‘Stolen,’ she cut in, with a hate-filled glare at the former SAS officer.
‘Stolen, yes, but he had possession of them. That forced us to negotiate with him.’
‘And Sophia,’ Eddie growled. ‘Where does she fit in? Is she one of your fucking Group too?’
‘Absolutely not,’ snapped Warden, with genuine loathing and anger at the accusation. ‘Sophia Blackwood was Harald Glas’s responsibility. For God knows what reason, he took her in after your last encounter with her in Switzerland. When Mr Stikes contacted us through Ankit Jindal, Glas sent her to act as our representative – without consulting the rest of us.’
Eddie was becoming more furious by the moment. ‘Are you telling me,’ he said in a low, deeply threatening voice, ‘that Kit was working for you?’
Warden lowered his head. ‘Unfortunately, yes. And all I can do is apologise for what happened.’
‘Apologise?’ Eddie exploded. ‘He murdered my friend to protect Stikes – to protect those fucking statues! Fuck this. Nina, we’re going.’
He turned to leave, but Stikes stood, reaching for his gun. ‘You’re not going anywhere, Chase.’
‘Stikes!’ Warden practically barked the name. ‘Sit down and shut up. And put the gun away. You don’t do a damn thing unless I tell you to. Understand?’ Stikes’s face was a picture of thinly veiled anger as he returned to his seat.
‘Jindal was working for us,’ said Warden, addressing Eddie and Nina again. ‘His position in Interpol meant he was perfectly placed to watch for any information on statues like Takashi’s. After you found the first statue in Egypt, we were planning to have Takashi send the second one to you in the hope that you would use them to locate the third. Unfortunately, Pramesh and Vanita Khoil found out about it. Our computer security wasn’t as good as we’d thought, apparently. They arranged to have Takashi’s statue stolen in order to stop us.’
‘I take it they weren’t on the Group’s wavelength,’ said Nina.
‘Hardly. We want to end global conflict; they were actively encouraging it to bring about their insane new world. But we were using Jindal to guide you down a particular path, so that you would find all the statues and bring them together. We had no idea what lengths he would go to in order to do that. It was . . . it was a mistake.’ The amount of effort it took for Warden to force the words out suggested it was not an admission he made frequently, if at all.
Eddie was far from impressed. ‘You should have chosen your people better.’ He stared pointedly at Stikes. ‘You still should.’
‘Again, the only thing I can do is apologise. The last thing we wanted to do was alienate you. We need you, Dr Wilde – and we’re willing to do whatever it takes to make things right.’
‘What do you mean?’ Nina asked.
‘Exactly what it sounds like. What do you want? The opportunity to conduct your archaeological research without being hindered by the political considerations and budget limits of the IHA, perhaps? You could have your own foundation – funded by the Group, with absolutely no restrictions. Would that be an appealing proposition?’
‘Nah, we’re not interested,’ said Eddie. No response from his wife. He nudged her. ‘Are we, love?’
‘I don’t know . . .’ she said. ‘You’d be willing to do that?’
Warden nodded. ‘We’d be willing to do whatever you like. You’re in a position occupied by very few people through the entire course of history, Dr Wilde. You can choose the direction taken by the whole of humanity: into a bold new future, or carrying on towards ruin as things are now. The decision is yours.’
‘Nina, you’re not seriously thinking about saying yes, are you?’ Eddie demanded.
‘I’m thinking that . . . I need to think about it,’ she replied, before turning back to Warden. ‘If I said yes, what would you need me to do?’
‘Bring us the statues, so we can locate the meteorite,’ said Warden. ‘After that, at some point we’ll need a blood sample from you, as I said, but that won’t be necessary until the earth energy collection stations are nearing completion. As for whatever you might want in return, we would see to it right away. After the meteorite is found, of course.’
‘Of course,’ Nina echoed quietly. Another short silence, then: ‘I need time to decide. You’ve given me a lot to think about.’
Warden nodded. ‘I understand.’
‘There’s one thing you can do for me right away, though.’