‘Come on,’ he said, ‘This is our ride.’
She paused before getting in the back of the car and looked at the typical dark haired Italian behind the wheel.
‘Did you get my message?’ asked Brandon from the passenger seat as soon as they pulled off.
‘I did,’ said the driver, in a welsh accent, causing India to stare at him in amazement, ‘The package is in the glove compartment.’
Brandon retrieved a padded envelope, and took out a pistol and a thick bundle of fifty euro notes.
‘Any news on transport,’ asked Brandon.
‘Early morning flight to Athens,’ he said, ‘There’ll be a boat waiting for you the other end. Got you a safe house for tonight. The address is on the envelope.’
‘Great,’ said Brandon, putting the gun into his jacket pocket. ‘How’s business?’
‘Good,’ said the driver, ‘I’ll be sorry to leave.’
‘Always said you had all the easy jobs,’ said Brandon.
‘The summit ends in a couple of days,’ said the driver, ‘I’ve been told my next posting is out in the sticks.’
‘Good,’ said Brandon, ‘About bloody time you earned your rations’. He peered out of the window. ‘Could you drop us off here Jonesy?’ he asked suddenly.
‘Why here?’
‘The lady needs some bikinis.’ he said and the driver smiled at India in the rear view mirror. India threw him a sarcastic smile as he pulled over to the pavement.
‘I’ll take your bags to the house,’ said Jonesy, ‘Make sure you’re at the port by ten tomorrow morning. There’ll be a boat waiting.’
‘Will do,’ said Brandon, ‘See you soon.’
‘Take it easy,’ said the driver and drove off leaving them outside a shopping precinct.
Brandon peeled off twenty notes from the bundle and gave them to India.
‘I’ll be in that cafe,’ he said, ‘You go and get yourself some clothes.’
‘Do you need anything?’ she asked.
‘You could get me some shreddies,’ he said.
‘Shreddies?’ she asked with a sigh of impatience.
‘You know, underwear.’
‘Right. What about clothes?’
‘Already sorted,’ said Brandon, ‘The mob will have had some sent over already.’
‘The mob?’
‘India,’ said Brandon, ‘Stop asking questions and go and spend some money. I’ll have a dozen pairs of Calvins, the rest is yours, now, go and have fun. I’ll see you back here in two hours.’
‘Okay, keep your hair on,’ she said, ‘I was only asking. You secret squirrels can be so touchy.’ She turned around and stomped into the nearest shop doorway.
Brandon waited for a moment and watched in amusement as she pulled fruitlessly on the locked door handle. She took a deep breath and turned around to walk past him without making eye contact.
‘Don’t say a word,’ she snarled as she passed.
The following morning they returned to the airport and boarded a small plane to Athens. A few hours later they were stood on the quayside of the docks. India was reading a timetable on a chalkboard, written in Italian, Greek and English.
‘Next ferry is at one,’ she said. ‘Seems like we’ve got a bit of a wait.’
‘No we haven’t,’ said Brandon, ‘There’s our boat.’
She looked across and groaned as a battered fishing boat chugged alongside the harbour wall.
‘Don’t you guys ever travel in style?’ she asked.
‘Told you,’ he said, ‘Grey man.’
‘Yeah, yeah,’ she sighed, ‘Whatever!’ She lifted her holdall and walked down to the jetty, closely followed by Brandon with his rucksack.
‘It stinks,’ said India as she stepped off the boarding plank. ‘Why can’t we take one of those?’ She pointed at one of the several cruise liners moored in the dock, preparing to disgorge their tourists into the city.
‘This will do fine,’ he answered and passed the bags to the boat’s captain. As soon as they were in, the boat chugged out of the harbour and into the blue waters of the Aegean Sea. India and Brandon sat at the rear of the boat in the shade of a makeshift tarpaulin shelter.
The Captain came back towards them with a couple of cans of coke.
‘Make yourself comfortable,’ he said in broken English, ‘The journey will take about three hours. Stay out of the sun.’ He turned and returned to the cabin.
They made small talk for an hour or so until the subject returned to Samothrace.
‘So, what do you expect to find on this island?’ asked India.
‘Don’t know,’ said Brandon, ‘But all the clues we have, point there. Sometimes the best way to get relevant information is to visit the scene itself. You saw that for yourself in Victoria.’
‘I suppose so,’ she said.
‘So, tell me about Troy,’ said Brandon, ‘If it was invincible, why doesn’t it exist today?’
‘Well,’ said India, warming to her favourite subject, ‘It was built about two and a half thousand BC and lasted until Greece sacked the city about twelve hundred BC.’
‘This, I know about,’ said Brandon. ‘The Greeks built a giant wooden horse and left it outside the gates of Troy. But inside, it contained armed Greek warriors, correct?’
‘That’s right,’ she said, ‘They waited until the city was asleep, and, after dropping from the wooden horse, opened the gates of the city from the inside, letting the Greek army in. What few people realise, is that several days earlier, Diomedes, a Greek warrior, crept into the city and stole the palladium. Don’t forget, the legend was, that as long as the Palladium was in the city, then it could not fall. With the theft of the Palladium, the city was vulnerable.’
‘Just because of a wooden statue?’
‘They believed in these things,’ said India. ‘Anyway, whatever the reason, the city fell a few days later and almost everyone was slaughtered. Some escaped but to all intents and purposes the city was wiped out. After a ten year siege, it was a great victory for the Greeks.’
‘Ten years? It wasn’t that long in the film!’
‘Don’t take the piss Brandon,’ she said, ‘These were real people and real events. Not a vehicle for Brad Pitt’s career, gorgeous as he is.’
‘Sorry,’ he said, ‘Anyway, that’s all very interesting. What about Samothrace?’
‘The records are a bit hazy there,’ she said, ‘It seems the cult of the great mother on Samothrace continued to grow from strength to strength. Over the centuries it became a great place of worship and many famous people visited there to become initiated, and that’s where Phillip the Second of Macedonia met his bride to be in 356BC.’
‘Hence the link,’ said Brandon.
‘Hence the link,’ confirmed India. ‘Not much, I know, but a historical fact linking Samothrace with our murderer.’
‘Well,’ said Brandon, ‘We’ll be there soon enough, I’m going to get some kip.’ He lay down on the deck and tilted his sun hat over his eyes. Let me know when we arrive.’
‘Yes, sir,’ murmured India sarcastically and dipped into her bag to pull out the tourist guide to Samothrace she had picked up in Athens. Two and a half hours later she shook Brandon’s shoulders.
‘Brandon, wake up,’ she said, ‘You have got to see this.’
Brandon got up and sat on the bench alongside India, gazing at the amazing sight of the island rising majestically out of the blue Aegean sea. The volcanic shape dominated the horizon and even from this distance they could see it was lush with green vegetation. Halfway up, it carved through a white halo of mist, formed by its own microclimate and the whole place screamed mystery across the water.
‘Truly a place of the god’s,’ whispered India in awe.
‘More like Jurassic fucking park,’ answered Brandon and ducked to avoid the half hearted slap from his colleague.
Chapter 13
Rome 64 AD
The fires had been burning across Rome for two days and Rubria was still locked in the tower with Nero. The Emperor’s mood swung from lyrical to savage as he alternately serenaded Rubria with his lyre or violently raped her, depending on his mood. Her face was swollen from the beatings and the once pristine white robes were grubby and bloodstained. Her hair was unkempt and her face dirty from the long dried tears. She lay curled into a ball in the corner, her hands tied tightly around a heavy table leg.