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Slava tensed, as if about to flee, but then appeared to reconsider. Her demeanor softened, and her facial expression reflected confusion. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Bones leaned forward. “I think he means you’re not as Hallmark Channel as you look.”
Maddock nodded to Bones, pleased that his friend had picked up on the subtext of Jimmy’s message. “When Jimmy tried to look up your phone number to see if the mutri had cloned your phone, he discovered that there isn’t anyone named Slava Kostadinova at the Bulgarian Ministry of Tourism. There’s a Svetla Kostadinova, but she doesn’t look a thing like you.”
“I can explain this—”
Maddock cut her off. “Which is odd, because the Ministry definitely paid for our flights, hotel rooms, rental car... the whole works, just like you said they did. He dug a little deeper and realized that someone had hacked into the Ministry’s computers and used their accounts to bankroll this whole fiasco. Jimmy recognized the digital fingerprints left by the hacker.”
He cocked his head sideways to look at her. “Jimmy says you’re a legend. I think he’s a little envious that I got to meet you face-to-face. I promised him I’d ask for your autograph, but first, you’re going to tell me why you kidnapped Max, and then you’re going to get him back from your gangster pals.”
The blonde woman regarded him cautiously, her eyes occasionally darting left and right, which Maddock knew might signify either an attempt to come up with a plausible way to deny the accusations, or a visual survey of possible escape routes. But then her shoulders slumped in defeat. “This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.”
Corey gasped. “So it’s true? You’re Atanas?” He snapped his fingers. “The alarm at the museum that distracted the guards... That was you, wasn’t it? And the way you found the combination to the vault. How did I not notice?”
Maddock fought to maintain his stern expression. Of course, those were the details Corey would focus on. “Just how was it supposed to happen?”
“You weren’t supposed to find anything at Tsarichina,” she said.
The answer caught Maddock off guard. “What?”
“The only reason I brought Max there was so that he could prove once and for all that there was nothing at Tsarichina.”
Maddock shook his head. “I don’t understand. Why do you care if there’s anything there?”
Slava took a deep breath, letting it out in a long sigh. “You know that my name isn’t Kostadinova. I was born Stanislava Ionova.”
“Ionova,” Bones repeated, immediately grasping the significance. “One of the remote viewers at Tsarichina was named Ionova.”
“Maria,” Slava confirmed. “She was my mother. I was just five years old when she took her own life.”
Maddock scrutinized her expression, but saw nothing to suggest that she was attempting to deceive. Instead, he saw the pain of an old wound, never healed. “This doesn’t have anything to do with lost treasure, does it?”
She pursed her lips together. “I don’t know. To answer, I must first tell you the true history of Operation: Sun Ray. The story that Max told... The story that everyone today knows, is not the whole story. It begins with my grandfather, Colonel Stanislav Ionov, director of the Bulgarian defense ministry’s division of psychic research.
“My grandfather was not merely a government official in charge of a speculative program. He was a true believer.”
“Because of your mother.”
Slava shook her head affirmatively. “But my mother wasn’t really a psychic. She was...My mother was not well. Mentally. When she was very young, she had an imaginary playmate she called Kiki.”
“Lots of kids have imaginary friends.”
“Perhaps what you say is true, but in Bulgaria, even today, children who see people that aren’t there are institutionalized. I don’t know if my father started out believing that my mother was truly channeling a spirit, or if he was simply trying to protect her... and his own career from scandal... but I do know that he convinced her, intentionally or not, that she was special.” Her voice dropped low, as if merely speaking the words was an ordeal. “Maybe that was good for her... I don’t know. But then, when she was fourteen years old, she...” Her voice broke.
“She got pregnant with you,” Maddock guessed.
Slava shook her head again. “When my grandfather realized that she was with child, he demanded to know who the father was. I think he suspected one of his junior officers had taken advantage of her, but my mother would only say that Kiki had given her a special blessing. I think the pregnancy was what truly sent her over the edge of madness. And my grandfather, too.”
Despite the urgency of his need for answers, Maddock found himself drawn into her story, and remained silent as she paused to blink away tears.
“I was never told any of this as a child. Grandfather only ever told me that my mother was a gifted psychic. But as I grew older and learned about mental illness, I realized the truth that he refused to admit to himself.
“Even that might not have mattered. So mama was a little kooky... So what, right? But then, one day, my grandfather was visited by a man named Dmitri Marinov, who claimed to have seen a vision of a Bulgarian folk hero—Vulchan Voivode—telling him that he was a descendant of Tsar Samuil, and that he should look for treasure in Tsarichina.
“Grandfather didn’t know whether or not to believe Marinov, so he asked my mother to contact Kiki for confirmation. My mother said that Marinov was telling the truth, but told him to look in a different spot from the location Marinov had indicated. Grandfather presented the information to his superiors, who authorized him to begin searching Tsarichina for the buried treasure of Samuil.
“It was only to have been a small operation, but then one of the psychics from the program—Rumen Nikolov—came forward with wild claims involving extraterrestrial entities and forgotten civilizations. Nikolov claimed to be in contact with an alien spirit, and produced hundreds of pages of alien writing. He said that there was a lepton-ray weapon buried at Tsarichina, and that if it was not recovered in forty-eight hours, the world would be destroyed. When they did not find anything in two days’ time, the message changed and changed again, and the government, desperate to possess the secret of an alien weapon, went along with it all.
“It was bad enough that Nikolov stole the operation away from my grandfather, but when my mother claimed to be receiving information from Kiki that contradicted him, he attacked her. Not openly, of course. But he knew how fragile she was. Grandfather believed Nikolov was attacking her psychically, but I don’t think there was anything supernatural about it.”
“He gaslighted her,” Corey murmured.
“He drove her to suicide,” Slava said. “And then, after two years and millions wasted, he used her death to support his claim that the secret of Tsarichina was too dangerous to be revealed. And today? Today, Nikolov still claims to be in contact with the entity at Tsarichina. He built an entire career on it. Books. Lectures. He’s earned millions. My mother killed herself. My grandfather’s career and reputation were destroyed. But Nikolov? He’s famous.”
“And you became a computer geek,” Bones put in.
“My mother and grandfather believed they could call on psychic powers and spirits for secret knowledge, but I developed a different sort of ability—I learned how to use computers so that I could learn the truth about what happened. That is how I discovered the back door into Tsarichina.”
Maddock nodded slowly as understanding dawned. “You wanted to expose them as frauds. That’s what you meant when you said we weren’t supposed to find anything at Tsarichina.”
“The discovery of the cup of Khan Krum would have strengthened Nikolov’s reputation. Made him even more famous. I couldn’t let that happen.”
“So you went to the Bulgarian mob and convinced them to kidnap Max in exchange for the proof.”
Corey shook his head. “Even without the cup, we’ve still got all the footage we shot.”
“Easy enough for a master hacker to make that disappear,” Bones remarked.
Corey gasped in horror.
“I was desperate,” Slava said, lowering her gaze. “I didn’t know what to do. I thought my plan would work. But Dragomirov—the gangster—must have learned about the treasure map in the cup from Max, and decided to take everything for himself. I tried to make him understand, but he won’t listen to me anymore.”
Maddock felt a measure of sympathy for her, but that did not excuse the choices she had made. “Did you tell Dragomirov that we were going to Prohodna?”
She nodded once. “No. I was supposed to be the only one to interact with you. And I only sent you there to get you out of the way. Send you on a wild goose chase.”
“I wonder how many ways he has to track our movements.” Maddock glanced over at Bones. “Did you spot any surveillance?”
“No, but if this guy is as connected as it sounds, he’s probably got eyes everywhere. Especially here. Mobsters and casinos go together like flies and crap.”
“It’s going to be tough to hide our movements from him,” Maddock said. He returned his attention to Slava. “Do you have any idea where he’s keeping Max?”
Slava gave another miserable nod—Maddock had to keep reminding himself that it meant the opposite of what he thought. “He owns many properties in Sofia. Max might be at any one of them.”
“So, the only way we get Max back is if we find that treasure.”
Bones nodded. “We were thinking they might take the coins you found at Tsarichina. But if Max already told them about it, we’re screwed.”
Maddock considered this for a few seconds, then shook his head. “The guy who originally claimed there was treasure at Tsarichina...”
“Marinov.”
“He said he was visited by the spirit of a revolutionary hero, right?”
Slava shook her head. “Vulchan. The name means ‘wolf.’ He is sort of a Bulgarian Robin Hood.”
“Is it possible that he’s the one who left the cup and those coins in the cave at Tsarichina?”
She frowned. “If the legends about him are true, then yes, it is possible. He was said to have stolen treasures from the Ottoman Bey, and discovered troves of Thracian and Roman riches.”
“So this Vulchan might have divided up the treasure. Put some of it in that cave at Tsarichina, and hid the rest somewhere else. He might have even been the one who left that message in the cup.”
“Yes,” Bones said, slowly. “And he’s been dead at least a century or two.”
“Exactly. And who do you go to when you need an answer from someone who’s dead?”
“Uh... John Edward?”
Maddock chuckled. “You’re on the right track, but I was thinking somebody a little closer to the problem.” He turned to Slava. “What happened to Marinov?”
“As far as I know, his involvement ended when Rumen and Sirakov took over. He may even have died.”
“Can you find out?”
“I should be able to.” Slava hesitated before adding, “If you will let me use my laptop.”
“Please do.”
Slava took her computer from her bag and opened it. As she began typing, Bones leaned close to Maddock. “So you’re really going to ask a psychic for advice?”
Maddock spread his hands. “What can I say? He said there was treasure there, and he was right.”
“I found him,” Slava announced. “He is still alive. He lives at a retirement home in the Vitosha municipality. Not far from the museum.”
“We need to talk to him.” Maddock stood and made ready to leave, but then glanced to the bottle at the center of the table. “Let’s bring that along. It would be impolite to drop in unannounced without a gift.”