by J. R. Rain
Motumbo rushed up to him, and, to our horror, stabbed him in the abdomen. It was beyond cowardly, and he twisted the scarab’s blade while grinning into Akiiki’s surprised face.
Akiiki fell to his knees before collapsing on the sand, a crimson stain spreading fast.
“Oh, he won’t die yet,” said Motumbo, threatening Ishi with the knife before wiping the blade across my little buddy’s chest. I could tell from Ishi’s expression he was about to lash out at our tormentor. I kicked a small spray of sand at him, and shook my head subtly when he looked at me, his eyes dark with rage. “But Akiiki will die soon. Say what you must to him today, and the wound will bleed out slowly. He should be ready for butchering tonight, and in the morning he will be breakfast. Ishi will provide our midday sustenance, and by nightfall, my men will have tired of your woman, Nick. We will roast what’s left of her...alive.”
He stepped over to me again.
“Then comes you,” he said, almost nonchalantly. “We will slice you like an apple the following day, from morning until dusk. Or...you can tell us where the gold is, and we will let the three of you go, and satisfy our hunger with just the Egyptian.”
“Like I told you—”
“Yes, I know,” he interrupted me. “You don’t have any fucking idea where it is. A shame. Really.”
He invaded my personal space once more.
“To show the good will I sometimes have toward my fellow man, I will remove your bonds this night,” he said. “I will also remove the woman’s and your monkey-friend’s bonds. But the sooner you tell me what I want to know, the sooner you may leave. Otherwise, here is your mirror—here is what you all are destined to become.”
He pointed the scarab at Akiiki. The color was fading rapidly from our guide’s countenance, along with his life force. He would certainly die sooner than Motumbo predicted, unless we could stop the bleeding. But all that would do is prolong the inevitable.
I heard the bonds sliced away from Marie and Ishi, though I scarcely acknowledged it. Instead I was drawn to Akiiki’s bravery and his labored breaths.
His death would be the first and surely not the last tragedy in this now-cursed place. We had already lost a treasure beyond anything we would likely see ever again, and now I was faced with losing my best friend and my new love.
Life sucked right about then.
Chapter Nine
I’m not the superstitious type.
In fact, I’ve always prided myself on not giving into superstitious notions like curses, spiritual intervention, or prayers to some benevolent but vaguely defined deity.
Hard work and keeping one’s eyes open for opportunities, when such events present themselves, has been my personal creed. I admit to rarely thinking of anything beyond the next dig or exploratory adventure through some uncharted jungle. So, when I comforted Marie in what I assumed would be our last night together on earth, I felt shamed by my fervent, silent pleas sent heavenward for her and Ishi’s survival.
Marie fell asleep in my arms, since I was reluctant to let her lay by my side. My right arm had fallen numb when I was awakened shortly after midnight. At first, I thought it was another dreamscape featuring my father again, with yet another helping of sage bullshit on how to escape this latest misadventure I had stepped into. But two heavily armed guards stood behind the kid who nudged my feet and legs. Their guns were pointed at my midsection, and in broken English, they told me to get off my ass and follow.
Motumbo, of course, was waiting for me to take a seat in the tent his men had set up for him the previous afternoon. A wooden crate used as a table was all that separated us, and a kerosene light was the lone item gracing the crate’s surface.
“Nicholas, how nice!”
“What in the hell do you want?” I responded icily.
“I like that about you, Nick...all business,” he said, chuckling. He took his seat across from me, lighting up a cigarette. After taking a drag he offered the fag to me. I shook my head. “Suit yourself. But, all this suffering can be avoided if you just tell me what I want to know.”
“Do you think I want to watch a man die? Akiiki may be dead already, and Ishi will be next. All for what? Some asshole’s refusal to comprehend that none of us know where Sekhmet’s goddamned treasure disappeared to!”
He didn’t respond right away, and I waited for him to motion for the bandit in the doorway to put a bullet in my head or bludgeon me with a rifle butt.
“Yes, it is the story you stubbornly maintain—one that cannot be confirmed,” he said, smiling at me, despite the ever-present anger in his eyes. “The problem is you did see the gold, and undoubtedly could give us a detailed description of the legendary items we seek. We are agreed that wherever the gold resides, it is substantial. As for the truth? The light in your eyes this afternoon, when we had our first discussion, told me a great deal. If we had found your hiding place by now, we wouldn’t be bothering to keep you comfortable while waiting for you to come to your senses, Nick. Innocent blood is on your hands, and more blood will be shed.”
Unquenchable wickedness in the eyes, death in the menacing tone. A true sweetheart in every sense of the word.
“Yeah...you’re right. I hid it,” I said, feeling my blood boil. “I found myself a fleet of semi’s and loaded everything up while you were taking a piss! Of course, I didn’t hide anything!”
“I could gut you like a pig myself, and serve your sides as bacon at sunrise!” he sneered, rising from his chair and leaning over the table. I sensed the guard behind me moving closer.
“Maybe,” I countered bravely. “But you still won’t have your loot!”
“Maybe I should awaken Ishi, or better yet, the whore you seem most fond of,” he said, blowing a stream of smoke in my face. Insult to injury. “We don’t have to wait until morning.”
“Harm them and I’ll close down harder than an old oyster,” I said, giving him the same menacing tone. “Like I said, I have no fucking idea where the gold disappeared to. But, if you harm Ishi and Marie in any way, even if I do happen to think of a handy clue, I’ll take it with me to the grave! You got that, asshole?!”
Hard to say how much English the guard understood, but apparently my heated enunciation was enough to piss him off. He brought a machete over and cupped it under my left ear, against my carotid. I leaned into it while never removing my angry gaze from Motumbo. A bloody stream flowed down my neck. I began to smile as Motumbo looked taken aback. Furious, he waved the guard off.
“Ghafur will take you back to your tent,” said Motumbo. “I need time to think, and so do you, Nick Caine.”
“Like you, I’m not exactly doing cartwheels knowing the gold is missing,” I said, as the guard forcibly removed my ass from his boss’s presence. “If I figure it out, you’ll be among the first to know.”
* * *
Another guard joined Ghafur as he escorted me back to my tent. All the while, my heart thudded mightily. Not fearing death at the hands of either miscreant, I worried about the fate of Marie and Ishi. It was a foregone conclusion Akiiki would die during the night...if he hadn’t already expired.
I doubted I’d sleep any more that night, and planned to scheme some way out of our unfortunate predicament. The three of us needed a way of escape, although a plan was not yet apparent.
The glow from a moon two days past its fullness bathed the desert, and the light crept in under the ledge above our camp. I wondered if Akiiki had died, and if Ishi shared his tent with a corpse. As we approached the tent on the way to mine, it seemed unnaturally still. Empty. I entertained the fantasy that Ishi had escaped, as his light snores I’d become accustomed to were absent. While it was possible he slept deeply that night, it was just as likely he lay awake, listening to me slow down as we reached his tent. I wanted to send a message for him to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice, but had no means to safely convey it.
A gun barrel jabbed my ribs from behind when my pace slowed to a shuffle. No longer restrained by bond
s, I could take my chances with the pair. But both were armed with assault rifles and swords. I might beat one, but the odds of beating two were not worth the gamble.
We arrived at my tent, where I prayed Marie slept in peace, I glanced toward the dig site. Not sure why, or what it was that drew my attention to it. Maybe it was the man standing at the mouth of the hole my companions and I dug into the sand two days prior. The man wore a sly grin, and I was surprised to discern it from that distance. It made sense once I recognized the figure.
Dad?
Almost solid in the moonlight, the apparition reached up and tipped its hat, and the smile widened. Garish since the pallid face bore empty sockets. Nonetheless, I drew hope from seeing it. Especially, when neither of my escorts seemed to notice, their carefree strides through the sand not slowing as they hurried to deliver me to my temporary haven. Knowing how skittish most native peoples are of nightly specters, they might’ve left me standing in meaningless freedom while they ran for cover. Then again, they were bandits...and bad people generally fear nothing other than the end of their own lives.
The pair waited for me to step inside the tent. For a moment, I feared they might follow me in. Hell, it would be easy enough to club me over the head and have their way with my unsuspecting sweetheart. I guess I could call her that, since it sounded less restrictive than the usual possessive terms we both loathed like ‘girlfriend’ or ‘my woman.’
Thankfully, neither one stepped beyond the threshold, although both peered into the tent, surely trying to catch a glimpse of her prone loveliness. I glared at them and pulled the entrance flap shut, securing it tightly in obvious contempt for their prying eyes.
I could hear Marie’s steady breaths. She was at peace for now. Stirring as I climbed under the covers, I kissed her cheek. I detected the faint outline of her smile, and pulled away before she could discern my worried frown.
Prepared to fight to the death for her and Ishi, I let her snuggle against my chest. When she fell into deeper sleep, I let my thoughts run free, considering every event since we’d left Cairo. I needed to find something overlooked. Something to give me an angle to play against Motumbo and his cronies. Something known to my father’s ghost, perhaps?
Whatever the case, there had to be an edge too obvious to see at first glance.
There just had to be.
Chapter Ten
I awoke at daybreak with Marie still in my arms.
I was disappointed. Not at her, but the fact that I’d fallen asleep before I could roll the past four days through my head. I was no closer to a possible solution for our present circumstances than I was five hours earlier. And there were no dreams, either. No fatherly advice from the other side, as I had hoped.
That’s why I hate superstitions. Shit happens regardless of how we want it to play out. Gotta make your own way...so here comes the lemonade.
All that pitty-pot bullshit rarely stays with me for long, and that morning was no different. Maybe it was because there was nothing to drink or smoke, since Motumbo and his men had pillaged our tent the afternoon before, taking anything of value. Only my hat, college school ring, and of course, the loaded gun still strapped around my thigh escaped the thugs’ attention.
“Do you think they’ll kill Ishi today?”
Marie said this after kissing me good morning. But it seemed she suddenly remembered where we were, and hurriedly dressed. She started straightening things around the tent. I could almost taste her apprehension and need for order in an environment that had been stripped of it.
“That’s the plan, I reckon,” I said, sitting up. “I imagine we’ll be summoned out of here in a minute. How long has the light been on?” I pointed to the lantern by her pillow.
“Since my phone woke me at five.”
Surprised I didn’t recall hearing it go off, I felt more out of sorts. Out of synch again. Not a good thing.
“What time is it now?” I rushed to dress, reaching for my hat and shoes. I expected an interruption at any moment by a bandit or two bursting into the tent. “It seems a little dark out there.”
“Well...it’s because of the clouds,” she said, after pulling back the entrance flap to peer outside. “It’s going on six-thirty.”
“Clouds? What frigging clouds?!”
“Those clouds.”
She pointed skyward through a small crack near the top of the entrance. I stepped over and peered over her shoulder at the darkness above.
“What in the...?”
“I was just thinking the same thing,” she said, nodding with subdued smugness. It was a cheap victory. “How often do storm clouds, laden with moisture like these, make it out to the middle of a desert without dissipating?”
“Not often...if ever.”
So, maybe I was wrong about being left with nothing, after all. The wheels in this cunning head of mine began spinning.
“What?” Marie smiled while looking up at me, and I swear my heart began to melt. I hated what was happening—both in our world and to me personally. But it seemed fitting that I would die and lose everything when I finally found what I was missing all these years. And to think less than a week ago this damned woman worked my last nerve incessantly.
Love ain’t blind or fickle. It’s bipolar.
“I’ve got an idea,” I told her, and unzipped the flap—in direct defiance to Motumbo’s orders from last night. “Stay inside until I tell you it’s safe—”
“Are you insane, Nick?!”
“Yeah, a little. But you already knew that.”
“Don’t go!”
“Shhh! I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
I half-expected to be accosted and perhaps forced back inside our burlap prison cell. But the guards stationed the night before were absent. Or, so I thought...until I noticed they and half a dozen others were gathered near the entrance to Ishi and Akiiki’s tent.
My heart sank, and, despite leaving Marie unprotected from the other assholes in this troupe, I nearly ran to my buddy’s tent. I pictured horrible abuse as these cannibals set out to tenderize Ishi’s flesh, since he was supposed to be lunch. No doubt, Akiiki’s corpse had already been removed, and was likely headed for the long pole-spit over the campfire I noticed on my midnight stroll to Motumbo’s office.
I prepared myself for either a gun barrel shoved in my face or a rifle-butt to the gut. But the bandits scarcely noticed me. Their attention was either captured by the curious cloud formation hovering above the site, or drawn to a peculiar trail of footprints between the dig site and the guys’ tent. Other bandits gathered around the scaffold, which appeared to have been restored. Motumbo was with them. His presence kept me from noticing why the footprints were traceable in shifting sand. Until I looked again.
Blood. A trail of crimson splotches ran along side the prints.
“Nick.” A familiar, low whisper.
“Ishi?”
He stumbled out of the tent behind me, and at first I worried he had been violated by men known to copulate with farm animals and camels in desperate times. But no one followed him out of the tent, and none of the guards paid him any more attention than they had my presence. I suddenly understood the wariness in their eyes was due to fear, and not their natural predatory instincts.
“He’s gone, Nick!”
“Akiiki? So, he did die last night,” I said, for the moment ignoring the obvious connection to the bloody trail. “Where did they take his body?”
“No, Nick...he’s gone!”
I wasn’t sure where the disconnect was, but it felt like we were holding two separate conversations.
“I get it, Ishi...he’s dead, and now they’ll—”
“No, Boss, he didn’t die!” he persisted. “Don’t you see?”
My Tawankan pal motioned from the tent to the desert, while our guards looked on, as if he were demonstrating the flow of a cave drawing to a pack of Neanderthals. Meanwhile, I craned my neck toward the campfire pit, expecting to see the Egyptian’s body—or
body parts—rotating slowly over a low fire. But the pit sat empty, with only a handful of men mulling around.
“I don’t follow you, buddy,” I said, wondering when Motumbo would order Ishi to the slaughter pen. I studied him closely, looking for telltale welts and bruises. There were none. No tenderizing just yet. “If Akiiki’s alive, you know these assholes will be sending out a search party for him, if they haven’t done so already.”
“They’ll never find him...he’s with her...”
“Huh? What in the hell are you babbling about now?”
“She has saved him, Boss. Don’t you see? It’s the only thing that makes sense!”
And just like that, my concerned fatherly look melted into disdain.
“Ishi, quit screwing around, damn it! If you don’t want to tell me where he went to, so be it. But stop with this frigging nonsense! Knowing where Akiiki disappeared to might be the only thing that keeps you among the living past noon. Comprende?”
He shook his head, eyeing me sullenly.
“All right, then.” I lowered my voice and moved closer, our shared ripeness from three days in the unforgiving heat noticeable. He stood his ground, our eyes locked. “Now, is Akiiki alive or dead?”
“He is alive.”
“How do you know? Did you see him rise up and leave in the night, or did an angel bring tidings of great joy and tell you he was no longer here? And by tidings, I’m talking about booze.”
“That’s not fair, Boss—I drank nothing last night!”
“Well...then how do you know?”
“Because he told me. He said, ‘I will be okay, Ishi. The wound won’t heal without Sekhmet...and she is calling. I will go to her before dawn.”
Though I wasn’t ready to believe any of it, I thought about the immense room inside the temple. A room filled with enough gold to challenge several freight trucks to transport—even if there had been a damned road leading right up to the temple entrance. Yet, somehow, all of it had disappeared in less than thirty minutes, seemingly into thin air. Not to mention, the immense room was cleaned completely; as in, not even three-thousand-year-old dust remained.
