Minos: Cryptid Prequel

By Douglas Roff

The Curse of the Minotaur? Eleven archeologists have been kidnapped and two detectives murdered at a remote and newly discovered ancient dig site. Teen genius Adam St. James has traveled to the remote White Mountains of Crete with brother Rod Suarez and father Dr. Edward St. James to investigate. He is soon joined by the mysterious Greek beauty Athena and her equally enigmatic guardian Stefano. They offer to help in solving this mystifying puzzle, but do they have a hidden agenda, one that could spell death for Adam and his family? What do this pair really want, and what part does the ancient and historic Minoan civilization play in events as they unfold.

Is it the Curse of the Minotaur, as the locals believe or something else far less mythical and far more insidious, and closer to home?  

Adam is thirteen years old, and already a budding computer genius, when his father receives an urgent request from the Greek government and his old friend, fellow archeologist Spiro Antiacos, to assist with a confounding mystery. Antiacos, curator of a major national museum of antiquities in Athens, tells Edward that eleven anthropologists at a new dig on the island of Crete have discovered evidence of a massive find related to the Cult of the Minotaur, and the late King Minos. 

That's the good news; the bad news is that they've all disappeared, one by one, while at the same time two investigators from the Greek national police have been found murdered. After months of investigation, little has been revealed about the missing anthropologists, and the local residents seem unable or unwilling to help. Oddly, they also claim to be the direct inheritors of Minoan civilization.   

Dr. Edward St. James arrives at the dig site with his sons, his on again off again girlfriend, field archeologist Desiree "Dez" D'rq, his forensic colleague, Dr. Kirsten Branch, and his two security experts, ex-SAS Brits, Peter and Archie Benson. Joining them are fellow forensic anthropologist Max VanCamp and his wife, adventurer and thrill seeker, Eene "Enya" Svensson.

As they arrive in Athens on the way to Crete, they are tracked by two shadowy figures, both shady antiquities dealers well-known for walking up to, and occasionally crossing, the legal line of the criminal underworld of stolen and looted antiquities.

Someone is undoubtedly supplying the thieves as they hide. Is it the villagers dotting the Valley, as claimed by the Greek government, or are they merely pawns in a plot to steal the heritage of Greece?

The action is exciting, the characters compelling, and the plot intricate as murder, betrayal, and intrigue dominate the pages of Minos. 

Buckle up reader; you're in for the thrill of a lifetime!

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Douglas Roff
• Release date: Apr 8, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215493373

Douglas Roff

Douglas Roff is a retired corporate executive. He has lived around the world working in various capacities for government and industry.  Doug has written twenty-nine novels to date, mostly in the mystery, paranormal and fantasy genres, but not exclusively.  He currently resides in Latin America, speaks Spanish, and is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada.  

Book preview

Author's Forward

This story is a work of fiction, a story told to my son when he was very young. My mother inspired my brother and I to read by reading to us at bedtime as young children. I was captivated by the tales of Robert Louis Stevenson, the Hardy Boys, and other juvenile authors of the time.

It started me on a lifetime of reading and love of the English language.

Naturally, when my son was born, I wished to give him the same launch to the joy of reading as I had experienced as a child.

My son had a different idea. He did not want to be read to (I initially chose the Lord of the Rings), he wanted an original story, a story just for him that told the tale of kids doing heroic things with adults. Adventures in faraway places involving mythical creatures.

I naturally turned to Greek mythology to frame the stories.

The result was a lengthy story I told to him every night at bedtime for a very long time. I promised to one day write a novel to recall the story and those days when the only thing I needed to do to capture my son’s imagination was to tell him a story in which he could imagine himself.

My son is in fact now an avid reader, a voracious reader of fiction and non-fiction, and a remarkable example of an autodidact.

It was a promise renewed annually and unkept for almost thirty years.

It is now a promise kept.

Better late than never.

About the Book

The Curse of the Minotaur? Eleven archeologists have been kidnapped and two detectives murdered at a remote and newly discovered ancient dig site. Teen genius Adam St. James has traveled to the remote White Mountains of Crete with brother Rod Suarez and father Dr. Edward St. James to investigate. He is soon joined by the mysterious Greek beauty Athena and her equally enigmatic guardian Stefano. They offer to help in solving this mystifying puzzle, but do they have a hidden agenda, one that could spell death for Adam and his family? What do this pair really want, and what part does the ancient and historic Minoan civilization play in events as they unfold.

Athena is as spoiled as she is beautiful, and she finds herself trying to manipulate the brothers; Rod is fascinated by her narcissism, but Adam isn’t buying it.

Is it the Curse of the Minotaur, or something else far less mythical and far more insidious, and closer to home? 

Adam is thirteen years old, and already a budding computer genius, when his father receives an urgent request from the Greek government and his old friend, fellow archeologist Spiro Antiacos, to assist with a confounding mystery. Antiacos, curator of a major national museum of antiquities in Athens, tells Edward that eleven anthropologists at a new dig on the island of Crete have discovered evidence of a massive find related to the Cult of the Minotaur, and the late King Minos.

That’s the good news; the bad news is that they have all disappeared, one by one, while at the same time two Greek detectives from the national police have been found murdered.

After months of investigation, little has been revealed about the missing anthropologists, and the local residents seem unable or unwilling to help. Oddly, they also claim to be the direct inheritors of Minoan civilization, which flourished three thousand five hundred years earlier. They claim that the disappearance of the men and women has been the result of the desecration of their homeland, the Minos Valley, and because of the Curse of the Minotaur. No object from the many temples and sites in the Minos Valley may be disturbed without earning the strongest rebuke possible: death.

Dr. Edward St. James arrives at the dig site with his sons, his on again off again girlfriend, field archeologist Desiree Dez D’rq, his forensic colleague, Dr. Kirsten Branch, and his two security experts, ex-SAS Brits, Peter and Archie Benson. Joining them are fellow forensic anthropologist Max VanCamp and his wife, adventurer and thrill seeker, Eene Enya Svensson.

As they arrive in Athens on the way to Crete, they are tracked by two shadowy figures, both shady antiquities dealers well-known for walking up to, and occasionally crossing, the legal line of the criminal underworld of stolen and looted antiquities.

As the group make their way to the dig site in the remote White Mountains of Chania prefecture and settle in, they begin to assess the state of affairs and determine how to proceed, using advanced technology and cutting-edge forensic techniques. Not knowing who to trust, they rely only on themselves and begin to solve the mysteries of what is, and is not, possible.

Edward discounts the Curse in favor of a criminal conspiracy reaching into the highest levels of the Greek government, law enforcement, and academia. The relics are priceless, but where are they, if they even exist? The group is stymied; the criminals and their kidnap victims have seemingly disappeared without a trace.

The plot twists and turns as friend is foe, and foe is friend.

This story is a fantasy with all the mystery of the myth and legend of ancient Minoan civilization set against a background of Adam’s coming of age and his budding relationship with beautiful and temperamental young Athena.

The action is exciting, the characters compelling, and the plot intricate as murder, betrayal, and intrigue dominate the pages of Minos.

Buckle up reader; you’re in for the thrill of a lifetime!

The Minotaur

CRETE, MINOAN CIVILIZATION

AND

FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY

Crete in the Ancient World. The Minoan civilization was an Aegean Bronze Age civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands which flourished from c. 2700 BCE to c. 1450 BCE, before a late period of decline, finally ending around 1100 BCE. It preceded and was absorbed by the Mycenaean civilization of ancient Greece.

The Minoans primarily wrote in the undeciphered Linear A, encoding a language hypothetically labeled Minoan. The reasons for the slow decline of the Minoan civilization, beginning around 1550 BCE, are unclear; theories include Mycenaean Greek invasions from mainland Greece and the major volcanic eruption of Santorini.

King Minos. According to Greek mythology, King Minos was the first King of Crete, and the son of Zeus and Europa. To claim the throne from his siblings, Minos made a pact with Poseidon to sacrifice a white bull to him; the bull was so beautiful that Minos sacrificed a different bull, keeping the white bull for himself. Angered by this betrayal, Poseidon caused Minos’s wife, Pasiphaë, to mate with a bull, producing a hideous offspring, the Minotaur, half man, half bull.

King Minos ruled from Knossos, his capital city and site of the great Palace of Knossos and location of the famed Labyrinth.

The Minotaur. King Minos realized that Minotaur was not only a hideous creature, but was uncontrollable and bloodthirsty. To protect against the Minotaur, King Minos commissioned Daedalus and his son, Icarus, to build a maze, called the Labyrinth, to contain the Minotaur and prevent his escape. Minos then incarcerated Daedalus and Icarus so as to keep secret the way out of the maze. They later escaped.

Every nine years, Athens was required to send tribute in the form of seven young boys and seven young virgin girls to be eaten by the Minotaur. Some mythologies say the tribute was to be paid annually.

The Minotaur was eventually killed by the Greek hero Theseus with the aid of Minos’s daughter, Ariadne. Theseus then abandoned Ariadne on his way home, at the request of the goddess Athena, and in so doing through carelessness, caused the suicide of his father, King Aegeus.

After his death, Minos became a judge of the dead in the underworld.

Minoan Civilization in this Novel. The King Minos-Minoan Civilization-Minotaur myth has been the subject of interpretation by writers and academics, each telling a slightly different story of various aspects of the tale.

In this novel, the mythology has been altered to suit the needs of the tale, a reimagination of what happened after the fall of the Minoan civilization.

The King Minos of this story is the last of the Kings of Minos at Knossos, whose remains were sent to the White Mountains of Crete, Lefka Ori, to hide until one day he would rise again.

The locations of the events in the novel roughly parallel certain geological and geographical characteristics of the region, in the prefecture of Chania, but bear no resemblance to reality.

Forensic archeology. Forensic archeology is a subset of forensic anthropology along with forensic taphonomy. While the main body of forensics in this area is constructed around crime scenes involving dead bodies in mass graves, I have taken literary license to expand the discipline to include an application to crimes scenes not involving murders and dead bodies as the primary focus, but to the theft and looting of archeological sites, associated criminal enterprises, and the vertical supply chain of looted antiquities to buyers and collectors worldwide.

The invented discipline is the crossroads of forensics, CSI (crime scene investigation), and looted antiquities. The looting and destruction of archeological sites for profit is, in fact, a massive criminal business that has been largely marginalized by law enforcement for many decades. Many countries have only recently been coerced into signing onto international treaties to protect ancient artifacts.

I’m not completely certain that any widespread application of the discipline I describe actually exists, but in the imagined worlds that I create, they are real and respected.

This literary discipline is a key element, along with new cutting-edge technology (also not terribly real-world), in all the stories written by me using archeology as the backdrop.

Dedication

To my son, Jacob, who inspired this story as a child.

PART ONE

The Curse of the Minotaur

Chapter 1

C’mon boys, hurry up. We’re going to miss our flight. Have you got everything packed and ready to go? The flight’s at eleven; don’t dawdle.

Two teens popped their heads out of the garage of the modest rancher on the campus of the Victoria Institute, in a neighborhood reserved for academics and researchers living in Barrows Bay on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

Settle down, old man, said one of the boys. We’ve got plenty of time, and Rod and I have a few more things to do before we leave. Mom and Pops made some adjustments to our gear last minute, and I’ve got to adjust the software. Why don’t you go across the street and pester mom? She does better with your travel obsessions than we do.

Did I mention that the flight’s at eleven?

Did we mention that you’re really annoying sometimes?  It’s five in the morning and the drive only takes an hour and a half from here to Vic International.

Text me when you’re ready. I’ll be discussing your behavior with your mom.

Just leave, crazy old man. We’ll be ready in fifteen; then we get to arrive way too early at the gate so we can sit on our asses while you check your watch every ten minutes and watch the flight monitors. Try to act like this isn’t your first rodeo then we’ll promise to pretend we don’t know you.

Who bit you in the ass so early?

Go. We’re officially ignoring you now. Please leave.

The principal players in the early morning banter were Dr. Edward St. James, his older son Adam St. James, and his younger son, Rodrigo Rod Suarez. Technically, Edward only had one son, Adam, but since the merger of the two families over a decade earlier, Edward’s official title was Dad, Maria Suarez was Mom, and Agustin Suarez was Pops. The two families lived across the street from each other; the boys grew up in both households, speaking English in one household while speaking only Spanish in the other. The boys alternated between each household on a schedule set by mom, but modified by circumstances. Circumstances was code for fighting which was what Edward and his son Adam did with some frequency.

Adam and Rod were both thirteen, had met puberty, and already discovered the wonderful world of girls. They also learned how to use a new word. No. Gone were good old days when Adam thought his dad was amazing and hung on every word the old man had to say. He was growing up and came to realize his dad could be a real jerk; he no longer did what his father told him to do just because his father told him to do it. It also had to make sense and then also be OK with mom.

Complications abounded in the wake of Adam’s emerging maturity. He was a computer genius who had graduated from high school at age eleven, copyrighted and patented his first apps and gizmos at twelve, and was treated as an adult in his work doing crazy awesome things at age thirteen. Then there was home and social life, where he was kicked back to being treated like a five-year-old. Adam was annoyed and frustrated by the adults in his life, as was Rod, but Rod was quiet and observant while Adam was just plain angry.

The entire family, which included aunts, uncles, cousins and complete strangers in Seattle, were part of a larger tribe who called themselves the Eight Families. None were actually family; all came from either Oaxaca or Merida, Mexico, and had immigrated to the US at about the same time as Maria and Agustin Suarez, who were straight out of UNAM, the National University in Mexico City. Six of the eight families put down roots in Seattle, while the Suarez and St. James contingents, who met at UCLA as grad students, headed north to hockey country and established themselves in Barrows Bay, British Columbia as Fellows at the prestigious Victoria Institute.

The Eight Families were the pioneers in the migratory flow northward of families and conocidos, but they were just the beginning. Many more relations made the trek to Seattle; not all stayed. But family was family and, if Seattle was not their final destination, that was okay too.

Adam was the anomaly, the one who was not like all the rest. For starters, he was a mostly self-taught genius and was now working on a college degree at CalTech, though remotely. Adam thought he should be on campus living in student housing in LA; his mom and dad thought otherwise. Special arrangements were made for Adam by Dr. Maria Suarez, UCLA Engineering, and Dr. Edward St. James, UCLA, Anthropology.

Adam was not a happy kid, though outwardly there was no particular identifiable reason for his difficult behavior and acting out. Pops loved Adam for his curiosity, the strength of character, and his innate sense of fairness. His mom loved him as her own, protected him, took him to Mass every Sunday, and refereed the conflict with his father. Edward loved and worried about his son, wanting him to grow up as normally as possible, but he was also a taskmaster and could be hard on the boy. He believed that discipline and hard work, on a schedule Edward set, was the way forward.

Adam, however, wanted to play ball, work out with his brother, and get into plenty of trouble, just like his friends.

Adam was a devout Catholic, loved his local parish in Victoria, and hung out with the Jesuits who told stories of adventure and intrigue dating back to the day when the Order was founded. The Jesuits loved knowledge and education; so did Adam. The Jesuits got into trouble everywhere.  What's not to like about them?  They're Godly, intelligent and troublesome. Adam aspired to be just like them.

The benefits to Adam of the Eight Families, most especially Maria, Agustin, and Rod, was that he had a family structure, people who loved and cared about him, and a breakwater between him and his quirky father. When dad went on a rant, Adam was shipped off to Seattle to visit his cousins, aunts, and uncles.

Within the extended family, Adam learned Spanish, cooking, cleaning and how to care for himself from his aunts. He learned the meaning of respect and discipline from his uncles, and how to cuss and fight from his male cousins. From his female cousins, he learned the delicate art of flirtation and how to be comfortable and confident around girls. He was still shy; his girl cousins always went easy on the boy. They liked him; he was always nice and respectful, and never minded just hanging out. Their parents approved.

His family in Seattle wanted him with them in Seattle, each for their own reasons. The aunts wanted him in the kitchen and in church as an example of how men ought to behave. His uncles wanted him in church too so they could then stay at home watching Seahawks football. His male cousins wanted him around because, though thin and wiry, he could kick ass. His female cousins wanted him around to keep an eye on the lad and keep the competition away from what was rightly their property. The girls would draw lots if they had to; eventually, the Canadian kid would choose one of them as a bride when he was old enough.

Rod and Pops were more measured with Sunday mornings. They preferred sleeping in or watching soccer and football on Sunday instead of church in Victoria. Edward was a card-carrying Deist, though that just meant he had no desire to get involved with organized religion; he wasn’t a heathen, he claimed it was just that he wasn’t going to take sides. Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist didn’t matter to him. He had worked with them all and saw no difference among them. Most couldn’t stand Edward anyway, so all religions had that in common. Edward was often described as an equal opportunity jerk, know-it-all, and primo arrogant asshole.

Edward would not have disagreed.

Rod was the good son. He was athletic, good looking, and made friends easily. Kids liked him and parents thought Maria and Agustin had done a fantastic job with their boy. He was a good student, never got into trouble, and had the same girlfriend since pre-school. Cindy Eagan, daughter of Constable Mark Eagan and his wife Julia, sat next to Rod on their first day of class in preschool and were never apart afterward. Girls waited for them to break up; the boys wanted to date Cindy. Neither would ever get the chance.

The entire Barrows Bay family was constructed around one notion and one notion only. Keep an eye on Adam and prevent him from acting out his worst behaviors in public. Each family member had a nuanced role in that job; some had more than one assignment.

Today was a good day for Adam. He was leaving Barrows Bay with his best friend and brother, Rod, and his dad, who cooked up this incredible assignment, the first of its kind for all three. Edward St. James was a forensic archeologist, not the kind who studied dead bodies in mass graves, but the new kind who studied archeological site, artifact theft and crime scenes. Edward worked with law enforcement, national governments, and universities studying looted archeological sites, digs and the criminals who were involved and the vertical supply chain of buyers. These were mainly museums, collectors, and filthy rich patrons, but could be almost any assortment of niche miscreants.

Edward’s vocation was to analyze looted archeological digs around the world to bring the criminals to justice. That necessarily meant that the crime had already been committed, and the authorities were trying to determine who these criminals were.

But this adventure was different. This crime was still in progress. Archeologists were disappearing and presumed dead. No bodies had turned up yet, but Edward and the authorities on the Greek island of Crete thought that was only a matter of time. A new and promising dig had been found though it had not yet given up its secrets. All they knew for sure was that the site had been occupied, then abandoned thousands of years ago, and had been dedicated to the Cult of the Minotaur, founded by King Minos of Knossos.

Adam felt chills when his father told him and Rod what was widely known on Crete, but not elsewhere; all temples dedicated to the Cult of the Minotaur were cursed. Desecration would be followed by an agonizing death. Whether by criminals, who wanted to loot, or archeologists, who wanted to preserve, the nature or intent of the transgressors and their transgressions did not matter.

They were warned; no exceptions to the death curse would be made. There was only anguish and misery awaiting those who entered holy sites to plunder.

In the vertical chain of the illegal antiquities trade, there were many places to start a criminal investigation. One could start at the end of the vertical chain and work backward, or at the beginning and work forward. Sometimes finding the buyers was the fastest way to find intermediaries, then later to find the actual criminals who were doing the looting. But by examining the physical crime scene, and attempting to identify what was likely looted, Edward could investigate by using his new tech toys.  He had developed a massive new database of past crimes, people and objects that could establish patterns and associate criminals with those patterns using AI, artificial intelligence. Then the vertical supply chain to a specific buyer might also be constructed.

Not all were criminals per se; some were legitimate dealers who cared little for the legal provenance of stolen antiquities. Not every museum was inclined to require proof of legitimate provenance or legal title.

Adam built his father’s database, which he named Guttenberg’s Hell #1, or GH-1. Adam claimed that Guttenberg, as the popularizer of the printed word in the western world, was actually, along with the Chinese in the eastern world, the first inventors of technology that presaged the information age, and therefore the computer. Books, as storehouses of transferable knowledge, were just less sophisticated and less efficient computers. Adam predicted that one day, computers would be replaced with even more advanced tech. He hoped to invent it one day.

His friends and professors in infotech thought the boy had a vivid imagination, just like his father. Replace computers?

Balderdash.

Mom was less happy about this summer vacation than any in the past. She didn’t like the idea that her boys might be in harm’s way; she liked even less that Edward was the adult in charge. Edward had the bad habit of treating his sons as junior grown-ups; they could do adult work, so why not treat them as mature men?

"They’re thirteen, Edward. That’s why. This is a bad idea, made worse by the fact that you will be giving them dangerous assignments that will put them in grave danger."

No pun intended?

You’re not funny. This is serious, and you need to be more responsible. Keep those boys in camp, and hire security. Get your British friends to help.

Peter and Archie?

They’re your only friends as far as I know, so who else would I be talking about?

Settle down, mama bear. I’ll hire them if they’re available. I was going to anyway. But you’re sure you want to put these four together?  Peter and Archie like to blow things up and shoot people. It’s what the SAS does, you know.

Maria gave Edward the ‘darts of death’ stare, then walked off.

Chapter 2

The boys were ready and assembled back at Edward’s home, their goodbyes having been said, and the last adjustments to tech completed. Maria was an engineer and Pops, a biologist, so the new toys the three men got for their trip were state of the art, and designed for field use. While most of their tech had to do with measurements, testing and analysis, not all of it was purely scientific.

Maria and Pops told Rod and Adam, You have night vision equipment, thermal and multi-spectrum sensors along with some new nanite based tech that is still experimental and very dangerous if used improperly; we’ve created it solely for self-defense, but it can be very lethal when deployed as an offensive weapon. Please be careful with this stuff and, whatever you do, keep it out of dad’s hands. You’re not the grown-ups, but your dad hardly qualifies as an adult either. I expect both of you boys to stay in your own lanes; Adam does computer and tech, Rod does security and operations. You help your dad, that’s all. I don’t want either of you arguing about the division of labor and I don’t want either of you taking any risks. Are we clear, boys?

Yes, mom, they both drawled. Don’t worry, we’ll keep an eye on dad and get us all home safe and sound.

I wish your father was the one saying that, but I guess I’ll have to rely on you two boys instead. It doesn’t make me feel confident.

C’mon, said Adam. I’m a genius and Rod’s practically an adult. He’s the responsible one; what could go wrong?

You’re kidding, right?

We’ll be home as soon as we catch the bad guys, or September, whichever occurs first. Love you; we’ll Skype you every day.

Tell me everything. You promise?

Two sets of hands went behind their backs, two sets of fingers crossed.

We promise.

Edward said, What about the guy in the car? Did Pops give you his super glue?

Yep, said Rod. I took care of him this morning."

How?

"Paintball rifle. Pops put the glue in

paintball casings; then I shot out the tires from the roof. The car won’t move, there are no taxis within twenty-five miles, and Constable Eagan said he’d detain the dude on suspicion of being a moron as soon as we leave. He’ll be a guest here for twenty-four hours then Constable Mark will let him go. He’s going nowhere any time soon."

If you shot out the tires, doesn’t he have four flats? He must know his car won’t move, doesn’t he? We need to get his cell phone blocked too.

Adam handled that this morning. The glue doesn’t pop the tires; it bonds the rubber to the asphalt on the molecular level. This is military grade, CIA stuff. Pops developed it for the spooks. Seems that this way the good guys can ground whole fleets of vehicles: trucks, planes, and helicopters. Anything with rubber tires won’t move and, if it does, it bonds to whatever is loose. Drive a hundred yards, and you’ll be stuck.

What about the cell?

Adam said, The poor man forgot to pay his phone bill. Sad really. I had his service disconnect him. He was showing an unpaid balance of several thousand dollars.

Is that legal?

Do you really want to know?

Point taken. Good work boys. Let’s hit the road.

The three arrived at the airport hours early, checked in, went through security and arrived at an empty gate.

Rod said, I told you so. Nobody’s here; there’s nothing to do. I’m bored already.

Edward said, Not so, my young Padawan apprentice. We wait for someone special to show up; then we have work for you to do before we board our flight.

You trippin’, old man?

No, Adam. And I’m not hallucinating either. I wasn’t completely forthcoming back at the house. I recognized the man in the car and, if he’s there, his partner will be here somewhere with us close by. He’ll try to join us on the flight; our task is to see that he doesn’t.

Adam asked, You want us to choke him out?

No, no. Heavens no. I have a much better idea.

Adam said, So now that we’ve established that you’re a miserable jerk for not telling us everything, tell us now who the guy is back home and who we’re looking for here at the airport.

You wanted excitement and adventure, real thrills, well these two are right up your alley. They’re crooks, but not the gun-totin' variety; pretty harmless, but snakes. You wanted to sleuth, so sleuth.

Okay. Who’s the dude back in Barrows Bay at the Institute.

A good question, my young Padawan learner.

Stop with the Star Wars dialogue, please. I’m not ten.

Not that long ago, you were.

You want us to go home?

Don’t get your panties in a knot. All will be revealed.

Please start talking.

The guy back in Barrows Bay is Ali Mustafa bin Salam. He’s Lebanese, well-educated and nominally a Muslim. He’s a MINO," a Muslim in name only. Not an evil man, just a guy with a taste for the good life, which includes just about everything forbidden by the Qur’an. He was educated in Beirut at the American School until college, then at the American University. Speaks English, French, Hebrew and several local dialects of Arabic. The good news is he is well educated, sophisticated and wealthy, but had the bad fortune to be the last male born in a family of seven brothers. His three elder brothers got the family business.  One became a cleric, one became a politician, and that left Ali all by his lonesome and fresh out of traditional career choices. Ali decided the family needed a white-collar criminal to round out the menu of professions since better, more traditional and socially acceptable options were currently unavailable.

Ali was from an upper-class family, so armed robbery and bank heists were not his cup ‘o tea. He smartly decided to monetize his education by pursuing ancient studies concentrating on archeology and the booming antiquities industry. The object of his education was to become a dealer in ancient artifacts, but only those with less than full documentation as to authenticity and provenance.

Provenance?

Proof of origin. Legal proof that the objects don’t belong to the government of the country where the objects were found. There are laws and treaties governing who owns ancient artifacts, and the trade in stolen antiquities is large, robust and extremely lucrative.

Never heard of any of this, said Rod. Don’t the cops handle this kind of stuff?

"The laws are on the books, but enforcement is lax. Until recently, many countries turned a blind eye or were even complicit in these crimes. Money is awash in the trade and bribery is still common. Ali saw his opportunity to squeeze all the juice from the orange while no one was looking and take advantage of the confusion. He has a doctorate, so he does some real above-board work for museums, and is considered an expert in the national and international laws governing the trade. What he can’t acquire for a client legally, he finds another way to acquire illegally. He’s quite skilled and has never been arrested. Questioned by Interpol, yes, but caught red-handed, no. Never.

He has a lovely little shop in London, is a dual citizen of Lebanon and the UK, and is well respected by his peers. Peers who are criminals, peers who are private clients, and peers who are academics. And, to be honest, he’s a really nice guy.

Yeah, said Rod, But he’s also a creepy guy sitting in a rental car on the grounds of the Institute spying on us. Couldn’t he hire a thug, or at least a competent ex-spy to do his dirty work?

Not really, said Edward. I’m not completely sure he was trying to avoid detection. I think he wanted us to know he was there and watching.

Why?

Can’t be certain, but I speculate that he wanted us to know that he knows we’ve been hired to work this case. If he knows, then so do others. I will assume for now that he’s not involved directly in the Crete fiasco although I suspect he may want to collect any low hanging fruit from the dig that falls in front of him.

So, he’s hanging around, just in case?

"Sure. Minoan artifacts, especially associated with the Cult of the Minotaur, are extremely rare, quite valuable, and scarce on the open market. Artifacts in superb condition can run anywhere from a hundred thousand dollars to several million. Score one nice find and it could make your year; score a really nice find, and it could make your decade."

"Damn, Dad. That’s a