Order of the Black Sun Box Set 9

by Preston William Child

  Purdue turned to Galen and said in a whisper, “Did you really buy mercenaries to be our bodyguards?”

  “It's not my first rodeo, Davy,” Galen said, looking confused by Purdue's surprise. “You're telling me you run around the world defenseless on your trips? No wonder you all have had such a hard run of it. This isn't my first time working with Maddox and his team. They're good lads. Tough as nails. And make me feel a whole lot safer sleeping at night in foreign lands. Relax. You'll get used to them, I promise. I think we're all a little wobbly from the flight. Let's take it easy tonight. Have some drinks, get some sleep. Be all bright and shiny and new in the morning.”

  When they arrived at the camp Galen had prepared for the expedition, none of them took him up on his offer for a drink. Instead, Purdue, Nina, and Sam all went straight to bed. Mostly, they just needed to get away from Galen and his ego. Sleep would be their only escape for what was going to be a very irritating venture.

  “You sure you really want to work with this guy?” Nina whispered from her bed. “He's, kind of the worst person I've ever met. And I've met you.”

  “He's harmless,” Purdue said. “I've already given him some backing, we can't really pull out now. And besides, I can put up with him if it means we get our hands on the Spear of Destiny. That will make this whole trip worth it.”

  “I hope so,” Nina said. “Why do you think he bought the hired guns?”

  “To kill us after we find it,” Sam suggested. “Two shots to the head for each of us and Galen walks away with the spear all to himself.”

  “He's harmless, I swear,” Purdue repeated. “He's a neurotic, shallow, control freak ... but he's never seen a fight in his life. He doesn't have the stomach for murder.”

  “I don't know,” Sam said. “I read parts of his book...”

  Purdue laughed. “Why would you submit yourself to that kind of hell?”

  “I like to have an idea of who I'm going to be spending time with when I'm in the middle of the desert looking for a Jesus spear. I only read a snippet of his autobiography and I nearly gouged my eyeballs out. Also, he failed to mention you even once in there, Purdue.”

  Purdue gasped. “Outrageous ... but probably for the best.”

  As sheepishness set in and Purdue could feel sleep pushing his eye lids closed, he thought back to the old days of knowing Galen. They'd both been far younger with far more money than they really deserved. It was like a lot of friendships that blossom at early adulthood. There was an instinctual connection and almost an immediate decision that they work together, since they both shared the same hobbies and love of old antiquities.

  They started off just going around to antique stores they could find. They'd look at the oldest or most valuable piece in these stores and buy it without hesitation. Although, when it wasn't something that could be used in battle, Galen would scold Purdue for wasting his money on something so boring.

  Purdue even took Galen on some of his expeditions to faraway lands in search of treasures they would never find in their native homelands. For some time, it had been a good arrangement and even a strong friendship. Their personalities clashed at times but never severely. It helped even, at times, because they often both represented two opposing sides of the same argument. They could weigh the pros and cons and find a compromise during their searches.

  But while Purdue spent the searches with some hopeful optimism, Galen treated the valuables they were trying to find as nothing more than tools for him to increase his own notoriety. Galen's vanity initially seemed like a bad habit that he was trying to brake, but overtime, Purdue came to understand that Galen was just a very pious human being and his ego was only growing bigger with every success they had.

  It was starting to grate on Purdue. He never thought it would, frankly. He wasn't always a humble man himself, but Galen was another level. Their friendship grew weaker and weaker the more Galen would talk about his own achievements, frequently leaving Purdue's essential role out of the discussion entirely. It was clear that if they were meant to be seen as a team, it wasn't an equal one. Galen thought he deserved to be calling all of the shots and that Purdue was just along for the ride, a good tool to keep around to help find anything out of the ordinary.

  Finally, one day Purdue just told Galen off. He exploded on him and in that anger, nearly came to blows with him, as young men often do when trying to sort out their rage. He held back though and didn't physically harm the Irishman. Instead he just made sure that he knew how horrible of a human being he was. Galen didn't take kindly to the blight on his image and told Purdue off, claiming to not even need him.

  They went their separate ways and both felt much happier after that fork in the road. Every so often, Purdue would receive a call from Galen, but he'd always have Charles come up with some excuse to not have to speak with him. Based on the messages he left the butler, Galen had gotten over their falling out rather quickly and wanted to mend fences. He'd call now and again but they only ever spoke rarely, and in those times, it was mostly Galen just bragging about what he was now up to.

  The thing about Galen was, Purdue was never quite sure if he was arrogant due to his spoiled, silver spoon fed upbringing, or if he was clinically and instinctively suffering from textbook narcissism. It was hard to tell sometimes, and Purdue lacked the required psychology degrees to make a proper diagnosis himself.

  Either way, in his eyes Galen Fitzgerald was generally toxic to be around. He was a poor colleague to have from a professional standpoint, often using his vast funds in less than ideal ways. He was a poor friend, because he seemed to think friendship was only about one person gratifying the other.

  Purdue had been perfectly fine without Galen in his life. When he received that phone call and Galen had forced himself back into the picture, part of Purdue wanted to hang up then and there. It would have been so easy to just put it down and never respond to another one of his calls. Things would have been simpler then, but Purdue had been enticed by the potential prize they could collect.

  And he could put up with Galen's bluster for a time as long as they did find the spear. That would make any torments he had to go through worth it in the end.

  Still, there was the high chance that joining Galen on this venture could be a mistake, and Purdue was prepared for that. They could find absolutely nothing and have wasted all of their time and resources. At least if that happened, Galen might consider them a bad team and never call him again. That might even be ideal.

  The last thing Purdue thought about before he fell asleep was ownership of the Spear of Destiny. He and Galen hadn't come to a concrete decision on where the spear would be staying once they had obtained it. Purdue already planned on suggesting that they take turns with the spear in their collections, but he doubted Galen would go for that. Given Galen's silence, it seemed likely the Irishman would claim it and that would be the last time Purdue would see it before it was added to the endless lines of spears in the Fitzgerald mansion.

  Purdue didn't want that. It wouldn't be fair. Especially if the expedition operated as Purdue expected. Galen had never been a very hands-on, vital part of any of the travels they used to make together. He was more of the sit-back-and-let-other-people-do-it-for-you variety of man. In some cases, a spineless worm who didn't think someone of his noble birth should be getting down and dirty. That was what money was for, he'd say. “So we can have people to do the heavy lifting for us”

  Purdue wasn't that kind of man. He liked doing his own heavy lifting. He liked knowing that when he added an item to his collection, he had fought for that prize and no one else could claim that they'd given any more effort than he had. He had the feeling just from Galen's laid-back demeanor so far that the search for the Spear of Destiny would be no different. He'd specifically been brought along to put in all the effort that Galen didn't feel like expending.

  That was another thing about Galen. He was a cheap bastard.

  They woke up the next morning to Galen storming into
their tent. He was the worst alarm clock they had never set.

  “Get yer asses out of bed, all of you! We won't delay a second longer!”

  The three of them all slowly rose up and Galen kept squawking away as they did. There was no time to wake up or to get orientated with the world around them. They were too busy covering their ears as Galen kept shouting.

  “Every second counts! Let's not be late on the very first day!”

  Nina made a mental note to herself that if Galen woke them up again like this any other morning on this expedition, she was going to personally strangle him to death.

  “We've got a spot of breakfast ready! Bacon! Sausage! Eggs! The perfect meal to give us our strength for finding one of the holiest of treasures.”

  Sam perked up a little at the sound of food. “Where is it?”

  “Right there, Cleave,” Galen tapped Sam on the forehead. “You could see it clearly, couldn't you? Tasted delicious. Now wake up before I drag you out into the sand. Don't make me bring Maddox and his boys in here! They'll make sure you're awake!”

  When they finally escaped the tornado that had come into their tent, they filed out into the camp where the mercenaries were waiting for them. They all glowered at them, looking stern faced and in a horrible mood. Maybe they were annoyed by the late start, but it was probably just how they always were. Nina didn't expect much more from trained killers.

  Galen came out of the tent and stood on top of one of the mercenary jeeps like he was a general ready for battle.

  “We all know the game plan, aye? We scour all of the known tombs that have ever been thought to be the one Jesus was laid to rest in and rose out of. We find the spear in one of them. We take it, we go home, you lot get paid, and then we drink!”

  It wasn't quite the plan any of them expected. It was hardly a plan at all, but considering who was its architect, it made some sense.

  They packed into some of the jeeps. Nina, Purdue, and Sam nearly filled one to capacity and were horrified when Galen took the driver's seat. They would have preferred any of the strong yet silent mercenaries to be their fourth passenger.

  Galen shifted the vehicle into gear and smiled at them. “Hope you're all buckled in. It's going to be a ride to remember.”

  The jeep lurched forward and they took off into the sands of the Holy Land. Purdue had been in this part of the world a few times before. He always appreciated how remote it felt. Despite all the history and great battles that had taken place there, it wasn't hard to find a nice quiet spot to have all to yourself for miles. It was vast and flat, with sand covering most of the terrain.

  There were numerous old tombs near Jerusalem that were said to be the tomb Jesus of Nazareth rose from after his death. And that was the problem. Just like multiple places claiming that they had the spear, it made it a challenge to determine what was accurate information. That made their search much, much harder.

  It shouldn't have been too hard to find an empty tomb, since most tombs should have an occupant. But every single tomb they searched was empty; having been cleared out or built that way to further prove itself as the legitimate tomb of Jesus. So many pretenders, all wanting to take a piece of the glory. It was no secret to Purdue that so many people in the world dreamed of being worshiped. Maybe building fake Jesus tombs for people to pray at filled that void for its creators. Scammers loved any bit of validation they could get.

  It meant trying to find the real thing in a stack of very convincing fakes. There needed to be something distinguishing the legitimate one from the rest but it would take forever to sort out. Hopefully the proof would be a holy, super powered spear waiting for them inside the tomb.

  Weeks went by and they scoured each and every one of those tombs, but found nothing even hinting at the existence of the spear. The only things out there were rocks and sand. They went back to their camp empty handed each night, and were forced to listen to Galen lecture them about all his knowledge about weaponry. Which flail was the most efficient. The credibility of the slingshot. Having to listen to him gloat and ramble was just the bitter strawberry on top of each disappointing evening.

  For Nina, it wasn't as thrilling of a search as some of their previous adventures. Based on their faces, Sam and Purdue thought the same.

  “If this turns out to be a waste of time...” Purdue watched Galen giving his usual narcissistic presentation to the mercenaries across the camp. “...I'll break his jaw.”

  Sam said, “We are putting a lot of faith in an old piece of paper, and we don't even know if it's real or where it came from. Always check your sources, I say.”

  Sam had a point. The clues Galen provided were so little to go on. Maybe it would be enough, but it was certainly going to be a drawn-out search. They needed to try to get used to it.

  “Bored already?” Sasha, the only female mercenary in the squad, asked as she walked by. Her face was contorted with a strange mix of irritation and amusement, like they were just a bunch of loitering kids that didn't belong there and she just had to put up with.

  “Not bored,” Purdue said unconvincingly. “Just patiently waiting for something to happen.”

  “If anything does happen, just keep behind us and keep your heads down,” Sasha said with a condescending grin. “We'll protect you.”

  Purdue spat on the ground. “Appreciated.”

  Sasha joined her companions, who looked like they were getting sick of listening to their employer talk. Galen asked for one of their pistols and then started an unwanted lecture about the long history of handguns.

  “How much longer are we going to stay before we call it quits?” Sam asked.

  “If you two are willing, I'd say we give it a couple more weeks. Let's see how we feel then, eh? Then we'll reconvene this little meeting.”

  They all agreed to the proposal. A couple more weeks was enough time to say that they really gave it a proper chance, but thankfully not so long that they thought they were going to have to murder Galen or at least sew his mouth shut by the end of it. It was a chunk of time for them to work hard and endure through an irritating work environment.

  Thankfully, they finally found something of consequence four days later.

  5

  The Tomb

  It was one of the lesser tombs. A simple, old structure of stone tucked within a small canyon. They slid its heavy door open and stepped inside, just like they'd done with every tomb they'd searched before.

  Almost as soon as she set foot inside, a weird feeling went up Nina's spine.

  Everything around her felt strange and that strangeness seemed to be emanating from the tomb walls. It was smaller and generally more cramped than the other sites they had excavated. In that tightness, that feeling seemed to be all around them, passing through them, even.

  If something miraculous did happen ... like a man rising from the dead two thousand years ago, then what they were feeling could be the fallout of something like that. Nina wasn't sure she believed in most of the stories of miracles and holiness, but in that moment, it was hard to deny.

  “You feel that?” Sam asked from beside her.

  So, she wasn't imagining it. There was something in this tomb with them. “I do, yes. What do you feel?”

  “Feels like...” Sam licked his lips, like he was trying to taste it. “Feels like my entire body's relaxed. Like I just had the best massage of my life.”

  “I haven't touched your back,” Purdue chuckled from behind them. “Not sure I like this place.”

  Galen pushed his way to the front of the group and turned around to face them all. “I want every inch of this tomb searched. Every stone. Every bit of dust.”

  “The same way we've been searching every tomb? Got it,” Purdue said, rolling his eyes. “You're such a visionary.”

  It was a small space for their whole group. Sam went outside to look around the outer walls of the tomb while the others looked around inside. Most of the mercenaries went outside too, leaving only their leader Maddox and the
ever so charming Sasha inside with them. For someone preaching to search every inch of the tomb, Galen spent a lot of time not looking around much. He mostly sat on the stone casket in the middle of the tomb, whistling to himself and sporadically asking if they'd found anything yet.

  Galen continued to remind Nina of a spoiled child. He sat around, kicked his feet, and waited for other people to just give him what he wanted.

  Nina examined the west side of the tomb. She ran her hand along the cold walls. She made sure she shone her light all over it so she didn't miss anything. She was really hoping that there would be some secret switch to push to reveal all the answers, but she wasn't that lucky.

  When she was certain the west wall was clear, she decided to look at the only place that wasn't being searched—the casket Galen was sitting on.

  She walked to the center of the room and said, “Mind if I have a look?”

  “There's nothing to find,” Galen said with a lazy shrug. “I've already given it a proper search.”

  “No, you haven't.”

  Nina leaned past him, completely ignoring his presence, and looked down into the casket. If this really was the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth—the tomb—that meant he might have come back to life inside that casket. A dead man lying there for three days. His eyes opening and climbing out of his own entombment. It was a terrifying prospect that she tried to ignore.

  The casket was essentially an empty tub of stone. After a minute of looking it over, it seemed like Galen might be correct after all. Lucky guess, at least, since he obviously didn't really look as closely as he claimed. There was nothing to it. Just a slab of rock for a body to lay on.

  She ran her fingers along the bottom of it, and felt something brush against her nail. The casket wasn't completely smooth. A small patch of rock was uneven and slightly lower than the rest. She felt around a bit more and realized the patch of rock was in a strange shape. She shone her light over her hand to get a better look.