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  Allegra barely paid her any attention, her mind already focused on what she would find up on the hillside.

  They’d decided to check the site first, to be sure Lusitania was the place they were looking for. Then the plan was to head into the town and check into a local hotel.

  Max had hired a small Jeep which he’d elected to drive, his second grab at maintaining some form of control of the events that were soon to pass.

  Xales remained at Allegra’s side all the way up the mountain, his almost visible but not quite form giving her comfort.

  At the peak of the mountain, the team alighted from the vehicle and stared out at the vista, Athena spinning around and giving a low whistle. “This is impressive.”

  Allegra nodded. “And it’s the place in my vision,” she said, her tone low and serious. She was not in the mood to be impressed, not when the whole place was likely to be swallowed up by a giant rift in the earth.

  Max looked over at Allegra and gave her a comforting smile “Ready to head into the town?”

  Allegra didn’t reply. She hurried to the vehicle and jumped inside, not in the mood for smalltalk either.

  Max and Athena seemed to understand, though both kept throwing Allegra glances filled with concern.

  They drove into the city, the quaint cobblestone streets, harking back to an era where horses and carriages were the norm.

  Their hotel turned out to be a small castle with influences from the Moors, the Spanish, and the Persians, all mixed up with a good dose of Roman. It made for quite the Byzantine feel and Allegra found she quite enjoyed it. If she managed to save the town she’d happily return to enjoy the sights.

  As they dropped their bags on the floor of their two bedroomed suite, the air began to shimmer and the shape of a man appeared. Max drew his weapon in one move, but Allegra waved him down.

  Max relaxed, but he didn’t holster his weapon, not until Allegra introduced him to Neptune.

  The god did not look happy and before he opened his mouth, Allegra found her heart tightening.

  “I’m afraid I could find no trace of the devices, my lady. My teams have been searching along the western shores of this land mass, but they’ve found nothing.”

  “Perhaps he’s hidden it on land somewhere,” suggested Athena, eyeing Neptune with more than a little admiration.

  But Allegra barely paid attention to the demigod’s behavior. Her words were far more important.

  Allegra nodded slowly. “What if Langcourt set the device down in a chasm from a previous eruption?”

  “That could be it,” said Max. “Lusitania suffered a terrible earthquake about two hundred and fifty years ago. The quake resulted in a tsunami that destroyed much of the coastline including the seaside towns of Espania and Murakush and caused a number of smaller tidal waves as far away as East Amazonia and Eire.”

  “Any chasms?”

  “In the middle of the city, reported to be as wide as five yards in some places.”

  “That would be the most likely place. We just need to figure out how to get down there to dismantle the thing.”

  “Leave that to me,” said Neptune before he disappeared.

  Max cocked an eyebrow. “Personal fellow,” he muttered as he stared at the empty spot where Neptune had been standing.

  Allegra let out a sigh and said, “So, I think it’s time to decide what we do next. Time I walked around, let Langcourt know I’m here and waiting.”

  “I didn’t realize we were going to put you in harms way,” said Max, his tone dangerous.

  Allegra shrugged. “Xales is with me. I doubt he’ll let any harm come to me.”

  “The way he prevents you from being abducted by Langcourt’s goons even when you had a security team surrounding you twenty-four-seven?” Max’s face was dark now, a vein throbbing in his temple.

  Allegra let out a low grunt. “Max, we don’t have time for this. Even if Neptune succeeds, I can’t just sit around here and wait for Langcourt to find me. We need to be the ones in control for once. We lure him in on our terms.”

  Allegra stared around her, noticing that Xales had materialized as she’d been speaking. He nodded, offering his approval.

  Though Max looked unhappy, he also appeared to be acquiescing, much to Allegra’s relief.

  Max nodded. “I don’t like it, but you may be right.” He reached into the pocket of his jacket and withdrew a black band, handing it over to Allegra. “It’s a tracker.”

  “Very feminine,” Allegra said as she hooked the fabric covered elastic band around her ponytail.

  “Lots of female agents in the field. And a few males would make use of it too.” Max smiled, and Allegra returned it with her own grin.

  Taking a deep breath, Allegra said, “So, I head out and you guys cover me?”

  Allegra received a chorus of nods and relaxed, though only a fraction. “If he takes me, you won’t stop him.”

  “I don’t thin—”

  “That wasn’t a question, Athena,” said Allegra calmly.

  Athena clamped her mouth shut, her jaw tightening. Max held up a hand and chuckled. “Right, we head out, keep our eyes open. I’ll keep as far back as I can. Athena?”

  “I’ll use my glamor. I don’t use it often. Makes me queasy. But I don’t think a large jaguar roaming the streets of Lusitania will go down well.”

  Allegra laughed, the action allowing her to relax for a the first time since they’d landed.

  She rummaged in her suitcase for her large hat and sunglasses, then she gave the team a nod and crossed the room to open the door. Xales had disappeared but Allegra sensed his presence at her side as she left the hotel room and strolled outside. She used the hat and glasses even though they would conceal her identity.

  Langcourt would already know it was her; he was already watching, that much she could guarantee.

  Chapter 39

  Langcourt let out a soft laugh, careful to not appear deranged to the woman in blue who sat at the table next to him.

  She’d been sending him pointed glances for the last hour, and he wasn’t sure if she was watching him because he was paying far too much attention to the coffee shop across the street or because she was interested in him.

  He found the latter hard to believe.

  Focusing on the Pythia, Langcourt was relieved that she’d come almost immediately. He’d set things in motion, after he’d arranged for Roquefort’s body to be removed from his study, of course. And now it was all coming neatly together.

  The FAPA commander was with her, which he’d expected. But so was the police chief from Qusqu. Now that was something Langcourt had not expected.

  Either way, none of them mattered.

  Langcourt got to his feet and left his table, ignoring the infinite coffee and cake he’d left behind. Outside, he paused to push his own white wide-brimmed hat on his bald head, then crossed the street.

  It appeared that the Pythia was alone and without her usual backup team, Langcourt had little idea if he was wrong.

  Again, it didn’t matter.

  He entered the coffee shop, and headed to the Pythia’s table where he took a seat directly opposite her, his smile wide.

  His smile grew wider when she winced, as though he’d slapped her.

  “I see I have your undivided attention at last.”

  The Pythia smiled, and Langcourt found it strange how pleasant she seemed. If she was anyone else, he may even have liked her.

  He knew he’d felt quite bad after he’d whipped her raw in Londonium the first time they’d met. He’d wondered if perhaps he’d been a little too harsh with her.

  Either way that was in the past.

  Today, he would grab hold of the future with both hands.

  “Are you ready to leave?”

  “Yes, I’m heading back to my hotel.”

  “I don’t believe you are,” Langcourt said as he got to his feet. As he looked out the window an executive cab drew up to the sidewalk and Langcourt smiled.
“Here is our ride. Perhaps you will come without creating a fuss?”

  He’d spoke the words as though they were a suggestion, but the steel in his tone said otherwise.

  And from the way the Pythia got to her feet, Langcourt knew then that he’d already won.

  Now to take his prize home.

  Allegra had gone with Langcourt, refusing to make a scene, as he’d said. Besides, this was the place after all.

  His cab had driven them to the docks where Langcourt had led Allegra along the pier to a row of pleasure cruisers where they boarded a vessel called The Lady L. Allegra had paused at the sight of the name, something bugging her that was just out of reach.

  Langcourt had urged her forward, muttering something about his mother in explanation for the name.

  Once inside, Langcourt handed her a suitcase. “Remove all your clothing. I am quite confident that you have some form of tracking device on your person so I’ve taken precautions.”

  Allegra grabbed the bag and entered the main stateroom that the man had indicated with a careless wave.

  She changed into a long blue dress, and returned his suitcase. Langcourt took the bag and smirked. “Hair accessories as well if you don’t mind.”

  Allegra had no choice but to comply, following which Langcourt left her alone, the sound of his low laughter echoing behind him.

  In the trip across the ocean, the only consolation for Allegra was Xales’ constant comforting presence.

  Chapter 40

  Max paced the floor of the hotel room, regretting having agreed to let Allegra be bait. He’d relied on the tracker for the security he’d needed, believed he’d be able to maintain some kind of link with Allegra. That would keep her safe.

  But the tracker had died. At first, Max assumed the indicator panel was faulty. But very soon, he realized the the problem lay with the tracker itself.

  After slamming the device down onto the center of his palm at least a dozen times, Athena had yelled at him to stop. “You are going to break the damn thing,” she said scowling at him.

  Max had relented, having come to terms with the fact that the device was not going to help him track Allegra.

  “Now what?” Athena asked as she paced in front of the bedroom window.

  Max shook his head. “I’m not exactly sure. Who knows where we go from here?”

  “Max, I think you are forgetting your agent skills,” replied Athena giving him a disgusted look. “This is the reason why matters of the heart should not coincide with matters of business.”

  Max took long breath. “I’m just worried. I had it all planned. And now those plans have gone up in smoke. He lured her here. She came. And now he has her, and I did nothing to stop him.”

  “If you are finished with your pity party, maybe you can start checking the airports while I check the docks. There are likely only two ways he would’ve gotten her out of the country. And I don’t see him going inland.”

  Max nodded. “You’re right. I’ll make a few calls, get some eyeballs on those flight paths.”

  The next few moments were spent scanning flight departures and sealanes in the hopes of finding what Langcourt had used to escape the country.

  Once the searches were completed, Max began to pace again. Then he paused and looked at Athena. “Do you think Neptune would be able to help us?”

  “I don’t see why not. We are asking him to help if we are looking at a water getaway.”

  Max smiled. “Something tells me that Langcourt hasn’t gone far. He had this planned. I doubt that he would’ve taken her too far.”

  “So what do we know about him? Is there something about him, perhaps in his past that we could use to make a guess as to where he really is right now?”

  Max pulled out his phone. “I do have some details, mostly information that we have been able to pull from Aurelia’s diary.” Max scanned his phone for a few minutes then looked up at Athena with a huge grin on his face. “I think I have it. There is a property on an island not far from here that has been held under a convoluted array of subsidiary companies. It has belonged to the same company, and by virtue that, the same owners for the better part of the last thousand years.”

  “I think we may have our guy,” said Athena bouncing on her feet. “I’m not sure how we are supposed to alert Neptune though.”

  “It likely doesn’t matter. We have the coordinates of the island. I’ll have a boat chartered in no time.”

  Athena smiled as Max proceeded to arrange a small craft, reporting his success within minutes. The pair gathered their possessions, including Allegra’s, and checked out of the hotel, heading straight for the docks.

  Max breathed his first sigh of relief when he was on the water speeding toward the island of Akída.

  Langcourt better hope he was already dead before Max got to him. Because when Max got there, he was going to make the man suffer.

  Chapter 41

  For the most part, Langcourt had been the perfect gentleman, even as he’d guided Allegra off the boat and toward the jetty.

  The man, for all his deadly activities, did not cut an imposing or frightening figure. Her impressions from when she’d met Langcourt for the first time in Brittania a few months ago remained unchanged.

  His scowling countenance along with his unimposing height made for a man easy to forget. Still, his actions spoke louder than his looks, considering the number of corpses he’d left in his wake over the centuries.

  She’d watched the approach to the island, and marveled at the beauty of the place, so secluded, with the feel of being alone in the middle of the ocean.

  Langcourt didn’t say much, but Allegra guessed from the direction of the sun, that they’d traveled south-west toward the Canaries, just off the west coast of Alkebulan.

  They were met at the docks by an old man, so wrinkled that it was hard to tell his race, his skin tanned to a leathery-brown. He could have been from anywhere in the world.

  Attempting to identify exactly which island she was on was going to be harder than she’d thought. The brush of fur beside her, told her Xales was right there with her. For the longest time since Langcourt had taken her from the coffee shop in Lusitania, Allegra had felt something niggling at the back of her mind, but she’d been unable to put a finger on it.

  At first, she’d wondered if it was because she was now on her own with no backup and no sign of Max or Athena. But it wasn’t that. It had much more to do with Langcourt himself.

  And although she was so tempted to talk it over with Xales, she did not dare in case the man realized that her familiar was with her constantly.

  As they rode the narrow dirt track over the undulating hills toward a villa in the distance, Allegra studied the island. Apart from the enormous residence on the hill, the land was half-vineyard, half-farmland.

  And yet no sign of homes for tenants or farmworkers who worked the land. How strange.

  As they topped a low hill, Allegra caught a flash of white in the distance, her eyes widening at the sight of the temple grounds. Even from this distance she identified the carvings and the design of the parthenon which announced the temple as belonging to the goddesses Themis, Gaia, and Phoebe.

  Now why in Hades would Langcourt give a flying drachma about the trio of goddesses who were the patrons of the oracles from a time so ancient that most people had forgotten they’d been worshiped by the first seers, the Sybils? Even before Apollo was granted patronage of the Pythias.

  The further she went on this journey with her captor, the more confusing things became.

  Langcourt sat up front beside the old man, and as Allegra studied him, she began to notice a few more things about the man that hadn’t impacted her when she’d run into him, likely because he’d abducted her.

  His skin was wrinkled and dry, and bore the look of an old man. And now, with him sitting beside the wrinkled old prune of a driver it was so easy to see.

  Langcourt’s immortality was fading fast, and Allegra had to wonder
if it had to do with the fact that he may not have performed the relevant sacrifices in order to maintain his longevity.

  She shuddered at the thought of sacrifices, recalling the face of the little blue-eyed child, who’d been killed and drained of his blood while Allegra had been forced to watch. The Society of Hermes had perished soon after that particular sacrifice, thanks in part to Allegra uncovering its existence.

  But Allegra also recalled her words to Langcourt, words filled with such hatred and passion, spoken as though she’d seen his future. Which had been a lie. More like wishful thinking. She’d wanted to see him suffer for what he’d done to the little child, but seeing the man now, she grasped a meagre understanding of his motives.

  Any man staring death in the face after hundred of years alive, would likely do everything in his power to remain breathing—even kill innocent children.

  Mortals were capable of the worst atrocities. Not that the gods were all that innocent.

  Allegra took a slow breath as she stilled the rapid beating of her heart. The small vehicle ascended the hillside, the engine grunting as it struggled toward the entrance to the villa. Lined with two rows of tall firs, the long dirt avenue was bracketed by gardens filled with fruit trees of every species Allegra knew of, and some she was unfamiliar with.

  She shook her head, pulling her attention from the scenery to focus on her captor, her nemesis, the man who’d obliterated her bloodline.

  She could not afford to be distracted.

  Inside the villa, Langcourt led Allegra to a small study, the walls lined with books. None of the leather spines bore titles, which added to the mystery of the place.

  Oddly enough, the books resembled the Pythias Codicies, which again gave Allegra that strange feeling, as though she was missing something.

  Langcourt spoke just then, pulling her from her thoughts. “I must thank you, my lady,” he said, his tone bearing an edge of mockery at her title. “You have made this process infinitely easier than I had anticipated.”