Blood on the Water

by Mark Hildebrandt

  “Yes, we are safe, no one has been harmed, thanks to the Optio and his team.”

  “Excellent. Once again Optio you have earned your pay.” Marcus said looking past Cassandra at the Optio. “Where are you?”

  Optio stepped forward, “Sir, we are in the western mountains of the Mississippian province. No offense, but it won’t make much difference to you or Josephus if you know exactly where we are. It just might; however, make a difference to our enemy should he figure out how to monitor a secure military channel.” The Optio then stepped back to his original position.

  Marcus narrowed his gaze on Optio, “Considering our adversary that might be a wise precaution Optio. Then I am to assume you are confident no one followed you, and no one can retrace your steps?”

  Once again Optio stepped forward, “That is correct sir. We vanished into the normal training routine. All of us were in full battle dress and unrecognizable. Even the base Legatus did not know which shuttle we departed on, and there were twenty-three shuttles and teams that left at the same time to all corners of this hemisphere.”

  “Excellent. I want you to remain hidden until next week. Do you think that will be possible?”

  The Optio allowed a trace of a grin to show on his face, “Yes sir. We have the provisions, and this is such a lovely spot; it will be like a vacation for my team.”

  “Good, then you need to remain in contact with Josephus. We will arrange to send a transport next week to pick you up.”

  “Then what?” Cassandra demanded.

  “We will finish Dr. Woodman’s physical then you can take him back to London and send him home. I have instructed the manufacturing plant in Mongolia to add an extra shift and have the fuel ready for your return.” He watched her reaction carefully. He did not want to dodge any other questions about why Kukulcan was after James. Last time he did answer her truthfully, he had no idea, why the Senator was after James. He was pretty sure Kukulcan didn’t know either. What she didn’t ask was, why is James so important to his work, and that’s a question he didn’t want to address. Watching her he saw a slight tick he didn’t expect, he knew no one else noticed it, but it spoke volumes to him. It happened when he mentioned sending James home, what a strange twist, he thought. She did not want to send James back.

  Chapter 25

  - Figure it out yourself -

  Marcus was feeling much better after the conference call. Optio seemed to have things under control, James and Cassandra were safe, and he prayed would stay that way for a week. Just in case though, Josephus had managed to trace the signal. He knew where they were and would keep an eye on them. Perhaps he had managed to get one step ahead of Kukulcan this time. Well that may be true, but the sly barbarian won’t give up, and Marcus must not get careless. At least with Singh’s team working around the clock, everything should come together at exactly the right point in time. He would have the cure to present the Emperor and the world, and just like his ancestor two thousand years ago, a Vespus would save the Empire. Marcus’s enthusiasm was slowly manifested as smile.

  He decided to pull up James’s lab results. The temporary file was exactly where Aeliana said it would be. A quick scan of the data reveled all the test results were back. She is quite a find, Marcus thought still grinning to himself as he began to look at the results in more detail.

  Let’s see, blood chemistry. Sodium – 142 mEq/L, potassium – mEq/L, chloride – 107 mmol/L, urea – 12 mg/dL, cheatinine – 1.0 mg/dL, and glucose – 90 mg/dL, total cholesterol – 168 mg/dL, all well within normal results. Liver enzymes are good, hematology results, red blood cells, white blood cells, white blood cell differential, hematocrit, and hemoglobin, sedimentation rate – all normal. Urine analysis, blood cultures - normal as well. This guy is boring, Marcus thought. The magnetic imaging scans did not show any unusual soft tissue pathology, and neither did the electromagnetic radiation bone mapping.

  Finally, he got to the serology results. This better show something interesting. First the herpes antigens, HSV-1 positive, the guy gets cold sores. HSV-2 negative, good. Varicella zoster positive – Looks like the guy had chicken pox and look at this he is negative for our virus. Obviously, it doesn’t exist on his world, just as I expected. The rest of the results were as boring as all the others, looks like Cassandra found a good one.

  Marcus started to close the file and was startled to find Aeliana standing at his desk. “Dr. Vespus, it is almost six o’clock, and if you don’t mind I will be leaving for the evening.”

  Marcus glanced at the clock, “So it is. I seem to have lost track of the time. But go ahead and leave, I won’t need you any more today. I was just planning to stay awhile longer and catch up on some of this backlog.” He turned his attention back to his display screen.

  “Sir” she continued, “if you find anything you need me to do in the morning, just put in the temporary file I created with my name.”

  Without looking up Marcus said, “Yes I will.” Then he paused and looked at her, “Aeliana, you did well today. Thank you. Now go. I’ll see you in the morning.” And once again his eyes quickly moved back to the display screen. He looked at James’s results again felt a twinge of satisfaction. Now he wondered what kind of CPN could he use to create a file for James? He had no idea, so he simply moved the results to a file he named test subject and locked them under his pass code. He wondered if he should give Aeliana his pass code, after all Quintus had it, but then again, maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. He deleted the temporary file Aeliana created and turned his thoughts to other Ministry matters.

  As was often the case when left alone, Marcus lost track of time. It was nearly nine by the time he tidied his desk and summonsed his vehicle. Once in the vehicle he let his mind wander through the day’s actives, and once again it brought a smile to his face. He felt good, too bad he would miss the children, he was certain they would be in bed by the time he got home. He would have liked to use their childhood enthusiasm as a natural amplifier for his own euphoria.

  It was raining, hard, when he arrived home. The vehicle pulled up to the side of the ho under the overhanging porch. What a lovely rain, he thought as he entered the side door, where he found Irena standing in the threshold. He smiled at her and put his arms around her waist and he bent to kiss her. The kiss missed her lips, the intended target, and landed on her cheek, as she turned her head. Marcus wondered if something was wrong, but just shrugged, “I spoke with Cassandra today. She is fine. I think she is having fun up in the mountains, you know how she loves the outdoors.” He continued looking at her, but she continued to look away. “What’s the matter my love?”

  “Don’t my love me!” She said breaking free from his gasp and walking toward the kitchen.

  “Irena wait.” He called, to no avail. He had absolutely no idea what could possibly be wrong with her. He had expected her to be happy when he told her about Cassandra, but it had no effect. Well he knew her well enough to know she would let him have it when she was ready, so he decided it was time for a martini. One of the downstairs servants, having heard his arrival, had made one just as he liked them with two olives, only a small splash of vermouth, and set in on the bar. Marcus collected his cocktail and strolled out on to the front porch to watch the rain.

  It was a nice cleansing summer rain that seemed to sweep all the dust from the air. The grass and trees almost seemed happy as the shower washed away the city grime. He slowly sipped his drink and stared at the familiar surroundings. About half way through the cocktail, he heard the door behind him open and then close. He turned around to find Irena. “Come on out and watch the rain with me.” He urged.

  “Marcus, who was that lovely young woman taking your calls today?”

  “That was my new assistant, Aeliana.” Marcus answered innocently, “She is very talented. I think she is going to work out very well.”

  “That so.” She growled, with a look of fire in her eyes.

  Marcus knew that look and knew to avoid being caught dir
ectly in its path. “Irena, you can’t possibly be jealous. You know there is only one woman I care to be with, the woman I married, and that is you. Now knock off this performance, it doesn’t suit you.”

  Undaunted she continued to glare at Marcus, “I used to think that was true, but that was before you became the second most powerful man in the Empire. Now I just don’t know.”

  Marcus was becoming confused, how the hell could she develop such a case of paranoia in only one day. “Power may signal something to you, but it doesn’t change anything for me.”

  “Really? Let me tell you what I see. The Emperor gives you full Imperial power. What happens next? Well, your male assistant that you have had for several years disappears and is replaced by a gorgeous twenty something young woman that you say, ‘is very talented’. I’ve had two kids, I’m getting old, and I simply cannot compete with lovely twenty-year-old girls.”

  “You stop it right now. I don’t care about twenty-year olds. You just think about last night. That was special. That is what I need, not twenty-year-old children who don’t yet have a clue. Look I didn’t even pick her, she was merely sent by personnel.”

  Marcus watched as Irena’s lower lip quivered slightly, then she turned ran into the house and slammed the door. “Wait Irena” Marcus implored, but she was gone. Damn, he thought. Why does she always to that? Take a few quick shots, run away, reload, and set an ambush for the next attack. Even so, he would never understand her need to fight in the first place. It wouldn’t change anything.

  He tried to flush the incident from his mind, downed the rest of his martini, opened the door and summoned the nearest servant, “Get me a fresh martini.” He commanded, closed the door and turned his thoughts back to the rain. This game, match, contest with the Mayan Senator was far too important to let the fantasies of his wife interfere. The servant quickly reappeared with a fresh drink. “Thank you. Where is Mrs. Vespus? He asked.

  “She has retired with a novel sir.”

  “Very well. Please have the kitchen prepare a light supper for me and serve it on the patio.” Marcus said, turning from the servant not waiting for a reply and stared at the rain falling from a darkened sky.

  ◆◆◆

  Marcus took breakfast alone and left for the office early once again. At seven he entered his office and was amazed to find Aeliana already in hers. It seems she had decided to do something about the Spartan appearance, and was busy placing, what looked to Marcus to be very tasteful holographs, and a soothing variety of indoor plants on credenzas, and in empty corners. “Good morning Aeliana,” Marcus called to her. “Why are you here so early?”

  “Oh, good morning Dr. Vespus. I wanted to try to brighten up this office, and I didn’t want it to interfere with work, so I came in early. You seem early as well. Is this your normal time?”

  “No. I haven’t been sleeping well and instead of waking the family, I just decided to come in to the office. I would like to establish a routine of reviewing the schedule every morning at eight.”

  Aeliana nodded agreement her long dark hair waiving across her shoulder slightly behind the movement of her head, “Oh yes Dr. Vespus. That will not be a problem.”

  “Good. Let’s start today. Eight o’clock?”

  “Very good. Oh Dr. Vespus. I think it was a good thing I got here early this morning. A Senate messenger dropped this off for you earlier.” She said holding out a sealed envelope.

  Marcus quickly grabbed the envelope, his bafflement faded when he saw the seal on the back, an intricate scripted K. Obviously, the note was from Kukulcan. What the hell did he want now? “Thank you Aeliana. Was there anything unusual about the messenger?”

  “No sir. He appeared to be nothing more than a Senate page.”

  “Very well, I’ll see you at eight.” Marcus said and went to his office.

  A hand-written note, how quaint, he thought, but then again it wouldn’t be observed by anyone monitoring the electronic messaging system. The message was simple and direct, which he had decided was Kukulcan’s only good quality. I once again believe it would be mutually beneficial if we meet. Please join me for lunch at the Seven Hills, twelve thirty sharp. The message was simply signed K.

  Kukulcan obviously wanted something, but more than that, he must believe he had something to trade. He knew better than to expect he could get something for nothing. What the hell could he possibly have, Marcus wondered. The villa was safe, if any of his people got in, they most certainly wouldn’t get out, and there was absolutely no reason the full Senate would order an investigation and search of the property. Cassandra and James were safe; even he didn’t know where they were. Must be something, but what? Whatever it was, it was something Marcus didn’t expect, and that was unnerving.

  Aeliana revived Marcus from his quagmire when she appeared at eight. “Are you ready sir?”

  “Certainly. Let’s start on the morning appointments, but first I need you to clear my schedule from twelve until two this afternoon. I will be taking lunch in the city.”

  “That won’t be a problem,” She said very professionally, “It will only require rescheduling a one thirty with a William the director of Environmental Quality.”

  Once again, the schedule was managed perfectly and at exactly twelve he was done. “Aeliana, would you please make arrangements for my vehicle to pick me up in the front in ten minutes?” He called thorough the interoffice communications system.

  ◆◆◆

  Knowing he would not be observed through the darkened windows of the vehicle, Marcus could sit back and relax. He allowed his thoughts to return to Kukulcan, and once again they came up blank. It was a little unnerving going to a meeting, and not knowing what to expect. He must make sure his ignorance didn’t show, it just might be mistaken for something else.

  The headwaiter immediately escorted him to one of the private rooms. One already occupied by Kukulcan. “Please come in Dr. Vespus. I think this is a much better time and setting for a meeting than our last one.” He said grinning, so he could show off a white toothy smile.”

  Oh, I don’t know I have always thought of myself as a morning person. Even so the time isn’t important. What surprises me, is you end every meeting pointing out we will not speak again, but nevertheless here we are three days later having lunch.”

  “So, we are,” Kukulcan said ignoring the acerbity in Marcus’s voice, “Oh by the way I took the liberty of ordering some antipasto and a nice Peidmont Barbera wine. Please help yourself.” He said pointing to the platter of meats, cheeses and vegetables.

  Marcus nodded and tore off a piece of bread, dipped in the olive oil and took a bite. He chewed slowly and swallowed, waiting to see if Kukulcan would try to fill the silence, he did not. “I am somewhat surprised you invited me to lunch. I never expected us to become involved socially, and I can’t for the life of me think of any business we may have to discuss.” Marcus said hoping the open-ended statement might flush out the Senator’s intentions.

  Kukulcan laughed and speared a couple of olives and sausage from the antipasto platter. “Dr. Vespus, I think it is sometimes good for adversaries to meet and look each other in the eye. It makes everything more personnel, don’t you think?” And then savored his selection. Marcus didn’t say anything; he just glared at Kukulcan, but undaunted, Kukulcan continued. “I think that is one of the biggest problems with the modern world, everything is so sterile, so impersonal. Think how marvelous it was long ago, when two titans would face each other on the field of battle. Strength, cunning and honor all on the line, and for all to see. Now days it is so dispassionate, just give the order to a subordinate and it is done.”

  Marcus took a sip of wine, savored it and said, “But you have to admit, long ago the two titans were fighting for honor. Fighting to protect their leader and people. Today it seems most combatants have lost sight of honor and fight only for themselves.”

  Once again Kukulcan broke into a broad smile, “Marcus if you think I fight only for myself t
hen I assure you, you do not understand me, my destiny, or my people. I told you once before, I am merely shaping the inevitable. Just as an obstetrician performs an episiotomy to ease the birth of a child, I am cutting away minor obstacles to aid the birth of a new world.”

  Marcus didn’t think he was going to be able to sit much longer and listen to this deranged madman. “Senator, I think you have a distorted image of your role in this world, but what I think is of no consequence. Why don’t you just tell me what we are doing here pretending to be having an amicable conversation?”

  “Oh Marcus, such the scientist, right to the point. I thought we might have a pleasant lunch first, but I see you are impatient, so I will honor your request. How does Cassandra’s work tie into your viral research? And who is this Dr. James Woodman?”

  Marcus felt like he had just been punched in the stomach. This guy’s ego is so large he appears stupid. Does he really think he will get an answer to that question? The question so caught Marcus off guard, all he could do was stare at the Senator. After a long pause he said, “The two are not related. They are completely different scientific disciplines, Physics and Medicine.”

  “Marcus don’t play me for the fool. I know you are the only one who has all the puzzle pieces, and you are the only one who knows how they fit together. I know for a fact that your sister and Dr. Woodman don’t know. They have figured out that the two are related, they just don’t know how.”

  “You don’t know that,” Marcus said, “You have never even spoken with Cassandra.” Marcus glared at Kukulcan, who sat smiling as if this were a campaign luncheon in the Yucatan. Clearly, the madman was convinced he had the upper hand.

  ” Oh Marcus, I tire of your protest. You need to understand things come to me, right out of the air. I know Cassandra and James are trying to solve your puzzle, just like me.” He paused and stared at Marcus, neither man moving or betraying anything through body language. “Oh, by the way what happened to Dr. Woodman’s physical results? I used to have Quintus to help me, but alas I need to develop new resources.”