The Vault of Hercules (Order of the Black Sun Book 16)

by P. W. Child

  “Close the fucking door!” Hastings shouted, but Mario stood fast a moment too long. His boss planted a bullet between his eyes and he dropped lifelessly to the floor. “I said, close the fucking door!”

  Three men darted to remove the corpse and shut the door. Hastings gathered up his coat and his guns.

  “We’ll have to carry on this meeting somewhere else, Mr. Krakow,” he announced with obvious regret in his voice.” I was really in a hurry to close this deal tonight. I need more girls by Friday and we’re already behind for the order to Amsterdam.”

  That was all Paddy needed on his wire. He turned his head toward the men in the room and shouted, “Sam! Get down!” Sam caught his breath and collapsed immediately, listening to the chaos ensuing. Gunshots rang all around him, men fell on him as the bullets of the Task Force ripped through them. Sam felt the sting of shattering glass cut his hands and face as a mighty explosion thundered to his left.

  Only when he felt Paddy's hand grasp him, did he open his eyes and look up. “Come Sam! Hurry!”

  “Holy shit!” Sam growled at the sights around him. In a matter of seconds the small and lavish smoky room had been transformed into a war zone. Dead bodies, blood spatter, and smoke filled the room from wall to wall. On his left where he’d heard the explosion, Sam realized that the task force had ripped the entire wall down with an armored vehicle, demolishing it completely to gain access and get Paddy out. Sam ran after his friend, stumbling wildly over the debris and electrical wires to get out of the burning building.

  In his wake he heard the final exchange of bullets before the last gang members were gunned down. Only two men had surrendered to MI6, and Hastings had been arrested. Sam's plan had failed and he was no closer to locating Valdi or the girls, but he decided to use this chance to relay all the information he had on the kidnappings to Special Agent Patrick Smith, the man he simply called Paddy.

  Chapter 19

  “Still nothing?” Purdue asked. “I must admit, I’m beginning to get really worried now.”

  “Me too. I even had the coppers go by his place to see if his rotting corpse was stinking up his house, but the caretaker of his complex said that nobody had seen Sam or his car for days now,” Nina informed him, her tone dangling between desperately whimsical and deeply concerned.

  “As it is, he already loathes technology, so I’m sure he won't answer e-mails either. I’m already almost done coordinating the next trip, so we will have to find him fast,” he said worriedly as he checked his tablet. “I could find him the way I found you in Hook: through biometric recognition satellite action.”

  “Sneaky James Bond shit, hey?” Nina smiled.

  “Yes, ma'am. Q can kiss my ass,” Purdue joined in, punching in the hack code for the satellite. “While the program searches for Sam we can take the time to go through the content of the relic, what say you?”

  “Absolutely. I want to import the pictures into my laptop and see if I can find in-depth research papers on some of the works I think I saw in there,” she said. “Something under the child's body looks suspiciously like the Germania, which could explain the Herculean fetish and the Swastika.”

  Purdue's face lit up. “You think there is something tangible to investigate here? I mean, other than the fact that the box is ancient and contains items of historical significance, there is actually an unsolved mystery to look into?”

  “Aye, that is exactly what I think. By the specific collection of items I can deduce that they loosely have a common denominator,” she suggested. “Himmler was obsessed with the Codex Aesinas, which he believed was an irrefutable confirmation of German superiority. It was written by a Roman historian called Tacitus—I think around the late First Century AD. And during the Second World War the Nazi's actually went looking for the Germania in Italy.”

  “Interesting. But how does that link in with Hercules? I can hardly imagine that a Greek deity like Heracles would have anything to do with Germany, although there’ve been larger stretches of corroboration that have ended up making perfect sense before,” Purdue pondered out loud. “Even as Hercules, a Roman variation, where does the connotation with Hitler's Germany meet up?”

  Nina shrugged. “Look, I know about the codex and the way it was perceived as the Nazi bible, but I’d have to research the details, or at least have a look at the codex in your Ark. I could be mistaken, but if memory serves I think that Tacitus compared the German tribes of antiquity to the strength of Hercules.”

  She gave Purdue a second, but he seemed too deep in thought.

  “Right, let's go see what we find in that lucky, golden packet you stole. It could shed some light on why someone left a child in it with a goddamn snake just because they are fans of Zeus' boy,” she urged, clapping her hands to snap Purdue out of the daydream she knew he was fabricating in his mind about such an excursion.

  When she had her laptop ready to capture and record the inventory found inside the box, Nina took a deep breath. She was especially worried about how they would remove the mummified remains without destroying it. Purdue intended to keep it until he’d had a forensic expert examine it, but that was only for much later. First they had to ascertain the value of the items inside and what secrets they held. Then they had to find Sam to accompany them on the trip.

  “Apart from the remains of the child and that codex you mentioned, there’s nothing more here that looks especially important. There is a strange object here, apparently made of bone, I think,” Purdue reported as he lifted the item from the box. It was the shape of a baseball bat, but considerably smaller in size. Nina took it from him and checked the symbols upon the piece, looking fascinated.

  “Do you know it?” he asked.

  Nina nodded. “The Herkuleskeule,” she affirmed. “It is what came before the Hammer of Thor during the Christianization of Scandinavian civilizations during the eighth century and perhaps through the ninth century on.” Nina looked at Purdue with confidence. “The child is female.”

  “How do you know?” he asked, amazed.

  “This object, the Donar's Club, was a symbol of the godlike powers of Hercules. According to Tacitus, the old Germanic tribes greatly revered Hercules, claiming that they’d even encountered him. What’s interesting about this, is that similar Donar Clubs had been found in the graves exclusively of females, in the form of pendants or belt buckles in various sizes. That’s why I believe that this child was female.”

  “Amazing,” Purdue said in awe, looking at the corpse of the child. “And tragic.”

  “Aye, but what bothers me is that this artifact was handled by the Nazis, and yet nothing came of it. They’re not known for abandoning something as powerful as this. Something must have happened to interrupt their search,” she speculated, rolling the club around carefully between her palms. “The symbols on here imply that there’s more to this club than just ornate value. I recognize a symbol for um, I think, divine induction,” she frowned, trying to decipher it, “Roman in origin. Do you know any linguists?”

  “Of course,” he smiled. “Let me e-mail those symbols to my friend at the Smithsonian archives and see what they mean.” He scanned the images into his palm-sized tablet, capturing every crack, etching, and fold in high resolution. When he’d entered the data, he typed in the e-mail address and sent it off, high priority. “Hope he gets this soon enough. What else do we have?”

  Nina peered over the brim of the box, “There’s a mess of paper under the child's body, Purdue. Shouldn't we rather get someone who knows what they’re doing to lift it out?”

  “That would be ideal, my dear, but we simply do not have the time to get someone qualified over here,” Purdue lamented.

  “You’re in luck. I happen to be qualified to do just that,” a female voice interrupted their investigation as she jarred open the door.

  “Medley?” Purdue exclaimed in unpleasant surprise. “My God, how did you get in here?”

  From behind Medley the annoying Italian oaf she was married
to appeared. He looked smug as usual, but let his wife do the talking, for a change.

  “We tracked you down. Your home is not exactly mediocre, you know?” she said, looking around the storeroom. “Love your sense of style, by the way. Especially the second floor study and library. Quite atmospheric. I almost thought I was walking back into old England's academies.”

  “You've been through my house?” he shouted furiously. “Where is my staff? Did you harm my people?”

  “Relax, Purdue,” she replied. “They’re all alive and well, although your home is now, let's say, under new management.”

  “I don't think so, you bloody curse!” Purdue seethed, lunging at her, but Nina pulled him back.

  “Don't push your luck. Not now,” she murmured.

  Medley smiled. “Listen to Dr. Gould, my darling David. She seems to have her head screwed on right.” At the astonished expressions on Purdue and Nina's faces, Medley felt compelled to explain. “Yes, I know about Dr. Gould. Those countless accounts of your previous expeditions have been very generous with information concerning your associates. I must say, Dr. Gould, I’m impressed by all you’ve survived just by associating with this man.”

  “Where are my security people, Medley?” Purdue persisted.

  “They’re here, for God's sake, David! I told you they’re fine. We simply...took over the premises and cut communications while the famous Wrichtishousis is under siege,” she clarified.

  “What do you want? The Ark?” Nina asked.

  “Not the Ark, is it?” Medley said dryly, as she paced slowly around the large chest. “I am after the knowledge of it, whereas my beloved husband is looking to benefit from its treasures and to return the Codex Aesinas to its rightful home—Roma.”

  “I propose a deal,” Purdue announced.

  “I'm listening,” she replied, folding her arms.

  “No deals, for Christ's sake!” Guido chipped in. “We don't need them, Rita. We can just take the fucking thing from them and go find the Vault of Hercules ourselves, like we were going to do in the first place! We’re not taking them with us and that is that! The Vault of Hercules belongs to the Familia, and we don't share power!”

  Rita Medley turned to face her husband, her eyes on fire, “Don't be a goddamn fool! Here we have a historian!” She pointed at Nina, then at Purdue. “And we have David Purdue, who has contacts and technology—the two things we’ll need to make our find a lot smoother and easier to conceal from the authorities. Purdue cannot cheat us on this, remember? He is wanted by the Ethiopian Government and the Commission of Archaeological Crime for stealing this relic.” She smiled at Purdue. “One phone call and he is done for.”

  Chapter 20

  Sam was exhausted, even after getting a proper night's sleep.

  After he’d shared his information with MI6 and the local police, he’d had a talk with Paddy. That’s when he’d decided to resurface and return Nina's calls. He hadn’t known that what he thought he was pursuing was only the tip of the iceberg. Paddy was not obliged, or inclined, to share anything with him, but since Sam had risked his life to try and find Paddy's daughter, the agent thought it only fair to give Sam a bit of the detail on the case of the missing girls.

  It was running deeper than just a psychopath capturing young girls for his fetishes. More so, it ran deeper even than a human trafficking ring stealing women for prostitution and profit. There was a more sinister, ancient operation at play, and Valdi was just the foot soldier. Although Paddy and his people did not dabble in that side, as he called it, he did think it was quite important for the case to have that side investigated. The special agent figured that it was probably the missing piece of a deadly puzzle that the government agencies refused to entertain and therefore lacked the resources to proactively break the case.

  He implored Sam to hold off on the renegade action and asked him instead to mind his own business. David Purdue was currently under scrutiny by several agencies that could not arrest him before having proof of his illegal procurement of ancient artifacts.

  Paddy blamed Purdue for getting him involved, which had ultimately caused the personal vendetta for which he now paid with his daughter's life. Emotional and tired, he hardly managed to talk about it with Sam, but one thing was certain: Sam's best friend had become someone else. The rigid and formal manner in which his best friend addressed him tore though his heart. His childhood mate, his companion and support through years of good and bad, was now no more than a shell of a man he used to know. And it was all the fault of David Purdue and his relentless pursuits.

  Sam grew more furious with Purdue with every sentence his friend spoke, and especially as he watched Paddy's distress bleed out in tears when he spoke about the madman who’d taken his daughter. After the threat he’d received from Igor Heller a few years ago, his worst nightmare had come true. He was paying the price for being involved in Heller's arrest, something that would never have occurred had Purdue's excursion in Romania not called on Paddy to help them.

  Special Agent Patrick Smith was not a vindictive man, but it was clear to Sam that he categorically blamed his daughter's abduction on both Sam and Purdue. There was nothing Sam could do to restore his friendship with Paddy, and Paddy conveyed this in a dreadfully professional tone that hurt Sam irreparably. There was only a cordial tether now, one only utilized should Sam agree to assist MI6 with any clues he could unearth from Purdue.

  “What he knows about the stolen Ark of the Covenant is pivotal to this investigation,” Paddy told Sam. “We have reason to believe that Valdi was sent by the Cosa Nostra to collect these girls, based solely on whatever is contained in that relic, Sam. That ties Purdue directly to it. Purdue's latest find holds the answer to why our daughters are being harvested and only you can get inside his circle to find out what it is.”

  “He has been trying to contact me. It could be related to the relic, who knows? Also, Nina has left me voice messages stating that she is with Purdue. Either they’ve decided to rekindle their old romance or something is afoot in the relic world again, you know?” Sam informed Patrick, with two of his colleagues present in their Glasgow base of operations.

  “Then you know what to do,” Patrick said abruptly, and rose from his chair to leave the room. He did not even shake Sam's hand or say goodbye.

  Sam maintained his own professional decorum in turn, but only to save face in front of Paddy's colleagues. He could not show his disappointment or hurt in front of them, and so he became the investigative journalist most people knew by reputation. Sam Cleave thanked the agents in attendance for their help and dismissed himself with a promise of staying in touch to keep them posted on Purdue's endeavors.

  What he was not sure of, however, was whether he meant that. Slightly pissed off at being treated like this even after what he’d attempted for Paddy's sake, Sam had second thoughts about adhering to everything he was expected to do for MI6. On the other hand, this chain of events truly was the legacy of what Dave Purdue had begun, therefore making him as guilty of Sam's loss as anything else.

  As Sam exited the makeshift base office in East Kilbride, he felt free, truly free, for the first time in ages. A wild card, he now held in his hands the progress of both Purdue and Paddy, a friend of neither anymore. Both men had caused him great distress and reignited his rogue status of old. Loyalty had profited him nothing, he realized, apart from his friendship with Nina. She was the only one who did not have a direct hand in his latest quandary, but as long as she was in cahoots with Purdue, Sam was forced to keep her in the dark too.

  He got into his car and took a deep breath. Sam felt good, regardless of the blows to his emotional state. It was the freedom of not caring anymore that gripped him and reminded him that they needed him more than he needed them. Now he had to get back to Nina and see what she was proposing, something she’d elected not to mention on the voice messages. Her secrecy alone proved to Sam that she was also involved with whatever Purdue was onto.

  “Hello, Nina?�
�� Sam said when she answered her phone. “Why do you sound like somebody died?”

  “Where the hell have you been?” Nina asked, but her voice was strange. He expected her to say the words, but he expected to hear them in a different tone of voice. Something told Sam that Nina was not herself, something that alarmed him just a little.

  “Busy,” he said. “Not been feeling myself lately, as you know. But I think I’m ready to deal with stuff again, Nina. What did you need me for?” He played dumb, which was important to being objectively involved.

  “Purdue is launching an expedition and he asked that you join us,” she informed him. “We’ll need your input on a few things, though. There are some holes in our theory that you might be able to help us with if you could find some more detail on the subject.”

  “And that subject would be?” he asked as he started his car. His journalistic intuition got the better of him and he had to ask. “Nina? What is wrong over there?”

  “We’ll fill you in once you are here,” she said, sounding strangely stiff. That affirmed his suspicions.

  “Be there soon,” Sam promised and hung up the phone. He drove out onto the expressway, feeling rejected and empty from all sides. But at least he’d get to spend some time in the company of his favorite brunette, Nina Gould. The day was nearing late afternoon as he headed for Edinburgh, to the mansion of the man who’d caused him only misery in his personal relationships. Sam still hadn’t made up his mind about spying on Purdue for Paddy, because to his mind neither man deserved his help anymore.

  When he got to Edinburgh, he braced himself for the new waves of information that would no doubt be poured over him by Nina and Purdue. He had no idea what kind of relic it was this time, but he knew that it would explain the kidnappings, and that was enough incentive for Sam to get involved. At the gates of Wrichtishousis, Sam knew definitively that something was wrong.