Hidden Agemda (Kate Diamond Adventure) (6 page)

“Shall we go view the items?”

***

The room where the items were being held was at the opposite end of the hotel from the bedrooms. Crowder led the way, stopping at the glass door of a room that appeared pitch black inside … except for the crisscross of bright red laser lights.

So, the security system did use laser tripwires
, Kate thought as she felt her heartbeat speed up. Scanning the sides of the door and walls, she wondered what other systems he had in place as she slipped the box of Tic-Tac’s from her pocket.

Crowder nodded to the six-foot ten-inch giant guarding the door and he punched some numbers into a keypad causing the lasers to switch off and lights to come on illuminating the room. Crowder opened the door and ushered them inside.
 

Kate hung back, making sure she was the last to enter so she could get a good look at the door. Just as she suspected, a thin red wire ran from the bottom, up the side and into the snow packed wall where the hinges were attached. It was wired to an alarm system which, thanks to Uncle Benny’s expert training when she was a kid, would be a piece of cake for her to disarm.
 

The room was awash in light. Ice columns, pedestals and mirrors reflected the beams from the overhead lighting, making it seem even brighter than it would normally have been.
 

Kate saw several paintings hanging on the snowy walls, their backs protected by animal hides. One she recognized as a Picasso that had been stolen from a wealthy patron of the Ritzholdt last year. She wondered briefly if she should steal it back for them. No, better to stick to the original plan; carrying a four-foot painting on the ski-cycle might be a problem.

Kate’s attention was drawn to the center of the room where Mrs. Powell was bending at the waist to inspect a jeweled crown inside a glass case. But it wasn’t the crown Kate was looking at; it was the item beside it—the Millennia Ruby.

It sat on a pedestal, inside a clear box. The transparent red hues were even more gorgeous with the lighting here then they’d been in the museum. Maybe Max should think about adding ice and snow to his display?
 

Kate inconspicuously aimed the Tic-Tac box at the ruby and tapped on the side.

“Uh-hmm.” Crowder cleared his throat to catch their attention. “We’ll start over here.”

Everyone walked over to the corner where Crowder was standing in front of a brilliantly colored painting. A Monet? Or was it Manet? Kate always got them confused, but it didn’t really matter. She had little interest in the painting—she was too busy scoping out the room in order to determine what, exactly, Crowder had for security.

As Crowder droned on about the painting, Kate searched the floor and ceiling areas out of the corner of her eye.
 

He moved to the next painting, which gave Kate a chance to change her position and look at a different part of the room.

Crowder made his way through all the items that would be offered in the auction, saying a little bit about each one. Kate feigned interest, nodding and murmuring with the rest of them, while she secretly used the time to familiarize herself with the layout and search for hidden security cameras or other security devices. She didn’t find any—could the laser tripwire system be the only security? That seemed too good to be true.
 

Finally, the tour was over and they were back at the door. Kate hung back, maneuvering herself so that she’d be the last one out of the room.

“Oh, and in case you are wondering,” Crowder said as they filed through the door. “We have minimal security here. Just the locked door and the lasers. But don’t let that tempt you—if you did happen to make it out of here, there would be nowhere for you to go.”
 

Crowder scanned the crowd with his black, beady eyes. “But none of us here are thieves are we?”

They all laughed and Crowder gave the signal to the giant who turned off the light. The laser beams flicked on and Kate held out her box of Tic-Tac’s with the camera lens pointing to the room.

“Mint?” she asked no one in particular.

A few of them held out their hands and Kate tapped the little white oval mints into them, taking each opportunity to also click a picture of the laser beams.
 

“And now … I do believe dinner is served.” Crowder waved his hands in the direction of the lobby and the crowd followed him down the hall.

***

The dining room was in an alcove next to the lobby. Kate wasn’t surprised to discover the long table was made of ice. She had to admit it
was
pretty. Little white lights inside the ice ran along the sides of the table giving it a subtle inner glow. Ice chairs covered in animal skins sat around the table.
 

They took their seats, Crowder at one end and Mr. Powell at the other. Kate ended up in-between Mrs. Powell and Mr. White, with Simon across from her. Carmen sat on one side of Simon and Mr. Nguyen on the other. Kate couldn’t help but feel a tug of worry at his red face and heavy breathing.

“We specialize in collecting mostly art pieces,” Mrs. Powell was saying as one of the staff placed steaming bowls of soup in front of each of them. “What do you collect?”

Kate’s stomach tightened as she looked at the older woman. She’d studied the dossier on Chyna Hunt and her grandfather and knew enough to discuss their collecting habits in general, but if anyone asked specifics, she might get tripped up. “I’m mostly a jewel and pearl collector.” Kate glanced down at the necklace she wore. “My grandfather is the one interested in this auction, though.”

“Oh, and what might he be interested in?” Carmen cocked an eyebrow at Kate from her spot at the end of the table.

Kate slapped a smug smile on her face. “Well, now I really don’t want to say. Considering you all might be competitors in the auction.”

Beside her, Mr. White laughed and Kate turned her head to meet his red-eyed gaze. His pale skin was almost translucent.
 

“I think we all know your grandfather has a taste for the unusual,” he said.

Kate didn’t reply, she just tilted her head in response, and then focused on her soup. She ladled the silver spoon into the brown broth, stirring up a chunk of carrot, celery and a piece of light meat. Chicken? She took a taste. No, rabbit. It was delicious and, judging by the slurping sounds coming from everyone else, Kate wasn’t the only one who thought so.

The conversation turned to discussion of the favorite piece in each person’s collection and then to some of the more famous stolen art, artifacts and jewels as they made their way through courses of venison, greens with strawberries and finally a
crème
brûlée. Kate wondered how they had cooked such a fantastic meal—did the ice hotel have a full kitchen hidden somewhere, complete with ovens and stoves?

Kate noticed most of the others had their wine glasses filled many times while she nursed her one glass. She kept quiet, thankful she could act the part of the stuck-up recluse and no one would find it odd.

Jon Nguyen stood as the plates were being cleared. He coughed several times and then sucked in a wheezy lungful of air.
 

“Gentlemen, Ladies.” He bowed in the direction of the table. “I’m an old man in need of lots of rest and the day has been tiring. I hope you will excuse me after this most excellent meal.”

Crowder stood. “But of course, I hope you have a restful night.”

Nguyen nodded again, turned and left, dragging his oxygen tank after him.

Glad that Nguyen had broken the ice, Kate tossed her napkin on the table and stood. “And I must also retire to my room. I want to take advantage of the day tomorrow to capture some wildlife on film.” Chyna’s reputed hobby as a wildlife photographer was the perfect excuse for Kate to get away from the spying eyes at the ice hotel … and get those pictures of the penguins she’d promised Gideon.

Crowder nodded at her. “A wise decision. I hope your night is restful as well.”

Kate favored him with a fake smile, raised her brows at the others, then turned on her heel and glided off toward her room.

Kate woke up feeling more rested than she had in years. Aside from being awakened by a thumping noise in the middle of the night, she’d slept straight through with no dreams that she could remember.
Maybe there is something to sleeping in an ice room
, she thought as she poked her face out from under the heated sleeping bag.

Checking her watch, she was surprised to find it was eight a.m. She never slept that late.
 

Bounding out of the warm bed into the chilly air, she rummaged through her cosmetics case for the transmitter Gideon had hidden in a makeup compact. Slipping it into the pocket of her thermal pants along with the Tic-Tac’s, she grabbed her jacket, gloves, sunglasses, scarf and hat. Throwing the strap of the Nikon camera Gideon had sent over her shoulder, she slipped on her fur boots and made her way out to the lobby.

Crowder was sitting on the ice sofa, sipping a coffee. He stood at her approach.

“Sleep well?”

Kate nodded. “I think I did hear something at one point, but for the most part I was out like a light. This fresh air works wonders.”

“You probably heard Mr. Nguyen,” Crowder said.

“Nguyen?”

“Yes, he had an attack during the night and we had to rush him out so he could get medical attention.” Crowder made a sad face and took a sip from his coffee.

“I see,” Kate said. “Well, I do hope he will be okay.”

Crowder’s eyes drifted down to take in her outfit. “Are you running off somewhere?”

“Yes.” Kate indicated the camera slung on her shoulder. “I’d like to try to get some pictures of the penguins … you wouldn’t happen to know where I can find them?”

Crowder shook his head and Fritz, who was hovering nearby piped in. “I hear they nest five miles to the north.”

Kate raised her brows. Five miles wasn’t very far, in fact it was the perfect distance for what she needed to do. She turned to Crowder. “Might I have use of one of the snowmobiles for the day?”

Crowder pressed his lips together. “We have two new guests arriving today, but as long as you take one of the smaller ones, I think that will be fine.” He turned to Fritz. “Show Ms. Hunt which one.”

Fritz nodded and Kate jammed the sunglasses onto her face, then followed him out the door.

Outside it wasn’t much colder than it was inside. The sun’s rays were weak, but warming. Kate followed Fritz around the side of the hotel to where several snowmobiles sat in a row. Without a word, Fritz handed her a key, pointed to a snowmobile and left.

Kate noticed she was in the back of the hotel. An opening led to what she assumed was the kitchen and she couldn’t help but peek in. It was empty, save for one man in what looked like an insulated chef’s outfit who was carving a turkey. A stainless steel stove sat against the wall next to a series of stainless steel tables, which held an assortment of knives.
 

There was no fridge, but then again they didn’t need one—the low temperature kept everything cold and the snow acted as an icebox as evidenced by the vegetables and meat that were packed in it. They even had those little juice bags that came complete with a straw sitting in rows inside a container carved out of snow.

Turning from the kitchen, Kate straddled the seat of the snowmobile and inserted the key. It started up easily and she glanced at the sun, then at the round compass on the dashboard. North was behind her.
 

She sat down on the seat, applied pressure to the gas caliper and edged the snowmobile forward. She turned it around slowly, getting used to working the gas. Once satisfied, she goosed it and sped off toward the north.

The arctic air bit into her cheeks as she flew across the glacier, and she wrapped the scarf around the bottom of her face to hide her skin from the chill. The sun glinted off the pristine snow creating an unwelcome glare. Kate squinted at the empty space ahead. There wasn’t another person or animal in sight. Glancing back, she noticed the ice hotel was getting smaller and smaller. Not too much longer and she’d be out of sight.

Pressing forward, she felt an immense sense of freedom. Here she was, alone in the wilds of Antarctica … suddenly she knew why Gideon had seemed so excited. Of course, being out here alone did have its dangers, but she was well trained in survival and it would be easy for her to find her way back. Plus, she needed to get far away from the hotel in order to transmit the data back to Benny.
 

After fifteen minutes, she came to an inlet with open water.
This must be the five-mile mark where the penguins would be.
She stopped the snowmobile about one hundred feet from the water. No penguins in sight.

But Kate had other, more important business to tend to anyway. She slipped the Tic-Tac camera and compact out of her pocket. Using a special ultra-thin cable about the width of fishing line, she tethered them together and then clicked the button on the compact. A small red light came on, then turned green and Kate sat back on the seat of the snowmobile and scoured the area for penguins while she waited for the transmission to complete.

As she looked around something caught her eye. A flash of light off in the distance—a reflection. Her heart lurched in her chest. Was someone else out here? Watching her? It was impossible. This area of Antarctica was desolate. No one was around for miles except for Crowder, his staff and the rest of the auction goers.

She could have easily been followed from the ice hotel … but who would follow her and why?

Taking the camera out of the bag, she knelt on the snowmobile seat and aimed it in the direction of the reflection, zooming in on the area. Nothing. She moved the camera in a slow arc, zooming in and out, hoping she could catch a glimpse of whoever was out there.
If
anyone was there. After making a full sweep, she put the camera down. She hadn’t seen anyone, not even a penguin.

Glancing at the compact, she noticed the light was yellow. Transmission complete. She’d sent Benny the pictures of the auction room, the case the ruby was kept in, and the laser trip wires. His job was to analyze it and come up with a plan for her to disarm the room so she could grab the ruby and run.