A rumbling drifted through the small group.
"In the meantime, let's call it a day and get some much-needed rest. The last couple of weeks have been long. We will assemble and pick it up again in the morning once Charles arrives."
Izzy walked away and reflected on her carefully delivered speech. She knew she was a total buzz kill. She was as elated as her crew was; probably more since she had been looking for Rhapta her entire life. She looked around searching for Eric.
"Alexandra, when last have you seen Eric?"
"Umm not sure Mum. I'm sure he was around here just now, or perhaps I think when we escaped the bird. Why?"
"Don't you find it strange that he disappears so often? I mean, where the heck does he go?"
"He did say he is dealing with some family issues. Maybe they're not resolved yet."
Another look through their campsite for Eric also came up empty. Perhaps she was overreacting, and it was just family business. She just couldn’t convince her senses of that.
"We should get some sleep sweetheart. We might need to face that creature again tomorrow."
It wasn't long before the camp settled down and the nighttime sounds filled the air. Alexandra was fast asleep next to her. Izzy was tired too and just started dozing off when she was startled by a noise outside their tent. She sat up in bed, her eyes wide open and her ears turned toward the direction from which it came.
It was just before midnight and Izzy found herself cursing Eric for probably lurking around outside again for a space to sleep. She poked her head outside the tent. It was pitch black. Imminent rain clouds covered the moon, causing there to be hardly any light.
"Eric!” She whisper-shouted but heard no response. She stepped outside and walked around the side of the tent.
"Eric!" She whisper-called again. "Is that you?"
Silence responded. Not a single sound except the lapping of the ocean water onto the rocks. Perhaps it was her imagination. She was practically asleep, so maybe it was the beginning of a dream.
Consoled by the idea that it was probably just her imagination playing wild tricks on her, she turned around to go back inside and, moments before entering the tent, heard a branch break in the trees behind the tent. As she turned to look back at the noise a large, muscular hand covered her mouth from behind and she was pinned down, face first in the sand. She tried to scream, but her voice strained as they pulled her neck backward. They tied her hands with rope behind her back. Any attempts to wrestle herself free were altogether futile against their brutal force. All she felt were two big men pinning her down on the ground. There was not a word exchanged between them. Complete silence. She tried biting the one man's hand, but it barely had any effect other than prompting them to tape her mouth closed.
"Mum? Is that you?"
The commotion must have woken Alex up. Izzy shut her eyes and stopped wrestling, silently praying, pleading to God to not let Alex come out of the tent. Please don't come out Alex. Stay there, please, she transferred her thoughts.
Two seconds later Alex popped her head out through the side of the tent and shone her bright torchlight directly onto where the men had captured Izzy.
"MUM! NO! LEAVE HER A-L-O-N-E!"
Unable to speak Izzy felt her attackers pull her to her feet and dragged her away between the dense trees behind the tent. Alexandra's eyes, locked on her mother’s, were filled with terror. She froze not knowing what to do.
"MUM! STOP! LEAVE HER ALONE! HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!” She screamed over and over.
Izzy tried to dig her heals into the sand in a useless attempt to slow them down. At least until some of the crew hopefully came to her rescue. But her capturers were just too quick and too forceful. She felt a heavy blow to the back of her skull before everything went dark.
Chapter Fifteen
3 years ago - Alex
"Alexandra, slow down honey, please? Tell me slowly now. How many were there? Could you make out any of their faces or anything else that might bear significance to recognizing them?"
"I can’t — I don’t —”
"It's okay sweetheart. Just take a deep breath and start slowly okay? It's crucial the police get on top of this as soon as possible."
Alex read many a paper in which they said the first forty-eight hours was critical in a kidnapping. The longer they waited to get on the case the more significant the chances were that her mother was—
Alex couldn’t get herself to even think the word. She wiped the tears with her already drenched hanky and took a deep breath.
"Maybe two. The men were big and... and they tied her up and…”
The tears ran freely again. Her eyes hurt so much from all the crying. Breathe Alex. Do this for Mum, she spoke to herself.
"They pulled her in between the trees over there. They took her Daddy! What do they want with her?"
"Alexandra, look at me. They took her to find the treasure for them. They need her. She's no good to them if she isn't alive. They won't harm your mother, Alexandra, I assure you. Now think. Can you recall if they resembled anyone we might recognize? What were they wearing?"
Her brain fought back hard not to recall the events. Alex willed it not to conjure up the images that were now etched in her mind forever. But she had to. If they ever wanted to see her mother alive, Alex would have to recall every last detail.
"They were black... and tall; had black T-shirts and green military pants. I think they also wore black berets. They didn't speak to each other at all. Almost as if they rehearsed every part of her kidnapping."
Kidnap. The savages her mother had warned her about had kidnapped her mother. It was exactly why she wanted to keep their discovery quiet. Alex felt as if she were in a horrific nightmare. A very, very bad dream. But, when she looked at the five police constables and forensics team scouring the area for any evidence, it became very real.
"That's good honey, what else?"
"Nothing. The men had no guns or knives or anything. Just tied her up and dragged her away."
A vivid image of her mother’s eyes flashed before her. ”Daddy, her eyes. She looked so sad and ... desperate. I didn't do anything to help her. I froze! I could have taken her gun and shot them. Instead I did nothing! Jelani ran after them but lost their trail. He must still be somewhere out there looking for her. He hasn't made it back here yet."
"I know darling. Don't worry about Jelani. He'll be fine. If anyone can track them, it would be him. Did they take anything with them? Her bag, journal, anything?"
"No, that is what's so strange. They didn't even try to find the scroll or the box or any of Mum's notes. I still have it with me."
"You do? You have the cipher code and the box and even the knife? They didn't take it?"
"No look. They never even came into the tent and tried. I sleep with it under my bed."
She pulled out the bag of relics and double-checked. Just to be sure. It was all there. Nothing was missing. Charles was perplexed.
"What does this mean Dad? If they were after the treasure, they would have forced their way into the tent and taken this too. It doesn't make any sense."
"You're right Alexandra, it doesn't. Let's just think for a moment here. They wouldn't need the riddle anymore because we're at the river already. The cipher code is a bunch of numbers to them that your mother has memorized. They're looking for the key. They probably didn’t even know we had the relics. I mean, how would they?"
He was right. They wouldn't know of the box and the cipher code or the knife.
"Perhaps word got out through the dive team and all the artifacts they pulled from the site over the last week. It wasn’t unlikely that someone blabbed their mouth off during a stupor.”
"Do you think they've been watching us here Dad?"
"No way of knowing. What's that?" Dad pointed passed her toward their latest find.
They walked over to the table where the massive sign shaped like the Rhaptor bird lay covered under a sheet. In the chaos of the kidnapping,
she didn’t even have a chance to show it to him.
"We pulled this up yesterday."
She drew the sheet back and watched her father’s face as he read the engraved word.
He drew a sharp breath and yanked the rest of the sheet off.
"Well, I'll be... Tell me it is what I think it is."
"It is Dad. Mum and I were walking among the trees yesterday, and we found an enormous egg. Before we knew it, a gigantic Rhaptor bird chased us, and it somehow trapped us in its lair. Dead animals and skeletons lay everywhere. We managed to escape and then the divers found this yesterday."
"And you didn't think to call me and tell me? The relic crest is why they took her! You need to show me where you found the egg. Let’s go.”
"But Dad. That bird is a killing machine. Mum shot it, but perhaps it survived, and now it's out there waiting for us. Heck there should be more than one otherwise how could she lay an egg?“
"It's a chance we're going to have to take Alexandra. Come on.”
Charles had her by the hand as he pulled her toward the trees. His gun was loaded and ready to shoot, and she had her mother’s rifle uncomfortably tucked under one arm. Now that she was aware of what lurked between the trees, it felt eerie. Her eyes were peeled for any sign of the bird as they walked deeper in between the trees. There wasn’t a bird chirping or a crab pushing up between their feet. Like the very life of the area was sucked out into an invisible vacuum.
"Here the egg was somewhere around here. It looked like a large rock in the shape of a football."
They scoured the area, but there was nothing.
"I don't understand. I know it was right here. We sat under this tree here with the funny looking trunk and then I walked here to crack a coconut. It was here. I'm sure of it."
Doubts filled Alex’s mind. She was traumatized so it was possible her memory was skewed. But as she wrestled with her own thoughts and mind, she knew, beyond doubt, that they were on the right spot and that the egg had disappeared.
"Which direction did you run in when the thing was chasing you?"
"That way. Its nest is over there. Dad, I don't think this is a good idea. How are we supposed to help Mum if we both end up dead?"
"We're not going to die, sweetheart. Not today."
He seemed very sure of himself. She’s never had any reason to doubt him in the past. He was fully aware of what he was doing.
They set off toward the lair and it wasn't long before they hit its perimeter. Alex watched as her father paused to get a mental hold of the multitude of half eaten animals and human skeletons that lay scattered throughout.
"This is it, Dad. The bird attacked us, and we ran from tree to tree back to the beach."
"Is this all you found? Nothing else?"
“Yup. Nothing else. We didn't have much time to explore any further because the bird chased us."
"You did great my darling. I'm going to need you to put some sketches together so we can try to find out a bit more about what this creature is and how it got here. For now, let's head back and see what the police might have found. Perhaps Jelani is back too."
But, two weeks later their investigation turned up empty-handed. The trail ran dead and Jelani returned with nothing. The police gave up their investigation and had not one single clue whatsoever. No idea who took Izzy, much less where she was.
“Alexandra, please eat something. They’re all doing what they can. We have to trust that they’ll find something sooner or later. Don’t give up!”
Alex couldn’t eat or sleep. Her mother had been kidnapped. Somewhere out there, the rebels had her or… killed her already. Their camp was at the river exactly where they took her in the hope that somehow their daily searches between the trees yielded something.
“Sir, we have word. Please come with me.”
Alex startled as the police officer arrived with an envelope in hand.
“What is it Dad? A ransom letter.”
Charles ripped the letter open and fell onto the soft sand all the while still staring blankly at the piece of paper in his hand.
“Dad? Daddy?”
She couldn’t bring herself to ask the question but she could tell from his eyes that this was not a ransom note. The tears rolled down his cheeks, as he looked his daughter in the eye.
“She’s gone Alexandra. She’s gone.”
Alex felt her heart being clawed out from her aching chest. Like someone rammed their fist into her chest and ripped it out with their bare hands. She took the yellowed piece of paper from her father’s shaking hands. It was a letter from the authorities.
‘—Her body was found in the nearby rebel camp’ were the only words her eyes extracted from the two short paragraphs. Next to her, her father shook uncontrollably. She had never seen him cry before, ever.
The weather in London was quite aptly miserable and bitterly cold. Izzy’s memorial was as dreary as the weather. Students from Charles’ classes and the entire faculty were huddled together under their black umbrellas behind the casket. Their incessant crying and nose blowing irritated Alex. They barely knew her mother. Alex, on the other hand, hadn’t shed a single tear since they arrived back home. Even though she tried. She couldn’t cry. Like her emotions were ripped along with heart. She was numb inside. A body without a soul. Home didn’t even feel like home anymore.
A noisy nose blow behind her jerked her thoughts back to the priest who broke into a poor rendition of Amazing Grace and soon the funeral goers behind her joined in. Her mother hated that song. It was the funeral go-to everyone got. The standard hymn along with the standard bouquet. Izzy Hunt was everything but standard.
Chapter Sixteen
Charles
"How you feel dis morning Charlie-boy? You better?”
"Slept for the first time in a long time thank you, Chief. My bones ache, but I feel good.”
"Ha, them bones from too old. Your feet good to walk? You go to find Lakicia now. I find new Jeep, and I send my warrior to take you to edge. Come. We eat to make strong."
The Chief was a good man who stuck to his promise. Before he knew it, Charles sat in a Jeep the Chief traded for fifteen cows.
"I don't know how I can ever repay you for looking after my family Chief. Thank you."
"You go to find Rhapta and Lakicia Charlie-boy then no curse come. You stop the curse of Kifa and big man-eater bird. No treasure hunter must find first okay? You stop curse over Tanzania people. You do that. I happy."
His English wasn't perfect but Charles understood every word of his plea. He lost his wife and his son, and somehow he thought it was all linked to the curse of Kifa. What exactly the curse was or did, no one knew. And they weren’t prepared to find out either. They believed it involved witches and evil spirits and if the ancestors’ graves were disturbed and their treasures stolen, it would bring about unspeakable torture and death. There were many who claimed they saw the massive Rhaptor bird fly over Mafia Island late at night trying to prevent Rhapta from being found. Some say it happened only when treasure hunters came too close.
“You no mess with gods Charlie-boy. You bring curse on people. Rhapta stay sleep. No wake.”
"I'll do my best Chief. I give you my word. If I find Rhapta, then it will be declared a historical monument, and no one will be permitted to go there. It could open up infinite and fragile clues of ancient cultures and lost civilizations and reveal important links to the past. And IF there is in fact treasure, the president will claim it, and all this can be put to rest once and for all, but first things first though. I have to find my daughter first.”
The Chief had said Alex and Sam headed to the safe house. That made Charles proud. His little girl was sharp as a tack thinking that he’d go there.
He stopped at the edge of the city and slipped on the kaftan the Chief gave him as disguise. That was his first time in a dress, and though it was uncomfortable, he was grateful nonetheless. He looked in the Jeep's mirror. The turban wasn’t perfectly wrapped but it di
d the trick. Enough to hide him from the rebels, at least.
The Jeep also blended perfectly with the city's vehicles. It seemed to be what most people used. Satisfied he was now operating incognito he drove towards the safe house. The town was a hustle and bustle of tourists this time of year, and the traffic on the rural roads was enough to drive anyone mad. As he parked around the back of the safe house he noticed the motorcycle the chief gave Alex and Sam to use. They were still there. Delighted she remembered the protocol; he parked alongside it and walked around the block to the entrance.
The rhinoceros door knocker was a welcome sight and he quickly clicked his way through the sequence; all the while looking over his shoulder to be sure he was still alone. Click, click and click. The door opened. It was quiet inside and he stealthily moved to the safety spot under the stairs. He lingered there to listen for voices.
There wasn’t the slightest of noises. It was way too quiet for them to be up there. But he was one hundred percent positive it was their motorcycle. Besides, she parked it in precisely the place where he had trained her to. It was also an unspoken signal to announce their presence inside the safe house. But even with that knowledge, Charles wasn’t satisfied everything was in order. He took out his gun from under the dress. How women moved around in a dress, was a mystery to him.
There was still no sign of anyone inside. He climbed the staircase, purposefully skipping numbers three and eight; being the creaking ones; another one of his tactics he had set in place as an early warning system. At the top of the stairs, he paused and listened again. He heard a man's voice he didn’t quite recognize. Could it be the doctor she was with? There was something so familiar about it though, but it was just too soft to distinguish correctly. He should climb up into the roof and look through the trusses first. To be safe. His fingers reached up into the thin crevice to the right of the door, and he pulled down the lever that released the hidden shaft from the wall. Crawling in on all fours was a tight squeeze and he barely fit; glad he had the foresight to take the dress off before he went in.
The Alex Hunt Series Page 15
