Muses of Roma (Codex Antonius Book 1) (27 page)

Lepidus raised the dead man's head by the hair and looked into his dilated eyes. He checked the man's pulse. Nothing.

“Servius!” he shouted into the man’s ear.

Disgusted, Lepidus let Servius's head loll. He'd only taken two fingers, and the man drops dead of a heart attack. Lepidus wanted the foreman's screams to last much longer than two minutes. He was not surprised, though. Nothing was going right today.

“Get another one,” he told Appius. “Someone younger.”

Appius untied the old foreman's arms from the chair's armrests, hoisted him over his shoulder, and carried him out the office door. He dumped him in the middle of the room where the other Julii employees sat on the floor, their hands on their heads and Praetorian Guardsmen with pulse rifles pointed at them. Through the office door, Lepidus saw the terror in their eyes when they noticed the bloody stumps where their dead comrade’s fingers used to be.

Appius studied the employees and then pointed to a blond-haired man in his twenties.

“You.”

The blond man gasped as two Praetorians lifted him off the ground and dragged him into the office where Lepidus waited. They sat him down in the chair where the older man died and tied him to the bloody armrests. After securing him, the Praetorians left the room. Appius shut the door and then leaned against it with folded arms.

The blond man's breathing came in gasps and tears brimmed in his wide eyes. Lepidus thought Servius’s two minutes of screams might be enough for this one.

Lepidus finished wiping his bloody hands in a dishtowel, then tossed it on the desk behind him. He clasped his bloodstained hands in front of the blond man. The man couldn't take his eyes off Lepidus's hands.

In a kind, patient voice, Lepidus asked, “What is your name?”

“De-Demeter, my lord.”

“Demeter, do you know why I'm here?”

“N-No, my lord.”

“I'm here because your
domina
has betrayed the Republic, the Consul, and the gods. I need to find her. Where is she?”

Demeter’s brimming tears spilled down his cheeks, and he sobbed. “I don't know, my lord, I wish to the gods I did, but I don't. The
domina
bought me three days ago, she's rarely spoken to me, I only get my orders from my foreman.” Demeter glanced at the pool of blood on the floor next to the chair. “Oh, blessed gods, don't kill me.”

Lepidus leaned forward and gently stroked the young man’s hair. “Shh, Demeter, I don't want to kill you. To tell you the truth, I hate killing. But it is not up to me to decide these things. I am a tool of the gods, and if it is their will that I kill a man to obtain the information I need, then I will do it.”

Demeter continued to cry.

“If you tell me anything about Gaia Julius that helps me find her, the gods will reward you a thousandfold in Elysium.” Lepidus raised Demeter's chin. “And I will let you live.”

“I don't know,” Demeter said through sobs.

“Think,” Lepidus said soothingly. “Do you remember a woman and a boy? Both have dark hair. They were dressed like beggars, but the boy would’ve acted like a patrician.”

Demeter continued to sob, but then his eyes darted back and forth, as if thinking hard. His sobs calmed, and he looked at Lepidus. “I remember them. Yes. They came into the cafe through the back entrance, the slave entrance, I mean. I thought it odd because the boy did not carry himself like a slave. More like a patrician, as you said.”

“Good,” Lepidus said. “Do you remember when they left?”

Demeter nodded. “The woman left in the night, and the boy left a half hour before you arrived.”

“Which way did they go?”

“They got in a van,” Demeter said, thinking back. “A white van w-with a Borum Meats logo on the sides.”

Lepidus looked at Appius. His apprentice tapped a few keys on his com pad and spoke to the Praetorian on the other end, quietly issuing a bulletin for a white Borum Meats van.

As Appius spoke, Lepidus continued questioning Demeter. “Do you remember which direction they went?”

Demeter paused. “I didn’t see the woman leave, but I did see the boy. I was pruning the flowers and wondered why they drove away so fast.”

“Direction?” Lepidus repeated.

“They turned left up the Via Nostrumae. After that, I don’t know.”

Lepidus smiled. “You've helped me tremendously, Demeter.”

Appius finished his call and motioned Lepidus into the kitchen. Lepidus said to Demeter, “Excuse me. This will be over soon. You've done well.”

Demeter nodded, relaxing a bit with Lepidus's assurances.

In the kitchen, Appius said in a quiet voice, “Traffic cameras show a Borum Meats wagon going in the direction the slave said. But the van entered the Murcia Tunnel an hour ago and didn’t come out.”

“Any cameras in there?”

Appius shook his head. “They've been down two days for maintenance. Fortuna was with them when they took that tunnel.”

“Or they knew its maintenance schedule. Send a detail to search the tunnel.”

“On their way now.”

“They'll find the van, but it’ll be empty. Tell your men to track all vehicles that left the Tunnel after the van entered.”

“Time range?”

“Half hour.”

“Could be hundreds of vehicles.”

“I know,” Lepidus said, “but it's all we have.”

Appius nodded, then pulled out his com pad and made his calls. Lepidus went back to the office where Demeter looked up at him hopefully.

“Can I go now, my lord?”

“In a moment. First we need to settle a formality.”

Lepidus pulled out the hand-held bolt cutters he'd used to dismember Servius.

Demeter gasped and squirmed in the chair. “B-But my lord I told you what I knew!”

“I know, Demeter, but the law states that a slave’s confession is valid in court only if obtained through torture. It's an archaic law, going back a thousand years, but it is still the law. I don’t want Gaia Julius gaining an acquittal off a technicality. Now. Do you want to lose a finger or a toe?”

Ocella thought she was dreaming when she saw the man standing next to Gaia Julius.

“This man says he knows you,” Gaia said.

The man stared at Ocella, a nervous smile playing on his lips. “The name’s Kaeso Aemilus. For now.”

When Ocella found her voice, she said, “But not ten years ago.”

He nodded slowly. “Our former employer doesn’t let us keep old names.”

No they don’t.
How long did it take me to get used to the name Marcia Licinius Ocella?

Ocella did many things in Umbra, things she never imagined when she was a civilian. But seeing Petra’s “dead” husband—and Ocella's first love—standing before her was the first time she felt shock since she joined Umbra. She attended his funeral only a year after Petra's. She watched his body go up in the flames of his funeral pyre. This was a dream.

But she knew she was awake and staring at the man she once loved. He was older and skinnier, but he had the same deep-set eyes, the same strong cheekbones, the same erect posture. Umbra had changed his mouth and nose, made them both sharper. Small scars crisscrossed his forehead, scars she didn’t remember him having. She wondered if he was an Ancile wearing an Umbra cloak, that Gaia had turned her over to Umbra after all. But when “Kaeso” opened his mouth, she heard his voice and knew it was him. Umbra cloaks could do many things, but they could not mimic another person's voice.

But this man
was
an Umbra Ancile. He just said so. Ocella was suddenly alarmed, and the urge to embrace this man melted away. If he was Umbra, that meant he was here to take her back to Libertus. She could not allow that.

“We need to talk,” he said, then went into the basement beyond the safe room. Cordus awoke and gave her a questioning look. She told him it would be all right, and then she followed Kaeso into the basement. He walked up the stairs without turning to see if she was behind him. She was still too shocked to do anything but follow.

When she came to the top of the stairs, he walked into the gathering room and then stood to the side of one of the blown out windows. He stared at the river and the lights on the Trastevere beyond.

“You’re supposed to be dead,” Ocella said.

“You, too,” he replied. He turned. Shadows from the city lights behind him masked his features. “Why did you join Umbra?”

“Why are you here?” she countered.

He sighed and then folded his arms. “I was once Umbra, too.”

“Not anymore?”

Kaeso shook his head.

“You selfish bastard...”

“Don't start with me, Sp— Ocella.”

“Too, bad,” Ocella said. “Do you know what your 'death' did to your daughter? She lost both parents within a year. She was devastated.”

“You don't have to tell me what I already know.”

“I don't think you
do
know. Did you know she tried to commit suicide six months after you “died”?”

His form stiffened.

“Yes,” she continued, “your ten-year-old girl tried to jump off the Hestium Bridge. She thought it was her fault you died. She said you two had an argument the night before your “accident”.”

“We did...” Kaeso whispered.

“She said you’d still be alive had she not said she hated you.”

“I thought she did.”

“You are such a fool,
Kaeso
. She was ten-years-old! She'd just lost her mother a year before. It was an argument. She didn't mean it!”

Kaeso turned around and stared at the river. “I know that. Now. I've made many mistakes, ones I'm not proud of. But there's nothing I can do about them now. All I can do is avoid the same mistakes.”

Ocella shook her head in amazement. “You haven't changed at all. That's the same thing you always say after you hurt someone who loves you.”

Kaeso turned around. “I didn't come here to get lectured on my faults. I’m here to get you and that boy off this planet.”

Ocella clenched her fists. “I'm not taking him to Libertus.”

“Not Libertus.”

She paused. “Where then?”

“I don't know, but it has to be far from the reach of Roma and Umbra. From what I hear, the boy has talents both sides want.”

Ocella walked over to the window so she could get a better view of Kaeso's face. She wanted to see his eyes.
Is he the same man I knew?
she wondered.
Or is he now Kaeso Aemilius, Umbra Ancile?

“What do you know of his talents?”

“My handler told me Cordus knew how to cure the Cariosus, though I think he can do much more. I think he might know how to cure the
Muses
.”

Ocella waited for more. Either he was a good liar or he actually didn’t know the boy's full potential.

“Are you still with Umbra?” she asked.

“Like I said, not anymore.”

“Then why did they send you?”

Anger flashed in his eyes. “Because every other Ancile is dead.”

Ocella looked away.

“Why did you do it? Why did you give away your world’s only defense against Roma? Do you know what they're doing to Libertus right now? Claudia could be dead right now because of you.”

“It was the only way to get the boy away from...” She stopped. “Are you here to take him away from me or not?”

She studied him. She was able to detect his moods, once, no matter how much he masked them, and she always called him out whatever his emotion. It was that ability that ended their relationship. He hated how she could tell what he thought simply by studying his face. Not that he habitually lied to her, but he was a private man who kept his thoughts and emotions to himself. He couldn’t be with a woman who would not give him that privacy. So he chose Petra, who in many ways did the same thing as Ocella. She at least had the wisdom to let Kaeso think otherwise.

Kaeso shook his head, his gaze holding hers. “No. But I don’t know where we can be safe with the most deadly security forces in the universe after us.”

“I do,” Ocella said.

“Where?”

She shook her head.

“I know you don't trust me,” Kaeso said, “but I'm your only option.”

“Gaia Julius has promised to help us. We don't need you.”

“Gaia Julius is being hunted. She’ll be recognized wherever she goes. Same with you and the boy. The Romans announced to the universe the Consular Heir was kidnapped. They may not show his picture publicly, but you can bet every security force in Roman space has it.”

“Yes, but they've said the Liberti have him. People won't expect to see him right here in Roma.”

“But the Praetorians will,” Kaeso said, exasperated. “They'd be foolish not to search for him here unless they had solid proof he was off-world. And he's obviously not. I can get you off Terra, because nobody is looking for me.”

Ocella knew Kaeso was right. It was bad enough she and Cordus were the most hunted people in Roman history. It would be foolish to also associate with Gaia Julius, another face now on the Praetorian most wanted list.

“To do this, though, I need to trust you,” Kaeso continued. “I need to know you won’t throw me to the wolves like you did every Ancile on Terra. And the only way I can trust you is if you tell me everything that's happened to you since you took this mission. I want to know why you sold out Umbra, and I want to know how you got the boy out of the Consular Palace.”

Ocella looked at him. “Umbra should have told you that when they brought you back into the fold.”

Kaeso gave a cynical laugh. “We both know Umbra doesn't tell Ancilia what they need to know, much less want to know.”

“They thought you could bring me back because of our history, right?”

Kaeso was quiet a moment. “Yes. They said I was the only one who knew you
and
had the skills to get you out.”

“You were retired. Why did you agree to this mission?”

Kaeso looked away. “I own a small cargo ship. I caused one of my crew to get infected with the Cariosus. Umbra said the boy may have a cure, so here I am.”

“That's it?”

Kaeso turned back to her. “And you're the only family I have left that I'm...allowed to talk to.”

Emotions warred in his eyes, something only she could see. She saw his grief over not being able to hold his daughter again, not being able to tell his parents he was alive. She saw his anger at himself for joining Umbra and leaving behind all he loved. She saw the confusion he felt every day he woke up, looked in the mirror, and forced himself to memorize a new name and to forget another. Knowing that Umbra was the only family he could have, and the only family he deserved.

She saw these things because they were the same feelings she once had, before she decided to escape Umbra. Ocella joined Umbra because she lost the two most important people in her life: Petra and “Kaeso.” Umbra Corps was her escape from the pain, to a new life without attachments. She could not imagine the pain Kaeso had tried to escape. Or the pain from which he still ran.

Ocella wrapped her arms around Kaeso's neck and pulled him close. He kept his arms at his sides and did not return her embrace.

“I miss them so much,” he whispered in her ear, his voice catching.

She tried to pull him closer, but he shrugged away and retreated to the other side of the room. He cleared his throat, and said, “It’s my turn for questions. Why did you betray the Ancilia in Roma?”

Ocella sighed. “You already know one reason. I needed the Praetorians’ trust. I spent four years in their academy excelling at all the tests. To get close to the Consular Family, however, I had to stand out in a way they couldn't help but notice. A way that made my loyalty unquestionable.”

Kaeso paced the floor, his anger building. “So you threw away your world’s only defense just to stand out?”

“I didn't betray my world just to stand out. I came to understand that Umbra was just as dangerous to Cordus, and humanity, as Roma.”

“How was Umbra dangerous?” Kaeso said. “They would’ve given you every resource to extract the boy.”

Ocella shook her head sadly. “Umbra didn't send me to extract Cordus. They sent me to kill him.”