Ben spent a moment in reflection. He had never seen Khorsabad itself, but nearby Mosul, just fifteen kilometres away, had been a site of strategic bombings and Special Forces ops prior to its capture by Coalition troops in April 2003. Later it had become the scene of multiple suicide attacks and assassinations as the militants refused to be defeated. Persecution of Assyrian Christians by the Islamics had lasted for years, and eventually ISIL had taken over the city in their Northern Iraq Offensive, with disastrous consequences for its inhabitants.

Returning to the present, Ben had to marvel at the craftsmanship of the two Lamassu. The expressions on their human faces were benevolent, almost kindly, with eyes that seemed to return his gaze. Each had curly beards cut off square at the ends, and prominent noses below thick eyebrows. On top of their heads each wore a crown or tiara, either side of which sprouted bull’s horns. Their huge bodies seemed to ripple with living muscle, and had been cleverly sculpted with five legs instead of four, creating an optical illusion that made them look as though they were standing to attention when viewed from the front, but walking when seen from the side. Ben’s guidebook explained that such androcephalic, or human-headed, bulls were a characteristic feature of the decoration of Assyrian palaces.

Having seen all he needed to see, he left the museum wondering how many more Lamassu must remain hidden among the ruins of ancient undiscovered palaces beneath the sands of Iraq and its neighbouring countries, waiting for archaeologists to come and unearth them. Not to mention their cultural value, their monetary worth must be inestimable. It was little wonder that people like Julien Segal spent entire careers scouring some of the world’s most dangerous places in search of such treasures.

Except members of Julien Segal’s profession didn’t, as a rule, frequent known terrorists, nor do mysterious deals with them that somehow resulted in the deaths of innocent employees.

Ben returned to his car deep in thought about the warehouse in the video clip. Was this Segal’s own storage facility? It made sense for someone in his position to own or rent secure spaces where artifacts could be kept protected while in transit from their home countries to wherever they were destined to end up. More than ever, Ben wished he’d managed to find out from Jeanne at the Institute where Romy’s recent field trip abroad had taken her. Then he might be able to discover where Segal’s meeting with Nazim al-Kassar had taken place. Which might not tell him much, but right now a little knowledge was worth a lot to him.