The Hunt for Excalibur

28 Mordred’s Courtesy

Under the threat of Nina’s assassination, and more casualties at the hand of the sinister antiques collector, Major Rian, Purdue had to adhere to Ava’s orders. They arrived at a stylish house in Glasgow before nightfall. Ava and Kostas accompanied Sam and Purdue through the heavy security gate. Neither men spoke a word to Ava as they entered the premises. A man was cleaning the massive pool on the side of the house, while two gardeners were laboring to finish the lawn before the night came. More rain was soon to come, according to the radio broadcasts.

Ava punched in a selection of codes and waited. The overhead camera swiveled to locate the newly arrived guests and a click from the lock on the door allowed them access. Inside, the house was rather mediocre and not as grand as the outside presented. Whomever lived there was a modest person with a love for old paintings, but not much else in the way of style.

“Welcome, my friends,” a man smiled from the open plan kitchen. He had a peculiar mustache that lent him great character, Purdue thought. “I am sincerely sorry that we had to meet under such awful circumstances. I just hope we can get this out of the way as soon as possible.”

“Give me a gun and I can end all of this for you in a minute,” Sam threatened.

The man just smiled wryly. “I will not bother to stick out my hand for introductions, because I would not expect any courtesy. However, I shall introduce myself nonetheless. James Willard, and it is honestly an honor to meet you both, as it was to make Dr. Gould’s acquaintance.”

He gestured for the men to sit. Kostas took his place at the door, as usual.

“How do you know Nina?” Sam frowned.

“She was a guest lecturer at my school recently,” the principal smiled. “Lovely woman.”

“If you admire her so much, how come you are working with her kidnappers?” Purdue wanted to know. Uncharacteristically, the white haired billionaire was abrupt with the schoolmaster.

“That is just an unfortunate necessity, Mr. Purdue,” Willard shrugged. “Things got out of hand with this scabbard business, I’m afraid, and we had to use the lovely Nina as leverage.”

“But you have the scabbard now, don’t you?” Sam protested. “The boy had it with him when your thugs took him and Nina out of my apartment.”

“Aye, yes,” Willard cordially retorted, “but it is not the scabbard we are after, Mr. Cleave. We are looking for Excalibur. It is the only reason why we sough the sheath in the first place. The Warkadur would lead us to Excalibur. And it is regrettable that we had to involve the family of a well-loved pupil of my school, but I suppose my late son is to blame for that.”

“How come?” Ava asked, making herself at home behind the kitchen counter.

“My son, Paul, was supposed to,” he shrugged with some discomfiture, “alleviate the Hall collection of several random items to make it look like a run of the mill break-in. Among those random objects, would be the scabbard of Arthur’s sword, Warkadur. You see, from it we would be able to follow the map etched into the leather by Ronald Hall, indicating the location of where he hid Excalibur.”

“Why would he hide Excalibur? If I had it, I would keep it for myself,” Sam reasoned. Purdue nodded in agreement, as Sam tried to make sense of the sword’s disappearance.

“It is quite simple. Ronald Hall was relentlessly pursued by the SS after he escaped. He feared that they would find the sword on him, the sword representing Britain’s sovereignty, and the patriot that he was could not have that,” Willard explained. “So he hid it, vowing to retrieve it as soon as he could make it to London. From there he would accompany the Allied unit bound for the Channel Islands, and upon defeating the Nazi forces there, he would recover Excalibur.”

“Let me guess,” Purdue said. “He never made it to London.”

“Exactly,” Ava chipped in from the frothy cappuccino she was nursing. “After disposing of Excalibur, he burned the map into the old leather with a hot nail, and gave the scabbard to a close family member residing at Brodick Castle on the Isle of Arran. That family member was a cousin of the Hall brothers, the great grandfather of Rufus Hall, the man Paul Willard and Court Callany stole it from.”

The school principal shifted uncomfortably in his chair and sighed. “My son died during that robbery, gentlemen. He died for Excalibur and I will be damned if I am not going to pull out all the stops to finish what we started. He was not supposed to involve Court Callany, but he felt sorry for the man. Thought he could help him make some money. Ironic, how the Callany’s were in no way involved in the original plan, and now they are our biggest liability.”

“What happened to Alan Silver?” Ava asked.

“Ask Kostas,” Willard said. He groaned as he rose from his chair and sauntered to the kitchen for coffee. Kostas said nothing. His hard eyes burned through Sam, the man who killed his best friend with such impudence, but his very presence told Purdue and Sam that this Alan Silver character was no more.

“Makes sense all of a sudden,” Sam mentioned. “Purdue, that auction house you bought the table and other stuff from?”

“Euphrates Society?” Purdue asked.

“I checked them out. Prime establishment for what I believe to be the Black Sun’s relic mill. Probably why they invited you to the auction,” Sam explained. He gave Ava a disdainful leer and pointed at her from the armrest of his chair. “It was no accident that she tried to play you. According to some research I did on Euphrates, they had previously been locked in a dispute with Rufus Hall to try and gain control of the Hall Hoard. It was called the Hall-Rian case, but it just vanished from the judicial records, probably due to the high corruption probability of the Euphrates experts. I saw the list. Willard and Rian were benefactors of the society.”

“There you go,” Purdue grunted with satisfaction. He could always trust Sam to know the backgrounds of their opponents. Through it all, Willard did not deny any of the remarks.

“I need for you to do what you do best, Mr. Purdue,” Willard implored politely. “We are not friends, and I understand that you begrudge me for kidnapping Dr. Gould, but I hope you appreciate that this situation was brought on by circumstances.”

“You can flavor it in any way you like, Mr. Willard, but in the end you are just a criminal with a nice demeanor,” Purdue stated. “In truth, you are responsible for your son’s death, but what makes you all nothing more than criminals, is that your greed caused the death of innocent people. I will so as you ask. I will launch a minor excursion to locate Excalibur, which in my opinion, is probably just an old sword anyway.”

With Sam’s steely eyes following Kostas from where he sat, Purdue moved slowly towards Willard and Ava. He had one more thing to get off his chest before he would start on the Warkadur map. “Let us be clear on one thing. If anything happens to Nina or the remaining Callany family, you will never outrun me. Make no mistake, Willard. I am a man of limitless means and great intellect, two things that make me the most dangerous enemy you will regret to have crossed.”

Ava scoffed. “And you,” Purdue addressed her with his index finger pointing, “…my dear, will never set foot in my house again. You have served your purpose.”

Sam smiled. He felt mean and happy that Purdue knew who Ava was before he bedded her, and still got his rewards from her. He was proud of Purdue for bugging Bernard’s vehicle that night. He was proud that he used Ava like a cheap one-night stand, because all in Purdue’s inner sanctum got tired of women fucking him over because he was nice. It was good to see Purdue’s less than nice come out precisely when it was supposed to.

“Come on, then,” Purdue told Willard. “I need the map.”

“No,” Ava purred, “we will keep the map, Kostas and I. You will make the necessary arrangements for our collective tip there…”

“Wait a minute,” Sam objected loudly. “Just clarify this for me. How are we to know you will not kill Nina anyway while we are out there bringing back the sword and then you just kill us too, Willard?”

“Mr. Cleave, I am not a murderer. I cannot speak for my associate, Major Rian, but as far as I am concerned, you are all quite safe,” Willard elucidated. “I am a reasonable man, so for my part, we will all come out of this alive. You get Excalibur for us, but you do not keep it. Mr. Purdue gets bragging rights to make another huge splash in the media about his famous explorations, claiming to have discovered the legendary Excalibur.”

“What is the catch?” Sam asked.

“The catch is that Mr. Purdue takes the glory for the find, and declares that he donates it to the Euphrates Society. That way, nobody needs to die for knowing too much. Leave that for American thriller films,” Willard conveyed.

Sam watched Ava’s face as the schoolmaster revealed his plan and she did not look at ease with the arrangement. However, she said nothing, leaving Sam with nothing but speculation.

“We get Excalibur, and you get to not die and take the credit for the relic’s retrieval. Call it a mutually beneficial contribution to a historical discovery,” Willard relayed flamboyantly.

Sam had no qualms with the plan, although both he and Purdue knew that Willard was not the sole authority when it came to Nina’s safety. Ava was a loose cannon, just like her brother. Purdue had a gut instinct that she and Bernard would turn on their associates without hesitation, so he remained wary of their position throughout.

“I need to see the map to know whereto,” Purdue told Willard. “I cannot make travel arrangements and procure pertinent devices, food rations and gear without being familiar with the terrain we have to work with.”

Willard and Ava glared at one another. Finally, he shrugged. “Give the man the map you pulled from Bernard’s pictures. He is right, Ava.”

Reluctantly she took out a folder from her purse and tossed it on the table. Purdue and Sam sat down, while James Willard casually sauntered to the kitchen.

“Tea, anyone?” he offered as if they were there for Bible study.

“Aye, thanks,” Sam said, as Purdue took out the various angled photographs of the scabbard. He noticed the silvery thread Nina referred to. “Actually, James, do you have coffee?”

“I do,” Willard answered.

“Listen, Mr. Willard, they are not here to order you around like a maid,” Ava hissed under her breath. “They are our hostages.”

“Miss Somerset, I appreciate your disgruntlement, but they are not our enemies. They are people just like us, unfortunately on the other side of our playpen and you will respect them,” he cautioned gently in an equally hushed tone.

“You are way too forthcoming. Why can’t we just go out there and get the sword and get paid?” she bitched. “They are making fools of us. These men are stonewalling us and I will not have it. All the while my brother has to babysit their little bitch as if she is special.”

The silver haired beauty planted herself on the stool next to the counter and pouted like a child. She was becoming exceedingly desperate to move things along in order to get paid and disappear.

“You are lacking in patience, my dear,” Willard reacted to her juvenile threats. He gave her a serious look. “Please, do make sure that you do not wear mine out.”