“It was dated yesterday,” Logan said, looking up at each of them in turn. “He must have written it just before he…”
“Well, what’s it say, Logan?” Jason prompted, lifting the bottle of vodka to his mouth. He still looked shaken and a little gray, as if his blood wasn’t quite making it up to his brain.
Logan’s hands shook as he read Perry’s letter aloud in a halting voice.
Logan,
I’m certain that by the time you read this, I will be dead. How, I cannot say. Perhaps I will be shot, or perhaps poisoned or stabbed. I’ve no idea how hired guns go about the business of killing these days. What I do know is that Ethan Wilder will not allow me to live much longer.
I know that Seti is with you. I know all about the curse and how true it is, Logan. Seti’s curse is the reason I’d kept the sarcophagus hidden for fifty years – we were waiting for Seti to return. Unfortunately, it seems our calculations of the end date of the curse were flawed.
There were only five men on the face of the earth who knew that Seti’s sarcophagus rested in the Dungeon. If I am dead, then Ethan will have had the others killed as well. There is no sense in sullying their names. I will take their identities with me to the grave.
It was our plan to capture Seti once he revived and use his blood to discover the secret of his immortality. It was our firm belief that the curse would have altered his DNA, allowing him to return to life after five thousand years. We wanted that mutated DNA for ourselves. We wanted immortality.
I understand now that I was played as a patsy from the very beginning. Ethan never intended for me - or the others - to live to see Seti returned from the dead. I wasted my life protecting a secret from which I would never profit. I gave up my family, my health, and finally, my life, for it.
I was a fool, and I am sorry that I ever agreed to it in the first place. I’ve ruined careers and treated people badly – you included. All I can do now is try to make amends by warning you.
Know this, Logan. Ethan Wilder will stop at nothing to get his hands on Seti. Newly awake, Seti will know little of this world. He may become unbalanced by the shock of all the changes that have occurred, or he may adapt easily. I have spent hours instructing him on history and our language, but have no idea if he actually heard or understood anything I said. Also, there is no way of telling how well he will absorb the distress of his rejuvenation. You must protect him, Logan. Don’t let Ethan get him. Don’t let that bastard win.
Let Seti live in the peace he could not find in death.
“It’s signed ‘Sincerely, Lincoln Perry,’” Logan finished.
“Wow. Ethan Wilder! That’s big, Logan. Huge,” Leo said. He took a swig from the bottle of vodka before passing it to Chris. “He’s loaded, as in stinking, filthy rich, and he has more power than God. I’m not sure that you want to get involved with him.”
“Are you kidding? This letter is Perry’s confession! It completely absolves Logan of any involvement,” Chris said, frowning at Leo. “This is outstanding news, Logan! We need to take the letter to the police. Perry’s named his killer! It’ll get you off the hook for everything!”
“Yeah, I guess I could say that it was delivered to me here,” Logan said, staring at the letter he held. “After all, it was, in a way.” He looked pale, and his hands were still shaking.
“Logan, are you well?” Seti asked. “Whoever this Ethan Wilder is, I will not allow him to hurt you.”
“I’m fine, Seti. It’s been a helluva day,” Logan said, waving a dismissive hand at Seti. “First, I hook up with a guy who’s older than – and until recently was just as inanimate as - dirt up to twelve hours ago, but is suddenly alive and kicking, and then the man I worked for is murdered. Now, to top it all off, I’m probably a suspect in his murder, and have a – if all accounts are accurate – rich, septuagenarian super villain out to get me. Just another day in the life of,” he sighed.
“Ethan Wilder is nobody you want to mess with, Seti,” Leo insisted. “He’s got the kind of power that can put a real hurt on you. Look at what he did to Perry!”
Seti snorted. “I fear no one.”
“Yeah? So said three-quarters of the dead heroes in history,” Chris said, rolling his eyes at Seti’s bravado.
“Look, this letter is Logan’s best chance at completely clearing himself,” Jason interjected. “Logan is right. For all we know the police might have him earmarked as a suspect in the murder, since he was the last one to see Perry alive. Besides, you heard what Perry wrote in that letter. Wilder is going to come looking for Seti. He’s probably started already. They can’t stay holed up in this apartment forever. Eventually, Wilder will find them, and then what?”
“I still think it’s a bad idea to go to the police. Wilder has really deep pockets, Jason. What if he has the police department in his wallet? What will happen to Logan then?” Leo argued. “We shouldn’t make any rash decisions. We should at least sleep on it.”
“Tomorrow then. We’ll give the cops a chance to find Perry’s body, gather evidence, and then decide what to do,” Jason said.
Even Chris agreed. “Yeah. We need to wait at least until after they announce that they’ve discovered the body. We should watch the news. For all we know, there was evidence at the scene that might lead police to Perry’s killer without Logan ever having to get involved.”
Logan looked down at the letter he held again. “I don’t know whether to pity Perry or be pissed off at him. I thought he was a bastard when I worked for him, but it looks as though I seriously underestimated him. How evil does a man need to be to wait fifty fucking years for the opportunity to kill someone you don’t even know? And all for personal greed.”
“The quest for the Grail has always been seductive,” Chris said. “Evidently, Perry and his friends thought that Seti’s blood holds the key to immortality. The secret to living forever is a powerful motivator, Logan. Historically, it’s often made men do abominable things.”
“Wait…” Leo said, looking at Seti askance. “You’re immortal? How? Are you like a vampire or are you more like Dorian Gray? Do you need to suck blood? Or is the secret in that pretentious bit of bling you’ve got around your neck?” he asked, pointing to the golden torc that graced Seti’s throat.
“Bling?” Seti asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Ignore him, Seti,” Jason said, flicking Leo’s ear with two fingers. “He’s a little loopy, not to mention slow on the uptake.”
“For a group of so-called scientists, their theorem was seriously flawed, anyway.” Chris said, shaking his head. “They assumed Seti to be immortal, and yet planned to kill him to get the secret of his longevity. How do you kill an immortal? That’s an oxymoron if ever there was one. Besides, there is nothing to substantiate the conclusion that Seti is immortal, anyway.”
“He did live for over five thousand years,” Leo insisted. “That’s pretty fucking immortal in my book.”
“He was cursed and mummified, then rejuvenated. There’s a definite distinction between forced hibernation and living forever. There are no facts in evidence that support the claim that Seti can’t die,” Chris argued haughtily. “And unless you want to try putting a bullet in him, there’s no way to prove it, either.”
“Yeah? What about that little show he put on with the water from the fish tank? That wasn’t computer graphic imagery, you know. No CGI that I’ve ever heard of leaves wet spots on the wall and floor,” Leo said, nodding toward the fish tank.
“Whatever power he manifests doesn’t suggest in any way that he can’t die,” Chris countered. “Just because Copperfield can make an elephant seem to disappear doesn’t make him Peter Pan.”
“There’s a difference between illusion and magic,” Leo insisted. “What Seti did was magic.”
“Magic isn’t synonymous with immortality,” Chris sniffed.
Leo glared at Chris, frustrated. “You are a stubborn asshole.”
“Well, that’s as irrefutable and earth-shattering a
scientific deduction as I’ve ever heard,” Jason laughed. “Congratulations, Leo. You’ve won the Nobel. Besides, Perry’s letter never once said they planned to kill Seti. Only that they planned to use his blood to discover his secrets.”
Seti looked irritated as the debate raged between Logan’s friends. Finally, he huffed as if exasperated then bent down, scooping Logan up into his arms. “I am weary. We will rest now,” he said, turning his back on Jason, Leo, and Chris. Ignoring Logan’s protests, he carried Logan into the bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him.
***
“Well, somebody’s a little grumpy,” Leo said, staring at the closed bedroom door.
“Once again you’ve overlooked the obvious question, Leo,” Chris said, turning to look at Jason. “They’re sleeping together?”
“Guess so,” Jason grinned.
“Logan is such a lucky bastard,” Leo sighed. “Did you get a load of the six pack Seti’s got stashed under that t-shirt?”
“I hadn’t noticed,” Chris mumbled.
“Yeah, right. That t-shirt is tight enough for you to see his spleen, but you didn’t notice,” Leo said. “I was watching you. Your eyes never it made higher than his neck, and often not higher than his belly button.” He sighed again. “And I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts that he’s not wearing underwear. Things were looking up below his waistband. Big things. Huge things-”
Chris elbowed Leo. “We get it.”
“We’re not, but evidently Logan is,” Leo laughed. “Getting it, I mean.”
Jason and Chris both swatted Leo on the arm. “Shut up, Leo,” they said in unison.
“I don’t care if Logan is a prime murder suspect or if Ethan Wilder is gunning for him,” Leo said wistfully, “I’d still love to be in his loafers right about now.” He grabbed the vodka bottle from Chris and took another long swallow as he stared at the bedroom door.
For once, Jason and Chris could not find fault with Leo’s logic. They sighed in unison, nodding in agreement. Reluctantly, Jason flicked on the television set, changing the channel to CNN and turning up the sound.
The weatherman was standing in front of a large map, talking about the next day’s cold front as small, animated storm clouds drifted across it. His deep voice with its studied newscaster monotone echoed in the apartment.
“Don’t you think that’s a little loud?” Chris asked, raising his voice to be heard over the volume of the television. “I’m not hard of hearing and I’d like to keep it that way.”
Jason cast another look at the closed bedroom door. “I have the distinct feeling that things are going to get noisy in there. I, for one, don’t get my kicks by being an auditory voyeur – at least not when the moans and groans are Logan’s.”
Chris looked back and forth between Jason and the bedroom, then reached for the remote and turned the sound up another notch.
Chapter Twelve
Ethan sat at his huge, intricately carved mahogany desk, staring out the windows at the city’s lights when his private line rang. He snatched the phone from the receiver before it could ring twice.
“Speak,” he said, without preamble. He listened intently as the voice on the other end of the line told him what news of Seti was to be had.
Ethan had set the detectives on Seti’s trail as soon as he’d received Perry’s phone call that Seti and Ashton had gone missing from the Museum. It hadn’t taken them long at all to trace them to Ashton’s friend’s apartment.
“Are you certain of what you’ve seen?”
“Yes, sir,” Joe said. “They’re faggots, alright. There was only one man at home when Ashton and Seti arrived. They weren’t in the apartment for ten minutes before the two of them went into the bedroom, took off their clothes, and did things that would peel paint. Then, this morning Ashton’s other friends came in and they talked for a while before taking off, leaving Ashton and Seti alone, and the two of them got cozy again. Now their friends came running back into the apartment house like their asses were on fire.”
“Where are they now?”
“In the apartment – all five of them,” Joe said. “They were standing in the living room, waving their arms at each other like they were having an argument. Now Ashton and Seti are back in the bedroom.
“Oh, we got names of Ashton’s friends, by the way. Thought you’d want to know. There’s Jason Levy, whose name is on the lease of the apartment. Chris Sexton and Leo DeBarry are the other two guys. All of them are grad students. Levy has an internship at Sloan-Kettering. The other two are unemployed as of the moment.”
“Good work.”
“Boss, how much longer do you want us to wait? We could move in now, take them by surprise-”
“Do nothing until you hear from me, do you understand? Nothing. I will not risk losing Seti because you two imbeciles were impatient.”
“Yeah, sure, boss. Whatever you say.”
Ethan Wilder’s eyes narrowed as he hung up the telephone and considered his options. Perry had been taken out of the equation. The assassin Ethan had hired was notoriously efficient and expeditious in carrying out his orders – it was his reputation for being quick and deadly that had convinced Ethan to pay the price he had demanded without question. Ethan’s assassin had taken care of Perry with the same efficiency with which he’d killed the other three members of the team in Florida.
Perry’s body had not yet been discovered. There had been no word from any of the moles Ethan had planted at the Museum, and there had been nothing about his murder on the news. The authorities, at any rate, hadn’t yet found the body.
But where could Ashton’s friends have gone, and what would have made them flee back to the apartment with such speed? Could it be that they had been nosing around in the Dungeon on Ashton’s behalf? Trying to seek information from Perry about Seti? It was possible.
If they had, then they’d stumbled across Perry’s remains. That presented another set of problems for Wilder. Three more witnesses who would need to be erased. Three more killings, three more significantly hefty checks that Ethan would need to write.
Ethan Wilder had not amassed his fortune by being a spendthrift. He’d already paid through the nose for four killings and had no intention of paying for any more. At least, not at the price he’d been charged for offing Perry and the others.
These were four lowly graduate students. Intelligent, perhaps, but not smart enough or lucky enough to dodge a bullet, no matter whose gun fired it. He could easily have the detectives he’d hired to snatch Seti take care of Ashton’s friends at the same time, and it would only cost Ethan a fraction of what Perry’s killer had charged.
He smiled, nodding to himself. One problem solved.
Ethan rose from his desk and made his way across his office to the wall-to-wall bookcase that graced one side of it. His hip throbbed as it usually did when he’d sat for too long. A hip replacement had been performed five years ago and its legacy of aches and pains was a constant reminder to Ethan of his mortality. Each twinge reminded him that death was just around the corner and that his time was swiftly running out.
Not that he’d need to worry about death for much longer.
Reaching for his leather bound copy of translations of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, he pulled it halfway from the shelf. There was a slight grinding noise before a large section of the bookcase swung open, revealing a hidden room.
Ethan grinned as he always did when he opened the secret panel. It had been an indulgence that had cost him plenty, but it had been worth every penny he’d paid and necessary in order to keep his plans secret. He always felt a bit like Indiana Jones when he slid behind the dark mahogany bookcase into the laboratory he’d had set up behind it. Perhaps a cross between Indiana Jones and Baron von Frankenstein was more apt, he chuckled to himself, eyeing the pristine counters and cabinets and the expensive, highly sophisticated scientific equipment that filled the room.
A centrifuge, an electron microscope, a titration calorimeter, a vortex mixer,
a laminar flow cabinet, a state of the art mainframe computer, and myriad other shiny new toys sat covered in transparent plastic sheeting, waiting for the moment that Ethan got his hands on Seti. In the exact center of the room was a hospital bed, equipped with steel handcuffs and leg manacles.
The last, most crucial piece of equipment had yet to arrive. Ethan had retained the services of one of the best in the field of DNA research, Dr. Gupta-Patel, who had once done highly specialized, groundbreaking work with the Human Genome Project.
As soon as Ethan received the call that Seti had been captured, he would book a flight to the United States for Patel. Then the tests would begin, and Ethan would finally realize his dream. His destiny.
He would become immortal.
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