The Solomon Curse

“I don’t blame them for an instant,” Remi said. “Any news on the evil old grandfather?”

Fleming nodded. “Died in his sleep in 1988. He changed his name after the war and kept to himself on a ranch in the Australian outback.”

Sam and Remi had to pause to answer more questions about the treasure trove from a score of reporters as cameras flashed like strobe lights in a disco.

When they had finished, Sam turned to Lazlo and smiled. “You’d better prepare your speech.”

“Speech? What could I possibly say?”

“I’m sure you’ll come up with something.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’ll soon be a national hero as soon as it’s a

Lazlo’s mouth dropped open. “What percentage?”

Remi raised an eyebrow at him in amusement. “Oh, didn’t we mention that? The government’s giving us ten percent. Even the most conservative valuation after paying expedition expenses should net you many millions.”

“Blimey.”

Sam smiled at Lazlo’s reaction. “Congratulations, Lazlo. Your days as a pauper are behind you.”

“Does Leonid know?”

Sam shook his head. “Not yet. I was just getting ready to tell him.”

“This I have got to see for myself.”

They made their way to where Leonid was studying an image carved on a flat piece of rock. Sam and Lazlo watched expectantly as Remi broke the news. The Russian’s face didn’t even twitch.

Sam nudged him with his elbow. “Come on. Tell me you aren’t happy about this.”

There was no mirth in Leonid’s eyes. “Not if I have to participate in primitive displays of gratitude. Or if I’m going to have to work here for at least another five years.”

“But you’ll have all the money you can spend on future expeditions,” said Remi.

“I’ll believe that when I see it.”

“It’s a done deal, my friend,” Sam assured him.

“They’ll probably cheat us on the valuation.”

“I doubt it,” Sam tried again.

“You watch.”

Lazlo caught Remi’s eye and shook his head. They both laughed as Sam sighed in frustration.

Leonid swatted at a mosquito, his expression as somber as a mortician’s. “I’ll probably catch malaria or some sort of weird jungle fever, before this is over, and spend all the money on air evacuation and hospitalization.”

“Or enjoy treasure hunting from your own research vessel,” Sam mused.

“More likely I’ll be targeted by corporations and relatives, all with their hands out. Cousins I never knew existed. Lady friends I don’t even remember.”

They all watched the poker-faced Russian mentally construct a future where untold riches became an intolerable burden. Then his expression shifted and he looked at Remi, his mouth spreading into a rare grin. “Would you care to join me, Mrs. Fargo, in conducting a search into a passage we haven’t entered yet?”

Remi searched Leonid’s face for any sign of deviousness. Seeing none, she smiled. “Why me?”

“Your husband and the limey are too busy playing celebrities to get their hands dirty again. Besides, I prefer your company to theirs.”

“Go ahead,” said Sam with a chuckle. “Just scream and Lazlo, Chief Fleming, and I will come charging to the rescue.”

Without another word, Leonid took Remi’s hand and gallantly led her behind the waterfall and into the cave. Once inside, she followed about ten paces behind, until he stopped and shone his light on a massive vertical stone embedded into the cavern wall.

“Here it is,” he a

Remi swept her light around the stone. “I see nothing but a big rock.”

“More than simply a large rock—it’s a door,” Leonid said confidently. He stepped forward, put his shoulder against one side, and dug his feet into the cavern floor.

Holding her light on Leonid, Remi frowned, “You’re wasting your time. It’s twenty feet tall and must weigh at least that many tons. . . .” Her voice trailed off as the great stone made a grinding sound and began to move, twisting slowly as if it were hung on a vertical shaft like a revolving department store door.

Remi lent her weight to Leonid’s and helped shove the stone until it shifted enough to permit a human body to slip past. They shined her flashlight into the darkness and Remi whispered, “It’s a tu

Leonid squeezed through and extended his hand to Remi to guide her through the narrow opening. “Easier for you,” he said. “I’m fifty pounds heavier.”

Remi’s shoulders barely brushed against the rock wall and stone door as she slipped through the gap. She gave him a knowing look as her beam played across the stone floor. “How far have you explored the tu

“Not more than thirty yards. My flashlight was dying and I wasn’t about to poke around in the dark.”

Remi directed her light ahead into the darkness. At first she saw nothing but a hollow shaft leading into the gloom. Then she saw the walls of the tu

“Leonid!” Remi blurted.

The Russian had been studying the faint carving of a serpent on the rock wall and had failed to see the distant light. “Yes, pretty lady, have you made an interesting find?”

Remi didn’t immediately reply. Her gaze was still fixed on the blackness looming from the opposite end of the passageway. “I saw something . . . shimmering.”

Leonid’s tone was unconcerned, his attention still focused on the engraved stone in his hand. “Perhaps a reflection off a smooth rock from your light? Or maybe your imagination?”

Remi shook her head. “I’m sure it was real.”

Leonid turned from his discovery and peered into the tu

She switched off her light and the passageway was plunged into blackness. A minute went by and . . . nothing.

“Say what you want, I saw a gleam somewhere down the tu

“There!” she cried out. “You must have seen it.”

Leonid spoke as if in a trance. “I saw it.”

“We’ve got to investigate,” Remi urged.

Leonid stood frozen, his expression showing more bewilderment than fear. He flipped his flashlight back to life. “You wait here. I’ll find Sam and return with more lights and muscle.”

Remi did not argue. She sat down while Leonid swiftly passed out of the tu

—

Sam and Lazlo finally managed to break away from the reporters. All the major news bureaus from Australia, Europe, Asia, and the United States were represented, as well as many smaller ones, bringing the total close to ninety. The reporters watched from beyond a hastily erected barricade as Chief Fleming’s main force of forty policemen began loading the treasure into trucks for the trip to the central bank’s main vault.

Sam and Lazlo stood to the side as the trucks pulled away over the rugged path leading to the main roadway. A cloudburst drizzled warm rain on them as the last vehicle disappeared around the bend, and Sam glanced at Lazlo with a tired smile.

“Looks as though Remi and I are finished here,” Sam said quietly. “We can finally head home.”

“I wish I could say the same, but there are too many inscriptions that need translation. I’ll be here for bloody years.”