Stolen Read Online Free PDF Page B

calls after the doctor. “And thank you.” She turns to me with a smile that makes my knees go weak. “You saved my life.”
    â€œWhat was I going to do?” I ask. “Let your skeleton become part of the Mahogany Ship? That would just mess with archaeologists a hundred years from now. Besides, I haven’t heard how far you can go with this Pi thing.”
    Annabel’s lopsided grin broadens. “3.1415…”
    â€œEnough!” I say with a laugh. I’m still amazed at how easy it is to talk and joke with Annabel. Normally, I’m tongue-tied and awkward, especially around beautiful girls. It takes me a long time to get comfortable in anyone’s company, but I feel as if I’ve known Annabel all my life.
    â€œDo you feel up to going and grabbing a Coke?” I ask.
    â€œSure,” Annabel replies. “Bill is probably down in the cafeteria making his phone calls.”
    I help Annabel limp downstairs and get us a Coke and a donut each. We see Bill outside on his cell, pacing back and forth. He throws me a quick wave.
    As I carry our snacks to the table, I think back to the beach. “Bill said that Kelly is Pete’s father,” I say. “What was he doing down on the beach this morning?”
    â€œJim Kelly’s the local shipwreck nut,” Annabel says. “He’s got more stuff in his house than we have in the museum.”
    â€œAren’t shipwrecks protected?”
    â€œOnly those we know about. Kelly runs a diving business, taking tourists out to well-known wrecks, but who’s to say where he dives in his spare time.”
    â€œSo Kelly just helps himself when he finds something and stores it in his house?”
    â€œThere’s maybe more to Kelly’s work than that. Selling artifacts to rich collectors is a profitable business. It’s a thriving trade in Egypt, for example, and it’s not just some local goat herder stumbling on a burial urn and selling it to a tourist. It’s well organized and linked to the big crime syndicates. Say you collect ancient Babylonian statues, and there’s one you really want. You go to a crooked art dealer, who goes to his crime connection, who goes to the local lads, who steal the statue from a museum.
    â€œThe looting of the national museum in Baghdad in 2003 was organized. Thousands of pieces were stolen, and many of the most valuable pieces were targeted. The thieves ignored the replicas on display and used keys to get into vaults where the originals were stored. They knew what they were doing, and someone had probably arranged the sale of the best pieces in advance. In fact, several hundred pieces were found in FedEx boxes in New York, on their way to an American art dealer.”
    Annabel falls silent and looks sheepish. “Sorry. I tend to get carried away. I didn’t mean to lecture you.”
    â€œThat’s okay,” I say. “I’ve learned a lot in the last two days. I’ll never be able to look at March 14 the same again.”
    â€œWell,” Annabel says with a laugh, “I’m glad you’re remembering the important stuff.”
    â€œDo you think Kelly and Pete are involved in smuggling?”
    â€œProbably only in a small way. Kelly’s probably not above selling something if the opportunity arises, but I doubt he’s involved with international crime. Besides, apart from the Loch Ard peacock, there’s not much here to interest a big collector.”
    â€œAnd the peacock would be hard to smuggle out under your jacket.”
    â€œIt would,” Annabel agrees. “Kelly’s style is more about finding items no one else has. That’s why he’s so into the Mahogany Ship, and why he headed out early this morning to see if the storm had uncovered anything.”
    â€œWhy? The Mahogany Ship might be interesting, but surely any treasure would be gone by now.”
    â€œI think it’s fame he’s