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back into the room. She picked up the statues again. If the strange glow had returned, it was impossible to tell, the feeble effect overwhelmed even by indirect sunlight from outside.

    ‘So how are we going to proceed?’ asked Penrose. ‘The statues are somehow connected to earth energy, it seems – and earth energy is an IHA security issue. We know how dangerous it can be if the wrong person controls it.’

    Nina looked into the roughly carved face of one of the statues, little more than a child’s drawing in three dimensions with a bump for a nose and vague indentations for eyes and mouth. ‘We’ve got two of the statues. There might be a third . . . somewhere. If there is, we have to find it. But first, we need to find out more about what we’re dealing with – and what these things can do.’

    Macy looked surprised. ‘They’re just statues. What can they do?’

    ‘Excalibur was more than just a sword. When it was charged with earth energy, it could cut through literally anything. We know the Egyptian statue had some great significance – it was considered important enough to be sealed in the tomb of a god along with his greatest treasures. Maybe Osiris could channel its power – maybe that’s why he was regarded as a god. So we—’ She broke off as her desk phone rang, putting down the statue to answer it. ‘Hello?’

    It was Lola Gianetti, Nina’s now four-months’ pregnant personal assistant. ‘Hi, Nina. Is Eddie with you? There’s a call for him.’

    ‘Can it wait? We’re in the middle of something.’

    ‘They said it was very important.’

    ‘Okay, he’s here. Hold on.’

    She passed the phone to her husband. ‘Yeah, hello?’ he said, eyebrows rising as he recognised his sister’s voice. ‘Lizzie, hi. Haven’t heard from you for a while. What’s up?’

    He moved away to continue the call with a modicum of privacy, leaving Nina, Penrose and Macy to regard the statues. ‘What do you have in mind?’ Penrose asked.

    ‘We need to find out what the earth energy effect actually does,’ said Nina. ‘Which means we need to take the statues to a convergence point.’ She chewed her lower lip, thinking. ‘There are four places where I know for sure that I can find earth energy. Problem is, one is in a Russian military base, another’s in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, and one’s buried under thousands of tons of rock out in the desert in a country where I’m not exactly welcome.’

    ‘Jeez,’ said Macy. ‘So where’s the fourth one? Inside a volcano?’

    ‘Fortunately, no,’ said Nina, smiling. ‘It’s somewhere a bit easier to reach – and a lot less hot. England. In King Arthur’s tomb at Glastonbury, actually.’ She looked across at Eddie to see if the mention of his home country had caught his attention, but he had his back to her, holding his conversation in a low voice.

    ‘And you want to take the statues there?’ Penrose asked.

    ‘Yes. I think the glow we saw just now is only a residual effect – if there are any lines of earth energy around New York, they’re either too weak or too far away to produce much power. If I take the statues to Glastonbury, with luck I’ll see what happens when they get a full charge.’

    Penrose shook his head slightly. ‘I’m not sure the Egyptians will want their statue to leave IHA security. Or Interpol theirs, for that matter.’

    ‘We’ll work something out. But we should do it fast. As you said, it’s a security issue now.’

    He thought for a moment, then nodded. ‘I’ll speak to Dr Assad in Egypt and the Interpol CPCU, see if I can persuade them to speed things along. I think you’re right, though; we need to look into this – and if there’s a third statue out there, we have to find it. When were you thinking about starting?’

    ‘About ten minutes ago,’ said Nina.

    Penrose shot a rueful glance at the paperwork on her desk. ‘And the backlog relating to the Vault of Shiva? Or the meeting of