By Vance and Van Hamme
Publisher: Cinebook
ISBN: 978-1-84918-139-6
Now that XIII and his band of outcasts are in possession of the three silver watches they now have the coordinates of Maximilian's gold – if only they knew how to make sense of coordinates. Hidden in an out-of-the-way Pacific hotel, the group puts their collective heads together to untangle the riddle, and when inspiration eventually strikes they're forced to enlist the help of a language expert. Unfortunately, this expert owes a lot of money to the wrong people and although he doesn't know what he's revealing the location to, he knows it must be something of worth and ends up trading the details to pay his debt.
Meanwhile Giordino, the NSA Chief who has been the thorn in XIII's side for so long, is attempting every avenue to find and silence the fugitive group, which means again attempting to persuade General Whittaker to put his resources at Giordino's disposal, not to mention keep him on side. However, Whittaker isn't playing ball which pushes Giordino into even more desperate measures.
With the coordinates deciphered, XIII, Jones, Betty and the son of the hotel owner head off into an isolated location in Mexico to find the gold (which results in a scene I'd thought more in keeping with Van Hamme's other creation, Thorgal), but they don't realise they're being watched and the entire treasure trove is in jeopardy.
In this volume it's Giordino's story that takes centre-stage. His manipulations and desperate measures have left him with few choices and each one is a step too far for a man of his position. But he's not the only vulture circling as by the final page yet another villain re-appears to set up the final two volumes of this epic arc.
And if you liked that: Find a collected edition of 100 Bullets
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