Oh shit, Patrick Smith thought.
“Please, My Lady, may I say something?” Col. Yimenu asked, to which the judge motioned her permission. “If this man did not steal our Ark, against which an entire group of laborers from Aksum swears, how did it go missing in his possession?”
“Mr. Purdue? Would you like to elaborate on that?” the judge asked.
“As I have said before, we were pursued by another expedition. My Lady, I barely escaped with my life, but the Medley excursion party subsequently took possession of the Ark, which was not the real Ark of the Covenant,” Purdue clarified.
“And they are all deceased. So where is the artifact?” asked the passionate Prof. Imru, looking decidedly shattered by the loss. The judge allowed the men to speak freely as long as they maintained order as she delegated.
“It was last seen in their villa in Djibouti, Professor,” Purdue answered, “before they left on an expedition with my colleagues and I to investigate some scrolls from Greece. We were forced to show them the way, and that was where…”
“Where you staged your own death,” the prosecutor accused harshly. “I need not say more, My Lady. MI6 was summoned to the location to arrest Mr. Purdue only to find him ‘dead’ and to find out that the Italian members of the expedition had perished. Am I correct, Special Agent Smith?”
Patrick tried not to glance at Purdue. Softly he answered, “Yes.”
“Why would he stage his death to avert arrest if he did not have something to hide?” the prosecutor continued. Purdue ached to explain his actions, but to bring up the entire drama of the Order of the Black Sun and having to prove that it too, still existed, was too much detail that needn’t be disturbed.
“My Lady, may I?” Harry Webster finally rose from his seat.
“Go ahead,” she said approvingly, since the defense attorney had not said a word yet.
“May I suggest that we come to some sort of arrangement for my client, as clearly there are a lot of holes in this case. There is no concrete evidence against my client for harboring stolen relics. In addition, there are no persons present to testify that he did indeed report any intelligence to them regarding espionage, either.” He took a pause to pass his look to each and every representative of Military Intelligence 6 present. Then he looked at Purdue.
“Gentlemen, My Lady,” he carried on, “with my client’s permission I would like to opt for a plea bargain.”
Purdue kept his straight face, but his heart was racing. He had discussed this outcome in detail with Harry that morning, so he knew he could trust his main attorney with making the right choices. Still, it was nerve wrecking. Even so, Purdue agreed that they should just get it all behind them with as little hellfire as possible. He was not afraid to take the whip for his transgressions, but by no means did he like the prospect of spending years behind bars without the possibility of inventing, exploring, and most of all, putting Joseph Karsten where he belonged.
“Alright,” the judge said, folding her hands on the table. “What are the defendant’s conditions?”
9
The Caller
“How did the hearing go?” Nina asked Sam on Skype. Behind her, he could see seemingly endless rows of shelves stacked with ancient artifacts and gloved people with white coats cataloguing various pieces.
“I haven’t heard back from Paddy or Purdue yet, but I’ll be sure to fill you in as soon as Paddy calls me this afternoon,” Sam said, exhaling with some relief. “I’m just glad that Paddy is there with him.”
“Why?” she frowned. Then she chuckled in amusement. “Purdue usually wraps people around his little finger without even trying. You don’t have to fear for him, Sam. I wager he will walk out without even having to get overnight lube for a local jail cell.”
Sam laughed with her, thoroughly amused at both her faith in Purdue’s abilities and her jest about Scottish jails. He missed her, but he would never admit it out loud, let alone tell her directly. But he wanted to.
“When are you coming back so I can buy you a single malt?” he asked.
Nina grinned and leaned forward to kiss the screen. “Aw, do you miss me, Mr. Cleave?”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” he smiled, looking about him self-consciously. But he loved looking into the beautiful historian’s dark eyes again. It pleased him even more that she was smiling again. “Where is Joanne?”
Nina took a quick glance behind her, the motion of her head stirring life into her long dark tresses as they were swept up by her movement. “She was here… wa-wait… Jo!” she cried to somewhere beyond the screen. “Come say hello to your crush.”
Sam chuckled and laid his forehead in his hand, “Is she still after my drop-dead gorgeous ass?”
“Aye, she still thinks you are the dog’s bollocks, precious,” Nina joked. “But she is more in love with her sea captain. Sorry.” Nina winked as her eyes trailed her approaching friend, Joanne Earle, the history teacher who had helped them uncover the treasure of Alexander the Great.
“Hi Sam!” The jovial Canadian waved at him.
“Hey Jo, are you well?”
“I’m doing great, hon,” she beamed. “This is a dream come true for me, you know. I’m finally getting to have fun and travel, and all while teaching history!”
“Not to mention that finder’s fee, hey?” he winked.
Her smile vanished, relinquished for a gawk of greed as she nodded and whispered, “I know, right? I could so do this for a living! And as a bonus, I landed a sexy old Canuck with a fishing charter business. Sometimes we go out on the water just to watch the sun set, you know, when it is not too shy to show.”
“Sounds brilliant,” he smiled, silently praying for Nina to take over again. He adored Joanne, but she could talk a man’s head off. As if she read his mind, she shrugged and smiled, “Okay, Sam, I’m going to give you back to Dr. Gould. Bye now!”
“Bye-bye, Jo,” he said with a raise of his eyebrow. Thank God.
“Listen, Sam. I’ll be back in Edinburgh in two days. I’m bringing with me the booty we made off with for donating the Alexandrian treasure, so we’ll have a reason to celebrate. I just hope Purdue’s legal team puts out so that we can celebrate together. If you’re not on some assignment, that is.”
Sam could not tell her about the unofficial assignment Purdue had put him on to find out as much about Karsten’s business affiliations as possible. For now, it had to remain a secret between the two men alone. “No, just some research here and there,” he shrugged. “But nothing important enough to keep me away from a pint.”
“Lovely,” she said.
“So will you be going straight back to Oban?” Sam asked.
She wrinkled her nose. “Don’t know. I considered it, since Wrichtishousis is off limits right now.”
“You’re aware that yours truly has a quite lavish townhouse in Edinburgh as well,” he reminded her. “It’s no historical fortress of myth and legend, but it does have a very cool Jacuzzi and a full fridge of cold beverages.”
Nina chuckled at his boyish attempt to lure her to his place. “Alright, alright, you’ve convinced me. Just pick me up from the airport and make sure your car’s boot is empty. I have a shit load of luggage this time, light packer that I am.”
“Aye, I will, lassie. Got to go, but you’ll text me your arrival time?”
“I shall,” she said. “Stay hard!”
Before Sam could throw a suggestive comeback to counter Nina private joke between them, she’d ended the call. “Shit!” he groaned. “I have to get faster than that.”
He got up and headed to the kitchen for a beer. It was almost 9 p.m., but he fought off the urge to bother Paddy, begging for an update on Purdue’s trial proceedings. He was quite nervous about it all, and this made him a little reluctant to phone Paddy. Sam was in no position to receive bad news tonight, but he hated being so predisposed to the negative outcome scenario.