“Very good, Vincent,” Caligula went on. “You have read my mind. Agrippina, we will discuss the plans tomorrow. For now…”
“No. Brother. I need to speak privately with the men accompanying me, at least one of them.” She looked at each us in turn, pausing on Helena only to offer her a sneer, before stopping on me.
Aw, shit.
“That one,” she said, pointing at me. “With the pretty face. I will talk to him before we go over anything.”
Santino coughed and I couldn’t help but glance at Helena before looking at the table. I hoped Agrippina would shift her attention elsewhere, but she must have noticed our exchange, and a smile crossed her face. A mean looking one. She walked over and put her hand on my arm.
“Fine,” Caligula responded, giving me a look any good brother would give another man. “You may use my magistrate’s tent, just to the right.”
She gave him a smile, before looking up at me. “Come. Let us discuss things. It won’t take long.”
She yanked on my arm to lead me from the tent, but my right foot caught on the toe of my left boot when I tried to follow. Nearly tripping to the floor, I barely kept myself from falling.
This day just got worse.
***
I knew the magistrate was on duty elsewhere, so I expected the tent would be empty, but that thought didn’t offer much comfort. Opening the flap for Agrippina, I followed her in. She took in her surroundings in a glance, before finding a chair and placing it near a table.
She patted it. “Sit. Please. Make yourself comfortable.”
“Okay…” I said, dragging out the word.
I dusted off the chair before taking a seat, facing the table only a few feet away. Finding a piece of fruit, Agrippina began to eat it before sitting on the edge of the table. She folded her left leg over her right, forcing the slit of her dress to reveal more than just her leg, but also the side of her ample posterior. Leaning forward, exposing not just cleavage, but practically the whole show, she rested her elbows on her knees and continued to gnaw away. Slowly.
As she ate, she remained silent, but looked me up and down like a piece of meat. Her inspection made me feel only slightly more uncomfortable than I already was. I squirmed in my chair like a job applicant waiting for an interview. Apparently satisfied at what she saw, she hummed an approving noise, leaned back in a straighter posture, and shifted her clothing, exposing even more skin on her other leg.
“Did you enjoy my little performance back in the tent?” She asked nonchalantly.
I coughed. “Excuse me?”
“Oh, don’t play coy with me,” she said, tossing her piece of fruit over her shoulder. “I know you saw right through my act. I am very good at reading people, and I saw how you looked at me when I first walked in. You looked as though you knew me, but I never forget a face, especially not one so perfect as yours. I was at your little demonstration a few months ago, but that hardly means you know me.”
I coughed again and shifted in my chair. She must have been that pregnant woman I noticed in the stands that I thought looked familiar. The one who winked at me.
“I’m sorry,” I said, trying not to sound like a prepubescent boy, “but I’m not sure what you’re talking about. I thought we were here to discuss your son.”
“We are. I just wanted to make sure we understood one another. That performance was for my brother’s clever, but unimaginative benefit, not to mention the lackeys he surrounds himself with, besides you, of course. In you, I saw trouble. Someone who might challenge me. That’s why I felt the need to speak to you alone. To appeal to you in another way, besides that of a grieving mother. Something maybe a little more… personal?”
“What do you mean?” I asked cautiously.
“My son has indeed been kidnapped, and I am truly frightened for his safety,” she said, her voice shifting into the grieving mother spectrum again. “I want you to know that if you save him, I will be yours to command. Anything and everything I am capable of doing, I will do for you.”
She capitalized her last point by slipping off the table, and straddling me. She had to pull her clothing well up over her hips, so as not to get caught in it, and to make matters worse, she also snatched my hands and placed them on her bare hips.
“Anything, and everything,” she said, pumping her chest out so that her breasts nearly brushed against my face. “You will be the envy of all Rome. Trust me.”
Stunned by her very forward actions, not to mention instinctually curious, I didn’t immediately react when she grabbed my head and pressed her mouth to mine. There was nothing I could do. I was stuck in a seductive trap worthy of any black widow scenario. Two seconds later, as soon as she slid one of her hands along my groin, I quickly jumped to my feet, and pulled away from her.
Wiping my mouth out of shock, I backed up towards the exit in case I had to flee for my life.
“There is no need for that, Agrippina. I will gladly help you and your son if the emperor so wishes it. You have no need to do… that… again.”
My leap from the chair had knocked her to the ground, and now she looked up at me as she propped herself up on her knees. Her look was pure sex and seduction. She wiped her mouth as well, finishing the motion by licking her fingers. I had to wince.
“Is it that Amazon in the tent? I saw the way she looked at you.” She smiled. “She is very beautiful indeed. Perhaps I could arrange for the three of us, together, to…”
“That won’t be necessary, thank you,” I said quickly, although the thought stiffened more than just my resolve to get out of here.
“I could always have her… removed. If you so wish.”
“What? No. No, of course not. Leave her out of this.”
She looked at my coyly before jerking her head to the side innocently.
“As you wish,” she said, rising to her feet, not wasting any effort to contain her dignity, not that she had much left anyway. “Now. We shall tell my brother the news.”
I nodded, and held the tent flap open for her to exit. Wiping my mouth again, just in case, I followed behind her. Entering the praetorium, all heads turned to face us. Most wore neutral expressions, except for Helena’s. I hadn’t seen her this angry since the day she had nearly beaten that legionnaire to death on the training ground.
I found my place next to Santino and Vincent, while Agrippina went to stand next to her brother. I glanced over at Santino, who was looking at me expectantly.
“What?” I asked.
He didn’t say anything. Instead, he just turned and looked back at the maps.
I wasn’t afraid of how Helena would take Agrippina’s notice in me, but I decided to play it safe and ignore her. Instead, I looked at Caligula who was conversing quietly with his sister. She noticed my attention, and gave me a smile, flicking her eyes in Helena’s direction, before returning her gaze to me, her smile widening.
And I thought this day couldn’t get any worse.
Caligula turned back towards his staff after he finished his conversation with Agrippina. “Jacob Hunter. Are you ready to partake in this mission?”
It was the first time he had ever addressed me by name, and frankly, I was taken slightly aback by it. I’d spent months with him, accompanying Vincent numerous times during special briefings, but he’d never addressed me directly. I didn’t even know he knew my name.
“I am, Caesar,” I replied earnestly.
“Good. Who will accompany you?”
“I will,” Santino answered quickly.
“Very good, John Santino. You will leave at dawn. Your mission is to retrieve my nephew first, and plant your explosive material around the walls of Rome in preparation for our assault. My army will depart in two days. We will meet you outside of Rome upon your return. Do you understand?
“Yes, Caesar,” we responded in unison.
“Very good. Do not let me down. As for the rest of you, we will finish this briefing tomorrow afternoon.”
There was a chor
us of affirmatives as the men and women in the praetorium began to file out of the tent. As I left I looked over my shoulder at Agrippina, her expression one of overconfidence and victory. She was hiding something, only I didn’t know what, but that hardly mattered at this point. What did was saving a child, and retaking Rome in the name of Caligula.
***
Later that evening, I was joined by the rest of my squad around a campfire Wang had created near our tent site. After the meeting, I had spent my time avoiding both Helena and Agrippina, an easy task since I had swapped watch duty with Bordeaux the other day and had to man the wall, while Agrippina spent her time in the praetorium. Even so, I’d spent the entire afternoon looking over my shoulder as I kept most of my attention on the tree line beyond the camp.
“We’re going to keep this short and simple,” Vincent began. “Some of us have an early day tomorrow. At 0430 tomorrow, Hunter and Santino will accompany Agrippina to Rome, and rescue Nero, as well as place C4 around key areas along the walls and gates. There’s no need to send six people when two will do. This way we can keep an eye on the legion during the invasion, whether Galba likes it or not.” He paused and waggled his finger at Santino and me. “I expect you to rendezvous with the legion by the time we can see the city walls. Hunter, I hate to put you on the spot here, but what did you and Agrippina talk about? Don’t leave anything out.”
I shifted on the log stump I sat on, unsure what to say. We hadn’t really talked about much of anything really.
“She tried to seduce me,” I started, but was cut off by a collective utterance of annoyances. Wang threw his hands in the air in desperation while Bordeaux just shook his head.
“Of course she did!” Santino cried before kicking dirt at me.
“I said ‘she tried to seduce me’, not that she did. I got out of there before things got too crazy.” I winced at my untactful wording. “She just wanted to assure me that her son really was captured, and that I had to do whatever I could to get him back,” I said, leaving out the details of the whole seduction part.
“But why would she need to pull you aside, mate?” Wang asked. “We all saw her in the praetorium.”
“Her tearful motherly routine was an act, or so she told me. A way to convince Caligula and everyone else since apparently she can’t actually portray real emotions. She said she saw something in me that made her suspect I knew better, and she felt compelled to reassure me. It wasn’t pretty.”
“But why?” Bordeaux reiterated.
“Well, because she was right. I was immediately suspicious of her the minute I realized who she was. I take it none of you are familiar with her? Sir?” I asked Vincent particularly.
He shrugged. “I know who she is, but we’ve already established you’re more familiar with Julio-Claudian history than I am.”
“Out with it, professor,” Santino ordered me impatiently.
“Well, to put it bluntly, she’s an egotistical, ambitious, agenda-driven charlatan who will do whatever she can to get what she wants, including murder. She’s very smart, very resourceful, and very persistent. Ancient writers credit her with poisoning Claudius, killing him, all to have her son Nero become emperor. She’s extremely dangerous, and I didn’t trust her. It’s not surprising that she would pick me out of the crowd. She is extremely sharp.”
“Why are we even trying to save Nero?” Wang asked. “I don’t know much, but…”
Bordeaux cut him off. “ Excusez, James, but I am confused. Why did she call him Lucius if his name is Nero?”
“Because his original name wasn’t Nero,” I explained. “He was born Lucius I Can’t Remember The Rest, and wasn’t named Nero until he was adopted by Claudius years from now. Gnaeus, by the way, was Agrippina’s husband.” I paused and turned to Vincent. “Interesting that Claudius chose Nero for his name even now, right?”
The older man nodded. “It truly is.”
“Anyway,” Wang put in before he question was completely derailed. “Wasn’t Nero bad? Like, really bad?”
“Maybe ‘not even worth saving’ bad?” Santino expanded.
“He was,” I confirmed with a nod. He brought up a good point and the others seemed to concur.
“We can’t let him die because we think we know what he may do in the future,” Vincent responded. “At this point, he may never do those things.”
Most of us nodded our heads in agreement.
“So what about Agrippina?” Santino asked.
“I don’t know,” I responded. “I guess we can trust her. For now, at least. Despite her affinity for tomfoolery and treachery, she did love her son, and I’d side with the fact that she does need our help.”
“I’m not so sure,” Vincent said. “Agrippina is not Nero. We know who she is and what she’s capable of. Our intervention here won’t change that like it may with Nero. I’m not so sure we can trust her.”
“I think we can,” I responded with a shrug. I noticed Wang and Bordeaux trade glances, and Helena continued to ignore the conversation, content to just stare into the fire. Vincent folded his arms and leveled his eyes at me, eyes that didn’t seem very happy. I looked at each of my squad members in turn to realize none of them were looking at me. Not even Santino. “What?”
“You’re wound up pretty tight, Jake,” Santino offered. “We’ve all noticed it. I think Vincent just wants to make sure you know what you’re doing.”
“I know what I’m doing,” I said sternly.
Santino nodded but didn’t look satisfied. The uncomfortable silence continued until Vincent unfolded his arms and rested his hands on his knees. “It’s your call, Hunter. If you and Santino are up for this then you have my approval? You’re going to need to go in light, just enough to conceal beneath a toga.”
“I’m ready,” I said as confidently as I could.
Santino nodded.
“Well, good luck then,” he stood and moved towards his tent before he finished his thoughts. “Get some sleep. We’ll see you in a few days.”
***
Lying on my bed roll that night, I couldn’t help but think about what Santino said a few nights ago about never finding another woman like Helena. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that someone like Agrippina, someone who could murder on a whim, shows up and basically threatens her. The idea had me more worried than the mission, but I couldn’t write Agrippina off completely yet. History had already proved an unreliable source of information, so maybe she wasn’t all that bad.
And maybe she really liked me…
As if on cue, Helena entered the tent, removed her duty gear, and slid into place beside me, but kept even more distance than normal. We laid there for a few minutes before I couldn’t take the silence anymore. “Are you all right?”
She didn’t turn to look. “There any reason I shouldn’t be?”
“You seemed awfully quiet today, that’s all.”
“Maybe if you hadn’t spent so much time with your new friend, you’d have seen just how talkative I really was.”
I shot up to a sitting position. “You see? That’s what I’m talking about. If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were jealous.”
She finally looked at me. “I’m not jealous.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
“I just don’t trust her, and neither should you.”
“I’m not.”
“Then why go with her?”
“No, you tell me the truth first. Why are you so upset?” I tried to keep the frustration from infecting my tone, but I couldn’t help it. “I hate games.”
She sat up as well and barked a quick laugh. “Is that what this is to you? A game? I’ll tell you now this most certainly isn’t a game to me.”
I shook my head. “I don’t understand where you’re going with this.”
She looked surprised but laughed again as she shook her head. “You don’t? After all these months, and you still don’t understand where we’re ‘going with this’? After everything we’ve been thr
ough and everything we’ve shared?”
“Helena, what…”
“You really are a dense man, Lieutenant,” she said, practically yelling. “Fine. Go get yourself killed. Don’t expect any help from me.”
I was suddenly very, very, angry. “I never asked for your help, Helena! I don’t need it! I don’t need anyone’s!”
She looked at me with downtrodden eyes and nodded to no one but herself. I couldn’t believe I said what I said when I said it. I didn’t need anyone’s help? Why would I say something like that?
“Helena… I…” I trailed off, not knowing what to say. Helena gave me one last sad look before she crawled under her sleeping bag and rolled away from me. I didn’t understand how this conversation derailed the way it did and I didn’t understand why, through all of the anger, I felt the first real connection with her in months. I wasn’t an idiot. I thought I knew what she was implying and I was ready to go there as well, but everything had unraveled so quickly.
I stared at Helena’s shapeless form within her sleeping bag and wondered about my own comments. They were so unlike me that I had trouble even believing them, but I’d said them — and I’d meant them.
I had to sleep so I shifted onto my side to face away from Helena and closed my eyes. Sleep would not come easy tonight. I’d crossed a line I wasn’t sure I realized I crossed until now and the thought frightened me. I didn’t want to become the kind of person who couldn’t rely on anyone or wouldn’t rely on anyone. I needed my friends, and I especially needed Helena.
What had I done?
***
As we journeyed south towards Rome, Santino and I rode atop black Spanish stallions, a favorite amongst Rome’s leading citizens. As a kid, my sister had taken horseback riding lessons for years and I would watch when it was time to pick her up. Every once in a while she would teach me a few pointers when she had time, so I had come to ancient Rome as a somewhat experienced equestrian. Santino, however, had a rougher time of it.
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