Trifariam, The Lost Codex (2012)

by Diego Rodriguez

  Where could the other son of a bitch be? he wondered as a few drops of cold sweat ran down his forehead and stung his eyes. He became very nervous and for a moment he had the feeling that Alpha 2 was behind him.

  In the hallway, his friends were going down the last few steps which led to the doorman’s office. As they passed by, they couldn’t help but smile when they saw how he had fallen asleep on top of a copy of the Washington Post.

  “Some doorman,” said Richard as he walked over to him intending to borrow one of the newspapers he had already read. “I wouldn’t hire him even - “

  Suddenly his body froze when he got closer to the window. He couldn’t move a muscle.

  Mary, who was already opening the front door, hurried him up. “Come on Richard, we have to catch a cab.”

  But he stood stock still. Mary frowned, puzzled.

  “Is something the matter?”

  Richard hadn’t moved an inch. He was expressionless with his eyes fixed on a pool of blood which was filling the doorman’s office. He slowly looked up towards his head and saw a small hole in the nape of his neck from which was still pouring a trickle of blood. They had shot him in the head.

  “They’re here!”

  On the tenth floor, James stood frozen behind the door, surveying the chilling scene. The assassin was trying to get information out of the old man in any way he could. It was the most macabre interrogation he had ever witnessed in his life, not even a sci-fi movie could match it.

  “Stupid old fool! Tell me where they’re going or you’ll live to regret it!”

  Alpha 1 threw the old man onto the sofa, roughly gripped his leg and plunged a four-inch knife into his knee. Albert’s screams further paralyzed James’ body, so stunned was he by their heinous cruelty.

  Not a trace of mercy flashed across Alpha 1’s face. Not even the fact that his victim was an elderly man seemed to worry him.

  “I’m not going to waste another second on you. Either you tell me what I want to know right now, or I’ll connect that knife in your knee up to 120-volt power supply and leave you plugged in until you die.”

  Alpha 1 removed the sponge that Albert had stuffed in his mouth to stifle his screams. He thought that his threats had been more than enough for the old man to cooperate. However, after taking it out, Albert spat in his face while he hurled insults at him.

  “You must be stupid, old man.” Alpha 1 raised his gun, aimed it at his forehead and quickly pulled the trigger.

  They’re insane! I’ve got to get away!

  James was frozen, but never in his wildest dreams could he have guessed what happened next. A folk tune began to sound very loudly from his pocket. He looked up and saw that the assassin was looking at him through the grille on the door. They’d found him. He closed it as quickly as he could, jamming Albert’s cane between the handle and the doorframe.

  He sprinted down the long corridor as fast as he could. Behind him, he heard Alpha 1’s repeated attempts to leave the room. Just then, with his suspicions aroused by the din, Alpha 2 emerged from the laboratory and startled James as he stood in the main doorway. Alpha 1 had managed to get out of the room and was also in the corridor. They shot at him but it was futile; they only managed to destroy all the Ming vases decorating the hallway.

  He ran wildly down the stairs, taking four at a time. He had already reached the eighth floor when the assassins left the apartment and he managed to maintain that small head start until he reached the ground floor. He constantly clung to the wall in an attempt to hide and dodge the hail of bullets. Some of them flew incredibly close due to Alpha 1 often taking aim from the landing in order to fire from a better angle.

  When he reached the landing with the janitor’s office, he jumped down the last eight steps onto the street just as his cellphone stopped ringing. Disoriented, his eyes searched desperately for his friends, hoping that they had already found a taxi.

  “James, over here!” Mary gestured to him from the window of a car waiting on the opposite sidewalk. He crossed the road hoping that he wasn’t going to be mown down by the traffic and he got in as quickly as he could. “Let’s go! Start the car! Start the car!”

  The taxi driver, shocked at the cries of the hysterical woman who had got in to the back seat, tried to ask her why she was screaming, but a couple of shots to one of the headlights were enough for the driver to put his foot down and the tires to screech away.

  Chapter 22

  The taxi driver raced through the streets of Washington. In between corners, he glanced back at his three passengers through the rear-view mirror. Panic began to wash over him. Attacks on taxi drivers had become a daily occurrence of late, with many of them ending in tragedy. Organized gangs hailed a taxi, intending not only to neglect to pay the driver, but also rob him of all the money he had with him. The vast majority had installed a glass screen separating driver from passenger, along with a basic metal compartment where the passengers inserted the fare for the journey, securing the driver’s safety. Some drivers had gone so far as to install webcams in the rear compartment.

  James had just taken his cellphone out of his pocket to check who had been responsible for that unfortunate call which had given him away to the assassins, triggering the frenzied chase which would later take place. He couldn’t contain his disbelief and shot Richard a menacing look as he showed him the handset. He was probably calling to warn him so he couldn’t blame him. He would have done the same thing.

  “Who are you?” asked the taxi driver, feeling intimidated.

  Richard was one step ahead of his friends and responded with uncharacteristic sarcasm. “I never knew it was compulsory in Washington to identify yourself before you got into a taxi.”

  “The screen between us is reinforced. If you fire any bullets inside, they will probably rebound and injure you. One of my headlights is broken because of you. Either you tell me who you are or I drop you at the nearest police station, which luckily enough is two blocks away!”

  James took over before his friend could get them into an even bigger mess. “Okay! We came to visit a friend. He’s a great art collector and he wanted to show us his latest acquisition. When we got out of the elevator, we found the door to his apartment open. Those two men and the rest of their cronies up there were trying to steal his whole private collection, which contains pieces which are priceless. When they saw us, they tried to kill us and they would have killed you, too - just like they did to our friend, and to his doorman.” James had shocked himself with his latest exaggerations of the truth, convincing as they were. “We called the police - I guess they’ll be arriving at the apartment about now. If we had stayed there, it would have been their word against ours. Don’t you realize that they’d lock us all up and get rid of us without any problem? We have to leave the country.”

  The taxi driver took all of two seconds to analyze them carefully. He reckoned that they didn’t look like murderers. Besides, the ones who had started firing the shots were the other two, so he’d go as far as to say his three passengers were unarmed.

  The guy’s right. If I hand them in to the police, they’ll probably kill them while they find out who the real guilty ones are, he thought, making sure not to turn left along the road which would take them to the police station. “And the damage to my car… who’ll pay for that?”

  Richard, aware of the compromising situation in which they found themselves, took out a wad of bills from his pocket, opened the payment compartment and inserted a thousand dollars. “Here you go. That’s more than enough to repair the headlight and pay for our journey.”

  The taxi driver had the upper hand and he knew it. Feeling proud of how he had dealt with the situation, he asked them, “Where do you want me to take you?”

  Time went by slowly. James couldn’t forget a couple of things which had been worrying him since he discovered the assassins in Albert’s flat. One in particular was tearing him up the most: How did they find out we were in Washington, and in that apartment in
particular?

  “What’s the matter, James? You’ve been quiet for a while.”

  Clearly something was bothering him, so Mary tried to console him as he had done for her so many times before.

  He couldn’t hold it in any longer. “How did they find out we were in Albert’s house?” They both looked at him, worried. They hadn’t even thought about it. “I’ve been thinking about it since we escaped and the only way would be if they tracked down our personal details from the airline. When we took the flight to Washington, we used our real names!”

  “But that wouldn’t explain how they knew we were going to Albert’s house,” said Mary emphatically. “They wouldn’t have been able to follow us from the airport because we were the first to arrive in the city. What if they traced your location from your cellphones?”

  “Impossible,” replied Richard. “When I met you at the Trevi Fountain, I bought two prepaid SIM cards with two new numbers. I paid in cash, so they can’t be traced back to us.”

  Mary took a deep breath and turned to them nervously. “So… that only leaves…”

  “What are you thinking?”

  “The only possibility left is that they know our location via global positioning transmitters.”

  James was shocked, he hadn’t entertained the possibility that they could have placed some kind of hidden transmitter on them. Without thinking twice, they rummaged through their bags looking for some kind of GPS hidden among their belongings. The professor’s bag was small and practically empty, so it was easy to see that nothing was amiss. However, as he turned to help Mary, he saw that she had turned white. In her hands she held a coat, the same one she had been wearing in Florence, but in her left hand was a small metal ball the size of a button, on which a red light was flashing intermittently.

  “The bastards!” cried James indignantly. “Now I understand everything. I thought it was weird how two professional assassins were finding it so difficult to kill us, when it should have been so easy for them. They must have known that we’d have more chance of finding the object than them, and they’ve limited themselves to scaring us and letting us know that they were chasing us. That way they were able to put pressure on us and we would try even harder to find the answer to the riddle. They definitely took advantage of us panicking in the train station in Florence to fit that electronic device.”

  “Christ, they could be following us from a distance!”

  Mary quickly wound down the rear window of the taxi and threw the GPS receiver outside, smashing into the face of a derelict building. Not content with that, they both went through all their belongings again in case they found a second hidden transmitter. They didn’t.

  After an hour and a half of traveling, they reached the airfield. It wasn’t very big; it only had a couple of runways alongside a large number of private hangars. They were all locked except for one. At that very moment, a private jet was emerging from it in order to complete all the necessary preparations prior to takeoff. The plane had a large design near the right wing which James recognized instantly. It was the Flower of Life, the very same one which appeared on the carpet in Albert’s house.

  “There it is.”

  The three of them quickly headed towards the aircraft. The door slowly opened when they got there, revealing the silhouette of a tall woman in uniform with her hair tied back.

  “Good afternoon. You must be the three passengers who have come on behalf of Mr. Williams.”

  Richard nodded.

  The flight attendant invited them onto the plane.

  Once inside, she showed them around and, needless to say, they loved it. It seemed more like another part of Albert’s living room than an airplane. The main cabin was huge; it had a walnut floor and the walls were adorned with paintings by artists who were less well-known, but by no means less significant. A couple of black leather sofas, a dining room whose oak table hid inside a pool table in perfect condition, and a gigantic bar where wine aficionados could delight their refined palates by indulging in one of the best vintages of the season - all of this would turn any business trip into one of leisure. To the rear of the plane, four small rooms with a luxurious bathroom completed the rest of the aircraft.

  The flight attendant reappeared after letting the pilot know that the passengers were on board. “When the captain has finished refilling the fuel tank, we’ll be on our way. If you want anything, you only need to ask and I’ll be happy to attend to you. The flight to Egypt will be long, so you have free use of the four rooms situated at the rear of the plane along with the bathroom suite. We’ve installed a television and a music system in each of them, which will make your journey much more enjoyable.”

  Then, the flight attendant made herself scarce as the aircraft engines roared to life, filling the cabin with a deafening thunder and making part of the fuselage shake. The three friends sat in their seats, specially adapted for takeoff and landing, with robust seatbelts that tightened slightly when the plane gradually increased its speed along the runway of the airfield.

  The first few hours of the flight were stress-free. The flight attendant served them a light yet satisfying supper, and the lack of turbulence made it very pleasant indeed.

  Richard was starting to pick up on the sparks which were flying between his two friends, and although neither wanted to take their relationship further and each had locked themselves in their room after supper, it was obvious that there was something there other than just friendship.

  However, not even an hour had passed when someone knocked on James’ door. With his eyes half open and almost asleep, he got out of bed and undid the latch on the door. Richard burst into the room, clutching his laptop in his left hand and the book James had found in his right.

  “You’ve got to see this! I’ve deciphered the second chapter of the book. It’s fascinating.”

  James let out a big yawn. “What have you found?”

  Richard picked up on the indifference shown by his friend and he folded his arms. For the last two days, he had been working on the book without a moment’s rest and he wasn’t feeling as appreciated as he should have been. Clearly James’ head was in the clouds. “Do you like Mary?”

  The question hit James like a bucket of cold water being thrown over his head; he woke up sharp. “She’s just a friend. I’m not interested in her.”

  Richard couldn’t help but smirk. He knew his friend inside out and lying wasn’t one of his strong points. “So… you wouldn’t mind if I went to her room right now? I heard a hairdryer a couple of minutes ago, so she must still be awake. I’ll invite her to my room for a whisky; it would go down nicely after the last few hours.”

  Richard didn’t even wait for his friend’s response. He gathered all the belongings he had tossed onto on the bed earlier and walked to the door.

  “Fine, I like her! Are you happy now?!”

  His honesty had stopped Richard just as his hand was hovering dangerously over the doorknob. James went to sit next to him on the bed. “I think even the pilot has noticed the sexual tension you two are giving off all the time. Didn’t you realize that whenever you’re together, the plane gets tossed around from one side to the other as if it’s hit a patch of turbulence? The captain had specifically asked me to keep you apart.”

  James cackled. Richard always managed to make him laugh, even when things weren’t going at all well. He was one of the most important people he could lean on when he found the photos of his ex-wife making love to another man.

  “You have to forget that bitch and try to rebuild your life. Mary is a nice girl - she’s sensitive, affectionate, sweet and you have a hobby in common: you both enjoy being chased by assassins.”

  The young professor smiled again. Although it pained him greatly, his friend was usually right about these things. Maybe it was time to move on and look for a woman who could fill the void in his heart and repair the damage that his ex-wife had done. Besides, he had the support of his daughter who had known the truth about wha
t had happened from the start, and she had always stood firm and supported her father. Even if she did want to live with James, his hectic lifestyle didn’t allow for that at the moment and she would have to remain under the legal custody of her mother until she came of age.

  “Well,” said James, changing the subject. “What have you found?”

  Chapter 23

  A completely unfamiliar voice rang out through the aircraft speaker system. The captain had just activated the automatic pilot and it was addressing its passengers, letting them know that they would be landing in Cairo in approximately thirty minutes. James, struggling to consciousness, took out his earplugs and wriggled out from under the blankets until he was sitting on the edge of the bed, and looked at the circular clock which hung on the wall. It had been eight hours since Richard had burst into his room to tell him about his latest findings.

  According to him, the second chapter of the book was dedicated solely to the Trifariam, the object for which the Grand Master, Simone Di Benedetto, had given his life. It went into minute detail about what it looked like so that the explorers would be able to recognize it instantly. The book even claimed that it had been fashioned from a material which came from the stars and was incredibly tough, probably from a meteorite which fell to Earth millions of years ago. The inhabitants of this fabled land were faced with a huge increase in sea levels on a daily basis, which led to the city being completely flooded. Many of them thought that they had been punished for betraying the trust of the gods and creating an artifact whose power was comparable to theirs. They swore never to speak of it again and hid it so that it wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands, allowing them to forget about the object until it was really necessary.

  The survivors fled in different directions, settling in various parts of the world, and the city of the Great Pyramids was the one charged with looking after the object. However, tales began to spread like wildfire by word of mouth; the stories told of the magnificent powers harnessed by the Trifariam, thus making it an object of desire for the most covetous men on the face of the planet. The priests managed to hide its existence for hundreds of years, destroying everything that was written about it. Its exact location was known only by a chosen few who had been trained since children to carry out their task: the Grand Masters.