After what felt like an age the assault came to an end. Sam wanted nothing more than to rip off the blindfold, but he made himself wait until he had heard the three men leave. Slowly, trying not to use any of the muscles that were currently aching, he reached up and pulled the scarf from his eyes. The alley was empty. No chance of catching a glimpse of any of his attackers. Not that he could have gone to the police anyway.
Step by painful step, Sam began trying to find his way home.
Chapter Two
After a surreal and tense reunion after their trip from Prague, Nina and Purdue had honed their current relationship to a strange dance of amicable distance. In name and practice surely they were still lovers, domestic partners, but obviously both understood that a lapse of two years would change the dynamic.
The first few days after their meeting was spent sharing Sam and Nina’s recent adventures with Purdue, although mostly one sided. His curiosity as to his lover’s runic tattoos started the conversation, where she began to explain her ode to a fallen friend that led to a dangerous meeting with some bad apples. On his inquiry, Nina filled him that the very same people had gifted her with the permanent scarring on her forearm during a horrific episode of Nazi medical care.
In return Dave Purdue said no more than what he could play loosely, so that he could easily deviate from the truth and still retain his basic line of stories should he be cornered for information. It was a hapless attempt on Nina’s end to pry, no matter how hard she tried to get behind the secrets, of which Purdue claimed he had divulged already — it was without success. It left her cold to him, especially in the light of her growing affection for Sam Cleave during the past year or two.
Purdue listened as they relayed their subsequent run-ins with unsavory types, forced travels and close calls. From the engagement in Edinburgh with a host of museum thefts that culminated in the hunt for a Viking legend to the more recent clash Sam had with a unit of German task force operatives. The latter had driven him into hiding where he joined Nina and a Czech anthropologist seeking Nazi treasure as far as Romania’s haunted forest.
In hindsight, when Sam had shared it all with Purdue, he soon realized how far-fetched and absurd it all sounded when he said it out loud. Nevertheless, it had happened and Nina was with him through it all to vouch for his accuracy. However, both Sam and Nina had elected to keep their greater secrets, their more clandestine knowledge and discoveries about the Black Sun to themselves for now. After Purdue’s fickle loyalty in the past they thought it best to catch up in the most superficial way they could without letting on just how much they had learned about the Order.
Now it had been a few weeks of laying low just like the old days of peril and distrust, thanks to the swift action of Matteus to rescue Sam and Nina from certain death in Prague. Since they had met him, Matteus had gradually grown accustomed to their bickering, their personality traits and bad habits. In hiding for an indefinite stretch this time, the three of them were once again at the mercy of their wits and their camaraderie, perhaps the most useful of all in a situation such as this.
It had been some time since Nina had seen Sam step out for a fag. She had just made a cup of tea when she heard the clang of the doorknob’s clumsy ricochet.
“Sam? What the hell happened to you?” Nina took in the sight of Sam’s battered face as she emerged from the kitchen. Immediately she set down her steaming mug and rushed over to inspect the damage. “You’re a mess. How did you manage this?”
“I’m fine,” Sam groaned, reluctantly allowing her to point his face towards the window. He winced as her fingers gently touched the swelling around his left eye and jaw. Soon his face would be black and blue. “Nothing to worry about.”
She gave a derisive snort. “What, walk into a door, did you? Bullshit, Sam. Someone did this to you. Now, I’m going to get you something to put on that and when I get back you’re going to tell me who it was.”
With her usual briskness she stepped back into the kitchen and returned a moment later with a handful of ice cubes wrapped in a small towel. “I know it’s traditional to use steak,” she said, “but considering the lack of raw sirloin in the fridge and the fact that I’m not even sure if steak actually works, you’ll have to make do with this.” She pressed the cold compress against his face. “Anywhere else, or is it just your face that’s messed up?”
Sam pulled up his shirt to show her the deep purple patches mottling the skin over his ribs. “It’s fine,” he said, seeing the alarm on her face. “I’m just bruised, honest. They gave me a bit of a kicking, but it’s not too bad. I’ve had worse. I’ll be ok.”
“Who did it?” Nina persisted. “Are we in any danger?”
“No,” Sam said, “I don’t think so. Just your average, common or garden muggers. They weren’t very impressed when they found out that I didn’t have much money on me — or a phone. They had their hearts set on a phone, apparently. I should probably think myself lucky — God knows what they’d have done if they’d seen my actual phone. Stabbed me, probably.” He tried to laugh, but the pain in his ribs made him catch his breath.
“Matteus will probably do that for them when he catches sight of this. You know what he said, Sam. I hate it as much as you do, but… he’s right. The more we go out, the more likely it is that we’ll get spotted eventually. Unless… you don’t think he and Purdue are wrong, do you? Maybe we’re all just overreacting. Maybe these people don’t have such a long reach after all?”
‘If only that were the case,’ Sam thought. He had hoped that he would never find himself being targeted by a shady, dangerous and internationally connected organization again. He had hoped that his run in with the arms ring that had ultimately led to Patricia’s death would have been the last of it. ‘How did this become my life?’ He asked himself. ‘I was going to write Jefferson’s book, then go home and start building a life. I was going to buy a flat. Holing up in one city after another wasn’t part of the plan.’
He looked around at the cramped living area of the flat. The ceiling was high, but the room was narrow and dingy, barely lit by the narrow window. A cheap folding sofa was pushed up against the wall, with the rickety armchair that Sam now occupied beside it. Three small bedrooms — well, two small bedrooms and a hastily repurposed study — a kitchen that was little more than two gas rings with a fridge in the corner and a tiny, sulphur-scented shower room made up the rest of the apartment. Compared to this, his one-bedroom flat in Edinburgh was palatial. He could only imagine how Purdue must feel, coming to this from his sprawling mansion by the River Forth.
Not that they saw much of Purdue these days. The billionaire spent most of his time shut up in his room, permanently installed behind his keyboard. When Sam had checked on him, he had said that he was making the necessary arrangements in case they had to stay in hiding for an indefinite period. Sure enough, after no more than a couple of days in Florence, Matteus had appeared with a laptop for Purdue and fake identification documents for everyone. Sam Cleave had become Kevin Anderson and Nina’s new passport would prove that she was Sabine Bauer. They were yet to learn Purdue’s new identity, which struck Sam as a little risky.
Sam realized that he had not answered Nina’s question, but just as he opened his mouth to reply there was a knock at the door. Both he and Nina froze instinctively. They had already learned not to trust the knock at the door, to dread that someday it would be a prelude to danger. Nina glanced at her watch then visibly relaxed. She mouthed “Matteus” at Sam and crept over to the door to look through the fisheye.