Sonnenburg clicked on the next picture. This name Dennis did know.
“Gennady Borodinoff,” Sonnenburg began, “Served under Petrov in Iraq. Wanted for war crimes against humanity….”
Dennis raised his hand.
“Yes.”
“He was crushed by a container on the ship.”
“Crushed?”
“Yes. There was a container that come adrift. It killed him.”
Sonnenburg began typing on his laptop.
“We’ll need confirmation of course.”
The next picture showed Sergei Danilov. A red banner across the image read ‘deceased’. Natalie looked into the eyes and shuddered. The next image was of a man with oriental features with very scarred cheeks. Possibly caused by acne as a child.
“This we believe is Kim Li Choi. He’s North Korean, a former North Korean army lieutenant. His father is a colonel in the North Korean army. Kim was court-martialled from the army in disgrace. His father disowned him and he was believed to have moved to Russia, became involved in drug dealing and is wanted in connection with the murders of two policemen in St Petersburg, Russia. Has a taste for fast cars, could possibly be one of our Hummer drivers.”
“He was on the ship,” Dennis said, “He handed a briefcase to her,” Dennis added as the image of the redhead appeared next.
“We’re not sure about her. Her name and details are unknown.”
“She was on the ship. She left in the Dolphin helicopter with the Korean,” Dennis said moving closer to the screen. He looked at the picture of the beautiful redhead getting into a black car. She was wearing dark sunglasses but Dennis was sure it was her.
“You are sure?” Sonnenburg asked the journalist.
“Definitely. She took the briefcase and left just before they took me hostage.”
“Have you any idea of what was in the briefcase?”
“Sorry.”
“Where did all this intelligence originate. I mean why weren’t we shown these before?” Hutchinson asked.
“I already told you we got this information from MI6. The man you captured in London Mr Dennis has decided to talk,” Sonnenburg brought the man’s image up on the screen. “His name is Ireneusz Stancyk. He is a Polish national. Not much is known about his background as yet. It seems the British offered him 15 years off a prison sentence if he was willing to talk, and he did.”
“Ah well, I’m pleased to see that my evening of getting my arse grilled by the metropolitan police paid off.”
“Where does Von Werner get his people from?” Hutchinson asked quietly.
“Physco’s-r-us,” Dennis offered to a stern look from Sonnenburg.
“Sorry,” he said, he grimaced at Natalie who was trying to keep a straight face.
Sonnenburg chose to ignore them and turned back to his large screen on the wall. The team stayed with him for a further hour helping him with his enquiries. Then Sonnenburg put a large white envelope on his desk.
“You are booked onto a flight to London tomorrow morning at nine o’clock. My officers will pick you up at your hotel at 7am,” he extended his hand for them to shake, “I would like once again to thank you for everything that you have done to help us in this case. I am sorry that it concluded without a conviction but we did everything we could.”
Dennis shook the offered hand.
“So is that everything then?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“I’m not in trouble for anything I’ve done.”
“No.”
“I stole a motorcycle.”
“It’s been dealt with.”
“Caused an explosion on a ship.”
“Of the twenty five containers that fell from the Ocean breeze two were recovered. The one you were on and another. The rest sank. The company or companies who own them will be insured. This is Italy Mr Dennis, not Britain. Here the criminals are in the wrong.”
Sonnenburg shook Hutchinson’s and Natalie’s hands.
“On behalf of my government thank you for your assistance. Have a safe journey home.”
The three of them sat in the departure lounge at the Leonardo Da Vinci airport waiting for their flight to Gatwick
“I’m kinda sorry we’re going home,” Hutchinson said, blowing on his hot coffee.
“Yeah me too,” Dennis replied, “After all we’ve done in trying to help them apprehend Von Werner all we get is our marching orders.”
“Well I for one will be glad to get home,” Natalie said, “My life was quiet until I met you. I was a simple marine archaeologist working in Greece….”
Dennis stared at her open mouthed.
“Then I get dragged all around Europe. Nearly killed god knows how many times. Almost raped, been shot at. Thought I’d lost you God knows how many times….”
“Are you serious?” Dennis asked.
“….Nearly been blown up,” she continued.
Hutchinson chuckled.
“It’s been fun though Nat hey?”
She smiled.
“Absolutely. I didn’t realise just how boring my life was until I met you.”
Dennis puffed up his cheeks and blew out his breath.
“Thank God for that. I wasn’t sure where you were going with this.”
“Has your life always been like this Pete,” Hutchinson asked, “Always getting into the thick of it.”
“Actually it has.”
“I’ll be honest though,” Hutchinson continued, “It’s a shame to let them get away with what they’ve done and not bring the spear back with us.”
“I’m sure the authorities will bring them to justice Jim,” Natalie added.
“Yeah but gee….I’d love to have seen the spear perform its magic. You know it’s said that whoever possesses the spear would be invincible.”
Natalie and Dennis looked at each other and then at the American.
“We know,” they said together.
Hutchinson was staring into his coffee.
“Were there any clues in that journal Pete?”
“To tell you the truth, in all the excitement of the last few days, I haven’t even looked at it.”
“You’ve still got it though.”
“Yes. It’s in my hand luggage.”
“Can I have a look at it?”
Dennis put his rucksack on the seat next to him.
“Of course.”
He got the old leather bound journal out and unclipped the popper. Hutchinson began flicking through the pages. He paused briefly over the ones with Alexander the great’s sarcophagus on them. Then moved on. He went another four pages and paused again. There were some drawings here of Chinese lions and some writing he didn’t understand. He could read and speak Latin fluently but these days it was an almost dead language. Something on the next page caught his eye.
“Hm! What’s this?”
Dennis turned the book slightly to see better.
“This is to do with Sir Francis Drake searching for the lost cit of El Dorado.”
“Now that is interesting,” Hutchinson said studying the drawings.
Dennis reached across and turned the page.
“Moving on!”
“What?” Hutchinson said, “A guy can’t broaden his horizons.”
“Are you interested in the spear or not?”
“Of course.”
“Then let’s look for that. Wait a minute what’s this?”
There were four different drawings of spear heads. There was a sketch of Christ on his cross being speared in the side by a Roman soldier.
“And that I presume is Longinus stabbing Christ to death.”
“Looks like it,” Dennis said, then his tone took on a darker note, “You know Jim there are those who say that Longinus is still alive. That he still walks the earth. His punishment to dwell neither in heaven or hell for what he did that day.”
Hutchinson looked up from the page he was studying.
“What?”
“There is a legend about Longinus which often gets confused with that of the wandering jew.”