Bartolo Cassa

Bartolo Cassa is an antagonist in the Copernicus Legacy series. He is a high-ranking member of the Knights of the Teutonic Order, leading its divisions in the Hispanic countries. Like the rest of the Order, he aims to find the 12 Copernican relics that, when put together, make a powerful time machine. He is extremely loyal to the Grand Mistress of the Order, Galina Krause.

Throughout the series Cassa works to stop the relic Guardians, especially the Kaplan family.

The Forbidden Stone:
Bartolo Cassa is called by Teutonic Order leader Galina Krause, who orders him to settle affairs with his family in Rio de Janeiro. A death order is placed on his head for unknown reasons, but it is later removed by Order 2nd-in-command Ebner von Braun.

The Serpent's Curse:
Cassa is called to the Order's HQ, the Copernicus Room, which is located in Madrid. He reports to Galina and Ebner that Sara Kaplan has been transported from Rio to Europe as a prisoner. Galina plans to use Sara as a hostage to draw out the Kaplans, as well as a test subject in the Order's Kronos time machine prototype.

Cassa accompanies Galina and Ebner to Greywolf Castle in Russia, which functions as a secret base and test area for Kronos. A week later, when the Kaplans and their Guardian allies appear to storm Greywolf, he goes with Galina to kill them. They are halted by a Guardian road block that forces them to clear the road. In the commotion, Roald Kaplan sneaks into the Order transport and tampers with Cassa's blowtorch.

Galina and Cassa find Wade and Lily Kaplan, along with Guardian Alek Rubashov, in an abandoned gulag mine. After a standoff that wounds Alek, Cassa is ordered to kill the Kaplans and destroy the evidence. He attempts to blowtorch the room but is only able to spray half of it because his weapon has been tampered. Confident that the fire will deal with the Guardians, he leaves with Galina.

The Golden Vendetta:
Cassa is sent out to an auction in Monte Carlo to win a bid for ocularia arcanum (glasses that allow one to read messages in Copernicus' diary). The Kaplans get a briefing about his background and skills. The auction proceeds that night, with the Order's Oskar Gerrenhausen winning the glasses. A gun battle erupts between the Order and anti-Order forces led by Ugo Drangheta. Cassa fights but is badly wounded by Drangheta's men.

The gun battle leaves Cassa with a large gash across the face and a broken arm. Despite this, he travels to a remote Arctic station being paid by the Order to dig up nuclear weapons below the ice. Once the nukes have been safely transported, he kills the men working the site.

The Crown of Fire:
As a part of her accelerated search for the 12 relics, Galina dispatches Cassa to Cuba so that he can find the Corvus relic. Lily and Darrell Kaplan are also looking for Corvus, which they discover is hidden in Havana. They meet the Guardian Quinita, who leads them to an old movie theater where Corvus was kept. Cassa finds them inside and begins shooting at the Kaplans. He retrieves Corvus and flees with the aid of Order agents.

Darrell decides to get revenge on Cassa for all the pain he has inflicted on the Kaplan family. He pursues the assassin across the balconies of Havana until he corners him. The two engage in hand to hand combat until Cassa tells Darrell that, in the end, Galina Krause will kill everyone in her way (including himself, implying that Cassa knows he is merely an expendable tool). In his rage, Darrell knocks him off the balcony, where he falls and breaks his skull.

Cassa later dies from the coma he is sent into.

Physical Description
Bartolo Cassa is a broad-shouldered man in his 30s-40s. He is Brazilian and has a deep tan that contrasts with the pale skin of many other Order leaders. His most defining feature is a pair of dark wrap-around sunglasses that he wears all the time, giving him the nickname "Sunglasses" by the Kaplans and Quinita. Ebner von Braun compares him to a movie star muscleman.