Chapter 23: The Golden Sword

Eveline’s career as an auction presenter continued to advance as her senior year in high school progressed. She traveled to places like New York and Los Angeles, in a private jet with her supervisor and company documentation. Flying via private jet prevented her from having to get dressed to take a commercial flight and also saved her a lot of time.

As Eveline became known throughout the auction industry, Nancy decided to entrust her with presentations that required her to pick up and actually handle expensive sale items. The change was important, because it meant that Eveline was holding museum-quality merchandise that often sold for tens of millions of dollars. She had to wear soft cloth gloves to prevent getting fingerprints on the merchandise, but otherwise her presenter’s outfit remained the same.

Some of the items were so famous that she already knew about them. For example, at an auction in Hollywood she presented a gold short-sword that she had seen in a museum while on a field trip when she was in middle school. She specifically remembered that sword, precisely because it was solid gold and 4,000 years old. It was a centerpiece of the collection and was protected by bullet-proof glass and an advanced alarm system. And now she was actually holding it.

She wondered why it left the museum and was being sold at auction, but she also knew better than to ask such questions. The sword sold for $ 30 million dollars.

Eveline got her answer about the short-sword as soon as the auction was over. It turned out that the buyer was none other than Comandante Foxtrot. The Supreme Leader had dropped $ 30 million for a single item like it was nothing, like he was buying something from a souvenir shop. Well, at least this time he paid fair market value for the sword, unlike the Niger Heart-Pot, which he had acquired by totally scamming Tri-State University.

Eveline had been extremely careful to handle the antiquity with the greatest caution throughout the bidding. However, when the new owner came up to her, he casually grabbed it and brandished it in front of several photographers. He put his arm around the naked presenter, held up the sword, and posed for some trophy-shots.

Eveline forced a smile, but inwardly she was scared out of her wits. An ordinary person doesn’t just grab a 4000-year-old solid gold antiquity that had been on display in a museum for decades and casually wave it around, but Comandante Foxtrot was no ordinary person. He owned a quarter of the African continent. It was obvious his ego was as grandiose as his wealth and power.

Then there was the question about why Comandante Foxtrot would want that particular sword and pay $ 30 million dollars for it, along with whatever bribes he needed to persuade museum administrators to move it out of their collection and put it up for auction. Eveline knew, through her pre-auction research, that the sword had a nefarious history, just like the Niger Heart-Pot.

After the auction, Eveline wondered if Comandante Foxtrot’s newest purchase would make the news, and sure enough, it did. The scandal was not quite as big as the sale that cost Tri-State University its most valuable asset, but it did involve the administrators of a U.S. museum parting with a famous antiquity. The curators tried to justify their sale by claiming they were going to use the profit to purchase several famous works of modern art. No one was buying that. A 4000-year-old golden sword in exchange for some crappy modern art? Seriously? And then, the curators vanished, along with the $ 30 million dollars. Meanwhile, the Supreme Leader returned to the Confederation and added his new prize to his collection of expensive goodies.

The new scandal had to have a public face and, once again, pictures of Eveline with the Comandante appeared all over the news. She became a subject of interest when several reporters wanted to interview her. She was very nervous from suddenly being the focus of so much attention. However, she maintained outward calm as she responded: