“I knew you would be all right, Agatha,” he replied meekly. “You were always self-sufficient. Besides, I did look for you for the longest time. My investigators had me convinced that you had perished.”
“And just like when you heard I was dead from a bunch of ingrates who took your money for no services rendered, you believed it again. You believed I was dead when that stinking Dutchman and his imbecilic sycophants lied to you. David, you never double-check if you are being lied to. My God, you are naïve!”
He looked at her. His sister had never been this fragile and it alarmed him. Did he really do this to Agatha with his insistent gallivanting with danger? The normally cool and composed genius she was had now momentarily shed her robotic logic and revealed her humanness to him. It was almost an honor for Purdue to be torn out like this by his sister, proving to him that what he did actually did matter to her after all. He put his arms around Agatha, but she did not reciprocate in any way. Like a mannequin she stood waiting for him to get his fill of the mocking embrace she did not recognize.
Any normally functioning woman would have perhaps shed a tear by now, but the scrawny blonde woman he had grown up with only stared blankly at him. Purdue sighed, more in relief at her minor outburst than hopelessness at never regaining her trust again.
“You do have an uncanny way to dismiss the possibilities of being betrayed by those you trust. Twice you were told that I was dead, David, and both times you did not waver to question the source and find the truth. The women you care for aren’t dead just because your precious Nazi mates told you so, you know,” she said bitterly, folding her slender arms over her chest and finding a point in the vicinity to focus her attention on.
Purdue felt her words seep into his reason. Something in what Agatha said, although naked truth, sank heavily into his mind. It was something he never considered, yes. She was absolutely correct! It suddenly dawned on him that he might have also been lied to about Nina’s fate. For once he would question the report. If there was any woman worth investigating further, it was Dr. Nina Gould. Purdue gave his sister a tender look, realizing that she was deliberately using their torrid and shaky bond to reveal something very important to him.
“Agatha?” he whispered, taking care not to exhibit his stunned realization to those who could see him here.
“What?” she asked abruptly. “When are you going to explain this whole set-up to me?” She spoke dismissively, but he smiled at her. To say thank you would be redundant and besides, Agatha was not the soppy type. In appreciation for the news he favored her by not dwelling on the subject one moment longer, but Agatha could see her brother’s face light up and his enthusiasm returning as if by some form of magic. If she was the type, maybe she would have smiled.
Chapter 29
“This is ARK. This is where the order will be housed during the two weeks of isolation after the execution of Final Solution 2,” he explained eagerly, not that his fervor was based on the work he was doing. It was solely born from the choice he had just made, one that was impossible to decide on just a few minutes before his sister made her appearance. Of the three options he had given himself, the idea that Nina was still alive helped him choose the path he was to take in the coming events.
“ARK?” she asked with a tinge of ridicule. “How original.”
“It’s an abbreviation of Avrakin Remus Kitavru, an ancient phrase from a very obscure book that this building’s design is built on,” Purdue elucidated. “The SS had implemented the construction of several of these all over the world, wherever the more prominent members of the Thule and Vril societies could congregate in the event of the crossing.”
“You also believe such poppycock, David? Really? As a scientist I’d have reckoned you a logical thinker and not some fanatical follower of antique, outlived ideology,” she said, shaking her head.
“Whether I believe the crossing is possible, or even founded, is inconsequential. I have a duty to perform and, quite frankly, that is what is keeping us alive at the moment. Don’t think for a second that I don’t know how expendable I am, Agatha. Contrary to what you might assess about me, I am not naïve in all things. My genius is not exclusive, just convenient,” he told her in no uncertain terms. Agatha nodded in silent contemplation, her eyes resting on the marble tiled floor.
“What you and I need to focus on, is to find the Library of Forbidden Books. There lies all the secrets of what had really been going on behind the stage curtains since before the advent of the First Reich — the Roman Empire,” he said urgently, but kept his voice low. It had become evident that even some of the Italian-based workmen constructing the ARK — Venice were clandestine operatives. Nobody could be trusted and when Renatus spoke, ears piqued for information. “And some of that information is what Meiner needs to complete the last phase of Final Solution 2 before my technology sends it out into the Earth’s atmosphere.”
“Final Solution 2 is practically foolproof,” Agatha replied. “If we were to find the library somehow destroyed or the particular books stolen from it, it certainly would be a good day for the citizens of the planet.”
“Mind your voice,” Purdue cautioned. “We’ll decide what we do when we find the place, if it even exists.”
“Oh, it exists. On that note, brother of mine,” Agatha attempted a more casual way, “should we not be getting ready to scour glorious Venice for its most dangerous secret?”
Purdue looked at his watch, “I believe so. Time for a bit of light reading.”
When they got back to Purdue’s apartment, the two siblings took to researching the positions of all the spires in Venice that Purdue had recorded on his tablet during the previous week, which would form a map to locate the library in question.
“How did you figure that out? By the way, you are not known for your imagination,” Agatha asked, crunching down on some cookies she bought from a local vendor.
“You know, your addiction to sweets would have one think that you would be more… robust,” Purdue marveled at his sister’s compulsive eating habits. “Why cookies, specifically?” She gave him a leer of amusement. He just shook his head, knowing that there was no answer forthcoming, at least not a sincere one.
“I cannot find 5Hu or 18Jk on here,” she mumbled through the cookie in her mouth, legs crossed on Purdue’s bed with her astrophysics references dancing on her tablet. “There seems to be a discrepancy on the third tier of what you’ve got here, David.”
Her habit of correcting him had by now become so mundane that Purdue hardly ever felt annoyed by it anymore. After all, many times before, her snooty over-analysis had spotted important inconsistencies that saved him a lot of time and trouble. Just for that Dave Purdue had to yield to his twin sister’s combined eccentric genius and lack of tact.
“Check the second tier of the basic astronomy diagram, Agatha. I might have placed it in the wrong divergence of the first and third connections,” he replied dryly without even looking up at her, but he could feel her stare.
“You’ve changed,” she said.
“So have you,” he replied immediately, not bothering to meet her eyes with his.
“You used to hate it when I illuminated your erroneous observations. You have surely taken the fun out of correcting you. But then again I suppose you are employing some form of psychological trick to discourage my mockery by pretending that it does not stick a probe up your ass every time I do it,” she speculated just short of sounding amused that he was so transparent.