“I'm a historian, Jo, not a linguist,” Nina smiled. “Purdue knows a few renowned linguists who can decipher it for us, though.”
“Absolutely,” Purdue agreed, laying his hand on Virgil's shoulder as the boat captain wept in reverence. Against the wall where the massive seal was flawlessly carved, three roughshod tablets were displayed. Nina stepped inside, traversing knee-deep mounds of gold, silver, gems, and weapons of antiquity. She lifted the malachite stones on which Olympias had carved her message to Alexander, revealing to him what would make him an incomparable warrior and undefeated general.
“But we won't know what it was,” Joanne sulked.
“Only until my associates have deciphered it, my dear Jo,” Purdue consoled her cordially. “In the meantime, we can enjoy the spoils of the so-called normal treasure we are wading through.”
“Aye,” Nina smiled.
“I would like that medallion now, please Miss Earle?” Virgil asked modestly. “For services rendered.”
“Ha!” Purdue exclaimed. “My friend, where I lead expeditions,” he looked at the ladies, “if I may take the lead here, everyone involved gets a handsome helping for their risk and their loyalty. I don't deal with snakes, unless they are the reptilian kind.”
“Holy shit! Purdue!” Nina shouted. “Sam! We have to get the snakes to the hospital!”
Virgil and Nina ran to the boat to radio for an emergency services chopper to pick up the snakes for the hospital laboratory on Baffin Island. Purdue was exhausted, relying on Joanne to help him back to the septic tank.
“Shall we switch off the snake charmer, Dave?” Joanne smiled.
“No, let's keep it alive for now, for good measure. I’m not sure how dead those adders are,” he coughed, chuckling in between.
“Something really bad happened to you, didn't it?” she said softly. Weary, he just nodded to affirm her assumption.
“They'll get what is coming to them. You know, the first big empire Alexander toppled and claimed was Persia,” she relayed in her teacher-storyteller manner. “And there is a beautiful Persian proverb, perfect for this situation and perfect for the people who did this to you.”
Purdue was pleasantly surprised at Nina's friend's company. “What is the proverb, Miss Earle?”
She leaned forward and winked. “Use your enemy's hand to catch a snake.”
Purdue's blue eyes sparkled. He was content right now and he reveled in Joanne's wisdom while admiring her beauty. With the discovery of the hidden treasure of Alexander the Great, he would now be able to pay restitution to the Archaeological Crime Unit in order for them to drop his charges. The relic he’d taken illegally from Ethiopia could be returned to them to hopefully reach an accord with the government and its archaeological organizations.
Still, he had to deal with MI6.
“Purdue's Greek linguist figured out most of the script on the Olympias Letter,” Nina smiled as she joined Sam in the hospital. “I sent a copy of the report to Joanne. She is going to flip.”
“What does it say?” Sam asked.
“Other than the words to her son, Olympias had chiseled an ancient incantation on the malachite,” she explained. “The stone was Egyptian, holding the power of the spell like a geological Faraday cage, but with some of the script being corroded and some of the tablet fragments having been affected by weather and time, the missing words remain unknown. And that, fortunately, makes the spell incomplete. Useless.”
“And was it worth hiding from the world after his death? Was it worth killing for?” he asked. “What was so dangerous about an incantation made by a bunch of wine-drinking hedonists?”
“From the rest of the words, the linguist reported that it was a summoning of celestial power that would infuse the one invoking it with the power of Ares, the Greek god of war. Whoever knew this chant would be imbued with unsurpassed martial supremacy and the power to conquer the world,” she told Sam. “Kind of cool, right? If you believe in this stuff. It’s a remarkable coincidence that he ended up doing just that. If he had not been poisoned, which is my take on his death, he may well have held all the kingdoms of the world in his palm.”
“No wonder the fucking SS and the Black Sun were looking for it. Imagine if Hitler had what Alexander had possessed. And they couldn’t even get as far as you did, pretty woman. I wish I could have been there,” Sam lamented, looking much more colorful than the last time he gazed at her through dark eyes on a wan skin. “Even just to see something happen in the Place of No Happening!”
Nina laughed. “With what was under it I am not surprised it was cursed.” She took Sam's hand in hers. “You were there, love,” she said. “Remember, had it not been for you, the rest of us would have all been attacked by those things. You got us all the way there, just short of ground zero, Sam. You scouted ahead and took a few for the team,” she teased.
“I almost took too many for the team. Do you know that I have a bite right next to my…?”
“It’s time for your shot, Mr. Cleave,” the nurse interrupted before Sam could get lewd.
“Okay, I have some business to attend to regarding a few stone tablets for redistribution,” she winked at Sam. “Be a good boy, alright Mr. Cleave?”
She pecked him on the forehead, breathing his scent in and whispered, “Miss you.”
Nina was hoping to get Purdue to throw a small get-together for the members of the Olympias expedition, as well as for the heroes who’d saved Purdue's life, Nina's new friends in Oban, but she had to wait for Purdue to finalize his affairs now that he was publicly alive again.
Father Harper and Dr. Beach never spoke about what had happened after they’d left the concealed house in Fallin with Purdue in dire straits. It would be their collective secret, just like the previous vocation of Father Harper.
Purdue had to keep to the deal he had struck with Special Agent Patrick Smith and appear in front of a military tribunal for his alleged involvement in international espionage, masquerading as relic hunting or historical research. First, though, he had agreed to accept a summons to an informal hearing in Glasgow. Thereafter, Purdue's own team of attorneys would investigate the illegal annexation of Purdue's residential property, Wrichtishousis in Edinburgh.
“Something does not sit right about that,” Purdue told Patrick.
“I know. It is unprecedented, which is why the seizure of your mansion had to have been authorized by someone very powerful,” Paddy agreed, speaking very softly. “But we'll sort that out as soon as you are off the hook with the archaeological spy thing.”
“Indeed,” Purdue sighed.
They watched the members of the primary litigation team enter the room.
“Oh, there is the head of MI6, my boss.” Paddy pointed towards the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service. “His name is Joe Carter, thirty-year veteran of the SIS.”
Purdue's heart stopped. Under the pointed finger of Special Agent Smith was a familiar face he hoped he would never see again. His hand was bandaged, the exact hand Mother had sent a bullet through.
“Jesus Christ,” Purdue muttered, sinking his head as his ears started ringing.
“Are you okay, David?” Patrick asked.
Purdue looked up at the walking nightmare in the posh suit. Joe Carter is Joseph Karsten! No wonder MI6 was trying to confiscate my house! He is in charge of it all!
This was war. Purdue felt furious, cheated, and had a bone to pick, but he was not going to act on it now. He was going to make peace with the right people and clean his slate. Then he was going to adamantly follow Miss Earle's advice. He was going to use his enemy's hand to catch the snake.