“I liked her,” Mandy threw out.
“Chase, right now I need you to go to the barn over there and bring Loni’s jeep to the front of the building. Can you do that?” Banyon needed Chase out of the way for a few minutes while he talked to the rest of the crew.
Chase was no dummy. He understood. “I’ll just mosey on over there. I’ll be back in ten minutes. Is that going to be enough time?”
Banyon nodded and tossed him the keys as he stepped off the porch.
“Okay,” Banyon clapped his hands as the other people gathered around him. “Here is the plan for you three.”
“Is Lisa in trouble,” Mandy interrupted. “She looks very worried.”
“She has reason to be worried,” Banyon retorted. “I’ll explain everything later, but for right now you need to get ready to leave. Where is your vehicle anyway?” Banyon asked as he looked around.
“It’s behind the barn,” Steve said. “We didn’t want the Goblin people to know that we were here.”
“Get the car, load up your bags, and stay out of the way until I call you,” Banyon said. “Heather, I will need you to Freud-a-size Lisa in about fifteen minutes.”
“I’ll be ready,” she announced. “What’s next?”
“When we are done with Lisa, you are going to drive her to the UNLV campus,” he told them.
“Got it,” Steve commented.
“Once you get there, I need you to find the other two colleagues on campus who know about the Cherokee stones. Heather,” he pointed. “You need to make them forget they ever heard of the stones. Can you do that?”
“We’ll set up a plan right now,” Heather agreed.
“Lisa will not remember the stones, so don’t talk openly about them on the trip to Las Vegas, okay?”
“No problem,” Mandy remarked. “But, what do we do next?”
“By that time, Loni and I will be at our new house and I want you to come and see it before you return to Chicago,” he said cheerfully. “This mystery will be over.”
“I’ve got the shower first,” Mandy screamed and took off.
Chapter Ninety-Four
Banyon went back inside the ranch house. His mood was much more somber now. Lisa looked from Loni to him as he approached the table. There was resignation in her eyes. She was not expecting anything good to come from their talk.
“Loni, why don’t you go and get changed,” Banyon said as he stared at the professor while he decided how to approach their conversation.
“Change into, what exactly?” Loni blustered. “I don’t have anything else to wear, you know.”
“Then stay in the robe,” he replied briskly. “We’ll be headed to our house soon. Right now, I need to talk to Lisa privately.” A shiver went down Lisa’s spine. She shook like she was in the middle of an earthquake when he said it.
Loni immediately read the situation. “I’ll see if Mandy has something for me to wear.” She got up off of the table and left the room.
Banyon began circling the table like a lawyer would who was questioning a hostile witness. He said nothing, but kept up a steady pace. Lisa now sat with her hands folded in her lap and with her eyes downcast. She wouldn’t look him in the eye. But she flinched first.
“Let’s get this over with,” she finally blurted out almost hysterically.
“You’ve been a bad girl, Lisa,” Banyon chided her like she was little.
“I was hoping you wouldn’t find out,” she replied. “But I now realize you can find out anything from your spirit friend,” she moaned in regret.
“Not everything,” he corrected her. “I don’t know why you did it. I don’t know what was in your head.”
“I don’t know either, okay,” she wailed and threw her hands in the air. “Maybe it was greed, maybe it was a desire to be somebody, or maybe I wasn’t thinking straight. I just don’t know.”
“Or maybe you found out who your real father was and wanted some revenge,” Banyon pointed out.
“You found out that my asshole father was a Cherokee?” she asked in disbelief.
“Yes,” Banyon said. “I found out a lot about him. He is dead now you know. He was run over by a car. He was drunk at the time. It happened two years ago.”
“Good riddance, I hated him,” Lisa sobbed. “He never did anything for me or my mother. He just made her pregnant and then left us for the bottle. I can’t ever forgive him for that. I didn’t have anything close to a normal childhood because of him. My mother still hides behind her military postings in shame. I have not gotten over that,” she admitted. The anger that Lisa displayed was clearly a result of long-term bitterness.
“So you decided to take it out on the whole Cherokee tribe?” Banyon yelled back in disbelief.
“I wasn’t thinking straight,” she said defensively. “You need to walk in my shoes to judge me.”
“I’m not judging you,” he quickly explained. “I just want to know why you did those things — so I can fix them.”
“Okay, I’ll tell you everything and then you can wipe my brain clean and I can go back to my merry little life of teaching kids who don’t want to learn,” she said sarcastically. She crossed her arms in defiance and sat back.
“For the record, “Banyon said. “I happen to know that you are an excellent history professor and your students actually appreciate you. The administration at UNLV thinks you are one of the best out-of-the-box thinkers in all of the college ranks.”
“Thanks Colt,” she said humbly. “Coming from you that is a compliment.”
“And don’t forget your position as the head of the Vril Society,” he added.
“That hasn’t gotten me much success either,” she commented cynically.
“Why did you call the elder of the Cherokee tribe in Oklahoma and tell him that Joey wasn’t fit to watch over the stones?”
She looked at him sadly. “I wanted to find out where the stones were hidden and expected to figure out a plan to get them for myself,” she replied honestly. “My colleagues didn’t believe the stones were real.” She paused for a few seconds and then continued. “Joey has been a student of mine for two years. He often came to my office and we talked. His grandfather was teaching him about Cherokee history and the stones. Joey explained what was written on them to me and we discussed what evidence there was to back them up. One day, we talked about the Vril. I wanted it. I asked him to take pictures of the stones so I could study them. When I realized that they were real, I wanted to be the first person to publish a paper about the history of the Phoenicians.”
“So, you actually manufactured this mystery yourself,” he recapped.
“I wasn’t sure what would happen,” she admitted. “I thought Joey would bring the stones to me for safe keeping. We seemed very close. I thought he trusted me.”
“But when Kayah was sent to steal the stones you panicked and called me, right?” Banyon filled in the blanks.
“Yes, and I knew you would go find the Vril too,” she replied. “It all seemed to work at the time.”
“So, you manipulated me because you knew we would find the Vril, is that correct?” Banyon asked accusingly.
“Yes, but I don’t think you’ll let me have it now, will you?”
“No, you cannot have it,” Banyon agreed as he shook his head no. “In fact, no one can have it. The world is not ready for its power yet.”
“So what will happen to it?” Lisa asked curiously. “Will you keep it?”
“We are not keeping it either, but we will put it in a safe place,” he answered evasively. “Otherwise, we would be no different from everyone else who covets the Vril.
“I understand,” she said solemnly and lowered her head in defeat.
“One last question,” Banyon asked like a detective would. “Why did you call the Indian Affairs Department? Because of your call, they are investigating all the Cherokee tribes for improprieties.”
“I was paid to call them,” she quickly replied. “It has nothing to do
with the stones or Vril.”
“Are you sure?” Banyon baited her. He was asking questions he already knew the answers to, just like a lawyer would during a trial.
Before she could respond, Banyon heard a noise.
“Ta-da,” Loni announced and sashayed into the room. Banyon could see that she had taken a shower and the bandage on her head was gone. It was replaced by fluffed out hair. She was now dressed in a tiny, dark, green bikini. It was covered by a sheer white wrap-around top. She was still in bare feet. She proceeded across the room like she was in a chorus line and moved towards the front door with her arms stretched out. She was humming a famous burlesque tune. She was both graceful and sexy.
“That’s hardly any clothes at all,” Banyon managed to shout out.
“Beats the hell out of a man’s bathrobe,” she shot back as she disappeared through the doorway with a leg kick. She was being playful.
When Banyon turned back to Lisa, she showed her first smile of the day. “You’re a very lucky man, Colt.”
“I think so,” he said back. “Why did you say that the call to the Indian Affairs Department is not related?”
“I was approached by a company which wanted me to do research and find out if Indian sacred lands were ever decertified. The man from the company told me they owned some land which was currently listed as a burial ground, but no bones were ever found on it. He wanted to know if the Cherokee Indians could stop him from developing the land.”
“How much did they pay you?”
“Just a couple of thousand dollars, I was grateful for the extra money,” Lisa replied.
“Actually they paid you five thousand dollars,” Banyon shot back as a correction.
“Oh!” Lisa uttered.
“Do you think you would recognize the man who gave you the money if you saw him again?”
“I’m sure,” she responded. Banyon whipped out his cell phone a scrolled through some features. He handed the phone to Lisa to look.
“Is that him?”
“Why, yes it,” she said after studying the photo for a few seconds.
“That’s Tony Ryder, the man who planned the whole attack on the ranch,” Banyon told her. “He paid you through one of Goblin’s dummy corporations. We found the paper trail.”
“Colt, I…didn’t know. Honestly, I didn’t know,” she cried out. “Oh, my God, it looks like I work for Goblin doesn’t it?” Her hand came to her open mouth in horror. “I’ve ruined my whole life,” she wailed and buried her face in her hands. The tears were real.
“Lisa, stop crying, we can fix this,” he said in a soothing voice. “Goblin International is going down. An FBI agent will someday come to talk to you. Goblin left a money trail so they will find you.”
“Oh, God, I’m going to jail,” she wailed.
“No, you’re not,” Banyon said. “Just tell them the truth about what happened. You were duped into helping them. The government might take the money, but you will never face any charges. I’ll make sure of that.”
After she calmed down slightly, she looked up at Banyon. “Thank you Colt. You must think the worst of me,” she replied and searched his eyes.
“That’s not true. I can forgive you for everything,” he said sincerely.
“Everything that I’ve done?” she exclaimed in surprise.
“Everything except trying to use me to get the Vril,” he said. “Like you, I can’t allow people to expose my power.”
“So, what will happen to me now?” she asked with grave concern.
“Why, we are going to make a deal, of course,” he said with a blank expression.
“What kind of deal?”
“The deal of a lifetime for you.”
“What could you want from me?” She quickly asked. “I have nothing to deal.”
“That’s not true,” he replied. “But, we are going to Freud-a-size you again,” he replied. Lisa was not shocked by the news — she expected it.
“But I can’t be Freud-a-sized more than once,” she reminded him.
“We can get around that,” he informed her. “Then we are going to make a trade.”
“For what.”
“You’re going to give me the book of Vril. I will return it to you in a minute. I know it is in your bag,” Banyon said slowly.
“You want to rip out the papers on Freud-a-sizing,” she quickly responded.
“That’s correct,” he admitted.
“And what do I get?” She asked. Banyon said nothing and left the table. He returned carrying one of the jars.
“And then I’m going to give you the jar containing the ancient Phoenician map.”
Lisa nearly fainted with excitement. “You’ll give the map to me?” she shouted in disbelief. Banyon could see joy replacing the depression of a few minutes ago. “Why would you do that?”
“Last night, the team voted that you would be the best person to champion the announcement of finding the lost city of Atlantis. You probably will become famous, wealthy and respected in the archeological community. It won’t be easy, but I’m confident you won’t give up and let us down. This information needs to be published.”
“Colt, I can’t believe you would do this for me,” she leapt out of her chair and grabbed hold of him. She slammed against him and kissed him on the lips. “How can I ever repay you for your kindness?”
“You’d better stop doing that before Loni sees you or you will be in bigger trouble than I can fix,” he said in good humor. “And don’t worry about repaying me. I may need your help someday.”
“Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!” Lisa shouted. She turned in a circle, flapping her arms and jumped up and down with happiness.
“Lisa, I’ll need the book,” Banyon went back to business, but smiled at her. “We don’t have much time.”
She rummaged around in one of her bags nervously and finally pulled the book out. She handed it to him. He grabbed it and started to thumb through the pages as she grabbed the jar and hugged it to her chest like it was a baby. Banyon found the last three pages and unceremoniously ripped them out of the book. He rolled them up and put them into his back pocket. He then handed the book back to her.
“Heather,” he called out. She came running from the front porch.
“Loni is flirting with Steve and he is trying to ignore her,” she reported with a grin. Banyon grinned back at her.
“Lisa is ready to be Freud-a-sized,” Banyon announced.
“Wait,” Lisa threw up her hand. “Colt, will I remember you?”
“Of course,” he responded. “I’m the one who gave you the jar.”
He then went towards the back of the house. “Where are you going?” Heather uttered nervously.
“I’m going to take a five minute shower. I know you’ll do your job,” he said. This made Heather happy too. She knew he trusted her.
“But wait, what am I making her forget?” Heather yelled to him.
Banyon stopped in his tracks and thought for a second. “Make her forget that she ever heard of the Phoenician stones and Joey Brownwater. Then make her forget everything she knows about Colton Banyon except that we are friends and I gave her the map,” Banyon then turned and left the room.
Chapter Ninety Six
Colton Banyon spent only five minutes in the now cold shower. During that time he addressed Wolf to make sure everything was on track. The next part of his plan was critical to his long term safety. The gift squad was relentless. He needed to stop them from ever chasing him again.
“Wolf is anything new,” Banyon spoke out.
“The gift squad will be at the ranch in about ten minutes,” the spirit replied. “They are not in a good mood either.”
“Is anything new concerning Goblin?”
“The round up is complete, but Goblin has deep tentacles. The FBI has already uncovered a connection to the head of the Indian Affairs Department. He used Lisa’s phone call to activate the investigations into the Cherokee tribes. It was all part of
Ryder’s plan to use someone from the outside to initiate the investigation. The man has been detained and the investigation has been put on hold for now.”
“What about our friend Helmut?”
“We may learn nothing from him,” Wolf answered with frustration. “He is currently in a motel room in Washington D.C. The bullet wound has become infected and he is fading. So far, he hasn’t called anyone.”
“Should we pick him up?”
“If we send in a rescue team and ambulance, they will have to try to save him. Then there would be a long trial and in the end, someone in prison will slip a homemade knife between his ribs anyway. I’m afraid he will not provide us with anything useful.”
“I understand,” Banyon said. “We’ll just wait and see if he contacts anyone. What is going on with Kayah and Joey?”
“As you suspected, they have only traveled a couple of miles and have checked into a motel.”
“Do you think we are doing the right thing with the Vril?”
“Yes, without question,” Wolf said forcefully. “It is an absolute power and absolute power corrupts. No matter who controls Vril, nothing good will come of it.”
“Do you think that maybe Vril is the cause of the disappearance of Atlantis? I mean did they blow themselves up or something?”
“I’ll let you know in about a year,” Wolf explained. “It will take me that long to research what happen. But I’m working on it.”
“Okay, then let’s get this show on the road.” He knew Wolf would not reply.
After he had donned clean clothes, Banyon made two quick phone calls. He needed to make sure everything was ready for the final part of his plan. The confrontation with the gift squad was only minutes away.
Chapter Ninety-Seven
When Banyon returned to the front room, he found both Heather and Lisa still at the table. They were having an animated discussion about fashionable shoes. Lisa had her attractive leg on the table as Heather examined her footwear. Heather’s toned leg crisscrossed with Lisa’s as she studied the other woman’s shoes. Lisa looked up and smiled as she recognized him. Her leg quickly slipped off the table, Heather’s too. Both women laughed at being caught with their legs in the air. Heather gave him a wink to tell him she was successful. There was a slight blush on her face.
A Dubious Race: The Phoenician Stones (A Colton Banyon Mystery Book 14) Page 28
