Andy McDermott - The Tomb Of Hercules

The past Chase had never bothered to tell her about. She clenched her jaw at the thought and turned away from them as far as she could without it looking obvious, then began another read-through of the ancient Greek text.

Chase, sitting by the opposite window, looked past Sophia to see Nina turning her back on them in a huff. Great. He sat back and sighed.

“Nina?” Sophia asked him.

“Yeah. Oh, hell fire , this is a mess.”

“It’s my fault. I’m sorry.”

Chase exhaled slowly. “No, it’s not. We were having problems before you showed up.”

“What kind of problems?”

“Same kind we had,” he said.

She looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“Come on, she’s a Ph.D.-a scientist, an intellectual. She knows about art and literature and stuff; she can do the New York Times crossword in twenty minutes. I can barely manage the quick crossword in the Sun!”

“Maybe you should switch to sudoku,” Sophia suggested teasingly.

“You know what I mean. She’s different from me. A lot different. We’ve got different backgrounds, different lines of work, like different music and films and telly… we’re not even from the same country , for God’s sake!”

“I suppose we at least had that much in common.”

“Not a lot else, though.” Chase looked away, gazing at the ocean below. “But it’s the same thing all over again, isn’t it? I come in as the rescuer, the white knight who shoots the bad guys and saves the beautiful woman. Then when she gets to know me, the real me, she realizes that I’m not the white knight, I’m not a superhero. I’m just some bloke from Yorkshire who’s good with a gun and his fists… and not a lot else.”

Sophia said nothing. After a moment, Chase faced her again. “Yeah,” he went on, “that’s what I thought. It just took you awhile to realize, didn’t it? Your dad knew it right from the start, though. He couldn’t stand me. He thought I was just some squaddie yob, his daughter’s bit of rough.”

“That’s not fair,” said Sophia.

“No? Then how come all the time we were married he hardly spoke to you? Especially about his business. I mean, Christ, you saw what was coming, but he wouldn’t listen to you even when he was ill because he was so pissed off about me!”

“And by the time he did listen, it was too late,” Sophia said, almost to herself.

“Too late for us by then as well, wasn’t it? And you didn’t waste any time moving on. There was that slimy ponce from the City, and-”

She gripped his arm. “Eddie, please don’t. I know what I did. I was just… I was angry with you, and I was angry with myself, and my father… I was lashing out. I wanted to hurt somebody. And you were the easiest person to hurt. Which I deeply, deeply regret. I’m so sorry.”

Chase remained still, not wanting to look at her. “Just tell me one thing. Why did you lie to me about having an affair with Jason Starkman?”

“What do you mean?”

“I know that you two never did anything. He told me.”

Sophia seemed surprised. “When?”

“Doesn’t matter. He’s dead now. But he said nothing ever happened between the two of you, and I believed him.” He fixed her with his gaze. “Why’d you lie to me, Sophia? I mean, I already knew you’d had an affair. So why did you tell me you’d had one with Jason as well? One of my best friends?”

She took her hands off his arm and rested them in her lap, looking down at them shamefaced. “As I said,” she began, voice barely above a whisper, “I wanted to hurt you. Jason had already left, gone rogue or whatever it was he did; he couldn’t contradict me. So… I lied. I wish I hadn’t, but I can’t change the past. I’m sorry, I really am.”

Chase regarded her silently, his face expressionless except for a brief twinge of sadness around his eyes. Then he turned away, operating the controls to recline his seat. “You know, I’m knackered,” he said in a neutral voice. “Done a lot of flying in the past few days. I’m a bit jet-lagged. There’s still another four hours before we land, so I think I could use a nap.” He turned on his side, back to her, and lowered the blind over the porthole.

“Okay,” Sophia said softly. “I’ll… I’ll let you sleep.” She stood and walked to the rear of the cabin.

Across the aisle, Nina looked across at them, unsure what had happened-or how she felt about it.

About ten minutes later Nina was surprised when Sophia returned, bearing two drinks, and sat down in the empty seat next to her.

“It’s just tonic water,” Sophia explained, handing her one of the cups. “I thought alcohol might interfere with your work.”

“Thank you,” Nina said automatically as she took it.

Sophia nodded at the binder. “Have you managed to find out anything new?”

“Not beyond the map, which isn’t much use until we have the other pages. There are still some phrases within the text that I’m convinced are clues of some kind, but so far I haven’t been able to work out what they mean.”

“Perhaps I can help?”

Nina regarded her dubiously. “Can you read ancient Greek?”

“As I said at the party, it’s not my speciality,” she replied with a thin smile. “But ancient history is a hobby of mine. Blame Indiana Jones for that-I forced my father to pay for me to visit all kinds of ancient sites around the world looking for everything from the mines of Solomon to the Garden of Eden when I was younger!”

“Well, it’s not a hobby to me,” Nina told her, trying not to sound too withering, “it’s my profession, just like it was for my parents. It’s what I do.”

“I understand. But as I said, I’m not ignorant of the subject. And Plato’s dialogues were required reading during my studies at Cambridge, of course.”

“Of course,” said Nina stiffly.

“Actually having the chance to read a previously undiscovered one is rather exciting. So, what have you found?”

Reluctantly, Nina turned to the appropriate page. “The phrase I think is most significant comes here, when Critias is talking to Hermocrates. There’s an earlier paragraph where Critias mentions the Tomb of Hercules, which is where the clue regarding the map was-he had a line about finding the path by turning an empty page to the heat of the sun. Then here, there’s another line-’By these words we relive the Trials of Heracles; yet just as the wondrous erubescent glass of Egypt shows the world in startling new form, so too may the words of our friend Hermocrates reveal still other words within, and in so doing safely show the way as if through the Underworld.’ Which on its own doesn’t stand out as anything unusual, but as a part of the rest of the paragraph doesn’t feel quite right. The fact that Plato has Critias specifically mention the Tomb again just beforehand makes me think it’s another clue.”

“But to what? If the map’s already been found…”

“I don’t know.” Nina leafed to the back of the binder and a glossy photo of the assembled map. She tapped on the symbol at the end of the path. “There’s definitely more to it, though. Maybe once you reach the Tomb, you still need to know how to open it, or something. I don’t know. Yet,” she added quickly. “I don’t know yet . But I’m sure I’ll figure it out. Then all we’ll need is the missing part of the map.” She closed the binder and faced Sophia. “Are you sure it’s your husband who has the other pages?”

“I’m positive,” she replied. “The files I found, the ones Eddie brought to Admiral Amoros, they prove that my husband is somehow connected to the sinking of your rig, and that he was after information on the Tomb. The first time we met you, on the yacht, he even brought it up. He already knew that you were studying the text of Hermocrates to find it.”