The Lost Island Read Online Free PDF Page B

bringing with him an arctic chill. Silently, he directed his electric wheelchair to the head of the conference table, the humming noise of the motor all the greeting Gideon got. A moment later Manuel Garza, Glinn’s bullish aide-de-camp, entered, followed by half a dozen other EES employees. Nobody said a word.
    The steward went around and collected everyone’s murmured orders for coffee or tea. Once he had left, Glinn pressed a button on the small console beside the table—evidently starting a recorder—and then began speaking in a neutral tone of voice, giving the date and time, the names of those present. After that, he fell silent, his eye scanning the room and ending on Gideon.
    “It seems the third time is not the charm, is it, Dr. Crew?” he said.
    When Gideon said nothing, Glinn addressed the group sitting around the table. “Dr. Crew managed two successful operations for us, for which we are very grateful. I am sorry the Book of Kells has proved to be his undoing. After the utter disaster yesterday, it will be going back to Ireland this afternoon, by chartered jet, surrounded by unbreakable security.”
    Gideon Crew listened to this statement with his arms crossed.
    “This botched and amateurish operation of Dr. Crew’s, I’m afraid to say, has created enormous difficulties for our client. It has caused an international furor in Ireland and the US. We’ve lost our chance to acquire the Chi Rho page.”
    Glinn looked around. “In other words, we have failed .”
    A grave murmur rippled through the room. Glinn’s gray eye turned back toward Gideon. “Do you have anything to say?”
    Gideon uncrossed his arms. “Not really. Except that the book hasn’t left the country yet. Something still might happen.”
    “ Something still might happen ,” repeated Garza in a voice laden with sarcasm. There was a frosty silence.
    “You never know,” Gideon went on. “Remember Yogi Berra. ‘It ain’t over till it’s over.’”
    Glinn’s unflappable composure began to crack. “Spare us the hoary quotations. We must act now to contain the damage from this disaster.”
    “It’s not a disaster yet. The flight to Dublin leaves at six o’clock. That’s ten hours from now.”
    Glinn frowned. “Are you telling us you have a new plan to steal the page that you so conspicuously failed to acquire yesterday?”
    “I’m sorry you don’t have more faith in me, Eli.”
    “Because if you do have some sort of plan B, I’m sure we’d like to hear it.”
    “No, I don’t have a plan B. Because plan A is still in progress.”
    “You call this a plan ?” Garza broke in. “You attempt to steal the page, fail in the worst way possible, and in the process you get ID’ed, and we can only thank God you weren’t actually caught. The whole business is now front-page news across the US and Europe. Some plan!”
    “Do you know where the book is now?” Glinn asked quietly.
    “No.”
    More incredulous looks around the room.
    “I’ve had our people do a little digging,” Glinn said, “and I do know where the Book of Kells is right now: in an impregnable vault underneath the Citicorp building. The prime minister of Ireland himself is on his way here to escort it back to his country. It will be in his personal possession from the Citicorp vault all the way to a vault at the Bank of Ireland, guarded by the heaviest security the US Secret Service and Interpol can provide, roads cleared of traffic, chartered jet, all the trimmings. And you think you still have a chance of stealing it?”
    “Of stealing the Chi Rho page, yes.” Gideon checked his watch.
    “And just how can you be so sure?”
    “Because before the afternoon is out, you will learn—from the news resource of your choice—that the page cut from the Book of Kells in an attempted robbery is a fake, and that the real page is missing and presumed stolen.”
    There were shocked looks around the table.
    “Is this true?” Glinn asked.
    “Of