FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter -33- Rise of the Old World Order

Thursday, June 1, 1893 Swiss Alps ...

Reno put his hands in front of the roaring hearth."This is the worst mission. We should have let Justus sit up here and freeze."

Kerii grinned from where she sat on a nearby bed. "He very well might be doing just such. It will warm up as the sun rises."

"We're too high for it to do much difference." He lifted his gaze to a map on the wall. It depicted Europe split into three belts. "What's the deal with that?"

"It was made by a cartographer named..."

"I mean, what're the point of the three sections?"

"Ah. The top portion of Europe is dominated by forests. One might call it the 'great forest.' The middle section, through the British Isles, Northern France, and the heart of Europe, is where the bulk of food is grown throughout the western world. It is the fertile valleys of the Danube and the like."

"And the bottom layer?"

"Grapes."

"Grapes?"

"Grapes and wine. Lower France, Spain, Italy ... as you can see, France has an even mix of forestation, food, and grapes. That is why France is the cultural center of Europe. France has art, wealth, beauty, food and drink, wood for homes ... it is perfect in every way."

"You like France, don't you?"

"I love it." She grinned at him.

Reno thought about telling her that Karla has a future manner in Paris, but decided against it. "Does your sister know how much you like France?"

"She's Welsh. She was brainwashed to believe England superior to France. However, yes, she knows my fondness for it. Even Keturah cannot disagree that France has a luster unmatched with anywhere else in the western world. She and I speak French fluently."

"Yeah. And Spanish."

"Keturah's Spanish is far superior to my own understanding of it. Her mother was born in Barcelona. She had little choice, as a child, except to learn Spanish and French. She also speaks Welsh and English. I believe she knows enough Irish Gaelic so as not to starve if ever stranded in Ireland."

"You mean, she knows how to say, 'Where is the whiskey, can I have some potato stew; take off your pants,' right?"

Kerii brought her hands to her lips and looked away with a giggle. "Quite so." She cleared her throat. "I should not joke about Ireland. It was only a few decades that a million people died."

Reno blinked. "What? Seriously?"

"Yes. They experienced a great famine, due to a potato blight. England took the best of their crop, and left them with little. The Irish starved to death. It was tragic."

"Jesus." Reno blinked. "Sinopa is there."

"Pardon?"

"Sinopa is a Japanese Kitsune. I don't know if she's still in Ireland right now, but she helped to repair the blight. She's a lower-level Japanese messenger god. She could help us stay alive and find..."

"Wait." Kerii slid off the bed and approached the hearth. "Does she recognize you in your time? The first time you met - think back."

"She showed up out of the blue and helped me in a gun fight, in an alley behind a warehouse." Reno thought back to the moment. "She didn't seem to know me. I'm pretty sure she was friends with the real Nathanial Carrington, though."

"Ah. So when she first met you, she gave no indication that she knew you? She didn't remark about your youthful visage? She made no mention of how nice it was to see you again?"

"Uh, no."

Kerii smiled and walked to a window. She gazed out over distant France. "Then she does not meet you in this time period. I suggest you do not change things, or you might change your future."

"Oh. Damn, you're right. Now I see why Niall and Eli keep you around."

Kerii turned back to Reno and smiled. "That was sweet."

"Hmm?"

"For you to recognize me as a helpful asset, Nathan. I am rather fond of you as well."

Reno used a metal rod to shift the newest log in the fire. "How much longer are we going to be here? It's June. It shouldn't be this cold."

"When day breaks, the temperature will rise dramatically." She walked across the small cabin and stopped adjacent to a calendar. "Today is Thursday. The contact is said to be passing through this area on his way to Lyon."

"That's in France, right?"

"Yes, it is."

Reno snapped his fingers. "Of course it's in France. Lyon - I should know that. That's where ICPO is at."

"I do not follow," she said, coming back towards the hearth.

"Interpol. They're an international police group, based out of Lyon. I just had to think about it for a minute. Anyways, they don't exist yet."

"Ah. I wish I could see your time."

Reno shrugged. "I'm fairly certain they form in 1923, because I remember they were celebrating their centenarian status or ... centennial or, well, whatever the term would be. They were turning one hundred, and shortly after, I was getting fired from being a police inspector."

She nodded.

Reno reached for her hand and pulled her into his lap. "Hey. You will see the future. You said so, yourself. You'll be alive until I get back to my time. Then I'm going to hold you in my arms. Remember?"

She nodded with a tired smile. "Yes, of course. I look forward to all of it."

"Just do me a favor."

"Mm?"

"Get out of San Francisco in 1906. I think it's early in the year, but I can't remember exactly when - you need to be _out of that city_during 1906. Are we clear? Live in New York or Paris, or anywhere you want. Just ... not in San Francisco, okay?"

"Why?"

"It's just..." He shook his head and shrugged.

"I am supposed to be your wife. Can you not trust me with one more secret to go with all the others?"

"You'll want to tell everyone, and that's not a very good idea."

"Reno," she said sternly in a soft voice.

He smiled a bit. "Okay, okay." Reno cleared his throat. "Geeze, using my real name and everything. Am I in trouble?"

"Oh for heaven's sake."

"Look, joking aside, Kerii, there is a huge quake in 1906. San Francisco shakes until it's kneeling, then whatever is left will burn to the ground. There is nothing left. People rebuild, but they're pretty much starting from scratch in a lot of areas."

Kerii nodded in silence. "I already knew."

Reno blinked. "I only took Eli about that."

"Mm, and he told myself and the Kincade family. I am the keeper of secrets - Eli, well ... he only told Niall and myself. I will take Keturah to New York. I will show her the Statue of Liberty."

Reno nodded and smiled up at her.

Kerii shifted off of his lap. "If we are to relocate to Lyon this afternoon, we should pack." She took several steps, and then she gazed back at him with a smile. "Before such, would you like 'to have and to hold'?" She settled on the mattress and offered a seductive expression.

Reno stood up and stretched. "Damn, girl, you are insatiable." He pulled his shirt up over his head and tossed it over the backrest of the chair in front of the hearth. "For the record, I'm not complaining."

X

X

Hours later - nightfall...

"He is resourceful," Kerii said, mostly to herself. She lifted a small telescope and peered through it. "Taking the Orient Express from Zurich into France, and switching to the Le Train Bleu into Lyon in mid-operation ... clever."

Reno watched as the Le Train Bleu rolled down the tracks, disappearing in the distance. "Don't give this guy all the credit."

Kerii lowered the small scope. "We will never catch up to him, now. He timed it perfectly, jumping from the Orient Express and boarding the Bleu in crossing ... a great amount of care and planning was involved to manage such a feat."

Reno shook his head with a smile. "When're you going to learn to trust others? You've always relied solely on yourself - I get that. But it's time you learn how to trust that I'll be there to catch you. We've been friends for how long now? A month? Have I let you down yet?"

She reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze. "You wish to peacock for me? Very well, you have my attention. I look forward to being impressed."

Reno squeezed her hand in return. He walked with her up onto the slightly-elevated rail tracks. "This might tingle a little, and it will feel like pins-and-needles, like when your leg falls asleep. It'll be okay."

"Oh?"

Reno rubbed his right shoe against the metal rail. He glanced down at the period-specific boot that made his heels and ankles ache from the lack of insole heel support. "Okay..."

Kerii said nothing.

He pulled her close, so that she was firmly against his torso with his arm around her. "I've done this once before with someone ... I can do it again. It was on power lines, though. So I just need to electrify the rails."

A bolt of lightning connected the sky and the metal rail. It linked up with Reno and Kerii. The couple disappeared.

A glowing surge raced along the track rail, speeding after the train.

Further up the track, the electric arc connected with the rear wheel of a caboose. A forked arc reached up from the track and danced on the metal railing at the back of the caboose. The arc became a web, which surrounded the last car of the train, momentarily.

Reno and Kerii appeared, lying across one another, on the platform between the front of the caboose and the back of the last bunk car.

Reno quickly rolled off of her hip and helped her to her feet. "Are you alright?"

"That was ... surprisingly brief." She rubbed at her hip where Reno had appeared, draped across her a moment prior. "A bit rough at the end, but no complaints."

"Let me see." Reno placed his hands on her hip, feeling her lower rib, then checking her pelvis. "Nothing is broken. I didn't mean for such a clumsy landing."

She looked around at the scenery rushing by. "Impressive, nevertheless, my dear. I consider myself well read, yet I doubt Verne or Wells could have prepared me for such a..." she trailed off, trying to word her discombobulated thoughts. "A ... flight of fancy, a ... seemingly science fiction lifestyle."

"How do you mean?" he asked.

"I ... nothing written could have prepared me for that which I have experienced in the past month at your side, Nathan."

He grinned. "Now what? Do we search the bunk cars?"

A shadow shunted beneath the door leading into the last bunk car. It materialized on the platform, facing the connector, which led to the caboose.

Justus appeared in their way. "Mr. Carrington."

"Mr. Loupe," said Reno in reply.

"Must you always bring attention to yourself in such a dramatic, showy fashion? Your abilities are difficult to conceal from the eyes of the mundanes."

Reno smirked. He subconsciously stepped in front of Kerii, protectively. "You're upset that someone might have seen us? You forget - we're going into the scientific era, where people reach for an encyclopedia instead of religion or mythology. So what? Lightning struck the rail - it's metal. People will explain it as a force of nature, nothing more."

Justus narrowed his gaze, remaining stoic.

"Lighten up, pal. If you want to blend in, you need to stay modern with your fashion, and you need to have a little bit of personality. You'd be surprised what that can get you in life."

"You are a conundrum - how such foolishness and such wisdom can come from the same person, moments apart, is, in truth, decidedly baffling."

"You should consider how you talk."

Justus tilted his head. "I am modern with such."

"No, you're not. You're so ... what's the word...?"

Justus crossed his arms over his chest. "Proper? Modern? Accomplished?"

Reno snapped his fingers a few times, trying to think of a big word that Karla would have said. "Superfluous. Wordy, you know?"

"I beg your pardon?"

Reno repeated, "How such 'this' and such 'that' can come from the same person, moments apart, is, in truth, decidedly baffling." He smirked, adding, "Try, 'How you're so smart and dumb at the same time is strange.' See? It's to the point."

"You wish for me to speak like a child, who lacks both a vocabulary and proper comprehension of syntax?"

"A wise girl once told me the English language is constantly evolving. You either change with it, or you're left in the past."

"Constantly _devolving_by the sound of things."

Reno shrugged. "Maybe. So, are you going to stand in our way of doing the job you gave us, or what?"

Justus shook his head. "Your misuse of the language is a travesty beyond my ability to formulate into wording." He reached into his blazer and withdrew two tickets. "I assumed the two of you would not be needing these, for having fallen behind. I remained two steps ahead of our little friend, and made my way to Nice, yesterday. I purchased three tickets. I timed his schedule and hoped you would be clever in switching trains. It was too much to ask, I suppose. However, you are here, now, and I have your tickets. This means our 'friend' is the only man aboard, lacking in a proper boarding pass. I will alert the conductor, and he will be ejected at the next stop. We will continue to Lyon and wait for his arrival."

Reno laughed and shook his head. "You want to let him out of our sight by getting him kicked off?"

Kerii arched her brows at Justus, gesturing to Reno. "He makes an excellent point, Mr. Loupe. We cannot underestimate the resourcefulness of the man you have identified in Switzerland."

"Yeah," said Reno, adding, "with all due respect, the only reason you could pull off heading to Nice," he said, pronouncing the city's name improperly on purpose, "and staying ahead of that guy is because you trusted us to keep our eyes on him, just in case he deviated from your intel. Stop tooting your own horn. You're not as clever as you think - just old."

Justus squinted at Reno.

"If it makes you feel any better, you won't age and I probably will. That's my luck," Reno said. "But you know what? This was never a pissing match. I'm not better than you, and I'm not trying to be. You're stealthy? Great! I get it. But if you ever want to learn half of what I know about crime scene investigation, forensic science, and criminal takedown tactics, I suggest you grab some paper and take some notes, pal."

"You're asking me to humble myself to one of the most boastful men I've ever met?"

Kerii came to Reno's defense. "He is one of the most humble men I know," she said, regarding how Reno had been treating her.

"Yet he is a show off," said Justus. Loupe's eyes panned back to Reno. "You are prideful of your powers and your willingness to use them. You declare yourself an expert on something upon which I have prided myself for centuries."

"Look, Justus, I am the guy when it comes to catching bad guys, because I'm ahead of my time when it comes to investigating bullshit like this."

"Bad guys? You speak like a child, Mr. Carrington."

"Try the humble pie, sometime. It's not so bad after the first bite, because you might actually learn something."

"Boys..."

Justus handed them the ticket stubs. "The truly ironic part of our argument is that we work well in tandem. I dare think we complement one another - I am the sheriff who deals law and order by the book, and you are the 'scrappy' deputy who means well, and occasionally thinks outside the box of conformity. I will say this once: toe the line if you will, but do not overstep your bounds. Our kind has strict laws for a reason. Do not show off where the mundanes will see your performance. Are we clear?"

Reno stared at Justus for a moment. For some reason, Loupe's use of the word 'scrappy' came off as amusing.

All the cop comedies Reno watched as a kid came rushing back. Whether it was Bad Boys or The Andy Griffith Show, it was difficult for him to decide who the law expert was, and who was inept, but well-meaning comic relief.

"You would dare giggle?"

Reno smirked. "Women giggle, not me. That was a manly chuckle, pal. Why don't you do a stakeout and sit in our target's shadow for a while. That's where you'd be most useful right now."

Justus shook his head. He dissolved into shadow and slithered back beneath the door, leading into the bunk car.

Kerii stared at the gap beneath the bunk car for a moment. She licked her lips and shook her head. "I have never seen anyone stand up to him like that."

"He's waiting for me to screw up, that's all. When it doesn't happen, he will eventually grow to accept me. The thing is, I won't be around for it."

She glanced back to Reno and tilted her head. "The look on your face suggests there is something else on your mind."

"Yeah..." Reno ran his hands back through his hair. "There is no way that guy doesn't recognize me in the future. So why not say anything to me?" Reno shrugged with a smirk. "Maybe he's the one who tells the real Nathanial Carrington about me using the guy's name. So that could be why Nathanial gives me his powers in 2023? Or maybe ... damn, I don't know. Justus should have recognized me in my time, but he never mentioned it."

"I am not sure that I follow."

Reno turned to her. "When that old man looked up at me in 2023, it's like he knew me, you know? I mean, you should have seen his gaze - it's like he had been keeping an eye on me for years. Jules later told me that the old guy planned it all along."

"Jules?"

"Jules was there when Nathanial was fatally wounded. Nathanial made sure I was brought to him in his last moments. It was freaky as hell. I was doing chest compressions and his eyes glowed. He looked up at me like he'd been waiting for me. God, it seems like it was so long ago."

"He had confidence in you," said Kerii. "Whether or not he knew you borrowed his identity here and now, that does not matter. Nathanial gave you his ability because he obviously believed in you. That is an excellent reason as to why you should continue to believe in yourself."

Reno smiled at her. "Thanks for the encouragement."

"And for the record, I am delighted you continually work to peacock for me. The fact that I am constantly and consistently worth your time is greatly appreciated."

He grinned. "You're worth it." Reno's thoughts turned to Nicky Parker and Karla Loupe. They were both great girls, but they were headstrong and the center of attention in their own way. Kerii, on the other hand, made Reno feel like he was at the center of her attention.

He'd never felt the need to show off for a girl before. At least not like this.

Nicky Parker was the kind of girl who walked side-by-side with Reno down an alley with guns at the ready, arguing the whole time about who should take point.

Karla was the kind of girl who teleported into a fight, ahead of Reno, then glanced back and preened in a spotlight.

Kerii, on the other hand, was the girl that peered around the corner and watched him do the leg work. And after he was done with his performance, she applauded him to show her appreciation.

There was something refreshing about it all. Reno liked holding the figurative door open. He liked opening the pickle jar, in a sense. He liked feeling appreciated for doing the leg work.

If Nicky was a representation of 'gender equality,' and Karla was a representation of 'girl power,' then Kerii was the kind of woman that inspired traditionalistic values ... it inflated his masculine ego, and made him feel like having testosterone was a good thing.

There was only one way to test it. He placed his hands at the small of her back. "You know, I once got in a fist fight with my commanding officer." He turned his head to her and smiled inwardly. "I sent my Lieutenant to the dentist."

"Did he deserve it?"

"The next time I saw him, he was humble and he even complimented me, if that's what you mean."

She smiled. "Then it was a good thing."

"Did I really giggle earlier?"

"No," she said. "It was a manly chuckle."

Reno laughed. "I fucking love you, y'know that?"

She bit her lower lip and smiled. "Do you, now?"

"You're awesome."

"Perhaps we should find an unoccupied bunk, where you can tell me how you feel in a private setting. We are, at the very least, ninety minutes to Lyon."

Reno grinned. "You just wanted to hear me say sweet nothings while I'm naked and vulnerable."

"You are too much man to ever be truly vulnerable."

Reno laughed again. "Are you sweet talking me?"

"Is it working?"

"Hell yeah." He looked down at the tickets, and the assigned sleep quarters lettering on the stub. "Let's go find our bunk."

X

X

Friday, June 2, 1893 - 6:00 am Lyon, France...

Reno walked through the small study. He traced his fingers over the spines of books on a shelf and glanced back at Kerii. "So our target is obsessed with conspiracies? Or is he trying to create one?"

Kerii shook her head. She looked up from a book bound in human flesh. On the back was an etching of Moloch. She held the tome aloft and tapped her finger against the face of the god. "This is Moloch, an Ammonite god."

"Who? What?"

"Ammon was a man who lived a long time ago. After Lott had sex with his daughters, following the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, he had two sons. Moab and Ammon. Their people lived just east of The Holy Land."

"Israel?"

"I believe it is called Palestine."

"I think it's called Israel."

Kerii tilted her head. "Is that what it is called in your time?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Interesting..." She glanced down at the book again. "Moloch was an idol god of the time. Is there a bible on that shelf?"

Reno searched the shelf and found a bible. "Yeah, there's one here."

"Find Leviticus. Look for the term 'Moloch'. I believe he is mentioned in the teens."

"God, you and Karla both know this book a little too well."

She smirked. "The times we live in, Nathan."

"I guess." He opened the bible and scanned through the first few pages until finding a page number for Leviticus. He shifted the heavy book, cradling it in his left arm. "Hold tight."

A moment later, Reno found a page and began scanning for the term 'Moloch.' Moments later, he said, "Got it. Leviticus eighteen, verse twenty-one: 'And thou shalt not permit any of thy seed passage through the fire to Moloch.' So what the hell does that mean?"

"The children of Ammon idolized Moloch. The bible says to its readers, as a parent, you are ordered by God to keep your offspring from praising a false idol, or false god," she told him. "Idolatry was the first of the Ten Commandments. It was the first sin God penned into the tablets given to Moses. It is why Christians war with Catholics - for creating false idols."

"False idols? Catholics idolize things?"

"Eli Thomas Parker wears a St. Christopher's medal. Some see that as an object of idolatry," she said. "Someone who wrote this book either idolized Moloch, or they wish it to be symbolic of something beyond our understanding."

"You mean," Reno closed the bible. "You're trying to suggest the person who wrote that book may have put this forgotten god on the cover as a message to someone else?"

"It is possible. The contents of this book have little to do with Ammon, Canaan, Palestine, Israel, or Moloch. I cannot understand the point of etching such an ancient figure into a tome that professes to be an instruction manual to build a new world order."

"What's that bit of Latin on the front?"

She eased a fingertip into the pages to mark where she left off, she closed the book, and peered at the front. Bound in human flesh, lettering branded on the front read, 'Novus Ordo Seclorum.' Her eyes lifted. "It reads 'New Order of the Ages.' It is not a new idea. America was built on this phrasing in the late seventeen hundreds."

"So what does an ancient god from eastern Palestine have to do with America?" Reno reached into his pocket. He withdrew his wallet with his identification from the future. He eased a dollar bill, dated from 2022, from the wallet and showed her the back. "See? That bit of Latin on the book is right here, on the seal of the United States."

"It is simply a Latin phrasing. It does not mean they are related."

"I guess. Or the people who wrote this book are obsessed with trying to turn America into some fanciful new world order bullshit. Conspiracies like this are par for the course and dominate the History Channel after midnight."

"Channel? As in a body of water?"

"Heh. No, as in we'll have motion pictures on a television one day. It's a box that picks up wireless signals broadcast from broadcasting stations. You watch programs recorded on a camera and stored for later viewing. You can watch anything from news, to dramas and comedies, to documentaries. The History Channel likes to air the latter - documentaries. Anytime after midnight, they liked to air really weird conspiracy theory bullshit about aliens and secret societies."

"Aliens? What would people from other countries have to do with...?"

"Extra-terrestrials - people from planets other than Earth."

Kerii blinked. "How ... absurd!" She flipped the book back open and continued where she left off. A moment later, she gestured Reno to come closer. The succubus nodded her head towards a hand-sketched map. "Notice anything about this cartography drawing?"

Reno looked it over. "It looks like streets. Like from a city. But at the center, the streets are arranged to look kind of like an owl."

"Mm. Do you recognize the street design?"

"Should I?"

"Look here, this section makes a pentagram, and here, at the southernmost tip of the goat head, do you know what is here?"

"No?"

"And here, from this section, to this section, it creates a Masonic compass."

"Oh Jesus, is this supposed to be Washington DC? The compass thing from the Capitol to the Jefferson Memorial, right?"

"Just ... humor me, my dear." She cradled the book in her left arm, the way Reno had with the bible earlier, and used her right index to trace her fingertip over the street layout. "Here is the owl layout over the Capitol grounds."

"Look, it wasn't Freemasons who made the street layout for DC. It was some French guy, hired by Jefferson and Washington. I've seen this crap while bored one night, watching History Channel. Yeah, the Washington Monument is some obelisk where Ra, the sun god, dwells, and the sun is a giant ball of fire, and somehow that means Satan is living in DC. Granted, politicians are evil in their own way, that French guy didn't design all this crap into it. Also, I remember reading somewhere that this was all crap. The _actual_map where it shows the pentagram is bullshit. The streets don't actually extend as far as the star is portrayed or something."

She smiled somewhat. "You think outside of the box, and I like that. However, I believe the age of this book is someone's wishful thinking for changes to street planning."

"Right, maybe, but most cities are laid out with a compass of streets that separate east from west, and north from south. So, all those cities have a cross - does that mean they're run by the Crusaders? Doubt it."

Her smile broadened. "What worries me most is that the people who wrote this book, and believe in the message within ... are the same lot willing to skin a human being," she lifted the book somewhat, "African in descent by the looks of the coloration of the flesh."

He snapped his fingers. "Now you're making sense. We're dealing with people who believe in some sort of fairy tale cult involving Satan and wanting to start some bullshit New World Order in America. Well, that propaganda ship won't sail. It never sailed in my time, that's for sure."

She gazed back down at the book and finished reading the page with the map on the top left corner. "It appears they see Moloch as Satan, which explains why they etched his likeness into the rear cover."

"Satan is a bull, now?"

"To some. A fearsome creature, lazy in the field, only rising to fight for his right to mate cows in the pasture. When Moses came down from Sinai, his people had carved a golden calf. This is possibly a likeness of Moloch. It is the antithesis of godliness, thus making it the face of Satan according to some."

Reno put the bible back on the shelf. He turned to Kerii and took the tome, bound in human flesh, and placed it back on the desk at the end of the room. "There, right where we found it. We can't let these wackos know we were here, or they won't lead us to..." Reno trailed off.

"Nathan? What is your concern?"

"I just realized, we're in France."

"Yes."

"Everything in this office is about Palestine and America. All the material is written in English."

"Indeed, that is an excellent observation. Do you have any theories?" Kerii smoothed her hands over her dress.

"I'm just ... who the hell _are_these people?"

Kerii looked around the room at the trinkets on display. "They believe their purpose is of international importance. Why pass through Germany, into Switzerland, and go through such great lengths to cover their tracks all the way to Lyon?" She approached a safe in the wall. "What do you suppose is within such a lavish, expensive wall vault?"

Reno grimaced. "We could have Eli come out here and crack it for us, but these bozos might be gone before he gets over here. God, I can't wait for modern passenger jets."

"Even if we managed to breach this, it would only serve to give us away."

"Yeah." He ran his hands through his hair. "Okay. Let's get back across the street to the safe house."

Kerii nodded and followed him out of the room. She pulled the door shut behind herself and followed him through a window in the hallway.

Reno helped her over the sill and followed her out into a courtyard behind the building. They moved around to the front of the building, and returned to a home across the street.

Reno and Kerii nodded and offered a pleasant but brief discourse to the home owners, whose guest bedroom was rented for the sake of squatting.

They returned to their bedroom on the second floor and sat down at a small table in front of a window. They peered at the building across the street and watched.

A creaking floorboard grabbed their attention. Reno and Kerii exchanged glances. They calmly stood up together.

Reno nodded to Kerii and turned away from the small table, facing the rest of the room.

Kerii opened the window.

Reno saw a shadow on the floor. He approached the corner where the armoire was located. In the gap between the furnishing and the wall, Reno saw a dress shoe, and the hem of someone's trousers.

Adjacent to their leg was the tip of a sword blade.

He backed away from the corner, slowly, and nodded to Kerii in silence. He held his hand up and gestured that there was 'one' person around the corner.

"So," he said calmly, "I really think we should go out for dinner together. But it looks like it's about to storm."

She tilted her head, trying to follow along with his ad-libbed plan. "Oh? Do you suppose?"

Reno opened the door to the bedroom, and backed up to the window and table by the far wall. He kept his eyes on the 'L' shaped corner, and the man hiding in the narrow gap on the far side of the armoire. "Yeah. I have a feeling it will thunder and lightning any moment now. Do you feel that ... drop in temperature coming from the window?"

"Oh," she said with a nod. Her acting was less than stellar. "I didn't ... notice it at first. But, you are quite right, my dear." She reached her hand for his and interlaced her fingers with his own. "But we should still find something to eat before bed."

"Maybe if we hurry, we can beat the storm." Reno pulled her close. A bolt of lightning connected him to the sky, through the window.

Together, they passed through, and appeared on the rooftop of the building across the street.

Kerii withdrew her small telescope and peered through it. She passed it to Reno.

He gazed through the lens and adjusted the eyepiece somewhat. It came into focus.

Inside the guest room, well lit by candles, a man stepped from behind the armoire and investigated the room. He peered through the open door, leading to the hallway.

Reno got a good look at the man's face. He passed the telescope back to Kerii. "That was our bad guy from the train. That means two things - he knows we're watching him, and where we're staying ... and that Justus was in the room with us, hiding in that guy's shadow."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because he was standing in a dark corner, but his shadow was on the floor. There was no light source in that corner, yet he had a shadow that extended away from the dresser-chest thing?"

"Armoire," she murmured.

"Yeah, that. Anyhow, Justus was doing that so I'd see where the guy was hiding. We have to lay low from further away until that guy returns to the building beneath us. God, what I wouldn't give for modern surveillance gear."

"Do you suppose Justus will be upset?"

"Probably."

Justus spoke from behind. "No, they have a network far larger than anyone anticipated." He stepped from the darkness and peered over the side of the building to the street below. "The hunters have entered an alliance with a large faction of Esoteric Purists."

Reno folded his arms over his chest. "What's that mean for the rest of us?"

"They are searching for relics throughout the globe. I do not understand the significance of these artifacts; I do not know how many exist, or how they are related. However, this is far larger than the Kincade family has surmised."

"What did you learn?" Reno asked.

"Enough to know that more information is required. I counted seventeen Specials thusfar. I counted two hundred human hunters. Different groups have different 'marching orders' as it were. A small group plans to assassinate Niall and Natalia Kincade. Another group is tasked to gather strange artifacts, spread throughout the globe. Another group is tasked with studying a submersible vehicle capable of exploring the Atlantic Ocean - I am unsure why."

Reno grimaced. "Jesus, I hope it's not what I think they're doing."

"Do you care to share your knowledge, Mr. Carrington?"

Reno shrugged. "Let's just say they might be searching for Atlantis."

Justus furrowed his brows. "Is that not the fabled city of Plato's fancy?"

"Something like that. I have a few theories here. It's possible these people want to have the American government somehow fund their search for this city. It's under the ocean floor, pretty far down."

Justus tilted his head. "American Government?"

Reno sighed. "Yeah. For one thing, you can build a base of operations in Washington or somewhere close to the Atlantic. Then you just have to head straight out to sea until you get to where this place is buried. Second of all, a national economy could fund it covertly. So if a few people who believe in this shit decide to get into the US Government, it's only a matter of time before they earmark a few dollars here and a few dollars there into funding these bozos."

Kerii rubbed her forehead. "Do you suppose that is the reason these people are meeting in France and why they have books detailing the street designs of Washington DC?"

Reno ran his hands back through his hair and paused about midway back. "That's what I'm basing my theory on, yeah. I know it's a stretch, but ... god knows I've seen enough conspiracy theory shows. Of course, that's not a very good theory. It's way out there. It's a huge stretch and it's convoluted as hell. But, the question is ... do these people believe it?"

"How, exactly, do you conclude this nonsense regarding fabled Atlantis?" asked Justus.

"I've seen it."

Justus furrowed both brows. "Excuse me?"

"You want answers? You ask Clarence about the city of the First Age. But he won't give you an honest answer, so it doesn't much matter. It won't be Neill's favorite subject, either. God, I can't believe I'm even entertaining this stuff, but as big and fancy as New Atlantis was, God only knows if it took a hundred years of planning before they built it, and another few decades to put the damn thing together."

"New ... Atlantis?"

"Their 'vessel' used to find Atlantis."

Justus shook his head and closed his eyes. "God help us, you are insane."

"Yeah, well," Reno crossed his arms over his chest. He thought about a way of wording things that might make Justus believe him.

Finally, Reno said, "The oracle I know told me all about this future stuff. Just ... I don't care if you believe me or not, okay? I know what's going to happen, so I could care less what you think of me."

"Very well," said Justus with a firm nod.