Andy Mcdermott - Temple of the Gods

‘Cynicism is so unattractive in a man, Eddie. Up here.’ They reached a flight of stairs to the next deck. Eddie checked the passage and nearby doorways, but so far it appeared that Glas had been true to his word and ordered the crew to stay out of their way. They ascended. ‘But he got me medical treatment, without telling the authorities that I was still alive, and then for a while I was his…’ She hesitated, as if her mouth had suddenly gone dry. ‘His guest . But,’ she continued, brushing the odd pause aside, ‘you know me, I do dislike being out of the loop. So I persuaded Harald to let me get more involved in his work. Which is when I learned that he was a member of the Group.’

‘I gather they weren’t happy when they found out Glas had been protecting you,’ said Nina, remembering their conversation with Travis Warden.

‘They were not,’ Sophia replied, sounding amused by the fact. ‘At first, they wanted me dead. Fortunately, Harald has always been something of an iconoclast, so he stood up to the rest of the Group. Then, and now. He split from them over a matter of conscience.’

‘Some conscience,’ Eddie said scathingly. ‘Seeing as he wants Nina dead.’

She gave them a saccharine smile. ‘Every cloud, as they say. But I’ll let him explain his reasons himself.’

They continued down another hallway along the upper deck, heading for the submarine’s bow. ‘Glas rescued you and talked the rest of the Group out of killing you,’ mused Nina. ‘So after all that he did for you… why did you shoot his guy in the back in Rome?’

The smile returned, this time knowingly conspiratorial. ‘Let’s just say that it would be best for everyone, myself included, if you kept that to yourself for now.’

‘Glas doesn’t know?’

‘Maybe we should turn you in,’ Eddie suggested.

‘Maybe I should remind you that I saved Nina’s life in Rome.

I could have let Harald’s man kill her — I could even have killed her myself. But I chose not to.’

‘Without wanting to sound ungrateful,’ said Nina, ‘why?’

‘There’s a lot more going on than you think. But here we are, so remember what I just said.’ A set of polished wooden double doors marked the end of the hallway. She raised a hand to open them.

‘Careful now,’ warned Eddie, pushing the gun into her back once more.

‘For God’s sake, Eddie,’ she complained. ‘He agreed to talk to you, and believe it or not, that’s what he’ll do. He’s very much a man of his word.’

‘You’ll forgive us if we don’t entirely trust him,’ said Nina. ‘Or you.’

Sophia knocked. ‘Harald? Your hostage has brought your guests.’

‘Come in,’ came Glas’s voice from the room beyond. Sophia opened the doors.

Eddie used her as a shield, quickly checking for potential threats in what was revealed as an observation lounge, large circular windows looking out into the ocean’s depths. But visitors to the room were more likely to be wowed by the wonders within than outside.

Rarity was the theme of the small but incredibly valuable collection, Nina immediately saw. One stand contained coins arranged on red velvet, among them a gold 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle — one of the most sought-after and expensive pieces in the world, worth many millions more than its original twenty-dollar face value. Another stand held stamps, the Swedish Treskilling Yellow at its centre also priced in the millions. Further treasures were arranged around the room: bottles of vintage wine, a first folio of Shakespeare’s plays, a leaf of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with annotations by the composer himself, and more.

Another, less obvious theme, she realised, was that everything was relatively small and easily transportable. Their owner was on the run; he had brought with him probably only a fraction of the rare items he possessed.

The man in question was waiting for them at the room’s centre. Their enemy. Harald Glas.

He was in his early fifties, with slightly unkempt greying hair, strong jaw blue with stubble. His tall, lean body had the build of a runner — but the Dane would not be racing again. He was confined to a wheelchair. Nina was startled; she’d had no idea that he was disabled.

‘I’m not armed, Mr Chase,’ he said as Eddie pointed the rifle at him. ‘And thanks to the Group’s assassins —’ his eyes flicked down at his immobile legs — ‘I am no longer a physical threat.’

The gun didn’t lower as the Englishman approached. ‘I’ll be the judge of that. Hands up. Nina, if Davros here tries anything, shoot him.’

Nina aimed the Glock as Eddie searched Glas, then the wheelchair. Satisfied that he had told the truth, Eddie finally lifted his finger from the ASM-DT’s trigger and rejoined Nina.

‘Thank you,’ said Glas. ‘Now, I imagine you have questions for me.’

‘Or we could just kill you,’ Eddie told him.

Glas was uncowed by the threat. ‘Then you will never find out what is truly going on — and the threat faced by the world.’ His gaze moved to Nina. ‘A threat that you are part of, even though you don’t realise it.’

‘Well, now’s your chance to enlighten me,’ said Nina, watching Sophia warily as she moved to stand beside Glas. ‘You’ve been trying to kill me. Why?’

‘Travis Warden has probably told you a tall tale about me, yes? That I am opposed to the Group’s plan to save the planet because it will wipe out my profits? And that by killing you I can prevent the Group from finding the Atlantean meteorite they need to channel earth energy.’

‘Something like that.’

Glas nodded. ‘What would you say if I told you that controlling such energy is only a minor part of the Group’s true goals?’

‘I actually wouldn’t be too surprised,’ Nina told him with a humourless smile. ‘I didn’t trust him any more than I trust you.’

‘Then you are perceptive, as well as a survivor. Warden is a leech and a liar — his only interests are power and money.’

‘But you were happy to be part of his little Super Best Friends club while it suited you.’

Glas leaned forward. ‘The Group is… an exceptionally powerful organisation. Its original members formed it from a collaboration of much older groups after the Second World War, with the aim of using global commerce to prevent such a conflict from ever happening again.’

‘It hasn’t exactly done a great job,’ said a disapproving Eddie. ‘There’ve been wars pretty much the whole time since 1945.’

‘But not massive wars,’ Glas countered. ‘Not the kind that can smash entire industrialised countries and destroy the global economy. The Group’s influence helped stop some of these flashpoints from starting larger fires. A word to the right person at the right time can cool even the hottest head. For example, the Cuban Missile Crisis was not stopped because both sides saw sense — it stopped because they were made to see sense.’

‘You’re trying to tell me the Group is a force for good ?’ said Nina in disbelief.

He was unapologetic. ‘That was its original intent, yes. And for twenty or thirty years it was successful. But over time, power began to corrupt. An old and inevitable story. The Group stopped influencing the decisions of governments, and instead began controlling them.’

‘Buying power. People like Dalton.’

‘Yes, but on a greater scale than you can imagine. The Group holds power over senior politicians in over a hundred countries. If you have ever wondered why the so-called left and right seem increasingly similar wherever you go, it is because both sides have the same backers. The more alike people think, the less conflict there will be between them. That is the Group’s motivation. To end the wastefulness of conflict.’