The Vault of Hercules

Chapter 9

Nina stood outside, dying for a smoke. Although her recovery from lung cancer had miraculously cured her of most of her underlying maladies, she didn’t want to seem ungrateful to the Powers That Be for her second chance at life. And that meant that Nina Gould had to give up cigarettes, a hefty toll indeed, but one worth pursuing in the long run. Inside the small office she could hear Purdue and the officer exclaim in awe and amusement while they watched the video clip of the naked beauty who had thwarted an abduction a few nights before. The video had since gone viral over the entire Internet.

She waited patiently for them to get it over with, and after a short pause and silence, Purdue came out, ready to head to his home in Edinburgh. Looking more composed than he’d been while watching the news footage, he lightly touched her elbow, ushering her to the vehicle he’d prepared.

“I’ve something you have to take a look at, Nina. Just take a look at it, please,” he said unceremoniously. Nina frowned at his odd behavior. There was no remark about the clip he’d just watched, no teasing or silly inquiries about her nudity. Then again, she reckoned, taking the piss was more Sam's thing than the astute and proper Purdue would employ.

“What is it?” she asked, wondering if he was at all intrigued by the reason for her locating him in the first place. After all, the fact that she drove out to meet him as soon as he’d landed would have given him some indication of urgency, yet Purdue was quite preoccupied. “Jesus, Purdue, you look like you haven't slept in ages. What are you up to now?”

He only smiled timidly. It was true that he was exhausted, both mentally and physically, but so soon after she’d forgiven him was not a good time to let loose with a story of fleeing a country in a hail of bullets after snooping for Nazi relics again. It would be the quickest way to shut her off from him. “I’ve been busy, my dear Nina. I just need some advice.”

“Can it wait?” she asked, annoyed at his indifference to her purpose there. “I’ve something very important to talk to you about, Purdue.”

“Um, of course,” he recovered quickly, feigning most of the interest in his tone to coax her to get his way about the relic. “Of course, I understand. I tell you what…”

“I cannot postpone this,” she interrupted.

“I was not going to suggest procrastination, Nina. Why don't you follow me to Wrichtishousis, and then we can discuss what’s on your mind?” He looked around, casting a few quick glances toward the sky and the horizon as they walked to the fleet car he’d ordered his Ethiopian find to be secured in. Nina knew that mild paranoia all too well, but for fear of jumping the gun she withheld her suspicions and agreed to follow Purdue with her own car.

Just before she separated from him to collect her car to meet up at the checkpoint, Nina peeked into the large vehicle Purdue was using. Nothing was inside the car — nothing on the seats, anyway — but there had to be something inside that would merit an invitation to a modern history expert such as herself to advise on.

“What’s in the car, Dora?” she asked, mocking him for the civilized housewife car he was taking.

Purdue smiled, glad for her interest. “It’s too much to explain here right now. Why don't we make a night of it when we get to the estate? I’m sure what I have in this vehicle would be tremendously fascinating to someone like you.”

Nina sighed. “Purdue, Nazi shit again?”

He just rested a hand on her shoulder and chuckled uncomfortably. He looked past her for a moment and announced, “They’re opening the gate. Shall we take this up in a few?”

“Aye,” she replied reluctantly. “But don't forget that we have to address the issue I’m wrestling with as well.”

“Done,” he assured her before climbing into the high driver's seat of the soccer-mom-looking SUV, complete with a Baby-on-Board sticker and the ever-popular stick figure family so eagerly slapped onto the cars of most average suburban families. Nina only shook her head at Purdue's relentless knack for ingenuity. However, it also alarmed her. To go this far to conceal the contents or identity of the transported goods, Purdue would have to be desperate not to be detected. Usually such covertness was born from looming trouble, trouble like unlawful claims, criminal pursuits, betrayal, secret liaisons and double agents of things of historical significance. She knew what that meant.

“Tangled with the wrong sort again, didn't ya?” she muttered as she headed for her car with the dying lights of the base in her wake. Nina didn’t have to worry, but whatever Purdue was hiding was bad news. She could feel it in her gut. As she followed him home, her thoughts raced around Sam's sorrowful predicament and Purdue's preoccupation with what she was certain was another net to draw her into the dark recesses of the secret world of reality coursing under the skin of society.

When they arrived in Edinburgh it was close to midnight. The almost four-hour drive took it out of Nina, and she wondered if she would even be able to assess Purdue's secret cargo in the state of fatigue she was in. It had been a trying day ever since she fell out of bed. She’d had a grotesque nightmare about Paddy's daughter and the imbecile who’d taken her. Sam was not answering his e-mails, phone calls, or texts and she was not about to accost him at home if he’d made it this clear that he didn’t want to be in contact.

That very unsettling fact had her driving to Wrichtishousis the following morning, only to find out that Purdue was out of the country on an excursion in East Africa, indefinitely. It was by sheer luck that she happened upon his chatty housekeeper, Lillian, who spilled the proverbial beans about his due arrival when she’d overheard Purdue tell his butler he would be landing.

Naturally Nina knew that Lily deserved the third degree she would no-doubt receive from Charles the butler for her transgression. But Charles knew Nina, and he knew she was one of a handful of people David Purdue trusted with his life, so he would probably keep the reprimand mild. The master of the mansion, however, could not care less about Lily's information leak, as long as it was to those in his inner sanctum.

The red brake lights of his vehicle bled louder in front of her tired eyes as he brought the car to a halt ahead of hers under the protective cover of the garage that was located under the kitchen and pantry floor of Wrichtishousis. Similar to the hangar arrangement at Milltown, Purdue had constructed a second carport with six bays under his house, featuring a trapdoor-like door fashioned in solid steel and copper. When activated by remote control, Purdue's garage door harbored a live current of electricity through its minerals to prevent any tampering — unless such tampering was done by something with no biological integrity.

Nina watched the heavy steel door descend with a hydraulic hum that somehow reassured her. Its control was admirable. In a world of chaos and erratic events, watching a massive structure descend with such control and perfection was a pleasure to behold.

“Not too bad, hey?” Purdue bragged as he joined her to make sure the door had shut correctly.

“Aye,” she agreed, almost inaudibly as if her tongue had already fallen asleep. “A bit scary, though. Like a tomb being sealed or something.”

“Then this will unnerve you just a little more,” he smiled. Activating the current after the giant bolts locked in, Nina jumped back at the sparks along the frame of it, running from the ignition ports across to where the door was connected to its hydraulics. The electrical charge clapped and then died down into a quiet buzz that reminded her of the sound of a fridge in the middle of the night.

She looked impressed as she folded her arms. “Unnerving indeed, but I doubt you’ll be bothered much by intruders with this beast in place,” she remarked. “Purdue, I'm exhausted. Can we pick this up tomorrow?”

“Certainly,” he replied. He called Charles to help him carry his booty to one of the storerooms on the ground floor under his study. “You take a room, Nina. I shall pick your expert brain after you’ve had some shuteye, alright? Sweet dreams.” He pecked a light kiss on her cheek.

Nina could not make up her mind. Purdue had already amicably dismissed her from the scene, but she was inexcusably curious about the artifact he’d been so carefully smuggling here. Reluctantly she took his offer of taking it up in the morning.

“Alright. Good night!” she said as she shouldered her sling bag and laptop case, exiting the underground chamber. “Hi Charles,” she said as the butler came down past her.

“Madam,” he returned, smiling in passing.

The house was dark upstairs, save for the hallway lights mounted against the walls to illuminate the walkway and paintings. Nina knew them all in order by now, having spent much of her past decade in the grand old historical gem that overlooked ancient Edinburgh. She picked her favorite guest room and dropped her luggage unceremoniously before switching on the en suite bathroom light for some relief.

“Dr. Gould?” she heard the night staff cook say from the doorway. Nina stopped in her tracks, trying not to show her discontent at being interrupted.

“Yes?” she forced as she turned to find the kind, old lady with her hands locked in front of her lap.

“Anything to eat before you retire, madam?” she asked.

Nina felt bad for being intolerant at a woman who was staying up all night to serve. “Um, a hot beverage would be lovely. Thank you.”

“Just something to drink, then?” the small lady asked.

“Aye, just a mug of hot chocolate. I'll leave the munching for breakfast.” Nina smiled.

“Very well. I'll have it up here in a jiffy, Dr. Gould,” the night cook affirmed before disappearing.

“Take your time,” Nina called after her, closing the room door and jogging to the bathroom. “All the time you need. I have to piss like a racehorse, thank you very much,” she muttered as she headed for the head.

After she’d finished she waited all but five minutes for the soft knock at the door to claim her drink. She sighed, relieved that soon nobody would bother her with offers and she could get some sleep. When she opened the door, Charles was the one holding her drink.

“My apologies madam,” he said plainly. “But I need to speak to you.”