Reuben climbed out of an SUV outside Uncle Javier’s Villa Isidora, at the edge of the little town of Tremezzo on Lake Como. A soft breeze from the calm lake greeted him, welcoming him to the scenic towns of Lombardy.

Ah, to come here under more felicitous circumstances…

Four days ago, Reuben had no idea that his uncle had owned this villa, let alone imprisoned Helen Hu and her mother in it.

Still, a lot had happened in four days.

As soon as Dario had tracked down Helen’s pocket watch to Reuben and beaten off his handlers, the case had been turned over to INTERPOL Venice. The local police then surrounded Uncle Javier’s villa in that old city, raising Reuben’s hope to see Helen again.

Unfortunately, it had been a false positive. They found the villa completely deserted.

Since then, Reuben had prayed endlessly for God’s deliverance.

His hopes had gone up again when Dario reported that they had detected faint radio signals coming from some handheld GPS unit that had used the same frequencies of the three eggs that Mama Hu had delivered to her contacts in Santorini not too long ago.

Dario, Leland, and CIA analysts had tracked the signal all over Italy. As soon as they had pinpointed the point of origin of those beacons, the entire country’s law enforcement officers descended on the picturesque Lake Como.

The polizia provinciale and the polizia di stato had worked hard all night long to coordinate this raid. Reuben had nothing but praise for the provincial and the state police officers working together with a team from Italy’s Arma dei Carabinieri armed forces to disable Uncle Javier’s security detail.

Still.

Reuben felt alone, and yet he wasn’t. He was standing with the police, and not against them. That had been his comfort.

That, and the fact that God was with him.

In what seemed like ages, Reuben finally saw Uncle Javier being escorted out of Villa Isidora in his silk pajamas and steel handcuffs. Several of his security forces had cuts and bruises on them. One even came out on a cot.

Eventually, Reuben spotted Helen and Mama Hu walking out on their own volition. Mama Hu climbed onto a cot as she reached closer to the curved driveway.

Reuben’s heart skipped a beat as he quickened his pace. He felt relieved.

It’s finally over.

Coming out of the villa behind the hostages, for all the world to see, were the Petros eggs, five of them in a special case, carried proudly by an investigator from the Comando Carabinieri per la Tutela del Patrimonio Culturale, Italian’s cultural police that chased after art thieves like Uncle Javier, and who had been keeping a watchful eye on the aging Palmeiro.

Reuben wondered if Helen would give him the time of day as soon as she found out he really had stolen two more Petros eggs for Uncle Javier, regardless of whether he had done it to gain his uncle’s trust.

Perhaps she had already known about it. He wished he had time to put a message in the last two eggs.

If the twelve eggs were supposed to be the key to unlock a vault of something, time would tell if they would yield dividends in the future.

For now, their secrets remained locked.

It was the turn of museum experts to crack the eggs, follow the trails, figure it all out.

Reuben was done. Tired.

And he could see that Helen was too.

She was at the back of the ambulance, receiving treatment. She looked okay from this distance. They would all go to the hospital for evaluation.

And then home.

Reuben waved to Mama Hu. She smiled wryly. Then coughed a lot.

Helen looked his way. “May I have my dad’s pocket watch back?”

Reuben placed the pocket watch in Helen’s palm, then pulled her to his chest.

She wrapped her arms around his waist, and rested her head on his shoulder.

He knew then that she had missed him too.

INTERPOL agent Damiano Kolovos reached the ambulance shortly after Reuben had. “Well done.”

“You now have to crack the rest of the eggs to have the key to whatever it is,” Reuben said.

“Well, no. They’re under Italian jurisdiction now with the help of the Russian Consulate,” Kolovos explained. “The Carabinieri force has contacted the Russian Consulate, and we’ll let the archaeologist and cryptanalysts work it out.”

“You?” Reuben had always been naturally curious. Kolovos was a good man, and Reuben hoped to keep in touch.

“Since I’ve passed the baton on to INTERPOL Rome, I shall return to Athens for a bit of rest and holiday, and then it’s on to my next case,” Kolovos said.

“Will they invite us to the dig, if they find out where the Amber Room panels are?” Helen asked.

“I’ll see what we can do. For now, go rest and take it easy.” Kolovos eyed Mama Hu’s cot. “We’re going to fly your mother back to Athens. She still has a court date.”

Helen nodded. “I’ll be there.”

“And to be sure, since she has helped the authorities, the court will take that into consideration.”

Reuben nodded at Kolovos’s encouraging words. Perhaps Mama Hu wouldn’t be in prison until the day she died.

Before Reuben realized it, Helen had gone to be by Mama Hu’s side.

“Take care of your sister,” Mama Hu said. “And your dad’s legacy. He’ll be so proud of you, as I am.”

“I’m coming to see you in Athens as soon as they let me,” Helen said. “Don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried, really. I’m rather relieved.”

“I bet.” Reuben came up beside Helen. “I’m in Athens too, and I’ll go see you.”

“You better,” Mama Hu said. “We have much to talk about your dad.”

“I’m sorry I thought it was you who broke his heart.”

“Many women broke your dad’s heart, but I wasn’t one of them.” Mama Hu shrugged. “Let’s talk about something happier. Your dad would be glad to see how well you’ve turned out.”

Reuben could hardly get the words out. He just nodded.