Flavius bowed his head and hoped Claudia would pay whatever they requested. He wished he could trust her as much as he did Saul. He knew that if it were him, he would do everything possible to set him free.
He tried not to think about it and reached for the food in a bowl beside him. It was nothing fancy, just dry meat, bread, and fruit, but his stomach ached from not having eaten anything since the previous day. He felt out of strength and scared about the moment when the other man would return.
He eagerly ate all the food, without noticing the taste; thoughts of his destiny plagued him.
I would never have thought that something like this could happen to me. The roads outside Rome can be dangerous, but…
Then one question popped into in his mind: How could these two men have known he had a family able to pay for his release or even for his life?
What do they know about me? “Why me?” he asked.
The man looked at him, startling on his chair, wondering whether he was figuring out everything. “What?”
“Why did you take me? How do you know my family can afford to pay? How do you know there is a family? How do you know who am I?”
Caius stood from the chair, walking to the window, turning his shoulders at Flavius. He knew that if he said too much, Flavius would understand the entire plot.
“That is none of your concern,” he replied.
“This is exactly my business. How could you possibly know where to ask for the ransom, and from whom?” Flavius challenged.
Caius stood up from the chair, hit Flavius at the temple, knocking him unconscious, and tied his hands behind his back.
He decided the best thing would be to gag him so he could not ask any further questions. Anyway, his friend would return soon with further instructions. Until then, it would be more prudent to have Flavius unable to speak.
He looked outside the door, hoping to see his friend. He could not stand the wait and started feeling uncomfortable about being there alone with Flavius, afraid he would lose control over his actions. I can’t harm or kill Flavius. That is not in the plans.
After night fell, Claudia received her guest the same way she did some days before, but Caius wasn’t with him this time.
“I guess you are coming with good news for me,” she started, keeping her voice low.
“Yes, he is in our custody. He didn’t suspect anything, but your husband is not a stupid man. It won’t take much time for him to guess what is going on. Let’s do things quickly,” he urged.
“Not so fast. You will have to keep Flavius long enough for me to handle other issues I need to take care of. Where are you keeping him?”
“He is in an old house, a half day’s trip from here. There isn’t much around, so I can’t give you the exact location. How long do we have to keep him there?”
“About two weeks.”
“Two weeks is a long time,” he considered, worried about how they could manage to keep Flavius that long.
“Please, I thought we had an agreement. We all knew the reason for the kidnapping was to give me more time to take care of other…things.”
“We thought this was going to be about three days, maybe one week, but two weeks is going to be difficult.”
“I understand, and if there were another way, I would have avoided this, but there isn’t…” she replied uncertainly.
He sighed. “Fine, in two weeks we will deliver your husband safe and sound, but how are we going to explain to him that his family needs so much time to collect the money? It seems like you don’t have any problems with it.”
“You don’t need to tell Flavius anything; you don’t need to talk to him at all, but don’t you dare harm him in any way. Treat him the best you can,” she warned.
“You don’t have to worry about that. The only thing is, you might need to replace the three slaves who were traveling with him; we had to kill them all.” He grinned.
“I don’t care about them. Slaves are easily replaced; my husband is not. Take these food supplies; if you need more, come back.” She handed him a bag filled with everything she could collect. “We will meet once more in two weeks, and you will bring Flavius to be released.”
“So it shall be. See you again, hopefully for the last time.” He turned his back to Claudia.
She closed the door behind him and thought about how to contact the other men she’d spoken with. She didn’t want to waste any precious time enacting her plan, so she covered her head and walked to the tavern where she knew she could find them.
The smell of food and wine, mixed with the bodily odors of the people frequenting the tavern reached her nose as she entered.
She tried to cover it with her scarf and felt curious eyes on her, but she didn’t let this bother her and walked confidently toward their table.
“We need to talk,” she said sharply without removing the scarf that covered her hair and part of her face.
Annoyed, the man turned to see who dared to disturb him. As soon as he recognized her, he stood and, without saying a word, signaled her to follow him to the back of the tavern.
“You have guts coming here, I thought you would have sent a slave,” he snarled.
She cut him short. “I have my reasons. I received the news I was waiting for, so we can go on with the plan.”
“Tell me when.” Interest gleamed in his eyes.
“Next Thursday at the second hour of the night. I will open the door for you, so you don’t have to knock. Nobody will see you coming if you approach the house from the back and walk along the dark side. We will execute the plan without any words said. Is that clear?”
“So it shall be, for none of us wants to be connected to this,” he replied.
“See you next week then,” she said, turning her back as she traced her steps through the tavern, past the patrons watching her with puzzled expressions.
None of them could recall a noblewoman ever stepped into that tavern. When that happened, there were certainly troubles to be expected.
They just kept following her with their eyes until she closed the door behind her.
Flavius came back to his senses and realized he had been gagged. “Hmmm!” he struggled to speak.
“Sorry, my friend, you have been too annoying. I warned you. There is nothing else you can do if your life is dear to you,” Caius warned.
Fuming, Flavius exerted control he had learned in the army and shifted his focus. It was feasible that someone who knew him, someone close to his family, had decided to kidnap him, but why—aside from the money? Those two men could have followed him for some time. Maybe there was no plot against him, but rather the bad luck of having attracted the attention of the wrong people.
He didn’t know what to think anymore. He hoped his family would pay them and they would release him. Unfortunately, he could not recognize them; even if they were his neighbors, he couldn’t see enough of their faces, and their bodies were covered by long robes.
Saul started to worry about his Master. He was supposed to return two days ago, and we haven’t received any news about him. He raised his eyes from the papers. Then stood and looked out at the porch. Claudia sat in the garden, working on a needlepoint with her slaves. She showed no sign of concern. Could it be she knew something about him? He wanted to ask her but was too afraid of making her angry.
When Nara walked from the porch back to the house, he called him in a low voice, trying not to attract Claudia’s attention, “Nara, come here.”
Nara smiled and walked toward him. “Do you need anything?”
“Well, I’m beginning to be afraid. Don’t tell me that you haven’t been thinking about Master Flavius. He should have returned two days ago. Why he is late? Does Claudia know anything?