Order of the Black Sun Box Set 9

by Preston William Child

  Purdue almost had everything he needed to really start the search. It just came down to him and his own tenacity. His confidence was shaken after everything that happened, but he kept reminding himself that he had done things like this plenty of times before. The only difference now was his financial circumstances, but he'd already done so much with very little money. He could succeed without his wealth. He knew he could.

  Purdue stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around himself, only to find that he wasn't alone.

  Two men stood in the doorway.

  Purdue flinched and nearly slipped on his ass in surprise.

  The two men looked identical, obviously twins. They were lanky and tall, towering over him. They had to have been nearly seven feet tall. They both stared down at him with the same eyes. He half-expected them to start speaking in unison, in some creepy way like those little girls in The Shining.

  Instead, only one spoke. “The Wharf Man would like to finish your conversation.”

  Purdue wanted to tell the pair off for being a couple of perverts watching him shower. Instead, he settled for something a little less insulting. “Can I get dressed or does the Wharf Man want to talk to me in my damn birthday suit?”

  The one who spoke laughed, getting the message, and practically pushed the quieter twin out of the bathroom then closed the door.

  Purdue took his time getting his clothes on. He had no problem making those impolite, spying bastards wait for him. When he came out of the room twenty minutes later, the pair of them were standing in the corridor.

  Despite being twins, it wasn't hard to tell which was which. One was friendly and spoke while the other was silent and his expression seemed permanently stuck in a glower. He followed the twins down the hall as the outgoing one made conversation.

  “I am Alton. This is my brother, Oniel. I do apologize for interrupting but when the Wharf Man asks us to do something, we get it done as quickly as we can.”

  “Aye,” Purdue said irritably. “But you could have at least waited for me to have my pants on.”

  The one called Alton laughed. “That was our mistake.”

  His brother, Oniel, on the other hand, didn't apologize or seem to find any humor in the situation. He was looking elsewhere, barely paying any attention at all, probably mad about how long Purdue made them wait for him.

  Purdue decided to see what he was really like.

  “Oniel, is that right?” The quieter brother offered a glance but no other response. “You're not a big talker, are you?” Oniel's glance narrowed into a glare.

  His brother let out another cackle. “He is not, no. Though, I do not blame him. It is difficult to speak without a tongue.”

  Purdue found himself staring at Oniel's face, maybe hoping he'd open his mouth enough to catch a glimpse of whatever remained inside of it.

  “What happened?” Purdue asked but immediately wished he'd hadn't. It was probably a sore subject, and Oniel didn't need more reason to hate him.

  “The Wharf Man was in something of a mood one day. My brother here spoke when he should not have. Now he does not speak at all.”

  Oniel remained still and silent as usual, but behind that veil of passiveness, there was an anger simmering inside. He couldn't have liked his brother sharing such personal history with a stranger.

  The story of the mutilation reminded Purdue that he was dealing with extremely dangerous people. Despite the hospitality he'd received, including allowing Purdue a long overdue shower, the Wharf Man was not a merciful individual. No matter how well he was treated by his enemies, he had to remember that.

  Purdue mused quietly. “Alton. Oniel. Such interesting names in this place. So what's the Wharf Man's name, eh? Or is Wharf his first name and Man his last? Is it Mann with two ‘n’s? Is that it?”

  Neither of the twins smiled at his weak joke, not even a little. The Wharf Man was clearly not someone who liked to talk so glibly about. He wasn't someone to speak about when joking around. When it came to their boss, they knew to tread more carefully than that.

  They brought him back to the Wharf Man who greeted him like they were the best of friends. After that business with the harpoon almost spearing his hand, maybe they were now. “You had a good wash, hmm?”

  “Aye,” Purdue said uncomfortably, tempted to mention the twin voyeurs outside the bathroom. “The water pressure was wonderful.”

  “I am glad to hear it and I am also glad that we understand each other, yes? If you think about turning on me ... after I was nice enough to give you one of my ships and a shower ... I will poke out your eyes and then tie your feet to rocks. Drop you in the water, where you won't be able to see, but you will be able to drown. I promise you.”

  “I know how it works,” Purdue said. “You don't have to worry about me stabbing you in the back. It's not really something I do. I'm the one who tends to pull the knife out of my back. So, maybe it's you I should be worried about.”

  The Wharf Man's chubby face scrunched up and then he released a booming bellow that shook the whole room. “I like you, Mr. Yesterday. I will get you a boat and a crew to man it.”

  Within twenty-four hours, the Wharf Man had prepared a crew and was having a boat supplied for their voyage. While everything was being made ready, the Wharf Man insisted that he get to see the map that Purdue had gotten from the safe deposit box.

  Purdue didn't really want to show him, but decided it best to be as open with his new business partner as possible. They sat down together, and he opened up the old map, then rolled it out on the table.

  “I have given you one of my boats, but I realize now that I don't even know where my property is going. If we are going to proceed, I need to know where its destination is.”

  They looked over the chart together. The Wharf Man leaned forward and looked ready to fall over from the shift in weight.

  The map was a crude sketch of land masses around the Atlantic Ocean. There were Xs sketched all over the map, and the Wharf Man let out a growl of annoyance. “I do not understand this. The X is supposed to be the treasure, no? So, this pirate admiral of yours hid all of his gold all around the Atlantic? Divided it in dozens of places?”

  “That's what you think at first glance, isn't it?” Purdue said, having believed the same thing when he first saw it. “But I don't think that's the case. Because of this...”

  Scrawled on the bottom corner of the map was a sentence in cursive: It is protected by my sword and gun powder.

  The Wharf Man still looked more than a little confused. “What good is a map if it does not show you were to go?”

  “I think it does ... but it's just not obvious. There's something here. Something with that note. It's always slightly intrigued me. It's why I could never get rid of it.”

  “So, you know what it means?”

  “Not exactly,” Purdue said honestly. “But I have a hunch, and that will be the first stop on our voyage.”

  INTERLUDE 2 – SAM CHECKS OUT

  Just like every morning, Sam woke up in a bed that wasn't his. It was more comfortable than some of the others he had the displeasure of sleeping in lately. Still, no matter the conditions he was now forced to live in, it was better than being killed. It was far better than what David Purdue got. No matter what motel he was in, his morning routine was the same. Sam would wake up, get himself dressed, and sit by the window with a cup of coffee. He'd always make sure his car could be seen from whatever room he was staying in, and would check to see if any cars were parked near his. He didn't want to be jumped on his way out.

  It was a challenge to be running from pursuers that you weren't even sure were after you. All he had to go on was Purdue's warning, but it wasn't proof that the Black Sun was coming for him. For all he knew, they didn't bother with him and he was running away for no reason, keeping one step ahead of an invisible enemy that wasn't even there.

  But he knew Julian Corvus, and if he was leading the order now, then he doubted that man would let any slight ag
ainst him go unanswered. He hadn't let Purdue get away. He probably hadn't let Nina either. So, why would he leave Sam be? He was just as much of a part in his defeat back in Norwich as Purdue and Nina were. And Sam had been just as much of an enemy to the Black Sun.

  No. They were coming. They had to be.

  There was a knock on his door. “Housekeeping.”

  When Sam opened the door, a woman was waiting on the other side. Her name tag read ‘Marie’, and she greeted him with a pleasant smile. Her cart of supplies was behind her, and she looked past him at the state of the room. The truth was, he'd barely touched the place besides the bed. The room was spotless otherwise.

  “I should be all set today, thank you,” Sam said, glancing around the parking lot for any occupied cars that might be spying on him. Marie obviously noticed his eyes and looked around herself, like she was expecting something frightening, but saw nothing. “Come back tomorrow.”

  “Of course, sir,” Marie said. “Have a nice day.”

  “You too.”

  Marie smiled at him again and rolled her cart of cleaning supplies away. Sam peered around the area one last time before retreating back into his room. Usually, he liked to only stay in one place for one night before moving on to somewhere else. But lately he'd expanded that window to two nights sometimes. Caution was good, but that extra day helped him recuperate from the energy he was using by being constantly on the move. He would spend one more day there, and then pack up and get moving again.

  It had occurred to him that the way he was hiding could only last so long. Motels cost money and unlike his late friend, Purdue, he wasn't a billionaire. Eventually, his wallet wouldn't be able to keep helping him stay hidden. When he came to that point, he wasn't sure what he was going to do. Hide out in some forest somewhere like a modern day Robin Hood? Find some cave somewhere to hole away in? It was hard to say what would come next. Thankfully, he had enough to keep up this plan of his for some time.

  Part of him wished he could just call up Julian Corvus and ask if he was even coming for him. He could save himself all of this trouble if he at least knew that he was actually being hunted by the Black Sun. Another part of him wanted to call up his old neighbors and ask about the state of his home; if it had been broken into, ransacked, or burned to the ground like Purdue's had been, but he also didn't want to risk contacting anyone. He wouldn't put it past the Black Sun to somehow be able to track him down through a phone call. It was part of the reason he had destroyed his cell phone the second Purdue had told him that he should start running.

  Sam spent the day keeping to himself, mostly in his room, and only leaving to go get food or gasoline for his car. The solitary life was difficult at first. He had felt completely cut off from society. Other people he passed on the street had their own lives filled with happiness, sadness, good times and bad, but he doubted any of them were in his situation. They probably didn't have some secret society out trying to track them down and kill them.

  He'd had plenty of ups and down in his past, but this was one of the most challenging points in his life. He had to constantly be on the alert and that was draining, but it was all for his own good. It was the only way to avoid what happened to Purdue.

  So, when he returned to his motel room, he gave one last cautionary look out the window before tucking himself in to try and find some sleep. Rest hadn't come easy in a long time, but he forced himself to push out the thoughts that a Black Sun agent could be standing at the foot of his bed, or would murder him while he slept. Like the rest of the world, he couldn't run all the time, and those hours of sleep made him vulnerable to the enemies there were potentially looking for him at all hours of the day.

  But sleep was just as essential to his survival as looking out the window or over his shoulder, so he forced his body to recharge for the next day of trying to survive.

  The next morning, there was a knock on Sam's door. He slowly rose from his bed and got to his feet, tiptoeing to the window and barely peeking out, just enough to try and see. Luckily, it was just housekeeping. The same woman he'd seen going about the other rooms earlier in the day.

  “Hello?” came a voice as another knock came. “Housekeeping, sir.”

  “One moment,” Sam said and pulled open the door.

  Marie stood in the doorway just like she had around that time the previous day. She tried to smile at him but for some reason, her face wasn't quite cooperating. Actually, she looked scared for some reason. As he looked at her, he could see she was even trembling where she stood.

  “I am sorry,” she said.

  Two men appeared around both sides of the door frame. Sam tried to slam the door shut on them but they got in its way, keeping it open. He pushed desperately in a vain attempt to keep them out, but he knew it would be futile. Their ambush was too quick and too strong.

  So, the Order of the Black Sun finally tracked him down. He should have known it would be sooner rather than later.

  He'd been so careful too ... damn it all. He should have stuck to always moving every single day. It was that extra night that had cost him the chase. He had stayed in one place too long, giving them time to catch up.

  At least now he knew that the order really was after him. He didn't have to wonder if all of his running was for nothing. He didn't have to even consider going back home. Purdue's warnings had been right and it was Sam's own fault for slowing down.

  In the brief glances he could get of them, the two intruders didn't look familiar. It figured that Purdue got to have Julian Corvus himself come pay him a visit, and the Order of the Black Sun only sent the expendable grunts to deal with Sam. He would have been insulted but he was too busy trying to keep them out.

  He couldn't hold off two grown men throwing themselves against the door for long, but he braced his whole body against it. The men outside threw their bodies at the door, trying to bash it open. Their attempts rocked Sam, but he kept himself firmly pinned against the entrance, keeping it at bay as best as he could. Hopefully, the two men didn't burst through the motel room windows. There would be no stopping that.

  He shouted at them through the door. “Whatever you are selling, I'm not interested!”

  His hold of the door slipped and they burst through, breaching his motel room, and knocking him backward. He reached for whatever he could, his hand instinctively going for the bedside lamp. He flung it forward but they easily avoided it.

  “I think you have got the wrong room,” Sam said as the two men closed in on him. They both looked like wild animals ready to pounce on their prey. They were lions and he was just some helpless antelope in comparison. He just tried to stay calm and collected. Panicking wouldn't help him at all. “I don't remember ever ordering any room service.”

  “You're coming with us,” one of them said. “Now.”

  Sam took a step back. “No, no I really don't think I am. That doesn't sound like something I'd ever do, to be honest.”

  “This isn't up for debate.” The other man reached into his jacket and pulled out a pistol. “Let's go.”

  Sam put his hands up in surrender. “Right then. How did you find me?”

  “We've been on your trail for some time. You were just lucky to be one step ahead of us and that luck has run out. Mr. Corvus is looking forward to seeing you again.”

  “I bet he is.” Sam lowered his hands. “But is the Order of the Black Sun really going through all this trouble for me? I doubt I would be of much use to you all now. You apparently killed my colleague with all the real resources.”

  “Mr. Corvus thinks otherwise.”

  They grabbed Sam and practically dragged him out toward their car.

  He passed the maid who had brought them to his room, and Marie mouthed the word ‘sorry’. She didn't look overly apologetic though. A little guilty, maybe, but the Black Sun had either paid her well or put her in a position where there was no other alternative but to give him up.

  “One-star service,” he muttered to her as he walked by
, although felt bad about it immediately after. This wasn't her fight, and the Order of the Black Sun was quite persuasive when they wanted to be. Just like he was trying to maintain his own survival, so was she. She wasn't going to risk that for some man she barely knew, customer or not.

  They shoved Sam into the back seat of a car and he knew all of his running had reached its end. He was finally caught and at the mercy of an enemy he knew all too well. The Order of the Black Sun was going to settle old debts just like they had with Purdue, and Sam wished more than anything that he was in his own car, driving to a new motel somewhere far out of reach.

  Unfortunately, no seedy motel could help protect him now.

  Sam had no idea where he was being taken and he didn't bother asking. He had enough experience with the Order of the Black Sun to know that they weren't the most reasonable of people. He sat in the backseat of the car quietly, knowing that this vehicle was really just a prison cell.

  The larger of the two Black Sun operatives, Ulrich, drove the car while the other, Roland, sat beside Sam in the backseat. His hand rested under his coat, probably on his gun holster. The body language spoke so very loudly to Sam. It warned him not to dare try anything.

  “You're a tough man to track down, Roland said from beside him. “You didn't make it easy, I tell you. Staying mobile was a good move. I must say, I was impressed.”

  “I wasn't,” Ulrich said from the front seat, glaring at Sam through the rearview mirror. “More annoying than anything. We were supposed to have brought you back to Mr. Corvus weeks ago.”

  “You been kidnapping people for Julian a lot? My friend Nina was missing, last I knew. You abduct her too?”

  “The doctor lady?” Ulrich asked with a chuckle. “No.” Sam felt some relief but then Ulrich continued. “Mr. Corvus saw to her personally.”

  Sam's hopes plummeted. That was the worst possible scenario for Nina. Julian Corvus was a demented lunatic in regular circumstances. Nina had almost killed him—maybe had even completed the task before his miraculous revival—and he had more than enough reason to be even worse than usual to Nina. Julian wasn't the forgiving kind, and who knew what depths he would go to avenge his own death? He would probably torture Nina. He would kill her slowly. Maybe he already had.