The Grecian Manifesto (13 page)

Chapter 24

Rome, Italy

Thanos banged on the door one last time. “Signor Cagliari!”
he shouted in Italian. “This is the police.”

A few tourists passed by and stared at the three men
hovering around the red door. Thanos’s two assistants made sure to look as
menacing as possible to avert further intrusion by curious eyes. His driver had
just parked the car outside the Piazza Navona near one of the grand, domed
cathedrals situated on the edge of the square. On the walk over, they kept
their eyes straight ahead, hidden by sunglasses to further protect their
identities.

The door remained shut, which either meant Cagliari wasn’t
home or he wasn’t answering. There was another possibility as well. Sean Wyatt
could be inside. “Be ready,” he said to the other two. “Be careful, though. If
you fire your weapons, do not hit the map.”

Thanos had just gotten off the phone with Dimitris.
Apparently, Adriana had given up the information they needed. Thanos hoped that
she hadn’t been roughed up too badly. He wanted to have that pleasure all to
himself.

“Once we are inside, if there is no one here, search
everywhere you can. The map is probably a parchment scroll. It will look very
old. Understand?” The other two nodded.

Thanos took a quick look down both sides of the street.
Satisfied the coast was clear, he stepped toward the door and slammed his heavy
foot into the middle of it. The door gave way easier than he thought, bursting
open and swinging hard into the doorstop. With guns drawn, his two mercenaries
entered the living quarters first. One made sure the right was clear; the other
took the left. Thanos went in directly behind them with his gun held in front
of his chest.

The inside of the home was deathly quiet; too quiet for
the burly, bald man. Thanos scanned everything rapidly, and then silently
motioned for the guy on the right to go to the back of the home. He’d walked
into more than a few ambushes before. From his experience, before the storm
things were always calmest. He pointed for the other one to check out the
upstairs area.

The men obeyed and disappeared to their assigned
locations. Thanos lowered his weapon, keeping it at the ready, and closed the
door behind him. No need to leave it open for the wandering eyes of the city’s
visitors.

While his men were searching the house, Thanos stepped
into the great room and surveyed the space. He made a note of the sofas and
chairs, the coffee table and other furniture. The decorations weren’t to his
taste, but then again he preferred to keep things minimalist. Furniture and
interior decoration was for function only. His eyes stopped on an object that
appeared out of place in an otherwise clean room. An empty wine glass rested
atop the end table next to one of the chairs. Thanos picked up the container and
inspected it closely. It was hard to tell how long it had been sitting there,
but the mere fact that it was not put away contrasted the otherwise orderly
apartment.

That meant Cagliari had either left in a hurry, or
absently forgotten the glass. Something told Thanos it was the former. The glass
was still slightly warm to the touch. His eyes darted around suspiciously. If
Cagliari had left recently, he wouldn’t be far away. He set the object back on
the nightstand and purposefully made his way over to the little workstation in
the corner. There was a series of envelopes, letters, and sticky notes atop the
desk. The three shelves attached to the desk and flush to the wall held more
envelopes and letters. One particular envelope caught his attention over all
the others. It had the name
Adriana Villa
on the bottom left corner.

Thanos picked it up carefully and took a quick look around
to make certain no one was sneaking up on him. Paranoia from years in the field
taught him never to let his guard down. He slid a fingernail underneath the
seal and ripped it open, then pulled back the edges and peered into the
envelope. A folded piece of paper was cradled inside. Thanos pulled out the
sheet and unfolded it. His eyes widened as they scanned the content of the letter.
He could hear his man’s footsteps upstairs as he moved through the home,
probably sifting through drawers and cabinets. The man Thanos had sent to the
back of the house returned to the great room and found his employer staring at
a sheet of paper.

“What is it?” the mercenary asked.

“It’s what we were looking for,” Thanos answered.

His assistant appeared dubious. “I thought you said it
would be on an old piece of parchment or something.”

“The original probably is. This is a copy. Cagliari must
have duplicated it and brought it here.”

The younger man squinted. “Then where is the original?”

Thanos shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. We have what we need.
Now we can get the boss what he wants.” He knew that Gikas would be pleased
with such a quick end to the search. The wealthy man would likely reward Thanos
with some kind of a bonus. Gikas had been generous with his money before. This
time, Thanos hoped that would be the case again. And there was the issue of
what to do with the Spanish woman. His employer had made mention of her before.
Just thinking about the wicked things he would do to her made Thanos’s skin
flush. Quickly, he refocused his attention to the current situation.

The mercenary still looked curious. “So where to next?”

“Ostia,” he tapped on the paper, showing it to his
subordinate. “The mouth of the Tiber River.”

Chapter 25

Rome, Italy

Vincenzo Cagliari led the way through the secret passage
as if he’d done it a hundred times before. Something told Sean that the old man
probably used the corridor more frequently than necessary simply because he
liked it.

“I have a question,” Tommy said as the group reached a
curve in the path. “If this device really could predict the future, why didn’t
Julius Caesar just use it to evade his enemies or to tell him how to take them
all out?”

“A good question,” Cagliari answered. “And one that I have
asked myself many times. It wasn’t until I began looking into the strange world
of quantum possibilities that I realized the answer.”

“Quantum possibilities?”

Sean kept his mouth shut, knowing the answer but deciding
to let the old professor do the talking.

“Yes,” Cagliari said, continuing down the passageway. The
path started to angle downhill ever so slightly. “Quantum mechanics tells us
that in the universe there are limitless possibilities to everything. As it
applies to our lives, that brings an entirely new meaning. Many people believe
that our lives are on a linear path, like a train on its tracks. Try as we
might, we are not permitted to leave that track; at least, that is what many
people think. Quantum mechanics tells us that not only are we on that track, but
that there are trillions of other tracks running alongside us, and at any time
we can choose to jump to another set. The catch is that when we switch to a new
path for our life, there will be a different set of outcomes in response to
that jump.”

Tommy processed the information for a moment. “Sounds like
the old television show
Quantum Leap
.”

“It is very much like that show. I discovered it when I
was doing my research.” Cagliari looked back over his shoulder with a wink and
a wry smile. “Essentially, the Eye of Zeus calculates possibilities based on
decisions, locations, and people involved. Caesar initially believed that it
was a gift from the gods. With the power of the antikythera, he was able to win
major battles and claim the largest empire for Rome in its history up to that
point. But the Eye of Zeus also came with a curse.

“Caesar became obsessed with it. The more he studied the
outcomes the relic predicted, the more it began to occupy his every thought. He
lived in constant fear, and no matter how many calculations he ran with the
device, the ending always came out the same for him. Caesar realized that he
could avoid death for a time, but eventually it would catch up to him. So he
hid the Eye of Zeus until such a time when a worthy person could find it.”

 
“Are we
worthy?” Sean asked in a somewhat sarcastic tone.

“In my opinion, at this point, whoever finds it is
worthy,” Cagliari quipped. “It has been hidden for so long, a person who finds
it would certainly qualify as that.” His laughter echoed through the corridor.

“I don’t understand,” Tommy said. “I mean, if he didn’t
want anyone else to be able to use it, why not just destroy it? Then no one
would ever be able to use it again.”

Sean had wondered the same thing but had refrained from
asking the question.

Cagliari stopped and swiveled around to face the other
two. “You have to remember that even though the great leaders of the past were
very intelligent, logical men, they also held a great deal of respect for their
deities. While Zeus was not the god Caesar worshipped, he was still a deity to
be respected by all, if for no other reason than to play it safe.”

The explanation made sense and seemed to satisfy Tommy’s
curiosity. Cagliari spun back around and took off again, plunging forward into
the darkness.

After another ten minutes of vigorous walking, the passage
straightened out and the three men could see a faint light coming from a point
in the distance. The musty, dank air dissipated, mixing with the typical smells
of the city. Fifty feet later, the light took the shape of an arched doorway,
protected by a metal gate. Cagliari lifted an old latch and flung the gate
open. He stepped out of the tunnel onto a narrow landing and into the warm
sunlight. The Tiber River flowed by, just beyond the embankment beneath their
feet. The noise of cars, people, and other reminders of the bustling city
resumed in their ears.

“I’ll need to call our driver and tell him where we are,”
Sean said, turning off the flashlight on his phone and pulling up the keypad.

Cagliari walked over to a steep set of concrete stairs and
ascended toward the street. Tommy and Sean did the same while Sean looked up
the number of their driver. When they reached the top of the steps, they found
Cagliari standing face to face with a police officer. The policeman had a
surprised look on his face and seemed more confused by Sean and Tommy’s
arrival.

He began speaking in rapid Italian, too fast for Sean to
understand. The officer’s hand gestured toward the river and a sign that
obviously warned people that the area was restricted.

Cagliari began speaking in a calm tone, trying to explain
that the three had gotten lost and ended up down in the sewer. Sean hoped the
policeman was buying it, but from the suspicious look on his face, he wasn’t.

Suddenly, the officer’s eyes widened as they came to rest
on Tommy’s jacket. He reached up to the radio on his shoulder and said a few
words in muffled Italian. They were spoken slowly enough that Sean could
understand them, which was a blessing and a curse.

The cop was calling for backup, for two armed Americans.

Chapter 26

Rome, Italy

“We have the map,” Thanos said proudly into his cell
phone. He and the other two marched hurriedly back to their car on the other
side of the Piazza Navona.

He wanted to call Gikas as soon as possible, but knew once
they re-entered the throngs of people in the plaza, it would be difficult to
hear.

“Outstanding work, my old friend,” Gikas replied. “You
have done well. There will be a special treat waiting for you in the cellar
when you arrive.”

Thanos tried not to let carnal thoughts take over what
needed to be done. The Eye of Zeus wasn’t in their hands just yet.

“Where does the map indicate the relic can be found?”
Gikas asked, getting the conversation back on track.

“Ostia,” Thanos answered. “The clue is written in Latin,
and the image displays the mouth of the river. Cagliari must have been working
with Villa. I found the map in a letter addressed to her.”

“Excellent.” Gikas paused for a second before asking,
“What did you do with the good professor?”

It was Thanos’s turn to wait for a moment before
answering. “He was not home. We left the apartment as soon as we found the map.
I would rather not leave too many loose ends lying around. I assumed you would
agree. Cagliari will have no idea who stole the map. And without it, he will be
lost.”

Gikas had become accustomed to the high body count his
right-hand man tended to leave in his wake. Leaving Cagliari alive was an odd
move, but one that Gikas agreed with. Time was of the essence. Things were
becoming more and more unstable with the Greek government. He was scheduled to
give a speech at a rally in two hours. Now that the Eye of Zeus was within his
grasp, he could relax and prepare to rally the nation to his cause.

“Let me know how things are progressing in Ostia.”

“Of course.”

Gikas ended the call, and Thanos slipped the device back
into his front pocket. The three men reached the parked car and slid into the
hot, leather seats. A few minutes later, they were back in traffic, winding
through the busy streets of Rome.

The Tiber River meandered through the city off to their
left like a giant anaconda. Ahead on the left, Thanos noticed three police cars
on the side of the road, with half a dozen police officers surrounding the
area. Thanos narrowed his eyes as he peered through the windshield. The driver brought
the car to a near standstill as the commotion with the authorities slowed traffic.

His eyes grew wide as Thanos realized who was being
arrested. “No. We could not possibly be that lucky.”

The driver glanced out the window in the direction his
boss was looking. “What? What are you talking about?”

Thanos pulled out his phone and quickly dialed Gikas.

“Something wrong?” the man’s voice asked through the
earpiece. “I just got off the phone with you.”

“It’s Sean Wyatt, sir.”

“What about him?”

“Looks like he’s being apprehended by the local
authorities.”

“What?” Gikas had to ask again to make sure he’d heard
correctly.

“Sean Wyatt and his friend are being put in the back of
two police cars here in Rome. They’re in handcuffs.” Thanos explained what he
was seeing as plainly as possible.

Citizens and tourists had begun to gather around the odd
sight, as people tend to do when there is something unfortunate happening to
someone else. Several were taking pictures or video with their phones. Some
just stood with mouths agape.

“Any idea why he’s being arrested?” Gikas asked with new
energy in his voice.

 
“No. But from
what I can tell, it looks like they are in major trouble.”

The cars in front of them began to pull away. Thanos’s
driver hesitated for a second, waiting for orders. Thanos wanted to know what
his employer thought as well. “Want us to stop and see what’s going on?” he
asked into the phone.

Gikas thought for a moment. “No. I’ll see to it that Sean
Wyatt is taken care of. We have what we need. Proceed to the location in Ostia
and let me know when you have a progress update.”

“Will do.” Thanos slid the phone back into his pocket as
the driver stepped on the gas, leaving Wyatt and his friend to the police.

Thanos looked back one last time in the rearview mirror
and noticed the police car pulling out onto the street in the other direction.
He didn’t smile often. It was part of being the bad guy who always got things
done. On this occasion, however, Thanos allowed himself to smile. Just a
little.