Free Return to Atlantis: A Novel by Andy McDermott Page A

almost a tongue twister,” said Lola, sitting. “But … well, you’d know it when you saw it. Everyone else does.”
    “
Everyone
thinks I have a look? Oh, great,” Nina said, exasperated. “I thought I was a half-decent boss, but apparently I’m some terrifying flame-haired Medusa stalking the halls with her deadly
look
.”
    “Only occasionally,” Lola said with a teasing smile. “By the way, Mr. Penrose asked me to call him when you arrived. He wants to see you.”
    “Tell him I’m here,” said Nina, starting for her office.
    “Okay. Oh, by the way, how was your dinner with Eddie’s dad?” Nina glowered at her. “There’s the look again,” Lola said, hurriedly picking up the phone.
    Penrose was in Nina’s office less than ten minutes later. “There’s been a development regarding the statues.”
    “What kind of development?”
    “They’ve been found.”
    Her eyes widened. “Stikes has been caught?”
    “I’m afraid not. But they’re secure, and apparently intact. They’re in Japan.”
    “Japan? Who’s got them?”
    “Do you know of a man called Takashi Seiji?” Nina shook her head. “He’s a Japanese businessman, the head of Takashi Industries.”
    “Never heard of it.”
    “I’m not really surprised—it’s the kind of company that owns dozens of other companies that you probably
have
heard of. But that’s not important. What does matter is that he has all three statues. Here.” He handed her a color printout; it showed the trio of crudely carved figurines inside a display case.
    Nina examined the picture closely. As far as she could tell, the statues were in the same condition as when she had last seen them. “What’s his interest in them?”
    “He owns one of them.”
    She was startled. “What?”
    Penrose gave her another picture. In this there was only a single statue, the one discovered in the Khoils’ underground vault in Greenland. There was a date stamp in one corner: over ten years earlier. “He also supplied all the necessary certificates of ownership. It was stolen from him last year. Apparently by the same group that stole Michelangelo’s
David
and the Talonor Codex.”
    “Working for the Khoils,” Nina remembered. “But wait—Interpol tried to track down the owners of everything they’d stolen, and nobody ever claimed the statue. If he’d reported the theft, they would have returned it to him. Why didn’t he say anything?”
    “No idea. But there was a Japanese connection, as I recall—that exporter in Singapore got something out of the country for the Khoils.”
    “The statue?”
    “Possibly. But this is why Mr. Takashi wants to meet you.”
    “He’s coming here? Is he bringing the statues?”
    He hesitated. “Ah … actually, no. He wants you to see him. In Japan. He’s a recluse who doesn’t like traveling. Supposedly, he rarely leaves his penthouse.”
    “Who does he think he is, Howard Hughes?” Nina frowned, weighing up her options. On the one hand, she was already busy enough without adding a trip across the Pacific; on the other, it meant the possibility of finally uncovering the secret of the statues … “How did he get hold of them?”
    “Via the black market, it seems.”
    Disgust entered her voice. “Can we even trust this guy? Buying stolen antiquities on the black market isn’t exactly ethical.”
    “Mr. Takashi might be reclusive,” said Penrose, “but he’s also a major contributor to a number of United Nations charitable programs. The UN certainly trusts him. Besides, he’s told us that he’ll return the other two statuesto their countries. But first he wants you to examine them, to confirm that they’re genuine—and also to tell you what he knows about his statue.”
    “There are these marvelous new inventions called telephones. Has he heard of them?”
    Penrose smiled. “What can I say, Nina? Maybe he’s just a fan of yours. But we definitely think you should go. Securing the statues will ease the minds