The Challenge of the Legion

by Oscar Luis Rigiroli

  "I've been thinking about you, Federica, to take my place. I am sure that Council members will approve it immediately ... I have to admit that I have also thought about Ivo, taking advantage of the field experience that he has just been made, but I think he is not well known by the other members and above all, by the sponsors of the institution, whose financial support is always necessary.” He stared at the young man. “You must still perform the cursus honorem in the Foundation and to begin it I will propose you as a vowel to fill the position vacated by Federica.”

  He went to his desk and extracted a bottle of liquor.

  "So there's good news for the three of us." He said as he poured three glasses.

  Federica and Ivo returned on foot to the apartment they occupied about fifteen blocks from the palazzo where the foundation worked. They were walking slowly hand in hand and in silence. Suddenly the woman asked.

  “It's her?”

  "Who do you mean?"

  “The woman who appears in the films translating the testimonies of the villagers.”

  "It's Dr. Zhou Lian, an anthropologist at Beijing University.”

  "But is she the one?" Repeated Federica.

  "I do not know what you mean."

  "I know perfectly well that you've been with a woman during your stay in China. I know you and I know how to interpret each of your actions. It's her?”

  "Yes." It was the plain and frank answer.

  When arriving at the apartment Federica set to prepare the lunch since she loved to cook. Ivo turned on the computer and ran his three e-mail addresses. When he reached the third, his heart leaped as he found an e-mail from Lian. With a trembling pulse he opened it and began to read the long text.

  Without entering into confidential details, the woman narrated with a certain disorder, unusual in her, all the actions of the Chinese People's Army intelligence area against the network of traffickers they had faced, and which had been partially dismantled although there was still much additional investigation work to be carried out. She added that her boss, Colonel Chang, was very pleased with her work, since she had made it possible to find the thread they were still following and exposing all kinds of political, regional, police, judicial and even military complicity.

  "All this will be kept secret, so there will be no outside information about it."

  The message then made reference to how much Lian had missed him and how anxious she was to receive news of him, since the latest came from her brother Bo and dated from a month before.

  But it was the last telegraph phrase that literally make Ivo jump out of his chair.

  "I'm eight weeks pregnant. It probably happened at my parents' house. I cannot wait to see the little demon with red hair.”

  Chapter 24

  Like all Saturdays Federica and Ivo, despite being awake, were slow to get up, and they spent a while exchanging caresses in bed. At one point the young man lifted her hair and his eyes fell on the diamond-shaped mark at the base of the neck. Although the mark was known, this time watching it produced a startle that the woman perceived.

  “What happens?”

  Ivo had partially cleared his relationship with Lian, although he kept in the dark subjects more conflictive like the pregnancy of which he had learned a couple of days before. Federica, always attentive to the signals of her lover, rummaged in the bed and unable to conceal a certain anxiety asked.

  "It has to do with her, does not it? With that woman Lian?”

  The young man knew that he was too transparent and that there was no point in hiding something from the Venetian, so he recounted the motive that had astonished him months before as he slept with Lian.

  "You mean she has a mark similar to mine in the same place?"

  "It is not similar, it is identical.”

  “Cannot be. For all the inquiries that we have made that mark only runs in my family and some other relatives of the circle of the ancient Venetian lineages.”

  "I can only tell you what I have seen. Obviously it is a subject of my interest.”

  Federica shook her head as if trying to ward off some negative thoughts. She finally smiled as she became aware of her own feelings and said.

  "So you have detector that points at women with the same mark on their necks and you just go to bed with them."

  Following the same ironic vein, the young man nodded.

  “Something like that.”

  " I actually think the Chinese woman stain is only in your imagination, since it is impossible given the distance and the lack of historical contacts.”

  "If you say so..."

  Ivo's phrase only reflected his own perplexity as he intended to please his lover, but you and I, dear reader, know the true answer.

  The contact with Federica brought to the memory and to the instincts of the boy all the essences that had tied to her for so long. Her slender body, smooth, white skin, dark hair and eyes, her slightly hoarse and sensual voice and her distinguished manners had captivated Ivo years before and continued to do so. The woman loved him intensely and that love was evident and flattering for the young man. Sharing professional interests only increased that affective relationship.

  She was intrigued by the urgency with which Colonel Chang had summoned her. Since the end of the great deployment against the network of traffickers and corrupt officials there had been a certain degree of tranquility in Lian's life the young woman appreciated because she had to accommodate her things and reorganize her life after the trip to the West of China.

  Chang's office was enormous but austere, reflecting the owner´s personality, and Lian was familiar with it so that the fact that she was escorted by an officer in parade suit increased her intrigue. When he opened the door Lian was surprised to see that several hierarchs who wore uniforms with decorations on their chest were already inside. There was no doubt that she had been called for a formal event and she could not imagine what it was all about.

  Chang approached with his usual fast pace but his gesture was not the warm and affectionate one with which he usually received her but formal and somewhat solemn.

  “Lieutenant Zhou. I think you already know the majority of the attendees, except possibly Colonel Huang.” Chang usually treated Lian colloquially and called her by her first name, so it was definitely an official event and the young woman perceived that the voice of her mentor showed a certain anxiety.

  "Colonel Huang will address us next." Chang announced.

  Lian thought he remembered hearing the official´s name in a context related to the central government's intelligence services, so that the subject was beyond the scope of the Chinese People's Army.

  Chang opened a door that communicated with a meeting room that he only opened for special occasions and whose only entrance was the one that connected with Chang's office. The walls of the room were padded to ensure sound insulation and Chang asked all attendees to leave their phones at a table in his office. Everyone present sat in a round of chairs that were arranged around a blackboard and a screen.

  Huang's presentation was extensive but concise. The strikes against the drug dealer’s network had had an unexpected and much more far-reaching collateral result than the criminal gang. A seditious movement of Mongol clans and tribes of Central Asia had been discovered quite accidentally following the trail of a large amount of armament buried in the desert. It was investigated whether this movement had relations with Islamic groups in West Asia and with events that were shaking the world. The purpose of the government was to completely eradicate this movement and annihilate its members. Huang reiterated the verb to annihilate so that nobody had doubts about what he had on mind.

  The exhibition continued for an hour, during which the roles of each of the attendees was outlined. Finally Huang approached looking directly at Lian, his gesture had distended and an unexpected smile was outlined in his mouth.

  "My dear Lieutenant Zhou, I am pleased to once again highlight the essential role you played in dismantling the network of
traffickers that triggered the investigations I have alluded to. I have two decisions to communicate to you.

  The Colonel paused and Lian felt the anxiety overtake her.

  “The first is that you will be in charge of the inquiries in the field, given your knowledge of the subject and the fact that you were born in the area. There will be a multidisciplinary cast of specialists to support you in your functions.”

  A new pause as the woman digested the news.

  "The second announcement is your promotion to the rank of captain of the Chinese People's Army with immediate effect.”

  Epilogue

  Colonel Huang added, before closing the session.

  "It is unnecessary to tell you that everything discussed at this meeting is absolutely confidential. The seriousness of the possible consequences of the action of the subversive elements demands all our attention and dedication.”

  While the other participants were leaving Chang approached Lian and told her.

  "Stay with me in my office for a moment.”

  After dismissing the rest of his colleagues Huang closed the office door and tenderly embraced the woman and said.

  “Dear child. You have no idea how pleased I am with this news.”

  "Of which you are partly responsible." Lian smiled.

  "I have somehow helped, but your courage was what triggered this whole process. Sit down.”

  "Your new post will be based in Lanzhou, a city you know well. What worries me is how you're going to manage your tasks with your pregnancy being alone there.”

  The woman made a gesture of relief as she met her next destination.

  "I will ask my mother and perhaps one of my brothers to accompany me. The theme will be how they will adapt to life in a fairly large city.”

  "By no means do I intend to interfere in your life but ... what the child's father?"

  "He’s out of the picture. At least for now. He lives in Italy.”

  "Cannot you ask him to come and help you deal with the situation?"

  "I´d rather do it on my own."

  Chang rose from his chair and kissed the woman on the forehead.

  "Good girl. I'm proud of you.”

  Lian was well aware of the affection her superior felt for her, partly reflecting the love he felt for her own daughter, who lived with her husband away from Beijing.

  The woman formally saluted her boss and after leaving the office returned home, yearning to be alone to process the novelties that were about to change her life once more, determine what her first steps would be and get in touch with the people who should know about her new situation.

  The months had passed without news and Ivo was impatient not to hear from Lian. His numerous e-mail messages had been unanswered and the young man knew that the circulation of news inside China and particularly abroad was not easy. Daily he opened his mail box waiting for news that did not arrive and Federica somehow guessed the reasons for his anxiety. Although he had no dates or other concrete data Ivo calculated that the child's birth was about to happen and the distance did not calm his nerves.

  That day the man returned from the Foundation and before taking a shower decided to take a look at the mails. When the post showed him that he had a message from Lian his heart quickened, especially when he perceived that it arrived with attachments. When he saw that the text of the mail was long decided to open the attachments first. These consisted of three photographs of mediocre quality and definition but their content was clear. In the first of them Bo appeared holding a baby, from which, in fact, only a jumble of blankets and diapers were visible in what was evidently a hospital room. In the second picture Lian was in bed with the baby next to her. When trying to enlarge the photo the same quickly lost definition, but in the third only the face of the creature could be clearly seen, a newborn with closed eyes and the reddened face of the childbirth. Ivo felt an indefinable sensation, never experienced before but very strong. Unable to control his nerves, he also checked that the mail was also in his cell phone, slipped it on his jacket pocket and set off without a fixed direction, moved by an unconscious urge to move to calm his anxiety.

  When he returned he remembered that he had not yet read Lian's e-mail. He learned of the news about the new military rank and the fact that she was in Lanzhou, a city the boy knew well. Lian did not give any explanation about the reasons for the move but Ivo assumed it was her new destination in the army.

  The man eagerly opened the new mail. The child had received the name of Enlai, so he was therefore Zhou Enlai. Ivo wondered if it should not be called Bianchi Enlai, or rather Bianchi Stefano Enlai and so asked in his reply.

  Lian also narrated the arrival in the city of her mother and her favorite brother Bo, and added that they intended to stay but only to accompany her in the initial times as the crowd of people in the streets typical of Chinese cities and sounds of all kinds were insufferable for them.

  The young man re-read every phrase in the mail until he almost learned it by heart. Then collapsed on the couch in complete silence and with a flood of passions in his heart.

  Three months had passed since Enlai's birth, and the news were not flowing. Ivo knew that the Lian had resumed her activities, of which he had no specifics, although she had to return home several times every day to nurse the child. The woman told him that the infant seemed to have clear eyes and a reddish tint in his hair, although in the pictures she attached he looked simply as a Chinese baby.

  One day when he returned from his work Ivo opened the mail as usual, and found the message that Lian sent him with approximately weekly regularity and that had become practically the main focus of attention in his life. The email came with an attachment, so Ivo assumed that it would be the photos of Enlai evolution

  Opening the file in his sight he found it difficult to understand what he was seeing, until he could delineate dubbed bronze objects without doubt very old, full of marks and dirt. The e-mail was eagerly read, but it was extremely brief.

  "Helmet and chest of undoubted Roman origin, part of what was found in an excavation 150 miles from Liqian, in what apparently was the site of a hard battle. They were surrounded by countless bones and remains of men and horses of Mongolian origin. They are being classified and will be brought to the Lanzhou Museum. "

  He fastened his seat belt and closed the window curtain. He just wanted to put his mind blank without distractions. The conflict of feelings and loyalties was not resolved and his heart and mind were split, but he was doing what an irresistible internal force urged him to do. Behind stayed his plans for an academic and bourgeois life and above all Federica, that is to say everything that had represented his comfort zone in the world, everything that sheltered and protected him, what was known and reliable and satisfied his aversion to risk.

  Ahead was Lian, who had always represented the disruptive change and even imminent danger but also challenge and growth.

  Ivo put on his headphones and turned on loud music to silence his anguish. He had finally understood that the enigma raised by the fate of the Legion was above all his personal challenge.

  From the Author

  Dear reader

  I appreciate your interest in reading these few words in which I talk about my work. It is a good habit to try to understand what led an author to write a particular book, because the motivations vary from author to author and from book to book.

  As a sign of respect for the reader, in all my books I make a thorough previous investigation of the facts the work refers to, particularly considering that many of them take place in places sometimes very far apart from each other and also in various historical periods; my books often travel indeed through dilated stretches in time and space.

  These searches are based on my memory, in the large family library and the huge quarry of facts and data existing in the Internet. In the global network everyone can search but not all find the same ... fortunately, since this results in a huge variability and diversity.

  The plo
t of course comes from the imagination and fantasy. This is critical for me and I confess that I would never write a book that I wouldn´t like to read; my interests as a writer and as a reader coincide to a large degree.

  My works often take place in exotic locations and refer sometimes to surprising and even paradoxical facts, but never enter the realm of the fantastic and incredible. Moreover, the most bizarre events are often true.

  About the Author

  Oscar Luis Rigiroli was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, practiced as a chemical engineer until 2005, when he started his literary career. He writes in Spanish and his areas of interest are the narrative and the real economy. His fiction books belong to the suspense thrillers, romantic, erotic and noir genres. Besides his fiction works he has written a critical essay on political economy. All his works are based in extensive research, have been translated into English and are available in print and digital editions

  Books by Oscar Luis Rigiroli

  FICTION

  (In English)

  Enigma under the Frost

  Golden Legend

  Ebony Lady

  Mirage- Three Exotic Stories

  I Ching and Crime- Ten Wings

  The Girl and the Knight

  Mirage- Images and Delusion

  Keisha -A Swirl Romance

  Blood Runes

  Sweet Swirl Romance

  Unrestrained Passion

  Himmler`s Legacy

  The City of the Condors

  Bluthund-Virtual Community

  An African Adventure.

  End of the Game in Venice

  The Legacy of the Cathars

  Lakshmi Dhawan

  Sahara

  The Challenge of the Legion

  (In Spanish)

  Enigma en los Glaciares