Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow Read Online Free PDF Page B

Bledsworth Sundries and Industries Inc.
    A griffin.
    The mythological monster had the head, wings, and claws of an eagle with the body, hind legs, and tail of a lion. With a black jewel for an eye, it was shown reared up as if ready to tear into some cowering prey. Some saidit also represented the corporation’s business practices: attacking the weak and devouring them whole.

    Jake had read up on the corporation during the flight from Connecticut to London. No one could quite say where or when the company had first started. It was hinted that its “sundries and industries” stretched back to medieval times. There were rumors that the Bledsworth family made their first fortune by selling false potions to protect against the Black Plague. They were also the ones who collected the dead bodies of the victims, piling them up on carts and selling off body parts for medical research. Truth or not, the Bledsworths came out of the Dark Ages with more gold than the king of England. Now considered fairly reputable, they owned an entire block in the financial center of Blackfriars.
    Jake sat straighter and cleared his throat. He asked the question that had been nagging him since he landed in London. “Mr. Drummond, sir, why is your company sponsoring the museum exhibit?”
    A heavy grumble answered him. It sounded littlepleased with his question. But even Kady lowered her compact mirror and removed one of her iPod’s earbuds to hear his answer.
    Morgan Drummond sighed. “It’s very expensive to put on this show. The extra guards, the electronic security…it cost the corporation a fortune just to convince the Mexican government to allow these national treasures to be taken out of the country.”
    From the tone of his voice, the man was not happy that his company was spending so much money on something so frivolous.
    “Then why is the corporation doing it?” Jake asked.
    Drummond leaned closer. “Mr. Bledsworth insisted. And no one goes against Mr. Bledsworth.”
    Jake frowned. He had read all about the reclusive head of the corporation: Sigismund Oliphant Bledsworth IX.
    In his nineties, the man represented the ninth generation to carry the Bledsworth family name—but unmarried with no children, he would be the last. Only a few photographs existed of Sigismund Oliphant Bledsworth IX. Jake could find only one on the computer, taken when Bledsworth was a much younger man: a stick of a man in a British military uniform. Like his medieval ancestors, his past was clouded with rumors of misdeeds—stories of stealing art treasures from France and Germany during the confusion of war. He had also been stationed in Egypt.
    But after World War II, all sightings of the head of Bledsworth Sundries and Industries dried up. He had become more ghost than man.
    Jake’s brows pinched. “But what’s Mr. Bledsworth’s interest in putting on this show?”
    “You truly don’t know?” Morgan Drummond asked.
    Jake shrugged, turned to his sister, then back to the large man. “No.”
    “Mr. Bledsworth felt obligated. A debt to be paid.”
    “A debt?”
    “To your parents.”
    The air suddenly grew heavier in the limousine. Jake found it harder to breathe.
    Drummond leaned back in his seat and dissolved back into the shadows. “Who do you think financed your parents’ Mayan dig? Who do you think sent them in the first place?”
    Jake frowned. Mr. Bledsworth? Could it be true? Had the mysterious head of Bledsworth Sundries and Industries paid to have his mother and father explore the Mayan peak known as the Mountain of Bones?
    Why?
    The chauffeur called from the front as the limousine slowed.
    “We’ve reached the museum, sir.”
     
    Flashes and camera lights blinded as Jake and Kady exited the dark interior of the stretch limo. Jake took a step backin shock, but he had nowhere to retreat. Behind him, Morgan Drummond unfolded his large bulk and rose up like a wall.
    “Just keep moving,” he muttered under his breath.
    Drummond herded