Once again, Amaro paused to determine how best to approach his response. “I've never said anything about it being the police.”
You said the word 'we' so I just assumed...”
“You assumed wrongly,” Inspector Amaro said calmly. “The 'we' I was referring to...well...as I said, it is very complicated. But then again, everything with the Order of the Black Sun always is, no matter what new, almighty leader is in charge of the group.”
Nina couldn't believe what she was hearing. Inspector Amaro was talking about the Order of the Black Sun so casually, like he knew all about them. As far as she knew, he only had a vague notion of the secret society after their interactions in Rome. Had he been researching and investigating more about it? Was he trying to learn all he could about Nina and her friends after their Roman misadventure? She wouldn't put that past him. He seemed like the obsessive type who wouldn't stop fixating on something until he knew everything that he possibly could about it. That was probably what made him such an impressive investigator.
“I am going to speak very honestly with you, Dr. Gould...and the honest truth is...I haven't been entirely honest with you. The contradictory irony of those statements doesn't escape me. I don't like patting myself on the back but I'm sure you have noticed that someone like me, someone with a mind like mine, probably seems somewhat wasted working for just a police department. So, sometimes and quite often, I find that the work that really stimulates my mind comes from outside of my everyday occupation, outside of the badge and the sirens.”
Inspector Amaro was just like she remembered from Rome. He liked to speak in vague riddles and took forever to reach an actual point. Part of him probably enjoyed hearing himself talk and maybe part of him even enjoyed how others squirmed when he planted ideas into their minds. He seemed to get off on showing his deduction skills in even the most domestic and casual of circumstances.
“Do you have a point?” Nina finally asked, tired of listening to him babble on in circles. She took a long sip of her coffee. “How about this? You need to be done with whatever it is you have to say by the time I finish this coffee.”
“Of course, of course,” Amaro said but looked pleased to know that he struck a chord. “My apologies, Dr. Gould. I sometimes find a tangent and follow it all the way to its long end. The point that I am trying to make is simply this...I don't just work for the police. My job is not relegated to the boundaries of the great big boot of Italy. No, my real work takes me all over. I get to meet all kinds of fascinating people, fascinating people like yourself.”
“I've never really been one to swoon over flattery,” Nina said. “So please wrap this up.”
“I suspect your friend David Purdue told you about a group of people that are conspiring against the Order of the Black Sun.”
Nina was completely taken aback once again. Since sitting across from her just minutes prior, Inspector Amaro had already surprised her multiple times in their brief conversation. What he was talking about—what he was implying—it couldn't be possible. How would he know anything about the group Purdue was trying to learn about? How did he know anything about any of it? Where was he getting all of this information?
“I am going to tell you that your friend, Mr. Purdue, is not delusional or paranoid. The group he is searching for exists. They are very, very real.”
“And how do you know that?”
Inspector Amaro held out his arms like he was about to bow. “I am a part of that group, of course.”
Nina got to her feet, nearly knocking her chair onto the floor. She wasn't sure what to do but her brain was deciding between running or beating this creep to a pulp. He wasn't just some odd detective she crossed paths with, he was one of their new enemies, and his arrival in that cafe was now confirmed to definitely not being a coincidence.
Inspector Amaro looked up at her with the utmost calmness. “I understand your reaction. Please, sit back down. This is a lot to take in, I'm aware, and we are not finished speaking.”
Nina's jaw clenched and she held back the urge to throttle the detective. “We're not done speaking? And what makes you think that?”
Inspector Amaro tapped the rim of her coffee mug on the table with his index finger. He looked up at her and shrugged. “You haven't finished your coffee yet. Now please. Sit. I will tell you all about our intrepid group.”
Nina was struggling to process everything she just learned from Inspector Amaro. It was like someone had pried open her eyes and now she could see the truth that was just out of sight before, all the little details that lingered on the edge of her view.
“Why all the games? Why pretend to be helping me in Rome as a detective instead of just telling me who you really were and what you wanted?”
“Obviously that would have just complicated the issue. We needed to be working together to get the sword and bring down the Third Triumvirate. You didn't quite let me help you so I couldn't quite accomplish my initial plan.”
“So that's why you wanted Caesar's sword after I found it. It wasn't about safeguarding Roman history or any of that shit you tried to feed me. You were going to bring it back to your secret friends, that group that you're so proud to be part of.”
“We all do things in the name of camaraderie and friendship, don't we?”
“So it's true...Purdue's been barely sleeping trying to find your group, trying to figure out what you want...but instead, you just come waltzing up to me with the truth. Why would you do that? Why now? Why me? Why not Purdue?”
“Because you're worthy of the information, Dr. Gould. You are among the very few. Secret societies are supposed to be secret. That is an art form that has tragically been lost on the people of today. So many people tell the whole world everything that they know. People speak far too much when they shouldn't.”
“So this secret society of yours...what is it called?”
Inspector Amaro just snickered. “What is it called? What does it matter what it is called? It remains nameless. A name devalues the whole principle of having a confidential collective of minds wouldn't you say? Naming a group like that is just about feeding ego, a pretentious tradition. Why name something that only a few trusted individuals should even know exists? Surely, they can remember what the group is without branding it with some awful name. The pomposity of it all. Take you and your friends in the grand Order of the Black Sun for example. The name doesn't really mean much does it? Does it change anything? No. Not really. It's just a grandiose way for a group of people to feel important. Do you feel important, Dr. Gould?”
Inspector Amaro sure liked to hear himself talk.
“I wasn't just trying to help you in Rome. No, I was observing you, reporting back anything of value that I found and do you want to know what I found? A whole lot of value. You are too good to be caught up in all of David Purdue's incompetent drama, Dr. Gould. You clearly always have been.”
“You were spying on me?”
“No, no, nothing as crass as that. I simply paid attention when I interacted with you. I pride myself on my ability to read people. I've always been a rather observant individual. It's the big picture that sometimes overwhelms my senses.”
She recalled the small notebook that Inspector Amaro often pulled out of his jacket to make some scribbles on. It occurred to her how often he seemed to do that when they were speaking—no, when she was speaking. He was jotting down his observations, taking notes on her to give to his superiors. She couldn't believe how obvious it was now that something was off during that time. He might as well have been holding up a giant camera to her face and recording her.
“And why did this super-secret unnamed club of yours want you to take notes on me?”
“To see if you would be a good fit.”
“A good fit?”
“A good fit to join our ranks, of course. I saw how successful you were in finding the lost sword of Julius Caesar, something that no one had ever been able to do after two thousand years. I saw how you overcame the obstacle of the Third Tr
iumvirate, people that probably would have killed anyone else that got in their way. You are far more gifted than you give yourself credit for, and that David Purdue has given you credit for. You are special, Nina. We all see it. Even the greatest of us...she sees it too.”
Nina remembered what Purdue had said after they first caught wind of this group that was operating in the shadows. That man that nearly killed them back in Mongolia—the one who revealed the existence of this group—mentioned an old lady and according to Purdue, so had the imprisoned Julian Corvus. Whoever this elderly woman was, she had to be important to merit those particular mentions. She was the one strand that weaved through the rest of the vague information that was plaguing Purdue's mind back in the compound.
Nina decided to just go for it. “Who is she?”
“Someone who has seen much and wants the world to see even more. She was impressed by everything she heard about you, including the observations I made during our brief time together in Rome. She sent me here to deliver the invitation. She would love the chance to be able to speak with you.”
This couldn't be happening. The longer this conversation went, the more vital information she was uncovering. Purdue was probably still slaving away in his office, trying to get even a crumb of real information about these enemies, and here she was, having so much more information willingly handed over to her. This whole thing was just a pitch to convince her to join, she understood that, which made her a little anxious about what would happen when she declined this offer to join them. It wouldn't be anything good, especially after they filled her head with so much intelligence about them. If she didn't join them, she was just a liability. She would just have to cross that bridge when she got there.
She didn't want to just abandon the assignment that Purdue had given her but it wasn't exactly crucial to anyone's survival. She would be much more useful learning all she could about the Order of the Black Sun's new opponent. She was sure Purdue would forgive her if she came back with good news about his invisible foe.
“Okay,” Nina said. “I'll meet with her.”
8
FINDING SOMETHING INVISIBLE
David Purdue hadn't gone to visit Mama May in quite some time; not since he had taken over the Order of the Black Sun. The fortune-teller was in her quiet little home in the French Quarter of New Orleans, as always, waiting to deliver her predictions and prophecies to anyone that was willing to listen. There were many people claiming to be psychic in a spooky place like the swamps of Louisiana but most of those people were just frauds and charlatans. Mama May was the real deal; Purdue had seen her gifts firsthand when she warned him of the grave future that was awaiting him. Her warnings had helped him overcome the worst part of his life and were essential to his eventual victory over Julian Corvus and his takeover of the Black Sun.
He entered the home quietly, as always, and found Mama May sitting in front of the fire just like she had been the first two times he visited her. She was facing away from him but Purdue knew that she could see him very clearly anyway.
“I have not seen you for some time,” Mama May said. “I thought you had forgotten old Mama May or maybe you didn't need to hear what I had to say anymore. Or maybe you were dead, and had fallen to the future I saw might happen.”
That was the key to Mama May's predictions. Just like her name implied and as she liked to say, she only saw what may happen, not what was guaranteed to happen. She saw a possible future, but it wasn't definitive by any means. That was something Purdue liked since no matter how dire the future sounded when she talked about it, there was a chance it might not be as bad as she said it would be.
“Aye, I made it out alive,” Purdue said, walking over to her couch across from her. “More than alive, really.”
“Yes...” Mama May said, still staring at the fire. “Much more than just alive. You are flourishing. You have taken the end I saw for you, and turned it into something else, carved a path when there was none. You are now of the people you once called foes.”
“I beat the people that destroyed my life, aye,” Purdue said. “And then I made sure they could never do it to anyone else...the only way I knew how.”
“By becoming them.”
Purdue chuckled. “We're not the same as them. We've only kept the name, their base of operations, and the artifacts they had really.”
“I am sure you have heard the term slippery slope...and you, David Purdue, are walking one...right at this very moment. To take another's name is to associate yourself with everything they have done, everything they were, are, and could be. By taking their home, you are living how they lived, sleeping where they slept. And by taking what was theirs, you are taking ownership of what was not yours to take. You are much more like them than you realize.”
Purdue didn't know how Mama May knew so much, but he knew better than to try to ask. She was extremely well-informed for an old lady that never left her living room. Her sixth sense must have been reading him as easily as a book to know all about the things she was talking about. The scariest part was whether or not she had a point with what she was telling him.
“We're different,” Purdue said. “The Order of the Black Sun isn't what it used to be anymore. We've made it a force for positive change, not the collection of manipulative megalomaniacs that it used to be. We're trying to protect the history of the world, not pervert it like they used to.”
“That is good,” Mama May said, but didn't sound overly convinced. “Then you have all of your things in order in your mind, hmm? So why come to me then? The ones who come to me are lost, looking for answers, just like you once were. You have found a new place, a new purpose. Why come now?”
“You're right,” Purdue said. “Things are for the most part going well...except that there's something else now. Well...more than that even. One of my friends is trying to figure out one of them, but I know that I'm the only one that can prepare us for the other. But I'll need your help.”
“Stop being vague, child,” Mama May said. “That is my job.”
“I've been given reason to believe that there's a threat out there that could ruin everything that I've been trying to fix. The problem is, I know very little about them...next to nothing...they're like smoke and I'm just trying to catch them with my bare hands.”
“That sounds difficult,” Mama May said. “But let's see what we can do for you, hmm?”
Mama May pulled out the thin blade that she always did at the start of her visions. It was something he had gotten used to. She wasn't going to hurt anyone with it—not really, it was just a way to help her read the story of someone's future. She needed to see some of someone's inside before she was able to make a real connection to see their outsides.
Just like before, she sliced open Purdue's palm. He probably still had a scar on that hand from the last time she did it too. Mama May took Purdue's hand with her own, clutching it tight so blood started to come out and droplets splashed onto the tablecloth in front of the psychic. This part of the ritual used to freak Purdue out but he was more than used to it by now.
The first time Purdue spoke to Mama May, she had correctly predicted that he was going to face a heavy loss, including losing the fortune that he was so accustomed to at the time. He remembered how terrified he had been by her display as she screamed out uncontrollably, “riches to rags!” It was more than a little alarming but he regrettably still hadn't taken her warnings as seriously as he should have. During the time when he had literally nothing and was barely surviving on the streets, he thought a lot about her prophecy and how he should have been more careful to heed it.
However, Mama May also helped him figure out how to take on Julian Corvus after Julian had taken everything from him. It was Mama May that pointed out that Purdue had an advantage during that time since Julian thought Purdue was dead.
Her words of wisdom might not always be what was exactly going to happen, but those words should always be considered at the very least.
Mama
May chanted her incantations and prayers as she clutched his hand more tightly. That part always hurt but Purdue ignored the pain. He knew what his threshold was and how far Mama May would go by now. The pain was just a side effect from the procedure, but it was nothing worth crying over. She closed her eyes and continued to mutter the spell that she was using to see into the future. He could feel the tension tighten in her hand and he could practically feel the psychic connection being made between them. Soon enough, she would catch the glimpses of his future that he needed, and maybe even more. Her lips trembled and she finally spoke.
“Yes, I see the smoke. It is thick, and reeks of death. The smoke is lingering nearby. It is behind you. It is beneath you. It is in front of you. It is all around you. You are in the very middle of it. You can't see it but the smoke is everywhere.”
Purdue felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. He didn't like the sound of any of that. He didn't like it at all. It just confirmed what he already feared: that these unseen enemies were influencing everything.
“I see them. I see them. I see them. They are not just hidden in the haze, no they are the haze. They are clouding everything, touching everything. There are many of them. So much smoke.”
“How many?”
Mama May trembled. “Perhaps too many, child. Too, too many. But the numbers are just her appendage. They are just a tool to expand her singular reach.”
“Whose reach?”
“The one that they serve. The one creating all of this smoke. The one that sits in a chair at the center of the haze. She looks...” Mama May winced. “She is decayed, both in body and mind. Yes, decayed. She has had many tears to shape the world, many decades.”
“She's old.” It was just a guess based on the little Purdue already knew. One of the only bits of information that he had been able to gather about this new threat was that there was someone referred to as the Old Lady. He just wanted confirmation that it was indeed the case.
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