The Einstein Code by Tom West Read Free Book Online Page A

wearily beside him.
    She forced a half smile. ‘At least a gallon for me.’
    They saw the green NOTHING TO DECLARE sign to their right and headed for it. Passing the first manned desk, they approached the second and last and were about to turn into the arrivals lounge
when they heard a voice.
    ‘Sir, madam.’
    They did not think it was a call to them at first and kept walking.
    ‘Sir, madam.’ This time much louder.
    They turned in unison and manoeuvred the trolley over to the desk. Behind it stood two customs officers, a tall thin man with steel-rimmed glasses and a stocky woman whose blue officer’s
blouse was a size too small.
    ‘We have nothing to declare,’ Lou said.
    The female customs officer ignored him. ‘Could you place your bags on the counter, please.’
    Lou leaned down and laid the metal box and the two suitcases next to each other on the counter.
    ‘Names please,’ the male officer asked.
    ‘Dr Lou Bates.’
    ‘Dr Kate Wetherall.’
    The two officers turned their attention to the metal equipment case, trying the latch.
    Lou looked at Kate, who was staring at the male officer.
    ‘You have the key?’ he said.
    ‘It’s scientific equipment,’ Kate began. ‘We are researchers, just returned from a project in the Pacific.’
    ‘Could you open it, please, sir?’ the woman asked Lou.
    He shrugged and pulled a key from his jacket pocket, leaned across and opened the lid of the metal box. Inside lay a powerful microscope, a smaller box of samples, a collection of metal lab
utensils and a small spectroscopic analyser.
    The female officer shuffled along behind the counter and she and her colleague picked up the smaller box.
    ‘Please be careful, those are delicate samples,’ Kate said and glanced at Lou.
    The male officer poked at the box. ‘What sort of samples?’
    ‘From a shipwreck.’
    ‘A shipwreck?’
    Lou picked up his briefcase. ‘We have a licence to bring samples into the country. Here . . .’ He reached into his bag and withdrew a folder of papers.
    ‘These will have to be checked,’ the woman said not looking up from the contents of the metal box. Between them she and her colleague shifted the box to a table alongside the
counter. She turned to Kate and Lou’s suitcases and unzipped the nearest one.
    Kate and Lou stood still, silently watching every move the customs officers made. They rummaged through the cases with experienced movements, lifting piles of clothes, feeling around the edges
of the cases, flipping open the toiletry bags.
    A third officer appeared to their left, leading a Labrador on a tight leash. He walked over to the counter and the dog pulled up to sniff around the bags. The handler then took the dog over to
the table and the Labrador nosed around the instruments and boxes in the metal case, before falling back on all fours and looking up at his master. The two officers at the counter nodded to the
third man and he walked off with the dog in tow.
    The female officer shut the cases and started to zip them up, Kate and Lou finished the job and Lou was about to lift them off the counter and back onto the trolley when the tall thin man said:
‘Could we take a look at your hand luggage please?’
    Kate placed her shoulder bag and a small camera bag on the counter. Lou lifted his briefcase from where it had been resting at his feet.
    The customs officers emptied out the contents of Kate’s bag. A container of make-up, a pen, a purse and a mess of receipts and gum packets spread across the counter. The woman shuffled
through the collection and placed each item back into the bag. Next she turned her attention to the camera bag, pulled out a top-end Nikon, felt around inside the bag and then returned the
camera.
    The male officer pulled Lou’s briefcase along the shiny metal surface of the counter. ‘Key please, Dr Bates.’ Lou pulled a key from his pocket and handed it over.
    The man removed the items from the case. A laptop, a file of papers, a copy