The Project 04 - Black Harvest

asked.
    " Cuneiform tablets found in Iraq. He was looking for clues to ancient famines, crop failures. Some of those killed hundreds of thousands of people. Jim worked for CDC in Atlanta. He was quite brilliant. He spent several years studying ancient languages just so he could work directly from the old sources."
    Selena nodded. "I can understand that. Was there a message with the pictures?"
    "Well, yes, there was. It's very odd. Jim said he was on the trail of something. He said I should have the writing translated and I should be careful."
    "Why would he say that?"
    "I haven't any idea. That's why I called you, to find out what's on the tablets. Right after that I heard from the police." McCullough was agitated.
    "May I see the pictures?"
    "I printed them for you." McCullough fumbled through papers on his desk and handed them to her. They were in black and white on cheap copy paper. Nick glanced over. The writing reminded him of ordered rows of chicken tracks.
    She looked at the first page. "This style is from the fourth century BCE."
    "That would correspond to Alexander's conquest of the Persian Empire."
    "I'd need time for an accurate translation, but this looks like a fragment from one of the epic poems." She turned a page. "This part is different. It's from the treasury of Darius III in Babylon."
    She traced the marks with her finger. "It's an accounting or inventory. Darius had an enormous treasure. Alexander used it to pay his troops."
    "What would it be worth today?" Nick was curious.
    "A lot." She turned a page. "Let's see...100,000 talents of gold and silver."
    "What's a talent?"
    "It's how they measured coins. By volume. A talent is around 25 liters."
    She turned another page. "Whoever wrote this was very detailed. This is interesting. A golden container or urn, two cubits high, sealed, graven with a black horse and an inscription saying the urn contains the Curse of Demeter Erinys."
    Nick opened his mouth to ask, but Selena beat him to it.
    "A cubit is about eighteen inches."
    "That's not what I was going to ask. Who's Demeter?"
    "Demeter is the Greek goddess of the harvest."
    She came to the last page. "I need to study this, but it looks like Alexander sent the urn and treasure off to Greece with someone. I wonder if any of it still exists?"
    "Two and a half million liters of gold and silver and a big gold pot?" Nick looked at her. "If it did and Campbell knew something about it, people would kill for that."
    McCullough seemed uncomfortable. A light knocking interrupted them. A student opened the door.
    "Excuse me, Professor. This just came for you." He held an express delivery package in his hand.
    "Thank you, William." McCullough took the package and placed it with the clutter on his desk.
    "Selena, could you take this copy and translate it for me? Write it down?"
    "I'd be happy to." She put the papers in her jacket pocket. McCullough saw the Glock in its quick draw holster under her tailored jacket.
    "You carry a gun?" He seemed shocked.
    "I'm a kind of federal agent now, Kevin. I translate things for the government. They insist I wear it. I'm not sure I'd know what to do with it."
    Nick kept a straight face.
    "Well." McCullough stood. "I have to get ready for my afternoon lecture. It's good to see you."
    "I'll get the translation done in a day or two. We'll have coffee." She paused. "Kevin, it's probably a good idea not to mention this. Nick's right. It might have something to do with why your friend was murdered."
    "Yes. All right. Goodbye, Mr. Carter."
    Nick glanced back as they left. McCullough seemed dazed, pushing papers around on his desk, looking for his lecture notes.
    They came out of Healy Hall and stopped by a large fountain. The sky was clear and blue, good weather after days of gray skies and drizzle.
    "McCullough didn't like it when I told him someone might kill for that treasure."
    "He's an academic, Nick."
    "How does he get anything done in that mess up there?"
    Selena was about to say something when the sky detonated in a thunderclap over their heads. The blast knocked them to the ground. The sound rolled away toward the Potomac. Debris rained on the lawns and parking lots and parked cars, rock and smoldering wood and bits of masonry. A flurry of paper drifted down from above.
    "Jesus." Nick stood, helped Selena to her feet. Her knee was scraped and bleeding. Screams and shouts came from the building. They looked up.
    A large part of the outer wall on the fourth floor was gone.