Live and Let Shop (15 page)

“But what? I thought…” I was stunned. How had he pulled this off?

Then it all became clear. I remembered the replica of the Randall Gallery in the Top Floor wing. Mr. Kim must have replaced the real
Book of Seraphim
with a duplicate. Simon had stolen the wrong book!

“But why?” I said.

“There are many reasons. Foremost is that we cannot risk the book coming into Simon’s hands, even for a short time. When the Kuzbekistan government foolishly agreed to put the book on display, I knew Simon would try to steal it. We replaced it with a very good forgery. A trusted contact inside the Kuzbekistani Ministry of Antiquities assisted us in constructing the fake. No one knew about this except for myself, Agent Tyler, and a few Kuzbekistanis that I trust. We know Simon has people
inside their government as well as the FBI, so we needed to keep our plan secret. Of course, the duplicate is not an actual translation of the book—we couldn’t allow Simon to have an accurate copy.

“We searched the river bottom near the ship and couldn’t find the fake book. Apparently Simon was able to retrieve it before he escaped. I am sure he will have a team of experts attempt to restore it, but it will do him no good.”

“So what are you going to do with the real book?” I asked.

“We are going to study it and learn all that we can from it. Even if he is able to repair and restore the stolen book, eventually Simon will learn that he has been duped. This will buy us some time. If we can decipher the mysteries of the book, then we can find the artifacts before Simon can and keep them safe.”

That Mr. Kim. What a tricky one he was.

“Then I really screwed up by trying to rescue the book, didn’t I? If we’d left it there, Simon would have it and your plan would have been perfect.” I felt really stupid.

“Actually, no. I think your rescuing the book worked
to our advantage. Because you took such great strides to save it, unknowingly and therefore convincingly, Simon will believe, for a while at least, that he has the real thing. Without realizing it, you actually did a very good job.” I did?

“So you built that replica gallery to figure out how to switch the books so no one would know.” I was starting to see the whole picture now.

“That is correct. That is the exact purpose of the Top Floor wing—for training and practice in various exercises like this. The field trip was a perfect cover for a few of the TF students to install circuit interrupters that would help us bypass the alarms. We were able to get in and replace the book before Simon stole it.”

“But I still don’t understand. If you knew Simon had stolen a fake book, why were you so upset with Agent Tyler that day? That was what made me so curious in the first place. You never get upset about anything.”

Mr. Kim smiled. “I’m afraid I’m only human, Rachel. I was angry with Agent Tyler because his team had managed to lose Simon and his crew after they broke into the gallery. It was our best chance in years to capture Simon, and it was squandered. That upset me. So I took it upon
myself to try to find him before he could leave the country.”

For a moment I thought about Blankenship and that horrible creature I’d seen in the hold of the ship. Maybe Simon had had help getting away and it wasn’t agent Tyler’s fault. Maybe he had supernatural help. I shuddered.

“Look, Rachel, there is much I cannot tell you yet. I realize you are not entirely comfortable at Blackthorn. However, I am going to ask you to make a leap of faith and stay. Please trust me when I say it is for your own good.” He was so sincere. It was a little unnerving.

I thought for a moment. I thought about my life and how I had always been on my own. How I couldn’t trust people and always had to fend for myself. And now here was Mr. Kim saying “trust me” yet again, like that first night in the woods. The difference was that in the short time I’d been there, Mr. Kim and the others had shown me that I
could
trust them. Maybe things really were different here.

“Mr. Kim, I know you mean well. I just…well, it’s hard for me to trust anyone but myself sometimes. Can’t you tell me something about why you think it is so
important that I stay? Please?” I didn’t know what else to do. Part of me wanted to stay. Part of me wanted to run away and hide and hope that I never saw that man-bull-thing ever again.

Mr. Kim was quiet for a long time, and the look on his face said that he was weighing something very heavily. Then he spoke.

“Rachel, what did you learn about Mithras in your research down here?”

“Just the basic stuff. God of darkness and the afterlife. Worshiped mostly by legions of the Roman Army. Was popular for a while but then died out.”

“Did you read anything more about the mythology?”

“No.”

Mr. Kim walked over to a file cabinet and pulled out a book.

“There are several variations to the story of Mithras as it spread throughout the world. One version tells us that Mithras was finally banished to the underworld by Etherea, a goddess of Light. Her myth became very popular in the Persian Empire as its influence grew and the Roman Empire’s influence declined. In the Persian version of the myth, it was believed that Etherea was sent by
the gods to punish Mithras for attempting to rule the world. It is said that one day the gods will grant Mithras his freedom from the underworld and allow him to battle Etherea once again for control of the Darkness and the Light. That is the story, anyway.”

“Neat. But what has that got to do with me?” Truth be told, it sounded kind of boring, and I was pretty sure I had seen a story just like this on an episode of
Xena: Warrior Princess.

“Everything,” said Mr. Kim.

He laid the book on the table before me, open to a reproduction of a painting. In the painting a woman floated in the air above the clouds, pointing to a man/bull creature that was disappearing into a cave in the side of a mountain. The man/bull was Mithras and the woman was Etherea, goddess of Light. I know this because I read the caption. I also know this because it looked exactly like the creature thing I’d seen on the ship and that made me want to hurl right there.

But then my breath caught in my throat. Mithras was saluting Etherea as he stepped into the darkness, a funny salute with his fingers spread wide and his thumb touching the center of his chest. The exact same salute
that Simon Blankenship had made to
me
as he watched us run away.

“What? Why?” I felt the hair on the back of my neck start to rise and my palms start to sweat. It felt like my body was a coiled spring and if there was one more twist I was going to snap. As if I didn’t already have an active enough imagination.

“It has more to do with Simon than it does with you, I think. Simon believes that Mithras will soon rise from the Darkness. He has something up his sleeve. He believes he can summon Mithras soon and start the battle for dominion over mankind. Now, in his insane mind, he believes he has found Etherea. And I think he thinks it is you. So now, Rachel, we have to see this through. There is a madman out there who has you in his sights. And he won’t stop hunting until he’s found you. That leaves us only one option.”

“What’s that?” I said.

“We must find him first.”

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