to one of the side walls. There, amid a cluster of six-by-fours hung a golden-framed depiction of Adam Weishaupt standing, poker-faced, outside the very building they now occupied.
Cassidy stared at it. “Crap, Jeffro. It’s shit. Just this guy stood outside this building. Spartacus in 1776, right?”
“But it isn’t just that,” Jeff said, squinting. “Look closer. There’s an anomaly.”
Bodie crowded in too, leaving Jemma to watch the room. A closer look revealed a small amount of writing — the name of the university across the top of the building.
“Except it’s the wrong name,” Jeff said happily. “Whatever this building is and was called, whatever it has been through the centuries I can categorically assure you it was never called The Grand Lodge of All England.”
“And this was donated by our friendly archaeologist?” Cassidy asked.
“I can’t confirm that for a certainty. The records, if they exist, will be obscured. He didn’t want anyone tracking him down. But yes, it was ‘something new’ around the time he visited. And the only new item to be donated specifically to this room since 1887.”
Bodie read the line without emotion. “The Grand Lodge of All England. So we’re to believe that’s the next waypoint?”
“I think so,” Jeff exhaled. “And a rather unique way of hiding it, I think.”
“Still,” Jemma said. “Not easy to take at face value considering all that’s at risk.”
“There’s nothing else,” Jeff said with a touch of exasperation. “How long have we been here? Hours. Nothing else in this room is out of place, nor is it wrong or donated at the right time. The odds are good.”
“Kid’s right.” Bodie decided. “And we can’t hang around here forever. If we scarper now the Hoods will never know we were here.”
The team started to move. Jeff hung back a little and Jemma tried to tug him along.
“You’re thieves,” Jeff said. “Are you really gonna leave this here for the Illuminati to find?”
Bodie opened the door. “They might not figure it out,” he said. “And I’d take a special kind of pleasure in seeing it hang there for the next hundred years. Also, it hardly matters to them. They know where the Statue is. Thievery, my friend, is sometimes only the art of deception. They may think we’ve done something to that room and miss the vital clue in all their frustration.” He grinned. “Perfect.”
Outside the room, they traversed the narrow corridor and made their way around to the front of the museum. Heidi and Cross were nowhere in sight, but the path outside was clear and the parking area was only two minutes away. Armed with their new knowledge, the team made their way outside.
Heidi broke cover first, waving her arms urgently and running straight for them.
Bodie stopped, staring.
Cross came next, ducking out from behind a low hedge and crab-walking his way over.
“Hoods,” Heidi breathed. “All over the cars. Looking for us, I guess.”
“How do you know they’re Hoods?” Cassidy asked, trying to see over the hedges and to the car park.
“I’m guessing,” Heidi admitted. “But they’re armed. They number over a dozen and they’re checking plates and vehicles. It’s just a matter of time before they come inside.”
“Shit,” Bodie said looking around. “Just Hoods?” he asked suddenly. “Or do we have any hierarchy out there?”