by qazaq_2000
| Part 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.7 | ||||||
| Part 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 2.9 | 2.10 | 2.11 | 2.12 | 2.13 |
| Part 3.1 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 3.8 | 3.9 | ||||
| Part 4.1 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.6 |
Becca walked into the nondescript phone booth near her home, just like any other citizen. But she was not there just to make an ordinary phone call, for she was Black Cardinal, America's secret weapon in international espionage! Unlike any other citizen, when Becca picked up the receiver in the booth, she inserted a special token into the coin slot and dialed no ordinary phone number, but a special code. A man's smooth, detached voice intoned on the other end of the line,
"Good morning, Miss Smith," the voice began, "As you know, the situation in Turkey, one of our key NATO allies, has deteriorated alarmingly in just a few short weeks. A radical group calling itself the "Merdiven" or Ladder Movement, threatens to destabilize the country. Their name is short for the "Ladder to Paradise" - meaning martyrdom -- and they have a fanatical intent to install a theocratic government, one even more fundamentalist than the Taliban in Afghanistan. Our intelligence reports that the group's latest threat is to steal one of the great Ottoman treasures- the Eye of the East, a giant diamond which by legend will lead its possessor to resurrect the Islamic Caliphate. This jewel is thought by some to be only a legend, but we have found that it actually exists, and is kept secretly in the Topkapi Sarai, the palace complex in Istanbul. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to go to Turkey, and stop the Merdiven. Your contact, Asil, is a member of the Turkish secret police and will meet you at the airport. You will receive more briefing shortly. As you know, if you are captured by the enemy the government will disavow any knowledge of your actions. Good luck!"
Becca hastened back home, where a package had already been delivered containing her plane tickets. Once again, she packed her top secret advanced espionage gear that enabled her to turn into Black Cardinal, the nemesis of America's enemies everywhere! Soon she was on a plane headed for Istanbul, the city that bestrides two continents. She perused the additional reports to brief her, highlighting the sensitive nature of her mission. Between Turkey's role in NATO, the controversy over treatment of the Kurdish minority in the east, and the diplomatic standoff in Cypress, the situation was a very delicate one for the US government. Secrecy was paramount: if Becca's cover were blown, the embarrassment could easily spin out of control into a major geopolitical incident. Ź
The intrepid super spy met Asil, her local contact, at the airport. She recognized him immediately from the photo supplied in her briefing kit: he was tall, surprisingly pale, with black hair and a thick mustache. As soon as they got into his car, Asil began to explain how difficult her mission would be.
"Turkey uneasily straddles the Western and the Islamic world," said Asil, as he drove through the Yedikule, the great gate of the cyclopean land walls of Constantinople. "Just as Istanbul sits on two continents, Europe and Asia, there are always tensions between the secular and the religious. This group, the Merdiven, they are trying to destabilize the balance in the economy. We must stop them."
"How long have they been active?" asked Becca.
"This is the worst thing. They are entirely new. We have been unable to find out their leaders' names, nor trace them to old terrorist groups. They have come out of the blue."
"I'll be ready for them. They'll never get control of the Eye of the East!"
"Well, it is good news that your government sent you to help us. I admit, we are conservative and traditional people in some ways, and it is unusual for us to entrust so dangerous a matter into the hands of a foreign woman," Asil continued. The car sped down the highway along the shores of the Sea of Marmara, toward the center of Istanbul.
"Well, I have faced danger before," Becca reassured her contact, "and I have a few tricks up my sleeve. As for my being foreign - I've been sent into difficult foreign situations, and as for being a woman --" here Becca flashed a seductive smile - "well, that's helped me get out of more than one jam!"
Asil nodded appreciatively as he glanced at the sexy super spy. They continued to drive toward the heart of the city, past an enormous, but delicately beautiful mosque, whose dome and six slender spires, all made out of a gray stone with nuanced bluish tones, reached up toward the sky. "That must be the Blue Mosque!" Becca observed. Her breath was taken away by the beauty of it.
"Indeed it is, but in Istanbul it is usually called the Sultanahmet - in fact, this whole section of the city is named after this mosque," explained Asil. "But we are headed to the Topkapi Sarai, which used to be the palace of the Ottoman Sultans. Now there is a park in there as well as a museum complex. The tourists get to see but a small part of the whole complex. We actually have quarters for you inside the Topkapi itself - accommodations no ordinary visitor would get, I assure you." The car continued past the Haghia Sophia, and its hulking red walls. "Your quarters," Asil continued with a wink, "are in the Harem."
Becca was not entirely amused. She wanted to make sure that the government as taking her presence seriously. More than simple pride was at stake: without the cooperation of the Turkish security services, her mission would be that much more hazardous.
"I see," Becca said, conveying her dismay laconically.
Asil spoke quickly to reassure her. "The Harem is the most efficient place for you to set up. Only a small portion is open to tours; the rest is closed off. It is a maze of rooms and corridors, so provides you with ample opportunities to hide, and it is connected by semi-secret passages to other parts of the palace complex, so you'll be able to move about the Topkapi without ever being seen by the public. It is ideal for your mission."
He doesn't know about Black Cardinal's powers of invisibility, Becca thought. But Asil's words comforted her. She felt she wouldn't have to do battle both the Merdiven terrorists as well as indifference from local law enforcement officials.
Asil drove up to the Bab-I-Humayun, the Imperial Gate of the Topkapi Sarai. The entrance to the palace complex was thronged with tourists, as it always was. Here the pair got out of the car, made their way past the milling crowds and walked into a large, tree-lined courtyard. Asil carried one of Becca's bags, but she carried the case with all of the top-secret electronic gear that allowed her to become Black Cardinal. On her left Becca saw the Haghia Eirene, another of the ancient Byzantine churches scattered throughout the city. Asil led her through the Bab-us-Salem, the Middle Gate, and into another, more intimate courtyard, one ringed by the arcades and walls of the buildings that made up the heart of the palace complex. They walked to the left, toward the pillared fa¨ade of the Harem. The pair didn't follow the crowds into the main entrance, but kept walking deeper into the Topkapi until they found a locked door, ignored by the tourists.
Asil took out a plastic card and ran it down a discreet electronic scanner. Immediately Becca heard a very modern sound inside the seventeenth century door: the sound of a precision lock opening. Asil pulled on the door handle, and he and Becca stepped inside.
"This is the Hall of the Divan," Asil explained. "There is a passage into the Harem from here."
Becca was taken aback by the dazzlingly ornate interior. She marvelled at room after sumptuous room, some balustraded in marble, some decorated with intricate Iznik tiles, all lavishly endowed with the richest rugs and furniture. The rooms and corridors were a maze, just as Asil had indicated. But at last they came to a door around the corner of a remote corridor. Asil opened the door, and Becca stepped into a palatial suite, with delicate windows that curiously resembled those one might find in an old European church. The suite was divided into a bedroom, while a desk made another room into a type of office. There also seemed to be an area for changing clothes.
"I trust the accommodations will be adequate," said Asil, as Becca took stock of the suite. "Since the Merdiven may strike at any moment, may I suggest you rest and begin patrolling tonight. The Eye of the East is kept in a secret part of the Chamber of the Holy Relics. The Harem, the Armory, and the Chamber are separate buildings that abut one another. There are passages connecting the buildings, and you will be able to move from building to building without ever being seen outside. You will find a layout of the whole complex on your desk, which you will find very helpful." Asil then handed Becca a tiny black electronic device with a button on it. "This is a tracking device and an emergency button. If you have difficulty or need help, push that button. My forces will be on the scene in moments. Good luck, Miss Cardinal."
Becca found that a meal had already been prepared for her. After her lunch she took Asil's advice and slept off the jet lag, then arose after sundown. The super spy changed into the sexy black costume of Black Cardinal, putting on her gold belt, with its advanced espionage gadgetry, last of all. In her sleek black satin body stocking and black boots, Becca glided silently down the corridors of the Harem. The whole palace seemed empty; it seemed like she wouldn't need to use her invisibility. "Good," she thought, "that means I can conserve the batteries in my belt to fight the Merdiven terrorists."
The sexy super spy carefully tiptoed through the Armory. She surveyed the display cabinets of old Ottoman weapons that visitors gaped at during the day. At night, with only a low flashlight to guide her, Becca found the room full of swords and shields unsettling. She moved stealthily to the Chamber of the Holy Relics. The sleek super spy made her way to the areas not open to the public, in order to make sure there was no activity near the secret high security safe room where the Eye of the East, the legendary diamond, was kept.
The slightest of gusts of wind alerted Becca that something was awry in the Topkapi tonight. Someone must have opened a door; there had to be an intruder in the Chamber. "Perhaps I'm about to meet some of the Merdiven!" Becca thought to herself. "I'd better turn on my invisibility powers!" Becca pushed a button on her gold belt, and immediately the advanced electronics and optics made her disappear from view. "Now let's see what's going on!" The special agent crept warily down stone steps into the vaulted basement of the Chamber, where the Eye of the East was stored. At the bottom of the stairs she looked down a stone corridor which ended at a heavy oak door. Three figures dressed in black huddled at the lock, obviously trying to find a way past the door. "They'll never know what hit them," Becca said to herself as she sneaked up on the intruders and prepared to deliver one of her devastating ultrasonic blasts from her power belt.
She came within twenty feet of the trio, who continued to try to make headway against the sophisticated lock on the oak door, oblivious to their impending encounter with a superheroine. But Becca could not employ both the invisibility and the ultrasonic pulse simultaneously - the pulse interfered with the delicate workings of the invisibility device.
Becca turned off her invisibility and announced to the trio of thieves, "Sorry to break up your evening's fun, guys, but the party's over!"
The three thugs turned around, shocked to see the sexy superheroine, standing with her feet planted firmly apart and her hands on her hips. One finger hovered over the button on her belt which would unleash the ultrasonic pulse. Two began speaking rapidly in Turkish. The third turned to Becca and said, "Don't interfere with us, or we'll be forced to take unpleasant measures!"
"Come along quietly. You don't want me to push this button!"
The three began to approach the intrepid super spy menacingly.
"OK, don't say I didn't warn you!" said Becca, as she pressed the ultrasonic pulse button. But to her horror, nothing happened! Something had disabled her special powers!
"You were saying something, I believe?" sneered the English-speaking thief.
"But..how?" Becca asked aloud. Three on one were bad odds, even with her karate training. She turned on her heel to run for the stairs, but was shocked to see three more men in black blocking her path to the main floor.
"You are trapped, Black Cardinal," said the tallest of the men. "Yes, we know your name, and we know about your powers. But I am rude not to introduce myself. I am Mustafa, head of the Ladder to Paradise. We have found ways to neutralize the electronics in your famous belt."
"Then this was all a trap from the beginning!" exclaimed Becca anxiously. Without her Black Cardinal powers, she was at these fiends' mercy!
"Yes, a trap to capture you, so that you would help us seize the Eye of the East," growled Mustafa.
"Help you? I'll never help you!" said Becca defiantly.
Mustafa nodded to the men on his left and right, who took the cue and advanced toward the defenceless super agent. They grabbed her roughly, each one seizing an arm, and pinned them behind her back. Becca squirmed helplessly in their grip. "You aren't going to have a choice!" Mustafa countered, as his goons dragged Becca toward the door. "Your palm print is authorized to open this door, is it not?" Becca refused to answer. One of the goons forced Becca's hand toward a futuristic metal panel by the side of the door and pressed her palm onto the sensor plate. The oak door opened quietly and immediately. The crew marched into the vault where the great diamond lay.
In the middle of the room there was a tall pedestal under one bright light. On the pedestal lay a diamond larger and more brilliant than Becca thought possible. Even the hardened criminals gasped at the sight the jewel, which many thought was only a legend. But Mustafa was all business. "There are innumerable sensors all around the Eye of the East, but your retinal scan will disable them, Black Cardinal."
"No!" Becca cried, shaking her head to prevent the goons from achieving their aims. But they soon had pushed the stricken superheroine's face into a scanning device which would read her retinal patterns. Becca heard with dismay the sound of the motion detectors and other sensors shut down. Mustafa walked up to the pedestal, reached up, and simply took the diamond.
"At last, the Eye of the East is ours!" he said triumphantly, as a distraught Becca continued to struggle uselessly to liberate herself from her captors' grip.
The other English-speaking thug, the one who had defied Becca at first, asked Mustafa, "Well, what do we do with her now?"
Mustafa turned his attention from the gem to his struggling captive, secure in the iron grip of two of his goons. "Aslan has a point, my dear Black Cardinal," he purred evilly. "You are no longer of use, and yet you pose a bit of a problem for us. I think a trip to the cisterns are in order."
"NoÉlet go of me!" protested Becca desperately. But one of the other villains approached Becca with a small black bag. He took a needle out of the bag, filled it with a clear liquid, and injected the captive super spy. Becca tried to fight with all her might but to no avail. Within moments she felt woozy, and within a minute she had passed out.
Cold water lapping against her elbows and forearms woke Becca. "Ooh," she murmured as the effect of the drug she had been given slowly left her. She was on her back, apparently on a small rubber raft. No, she realized, it was too small for that: it was actually a large antique life saver, like the round life preservers one might have found on the Titanic. To her dismay Becca discovered she was actually tied to it. Her wrists were bound behind her back, and she was lashed to the life belt with strong cords around her waist, neck, elbows and thighs. Her legs were tied at the knees and also at her booted ankles, which dangled beyond the life preserver. The way her wrists were tied forced her elbows through the center of the life saver. Becca tried to cry out for help, but her mouth was packed with cloth and a tight cloth gag had been tied over her mouth. Black Cardinal was helpless!
This is not good, Becca thought. Shebecame aware, as the drug-induced fog dissipated from her mind, that the life saver to which she was so tightly tied was bobbing very gently on water. But where could this place be? There were dim lights on brick ceiling, and stone columns reached from the vaults of brick above down into the inky water on which Becca now lay. What diabolical trap could the Merdiven have in store for her?
"Welcome to the Cistern of Theodosius." Becca heard the menacing voice of Mustafa reverberate through the underground vault, whose columns in the gloom looked like a flooded forest. Becca turned her gagged face toward the source of the sound. The bound super spy could make out her captor and one of his goons in a small rowboat. "There are several of these ancient cisterns in Istanbul," explained Mustafa. "A few are open to the public. This one has been closed for "restoration work" for so long no one bothers to come here any more. Of course, we have restored this in our own way, as you shall soon find out to your detriment."
Becca didn't like the direction Mustafa's history lesson was going. She started to twist and strain in her ropes, but her bonds would not yield at all.
"I wouldn't move around too much if I were you, Black Cardinal," the villain gloated. "You'll tip the life preserver over and head face down into the water, and you're a bit too tied up to swim." Becca continued her futile tugging while Mustafa laid out his fiendish plan for our heroine.
"But I digress. This cistern, which dates from the late Roman Empire, has been modified in one respect that you'll find quite important." Spotlights on the vaulted ceiling illuminated the area about twenty feet directly above the captive special agent. Becca with dismay noticed the long, sharp spikes attached to the ceiling and pointing straight at her.
"Now," explained Mustafa, clearly relishing the ingenuity of the trap he had prepared, "Unlike other cisterns we can actually change the water levels in this one. Once I leave the cistern the water will start to rise, lifting you with it until you are impaled on those nasty, sharp spikes."
Becca glared at Mustafa with impotent fury. She couldn't believe that she had fallen into the Merdiven's trap. But captured she had been, and in dire peril she most certainly was.
"In times past the citizens of Istanbul have sometimes forgotten these cisterns even existed. In the 1500s another cistern was rediscovered when officials noticed some people could fish in holes in the floors of their basements. No one will come to save you here. You are doomed, Black Cardinal!"
Mustafa gestured to his accomplice, who began to row them into the gloom of the unlit parts of the cistern. Becca despairingly listened as the soft splash of the oars faded off into the distance. Then she heard a sound like a metal gate or door creak shut and locks being fastened.
The sexy spy renewed her struggle against her ties. She heard the sound of a sluice opening, and felt a gentle rippling in the water. The villians must be making the water level rise! Sure enough, in a few minutes, Becca could tell that she was just a little bit closer to the spikes that would cut her to pieces!
"I've got to get free of my bonds!" she thought, as she continued to fight in vain against the ropes. But her exertions were hopeless. No matter how hard she strained, she remained tightly bound and gagged. "And I don't want to tip over!" she warned herself as the writhed in her helplessness.
"What about the panic button and homing signal Asil gave me?" thought Becca. But when she looked down toward her belt she saw that the small black device had been removed. Mustafa was right: no one was coming to her rescue!
Meanwhile, the water slowly but surely continued to rise. Becca was losing track of time in the gloomy cistern, but she was being lifted inexorably to her demise.
Is there no hope for our intrepid heroine? Has she been placed at last in an inescapable trap? What plans do the Merdiven have for the diamond they have stolen? How will Becca stop the Merdiven and their awful scheme? Can she even save herself? Let's hope the tide will turn for the better in our next episode!
When last we left Black Cardinal, the super spy had been lured into a trap by Mustafa, the evil leader of the Merdiven terrorists. Becca, dressed in the sexy costume of Black Cardinal, had been captured, forced to disarm the alarms around the great diamond known as the Eye of the East, and had then been taken to a Byzantine underground cistern. Our fearless but equally helpless heroine now found herself tied to an old, large, circular life belt, with a snug white gag stifling any cry for help. Meanwhile, the cistern - a huge vaulted and pillared brick cellar - was filling with water. Becca glanced nervously at the ceiling, for long razor-sharp spikes, pointing straight at her, would spear her and slice her to ribbons once the water filled the cistern and lifted her to the top.
"How can I get out of this terrible trap?" thought Becca as she struggled in her bonds. But all her straining and twisting was futile - the ropes were too tight. Becca squirmed firmly but gingerly, aware that too sudden a move could tip her over, sending her face down to a watery demise. Mustafa had even made it difficult for her to try to break free!
Meanwhile, the water rose agonizingly, almost imperceptibly slowly. Yet Becca could tell that she was ever so slowly approaching the lethal spikes - and was powerless to stop herself! How long had she been snared in her diabolical peril - was it a half hour? An hour? More? Becca had lost all track of time as she carefully, deliberately worked on the cords that her held captive in the deadly water trap. She tried to pull up her hands to loosen her wrist bonds, but her kidnappers had cruelly tied her up too tightly for her to make any gains there. The sexy special agent stretched one leg, then the other, to see if the ropes imprisoning her sleek thighs and slender, booted ankles would give at all. But Becca despaired as her writhing was all for nought! She was drifting up into the spikes, and there was nothing she could do about it!
Or was there? Becca had to think of something fast, or Black Cardinal was history! And yet even now, at her most helpless and vulnerable moment, Becca came up with a desperate plan. "Mustafa set up this trap so I couldn't rock side to side too much, but if I do some tummy crunches I'll start rocking up and down, and I'll be able to lift my legs a bit. If I can just get them up to those spikes, I can use them to cut my feet free!"
Becca started to rock the life belt as she did stomach crunches. As she did, her head sank into the water for a brief moment, but she was able to lift her legs for an instant as well, before the buoyancy of the life belt, pulled her head back up and her booted feet back down. "Glad I've kept up my abdominal training!" thought Becca as she continued to bob up and down until he could feel her boots touch the deadly spikes. Here Mustafa's attention to detail worked against him, for the spikes were so sharp that they cut the ropes around Becca's ankles almost instantly!
"Now to get out of this trap!" thought Becca. With her feet free the sexy super spy could kick in the water and propel the life belt out of the path of the razor-sharp spikes. But Becca was still not out of her peril. She might not be in danger of being impaled, but the water kept on rising, threatening Becca with drowning! Becca now deliberately rocked herself side to side and tipped the life belt over, taking a deep breath before she was plunged face-down into the inky water. But now her bound wrists were facing the spikes! Becca quickly felt her way until she was able to use the sharp prongs to cut her wrist ties. Then she rapidly freed herself of the other cords holding her to the life belt and ripped off her gag as she came up gasping for air! Her plan had worked!
The cistern was pitch black now, but clinging to the life belt with one arm, the lithe special agent reached up with her free hand. There were only about six inches of air left - and the water was still rising! Becca was sure she could remember the way Mustafa's boat had departed. She tried to turn on the flashlight in her power belt, but between Mustafa's short-circuiting and Becca's being immersed in water, her belt was useless. She swam in the dark, in the direction she was sure Mustafa had gone, using the life belt to help her float.
But Becca's elation at freeing herself from the trap turned once again to dismay as she felt a brick wall in front of her. Perhaps she was confused? Had she made an error? There were now perhaps four inches of air left to her. Becca was crushed - so close to freedom and still trapped!
But Becca felt out the brick below the water line, and discovered that she hadn't come to a brick wall, it was just a lower section of ceiling. This must mean that if she was right about the way Mustafa had gone, the next part of her escape would have to be completely underwater.
"Just like the Poseidon Adventure!" Becca thought ruefully. She had no idea how far she would have to go. There was no light to guide her. She had one chance: if this didn't work, it would be curtains for her.
"When you have no choice, you might as well give it your best shot!" Becca said to herself as she prepared herself for her swim through the flooded cistern. She took another deep breath, submerged, and began to swim as she had never before.
It seemed like an eternity in the silent, watery darkness. Becca swam as hard as she could, hoping that she would be able to find the exit. Soon her one breath was almost up, her lungs burning for more oxygen, but still no sign of the exit.
But just as Becca thought that her gamble had failed, she noticed a lighter patch of water above her. She rose, and soon pierced the surface, gulping the air hungrily. She had made it!
Becca had washed up on some stone stairs leading up to an iron grating. As soon as Becca had recovered, she climbed the stairs, only to find the iron grating locked. If her belt were still working, Black Cardinal could make short work of this. But Becca still had her special boots, which allowed her to make superhuman jumps. Perhaps if she used her boots to kick the grating openÉ Becca braced herself in the stairwell and with a mighty kick smashed the iron grating open. Black Cardinal had escaped from the Merdiven's horrible trap!
It was before dawn. Becca emerged from the hidden cistern onto one of Istanbul's twisty, signless streets. Despite her ordeal, the intrepid super spy was confident she could find her way back to the Topkapi Sarai and her quarters in the Harem. Istanbul, built on a promontory, was confusing, but Becca reasoned that an old cistern from late Roman times could not be far from one of the great monuments of the city. From there she could easily get back to base and plan out her next move.
No, the problem was that here she was, dressed in the provocative costume of Black Cardinal, without her powers of invisibility, in the middle of a city that would be bustling with the morning rush pretty soon!
"Guess I'll just have to make myself as inconspicuous as possible," Becca thought as she looked at herself, soaking and scantily-clad. There was no phone booth on the small street, but a quick dash downhill to a wider avenue brought Becca to a pay phone. "Well, my belt may have been short-circuited, but I always have a compartment with some change in it!" Becca laughed at the absurdity of having such high tech gear but needing to rely on some Turkish coins to bail her out. She dialed a secret number and heard her contact Asil pick up the phone on the other end. Becca explained her difficulty.
"Have no fear, Miss Cardinal," said Asil, "I will be there in an instant!"
Becca indeed did not have to wait long before Asil arrived in his car with a light overcoat for Becca to conceal her identity as Black Cardinal. Asil had never seen the sexy agent in her superheroine costume, and was taken aback when he saw her sleek figure in Black Cardinal's body stocking and boots.
"Ah, I see that American spies are now somewhat, er, less conventional than I had assumed."
Becca smiled and replied, "My Black Cardinal outfit and my belt give me super powers to complete missions that would otherwise be impossible." She then admitted, "I had hoped that this identity would be a secret to the Merdiven, but somehow they knew about me, and knew how to neutralize the electronics in my power belt."
"We will have to be more careful from now on. There is clearly a leak in our security apparatus," Asil asserted. "I'll take you back to the Topkapi, where we can plan the next move."
Back at Becca's quarters in the Harem, the pair sketched out a plan of action.
"Now that the Merdiven have the Eye of the East, what will they do with it?" asked Becca
Asil replied, "I can't believe they went to all the trouble of getting that diamond because of some legend that it will bring back an Islamic caliphate. The Merdiven are too organized, too professional to buy some superstition. I don't know what the real reason is, Miss Cardinal. Perhaps you will be able to find out."
"We've got to catch up to them again. What other things might they do next?"
"Assassination, bombings, extortion, drug smuggling - the Merdiven engage in the usual terrorist repertoire," said Asil. He paused before adding, "But waitÉthere is a motorcade of the Turkish president coming through Istanbul tonight. If they were planning an assassination, that would be a spectacular one. It's our best chance to catch up with them!"
"It sounds like a job tailor-made for Black Cardinal!" exclaimed Becca.
Asil paused. "But your powers are gone. Your belt is destroyed! How will you fight the Merdiven? Let the Turkish intelligence services handle this!"
Becca smiled. "Here's another secret: I have a back-up belt, and a dry costume. I'll be ready tonight, if the Merdiven strike!"
"But they have found a way to neutralize your belt!"
"I think I know how they did that," answered Becca. "I can change the modulation of the electronics on my belt. That must be how they got me - there's no way they could create an electro-magnetic pulse to knock out the circuits. I think I'll be the one providing the surprises in my next encounter with the Merdiven. I should work alone - too many security forces will scare them off, and we'll never recover the Eye of the East!"
"You are a very brave woman, "Asil said admiringly.
"Oh, I'm pretty ordinary - for a superheroine!" Becca teased.
After some much-needed rest, Becca prepared for another night on assignment. She once again donned the form-fitting costume of America's secret weapon in espionage, Black Cardinal, fitting the new, recalibrated power belt around her slender waist. Over her costume Becca wore the light overcoat Asil had given her that morning. She walked out of the Topkapi Palace and turned down Sogukcesme Caddesi, a steeply sloped street lined by restored old wooden houses that used to make up most of the old town in Istanbul. Since Asil was on duty for the presidential visit, a government car picked her up at the bottom of Sogukcesme to save her a half hour walk. Beyond the immediate tourist areas Becca found the city eerily quiet and surprisingly poorly lit. The full moon illuminated the desolate, crumbling alleys near the Yeni Cami, or "New Mosque" and the Spice Bazaar.
Becca was headed toward the main boulevard, Ataturk Bulvari. The motorcade would pass along the boulevard and would pass underneath the Aqueduct of Valens, the striking Roman monument whose remnant straddled the great boulevard. Becca, acting on no more than a hunch, felt that the Merdiven might choose to attack from this high vantage point. But if they did, Black Cardinal would be waiting, she vowed.
Becca's car passed under the Aqueduct, the arches of which separated the boulevard's traffic lanes like a gigantic antiquarian tollbooth. On the other side the street side turned from one of low rise and drably modern commercial buildings to small parks. At this point, the super spy got out of the car and scouted around. She saw no suspicious activity, no signs of anything out of the ordinary. The hulking Aqueduct, with the full moon shining through one of its upper arches, filled the vista before her. "Well," thought Becca, "it was a longshot anyway. Maybe we'll just have to try a different tack to catch up to the Merdiven."
But as she thought this, Becca caught a glance of something moving on the Aqueduct. Was it a trick of the eye? No! Becca distinctly saw something - or someone - move on the Aqueduct itself! "Looks like it might be a full night for Black Cardinal!" she said to herself.
The slinky special agent looked around - the area was deserted. She looked at her watch: the motorcade would be coming through within fifteen minutes. Becca took off her trenchcoat, revealing the sleek black body suit and boots that made up her costume as Black Cardinal. She then activated her invisibility on her gold power belt and approached the Aqueduct for a closer investigation.
The Aqueduct has two rows of arches, one on top of the other; the height of the first level is at least fifty feet. Even in her special boots Becca couldn't make that big a jump straight up, so she had to explore the park area where the Aqueduct ran into a small hillock and would be low enough for Becca to jump onto.
The lithe secret agent crept cautiously around the trees and greenery of the park, for even though she was invisible, rustling bushes might give her away. Near one of the lowest points of the Aqueduct, Becca saw a man dressed entirely in black and surveilling the area. "I'll bet he's not an undercover policeman!" Becca thought.
Becca crept up as close as she could to the mysterious figure. As she observed him, it became increasingly obvious to her that he was providing cover for his accomplice - or accomplices -- up on the Aqueduct. "With my special powers I'll be able to pick them off one by one," the sexy spy planned. She stood up, turned her invisibility off, and waited for the terrorist sentinel to turn around and face her.
"Nasyl?É" the man said when he turned around and saw Black Cardinal before him, clad in her sleek body stocking and boots. Becca knew he was asking himself "How?" - as in, how did you sneak up on me?
"I'm asking the questions here, mister," the special agent replied. "Who do you work for?"
The man didn't reply, but started to point his rifle at Becca, who responding instantly with a electrical blast from her power belt. The sentinel collapsed, twitching unconsciously from the stunning effects of Black Cardinal's weapon.
"Or you could just answer the same questions under less pleasant circumstances when the police round you up," Becca muttered. She wore a two-way radio link on her wrist, and contacted the Turkish antiterrorist squad. "Come to the Aqueduct of Valens. One suspect is ready for your collection in the park. I am pursuing another who may be an assassin. Don't let the motorcade come down Ataturk Bulvar!"
Becca couldn't be sure they would be able to stop the motorcade this close to the Aqueduct. There was no time to lose. She would have to stop them herself!
Assisted by her special Black Cardinal boots, Becca jumped onto the main span of the Aqueduct, and looked at the progression of arches that made up the Aqueduct of Valens. The Aqueduct, at this level, was almost wide enough for two car lanes, if the arches supporting the top level hadn't been in the way. Becca turned her invisibility back on, and raced back toward the boulevard to thwart the terrorists' plot. The sinuous secret agent dashed silently from pillar to pillar of the Aqueduct's massive brick arches, hot on the trail of whomever might be perched up here, preparing for a terrorist outrage.
She soon found her quarry, for right over the Ataturk Bulvar she spied two men bearing long rifles with scopes on them, setting up tripods to steady their shot. Becca crept up on them and prepared to strike. She approached the pair of assassins as they were engrossed in their preparations. Becca flicked off her invisibility and said, simply, "Ahem."
Both men wheeled around in surprise. One immediately rushed the intrepid spy, only to be felled instantly by her taser electrical bolt. The other, seeing how quickly his colleague was incapacitated, dodged behind the nearest brick pillar, and out of her sight. Becca was now engaged in a dangerous game of cat and mouse as she warily pursued the criminal. She crept around the archway support, finger ready on her belt to discharge her weapon as soon as she saw the assassin. "Got to be careful," Becca reminded herself. "I don't want to run out of power in the middle of a skirmish with these thugs!" She thrust herself around the pillar, expecting to find the other terrorist. But he was gone! Becca immediately heard a bullet bounce off the brick inches above her head, and instinctively ducked for cover behind the brick archway support. This would be a good time to call for backup, she thought.
She tapped into her wrist radio and called Asil's headquarters. "This is Black Cardinal. I am in pursuit of armed Merdiven terrorists on AqueÉmmmmpphhh!"
The super spy didn't have a chance to finish, for powerful arms had grabbed her from behind, pinning her arms by her side and clamping a firm hand over her mouth. Becca squirmed violently against her adversary's unfriendly embrace but her adversary was too strong for her. She heard the man's voice behind her call out in Turkish, and soon the assassin she had been pursuing emerged from behind the brick pillars of the Aqueduct.
The terrorist swaggered before the captured spy while his accomplice took his hand away from Becca's mouth and used both arms now to pull her arms behind her with an even firmer grip.
"Let go of me!" demanded Becca.
"Who are you?" asked the assassin.
"Someone who will make sure your plot fails!" Becca answered.
"We will find out soon enough who you really are, after we interrogate you."
"We should kill her now, Ozan," said the man pinning Becca's arms behind her.
"No, Zeren" countered the assassin. "We can use this spy to expose how deeply the government is beholden to the American imperialists. We will take her to the base." He produced a bottle full of clear liquid and a hankerchief, and prepared to douse the cloth. "A little chloroform should make you a bit less belligerent," he muttered.
Becca squirmed in the Zeren's grip. "No! Not again!" she wailed as Ozan approached her with the chloroform and the cloth. When he came within range, Becca desperately kicked the bottle out of his hand. The container fell and smashed on the brick of the Aqueduct. "Sorry, did I break that?" Becca said sarcastically.
"No matter," said Ozan, "One way or another, you're coming with us." The assassin's eyes wandered audaciously over his captive's sleek figure.
"Tie her up."
Zeren manhandled Becca until she was on her knees, then pulled her arms even further behind her and forced her wrists together. Becca continued to fight desperately.
"She's not making this very easy!" the thug complained.
Ozan the assassin gently poked the rifle barrel into Becca's shoulder to get her attention as she strained to break free of the thug's grip, then lifted her chin with the rifle, forcing her to look at her captor.
"Don't annoy us. You've already wrecked my assassination. But I have a gun trained on you. You can either let Zeren tie you up, or you can break free and have me shoot you."
Becca realized the futility of resistance, and stopped struggling. She could feel Zeren tie her wrists together cruelly, and felt more rope round her upper arms immobilize her even further.
"You'd better let me go," threatened Becca, "because I've already told the police where I am. They'll surround the Aqueduct at any moment. You'll never get away with kidnapping me."
"Oh, we aren't going back to the park, my dear," Ozan said with a smile.
"Ready for transport," said Zeren. The pair forced their bound captive along the Aqueduct until they came upon a rope ladder hanging down from above along the side of one of the archways. Zeren climbed up the ladder while Ozan kept a close eye on Becca.
From the top level of the Aqueduct, Zeren lowered a rope to Ozan, who tied one end around Becca's waist. Zeren then lifted the captured agent up to the top level, while Ozan climbed the rope. All three were at the top of the structure now. From the great height Becca could see the police cars, still a few minutes away, converging on the Aqueduct.
"You're trapped now," warned Becca.
"I don't think we're trapped at all," Ozan replied, as the sound of helicopter rotors emerged out of the background noise of the city. Within seconds they could actually see the copter, which came to hover above the two terrorists and their captive.
A large metal basket suspended from chains came down from the helicopter. The two criminals roughly pushed Becca into the basket, and the bound super spy was hoisted up. Becca saw several other armed men in the copter, and so could only watch helplessly as, after Ozan and Zeren were lifted into the copter, they flew away into the night. "Got to think," Becca thought, " and pick my chances to escape. Even if I got my hands free, I'm probably pretty low on battery power in my belt." Already, though, she was beginning to make some headway on the ropes binding her wrists. When they landed, she would have only one chance.
The helicopter flew for a short time, and when they landed Becca thought they were outside the city. But they couldn't be too far away. The copter had put down in a field, where a nondescript white truck awaited.
The terrorists forced Becca out of the helicopter, where even more of the Merdiven were there to meet them. Becca counted over a dozen terrorists. "Not good odds," the slinky spy reckoned.
"Seems like we managed to evade the police, Black Cardinal. And you are a prisoner of the Merdiven!" sneered Ozan.
The terrorists ushered Becca toward the truck, not realizing that the special agent had loosened her wrist bonds. Suddenly, Becca wheeled around, and with a karate kick felled the terrorist nearest her. She burst out of her hand bonds and pressed her sonic pulse weapon, knocking out three more terrorists who had their guns trained on her, and ran as quickly as she could.
Becca instinctively ducked as she heard one of the terrorists fire his gun at her, even though she knew that reflex was pointless. She decided to turn on her invisibility. It would probably be the last of her battery power, but if ever there was a time to use it, it was now. The sleek spy heard one of the Merdiven terrorists bark an order in Turkish. Becca looked ahead, and could see that she was about half way to some trees at the edge of the field. If she could reach the woods, she stood a chance at giving her enemies the slip!
Becca was in excellent fitness, and sprinted for the woods faster than her pursuers. Upon reaching the woods she paused to see if she was still being pursued. But the terrorists were no longer chasing her.
Becca knew that a hardened group of criminals had not given up so easily. She had no choice but to step through the woods, and finally came out onto a deserted minor road.
The sexy spy was still decided which way to go when she saw headlights appear around a bend in the road. As the lights grew brighter, Becca could see that they belonged to a black sedan, much like the government car her contact Asil drove. The car slowed down as it approached the spot where Becca stood, still cloaked in her invisibility. Becca remained suspicious as the sedan came to a stop, but rejoiced when she saw none other than Asil get out of the car! "Black Cardinal!" he called out. "We have been tracking your signal! We're here to get you out of here!"
The slinky super spy immediately turned off her invisibility and raced up to her friend and his car. "Here I am, Asil!" she said to get his attention. "There are eight Merdiven hot on my trail! Let's go!" she added as she ran up to him.
But Becca's dazzling smile turned to concern when she saw Asil take a gun loaded with a tranquilizer dart out of his coat pocket and point it at her.
"I'm sorry," said Asil as he fired the dart into Becca's shoulder. The soporific toxins began to spread throughout her bloodstream, and the special agent faltered as she tried to get away.
"What are you doing, Asil? Why?" she asked feebly, as she stumbled and had difficulty remaining standing.
"I was the one who betrayed you to Mustafa in the Harem. The tracking device I gave you had advanced jamming electronics, which enabled him to neutralize your powers that evening. We had hoped that I could maintain a safe distance from your activities and continue my double agent role, but your near escape here forced me to get more directly involved."
"Asil," pleaded Becca, falling to her knees as the tranquilizer drugs took hold of her, "you don't have to do this. Please, help me!"
"It's too late for me to go back," Asil replied. "The government would execute me for this. So, as beautiful as you are, I am afraid that I can't let you go." As Asil spoke, several of the Merdiven burst through the woods and surrounded the failing super spy. "Take her belt," advised Asil. "It gives her special powers. Without it she is helpless." One of the terrorists removed Becca's golden belt, as Becca woozily collapsed onto her back under the effects of the dart.
The last thing Becca heard before she passed out was, "Get her in the car."
Slowly, the effects of the tranquilizer wore off, and Becca gradually became aware of her grim situation. She was in a dimly lit room - it seemed to be a basement. The captive super spy's aching arms made her groggily realize that her hands were tied behind her back. More ropes wound around her upper arms and her waist, lashing her tightly to a fold out metal chair. Becca tested her bonds. The terrorists had taken no chances: her ties were strict, her struggles against them futile. She could not even move the chair, for the chair had been propped up against a concrete pillar in the basement dungeon, and her wrists were bound behind the pillar, stretching her shoulders mercilessly. Her legs were tied at knees and ankles with more cruel, unyielding nylon rope. This time, unlike the van, there was no escape from her bonds.
At least she was not gagged. Becca quietly mumbled, "WhereÉwhere am I?"
She heard the evil voice of Mustafa, the Merdiven leader, reply. "Why, our guest is awake!"
Becca tried reaching for her belt. If she could reach one of the buttons, perhaps there was still enough power to use her sonic pulse! But no, to her horror, Becca discovered her belt had been removed!
"Looking for this?" asked Mustafa with a sneer, as Becca saw that the Merdiven leader held her power belt, her only hope for escape, in his hand. He ostentatiously placed the golden belt on a hook on the wall about five feet beyond Becca's reach. "I don't think we can let you have this right now." Becca angrily but impotently strained against the ropes holding her fast in a futile effort to get free and reclaim the source of her superpowers.
"Black Cardinal," Mustafa continued, "to answer your question, you are actually very near to some good friends of yours, or rather, they might be meeting you soon! We are in the basement of the hamam, the Turkish baths near the Cemberlitas, the Hooped Column you may have seen in your travels. Yes, we have taken you straight back into the center of Istanbul. Asil has informed us that the head of the Turkish secret police goes to this hamam every Thursday."
"What does this have to do with me?" asked the dazed, defeated spy.
"First we are going to interrogate you, and when we are done with you, wellÉ" Mustafa glanced over to a table. Becca followed his gaze, and with dismay saw a few of the Merdiven putting together sticks of dynamite into a large time bomb.
"You won't get anything out of me!" Becca vowed, as she twisted in her bonds. But the ropes would not give at all.
Mustafa ignored Becca's valiant defiance. "Now, let's make this a two-way street, shall we? I'll tell you a secret, then you tell me one I need to know. The Merdiven acquired technology that would allow us to build a superweapon, the world's first death ray laser, powerful enough to knock satellites out of the sky, strong enough to sink ships trying to pass through the Bosphorus. But we needed the right lens to make it work. That was why we stle the Eye of the East. That diamond was one of the few in the world large enough to focus the power of the laser, which we will call the Light of Islam. Once we have toppled the Turkish government we will use our ultimate weapon to control the Middle East, and bring the great powers of the world to their knees!"
"You're mad!" Becca exclaimed. "To power a weapon that strong you'd need a nuclear reactor."
"Let us worry about that, Black Cardinal. You, on the other hand, need to tell us what the United States knows about us, about what other plans they may have to stop us."
"I won't tell you anything!" insisted Becca.
"Ah, so stubborn," sighed Mustafa. "No matter. We have an expert who will extract the information we need." Becca saw Asil step out of the shadows, carrying a small black doctor's bag, and looking glum at his betrayal of the sexy spy. "Asil is well trained in all the latest interrogation techniques."
"Do your worst!" Becca exclaimed , straining helplessly in her chair as Mustafa walked into the next room. "I'll never talk!" She turned to her former ally. "So, Asil, this is why you tried to convince me to drop the case - you were afraid that with my superpowers I'd get too close!"
Asil glumly replied, "It will make no difference. The Merdiven will succeed inevitably, with or without your interference. I wanted to spare your life, but your obstinance has led you to your current predicament."
Please, Asil, you don't have to do this. There is still time to turn back!"
Asil gloomily looked at his prey. "I'm sorry Miss Cardinal, but that is impossible." He took a syringe out of the bag and a vial of clear liquid. Becca, horrified at the thought of being injected with truth serum, continued to writhe desperately. But there was no getting away. She was tied up, powerless, and surrounded by enemies. What could she do?
Asil approached with the syringe full of truth serum. "I'm sorry," was all he said as he prepared to administer the shot. Becca looked at him pleadingly, struggling sexily in a last ditch effort to persuade him to let her go. Asil hesitated, deeply conflicted about whether to carry out his interrogation, or to let so beautiful a secret agent go free. "Black Cardinal, don't make this more difficult for meÉ" he whispered.
At that moment, however, a few of the Merdiven began talking in alarmed tones in Turkish. Mustafa burst back into the room, and said to Asil, "The Chief is here early. He will be in the hamam in a matter of minutes. We need to pack up and set up the bombs!" He turned to Becca and snarled, "You may be spared our questioning, Black Cardinal, but only in order to dispose of you in a bomb blast!"
Mustafa barked orders in Turkish. Several terrorists lay the time bomb by Becca's bound, booted feet Mustafa explained, "This bomb is timed to go off in fifteen minutes. That should be enough time to make sure our target is on the premises, but not enough for you to get free." The villain checked Becca's wrist ties to make sure they were still constrictingly tight. "Yes," he continued, "you won't be getting out of those any time soon."
"Your plan will never work," said Becca bravely. "This might be your last chance to give up, Mustafa!"
The terrorist leader pulled out a white cloth, stuffed it in Becca's mouth, and tied the gag tightly at the back of her head. "I was going to invite you to join us, Black Cardinal, but I see you are too blinkered by your degenerate Western ways to see that the success of the Merdiven is destiny!" Becca began to struggle in her ropes, mmmphhing with frustration into her gag.. "Go ahead, Black Cardinal, struggle all you want," Mustafa taunted his captive, "you'll never escape in time!"
Mustafa then left Becca in her basement prison. The captured spy looked apprehensively as the timer on the bomb counted down. She strained and twisted with all her might, but the terrorists had bound her too tightly. Time was running out, and escape was impossible. Becca looked longingly at her gold belt, so close and yet so far away. This time it seemed there was no way out of her dire peril.
Is this really the end? Has Black Cardinal finally been trapped for good? Will the Merdiven succeed in their crazy plot? Without even Asil to help her, is Becca beyond rescue? The answers are coming in our next chapter!
In our last episode, Becca had been betrayed by Asil, her contact in Turkish intelligence. Becca had narrowly avoided being injected with truth serum to force her to reveal her secrets, but only to sit now helplessly bound and gagged while above her, the chief of Turkish police was about to be the victim of a bomb attack.
Becca writhed furiously, straining and pulling against her bonds in vain attempts to get free. Her gold power belt, left on a hook not five feet away, might as well be on the moon for all the good it could do her now. Meanwhile, the display on the time bombs by her feet counted down relentlessly. There was no way out! Becca flexed her lithe leg muscles but the ropes around her knees and ankles held fast. All her attempts at twisting did nothing to loosen them. Working on her wrist bonds seemed only to make them tighter! It was hopeless!
"If I could just get to my belt!" Becca thought, desperately struggling against her ties. The display on the time bomb read just over ten minutes. One third of her time had gone, and Becca was as tightly tied up as ever! The sexy spy had to face the facts: getting out of her bonds was impossible in the short time she had left.
"Then it's curtains for me!" Becca thought as she sat, lashed to her chair, completely powerless to escape her fate. The timer on the bomb continued to count down. Becca noticed that a section of the ceiling above her, and therefore the floor above it, was made of wood planks. Becca heard the wood planks creak as the Police Chief walked across the floor directly above her head.. She screamed into her gag to attract attention, but the thick white cloth stifled her cries. The situation was hopeless! The sexy super spy looked around the room for some means of escape. But there was none. It looked like this was the end of Black Cardinal!
With less than ten minutes left before the bomb detonated, Becca came up with a last, desperate bid for escape. She began sending Morse Code signals on the metal pillar around which her arms were tied, using a ring on her finger to tap out an SOS. It would be almost a miracle for anyone to hear her plea upstairs in the little time remaining, but it was her only chance!
Tap, tap tap, went the hollow sound of Becca's ring against the metal pillar. With her hands bound as tightly as they were, even sending out an SOS took enormous straining effort. But Becca had to keep it up, or else she was doomed. The display on the time bomb was down to five minutes!
"It's hopeless!" Becca despaired as she continued her desperate bid for rescue. The special agent winced as the cruel ropes dug into her wrists while she sent out her distress call. Meanwhile, the bomb ticked down to a mere three minutes! Was this the end of Black Cardinal after all? Was she really doomed this time, after all her perils in so many places? After defeating so many diabolical schemes, was Becca to succumb to the Merdiven? These horrible thoughts crowded into Becca's head as her signal went unanswered, and the bomb display counted down to two minutes!
Becca no longer even hear the footsteps and creaking floors above her. The sexy secret agent realized no one was listening to her SOS, and stopped tapping in her despair. She was defeated, powerless, unable to warn the assassination target or even to save herself. It was now only a matter of watching, thoroughly tied up and tightly gagged, while the bomb clock counted inexorably to zero. There was less than a minute left!
But just when Becca thought that all was lost, a tall figure in a green uniform burst through the door to her underground prison. The man was taken aback with the sight of Black Cardinal, in her sexy, form-fitting attire, lashed tightly to her chair. Becca mmmpphhed into her gag - there were only seconds left before the bomb detonated! -- and indicated with her wide, pleading eyes where the man should focus his attention. A split second later the dark, mustachioed man saw the time bomb counting down its last few seconds! He dashed over to the bomb, examined it carefully, and pulled a red wire to stop the countdown with only eight seconds to spare!
The uniformed man pulled the gag from Becca's mouth and introduced himself as Captain Orgut, Chief of the Secret Police.
"I am Black Cardinal," Becca replied as Orgut untied her wrist bonds. "Thank you for coming in when you did!"
"I heard your SOS coming from the pipes - it took a while to figure out where the signal was coming from. But may I ask, what is a beautiful woman such as you doing tied up in a hamam?"
"I am a special operative working to defeat the Merdiven terrorists. Unfortunately, they got the better of me. One of your people, my contact Asil, is a double agent."
The captain looked dismayed. "We won't see Asil again, I fear, until we finally defeat the Merdiven. On behalf of the Turkish authorities, I thank you for your assistance - we need all the help we can get."
By now Becca's hands were free, and Captain Orgut let her untie the ropes around her legs. As she freed herself from the last of her bonds, the sexy spy asked her rescuer, "So, how did you know which wire to pull to defuse the time bomb?"
"I didn't."
"OhÉ I guess this was my lucky day, then," Becca said with a smile. Once again, Black Cardinal had escaped her villains' trap! She walked over to her gold belt, took it off the peg on the wall, and slung it on her slender waist. America's sexiest secret agent was back in business!
Becca wanted to fill Capt Orgut in on what she knew of the Merdiven's plans to construct a death ray laser with the Eye of the East, the giant diamond they had stolen from the Topkapi Museum. But after Asil's betrayal, Becca felt that, even if Capt Orgut was safe, she wanted to be sure that there were no other leaks in Turkish intelligence. She had so far been fighting two battles - against the terrorists and also against their shadowy allies among the authorities - and she wanted her next move to be a surprise to her foes. So she took her leave of Orgut, and made her way back to the Harem, where she gathered her equipment and moved out.
Becca contacted the American Consulate - she had been briefed on the CIA operative who worked there. Through him, Becca found an apartment in the Beyoglu section of the city. This lay across the Golden Horn, the wide and famous river that separated the old town from the new on the European side of the city. Beyond the bridge that carried busy traffic over the Golden Horn, behind the Galata Tower, built by traders from Pisa in the thirteenth century, up on a high ridge, lay a neighbourhood of modern hotels, wide parks, consulates and palaces. From her new quarters in this, the Taksim district, Becca could plan her next move.
Becca felt she could figure out how to track the Merdiven back to the Eye of the East, and the huge laser weapon they planned to build with it. What was it that Mustafa had said when she had argued that he had no way of powering so monstrous a weapon? The terrorist leader had implied that they were going to acquire, or had acquired, a nuclear reactor. Well, if the latter was true, then Becca, as Black Cardinal, could access US spy satellites to scour the area around the Bosphorus and Dardanelles for abnormal radiation. If the Merdiven had not yet gotten a hold of their nuclear power, then there were only a few places to buy one and only a few ways to deliver a small reactor illegally.
"Let's see," Becca thought," the South Africans and the Israelis would never sell a reactor to an Islamic fundamentalist group. The Chinese would never be able to get into the Mediterranean Sea, through either Gibraltar or Suez. That leaves the Russians. But the Russians would neverÉuh-ohÉ" Becca was beginning to piece together the puzzle - and it made for a grim situation. The Russians, paranoid about Islam on their southern doorstep, were unlikely purveyors of nuclear technology and fissile material to a bunch of kooks in Turkey. But what if, in that vast, disorganized country, some dissident element, some group unhappy about Russia's new capitalist and democratic direction, were in league with the Merdiven? This could be a much bigger problem than Becca had imagined, if her reasoning were right. On her slender shoulders rested not just the stability of NATO's southern tier, but perhaps the security of the entire continent of Asia!
Becca opened up her ultra-advanced laptop computer and quickly accessed the CIA's top secret computer system. She put in an urgent request for a satellite scan of the area for unusual radiation traces. Here she was in luck, for one of America's newest spy satellites was in orbit currently close enough to Istanbul to train its sensors onto the area immediately. Soon enough the special agent received telemetry that relieved her immensely: no radioactive signatures anywhere near the Straits.
"That means it's most likely that the Merdiven have yet to pick up their nuclear power." Becca said to herself. "It's not so easy to unload the parts to a small atomic reactor secretly - and when they try, Black Cardinal will be there to catch them!"
Proceeding with her educated hunch, Becca spent the next day researching the geography of the Bosphorus and the Black Sea. She assumed that the most likely way to drop off the nuclear engine would be by submarine along the coast. The best place to do that would be along the undeveloped coastline where the Bosphorus opened into the Black Sea. If the delivery were made there, it would be impossible for advanced US submarines to intercept the terrorists. Becca, through her CIA contacts at the consulate, procured a speedboat to patrol the most likely spot for the villains to rendezvous. Becca installed state-of-the-art sonar and anti-submarine technology. There was not a moment to lose - if Becca was right, the delivery could happen even tomorrow night!
It is about a five hour boat ride - much longer, if you're not in a speedboat -- from Istanbul to the end of the Bosphorus, a spot where according to legend Jason and the Argonauts had to sail past rocks that moved to crush passing ships to pieces. No such mythological menace hampered Becca, but her danger was only beginning. She sped up the narrow strait separating Europe and Asia, past the pretty coves with their villages and twinkling lights, and once she was through the Bosphoris hugged the shore of the Black Sea.
Since she might have to dive on her mission tonight, Becca wore a sleek, form-fitting black wet suit, making her all but invisible in the boat. Underneath she wore the costume of Black Cardinal, with her electronic power belt encased under the wetsuit in waterproof plastic. Special detachable flippers turned her special black boots into something useable in the water. She was ready to infiltrate the Merdiven, and this time take them by surprise!
Becca had picked as the most likely rendezvous point a small cove a few miles from the strait on the European side of the Black Sea coast. The inlet Becca had selected was deep enough for a submarine to come very close to the shore unmolested, but with a shoreline easy enough for sailors to gain access to land. Her plan was to locate the submarine she assumed was coming, to infiltrate it and prevent the drop off of the nuclear materials, then, if possible, pursue the Merdiven on land. To that end Becca had a small motorbike and scuba equipment with her on her speedboat.
Becca was still running through the scenarios in her mind when all of a sudden the sonar on her boat went berserk. "It's showtime!" thought Becca as she strapped on her scuba oxygen tank, her scuba goggles, just in time to see a Russian sub emerge out of the water only a few hundred yard away from her protected location near the shore. It was hard to see in the dark, so Becca flicked on special might vision on her goggles. She saw several men placing dinghys into the water, and hauling equipment onto the submarine's top deck from the hatches.
"Good - they're using inflatable dinghies and they're not using lights to preserve secrecy," thought Becca. "Just as I thought. This will make it easier for me to break up their little shore party!" Quietly the super spy dove into the cold waters of the Black Sea, and began to swim silently toward her quarry. Without the sunlight the water was pitch black. With her special night vision gear Becca saw the marine life in the sea turned a weird shade of green. She knew there were no obstacles between her and the sub and dinghiesÉ.
But what was this? Becca halted in the water as she came upon a wide net that had apparently been stretched out from buoys bobbing on the surface and anchored on the sea floor below her. The net must have already been placed here before the sub arrived, thought Becca. There hadn't been nearly enough time for the sailors on the submarine to erect this barrier in the water.
Becca started to look for ways around this obstacle - too late did she notice the frogmen converging on her out of the inky depths of the nighttime sea. Out of the corner of her eye, Becca caught a glimpse of the top of the net closing down above her, while the sides rolled inward. The net was not just a barrier - it was a trap!
Becca turned and tried to swim away, but the enemy divers who she could now see swimming toward her were armed with harpoons, and kept her from getting away. Soon the net closed around her and the super spy was snared, unable to move. One of the frogmen took out a strange device with what looked like a steel tube sharpened to a point at one end. The diver punctured Becca's oxygen tank, and Becca soon discovered why. Instead of pure air, Becca began to breathe in knockout gas. Underwater, caught in a net, there was no way for her to get away from the gas, and soon she succumbed to a sleep as black as the watery depths in which she had once again fallen into the clutches of her enemies.
The first things Becca could make out as she slowly shook off the effects of the gas were metal sounds - sounds of footsteps on metal stairs or ladders, metal doors or hatches opening and closing. "Oooh, my head hurts!" Becca thought groggily. "I must be on the submarine. This is not good." She found the submarine lighting bright and harsh.
She was still in her wetsuit, and drops of water trickled from her still-wet hair down her back. The sexy spy tried to wipe away the water drops, but immediately found this impossible. Becca once again found herself tied up and gagged. At least she was lying on the lower bunk of a bunk bed, her arms stretched over her head and her wrists tied together and to a metal railing. Her flippers had been removed, but she still wore her Black Cardinal boots, which were bound together at the ankles and also attached to another metal railing. An excruciatingly tight cloth cleave gag dug pitilessly into her cheeks, and had dried out her mouth to the point of discomfort. Becca tried to wriggle in her bonds, silently and slowly testing the ropes, but could make no headway against them at all.
Soon a man in a Russian Navy uniform came up to her. He leered at his helpless captive, stretched out vulnerably before him, her svelte form suggested more than just a hint by the skin-tight wetsuit.
"Esli by vse nashykh protivnikov byli tak krasivaya," he said as he reached over to remove Becca's gag.
"Do you speak English?" Becca demanded. "You are aiding a terrorist organization. Release me at once - your location is known to the US Navy, and you can only make things worse by keeping me prisoner!" Becca noticed the usual Russian insignia on his uniform were missing: this was a mutineering submarine!
The sailor looked her up and down, but continued to taunt her in Russian. "Ah, ona starayetsya grozit' mne, dumaio. Ha, ha ha! Tak vyzyvaiushaya, tak bessylna!"
Becca heard another voice in the room, one speaking English albeit with a thick Russian accent. "Oleg says you are quite defiant for someone so helpless."
Becca tugged pointlessly against her bonds. "Well, yes, he's quite a charmer, isn't he?" she spat out sarcastically.
"I am Commander Ivanov, and I will make sure that swine like Oleg do not harm you - as long as you cooperate."
"What makes you think I'll cooperate with rogue Russian navy personnel?" Becca fumed.
"You have no choice. You will tell us who you are, how you discovered our little operation, and what you know about us. OtherwiseÉ" Ivanov nodded over his shoulder to Oleg, who continued to ogle their delectable captive with such intensity that he looked like a cretin.
"Not getting the cream of the Academy for your little McHale's Navy, are you?" Becca jibed.
"They were good enough to take you prisoner," retorted Ivanov, who tied Becca's gag back into her mouth with an almost savage force that made her wince. "So you won't talk now. We'll leave you for a while, until we complete our dealings with the Merdiven. Maybe you'll have a better attitude then. For your sake, I hope you do. Realize this - whoever you are, you are expendable."
"Never did like dealing with Russians," thought Becca. "But at least he doesn't know who I am!"
Ivanov left the room, almost dragging Oleg behind him, and shut the hatch. Becca, alone in her submarine prison, began frantic efforts at freeing herself. She strained and writhed against her bonds until, exhausted and still contending with the effects of the gas, she relapsed into unconsciousness.
A splash of water brought Becca out of a fitful, restless sleep. She woke up to find herself still bound as before, but with her gag removed. Ivanov and several crewman stood around her.
"Feeling better?" Ivanov inquired.
"It's hard to feel refreshed when you're tied up," Becca responded, once again testing her tight bonds.
"I'd apologize to you, if you hadn't been so rude earlier," Ivanov said. "Now, you are going to tell us who you are."
"If I say Black Cardinal, will that mean anything to you?"
Ivanov ignored the insult. "Whom do you work for?"
"Sorry, I can't tell you. But the American accent should be enough of a clue."
One of Ivanov's crew muttered into his ear, "Nado ubit' yeyo - eta devka!"
Ivanov held up his hand and continued the questioning, "What do you know of us?"
Becca said nothing.
"What do you know of the Merdiven?"
Again, Becca stared straight ahead and ignored the question.
Ivanov realized the futility of his interrogation. "We could take you back to our base where we could subject you to more questioning, but we've taken too many chances as it is. I think, Miss - is it Black Cardinal? - that you have outlived your usefulness." A slew of instructions to the crew came out of Ivanov's mouth. The sailors jumped into action, untying Becca from the cot but quickly retying her hands behind her back. They roughly pushed Becca forward toward the bow of the sub until they reached the torpedo room.
"This is you last chance," warned Ivanov. "You will either talk or we will fire you out of the torpedo tube, where the pressure of the sea will crush you instantly."
"I'll never talk," vowed Becca.
"Very well." Ivanov motioned to his crew, who opened one of the torpedo tubes and forced Becca into it.
This looks like the end, thought Becca. As the crew began to close the tube hatch, a voice came in over the intercom. More furious Russian passed back and forth; at one point, Becca was sure that Ivanov had said "Black Cardinal."
Suddenly, the torpedo hatch opened up all the way, and many strong but rough hands pulled the sexy spy out of the tube, and set her back on her feet. Becca found herself staring at Commander Ivanov once again.
"It seems you are popular, after all," Ivanov said without emotion. "Our Merdiven contact has heard of Black Cardinal. It seems they want you alive - and have arranged a rather nice bonus for my crew to deliver you to them."
Becca fumed at her impotence but could do little to resist her captors as they trundled her aft. Ivanov barked more commands, which Becca took to mean that they were going to resurface. After some time had passed, she was pushed again up the metal ladder to the submarine's main hatch.
The sexy special agent found herself back near the coast where she had been taken prisoner. It was dark out, meaning she had probably spent an entire day aboard the sub. Already she could see a speedboat - her speedboat, stolen by the Merdiven -- racing toward the sub.
When the speedboat arrived, several Merdiven terrorists got out, quickly paid Ivanov the money he was promised, and took Becca into the boat, where they once again tied her legs and gagged her. "Can't have you warning the authorities," muttered one of them in passable English. They sped off toward the shoreline, arriving there in a matter of a few minutes; Becca was carried off the boat, kicking futilely with her bound legs, and shoved into a van. Inside, she saw Mustafa. His smug smile maddened Becca, though in her current predicament she could do nothing to stop whatever evil plans he had in store for her. "Out of the frying pan, into the fire," she thought.
"Welcome back, Black Cardinal," sneered Mustafa. "When I had heard the Russians had you in custody I thought I could not let so beauteous an adversary remain in the hands of such uncouth types. No, the Merdiven have a special revenge planned for you. You shall have the first chance to see, up close, the laser we are building with the Eye of the East. Of course, you will be on the receiving end of its destructive ray, but, there are worse fates in store for other opponents of the Merdiven.
Becca shouted, "You're mad! You'll never get away with this!" but her arguments were reduced to muffled mmpphhing by her gag. She fought her bonds, even though she knew the effort was futile. Mustafa guffawed with evil joy at Becca's struggles. "All your struggles are in vain, Black Cardinal. The Merdiven have beaten you!"
The van drove for nearly an hour before Becca could feel it move onto a dirt road. Some distance later the sexy spy thought that the van had suddenly gone underground, after which it came to a complete halt. Mustafa got out of the van while other Merdiven terrorists untied Becca's legs and forced her out of the vehicle.
They were in a large underground garage, big enough for a fleet of buses or trucks. Becca had little time to take stock of this area for the terrorists rapidly pushed her through a door into a windowless corridor. They proceeded for several hundered feet before they came to a large door. One terrorist punched in a code that made the door swing open.
Once inside Becca marvelled at the elaborate hi tech equipment the Merdiven had collected. They were in another enormous subterranean room, with a ceiling two stories above them, filled with computers, control panels, cranes and machinery of all kinds. On one side of the room , perched high up to survey the whole area, was glassed in observation deck. Behind the glass Becca could see even more computer equipment. But what dominated the whole hangar-sized room, mounted on a system of derricks and hydraulic jacks, was an enormous ray gun, currently pointed at a target, roughly six feet across, standing on a large dais.
"Tie her to the target!" Mustafa commanded, and the terrorists shoved their sexy captive up the stairs of the dais and then spun her around so her back was up against the target. The Merdiven then rapidly retied her, spreadeagled, to four metal rings on the sides of the target. The target itself, Becca noticed as she was bound to it, was a fiberglass sheet cut in the shape of a disk, and mounted at an angle so that when the terrorists had completed tying her up, Becca was partialy lying on her back.
Becca flexed her sexy muscles but her bonds would not give. Mustafa climbed up the dais to gloat over his captive. "So, Black Cardinal, once again we have the pleasure of watching you perish. You are a foolish one - you should have used your escape from the cisterns to leave the country. Now it is too late for you! It will take the laser a few minutes to power up before I can use it to incinerate you and your meddling from my plans forever." The terrorist leader paused, leering over his helpless prisoner, and pulled out a knife. "I think we need one small improvement to this whole scene," he said, and cut Becca's wetsuit off to reveal her revealing Black Cardinal outfit of black bodysuit, gold belt, and black boots.
"That's better! Now you make a delectable target. You will be the first to die by my weapon, but not the last. Good-bye, Black Cardinal!"
The terrorists all cleared the area immediately near the dais where Becca was tied. Mustafa left the hanger area only to reappear in the observation area. Becca could see him pressing buttons. Soon a low hum filled the room, and the gigantic death ray machine started to glow as it powered up.
Becca writhed helplessly in her bonds, but escape was impossible! She half-stood, half lay, tied with her limbs stretched in four directions, unable to do anything but wait for the burning death laser to strike!
Is this the end? Will Becca be barbequed by Mustafa's improbable weapon? Can anything stop the Merdiven now? The answers lie aheadÉ.
Things once again did not look good for Black Cardinal, AmericaÕs most beautiful secret agent. Becca, in her Black Cardinal outfit, had been handed over to her arch-enemy, Mustafa. The inhuman Merdiven terrorist had ordered his minions to tie the helpless heroine to a target, on which he had trained the prototype of a new ultrapowerful laser. Now Becca lay on the inclined target, bound spread-eagled, struggling in vain while the weapon slowly powered up.
"Got to...get free!" thought Becca as she strained in her bonds. She pulled with all her might, flexing her athletic muscles against the unyielding ropes, which simply dug into her the more she fought them. To add to her problems, Mustafa, gleefully watching BeccaÕs struggles from an observation and control area above the hanger-sized room where she was being held captive, turned on a microphone and sent his voice booming from a PA system.
"Go ahead, Black Cardinal. IÕll enjoy seeing you squirm helplessly until my laser destroys you! No doubt by now you have found that your bonds are quite secure," Mustafa taunted.
Becca could only glare at her captor over her tight cleave gag. His insufferable taunts just made her want to strain even harder to free herself. But no matter how hard she tried, the ropes holding her immobile to the target would not yield a bit. "What can I do?" Becca thought as she tugged desperately against her ties. "How will I ever get out of this one?" The super spy looked around for some means of escape, but could see none. "If I could just reach my power belt!" she said to herself, twisting her lithe figure, arching her back and flexing her limbs Š all to no avail.
Mustafa roared with a triumphant, evil laugh as he watched Black Cardinal writhe helplessly before his infernal death ray weapon. "Few things will give me as much pleasure as watching you struggle in vain!" he gloated. "You are doomed, Black Cardinal!"
Becca was worried that this time, the villain might be right. All her efforts to free herself were futile. Lashed to the target, watching with alarm as the laser gun glowed brighter and brighter as it gathered power, Becca was quickly running out of time!
Mustafa came over the loudspeaker again. "I hate to be insulting, but I will have to miss the moment of your incineration. Our plan is to begin our coup against the Turkish government tonight, and as you Americans say, business comes before pleasure. But I leave knowing that you will be reduced to bourgeois imperialist ashes in about five minutes! Goodbye, Black Cardinal!"
Becca could see the terrorist leader disappear from the window to the observation area. She immediately began to squirm even harder in her bonds. "How will I ever get free?" she wondered.
As the secret agent pulled against the ropes holding her spread-eagled to the laserÕs target, a dark figure emerged out of the gloom and advanced toward the dais on which the target, and the bound super spy, stood. As the figure mounted the stairs of the dais, Becca realized it was her betrayer, Asil. The sexy agent stopped her struggles and looked at Asil, her eyes pleading with him to free her, her lithe limbs tugging at her ties to emphasize just how helpless and desperate she was.
"I am sorry this has to happen to you, Miss Cardinal," Asil said, his voice somber with regret. "I did not think I was joining a movement that would leave a beautiful woman tied up and left to be destroyed by a laser beam. They are such cowards to leave you like this!" he growled, his voice rising.
Becca thought, "If only I werenÕt gagged! I could persuade him to untie me!" She turned here face to him and mmpphhed sexily into her gag, doing her best to convince Asil to remove the cloth stifling her words.
But Asil was reluctant to accede to her wish. "No, Black Cardinal, your fate is sealed. The weapon has only a few minutes left to go before it incinerates you! I cannot risk letting you go. I am only here to say IÕm sorry."
Becca twisted in her bonds, silently begging Asil to reconsider. "Please, please take off this gag!" she wanted to say as she flexed her luscious limbs impotently.
Asil hesitated, so conflicted by the sight of the struggling heroine, wavered, then slowly reached behind BeccaÕs head and untied her gag.
Becca gasped with relief as Asil pulled the cloth out of her dry mouth. "Thank you, Asil."
"I thought you might want to tell me your last words."
"Please, Asil, it doesnÕt have to end this way!" Becca pleaded, glancing nervously at the laser weapon that had gone from glowing red to a bright orange. "Let me go and together we can defeat the Merdiven. You know what they are!"
Asil pondered, "Yes, they are not even Islamic. They use religion to gain adherents in the country. But I know now they are in league with other groups looking for world domination for themselves!"
"Then let me go! There is still time!" Becca begged.
"No, I cannot. They would kill me!"
Becca strained against the ropes holding her as she tried to persuade Asil. "I can beat them! I have special powers. I just canÕt get to them right now because IÕm all tied up! Please, Asil, let me go! If you untie me, youÕre taking a chance. But if you donÕt untie me, IÕm finished for certain. Asil, what will your life be worth if you donÕt do the right thing now, when it counts?"
The laser gun glowed with a white light now, and the weapon started to emit a high-pitched whine. It could only be seconds before the ray gun discharged its incinerating beam! Asil seemed lost in thought. Becca despaired of getting free. All her struggles against her ties were useless; Asil was her only hope! If he stayed here on the dais much longer, Becca thought, he might be blasted by the death ray, too!
But Asil, at the last moment, reached up and loosened the ropes around one of BeccaÕs wrists. "This is all I can do for you, Black Cardinal. I cannot let it be known that I helped you, so I must leave you. Good luck!" And with that he descended the dais and walked out of the room.
Becca worked on her loosened bonds furiously, looking at the laser gun pointed straight at her. This was going to be close! But soon she had freed her right wrist. "No time to get free," thought Becca. "IÕll have to use my power belt and hope it works!" The super spy pushed the buttons to her sonic pulse and her electrical taser weapons, which hit the ray gun just as the weapon was about to fire! The combination shortcircuited the firing mechanism on the ray gun and sent the weapon into overload! Becca quickly untied herself and ducked behind the target just as the laser weapon exploded violently! Becca emerged from the wreckage and the smoke unscathed. At the last second, Black Cardinal had escaped again!
Becca knew that after such a malfunction the Merdiven would soon be back. But she took a moment to look over the wreckage, and amidst the hot metal shards and electronic detritus, she found the diamond that the Merdiven needed to focus their laser superweapon: the legendary Eye of the East that the terrorists had stolen with BeccaÕs unwilling assistance.
"Well, at last something is going right with this adventure," Becca said to herself as she dropped the huge, flawless gem into a pocket chamber on her golden power belt. "Now IÕve got to catch up with Mustafa and stop his plans once and for all!"
The slinky super spy glided to the door and tried to listen for noises on the other side. But she could hear none, for the door was too thick. Rather than activate her invisibility, Becca reasoned that it would be better to be able to use her weapons to take out any terrorists that might be on the far side of the door. Becca opened the door and rushed through it.
The secret agent saw two guards with machine guns in the corridor on the other side of the door. One dose from her sonic pulse disabled them immediately. Now the coast was clear all the way down the long corridor to the underground garage that served as an entrance to the Merdiven hideout. Becca crept up to the door at the far end of the corridor. Luckily there were windows on these doors. Through a window the sexy spy could see dozens of Merdiven terrorists busily loading several vans with a vast array of weapons and explosives. Mustafa wasnÕt kidding when he taunted Becca that he planned to launch a coup tonight.
Becca turned on her invisibility and crept through the doors. There were too many terrorists swarming around the underground garage: to challenge them in their lair would be suicidal. Becca thought that, since their plan had to involve secrecy, if she could tag along in secret, then at the right moment she could blow their cover, and turn their planned coup into an ambush for them! The elegance of her plan appealed to Becca; the question was whether her power beltÕs batteries would hold out.
Becca silently moved to an area where piles of wooden crates had been stacks. And just in time, for her power belt gave a low buzz, inaudible to anyone else, that signals her batteries were near depletion. Becca ducked behind the crates and switched off her invisibility, hoping to conserve the last of her power for an emergency. From her vantage point hidden among the crates the fearless heroine could see the terrorists busily preparing their assault on democracy.
"How am I going to sneak onto one of those vans without my invisibility?" Becca tried to puzzle out, when she unexpectedly heard a metallic click behind her head, and immediately after felt a gun barrel against the back of her neck.
"DonÕt make any sudden moves," a thickly accented voice growled. "Stand up and raise your hands!" Becca had no choice but to comply. "Move forward!" the voice ordered, and Becca marched into the middle of the garage.
The terrorists stopped their feverish preparations and fell silent at the sight of Black Cardinal. Mustafa emerged from a knot of guards and caught sight of his nemesis.
"Black Cardinal! So, you escaped from the laser trap I left you in!"
"Yes, and I broke your toy gun. Sorry," Becca retorted sarcastically.
Mustafa nodded to one of his accomplices, who rushed down the corridor to the hanger-sized room where Becca had so recently faced her death ray peril. "My arms are getting tired," Becca complained. She wasnÕt really tired, of course, but wanted to put her arms down to increase her chances of escape.
But Mustafa was not easily fooled. "All right, you can lower your arms." The terrorist leader turned to one of his goons and said, "Tie her up. I donÕt want her getting away again."
The henchman got out some white cord and pulled BeccaÕs arms firmly behind her back. There was little the sexy spy could do to prevent him from lashing her wrists together with the cord.
"YouÕll never get away this," Becca warned.
"Brave words, my dear, but you are hardly in a position to threaten me. Tonight I will overthrow the Turkish government, and I will also eliminate Black Cardinal!" the Merdiven leader hissed.
At that moment the minion dispatched to look into the ray gun ran back into the garage where Becca stood, hands tied behind her back, surrounded by her ruthless enemies. After a brief exchange in Turkish, Mustafa turned to Becca and asked, "Where is the Eye of the East?"
"I donÕt know."
"You lie."
"Maybe, but youÕre still not going to find it." Becca knew that the gem was safe in her belt Š only she knew how to find or open the secret compartment where the diamond was held.
"We have ways to make you talk," Mustafa threatened.
"IsnÕt torturing me going to spoil your little revolution timetable?" Becca taunted bravely.
"You have an unhealthy attitude for a prisoner of the Merdiven."
"I guess IÕm not so scared of being in your evil clutches anymore," the super spy retorted, hoping that her sarcasm would continue to rattle the terrorist leader and confound his timetable.
"You will find that there are many ways to die, Black Cardinal," Mustafa said, "and you have earned a long and painful one. WeÕre taking you with us, so you can see the revolution firsthand. Then weÕll have all the time we need to extract all your secrets."
The terrorists gagged Becca with a thick white cloth, marched her into MustafaÕs van, then tied her long, lithe legs together. Becca tested her bonds Š she would not be escaping any time soon.
The vans rumbled up the ramp to the desolate track in the Turkish countyside. Becca could see none of it, for the van she was in had no windows in the back. Mustafa grinned evilly as he explained his master plan.
"We are headed to the Archaeological Museum in the center of Istanbul. There will be a major meeting of the Turkish cabinet and several foreign dignitaries there. We have our people in key places in the security for this event, so we will be able to enter the Museum before the event and prepare for the gala meeting. We will exterminate the Turkish government, take the foreigners hostage, and announce our coup. When that news comes over the radio, insurrections will begin all over the country. Even in Istanbul itself, our teams are ready to block access to the Museum, so that we will have total mobility while the armed forces contend with and are overwhelmed by so many uprisings at once. Then we will take you back to our headquarters, where one way or another you will tell use where you have hidden the Eye of the East."
Becca mmpphhed into her gag in a show of impotent protest. She squirmed in her tight bonds but could not make any progress against the ropes immobilizing her.
The vans drove for over an hour, and when they finally stopped the terrorists untied BeccaÕs legs and forced her to stand up outside the vehicle. After being so tightly bound for so long Becca had trouble staying on her feet at first.
The goons trundled her through a door and into a magnificent stone-walled museum, somewhat darkly lit inside, but only to emphasize the spotlights on the most intricate Hellenistic sarcophagi, each more spectacular than the last. Along the walls were countless Greek and Roman statues and busts. "I have to come back here when IÕm not bound and gagged and in terrible peril," Becca thought bemusedly.
But the brave beauty had little time for such incongruous thoughts, for soon the Merdiven came to a stone sarcophagus, delicately sculpted with a hunting scene chiseled on the outside. Several terrorists were already lifting off the heavy stone lid from the top of the stone structure.
"YouÕll stay quiet in here, Black Cardinal. Even if you kick and scream, no one will hear you tonight through the stone of this tomb. When we have launched our coup, we will come back for you. Until later, Black Cardinal!" Some terrorists lifted Becca into the sarcophagus, then retied her legs. With a great deal of grunting two Merdiven placed the stone lid over the sarcophagus again, sealing the super spy in.
It was pitch black inside the Greek tomb. No sound from the halls of the Museum reached Becca though the stone sides of the sarcophagus. Becca lay bound, gagged, and helpless, unable even to keep track of how much time was elapsing. All she knew was that she had to find a way out of this, or the Turkish government would be overthrown, and she would be taken back for interrogation and torture until she told Mustafa where the Eye of the East was.
Once again things looked desperate. Would Becca ever find a way out? Would she be able to defeat the Merdiven with so little power left in her golden belt? Could she even save herself? All these questions will be answered in our next episode.
