“When was that?”
“Several days ago. However, earlier today he did leave a message. Thanks to static, it was virtually incomprehensible, but I recognized his voice and heard your name. I couldn’t understand anything else. That’s one of the reasons I gave you a call. To see if you had spoken.”
“And you thought I would help him with smuggling?”
“Jonathon, please keep in mind I’m not talking about stealing or selling items on the black market. I would never support either of those activities. I’m talking about smuggling for academic purposes. Without it, we wouldn’t know half the things we do about Egypt, Greece, or Rome. Without it, we would still view the Mayans, Incas, and Aztecs as savages, not the innovators that they were. Without it, the Ulster Archives never would have existed, because the Nazis would have seized my grandfather’s collection before he smuggled it out of Austria. And if that had happened, I would have been denied the greatest pleasure of my life!”
Ulster paused, trying to calm himself. “I realize smuggling is an ugly word. But in the world of antiquities, it is often a necessary evil to unlock the mysteries of the past.”
12
Winter Palace Saint Petersburg, Russia
The boat was named the Meteor. It was tied to the quay on the Neva River behind the Winter Palace. Stretching along the waterfront, the green-and-white fortress had nearly two thousand windows and looked as if it had been built in France. In fact, much of Saint Petersburg looked French. This was a Western European city that happened to be in Russia.
On any other occasion, Allison Taylor would have enjoyed the scenery. She would have stopped to take pictures of the palace where Cath erine the Great once lived. She would have roamed the halls of the Hermitage Museum, admiring the art of Michelangelo, Monet, Rem brandt, and Van Gogh. She would have sat in the Palace Square, watching the other tourists as they gazed at the Alexander Column in the center of the plaza.
But today, none of those things were possible.
Not if she wanted to live.
As she ran to the station at the end of the platform, her blond hair fluttered in the breeze. She was an attractive woman in her mid-twenties with eyes the color of sapphires. In a city where Nordic models roamed the streets, she definitely fit right in. She was tall and lean and striking.
She was also trembling with fear.
She bought her ticket at the last possible moment to make sure no one was following. She scanned the crowd on the long wharf, searching for anyone who looked suspicious before making her way to the boat. She needed to reach her destination before dark, and this was her best option. No stops. No traffic. No distractions of any kind. She knew her intellect was the key to survival. She had to stay sharp or she’d be dead before dawn.
Taking a deep breath, Allison stepped on board and refused to sit down until the crew pushed away from the shore. She stood there, restless, nervously biting her lip, expecting someone to burst from the crowd and jump aboard the Meteor before she had a chance to jump off. But that didn’t happen. The motor sprang to life, and within seconds she could see water churning behind them as they slowly picked up speed. Only then did she search for a seat.
She found an empty row in the back of the crowded hydrofoil. It gave her a great view of her fellow passengers as they glided down the Neva River through the southwest corner of the city. In forty minutes they would reach the Gulf of Finland, an important arm of the Baltic Sea. It separated Russia from Scandinavia and Allison from her freedom.
At least that’s what she had been told.
Seventeen miles later, the Meteor arrived at the lower park of the Peterhof. Dozens of tourists stood near the water’s edge, patiently waiting for their return trip to Saint Petersburg. Allison eyed them suspiciously before she left the boat and walked across the long pier toward the wooded shore. She was wearing blue jeans, a T-shirt, and a white blouse, a simple outfit that would help her blend in with all the people in the park. It would be closing shortly, and when it did, she hoped to disappear into the crowd.
Known as the Russian Versailles for its similarities to the château in France, the Peterhof was a series of palaces, fountains, and gardens that had been built as the summer residence of Peter the Great. Designed in 1714, the most remarkable feature of the sprawling grounds was the central role of water—whether it was the sea that bordered half the complex or the massive canal that bisected it. Allison had seen pictures of the Peterhof when she was in junior high and had marveled at its opulence, but nothing had prepared her for the things she was about to see.
Her first glimpse of the grounds came from the boat platform near the Meteor. She was walking across a concrete bridge when she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. Paranoid, she glanced in that direction and saw a large pair of geysers spouting water on both sides of the channel that ran from the palace to the edge of the bay. Behind them was another pair of fountains. And another. And another. In fact, there were so many fountains blending in with one another that she was unable to count them from where she was standing.