Eveline's Strangest Journey Ch. 23

Chapter 23 - The Golden Sword

Eveline's career as an auction presenter continued to advance as her senior year in high school progressed. She traveled to places like New York and Los Angeles, in a private jet with her supervisor and company documentation. Flying via private jet prevented her from having to get dressed to take a commercial flight and also saved her a lot of time.

As Eveline became known throughout the auction industry, Nancy decided to entrust her with presentations that required her to pick up and actually handle expensive sale items. The change was important, because it meant that Eveline was holding museum-quality merchandise that often sold for tens of millions of dollars. She had to wear soft cloth gloves to prevent getting fingerprints on the merchandise, but otherwise her presenter's outfit remained the same.

Some of the items were so famous that she already knew about them. For example, at an auction in Hollywood she presented a gold short-sword that she had seen in a museum while on a field trip when she was in middle school. She specifically remembered that sword, precisely because it was solid gold and 4,000 years old. It was a centerpiece of the collection and was protected by bullet-proof glass and an advanced alarm system. And now she was actually holding it.

She wondered why it left the museum and was being sold at auction, but she also knew better than to ask such questions. The sword sold for $ 30 million dollars.

Eveline got her answer about the short-sword as soon as the auction was over. It turned out that the buyer was none other than Comandante Foxtrot. The Supreme Leader had dropped $ 30 million for a single item like it was nothing, like he was buying something from a souvenir shop. Well, at least this time he paid fair market value for the sword, unlike the Niger Heart-Pot, which he had acquired by totally scamming Tri-State University.

Eveline had been extremely careful to handle the antiquity with the greatest caution throughout the bidding. However, when the new owner came up to her, he casually grabbed it and brandished it in front of several photographers. He put his arm around the naked presenter, held up the sword, and posed for some trophy-shots.

Eveline forced a smile, but inwardly she was scared out of her wits. An ordinary person doesn't just grab a 4000-year-old solid gold antiquity that had been on display in a museum for decades and casually wave it around, but Comandante Foxtrot was no ordinary person. He owned a quarter of the African continent. It was obvious his ego was as grandiose as his wealth and power.

Then there was the question about why Comandante Foxtrot would want that particular sword and pay $ 30 million dollars for it, along with whatever bribes he needed to persuade museum administrators to move it out of their collection and put it up for auction. Eveline knew, through her pre-auction research, that the sword had a nefarious history, just like the Niger Heart-Pot.

After the auction, Eveline wondered if Comandante Foxtrot's newest purchase would make the news, and sure enough, it did. The scandal was not quite as big as the sale that cost Tri-State University its most valuable asset, but it did involve the administrators of a U.S. museum parting with a famous antiquity. The curators tried to justify their sale by claiming they were going to use the profit to purchase several famous works of modern art. No one was buying that. A 4000-year-old golden sword in exchange for some crappy modern art? Seriously? And then, the curators vanished, along with the $ 30 million dollars. Meanwhile, the Supreme Leader returned to the Confederation and added his new prize to his collection of expensive goodies.

The new scandal had to have a public face and, once again, pictures of Eveline with the Comandante appeared all over the news. She became a subject of interest when several reporters wanted to interview her. She was very nervous from suddenly being the focus of so much attention. However, she maintained outward calm as she responded:

"Look. I am just an auction presenter. I don't work in the public relations department. I am not authorized to speak about Emerald Empire's policies or any particular sales transaction. We have specialists to handle stuff like what you want to ask. Please talk to them."

Eveline knew that she could not avoid any controversy involving Comandante Foxtrot and stolen antiquities. She was destined to cross paths with him again in the near future. She figured the next time that he wanted some important Old World antiquity, Nancy would lead the bidding and she would be the presenter. And... she would be the subject of yet another trophy shot and the face of yet another art scandal.

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Since there would be no avoiding the next high-society art intrigue, Eveline decided that she needed to inform herself as much as she could about the West African Confederation's Supreme Leader and what items were likely to draw his interest. She drafted Lance to do much of her research. She demanded reports, summaries of news articles, academic research, and talking points. She mercilessly manipulated him by flirting with him and guilt-tripping him until he dedicated all of his free time to helping her. As his time at the computer increased, he dropped his other interests and unwittingly became his girlfriend's servant.

A strange thing happened shortly after Lance started doing research for his girlfriend. One afternoon after making love to her, she told him to sit at the computer without giving him the chance to get dressed. From that day forward, he always sat naked at Eveline's workdesk, even if Coach Strickland was in the house.

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Meanwhile, Eveline talked to Nancy about antiquities that were likely to be offered for sale in the near future. Upon getting the lists from her supervisor, she did her own research to find out what historical significance they had. She figured out that Comandante Foxtrot had a pattern with his purchases. He was not interested in modern art or anything connected to European or Islamic culture. He only wanted African and Egyptian items that held political or religious significance in ancient times. He wanted objects that had been the property of ancient royalty and that would allow him to claim a spiritual connection to the past. But, why?

Lance's research provided a likely answer. Ever since he started taking over the smaller countries of West Africa, Comandante Foxtrot had invoked ancient religious traditions from the region in his speeches and political rhetoric. His goal, which he openly admitted, was to unite his young empire under a new religion that drew upon pre-Christian and pre-Islamic traditions and beliefs. The antiquities he was purchasing were the props he would need to lend legitimacy to the new religion project.

Eveline impressed Nancy by predicting three items that would interest the Comandante: a sacrificial stone altar, a set of ancient ceramic cremation jars, and a jade cat statue that had been used as an idol. Sure enough, when each item came up for sale, the Supreme Leader placed the winning bid. The two women took advantage of their hunches to pay special attention to Comandante Foxtrot and feed his ego with subtle flirting. It was a dangerous game, they both knew. If he took too much of a liking to either of them, it would be very easy for his henchmen to grab them, put them on a plane, and deliver them to one of his palaces.