Centurion's Rise by Mark Henrikson

Author:Mark Henrikson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 36: Exit Strategy

UNDER COVER OF DARKNESS, Hastelloy snuck through the main gates of the temple grounds. In front of him stood the Temple of Jupiter amid two hundred acres of well manicured gardens. The sparkling white structure was nearly two hundred feet square on its base and sheltered over 40,000 square feet under its roof. Around the perimeter and throughout the middle of the temple six sets of decorative columns ran the length of the structure to support the massive roof.

The roofline angled from each side to meet at a peak in the middle, leaving a triangular section between the roof and the main support beam to be adorned with statues and relief carvings depicting the greatness that was Jupiter, king of the gods. Perched on the peak of the temple sat a larger than life nickel statue of Jupiter driving a chariot while holding the reins of four stallions.

It took Caesar two years to complete construction on the project. The recently deceased general spared no expense in building the monument: pure white marble superstructure, bronze roofing tiles, hundreds of statues and carvings only scratched the surface of the opulent structure. Many citizens thought the choice of molding the statue of Jupiter out of nickel, a relatively worthless metal, was an odd choice. Caesar justified his decision by pointing out a more valuable metal such as gold would not have stood out enough against the copper roof. This was a true statement, but Hastelloy knew full well there was another, more significant reason.

Hastelloy had never officially visited the temple grounds, though he possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of its interior and exterior design. His information was gained from numerous sources. He bribed the construction foreman for the official design diagrams. Almost the entire construction crew was under Hastelloy’s employ to inform him about any alterations not in the official diagrams. Also, Hastelloy visually surveyed the building from afar on a daily basis as construction was underway to spot anything out of the ordinary.

Gallono often questioned the wisdom of expending so many resources on a structure that was erected in plain view of the entire city. Given that the temple was dedicated to Hastelloy’s mortal enemy, he considered his time and money well spent, and tonight he would reap the dividends of the intelligence investments.

Hastelloy forced his attention away from the temple building to inspect the garden grounds. He spotted dozens of lit torches moving among the flowers, bushes and trees. They were all held by men intent on his capture. Hastelloy took care to remain in the shadows as he made his way toward the tallest pine tree on the grounds.

The garden was littered with stone pines whose trunks remained branchless until they reached twenty feet above the ground, then yielded an umbrella like canopy of limbs and pine needles. Their shape was ideal for gardens as they provided extensive shade from the sun, yet had very few low level branches to obstruct the magnificent view of the grounds.

After a

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