The Black Sun Conspiracy

Chapter Thirty-Three

“Don’t you touch me,” Nina snarled, backing up until she touched the wall was behind her. “Don’t you fucking come near me, Steven. Whatever you have to say, you can say it from the door. And then you can get the fuck out.”

The man Nina had once thought that she loved stood and laughed at her. Bile rose in her throat at the thought that there had ever been anything between them. What she saw now was a stocky, middle-aged man with a paunch hanging over his belt. His hair had receded and he now wore his black curls a little longer to compensate, but it did not suit him. Spidery red veins were scattered across his face, the result of years of over-eating and drinking too much. The Roman nose that had once looked distinguished now simply looked hawkish as Steven’s face had grown too fat.

He advanced on Nina, backing her into a corner. “Aren’t you pleased to see me, Nina? You used to be. I remember when you used to be so thrilled to see me that you’d beg me to fuck you the minute we got behind closed doors.” He closed in on her, so close that she could feel his hot breath on her skin. She turned her head away. “Fancy another shot, Nina, just for old times’ sake? Bring back old memories? I’m game if you are.” He slipped a hand onto her thigh and began to slide it upwards. “Just a quick one?”

Nina’s hand swung round and delivered a powerful slap. Steven’s head spun and he took a step back, giving her just enough space to get away from him. “I said don’t fucking touch me,” she repeated with an animalistic hiss.

Steven rubbed his reddening cheek. The smile was gone, replaced by a contemptuous sneer. Furtively, frantically, Nina scanned the room for anything she could use as a weapon. She had no idea why Steven was here or what he might want, but she remembered the threats he had made after they had broken up. She recalled her suspicion that he had arranged for her flat to be ransacked after Sam had visited his father, when Steven had assumed that Sam was Nina’s new lover. Whatever he wanted, Nina knew that she would feel safer if she had anything, anything at all, with which she could defend herself.

“I’m an important man here, you know,” Steven whined, his nasal voice setting her teeth on edge. “So you can just treat me with a little more respect. If you do that again, you’ll be sorry.”

“And if you touch me again, you’ll be sorry.”

“I never liked that temper of yours, Nina. It’s unbecoming.” He sat down in the chair and indicated that she should sit on the bed. She did not move. “Very well, stand if you must. It makes no difference to me either way. The point is that I always told you that I had powerful friends. You never believed me, did you? Well, now you know. Now you’ve seen them for yourself. This is what I’m part of, Nina! A worldwide organization with connections into government, the military, big business, everything you can think of. What do you think of that?”

She wanted to shrug, but she knew that would only provoke him. “I don’t know, Steven,” she said. “What am I supposed to think? Am I meant to be impressed? I’ve no idea what I’m meant to think of anything here.”

“Well, I can help you with that.” Steven’s bloated face looked swollen with his own self-importance. “You ought to be thinking how remarkable it is that an organization such as this exists and has done for centuries — and not only that, but you found yourself in direct contact with it! Most people will never be in such close proximity to the Black Sun as this. It is possible, I suppose, that someone like you might have come to our attention in due course, but it’s unlikely. There are, I believe, a handful of academics involved in various research positions, but the world is full of intelligent people. We have the very best of them to choose from, and your career was hardly stellar.”

Nina held her tongue, much as she was tempted to relay to the poor self-righteous prick that she knew more than enough about his precious friends and their sick clique of psycho’s. Desperately fighting to refrain from just blurting out that she had come to know the Order of the Black Sun in ways she was certain he carried no knowledge.

But that would be foolish in this endeavor. She knew that what she had learned about the Black Sun’s history from the Brotherhood and that what she had suffered at the hands of Lita Røderic had to be harbored deeply within, serving as the trump card of a seasoned gambler.

“Get to the point, Steven.”

He bristled, but did not allow Nina’s bluntness to interrupt his self-aggrandizement. “I realize that you did not choose to be part of all this, Nina. You were dragged into it by someone who had operated on our peripheries for some time. Dave Purdue has only ever been a liability, you know — I actually cautioned against his involvement right back when he was first brought in, but I was overruled by people who have subsequently come to regret their decision. And that man Cleave, whom you sent to my house! I was so angry then. Of course I later realized that you had no way of knowing what you were getting into. But get into it you did, and there are plenty of people within the Order who want you dead for what you know.”

Nina lifted her head and stared straight at Steven. Her head was aching, she was exhausted from months of constant fear and anxiousness, and she was more tired than she had ever thought it was possible to feel. “Tell them to get on with it, then,” she sighed. “If that’s what’s going to happen, let’s get it over with.”

Steven was wrong-footed. He gaped at her, his mouth open and his face resembling nothing more than a dead haddock. “You… you’ve put me off my stride,” he muttered indignantly. “I was trying to tell you that I can save you from that fate.”

“And why would you?” Nina demanded. “It’s not as if you’ve got much concern for my well-being. It was you, wasn’t it, who had someone break into my flat? Just to frighten me?”

“Nina, don’t you want to live?” He was getting frustrated, she could tell. A tinge of red was rising from his collar, creeping up his face. “I am prepared to use my influence to secure your safety! Do you know how many favors I will have to call in to make that happen? But I can do it! I can help you. You would have to be willing to submit to the Order completely, but there are archives all over the world and I could get you a position in one of them. You would offer your skills in exchange for your safety. You’d be under close scrutiny for a while, but eventually you would become a trusted member. You might even advance to a higher position, as I did.”

Nina put her back to the wall and slowly slid to the floor. Thinking he had convinced her, Steven smiled. He rose and stood in front of her, offering his hand. “I’ll pass on your acceptance, shall I?”

Despite his belief in his own victory, Steven was not expecting the sweet smile that greeted him when Nina looked up. That was an expression he had not seen on her since the very earliest days of their affair, when he had still felt young and daring enough to think that he might really leave his wife. Then, without breaking eye contact with him, Nina raised her fist and flicked up her middle finger.

Steven sighed theatrically. “I’ll leave you to think about it. I’m sure that once you’re in a calmer frame of mind you will see that this is the only option you have. In the meantime, I’m sure you must be sick of wearing those clothes by now.” He called the guard waiting outside. A couple of clicks later and the door opened, admitting the guard who deposited a small holdall on Nina’s bed. Steven followed the guard, but paused on the threshold and turned back towards her. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a packet of cigarettes, then dropped them in front of Nina. She did not touch them. She let them lie where they fell on the faded beige carpet. Steven sighed again and left.

As soon as the door had closed behind him, Nina pounced on the packet and tore it open, hoping to find a lighter inside next to the cigarettes.

There was no lighter.

“Bastard,” she hissed, and let the packet fall.