The Chaos Code (10 page)

‘Thank you.' Harper had taken several discs from the case. They looked like computer CDs, in narrow slipcases, labelled in black marker pen. It looked like Dad's handwriting. ‘This is a copy of everything that Doctor Stribling found or noted or sketched. Absolutely everything. I had it all scanned on to DVD for you.'

‘Excellent.' Venture took the discs and placed them on the desk close to his computer screen.

Harper handed him a sheaf of papers, computer printouts. ‘Here's a list of everything on the discs with brief explanatory notes. There are facsimiles and scans of everything relevant. There's Doctor Stribling's handwritten notes, copies of all the historical papers he referenced, three-dimensional models of artefacts he felt were relevant. Everything. You will keep me aware of your progress?'

‘I'll contact you as soon as we find anything,' Venture assured him.

‘Thank you. And anything you need – access to anything at all, contacts, money …' He left the offer hanging.

‘We'll let you know,' Venture said.

Harper shook hands solemnly with Matt and the
others before he left. His grip was tight and confident, but his hand was cold and clammy. ‘We'll find him,' Harper said quietly to Matt. ‘Believe me. We'll get your father back.'

They stood on the porch and watched the helicopter lift ponderously from the lawn. It gathered speed as it rose before swivelling on its axis, dipping its nose and disappearing into the clouds.

‘My study,' Venture said. ‘I believe there are a few things we need to discuss.'

Soon they were settled back into the seats they had so recently left. The exception was Robin, who took the chair across the desk from her father – where Harper had previously sat.

‘Do you believe him?' Aunt Jane asked. ‘About Arnie?'

Venture was swinging slowly back and forth in his chair. ‘Yes and no,' he said. ‘Yes, your brother …' He paused to look at Matt. ‘Your father … Yes, he's missing and may be in danger.'

‘We should call the police,' Matt said. He had shied away from this course of action before as he didn't think there was enough evidence to convince the authorities there was anything wrong. But with a man like Atticus Harper confirming that Dad had been kidnapped, surely they would have to take the matter seriously.

‘That does seem like the most sensible course of action,' Aunt Jane agreed.

‘It is worth considering, certainly,' Venture said. There was something in his tone, in the way that he said it, that convinced Matt that Venture had already considered it. Considered it and decided against it. ‘But going to the police might put Arnold in more danger, without achieving anything useful. After all, we have very little to go on, and therefore very little we can tell the police. Where would they start?' he wondered rhetorically. ‘With the Treasure, surely. And I have to say that we are rather better qualified than the authorities to find that.'

‘I suppose,' Matt admitted.

‘Indeed,' Venture decided, punctuating the word with a raised finger, ‘our best course of action is to follow the trail that Arnold Stribling has left. Follow it, and hope it will lead us to the Treasure of St John before anyone else finds it. With luck we'll find Arnold as well, but if not it gives us something to bargain with.'

He fixed Robin with a piercing blue stare that made Matt shiver even though he wasn't on the receiving end. ‘We can't let anyone else find this so-called Treasure,' Venture said quietly. ‘Not even Harper. Not without us being there.'

‘So why delay?' Matt demanded, upset at having his suggestion so quickly pushed aside. ‘We need to load the discs he gave us, see what's on them, and sort it out. Find Dad, or – like you say – something to bargain with.' He had been going to tell them about the intruder at Dad's. About how there had been someone watching the house
who had attacked him. Matt had not imagined it, Harper's story had convinced him of that. But Venture's dismissal of outside help, of going to the police, made Matt wary again. Why mention it just to be told he'd imagined things?

‘It may not be that simple,' Robin was saying.

‘Your father has spent a considerable amount of time looking for this Treasure,' Aunt Jane said. She seemed to understand Matt's annoyance and impatience, and he imagined she was sharing it. ‘We can't expect to find it quickly or easily,' she said.

‘Then we should get started, surely. What's the problem?'

Venture tapped his finger tips rapidly against the top of the desk. ‘Door,' he said to Robin. ‘Windows. I want to be certain there's no hint of a draught.'

The girl nodded without comment. She walked briskly over to the door and closed it. Then she checked that the windows were shut and sat down again. Matt watched her, feeling uneasy and confused.

‘The problem is,' Venture said once Robin was again seated, ‘that either Harper was lying to us, or your father lied to him. Either way, it's a warning that all is not what it seems.'

‘How do you know?' Matt asked. ‘What makes you think he was lying?'

It was Aunt Jane who answered. ‘Because your father never went to Robin's christening,' she said. ‘And he
never even knew …' She broke off. ‘Harper wouldn't make that up. So Arnie told him that for a reason.'

‘So that he'd repeat it to us,' Robin said. ‘It's a message of some sort.'

‘Indeed it is,' Venture agreed. ‘He always did like cryptic messages and coded clues.'

‘So what's it mean?' Matt asked.

‘Maybe nothing,' Venture replied. ‘Maybe it's simply a warning. To be on our guard. That there's something wrong.'

‘Like we didn't know that already,' Matt retorted. But his mind was working furiously, looking for some clue – anything they'd listen to and act upon. ‘Perhaps it's something to do with the message he left me,' he murmured, though he couldn't see what the connection might be.

He thought he'd said it quietly, too quietly for anyone else to pick up. But Robin had heard: ‘What message, Matt?'

‘He left me a message, on a website,' Matt explained. ‘Like when I was a kid, he'd leave me clues. Like a treasure hunt,' he added, and immediately laughed at the irony of that. ‘Anyway, the message just said he was in trouble and to go to Aunt Jane's, that she could help. And …' He hesitated.

‘You never said anything about this,' Aunt Jane said. ‘You should have told me.'

Matt shrugged. ‘I didn't know
what
to tell you. I
wasn't really sure I'd understood, or what I could do. I didn't want to worry you, you know what Dad's like.'

‘And?' Venture prompted.

‘And I think he was telling me to come and see you,' Matt said to Venture. ‘Telling me you could help.'

‘Just as he told Harper,' Robin said. ‘He's making sure we get involved.'

‘But involved in what?' Matt wondered.

‘We may be embarking on a dangerous journey, against forces we do not yet know or understand,' Venture said. ‘And we must tread carefully.' He got up and went over to the window. He stood with his back to them, looking out across the lawn, watching the wind stirring the trees and playing with the fallen leaves. ‘I gather you're pretty good with computers,' he said without turning.

It took Matt a moment to work out that Venture meant him. ‘Er, yes. I s'pose.'

Venture turned, and Matt was surprised to see that he was grinning. He rubbed his hands together. ‘Then here's how we proceed,' he announced. ‘Matt will transfer the data from Harper's discs to the main computer in the library. That's a network server so we can access that data from any screen in the house.' He paused for a moment, looking at Robin. ‘Silicon chips,' he said quietly.

‘Silicon is sand,' she replied.

Venture nodded. ‘Never mind. We'll have to risk that. Everything's made of something after all.' This
made no sense to Matt, but before he could ask what the man meant, Venture was talking again – fast and enthusiastic. ‘Once we have access to the data, Robin and I can take a look at how far Arnold got and see where his research takes us. Harper assumes he was close to a breakthrough and the timing of his abduction bears that out.'

‘How do you know?' Aunt Jane asked. Matt was surprised how businesslike she sounded now.

Venture shrugged. ‘Why kidnap someone who's nowhere near finding what you want? No, they'd wait as late as they dared. The less they have to discover under coercion, the better for the abductor.'

‘So there is a time constraint,' Robin said.

‘We need more background,' Venture decided. ‘And backup. Jane, I think you should call Mr Smith and ask him if he can spare us an hour or two.'

She nodded, her face grave.

‘Who's he?' Matt wanted to know.

Aunt Jane looked to Venture, who took his time choosing his words. ‘Mephistopheles Smith,' he said at last, ‘is a friend and former colleague of mine. He has a lot of influence in circles I choose not to move in. We go back a long way.'

There were six DVDs to be copied. Matt created a folder for each inside a top-level folder called
St John
. The files on the DVDs were themselves divided into folders, and Matt was both pleased and saddened to recognise
his father's mixture of shorthand and abbreviation in folder and file names. He wasn't surprised that Harper had felt the need to provide an additional crib sheet explaining what each file was.

It took a while to copy the data as the DVDs held far more than an ordinary CD-ROM – which was presumably why Harper had used them. So he'd need fewer discs. Matt spent the time between switching discs and browsing the Internet. He did a search on the Treasure of St John and found there was very little about it. He saved what links he did find in another folder. There might be something useful that Dad had missed.

Lunch time came and went before he was done. Aunt Jane brought him a plate of sandwiches and a glass of Coke. It was mid-afternoon by the time he had finished setting up the folders, copying the files, and crosschecking them against Harper's printed listing.

There were notes against each of the files on the list – some of which were handwritten in a neat, feminine hand that was certainly not Dad's and Matt was willing to bet wasn't Harper's either. Matt typed these into the properties window for each file. That would save Venture from having to check back on the list. He kept the files in date order, in case there was a progression of thinking through the research. Some of the files were only two days old he saw – Harper had given them everything he had, obviously keeping them right up to date on the hunt.

The afternoon was turning to evening by the time he finished. Matt ejected the final disc from the DVD drive and replaced it in its case. He found Venture and Robin in Venture's study. Venture was at his desk, reading an old leather-bound book. Several more volumes were open in front of him, and in one hand he held a fountain-pen that seemed to be scratching notes on a pad without any attention from Venture as he read.

Robin was lying on her stomach on the floor. Her legs were bent up at the knees, her chin supported in her hands as she stared down at a large piece of parchment. Papers and books and maps and scrolls were spread out round her. She didn't seem to be taking notes.

‘Ah, Matt,' Venture said without looking up from his book. ‘Are you all finished?'

‘Yeah. It's all on the computer now. In a folder called
St John
. You should be able to see it from here.'

Venture glanced at the screen on his desk. He laid down his pen for long enough to move the mouse and type quickly into the keyboard. ‘Thank you.'

‘Anything else I can do?' Matt wondered.

‘Thank you, no.'

Matt nodded, disappointed. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, unsure what to do. Probably he should go.

‘Dad,' Robin said. It sounded like a mild rebuke.

‘That is, yes,' Venture corrected himself. ‘I'm sorry, I'm used to having Robin and your aunt helping me out.
I know you want to help too. There
is
something you can do.'

‘Anything.'

‘There's something I need. I wonder if you could fetch it for me?'

‘Dad.' This time she sounded disappointed. Which was pretty much how Matt felt about being sent to run errands.

Venture's directions sounded straightforward enough. But once Matt reached the top of the stairs and turned left, he began to wonder if he would ever find what he was looking for. A small stone statue, about a foot high, Venture had told him. It was a carving, apparently, of Sir Robert de Lisle rescued from the Priory of Beauval in France after the buildings were destroyed by the invading Germans in 1939. Venture seemed to recall there was an inscription, or part of an inscription on the base.

It seemed unlikely to Matt that it would help. But he was keen to show he could be of use. Get a simple task like this wrong and Venture would never trust him with something that did actually matter. He wondered how Venture came to have the statue, but the question fled from his mind as he opened the door to the room where the statue was supposed to be, and found himself looking into a linen cupboard.

There was no space for a statue, even a small one, amongst the folded sheets and blankets. Matt closed the
door again and went back to the stairs. Fourth along on the right, Venture had said. He counted again, and it brought him back to the linen cupboard. He must have meant fourth room, not fourth door, Matt decided, and went to the next door along. Unless some of the rooms had more than one door, in which case …

He opened the door anyway. There should be a cupboard to the left of the window. It was difficult to tell if there was or not. The curtains were drawn, and the room was a mass of shadows. Matt felt for the light switch, and as he pressed it found himself staring into a room full of crates and packing cases. There were shelves and cupboards, tables and filing cabinets amongst the crates. Books were piled precariously in islands amongst the other odds and ends. There was what looked like a gargoyle staring out from a large chunk of weathered stone leaning against one wall.