The Flames of Time (Flames of Time Series Book 1) (24 page)

Moments later, as the cars stopped outside the hotel, and the sun disappeared again behind the cloud, I knew it must be Luke’s accomplices. They were dressed rather boyishly in outdoor attire, strong boots, trousers and jackets , and were attended by half a dozen servants. But as unconventional as their clothing was, it was the air of confidence and command that really singled them out.

Realising who they were must have sent a shock through my frame, for Jean immediately turned to see what I was looking at.

It was an extraordinary thing to suddenly be so close to our so recently discovered adversaries, especially without them being aware of our presence. The shock made all the greater with the realisation that they were staying in the same hotel.

They didn’t dally in the pouring rain, but at the same time, they didn’t seem to pay the same heed to it that most young women would’ve done. Walking briskly, but without rushing they made their way into the hotel.

As I turned from the window to watch them enter the foyer, I looked at Jean, whose expression held a strangely rueful quality.

‘It appears we will have ample opportunity to study our opponents,’ he commented, before being distracted by something over my shoulder.

Marlow had descended the main staircase while we were looking out of the window, and had then been directed by the reception to the lounge where we were sat.

There was no way to warn him, and as he turned to make his way over to us, he came almost face to face with Luke’s accomplices. They all stopped, almost bumping into one another, and for an agonising second I thought the game was up. But then Marlow simply smiled and courteously stepped aside to allow them to approach the reception desk.

The three young women were almost as equally at their ease, only one of them momentarily stiffening as they encountered Marlow. But a second later they had passed, and seemed unconcernedly to be retrieving their room keys.

As Marlow turned away from them and walked over to join us, I could again see that unreadable faraway look in his eyes. Yet as he approached I could see he was also smiling.

‘Well gentlemen. It appears our situation has suddenly become much more interesting,’ was his simple and rather entertained greeting to us.

‘I was just saying the very same thing to George here.’ Jean replied, ‘We had wanted to know more about Luke’s conspirators, and now it seems we will have a great many opportunities.’

‘It will be interesting to see how Luke responds,’ I interjected, ‘when he realises we are all beneath the same roof.’

‘Yes, but we must warn Harrison, Peter and Androushan,’ replied Jean, ‘to ensure the surprises are only those in our favour.’

It was a good point, and as I needed to get changed for dinner, I offered to stop off to see them on the way and pass on the warning.

CHAPTER 16 – SIREN SONG

Nerves and uncertainty were definitely in evidence amongst my friends as I stopped off to inform them about the arrival of our adversaries. But for as much as they were nervous at the proximity of Luke’s accomplices, they were just as curious to find out who these people were and what they were like. So much so, that a task which could have taken mere moments very nearly turned into an inquisition.

When I finally got back to my room, I was ready for a lie down, but something made me think I should take a little more trouble dressing for dinner. It was probably because of the opulence of our surroundings, but there was also something that made me think it might be worth putting on a bit more show for our newly encountered fellow guests.

In any event I took a little more time getting ready, and before I went back downstairs to meet up with my friends I felt the fellow in the mirror looked rather the dapper sort, even if I did say so myself.

I discovered the others sat in one of the hotel bars having an aperitif. I was pleased to see I was neither the last to come down for dinner, nor the only one who felt the merit of making a little extra effort for the evening.

Jean and Luke were the others who hadn’t come down yet for dinner. While the conversation flowed and ebbed its way around the current news and gossip of the day, Peter leaned over to tell me Luke had decided not to join us for dinner as he was feeling a little tired.

Nothing else was said on the subject, but I could see in Peter’s eyes he was thinking exactly the same as myself.

Jean appeared a few minutes later, and while we were waiting for our table to be prepared in the dining room, the conversation turned toward the subject of the three young ladies who seemed to be assisting Luke.

‘Well there’s no way for us to know how things might go.’ started Harry, ‘but it strikes me, we should probably try and get our story straight, just to be on the safe side.’

‘A very good point,’ interjected Jean, ‘for while these young women know a great deal about us, they may yet hope to learn more, or perhaps create a confusion between us.’

‘And we should accomplish all this without also seeming too practised?’ asked Androus, with more than a hint of doubt in his voice.

‘Yes, my friend,’ responded Harry, with an amused air, ‘but I know you’re far better at this kind of subterfuge, than you seem to be letting on. Need I tell our friends here about our trip to Cairo in… ‘26 was it?’

That caused more than one or two smiles and quizzical looks from around the table, but Androus quickly dispelled any chance of the tale coming out, by graciously conceding the point and bringing the subject back to the present.

Over the next few minutes we agreed the broad outline of what we would tell Luke’s accomplices, should we somehow enter into conversation with any of them, including what we were doing, how we’d met, and where we were going. All based around half-truths and the completely fabricated idea of a new archaeological theory that Androus and Harry were supposedly researching.

It definitely wasn’t water-tight, but it was all we could manage by the time our table was ready, so it would have to do.

The dining room was possibly the finest room in the whole hotel, with tall, fluted columns lining the walls, and the most exquisite chandeliers and lighting above immaculately laid tables and a mirror polished stone floor.

We were one of the larger groups in the room, which seemed already full of contented diners, but it hadn’t taken too long to get the table, so we must have arrived at just the right moment.

I was again struck by the opulence and comfort of this hotel by comparison with our former ‘home’ in Jerusalem, and wondered if in time this place might as easily come to feel the same.

We’d ordered our wine, and had been talking and discussing the exquisite menu for half an hour or so when they arrived. I was just finalising my thoughts about the apetiser when Jean nudged my arm and indicated I should look down the room.

Somehow it hadn’t occurred to me they might look different to when I’d seen them arrive at the hotel earlier on in the afternoon, but as I gazed down the room and saw them being lead to their table by the Maitre d’, I was simply awe struck. Individually I would quite happily have described each as a vision of beauty, but together. . . As they made their way across the dining room, their combined elegance and beauty gave them almost an air of the divine, condescending to walk amongst we poor mortals for but a few hours.

Several times I had to stop myself from staring, so great was the transformation from earlier on in the afternoon I could hardly believe it, and looking around the table as they passed I could tell their appearance had much the same effect upon my companions.

I glanced at Jean beside me, who noticing my look, turned toward me with a very quizzical smile upon his face.

‘It seems,’ he said musingly, after taking a sip of his wine, ‘we may have found the worthy opponents we so fervently desired.’

I was just considering saying something in return when the Maitre d’ appeared between us, and addressed the table.

‘Gentlemen, please forgive my intrusion, but the group of young ladies, ask if they might join you for dinner this evening.’

It felt like an electric shock had been passed through my body, so surprised was I. But as I reeled in momentary confusion it was Marlow who responded with perfect equanimity.

‘Not at all, please tell them we would be delighted to make their acquaintance.’

So it was, almost in a daze I saw them join us, chairs and table settings were brought, introductions were offered, and within moments we were sat at the same table as our adversaries. Confidence and vivacity radiated from them, as they even chose to sit equally spaced between us around the table.

Slowly my shock receded and I felt able to think again. Marlow had done our introductions, and was now saying something about us having travelled for a while and only just arrived in Corinth, Then it was their turn and Selene, who appeared to be the leader of their little group responded in her clear unaccented English.

They were all apparently Italian, though I might never have guessed from their speech or manner, and were supposedly just travelling for the pleasure of it, indulging their passing interest in mythology and history, by exploring the less well known areas around each of the places they visited.

I was sat beside Thea, who it seemed was the youngest of the group at just twenty-one. I was fairly sure it was she whom I’d seen start slightly, when they’d unexpectedly come face-to-face with Marlow earlier on in the day. And, as my wits returned, I realised rather un-chivalrously that as such, Thea might be a weak point we could use to find out more about these friends of Luke’s.

Amongst the various introductions and chit-chat we somehow managed to order food, but just before we dispensed with the menus I was able to make a slightly closer study of our new dinner guests.

Selene was certainly the most self-possessed of the group, and while perhaps not as conventionally beautiful as Thea, she was taller and more athletic in appearance. An impression enhanced by the black silk evening gown she was wearing, very low cut at the back and with a simple halter neck that showed off the toned alabaster skin or her long neck and shoulders. More striking though were her eyes, pale green and framed by her dark hair they had an almost haunting quality of stillness, a stillness I could see almost perfectly mirrored by Marlow sat just a couple of spaces over from her.

Next there was Miriam, almost as tall as Selene, but where Selene was a moonlit night, Miriam was the sun warmed afternoon, golden complexioned with dark hazel eyes and shadow-filled wavy auburn hair. She had the lazy grace and broad knowing smile of a Cheshire cat wrapped in a gown of flowing violet satin and chiffon, she seemed to enthral Androus and Jean on either side of her almost immediately.

Finally and sat between myself and Marlow was the slighter younger but strikingly beautiful Thea. Shorter than the other two, she was the dawn. With pale blonde hair and large blue eyes, she wore an exquisitely embroidered gown of ivory taffeta. There was an element of innocence about Thea that I found quite disarming, especially when she smiled. In fact I think it was only the fact that she was far more interested in Marlow that saved me from becoming completely besotted.

Our food arrived, and we ate and talked, often about such random subjects, the news and gossip of the day, travel, literature, music, but in and amongst that intoxicating mix of eloquence and charming conversation, my wits occasionally alerted me to the more probing, less innocuous questions. What our plans were, interests, where else we’d visited, how often we wrote to family or friends. It was so subtly done, I honestly don’t think any of us would’ve noticed had we not already been on our guard, and even then I still wasn’t sure we weren’t giving more away than we intended.

Our conversations fractured and split a hundred different ways during the course of the evening, so I wasn’t always able to follow what was being said, but even so, I occasionally caught the sound of our own return fire. It was equally subtle and unobtrusive, more side arms than artillery, and from time to time I think our questions and queries might’ve come close to the mark. But a miss as they say is as good as a mile, and before too long I realised we were outmatched and lucky to be holding our line together.

Somehow we managed to make it through the meal without tripping over our rehearsed story too many times, but our interlocutors were only too happy to retire back to the bar with us, where even the sparse cover offered by the meal would no longer be present. I was beginning to feel despondent about the prospect of us being cornered in some way or another, and was sorely tempted to quit the field, and leave the ongoing campaign to my friends. But then as the rain once more hammered against the windows, I started to think about some of the other adversities we’d come through together. The brigand attack outside Uruk, the torrential downpour in Kenya, the overland trip to Zimbabwe, not to mention the various trials and tests along the way. For some reason the foolishness of my own thoughts suddenly struck me. I was honestly afraid of what I might inadvertently say to three charming and beautiful young women. When a few months ago I’d been on foot in the African bush, having to wait and hope that some of the most dangerous animals on the planet would just pass by. And suddenly I couldn’t help but smile.

‘You seem amused Mr Whitaker,’ was Selene’s, sudden and rather unexpected comment to me. ‘Is it a private thought, or perhaps something you might consider sharing were I to offer you an English penny in exchange?’

I’d suddenly become the centre of attention, but whereas a few minutes before I would’ve been terrified at the prospect, now I let my self-amusement fill me, and as I did so allowed myself a little Jean-style mischief into the deal.

‘Ah Ms Autieri, you have indeed caught me out,’ was my slightly melodramatic response, ‘and now of course I shall have to share my thoughts or you will think me very rude.

‘I was just thinking,’ I continued with another dramatic pause, ‘that here I am, near to one of the most charming ancient sites in the world. The very location, I believe you were saying during dinner, where the daughter of the Titan Oceanus, stepped forth from the sea and founded the ancient city upon which Corinth was later built…