Poseidon's Secret

by Preston William Child

  Purdue didn't know how Mama May knew so much, but he knew better than to try to ask. She was extremely well-informed for an old lady that never left her living room. Her sixth sense must have been reading him as easily as a book to know all about the things she was talking about. The scariest part was whether or not she had a point with what she was telling him.

  “We're different,” Purdue said. “The Order of the Black Sun isn't what it used to be anymore. We've made it a force for positive change, not the collection of manipulative megalomaniacs that it used to be. We're trying to protect the history of the world, not pervert it like they used to.”

  “That is good,” Mama May said, but didn't sound overly convinced. “Then you have all of your things in order in your mind, hmm? So why come to me then? The ones who come to me are lost, looking for answers, just like you once were. You have found a new place, a new purpose. Why come now?”

  “You're right,” Purdue said. “Things are for the most part going well...except that there's something else now. Well...more than that even. One of my friends is trying to figure out one of them, but I know that I'm the only one that can prepare us for the other. But I'll need your help.”

  “Stop being vague, child,” Mama May said. “That is my job.”

  “I've been given reason to believe that there's a threat out there that could ruin everything that I've been trying to fix. The problem is, I know very little about them...next to nothing...they're like smoke and I'm just trying to catch them with my bare hands.”

  “That sounds difficult,” Mama May said. “But let's see what we can do for you, hmm?”

  Mama May pulled out the thin blade that she always did at the start of her visions. It was something he had gotten used to. She wasn't going to hurt anyone with it—not really, it was just a way to help her read the story of someone's future. She needed to see some of someone's inside before she was able to make a real connection to see their outsides.

  Just like before, she sliced open Purdue's palm. He probably still had a scar on that hand from the last time she did it too. Mama May took Purdue's hand with her own, clutching it tight so blood started to come out and droplets splashed onto the tablecloth in front of the psychic. This part of the ritual used to freak Purdue out but he was more than used to it by now.

  The first time Purdue spoke to Mama May, she had correctly predicted that he was going to face a heavy loss, including losing the fortune that he was so accustomed to at the time. He remembered how terrified he had been by her display as she screamed out uncontrollably, “riches to rags!” It was more than a little alarming but he regrettably still hadn't taken her warnings as seriously as he should have. During the time when he had literally nothing and was barely surviving on the streets, he thought a lot about her prophecy and how he should have been more careful to heed it.

  However, Mama May also helped him figure out how to take on Julian Corvus after Julian had taken everything from him. It was Mama May that pointed out that Purdue had an advantage during that time since Julian thought Purdue was dead.

  Her words of wisdom might not always be what was exactly going to happen, but those words should always be considered at the very least.

  Mama May chanted her incantations and prayers as she clutched his hand more tightly. That part always hurt but Purdue ignored the pain. He knew what his threshold was and how far Mama May would go by now. The pain was just a side effect from the procedure, but it was nothing worth crying over. She closed her eyes and continued to mutter the spell that she was using to see into the future. He could feel the tension tighten in her hand and he could practically feel the psychic connection being made between them. Soon enough, she would catch the glimpses of his future that he needed, and maybe even more. Her lips trembled and she finally spoke.

  “Yes, I see the smoke. It is thick, and reeks of death. The smoke is lingering nearby. It is behind you. It is beneath you. It is in front of you. It is all around you. You are in the very middle of it. You can't see it but the smoke is everywhere.”

  Purdue felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. He didn't like the sound of any of that. He didn't like it at all. It just confirmed what he already feared: that these unseen enemies were influencing everything.

  “I see them. I see them. I see them. They are not just hidden in the haze, no they are the haze. They are clouding everything, touching everything. There are many of them. So much smoke.”

  “How many?”

  Mama May trembled. “Perhaps too many, child. Too, too many. But the numbers are just her appendage. They are just a tool to expand her singular reach.”

  “Whose reach?”

  “The one that they serve. The one creating all of this smoke. The one that sits in a chair at the center of the haze. She looks...” Mama May winced. “She is decayed, both in body and mind. Yes, decayed. She has had many tears to shape the world, many decades.”

  “She's old.” It was just a guess based on the little Purdue already knew. One of the only bits of information that he had been able to gather about this new threat was that there was someone referred to as the Old Lady. He just wanted confirmation that it was indeed the case.

  “Yes,” Mama May said. “She is very old, indeed. Yes.”

  “What else?”

  “It is...it's hard to see in the smoke...so very hard.”

  “I know,” Purdue said soothingly, trying to empathize, but was still focused on every word she was saying. If Mama May could give him the answers he needed, he wouldn't have to resort to more drastic measures like consulting with his imprisoned archenemy in the deep vault. “Please keep trying. I need to know more about them.”

  “They follow the decayed woman without question and her followers are many, and will be many more. Some even familiar. Yes, familiar faces. Some recognizable.”

  Purdue waited to hear more but Mama May seemed to be struggling to pull more from her premonitions. “It is so hazy...so hard to see anything...it's all cloudy.”

  “Please, keep trying. Are they coming for me? For us? For the Order of the Black Sun?”

  Mama May grimaced. “They were the secret keepers of the black flame, and kept the sun burning bright even in its weakest hours.”

  “What does that mean exactly?”

  “They will come for your friends. They want to see it extinguished. All of it.”

  “There has to be more.”

  “It is becoming impossible to see. There are too many possibilities to see clearly. I'm sorry, I can't...”

  “Please! Anything else! Anything at all! Anything that could even be tiny bit helpful!”

  Mama May's lips trembled and some small tremor passed through her frail body, like it was physically reacting to some struggle in her mind. She sucked in a deep gasp and started yelling.

  “A friend may betray you! A friend may betray you! A friend may betray you! A friend may betray you! A friend may betray you! A friend may betray you! A friend may betray you! A friend may betray you! A friend may betray you!”

  Mama May let out another gasp and nearly collapsed flat on to the coffee table between them. She weakly let out some final words, but those words hadn't changed much.

  “A friend may betray you...they may…”

  The prospect of being stabbed in the back by a friend worried Purdue, especially now. He used to have very few friends; hardly anyone could really put up with him for very long. It used to just be Sam Cleave, Nina Gould, and his late butler Charles. Even then, he sometimes wondered if any of them really liked him all that much. Now...since reforming the Order of the Black Sun and recruiting far better members, he had so many new friends. There were so many more potential knives now that could find their way into his back. He would have to be more cautious than ever.

  Mama May's grip suddenly tightened again. Her eyes barely opened and she spoke very softly.

  “Another friend. The one you spoke of before. The one who is also trying to fix things. He is at the mercy of the sea.
”

  She wasn't wrong, Purdue thought. Sam could very well be dealing with Poseidon, the god of the sea himself.

  “Your friend...your friend is going to drown.”

  9

  THE HEIR

  Aya was surprised to see that they would have a new passenger on her boat when they returned. Daisy had some of her clothes brought to her by her attendants after the gala. As beautifully intricate as her gown was, it wasn't exactly functional. As they boarded the ship, Aya looked to Sam for some kind of answer; Sam could only shrug. It wasn't an ideal situation but there wasn't too much of a choice.

  “This is Erica Diosa,” Daisy said. “She has one of the pearls.”

  “I was going to say...I thought you were bringing back a pearl, not a person.”

  “They brought both,” Erica said, looking around the vessel. “This is the ship? It's quite a bit smaller than I expected it to be. Much smaller, actually.”

  “I am sorry,” Aya said with very little actual remorse and already looking irritated. “I hope you were not expecting a yacht or some expensive cruise line. This might be a simple boat, but it is my boat. It is not much but it floats. That is all you need.”

  “Right,” Erica said. She didn't look very convinced or very grateful. “So which cabin is mine?” They all looked at her like she had seven heads and she seemed to get the message when she saw those expressions. “I don't have my own cabin, do I?”

  “Nope,” Sam said. “You will be in the sleep quarters with the rest of us common folk.”

  Erica didn't looked pleased with their hospitality but it was her own fault for expecting so much. Of course she wasn't going to have her own private VIP room on the boat. She should have just been grateful that they let her come aboard at all, instead of just taking the pearl. Hopefully, the voyage would wash away some of her entitlement but Sam wasn't too hopeful about that one. It would take a whole lot of scrubbing to get rid of that much conceit.

  He was just glad that they had two of the pearls. He wouldn't have to deal with Erica's diva behavior for much longer if they could find the third pearl soon. If anything, her forcing them to bring her along might just be the best motivator for them to reunite the pearls as soon as they could. This situation might have been annoying but it could have been worse. They had another pearl so what was he complaining for?

  Sam suddenly felt a sharp sting on the side of his neck like he had just been stung by a bee or something. He instinctively reached for the pain but his vision grew hazy. When he touched his neck with his fingertips, he felt something very out of place, sticking out. He pulled it from his neck and realized that there was a tranquilizer dart between his fingers.

  That definitely didn't belong there...

  He grew lightheaded, felt the world getting dark all around him, and fell into the darkness of his unconsciousness.

  The darkness cleared and he saw that he was in a warehouse, tied to a chair. Daisy, Erica, and Aya were restrained right beside him in their own seats. Sam tried to think back before the darkness and all he saw was a tranquilizer dart. Someone had knocked them out and brought them here, tied them down as prisoners. Sam's first guess was that it was the mysterious group that Purdue was so afraid of. Perhaps they were finally making their presence more publicly known and making their first moves against Purdue and the Order of the Black Sun. If only Purdue could be here for that, he could finally stop obsessing over them if he got to see them in person.

  He could make out silhouettes across the dimly lit warehouse, discussing how they weren't sure how long they would be able to stay here. They apparently hadn't rented out the warehouse to use for as long as they needed. This must have been a more impromptu situation where they just needed a place to safely get rid of their victims.

  A tall, muscular, dark-skinned man in a fine suit was approaching. He scratched his bald head as he walked toward them, looking each of them over with some curiosity; it wasn't exactly genuine interest but was more akin to how a surgeon looks over a body before they cut it open. It was like this man was trying to figure out the precise soft spot for each of them.

  “This is not good,” Aya said. “It is very bad. Dajuan.”

  “Who is that?”

  “Nobody good,” Aya said. “They must be tracking me. They could have followed me all the way here from Jamaica.”

  “From Jamaica?”

  “Mmhm.”

  She didn't have time to elaborate before the man was right in her face, looking incredibly dangerous. He stared directly into her eyes like he wanted her to see something deep within his own.

  “Did you really think that you could just run away, Aya? Make a new life for yourself in a new place with your new friends? Look at you. Look how lost you are without us.”

  The man turned his attention to Sam.

  “Are you the one called David Purdue?” the man asked with a heavy Jamaican accent. When Sam didn't respond, the man grabbed hold of the back of Aya's head and squeezed, dragging her right in front of Sam. “Is he? Hmm? Is this the man you betrayed us for? The one who tried to ruin us! Is this David Purdue!?”

  “N-n-no,” Aya muttered through her pain. “He-he is not.”

  “No? Are you sure about that?”

  “I am!”

  “Then he is not going to be able to help us. Get rid of him and dump his body in the water.”

  “Wait!” Sam exclaimed, holding his hands up in surrender. “I'm not Purdue, no, but I do know him very well. Can I just ask, what the hell is going on here? Who are you people and what do you want with Purdue?”

  The larger man laughed and then let go of Aya's skull. “Go on. Tell him, Aya. Tell him who we are. Then things should be clear.”

  Aya slowly climbed back up to her feet. “This is Dajuan. He was the right hand of the Wharf Man back in my home.”

  It had been a little while since Sam had heard the epithet of the Wharf Man be used. He was the kingpin of crime in Jamaica; he practically controlled the entire place through all of his seedy connections and illegal backing. Naturally, Purdue had become enemies with the Wharf Man. That feud ended when Purdue used the power of the pearl to drag the crime lord down to the very bottom of the ocean.

  From what Sam remembered of the Wharf Man, he had been an excessively obese man, but displayed real power behind his morbid size. Where the Wharf Man was wide, this newcomer was tall. His muscles were easy to spot even under his suit jacket.

  “The Wharf Man's second...I thought that honor belonged to those psychotic twins, Alton and Oniel. I only knew Oniel. He didn't say much but man was he a sick bastard. Both of them are dead now too by the way, just like your boss. Also, mostly Purdue's doing. But maybe that's what put you in charge. So on behalf of Purdue, you're welcome, I guess.”

  “The twins did not have the self-control to lead anything. You really think that they would be entrusted to run things in the Wharf Man's absence? No. No. No. That was me and me alone that the Wharf Man trusted. I stayed behind while he tried to kill Purdue.”

  “He almost pulled it off,” Sam said. “I saw it all happen. The Wharf Man tried to kill Purdue with some submarine but it didn't make a difference once Purdue had that pearl. He used the ocean itself against your boss and sent him right down to the ocean floor. Don't know if the water or the pressure killed him first. Must have been a horrible way to go, but from what I heard, the Wharf Man was a pretty horrible guy. He probably deserved it.”

  Dajuan looked livid from hearing the firsthand account. “So David Purdue is not here...but one of his friends, one who was there when the Wharf Man was killed...you will do just as well when it comes to our retribution.”

  “Sounds reasonable.” Sam shrugged. “So what are you now that the Wharf Man is gone? Do you proudly take up that stupid name as the new Wharf Man or are you something else entirely now? Let me guess. The Pier Prince? The Dock Duke? The Harbor Man? What's your preference?”

  Dajuan's knuckles cracked against Sam's face as he suddenly
struck him hard with the back of his hand. Sam stumbled backward from the blow, almost collapsing.

  Sam's head was still ringing. “Look, I get it. You're here looking for some retribution. You want to settle old scores, mend old wounds. You want to avenge the Wharf Man, but I didn't kill him. Your vendetta isn't with me. I'm just a witness.”

  “But if I hurt you, it will hurt Purdue. That is how it works between friends, no? The Wharf Man was my friend. The Wharf Man took me in, made me who I am today. Your friend killed my friend. That was a bad, bad mistake. And now we have to make it right. Your death would be a start.”

  “There's no need for this,” Aya said.

  “Of course there is,” Dajuan said. “You know that there is no other way. Blood for blood. It is the only fair payment. And do not think that I have forgotten about you either, Aya. You and your crew turned on the Wharf Man. You bit the hand of the man that fed you, betrayed him after everything he did for you.”

  “Everything he did for me? Like what? Keep me on a string, to use whenever he needed. That was all. I was just one of the many people the Wharf Man had under his fat thumb. Just like I am sure you now have all kinds of people stuck under your thumbs. He used us, Dajuan. All of us. Even you. We were nothing to him.”

  “You are wrong.”

  “So what now?” Sam asked.

  “You call David Purdue.”

  “What? Really? If you think Purdue is going to come running to our rescue or pay some kind of ransom, you're mistaken on both counts, my friend. That's not really in his nature. As much as I like the man, he's a petty guy who has always had everything. He doesn't mind losing a thing or two. He'll just replace it.”

  “I do not think so,” Dajuan said. “To me, the man who has everything will be even more angry when he loses something, no? So we are going to remind him that he will start losing things if he does not come to speak with me.”