The footsteps grew louder. A woman approached the tomb. Mara. Nice timing.
She must have fled the villa after she'd argued with Calderone. She'd changed out of her gown and wore a simple dress and a shawl. She took a candle from her purse, lit it, and placed it on the stand in front of the tomb. What was she doing, praying to the saint? Indy couldn't watch any longer. He stepped forward. "Well, it's not exactly the sewers of Paris, but—"
She spun around, raising a hand to her chest; her eyes were wide with fright. "Indy?"
"Good guess."
"I knew it was you the minute you stepped into the villa. When you were sitting next to me in the car, I thought there was something familiar about the old man. I'm so glad you're here."
"Sure you are. Let's cut the pleasantries, Mara. You're not my favorite person at the moment."
"Indy, it's not what it seems. Believe me, I'm glad I found you... or you found me. I have to get out of Rome and away from Diego. He's a madman. I feel like a captive. Can you help me?"
"I didn't know you wanted to leave." She slid her hand into her purse, and he figured she wasn't reaching for another candle. He caught her wrist. In her grip was his .455 Webley. "Thanks. I was wondering what happened to it."
"I was just going to give it to you."
Indy grinned. "Sure you were. Right in the heart, no doubt."
"You were after the staff, weren't you?"
"Brilliant deduction."
"You've got to get it away from Diego. I'll help you."
"Still playing sides, I see. One against the other."
"You've got to understand. I didn't really believe that the staff would have any sort of effect. I mean not like it does. I just thought it was a relic, you know, and I was going to make a lot of money."
"Yeah, at my expense."
"I'm sorry I hit you. I've felt bad about it ever since. I was so confused."
"And what are you now?"
"I'm concerned that Diego will misuse the powers of the staff. You saw him tonight. You saw how everyone reacted. You should hear him; he thinks he's some sort of god who's going to save the people. But he's deceitful. You were right about him. He made a deal with Walcott to get the staff. I overheard him mention Walcott to one of his men."
"So people are gullible. It's probably got nothing to do with the staff." Indy knew she was quick-witted and an accomplished liar. But, then again, he could use her help. "But for argument's sake, what do you want to do?"
"Indy, I know you doubt what I'm telling you, and you've got reason, plenty of reasons. I was hoping you were okay. How's Jack?"
"Oh, he's just fine." As if they were chatting over cocktails.
"I'm not hiding anything from you. I should've listened to my heart, instead of letting greed get the better of me. I wanted you, Indy. I wanted things to work out."
"But not as much as you wanted the staff."
Her shawl slipped off her shoulders and slid down, bunching around her feet. She took a step toward him, and ran a finger down the front of his shirt. "I want to help you." She slowly raised her eyes. "I'll do anything you want."
"Good. Get me the staff."
She placed her hands on his waist. "I can do it tomorrow."
He pushed her hands away, and picked up her shawl for her. "Why should I believe you?"
She pulled the shawl over her shoulders. "Because you've got to believe me. It's your only chance."
"Has Calderone paid you?"
"Yes, he has, but I'm going to leave the money when I retrieve the alicorn. I just need you to help me get out of the country safely."
It was the first time Indy had heard Mara use that word for the staff. "And what do you think I should do with it?"
"I think it should go back where you got it from. That was the best place for it."
And a place where she might be able to recover it again, Indy thought.
The door creaked open.
"It's probably the custodian," Mara whispered.
Indy tightened his grip on the Webley and ducked back into the shadows as someone slowly descended the stairs.
Mara stared into the darkness as a figure moved toward her. "Diego!"
Calderone touched her arms. "I knew I would find you here. I'm sorry I got angry with you. I should have listened to you. We almost lost the staff. The professor was a fraud."
"What happened?"
"He tried to switch it with a fake one. Do you have any idea who he is?"
She shook her head. "No."
He put his arms around her, and slid a hand inside her dress. She struggled against him. "Please, Diego. No! Don't do that."
"Why so cold?" Calderone asked innocendy. "Can't it be like the old days again for us?"
"That's over. It was your idea, remember? You wanted an Italian wife. A blond American woman wouldn't fit the right image."
"I don't care about images any longer. I care for you. That's all."
Then Indy saw it. Calderone had the staff with him, and it was still in its leather case. He ran the crest along her leg as she struggled to get away.
"Stop it," she demanded. "I mean it, Diego. Let's get out of here."
Indy stepped out into view. "Leave her alone, Calderone." He aimed his Webley at Calderone, who let go of Mara and backed away.
"Mother of God. Who are you?" He glanced at Mara, then back to Indy.
"He was hiding here."
"Why didn't you just tell me?" Calderone was as suspicious about her motives as Indy was.
"Because he would've shot us."
"Give me the staff," Indy ordered.
"You're the old man, but you're not old or a German, are you?"
"The staff, Calderone."
Calderone turned on Mara. "You know him."
"It's not like you think, Diego. I had to take the staff from him."
"Hand it over," Indy demanded.
Calderone raised his chin; his eyes flared. He straightened his back, and clutched the staff to his chest. "Never."
Indy took a couple of steps toward him, cocking the revolver. "Give it to me!"
"Okay. Don't shoot." Calderone held out the staff. The look on his face had shifted from arrogance to fear in a matter of seconds.
Indy snared the staff. "Turn around!"
"Why? What are you going to do?" Calderone started to turn. Indy cracked the butt of the gun against his head, and he slumped to the floor.
"Oh, thank God, Indy. Take me with you. Please. There's nothing for me here."
Calderone groaned and rolled over. "See how he's doing."
As she bent down, Indy struck her at the base of her skull, and she toppled over. "Sorry, Mara. Real sorry. But as they say, what goes around comes around."
He stuck the Webley in his belt and the staff under his arm. He had started to climb the stairs when a sickening thought occurred to him. He stopped hallway up the stairs, unzipped the leather casing, and turned the staff around in his hand.
"Ah, for crying out loud." He should've known. Calderone was carrying the fake. "Somehow, I knew it wasn't going to be quite that simple."
There was nothing to do now but get out of here. He angrily tossed the fake staff into the catacomb, and the glass shaft shattered against the stone floor.
As Indy stepped outside, an old man blocked his way. He looked frightened as his eyes focused on Indy's revolver. "Signore, I don't want any trouble. I'm just supposed to lock the door."
"Be my guest. Lock it tight."
A man dressed in black stepped out from the hedge and raised a revolver. Several more of Calderone's guards moved into view, their weapons all aimed at Indy. "Don't move!"
20
Captivating Encounters
The shuffling of boots and the rattling of keys alerted Indy. The door of the bottleless wine cellar opened and Indy squinted as a torch lit the darkness. Its flickering light revealed three sullen guards. After a sleepless night in his tattered tuxedo and the remains of his disguise, Indy probably
looked as terrible as he felt.
"Does this mean I can go home now?" he asked.
None of them answered. They rushed into the cell, and yanked him out. He was dragged down a hallway and into a larger room with a wooden chair in the center. His hands and feet were buckled into straps, and the guards left.
So the man who was going to save the people from fascism had his very own torture chamber. He probably had several, since he moved around so much. An hour passed in silence. Psychological torture. They'd probably try to get Indy to sign some phony confession saying that he'd attempted to kill Calderone. He could imagine the tactics they'd use. Oddly, the thought of confessing to such a crime made him think about his colleagues in the archaeology department. He could literally hear them talking.
He was supposed to study petroglyphs in the Southwest this summer. Instead, he went to Rome and tried to hill a man who's working to overthrow Mussolini.
I never knew Jones was a Fascist.
No one knows why he did it, but there's a rumor that he thought Calderone was harboring a unicorn, of all things.
I heard he left the desert babbling something about Anazasi astronomers. He must have gone completely mad.
Too bad they executed him. He was a boon for the department.
Wait a minute. Who said anything about an execution? He wasn't confessing to anything.
Footsteps. Two men appeared. The first was a mass of muscles, with a thick neck. He looked like an unhappy bulldog. Just the kind of guy who you'd expect to show up for a torture session. Then Calderone stepped into the room. A gauze pad was taped to the top of his head.
"Good morning, Professor Jones. As you can see, you've turned out to be a big headache for me, a real big headache, and it's put me in a very foul mood." He circled Indy as he spoke, then stopped in front of him and struck him across the face.
The fact that Calderone knew his name meant that Mara must have been talking. Indy wondered how much she'd told Calderone, and exactly what she'd told him. "What do you want from me?"
"I'll ask the questions," Calderone growled. The goon stepped in front of Indy and backhanded him twice across the face. He stripped off his own shirt, revealing beefy arms and a length of thick chain around his neck. He unhooked it, and wrapped it around his fist.
"You see, the more you cooperate, the less Alberto will be required to assist the interrogation," Calderone said. "Is that understood?"
"So get on with it," Indy answered.
Alberto started to backhand him again, this time with the chain, but Calderone held up his hand and the goon stepped back.
"Before you tried to escape, I heard you say something to Mara. I was just waking up, but I heard it clearly. You said, 'What goes around comes around.' Why did you say that? Did Mara do something to you?"
"You could say that. She wanted the staff and me out of the way."
"I see. So she double-crossed you. I think I understand now. You two were in it together. You were going to verify it as authentic, then switch it for a fake. Then the two of you would have the money and the staff."
So that was it. He was trying to pin a conspiracy on him and Mara. "Not even close."
Calderone wasn't finished. "But Mara double-crossed you and took the staff on her own. You showed up, and tried to get it back by making the switch yourself."
"Wrong. We never planned anything together."
"But you wanted it for yourself."
When Indy didn't answer, Calderone reached inside his jacket as if he were about to pull a gun. Instead, he held up Mara's journal. One of the men who'd accosted Indy outside of the catacomb had taken it from him.
"I read this story. Very interesting."
Indy wondered if he'd questioned Mara about it. Maybe she'd come up with an explanation that had satisfied him. But, then again, maybe Indy's insurance policy would still pay off.
Calderone tapped the journal against his palm. "Let me tell you a story now, Professor. Four years ago I fell in love with Mara, and I found out about the alicorn. It interested me, and I said I wanted it. At first, she didn't want any money, only my love. But by the time she left Rome, she demanded a fortune for it. I went along with her, but our relationship has never been the same."
Indy had the feeling from what Mara had said in the catacomb that there was a lot more to it than Calderone's simplified version. "But you could afford to pay what she wanted, I guess."
"Of course. But the point is I lost trust in her."
"I heard you're not so trustworthy yourself. You hired Walcott to get the staff when—"
"I had to protect my interests, and keep track of Mara. I'm not a fool." The goon tensed, but Calderone held him off. He tapped the journal on his palm again. "But now it seems I wasn't as vigilant as I should have been. Do you believe this alicorn is dangerous?"
The goon ran a hand along his chain. He looked as if he were just waiting for a chance to throttle Indy.
"I'm a scientist. I don't believe in superstitions," Indy scoffed. He immediately regretted his words. He'd spoken too quickly. He should've said he believed it was cursed.
But Calderone surprised him. "Good. I'm going to give you the staff. After you do something for me."
"What?"
"I'm not taking any chances with the staff or with Mara. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"No."
"What goes around comes around, as you said. Mara knew that the staff was deadly. She was willing to see me die for my money. Now she's going to pay; you're going to kill her."
"Forget it. I'm not doing your dirty work."
The goon took a menacing step forward and snapped the chain. His face now looked like a bulldog ready to attack.
"It's the best I can offer you. You're not exactly in an advantageous situation." Calderone nodded toward the goon. "I can have you eliminated at any time."
And he probably still planned to do just that, Indy thought. Either that, or Calderone was setting him up so he'd take the blame for Mara's murder. "Mara's your problem, Calderone, not mine. I'm not killing her."
Alberto cracked the chain across Indy's shoulders. Indy winced, and gritted his teeth as he was lashed a second and a third time.
"I'll give you one more chance, Jones. You should feel fortunate to have an opportunity to get away alive."
"Forget it. I'm not making any deals."
Alberto wrapped the chain around his fist and smashed Indy in the jaw.
"Take him back. Let him think about it," Calderone said.
When he showed up at Indy's cell, Calderone was in no mood to talk. He snapped his fingers and the goon appeared with a pail of water. He grabbed Indy by the hair and ducked his head into the pail. A minute later, his head was jerked back and he gasped for air.
"Now are you going to do what I say?" Calderone asked.
Indy could only see a blur in front of him. He was gagging from the water he'd swallowed. Bad water. Suddenly, his gut wrenched, and he spewed a stream of filth over the blur that was Calderone.
A chain-covered fist struck him on the temple. The blur vanished as he sank into darkness.
Indy lay on a slimy floor covered by maggots. They were eating his eyeballs and foraging in his mouth and ears. He couldn't move, he was being eaten alive... Icy water splashed over his face and he jerked out of one nightmare and into another.
Calderone hovered over him. He was saying something about Mara. Kill her... kill her....
Indy lay on mattress springs that felt like barbed wire, and Calderone was standing over him. "Are you going to cooperate, or do you want more?"
Indy managed to sit up. "More what?"
He was groggy, and it took a minute for him to get his wits about him. But it all came back as he saw the goon stretching the chain between his hands. He knew they were going to kill him. "Okay... okay. I'll do it. But I want the staff first."
"Ah, now we're getting somewhere." Calderone turned to the guards. "Clean him up, get him some clothes, and feed him.
I want him ready in an hour."
Mara gazed out the window and watched the guards stationed at the gate of the courtyard. Calderone's men were everywhere, even at her door. She was under orders not to leave the room. The only person besides the guard who had said anything to her today was the doctor who had examined her and said she might have suffered a slight concussion.
Concussion or not, everything was confused now. Where was Diego and what had happened to Indy? Last night, after she had recovered enough to talk, she'd found Diego already alert and in charge. She'd told him about Indy, saying that he was an archaeologist who had stumbled onto the trail of the staff and that she'd left him for dead in the desert. But she knew Diego was suspicious.
Maybe Diego had spied on her. A short time after she'd returned to New Mexico, she'd started corresponding with Indy. Had Calderone found out about it? At first, she had just wanted to renew her relationship with Indy, but soon she realized that he might help her find the alicorn. Although she'd kept the details to herself while waiting to see him in person, she'd wanted him to join her as a partner. She'd even planned to share the money equally with him. But then everything had gotten confused. Now, the three of them—herself, Indy, and Diego—had come together in a fateful collision of aspirations.
A knock on the door. She turned from the window as Diego entered the room. "Why have you locked me in here?" she demanded.
"I know what you're up to, Mara. You're trying to undermine everything that I've attained."
"What are you talking about?"
He pointed to the bed. "Sit down."
"Go on, tell me. How am I undermining you? I'm trying to help you." She reached out to him, but he pushed her firmly down onto the bed.
"You know me, Mara. I'm a religious man. I believe in good and evil and that we are God's children and must follow His wishes. I believe Italy is under the influence of an evil force, who should be removed from power."
She gave him a hurt look. "You don't have to lecture me on your religion or your politics. I'm very familiar with both. What's your point?"
Indiana Jones and the Unicorn's Legacy Page 20
