Finally, she groaned and reached for her phone. She didn't recognize the number but she swore under her breath that it better be important. Reluctantly—and with a large amount of irritation—Nina answered the call.
“Hello?”
“Nina! You actually answered. It's Santino, how are you?”
Santino Rossi wasn't someone she heard from very often. He was usually busy in Rome, fulfilling his duty as head curator for one of the Capitoline Museums. He ran the Palazzo Nuovo building, taking care of the conservation of many ancient Roman artifacts. It was a highly respectable job, and he was always a respectable man—well, calling at such an early hour might have lost him some of that goodwill with Nina.
Nina yawned, making sure to do it directly in the speaker so he could hear her. “How am I? Tired, Santino. Very tired.”
“My deepest apologies for waking you. I would have called later, but I was just so anxious to get things started. I'm afraid that there just simply wasn't a moment to lose.”
Nina was already sick of Santino beating around the bush. If he was going to call her at such a ridiculous hour, then he better have a good reason and shouldn't be taking so long to get to the point.
“What are you talking about?”
“Something recently came to the museum that I thought might interest you. Especially if you're still running all over the world with that rich man, David Purdue. Are you?”
“I am.”
“Fantastic. I tried contacting you some time ago, but you weren't answering. From the sounds of it, you were away and no one could reach you at all, so I did not take it too personally.”
He must have tried to contact her when she was the Order of the Black Sun's prisoner. She hadn't exactly had time or opportunity to respond while she was trapped in that dark cell. Thankfully, now she was free and the group that held her prisoner had been reorganized and given a new purpose. The Order of the Black Sun was meant to do good now. Now that things weren't so dire, she could actually be free to do as she wished again.
“I was on something of an unintentional vacation, yes...a very long one. What was it that came to the museum?”
“A letter. A very old letter. It’s been transcribed and what it has to say is rather fascinating, especially for people that share our particular taste. You do still enjoy the long history of Rome, yes?”
“I do,” she said simply, hoping he'd hurry with his explanation.
Nina had always been obsessed with the history of the world but the rise and fall of Ancient Rome had always had an especially strong place in her heart and thoughts. There was just so much to learn from it. It was still just as relevant as it had ever been, if not more so.
“Have you ever heard of a man named Gaius Julius Caesar?” He asked facetiously, knowing full well that he was talking about one of the most famous people in the history of the world. Of course she’d heard of Julius Caesar. There probably were very few people in the world that didn't at least know that name.
Julius Caesar was an incredibly influential person, whose ascension and eventual downfall led to the collapse of the Roman Republic and the birth of the infamous Roman Empire. He’d carved his name into the world and had since been forever immortalized in the history books.
“Of course I’ve heard of him,” Nina said, feeling stupid for even having to say that.
“Well, then perhaps you know everything that they say about his sword...”
Nina had heard the stories. Many called the sword Crocea Mors, “Yellow Death” and it was supposedly the weapon that Caesar wielded through most of his life. He was said to have carried it from his time as a Roman soldier suppressing rebellions, all the way through his life as he commanded entire armies. It was the blade that carved its way through Rome's enemies and eventually cut the foundations for the Roman Empire to rise.
One tale that had been passed down was that Caesar had lost the sword during his conquest of Britain. The legend was that when he’d fought the British prince, Nennius, in a duel during the fight, the sword was lodged into Nennius' shield. Nennius supposedly took it and killed many with it. That was the legend, but it was just that...and legends weren't the most reliable of sources.
However, there was nothing concrete about Crocea Mors. It wasn't stored in any museum and there was nothing but fables to confirm its existence. Sure, Caesar probably had a gladius or two throughout his life, but it might not be any more significant or special than any other blade.
“So you are trying to tell me that you found something that confirms the existence of Caesar's sword...?”
“That is exactly what I’m saying, Nina. I’m surrounded by pieces of Ancient Rome all day at the museum but this...this would dwarf all of them. I know you’ve traipsed over the world finding things with Purdue...and I know you both have now expanded your operation...you have the means to help me find this. So what do you say?”
Nina considered the offer. It was certainly tempting. She would love to find something so legendary. She'd spent her whole life particularly enjoying the history of Rome and now there was a possibility of finding something that was so important to that history.
“At least come to the museum and have a look for yourself.”
Nina couldn't just drop everything and go to Italy. With everything going on with the Order of the Black Sun, she needed to make sure that it’d be alright to leave. She usually didn't care about asking permission, but she was thinking about what was best for the new order that she’d helped to create.
Still, the prospect of finding the sword of Caesar himself was an incredible opportunity, one that she could even pursue with the Black Sun as one of their expeditions.
“I'll see what I can do.”
AFTER DAVID PURDUE had defeated Julian Corvus and the old Order of the Black Sun, he’d probably presumed that life would get easier after that—but he looked more stressed than ever. Repurposing the secret society to be a force for good wasn't an easy task and it seemed to finally be taking its toll on him. He looked rundown and haggard, somehow even worse than the last time she’d seen him. Captaining the ship wasn't for the faint of heart.
Still, she’d known him and worked with him for so long, it was hard to see him in such an authoritative position with all kinds of responsibilities weighing on his shoulders. He wasn't just a rich man trying to find thrills by chasing artifacts all over the world. He was really doing his best to protect history any way he could. Sometimes, he felt like a completely different person than the David Purdue she used to know, but then there were flickers that the smug and spoiled man was still in there, just hidden by a little bit of personal growth.
Purdue looked up at her when she strolled in and smiled. Even after all this time she still loved the way he lit up when he saw her. Ever since Julian Corvus nearly killed him and took her prisoner, Purdue had been even happier to have her around. They’d both been through such difficult times and she knew that she’d changed just like he had.
“You’re looking very happy this morning,” Purdue said.
“Aren't I usually happy?”
Purdue shrugged. “It’s hard to tell sometimes, I'll say that. What's got you in such a chipper mood, aye?”
“I got a really interesting call last night.”
“Those are the best kinds of calls.”
“Do you remember Santino Rossi?”
“The name does sound a little familiar.”
“He works at the Palazza Nuovo in Rome. Specializes in Ancient Roman history. We collaborated with him years ago, briefly. He was also one of the people that we sent out invitations to when we took over the order...he was one of the ones who declined to join.”
“Ah, yes,” Purdue said, pursing his lips. “So that bastard had a change of heart, aye? Realized he could be part of something really special...”
“No, actually,” Nina said. “He just wanted to let me know that he recently received some information that points to the location of a lost artifact from Rome's
history: the sword of Julius Caesar!”
It was nice to see that glint in his eye, even for a second. It reminded her of the old days when Purdue used his riches to drag her and Sam Cleave on all kinds of adventures. He’d been so passionate about history then. Part of her always thought it was for the thrills but as they’d grown close, she’d realized that there was much more to it than that. It went much deeper than that. That was why he’d taken control of his former enemies' organization—to be able to protect history at an even larger scale. But with all of that growth, it was nice seeing something small and familiar in his gaze.
“The sword of Caesar?” Purdue gave a whistle. “That would be quite the prize, don't you think? That's been lost for thousands of years. So what is it that Mr. Rossi has found that points to it actually existing?”
“He didn't say.”
“Typical,” Purdue said, lacing his fingers together. “That sounds like something that’d be worth the time to investigate, aye?”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Nina said, glad that they were on the same page. “So when are we going to go get it?”
Purdue chuckled to himself. “Not we. You.”
“What do you mean?”
Purdue usually liked to be running things himself. He was a bit of a control freak, definitely somewhat narcissistic, and a perfectionist. He practically lived his life by that old, tired expression of needing to do something yourself if you wanted it to be done right. Sure, he now had the order to help carry out tasks, but he never sent the Black Sun agents on any of the big catches. For those bigger ones, Purdue preferred to lead a team himself. He wanted to be there when they found something truly amazing. The sword of Caesar was something that he’d definitely want to handle personally—but apparently not.
“You know what I mean, Nina,” Purdue said. “You don't need me for this one. Hell, you probably didn't need me for a lot of those trips we took. You know more about history than I ever could. You're a walking, talking, encyclopedia.”
“I've always been that,” Nina said, folding her arms. “Why are you backing out now?”
“I’ve been very preoccupied with something else and...well...it's taking up quite a bit of my time of late. As you said, I look like hell...I'm in no condition right now to go running off to Rome to chase after a famous sword. You, on the other hand, are perfect for this. We both know how much you know about Rome. You’d be a perfect choice to lead this time.”
“Lead who?” She knew the answer, but this was all happening so fast that her brain could only let her just ask questions instead of draw her own conclusions.
“Your own team, of course,” Purdue laughed. “You need to do this one without me...but not on your own. You'll just be calling the shots. You’ve been following my lead on these treks for so long. I think it's well past time that you take the ropes.”
“This isn't like you...” Nina said.
“Stop your whining, aye?” Purdue snickered. “I've never seen someone look so terrified of taking a leadership role. You want to find Caesar's sword, right?”
“Of course,” Nina said, without a second thought.
“Well, then put together a team, completely of your choosing, and find that sword. It'll be a great experience for you, Nina. Ever since we’ve taken charge of the Order of the Black Sun, we’ve had to adapt to a new way of doing things. This is just another one of those. It's time you started calling the shots sometimes. You’ve earned it.”
“Thank you,” Nina said, hoping he didn't see her trepidation. She’d never enjoyed being the one leading the way. She preferred having someone else navigating an expedition. That way, she didn't have to worry about the big decisions; she could focus on the little details of the things they were going to find. Nina took a step back toward the door, still shell-shocked by just being assigned to lead her own expedition. She turned back to Purdue. “You really need sleep. Get some sleep.”
“You might be leader of your own team, darling, but you're not in charge of me.”
3
HER TEAM
Elijah Dane despised being interrupted. His job to examine artifacts in the Order of the Black Sun's deep vault was supposed to be a private affair where he could just focus on examining the formerly lost relics. Naturally, Nina took some pleasure in interrupting those work sessions. It was the least she could do after Elijah had taken so long to help her escape from her former cell. She was glad that he’d seen the light, but it would have been nice if he could have seen it a bit earlier.
She marched into the deep vault room with the same hop in her step that she usually had when she entered that room. The room had been one of her only relatively safe spaces when she was a prisoner, sent there to help Elijah with curating. That was where she’d gotten to know him pretty well, and it was where he could still almost always be found. Elijah believed his purpose in life was to protect and preserve the world's rarest items. He hadn't been with the Order of the Black Sun willingly. He was a prisoner like she’d been, but he’d helped her anyway. That was why Purdue allowed him to stay with the order after he took over and the previous leadership had been overthrown. Elijah Dane wasn't an evil man, but he’d just been forced to work on the wrong side. His time with all of those relics had made him one of the most knowledgeable historians Nina knew.
Elijah was examining an old flintlock pistol and, as always, didn't notice or at least acknowledge that he had a visitor. He was always like that. He wasn't a bad person, but he was definitely not the friendliest in the world. It took a lot to even get a smile out of him.
“Working hard or hardly working?” Nina asked, knowing full well that Elijah hated common phrases like that. She kind of liked getting under his skin. It was just so easy.
As expected, Elijah didn't even look up from his work to see her. He just gave a gentle shake of his head and grimaced. He obviously wasn't pleased with her arrival, but he was just going to have to suck it up. She had business to attend to and he was the first piece of that.
“What are you doing for the next couple of weeks?”
That got Elijah to look at her and behind his glasses, she could see a glimmer of confusion. “What do you think I'm doing?” He gestured around. “Working, of course...obviously.”
“Yeah, but aren't you bored of being in here all day? It must get pretty stuffy. Don't you want a change of scenery?”
“Not at all...” He looked like he was dreading wherever this conversation was going. “Why?”
“I've just gotten Purdue's okay to put together a team to embark on a whole new venture. I'll be leading the search this time, so it's on me to assemble a good group together...with people who’d be suited to finding the artifact...”
“No.”
“I haven't even asked you yet.”
“You don't have to,” Elijah said firmly, pushing his glasses up his nose and brought his attention back to the old pistol in his hands. “The answer is no.”
“Really?”
“I went to that Mayan temple in the Arctic, remember? I almost died to help you and your friends bring down Julian Corvus. That was my one and only field contribution. I'm much more useful here than I could ever be out there.”
“Come on,” Nina groaned. “You aren't even a little bit interested in what we're going to be looking for?”
“Oh, I’ll be,” Elijah said with shrug. “Once the artifact is found and brought to me here. That's when I'll care. I'll care when it's in my hands, safe and sound and secure in this room.”
“But wouldn't it be so much more satisfying to bring it here yourself?”
“Not at all. In fact, it’d completely ruin my anticipation of seeing what will come through those doors next.”
Nina wanted to keep arguing her point. She’d barely even been given a chance to give him her pitch before he was already shooting her down. Elijah was a tough nut to crack though and she knew that there was no hope of getting to him once he retreated into his shell.
“Fine, have it your way then,” Nina said, and started walking away. She shouted back to him before she left. “It's the sword of Caesar by the way...his personal weapon. You could be the first one to look at it in thousands of years. And I don't mean once someone's brought it to you. I mean on the spot, right where it's been hiding for millennia. It's not often you get to see a new item so freshly discovered, is it?”
She didn't know if that would work, but it was a last ditch attempt.
Hopefully he changed his mind. Despite how hard he was to work with, she knew how beneficial it could be to have him on the team.
THE NEW ORDER of the Black Sun was full of much nicer people than it used to be. After David Purdue took over as leader, most of the bad eggs tucked tail and ran away, as far as they could. Some of the old ranks had already been beaten during their sadistic former leader's defeat. There were a few stragglers and some of them still seemed pretty hostile toward the idea of Purdue being in charge. It seemed like there could be a full on coup at any moment and it would end with a knife in Purdue's back.
August Williams seemed like he’d be one of those members still holding a grudge toward his new boss. He appeared like a prime candidate to be joining in on any potential attempt to overthrow Purdue and reinstate someone terrible again as the leader. At least, at first glance he would have been the type. He was a big muscular bear of a man who was part of the Black Sun as nothing more than a tough enforcer. He wasn't interested in the history that was being collected or anything; he was just supposed to be a grunt and that was all. He was exactly the kind of person who Purdue wouldn't recruit for his new Order of the Black Sun.
But during their search for Genghis Khan's tomb, August had proven everyone wrong. He was a somewhat dense behemoth whose strengths were physical instead of mental, but he was far from just a thug who didn't have any actual thoughts. He was also far from some angry minion holding a vendetta against his new leader. August enjoyed the work and that's all he cared about. He liked being part of something bigger than himself, even if he was just a big cog in a much, much larger machine.
Operation Rubicon Page 2