Operation Rubicon Read online

  “And then what?” Elijah asked. “Wait for them to show up to claim it from us?”

  “Maybe,” Nina said. “We'll just have to cross that bridge when we get to it.”

  August snorted. “I’ve always hated that expression.”

  They hadn't taken the news well and she couldn't blame them for having the reactions that they did. The whole thing felt like some scary story out of some horror movie, but this was their actual lives that had been injected with so much real world terror.

  The Third Triumvirate was waiting for them to succeed—but Nina had already decided that no matter what happened, she wasn't going to let those masked loons take from them. None of this would matter though if they couldn't find the sword. Once they did that, they could really worry about the Third Triumvirate's threats.

  Luckily, everyone's determination to find the sword pulled them out of their conversation about the Third Triumvirate. They all knew what was important right now and that they could put any contingencies on the back burner. They reviewed all of the information that they’d gotten so far, recapping every detail just in case they missed anything.

  “So Commodus supposedly put the sword in the place he loved most. So he brought it back to Rome.”

  That made sense. The only reason Commodus would’ve ever gone to Egypt to take the fabled sword back was so he could return back to where it belonged. But it hadn't been brought to the usual places where valuables were kept back then. If it had, it most likely would’ve been discovered with the rest of the treasures that survived those times.

  But then again, they might have been thinking too broadly. Nina thought back about everything she knew about Commodus. There wasn't too much information to go off of but Commodus didn't seem to love Rome itself, not really. Most of his actions hurt Rome for his own amusement or to fulfill the materialistic desires of people that would support him. He wasn't focused on Rome, just a small piece of it, and that piece suddenly stuck out to Nina in the midst of her racing thoughts.

  “Commodus put the sword in the place that he loved the most...the Colosseum. It's what he was most known for historically. He was obsessed with the Colosseum and with the gladiators that fought in it. He would even perform in the arena. I say perform and not fight because...well...he was never in any real serious danger when he battled in the arena. He’d either cut down people who were unarmed and hopeless or people who wouldn't dare try to strike him. It was always easy to win when your opponent couldn't fight back. Commodus always made sure he won and received the majority of the applause.”

  Elijah shook his head. “The Roman Colosseum is one of Europe's most popular places to visit. You really think that the sword has been there this whole time and no one found it? That seems like a bit of a leap.”

  “I've taken much bigger leaps, believe me,” Nina said, recalling her many adventures with Purdue. “Commodus only cared about strength and the Colosseum was practically a temple for warriors in his eyes. Putting a weapon like that in a place like that would make a lot of sense from his point of view. And as for people not finding it...if it was just hanging up somewhere, then yes, it would’ve definitely been found. But I doubt most renovations or tourists want to dig down into the grounds there. They would be far more focused on the structure itself than what was below. Hell, burying the sword there might have been like marking the Colosseum as some sort of hallowed ground to Commodus.”

  “It makes sense to me,” August said. “If it's a place that this Commodus guy loved then it would make sense to bring something valuable there. I've seen Gladiator. The Colosseum seemed pretty important to him in that movie.”

  “Thank you,” Nina said, glad that someone was willing to make the leap with her, even if his reasoning was lacking a little. “We should check there.”

  “And you think the workers there are just going to let us dig up the place?” Elijah asked, wiping off the lenses of his glasses. “Seems unlikely to me.”

  “Elijah...” Nina wanted to get something off of her chest, and she was just going to finally voice it aloud. “This must seem all pretty out of the ordinary for you but believe me, out here in the field, there's always a way. It used to be Purdue's wealth that could open most doors and now...with the Order of the Black Sun's influence, digging a hole in that arena will be no problem whatsoever.”

  “We'll see.”

  INTERLUDE ONE: THE MASK OF MR. COMMODUS

  The idea of the Roman Colosseum always captured Matteo's imagination, ever since he was just a little boy—though he was never little for his age. It sounded amazing to have some place where warriors could display their skills to the fullest, for all to see. It was even more impressive that there weren't many rules or regulations that would dictate the competition. Instead, it was all about survival. The only trophy that someone participating could receive at the end was surviving for another day. It was a true test of might, far removed from the sports of today.

  Matteo had always been big and strong. He exited the womb weighing fourteen pounds and went through his whole childhood as the tallest one in his age group. As a result, he’d excelled in most physical activities growing up. He could easily overpower people, even the older kids. He’d played rugby to great success, but he hated the team aspect of it. None of his supposed “teammates” could keep up with him and only held him back.

  He also frequently got into trouble for using his size and strength to intimidate his opponents, on and off the field. To help channel his power into something less frowned upon and more productive, he took up boxing to see if he could find a real challenge. There were people who could actually put his strength to the test for once. He rarely lost a fight, but he liked that someone could make him bleed before he pummeled them into submission. Still, even in those times, he was stopped and restrained from putting his opponents down for good. They didn't know what it meant to truly lose then since they could just get back up the next day as if nothing happened. Defeat meant so little anymore now that people's lives weren't at stake. How was anyone supposed to fight with his all, if he already knew that they were going to walk away from it and be relatively unscathed?

  He wanted a real arena, yearned for it, where he could feel what the warriors of old once savored. He yearned to know what it felt like to have an audience cheering for your very survival, for them to praise you when you vanquished your enemy. But those kinds of contests were long gone, burned away by misplaced morals and censorship. Society couldn't handle watching a real battle anymore.

  When he first met the young man now known as Mr. Nero, he listened to him preach about Rome's greatness and how that glory was lost, but could be found again if people fought hard enough to bring it back. Like everyone else who heard Mr. Nero's ideas, Matteo thought that Mr. Nero was nuts. However, the more that Matteo listened to him go through his reasoning, the more it started to make sense, at least somewhat. The world really was lacking unity and a return of something like the Roman Empire might be enough to get people on the same side again. Mr. Nero was right about that, and slowly, Matteo found himself thinking along a similar philosophical path.

  When Matteo decided to join Mr. Nero on his crusade to bring back Rome as it used to be, his new accomplice was thrilled to have someone with raw physical strength in his corner.

  “With what we're doing, things could turn messy very quickly. I expect we will find ourselves in a fight or two by the time we complete our task. People will be resistant...”

  That idea made Matteo more excited than he had been in years. He wanted to fight—a real fight. He was so bored of trading punches with boxing gloves. He needed something more visceral and more brutal, the kind of fights that the old gladiators used to have. This might be the only way to ever get to experience that.

  If they really could restore the old Rome, then there was still a chance for him to reestablish the Colosseum to what it used to be. Society needed that back, a place where people could give in to their primal nature, either as a fight
er or as a viewer. If the matches in the Colosseum seemed grand back then, they’d be a million times bigger now. The entire world would evn be able to watch the fights to the death through streaming. It would be the largest audience the Roman Colosseum had ever had.

  Until then, Matteo would be able to get some real life matches under his belt on their way to bringing back Rome.

  The two of them wouldn't be able to accomplish it on their own. Matteo brought strength to push through many of their obstacles. Mr. Nero had the charisma and the political knowledge to help put things in place. But it wasn't until Miss Caligula joined that they’d devised a real plan, and real brains to their entire operation. She was quiet and mild mannered but when she spoke, she made all of Mr. Nero's promises and dreams seem tangible.

  When it came time to choose what mask he would wear, the choice was obvious enough. There was only one emperor who shared his passion for bloodshed in the Colosseum. There was only one who represented what Matteo was going to fight so hard to bring back: Commodus.

  13

  WHERE CROWDS CHEERED FOR BLOOD

  The Colosseum was in much more disrepair than it would have been during its glory days, but that wasn't a surprise, especially since it’d been standing for so long. A couple thousand years would erode anything, but it was still in relatively good shape, all things considered. Time had taken its toll, and chipped away at parts of the structure. The Colosseum had withstood hundreds of natural disasters in its time, but some earthquakes were enough to bring portions of the Colosseum down. Even some powerful people throughout history had removed portions of the arena to keep as souvenirs. That was one helluva a trophy.

  They walked into the Colosseum and despite its worn appearance, the arena was still enough to take Nina's breath away. It must have been so amazing to see back then, a true marvel to behold and a glorious place to visit, whether you were a fighter or a spectator.

  THE HYPOGEUM WAS a series of tunnels and corridors underneath the arena. It was where the gladiators would be brought to wait for their turn to fight. They’d warm up down there, pick out the weaponry they wanted to use, or just sit and contemplate the potential that they were about to die in front of an applauding audience.

  It wasn't just the warriors who were kept down beneath the Colosseum. In the times when the crowds were craving to see more exotic violence, beasts from all over the world were transported to Rome to take part in the games at the Colosseum. These animals were taken from their homes, recruited into a contest that they had not consented to; starved and whipped, forced to participate in cruel displays of nature versus mankind. Gladiators were often forced to fight lions to the death. There were no sportsman-like restrictions or honor or respect between the two opponents in those situations. There was just the shared instinct to survive. Crowds would celebrate as fellow human beings were mauled and devoured by wild animals in front of them. Those creatures were imprisoned down here as well, enchained away from their future opponents, ready to be unleashed into the ring.

  ((CONNECT))

  THERE WAS NO LONGER A FLAT, sand-covered arena anymore, so the Hypogeum's structure was visible to the rest of the world. It was rundown just like the Colosseum that surrounded it. The arena had become a pit, and at the bottom of the shallow pit, was the remains of the Hypogeum.

  ((CONNECT))

  NINA DROPPED down into the pit, right into the ruins of the gladiator barracks. She couldn't imagine having to wait down there for your possible death. Those fighters must have had so much trepidation as they were there. Their nerves must have been so frayed. Some of them probably threw up right there on the floor in front of her. It was like a green room in a theater or a concert hall but a thousand times worse because your performance could decide if you lived or died. The anticipation could literally kill you.

  The others followed, all looking around the decrepit Hypogeum. They spread out through the ruins. She wondered if any of them shared the nervous feeling that she was experiencing at the pit of her stomach, or if they were all thinking about how many gladiators used to be in this sub-section of the Colosseum, preparing for their battles above?

  For the next two hours, they all searched through the Hypogeum thoroughly. There was no sign of anything like a sword, but Nina wasn't too surprised. If it was easy to spot, then someone who worked at the Colosseum definitely would have found it. She was glad they brought the shovels and spades because underneath the Hypogeum was where she was going to look next. One thing she'd learned from her time of unearthing some of the rarest treasures in the world was that most things had to be dug up to be found; the most valuable of things tended to be buried away from the rest of the world.

  She started her dig and the others all started doing the same.

  “DO you think that they’ll find it down there?”

  Mr. Nero, Miss Caligula, and Mr. Commodus all stood on the upper levels of the Colosseum, hidden out of sight on top of the broken down walls. They all eagerly watched Dr. Nina Gould and her team down in the pit of the Hypogeum, searching for the sword of Caesar.

  Mr. Nero watched them closely. The group had come to the Colosseum in quite a hurry. They must have learned something that definitively pointed to this being the hiding place of the sword. If that were true and this was the right location, then the Third Triumvirate might be getting the weapon they needed sooner rather than later.

  “Do you think they’ll find it or not?” Mr. Commodus repeated his question, but this time with more annoyance that no one had given him an answer. “Because they don't seem so sure. From up here, they look like little ants, don't they? Look at them. Just little ants scurrying around in a hole.”

  “Ants are smarter than you think,” Miss Caligula said, leaning against the wall. “They’re wiser than you, that’s for certain. No question about that.”

  Mr. Commodus let out a growl from behind his mask, but Miss Caligula didn't really notice or care. She was constantly reminding the giant man that he was only there for his physical prowess and not for his intelligence. It was a good way to keep him in line, to not let his strength get to his head. If they gave him too much freedom, he’d start getting delusions like the idea that he should be in charge. They couldn't have that.

  “Dr. Gould has quite a reputation,” Miss Caligula said. “She’s a specialist who has been all over the world and found all kinds of things. This may be a dead end, but even if it is. She’s going to keep trying to find the sword no matter where it is.”

  “So we were right to count on her to get it,” Mr. Nero mused. “I really hope she isn't a disappointment.”

  “I don't think she’ll disappoint,” Miss Caligula said confidently.

  “What if she doesn't hand over the sword?” Mr. Commodus was always asking questions like that. He was always planning for the worst case scenario, but not to trying to come up with contingencies for those scenarios. Instead, he focused on them in the hopes that they’d come to pass and he would get to get into a fight. “What if she decides it's hers?”

  “Then we take it by force,” Mr. Nero said. “We just need her to find it. After that, it doesn't really matter. She won't be of any more use to us. We put her name on our proscriptions for a reason. She’s a potential threat. If she cooperates, we can choose mercy. But if she resists, that only proves why her name is there to begin with.”

  The three of them all stood there in silence for a moment, letting the breeze press against them.

  “You can feel it too, can't you?” Mr. Nero asked. “You can feel it. We are so close to our goal. Once we have Caesar's sword, it’ll act as a beacon for the others out there that share our dream. It’ll be something to rally around, a symbol that the past has come to change the future. They’ll come and we’ll lead Rome to a new era.”

  The three of them turned their attention away from the inside of the arena, instead looking out to the city of Rome that stretched out around them. Rome was still beautiful, to be sure, but these days it shone with a weak d
im glow compared to how radiant it must have been during the height of Rome's power. Mr. Nero knew what had to be done. They’d have to extinguish this weak, dying light and then reignite the spark with something so much more powerful. Rome would shine brighter than ever before, a brilliant star in the dark modern world. He couldn't wait to show all of the other inferior nations what a real super power was.

  It all depended on finding Caesar's sword. That was a real symbol of Roman power. Once that was unearthed and brought back from the past, then so could the rest of Ancient Rome. The old world would rise from the dirt and take its rightful place back on the planet. The Third Triumvirate would make sure of that.

  They went back to watching Nina Gould's team down below. They were all rummaging around the broken tunnels of the Hypogeum. So far it didn't look like they’d found anything significant. Once they did, then the Third Triumvirate would make their move. They wouldn't let the sword of Caesar stay in the hands of people like that for long. They didn't truly understand the significance of what they were after. They knew it was important but they didn't see how it could change the world, they didn't believe.

  Once the sword was theirs, the Third Triumvirate would ensure everyone could see why the sword of Caesar was so vital to bringing back Rome. They’d all believe.

  IT MUST HAVE BEEN an hour or two of searching when Nina hit something hard. She looked over to see if anyone else had heard it and sure enough, her whole team was staring at her with some anxiousness. Riley's eyes were wide with excitement and she shuffled over to Nina. The two looked down at the Earth that Nina was digging through hastily.

  “It might just be a rock...” Nina muttered, mostly to keep herself from getting too worked up over it. “Or some stone slab or...”

  “Oh stop,” Riley snickered. “Go on and find out.”