Order of the Black Sun Box Set 11

by Preston William Child

  “You'll know when you see it.”

  The car ride was as unnerving as Nina expected it to be. There were two policemen in the front seats as Inspector Amaro sat closely beside her in the back seat, whistling to himself and twiddling his thumbs. He seemed to be in the middle of deep contemplation, only breaking it to make uncomfortable small talk with Nina. He appeared intrigued about the sword of Caesar and Nina's past as a historian.

  “You said you’ve traveled extensively for your historical work...any places that stand out in your mind? That you’d love to go back to some day? Any places that blew you away?”

  “You have no idea.”

  He really didn't. As intelligent as Inspector Amaro was, he didn't know about the times when she’d gone to places that weren't supposed to even exist, that he could barely even fathom. He didn't know how often she had people trying to kill her. He was clueless about the Order of the Black Sun, and it was going to stay that way.

  “You seem remarkably calm for someone who had just had her life threatened by people who have proven to be very dangerous.”

  “I don't get scared easily.”

  “I can see that,” Amaro said, scribbling a stray thought on his notepad again. “You’ve faced worse in your travels. That's what you stated, isn't it?”

  He was a curious man but that made sense given his occupation. Curiosity could mean the difference between success or failure in stopping a criminal.

  “What should I be afraid of?” Nina asked, pointing at the front seat where the two other policemen were sitting in silence. “I’ve you lot watching over me. My own personal bodyguards.”

  “We’ll do our best,” Inspector Amaro said with another unconvincing smile. “Believe me, I want nothing more than to catch these anarchists as quickly as possible. Take those masks off and put them in a small cage for the rest of their miserable lives.”

  “So why aren't you chasing after them instead of sitting in this car with me?”

  She’d already figured out why—they were hoping to use her as bait.

  Of course, that wasn't the answer that Inspector Amaro gave her.

  That settled it. She needed to get the hell away from the police. They were only getting in the way of the search.

  It was the right time. The cars were just starting to pick up speed. She glanced back again, to be sure that her friends were still right on their tail. This might be her one and only chance to get away from these nosy police officers. She braced herself; this was probably going to hurt.

  Nina pulled up the lock from the door beside her as quickly as she could, and in just as fluid of a motion, lifted the handle to the door. She didn't look, but she could feel Inspector Amaro's body jump to alertness in the seat beside her. She pushed her door open as hard as she could and threw herself from the vehicle onto the pavement of the street. She landed hard and rolled across the road.

  Thankfully, the car hadn't been going too fast. When she stopped wobbling , she pulled herself to her feet as quickly as she could. If this was going to work, they needed to get out of there as quickly as possible.

  Her group's car pulled up beside her and Riley yelled for her to jump in. Nina hurried into the backseat and she glanced up ahead at the police car she’d been in moments before.

  The police car hit the brakes when she jumped out and Inspector Amaro exited the vehicle, his eyes darting around the scene, realizing what was happening and that it was too late to stop. Despite his tactical prowess, Amaro had been outmaneuvered by a simple getaway plan.

  “Drive!” Nina called up to the driver's seat.

  August stepped on the gas and turned the vehicle down a narrow side street beside them. Nina heard Inspector Amaro shout out her name, but they were already pulling away, far out of the inspector's reach.

  Once they were clear, Riley let out a big cheer. “That worked like a charm!”

  “Do you think they'll try to follow us?” August asked and glanced at the rear view mirror.

  “They’ll have trouble in these streets,” Elijah said calmly. “And I doubt they’d try too hard to catch us. We haven't committed any crimes...except perhaps getting in the way of the investigation, I suppose.”

  Nina shook her head, filled with pride. Her body was sore and bruised from her escape, but she could deal with a few scrapes since it meant retaking control of their mission. She didn't have to worry about the police following her every move now.

  “We didn't get in the way of their investigation. They got in the way of ours.

  12

  THE SHEATH'S LOCATION

  Once they were far enough away to know that they weren't being followed, they pulled over in an empty lot and started trying to determine their next move.

  Nina yawned and Riley took notice.

  “Not to be rude, but you look exhausted, Nina,” Riley said. “Terrible actually. Did you get much sleep last night?”

  “Not really, no,” Nina said.

  “Nerves, I bet,” August offered.

  “Or it could have to do with having a tiring day,” Elijah said. “She did jump out of a moving vehicle to run away from police. And she discovered her friend’s corpse.” Elijah wasn't wrong, but as usual, he was presenting his truth with so little concern for being offensive or upsetting. That man didn't have much tact. “Or, yes, you just didn't get enough rest. Also possible.”

  Nina knew why she’d a restless night, but the others still had no idea about their late night visit in the hotel. Now that they were getting closer to the sword, they needed to know about the threat that was hanging right over their heads. She was the only one that knew just how dangerous the Third Triumvirate could really be. The others were all fast asleep when the Triumvirate made their big introduction.

  “There’s something I need to tell you guys...something important.”

  “Well, spit it out then,” Elijah said, folding his arms. “Don't leave us all in such suspense.”

  “Last night, in the middle of the night...I woke up.”

  “I hate nightmares,” Riley cut in casually.

  “It wasn't a nightmare,” Nina said. “I was sleeping fine but I felt something, that weird feeling you get when you're being watched or when you're not actually alone. That tingle right at the back of your neck...”

  The others all perked up with curiosity. Riley even looked somewhat disturbed by what she was hearing. Nina didn't want to frighten them. That was why she kept it a secret from the beginning. Even as the words were starting to drip out of her mouth, she wondered if she should even be confessing it at all.

  She continued, trying to not focus on the growing worry in her teammates' eyes. “When I woke up, there was someone standing at the foot of my bed.”

  Riley had to cover her mouth to mute a scream of terror. She felt that most of all, considering that this scary event took place mere inches from where she’d been sleeping. Nina dreaded having to tell her the rest of it, because it only got worse for her.

  “He was wearing a mask. I was going to call out but he covered by mouth. There were two other people in the room, too. They all had masks. It was them...the Third Triumvirate. Mr. Nero was the one that jumped me. Miss Caligula was by the door. The big one, Mr. Commodus, he was standing over Riley...”

  Riley was trembling, her mouth fumbling to try to find words. She was probably in disbelief and likely praying that all of this was just some bad dream that Nina had last night. Unfortunately for her, it was very real, she’d just been oblivious to it.

  “He was standing over you with a knife,” Nina said.

  Riley looked like she was on the verge of fainting. Nina couldn't blame her. Her life had been threatened and she could have been murdered without ever seeing it coming, without ever realizing it had even happened.

  “I've got to say...” Nina tried to make light of it just to pop the bubble of tension that had formed around them. “You're a ludicrously heavy sleeper, Riley.”

  “What happened next?” August ask
ed, his fists clenched. Unlike Riley, he didn't look scared. Mostly, he looked angry and maybe even somewhat guilty. All of this had happened in the room next door to where he had been, right under he and Elijah's noses.

  Elijah just stared at Nina ambivalently, looking curious to hear more.

  “They made me keep quiet or else they were going to kill Riley. They said that they knew that we were looking for the sword of Caesar and that they wanted it, but didn't know how to find it. It wasn't easy like the other things they took. It wasn't in a museum. They told me to bring it to them once we found it, to help them in their mission to bring back the old Rome.”

  “And they think you're going to go along with that?” Elijah asked, and then looked a little concerned. She’d surprised him already, after all, with the possibility that she might have given it to the Palazza Nuovo once it was found. He wasn't too trusting of her judgment at the moment when it came to the fate of Caesar's sword. “You aren't going to go along with that, right?”

  “Of course not,” Riley said. “They're delusional extremists, but I had to make them believe that their threats spooked me enough to do as they said.”

  “So they are expecting you give them Caesar's sword...” August said, folding his massive arms. “And if you don't...they'll come looking for it, is that it?”

  “That's it,” Nina said. “And this was before I even knew what they did to Santino. These people follow through on their threats. What they did to him...it was barbaric. They’ll try and hurt us, or worse, if we don't give them what they want.”

  Riley still looked like she was about to vomit. She’d nearly been killed during their search for Genghis Khan's tomb but at least then, she had an opportunity to try to fight or run away. In this situation, she wasn't given any such chance. She’d been inches away from a brush with death and had no idea until now. That was enough to traumatize someone and make them more than a little bit paranoid.

  “So what do we do about it?” Elijah asked rather pessimistically. “Clearly they can get to us if they want to. We don't have a clue where they will be. So what's to stop them from just sneaking into our next hotel room and smothering us in our sleep? We all going to take shifts sleeping? Because all that will really do is just delay them from gutting us all like fish.”

  They all looked sick now. Elijah's glass half-empty mentality was always so focused on the negative. He was never one to help boost morale during a tough situation. The truth was, Nina hadn't figured out how they were going to handle the Third Triumvirate. Elijah undeniably had a point that those three psychos could come back in the middle of the night and slash them. Nina's hope was that they could either get far enough away once they found the sword so that the Third Triumvirate wouldn't be able to follow or that the Third Triumvirate would come to them at a time when they were ready to face them. She wasn't too hopeful that either of those would happen, but that was all she could think of when it came to dealing with that trio of thieves.

  “For now, I think we should just keep looking for the sword. I didn't want to freak you all out--”

  “Well, you did!” Riley said, holding her head like it was about to explode. “Consider me very, very freaked out.”

  “I only told you just so that if something does happen, if the Third Triumvirate does decide to try to ambush us again...at least now you won't be caught completely off guard. You won't be blindsided and had no idea that they were even waiting in the wings. Now we’re all on the same page, and know that they could be coming. So now that we know that, let's find this sword.”

  “And then what?” Elijah asked. “Wait for them to show up to claim it from us?”

  “Maybe,” Nina said. “We'll just have to cross that bridge when we get to it.”

  August snorted. “I’ve always hated that expression.”

  They hadn't taken the news well and she couldn't blame them for having the reactions that they did. The whole thing felt like some scary story out of some horror movie, but this was their actual lives that had been injected with so much real world terror.

  The Third Triumvirate was waiting for them to succeed—but Nina had already decided that no matter what happened, she wasn't going to let those masked loons take from them. None of this would matter though if they couldn't find the sword. Once they did that, they could really worry about the Third Triumvirate's threats.

  Luckily, everyone's determination to find the sword pulled them out of their conversation about the Third Triumvirate. They all knew what was important right now and that they could put any contingencies on the back burner. They reviewed all of the information that they’d gotten so far, recapping every detail just in case they missed anything.

  “So Commodus supposedly put the sword in the place he loved most. So he brought it back to Rome.”

  That made sense. The only reason Commodus would’ve ever gone to Egypt to take the fabled sword back was so he could return back to where it belonged. But it hadn't been brought to the usual places where valuables were kept back then. If it had, it most likely would’ve been discovered with the rest of the treasures that survived those times.

  But then again, they might have been thinking too broadly. Nina thought back about everything she knew about Commodus. There wasn't too much information to go off of but Commodus didn't seem to love Rome itself, not really. Most of his actions hurt Rome for his own amusement or to fulfill the materialistic desires of people that would support him. He wasn't focused on Rome, just a small piece of it, and that piece suddenly stuck out to Nina in the midst of her racing thoughts.

  “Commodus put the sword in the place that he loved the most...the Colosseum. It's what he was most known for historically. He was obsessed with the Colosseum and with the gladiators that fought in it. He would even perform in the arena. I say perform and not fight because...well...he was never in any real serious danger when he battled in the arena. He’d either cut down people who were unarmed and hopeless or people who wouldn't dare try to strike him. It was always easy to win when your opponent couldn't fight back. Commodus always made sure he won and received the majority of the applause.”

  Elijah shook his head. “The Roman Colosseum is one of Europe's most popular places to visit. You really think that the sword has been there this whole time and no one found it? That seems like a bit of a leap.”

  “I've taken much bigger leaps, believe me,” Nina said, recalling her many adventures with Purdue. “Commodus only cared about strength and the Colosseum was practically a temple for warriors in his eyes. Putting a weapon like that in a place like that would make a lot of sense from his point of view. And as for people not finding it...if it was just hanging up somewhere, then yes, it would’ve definitely been found. But I doubt most renovations or tourists want to dig down into the grounds there. They would be far more focused on the structure itself than what was below. Hell, burying the sword there might have been like marking the Colosseum as some sort of hallowed ground to Commodus.”

  “It makes sense to me,” August said. “If it's a place that this Commodus guy loved then it would make sense to bring something valuable there. I've seen Gladiator. The Colosseum seemed pretty important to him in that movie.”

  “Thank you,” Nina said, glad that someone was willing to make the leap with her, even if his reasoning was lacking a little. “We should check there.”

  “And you think the workers there are just going to let us dig up the place?” Elijah asked, wiping off the lenses of his glasses. “Seems unlikely to me.”

  “Elijah...” Nina wanted to get something off of her chest, and she was just going to finally voice it aloud. “This must seem all pretty out of the ordinary for you but believe me, out here in the field, there's always a way. It used to be Purdue's wealth that could open most doors and now...with the Order of the Black Sun's influence, digging a hole in that arena will be no problem whatsoever.”

  “We'll see.”

  INTERLUDE ONE: THE MASK OF MR. COMMODUS

  The
idea of the Roman Colosseum always captured Matteo's imagination, ever since he was just a little boy—though he was never little for his age. It sounded amazing to have some place where warriors could display their skills to the fullest, for all to see. It was even more impressive that there weren't many rules or regulations that would dictate the competition. Instead, it was all about survival. The only trophy that someone participating could receive at the end was surviving for another day. It was a true test of might, far removed from the sports of today.

  Matteo had always been big and strong. He exited the womb weighing fourteen pounds and went through his whole childhood as the tallest one in his age group. As a result, he’d excelled in most physical activities growing up. He could easily overpower people, even the older kids. He’d played rugby to great success, but he hated the team aspect of it. None of his supposed “teammates” could keep up with him and only held him back.

  He also frequently got into trouble for using his size and strength to intimidate his opponents, on and off the field. To help channel his power into something less frowned upon and more productive, he took up boxing to see if he could find a real challenge. There were people who could actually put his strength to the test for once. He rarely lost a fight, but he liked that someone could make him bleed before he pummeled them into submission. Still, even in those times, he was stopped and restrained from putting his opponents down for good. They didn't know what it meant to truly lose then since they could just get back up the next day as if nothing happened. Defeat meant so little anymore now that people's lives weren't at stake. How was anyone supposed to fight with his all, if he already knew that they were going to walk away from it and be relatively unscathed?

  He wanted a real arena, yearned for it, where he could feel what the warriors of old once savored. He yearned to know what it felt like to have an audience cheering for your very survival, for them to praise you when you vanquished your enemy. But those kinds of contests were long gone, burned away by misplaced morals and censorship. Society couldn't handle watching a real battle anymore.