Solomon's Secrets: Chapter 11

This week, my seven actions for  

Operation Author: 365 Actions to Becoming a Successful Author 

 I am continuing to serialize chapters from Solomon's Secrets.

I recommend that you read the previous few posts to get up to speed with the story so far. 

Enjoy, and please leave comments. Thanks

The exterior or The British Museum (Image from: http://hmdegree.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/british-museum-postcard-wide-angle.jpg)

The British Museum, London

“The Silk Road, eh? Not your usual archaeological diversion.”

“Oh, hello. You startled me, I was miles away.”

“Dreaming of distant deserts and discoveries?”

“Something like that.” Sasha turned to Jon and smiled. “How was your business in France?”

A blackness fluttered across his eyes, he blinked and looked away before painting on a smile.

He did that a lot. She found herself wondering what was going on behind his icy blue eyes, and was it something she should be worried about?

The last time a rich business man had financed her work she saw her first dead body, killed a man in self-defence and was chased through Amsterdam by an assassin. So far, her dealings with Jon Solomon had been rather more civilized. Fancy dinners, foot massages and friendly banter. But for how long?

“Why stop here when there is so much more in this museum?” asked Jon, looking over her shoulder at the fragments of an ancient Chinese parchment, suspended between two slices of Perspex, a specimen in a lab.

She turned and folded her arms loosely.

“You know. I’ve worked on and off at this place for years now. Dipping in and out of different projects. I remember the first time I came here, as a child.”

She slowly walked the length of the illuminated glass display cases, and Jon joined her. She was half looking in at the remains of history and turning occasionally to look at him.

“Is that why you decided to be an Archaeologist?”

“Partly. I remember walking in, seeing the burial offerings from Sutton Hoo and looking up at my dad and saying wow. As he took me around I kept tugging at his sleeve and pointing things out. It was the first time I felt it.”

“Felt what?”

“That tingle. That delicious moment of discovery. I guess it’s a surge of adrenaline. Whenever I come here I try to feel it again. But it’s different every time. Each time I unearth something. The first time is always the most memorable.”

She chuckled to herself and he was smiling at the innuendo.

“It’s easy to get boxed into a subject, to be consumed by the minutia of work. I like to drift around these galleries, looking at things I normally steam past on my way to somewhere else and just remind myself how much there is still out there we know nothing about. So much waiting to be discovered.”

“But why this gallery? Why the sudden fascination with the expeditions of Sir Marc Aurel Stein?”

She stopped and turned to him, “Because of you.”

“Why me?”

“Silk. It’s your obsession. Surely you’ve travelled up and down the Silk Road in the course of your business?”

“Many times,” his eyes lit up.

She had pressed a button, found something.

“Of course, it’s rather more civilised than in the early twentieth century. In Stein’s day it was camels and tents and months in the saddle. These days it’s air conditioned four by fours and helicopters. Still, the area has changed little in thousands of years. These specimens were retrieved from the Cave of a Thousand Buddhas near the oasis of Dunhuang. But I guess you already know that.”

She nodded slowly and smiled.

“I can’t shake the sense there is a connection.”

“A connection? What do you mean?”

She paused, looked around the gallery, “You know what. Let’s take a seat and I’ll tell you.”

“Tell me what?”

She slid onto a polished wooden bench along the spine of the gallery and Jon perched beside her, his knees turned into hers.

“I was looking through old microfiches of The Times newspaper in the library this morning. I started looking for something else for the research we’re working on but it occurred to me to take the opportunity to look for reports of ancient Greek manuscripts. I ended up wasting a lot of time, and just as I was about to give up, I came across some of the reports and columns Stein wrote following his expeditions along the Silk Road. There was a mention of a manuscript written in Greek. It was a passing reference, nothing more but it made me question it.”

“Could it be? Do you think…Could it have been in the Dunhuang library cave?” the colour had drained from Jon’s face.

“Perhaps? It’s certainly worth further investigation. It would be out of place and worthy of note so it’s odd there’s no other mention of it.”

“Some sort of cover up perhaps? Or maybe it went missing? Or never made it back England?” his face was pinched in thought.

“Any of those things could have happened. You’re right though. It’s odd there’s no other mention of such a manuscript? Perhaps it did go missing? While I’m here I may as well make the most of my access to the old records. I’ll do some digging and see if I can find any reference to it.”

“You really are a remarkable woman Sasha Blake. Allow me to buy you lunch!”

“That’s very kind of you, thank you.”

He stood, and offered her his arm, trying to wear a serious face which quickly wore off when she took his arm and allowed him to lead her out of the gallery and into the sunlight.

Inside one of the galleries at The British Museum (image from: https://yy1.staticflickr.com/32/90232364_00663ef2f7.jpg)

Kate Winslet as Sasha Blake (image from: http://www.spicycelebrities.com/gallery/kate-winslet/kate-winslet-05.jpg)

Tom Hiddleston as Jon Solomon (Image from: http://www.cinemablend.com/images/news_img/37029/tom_hiddleston_37029.jpg)

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