The Tombs

Emil took a second pass above the estate, and what Sam and Remi saw was shocking. Bako’s men had already found several graves and opened them. There were big stones lining open-topped pits and beside them human skeletons thrown aside and piles of metal being loaded into crates. Sam got on his telephone.

“Hello?”

“Albrecht,” said Sam. “We’ve got bad news. I don’t know how Bako did it this time, but my delaying tactics didn’t work. He’s got twenty or thirty men at an estate on the north shore of the Danube. They’re digging up graves and looting them. So far, they’ve got four or five open.”

“We’ve got to move fast,” said Albrecht. “I’ll call our friends at Szeged University and have the authorities move in and put a stop to it. Can you give me an exact location?”

“Our friend Emil probably can.”

“Tell them it’s Count Vrathy’s estate on the south end of Szeged. It’s a museum now. It’s probably closed at this time of day and they must have overpowered the watchman.”

Albrecht said, “I’ve got it. Thank you,” and hung up.

Sam got on his phone again. “Tibor, we’re with Emil in the helicopter.”

“I’d have to be deaf not to hear the rotors.”

“Bako’s men have found the Hun royal graves above the north bank of the Danube at the Vrathy estate. What can you tell me about Bako and the group he took to Romania?”

“They haven’t returned from Transylvania yet.”

“He seems to be substituting quality for quantity, using twenty or thirty men from his businesses to do the digging. We need to prevent them from hiding the treasure.”

“Sam!” said Remi.

“Hold on, Tibor.” He turned to Remi. “What’s wrong?”

“They’ve moved a big boat up to the shore.”

“Tibor? They’re going to load the treasure into a boat. From up here, it looks like a fifty-foot yacht. They’re still digging, so this will take a while. But we need to know where that yacht is from now on.”

“I’ll send men to the river above and below the Vrathy estate to watch where it goes.”

“Good. Thank you. And Remi and I are going to need the equipment we left with the boat on the Tisza. We’ll need our scuba gear, the tool kit, and a covered truck.”

“I’ll call my cousin.”

“And ask him to be sure the air tanks are full.”

“I’ll call when we’re ready.”

Sam, Remi, and Emil kept returning to the airspace above the estate and then flying off into the distance as though they were transporting something on a route that passed over the estate. After about an hour and a half, the boat was loaded and the men with shovels and other equipment had begun getting into trucks to drive away.

Sam leaned forward to talk to Emil. “Emil, you’ve done a wonderful job. We may call on you again. Is there a place where you can set us down within a couple of miles of here without being seen?”

“Yes,” he said. “There’s a landing space near the university. I can put you down there.”

He took them a short distance over the city and set the helicopter down on a large X at the end of a parking lot. “This is it,” he said.

Sam said, “What do we owe you?”

“Nothing. Tibor already paid me for the day.”

Sam handed him five hundred dollars. “Then please accept a small gift with our thanks.”

Emil handed Sam his business card. “I know you can’t read Hungarian, but you can read the phone number. Call it anytime of the day or night. If I can’t help you, I’ll find someone who can.” They shook hands, Sam and Remi got out and the helicopter rose and flew away.

Remi said, “You know, I can’t stop wondering what finally happened to the Bishop who robbed those graves the first time.”

“I think his reputation for shrewdness may have been exaggerated.”

“You think Attila and Bleda killed him?”

“To his people, he was a traitor. To the Huns, he was a grave robber. I’d be surprised if he died in bed.”

“Let’s see if doing the same brings bad fortune for Bako.”

Sam’s phone buzzed. “Hello?”

“It’s me, Tibor. Where are you?”

“At the helipad by Szeged University.”

“Stay there.”

Five minutes later, a white-colored truck with a covered cargo bay appeared at the far entrance to the lot and drove straight across all the lanes to them. When it stopped, Sam and Remi climbed into the cab to join Tibor.

He said, “My cousins tell me the yacht is anchored offshore. Bako’s men loaded fifteen wooden boxes onto the lifeboat and then they took them to the yacht and loaded them onto the deck. So we think they’re getting ready to take the artifacts somewhere by water. The Danube runs through Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Romania to the Black Sea. Many rivers feed it. They could go anywhere without setting foot on land.”

“Have the police arrived?”

“Nobody has seen them yet.”

“All right,” said Sam. “Let’s go see if we can make Bako unhappy.”

Tibor clapped his hand on Sam’s shoulder. “I’m glad I lived to meet you two. Nobody has made me laugh so much since I was a kid.”

Sam rubbed his shoulder. “Okay. Let’s get the truck to a place where we can see the yacht.”

Tibor drove them down to the road that ran along the Danube and turned east. After a few minutes, the road swung inland a bit to avoid a row of old estates along the river. When it swung back to the river, Tibor pointed. “There. See it?”

“The one with the high bridge?”

“That’s the one.” It was sixty-five feet long, with an aluminum lifeboat hanging from davits in the stern.

“All right,” Sam said. “Remi and I need to put on our scuba gear.”

“I have nephews in the back of the truck. I’ll get them out and let you get changed.” He stopped the truck by the side of the road and opened the back, summoned the two young men out, and let Sam and Remi in to put on their wet suits and organize their gear.

Sam tested the underwater light and examined the tools that he’d requested. He put them in a net bag and attached it to his belt. “We’ll drift with the river’s current. When we get there you’ll have to hold the light so I can see what I’m working on. I’ll try to work quickly.”

Remi looked at him suspiciously. “You’re not saying what you’re working on?”

“I know how much you like surprises. But don’t surface no matter what. Stay as deep as you can.”

Tibor’s nephews helped Sam and Remi go down a path to the water on the far side of the truck, where they couldn’t easily be seen from the yacht. They put on their flippers and stepped backward into the dark water of the Danube. As soon as there was enough water to cover them, they submerged.

The big white yacht was at least a hundred yards from shore, anchored just at the edge of the cha

Finally Remi’s light found the anchor chain approximately where they had expected it, a straight diagonal line from the upstream end leading up to the dark shape above them on the silvery surface.

Sam gestured to Remi and slowly rose, coming up under the hull, but not touching it. He swam along the keel to the stern and looked up at the propeller protruding on its shaft from the lower part of the stern.

Remi clutched his arm and in the light she held he saw her shake her head. He could see the anxiety in her eyes through her mask. He put his hand on her shoulder, patted it gently, took her hand, and aimed her light at the propeller. They both knew that if the men in the boat started the engine, Sam could be chopped to pieces in seconds.

Sam proceeded methodically. First, he found the cotter pin and removed it from the nut with a pair of needle-nose pliers. He used the pliers to lift the tabs that held the locking ring, returned the pliers to his net bag, and wedged a wrench between a propeller blade and the stern to keep the propeller from turning while he used an adjustable wrench to remove the nut. He placed his feet against the stern and pulled the bronze propeller off its shaft, then carried it a distance into the deeper cha