Elijah dropped his pen to the desk in frustration, his annoyance obviously having been boiling with every word she said to him. He took off his glasses and started wiping them with his shirt. “Julian has a lot of nerve to dump you on me. I don't see why we didn't just keep you in that cell of yours. That's where prisoners belong. Not here.”
“I don't mind,” Nina said.
“I am sure you don't,” Elijah groaned. “But I do. I have been hoping to have this position ever since I joined the order. I had to go on so many tedious missions before I ended up here. Here, with some of the world's most valuable artifacts at my fingertips ... this room is the real treasure of this order. Without this ... we would be nothing.”
“And you don't mind that all of that...” Nina pointed at the black containers that she knew had the rest of Purdue's stolen relics. “All of that was taken from someone else who had these beforehand? The Black Sun didn't find any of those things at least.”
“It doesn't matter where they come from,” Elijah countered. “It makes no difference to me if they are dug out of the earth or pulled out of a dead man's hands. Either way, those artifacts are finally safe now. This is the best place for them. Or would you prefer they remain out there in the world, at risk of being misused at any moment? We're the only ones who can assure that these past treasures aren't lost to time.”
Nina looked around the room some more. There was a large, circular opening in the floor behind Elijah, like a pit. “Is that where you keep everything? Throw them all down in a hole after you log them on those papers?”
“Are you a moron?” Elijah snapped. “You're so caught up in your preconceived notions that the Order of the Black Sun is some demonic entity that you jump to stupid assumptions about how we handle what's ours. We don't just dump these items down there ... why don't you take a look for yourself? Since you have nothing better to do here.”
Nina ignored his abrasiveness and stepped over to the pit, glancing down. Sure enough, there wasn't just a pile of artifacts at the bottom. The walls of the pit were lined with rows and rows of drawers, obviously where they kept the relics inside of. They were well organized and she surmised from the crane-like device hanging over the pit that they could automatically pull out whatever they needed from down there.
“That is the deep vault,” Elijah explained. “The hole itself seals shut when I'm done using it for maximum security. You may think from your experience with people like Julian, the Eclipsed, and all of those other clumsy field operatives that the Black Sun is nothing but a chaotic rabble of brutes. I can assure you...” Elijah pushed his glasses up his nose once again. “That is not the case. Like any other organization, we all have our roles to play, and for some of us, protecting the things we're after is just as important as acquiring them to begin with. That is the purpose of this room and that is what my role is all about. I maintain, log, file, and protect all of the world's most ancient items that we collect.”
The way he phrased it, it sounded so much more positive than how she pictured it all in her mind. The Black Sun had never seemed to actually care about these artifacts in the past; rather, they only cared about how those items could benefit them. But their curator was actually making sense with how he was explaining things. She had never really known the inner workings of the order before and maybe only had seen the surface-level grunts responsible for acquiring the relics. That could have just been one layer of the order.
“From what I have been told, your dead friend, Purdue, had his own way of holding onto these items, didn't he? Initially it was just a trophy room ... that doesn't sound very secure, does it? When he realized that, he brought them all into a vault of his own making. But, based on how we were able to get into there and take everything, that wasn't very secure either. I know he was your friend, but you must admit ... he may not have been the best one to hold onto such valuable parts of history. That's what happens when a rich man regards these as souvenirs and trophies instead of as the essential pieces of the past that they really are.”
Again, Elijah was making sense, even if he was callously trash talking Purdue. It was extremely disrespectful to be insulting a man who had passed away but Nina still couldn't exactly argue with what he was actually saying. If she put her emotions aside, it was objectively clear that this enormous chamber, with its massive door and this deep vault in the floor, was a much safer place to keep these relics than Purdue's home ever was.
“But what does the Black Sun plan on doing with all of these?”
“That is not my concern,” Elijah said. “My concern is making sure that they stay safe and intact. I can promise you, though, that the Order of the Black Sun has never been about misusing any of these. On the contrary, preservation plays a large part in everything we do with these artifacts. We don't display them as trophies like Purdue. We keep them hidden from view, safe and tucked away from the rest of the world.”
“How do you rationalize all of the violence used to get them though? How many people have the Black Sun killed just to get their hands on these?”
“Julian said you were a historian, right?” Elijah asked. “Tell me then, how many things throughout millennia have been acquired without at least some degree of violence? And are these items not worth at least shedding a little blood over? Some of these are incredibly dangerous and would do far more damage out there in the world than they do here. If it means putting them under lock and key, sometimes extreme measures are necessary.”
Nina hated how much sense he was making. For someone who was so socially inept and awkward, he had a way of making everything sound so reasonable. All of the many crimes she'd seen the order commit were sounding so insignificant with how he talked about them.
Part of her felt like this was all a ploy by Julian. Maybe he knew how convincing Elijah was so he stuck her in a room with him to get the curator to make her see things their way. If that was the case, she wouldn't let him win. But it was hard to deny that her perspective was being jaded ever so slightly. Elijah Dane was chipping away at the image she had in her head of what the Order of the Black Sun looked like.
“I just ... I find it harder to believe that your stockpiling all of this for good.”
“Why?” Elijah asked, puzzled. “Isn't that exactly what you thought David Purdue was doing? If anyone was using them for ulterior motives, it was him. Even I knew that he had an ego that needed to be fed.”
Nina felt anger rising in her. She hated how casually Elijah talked about Purdue, despite having never even met him. Who was he to judge? Especially given that it was his friends that burned Purdue alive in his own home?
Elijah apparently saw her anger on her face and stopped himself from saying anything more about Purdue. He just went back to focusing on his examination of Excalibur. After a few minutes, he peeked over the rim of his glasses at her. “You want to help? Take a seat over there. Pick out one of the items from those containers and start checking it for any damages.”
Nina didn't move at first, biting her lip. She really didn't want to give the Order of the Black Sun any assistance, but there wasn't anything else to do. She was stuck in this vault at least until Julian came back. She could do nothing and just wait to be thrown back in her cell, or she could at least pass the time looking over the things she, Purdue, and Sam had tried so hard to get. Maybe handling some of Purdue's old treasures would honor his memory in a weird way. At least someone besides the Black Sun would make sure they weren't damaged.
Nina finally walked over to one of the black containers holding Purdue's things. She remembered them being rolled out of the home, while Purdue was tied to a chair, all in those final moments with him. She remembered them being loaded into the trucks as Purdue's estate was engulfed by fire. These trinkets were some of the last remaining belongings he ever had.
A wave of sadness swept over her as she opened up the closest container.
The remnants of David Purdue's adventures were inside.
7
; CHAPTER SEVEN – THE EMPLOYED
Unboxing the stolen artifacts was like taking a trip down memory lane. There were so many of them that she fondly remembered finding with Purdue and Sam. With each one she examined, she remembered the moment that they finished searching for it; the incomparable feeling of finally succeeding after following all of the endless clues, and making it through all of the trials and tribulations that those expeditions included. She had stopped the Order of the Black Sun from getting a large percentage of those boxed relics. Now here she was, helping them store them away in their top secret vaults.
The enormous door of the vault room heaved itself open and a pair of silhouettes entered. Nina looked up from her work and recognized both newcomers almost immediately.
Sasha—one of the Order of the Black Sun's top enforcers and one of the coldest women Nina had ever known. She executed all of the Black Sun's objectives without question, and just as effortlessly executed plenty of innocent people to help carry those objectives out. Nina couldn't stand her and immediately felt her whole body tense up at the mere sight of her.
The other arrival was Galen Fitzgerald, limping toward Nina and Elijah with his walking stick. Not long ago, he was a rich Irishman who wanted more than anything to be better than Purdue. Now he'd sold his soul to the Black Sun to try to make himself feel even more important. His already inflated ego had just gotten obnoxiously larger now that the order was backing him, and especially now that Purdue was gone. If the universe revolved around Galen before ... now it practically folded itself into him like he was a living black hole of grandstanding.
The two of them each held the end of a large black container, one that looked nearly identical to the stack of them from Purdue's ruined home. Apparently, they were returning with a score from some mission, no doubt a new artifact for Elijah to log and store within the deep vault.
Galen grinned at the sight of Nina while Sasha looked a little perplexed that their prisoner was in the vault. She definitely wasn't where most people would assume she would be, so Nina really couldn't fault the shrew for her confusion.
“It's amazing how much quicker and easier it is to get your job done without Davy getting in the way. Simple like it should be.”
“Let's not forget that you were one of those people getting in our way not to long ago,” Sasha grumbled. “You probably still would be if we hadn't been merciful enough to recruit you rather than kill you.”
Galen looked a little put out for a moment but quickly recovered, tapping his crippled leg with his walking stick. “It didn't cost me nothing. You and the Black Sun put me in my place and for that I will always be eternally grateful.”
Nina still hadn't been able to wrap her mind around why Galen would serve the same people who riddled his leg with bullets and who tried to kill him. All it took was giving him a drop of more power than he had before and he accepted their invitation. The only thing the Black Sun had accomplished with him was emboldening the Irishman's arrogance.
The pair of Black Sun agents plopped the container in front of Elijah, who adjusted his glasses to get a better look. Galen and Sasha both watched Nina curiously, taking notice of her apparently assisting Elijah's work.
“You finally come around to joining the winning side, eh?” Galen snickered. “Or was there just nowhere else to go without Davy? Was that it?”
Sasha didn't look pleased by the possibility of having to work with Nina, and likewise, Nina had no intention of joining forces with her so that cruel bitch had nothing to worry about.
“Dr. Gould hasn't joined,” Elijah answered for her. “She is just choosing to lend a hand instead of rotting in a dungeon. Can't blame her. Imprisonment sounds like a rather tedious affair, if you ask me.” Elijah, as usual, looked just as bored with the current conversation. He brought the focus back to the black container. “What is it you have brought me this time?”
Galen pulled open the container and displayed its contents. He reminded Nina of a little boy excitedly showing his parents his high marks from school. That was Galen in a nutshell; a petulant child who tried too hard to prove that he was a big man now.
There was a large stone totem in the container, a chiseled carving of some ancient, bearded face. It was old and withered, having been chipped away by time and circumstance.
“This effigy of Hades used to be worshiped by the Greeks way back when,” Galen explained. “Crazy loons thought spirits of the dead could speak to them through it. Imagine that. All of them chatting with their great, great, great, great grand daddies.” Galen lifted the old stone head in front of his face and laughed. “Hey Nina Gould, it's your friend, Davy Purdue! It's so warm down here in hell this time of year. Almost as warm as it was in my house that night. Doesn't the fire look so lovely?” Galen lowered the bust and cackled loudly. “Wow! Would you look at that! It really works! It's like good ole' Davy Purdue is right here!”
No one else laughed. Even Sasha looked strikingly and surprisingly agitated. As usual, Galen thought he was the life of the party, when in reality, no one really enjoyed his presence at all. There was no bigger fan of Galen Fitzgerald than Galen Fitzgerald.
Nina wanted to pounce on Galen and start punching him until she wiped that stupid smirk off his face. He had no right to disrespect Purdue's memory, especially given how much time that Irishman had spent trying to imitate him. He was never as rich, never as successful, and was practically incompetent by comparison when it came to finding hidden artifacts. Galen dressed up his life in fine clothes and grand stories—including a disgustingly pompous autobiography—but no matter how hard he tried, he could never surpass Purdue. Must have been nice being able to pretend you were the greatest now that the real greatest was dead and gone.
Elijah practically snatched the old stone head out of Galen's hands. “Charming as always.” He glanced down at the open container like he was expecting something else to be included but it was empty. “That's it? It took two of you to just get this?”
“Piss off, Elijah,” Galen said, rudely launching spit onto the vault floor. “That head was well protected when we first got to Crete. Sasha made sure it wasn't well protected by the time we left. Nothing wrong with needing a little extra muscle, eh?”
“I'm always impressed by how delicately you all deal with your assignments,” Elijah said sharply. “Ever so impressive.”
Galen grinded his teeth. “It must be so easy to be delicate when you spend all your time in this dusty old library. You don't have to worry about enemies, or traps, or tough terrain. The worst you have to worry about is not accidentally stepping into the deep vault, or getting a paper cut when you look over the old books.”
There was clear disdain between Elijah and Galen. It wasn't hard to see. Nina knew that Galen hadn't been a part of the Order of the Black Sun for very long but she wasn't surprised that he was butting heads with someone. He was a very challenging person to get along with. It was hard just to even tolerate his presence sometimes. As stilted and cold as Elijah came across to Nina, she had to admit he was far less obnoxious than Galen. She'd much rather be stuck in this vault chamber than out in the field, looking for treasures with Galen. She'd done that once before when they first met. She couldn't stand him then and she couldn't stand him now.
Sasha remained something of a mystery to Nina. She always had, ever since she revealed her allegiance to the Black Sun in that tomb in Jerusalem. She was a cold-blooded killer who seemed to take some pleasure in the work she did, but at the same time, recently she'd seemed far less confrontational. She didn't seem happy at all under Julian's reign of their secret society. But, then again, she'd always been a bit miserable and grouchy. It was hard to know for sure what she was thinking.
Galen turned to Nina with a crooked grin. “You really should join the order. It's done wonders for me—given me a real purpose and what is life without a little bit of purpose, eh? You don't have to follow Davy's trophy hunt anymore. You can be part of something so much bigger.”
&nbs
p; “Or she can keep trying to go against us for all I care,” Sasha interjected, glaring at Nina. “She can keep coming at us and keep failing.” Nina couldn't hide the anger on her face and Sasha took full advantage of it. “What? Why are you looking at me like that? It's true. Just look at yourself. Julian can give you whatever jobs you like but you're still a prisoner ... no, now you're practically just a pet that Julian wants to keep around for fun.”
Nina readied herself to unleash a few choice words, and she wasn't quite sure how a trained killer like Sasha would react to the insults. However, she never got the chance to even say them because Elijah let out a long, dramatic sigh.
“If that is all...” Elijah stared at Sasha and Galen from behind his glasses, and despite his calm demeanor, his gaze showed what was actually beneath. “We have to get back to work. Just like you do. And your presence is becoming something of a disturbance to our work. Thank you for your contribution. Now leave.”
Galen and Sasha looked to one another, and neither looked like they were in a hurry to obey Elijah's command. After a moment, they both slowly stepped away. Galen was smirking like this was nothing more than a big joke for him. He winked at Nina as he walked away. Sasha stopped and stood face to face with Nina.
“What is it exactly you want?” Sasha asked. “Are you really discarding David Purdue just like that?”
It was a strange question and Nina looked hard at Sasha's face, trying to figure out just what she was trying to get at. Why did Sasha care about Nina's loyalty to Purdue? Was she really that adamant that Nina remember that she was imprisoned? She just had to make sure Nina knew her place...
Order of the Black Sun Box Set 10 Page 8
