The Black Sun Conspiracy

Chapter Fifty-Five

The car that was waiting outside was a sleek black Lexus Saloon. Alexandr had left it idling, the keys in the ignition, while he came back to help with Renata. Sam could hardly believe that such a beautiful and expensive car could be left unattended with the keys readily available, yet still be there when they returned. ‘This is a strange place,’ he thought again, looking around at the pristine street.

Alexandr and Purdue pushed Renata into the back seat, and Purdue climbed in after her while Alexandr moved round to take the driver’s seat. Nina glanced at Sam, then pushed him towards the front passenger seat while she took the back, sitting on the opposite side of Renata from Purdue.

“Where are we taking her?” Sam asked, buckling his seatbelt. “Are we going to have to keep her long before the Council members get here?”

“The Council is actually based in Bruges, Sam,” said Purdue. “All Members who are appointed to the Council are obliged to take up residence here. Why else do you think Bruges is so extremely well preserved? That is the result of centuries of being under the direct influence of the Black Sun.”

“And they provide some kind of counter-balance for whoever is Renata? Or Renatus?” Nina asked.

“Correct.” Purdue did not look Nina in the eye as he answered her. He looked resolutely out of the window, watching the streets as they flashed by. “Collectively, and provided they act unanimously, the Council is the only entity that can gainsay the reigning head of the Order. They will already be aware that we are on our way. By the time we reach their meeting place, they should already be assembled. They meet in a secret chamber in the depths of the Town Hall, where they have met ever since the late 14th century. Mirela will be joining a long line of Renati to have fought to retain office there — and possibly to have been stripped of it.”

Sam recognized the street that they were on, Eekhoutstraat. They were a few minutes at most from the Town Hall, in all its Gothic beauty. He wondered what would happen to him and Nina if Renata were removed from office. ‘Presumably we’ll be at the mercy of whoever takes her place,’ he thought. ‘There might be some hope in that. Maybe it’ll be someone who doesn’t think we’re all that significant and lets us go — or if they can’t, we can at least hope that it’ll be someone who doesn’t share her penchant for weird little tests.’

The car took a sudden, unexpected right turn. Jerked out of his thoughts, Sam looked round for a street sign. Rozenhoedkaai. ‘Where does this go?’ he wondered. ‘Is there some other way of getting there? A back entrance?’

“Alexandr, this is not the right way,” Purdue said, a note of confusion in his voice.

“Purdue, my old friend, it is the right way.” The Russian laughed and accelerated, speeding along beside the canal and past the fish market.

“But you’re taking us out of town.”

“That is correct! I am afraid that the Council will have to wait! I have another paymaster to serve now. We are going east, my friends — all the way to Mönkh Saridag!”

“What?” Renata, who had been sitting silent and unusually reserved, burst into an angry tirade. Damning Alexandr for a traitor, she demanded that he stop the car and surrender himself to the Council. She made promises she could not fulfil about the leniency that he would be shown if he did and the retribution that awaited him if he did not. Her hands still fastened behind her back, she bucked and writhed in the back seat until Purdue and Nina both had a difficult task to restrain her, even with the help of the seatbelt. Exasperated, Nina broke into the car cleaning kit under the front seat, found a couple of clean chamois leathers. She shoved one into Renata’s mouth, stopping the flow of fury at once, then quickly tied the other around her head to fasten the gag in place.

“Alexandr, are you serious?” Sam asked. “You’re really planning to take us all to Russia?”

“Mongolia, strictly speaking,” Alexandr replied with a chuckle. “And yes, I am. I’m sorry, Sam, I wish I could have consulted with you before taking this step, but it is the only way for you and Nina to be safe. And for me, though I think you are more concerned with being safe than I am. Our chances of being accepted by the dissident at Mönkh Saridag are much higher if we have something good to offer them, and we will be able to offer them the greatest hostage anyone has ever offered — the head of the Order of the Black Sun herself!”

“They won’t care that she’s the about-to-be-deposed head?” Nina asked.

“That makes it even better!” cried Alexandr “She cannot be replaced until they can depose her! And they cannot depose her as long as they cannot find her! So the upper echelons of the Order grind to a halt, and who knows what we can do in the time that gives us? Perhaps we will even persuade Mirela here to abandon the Order and join us — can you not see it, what a coup that would be?”

He would have said more, but as they crossed the boundaries of the Old Town and sped along the N9 into the city’s modern suburbs, a black SUV appeared on their tail. It drove close, practically riding their bumper. The windows were tinted, rendering its driver invisible.

Even though she was gagged, Renata was more than capable of expressing her feelings about the situation. She may not have been able to speak, but the look of malevolent joy in her eyes was enough to tell the others that they were in trouble. ‘It must be the car’, Sam thought, ‘they’ll be tracking the car. Even if they’ve turned on her, Renata must be too valuable for them to risk losing — either that or they think she’s trying to make her getaway before they take her title.’

Alexandr pushed a little harder on the pedal, coaxing the car further and further beyond the speed limit. The SUV matched them mile for mile, keeping pace but finding no opportunity to overtake.

“We are safe enough as long as we are in the suburbs,” said Alexandr, “but as soon as we are out of the city entirely, that will change.”

“There’s no way we can double back? Lose them in the city?” Sam asked.

Purdue spoke up from the back seat. “They know the city better than we do, and there will be more of them waiting there. If we turn back, we must be prepared to give them Renata and surrender ourselves.”

“That is one thing I shall not do,” said Alexandr, and pounded on the accelerator. They cleared the city completely, the miles vanishing beneath their wheels, field and motorway flashing past. The car swung precariously onto a slip road, careering up a minor road to join a larger motorway. Trucks, cars and coaches scattered before them, swerving out of the way of the two madly speeding vehicles, but no matter how last-second Alexandr’s twists and turns were, the pursuer never lost them. Every so often they would achieve a bit of distance and see a different car behind them, a normal car, but it never lasted for more than a minute before the black SUV appeared in the rear view mirror once again.

‘We can’t outrun them,’ Sam thought. ‘All we can do is hope that they have to refuel before we do, because otherwise the moment we run out of petrol, that’s it for us. Over. And I have no idea what’s in store for us if they catch up, but I’m guessing it’s not going to be pretty, whatever it is. Leading these guys a dance isn’t going to look good for us, no matter — ’

The world spun. On an empty stretch of road, Alexandr yanked the car around in a reckless 180 degree turn, hoping to gain a bit of distance from the SUV. The front wheel hit a patch of leaked oil. The car whirled round faster, further than Alexandr had intended. He jammed the wheel hard to one side in a desperate attempt to right them, but the windscreen was a blur of movement and he could not slow them down enough.

They burst through the guard rail at the side of the road. Brown and green surrounded them, trees and bushes blurring in the windows, until the scream of crumpling metal and shattering glass filled their ears and the car came to a devastating halt.