Templars Quest Trilogy: The Lost Ark (Books 1-3 The Templars Quest Chronicles)

by Thomas H. Ward

  I didn’t care for the way Carlos looked. He had a sneaky demeanor about him. He was a small skinny guy with beady dark eyes and was always smiling. His clothes were dirty and he looked a mess.

  As they walked away, Maria smiled at us. “Remember, anything you want, let me know.”

  I watched her nice butt sway as they entered the kitchen and the door swung shut. I had to watch her, after all, I am not dead.

  Baldwin said, “That was weird.”

  As I looked at my beer I said, “Yeah, I guess she’s a hooker.”

  I picked up the beer to take a sip and it was warm so I smelled it. It didn’t smell right, so I took a tiny sip of foam off the top. It tasted bitter and had an odor about it that I had smelled before, but couldn’t place it. I didn’t like the nasty smell.

  Baldwin held his beer mug up, “Cheers.”

  I stopped his hand before he could take a drink. “Wait … I think the beer is laced.”

  Baldwin smelled it. “I agree it doesn’t smell normal. You think they’re trying to poison us?”

  “I hate to say it, but yes.”

  “Why would they do that?”

  “George, they want our weapons and trucks.”

  With that comment Baldwin stood up, went to the window, and peeked outside. “The crowd is getting bigger. There must be two-hundred people out there now.”

  Just then, the Rosebud brothers came out of the kitchen. “What are you looking at?” Jessie asked.

  George turned and replied, “Just checking on my men.” He walked back to the table and sat down.

  Jessie nodded and sat down next to Baldwin. Jimmy scooted a chair up alongside of me. “Y’all didn’t drink your beers,” Jimmy said.

  I replied, “Sorry, but we don’t drink.”

  “You don’t drink! Come on now. Let’s have one drink as friends. Carlos, bring Jessie and I a beer.”

  “Si, Jefe,” Carlos yelled.

  A few minutes later, Maria strolled over to the table with two more beers, placing them in front of our hosts. Following behind her was sneaky looking Carlos. Maria stood directly behind me and once again placed her hand on my shoulder and squeezed it. Carlos stood behind Baldwin.

  We don’t like people standing behind us, especially people we don’t know. Call us paranoid, but you never know what could happen.

  The Rosebuds picked up their beers and said, “Cheers.” George and I just sat there and didn’t say a word. “Come on, you boys gotta drink up!” Jessie said.

  “Like we told you, we don’t drink,” Baldwin said.

  Jimmy changed the subject. “Well, how do y’all like Maria?”

  “Yeah, she’s a looker alright,” I said.

  “Jack, go ahead, take her upstairs, and have some fun.”

  Maria replied, “Si Mr. Jack, I would like that,” as she grabbed both my shoulders massaging them, while digging in her nails.

  “Sorry honey, I can’t do that.”

  “Are you a queer?” Jessie asked. Carlos laughed at the comment.

  Jimmy said, “Yeah. Are you queers? Shit, we don’t cotton to queers around here.” With that comment he pulled his gun out of its shoulder holster, placing it on the table.

  “Why’d you pull that out?” I asked.

  “Shit, you won’t drink our beer, or take Maria, so we can’t trust y’all. Maybe you want another lady? Maria, bring two more ladies here, pronto.”

  “Jimmy, that’s not necessary. The truth is, we’re happily married men and don’t fool around.”

  “I understand now. You guys are pussy whipped.” The Rosebud brothers laughed out loud, as did ugly little Carlos.

  “I think it’s sweet, they’re loyal to their wives,” Maria commented.

  Jessie growled, “Shut the hell up, Maria. Nobody asked your opinion.” He reached over the table and slapped her hard in the head.

  “Sheriff, that’s no way to treat a lady,” Baldwin commented.

  “Shit, she’s no lady. She’s my whore and I own her.”

  With that comment, Baldwin and I looked at each other. It was becoming clear that the Rosebud boys were not very friendly people. I suspected we were going to have a run-in with them before we left the good town of Mountainair.

  “You can’t own anyone, it’s against the law,” I replied.

  “Law! We are the law around here,” Jimmy said. “We’re the judge and jury also.”

  “Yeah, we don’t need no stinking badges,” Jessie replied. Both of them starting laughing until tears ran down their cheeks.

  I peered over at Baldwin and he had a disgusted look on his face. I knew he wanted to kill these guys as much as I did. These jerks had no respect for the law or the United States Constitution.

  I noticed that Jimmy reached out, placing his hand on the gun sitting in front of him. It was a Smith and Wesson M&P 9 mm. I kept my eye on him, closely observing his face and hand. I was planning some type of action in case he actually pointed that gun at us.

  “Why are you boys going to Arizona with armored Hummers and big machine guns?” Jimmy asked, as he twirled the gun around on top the table.

  This was clearly a threatening move he was making. Jimmy was reminding us he had his gun out and would use it if necessary.

  I replied, “We’re on a mission to rescue some family members for the Army and take them back to Florida with us.” I had no choice but to lie to the dirtbag.

  “Where in Florida?” Jimmy asked.

  “Tocabaga Island.”

  “Never heard of it. Where’s that at?”

  “It’s near Tampa Bay,” I replied, not wanting to tell him the exact location.

  “You boys are a long way from home. Now, let’s discuss our fees.”

  “What kind of fees?”

  “Well, to safely pass through Mountainair, it will cost you. It’s a simple fee system; $5,000 for every man, so that comes to $150,000. Each truck will cost you $10,000. That comes to $90,000, which brings it to a grand total of $240,000.”

  “Are you crazy?” Baldwin asked.

  Jimmy stopped twirling the gun. “You think we’re crazy?” Jimmy asked.

  Jimmy was sitting right next to me. I could quickly reach out, grab the gun, and turn it on them. However, firing it might attract the attention of the crowd gathering outside around our vehicles.

  I advised, “Your price is a little steep. We didn’t expect you’d charge us for passing through your town.”

  “We gotta make money somehow,” Jessie said. “Do you have that much money?”

  We did have that much, but it would drain our cash resources. I certainly wasn’t going to give it to these dirtbags.

  “No, we don’t have that much,” I told Jessie.

  “How much do you got?”

  “We can give you $50,000 cash.”

  “Ok, we’ll take that and one of those Hummers to make up the difference.”

  “You’re nuts,” Baldwin said.

  Jimmy pointed his gun at Baldwin. “If you call us crazy again, I’m gonna shoot you in the face.” Jessie and Jimmy both had a shit-eating grin on their face.

  Now that was clearly a threat to kill Baldwin and me so I calculated the odds of grabbing his gun before he could shoot me.

  Jimmy said, “Looks to me like you boys got no choice.”

  All of sudden the front door opened and Maggie walked in. “Jack, there’s a lot of people out here! I suggest … we leave,” as she sized up the situation, Maggie stopped speaking.

  Jimmy and Jessie both turned to observe Maggie and I made my move. I swiftly grabbed the gun, twisting it out and away of his hand. Jimmy jumped up, and I swung the barrel cold-cocking him hard as I could in the face. The blow knocked him to the floor.

  Jessie made a move to draw his gun but Baldwin beat him to the draw, getting the drop on him. He submitted by raising his hands. To my surprise, Jimmy wasn’t fully knocked out and grabbed my leg, trying to drag me to the floor.

  I tossed his gun to Captain Baldwin an
d pulled out my Cold Steel knife. Dropping down, slamming my right knee into his chest, I stabbed Jimmy in the center of the throat, and in one smooth fast move, sliced it open so he couldn’t yell. He would slowly bleed out and die in a minute or two. You could hear his blood gurgling as he gasped for air.

  Jessie yelled, “You bastard! You killed my brother!”

  Jumping up I told him, “Shut the fuck up or you’re next,” while holding my knife to his throat. I pulled his gun out of the holster and tossed to the other side of the room.

  I noticed Carlos and Maria suddenly made a dash towards the kitchen. I shouted, “Maggie, get them!”

  Maggie, like a lioness on the hunt, quickly leaped down two stairs and flew past our table on a full run, catching Maria before she made it to the kitchen door. Maggie drew her Barong Machete and whacked Maria in the right arm, just below the shoulder, almost severing it. It was hanging by the skin as she fell to the floor screaming, with bright red blood squirting from her stump.

  After pausing for a second to observe Maria, Maggie ran through the kitchen door after Carlos. The door banged shut. We heard pots and pans banging around or being thrown, along with a lot of yelling. A few minutes later, the shouting and banging stopped and all was still.

  The kitchen door slowly opened. Maggie walked out holding his head up by the hair. “I got the little bastard!” She dropped the bloody head next to Maria.

  Laying on her back bleeding out, Maria whimpered, “My arm is gone. I’m worthless … I beg you … please help me.”

  I glanced over at Maggie who placed the tip of her machete on Maria’s chest. Maggie looked at me and I nodded approval. With one strong fast thrust Maggie shoved the big blade into Maria’s chest, and the beauty was instantly dead. She felt no pain. I made the sign of the cross as she let out her last breath.

  I didn’t wanna kill Maria, but she was right, without her arm she was worthless. She would probably die a long painful death from infection or continue to live as a one-arm sex slave.

  I felt regret for killing Maria. Maybe I should have stopped Maggie from cutting off her arm, but it all happened so fast I didn’t know she was going to do that. On the other hand, Maria probably would have run to warn the others that I killed Jimmy. What’s done is done, and it can’t be changed. I wondered how God would judge our actions. I should have known better than to release the lioness.

  Maggie walked over to me and asked, “What’s wrong with these people?”

  Jessie, sitting there with his hands up in shock, asked, “Who’s this bitch?”

  I replied, “She’s an Amazon Warrior, your worst nightmare. Shut your face!”

  I noticed she had been cut across the forehead and her left sleeve was sliced open. Blood was dripping down her hand.

  Years ago, when I sensed the country was changing for the worst, I started training women how to shoot and fight so they could defend themselves against any evil-doers. I started training Amy, my daughter first, and then Maggie. Slowly but surely, other women became interested in self-defense. Now we have a select group of twenty women warriors who can shoot with the best. They train every week at the farm. I call them the Amazon Warriors, and believe me, you don’t want to mess with any of them. They would cut your balls off and hand them to you on a plate.

  The legendary Amazon Warriors are believed to have lived in a part of modern day Turkey. There they formed an independent all-woman kingdom ruled by a Queen. They were also called the Androktones, or killers of men. No men were permitted to reside in Amazon country. Once a year, to prevent their race from dying out, they would visit a neighboring tribe. Any male children who were born from these visits were killed or sent back to their fathers. The girls were brought up by their mothers and trained in the art of war. When they went to war, men would be taken as slaves or killed. When they grew tired of a man, he would be killed or forced to leave their country.

  My Amazon Warriors, or Androktones, are the police force for Tocabaga Island. They all carry the deadly Barong Machete, which they have been fully trained to use. The Barong is shaped like a small sword. The 14 inch sharp blade has a point so the user can stab, slice, or dice the enemy.

  Baldwin said, “Maggie, let me see your arm.” She moved next to him while I guarded Jessie. Ripping open her sleeve, she had a deep cut across her forearm. The wound on her head was most likely caused by a flying pot or pan during the fight. “This arm might need some stitches.”

  Baldwin patched her up, cleaning the wounds with antiseptic and placed a bandage on them. He tightly wrapped her cut arm with tape. Maggie is one tough cookie. She can handle almost any man and for sure any woman. I’ve see her in battle and she’s fast as lighting, strong, and knows just about every combat move in the book.

  “Jack, there’s a lot of people out there. How are we gonna get out of here?” Maggie asked.

  “Mr. Rosebud is gonna give us safe passage.”

  Jessie replied, “Go fuck yourself. You’ll never get out of Mountainair alive.”

  I pressed my blade to his throat until it cut the skin and started to draw blood. Jessie winced in pain. “Jessie, I can make this very painful for you. I’m somewhat of an expert with knives. I like what they can do to pricks like you.”

  I started to slice his face slowly, one cut at a time. No deep cuts, just enough to make him bleed. If you slice just about skin deep the blood really flows out. He tried to fight back but I stabbed him in his gun hand and that really hurt him as blood ran out of the veins. Jessie yelled, “You bastard! I’m gonna kill you.”

  “No, Jessie you got it all wrong. I’m gonna kill you and then we’ll blast our way out of this dump. Maggie, zip tie his hands behind him.”

  Maggie pulled out zip cuffs and tied his hands behind him. I kept slicing his face and blood was freely flowing into his eyes. When blood flows into your eyes it burns and blurs your vision.

  “Maggie, find me a salt shaker,” I said. She went behind the bar and tossed me one. I sprinkled the salt directly into his wounds. Boy does that smart! He started to yell, so I shoved my bandana into his big mouth to muffle his screams.

  I said, “Now I’m going to cut off one of your ears, then the other, and finally your nose unless you co-operate. If you don’t co-operate, I’ll cut off every digit you have including that little dick you got.”

  Baldwin was guarding the door as Maggie ran over next to me. “Jack, let me cut off his little prick.”

  “OK, go ahead. Here’s my knife.”

  “I’ll use my machete. Should I cut off his balls, too?”

  “Yeah, why not? Balls are no good without a prick.” We started to laugh, except for Jessie who looked terrified, as Maggie started to unfasten his belt.

  Jessie had just witnessed Maggie kill Maria and Carlos so he knew Maggie wasn’t messing around. Jessie started to mumble something so I took the rag out of his mouth. “You say something, Jessie?”

  “I’ll do whatever you want just don’t cut me anymore.”

  “Don’t believe him, Jack,” Maggie said. “Let me cut that little prick off.”

  “Jessie, you better do what I say or Maggie will cut it off.”

  “Ok, whatever you say,” Jessie stated. His face was a bloody mess. I could tell he was broken from the torture. Of course he didn’t want to lose the family jewels.

  “Maggie, wipe his face off with some water so he don’t look like a bloody piece of meat.”

  Baldwin warned us, “Hurry up, some people are coming this way.”

  After his face was cleaned off I pulled Jessie to his feet. Drawing out my Glock, I held it to his head while holding onto his hands tied behind his back. “Jessie, we’re going out so tell your minions to back off or I’ll kill you on the spot. You’ll be the first one to die. That’s a promise.”

  He softly replied, “Ok.”

  “I’ll go out first with the little prick and he’ll tell his men to back off. Maggie, you cover one direction and George the other, but first radio our men
to be ready to roll out fast and provide us cover.”

  Baldwin got on the radio and told our men to start the engines and be ready to roll out fast. He warned them to be prepared to defend the convoy.

  I walked out the door holding Jessie tightly in front of me. Following right behind us, Maggie covered the south side of the street and George the north. The crowd just looked at us as I poked Jessie in the head with my pistol. “Tell them to back off now and let us leave. Otherwise, I’ll kill your ass.”

  Jessie complied with my orders. He shouted, “Everyone back off and let these people leave or they’ll kill me. They already killed Jimmy, Carlos, and Maria.” The crowd stopped approaching us, following his orders.

  We climbed into the back of my pickup bed and stood up, holding my gun to Jessie’s head for all to see. The mob started to close in as our convoy quickly pulled away. They ran after us for a few hundred feet, but we were soon out of their range. The good thing was no shots were fired.

  Reaching the western edge of town, our convoy stopped before reaching another roadblock. I told Jessie, “You did a good job back there. Now get us through this road block. I give you my word, I’ll let you go on the other side.”

  Jessie told his men to move the roadblock and let us safely pass or we would kill him. The guards followed his orders so we quickly drove past them. The truth was the eight man guard team was no match for us. We could have gunned our way through the roadblock, but I didn’t want to risk any of us getting shot.

  We were safely down the road about 600 yards when I radioed the convoy to stop so I could release Jessie. Cutting off his zip cuffs, I told him to beat it. I watched him run down the middle of the highway until he was about 300 yards out.

  Walking up to the last Hummer, driven by Jeff, I told him, “Ok, open fire on them. Kill Jessie and the guards.” I gave Jessie my word to let him go. I didn’t give my word that I wouldn’t kill him.

  Without asking me any questions, the big fifty caliber M2 machine gun opened up. I got the satisfaction of seeing Jessie fall to the ground. The rounds started to hit the trucks and men at the roadblock. They were getting peppered because 600 yards is well within killing range for an M2. After a few hundred rounds, Jeff stopped firing.