It had taken years of study and considerable luck to find this treasure, but he had done it. And now he had been robbed, as he had been in France. He couldn’t even get the culprits arrested because he’d had no legal right to dig on the museum grounds. His foolish men had even fired at the Fargos and the stolen lifeboat, so they’d had to throw their guns in the river before being arrested.

The telephone gave an abbreviated ring on the other end, then some mysterious clicks and disconnection sounds, like doors opening and closing. Finally a female voice with a singer’s lilt to it said in Hungarian, “The offices of the Poliakoff Company are closed for the day. If you would like to leave a message, wait for the tone.” Bako knew that the machine was simply programmed to speak Hungarian to a Hungarian phone number.

He said, “This is Arpad Bako. Please call me back.” He ended the call, then set the cell phone down on his large, highly polished rosewood desk and looked at it expectantly. The telephone rang almost immediately and he picked it up. “Hello, Sergei.”

“I was surprised to hear your voice, Arpad. You’re a fat, lazy plutocrat to call me at night.”

“Ideas come to me like birds flying in my window. When I see a good one, I snatch it out of the air regardless of the hour.”

“I like ideas. You can tell me yours. This is a scrambled line.”

“All right,” Bako said. “I have found a treasure hidden by Attila the Hun.”

“A treasure,” said Poliakoff. “Are we using metaphors now?”

“I say the word treasure the way Attila would have. A collection of coins and jewels, works of art, and ornaments made of gold and precious stones. They will be in a burial chamber.”

“Attila’s?”

“Attila’s father’s. You will get a third if you help me.”

“A third of what?”

“A third of whatever we find,” said Bako. “I can tell you we’ve found some of the treasures already. There was one in Italy. There was one in France with so much gold it took a truck to carry it out. There was a smaller one in the Transylvanian forest, and one on the north bank of the Danube that was ten shipping crates of gold and gems.”

“You have all of this gold and jewelry? Send me pictures of yourself standing with it and send me a small sample in your next shipment of pain pills. A ring, a necklace, anything in your next shipment of pills. I’m expecting one by air tomorrow.”