In the background of her engaging voice, Purdue could faintly perceive the creak of the back flap opening and the others steadily getting ready to carry out the Holy Box from Yeha Mountain’s bowels. He could hear Sam and Adjo discuss the weight of the relic, but all he truly heard was Nina’s trailing sentences.
“We all chose to be involved with you long after the checks had cleared, my lad,” she admitted. “And Dr. Beach chose to rescue you because he knew how important you are to the world. My God, Purdue, you are more than a star in the skies of the people who know you. You are the sun, keeping us all steady, warming us and making us flourish in orbit, old boy. It is your magnetic presence that people crave and if I have to die for that privilege, then so be it.”
Patrick did not want to interrupt, but he had a schedule to keep and he inched toward them to signify that it was time to disembark. Purdue did not know how to react to Nina’s words of devotion, but he could see Sam standing in all his rugged glory, arms folded and smiling as if he seconded Nina’s sentiments. “Let’s go do this, Purdue,” Sam grunted zealously. “Let us return their bloody box and get to the Magician.”
“I must confess I want Karsten more,” Purdue revealed bitterly. Sam walked up to him and laid a firm hand on his shoulder. When Nina followed Patrick out behind the Egyptian, Sam shared a special consolation with Purdue in secret.
“I was saving this news for your birthday,” Sam jested, “but I have some information that might put that vengeful side of yours to ease for the moment.”
“What?” Purdue asked, already interested.
“You remember you asked me to record all deals, right? I have been recording all the information we garnered about this entire excursion, as well as the Magician. You do recall that you asked me to keep track of the diamonds your people have purchased and so on,” Sam continued extra carefully to a lower volume of voice, “because you want to plant it in Karsten’s mansion to frame the Black Sun’s main prick, aye?”
“Yes? Yes, yes, what of it? We still have to find a way to do that once we have finished dancing to the whistling Ethiopian authorities, Sam,” Purdue reminded the journalist in snapping words that revealed the stress he was drowning in.
“I remember you saying you want to catch the snake with the hand of your enemy or something to that effect,” Sam clarified. “So I took the liberty of getting that ball rolling for you.”
Purdue’s cheeks flushed with intrigue. “How?” he whispered hard.
“I had a friend – don’t ask – investigate where the Magician’s victims had procured his services from,” Sam shared in hasty gasps before Nina would come looking. “And once my skilled new pal managed to hack into the Austrian’s computer servers, it came to pass that our esteemed friend from the Black Sun apparently invited the obscure alchemist to his home for a lucrative deal.”
Purdue’s face lit up as a crack of a smile appeared.
“All we have to do now is to get the advertised diamond into Karsten’s manor before Wednesday and then we watch the snake get stung by the scorpion while our veins stay clean of venom,” Sam grinned.
“Mr. Cleave, you are a genius,” Purdue smiled, and planted a hefty kiss on Sam’s cheek. Nina, on her way in, stopped in her tracks and folded her arms. Raising her eyebrow, she could only speculate. “Scotsmen. Like wearing skirts aren’t enough to test their masculinity.”
27
Wet Desert
As Sam and Nina packed their Jeep for the trip to Tana Qirkos, Purdue had a word with Adjo about the Ethiopian locals who would escort them into the archaeological dig site behind Mount Yeha. Patrick soon joined them to iron out the details of their delivery, to be made with the least amount of racket.
“I will call Col. Yimenu to let him know when we will arrive at the site. He will just have to be satisfied with that,” Patrick hissed. “As long as he is there when the Holy Box is returned, I don’t see why we have to let him know what side we are coming from.”
“Too right, Paddy,” Sam agreed. “Just remember, whatever Purdue and Adjo’s reputation, you represent the United Kingdom under command of the tribunal. Nobody is allowed to accost of attack anyone there to return the relic.”
“True,” Patrick agreed. “We have international exemption this time, as long as we abide by the conditions of the deal and even Yimenu has to adhere to that.”
“I do like the taste of that apple,” Purdue sighed as he helped Adjo and three of Patrick’s men lift the fake Ark for loading into the military truck they prepared for its transport. “That veteran trigger-monger rubs me the wrong way every time I lay eyes on him.”
“Ah!” Nina exclaimed, pulling up her nose at Purdue. “Now I get it. You are sending me away from Aksum to keep me and Yimenu out of each other’s hair, hey? And you are sending Sam to make sure I don’t get off my leash.”
Sam and Purdue stood side by side, choosing to keep quiet, but Adjo was chuckling and Patrick stepped in between her and the men to save the moment. “It really is best, Nina, don’t you think? I mean, we do need to get the remaining diamonds to the Egyptian Dragon people…”
Sam scoffed, trying not to laugh at Patrick misnaming the poor order of stargazers, but Purdue smiled openly. Patrick looked back at the men in reprimand, before addressing the intimidating little historian again. “They need the stones urgently and with the delivery of the artifact…” he stammered, trying to appease her, but Nina just held up her hand and shook her head. “Leave it, Patrick. Never mind. I’ll go steal something else from this poor country in the name of Britain just to steer clear of a diplomatic nightmare I am bound to conjure if saw that misogynistic imbecile again.”
“We have to go, Effendi,” Adjo told Purdue, thankfully breaking the looming tension with his sobering announcement. “If we take any longer we will not get there on time.”
“Yes! Better get going, all,” Purdue suggested. “Nina, you and Sam will meet up with us here in exactly twenty four hours with the diamonds from the island monastery and then we have to get back to Cairo in record time.”
“Call me a nitpicker,” Nina frowned, “but am I missing something? I thought those diamonds will become the property of the Prof. Imru’s Egyptian Archaeological Society.”
“That was the deal, yes, but my brokers have received a list of stones from Prof. Imru’s people at the society, while Sam and I have been directly in touch with Master Penekal,” Purdue explained.
“Oh God, I smell a double cross,” she said, but Sam grasped her gently by the arm and pulled her away from Purdue with a hearty, “Cheerio, old man! Come, Dr. Gould. We have a crime to commit and very little time to do it in.”
“Geez, the rotten apples of my life,” she groaned as Purdue waved at her.
“Remember to watch the skies!” Purdue jested before he opened the passenger door of the idling old truck. In the back, the relic was being watched by Patrick and his men while Purdue rode shotgun with Adjo at the wheel. The Egyptian engineer was still the best guide to the region and Purdue thought if he drove the vehicle himself, he would not have to give directions.
Under cover of night, the group of men transported the Holy Box toward the dig site at Mount Yeha to return it as soon as possible with as little trouble from enraged Ethiopians as possible. The large muddy colored truck squeaked and roared along the potholed road, heading east toward the famous Aksum, reputed to be the resting place of the Biblical Ark of the Covenant.
Heading southwest, Sam and Nina raced to reach Lake Tana, which would take them no less than seven hours in the Jeep they were provided with.
“Are we doing the right thing, Sam?” she asked as she unwrapped a candy bar. “Or are we just chasing Purdue’s shadow?”
“I heard what you told him in the Hercules, love,” Sam replied. “We are doing this because it is necessary.” He looked at her. “You did mean what you told him, aye? Or did you just want to make him feel less shitty?”
Nina was reluctant to answer, using her chewi
ng as a stalling method.
“I just know one thing,” Sam shared, “and that is that Purdue was tortured by the Black Sun and left for dead…and that alone begs for all systems go for a bloodbath.”
After Nina swallowed down her candy she looked at the stars being born one by one over the unknown horizon they were heading into, wondering how many of those were potentially diabolical. “The nursery rhyme makes more sense now, you know? Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. How I wonder what you are,” she mused.
“Never thought about it that way, actually, but there is some mystery to it. You’re right. Also, wishing upon a falling star,” he added, looking at the beautiful Nina sucking at her fingertips to savor the chocolate. “It makes you think why a falling star would have the power to make your wishes come true, like a genie.”
“And you know how evil those fuckers really are, right? If you base your desires on the supernatural, you are bound to get your ass kicked, I reckon. You are not supposed to use the fallen angels, or demons, whatever the hell people sum them up as, to feed your greed. That is why anyone using…” She went quiet. “Sam, is that the rule you and Purdue are applying to Prof. Imru or to Karsten?”
“What rule? There is no rule,” he defended blandly, his eyes fixed on the difficult road in the growing darkness.
“That Karsten’s greed would be his downfall, perhaps, using the Magician and King Solomon’s diamonds to rid the world of him?” she guessed, sounding awfully certain of herself. It was time for Sam to come clean. The feisty historian was no fool, and above that, she was part of their team, so she deserved to know what was going on between Purdue and Sam and let in on what they were hoping to achieve.
Nina napped for about three hours straight. Sam did not complain, even though he was totally knackered, fighting to stay awake on the monotonous road that looked like a crater with bad acne, at best. By eleven o’clock, the stars stood out in pristine glamour against the untainted skies, but Sam was too busy admiring the wetlands flanking the dirt road they were driving toward the lake.
“Nina?” he said, rousing her as gently as possible.
“We th—, we there yet?” she murmured in a daze.
“Almost,” he replied, “but I need you to see something.”
“Sam, I am in no mood for your juvenile sexual advances right now,” she frowned, still croaking like an animated mummy.
“No, I’m serious,” he persisted. “Look. Just have a look out your window and tell me if you see what I see.”
Laboriously she obliged. “I see darkness. It is the middle of the night.”
“The moon is full, so it is not completely dark. Tell me what you notice about the landscape,” he pressed urgently. Sam sounded confused and upset at the same time, something quite uncharacteristic about him, so Nina knew it had to be important. She looked more keenly, trying to see what he was referring to. It was not until she remembered that Ethiopia was mainly an arid and desert landscape that she realized what he meant.
“We are driving through water?” she asked carefully. Then the full punch of the oddity hit her and she exclaimed, “Sam, why are we driving through water?”
The Jeep’s tires were wet, although the road was not flooded. On both sides of the gravel road, the moon illuminated the creeping shallows that rippled in the mild wind. Since the road was slightly elevated above the surrounding harsh ground, it had not yet been immersed as much as the rest of the vicinity.
“We are not supposed to be,” Sam shrugged. “As far as I know, this country is known for drought and the landscape is supposed to be bone dry, right?”
“Wait,” she said, flicking on the roof light to check the map Adjo gave them. “Let me see, where are we now?”
“Just passed Gondar about fifteen minutes ago,” he answered. “We should be close to Addis Zemen now, which is another fifteen minutes or so to Wereta, our destination before we boat on the lake.”
“Sam, this road is about 17 km away from the lake!” she gasped after measuring the distance between the road and the nearest water body. “There is no way that this could be the lake’s water. Could it?”
“Nope,” Sam agreed. “But what gets me is that, according to Adjo and Purdue’s preliminary research for this two-day scavenge, this region has not had any rain in over two months! So I would like to know, where the hell the lake gets the extra water to floor this fucking road.”
“This is,” she shook her head, unable to figure it out, “un…natural.”
“You do know what this means, right?” Sam sighed. “We will have to get to the monastery entirely by water.”
Nina did not seem too unhappy about the new developments. “I think it is a good thing. Moving entirely in the water has its perks, because it will be less conspicuous than doing the tourist thing.”
“How do you mean?” he asked.
“I propose we procure a canoe in Wereta and make a whole trip of it from there,” she suggested. “No changing of transport. No meeting with locals to do so, either, see? We get a canoe, slap on some robes and bring the Word to our diamond-hoarding brothers.”
Sam smiled in the pale roof light.
“What?” she asked, equally amused.
“No, nothing. I just like your new found criminal integrity, Dr. Gould. We must be wary not to lose you to the Dark Side completely,” he chuckled.
“Oh, fuck off,” she smiled. “I am here to get the job done. Besides, you know how I detest religion. Besides, what the fuck are these monks harboring diamonds for anyway?”
“Good point,” Sam conceded. “Can’t wait to raid a bunch of humble, gentle people of the last wealth their world has.” As he had feared, Nina did not care for his sarcasm and she answered with an even toned, “Aye.”
“By the way, who is going to give us a canoe at one in the morning, Dr. Gould?” Sam asked.
“Nobody, I suppose, so we will just have to borrow one. It will be a good five hours before they rise to notice that it is gone. By that time we will be picking off the monks, right?” she ventured.
“Godless,” he smiled, bringing the Jeep down a gear to navigate the tricky potholes obscured by the strange tide of water. “Absolutely godless, you are.”
28
Grave Robbing 101
By the time they reached Wereta, the Jeep threatened to sink under three feet of water. The road had disappeared a few miles back, but they soldiered on to get to the edge of the lake. Cover of night was imperative to their success to sneak onto Tana Qirkos before too many people frequented their path.
“We will have to stop, Nina,” Sam sighed hopelessly. “What worries me is how we will get back to the rendezvous point if the Jeep drowns.”
“Worries for another time,” she replied, resting her hand against Sam’s cheek. “For now we must get the job done. Just take it one feat at a time, otherwise we will, excuse the pun, drown in concern and fuck up the mission.”
Sam could not argue with that. She was right, and her suggestion made perfect sense, not to get overwhelmed before a solution could present itself. He halted the vehicle at the entrance of the town in the early morning hours, from where they would proceed to find a boat of sorts to reach the island as soon as possible. It was a long way to go to even reach the lake banks, let alone rafting to reach the island.
In town, there was chaos. Houses were disappearing under rising water, but most cried ‘witchcraft’, because there was no rain to cause the flooding. Sam asked one of the locals, sitting on the steps of the town hall, where to get a canoe. The man refused to speak to the tourists until Sam whipped out a roll of Ethiopian birr to pay with.
“Power outages struck in the days leading up to the floods, he told me,” Sam told Nina. “All the power lines collapsed an hour ago, to exacerbate things. These people started evacuating in earnest a few hours before already, so they knew this was going to get bad.”
“Poor buggers. Sam, we have to stop this. Whether it really is an alchemist with special skills doi
ng all this is still a bit far-fetched, but we should do our best to stop the fucker before the whole world is destroyed,” Nina said. “Just in case he somehow has the ability to employ transmutation to enable natural disasters.”
With compact satchels on their backs, they followed the willing loner a few blocks away to the College of Agriculture, all three wading through the knee-high water. Around them residents were still trudging along, shouting warnings and suggestions to one another as some tried to save their homes while others wished to escape to a higher escarpment. The man who led Sam and Nina finally stopped short of a large warehouse on the campus grounds and pointed to a workshop.
“There, that is the metal workshop where we do classes for construction and building farming equipment. Maybe you can find one of the tankwa kept by the biologists in the shed, mister. They use it to take samples at the lake,” the young man informed them.
“Tan—?” Sam tried to repeat.
“Tankwa,” the young man smiled. “A boat we make of um, pa-p…papyrus? It grows in the lake and we have been making boats from it since our forefathers,” he explained.
“And you? Where are you going through all this?” Nina asked him.
“I am waiting for my sister and her husband, ma’am,” he replied. “We are all going east on foot to a family farm, trying to get away from the water.”
“Well, be safe, okay?” Nina said.
“You as well,” the young man said as he started back hastily to the stairs of the town hall where they had found him. “Good luck!”
After an uncomfortable few minutes of gaining entry into the little warehouse, they finally came upon something worth the trouble. Sam pulled Nina long through the water, lighting the way with his flashlight.
“You know, it is a godsend that it isn’t raining as well,” she whispered.
Order of the Black Sun Box Set 6 Page 53
