Chapter 19

Why are they looking for me? Mamercus asked himself, Where did I screw up? I didn't, I did everything by the book.

Mamercus crouched in the shadows of the abandoned building as the Aksum Army searched it. Somehow he had been burned. His first thought was one of his informants got picked up for something, but they did not know his face or Arab name.

The Mole, he thought, It had to be. Now what do I do. If only I had made contact with the Underground, then I would have a way out of the city.

The soldiers were getting closer, and they were thorough. They went so far as to check every seam on the concrete floor, checking for trap doors. The sound of an engine penetrated the building, and it was getting louder.

An old truck came barreling into the building taking out a good portion of the soldiers. The driver came straight to Mamercus doing a 180 before stopping. The passenger door opened and a familiar voice came from the darkened cab.

"Get in, now Roman."

Mamercus had no other options, he climbed in and the driver took off the same way she came in.

"Thanks Subira. How did you know who I am?" asked Mamercus.

"We have our own informants. We've been watching you since you came to New Aksum, wondering if you were a friend," she replied.

"Who is 'We'?"

"The Underground. I was going to tell you soon, but this happened. We had to make sure you weren't one of the Secret Police trying to infiltrate us."

"I need to get out of the country and back to Rome."

"Already taken care of. You leave tonight. The only ones who know the entire route are the Elders; they are the ones who set it up. Each leg has their own guide; all I know is the first meeting place. There is a safe house nearby that you can rest in until it is time."

The safe house had a sparse yet lived in look, but Mamercus didn't see it. The small bed in the house beckoned to him and he fell asleep, the adrenaline and stress of running, knocking him out.

The half moonlight shown through the curtains when he woke. He could hear voices coming from the living room. He recognized Subira's voice, the other sounded old.

A knock on the door brought Mamercus out of his thoughts. Subira came in dressed.

"Good, you're awake. Elder Berko would like a few words with you before we leave. Come out when you're ready, we leave in 90 minutes."

Mamercus just nodded and stood to complete his full bladder and wash his face. Ten minutes later, he stood in front of a man, whose age eluded Mamercus. He looked old, just how old Mamercus could not tell.

"Good Evening Roman. I come from the Elder Council; we have a request of Rome. We need help. We have enough followers to bring down Tichaona, but lack the weapons to take on his Armies.

"We need weapons, any weapons, and a good distraction for his Army. Something that will take most of them to the front. I know you can't promise anything without talking to your superiors, so I give these instructions to you on how to contact us."

With that, Elder Berko left and it was time to leave. Subira drove him in a different car to a warehouse. She explained that his first guide would be there and would take him to the next. Every guide would tell him the route, should they be separated and how to contact the next guide.

They meet the guide, he didn't give a name, and Subira left. The guide told him that the trip would take the through the sewers to the river. They would have to stick to the reeds from there to the first village and the next guide. He was told one other thing, how long it would take to get him out. Two weeks may not seem very long, but it would only leave two months for Rome to get ready for the attack, if nothing else happens.