Chapter 30: "Hey, old man…"

Maggie followed Nikko through the corridors to the lift. Her eyes widened when she saw the top floor light up as their destination, but she said nothing. Whatever was up there, it seemed she would soon find out. The lift whirred in mechanical efficiency, slowing to a stop with the barest of jolts. The doors slid open to reveal Solomon, pacing the floor in a complicated bubble of dread and impatience.

Maggie waved Nikko away, and the movement seemed to knock Solomon out of his concentrated reverie. His hand dropped from his face and folded over his other arm, wrapping around his stomach like there were a thousand butterflies trying to escape. The face that looked up to Maggie was as conflicted as she had ever seen him.

She sighed. "Solomon?"

Solomon drew in a long, steadying breath through his nose and let it out in a single sigh. "Maggie," he began, forcing himself to meet her expectant gaze. "There's something you should know. Something I've been keeping from you, though I swear: I had my reasons."

"You've been hiding Haley's artifact catalogue up here," Maggie told him, as placid as a lake under ice. She watched him gape like a fish and hurriedly re-route his chain of thought.

"Nikko?" Solomon muttered, waving a hand in the direction of the door his son had vanished through.

Maggie shook her head. "Oh please, Solomon: I know how hard you searched for it after it went missing. I remember how you chased every lead like finding it would bring back Haley herself. You put on a good show of giving up, cutting your losses, moving on, but you forget: I know you. I watched you and Haley fall in love. I was there whenever the two of you had a fight, ready to listen to you each vent, then watch you work out whatever differences there were. I was there when Nikko was born. I helped you talk Haley into taking some real time off as maternity leave afterwards. I helped Haley teach you how to change a diaper! I know there is no way you would give up on that search, unless, that is, you'd already found what you were looking for. What else would you isolate a whole floor for?"

Solomon's shoulders sunk, his head dropping with them to stare at his shoes. "I should have told you. I'm…"

"You did what was needed," Maggie told him. "I know who's out there looking for this. If the world saw me believing you'd given up, then maybe they'd believe you'd given up."

"Maggie…"

"I'm not angry, Solomon," she said, holding up a hand, "but I have been waiting to take a look at the catalogue for quite some time now, so if you don't mind…"

Solomon nodded, a lopsided grin curling one corner of his mouth, and pulled open the door. Inside, Nikko stood, peering at a large map, and Vincent stood watching the view from the window. When he turned, Maggie caught the fleeting expression disappearing from his quickly martialled features. She wondered at it, then put the thought away for later and turned to the shelves. A sparkle of blue caught her eye and she reached out a hand to a blue faience scarab, almost the size of her palm. Her hand paused in mid air and picked up the card beside the artefact rather than the artefact itself.

"This was one of our first finds," she smiled, perusing the photographs on the card of every side of the scarab. The incised hieroglyphs on the belly of the beetle contained a cartouche. "A scarab from the tomb of Amenhotep I. The tomb still hasn't been found, has it?"

"Not since then, no," smiled Solomon, more at ease now. "Listen, Maggie, there's a reason we've brought you into this now. There's more you need to know."

XXXX

Juliet weaved through the ever bustling New York streets. She couldn't exactly call Tony for her, their, plan to work, but if Vincent and Cal had been right, and Tony was being employed by, though not a member of, Dorna, then he may well have a similar plan in mind. Cal had been adamant Tony would try to get her back. Vincent had suggested she carry out her daily routine as normal and Tony would find her. While lunch was never exactly a routine for Juliet, she did have some eateries she favoured over others. She headed for the small diner she had visited most often with Tony. The sandwiches were great, the desserts were fantastic. The distance sucked. If she missed him there, she would be too late for lunch anywhere else without a Nikko-level excuse.

The diner came into view as Juliet turned a corner, and even from across the street she could see him. She halted, causing passers-by to bump into her in their unending rush to be elsewhere. Tony was sitting in the window, scanning the sidewalk every few seconds. He caught sight of her and stood up. Mind racing, Juliet scanned her options. She could keep going and tough it out: she wasn't going to walk away from one of her favourite food providers just because her ex also happened to patronise them. She could head over there and straight to him: how dare he show up like this! Or maybe she should go straight for the jugular: she made a mistake, could he ever take her back? She could turn on her heel and walk back the way she'd came; but what if he didn't follow her?

She looked at the street she'd just turned into and started walking down it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him hurry for the exit. It didn't take long before the New York serenade of car horns heralded his crossing of the road. Even though she was expecting it, Juliet tensed and backed away when an arm grabbed her and spun her round.

"Juliet! Finally!" panted a flushed and flustered Anthony Blake. He made another grab for her arm, but she pulled it back out of his reach.

"We're through, Anthony," snapped Juliet. "We discussed this. I was crystal clear!"

"You discussed this," pleaded Blake. "I just had to listen. Please, Juliet! Just hear me out! Let me buy you lunch, or coffee even! Just hear me out and I promise: if you still want nothing to do with me, I'll go!"

Juliet rolled her eyes. This was too easy. Begging her in the street? That was surely a move straight out of a cheesy chick-flick! Maybe the others were right after all. "Fine," she sighed. "One coffee. You say your piece, then I tell you where to go. Okay?"

"I'll take it," beamed Tony, sickeningly sycophantic. "Follow me: there's a great little place just round the corner. You'll love their coffee!"

XXXX

Just over 6 months ago, 9 days after the fall

Juliet waited impatiently as the manager rapped politely on the door in a way that would barely wake Vincent, never mind Cal, and Vincent was the lightest sleeper she had ever met! She explained again that through their work together she knew that Mister Banks was not a light sleeper, but was one who would be awake by this time of the morning and would not have gone anywhere without her. The placid smile and vaguely knowing look of the manager was infuriating. Perhaps Mister Banks had gone for a stroll? Perhaps he was in the shower? Juliet assured him of the unlikeliness of both suggestions and the numerous others that followed. Eventually, after a time long enough for Calvin to have showered, dressed, packed his bag and left via the window had he been so inclined, the manager consented to unlock the door.

The room might have been empty, but the strewn fittings and furnishings made it impossible to tell. Juliet raced in, calling Cal's name. His drawers had been tipped out and lay scattered about bed and floor. The contents of his rucksack lay equally disorientated. The few cupboards in the room hung open, the furnishings pulled out from their accustomed places. Juliet ignored the manager's protestations and searched through the ransacked room. The laptop was gone. She grabbed the rucksack and started packing Cal's things back into it. It was the easiest way to spot what else, if anything, was missing. His notebook was gone too. His limited wardrobe was intact, if she included the recently washed things hanging up in the bathroom, save for the clothes he had been wearing yesterday. Juliet checked the bathroom, collecting its contents as she did so. The toothbrush was dry. That suggested he was taken last night, not this morning. The photograph of Cal and Ibrahim sat open on the dresser, oddly untouched by the destruction around it. She scooped it up and finished refilling the rucksack in record time. The manager was still expostulating when she thanked him and left.

She hadn't heard anything last night, but Juliet had dropped into slumber like a brick into a millpond. It was hardly likely she could have done anything had she been there, but the boys weren't the only ones who knew how to fight. Not these days anyway. Either way, if she was right, Dorna had him. They would be after Ibrahim's find. Knowing this meant they didn't have it was small comfort when she considered Cal didn't have it either. They would demand the find or his help locating it and he wouldn't be able to give them what they wanted. Juliet shivered. She reached her door, unlocked it, stepped in and slammed it shut behind her. If they thought Cal needed persuading, Dorna wouldn't balk at torture. She began packing her own things. If they thought hurting him wasn't working, they might come after her. She could be no use to him if they caught her too, at least not before she'd had some time to make a plan.

Juliet looked down at the bag she was packing and the one with Cal's things. She couldn't carry both. Not all the time. Plus, she had the scroll. Whatever it was, she didn't want Dorna getting their grubby hands on it. Her teeth tugged at her lower lip in thought, then she dragged Cal's bag up beside her own. With the laptop and his notebook gone, there was room enough for her own notebook and the scroll to nestle among the other contents. She moved the remaining food and a few other items across from his bag to hers. There was a locker room here where customers could store luggage safely. She would leave Cal's bag there until she had him back or had to leave. The rest would go with her. The only way Dorna could have got into Cal's room unheeded was through the window. She would start her search below it, and she wouldn't stop until she found him.

XXXX

Cal shifted uneasily in his seat. Maggie had disappeared upstairs with Nikko hours ago and she still wasn't back. What worried him more was neither was Juliet. She hadn't even called or texted, as the Professor had asked her to if she thought she would be gone the rest of the day. Of course, he reminded himself, he hadn't seen the Professor in hours either. Juliet might have texted him, her boss, and not her boyfriend. The plan depended on Tony believing Cal was no longer her boyfriend after all. Well, one version of it did.

Footsteps sounded in the hall outside. Without thinking, Cal stood up, moving to meet the newcomer then wincing at the stiffness in his limbs.

"Hey, old man," grinned Nikko, throwing an apple from hand to hand. "They say it's all downhill after twenty five."

Cal prepared to growl back a riposte, but his indrawn breath died on his lips when he saw Nikko pause and look around the room. Time froze. Cal knew what he was going to hear even before the words started forming in Nikko's mouth.

The apple reached one hand and was still. Nikko looked directly at Calvin. "Where's Juliet?"