Andy McDermott - The Midas Legacy

‘We will find out soon,’ Trakas told him. The buzz and hum of the linear accelerator ceased as the technician shut it down, then he hurried past the observers to its other end, summoning the other workers to help him begin a series of checks.

It took several minutes before they were completed, but eventually the man smiled and gave Trakas a thumbs-up. His boss congratulated him, then faced his guests. ‘There was a neutron burst,’ he announced. ‘We will soon see if any mercury has turned to gold.’

A loud hiss came from the box as it was refilled with air. The technician made more checks, then collected a Geiger counter and signalled for the hoist to be operated. The chain rattled, and the lid began to open.

The counter crackled alarmingly as vapour swirled out, but the man with glasses seemed unperturbed. He took a reading, then called out to Trakas. ‘It is safe,’ said the Greek. ‘There is not enough radiation to be dangerous.’ He led the group out from behind the wall.

‘So what about the gold?’ Spencer asked.

‘We will soon know.’ With the radiation danger gone, the other workers went into action. They pushed a wheeled stepladder into position alongside the box, a man wearing a hazmat suit and breath mask climbing to its top. The others passed a long tubular probe attached to a hose up to him. He leaned over and carefully lowered the tube into the Crucible, edging it down until it reached the bottom of the crystalline cauldron. ‘Gold is more dense than mercury,’ Trakas explained, seeing that some of his audience were puzzled. ‘It will sink to the bottom. That machine,’ he indicated a portable pump nearby, another hose running into a large empty barrel on a pallet, ‘will suck it out and filter it from the mercury. Then we shall see how much gold I have!’

Another worker started the pump. It rattled and strained, then the hose running from the Crucible pulsed in the arms of the men supporting it. Quicksilver spat from the end of the second tube into the waiting canister.

The pump operator intently watched a glass jar attached to its side as the machine shuddered with the effort of drawing the heavy liquid metal out of the Crucible, then thrust his head nearer as if unable to believe his eyes. He sprang upright, calling out to Trakas in excited Greek.

It took all the tycoon’s effort not to rush over to see for himself. Instead he issued a command. The worker shut down the pump, the other men waiting expectantly as he carefully detached the jar, then hurried with it to his boss.

The cameraman quickly descended from the walkway and joined the group to capture the moment. Trakas took the jar and held it up to the light, making sure the camera had a clear view of its contents. Eddie and the others leaned closer to see for themselves.

Just as in the Midas Cave, another metal had been extracted from the mercury. The system here was more effective than the simple mesh filter used by the monks, the bottom of the jar covered by a layer of what looked like fine sand. Dotted amongst it were larger grains, the biggest a lumpen nugget over a quarter of an inch long.

Their colour revealed that they were more than mere grit.

Trakas gasped in delight, turning the jar to examine the gleaming residuum from every angle. ‘It works,’ he said. ‘It works!’ He reluctantly handed the jar back to the worker, who quickly returned to the pump to reattach it and resume the task of extracting more. ‘The legend is true,’ the Greek tycoon continued to his guests. ‘Midas could create gold. And now, so can I.’

De Klerx’s ship squatted in the darkness offshore, all its lights off. From its foredeck, Nina surveyed the boatyard. She saw movement on the distant waterfront. ‘Looks like they’ve got guards patrolling.’

De Klerx stared through binoculars. ‘I see… three men along the water. Two by the slipways, and another at the docks.’

‘Let me look.’ The Dutchman passed her the field glasses with what she couldn’t help feeling was annoyed reluctance. ‘It’s all right, I won’t break your precious toy.’

She slowly panned her magnified view from left to right. Part of it was blocked by the rusting hulk of a half-submerged ship about a hundred yards out into the water, behind which was a jetty with a couple of small yachts moored. At its end, concrete took over from rock where a pair of dry docks cut into the land’s edge. One had its gates open to let in the sea. The hull of a ship rose above the other’s closed lock, a temporary cover of scaffolding and plastic sheets over a hole in its deck left where a large part of the superstructure had been lifted away by a crane. Along from the dry docks was a slipway leading up to several large open-sided structures, beached boats on stands inside them. Tall fences ran right to the water at both sides of the boatyard’s perimeter.

‘It’ll be hard to get ashore without being seen,’ Nina said. ‘We definitely won’t be able to take the boat all the way in.’

‘I know that,’ said De Klerx testily. ‘We will have to swim.’

‘I’d kind of expected that from the wetsuits.’ The men aboard the darkened cruiser had, its pilot aside, donned dark neoprene. ‘But I still say taking all that other stuff is a bad idea.’ The stockpile of weapons in the rear cabin had been brought out; as well as several compact UMP sub-machine guns, it included a Steyr AUG machine gun and a Milkor MGL grenade launcher, six rounds loaded in its fat revolver-like cylinder. She was glad they hadn’t been used in the first failed attempt to obtain the Crucible, but now De Klerx could not be dissuaded from employing them in a second. ‘I’m not an expert, but I’m pretty sure that when you’re doing a hostage rescue, it helps if you find out where the hostages are before you start shooting.’

There was acid in De Klerx’s reply. ‘I do know what I am doing, Dr Wilde.’

‘So you shouldn’t have any problems with proving it, should you?’ She focused her view beyond the shoreline. More boats were lined up on stands behind the shelters, while past the crane was a jumbled maze of ship parts, machinery and junk. ‘There are more men farther back, but have you noticed where most of them are?’ She returned the binoculars. ‘The big building, with all the lights in the windows — it’s under guard. There are guys walking around it, and I’m guessing they aren’t trying to prevent deep-vein thrombosis.’

‘Yes, I saw them. And that is the only building here that could contain a particle accelerator powerful enough to use the Crucible.’

‘So the guards probably mean that Trakas is in there.’

‘And Anastasia and the others.’

Nina nodded. ‘Let’s hope he’s the kind of villain who likes to gloat and show off to his prisoners rather than lock them up somewhere. Or just kill them.’ She took in the whole of the boatyard again. ‘Okay, so what are we doing?’

‘We?’

‘Yeah, we. I’m coming with you.’

He didn’t even deign to look at her as he dismissed the suggestion. ‘I do not think so. This is a task that should be left to professionals.’

‘Yeah, you were so professional on the yacht when you brought your girlfriend with you and let her get captured.’ That drew De Klerx’s eyes, which gave her an irate glare. ‘Or when your prisoners escaped and the whole damn boat blew up around you. Real pro work.’

‘I served in the Korps Commandotroepen!’ he snapped.

‘For all I know, that’s the catering corps. What I do know is that charging in there with guns blazing won’t go any better than on the Pactolus . So whatever plan you’ve got, revise it so that “kill people and blow shit up” isn’t the first line. Or preferably any line.’