The Last Patriot - Brad Thor [106]
“Pleased to meet you,” said Harvath. Ozbek stood to the side and nodded politely.
Ferguson looked at Nichols and waited for a further explanation.
“It’s a long story,” he said. “Maybe we can talk on our way inside?”
The woman hesitated for a moment and then gave in. As they walked, Nichols gave her the short speech Harvath had rehearsed with him in the car about how he was working for a wealthy businessman who was obsessed with security. By the time they reached the library building, the woman seemed less tense about the armed men accompanying her friend and colleague.
Harvath reached over and helped hold the door open as everyone filed inside.
The main wing of the Jefferson Library was a dramatic two-story arcade punctuated by rows of polished bookcases and curved beams of matching wood across the ceiling capped off by a dramatic wall of mullioned glass at the far end.
Pointing to one of the library’s several work tables Ferguson said, “Okay, let’s see what you’ve got.”
Nichols removed the file folder from under his arm and produced the two yellowed documents. The curator pulled out one of the chairs, sat down, and removed a pair of glasses from her pocket. “You’re positive these are authentic Jefferson?” she asked as she put her glasses on.
“Positive,” replied Nichols.
She studied each of them for a few moments. “None of this writing makes any sense.”
“They’re encoded.”
“Have you been able to decipher any of it?” she asked.
The professor shook his head. “Only partially.”
“Interesting. Very interesting. Where did your client get these?”
“He has been a collector of Jefferson documents for many years,” replied Nichols. “He has resources most would kill for.”
“That must be nice,” said Ferguson, who then stood up. “I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?”
“I want to gather a few reference materials. There’s something familiar about these drawings.”
The curator disappeared and came back a few minutes later with a stack of books and a handful of other items, including an oversized magnifying glass. Setting everything down on the table, she picked up the magnifying glass and returned to her investigation.
Harvath kept a watchful eye over her and Nichols while Ozbek kept an eye on the door.
Ferguson made notes on a small pad as she flipped back and forth through the pages of her reference books. Occasionally, she would stop to ask Nichols a question and then would return to studying the documents.
It went on like that for over half an hour until she removed her glasses and set them on the table.
Nichols stopped pacing and came over to the desk. “Well? What do you think?”
Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, the curator looked up at him. “This first set of drawings here,” she said, pointing at the paper, “is mechanical. They appear to be schematics of some sort.”
“I figured as much. Do you have any idea what for?”
Ferguson smiled. “With Jefferson, it could be anything. The man was constantly inventing things. The handwriting and drawing techniques definitely seem to be his, but this first page is odd.”
“How so?” asked the professor.
“This is a cutaway of some sort focusing on a very unique set of gears. In all of Jefferson’s mechanical drawings, I’ve never seen gears that look like this. Also, gears are normally housed out of sight. You don’t usually see them. Yet these gears are intricately stylized and decorated.
“Also the schematic seems more like a set of directions for switching out or maybe rebalancing the gears. Does that make sense?”
Nichols shook his head. “Not really.”
“There’s something else,” said Ferguson as she handed the professor her magnifying glass. “If you look very closely at this particular gear here, you can see that it’s different from the ones above it.”
“It is?” said Nichols as he took the magnifying glass from her and looked where she was pointing. “I thought they all looked the same.”
The curator shook her head. “For the most part, they do, but the decoration changes ever so slightly on this one and its shape seems a little different than