with us so her case could be reviewed, to makesure it didn’t result in any temporal contamination. Once the Referees weresatisfied, she joined the First Division and we’ve been a team ever since?
“Incredible!” Travers said. “You must tell me the entirestory later, but right now, I’m curious as to how you knew the race was fixed.”
“I learned how to observe horsemanship from jousting tournaments,”she said. “In a situation where your life often depended on knowing youropponents. you learned to watch for the slightest indication of any weak points.After a while, you’d get to where you’d easily spot subtle things that mostpeople would miss. The charioteer for the red team held back slightly on thefinal stretch. As you said, he’s an outstanding driver. Even a keen observermight have missed it, but I was watching very closely. out of habit. I suppose,and I noticed that on the last two laps. he was taking his turns just a littlewider than he had on all the previous ones.”
“I never would have spotted that.” said Travers. “Clocillusalways takes the turns so tightly, he’s almost. right up against the post.-
“That’s why he got away with it,” she said. “He takes a muchtighter line through the turns than the other driven, so when he went just alittle wider, it still looked like he was taking them pretty close. But he wenta little wider every time coming out of the turns and he held back a littlegoing into the turns, allowing the blue team to catch up. Aside from that, whenthose two chariots collided in the first turn. It was done on purpose. I sawboth drivers brace themselves for the impact as they went into the turn. Theywere prepared for it. before they should have known that it was going tohappen. And the driver whose chariot overturned in the last lap? That waspurposely done, as well. He was standing a little lower in his chariot goinginto the turn because he had his knees flexed, ready to spring clear. He timedit just right, so that he’d be at the apex of the turn. where the inertia wouldcarry him to the outside of the track, well away front the chariots behind him,who knew that he was going down and were prepared. He was already reaching forhis dagger an instant before he went over. Not that it still wasn’t prettydangerous, but with everybody knowing what was going to happen, the risks wereconsiderably reduced.”
“But that would mean that every one of the charioteers werebribed!” exclaimed Travers with astonishment.
“That would seem to be the obvious explanation,” Andre replied.
“That’s an incredibly serious offense,” said Travers. “Theycould all lose their lives for that. You’re absolutely sure’? There’s no chanceyou could be mistaken’?”
“If Andre says that’s the way it happened. Travers, you cantake it to the bank,” Delaney said.
“Find out who was the big winner at the track today and you’llprobably find your fixer,” Andre said.
“There’s only one man I can think of, short of the Emperorhimself, who could have gotten all the charioteers to work together in order tothrow the race: said Travers
“And that would be Marcian. But I simply can’t imagine himdoing something like that.”
“Who’s Marcian’?” asked Lucas.
“He’s the
“Maybe somebody got to him.” Delaney said.
“That’s hard to believe.” said Travers. “Marcian is one ofthe richest men in Rome. I can’t imagine what anyone could offer him to makehim take such a risk.”
“Political power?” Lucas asked.
“Possible. I suppose. but unlikely. His post carries anominal senatorial rank. yet Marcian has always steered clear of politics. Hehas the reputation of being a very prudent man.”
“In any case. it probably doesn’t concern us,” Andre said. “Notunless It might have anything to do with Caesar Is Marcian a friend of his?”
“No. not really. but he is a friend of Marc Antony’s, who isCaesar’s right-hand man.”
“Maybe we should meet him.” Lucas said.
“That wouldn’t be difficult to arrange,” said Travers. “Youthink he might he involved somehow?”
“I don’t know.” said Lucas. “Is he a native Roman?”
“No, as a matter of fact, he isn’t. He arrived in Rome aboutnine years ago. I think from Baiae, but I’m not sure. In any case, he wasalready quite wealthy when he got here. which helped him make connectionsquickly. The post of
“Interesting,” said Delaney. “You know him well’?”
“We’ve met on several occasions. but I can’t say I reallyknow him well.”
“Can we arrange to meet him socially?”
“Yes, I suppose so. I could hold a dinner party in my homeand invite him, but since we’re not exactly friends, it would help if I had aparticular reason.”
“Why not invite him so he can bring along some of the charioteerswho raced today’?” asked Andre.
“Yes. that wouldn’t be unusual. Aristocrats enjoy rubbing elbowswith the charioteers. It makes them feel adventurous.”
“Good,” said Lucas. “Set it up as soon as possible. We haven’tgot much time. There’s only two weeks until the Ides of March.”
“Yes, I know,” said Travers grimly. He glanced down at thearena. “The gladiators are starting to come in. If it’s all the same with you.I’d rather not stay around to watch this. I’ve seen quite enough of death.”
They left the Circus and went outside to their carriage.where their “slaves” were waiting for them.
“Can we take a look at Cleopatra’s house asked Lucas.
“Certainly.” said Travers. “It’s not very far from mine.”
The streets were practically deserted as they drove backtoward the Tiber.
“What did you make of Caesar’s Egyptian guard?” asked Andellas he drove their carriage.
“We couldn’t get a very good look at them,” Delaney said. “Icounted a dozen.”
Andell nodded. “They go everywhere with him. Quite impressive,aren’t they?”
“They looked very fit and capable.” said Lucas.
“What do you think?” asked Travers.
Lucas shook his head. 1 don’t know. I wish we had more to goon. Do they stay with him in the palace?”
“Yes,” said Travers. They have rooms in the same wing ashis:
“They’re going to present a problem.” Lucas said. “regardlessof whether they’re S.O.G. troops or actually what they seem to be. In eithercase, they’re an anomaly and we’re going to have to get rid of them somehow.The question is, how?”
“You’re close to Caesar,” said Delaney. “Couldn’t you convincehim that it’s bad P.R. to have them around?”
“It is, in fact,” said Travers. “There’s been talk aboutthem ever since Caesar took them on. He knows it and he doesn’t like it. Heused to have a bodyguard of Spaniards. a tough and surly-looking bunch, but hedismissed them for the sake of appearances. And those Egyptians haven’t exactlyimproved matters. He knows it makes him look as if he’s being protected by hismistress. I’m not really sure if he’s going along with it just to pleaseCleopatra or because he’s getting nervous now that the Ides is approaching. Ifhe is. he’ll never admit it. He’s far too proud.”
“Could you work on him without making your position difficult?”asked Delaney.
“I could try,” Travers replied. “We’ve gone through a greatdeal together. I could probably get away with more than most people could whenit comes to Caesar. But you can only press him so far. Plus I’d undoubtedlyalienate Cleopatra and she has a lot of influence with him.”
“More than a comrade in arms from the wars?” asked Andre.
Travers snorted. “You haven’t seen her.”
“How does Caesar’s wife react to his relationship with her’?”she asked.
“Calpurnia? She doesn’t say anything about it. And no onedares mention it in her presence. I don’t really know what she thinks about it.She doesn’t reveal her feelings much.”
“She can’t be very happy about it.”
“Maybe not, but this is ancient Rome. And Rome is very mucha man’s world. It is not uncommon for Roman
