Keepers of the Lost City

19 The Common Denominator

Nina did not think that Harris was far off in his jest of asking the corpses how they had died of snakebites and if there were actually snakes present on the ship. After he excused himself and left for work, Purdue and his colleagues sat down at the dining table.

“There might be a way to ask them, you know,” she smiled, reaching into her satchel. She produced a small book that used to be covered in red canvas material, but with its age and deterioration, it was reduced to a pig-eared, ripped article with rust spotted pages.

Purdue looked intrigued. “What is that?”

“This, old boy, is from my own attic collection. I call it ‘The Grisly Tales of the Fallen Reich’, but you can just call it our saving grace,” she explained.

“Please tell me what I want to hear,” Purdue said, looking quite ready for good news. His long fingers played with the pages of the lab results while he waited for her to make his day.

“I might just,” she replied, opening the book on the table. Inside it was blue pen scribbles in German, the lettering thickened by the dissolving ink into the fiber of the page. “Look, this, whoever wrote this, was using the same insane grammar while talking bollocks in a supposed love letter to Heike.”

She flicked the book upside for Sam and Purdue, who were sitting opposite her at the table. Together they grabbed hold of the book and pulled it nearer to peruse the contents.

“This Heike must be a hot bird,” Sam muttered. “She’s been around the SS a few times, it seems.”

Purdue wanted to laugh at Sam’s remark, but he was too awestruck by the similarities in words and phrasing. “Astonishing,” Purdue raved in a whisper. “Absolutely astonishing.”

Sam scrutinized the writing, understanding some of the words, but having nowhere near the knowledge of German as his friends. As Purdue read through another piece, his concentration gradually drifted back to the Williams girl and her bloody punishment for aiding him. It only reiterated the constant blame that he bore for people involved in his ventures getting hurt or killed.

The horrible incident from the other night still haunted him quite strongly, yet he dared not share his feelings with Nina. She was weary of the trouble brought on them all too and she did not need to know that he, the mighty and powerful David Purdue, was feeling frail about their efficient relic hunting squad. Inevitably, the latter matter evolved into a more pressing notion he had been suppressing — the furtive infection of his business by the Order of the Black Sun. Had he been more on his guard about their influence and power, indirectly, the Williams girl would not have been attacked. Had he paid attention to his communications, she would still have been healthy, happy, and oblivious to the evil people would resort to in the name of greed and control.

“Purdue,” Nina yelled, snapping him back to reality.

“Sorry, yes, Nina?” he babbled.

“Where did you go, mate?” Sam asked sincerely. “Wherever it was, it doesn’t look like the kind of place I would like to go.”

Purdue shook off his inadvertent lack of focus like a wet dog, and shrugged, “Remind me to go and see Mrs. Williams once we are done here.”

“Will do,” Sam replied quickly. “Now, Nina, you were saying?”

She took a deep breath to collect her thoughts and repeated what she was saying before Purdue went into his state of daze. “What I was saying is, if I use this same method to unravel the letter in Storage 4, I think we might find out where the snakebite business comes in.” She leaned forward to make another point. “By the way, I was thinking about the poison in the samples, right? It is possible to trace poison in the remains of very old specimens, but what I want to know, is how an apparently simple compound used in medicine, can be so potent that Bruich could virtually be killed by it after so many years.”

“Aw, Bruich,” Sam lamented, being suddenly reminded of his pet’s suffering.

“That is a valid point too, my dear Nina,” Purdue agreed. “That is precisely what I have to find out, because this substance is causing everyone around me serious trouble.” He stood up and wiped back his hair. “Nina, can you start on the letter and see how much information you can unlock there? In the meantime I have to go and visit Mrs. Williams.”

“Can I tag along?” Sam asked. “I am done editing and Nina is going to be too busy to be good company. Besides, when she does research, she is a right bitch.”

She stuck out her tongue at Sam and replied, “Alright. I should have most of this figured out by tonight. I just hope whoever took that cipher book is not coming to claim the Heike letter from me. I’m too tired to fight.”

“I don’t think they will, Nina. I think they want to destroy the book to keep us from finding out what happened on the twin ships to Argentina.”

“I hope you are right,” she sighed, placing her glasses back on her nose.

Over the radio in the background, a familiar name caught Purdue’s attention. He gestured for them to hush and listen, and then he raced to turn it up.

“Edinburgh police spokesperson, Libby Helens, told Radio Highland News this afternoon, that Dr. Martino was accompanied by Mr. Cruz, of the Spanish Embassy in Edinburgh. The two Spanish delegates were on their way back to Madrid, after leaving the residence of renowned Edinburgh philanthropist and explorer, David Purdue, allegedly with a consignment of historical artifacts. Mr. Purdue had previously been in the news when he was under investigation by MI6 for espionage, relic theft, and several criminal transgressions on foreign soil.”

“Jesus Christ!” Nina howled, but Sam hushed her to listen to the rest of the report.

“The truck following the delegates’ vehicle on a secondary road off the M9 south of Stirling, could also not be saved. Both vehicles had exploded on impact and authorities are still trying to ascertain the nature of the collision. Becky Hanson for Radio Highland.”

Purdue felt yet another sledgehammer blow to the gut. Once more, his involvement had caused carnage and destruction. Deep inside, he had begun to believe that he is cursed. Sam and Nina just stared at one another after the devastating news of the Spanish delegates, speechless at the unbelievable incident.

“And so soon after leaving here with the German soldiers’ remains,” Nina remarked softly as she tried to make sense of the coincidence. “It is terrifying how close these events follow after we discovered the Heike letter.”

“Purdue!” Sam suddenly gasped. “Don’t you find it uncanny that the bodies that happened to be infused with the same poison that doubles as snake venom? Don’t you find it a little odd that the same compound you are being accused of supplying to people killing wildlife in Australia?”

This was Sam’s forte. He was gifted in connecting dots in places where most people had a blind spot for logical detection. Years as a reckless journalist who disrespected the innate fear of death had bestowed on him some sort of deeper vision than the obvious. Purdue just looked at him with blank eyes and a resting countenance that challenged his theory, but in truth, the white haired genius was mentally testing Sam’s notion.

“How right you are, Sam,” he finally said. “It is uncanny.”

“You mean to say that the car accident and the truck of mummies burning to ashes is a deliberate act of sabotage?” Nina asked, also falling into their frame of mind. Purdue nodded.

“Aye,” Sam affirmed. “And I think whoever orchestrated the destruction of the remains, also tried to kill Miss Williams to make sure we did not get that cipher book.”

“But what about the lawsuit?” Purdue pondered aloud to make sense of the conservationists’ claims.

Sam was quick to cover his question too, having thought on it before. “Who do you think is behind that cruel method of culling, Purdue?” he asked, crossing his arms. “Think about it. They are trying to destroy any chance you have of finding out what really happened to the soldiers on board those Nazi sister ships on their way to Argentina. What is the best way to arrest the full attention of a businessman while you necessitate the destruction of covert information?”

“A blindside,” Nina answered, gathering up her books from the table.

“In other words, a lawsuit threatening to wreck my business reputation and to do it on a large scale media platform like radio and television news,” Purdue added. “My God, man. They are closing in on me again, aren’t they?” A small quiver of panic disturbed Purdue’s normally astute tone, but at least he knew who to watch out for. “Sam, you spent two days with the legal team and plaintiffs for that expose. How far do you suppose they are immersed in the Black Sun organization and its affiliates?”

Sam looked relaxed when he answered, “Honestly, I am almost one hundred percent certain that they don’t have a clue of it all. I believe this Palumbo bird and Eddie Olden have no idea that they are being used as media puppets under the pretense of being guardians of justice for the wilderness.”

“You don’t think they are in on it at all?” Nina asked, clutching her books tightly to her chest.

“No, I don’t,” Sam replied with resolve. “These people are just a pair of sandals away from being totally hippie, Nina. They are really suing Purdue’s chemical company for providing the poison used in these inhumane culling management systems. As far as they are concerned, they are taking down the head of the snake, so to speak, to avoid this barbaric practice to carry on.”

“We have to convince them that I had no knowledge of the leak in my company,” Purdue told Sam. “I need to get these people away from the mainstream media before my name makes it onto global media, for Christ’s sake!”

“I will get on that as soon as we get back from the Williams widow,” Sam promised.

“Right,” Purdue sighed, “we will see you later, my dear. I hope you can crack the hidden message in the letter. The more we know about those ships, the more we know of what happened on them and why they were headed to strange bearings, the bigger our arsenal against this killer who is trying to erase all evidence on behalf of the Black Sun.”