Purdue didn't want to share much about the Old Lady. He had done his best to keep the news of their new threat between himself, Sam, and Nina, but that had not worked. He didn't want the Order of the Black Sun to break into a panic because they were being targeted by an enemy that they couldn't see.
But maybe Elijah could know. He'd proven to be a valuable ally and trustworthy. Hell, in this new iteration of the Order of the Black Sun, he was practically part of the inner circle.
“We don't know who she is, we just know that she's an elderly woman with a vast amount of resources at her disposal and has a long history with the Order of the Black Sun, but I'm not sure to what extent.”
“Sounds like a scary story,” Elijah said with a shrug. “How do we know it's even real?”
“Nina met her recently, and you and I both know that Nina always checks her facts before deciding anything. They are what's most important to her.”
Elijah nodded knowingly. “Fair enough, but how are you going to fight someone that you know so little about?”
“By learning as much as we can, both about our enemy and about the possible scenarios that might happen when we face her.”
Elijah nodded. “And you think you are going to see those scenarios by reading Les Propheties, a book that has been proven wrong many times in its long shelf life? The things in that book are hardly taken as fact these days, and that is probably for the best.”
“I'll decide that for myself, aye?” Purdue tucked the book under his arm and started to leave the room, but Elijah called back over to him.
“We both know how dedicated I am to upholding the security and the stability of this vault and all of the priceless items that it contains. You have allowed me to continue to do that even after you took over the Black Sun. I appreciate that. You know how anal I can get about these relics in here, so did you think I wouldn't ask?”
“Ask what?”
Elijah pointed at the display case that Julian Corvus limped out of. “One of the items in this collection seems to be very conspicuously missing from its display case. Care to elaborate for me?”
Purdue realized that he should have consulted with Elijah about releasing Julian. He wasn't wrong that keeping track of the items in the deep vault was his responsibility. Just like the others, he would disagree with the decision, but that didn't mean that he shouldn't be alerted.
“He won't be gone long,” Purdue said. “We just need him up and about for a bit while he helps us get to the Old Lady, aye? This wasn't ideal, I know, and I should have told you, but Julian Corvus is free in the world. He is going to stay that way until we have no more use for his help.”
Elijah adjusted his glasses. Like most people, he had a bad history with Julian Corvus and probably wanted nothing more than to have left him to be stuck in that display case forever. This plan of Purdue's was putting him at risk as far as he was concerned since Julian couldn't be happy that Elijah had betrayed him to help Purdue.
“Thanks for the book,” Purdue said.
“You're welcome,” Elijah said. “If there is anything worth anything in those pages, I would read them carefully. It'll be a lot harder to be caught by surprise if you know everything that is going to be coming.”
Purdue wasn't expecting a riveting page-turner from the book, but he hoped that he could at least get an understanding of Nostradamus from it. There weren't going to be scenes of quippy dialogue, interesting characters, or startling plot twists. That was made very apparent just from a few moments of perusing through its pages. The predictions were written on the paper, but they were far from straightforward. They were written in stanzas, as vague poetry that practically needed to be deciphered to be understood properly. It wasn't just a book of premonitions. It was a book of riddles—not exactly helpful.
“That's the book?” Nina asked, standing in the doorway. “So tell me, what does the future hold?”
“The cryptic ramblings of a dead man,” Purdue said. “If the lost scrolls are written like this, then maybe there's not much to worry about.”
“I doubt that,” Nina said. “While you've been here with your nose in a book, I've been learning just about everything that I can about Nostradamus. My hope was that there would be something that could tell me where he might have stashed all of his unpublished drafts.”
“And?”
“And it was about as much of a dead end as I expected it would be. No website or textbook is going to be. There's a reason why it's considered lost in the first place. No, all I found were just message board posts that just speculated about the missing prophecies, that's all. They weren't very informative. They were just a shard to read as that book probably is.”
“We just need to keep looking. It honestly helps to know that the Old Lady is after the same thing. It lights a bit of a fire under our asses.”
“It's a hot one too,” Nina said with a smirk. “It's nearly scorching my cheeks.”
“If she does get her hands on the scrolls, she'll forever be a thousand steps ahead of us, and she's already probably one hundred steps ahead as it is. We won't stand a chance.”
“The rest of the world probably won't stand much of a chance either.”
There was a moment between them. “You're sure that working with Julian is the best idea we've got?”
Purdue didn't feel like arguing with her again. They had been over this more than enough already. He knew what her feelings were on the matter, but that wasn't going to change his mind. He was baffled that she still didn't seem to understand how hard this was for him too. She could keep trying to make him reconsider, but it wasn't going to work. His mind was made up.
“I know, I know,” Nina said. “You're done talking about this. It's just...it's one thing to talk about before it happens, but now...he's a few rooms away, free.”
“He's not free,” Purdue said firmly. “He's not. He's going right back into the display case, remember?”
“I'm not comfortable with this.”
Purdue laughed. He was more than aware of that.
“Neither am I.”
6
THE INSPECTOR COMES KNOCKING
No one expected there to be knocks on the Order of the Black Sun's front door. The compound was in an isolated location, far from anyone and relatively secure from the rest of the world—yet now there were knocks like a neighbor down the road had stopped by looking to drop off a freshly baked pie. Things like that weren't supposed to happen—but they were.
Purdue, Sam, and Nina all looked at the security monitors and saw a tall, lanky man with his hair tucked back into a ponytail standing at the door. He was twiddling his thumbs and whistling to himself like this was a casual social call, and not trespassing at the headquarters of a secret society. Purdue didn't recognize him, but it became clear that Nina did.
“Oh, no.”
“You know this guy?” Sam asked. “Who is he?”
“His name is Donatello Amaro. He is an inspector from Rome. I met him when we were looking for Caesar's sword.”
“Well, that's odd,” Purdue said. “What the hell is an inspector doing knocking at the gates, eh?”
“He's more than just an inspector. I met him again in London. He was the one that took me to meet the Old Lady. He works for her...or with her...I'm not sure about the specifics, but he's with her group.”
“Well, what's he doing here?”
“I have no idea...”
Purdue opened the door. The man's face lit up with nervous, wide-eyed excitement.
“David Purdue, it is an absolute pleasure to get a chance to meet you finally. I have heard so very much about you. I am Inspector Donatello Amaro, but please feel free to call me Don.”
Purdue had no intention of doing that. Inspector Amaro held out a hand to shake, but Purdue didn't have any intention of shaking that either. Amaro looked past him to Sam, and his smile broadened again.
“And you, Sam Cleave himself. I am quite a fan of your investigative work, though I admi
t that I am something of a recent fan. You are also welcome to call me Don. That works just fine.”
Sam didn't take Amaro's hand either.
The inspector's analytical gaze shifted to Nina, and his smile was larger than ever.
“Why if it isn't my old friend, Dr. Nina Gould. I take it that you made up your mind on our offer?”
“Fantastic detective work,” Nina said sharply. “You deduced that all by yourself? I'm so impressed.”
Inspector Amaro looked disappointed and nodded uncomfortably. “That is a shame, I must say. We were all very much looking forward to working with you. You would have been able to make a real difference with us...not clinging to a group of friends that won't last much longer anyway.”
“What do you want?”
Amaro gave an awkward laugh, and his gaze dropped to the floor. “Yes, I shall get to the point of all this. I am here as something of a messenger sent to blow the trumpet of war if I have to. Since this feud with your order has regrettably inflated into an unprecedented conflict, the lady would like to sit down and speak with David Purdue. The location is on this paper.”
Inspector Amaro reached into his jacket and fumbled around different pockets, seeming to have trouble finding what he was looking for. Finally, he pulled out a folded scrap piece of paper and handed it to Purdue.
“Speak with me about what?”
“About this war we are on the brink of, of course,” Amaro said. “She would like to discuss the terms of your surrender.”
“Who said anything about surrender?” Purdue asked.
“Not to be presumptuous, but it is the only logical course of action that you have in this scenario. Surely, you can see that much.”
“The only logical course of action? Aye, that may be. But sometimes the illogical courses are the better ones to take. Like we could take you hostage right now, lock you up, and deliver a ransom note to the Old Lady or your police friends in Rome. See which one misses you more.”
Amaro looked visibly nervous about the prospect of being used as leverage.
Purdue wasn't usually the type of person that would hold someone hostage, but in recent days, he had learned that sometimes you needed to have a sharper edge when dealing with horrible people. He watched as Amaro took a step away from him, clearly understanding his point.
“How does that old saying go? Don't shoot the messenger. I hope you decide to meet with her. I imagine you have a lot to talk about.”
Inspector Amaro gave a curt nod of his head and started to walk away from the compound. Purdue couldn't see any sort of vehicles, so it was still a wonder how he even got there. He was tempted to follow through with his threat and take Amaro in a prisoner but decided against it.
“How did you find us?” Purdue called out.
Amaro turned. “We know everything there is to know about the Order of the Black Sun. Everything. I hope you all have a wonderful day and I look forward to seeing you again.”
With that, the messenger disappeared around the ridge.
“You're not considering going to this meeting?” Sam asked, his eyes wide with concern. “It couldn't be more obvious of a trap, even if there was a sign hanging over our heads saying it's a trap. Why else would she decide the time and place of your talk? The Old Lady wants it to be on her terms, her home-field advantage.”
“Obviously,” Purdue said. “But that doesn't mean we shouldn't go.”
“I agree,” Julian said. “As someone who has set plenty of these kinds of traps myself, sometimes it is best just to let yourself be lured into them. Springing the trap can be more helpful than avoiding it. You can learn a lot when people are trying to capture or kill you. For instance, I learned quite a lot during your misguided attempt to beat me down and contain me.”
“Misguided?” Nina said. “It worked.”
“Did it?” Julian asked with a snicker. “I'm not exactly contained anymore, am I? And just because it worked in the moment doesn't mean it wasn't misguided. It still wasn't in your best interest in the end, given that now we're working together. We could have just done that from the start, and saved ourselves all of that drama.”
Purdue was still regretting that decision to let Julian help them, and the longer it continued, and the more things Julian said, just made it worse. It wasn't clear yet how much of a help Julian was going to be. If he was just going to provide his stuck-up commentary the whole time, then maybe it would have been best just to leave him in his box.
“We could make it a trap of our own,” Purdue said. “They will think they have the drop on us, aye? But we'll have the drop on them, get the most out of this meeting that we can.”
“I'm impressed, Mr. Purdue,” Julian said. “So it was you that was smart enough to come up with a way to remove me from my position in the Order? Frankly, I thought it was Dr. Gould that was the brains behind that operation. So what do you suggest? That we all go to that meeting with firearms and turn it into a shootout?”
“Something more subtle,” Purdue said. “We hardly know anything about the Old Lady right now. This is a perfect opportunity to learn as much as we possibly can about her, and this is the best chance we've gotten. She's not quite as upfront as you were, Julian. She hasn't come crashing through our walls with trucks yet. She hasn't kidnapped all of us yet. This would just be reconnaissance, a chance to observe the Old Lady.”
Julian looked at Purdue with pride, which made him feel more than a little uncomfortable. He didn't like making his old enemy proud. He would much prefer to make him hurt, but right now, that wouldn't be helpful.
“Fantastic,” Julian said. “If we need good surveillance, I know just the man for the job. Gerald Morrison. Heard of him?”
“No,” Purdue said.
“Exactly,” Julian said with a smirk. “He knows how to be invisible and unseen. He's a freelance specialist in surveillance and spying and is very good when it comes to discretion.”
Purdue didn't like hearing recommendations from Julian. It wasn't exactly easy to trust someone that worked for Julian in the past, especially some invisible man who knew all about spying on people. Who knew where his loyalty lay or how good of a working relationship he had with Julian?
“He wasn't part of the Order of the Black Sun when I was in charge, don't worry.”
As usual, Julian seemed to know what Purdue was thinking. “Gerald is completely independent. He works only for himself and the amount of money he can make. That's all. He owes me nothing.”
Purdue folded his arms. “And I should just take your word for that, aye?”
“You should if you want this meeting to be as successful as possible. We will need the best eyes that we can get, and I know just the pair to choose.”
INTERLUDE: AGATHA
Agatha could see it so clearly—the past getting knocked down, buried to make way for what was supposed to be progress. History was being mutilated and disregarded by people who didn't remotely care about it. They didn't see the value that the past had. In some ways, it was like history was being systematically erased.
Given the magnitude of this most recent war, it would surely go down in history, but that didn't mean that everything should just be defiled. Some days it felt like she was the only one that cared about that. Everyone was so focused on this brave new world that had come from the fall of the war.
Agatha knew the past had to be protected, especially now in this ever-changing world she found herself in. It wouldn't be easy, but she realized that it was what was needed to be done—her life's purpose.
She was a curator for the whole world now as far as she was concerned. If she wasn't going to do it, then who would? She didn't care how long it took. She would devote all of her time and energy to it.
Agatha spent years—and eventually decades—learning all she could about the past actions of mankind. She started surrounding herself with likeminded individuals that wanted to study history just like she did. They wanted purpose, and Agatha helped to give them one. Ther
e was never an official name for the collective she was putting together; they didn't need one. She was just happy to have people backing her and who validated all of the grand ambitions she had for the world.
It made her feel less alone than she had felt growing up. There were finally people who understood her and her perspectives, not only that, but they respected her for them. It had taken decades and decades, but she was finally starting to build something—to make progress in making the future she wanted a reality.
7
THE RETURN OF THE THREE STONE FACES
The Old Lady was thankful for the few scrolls of Nostradamus's writing that she had managed to acquire. They had taken some time to translate, but once she had, they had proven to be essential to her activities. When Mama May wasn't available to provide her prophecies, then this was the next best option. The writings directly from the scrolls were much more vivid than the vague riddles that were published in Nostradamus's books. They were more specific, and she had been able to put may of them to the test. Many of her plans had been based on the knowledge she had of the future and had given her a chance to figure out how to navigate the terrain ahead. It made it all the more irritating that her plans were still constantly questioned.
“This is the path we are going to take with David Purdue?”
She wasn't surprised that Inspector Amaro was concerned. He was still probably somewhat jittery, given that he had gone to deliver the invitation himself. He had put his neck on the line just to put her plans into motion.
The Old Lady stopped her chair. “You do not approve?”
“My approval doesn't matter,” Amaro said, scratching his beard. “We both know that. I am not here to advise or to judge. I am just curious as to the reasoning that this is the best option when we could be focusing instead on our other interests. The scrolls, for instance—”
The Nostradamus Scrolls Page 5