Seven

The team rushed to the main tent. On the way Mia explained what Esmeralda had said. When they reached the tent, they found Sabryn and Carlitos kneeling by Sally’s side while Birage stood guard behind her. Then Birage lifted Sally and carried her to the nearest hay bale stacked around the ring so she could elevate her leg. Carlitos attended to her, then went and retrieved another worker to move her to her tent and to fetch the physician. They soon carried Sally from the tent, leaving Carlitos and the Gastons alone. The other workers had already left the area with the animals, putting them away for the night.

Sabryn stood, slapping her hands together as she dusted the dirt off them. Her eyes immediately found the Crypto-Caper team and Riley.

“Did you find something?” she asked in a rush.

“Yes! Interesting enough, the fossil wasn’t inside of the safe to begin with.”

The look on Birage’s face began to falter. “What do you mean? I put it in there myself. How could it have been . . .” Then Sabryn turned abruptly to Birage, who closed his eyes and shook his head. “I put the fossil into the safe, but I left the door open. You said you wanted to show someone the fossil.” Birage thought more about what he had done.

“Who did you show the fossil too?” asked Granny.

“A possible investor of the show,” Birage said. “He had found fossils in the same river we had, so I volunteered to show him ours. He was quite impressed with it, though he said he had found some bigger ones—which I didn’t believe. He wanted to prove it to me, and I wanted to see the ones he’d found, so we went outside the tent where he showed me pictures of them on his phone. Then I went to put our fossil back into the safe. Somehow, the door had closed on me, and, because I didn’t know the combination, I left it behind the safe until I could tell Sabryn about it so she could put it back inside. After the meeting, something came up and I forgot all about it.”

“Did the investor see you put it behind the safe?” asked Max.

“I don’t believe so. I looked back and didn’t see him looking through the tent opening, but it doesn’t mean he couldn’t have.” Birage turned toward Sabryn. “I’m so sorry, my dear. This is all my fault.”

Sabryn caressed her husband’s cheek. “What’s done is done. Let’s just find the man and the fossil.” Sabryn kissed Birage on the cheek and patted the back of his head.

“Where do we go from here?”

“Well—” before more could be said Mia noticed Carlitos stealthily moving to the tent exit. She began to go after him.

“Mia?” questioned Max as he and the others followed her. They followed her to the parking lot where she stopped, looking for Carlitos. A car barreled towards her. By the time she saw the car coming, it was almost too late. But, Noah and Percival had just returned from searching Carlito’s tent and were headed towards them when they saw what was happening. Noah ran and tackled Mia, moving her out of the way of the car. They landed on hard snow pressed up against several other parked cars.

“I’ve got this!” yelled Percival as he removed a large pen from his pocket. He aimed it at the car’s tires. When he pressed a button, a bullet shot out and hit the tire, causing it to pop loudly. The car swerved into a nearby gate that blocked either side of the entrance.

“Nice shot!” said Granny as she looked over at Noah and Mia. Finding them already standing, she followed the group running for the car. Smoke billowed from the bent hood. Carlitos opened the door, but Birage was right there, barely out of the breath, and seized him by the collar.

“And where do you think you’re going?” Birage said.

Carlitos’s face paled as he tried to get away from Birage’s massive hands. Noah and Mia joined the group. Surprisingly, they were unharmed from their fall. Their coats partially cushioned them by filling with air. It was another unique safety feature.

“No—no—nowhere! I was just—” Carlitos began to stutter.

“You were just trying to run over my sister?” accused Max as he charged closer to Carlitos.

“I didn’t see her!” the man tried to defend himself.

“Was there an elephant blocking your view, because how could you not see her?”

Granny put a hand on Max’s shoulder, then stepped in to say something herself, but this time her sweetness had vanished. “You know who took the fossil, don’t you?” Carlitos shook his head but Granny was believing none of it. “You know, Carlitos, and I dare say you saw everything.”

Again, Carlitos shook his head, but then he began to nod, the truth spilling from him like soup from a ladle. “The man was the investor Birage had welcomed into his tent.” Carlitos began to cringe as he felt Birages’s grip on him become firmer. “It’s true! You left to take care of something else. Sabryn had sent me to find you. I didn’t know where to look so I started at your tent first. Then I saw it, a man in black. But his face wasn’t hidden. I recognized him. He had just grabbed the fossil from behind the safe. I tried to stop him, but he came at me with a knife. He grabbed me, threatened me. But when my hand fell upon his chest, it knocked something out of his pocket. He stormed out with the fossil in hand, sneering about retribution. I found this.”

Carlitos pulled two pieces of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Max. When Max unfolded them, he saw pictures of the Fabergé egg his parents were accused of stealing. He also saw a picture of another egg but this one was of the Bay Tree Egg. A description came with the picture. It was an egg presented by Emperor Nicholas II to his mother the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna at Easter in 1911. Max shook his head.

“I think I know what’s happening here. You said the Panther once worked for you, when he was younger.” Max had turned towards Sabryn, his piercing blue eyes challenging her.

“Yes, he did!”

“Well, I think he’s come back. He took your fossil. The Panther is who has it now, I guarantee it. He set up my parents to take the fall for the theft of the Fabergé egg, but he’s after something more. Something he needs all of us to help him get. But what?”

Mia walked over and took the papers out of Max’s hand.

“The bay tree is common in Russia,” said Morris, “as well as various other places along the Mediterranean and around the world.”

“Its significance is important,” Max uttered as he began to pace.

“A bay tree like this one . . . where could we find it? It’s winter here now, so a bay tree outside might be hard to find. Where can we find one inside?” asked Granny.

Morris began to type furiously on his iPad. “The Kremlin Armoury!”

“That’s it!” shouted Max. “I know exactly what he’s up to.” Max even began to laugh, not believing he missed the obvious clues.

“I think we should take this back inside of the tent away from prying eyes and ears,” encouraged Percival as workers began to fill up the parking lot, drawn by the accident and asking questions.

Sabryn talked with several people, even made an announcement to the group before leading everyone back into the tent. The workers were cleaning up the mess outside and removing Carlitos’s car. Birage hauled Carlitos into the tent by his collar. After everyone searched around the tent making sure they had complete privacy, they met in the center of the ring.

“What’s going on?” asked Sabryn.

“Have you ever watched a magician?” Max asked as his eyes wide with excitement.

“Of course! We have one on staff.”

“Then you know that when a magician works, he causes distractions. He draws the crowd’s eyes to focus on one area, whether it’s smoke to the side of him, a hand movement or gesture, a light shining in a particular area, or on his barely clothed beautiful assistant. But the crowd doesn’t see what the magician’s other hand is doing or what may be going on below, behind, or above him. The crowd is focused on what the magician wants them to focus on so he can make that magic happen somewhere else.

“In this case, the Panther distracted us with one hand. In it he set up my parents by stealing a Fabergé egg in transit to St. Petersburg for their most famous event. Many police officers and agents are now surrounding those eggs, protecting them at this event. Men of similar capacity, yet a bit towards the other direction of mob or mafia, are after us because he put a price on our heads. In the meantime, while the distractions are going on, the Panther’s working on something back at the Kremlin Armoury where there’s very little to stop him. I bet this bay tree has something to do with it.”

“What of the fossil’s connection?” asked Birage. “I don’t get it.”

Granny did. “Knowing the Panther the way we do, I’d say someone the Panther’s trying to bribe collects fossils. Why else would he need it? It’s logical. Not having a fossil, and not having the time to dig one up himself, he takes yours, knowing you have one. Easy pickings as far as he’s concerned. All he had to do was steal it. Birage’s mistake was the Panther’s reward. He waited for the right moment and took it. Now he’ll use it for the next step of his plan. With us on the run and my son and daughter-in-law locked up, it’s the right distraction for him to take something else.”

“Like what?” asked Sabryn.

“That’s what we are aiming to find out,” added Max.

“I think we found something that’ll help,” offered Percival. “Noah found this on Carlitos’s table in his tent. It’s a set of numbers. I don’t know what they belong to, but they look like a code.” Percival handed Mia the paper.

She looked at the yellow paper then gazed at Carlitos. “Was this found along with the picture of the egg and the summary that fell out of the Panther’s pocket?”

Carlitos shook his head. “No! I came by that by accident. After the man walked away, I was . . . scared. I was about to run back to my tent when the man’s phone rang. He growled some orders. I don’t remember what he said, but then he came back into the tent to look for some paper to write on. He couldn’t find any so he went into someone else’s tent. I followed him and saw him grab the pad and write something down. He then ripped off the paper and took it with him, leaving the pad. I made sure he was gone before I took the pad. I shaded it in with pencil to see what it said.”

Granny took some zip ties from her handbag and tied Carlitos’s wrists together, but being near Birage, he was too afraid to run anyway. “Why didn’t you show us this as well?” she said.

“I didn’t think it was important. It’s just a bunch of numbers.”

“Or you thought it had something to do with the safe,” interjected Morris.

“No, I didn’t even go near the safe!” said Carlitos.

Mia glanced at the numbers, there were too many to belong to the safe.

1-1-6           1-1-19         1-2-13

1-2-18         1-3-6           1-3-26

1-4-12         1-4-28         1-5-7

1-6-11         1-7-1           1-7-10

1-8-5           1-9-5           1-12-6

1-13-6         1-14-10       1-20-3

1-22-12       1-24-9

She then asked Max for the picture of the egg and included the date and the name of the egg in Russian. The paper contained a summary of the Bay Tree Egg in English, describing the picture completely.

 

The topiary tree formed as a profusion of carved nephrite, finely veined leaves and jeweled fruit and flowers on an intricate framework of branche. The fruit is formed by champagne diamonds, amethysts, pale rubies and citrines, while the flowers are enameled white and set with diamonds. A keyhole and a tiny lever, hidden among the leaves, when activated open the hinged circular top of the tree and a feathered songbird rises, flaps its wings, turns its head, opens its beak and sings. The gold trunk, chased to imitate bark and planted in gold soil, is contained in a white quartz tub applied with a gold trellis chased with flower heads at the intersections and further applied with swags of berried laurel-enameled translucent green and pinned by cabochon rubies. The central rubies are edged by diamonds, each foot of the tub also applied with chased gold rosettes set with cabochon rubies and diamonds. The corners of the tub are set with pearl finials, while the square carved nephrite base in two steps with a miniature nephrite fluted column at each corner is set with chased gold mounts. Each column has a reeded gold cap surmounted by a pearl nestled in translucent green-enameled leaves, and the swinging gold chains between the columns formed as pearl flowers with translucent green-enameled leaves.

 

Mia said, “It is inscribed ‘Fabergé’ in Cyrillic with the year 1911 on the lower front rail of the tub and the date ‘9 April.’ It also includes a type of summary. One large egg shaped as a gold bay tree with 325 nephrite leaves, 110 opalescent white enamel small flowers, twenty-five diamonds, twenty rubies, fifty-three pearls, 219 rose-cut diamonds, and one large rose-cut diamond. Inside the tree is a mechanical songbird. It stands in a rectangular tub of white Mexican onyx on a nephrite base, with four nephrite columns at the corners suspending green enamel swags with pearls.”

“That’s a detailed accounting for sure,” interjected Percival. “But what’s the connection?”

Mia studied all the papers in her hand, from the picture, to its description, to the numbers. “It’s an Ottendorf Cipher, I’m sure of it,” she said. “Whoever gave the Panther the numbers on the phone was trying to tell him something no one else would understand. The cipher’s perfect. We were lucky Carlitos knocked the papers out of the Panther’s pocket. Now the only thing he has is the numbers, but no way to decipher it, though I’m sure he could easily pull up the information after doing some research and still find it. It wouldn’t be that hard. Hopefully he’ll think he just misplaced the numbers and won’t figure out that we have them,” spoke Mia.

“As far as he knows, we weren’t around at the time of the incident,” said Percival. “If he dropped the paper, he may not have noticed it until later and hopefully wouldn’t think Carlitos had it. He hasn’t been back, so we have to assume he doesn’t know.”

“If that’s true, it gives us the advantage,” began Max. “Mia, can you solve the cipher?”

“Of course! Shouldn’t take long.”

“Good, while you’re working on that, Morris, we need to know about the Kremlin Armoury. Specifically, we need to know how many floors it has, where the Fabergé collection’s being displayed, security, and whatever else you can think of. We’ll also need people inside in varying capacities. We need more than just our team if we are going to pull this off,” said Max.

Mia glanced at Percival. “You tested Sabryn’s acrobats.”

“I did! Their abilities will be useful. You’ve seen them in action.”

“I have. That’s why I thought of them. If we had to get in and out with little effort or detection, they’d be able to do it.”

“Before we get in this too deep,” cautioned Percival, “let’s identify the exact number of team members we need. I’ll make a call to my friend at the Armoury and see what I can find out about the eggs. Especially the ones in St. Petersburg for the show and the ones left behind. We may be going in the wrong direction here,” commented Percival.

“I agree! We’ll wait to hear the results of the call,” said Max.

“I’ll be back shortly.” Percival took out his cell phone and stepped out of the tent.

“Mia, did you solve the cipher?”

“I did!” Mia showed her results to the group. Two names were coded. Names they didn’t expect to see.

“Why would the message include the names of Peter and Ivan? They’re a far cry from Emperor Nicholas II,” stated Granny.

“They’re on entirely different spectrums,” added Noah. “We’re talking 1600s and 1700s for Peter and Ivan and the 1900s for Emperor Nicholas II. What’s the connection between them other than they were once leaders of Russia?”

Max began to pace. “Is anyone up on Russian history?” asked Max. His eyes focused on Morris, sitting on a hay bay and busily typing away. He glanced up, knowing full well Max was expecting him to answer.

“You know I spent a few months studying Russian history,” commented Morris.

“Yup. Which is why I’m depending on you, mate,” answered Max. “Let’s have it.”

Morris didn’t disappoint. “Peter the Great was probably one of the most effective rulers in Russia’s history wanting to westernise Russia. He made great progress, and Russia became one of the greatest powers in northeastern Europe in 1721 after the Russians and Swedes signed the Treaty of Nystadt where Russia had access to a northern outlet to warm water.

“He had a stepbrother, Ivan. The history there is interesting. Tsar Alexis, the father of both men, became tsar when he was sixteen. He was married to Maria Miloslavskii for twenty-one years, during which time she bore him thirteen children before her tragic death. Maria was a believer of the old ways and hated westernisation. After she died, Alexis met another woman who brought him out of mourning and who would forever affect his life. This was Natalia Naryshkin. She taught the tsar how to enjoy life again and made changes in court. The tsar adored her. She bore him a son who would later become Peter the Great.

“Peter became the tsar’s favorite son and caused a rift between the Miloslavskaias and the Naryshkins. The Miloslavskaias saw Peter’s birth as a threat to their claim to the throne. Eventually, Ivan from Alexis’s first marriage and Peter from his second would become co-rulers. Peter was only ten years old when he ascended to the throne, but he and Ivan only played ceremonial roles. The regent was Ivan’s sister Sophia, a very intelligent and power-hungry woman. She used Ivan as an instrument to gain all the power for herself. She had tried to have Peter killed by manipulating his guards, convincing them that the Naryshkins had Ivan killed, but once the guards found out that Sophia had lied, they abandoned the idea of killing him. Sophia feared that Peter would take control.

“Realising the betrayal, and that her son’s life was in danger, Natalia moved Peter to the village of Preobrazhenskoe, where she thought he would be safe. This left Sophia as regent in Moscow while Natalia ruled from outside the city. Living in the country was a very important passage for Peter. He learned more about himself and, sharing his mum’s love of the West, learned more about the modern world outside Russia. He returned to Moscow at twenty-two to replace Sophia. She tried to murder him, but Peter had his own guards and men loyal to him, and she wasn’t able to manipulate them. He exiled his half sister to a convent in Siberia and no one ever heard from her again.”

“Wonderful, loving family we have there,” Mia added sarcastically.

“No doubt!” replied Morris.

“I still don’t know what the Panther’s looking for,” said Noah.

Max said, “I don’t know either, but I will. Remember, it’s a magic trick. He’s directing us towards the egg while he’s looking for something else. I just don’t know what it is yet.”

Percival walked back into the tent, his hair ruffled in frustration. “Well, I have news!” he said.

“Good or bad?” asked Granny.

“Perhaps a little bit of both,” Percival replied as he marched up to the group. “My contact said that half of the Fabergé eggs are in St. Petersburg at the event. The other half remains at the armoury, including the Bay Tree Egg.”

“That’s good news. We were correct in our assumptions,” said Max.

“Yes, but I also found out that they have an unusual amount of military men stationed at the armoury. Their goal is to protect the egg at all costs. Between the men they have looking for us, and the men at the event in St. Petersburg, they’re keeping their bases covered. It’ll be impossible for us to get in and retrieve the egg to find the next clue.”

“How would they even know we’d try to retrieve it?” asked Mia.

“The Panther!” answered Max in annoyance. Then he started pacing again. “He knows we found his papers. Morris, were you able to pull up a map of the armoury?”

“Yes, though it’s more of a plan-scheme of the Armoury Chamber. But it’s pretty clear what they have on both floors.”

“So there are two floors.” Max rushed over to look at the map, as did the others. Morris laid his iPad on its back and then projected the picture into the air like a hologram. Given the fact that the light of the tent was slightly dim, it helped everyone examine the picture more clearly.

“What we’re looking at is the first floor of the armoury. The entrance is in hall one. The Fabergé eggs are located in hall two, which is attached to hall one and is in showcase twenty close to the door to the hall on the right.”

“What do halls one and two contain?” asked Percival.

“They both contain Russian gold and silverware but from different centuries. Hall one is from the twelfth to the early seventeenth centuries. Hall two is from the seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries.”

“Can we get a feed into their security system?” asked Mia.

“Not until I can get closer to the building,” said Morris. “The armoury chamber is a part of the Grand Kremlin Palace’s complex. This is going to be very challenging, if not impossible to do, but I can connect into the feed so we can see everything happening in all the areas. I can’t connect us from here though.”

“The acrobats could dress up as guards and find a way to get the egg,” inserted Riley, who had been watching in admiration at the brains at work, amazed at the Crypto-Capers abilities.

“We could,” Max said. “I’m just not sure if the egg is our main target. As I have said . . .” Max drifted off as something filled his mind. “I’ve got it!”

“Got what?” asked Mia.

“Morris, is there anything of Peter and Ivan’s in that armoury?”

“It’s mostly Peter’s stuff. They have his throne and other ceremonial objects.”

“But what of Ivan’s effects? Is there anything?” urged Max.

Morris said, “Remember he was co-ruler with Peter but after that was nothing. The only thing they have of his is the double throne he and Peter shared when they first became rulers.”

Max smiled. “The double throne. That’s got to be it. The cipher mentioned the names Peter and Ivan. It wouldn’t have if it meant just Peter’s items. The double throne would have something of both of theirs. They were brothers, though only stepbrothers. Even so, they were brothers. What we’re looking for is something that belonged to Peter but was hidden on the double throne, maybe along with something of Ivan’s. Without looking at it, it’s going to be hard to determine what. We’ll need time to examine the throne itself. What floor and hall is that in?”

Morris pulled up the image of the second floor for everyone to see. “It’s on the second floor in hall seven in showcase forty-eight. It’s a part of the ‘Thrones of Romanov Dynasty’ section.”

“The second floor—that’s the magic trick. While guards will be waiting for us to come after the egg on the first floor, which we’ll have to do in order to set everything in motion, the Panther will be on the second floor stealing something from Peter and Ivan’s throne. We’re the distraction he’s looking for, but for him it’ll be a matter of timing.”

“Why must we go after the egg?” asked Granny.

“Because, the Panther can’t just go into the showcase and steal something out of it. He’ll get caught, he knows this. In order for his plan to work, he needs us to step into the trap. While we’re trying to escape and the guards are chasing after us, they won’t notice him breaking into the showcase. When they do discover the theft, we’ll be blamed for it, not him. It’s quite brilliant, I have to admit.”

“We need many hands to make this work,” said Percival.

“Yes, I do believe so. But I also think that, if we included the acrobats into our calculations, who can flip, slide, and twist their way around the interior, we can triumph. We’re one step ahead.”

Percival smiled at Max.

“Sabryn—” but before Percival could say something else, strange men began to enter into the tent. “Or we are one step behind,” Percival muttered in Max’s direction.

“It’s the men who were after us,” whispered Morris as he stood up from the bale of hay, removing the image from his iPad so they couldn’t see it. He then moved closer to his team who had suddenly stepped closer together as one solid unit. Sabryn, Carlitos, Birage, and Riley moved together while Percival grabbed hold of Noah’s arm, slightly pulling him closer to his side.

“I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere,” said a man in English though his Russian accent was thick. He was dressed in black, as were his menacing companions.

“What can we do for you?” asked Max.

“All we want is for you and your team to come with us—that’s it. You will not be harmed.” A man behind the leader mumbled something in Russian, then began to laugh under his breath. Granny leaned towards Max.

“Don’t let them fool you. They mean us much harm. He just said he wouldn’t twist up our bodies too badly.”

Max gazed at the men in front of him, his mind spinning with options. Percival whispered to Max to meet him by Vyborg Castle and be prepared to leave. Then Percival whispered something to Sabryn before shouting. “Sorry, Sabryn, but I have no choice.”

Percival raised his pen and shot out the raised lights in the tent. After a shower of sparks, they were bathed in darkness. Max turned in the dark and ushered his team to the side of the tent, whispering to them their meeting point. Shots were beginning to fill the air, and the team dropped to the ground but continued to make good their escape. A few tripped on the surrounding bales of hay. It was utter chaos for the next ten minutes as the men began to chase anyone they thought they could see. No one knew what happened to the other group or if they made it out of the tent alive, but the Crypto-Caper team escaped mostly unscathed.