Mimic and Rose sat on opposite sides of a small wooden table, with the tattered remnants of the book they thought to be the Liber Vitae strewn across the surface between them. Mimic held the one surviving piece in his hand, a large piece of parchment that looked to be a map. It was a detailed drawing of an area of land, with some words in Latin scrawled across the bottom. Some numbers were written up the side.
Rose’s attention was divided between Mimic’s face and the map, and she impatiently tapped the handle of a silver handgun against the surface of the table.
The Sheik sat across the room from them, observing them quietly.
Pneuma was absent. They didn’t think to ask where he was. They never asked.
“…a map…” Mimic finally said, his gaze never leaving the paper in his hand.
“Yes. But a map to where?” The Sheik replied, breaking his silence.
“Now there’s a question,” Mimic said, standing up. “The drawing is pretty detailed… rivers. Mountains. That sort of thing. Can you translate this Latin at the bottom?” Mimic crossed the room and handed the map to the Sheik.
He looked at the map for a moment, then said “It is as we suspected. This is a map to the true location of the book.”
“So what was the copy we found? A forgery?” Mimic asked. He received no reply.
“We require an Atlas,” The Sheik said, placing the map back down on the table.
“Right. To compare the map to,” Mimic replied. “Then, we hop on a plane, find the book, and collect our cash…” Mimic opened up his laptop computer, and looked up an online atlas. He typed in the numbers that were written on the map, assuming them to be latitude and longitude. His assumption paid off, as a map of a small area of Peru appeared on his screen. Picking up the piece of parchment, he compared the two. They both had an identical river system running down the middle. They were maps of the same place.
“Bingo. This is our place,” Mimic said. He looked up at his teammates Rose and Sheik, who said nothing.
“You know, when I’M the most talkative member of the party, you know there’s something wrong. I’m supposed to be mysterious…” Mimic said.
Back at the cemetery, Danny sat down. He slumped to the ground, his back against a tree, and let out a sigh. He was tired. None of them had slept since they got on the plane for Berlin, and their recent experience with Ktl had taxed their energy. Although Mxy saw to it that none of them sustained any real major injuries, it was still draining.
But they still couldn’t rest.
“Tired?” Kristogar asked, sitting down next to Danny.
“Kinda,” Danny replied.
“So what’s the next move?”
“We track down those guys. Find out what they know,” Danny said.
“How do we know they even have anything?” Velo asked.
“They had to have found something in that tomb. Otherwise, why the elaborate decoy? Why else would they go to all that effort to throw us off?” Danny explained. Velo just nodded in reply, agreeing with Danny.
Danny closed his eyes, and sighed. He knew he had to keep going, but he was anticipating a post-mission bath and a comfy bed.
“Okay…” He said, standing up. “They have to be travelling somewhere. I’m going to guess they found something. Possibly the Liber Vitae. Possibly not. Whatever it is, they’ll be wanting to bring it to the rest of their team…”
“The rest? How do we know there’s more of them?” Tobias asked.
“The Uffizi musuem. There was a whole group of them,” Danny answered. Tobias nodded, and Danny continued. “Okay, Tobias, you’re with me. We’re going to check out the airport, see if we can find them there, or if anyone fitting that woman’s description has booked tickets.”
“To where? They could be anywhere in the world,” Tobias replied.
“Kristogar. Contact the other teams. See if they’ve sighted any more of the guys from the museum,” Danny said. Velo took out his mobile phone and began to dial.
“Tobias. Head to the airport. It should only be a few seconds from here for you. I’ll follow by air,” Danny said, and looked up. “It’s still dark. Hopefully I won’t be spotted. Don’t want to freak people out. And you…” Danny pointed at Mick. “Get some rest. We’ll meet you back at the hotel room. Okay, let’s move.”
Tobias disappeared, throwing up a small cloud of dust at the spot his feet had just occupied. Danny removed his shirt, sprouted wings, and took off. Mick accepted his orders, and began the ten minute walk back to the hotel. He knew Mxy could have gotten him there in an instant, but… he liked the idea of doing some things under his own power. Kristogar followed behind him, his mobile phone pressed to his ear.
“Chance? It’s Velo. We’re still in Berlin. Where are you? Right. Hey, you know those guys from the museum job in Italy? Have you… you have? Really? Okay, I’ll pass that on. Thanks. Good luck.” And with that, Velo hung up. Redialling, he tried to reach Grimm’s team.
Meanwhile, Tobias had arrived at the airport. He began to scour the place, looking for any sign of their adversaries. He’d seen a couple of them up close… even if one of them had looked just like Danny. But the woman… there was no mistaking her. He knew he’d know her the second he saw her. He ran through every departure lounge, every office, every toilet, every customs checkpoint. The people he ran past didn’t even notice him there. He ran in and checked the place out without dropping his speed.
On his third lap of the airport, Tobias noticed Danny touch down in the darkness outside. The wings shrunk and dissolved, and Danny replaced his shirt.
“Danny,” Tobias said, approaching him.
“Are they here?” Danny asked.
“Nope. Checked the whole place out,” Tobias replied. “No sign of them.”
Meanwhile, Kristogar and Mick were still on the way back to the hotel. Kristogar was still on the phone, trying to reach Grimm’s team.
“Come on, answer…” He muttered to himself. Eventually someone did.
“What?!” Shouted the voice of Dirk Bell through Kristogar’s tiny mobile phone.
“Dirk! It’s Kristogar.”
“And?!”
“Quick question. Has your team run into any of those guys from the Italian museum job?” Chance asked.
“What? No. Haven’t seen them since Italy. Now, this is a REALLY bad time, so I’m going to ask you politely to piss off. Piss off… please.”
Dirk hung up.
Back at the airport, Danny felt his mobile phone vibrate in his pocket as he and Tobias stood at the entrance, wondering what to do next.
“Hello?” He said, answering it.
“Danny. It’s Kristogar.”
“Found anything out?” Danny asked.
“Okay, Grimm’s team hasn’t spotted any of those other guys. But Chance’s team had a run in with them not long ago. Apparently they call themselves ‘Omicron’… Anyway, Chance says they’re all headed to this lost city. Sounds like this is where the book will hopefully be found.”
“If Omicron is still in South America looking for the book, then whatever they found in Netzel’s tomb probably isn’t it. My hunch is it’s probably a map or something that they would want. No other reason to go to so much effort to throw us off… So whatever they’ve found in the tomb, they’re probably headed to Brazil to rendezvous with the rest of their team,” Danny concluded.
“Most likely,” Velo replied.
“Okay. Me and Tobias will meet you back at the hotel.”
“See you soon.”
Danny hung up, and explained the situation to Tobias. The two then made their way to the booking area, hoping that somebody there would have seen someone fitting the description of Omicron’s Rose.
Danny approached the counter, Tobias one step behind him.
“Uh… hi…” Danny said to the person behind the counter, a skinny guy of about twenty who then looked up at the two of them. A look of recognition crossed his face.
“Ah! Sir! Welcome back,” The receptionist said. This threw Danny a bit, and he didn’t know quite what to say. This didn’t really matter in the end, as the skinny receptionist man just kept talking.
“Is there something we can do for you? A problem with the booking?” The man asked.
As Danny opened his mouth to speak, Tobias grabbed him. “We just wanted to know which gate the flight left from,” Tobias asked before Danny could say anything.
Quickly typing something into the computer, the man replied, “The 4:15 flight to Brazil leaves from gate… four. Which is that way. It should be on your boarding pass.” He raised an arm, pointing across the building.
“Thanks a lot…” Tobias said, rushing Danny away.
“Thanks for travelling with us! Have a nice day!” The receptionist shouted as they hurried away.
“What the hell is going on? That guy recognised me!” Danny said to Tobias as the two sat down at the airport bar.
“Yeah. He thinks you’ve already been here booking a flight,” Tobias said.
“What’s with that?”
“One of the guys from the cemetery… one of these Omicron guys. He looked exactly like you,” Tobias explained.
“Huh?”
“Must have been a shapeshifter or something. But his face was the spitting image of yours. And that guy at the counter thought that he was you. Er… you were him. You know.”
“…so those guys have already been and booked a plane ticket,” Danny said, the realisation dawning on him.
“Yeah. And now we know where they’re going,” Tobias replied.
Danny nodded. His hunch was right. “Brazil.”
Back at the hotel, Kristogar and Mick waited for the return of Danny and Tobias. They sat outside in the garden, looking out over the streets and watching the occasional car go by.
“How are you feeling?” Velo asked, acutely aware that Mick had just been through what may have been one of the most intense experiences of his life.
Mick shrugged. “Hungry. Little sleepy…”
Just then, the two saw the figures of Danny and Tobias appear before them. Danny was flying in, making his way down to where they waited. Tobias was running across the ground beneath him, slowing himself down to keep pace with Danny.
Danny landed, shed his wings, and replaced his shirt. Tobias came to a halt next to him.
“Okay… we’re going to Brazil. We’re going to meet up with Chance’s team. Omicron- those guys from the cemetery- have probably found something important in the tomb. They’re going to Brazil to meet up with their team. From there, all of us will be trying to make our way to this ‘lost city’. We need to get there first,” Danny explained. Velo and Mick nodded.
“Mick. Can Mxy get us there fast?” Danny asked.
“Hold on. Let me ask him…” Mick said. “Mxy? We need to get to Brazil. To find the rest of our team. What? Um… cookies. But later. Can you do it? Okay.” Mick looked up at Danny and nodded.
“He can do it, but if we want to meet up with the rest of our team, he needs a signal to lock on to. Brazil’s a big place,” Mick said.
“Right. We call them up. Use the mobile phone signal. Will that work?” Danny asked. Again, Mick nodded. So once again, Kristogar pulled out his mobile phone and dialled up Chance’s phone.
“This is going to be one hell of a phone bill,” Velo said as he dialled.
“It should be fine. We’ve still got a bunch of money in the team’s fund. Piper’s been looking after it,” Danny replied.
“Hello?” Chance said, answering the phone on his end. The signal was a little weak, but Velo’s voice got through.
“Can you just stay on the line for a second? We’re having Mxy teleport us to your location,” Velo said.
“Okay, sure,” Chance said.
“Mick, you ready?” Danny asked.
“Okay… MXY!” He said. There was a bright flash. Danny felt a little self conscious, as he was sure anyone passing on the street would notice.
”Hi guys!’ Mxy shouted, hovering before them.
The three teammates had to jump backwards as the ground opened up beneath them. Appearing from the rupture was an elevator, rising to their level and stopping in front of them. It dinged. The doors opened, and Mxy was standing there dressed as a hotel bellboy.
”First floor… Brazil!”
They all crowded in, Mxy pressed a button labelled ‘WHOOSH!’, and the doors closed behind them.
