Tommy’s thoughts quickly returned to the matter at hand. He could tell Detective Hastings didn’t want to deliver whatever news he had. “What about Professor Nichols, Will?”
Will hesitated for a moment before answering. “He’s been murdered.”
Chapter 4
Sean was angry with himself, though he couldn’t show it. Maybe he was getting sloppy. He stared at the shadowy figure in the corner of the room.
“Getting the drop on the great Sean Wyatt is a tricky thing to do.” The voice was feminine. And familiar.
The lithe silhouette stepped from the shadows near the large window, revealing a woman in her upper forties. Her brown hair was cut neatly just below the ears framing a lean, defined face. The brown eyes looked serious as they peered at him. She wore a gray, form-fitting dress-suit that looked like it was made strictly for business. Though, it did accentuate the right spots.
Sean let out a deep sigh. “Hello, Emily.” He emptied the contents of his front pockets onto the dresser while she lowered the gun and returned it to a concealed place within her suit’s jacket.
“Nice to see you again, Sean.” She smiled, seeming to relax for a moment.
“You’re lucky I didn’t shoot you,” he said with a casual warning.
“And you’re lucky I let you quit the agency,” she replied coolly.
“Would you like something to drink?”
“I already took the liberty.” She picked up a half-full rocks glass from the coffee table and helped herself to a seat on the plush, pale-green fabric of the sofa. “You want one?”
Of course she had.
He shook his head. “Thanks, though.”
“Suit yourself,” she quipped and raised the glass in a mock toast. “Although, after that bad beat you just took, I’d have one.”
He snorted a short laugh. She had a point. “You saw that, huh?”
She nodded with a raised eyebrow.
Sean had worked with Emily Starks at Axis for a four years. She’d actually trained him when he had arrived at the agency fresh out of college. The woman was persistent and calculating, two big reasons why she was now the director of Axis. When their former boss, Grant Rawson, resigned to take a position in the White House, Starks was by far the best replacement. She knew what she could get away with, like the glass of whiskey in her hand. Emily didn’t always play by the rules, which occasionally got her a meeting with someone in the Justice Department. But more often than not, her gut instincts had proven correct and more than a few times she had saved lives.
Sean plopped down in a desk chair near the window and stretched his hands over his head, leaving them there for a moment. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company at this hour…in Las Vegas…on my vacation?” He asked, cynically.
Emily took another sip of the brown liquid and contemplatively rolled the ice around in the glass. “We need your help, Sean.”
Sean’s face never flinched. He figured she needed him for something. It wasn’t often the head of one of the better government agencies in the Justice Department came around just for drinks and chit-chat. “I assume by we you mean you need my help.”
She smiled and took another swallow. “This is pretty good whiskey.” She glanced at the glass for a second. “That’s partially right, yeah.” She looked up from the glass.
The few moments of pleasantries were over. He was curious to see where she was going with the talk. She fingered the rim of the cup for a moment then set it back on the table. “Have you ever heard of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn?”
Sean shook his head. “Only in passing. Isn’t it a dormant secret society or something like that? They fell off the map in the early 1900s for the most part.” He paused a moment in thought, looking at the ceiling. “Seems like I read something about them being interested in magic.”
“The original members of Golden Dawn were very much into magic,” she confirmed his memory. “They had an enormous impact on Wicca and other groups that developed occult-type systems.”
“So, we can blame the Goth trend on them?”
She ignored his joke. “They were originally formed by three former freemasons. The three men were also members of another, more secretive group called The Rosicrucians.
“Sounds like they were busy guys. I don’t even have time to give blood.”
“The founders were Wescott, Mathers, and Woodman,” she went on. “Woodman was at the top of several different secret societies, one of which was the Order of the Red Cross of Constantine. He had been a doctor in his early life. Not much is known of him because he died shortly after Golden Dawn was established.”
Sean tried not to seem bored. “I’m assuming all of this ties into you needing my help.”
Emily cast him an irritated glance.
“I’m sorry. Go on,” he insisted.
“Wescott and Woodman were both physicians: Wescott a coroner and Woodman a licensed surgeon. Both had Latin mottos. Woodman’s: Magna est Veritas et Praelavebit-”
“Great is the truth and it shall prevail,” Sean chimed.
“Show off.” She continued, “Wescott’s was similar: have courage to know.”
Sean rubbed his eyes and looked over at the clock. It was way too late to be getting a history lesson.
“So, what was the third guy’s?”
“He didn’t have one. Mathers was different than the other two. As I said before, Woodman and Wescott were both doctors. They were both members of several different organizations. Mathers was a clerk and was introduced to the freemasons by a friend.
“While Wescott and Woodman seemed occupied with discovering truth, Mathers seemed more interested in what the various secret organizations could do for him. The other two died before he did, and when he left the Order in 1903 it was reportedly because of many debts.
“For the last hundred years, the Golden Dawn was thought to be dormant, like you said. Now, it seems, they have resurfaced.”
“Meaning what?”
She reached down and grabbed another draught of the brown liquid before continuing. “The Order of the Golden Dawn was an unnecessary addition to an already saturated period of secret societies. Most of the members were part of the Rosicrucian sect, as well as the freemasons. These guys didn’t put this group together because they were bored.”
“What are you trying to say, Em?”
“I’m saying that they were looking for something.”
Sean raised his hands, exasperated. “Which was?”
“We believe they were looking for the golden chambers, specifically the fourth chamber.”
“What’s so special about the last chamber?”
She leaned forward. “They believe that within the fourth chamber there is something powerful, something that can give the order extraordinary control over the tides of human events.”
Sean stood up. “How many of those drinks did you have before I came in here?”
Emily rolled her eyes. “Look, Sean. What we know is that this group was inactive for a long time after having a precarious beginning and abrupt end. But it seems now they have a new leader and he will stop at nothing to find the fourth chamber.”