The Midas Code

Cavano smiled. “Remember the Ministry of Health building? I now own it. Or I will on Monday. Italian austerity measures forced its sale. Once I take possession, my demolition team will tear the foundation apart until we find the tunnel. After that, it will merely be a matter of time until I find the chamber. You can either get nothing with Jordan or you can name your price with me.”

“And if we don’t know him?”

“I’ll soon find out the truth if you don’t cooperate.” Cavano obviously meant torture.

Tyler paused, then said, “Three million dollars. Each.”

Stacy swung her head around so fast, her own hair hit her in the face. “What are you doing?”

Tyler put a hand on her arm. “It’s okay. If she wants to triple the million Orr is paying each of us, I’m happy to go with the high bidder.” He looked at Stacy, who nodded slowly.

Cavano arched her eyebrows. “Done. Three million.”

She pressed the button again, and the bodyguard returned, this time holding a gun. He frisked Tyler and took his Leatherman multi-tool and cell phone. Stacy handed over her phone as well.

“What’s this?” Tyler said. “What about our deal?”

“I’m sorry,” Cavano said, “but I’ll have to detain you until our business is complete. If you fulfill your end of the bargain, you will get your three million dollars each, but until then you will have to remain here as my guests.” She spoke Italian again, leaving Tyler to guess that she was telling the bodyguard which room to lock them up in.

“I am needed elsewhere at this time, so Pietro will show you where you’ll be staying. I assume you don’t mind sharing a room.” She grinned at her intimation and left.

Pietro motioned with his pistol for them to get up. English didn’t seem to be his forte.

Tyler and Stacy stood.

“You know,” Tyler said, “you could shoot your eye out with that thing.”

Nothing. The bodyguard’s face didn’t change a bit. Not that Tyler thought his joke was funny, but if the man understood even a bit of English, he’d at least expect a roll of the eyes.

They began the walk down the hall, confident that they could talk without being understood.

“So what do we do now?” Stacy said.

“We get out of here.”

“How?”

“I’m working on it.”

“Work faster.”

The bodyguard said something in Italian and gestured for them to start climbing a wide marble staircase that wound around and up to a second-story balcony.

At the first corner, an enormous porcelain vase was precariously perched on a wooden pedestal.

Tyler nodded at it. “Be careful.”

Stacy shot him an annoyed look. “You’re worried about a stupid vase-” That’s when Tyler pushed her into it with his hip.

Stacy bumped the table, and the vase teetered over. Her instinct was to try to steady the delicate artwork, and that was exactly the first impulse of the bodyguard as well.

Pietro was distracted for only a moment, but it was enough. He reached out to catch the vase, and when he did, Tyler slammed him into the wall. Pietro’s head knocked against the hardwood, and Tyler bashed his wrist at the same time. The pistol dropped to the marble, and so did Pietro, who cracked his head again. He tumbled down the stairs, still breathing but out cold.

Tyler picked up the gun and took back his Leatherman and his phone. He also took Pietro’s phone and handed Stacy’s back to her. “Fast enough for you?”

It had all happened so quickly that Stacy was still holding the vase.

“What… I… ” she stammered as she pushed it back onto the stand.

“Come on.” Tyler grabbed her arm, raced down the stairs, and turned toward the study.

“Aren’t we getting the hell out of here?” Stacy said, looking over her shoulder.

“Not without that tablet.”

They ran into the study and closed the doors. Tyler flipped the gun around and used the butt to shatter the glass around the tablet.

“Let me take it,” Stacy said. “It’s very fragile.”

She plucked the hinged pieces of wood out of the display case and folded them together. Tyler was about to open the door for a dash to the Range Rover when shouts outside the office stopped him. Somebody had found Pietro.

“Crap! What do we do now?” Stacy said.

Tyler pointed to the field outside. “Through the window.”

He took out Pietro’s phone and dialed a number as quickly as he could. He was relieved when it was answered on the first ring.

“Aiden MacKenna.”

“It’s Tyler.”

“Whose phone are you-” Aiden started before Tyler interrupted him.

“Aiden, start recording this call, and whatever you do, don’t hang up.”

Tyler took the phone, reached as high as he could on the bookshelf, and placed it out of sight on top of a row of books.

Stacy waved her hands at Tyler to hurry. “Let’s go!”

He threw open the window. By now, alarms would be going off throughout the estate. Tyler didn’t know how many other Pietro types Cavano had, but he wouldn’t be surprised to see a small army materialize.

He lowered Stacy to the ground, then jumped down. She started to run around the house, but Tyler pulled her in the other direction.

“But the cars are that way,” she protested.

“That’s where they’ll expect us to go.”