Read Online The Emerald Casket by Richard Newsome - Free Book Online

guide, full of photographs of ancient cities and temples. ‘The south was hit by the tsunami a few years ago but it looks like everything’s back to normal. Can you believe it? A billion people.’
    â€˜Do you think Alisha will be at the airport?’ Sam asked.
    â€˜And from today, a billion people plus one moron,’ Ruby said, shaking her head. ‘Sam, get over it, will you? Alisha Gupta won’t even remember your name. You are but road kill on her motorway through life. You are a pimple on the bottom of—’
    â€˜Go easy,’ Gerald interrupted. ‘Let a man have his dream.’ Sam gazed out a window into the midnight blackness somewhere over the Himalayas.
    â€˜Pfft,’ said Ruby. She leafed through the travel guide. ‘Hey, here’s something that could be handy,’ she said to Gerald.
    â€˜What’s that?’
    â€˜It says here that ancient mystics used to recite a secret mantra to bring the dead back to life.’ She looked across to Sam as he gazed love-struck through the window. ‘Wonder if it works on the brain dead as well?’
    The jet made a rattling landing and taxied to a terminal building, taking a space by an air bridge.
    They were greeted by an airport official who led them into a sparsely furnished VIP lounge. At one end of the room a customs officer in an ill-fitting shirt sat behind a bare wooden table. The officer inspected their passports and stamped each in turn. Mr Fry had everyone’s luggage on a cart and they followed him to the doorway.
    â€˜Keep close,’ he said to Gerald, Sam and Ruby. ‘I’d hate to lose you in the crowd.’
    Sam glanced at his watch. ‘It’s past midnight,’ he yawned. ‘Who’s going to be out this late?’
    The doors slid apart and a wave of hot air rolled through the gap. It curled up and over the air-conditioned coolness and dumped on top of them, squeezing gasps of surprise from their lungs. They stepped into chaos. There were people everywhere; a jostling mass of bodies at the doorstep to a new world.
    The temperature was incredible. Even beyond midnight, it must have been thirty-five degrees or more. Heat radiated up from the ground, chewing through the soles of their shoes. It was impossible to tell where the warmth of the night ended and the heat of the crowd began.
    Gerald stood in awe. Hundreds of people filled the area outside the airport building. There were people arriving and leaving, taxis and cars delivering and collecting, bags being dumped and carted. The queue at the taxi rank snaked across the concourse.
    â€˜What do we do now?’ Ruby asked.
    â€˜We’re supposed to be met by Archer Corporation’s in-country agent,’ Mr Fry said, a little testily. ‘He ought to be here to take us to the Gupta compound.’
    In the crush of activity that surrounded them there was no sign of any waiting driver.
    â€˜Do you know what the agent looks like?’ Gerald asked.
    â€˜I do,’ Mr Fry said. ‘I believe you’ve met him.’
    â€˜We’ve met him?’ Sam said.
    â€˜Yes. It’s Mr Hoskins. From the book store in Glastonbury.’
    Gerald was stunned. They hadn’t seen Mr Hoskins since before the clash with Mason Green in the chamber under Beaconsfield. He’d been very helpful in their quest to find the diamond casket but left town before they had a chance to thank him. The news that Mr Hoskins was Archer Corporation’s agent in India was almost as surprising as the discovery that he was Mrs Rutherford’s brother. For while Mrs Rutherford was gentle, kind and thoughtful, Mr Hoskins was—
    â€˜What’s that grumpy old fart doing here?’ Sam asked, neatly filling in Gerald’s thoughts.
    â€˜He said he was an old friend of the family,’ Gerald said. ‘But I had no idea he worked for the company.’
    â€˜If he’s spending time out here that’d explain his