The Roman Gambit Pt. 01

At the conclusion he and his legionnaires were at the back of the XVIIth. From there he could see that the same thing had happened to the XIXth behind them.

It was not so much a battle as a series of skirmishes on the Roman shield wall. An unarmored German is an easy match for a Roman legionnaire no matter how big and ferocious he might be IF he can apply his discipline and tactics. The XVIIth was too constrained by the narrow trail to put up a properly organized defense. However, most of the XIXth was still in the open ground before the trees. And so, it had been able to receive the ambushers in a way that hurt the Germans.

The Romans had lost a lot of people that afternoon, maybe as many as 5,000 tough veteran troops and Varus and his staff knew that there was no way the legions could continue a march anymore that day. So, they did what Romans do best. They pulled back to the open area where the 19th was halted and constructed a proper legionary camp for the night. That camp returned things to normalcy.

The prior 300 years had taught the Romans that they were always secure in their well-engineered camps. As a result, when the Germans launched an assault on the southern and eastern walls the remnants of the two badly mauled legions, and the largely intact XVIIIth made them pay.

The problem was that, there was no food , or water in that camp and although they were winning all of the little battles it was obvious that the Romans would eventually run out of men. So, the unruly mass of soldiers and camp followers would have to move or die.

Throughout the night Varus had insisted that his friend Arminius had only gone off to obtain reinforcements. And all they had to do was sit behind their fortress walls and help would arrive.

It was only after Varus himself was able to clearly see his "friend" giving orders to a gathering of German chiefs that he realized that he had been duped. There would be no assistance from the Germans.

At least Varus was true to himself. Instead of leading his men in a last desperate attempt to escape the trap he had put them in, Varus took the coward's way out. He killed himself, his wife and his concubines in an orgy of self-pity.

In the meantime, the cavalry under Longinus chose to try to escape on their own. They thundered en-masse out of camp leaving the heavy infantry to their own devices. Caelius and the rest did not live long enough to learn that those cavalry troopers would be cut down by the local German tribes long before they reached the Rhine

Arminius was clever. That was for sure. He had carefully avoided attacking the part of the fortress that would allow the legions free access to plod back in the direction that they had retreated from; back among the trees.

His intentions were clear. But Roman soldiers do not simply sit like rats in a trap and wait for the inevitable axe to fall. So, in the rain and gathering gloom of that final day, the heavily armored troops of Legio XVII, XVIII and XIX assembled with all of their insignia, military panoply and horns and marched out of the fortress to their fate.

In fact, Caelius died clutching the eagle of the XVIIIth, which he had ripped from its staff as the irresistible tide of Germans swept over the Roman shield wall and began slaughtering his broken men.

All 20,000 Roman legionnaires died. The Germans roasted their Praefects over slow fires and nailed their Centurions to trees. And the XVIIIth's eagle would not be seen by anybody but its German captors for almost 1,900 years.

The legions had left the encumbering servants, wives, children and mistresses to the tender mercies of the Germans. They also left behind an ox train carrying an incalculable fortune of gold, silver, gems, furs and other valuable goods. That fortune disappeared into the mists of time.

*****

I said, "Publius Quinctilius Varus was the governor of Greater Germania and a ruthless sort of fellow. In September of 9 AD he was retiring from his summer quarters in the area of Minden, on the River Weser, to winter at Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, which is modern day Cologne."

Sir Alex looked encouraging. So, I added, "He was lured into an ambush near the little town of Kalkriese by the German leader Arminius. And three entire legions, comprising 20,000 of Rome's best soldiers, were slaughtered to the last man.

"The defeat was so devastating to Roman ambitions that the Empire did not extend into Germany as planned and the entire face of Western Civilization changed as a result of it. So YEAH I guess you could say I know a little about Varus."

Sir Alex looked impressed. He said, "Well you probably know that all of Varus's treasure disappeared in the massacre?" I said, "His table service was found buried in Hildesheim, where it was dug up back in 1868. What they found is priceless but that was a miniscule part of the total haul that he must have been lugging back to Cologne."

I added, "He and his men had spent six months encouraging the natives to pay their taxes and that all disappeared. In fact, a lot of historians think that Varus enthusiasm for tax collection was what got him killed since it would have been hard to get all of the natives to combine like that otherwise."

Sir Alex said, "There are no clear estimates about the value of that treasure but as you say it must have been beyond priceless."

I said, "And what does the Organization have to do with Varus? That happened 20 Centuries ago."

Sir Alex said, "That's what I wanted to talk with you about."

Sir Alex said, "UNESCO administers the Hague Conventions for the Protection of Antiquities. They contacted us about an event that has disturbing implications for world cultural heritage and requested our help. They have evidence that much more of the Varus treasure exists than was currently believed and they would like us to investigate."

I said the obvious, "Why don't they just investigate it themselves?"

He said, "There are a number of reasons. First and foremost, they don't want to set off a treasure hunt in case the information they got is true. Secondly, they are a UN Cultural Agency, not an investigative body. Third, they simply don't have the resources that we have available." Well, that was the Organization's stock in trade. We are the people you turn to when all of the normal options fail.

Sir Alex got a much grimmer look on his face as he added, "Finally, and perhaps most important, there are major jurisdictional problems. Who would they ask if they DID want somebody to officially investigate; the Germans where the event happened, the French where the current hints about the treasure surfaced, or the Italians? And nobody wants the United States involved in this."

I saw Sir Alex's point. That was where Mel, who had been acting uncharacteristically subdued, piped up with, "That sounds like a job for the International Committee of the Blue Shield."

We both turned to her and said, "What?!"

Mel said, "It's the group that was established to enforce the Hague Accords."

I had forgotten how sharp my little friend is. When it comes to the law, she knows a lot of things that none of the rest of us do.

I turned to Sir Alex and raised a questioning eyebrow. He said, "They only get involved when there is a credible threat of war and at present there is only a vague suspicion."

Then he added, "What we are being paid to do is to track this down and document it so that we know which authorities to involve in the case. It might be law enforcement, it might be governmental, it might even be military for all we know."

He said, "What everybody agrees is that we must apply a light touch and that is where you two come in."

He took my hand and added kindly, "Here is the brief. We learned from your first mission that you have a number of remarkable strengths, but you have one weakness. You are far too remarkable looking to play a common working girl part."

I suppose he was right about that. The people on our first mission had seen right through me. Fortunately, they hadn't known about my hacking skills.

Sir Alex said, like he was pulling some droll rabbit out of his hat, "This assignment maximizes your strengths and it actually depends on the fact that you are so obviously a thoroughbred. Let me suggest that you two read the prospectus and get back to me about what you want to do. But it can be no later than tomorrow since the contact is very time sensitive."

By that I assumed he was telling us that whatever was being sold would go off the market quickly. Lunch arrived at that point. Sir Alex concentrated on Melissa who was starting to get her old self back. The two of them talked about her legal interests and her family in India. Sir Alex provided some stories about his time in that Country that convinced me that he had been the agent behind the trouble in Tibet.

We parted company with a handshake from me and with Sir Alex taking both of Mel's hands in his and looking at her with the most caring expression. He said, "It is a pleasure having you with us Miss Brown, you will be a real asset."

Mel blushed like I had never seen her. I got the impression that if Sir Alex was 50 years younger, she would have tried her best to fuck him to death on the spot.

We hailed a cab back to Mel's new place. I wanted to see it. We are paid on commission and since the recovery was in the $400 million range even the 10 percent, we were given set her up for life.

Her house is in Tite Street which was ground zero for the artists that gave Chelsea its bohemian reputation. And even though the place is only inhabited by the likes of investment bankers and other yuppie trash now, the houses still look like the setting for an Oscar Wilde novel.

Mel's was a brick Victorian row house that must have set her back most of the four million she made the last time out. On the outside it gave the appearance of something out of Dickens. On the inside the best description is "eclectic". Mel is a free spirit and she tends to grab things she sees without thought about whether they blend together.

So, her house is decorated with everything from Indian temple art to something that looked like it came from Carnaby Street in the 1968 summer of free love. She is very neat however and the inside of her house is spotless.

The furniture in her living room consisted of couches and bean bags. I had not seen a bean bag chair in any movie since Helen Mirren was a girl and so I was surprised that Mel had four of them scattered around the floor in strategic places.

I was going to plop down on one until I thought about what might have gone on in them and sat down at her dining room table instead, which looked like it had been rescued from the Salvation Army. She beamed and said, "Do you like it? I found it on a curb!"

I said, "Yes dear, it certainly has character." I was looking at what I was certain was a bullet hole in it.

I opened the brief and read it through. Simply put, UNESCO had gotten word of coins and other items of silver that a Paris antiquities dealer with a shady reputation was trying to sell off-the-books, so to speak.

It was suspected that these were part of a Varus horde because all of the coins and some of the treasure, at least what the informant had seen, were marked with a "VAR."

The informant had only gotten a quick look so the first step in our assignment was to confirm that there was even a reason for concern. Then, if there was a case we were to attempt to find out where the treasure came from and if possible, document the people who had it, as well as their intentions.

There was no suspicion of criminal wrongdoing outside of the fact that a world heritage item was being sold on the antiquities black market; which is unfortunately too common an occurrence.

But it was important that we document the slimy trail sufficiently that the right authorities could be involved. Mel and my legal credentials made us the obvious choice but what sealed the deal was my reputation as a daughter of wealth.

In short, I could play myself to the hilt in making the initial contact because the only credible people would be rich and a little reckless. So, I could be the foolish 26-year-old heiress looking to acquire something that she shouldn't have.

And the only change I would have to make to my current persona would be to pretend that I didn't give a shit about world cultural heritage. I explained all of this to Mel and we came up with a perfect cover. I was the heiress and she was my sidekick and we were in Paris to do something "exciting and naughty".

We talked for a while and then I called Sir Alex. I told him we were committed, and we chatted a bit about the logistics of the assignment. Basically, I would just be myself with a twist. I told him that the word might get back to my parents that I was gallivanting around Europe buying up black market antiquities and I asked him if it was possible that he could get the word to them that it was part of my assignment.

He said that it would be impossible to do that given the confidentiality pledges that the Organization makes. But that he had backchannel ways to reassure them that I had not lost my mind.

I told him that we would be on the Eurostar that evening and I would report in as needed. I went back to my place to pack. Bastet was waiting for me with a look of sheer indifference in her eyes.

The thing I like a about a cat is that they basically don't care whether you are present or not, just as long as they are fed, and their litterbox is changed.

I had a person who specifically took care of Bastet's needs and as far as Bastet was concerned, she was perfectly happy to interact with her "servant" instead of me.

When I opened the door Bastet said, "Hello Sssssister, did you have a pleassssant kill?" Bastet hisses when she talks. I said, "No dear, we were not hunting". Bastet said, "What elsssse issss there to do besssssidessss hunt?"

I said, "There are other things, sex for example, but you wouldn't know about that because I had you fixed."

Bastet said, "Yesssss I remember that!" Then she reached over and speared me with a claw and sauntered away to take her third nap of the day.

End of Part One

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This continues the story of the daughter I introduced in We Shall Go No More A'Roving (last July Fourth). As I mentioned in the original piece, Hilly Larson stars in three books that I wrote some time ago. So, this is novel length. I'll put up a couple of chapters every few days. The story isn't full of life changing insight (it's an adventure tale) but I hope it gives you something to keep your mind off events in these unprecedented times - DT