Order of the Black Sun Box Set 9

by Preston William Child

  Sam trembled at the possibilities that were happening to Nina.

  “Yeah,” Ulrich snickered. “She's our prisoner too.”

  “Guest,” Roland corrected facetiously. “Our valued guest who accepted Mr. Corvus' personal invitation.”

  “Right,” Ulrich laughed. “She is our honored guest and we have had her since before we beat that bastard, Purdue.”

  “I thought Purdue died in a house fire,” Sam said, knowing full well what the truth was. He would play dumb because he wanted to hear these monsters say it. He wanted to know how they had done it, so that someday, he might be in a position where he could do the same to them.

  “Oh, it was indeed a house fire,” Ulrich said. “Quite the fire.”

  “You saw it?” Sam asked. “You were there?”

  “I was there, alright,” Ulrich said with a disturbing amount of nostalgia, like he was reminiscing about some great deed from the past. “That was a fun evening. You should have seen it. Drove trucks right through that castle of his. Knocked those walls down real well. That David Purdue, the little rat that he was, went scurrying away to that trophy room of his. That door was so thick, it could have probably taken a nuclear blast and still have been standing. It was a damn panic room, really.”

  Sam clung to each word. As much as he hated the story and how he knew it was going to end, he needed to know the full truth. For his own peace of mind, he needed to know how Purdue had fallen. He'd escaped death so many times, why was this time different?

  When Purdue had called him warning him that the Black Sun was back and that Julian Corvus was alive as their new leader, he had probably been holed up in that room Ulrich was talking about. If it was as impenetrable as they described, how the hell did they get in? Or why had Purdue left the safety of that room?

  Almost on cue, that was starting to be answered for him.

  “We tried to use your friend, Dr. Gould, to lure Purdue out but even then, he refused. Selfish bastard cared more about those dusty old trinkets of his than protecting his friend. He would have left you hanging too, I'm sure.”

  That sounded like Purdue, but given how powerful some of those “trinkets” were, Sam couldn't blame Purdue for refusing to hand them over, even when Nina's life was on the line. Nina surely understood that just like Sam did. The contents of Purdue's collection were far too valuable to willingly hand over.

  “Lucky for us, we had a woman on the inside, and she was in that trophy room with Purdue. I don't know how, but she overpowered him and opened the doors right up for us.”

  Anger simmered within Sam. Even with all of his improvements to his security, Purdue was still too trusting. Whoever that woman they were talking about was, she had cost Purdue everything: his relics, his home, and his life.

  “She let us in and we ransacked that trophy room. Robbed that rich man of all the riches he was worth, didn't we?”

  Roland smiled. “We sure did. And that rich man was worth quite a lot.”

  The two Black Sun agents were so proud of their great, big, evil secret society defeating just one man. They had no right to be smug about it. They should have been embarrassed that it took them so long to get rid of him. Even now, they had trouble just tracking Sam down. Those motels had protected him far longer than he expected them to.

  “I couldn't believe some of the fun toys he kept in that room. Spears taller than me.” Ulrich spoke like it was some old fable, not caring about the details. Things dug up from the country of ‘who cares’, that were originally from the year ‘who the hell knows when’. Put most of what we have in our vaults to shame.”

  “Purdue put your order to shame in more ways than that,” Sam said under his breath.

  That shut the two of them up for a few seconds but they quickly recovered. “He didn't look so great when we had him tied down to a chair in his own house. We made him watch when we packed all of his things up. Took everything of value he had. Walked right by him with a crate full of his old shit. His face ... I'll never forget that face. He looked like a little boy getting his blanket taken away. Then we doused his walls with gasoline. Then lit the whole place up real good. Last I saw him, he was about to cook real nice.”

  Ulrich sniffed loudly. “Mmm. Can practically still smell him now. Can you?”

  Sam's blood was boiling. It was bad enough that they were acting so arrogant. It was even worse that they were practically spitting on Purdue's grave. On the one hand, staying their captive meant possibly being brought to where Nina was. On the other hand, he didn't want to give them another win.

  David Purdue was the thorn in the Order of the Black Sun's collective side for so long, and now he was gone. And here was Sam, probably going to be killed by the Black Sun too. If so, he was going to die just as Purdue had, remaining just as sharp of a pain in the secret society's ass.

  “You're all terrible people, you know that?”

  Before Ulrich or Roland had a chance to respond, Sam threw himself at Roland in the back seat beside him. He grabbed hold of the side of his head and slammed it against the car window. Roland groaned when his head smacked the glass and, in the confusion, Sam pried the pistol out of Roland's holster.

  Ulrich roared and slammed his foot on the brake, bringing the car to a screeching halt. Sam lurched forward from the abrupt stop, almost fumbling the firearm. He barely managed to keep hold of the pistol, and pointed it at Ulrich before he had a chance to draw his own weapon.

  “Don't,” Sam ordered.

  “You're not going to shoot,” Ulrich balked, still reaching into his jacket.

  “No?” Sam fired a shot right past Ulrich's ear. Both Black Sun agents held their hands over their ears, as the sound of the shout bounced around the inside of the car. “Try me.”

  “Okay! Okay, goddamn it! You probably burst my ear drum!”

  “Good,” Sam said. “Gun. Out the window. Now.”

  Ulrich was still groaning from the pain in his ears and frantically rolled down his window, dropped his pistol out of the car, and then put his hands up. Roland was holding his own head, where he was bleeding from where his head hit the glass window.

  Sam held the pistol firmly in his grip, not shaking at all. He finally had control of the situation, and he was going to make sure that his newfound influence on everything going on wouldn't go to waste. Who knew if he'd ever get another chance like this? He pointed the gun at the driver's seat, at Ulrich. “Drive.”

  “Where?”

  “I don't know yet,” Sam said honestly. “But I've got the gun so it doesn't really matter does it?”

  Ulrich groaned but then stepped on the gas. The car moved forward and for the first time since being on the run, Sam Cleave felt at ease.

  5

  OUTSET OF A VOYAGE

  The boat wasn't large but it would work for the task ahead of them. The crew seemed just as capable, with a dozen people hired by the Wharf Man to find Admiral Ogden's treasure.

  As he watched his new crew mates arrive and walk up to the gangplank to the ship, he was reminded of the colleagues he used to travel with: Dr. Nina Gould and Sam Cleave. They both had a passion for history, or at least for discovering truth. They didn't need to be paid to take part in Purdue's exploits. Just helping to make discoveries was enough for Nina and Sam. His new colleagues only cared about their paychecks.

  He hoped the two of them were alright, but he doubted it. Nina was a prisoner of the Order of the Black Sun, and that secret society had claimed that Sam would soon join her. By now, he probably had, and the two could be rotting in a cell being tortured, or they could be in even worse shape. His friends needed him more than ever and he needed that treasure to help save them, but it would be so much easier to even find that treasure if Sam and Nina were with him.

  A tall woman with a shaved head came up the gangplank and shook Purdue's hand. “I'm Aya, and will be your first mate on this voyage.”

  “Pleasure to meet you,” Purdue said. “I hope you know how to navigate a ship bett
er than I do.”

  “Of course,” she said with a wink. “I have been sailing since I was a child.”

  “Brilliant,” Purdue said, feeling more at ease.

  “So I am told we are looking for some kind of buried treasure? Is that right?”

  “Well, we don't know for certain that it's buried,” Purdue said coyly. “But yes we're looking for a treasure hoard that an incredibly successful pirate amassed centuries ago.”

  “And you know where this treasure is?”

  “I have the map,” he said, not exactly answering the question. “I will speaking with the whole crew shortly to make sure that we're all on the same page.”

  A familiar voice called from the dock, “Mr. Yesterday!”

  Purdue looked over the side of the boat to find the Wharf Man standing on the pier. It was a wonder that he could even walk around at all.

  “Do not forget my words. Do not cross me, my friend.”

  “I won't,” Purdue said. “You will see your thirty percent in no time.”

  “I better,” the Wharf Man snorted. “But you can never be sure, they say, hmm? So I have made sure to give you the best of the best.”

  The twins who brought Purdue to speak with the Wharf Man appeared and strolled up the gangplank, past Purdue. Alton grinned a wide, bright smile as he walked by but Oniel looked just as irritated as ever.

  “They will be of great help to you,” the Wharf Man said. “I am certain.”

  “Thanks,” Purdue said quietly, really not feeling thankful at all.

  “We are just going to make sure things go as planned,” Alton snickered, patting Purdue hard on the back. “We are to be the Wharf Man's eyes, ears, and I'm going to be his voice as well, since my brother cannot.” Oniel didn't look amused by the jab, but he never seemed amused by much.

  The Wharf Man waved them off, again reminding Purdue to not betray him as the ship took off. It was good to know that there was trust between them at the start of the voyage.

  As the boat pulled away from the docks and headed out to open sea, he gathered the crew on the deck. None of them looked very excited to be there. To them, they were taking part in an imbecilic treasure hunt that was going to lead to nothing. It was all just a waste of time in their eyes.

  The Wharf Man probably thought something similar, but couldn't resist the slim chance that it wasn't a wild goose chase. He was probably sitting at home expecting Purdue to fail but hoping that he would come back with a ship full of valuables.

  Purdue cleared his throat. “I have in my possession ... a map.” Purdue held up the rolled up old parchment. “And this map leads to what is supposed to be the largest hoard of stolen treasure that any pirate had ever accumulated. More than Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard. You might have heard of him, aye? More than Calico Jack. More than Captain Kidd. This treasure was collected by Admiral Walton Ogden. Some of you may have heard me tell your boss about it, but those who didn't, Admiral Ogden commanded the largest pirate armada that ever existed. An entire fleet that could spread across the sea and pillage and plunder all over world simultaneously. And in the times when the ship did come together, their fleet was strong enough to take on even the strongest naval forces of the world.”

  Some of the crew looked impressed. Others seemed bored like they were just listening to some old fable.

  “Admiral Ogden's fleet managed to get their hands on an absurd amount of gold, pooled from the plunder their ships collected. Nowadays, that loot is worth millions. And I tell you right now, no matter what the Wharf Man is paying you ... you will also all receive a portion of that from me. A substantial portion. Each.”

  Their expressions brightened and there was a palpable excitement coming over everyone on board. Purdue knew this was the way to win their loyalty. If he could offer something even better than the Wharf Man, they would follow him and help him get to their prize. It was too enticing for them to resist. It was the best way to start a voyage with a ship full of untrustworthy criminals.

  “We will find the treasure together, and will all reap the rewards. I promise you that.”

  There were cheers and applause after that. Purdue felt a surge of relief. He'd known far too many stories about mutinies on ships. He hoped this would satiate this crew of complete strangers enough that they wouldn't even think about committing one against him. He preferred to have this voyage go smoothly, without his lifeless body being tossed into the sea.

  Purdue stepped into the captain's quarters and was surprised to find someone else already occupying it. Aya sat on the little bed against the wall, flipping through an old black book. Purdue recognized the tome almost immediately. It was Mona Greer's book of shadows.

  Aya stared down at the book with wide eyes as she turned each page. Purdue understood that expression, and was sure he looked just as horrified when he saw the book's contents. The rituals described inside were enough to fill anyone with terror, maybe even enough to drive someone insane. He was always very careful with it and kept himself from looking too long.

  Aya didn't understand that. She didn't know how dangerous the book was and had no inclination to be cautious with it. She was transfixed, her mind being pulled in by that witch's vile imaginations. She didn't dare look away. As fascinated as she was, though, the rest of her body was trembling.

  Purdue took a step closer and she looked up at him, but her gazed seemed like it was straining to stay on him; like it was being pulled back toward the pages against her will.

  “Wha—what is this?”

  Purdue took another cautious step in her direction. “Something you really shouldn't be reading. What are you doing in here?”

  Aya ignored his question, still transfixed on the book in her lap. “Are ... are you some kind of devil worshiper?”

  “Not at all.” Purdue walked to the bed and plucked the book of shadows out of her hands. He snapped it shut. “Believe me, this thing scares me just as much as it clearly scares you. It was written by a witch centuries back and, as I'm sure you already saw, is filled with all kinds of nasty dark magic that you want nothing to do with.”

  “Why do you have it then?” She asked, her lips still quivering. “If it frightens you?”

  Purdue looked down at the bindings of the old spell book. “Because there have been times when I needed it. And there may be times ahead when I need it again. Also, it's kind of the last remaining piece of my stolen collection. As horrible as it is, it does have some strange sentimental value for me, I admit.”

  Aya eyed the book and shook her head, still staring at it as Purdue tucked it out of sight in his bag. She looked worried that the journal was going to pull itself back out.

  “I do not like it,” she muttered.

  “Neither do I.” Purdue made sure the book was out of reach before returning to his question. “So what were you doing in my private quarters?”

  “I was looking to speak privately about this next part of our search.”

  “The flintlock?”

  “Yes.”

  “What about it?”

  Aya rubbed her shaved head uncomfortably. “We were instructed to man this ship. To be your crew as you used the boat to look for the pirate's gold. No one said anything about stealing from a museum, putting me and my men at risk.”

  “I wasn't expecting to have to steal anything either.” He was being completely honest, but stealing was becoming a somewhat worrying trend throughout this quest for Admiral Ogden's loot. First he robbed a bank, now it was going to be a museum. He was practically begging to be imprisoned. “But it's the only way to get to that treasure. You were tasked with helping me find it, right? And this is part of that.”

  Aya glared at him. “None of us want to take the risk.”

  “Oh please,” Purdue said, rolling his eyes. It was harsher than he usually was but he didn't need insubordination right now. “You work for a crime boss. You don't think I know what the Wharf Man is all about? Extortion. Smuggling. Probably things much worse th
an that. He's your boss. Risk of arrest is part of your job.”

  Aya glowered at him but he could tell that he struck a chord. He finally made a point that she couldn't brush off or deny.

  “If this goes badly, Purdue, this crew does not forgive easily.”

  “But it does forgive, aye? That's good,” Purdue said, but Aya didn't looked at all amused. “Believe me, this is going to work out just fine for us. Besides, the Bahamas are supposed to beautiful this time of year. Let's try to enjoy it.”

  The red sails of the Scarlet Wing were infamous long before the vessel was the flagship of a pirate fleet. Its crew were notorious cutthroats and thieves who attacked ships and ports so frequently, many wondered if it was out of some sadistic compulsion that need to be satiated.

  Walton Ogden's ability to command such a crew earned him respect from other pirates and fear from just about everyone else. They had gained enough of a reputation that others flocked to them, to join or offer deals of allegiance. All of those others wanted a piece of what the Scarlet Wing was able to obtain. No other ship was as effective at pillaging and plundering. On that ship, with its sails as red as blood, victory was always a guarantee.

  As the crew's numbers grew and they captured vessels to accommodate that growth, they altered the crew to help manage the newfound fleet. Jacob Morrow became captain of the first ship they added to their ranks, the Iron Horn. Having been Ogden's first mate, Morrow was entrusted to make sure that Ogden's commands would be carried out, even when he wasn't on board himself.

  As their fleet grew and each ship was captained by very capable pirates, the important decisions all still came from the Scarlet Wing and from Walton Ogden—who had been proclaimed as an admiral by the nearly dozen ship captains that followed him.