The Golden Bond

Chapter 4

"Who are you and what do you want from me?" Victor's voice was hoarse as it echoed hollowly off the walls of a half-empty and sweltering room that felt like a thermal cave.

"Stai zitto!" An unknown Italian voice shouted back at him, and then someone kicked him in the stomach. Presumably the Italian, though Victor couldn't see anyone or anything in the darkness. He curled up in pain on the floor and tried to ask the question again, this time in Italian. This sequence repeated itself over.

His senses felt weakened, as if he had been given drugs. From the moment he arrived in Rome, Victor had been gripped by the feeling that someone was watching him. He felt it, trained agents always do, but here he sensed the hostile energy around him and suspected that this mission would be far more dangerous than previous ones. The Master was sparse indeed with the specifics, but from his manner Victor had guessed that this time it would be more fraught than usual. Gabriel, Victor's Master was the highest authority in the Club. He was the Master of them all and his orders were accepted regardless of personal preference. Victor wasn't very keen on going to Italy due to personal reasons that no one was allowed to know, reasons with blonde hair and soft brown eyes. Relationships were supposed to be a taboo for agents, but obeying this rule wasn't always easy, especially among colleagues in the field. Mia was the same age as Victor and they had always been close. They met during their training and after being accepted by the same Club, it became almost impossible to resist one another. A strong bond had grown between them. They watched each other's backs, worked together perfectly. Officially, they acted as partner agents. Unofficially, they were lovers. The Master's watchful eye was cast on them however, which might have been why he sent Victor on the mission to Italy without Mia. The Master wanted to see her reactions, and test his loyalty. The strict rules of the Club were sacred and breaking them was not to be tolerated. But Gabriel stuck to them a bit too much, as if he had his own personal reasons for it. He was strict and austere, sometimes even robotic. On the other hand, he was a great leader and under his leadership, the Club was successfully fulfilling one mission after the other, becoming one of the best Agencies in Europe. That was also the reason why it was Gabriel's Club who was put in charge of the mission in Rome, even though Rome was the capital of another country. They had won the information so they had the right to take command.

There was, after all, something big brewing in Italy. An enormous data centre was rumoured to exist somewhere in the heart of the city, built underneath a reconstructed high-rise near the metro tunnels, a place no one would suspect. However, it was thought to have been discovered just a couple of weeks ago by the Lux Club agents and Victor had been sent to investigate the location.

The Master and some other senior Lux Club chiefs had long suspected that their undesirable Umbra Club counterparts were up to something. They knew very little about it but God, if it were true, it was within the Umbra Club's reach to take over the world to an almost biblical degree.

Victor was supposed to send a report home confirming if the data centre really existed – on secret belowground levels underneath the famous, brand-new city centre spa. The unsuspecting spa visitors would almost certainly be astonished if they found out this Roman water was not geothermal but actually heated by hundreds of tall metal cabinets, which all the data communications of the whole of Europe were rumoured to be flowing through.

Victor had been gawking at this monstrosity through one of the ventilation shafts, barely able to conceal his amazement. At the very moment he had risen to leave and send a report to the Master, he had been struck heavily over the head. He'd been surprised at how the presence of another person had escaped his attention, impressed by it almost, but he didn't manage to do anything, not even finish the thought. Darkness descended over his vision and he had woken up some unknown amount of time later, lying on a stone floor, his whole body aching. In the following hours, maybe even days, he had found himself being repeatedly beaten by an unknown, well-built Italian.

'At least it's warm,' thought Victor.

He attempted to transmit his thoughts home. Maybe someone would catch them. Mia perhaps. The Lux Club never left their people as hostages and if it was even only a slight possibility, they always did everything they could to rescue agents from captivity. Human lives were highly valued.

What's more, Victor, as one of the more experienced agents of the Club, was a valuable asset. The Master mainly assigned tracking missions to Victor, who excelled in this field. He had a highly deductive, near Sherlockian mind, looking at things with a larger radius than other people so he saw connections between things ordinary people didn't see. His mind worked brilliantly, being able to analyse, combine and deduce at a speed that few could match, let alone beat. Victor was more of a quiet sort, examining and listening rather than talking. Everyone had their place in the Club. Gabriel, as the Master, functioned only to command, without taking part in the missions any more. William was his most probable successor. He and the Master shared a similar charisma and beyond that William had his manly charm, which almost predestined him to go on diplomatic missions and to deal with people. He knew how to get under people's skin. Victor, on the other hand, functioned more as a scout. He was inconspicuous, happily leaving the expensive suits and other formal attire to William and choosing ordinary civilian clothes, good sturdy outdoor boots and a warm hoodie instead. He was able to be almost literally invisible and to always find out what was necessary. Victor had no ambitions, knowing very well that although he was just a few years older than him, it was William who would one day become his Master. But Victor wasn't bothered about that in the least. He liked his job and knew what he was fighting for, using his talent for the cause, for the ordinary people who walked the streets every day without even dreaming that the guy in worn-out jeans and hoodie, who had just walked past them, was there every day to make sure that they were able to enjoy their freedom, their feelings of security and a normal life. Victor could only have been captured and outwitted as he had by his mind being somehow numbed.

Now, this mind, under the influence of unknown substances, was transmitting chaotic requests for help into the eternal city, hoping that someone would catch them, and rescue him. But for Victor, no help was coming.