Aurum Regium

Michael woke up with a start. There were beads of cold sweat on his forehead and the room was pitch dark. His heart was banging against his ribs and the darkness of his cabin seemed to close around him. It was a dream, but it felt so real. Nightmares usually did. He could hear the sound of rain and the waves crashing against each other along with the slight sway of the ship which indicated that the weather conditions were not favorable.

Michael got up from the bed and took a sip of water from the glass on his bedside table. He couldn’t sleep now, not after what he had just dreamt. In times like these, one could lie down and waste their time, or they could get some work done. Choosing the latter alternative, Michael exited his cabin to go to the surveillance room of the ship. As he walked through the corridor, he could feel the freezing wind strike his skin and make his hair stand on an end. He wished to get a jacket from his room, but now he had come too far to go back. He took the stairs, two at a time, walked at a brisk pace and found himself knocking on the closed door of the surveillance room within five minutes. The door was opened by a guard who looked the worse for sleep, and he gave Michael a look which clearly expressed the extent of his annoyance. Luckily, he was one of the crew members who knew the true identity of Michael, so he stepped aside at once to let him enter the room. Once inside, Michael closed the door behind him and felt much better than before. There was a watch on a side table, probably the guard’s, and its hands pointed at half past one. Michael hadn’t realized that it was so late, nevertheless, he had work to do.

He sat down at the computer and decided to inspect the footage of the time when the captain had made the announcement earlier in the day. He went through each frame of the video feed from the different cameras, but he could not find anything. His mind was on the verge of giving up when he noticed something. It was nothing much, but it was odd, and that led to Michael pausing the video and zooming in, and that was when he saw it. Their biggest clue, the breakthrough they had been looking for, was staring right at him, along with a face, a face that was familiar to Michael. Michael wanted to call Jefferson right away but then he stopped, a thought had just crossed his mind. What if he chased the lead on his own? What if he closed the case and proved to Jefferson that he was good enough? These thoughts forced Michael’s hand to replace his mobile back in his pocket. He quickly scanned through the live feed from the cameras to determine the current location of his suspect, and within a minute, he had the information he wanted. This was an opportunity and Michael had no intention of wasting it. He sprang up from his chair and departed from the surveillance room in a hurry. His manner was quick and sure, and his mind was focused.

Michael entered the bar with a brisk gait and saw a man sitting on one of the high stools. The bartender was serving the man another drink and after he was done, Michael sat down on the stool beside the man, who looked at Michael and gave a look of surprise.

“Still up?”

“Yes, can’t seem to sleep, what about you Gary?”

“Same with me, it’s this rain, it makes me nervous.”

“The rain makes you nervous? I should have thought it was something else.”

“Something else? What do you mean?”

“Nothing. So, what do you think about what the captain said, got any information?”

“Yeah, I wish! There is no thief who would let himself get caught by leaving a trail.”

“Even the most skilled thieves make mistakes, I’m speaking from experience.”

The bartender had been listening to their conversation with great interest, now he looked at Michael and said, “Can I get you anything, sir?”

Michael eyed the various bottles of alcohol on display. “Just lemonade, thanks.”

Michael looked at the stool on the other side of Gary and said, “Still carrying around your chess set?”

“Yep, I love it.”

“You sure it’s the game you love?”

“You know what Michael, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you were drunk.”

Michael laughed as he sipped the lemonade which the bartender had placed in front of him. He said, “Want to play a game?”

Gary’s eyes lit up. “Sure! I’ll just set the board.”

“Somewhere in private, not here.”

“The lounge?”

“How about my room?”

“Let’s have a game in mine,” suggested Gary. “It’s closer.”

Michael agreed. Gary was looking for something in his pocket, after a moment he got out his room key and then promptly dropped it on the floor. Michael immediately bent down to pick it up and handed it back to its owner.

“Thanks a lot, I guess I drank a little more than I’m used to. Anyway, let’s just finish our drinks and then start the game as soon as possible.”

Michael gave Gary a thumbs-up as he sipped his lemonade. There was something odd, but he couldn’t understand what. Perhaps it was just the excitement. Michael had drained his glass within minutes and so had Gary. They got up and went to Gary’s room. The timing was highly inconvenient, but now, Michael was feeling sleepy. He shook his head a few times and tried to focus on what he planned to do.

Gary opened the door to his room, and they entered. While Gary was setting up the board, Michael was scrutinizing his movements. He was showing no signs of distress or nervousness.

After the board was set up, Before Michael could make the first move, Gary stopped him.

“Wait a minute, let’s make this more interesting.”

He got up and opened the cupboard in his room. From there he got out a small bottle of alcohol and picked up the glasses from the side table. He poured two drinks and offered one of the glasses to Michael.

“No thanks,” said Michael shortly and pushed the glass away.

“Oh, come on! Take it, it opens your mind!”

Michael ignored him and made the first move.

Gary looked at him and said, “Either you drink, or the game is off.”

Michael looked at him and said, “Just play the game, I don’t want to drink.”

“Are you a kid? You’re not prohibited to take a sip you know.”

“I don’t want to,” said Michael sternly.

“Ok! Your wish.”

Gary sat down and they played in silence for a few minutes. Michael kept making mistakes and losing his pieces. For some reason, he couldn’t concentrate, his eyelids felt heavy and his mind dull. The rain was falling with much more intensity now, and Michael could feel his head throbbing. After a moment he realized that Gary was waiting for him to make his move. He was about to move his bishop when Gary spoke up.

“Do you know my real name?”

Michael looked up sharply and said, “What?”

“It’s Oliver, the thief you’re after.”

Michael blinked a few times and tried to get up, but he couldn’t.

“Don’t bother, I slipped a drug into your lemonade. All you can do is listen, so listen carefully.”

Michael said, “I know.”

“Know what?”

“Where the diamonds are…”

“And how do you know that?”

Michael shook his head a few times before replying. He said, “Saw you in the footage…checking…chess.”

“Let me fill in the blanks for you,” said Oliver “So you saw me in the camera footage, checking the chess pieces after the captain made the announcement? Smart. I figured you idiots would look for the ones who went to their rooms or someplace else, not the lounge. Anyway, that’s right, I did check the chess pieces after the captain’s announcement, I must say, you got me good.”

Saying this, Oliver picked up the kings, the queens, and a knight. He then overturned the pieces and from their large bases, he took out five diamonds – Les Morceau De Lumiere. Michael’s eyes widened and he tried to snatch the diamonds from Oliver’s grasp, but Oliver punched him across the jaw, and he fell down to the floor.

“Well, Michael, I must say this was fun, but like all things, this must come to an end. Rest assured, you have ruined my deal, but there are always more buyers.”

“Who was your buyer?” groaned Michael

“Oh, nice try, but both of us know, I won’t tell you that.”

Oliver got a small bag from his armoire and opening it, he extracted a small radio. He tuned into the right frequency and said, “It’s me, bring it around.”

After replacing the radio back into the bag, he looked at Michael who had stood up by taking the support of the bed.

“That was my emergency transportation, it’s on the way, which means it is time for us to part.”

Oliver moved towards Michael menacingly. Michael tried to defend, but the drug had dimmed his senses, he received heavy blows from Oliver and was soon knocked out on the floor once again. Oliver picked up the bottle of alcohol from the side table and sprinkled the contents onto Michael’s face and shirt. Then, he exited the cabin and went to the deck. Rain was falling quite heavily but Oliver saw a small boat at some distance. He signaled the captain with a flashlight and when the boat was in range, Oliver secured his bag and dove into the cold water.