He peered at the screen. ‘Fifty grand? Jesus! Who’d pay that much?’

‘My student, unfortunately! A Chinese kid called Cheng, with a wealthy family. He wanted me to go with him to buy it.’

‘Why you?’

‘I’m his professor – and I have a track record of finding lost civilisations, remember? But when I said no, he decided he was going anyway. And I think he’s going to be played for a sucker to the tune of fifty thousand euros at best, and end up face-down in the River Elbe at worst.’

‘You don’t think it’s genuine?’

‘No, I do, and that’s the problem. If some kid can find it on the dark web, so can other people.’ She pointed out the stone and crystal. ‘These are the same kind of things we saw in Turkey. Remember how somebody stole the entire vault from under the noses of the Turkish government and the IHA?’

‘Hard to forget. The thing probably weighed twenty tons.’

‘Any group that could do that would have to be big, well connected – somebody in Turkey must have turned a blind eye – and rich. It was a huge job, but they did it literally overnight without leaving a single clue. An organisation like that won’t let a nerdy eighteen-year-old beat them to the punch.’

‘What kind of organisation, though?’ he asked. ‘Everybody in the Covenant of Genesis is dead, and they were the only ones who knew all about the Veteres. And the vault in Turkey was from Atlantis, not the Veteres.’

‘But they’re linked – both civilisations could channel earth energy. We already know that’s a power the American government would go to great lengths to obtain, never mind any other country.’

Eddie pursed his lips thoughtfully. ‘And you said this kid is Chinese? There’s a country that’s trying pretty damn hard to get more power all around the world. Maybe he’s working for the Chinese government.’

She gave him a mocking look. ‘Cheng’s eighteen, and I’d guess the most physical training he’s ever had was clicking a mouse. I really don’t think he’s a Chinese spy. I’m more worried about him going to Hamburg chasing this thing, and not returning.’

‘So you want to chase after it instead?’

‘I can’t stop him going,’ she said. ‘But I can make sure he comes back.’

Eddie perched on the edge of her desk, then sighed. ‘So much for the quiet life. That lasted, what, three hours?’

‘I know,’ she said. ‘It wasn’t what I planned at all. But if Cheng goes on his own, I have a horrible feeling he’ll be sticking his head in a lion’s mouth. He’s clever, very smart, but . . . well, he’s still a kid.’