Forgotten Love: An Action-Packed Adventure Romance (The Forgotten Chronicles) (10 page)

"Where are you from, Professor Cutro?" the man asked finally in a heavily accented voice.

So. They knew who he was. Which might mean a lot, or might mean nothing. "You know my name. I'm sure you already know where I'm from."

The man's hand hovered over a form, holding a pen.

"I'm from New York. In America," he specified.

The man looked up at him. "Is there any other?"

"Well, there's a Greenland in New Hampshire. Just thought we should be specific."

The man scribbled on the form and then snapped the folder shut and squared it neatly with the table's edge. "My name is Kalleg Neilson."

"Just Kalleg Neilson?" Theo asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Not Captain Neilson? Or Chief Inspector Neilson?"

Kalleg Neilson waved a hand through the air. "You're thinking of the national police force, Professor Cutro. I am not a member of that agency."

That caught Theo's attention. "Then who are you with?"

"We," Neilson answered, "are the Defense Command. The police here are under our direct authority. Now then, introductions out of the way. Good. Shall we begin?"

Theo clamped his mouth shut. The Defense Command was the government defense ministry in Greenland. It answered to no one, other than directly to the Prime Minister of Denmark. Oh, he was in deep. Deeper than he'd ever been.

"You intended to take something from this country that did not belong to you, is that correct?"

The little seal, so innocent looking with its whiskers carved into the sides of its face, came out of Neilson's pocket to be placed on the table. Theo looked at the statue. So much trouble over such a little thing.

"Where did you find this?" Neilson asked.

A picture was starting to form in Theo's mind. It was still a little fuzzy and indistinct, but it was starting to come clear. If this little trinket was what was worrying everyone so much, it must mean...

"You know exactly where I found it," Theo blurted out.

Neilson smiled, and nodded.

"You've always known that settlement was down there, haven't you?"

Neilson smiled.

"But why?" Theo pressed. "Why keep something like that a secret? The academic community would love the chance to go down there and study that place. Can you even begin to realize how many questions could be answered in a site as perfectly preserved as that one is? "

Neilson stared at him, waiting out Theo's questions. Then he calmly folded his hands together on top of the table. "Did you enjoy your visit to our lost village, Professor?"

Theo opened his mouth to snap back an angry reply. Then he stopped. "The snake," he said instead. "That damned snake that tried to kill us."

"Not just kill you, Professor. It would have devoured you, given the chance."

"But it didn't get the chance..." Theo said.

Neilson kept his hands calmly folded. "I'm sure it didn't," he said. "You were protected."

"By the plant," Theo nodded.

Neilson shook his head. "The plant protected you. We are protecting the plant."

"What kind of plant is it?"

Neilson spread his hands apart. "We don't know."

"How many snakes are down there?"

"We don't know."

"Biologically, there's got to be more than one...

"That would be a reasonable assumption," Neilson agreed. "Since 1943, thirty-seven men and women have lost their lives trying to find the answer to those questions. Now we simply consider both the snake, or snakes, and the plant to be protected endangered species."

Theo grimaced. Neilson was right. Anyone who went down to examine those ruins was risking their lives. Greenland couldn't afford to let the world know what was down there, because every idiot fly-by-night archaeologist with no idea what they were doing would come here, looking to find the place themselves, and the consequences be damned.

Which was very different than what he and Gillian had done, he told himself. They were professionals. With a plan. Sort of.

And on top of all that, endangered species status would bring Greenpeace and PETA into it. He sighed heavily. "I understand what you're saying, Mr. Neilson. But with a proper team, and proper precautions..."

Neilson shook his head. "Professor Cutro. I'm asking you, my government is asking you, as a professional courtesy, not to discuss with anyone what you've seen here. We are simply not willing to attract the kind of attention these discoveries would bring. There are some things the world is just not ready to see."

"That's not your judgment to make," Theo said.

"Of course it is," said Neilson.

"Your government doesn't have the right to control the spread of scientific knowledge. If you don't let us have an expedition, I could simply tell the world about this anyway," Theo argued.

Neilson's face screwed up into an expression of distaste. "That wouldn't be in your best interests, Professor."

"What could you possibly threaten me with? I'm curious. What?"

"You trespassed into a protected area. An area clearly marked government access only..."

"There were no such signs..." Theo protested.

Neilson frowned. "I'm sure our surveillance cameras will show otherwise."

Theo frowned. He was sure they would as well—now.

"While in this secured area you removed an item considered to be a national treasure. This is a violation of international law. Your paperwork seems to be in order, but there are so many ways to forge paperwork these days, don't you agree?"

"Are you suggesting that I falsified official documents? Faked my way into your country?"

Neilson shrugged. "Is that so far beyond the realm of possibility?"

"Well, no. No it's not." Theo had done that himself. Once.

"You see, Professor, I have so many reasons to not let you leave here. I can order you locked away for a very long time," Neilson said to him, "and I could go home to my wife who is even now preparing my supper. She would be most happy to have me home on time for a change."

Theo saw the rock, and he saw the hard place. And, he saw himself in-between.

"Okay," he relented. "Okay, I get it."

"Do you also get that we are aware that you have already contacted someone about your find?"

Saul. Crap. "I'm an archeologist, working for a museum," Theo pleaded. "This is what I am paid to do. I had the paperwork... I was cleared to be here... It was an incredible find and I wanted to get started on examining the site properly as soon as I could."

"We understand that, Professor," said Neilson. "Saul Eversteen. The Director of the Chicago Museum of Antiquities. What you will do now is call your Mr. Eversteen and explain that you made a mistake, and ask him to cancel any further excursions. We need assurances that neither you nor anyone associated with your employer will take any further action into our country."

"I wouldn't worry about that. If Saul isn't getting anything out of this, he won't put any more money into it."

Neilson actually laughed at that. "Yes, I understand that is the American way."

From the pocket of his suit coat Neilson produced a smart phone. He slid the phone across the table to Theo and gestured toward it with a hand. "Go ahead."

"I thought you wanted to monitor this?"

"My phone is monitored through a secure server, Professor. Every word you and Director Eversteen say will be recorded. Trust me."

This was not a phone call that Theo was looking forward to. But it wasn't like he had a lot of choice here. Tapping in the number, he waited as the phone rang.

"Hello?" said Saul's gruff voice. "Who is this?"

"Hi, Saul. It's Theo."

"Theo!" Saul practically gushed. "You have no idea how excited I am. The kind of find that Gillian described will put the Chicago MoA on the front page! I never should have doubted you. I've already started putting lists together of what we'll need to go back. A find like this—"

"Have you called anyone on this yet, Saul?" Theo interrupted.

"Huh? What? Well, no, I haven't had the chance yet."

"Okay. That's good," Theo wiped a hand across his forehead. What would be the best way to say this? "We need to hold off on this."

Silence on the other end of the line.

"Saul?"

"Theo, so help me God, if you tell me you've screwed this up, I'll hang you up by your ball sack just to listen to you scream."

Neilson touched a finger to his ear and grinned. The man had an earpiece in. He was hearing everything. Great, Theo thought to himself.

"Look, Saul, it's complicated. But the short version is we can't get back down there. It's not possible. There was a... a tremor... a small earthquake. There is no way to get back down."

"What the hell, Theo. We've got equipment that can make it through. Gillian said this was a well preserved Norse village. It would be well worth the effort."

Saul was a lot of things. Not all of it good, in Theo's opinion. But he was a man of integrity. That's why what Theo was about to do was so hard.

He was about to lie to Saul Eversteen.

Theo kept his gaze level on Neilson's as he spoke to Saul. "Gillian may have exaggerated more than a little bit. You know she hasn't done much fieldwork. We found a few pieces of pottery, that's all. We thought there would be a village down there. I figured that was where all those caverns down there were leading. But really we found nothing. We even left the pottery we found down there."

The sound of silence from the other end of the phone was heavy now. "I see," Saul said at last. "Theo, is this like that time I sent you to the Andes?"

Good old Saul. "Yeah, Saul. This is like that."

Theo had run into a situation in Andes. A phone call to Saul had gotten him out of it, but the call had been monitored. Saul didn't find out until later. But he remembered.

"Okay, Theo, okay. I understand." Saul sighed heavily. "If it has to be that way, then it has to. I haven't called anyone else on this. Get your ass back here and we'll settle up. You'll owe the museum some money to repay us for what we fronted you."

"That was the deal, Saul. If I came back empty handed, I'd pay you back." Neilson's expression never changed. He just sat there, staring at the folder in front of him and pretending not to listen to every word Theo said.

"And I'm definitely coming back empty handed," Theo added.

Saul told him again that he understood, and then hung up without saying goodbye. Theo pushed the phone back across the table to Neilson. "It's done."

"So it is, Theo. And thank you. There's just one more thing," Neilson said, raising a finger momentarily.

Of course there is, Theo thought to himself. Isn't there always?

"Your partner, Gillian Langtree, " Neilson said.

"I didn't..."

"Don't deny it now," Neilson interrupted him. "You and I, our relationship is built on trust, is it not?"

Theo glared at him. "What have you done with her?"

"She is fine," Neilson smiled. "We followed her. Agents searched her and she had the sense to not be carrying any souvenirs. She was questioned then escorted to the airport and put on a plane back home. It is up to you to make sure she doesn't talk about her experience."

"I don't know if I have that kind of control..."

"I'm quite sure you don't," Neilson grinned. "But we took precautions. Just like her, you will sign a paper apologizing to the Greenland and Danish government for your trespass. Your permission to ever enter either Greenland or Denmark is hereby permanently revoked. We will keep an eye on both of you Professor Cutro. We have the connections with your government to have your passports revoked, your assets seized, and your reputations permanently ruined. Do you understand?"

Theo swallowed. "I do."

"You will sign?"

"I will."

"Good," said Neilson. He pushed the papers across the table along with a pen.

Theo signed all the indicated points.

Neilson smiled. "Congratulations. You'll be allowed to leave the country on the first flight out tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Where am I going until then?"

"Why, jail of course." Neilson stood up with a satisfied smile. "But do not worry. I'll be sure you are well taken care of."

The door to the interview room opened again, and Captain Kurkul walked in with two of the other officers from the bar. Theo was really regretting the Captain Kraken remark now.

As he was led away through the halls to a bare holding cell, and as the bars of the cell door slid shut with a ringing clang, Theo reflected on the last few days. This was, without exception, the worst expedition ever. He had found something absolutely amazing, but couldn't say anything about it. He had let Saul down. The risks to his life had been too many to count, but that didn't really concern him. He had almost died any number of times over the years.

The mental picture he had taken of Gillian came to mind. Well, maybe not nothing. He might have just gotten something of real value out of this trip after all.

He sat there as the fish-eye camera in the corner of his cell, pointing down, watched him. Theo looked up at it and forced a smile. They were watching. And listening.

"You know what?" he said into the camera. "Greenland sucks!"

Chapter 13

MR. NEILSON WAS
as good as his word. The next day, afternoon actually, Theo was allowed to leave and return home.

His passport had been returned to him. He was now blacklisted from Greenland and Denmark. Persona non grata. Not that he had a lot of cause to go to either place. But still. Knowing there was part of the world that was now off limits to him kind of got under his skin.

He had slept through most of the flight home. He was physically and emotionally exhausted. Never in his life had he looked forward to getting back home more.

The doorman at his apartment building in Williamsburg, near the East River in New York City, greeted him with a smile and a nod—a consummate professional, Theo thought. He knew he looked like something the cat dragged in.

He got out when the elevator reached the penthouse, and walked down to his apartment door slowly, his feet suddenly heavy as sleep threatened to claim him again. Maybe he'd just climb into bed, pull the covers up, and forget the world existed for the next day or so.