The Relic Hunters

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

Reunited with Cross, Jemma and Gunn, the team took their original seats and rested as the older man drove them north out of the city. Jeff was buckled into his seat right where he’d been when they left him.

“ ’Kinell, Jeffo,” Cassidy said. “Move much?”

“I’m not a fighter,” the young archaeologist said.

“That makes two of you.” Bodie nodded at Gunn. “But Gunn did jump in when needed.”

“To get help in life you have to show willing,” Cross said from the front seat.

“Ancient proverb of the day.” Cassidy grinned with mischief. “But true.”

“You okay, Miss Movie Star?” Cross looked at her in the rearview. “Any more cuts like that and Hollywood will be saving you for the slasher flicks.”

“A past life.” Cassidy waved it away. “And probably one better not spoken of in front of the CIA.”

“Apologies, that’s my bad.”

Heidi looked hurt. “Am I not a member of the team? Not proven myself yet?”

“No,” Cassidy said.

“Well…” Bodie tried.

Cassidy rolled her eyes. “He’s always like this. Pretty chick comes along, bats her… frizzbomb and he’s all Lady Gaga.”

“My frizzbomb?”

“Yeah. What do you call it?”

“We’re degenerating here,” Bodie said. “The Hood is out there, wherever he’s going, and still with the map—” he turned to Jeff “—and you’re our next best thing, so make yourself useful. What did you say was the first waypoint?”

Jeff sipped at a can of Pepsi Max. “We returned something new to Spartacus, and 1776.”

“Ah, yes, the movie reference. Any ideas?”

“It’s not a movie reference. It’s actually an easy first clue if you know your Illuminati history. 1776 is the year they were founded.”

Jemma shook her dark hair left and right. “No. Someone said Adam was the first Illuminati.”

“Well, yes, the ancients may have had a similar form of secret society, where events were manipulated for the sake of a greater power that believed it had the right to rule over all. Perhaps the Illuminati used it as their role model, but officially they began in 1776.”

“Officially?” Heidi asked. “Now I’m stumped. I thought they were secret. Shadows behind the scenes, manipulating the puppets.”

“They are now, but I think that you are testing me. You, Agent Moneymaker, are on their trail so you must know their history.”

“Ah, ya got me. Go on, kid.”

“The Bavarian Illuminati were the first of their kind, the first of their order. Formed by a man named Adam Weishaupt. Weishaupt was deeply non-clerical, made that way by Jesuits who frustrated and discredited any manner of work that they regarded as liberal or protestant. Weishaupt resolved to spread the word of enlightenment through a secret society but considered the Freemasons of the time too expensive and actually too narrow-minded. So they formed the Perfectibilists and decided on the Owl of Minerva as their emblem.”

“Perfecti-what?” Cassidy asked.

“Yes, yes, that’s what Weishaupt thought after a time. He contemplated naming them the Bee Order and then decided upon Illuminatenorden, or Order of Illuminati.”

“In 1776?” Bodie confirmed.

“Yes. And each member of the order used a codename.”

“You’re kidding. For real?” Bodie never would have imagined the TV sometimes got it right. “Let me guess…”

“Weishaupt’s codename was Spartacus.”

“Right,” Bodie said. “So you’re saying the first waypoint is to return to Spartacus in 1776. Then that’s gonna lead us to the next.” He put his head down in thought. “We need to return to the place where this Weishaupt guy created the Illuminati in 1776. Yes?”

“Or his house?” Jemma said. “Return something new to Spartacus, could mean to where he lived.”

Heidi pursed her lips. “I guess.”

“I don’t,” Jeff said. “This whole thing is about the Illuminati, yes? Their base, their statue, their hoodlums. Their bosses. It won’t be where Weishaupt lived, it will be where he created the larger order.”

“And where was that?” Cassidy asked.

Gunn put a hand up, intent to join the conversation. “I know that,” he said. “Bavaria.”

“Well done,” Jeff said a little condescendingly. “We start there. The statue will be somewhere else, of course, but that’s our first waypoint. You ask why? Because, if anywhere at all, that’s where the Illuminati will still be operating.”

“The place they were founded. The longest roots. Makes sense,” Heidi said.

“And you think that’s where the Hood’s headed?” Jemma asked.

“That also makes sense. The route you told me of so far points that way. Of course, he could literally be stopping off at any town, in any country, but Bavaria is where it all began. And Bavaria is where they still exist.”

“Do we know where he created the order?” Heidi asked. “Because, seriously, I don’t.”

“I have an idea,” Jeff said. “But let’s get to Bavaria first.”

Bodie was already unfolding a map. Gunn was flicking it around on his iPad. “Bulgaria. Romania. Hungary. Austria,” they read out. “It’s a long, long way.”

“Good,” Heidi said. “It will give us chance to catch up to the Hood.”

“Can you call more people?” Bodie asked.

“With this operation? Maybe. But we’re gonna need actionable Intel. The American government doesn’t sneeze these days without incontestable proof and reassurance that it’s getting its back nicely scratched. We’ll see.”

Cross put his foot down as the town ended and the countryside began. “Sit back and rest, guys,” he said. “You deserve it.”

“Except for you,” Cassidy said pointedly to Gunn. “You can slip my boots off and rub my feet.”

The geek sulked. “I jumped on that guy’s back. I helped. I tried. It’s not my fault I can’t fight like you.”

“At the moment you’re pretty redundant,” Cassidy said. “Jeff here’s doing your job. Y’know, if this were a book or a movie I’d be a little scared the creator was gonna kill you off.”

“Not everything’s a friggin’ movie, Cassidy. I grew up an orphan, half on the street. I paid my dues.”

“And so did I. So did we all, to be honest. Bodie became an orphan, went to jail, and became a better thief. He wouldn’t hurt anyone after he saw what his earlier crimes did to people. Cross is old, slow, loses his glasses and take his time. And that was during his prime. Jemma’s quiet, able to ponder a dozen things at once, but she paid the price for it in her youth. Bullies, hooligans, others that would take advantage. Me? I won’t lie. I didn’t do so badly. But I was never loved, never wanted. I knew I’d have to go my own way by the time I was in double figures. Grew up fast, studied fighting, made a few bit parts early on. I was homeless before I was a cage fighter. Did you know that?”

Gunn shook his head, eyes rapt, taking it all in. It wasn’t often Cassidy was so forthcoming, so when she was, the group often learned more than they should.

“Then street fighting. No rules. And I was top of the game. Then Guy came along,” she shrugged, “and here we are. Point is…” She glared at Gunn. “Man the fuck up.”

The team chuckled, even Heidi joining in. The road wound out before and behind them and they sat back, comfortable in each other’s company, wondering where they would wind up next.