thinking that he shouldn’t worry so much, since he wasn’t always the one in charge. Nadia was a resourceful person, as she had demonstrated on many occasions. He should never forget that.
Fifteen minutes later they were back at street level, and soon heard the voices of tourists. They walked faster and blended into the crowd. They did not see Armadillo again.
• • •
“Do you know anything about scorpions, Kate?” Alexander asked his grandmother when they all met back at the hotel.
“Some of the kinds they have in India are very poisonous. You can die from their bites. I hope that won’t happen, because that would delay our trip, and I don’t have time for funerals,” she replied, feigning indifference.
“I haven’t been bitten yet.”
“Then why are you interested?”
“I wanted to know if the scorpion means something. Is it a religious symbol, for instance?”
“The serpent is, especially the cobra. According to legend, a gigantic cobra watched over Buddha as he meditated. But I don’t know anything about scorpions.”
“Can you find out?”
“I would have to get in touch with that dreadful Ludovic Leblanc. Are you sure you want to ask me to make that sacrifice, child?” the writer grumbled.
“I think it could be very important, grandmother . . . Sorry, I mean Kate.”
So Kate plugged in her laptop and sent an e-mail to the professor. Given the difference in time, it wasn’t feasible to call him. She didn’t know when the answer would come, but she hoped it would be soon, because she wasn’t sure she could use her computer in the Forbidden Kingdom. Following a hunch, she sent another message to her friend Isaac Rosenblat, asking if he knew anything about the Golden Dragon that supposedly existed in the country they were traveling to. To her surprise, the jeweler replied immediately.
Dear girl! What a pleasure to hear from you! Of course I know about that statue. Every serious jeweler knows its description, it’s one of the rarest and most precious objects in the world. No one has seen your famous dragon, and it has never been photographed, but there are drawings of it. It’s about two feet long and is thought to be solid gold, but that isn’t all: the craftsmanship is very ancient and very beautiful. In addition, it is covered with precious stones. According to legend, its eyes alone—just those two perfect, absolutely symmetrical, star rubies—are worth a fortune. Why do you ask? I don’t suppose that you’re planning to steal the dragon, the way you did the diamonds in the Amazon?
Kate e-mailed back, assuring the jeweler that robbery was precisely what she was planning, and decided not to remind him that Nadia had found the diamonds. It suited her to have Isaac Rosenblat believe she was capable of having stolen them. That way, she calculated, she would keep her former suitor’s interest alive. She burst out laughing, but the laughter quickly turned into a fit of coughing. She dug through one of her many carryalls and pulled out a canteen containing her Amazon remedy.
Professor Ludovic Leblanc’s reply was long and confusing, like everything he did. He began with an exhausting explanation of how, among his many attributes, he had been the first anthropologist to discover the meaning of the scorpion in Sumerian, Egyptian, Hindu, and . . . blah-blah-blah . . . mythology; then followed with twenty-three paragraphs on his accomplishmentsand knowledge. But sprinkled here and there in those twenty-three paragraphs were several very interesting facts, which Kate Cold was able to extract from the tangle. The aging writer heaved a sigh of boredom, thinking what a burden it was to have to put up with that peevish man. She had to reread the message several times to be able to summarize the important parts.
“According to Leblanc, there is a sect in the north of India that worships the scorpion. Its members have that figure branded on their skin, usually on the back of the
Fifteen minutes later they were back at street level, and soon heard the voices of tourists. They walked faster and blended into the crowd. They did not see Armadillo again.
• • •
“Do you know anything about scorpions, Kate?” Alexander asked his grandmother when they all met back at the hotel.
“Some of the kinds they have in India are very poisonous. You can die from their bites. I hope that won’t happen, because that would delay our trip, and I don’t have time for funerals,” she replied, feigning indifference.
“I haven’t been bitten yet.”
“Then why are you interested?”
“I wanted to know if the scorpion means something. Is it a religious symbol, for instance?”
“The serpent is, especially the cobra. According to legend, a gigantic cobra watched over Buddha as he meditated. But I don’t know anything about scorpions.”
“Can you find out?”
“I would have to get in touch with that dreadful Ludovic Leblanc. Are you sure you want to ask me to make that sacrifice, child?” the writer grumbled.
“I think it could be very important, grandmother . . . Sorry, I mean Kate.”
So Kate plugged in her laptop and sent an e-mail to the professor. Given the difference in time, it wasn’t feasible to call him. She didn’t know when the answer would come, but she hoped it would be soon, because she wasn’t sure she could use her computer in the Forbidden Kingdom. Following a hunch, she sent another message to her friend Isaac Rosenblat, asking if he knew anything about the Golden Dragon that supposedly existed in the country they were traveling to. To her surprise, the jeweler replied immediately.
Dear girl! What a pleasure to hear from you! Of course I know about that statue. Every serious jeweler knows its description, it’s one of the rarest and most precious objects in the world. No one has seen your famous dragon, and it has never been photographed, but there are drawings of it. It’s about two feet long and is thought to be solid gold, but that isn’t all: the craftsmanship is very ancient and very beautiful. In addition, it is covered with precious stones. According to legend, its eyes alone—just those two perfect, absolutely symmetrical, star rubies—are worth a fortune. Why do you ask? I don’t suppose that you’re planning to steal the dragon, the way you did the diamonds in the Amazon?
Kate e-mailed back, assuring the jeweler that robbery was precisely what she was planning, and decided not to remind him that Nadia had found the diamonds. It suited her to have Isaac Rosenblat believe she was capable of having stolen them. That way, she calculated, she would keep her former suitor’s interest alive. She burst out laughing, but the laughter quickly turned into a fit of coughing. She dug through one of her many carryalls and pulled out a canteen containing her Amazon remedy.
Professor Ludovic Leblanc’s reply was long and confusing, like everything he did. He began with an exhausting explanation of how, among his many attributes, he had been the first anthropologist to discover the meaning of the scorpion in Sumerian, Egyptian, Hindu, and . . . blah-blah-blah . . . mythology; then followed with twenty-three paragraphs on his accomplishmentsand knowledge. But sprinkled here and there in those twenty-three paragraphs were several very interesting facts, which Kate Cold was able to extract from the tangle. The aging writer heaved a sigh of boredom, thinking what a burden it was to have to put up with that peevish man. She had to reread the message several times to be able to summarize the important parts.
“According to Leblanc, there is a sect in the north of India that worships the scorpion. Its members have that figure branded on their skin, usually on the back of the
Similar Books
