“Let’s go!” she shouted up to Ethan.
Lewis didn’t like the idea of being crammed into a tiny cave with two people that might just try to overpower him. He tapped the revolver nervously on his leg before pointing it at Ethan and sliding clumsily down the bluff and joining Marie.
“Ok, change of plans. You and me are going in together, and your boyfriend is staying right here,” Lewis said.
“I’m not going anywhere alone with you,” Marie stated indignantly. “You might as well shoot me.”
“What?” Lewis stammered. He was surprised and caught off guard by her remark.
“You heard me. Go ahead. Shoot.”
“Marie, I don’t think you-“ Ethan chimed in, but Marie continued.
“Well, what’s it going to be, Mr. Sneed?”
Lewis craned his neck from side to side in irritation and moaned. He couldn’t believe how damn frustrated these people were making him. He’d never in his life tried to rob two folks so…so freaking uncooperative.
“Fine! Get down here, lover boy! You’re coming, too.”
With both Ethan and Marie on their hands and knees, Lewis crawled into the tunnel-like cave behind them. It was warmer than he’d anticipated and beads of sweat poured off his forehead and onto the hard rocks as he went across them.
“Once I get that jewel, I’m getting the hell out of here and buying a house somewhere cold,” he thought. “If I have to see another palm tree, I really might just shoot someone for real.”
The sunlight faded away the deeper they went, so Marie brought out the pen light she had tucked away earlier. It wasn’t much, but it would suffice. With a flick of a switch, the cave was illuminated in a soft glow.
There were smooth walls of ancient stone that looked as if they have been carved by one of the volcanoes that created the islands, and the floor was highly polished, probably by the incoming waves that occurred during high tides. The tunnel began to open up after another few feet, the ceilings high enough to stand up after that, and finally the whole thing widened into an immensely large sort of chamber.
Inside the chamber, there were white and red drawings that depicted people hunting various animals and some unusual form of symbolic writing that she’d never seen during any of her research. Long swirls were placed about in symmetry, almost like some form on ancient decoration. In the center of it all was a pedestal of carved rock with an enormous blue gemstone sitting on the top.
“Amazing!” Marie said, her voice echoing throughout the cave. “These drawings are from the natives that lived here hundreds of years ago. It looks almost like some kind of ritual chamber, maybe used in primitive ceremonies or sacrifices!”
Ethan’s eye immediately ignored all of the scientifically important parts of the cave and found the treasure, La Azul Estrella, the magnificent Blue Star Sapphire, right in the middle of the chamber. It was larger than he thought it would be. “A jewel like that must be worth a fortune!” he thought avidly and reached out to touch it.
“Just go ahead and hand that to me,” Lewis ordered. Ethan’s hand closed around it and he was captivated by the beauty of it for a moment. The way the light bounced off it, the sheer weight of the thing…he’d never held anything so valuable. Entranced, he hardly noticed as Lewis’ hand reached up and snatched it away.
“Well, thank you all very much. It’s been a real pleasure working with you. I’ll be going now. Toodles!” Lewis happily said, and with that, backed out of the cave still pointing the gun at them.
Chapter 10
“Man, oh man,” Lewis thought, bursting with satisfaction. His mind was going nonstop with all the ideas he could come up with for how to spend the money. From the moment he saw the Blue Star Sapphire, he knew it was way too valuable to part with for a measly hundred thousand. The stone had to be worth millions upon millions of dollars.
“Heh heh! I can see it now, baby. A big mansion, four stories, somewhere in the Hamptons…and a new car. Yeah. Maybe a Porsche. No, no, a Mercedes. Yeahhhh!”
After being in the dark cave, the rays of the sun outside were blinding. Lewis squinted through nearly shut eyelids to make out the beach. Crawling on his hands and knees was hard work for such a fat man, but he was driven on by the thrill of all that glorious money.
“Almost out. Whoo boy. No more crazy jobs like this one ever again! I’m gonna get me one of those Russian brides and eat lobster and steak for every meal!”
He froze in his tracks, still on his hands and knees, his head barely poking out of the tunnel, when the distinctive sound of a semi-automatic being racked next to his head brought him out of his luxuriant dreams. The cold barrel of a gun pressed against his temple and the smell of a cheap cigarette drifted into his nose. Slowly, he titled his head to the side and made out a shiny pair of polished white loafers.
“Marco!” he enthused, cursing to himself mentally. “Long time no see!”
“Lewis, my old friend,” Marco replied. He pulled Lewis up by the collar and stuck the pistol into his stomach. “What are you doing down there crawling around like a dog?”
“Well, I, uh,” Lewis stammered, noticing the pair of black leather gloves Marco was wearing as he pried the revolver out of his hand. Once he had the weapon, Marco flipped up his suit jacket and placed it into the waistband at his back. “I was just, ya know, looking for my Frisbee. I must have left it around here somewhere.”
Lewis looked over towards the ocean. An aqua-colored speedboat had been moored nearby to a crumbling post of concrete by a thin length of steel cable. Lewis figured that must have been Marco’s primary transportation between the mainland and São Tomè.
“You know, you still haven’t paid me back for that shipment you lost. What was that? Fifteen thousand?” Marco said pleasantly, with just a hint of malice in the smiling lines on his face.
“About that. I was just on my way to the ATM…”
Marco laughed and roughly pulled open Lewis’ shirt. There, tucked in the waistband and wrapped in a thin piece of fabric, was the jewel he’d been searching for. As he turned the brilliant gem over in his hands, Marco’s mouth widened into a fiendish grin. He could hardly believe that a small-time crook like Lewis Sneed had been the one to actually find the thing.
“Tell you what, Marco, why don’t we split the profit and call it even? You know, I got some connections in Gabon that would pay top dollar for something like that. I could sell it, easy. One week, tops.”
Marco rolled the sapphire around once more and placed it safely in his pocket. “An intriguing offer, but I must decline.” A sudden noise by his feet made Marco step back away from the tunnel.
“I told you we should have hit him with the tray while we had the chance,” Marie called to Ethan, who was crawling along behind her. She pulled herself out of the tunnel and turned around to help Ethan, oblivious to the two men standing off to the side, one of which was pointing a pistol at her. “Now look. He’s probably half-way to Europe already.”
Ethan grabbed Marie’s hand and lugged himself out of the uncomfortable hole. He coughed and dusted himself off, feeling miserable from the whole experience. When he straightened himself out, he looked behind Marie and swallowed hard.
“What? What is it, Ethan?” Marie asked, noting his startled expression. When she turned around, she let out a little yelp and stuck her hands into the air.
“Ahh, if it isn’t the adventurous Miss Brisbee and the snake man, Senor McReady. How nice of you to join us. We were just about to go for a little ride in my boat. Let me ask you, are you good swimmers?”
“You have what you want,” Ethan said severely. “Just take it and go.”
“Oh, I don’t think so, Mr. McReady. You would only go and tell the police on me, and I really hate tattle-tales.”
Ethan crossed his arms and cracked wise. “Where’s the rest of your goons, Gustez? They get tired of your big mouth and your ugly suit?”
Marco smiled again, another bad attempt to disguise his seething anger u
nderneath a polite expression. Two of his remaining men had been bitten by the cobras that Ethan flung down at them and the last one standing became the recipient of two rounds in the chest from Marco’s pistol. He hated being disappointed.
“You are very funny, Mister McReady. I wonder, though. How long do you think you can tread water in the middle of the South Atlantic?” He held the pistol higher and motioned them towards his waiting boat. “We shall find out.”
“Why don’t you just shoot us?” Ethan questioned, while walking slowly towards the boat.
Marie would have slapped him in the head for saying it if she didn’t think it would earn her a bullet. Unlike Lewis, she didn’t doubt that Marco had any reservations about murder.
“That can be arranged, Mr. McReady,” Marco said and jabbed the pistol forcibly into Ethan’s back. “But, oh how I dislike leaving bodies for the police to investigate. The less questions, the less chances I’ll be caught. Think of this as me giving you a sporting chance. If you can swim long enough, maybe you’ll be rescued.”
Ethan spun around on his heels and attempted to grab the muzzle of the pistol, but Marco was ready for him. Deftly, he grabbed Marie by the arm and pressed his gun into her side.
“A valiant attempt. Now, if you’ll kindly shut up and get in the boat, I won’t have to shoot Miss Brisbee here in the legs...or perhaps in the stomach. That is a very painful and slow way to die. Something tells me that you wouldn’t like that and neither would she.”
Lewis, with his hands reaching into the sky, was the first to trudge aboard the speedboat. A small ramp was positioned from the beach and onto the deck, just long enough to avoid stepping into the undulating water. He peered back as he stepped onto the boat. The order of passengers as they walked across the ramp was Ethan and then Marie, followed by Marco. This was his only chance to escape. Lewis knew very well that Marco’s “sporting chance” would be a bullet in the head a few miles from shore.
Seeing his opportunity, Lewis sprinted as fast as his chubby bulk would go from the rear of the craft to the front. Marco yelled something from behind, but Lewis was already in the air, forming a dive that looked more like some awkward and ungainly belly flop. He crashed into the salty ocean water with a turbulent splash and began to swim as hard as he could.
“Gordo burro do caralho!” Marco cursed angrily and pushed Marie and Ethan aside. He ran to the front of the boat and aimed his pistol, firing off several rounds into the water at Lewis. He cursed again, unsure if he’d hit his target, and spun back around to deal with Ethan and Marie.
“Hey jackass!” Ethan shouted and caught Marco’s arm. With the pistol pinned and away from him, Ethan chopped his fist down like an axe as hard as he could into Marco’s face. “Nice hat, asshole!”
Marco stumbled backwards and dropped the weapon, but didn’t fall down. The pistol clattered onto the lip of the boat and fell overboard.
“Marie – run!” Ethan turned and shouted back to her, catching a nearly jaw-shattering strike to the face in the process.
Her first thought was to run, but Marie felt paralyzed. She watched helplessly as Marco hit Ethan again and again, until he finally gained the upper hand. With one knee crushing down brutally in his opponent’s chest, Marco used his longer reach to avoid Ethan’s struggling attacks and began to choke him.
“You stupid Americans,” Marco growled between deep rasps. “You have no idea who you are fucking with, do you!? After I’m finished with you, I’m going to use her as bait for the sharks!”
Ethan fought with all his might, upsetting Marco’s grip several times and even getting in a few solid licks of his own, but it just wasn’t enough. The man was pure evil through and through, and his rage fueled his strength. Ethan felt his body weaken and Marco’s squeezing grip grew. His eyes turned towards the sun, which slowly began to fade in his vision until there was nothing but a dim orb above him in the sky.
“Get off him!” Marie screamed like a wild woman and kicked out, striking Marco squarely in the neck with the hard tip of her boot.
He immediately let go of Ethan, bringing his hands up to his own throat instead. Marco staggered back onto his haunches, making a horrible gurgling noise with his eyes opened in shocked confoundment. No matter how he tried, only a wheezing whisper of breath could pass through his crushed airway. He fell over onto his side and began clawing his way towards the front of the boat.
“Ethan, come on! Get up!” Marie pleaded, shaking Ethan’s still, unmoving form. “Please. Don’t do this to me!” The corners of her eyes trembled and the feeling of fresh tears began to well up in them. With her head against Ethan’s chest, she listened for a heartbeat.
“Please, Ethan. Don’t die. I need you…I…I love you.”
Then, she heard it. A weak, but steady thrum that grew stronger with each beat. Ethan groaned almost inaudibly and turned his head.
“Ethan! You’re alive!” Marie cried. “We have to go. Get up!”
He turned his head again groggily and sputtered something unintelligible. To Marie, who had absolutely zero training in such things, it looked almost like he was having trouble waking from a long slumber. So, she did the only thing she could think of; she drew back her arm and slapped him hard enough across the face to make her hand sting. His eyelids fluttered and then snapped open.
“Ow!” Ethan muttered and rubbed the palm print on his cheek. “What’d you do that for?”
“Get up, you handsome idiot! We have to get out of here!”
Marie pulled on his arm and Ethan unsteadily got to his feet. Using her as support, he stumbled crookedly off the boat and back onto the sandy beach.
They made it only a few yards before the booming report of a single gunshot erupted from behind them. The bullet zinged past them and into the jungle, smashing loudly against a tree somewhere within.
“Get behind me!” Ethan croaked and tried to shield Marie with his body.
Marco, with his previously perfect white suit now a disheveled mess, steadied himself with one hand on the bow and stood higher. He’d been beaten to hell and could hardly do much more than breathe in a sick wheeze, but he was still going. As he leveled his weapon for another shot, they realized the truth. He wouldn’t miss a second time.
Ethan and Marie closed their eyes, ready to meet their maker, and reflexively jerked when another resounding crack of gunfire pierced the air.
When the agonizing pain of being shot failed to manifest, Ethan opened one eye and peeked out. Marco had dropped his weapon and both of his arms hung out by his sides. He was looking down at his chest, at the pearl white suit he always wore. At first there was only a tiny dot of bright red under where his tie might rest, but it grew until it was a darkening, scarlet blotch. His outstretched hands collapsed inwards and covered it, and then he breathed out one last time before lurching forward and crashing onto the deck of the boat.
“Ola, Senor Ethan! Senora Brisbee!” shouted the voice of Officer Francisco Alvarez from the bluff above the cave. He was holding a scoped rifle that was aimed at the place where Marco had been standing. “Need a hand?”
From behind him several more uniformed police officers appeared, all holding a variety of rifles and firearms. When they saw Marco lying face-down in the boat, they all let out a riotous cheer.
“Thank God,” Marie whispered and held on to Ethan tightly.
Chapter 11
Just as Alvarez and the rest of the police were wrapping up the scene, a boat with the same white and blue design as the São Tomè Police Department motored across the waves towards the beach. It pulled up onto the shore close enough for the passengers to get out and the engine cut off. When the two officers exited the boat, they had a very nonplussed, soaking wet, Lewis Sneed handcuffed between them.
His face was etched in surprise when he saw that Ethan and Marie weren’t dead. He looked over into the boat long enough to catch a glimpse of the blood-stained blanket which had been laid over Marco’s body and cracked a goofy smile. The poli
ce led him away and into the back of a waiting patrol car, which pulled away and down the paved road.
Francisco walked over and slapped Ethan on the back. “Can you believe that man swam almost two miles down shore? My officers found him hanging onto a weather buoy and screaming at the top of his lungs. Anyway, you two are free to go. We’ll be in touch if we have any more questions.” With that, he tipped his hat and stepped away, joining the other policemen by their cars.
Marie placed her head on Ethan’s chest again and felt his warm hand close around her own. Together, they watched the sea birds play and the white foam of cresting waves splash against each other. Everything was at peace. Finally, their ordeal was over.
“So, I’m pretty sure I heard you say that you loved me,” Ethan professed jokingly. “And that I’m handsome.”
“You must have missed the idiot part,” Marie replied and gently embraced him.
“Did you mean it?” he asked, his teasing banter giving way to a genuine, serious inquest.
Marie knew that what she had said was true. She did love him. He made her feel different, better, than she thought any man ever could. Ethan was everything that she’d ever wanted; he was the man behind the clouded veil in her dreams. He might not have been a perfect gentleman, but he was perfect in all the ways she wanted him to be. Watching him nearly die had shown her that with startling clarity, when for a brief moment, she wasn’t able to imagine what her life would be like without him.
“I thought I lost you. All I could think was that I might never see you again, and my heart felt like it was going to break. When I heard your heartbeat, I knew you hadn’t given up on me.”
“So, does that mean you love me or…?” Ethan began to ask, getting his answer as a soulful, passionate kiss. Her lips felt so delicate against his own and she was trembling, whether from the moment or from their brush with death, he did not know. As their lips parted, he looked into her eyes and knew that he’d finally found the one woman that could make him happy. Not just today, but always.
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