A Dubious Race: The Phoenician Stones (A Colton Banyon Mystery Book 14)

by Gerald J Kubicki

  As she passed through the door and onto the porch, she found Chase standing on the edge issuing orders. His people were running everywhere at once.

  “I want the RPGs set up in a triangle,” he yelled. “Carrie, you go left, Missy, you go right and Toni I want you straight out.” Loni watched as two women in dresses bolted from the second SUV carrying some sort of shoulder launcher. A man ran straight out into the desert. The first woman slid on the ground and hid behind a boulder. The second woman dove into a depression in the sand. All Loni could think about was her cleaning bill as she blew a strand of her dark hair from her face. It had escaped her severe ponytail during the fighting.

  “What’s going on Chase?” Loni inquired.

  “We’re about to get some company,” he replied and pointed to a black dot in the sky. It was clearly heading their way.

  “Looks like a helicopter,” Loni remarked. “It’s probably coming to extract the men on the porch.”

  “I agree. Our radar picked them up a minute ago,” Chase said over his shoulder.

  “Radar, what radar?”

  “Our emergency vehicles are all equipped with a radar unit,” he replied. “See the dish on the roof.” He pointed to the lead SUV.

  “There might be more attackers,” Loni exclaimed.

  “Or they could have some guns on the chopper,” Chase said. “But don’t worry, we’ll be prepared.”

  “What do you want from me?” She nervously asked. She didn’t know if she could gather up enough energy to fight right then.

  “I need you to take Joey back inside the ranch, as far away from the front as possible. If the people in the chopper attack, I want him out of the way. My people will take up the firing positions in the windows.”

  “Chase, you should know that Joey told me there is a secret back exit into tunnels under the mountain. I’ll keep him safe,” she said with determination.

  “Good, some of us may need the escape route too,” he said solemnly. “Now hurry, little one, the chopper will be here in less than a minute.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The black dot grew larger and larger in the sky and finally settled about a hundred feet from the front porch. The giant praying mantis like machine hovered in the air, but made little noise. It did kick up lots of dust in every direction. Chase’s people in the desert were cloaked by the dust storm.

  Loni was right, it was a helicopter, but it was a special helicopter. It was an army Cobra battle ship. It hung menacingly in the air and bristled with machine guns, rocket launchers and other lethal looking weapons. Chase stood facing the monster on the edge of the porch with one arm holding his hat in place. His other hand was in his front pants pocket. After a few seconds of intimidation, the black machine touched the ground and the propeller spooled down. The desert was once again quiet and calm.

  “Howdy,” Chase yelled out in a friendly voice when it was quiet enough to be heard. “How ya’ll doing on this fine day.”

  A disembodied voice came over a loudspeaker. “We’ve come for our men and Joey Brownwater. Don’t try to stop us.”

  Chase turned his back to the threatening machine and surveyed the attackers lined up on the porch. Two had gunshot wounds in their legs. One had a knife hole in his side. Another had a crushed nose. The fifth man clearly had a concussion and the final man sported a broken kneecap.

  He turned back to the Cobra, “I don’t think that will be possible,” Chase said in his lawyer voice. “Why would we want to do that?”

  “Because if you don’t, we’ll blow the ranch house to smithereens,” the tinny voice said. “You would all die.”

  “Oh, I doubt that you will do that,” Chase said wagging his finger. “If you do, you will also kill Joey Brownwater.”

  “He means nothing to us.”

  “Oh, come now, we know that you work for Goblin International, Inc. and you want the land for the mineral rights. You can’t get them if he is dead. He has a will,” Chase bluffed. He didn’t know if the twenty-year old Indian had a will.

  “What are you a friggin lawyer?”

  “Yes, actually I’m his lawyer,” Chase explained.

  “I’m going to blow you and this entire mountain to hell,” the voice threatened again in a more agitated tone.

  “I don’t think so,” Chase said as he shook his head.

  “How are you going to stop me?”

  “Well, the way I see it,” Chase said. “It’ll take at least four of your missiles to break through the three foot walls behind me. You’ll be dead before you get off your second shot.”

  “You don’t scare us,” the voice answered.

  “Well maybe this will,” Chase calmly replied. He drew out a remote from his pocket and held it high in the air. “This remote will activate three RPGs pointed at your precious bird. If you make any menacing move, I’ll press the button.”

  After a few seconds the speaker came back on. “You’re a liar. We only see two RPGs and can take them out any time we want.”

  “That’s because the third one is behind you,” Chase explained. “That will be the one that kills you, asshole — you can’t even see him.”

  After a few seconds the voice replied. “This feels like a Mexican standoff. We all could die here,” the tough guy behind the speaker announced.

  “Yup,” Chase agreed and nodded his head. “You are correct, but there is a way to resolve this without bloodshed,” the lawyer pointed out with a smile.

  “I’m listening,” the voice replied.

  “I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’m in a giving mood today,” the lawyer said brightly. He knew that he had out-maneuvered his opponent, just like he often did in the court room. “I’ll let you come and get your men, but that’s all you’ll get today. You have ten seconds to decide,” he added for effect.

  “Or what?”

  “Chaos,” Chase replied, and held the remote higher for the people in the Cobra to see. “I’d rather you take the deal. There’ll be much less paperwork for me to complete when the law gets here. I don’t think the state will mind if their hospitals don’t have to patch up these goons at the state’s expense either. And you get your men back. It’s a win-win.”

  The loud speaker was quiet. A few seconds later, three men dropped out of the Cobra. They were dressed for war, but had no weapons. They raced to the men on the porch and began to help them back to the machine.

  “This isn’t over,” the loudspeaker blared. “We’ll be back.”

  “Well, give us a few hours will you. Wait until it is dark at least,” Chase offered politely. “It’ll give us time to plan a few more surprises for you.”

  As soon as the men were loaded onto the Cobra, the propeller revved up and the black monster rose into the sky. It turned in place and sped off into the afternoon sky.

  Chase continued to stand on the porch. He rocked back and forth. I did pretty well, he thought. He looked at the key fob from his Mercedes that he held in his hand. He had made them think that it was a remote.

  “I planted the tracking device on the Cobra,” Toni said as he approached the porch. In addition to the RPG, he held a small pistol like launcher. “It planted itself about half way up the fuselage.”

  “Good,” Chase acknowledged in a sinister voice. “Now, let’s see where they go and we’ll take the game to them.” He turned around and walked into the building humming.

  Chapter Thirty

  Once he got inside, Chase Sanborn went directly to a table where a man was working on the two devices that were taken from the desert.

  “Can you make them work, Dave?” Chase asked his version of Timmy the geek.

  “Actually, there is nothing wrong with the sound wave machine. When Loni hit it with a glancing blow, she changed the direction of the sound wave. It was still blowing out noise to the open desert when we got to it. I just had to disable the remote.”

  “What about the magnetic device?”

  “I don’t know,” Dave admitted.
“Loni hit it square on. I may have to rebuild some of the circuits. I’ll let you know in a little while.”

  “Anything else I should know?” Chase inquired.

  “Oh, yeah,” the geek replied. “They have a jamming device someplace outside and it’s been activated again. I can’t access the internet nor use my cell phone. I need it shut down to get at the information I need,” the geek pleaded.

  “We also need the cell phones to work,” Chase added. “Bob, Cindy,” he immediately called out. “Get the signal locater from the SUV and go out in the desert and grab the jamming device, we might need it ourselves.”

  “Done,” they both said in unison and ran for the door.

  Loni now slid up next to Chase. “You were great out there,” she gushed. “That took a lot of nerve. But why did you let them take their men?”

  “It’s all about strategy,” he replied seriously. “Those men aren’t going to fight for a while, they’re too banged up and now each man has a transmitter implanted near their wounds,” he said.

  “You’ve lost me,” Loni admitted.

  “Betty, she’s the paramedic, injected it while examining them and administrating the painkillers for their wounds. She even wore a very short skirt to distract their attention while she planted the transmitter.”

  “She flashed them on purpose?” Loni exclaimed in an incredulous voice.

  “Yup!” he said. “But, she had on shorts under the skirt.” He then pointed to a young woman sitting at the other end of the table. She was the paramedic. She wasn’t looking after any wounded now, she was currently studying two monitors. Loni and Chase walked over and peered at the screens. “We will not only know where the helicopter is going, but also where each of the men is headed too. Eventually, someone will find the implants, but by that time we’ll have a real good idea of where to find them.”

  “But couldn’t they use some of the same guys to attack us again?” Loni asked. She would never give a loser a second chance to win.

  “Every one of those men was hurt badly. Let the bad guys spend time and resources to fix them up. We should have this whole mess cleaned up before they are ready to fight again,” Chase explained.

  “Wow! You’re pretty clever,” she said with a smile of admiration.

  “I prefer cunning, please,” he joked. “And speaking of cleaning up, you need to change clothes, Loni. I don’t think that you are aware that your sports bra is ripped open and your behind is sticking out of you pants.”

  “What?” a suddenly horrified Loni screamed. She immediately pulled her shirt tightly around her and placed her hand behind her back. “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier,” she cried out.

  “I’m a gentleman,” Chase replied with his arms open wide. “Anybody got something for Loni to wear,” he called out. But no one replied.

  “Don’t look at me,” Joey said. “There are no women in this house.”

  Loni quickly grabbed a towel and wrapped around her waist. She pondered the problem for a few seconds and seemed to make a decision. “I bought an outfit to wear for Colt this morning. It’s on the front seat of my jeep. Maybe one of you could go and get it for me, please.”

  “I’ll do it,” Paul answered and sprinted for the door. He was back in less than a minute and handed her a brown-paper bag.

  “Thank you,” she said graciously. She grabbed the package from him and headed for the bathroom to change.

  As soon as she left the room, Paul announced. “It’s from that adult amusement place over on Tropicana.”

  Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched the door to the bathroom. They all wanted to see what she had bought there. Five minutes later the door flung open and Loni walked out like she had only gone to the bathroom to wash her face.

  She took two steps into the room and then stopped. She saw twelve gawking faces all staring at her.

  “What?” she said in annoyance. “It covers everything doesn’t it?” She looked down and around her body to make sure.

  The outfit she had bought at the adult store was meant to be a surprise for Colton Banyon. It consisted of a short brown skirt in suede. It had brown tassels along the seams on both sides. The top was a short, tight, brown suede vest that ended two inches above her navel. The neck of the vest plunged so far down that only two buttons held it closed. She wore no bra underneath. Her arms were bare and she had readjusted her ponytail.

  “Wow!” Joey exclaimed. “You look just like a Cherokee Indian princess.”

  “Really,” she said brightly with appreciation and posed for everybody. After a few seconds she put her small hands on her hips. “But wait, how could that be? I have slanted eyes.”

  Everyone laughed.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Colton Banyon and Mandy were headed to the airport in his green Jaguar XJ8. He sat in the passenger seat and Mandy drove. He wanted to think and talk on the phone — so she drove his big car. He knew that he should say something about his erratic behavior at the office. He needed to apologize.

  “I want to thank you for being so nice to me when I was distraught and for helping me out of my funk,” he said sincerely. “I kind of lost focus for a while there. I want to personally apologize to you.”

  “You would have done the same for me, Colt,” she replied with confidence and nodded her head. “In fact, I want to truly thank you,” she said. “You’ve given me a chance to grow with your organization and I know that you trust me. I promise that you will never regret it. Besides, I like to hug you.” she giggled. Banyon already knew the second part of what she said was true. He was hoping that the first part of her statement was also true.

  He glanced over and noticed that Mandy had moved the drivers’ seat all the way forward and seemed inches from the steering wheel. He also noticed that she had hiked up her already short skirt as far as possible to keep her legs free. Loni does the same thing, he thought. She caught him looking at her legs and smiled.

  “It’s okay — you can look,” she offered happily as he turned his head quickly away. “I really don’t mind if it is you.”

  “I’m sorry, Mandy,” he quickly replied with embarrassment. “It’s just that I noticed that Loni drives the same way you do.”

  “I was kind of hoping for a compliment and not comparison to her,” Mandy returned with a touch of sarcasm and annoyance.

  Banyon knew he was in trouble now. If he complimented her she might become more aggressive in her affection for him. She had done it before. On the other hand, if he said he was comparing her to Loni, she could be insulted and pout. She had also done that before too. Fortunately for him, his cell phone rang.

  “I meant the way you lean over the steering wheel,” he said tactfully and pulled out his phone. When he looked at the caller ID he saw that it was Previne Patel. Good, he thought. I need to talk to her. He answered the call, but didn’t press the speaker button, this call needed to be private.

  “Previne,” he said in a solemn voice. “I just heard about your Aunt Amrita. I’m so sorry for your loss.”

  “Thank you, Colt,” she said in the precise English she learned in India. “But we hardly knew her. Actually, I haven’t seen her except for just recently, since I was a little girl. Pramilla and Maya were at her palace last year, but apart from that, we have had no contact with her until we visited her last year for a week.” Banyon remembered that Previne had been involved in a tragic incident while her sisters were in India — she almost lost her life.

  “So, I assume that you are headed to India for the funeral?” Banyon asked politely.

  “Yes, Colt,” she replied after hesitating. “It’s kind of complicated though.”

  “What do you mean?” Banyon inquired.

  “Well, we have just left a lawyer’s office,” she explained with a little frustration in her voice. “He read us her will. The three of us are Aunt Amrita’s only relatives. We stand to inherit her entire estate.”

  “That’s good, isn’t it?” Banyon volle
yed back.

  “Of course,” she agreed. “Maya tells me that there are literally hundreds of artifacts all over the palace and underground catacombs too. I can’t wait to work on them.”

  “So, why do I detect concern in your voice?” Banyon replied with growing dread. Previne was always more upbeat than she was acting now.

  “That’s because, in order for us to complete the inheritance requirements,” Previne announced breathlessly, like she wanted to get it out of the way, “We have to live in the palace for three months straight.”

  “What?” Banyon yelped loudly. This caused Mandy to flinch. She looked at him with concern.

  “Starting from the day we arrive for the funeral,” she added sadly. “That means that we won’t be around to help you solve mysteries and I won’t get to see you during that time,” she sobbed and started to cry.

  “Maybe, Loni and I could visit you there,” Banyon quickly replied in an attempt to calm her down.

  “It would really help if you told me that you will come and visit us there,” she pressed.

  “Why are you asking? Can’t you travel?” Banyon asked.

  “At least two of us have to be in the palace at all times, so it will be hard to decide who goes and who stays. Of course, Eric is also going, but he is not part of the will requirements. So he is free to come and go.”

  Banyon thought quickly. “Loni and I will definitely come and visit after we finish up this case.”

  “We’ve got a mystery to solve?” Previne said hopefully.

  “Yeah, we’re heading to Las Vegas right now to work it,” he offered.

  “Pity,” Previne croaked. “I wish I was going with you rather than to India. Is there anything we can do to help while we are still in the states? Right now I have a need to do something with adventure.”

  “I thought that you were leaving today,” Banyon asked in confusion. Wolf had told him they would leave that afternoon.