They reached the car. More flashing lights were visible down the street outside the derelict building. ‘Okay, get in,’ Amy said unhappily. He climbed inside as she took the wheel. ‘These kidnappers — do you have any idea who they are?’
‘No, but you can check if their prints are on file.’
A confused look. ‘How?’
Eddie held up the severed digit. ‘I’ll give you the finger.’
9
A trip to the Upper East Side confirmed Eddie’s fears. The apartment was empty, Nina’s laptop still open in her study. She always closed it if leaving the room for more than brief periods. He hurriedly washed and changed his clothes, returning to Amy’s car to learn that there had indeed been reports of an incident on the street. ‘What, nobody recognised me?’ he complained. ‘Bloody snobby neighbourhood.’
‘This helps you, though,’ Amy pointed out. ‘One of the witness statements said that someone was Tasered and taken away. That confirms you as the victim.’ She gave him a rueful look. ‘I’m still not sure how it’ll balance against you killing all three of them, though.’
‘Worry about that when I have to,’ Eddie replied. ‘Okay, we need to get to the UN.’ As Amy started the car, he took out his phone and dialled a number — one that he had hoped never to need again.
By the time they arrived at the United Nations, the man Eddie had called was waiting for him at the security gate, his long overcoat flapping in the cold wind. ‘Eddie,’ said Oswald Seretse, the Gambian official pointedly rubbing his hands together for warmth before shaking the Englishman’s. ‘This is quite a surprise.’
‘Yeah, for me too. Thanks, Amy.’ He waved her off, then went with Seretse through the checkpoint. ‘Glad I caught you. I didn’t know if you’d still be working this late.’
‘The world’s leaders are meeting at the General Assembly soon,’ Seretse replied, gesturing at a stack of crowd-control barriers piled ready for deployment nearby. ‘That means long hours for everybody involved. Especially long-suffering departmental liaisons like myself — all the more so when working two jobs at once.’
‘You’re still the IHA’s acting boss?’
‘After Bill Schofield was killed, the other candidate for the director’s position withdrew. It has gained a reputation as a remarkably dangerous post.’
‘Tell me about it.’ Eddie gave him a small smile, then looked up at the glass tower of the Secretariat Building as they approached the entrance. ‘God, back here again. I can’t seem to bloody escape it.’
‘Yes, for someone who no longer works for the United Nations, you certainly seem to visit us quite frequently.’ There was amusement in the diplomat’s rich Cambridge-educated tones. ‘So, what can I do for you this time?’
‘Nina’s been kidnapped.’
Seretse halted, the humour instantly evaporating. ‘I see.’
‘You don’t sound too shocked.’
He sighed. ‘I am long past the point where I can be surprised by anything that involves you or Nina. But why come to me rather than the police?’
Eddie decided to spare him the gruesome details of his recent captivity. ‘Because whatever the people who’ve taken Nina want her for, it’s something to do with her work at the IHA.’
‘But Nina left the IHA at the same time as you.’
‘I don’t think they care. I know what they’re after, but I’ve got no idea what it means or why they need Nina to find it. Which is why I came to you.’
Seretse nodded. ‘Come inside.’
They entered the Secretariat Building, Seretse vouching for Eddie at another security check, and took an elevator up to the tall diplomat’s office. The Englishman gazed out of the window overlooking the East River as his host sat at his desk. ‘I couldn’t help but notice,’ said Seretse, ‘that you appear to have been in the wars.’
Eddie turned towards him, showing off the cuts and bruises on his face. ‘Nina wasn’t the only one who was kidnapped. They took me to force her to find what they’re after.’
‘Which is what?’
‘Angels.’
The African’s eyebrows rose. ‘Angels?’
‘Yeah. I told you, I don’t know what that means. They let Nina talk to me, and before they cut her off, she managed to tell me what they were after; turns out these angels are from the Book of Revelations.’ The eyebrows went higher still. ‘Some kind of statues. One of the guys who kidnapped me said that the clues to finding them are hidden in the Bible, and his boss needs an archaeologist to help decode them.’
‘Why Nina? There must be other archaeologists who could do that. Why risk kidnapping her?’
‘That’s what I want to know.’ He looked back out of the window. In the distance downriver, beyond the Williamsburg Bridge, the giant spotlit eggshell of the now-moored airship marked the Navy Yard; he had been held prisoner not far from them. ‘But she’s not even in the country now — she said she was in the tropics. Some place called the Mission, apparently.’
Seretse typed on his laptop, then shook his head. ‘I just searched for “tropics” and “Mission”, but there are almost a million results.’
‘I’m pretty sure if you Google “angels” and “Book of Revelations”, you’ll get even more,’ Eddie said glumly. ‘We’re not going to find these statues that way. That’s why I want to get the IHA involved.’
‘You want to find the angels?’ said Seretse, surprised. ‘Not Nina?’
Eddie faced him again. ‘Course I bloody want to find Nina. But I’ve got nothing to go on, and as long as they’re holding her I’ve got no leverage either. But if I can get these angels before they do…’
‘It gives you bargaining power. Nina for the angels.’
‘Exactly. Whoever’s behind this — some nut calling himself the Prophet — seems to want to find them as soon as possible, so there’s probably a deadline, something that’ll make him more desperate the closer it gets. If I reach ’em first, then he’ll have to let Nina go if he wants them.’
‘If he truly is desperate, that might put Nina in more danger,’ Seretse warned.
Eddie regarded him grimly. ‘Yeah, I know. But it’s all I’ve got right now.’ He sat facing Seretse. ‘So I need another archaeologist to help me. Someone who’s as good as Nina, and who knows about the Bible.’ A small frown. ‘Bible stuff isn’t even Nina’s speciality. I mean, she knows way too much about pretty much bloody everything to do with archaeology, but there must be people who’ve spent their entire careers on it. Why’d they need her?’
‘I can’t answer that,’ said Seretse, typing again, ‘but I can tell you who is currently working for the IHA and their areas of expertise.’ He scanned the list on his screen. ‘Dr Ari Ornstein is a specialist in ancient Hebrew civilisation…’
‘Wrong half of the Bible,’ Eddie said. ‘Even I know that Revelations is New Testament, not Old.’
‘Indeed.’ He resumed his search. ‘Colette Seigner’s doctoral thesis was about the conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity. Perhaps she might be able to help?’
‘I know Colette, but… I dunno. Christianity didn’t really take off with the Romans until a few centuries after Jesus died, did it?’ A huff of frustration. ‘I don’t know when the Book of Revelations was written, but I don’t think it was that late.’
‘The first century AD, I believe. And no, the Roman Empire did not adopt Christianity as its official religion until AD 380, under the Edict of Thessalonica.’