(2014) Dead End

by Jack Parker

  Ash led his three friends into the dark of the cave that appeared before them. The light that emitted from the torches they held had lit up the walkway as they followed the scattered, faded footprints that were imprinted on the sandy floor deeper inside the cavern.

  After many minutes of walking in silence, the only sounds being the shuffling feet of his friends, the path opened up into a large room-like area that greatly resembled the inside of an old temple from what they could see in the dark. The burning torches they carried were used to light up the stationary ones hanging in seemingly random places on the wall which instantly lit up the room fully; revealing the Dark Soldiers who stood in the center of it; more dangerous looking than ever,dressed in black and tall and intimidating.

  The image that played out in Ash's mind changed only slightly with a blur before he was face to face with his father; no longer chained or treated like the prisoner he was to the soldiers, or so he thought.

  A voice belonging only to his father echoed through his head, though his father's lips remained still.

  "The Neves could no longer protect it," it cried as the image blurred before changing once more. "It had to be found; but by someone worthy."

  Lari was running towards him with a gold-tinted box in hand. Suddenly her mouth gaped open, and her eyes widened. Ash hadn't heard a gunshot--the entire scene was quiet. As Lari fell, crimson blood being suspended in midair, Ash saw the face of his father, eyes hard, but a sympathetic glimmer. Abruptly, his face as well as Lari's became distorted in pain. He fell and Ash was met with the face of someone he never expected to see again.

  Salacia.

  Ash shot up from the cold ground, panting and gasping for oxygen as if he had just run a marathon non-stop. His deep blue eyes slowly wandered to the peacefully sleeping form of Lari, who was next to him and very much alive. He unconsciously heaved a sigh of relief before lying back down to sleep once more.

  * * *

  November 9, 2005

  7:00 a.m.

  They walked the remaining mile to the port with numerous complaints from Dara who was intent on making certain that the others knew the pain she was in.

  "…and my feet are killing me! If I had known we would be walking this much I wouldn't have worn heels. And what I would do for some Tylenol! This headache makes my head feel as if something is pounding it to mush."

  Lari sighed in anger and annoyance before deciding to let her complaints known. "Dara! In case you haven't noticed the smell of the sea water, we are very close to the port now. My feet are killing me too and I too have a headache that someone gave me due to their never-ending complaints. And why the hell would you wear heels? Now just do me the favor of shutting up at least until we reach the port." Lari half yelled,half pleaded with her.

  "Well, it looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." Dara started in, watching Lari's expressions go from annoyed to just plain angry.

  "Well someone-"

  "Ladies!" Dom yelled before their verbal fight turned into a physical one. "Let's just calm down and focus on getting to our next destination."

  "Fine with me," Lari snapped before falling back with an extremely silent Ash who brought up the rear. The mere sight of him was enough to calm her. "Penny for your thoughts," she said kindly, trying to read his tired face.

  "I didn't sleep well." Ash answered, eyes focused on the ground ahead. He was no longer able to look at her without seeing her shot down by his father in his mind. It was her eyes, her shocked emerald eyes that haunted him the most.

  "Bad dreams?" she asked knowingly.

  "Now was that a lucky guess or woman's intuition?" Ash asked, smiling as she laughed at the intuition part.

  "A little bit of both." Ash paused, and recounted his dream to her in descriptive detail but was careful to avoid the part where she dies.

  "Why would you dream of Salacia killing your father?" Lari tried finding an explanation of her own but came up empty handed.

  "It doesn't make any sense to me either."

  "Well you always did have an overactive imagination." Lari gave the best explanation that she could think of, even if Ash refused to accept it as true.

  * * *

  Salacia sat on the passenger side of the Jeep as it roared to life and took off down the barren road with five other soldiers in tow. She was in constant contact with John and her other soldiers should any trouble arise on her way to beat the four to the city of Bodrum, once known as Halicarnassus; home to the remains of the Mausoleum.

  Turkey, was no short distance from Egypt but she had eventually led her soldiers there, establishing a base the very same day they had lost contact with Aric.

  Her half brother was nothing more to her than a thorn in her side; always wanting important artifacts at the cost of others lives. Of course, she was much the same way with both inheriting their father's genes on wanting the world. Amon had been spared that gene since he only shared a mother with Salacia.

  In her few days as the leader of the Dark Soldiers, Salacia had come to two rather startling realizations. The first was that if she did not beat the four to the treasure first, she would never have the chance to have it in her possession again, nor would she ever. The second realization was that time was pushing hard against them. It was their enemy. Aric had been far off in the calculation of that time that most was wasted on petty things. They didn't have the fifty-two days, seventeen hours, and fifteen minutes they wanted so much, they had twenty-one days, seventeen hours, fifteen minutes and still two more Wonders.

  She had to be the first one to reach them.

  * * *

  The port seemed busy as usual, or as busy as they had seen it in their short time there.

  Passing by the place where they had rented their Jeep, Lari shuttered at the thought of getting in another one after what had happened to the last one. Dara seemed to have mutual feelings toward it since she whipped out her newly charged cell phone and began punching in numbers.

  The other three waited patiently and silently as they watched her strike up a conversation with a person on the other line of the phone. "Ty! Thank God! Do you think you can do me a huge favor?"

  Though not being able to hear the response of the person named Ty, Lari could only imagine him saying something along the lines of, "What now?"

  Lari was so lost in her imagination that she didn't even notice that Dara had already ended her conversation.

  "I knew I loved that husband of mine!" she exclaimed with a bright smile while Dom gave Ash the 'I told you she was married' look.

  "Please tell me he's sending a boat for us." Lari pleaded with tired eyes.

  "A jet," Dara corrected cheerfully.

  "A what?!" Lari nearly fell over at the name of their new transportation. "What does your husband do to have a jet?"

  "Nothing; it's a family jet. Well, his family's jet." Dara ignored the still confused faces of her comrades and decided that she had explained enough to them.

  "And where are we to meet this jet?" Lari asked, still disbelieving.

  "It's already here; we just have to go find it." Dara spun around on her heels and began walking in the direction of the nearest airport.

  When they finally did arrive, the jet was waiting for them like Dara said it would be. Dom, Ash, and Lari were in silent awe while Dara gave instructions to the pilot.

  * * *

  Bodrum

  November 9, 2005

  It didn't take long for them to reach Bodrum; the flight had been silent for the most part. The jet had gotten them there in little more than an hour. The area in which they had landed in was close to the Aegean Sea yet nearby to the remains of the Mausoleum.

  Instead of driving the remaining mile or so to the Mausoleum, they mutually agreed upon walking there.

  The sun was high and the weather was a perfect 75 degrees. The water glistened like it was made of gems while visitors were either swimming, tanning, or, well…burning.

  The four were f
orced to sneak around the many tourists and few guards that safeguarded the dilapidatedremains of the Mausoleum; blending in with the tourists in their search for the next clue.

  Neither of them expected to see that the guards were actually the Dark Soldiers.

  "Ash, I think we should go…now!" Lari whispered loudly. "The soldiers are here!"

  Ash looked at the guards and her allegations were made true. "How did they find us?!"

  Ash took Lari's hand and pulled her into the passing group of tourists that Dom and Dara already occupied. The four tried their best not to look suspicious as they counted the soldiers that took the place of the regular guards.

  "There is no way we can get around five soldiers unseen." Dom commented bleakly.

  "I thought their leader was dead. Who's leading them now?" Dara's eyes scanned the area once more but still didn't find anyone who looked to be in charge of them.

  "Salacia…" Ash whispered so softly that Lari could barely hear it.

  "You don't think she's behind this, do you?" Lari asked. "She actually helped us before."

  "But it all fits, Lari," he said so both Dom and Dara could now hear as well. "She could have helped us in the beginning because she wants what ever these map pieces lead to. And we all know the old saying: keep your friends close-"

  "-but your enemies closer," Lari finished for him. "It's always the person you least expect, but I don't see her anywhe-"

  "Ash! Look!" Dom yelled louder than he should have while he pointed to a girl in the middle of the remains. She held a box much like the ones all of the clues had been in so far and was now speaking with two of the five soldiers; leaving the other three on watch. "How did you know about her?"

  Ash didn't reply. He was stiff and only showed fear as he watched her kill his father in his mind over an over like he had seen Lari earlier.

  Lari understood why he wasn't speaking but out of friendship to Ash, she did not tell the others why. "We have to figure out what the next clue is." All eyes were now fixed on her as she continued. "I think its time that the tables turned and we became the spies."

  No one dared to disagree.

  * * *

  "Have they arrived yet?" Salacia asked in her authoritative tone.

  "No, ma'am," the nearest one to her replied. "We believe they should be arriving shortly. Wilson has just returned from tracking them and said that they have taken a jet."

  "Do not leave your posts until John solves the clue," she commanded, and then walked around a nearby building, away from the crowd.

  * * *

  Lari was sent to spy alone since more than one of them could be easily spotted but one had a better chance at slipping under their noses. She had followed Salacia around to a secluded building and had placed herself behind a wall where she saw her take out a headset and secure in on her head.

  "John, we have the next clue."

  "John?!" Lari mouthed to herself; obviously not expecting to hear Ash's kidnapped father's name.

  "I will send you the image as soon as I can but I need you to solve the clue for me first. I must stay a step ahead of them if my plan is to work."

  Salacia was silent for a moment, listening to John as he spoke to her. Lari was unable to hear his side of the conversation.

  "Of course they haven't been harmed! I already told you that no harm would come to them as long as they stayed out of my way and by you solving this clue ensures that!" she said, no longer trying to be quiet.

  Salacia was silent again and Lari's head poked out a bit more as she listened to her off the next clue.

  "'The Torch of Freedom' is all that is says." Salacia flipped the clue around, expecting there to be more to it. "The Statue of Liberty isn't a wonder of the Ancient World."

  Listening once more to John, Salacia was interrupted when the sounds of her men yelling for her invaded her ears. "Salacia, they're here!"

  Lari looked around panicked; thinking that it was she who had been spotted. Her fears were soon assuaged when the guards were running in the opposite direction but more fears were unleashed when she saw her three friends running from the chasing soldiers.

  Salacia rushed by her, never noticing Lari pressed against the wall as she gave chase as well.

  Lari was about to follow all of them when a hand forcefully grabbed her by the shoulder and the other hand was placed over her mouth to muffle any words or screams that she had.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Winding Rhodes

  "Calm down, Lari," Ash whispered in her ear while releasing his hold on her.

  "What the hell did you do that for?!" she yelled while punching him hard in the shoulder. "A simple 'Lari stop' would have been fine."

  "I'm sorry, Lari, but we don't have much time. You can beat me up later."

  Dragging her back into the crowd, they quickly met up with Dom and Dara who were now in different clothes; all three were to be exact.

  "Am I missing something here? I thought the soldiers were chasing you three," Lari said slightly confused.

  "Oh they are, or at least they think they are," Dara replied while putting her hair up in a messy bun.

  "I see; a diversion." Lari said now fully understanding. They exchanged clothes with three look-alikes.

  "Did you get the next clue?" Ash asked before the conversation when off on something less important.

  "Get the clue, no, but I do know what it said," she said slightly saddened by the fact that she let Salacia run past her with the clue. "Torch of Freedom."

  "This has to be the easiest clue ever." Dom said happily.

  "You know what it means, Dom?" Lari questioned while trying to find why it was so easy for him and not her.

  "The Statue of Liberty holds the Torch of Freedom-" he began but before he could finish Lari interrupted.

  "Salacia said something about the Statue of Liberty but ruled it out since it wasn't a Wonder of the Ancient World."

  "No, it's a wonder of the modern world but the French sculptor Auguste Bartholdi of the Statue, got his inspiration from the Colossus of Rhodes, which is a Wonder of the Ancient World." By the time Dom finished, he was smiling and beaming with delight.

  Ash also sported a smile of joyfulness at how fast they were now solving the clues. "To Rhodes we go."

  * * *

  On the jet, Dom and Dara were deep in conversation about Greece while Ash and Lari were especially silent.

  "Ash?" Ash's head turned to acknowledge Lari as she spoke again; this time in a hushed voice. "There has been something that I've been meaning to tell you since we were at Bodrum, but I didn't want to say anything in front of those two." She motioned with her head to Dom and Dara who were still wrapped in their conversation to even notice that Lari and Ash were staring at them.

  "What is it, Lari?" Ash asked more curious than ever.

  "When I was spying on Salacia, I think I heard her talking to your father." Ash seemed unmoved so she continued. "She called him John and I think he asked about her making sure that none of us got hurt because she replied saying 'Of course they haven't been harmed! I already told you that no harm would come to them as long as they stayed out of my way and by you solving this clue ensures that!'"

  Now Ash was moved by her statement and his thoughts drifted back to his dream once more. The Neves could no longer protect it. It had to be found; but by someone worthy. He thought and his body tensed.

  "Is there something that you aren't telling me, Ash?" Lari asked, watching him tense and scoot away from her.

  "Lari, I-"

  The pilot called from the cockpit to his passengers. "Fasten you seatbelts. We will be landing shortly."

  Dom and Dara now sat between Ash and Lari as turbulence rocked the plane and the feel of the jet descending was apparent.

  Once the plane had landed, the four rushed out of the jet to wait for a rental car. Its black paint reflected the bright afternoon sun, causing the four to shield their eyes against the light.

  "Do we know where the Colossu
s is supposed to be?" Dara asked, about to sit in the drivers side of the car but was pulled away by Dom who took the wheel, making her stomp around to the passenger side.

  "At the entrance to the harbor," Dom answered, inserting the key in the ignition and turning it until the car hummed continuously.

  As Dom took off down the road with his three passengers, Lari decided to play twenty questions with him. "So what do you know about the Colossus, Dom?" she asked casually.

  "No much, I'm afraid." He answered simply before deciding to continue. "It was a statue of the sun god, Helios. The construction took around 12 years and many years after it was completed, it was damaged in an earthquake."

  "What did it look like?"