Matilda, the Adventuress

by Iris Johansen

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” Brent said blankly. “I think you’ve hypnotized her. Make her stay like that for a minute.” He rushed forward and got into the saddle. “Now tell her I’m a true son of the desert and she’s not to bite me or try to knock me off or—”

  “Come on, Brent.” Dennis’s voice was suddenly impatient. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

  “I’ve already gotten it started. I planted the smoke bombs and the explosives last night”—Brent checked his watch—“and they’re scheduled to go off in exactly six minutes. That’s more than you’ve done, Dennis.”

  “I got rid of the security men at the hotel,” Dennis said belligerently. “I’d like to see how you would have done that little job.”

  “How did you do it, Dennis?” Manda asked. “I was really worried about how we would manage to slip by them.”

  Dennis glanced down to check his reins. “I put a mickey in the coffee the delivery boy brought over from the shop across the street. Then I pulled the sleeping beauties into the linen closet.”

  Addie gave Brent’s camel a final pat. “I don’t think she’ll give you any more trouble. Stay close to me, though.”

  “Don’t worry,” Brent said grimly. “There’s no way I’m going to let her get me alone.”

  “Are you okay, Jacto?” Addie asked as she turned to mount her own camel.

  Jacto nodded as he touched his camel and it obediently lumbered to its feet. “We understand each other.”

  Manda turned away. “Sydney should have had time to draw the security men away from the mine by now. I’ll be on my way. Six minutes.”

  “Good luck, Manda,” Addie said quietly.

  Manda lifted her hand in acknowledgment and hurried away.

  She would need all the good luck she could get, she thought, worried. Timing was everything even with the confusion and distraction provided by the smoke and the camel charge. Whatever ruse Sydney used to get the guards away from the mine couldn’t be counted on to keep them away long; Roman would realize almost at once what was happening and storm down to the mine. At most, she had calculated she had ten minutes to find the opal after the assault began. Once it was found, she didn’t care if she was discovered or not. If necessary, she would be able to give it to Addie and Sydney to take to a dealer while she waited out Roman’s blasted investigation.

  It was almost light and her steps quickened. Her campsite appeared to bp deserted, so it followed that Sydney must have been successful. She crossed the last few yards at a run, grabbed the lantern from the lean-to, and lit it hurriedly. She snatched her tool kit and started to turn away. Then she stopped, impulsively turned back, set the tool kit down, and rifled through her knapsack until she found her silver and turquoise medallion. It couldn’t hurt, she thought as she slipped the necklace over her head. This particular piece of jewelry had always been symbolic of Delaney luck and had once belonged to Mignon.

  She picked up the tool kit again and ran for the opening of the shaft. The first explosion went off! Her gaze flew across the opal field; huge puffs of white smoke were billowing into the air. Another explosion sounded and a sudden flare of orange lit the gray morning sky at the opposite end of the encampment.

  Manda grinned as she began to negotiate the metal steps leading down into the mine. Brent had obviously done his work well, and with his customary dash and sense for the dramatic.

  The ladder seemed longer than usual and the talcum-fine dust instantly assaulted her lungs as she reached the bottom of the shaft. She carefully picked her way around the rubble, the glow of the lantern forming strange, alien shadows on the rough walls. When she had first started her search, the narrowness of the tunnels had made her feel smothered, almost claustrophobic, but now she scarcely noticed it. Charlie’s mine was as familiar to her as her bedroom at Killaroo. She moved quickly from the primary area to the offshoot tunnel she had been searching for the last week.

  She felt a sudden surge of panic. What if she were wrong? No, she couldn’t be wrong, she reassured herself immediately. In his letter Charlie must have been trying to give Mignon a clue to where he had hidden the opal. He had probably been afraid something might happen to him and his letter might fall into the wrong hands, so he hadn’t dared give her more than a hint. A pouch within a pouch. But the second pouch wasn’t the protective one Manda had first assumed. At least, she desperately hoped that it wasn’t.

  She lifted the lantern high and examined the paintings on the rough black-brown rock walls of the tunnel. Which one? A wombat, a possum, a kangaroo. They all had pouches.

  “Which one, Charlie? I don’t have much time,” she murmured.

  The large black eyes of the painted animals stared blindly at her from the wall. Waiting.

  The kangaroo, she decided with strange surety. She moved quickly toward the last figure painted on the wall of the tunnel.

  The kangaroo was standing upright, her slender forepaws appearing fragile and helpless compared to her massive hindquarters. Charlie had captured both the strength and the appeal of the marsupial with clever strokes of his paintbrush. The painting itself was merely an outline in black, as were all the other paintings in the cave. The natural brown color of the walls themselves filled in the outlines and Charlie had only had to add shading here and there to suggest fur or muscle or …

  Shading. There was shading around the pouch area of the kangaroo.

  Manda’s hands were shaking as she put the lantern and her tool kit on the ground and took a step closer to the painting on the wall. “Oh, Charlie, please!”

  The tips of her fingers carefully traced the wide band of dark shading outlining the kangaroo pouch. Porous. A filler of some sort that had been painted over. She quickly opened her small tool kit and extracted a file. The point of the file sunk into the porous filler like a hot knife into butter. She turned the file and a powdery dust began drifting from the shading. She held the file with both hands and began to move the tool carefully, following the shaded outline of the pouch. In a few minutes she had completely encircled the outline of the pouch area and she dropped the file to the ground.

  She took a deep, quivering breath. Then her hands reached forward slowly, her fingers slipping into the narrow opening she had made on each side of the pouch. She pulled gently. It didn’t move. She pulled a little harder. The stone that comprised the kangaroo’s pouch pulled out of the wall! She drew the stone all the way out, set it on the ground, and peered into the dark cavity.

  It was there! A large leather pouch!

  Her heart was beating so hard she thought it would leap out of her breast as she carefully took the pouch from its hiding place. “Charlie, you’d better not have been a practical joker.”

  The Black Flame glowed in the lantern light like a rainbow at midnight. It was a large square stone, uncut, unpolished, but totally magnificent. Semi-transparent, it shimmered with veins of green, blue, and scarlet like the burning heart of the flame for which it was named.

  Manda stared at the opal, mesmerized by the sheer beauty of the jewel. What must Charlie have felt when he had uncovered this natural wonder? Joy, fear, a sense of reverence that such beauty should exist even in the darkness and corruption of Dead-man’s Ridge? Perhaps all of those emotions.

  There was a piece of notepaper within the pouch; but she didn’t want to read it now. It was probably a note to Mignon and she felt she had intruded enough in Charlie’s world today. “It’s for Killaroo, Charlie,” she whispered. “Your dreams were never fulfilled, but this will help another Delaney find his dream. I think you would have liked that.” She carefully slid the opal back into its pouch and drew the strings tight.

  “I’ll take that.”

  She jumped. Then she realized to whom the voice belonged, and relaxed. “Lord, you scared me, Dennis. Don’t worry about the opal.” She turned toward the shadowy figure standing at the entrance of the tunnel. “I’ll just put it into the tool kit and it will be perfectly sa—”

  He was holdin
g a gun!

  “Dennis?”

  He took another step toward her, the gun held almost casually in his hand. “Congratulations. I should have known you’d get what you were after. You always were a determined little sheila.”

  Manda shook her head in bewilderment. “What are you doing, Dennis? You’re my friend. You’re no thief.”

  “There are times when you have to weigh friendship against other values.”

  “Money?”

  “In a manner of speaking. My Cessna is on the line. I got in over my head on the ponies and a few other games of chance and put the Cessna up for security. I can’t lose the Cessna, Manda. You know how I love that plane, how I love flying.”

  “I know.” Her hand tightened on the pouch. “Don’t do this, Dennis. It’s not worth it.”

  “It’s the only thing I can do,” he said simply. “It’s just a matter of time until Roman finds out I sold the pictures and set you up. Then I’ll lose my job with him and probably be blackballed. I’ve got to have a stake to pay off my debts and start somewhere else. The money I received from the pictures wasn’t a tenth of what I owe.” His gaze went to the leather pouch in her hand. “But that opal might be just the ticket I need to set up shop somewhere else.”

  “It’s mine, Dennis. I’ve worked myself into the ground to find Charlie’s opal.”

  He nodded regretfully. “I’m sorry about that. You know, I think I half hoped you’d never find what you were looking for. I didn’t want to have to take it away from you. I like you, mate.”

  “Yet you’re pointing a gun at me.”

  “Necessity.” His lips twisted. “You love that old Abo. I knew you wouldn’t be complacent about giving me the opal when you found out it was me who gave him the tap on the head.”

  “You!”

  “You hadn’t figured that out yet? I needed money and you were obviously looking for something valuable. I thought I’d take a peep and see what you were up to.”

  Manda felt sick. “You could have killed him.”

  “Be reasonable, Manda, I couldn’t lose my Cessna.”

  She gazed at him in disbelief. “A human life balanced against an airplane?”

  He gestured impatiently with the gun. “The opal. I don’t have much time. I slipped away as soon as the smoke bombs started going off, but there’s bound to be someone hotfooting down here soon.”

  “What will you do if I refuse?”

  “Don’t,” he said softly. “I’m a desperate man. I might just have to shoot you. Oh, not to kill. Just an arm wound or—” He broke off, the words gurgling in his throat. He swayed and then buckled forward to the ground.

  Manda dazedly stared at his still, slumped figure. What had happened?

  “Are you all right?” Roman asked.

  Her gaze flew to the taller shadow that had replaced Dennis’s at the end of the tunnel.

  Roman stepped around Dennis’s inert body and strode toward her into the lantern light. “God, I felt sure you were going to jump him any minute. Why the hell didn’t you give him the bloody opal? I would have gotten it back before he’d reached the steps to the surface.”

  “I didn’t know that,” she said numbly. “What did you do to him?”

  “A well-placed karate chop to the back of the neck. A little something I picked up in ’Nam.” He stopped in front of her. “I was afraid to wait any longer. You weren’t about to give up the opal and he had that damned gun.”

  “How long did you wait? What are you doing here anyway?”

  “I’ve been here since a little before three o’clock this morning. The security men at the hotel called me and told me you were having a meeting resembling the staff meeting before D-Day. I wanted to be here when Dennis made his move.”

  “You knew it was Dennis?”

  “I knew he was probably the one who had sold the pictures and the stories. When I called Security in Sydney, I told them to find out the extent of his debts and try to nose around the newspaper and gather more evidence. I didn’t want him to fly the coop, so I decided to let him think I still suspected you.” He shook his head. “Then you sprang the assault on Jacto on me and I suspected Dennis was also the one behind that. Hell, I didn’t know what the devil to do. I didn’t want you or Jacto in danger, so I had to move you to Coober Pedy.” His lips twisted wearily. “Then Jacto flitted away again and I knew damn well you wouldn’t stay at the hotel for very long either. I was prepared for you to launch a full land and air attack to get back here, and from the sound of the explosions on the surface, that’s exactly what you did do. Do I have anything left up there to finish my picture?”

  She nodded. “It was only a harmless diversion. How did you know he sold the stories?”

  “Once you were eliminated, he was the logical choice. He moved freely between here and Sydney and there were a few anecdotes in the last story that took place on the set. You were working night and day here at the mine and wouldn’t have had access to the stories.”

  “Someone on the production crew could have told them to me.”

  “Yes.” He smiled slowly, tenderly. “But I decided trust had to start somewhere. As Dennis said, it’s all a question of trust.”

  She felt a wild soaring of joy rising within her. She wanted to leap into his arms and hug him with all her might. She wanted to sing and shout and dance. “He was wrong. It isn’t all a question of trust, but it’s sure a hell of a lot. We’ll go into the rest later.” She took a step nearer and touched his cheek gently with the tips of her fingers. “But not here. This is Charlie’s kingdom and I’ve taken enough from him today. Let’s go up to the real world.” She grinned. “And I’ll tell you why it was so important that I find the Black Flame, and I’ll introduce you to my sisters.”

  Ten

  “Hot damn!” Brent gave a low whistle of appreciation as his gaze traveled over her. “Manda, the magnificent. I didn’t think you owned any clothing but shorts and cut-off jeans.” He was only half serious. He had received a distinct and very pleasant shock when Manda had stepped from the plane. The outfit she was wearing was elegant, sexy, and still totally Manda. The emerald green material was the softest chamois imaginable, and it molded her body, issuing an irresistible tactile invitation. The top was merely a sleeveless vest with a few buttons left fashionably undone to reveal a lush bounty of cleavage. The A-line skirt was slit to the thigh and, as she walked toward him, he could see tempting glimpses of long, tanned legs and beautifully arched feet shod in high-heeled Grecian sandals of Moroccan leather which criss-crossed and tied at mid-calf. “I’m impressed.”

  She made a face at him. “It wasn’t you I was trying to impress. Where’s Roman?”

  “He had to direct one of the last action scenes of the picture. I wasn’t in it, so he asked me to meet you here at Coober Pedy.” His lips curved in a lopsided smile. “It surprised the hell out of me. Knowing Roman, I would have expected him at least to insist on providing you with a bodyguard before he let me within ten feet of you.”

  Manda smiled serenely. “Haven’t you heard? Roman’s into trust these days.”

  “Maybe,” Brent said skeptically as he helped her into the Jeep. “But I think I’d better disappear before he sees you in that outfit.” His gaze skimmed lightly over the soft brushed chamois molding her full breasts. “He’d never believe I resisted temptation in my present celibate state.” He got into the driver’s seat and turned on the ignition. “Even I don’t believe it. How did your business in Sydney go? Did you sell the opal?”

  She shook her head. “The jeweler is trying to locate a collector who will give me a better price. He told me he’d call me later today with a final bid.” She moistened her lips. “It’s going to be close. The jeweler offered me only three hundred and fifty thousand for the Black Flame. I’ve got to get more than that.”

  “You will.” Brent backed and turned the Jeep. “Any lady who could persuade me to hop on a camel is capable of any feat of magic.”

  Manda laughed
and settled back on the seat in preparation for the long trip to Deadman’s Ridge. She could feel the eagerness and anticipation rising within her as each mile passed. She hadn’t seen Roman in four long days, and, though she had spoken to him on the phone every day, it hadn’t been enough. She had left with her sisters on the afternoon she had found the Black Flame. She’d discovered in Sydney that locating a buyer for a rare opal was far more complicated than she had thought possible.

  By the time she had boarded her flight this morning, she had been nearly crazy with impatience. She had been wildly disappointed when she had seen Brent, instead of Roman, waiting for her when she had arrived in Coober Pedy. It was foolish, perhaps, but she had wanted Roman to see her in something more feminine than the rough clothes she had been wearing since the first night they had met in Deadman’s Ridge. Who was she kidding? She had dressed carefully, fully conscious that she was being frankly seductive. She smiled as she remembered she had once indignantly accused Roman of seducing her. Now the tables were turned. It had been far too long since they had come together in love, and she meant to remedy that as soon as possible.

  It was late afternoon when the Jeep began its uphill climb to Deadman’s Ridge.

  “Do you want me to drive you to the location where they’re shooting the scene?” Brent asked.

  She shook her head. “I’d just be in the way. Drop me off at the perimeter of the opal field. I’ll walk down and let Jacto know that I’m back.”

  “I told him I was going to the airport to pick you up. He said to tell you he’d wait to see you.”

  “Wait to see me,” she repeated, puzzled. “That’s a strange way to put it.” She suddenly felt a tiny frisson of fear.

  She jumped out of the Jeep as soon as it stopped and started hurriedly across the opal field. By the time she reached the lean-to, she was almost running. Jacto’s knapsack was missing from beneath the tarpaulin!

  He was gone. But he couldn’t be gone. Jacto wouldn’t leave her. “Jacto, dammit, where are you?”

  “I am here.”