Midnight Liberty League - Part I

by Brock Law

muscle. Sorry he got you into this.”

  “He made it sound like it wasn’t just an accident,” Will replied.

  Adams chuckled. “He’s very good at convincing you he’s not done something for which he is solely responsible. This is certainly an odd exception. In either case, I’m glad you’ve joined us.”

  The two shook hands.

  “It’s definitely given me a lot of perspective,” Will said. “I have to admit though, it’s been kind of a rough ride.”

  “I’m sure we can figure this out,” Adams sighed, “eventually.”

  Adams motioned away from the hill, back towards the inanimate traffic of the cemetery. As they walked the echo of voices persisted covertly, but sounded argumentative. Adams managed a polite smile of reassurance as they approached the origin of the noise. They turned a corner at another outcropping of marble pillars and interrupted the conversation of a group of men. The voices of the two who spoke were raspy in a heated pitch. Upon making eye contact with Will, they both zipped up and cleared their throats.

  Adams took Will by the shoulder and forced him up to the pedestal of McKean’s grave. Fortunately, Greene and Wayne were there, looking relieved to see him. He nodded at them, and then noticed the grave. It was long, flat, and shaped like the vessel buried beneath. Modest, it was perhaps the most unnoticeable grave in the whole place. Will then tried to guess at the identities of the three men he didn’t know.

  One of them spoke up. “So, I hear you go to Wharton.”

  Will looked over to a tall man, seated casually on a head stone, puffing on a pipe. The man didn’t bother to acknowledge Will with a proper greeting as his gaze remained cast at the ground. The tone in his voice signaled liability to Franklin, who rolled his eyes. The man then looked out through a cloud of smoke.

  “Well done,” was all he said. “A lot of Penn alums work for me.”

  “Thank you,” Will responded plainly.

  Greene cleared the air. “William, John Hancock, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison.”

  Madison glared at Greene with offense, clearly not wanting his identity revealed to an outsider. Hamilton did likewise for a moment, but eventually gave Will a subdued salute. Hancock remained attached to his pipe.

  “Very good,” Franklin butted in. “Anyway, as I was saying, we need to concentrate our resources to pursue these men. If we view ourselves to be just, then we must divert them from the vessel. The group that attacked my home and captured Vivienne, clearly, were villains. We cannot allow them to pursue us until the Grail is also in their possession. If it isn’t being given, then clearly it’s being sought with ill intent.”

  “Ben, we’re old men,” Madison judged. “We don’t have the manpower, which isn’t to speak of willpower, to carry on a chase and assault of some clandestine army of treasure hunters. The relic has passed through hands unknown and is beholden only to its own consequences. We had it, but it never really belonged to us. We were vain to believe so. If they are so keen to possess it, let them. It’s no longer of any use to us. Furthermore, the deadly and traumatizing exposure to which you have tethered this young man is deplorably amoral.”

  Hancock added, “Ben, Vivienne’s predicament is regrettable, but it is treatable. You need to report a kidnapping.”

  “And tell them what exactly? She could be anywhere at this point. Speaking of clandestine armies, do you really want jurisdiction of this sordid matter to pass on to one of the international affairs administrations? They’d be all too interested in the circumstances of these events. We would be indicting ourselves if we withheld anything, and wouldn’t be able to progress without doing so,” Franklin explained. “How can you speak of morality to me, and let the most potent force of life and death in history pass on to a tribe of hyper-violent semi mortals?”

  “That is just a fairy tale, Ben,” Madison countered. “Strange as these attackers are, what you’ve suggested is pure superstition.”

  “I can’t speak for his assessment, but Ben’s decision was correct,” Adams approved. “We would not be able to avoid the proliferation of conspiracy that might result.”

  “To what end? Some specialized agency will have to be involved to get your daughter back,” Hancock said. “We cannot entrust such a perilous task to Mr. Mith, no matter how much confidence you have in him. Your idea of what we may be getting involved in is so far-fetched that it’s worse than having no theory at all. There may be a rather tempting set of peculiarities, but really you have no inkling of what is happening. We need to just let the proper authorities deal with what is still an Earthly felony.”

  “This is an act of war against what we have built, of which there is no more proper authority,” Franklin sermonized. “If we make our case to the Swiss, I’ve no doubt that they will interpret the facts as I have.”

  Hancock laughed rudely. “Speaking of peculiarities. Ben, their presence in my industry is unavoidable, and still I do so at all costs. The thought of imploring their aid for such an embarrassing infiltration of our sacred mission is humiliating. We spent our entire careers separating ourselves from the abuses of Europe. It should never have gotten this far. We must funnel this through the appropriate channels.”

  “Gentlemen, ill equipped or not, this is our responsibility,” Adams aided Franklin. “We must employ whatever help we can manage. Pride and age cannot dissolve the bonds to our pledges, or the immediate need of action.”

  “We took their help building this nation,” Madison countered. “They saw what strength might grow within, but if we engage them their hopes will have been misplaced. We must leave Vivienne’s safe return to the police and allow the relic to pass on naturally. We have sequestered it for far too long, and restlessly a new owner seeks it, as happens.”

  “That is quite unlike you,” Franklin alleged. “We have been supplanted in the welfare of this country for too many generations to succumb lazily to short-sightedness. A much greater challenge to our sovereignty has arisen than fascination with personal projects and sustainable wealth building. A founding father does not abandon. Governance may no longer be our place, but safeguarding its legacy is most certainly essential to our existence.”

  Hamilton interjected, “Perhaps there is some benefit to imploring Swiss aid. They do have a standing army, so to speak. We may in fact be at the brink of a much larger international political disturbance, the magnitude of which would not escape their notice for long. Perhaps they too have been compromised. If we are betrayed, then all of the immortal community may be as well. We must present our concern thusly to them, and conscript them to our cause rather than plead for assistance. This matter appears not to be simply fixed, and they were always first to speak of duty to the relic’s defense.”

  “They haven’t inquired after it in generations,” Hancock countered uselessly as Madison was coming around. “They got rid of it, gave it to us. We should have destroyed it.”

  “You cannot destroy such a gift,” Adams shouted. “As you said it belongs to no one, and therefore it belongs to everyone. It is the only surviving link we have to the heavens.”

  “It is a temptation,” Hancock warned. “I agree we must do something about Vivienne, but that is instructing local officials how to find her.”

  “Well I’m very sorry this nuisance has roused you from your summertime holiday,” Franklin reacted sarcastically, “but a historic infiltration has been successfully devised against the most secluded organization that has ever been assembled. We must act!”

  Hancock retorted, “If not the CIA, then pay a ransom for her and be done with it. Hell, I’ll pay the ransom! If they have what they want, they won’t need her, so let’s bring her back quietly and safely. Ben, I’m far too old to die now, especially on a mission like this. No one should suffer death in a fight with madmen over an object that no longer bares any significance to the world. It is a fantasy, a fable now. If these are bones from past despots climbing back up to the surface, no conflict will be triggered. The electorates will quas
h any insurgencies, and international diplomacy will rule conduct between nations. Let them discover eternal life and retire in the tropics somewhere. If our stasis has impressed anything upon me, it’s that political ambition cannot satiate the endless churning of time. There is no reason to disturb the world when you don’t need anything from it. Without finite time, there is no impetus to force any vigorous exercise in life. They will learn this for themselves. What definable attainment has meaning for them now will dissolve, and what remains will be the drive to nurture and correct.”

  Just then the debate was interrupted by a loud mechanical humming. A revving engine expelled a raucous disruption throughout the graveyard. The mausoleums scattered the sound in all directions, but it seemed to concentrate on the men’s position. As it came closer they looked up and turned to the asphalt path that weaved through the crypts. Will noticed each immortal, whose mouths had opened to speak again, pause and check their watches. None seemed concerned by the intrusion in the quiet graveyard and relaxed as they anticipated the passing of the vehicle.

  Sputtering, the noise slowed its consistency. The engine ebbed with intent to stop, grumbling from an uneven infusion of fuel. Down the path, around the bend, and out from behind a glorified statue of an eagle in flight came a