The Lost Tribes, page 14
“Go ahead and have dinner, Ben. Don’t wait for us.”
Grimacing, Ben donned oven mitts, pulled the ceramic dish out of the oven, spooned a large helping of vegetarian casserole on a plate, then dumped three-quarters of it down the garbage disposal. He ran the disposal with plenty of water and soap to erase the evidence, then put the remaining bits of vegetable goop and the dirty plate in the sink. He filled a glass with ice and pulled a bottle of Orangina from a secret compartment in his backpack. He could throw the bottle out at school or slip it to his father and his mother wouldn’t be any wiser. A thick and chunky Butterfinger candy bar from the school vending machine would complete his satisfying meal.
On his way upstairs he noticed the door to the den was open.
“Aris?”
The cat was nowhere to be found. Probably outside torturing some innocent creature.
Ben replayed the afternoon’s events. Ninety minutes of flawless drills and he’d barely broken a sweat. Even so, he couldn’t get the missing satellite dish, cryptic clues about his friend’s families and a heist of the British Museum out of his mind.
Against his better judgment, Ben walked into the den.
The stainless steel monitor lay dormant against the paneled walls. Ben removed his shoes to keep from tracking dirt on the Persian rug. His feet crushed the silk pile as he walked across the room. The rug recovered and left no trace of his footprints.
There WAS a satellite dish. And he’d seen the den fill with holograms. The computer had to be somewhere in the room.
He opened the top drawer of the desk. No keyboard. He searched the other drawers, then underneath the desk and chair.
Nothing.
Ben searched the credenza and found one of the drawers locked. He remembered seeing a key in his father’s desk and removed it without disturbing the other items. He felt like a spy.
Like father, like son?
He slipped the key into the lock, turned, and found only a small mahogany box.
Ben tugged on the pewter handle, unhinged the latch and swung the doors open. Inside, a pair of knives hung side by side. One was tightly wrapped with a black silk cloth. The other, loosely draped in white cotton.
Black and White.
Yin and Yang.
It was the recurring theme in the Webster household. Like everything else his parents collected, the carved silver knives looked old and ceremonial. The two-inch blades were too small to do any real damage.
Ben closed the box and resumed his search for the hidden computer. Only a few items were arranged on the desk: a bronze bust from Benin, a scratch pad bearing the university logo and an engraved desk set with a silver-plated clock that Ben and April had given him for Father’s Day three years ago. Ben knew the inscription by heart.
“To the Best Dad on Earth!”
The scratch pad was flipped to the second page. Normally, Ben wouldn’t have given it a second thought. But the week’s weird activities had his paranoia meter operating on overtime. He lifted the sheet and held it up to the light. The impression of handwriting was imbedded in the paper, but he couldn’t read it. He put the pad down and gave up. No keyboard, no conspiracy, no mystery. His father had to be playing an advanced holographic game. That was it. The family secret. Ben felt foolish for thinking it could be anything else.
You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming.
As he bent to replace his shoes he remembered a field trip to make rubbings of headstones. Would it work in reverse? He listened for the sound of cars.
Still safe.
Kicking off his sneakers, he retrieved a pencil from the front of his backpack along with a sheet of paper. He placed the paper over the notepad and rubbed the graphite pencil over the impressions. Words and numbers emerged. Ben paused. Scribbled on the note pad were locations he recognized. Like his uncle’s game, but different.
First Dynasty pendant - British Museum
N 51 W 0
Hope diamond - Smithsonian Museum
N 38.55 W 77.2
Estrucan medallion - Vatican City
N 41.54 E 12.27
Abort mission - recall teams -
Arecibo W 66.45 11.1 N 18 20 36.6
Pentagon N 38 52.17 W 77 3.48
White House N 38 5 3.86 W 77 2.21
Space shuttle launch pad N 28 36.76 W 80 36.65
Panic spread through his body. He shoved the paper in his pocket, rushed outside to the greenhouse and dropped to his knees near the potting table. His father had returned from Kenya with a black pouch. A pouch filled with rock samples he didn’t want Ben to see. Something had fallen out that day.
Ben swept his hand across the floor and felt something lodged near the back leg of the table. He stretched and teased it out with his fingers. Suddenly his hands felt like ice, his heart stopped and his world began collapsing around him.
In his hand was a flawless, sparkling diamond.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Revelation
Only a wise person can solve a difficult problem.
Akan proverb
Ben retreated to his bedroom. Who was his father? Mild mannered professor by day, brilliant mastermind of an international ring of jewel thieves by night? And the way his father handled a ball? Was clumsy and inept his cover story?
He struggled to get a grip on his feelings. Suddenly, he understood how Carlos felt.
Call Carlos?
Not an option. Carlos was a basket case at school, barely talked or smiled. He had made it clear that he’d been happier with his delusions of family bliss. Whenever Ben tried to bring up the game. Carlos just shrugged and walked away.
Call Grace?
She was the one person he could rely on. He dialed the first three digits, thought better of it and hung up. Phone might be bugged. He Skyped her instead.
“Hey! Caught me just in time. Mom and Dad are leaving for Tibet tomorrow morning so I asked if I could hang out at Serise’s house. Her mom’s driving us to school anyway. Then she’s leaving for Arizona for a ritual. What’s up with this block? Doesn’t anyone ever stay home anymore? By the way, how was practice?” Grace chattered away as if life were normal.
“Hmm? Great. Slam dunk.”
He felt a jolt in the pit of his stomach and bit his lip. Her parents were leaving for Tibet?
“Shan can go without you. Tibet’s a walk in the park compared to London …”
A million images of doom streamed through his brain. He stared at the black collar on his desk. Nothing from the game was real — so how could this still be here?
“Earth to Ben? Don’t you have some news to share?” Grace batted her eyes coyly.
“Huh?” Ben said, distracted.
“I heard a rumor that you made the team! Congratulations! It’s what you always wanted!” Grace chattered away as she threw clothes in a beige tote bag. “Sinking Ship hasn’t won a championship in years. I overheard Coach Ito tell the Principal that it was in the bag now that you’re on the starting line-up.”
“Thanks. Glad to hear he’s happy about it.” Some distant internal thrill — a spark of excitement over hearing that he was the subject of positive communication for a change — was bulldozed by flashbacks to his father’s phone conversation.
“I don’t want Kurosh to know what we’re attempting. He’s set on aborting the mission …”
Who or what was Kurosh?
“Happy? That’s the understatement of the century. Coach Ito was ecstatic,” Grace continued. “By the way, I had a question. Is something going on between your Dad and Serise’s? She said he was arguing on the phone with someone last night. She thought it was your dad. He told the guy to control his coorosh — or at least she thinks that’s what he said. What’s a coorosh? Is that a slang word for ‘temper’? Your dad doesn’t have a temper.”
Ben jolted out of his daydream. His stomach turned. “Don’t know.” Another half-truth? He didn’t know what the truth was anymore. “I heard him arguing with someone too, but don’t know what it was about.” Ben sucked air through his teeth.
Sorry, Grace.
What would he tell her? That all the parents were thieves and the game is connected? He needed more evidence. Carlos was already freaked out. Why increase the body count? The only way to be sure was to solve the game himself.
“ … clock is ticking, Ben.”
Ben looked at his own clock and heard a familiar refrain echo in his brain.
Got any clues?
“Hey,” Grace said, as she tossed Theodore on the top of the her tote bag. “What’s up with Carlos? He asked me about my dad and when I told him he was in South America he got all quiet and moody.”
“He thought your father was at a U.N. conference.”
“He was. In Peru. But why would Carlos care?”
“I don’t think he does,” Ben lied again. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. “I just think he’s feeling under the weather.”
“Oh. Right. Putting in too many hours. But not me! I’m stoked. Can’t wait to get back into the game. I’m addicted. We’ve got one day left to solve it, right? Serise and I got through all the homework during free period.”
“Okay,” Ben said. “See how far you can get. I’ll do stuff on this end. Then we’ll put all the clues together and find out what the big surprise is later this week.”
“Are you kidding? I want to know now!” Grace smiled. “I know, I know. It’ll take a long time because we have to walk everywhere. Guess we could turn the 3D simulation off. Those short cuts are great — better than taking a plane. Did you know Serise is scared to fly?”
Ben stared at the altar, the Guardian and the canopic jars. “No. I didn’t.”
Grace pulled reference books from her shelf and filled another bag. “By the way, we have a present for you!” She transmitted a file.
Ben opened it — more Pigpen gobbledy gook.
“Well?”
“Well, what?” asked Ben.
“Translate it!”
Ben ran Serise’s program. The boxes converted using numbers and symbols instead of the alphabet.
The answers to tomorrow’s math homework.
“So you stay focused on the game! Told you Serise wasn’t such a terrible person. I’m still working on the riddle but I’m not asking her for help. Promise. That’s just between you and me.”
“Need a hint?” Ben asked, trying hard to sound cheerful.
“Nope, I’ll get it. I just need to figure out what can be more evil than the Devil but will kill me if I eat it and I’ll have it locked down.” She grinned. “Oh, I see that mopey look on your face. Don’t worry about Serise. You and I are still best buds. I just think Serise is lonely. When you’re nice to her, she kind of settles down. Plus, you should see how fast she burns through homework. Like a supercomputer’s built in her head.”
Ben’s heart ached. He wanted so much to confide in Grace, but he didn’t have the heart to tell her about his theories. He’d done enough damage.
Uncle Henry had said something about the “family business.” What is he trying to say?
Were the parents the good guys?
Or the bad guys?
Ben suspected, from his uncle’s tone on the driveway, that the message was meant for him.
Not his friends.
Not April.
Just him.
And he had not found a single gem on his own.
Not one.
He slumped in his chair and gazed at the waterless vase on his desk. His heart skipped once, then twice. His mother’s flowers looked as fresh as the day he cut them. The one from the Lopez’s garden drooped downward, shriveled and dead from lack of moisture.
“Hey Grace? Can you do me a favor?”
“Do ya have to ask? What’s up?”
“I need to borrow your computer, the PC if you aren’t taking it with you. I want to set up a wireless link to the Internet so I can look up information while I’m playing.”
“Great idea! Serise has more than one too. Your brain is working on overdrive! I’ll drop it off on the way to her house. See you in a few!” Grace was hyper and bouncing off the walls.
“Thanks.” Ben plastered on another forced smile. Grace was not easily fooled, but he tried his best to keep it up until she logged off. A car pulled into the driveway.
Doors slammed — one, two.
Giggling.
Animated talking.
His mother and April were home. He could have used a few more minutes alone.
He stared at his monitor. The answers to the math questions were all there, tempting him. All he had to do was copy them down and he was home free.
Time to start figuring things out for yourself, Webster.
At that moment Ben did something that surprised even him. He closed the window, quit the decryption program and dragged Serise’s math file to the trash.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Islas Ballestas
“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
Andre Gide
Armed with Grace’s laptop, Ben gestured for April to come in.
“Want to team up?” he asked. “I need a buddy. What do you say?”
April grinned. “Do my book report if I say yes? Mom blocked all the Internet sites so I can’t find any answers. I have to read the whole stinkin’ book myself! By Friday!”
Ben smiled. His mom’s evil filters were everywhere. “What’s the book about?”
“Some kids searching for a new place to live.” April closed her eyes, put her head on her shoulder and pretended to snore. “Why don’t they just go to an ATM and get some money and check into a hotel?”
Ben scowled. April was so spoiled. She and Serise were a good match.
“Don’t push your luck. You know you want to play as much as I do.” He quickly got her up to speed on the Easter Island scenario. April was quiet for a long time before she spoke.
“The people on Easter Island … most of them are gone forever.” She stopped, bowed her head in silent prayer and then said, “Okay. I get it. Maybe they’re one of the lost tribes. I’ll go with you.”
At first it seemed like a good idea. He could hoist April into places he couldn’t reach. Instead he said, “I’ve got to go to a place called Islas Ballestas. You don’t want to go. It’s pretty gross.”
“That’s okay,” she said. “I can handle it.”
“No!” Ben had to think double time to come up with an excuse to keep her from coming along. “Someone has to hit the escape key in case I get stuck or the game crashes. You stay behind and be my control center.”
April cocked her head to the side. “Sounds boring.”
“It means you get to be the boss.” When April’s eyes widened, Ben added. “Not forever. Just this one time!”
She scowled and crossed her arms. “No deal.”
“Come on!” Ben pleaded. “You can tell me where to go. Besides, everything I see, you can see on the monitor. You can control the game manually, but warn me if you decide to zap me someplace weird.”
April cocked her head and gave him a sideways glance. It was no use arguing with her.
Ben groaned. “Okay. You can come along.”
“You didn’t have a choice,” April said, clearly pleased with herself.
Islas Ballestas was still listed among the options when the game booted up. April dialed the code and they were whisked to an island that was — as advertised — gross, slippery and reeking of excrement.
Jagged rocks rose out of the sea. Not very hospitable to humans but a paradise for the animals that made it their home. Hundreds, maybe thousands of birds perched along the hillside. Rivers of white slime dribbled down the reddish brown rocks like icing on a bundt cake.
Guano.
Poop.
Fertilizer.
Ben and April stood on one of the few rocks not covered in it.
“If I had been a slave I would have thrown myself into the sea and drowned rather than harvest this stuff,” Ben said.
“Not me. I would have made those slave traders eat it until they choked.” April pointed toward the mainland where a giant drawing was etched into the hillside. Hey! What’s that? Looks like a humongous alien stick figure with monster hands.”
“Or a candleholder,” Ben said.
“Or a cactus,” said April. “Think it’s a clue?”
“Maybe. I still vote for candleholder.”
“Maybe it lights the way at night,” April said. “Or maybe we should find a light. Or maybe we should look for a big monster. Does it mean we’ve seen the light?”
April’s inane chattering made Ben wish he’d left her behind.
Startled by a different noise, Ben ducked behind a boulder and pulled April alongside him. A speedboat approached, loaded with tourists dressed in bright orange life preservers. The tourists greedily snapped pictures. The guide pointed out various features of the island over a microphone.
“Islas Ballestas is home to many species such as the blue footed booby, humboldt penguins, seals and …”
“Ooh!” “Aah!” Snap! Snap! Flash!
“Note the large keyholes cut into the rock by centuries of pounding surf!”
Snap! Flash! “Ooh!” “Aah!”
“And behind us you get a good view of El Candelabro,” continued the guide. “It remains a mystery how that geoglyph was created. Or even who created it.”
“Ooh!” Snap. Flash. “Aah!”
“See! I knew it was a candleholder,” Ben whispered. “Now I wish those people would get lost so we can finish looking around.”
After several more minutes of gawking and picture taking, the tour boat sped off. The atmosphere became serene and peaceful as waves of aquamarine water and foamy white surf lapped at the shore. Hoards of sea lions lounged along the beach, their flippers extended, their coarse brown and black coats shining in the sun. They watched Ben and April with sad, soulful eyes.
“Aren’t the sea lions cute?” April said, moving out from behind the boulder.
“Cute wouldn’t be my word for them.” Ben returned his attention to the cliffs behind him and spotted the penguins the tour guide mentioned. Something else caught his attention. A condor. It banked and dipped as if searching for a meal among the mammals on the beach. It swooped over Ben and slimed him on the shoulder.
