Operation Rubicon

by Preston William Child

  “Ah, yes,” Odion said, scratching his brow. “So we can turn over all of these items to you and this secret society you have. We just throw away our history for the sake of supposedly gaining more protection. You bring back one artifact—one which you stole—to convince us that this is all some mistake and that your intentions are good. You recruit us, bring us under your wing, and then take everything we have at that point, so it’s also now yours. That’s the scheme, yes?”

  “Wow,” Nina said, and couldn't help but let out a giggle. “You really think I'm a devious, criminal mastermind, don't you? I couldn't even steal that rock right. I nearly died in the attempt and then I brought it back to the person I stole it from. I wish I was able to actually be conniving sometimes but unfortunately, that's just not me.”

  Odion was still staring at her like she was about to make a move against him but she just kept calm and continued with her pitch.

  “If its helps ease your mind, we could even come up with a scenario where we don't move these items to our facility. Instead, we could just help bolster the security here and make it something of an Egyptian stockpile for the Order of the Black Sun. You’ll still have complete control over all of this, with the added benefit that the things you’re trying to protect will be much more secure. No random historian like me could take off with it like I did before.”

  “You expect me to just trust that?”

  “I expect you to at least listen to what I'm saying, to really listen. Please. You don't want these artifacts to leave Egypt. I understand that. So they won't. We'll keep them here in their homeland but will just improve the defenses that guard them. That's it.” She knew how a man like Odion worked. He’d spent so long fighting through the mud and muck to get where he was. He’d need more than just promises of assistance. He’d require something that he could actually hold that meant a lot to him; a good faith gesture that went above and beyond of what he would ever expect to hear. “I’ll even see what I can do about transferring any Egyptian artifacts that the Order of the Black Sun already possesses to you here. It might take a bit, but I can try to get them returned home. They’ll be strictly under your care.”

  That seemed to get Odion's attention and his stubbornness seemed to waver ever so slightly.

  “And what would I need to give in return to do that? Only my soul, yes?”

  Some of his friends laughed. Nina didn't expect this to be an easy sell, but Odion was being even more resistant than she ever thought he would be. She understood he was still upset about what happened with the stone slab; she would be too if she was in his situation, but what she was offering more than compensated for it.

  “No one is forcing you to join. I just saw your operation here and was impressed. That's all. You’re clearly passionate about protecting history and that's all we care about in the order. That's what we strive to do. I just think it would be a good fit if you're willing to try. If you disagree, that's fine. I just thought it was worth passing along an invitation. That's it.”

  Nina turned to leave. She was fine with him declining, but there was no reason to stay there and be ridiculed for trying to do something nice to make up for how she had wronged him. The slab was back where it belonged and her invitation to join the Order of the Black Sun was given. That was all she could do. The rest was entirely up to Odion.

  “Wait.”

  She turned around and found Odion looking very conflicted. His crew standing in front of him all looked just as surprised as Nina.

  “If what you say is true, you really think it would help us here?”

  “I do,” Nina said honestly. “It’d be a huge help to you. The Order of the Black Sun has everything you need to ensure that no one can ever steal from you again. Not even me.”

  Odion surprisingly smiled and nodded his head.

  “Very well then,” Odion said and all of his men looked stunned by what was taking place. “Then I accept. I’ll become part of this group, but you’ll make good on what you offered me. Any Egyptian relics that this Order of the Black Sun possesses will be handed over to me and stored with what we already have. They’ll be kept safe and away from outsiders.”

  “Yes,” Nina said and couldn't help but smile too. “It's a deal.”

  “I expect you to honor this one,” Odion said and half-jokingly made a cutting motion over one of his wrists. “Or else.”

  “Don't worry,” Nina said. “I will.”

  THE SWORD of Julius Caesar sat behind the reinforced glass of its display case in the Palazza Nuovo. Nina stood on the other side of the glass, admiring the blade that she had wielded for only a few fleeting moments. It was crazy to think that she and Julius Caesar had both held the same weapon, thousands of years apart. She so rarely felt such a connection to the past but in those passing seconds, swinging that brittle sword around, she felt like she could feel Caesar making similar movements, using that sword to fight for his life just as she had. That brief time using the blade and that feeling it gave her made it even more difficult when it came time to decide where the sword should go.

  She knew that she was going to upset quite a few people if she didn't bring the sword back to the Order of the Black Sun's deep vaults—mainly Elijah—but this was her expedition and she’d had to make the hard decisions. It was up to her to do what she felt was right, not what anyone else thought. She didn't have to appease everyone or make sure that all of her allies were happy. That wasn't what was important when it came to finding a priceless artifact from the past.

  Would it have been safer and more secure in the deep vaults back at the Black Sun headquarters? Probably, yes, but that didn't mean that the sword was supposed to be there. It was an heirloom of Rome's most important leader. It should be in a place where the old Rome once stood, close to where Caesar himself had been.

  Most of all, she felt she owed it to Santino. She’d agreed to bring the sword to the museum after it was found. At the time, she wasn't sure that she was going to keep that promise but now that he was gone, it would’ve just seemed to be very poor taste to go back on her word. Elijah argued that their deal didn't matter now that Santino was gone; that if he wanted the sword to be in the museum so bad, he should’ve gone out and found it himself. Elijah's argument had its merits but as usual, it lacked any real empathy. She knew that Elijah just wanted to lock the sword away himself, like he’d done for so many items as the Black Sun's curator.

  No, this felt right, and that was what mattered.

  Odion might have had a point back in Egypt. There were some things that were precious to their places of origin that had far more value to the people that made them than they had to just some foreigner who’d found them. Some items in the world belonged at home and not buried in the vaults of some secret society that was just trying to preserve them, rather than let them be showcased to their homelands.

  The sword of Caesar was one of those things. It deserved to be seen. Who knows? With a different sword, Caesar might have died much earlier in life and never would’ve shaped the Roman Republic the way he did. Rome might not have ever become an empire and the rest of the world would have been much different if that era had never come to pass. Caesar hadn't just forged Rome's history with that weapon, he had cut a mark into the rest of the world, too.

  It wasn't an easy choice—but it was the right one.

  That was what Dr. Nina Gould cared about now.

  18

  HOMECOMING

  After the few pit stops Nina needed to make, their flight back to the Order of the Black Sun compound was swift and without any interruption. The whole group was exhausted and there was just the smallest bit of tension still left lingering, mostly in the air around Elijah.

  Elijah pushed his glasses up his nose. He was still fuming over her decision to relinquish the sword of Caesar to the Palazza Nuovo. He’d delivered quite a few choice words for her before she went to the museum, but she tried not to let them bother her too much. His anger was understandable, but it didn't mak
e him any less obnoxious. He’d been given multiple chances to voice his opinion and he never failed to do so. At this point, he was just complaining.

  “Can you stop looking at me like that?” Nina asked, with a roll of her eyes.

  “Looking at you like what?” Elijah asked with a raised brow. “Like someone who gave up one of the most valuable artifacts of Ancient Rome to a museum because she made some dead guy a pinky promise?” Elijah was as matter-of-fact as ever and that drove her nuts. He shook his head and then turned away, like he could barely even look at her now. After a moment, he spoke quietly. “At least we still have the slab. I'm looking forward to getting a better look at it. Was hard on the plane...”

  There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment before Nina revealed the truth. “I gave that back to Odion.”

  Elijah's expression sunk. She thought he couldn't look more disappointed in her than he had after she gave the sword back. But now, the look he was giving her reflected merely utter contempt and disbelief.

  “You can't be serious,” Elijah said. “You're joking.”

  “It was the only way to recruit Odion and his group,” Nina said, choosing her words carefully. Elijah was already furious, though, so she didn't need to hold back. “That...and promising that every Egyptian artifact we have in the deep vault would be turned over to him and stored in Egypt under his protection.”

  Elijah's anger was usually reserved, and came out in the form of cutting remarks. Now, though, it was very plain on his face. He looked ready to burst a blood vessel. His face was growing red and she had never actually seen him look so visibly upset. He was usually such an introverted person and didn't like wearing his heart on his sleeve for everyone to see but in that moment, Nina could see that heart on his sleeve very clearly, and it looked ready to explode. Bargaining away something from the deep vaults, something that Elijah had curated and was responsible for protecting might have been one step too far now that she was thinking about it.

  Elijah ripped his glasses off his face and put his hands over his eyes like he was trying to disappear into his own palms. “How could you promise them that? How did that plan even cross your mind?”

  “The whole situation needed to be settled,” Nina said. “We had to make things right and that was the best way to do it.”

  “I couldn’t disagree more...let me just make sure I understand how this negotiation went. You took one old tablet off their hands temporarily. You returned it. And now we have to give them all of our Egyptian items that we’ve ever collected. How the hell does that make any sense in the deal? How does one of those things even remotely equate to the other? We're practically just handing over a large chunk of the deep vault's contents for no reason.”

  “Not for no reason,” Nina argued, her own voice getting louder. She hated the way Elijah was talking down to her. She didn't care if he was angry, but she wasn't going to allow him to mock her intelligence. “We now have a very capable new member of the Order of the Black Sun thanks to the deal I made. You saw that warehouse. Odion has a talent for getting valuable items, even when he had no resources to help him. Imagine how well he'll do with the order backing him.”

  “Sure,” Elijah said, but didn't seem at all convinced. “And once he gets those relics from my vault, do you really think that he's just going to stick around? He’ll have gotten everything that he wants. You’d no authority when it came to the deep vaults and yet here you are, trading away important items. You shouldn't have made that deal, Nina. You shouldn't.”

  “Purdue wants us to have allies. Good allies. Despite what you might think of Odion and his friends, he was willing to work with us when we first got to Egypt. Remember the alleyway? Once he realized we weren't trying to take anything, he was eager to work with us. He agreed to help us. He wasn't conspiring against us or anything like that. It was our own actions that made him an enemy.”

  “Yeah, I remember. I pushed him into a sarcophagus,” Elijah put his glasses back on and she hated the way those eyes looked at her from behind those lenses. “You know what I think? I think you feel bad about losing Santino and you're trying to replace him. After all, Santino turned down an invitation from the order, but you can make up for that by recruiting the next person you meet. Is that it?”

  “That's not true!” Nina said. “It's not. I took the opportunity to stop the fire that we started from completely burning down a bridge that might help us in the future. Odion could be a real help to us, Elijah. You can never have too many friends.”

  “Right,” Elijah said bitterly and got to his feet, starting to walk away.

  “Where are you going?” Nina called after him.

  He stopped and turned back to her. Even though they were always butting heads, she couldn't help but feel a bit hurt by the way he was looking at her. He was staring at her with so much disappointment. “Back to the deep vault where I belong. That's where I can do my best work. I'm not meant for field missions like this. It's way too messy. I prefer things being neat, clean, and orderly. This couldn't be further from that.”

  He started walking away again but stopped after a few more steps. He didn't look back this time, but she could still feel his disdain. “If Purdue agrees with you, then I’ll remove all of our Egyptian items from the vault and give them over to you.”

  “Thank you,” Nina said and could barely speak the words.

  Elijah vanished around the corner. In her attempts to make everyone happy, she’d upset someone who was becoming a friend. She hoped he’d try to understand her perspective, or even just forgive her at some point but she wasn't going to hold her breath. If there was one thing she knew about Elijah Dane, it was that he liked taking old things and storing them away deep down. It didn't just apply to the relics. His old grudges tended to be tucked away too, in the deep vault of his psyche.

  “Don't feel too bad about it, doctor,” Riley's voice echoed from behind her.

  August and Riley both appeared on either side of her and put their arms over her shoulders comfortingly. They were both smiling, and she could tell they were trying to cheer her. Apparently they’d heard the entire conversation.

  “That guy is wound up way too tight,” August said. “I could rough him up for you if you want. A book worm like him wouldn't stand a chance, you know.”

  Nina laughed at the thought of that fight. Elijah really wouldn't stand a chance against a juggernaut like August, even when he was injured from his fight in the Colosseum.

  “There's no need for that,” Nina said. “But it’d be fun to see,” she added.

  “If you ask me, I think you did a great job out there,” Riley said. “I'm still new to all of this, but I never felt like you didn't know what you were doing. Even in the moments I disagreed with you, I knew you were doing it for a reason. And those rationales must have been good because we’re all alive and we found Caesar's sword. That sounds like a win to me. Who cares where the sword ended up?”

  “Exactly,” August said. “Elijah just likes having things in the vault. He prefers knowing that he got his hands on them and got to look over every minor detail of each and every thing in there. You stole that chance from him, so he's throwing a fit. It’ll pass. He’ll get over it.”

  “Thanks, guys,” Nina said.

  This was what a team was supposed to do, she realized. They weren't there to tear her down. Even when they disagreed, it could be a civil discussion where they all supported and respected one another. Elijah had spent far too much time indoors to understand what a real collaboration was. Part of her regretted bringing him along in the first place. She kind of wished he hadn't changed his mind about coming. But she knew better for next time. For the time being, she and Elijah weren't on good terms. That could change, but it was best to keep their distance for now.

  At least she still had August and Riley. Here they were singing her praises, but they deserved a whole lot of credit themselves.

  “August, I must say...you really impressed me back there.” />
  “By nearly getting beaten to death by some masked freak? That's what you call impressive?”

  “Hey, you won that fight, remember? But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm referring to that book you’ve been reading? Right there.”

  She pointed to the book about Caesar that was in his hand and that he’d been reading through during the entire search for the sword.

  “You really took the time to do the research and helped out a whole lot when we were trying to figure things out. No offense, but I never thought you’d ever contribute so much to a conversation.”

  “Neither did I,” August said with a bright smile. He initially looked surprised by the compliment, but as it sunk in, he couldn't help but grin. “Talking has never really been my thing. You really think I was that much of a help?”

  “I do,” Nina said honestly. “Most people wouldn't have put in the effort to learn about the subjects of the search. They would’ve left all of that to the historians like me and Elijah. You didn't force us to do all of the thinking.”

  August shrugged his wide shoulders. “I guess I was just tired of not knowing what I was talking about. If I was going to be a real part of the Order of the Black Sun and not some walking pile of muscles, then I knew I’d have to start exercising this...” He tapped his temple to indicate his brain inside. “...just as much as I work the rest of me out.”

  “Yeah, you're not the man that I thought you were back when I was imprisoned by Julian.”

  “That's because Julian wasn't exactly an inspiring leader that would make me want to improve myself. Simple as that.”

  “And you never failed to keep us all positive,” Nina said. “That kind of optimism is a gift, Riley.”

  Riley giggled. “It can be a curse. Sometimes I just want to dwell on the negative, but it just never works out for me. Also did you see me hurt that one with the Nero mask? I got a pretty good hit in on his leg.”