The Vault of Hercules

Chapter 22

“David, do you have a facility for radiocarbon dating?” Medley asked.

Purdue scoffed.

“Alright then,” she reformatted her question. “Could we possibly use your laboratory for dating this specimen?”

“Of course,” Purdue replied sarcastically. “You have taken over my entire mansion, why not infest my labs as well? Get your husband's manservants to carry your test subject. I am a scientist, not a porter.”

Ten minutes later they were occupying the forensic lab under the lobby floor of the manor. Watching Professor Medley investigate the mummified remains fascinated Nina. At the same time she employed Purdue's spectrometer for faster results. Purdue said nothing. He just watched over his belongings and made sure that his old enemy did not accidentally destroy his valuable machines.

To an inventor and technological genius such as him, it felt like an obscene violation for someone to work with his instruments, but he had no choice for the moment and had to allow Medley her examinations. At least with Nina there he was more relaxed. She had used his laboratories previously to date artifacts and examine their origins, so she knew what to look for.

Finally Rita and Nina examined the results. The historian explained to Purdue that the child's body was not an ancient specimen at all. “By the results we have here, this child died in the late mid-twentieth century only.”

“So it’s not a mummy?” Sam asked, chugging back a beer he’d found in Purdue's lab bar fridge.

“No, Sam. It is not a mummy,” Rita smiled. “We figure this child died roughly during that expedition in which our Allied soldier disappeared. By the looks of the interior hinges of the chest and some of the atmospheric corrosion, that was the last time this relic was open.”

“Let's pack this up and get going then,” Nina suggested.

“Do we even know what we’re looking for?” Sam asked. He kept his demeanor glib in order to fool the Italian group into thinking him ignorant, but it served Sam to gather intelligence on what was going on and where it was going.

“The Vault of Hercules is said to lie under a lake in Greece, Sam. The rest of the clues to get to it were reputed to be inside this relic. Which is why I was after it, you see? Now, if what Dr. Gould suspects is true, we should have more information on how to locate the lake once we’ve perused the scrolls left under this child's body,” Rita said.

Nina was already busy removing the stack of rolled paper, gently dusting them off to clarify the writing upon them. She winced. “These pages are horribly stained by what looks like fluids leaking from the body during hypostasis and putrefaction.”

“And there goes my appetite,” Sam remarked.

Purdue nodded in agreement, pulling a face. “Shall we leave the lassies to do their snooping while we go and join Mr. Bruno upstairs?” Purdue proposed. “We are of no use here anyway.”

“That’s a grand idea, David,” Rita replied. “That way you can procrastinate whatever my husband is itching to get up to. Trust me, when he gets bored enough, things go bad for the people around him and we don't need that to ensue until we’re certain of our information.”

“Cheerio then! See you later!” Purdue cried, pulling Sam along. The two bulldogs put there to watch them didn’t know whether to remain with the women or follow the men.

“Oh for Christ's sake, just go with them!” Rita sneered at her husband’s guards. “It's not like I’m in danger of being overwhelmed by a petite, little stunner like Dr. Gould, is it? Get on, then!”

They obliged. When they were gone Nina and Rita's eyes met. For a moment they considered the scenario, and then burst out laughing. “You know I can take you, right?” Nina warned with a chuckle.

“You can try, my darling. It would be a good effort, I'm sure,” Rita jested back. “But seriously, between you and me, I just want the contents of this relic, Nina. True, I loathe David Purdue, but I have no desire to kill him. It took all of my influence to get my husband to keep Purdue's Egyptian associate hostage instead of killing him. My desire to find the Vault of Hercules is strictly business. I’m not willing to kill people for its riches.”

“Good to know,” Nina sighed, learning about an Egyptian associate of Purdue's she’d had no knowledge of. “I had not chalked you up as a killer, Rita. But you do seem to be playing with high stakes just for an archaeological find.”

“I never meant to marry into the Cosa Nostra, you know?” Rita explained matter-of-factly, thinking Nina already knew her business through Purdue. “I merely thought I was marrying a rich Sicilian businessman so that he would fund my digs and my research,” Rita whispered. “Too late did I realize what kind of family I’d gotten involved with. But if I find the Vault, I could give Guido his treasures and he would leave me and my son alone.”

“Your son?” Nina asked in surprise.

“Ladies, we’re about to have dinner and we’re discussing the quest details,” Guido announced, peeking around the corner. His statement sounded exactly like an order and did not leave much in the way of a suggestion.

“Bit early for dinner. You're in Scotland now,” Nina snapped.

“We'll be up in ten minutes, Guido,” Rita said with a tone of finality he had to accept. He left reluctantly and only after glaring at the feisty, dark-eyed historian.

“How do you put up with th… oh, yeah, I forgot,” she told Rita, who just shook her head.

“Come, let's see what's on the gross papyrus. You first,” Rita nudged Nina to check the writings on the yellowed pages stained with aged rot and brown liquid.

“Gee. Thanks,” Nina winced as she snapped on a fresh pair of gloves.

Carefully she handled the frail material to best expand it and flatten the surface without rupturing it. Once she had placed a special press on top of the two pages to even out most of the folds, she gently pinched the corners between her thumbs and index fingers and took it to another station in the lab. Upon the white desk there Nina secured the antique documents under four clasps and pulled closer the aluminum arm to which the large magnifier lamp was fixed.

She switched on the bright lamp inside the tubing of the magnifying glass, hovering it over the paper to better read what was scribbled on it. Frowning, Nina leaned forward to decipher the words.

“It's in English,” she reported.

“What does it say? Does it talk about the vault?” Rita asked, almost frantic with anticipation.

“Aye,” Nina revealed.

Rita smiled, “Let me see. Let me see!”

Nina stepped aside, still memorizing what the Allied soldier had noted on the first part.

“Holy shit!” Rita gasped as she reached the last piece at the bottom. “Did you see this?”

“No,” Nina moaned, “because you pushed in.”

“Nina, the Allied soldier was sent to infiltrate and thwart the SS on this expedition, but they discovered his identity, right?” Rita relayed as she read.

“Aye, we know that,” Nina affirmed.

“Here is the sore part, love,” Rita said, breathing unevenly. “When they discovered that he was a spy, they used his own child as a sacrifice to gain entry into the Vault of Hercules!”

“Geezuss!” Nina shrieked, holding her mouth in astonishment. “That is barbaric!”

“They're Nazis, love. Still, from what he says here, his daughter, aged four, was supposed to be endowed with strength — the strength of Hercules. But instead she perished,” Rita recounted.

“Wait, they put the snake with her, thinking…?” Nina asked, but Rita knew what she was on to.

“Thinking she would crush the snake like Hercules reputedly did when Hera sent the snake into his crib to kill him,” she confirmed Nina's speculation.

“Christ,” Nina murmured to herself. She looked up. “Rita, does he say where the vault is?”

“They never got inside,” Rita read slowly, seeking her way through the words of a grieving father.

“They were perturbed by something and all proof of this experiment went into this relic to be retrieved later. The soldier, I suppose, was killed and left behind while they sent someone to hide the evidence in Ethiopia until they could try again. Naturally, by adorning the chest like the Ark of the Covenant, they knew that the locals in Aksum and the surrounding counties would never let anyone remove what they thought was holy.”

“Evil and devious, in true fashion,” Nina sighed. Her phone rang suddenly, starting both women. Nina didn’t recognize the number, but she took the call anyway, if only to calm her nerves. She knew Rita was listening, so she dared not make any plans to escape or tell anyone what was going on in Wrichtishousis.

“Hello,” she said confidently. Nina figured, whoever it was, that she should at least drop a few hints as to where they will be, just in case matters went sour. “Oh, hi Derek! Listen, I can’t make my training session tonight. There is a wedding I have to attend and we’re on the road. But I'll see you again in a few days for coffee at the Kalavryta?”

The voice on the other side sounded like a radio transmission, and there was only one man Nina knew of who had a voice like that — the exceedingly strong bald man at the gym. “Noted. I'll see what I can do to meet you there. ETA?”

Nina looked in Rita's direction, where the archaeologist stood with folded arms, listening. The historian shook her head as if the person on the other side was babbling too much.

“No, the wedding is the day after tomorrow, so I really cannot make it, honey. Sorry, but I'll catch up when I get back,” she smiled.

The radio-voice man replied, “I'll be there.”

Nina hung up the phone and sighed, “Personal trainers always think they own you. If I want a gay boyfriend I'll hang out in the Theology Department, you know?”

She promptly deleted the number and switched off her phone. Too many times before she’d learned the hard way that numbers could be retrieved by the wrong people, and now that she had learned what manner of people they were dealing with, she could not afford to take any chances. Even though she had no idea who the man at the gym really was — apart from what her lackey had found out — she had a feeling that bringing him in would help her odds.

In a situation where opponents worked together the volatility would always be at hair-trigger sensitivity. As much as they all desired to locate the vault and benefit from the discovery, Nina knew there was no chance of it ending in them all shaking hands and exchanging e-mails. The only questions were how long it would take to go wrong and who would be the first to die.

“Come on, let's go and tell the men what to do,” Rita winked at Nina.

“My favorite part,” Nina replied, dissembling her cell phone in her pocket where her right hand was resting. Rita closed the laboratory door and made sure it clicked shut, the small bubble of green light jumping to the red on the opposite side. “There, now nobody can tamper with our antiques.”

Nina ignored Rita's patronizing tone and pretended not to care. She normally would not entertain such childish mannerisms, but now that she knew that these people were part of the Sicilian Mafia there was reason to keep her cool. She doubted that her friends were aware of the stakes and the danger involved here, but she hoped to get the message across as soon as she could find a way to let Purdue and Sam know. It would be exceedingly difficult with Rita orbiting her like a satellite.