They stood back to inspect the face.
“Which is it though? One is looking at us, and the other seems to not exist. Or is it closed?” Sam asked perplexed.
Alex pulled the now crumpled paper from her pocket and started pacing back and forth. Her eyes scanned over the clue.
“And?” Yeng-Pho prompted for her to read it out loud.
“ ’the goal is to bend low for the truth to bestow,’”
Alex tugged at Sam’s arm as she bent low in front of the face. Expectantly they watched the face but nothing happened.
“This better not be one of your tricks, Miss Hunt. Why are you stalling?” Yeng—Pho warned her by pushing his gun in her back.
“I’m not! We just need to be patient,” Alex told him off. “Trust me. If the clue warns you against something, then you had better believe it. Ask your two dead puppets back at the dragon. They didn’t listen to me either.”
Yeng-Pho uncocked his pistol and stood back. “Well, I don’t trust you, but you’re both dead if you’re lying to me.”
Sam nudged with his elbow and pointed his chin at the stone face between the vines. The blue light that shone from the spear had turned to a ruby red as the moonlight hit another gemstone in the javelin behind them. The beam reflected onto the pupil of the open eye.
“Get Down!” Alex shouted while her and Sam both fell to the ground.
A series of arrows shot in quick succession from the statued face’s mouth, narrowly missing Yeng-Pho. Behind him, his partner in crime wasn’t so lucky. A dozen arrows pierced his body as he fell dead to his knees.
The trio lay face down on the jungle floor until the flying arrows subsided. When Alex finally looked up, her heart skipped several beats as she caught sight of the opening below the ancient face.
“Do you see what I’m seeing?” an equally stunned Sam asked.
“Get up!” Yeng-Pho kicked their legs. “Move!”
With his gun pointed at Sam and Alex, he bullied them away from the opening. Satisfied they were a safe enough distance away from him, he bent down and pulled the Golden Urn from the small hidden cave between the vines. Staring down the barrel of Yeng-Pho’s gun, Sam and Alex watched his surprised face turn into a smug grin. Distracted by his self absorbed ego and greed, Yeng-Pho set the Urn down on the ground.
“Eleven years!” Yeng-Pho cried out excitedly. “Eleven years I’ve waited for this moment, and it’s finally all mine!”
Drowned in pride and self-satisfaction, he lifted the lid off the golden urn and pulled out a gold amulet with a large ruby stone.
Alex gasped as she lay eyes on the dangling stone. Stunned by the unexpected find, she watched as he wrapped it around his fingers and held it up to the light. The ruby sparkled; casting rays of dark red light across the jungle floor.
“So that’s what you’ve been after all along,” Alex said jerking Yeng-Pho’s attention back to them.
“This, my dear Miss Hunt, is worth a small fortune. It has been lost for more than 2000 years! But now I have it! I finally have it!”
He steadied his gun on them. “Now, if the two of you don’t mind, I have some money to make. Money I’m not prepared to share with anyone.”
Yeng-Pho waived his gun at them to get moving.
Ushered by his gun’s barrel, Yeng-Pho forced Alex and Sam toward the quicksand.
“What fools you two are. Did you honestly think I would share this moment with anyone? Buddha’s Amulet is one of the biggest ancient treasures known to mankind. My buyers will kill over this. Which brings me to the two of you. My identity has remained hidden for years and I’m certainly not intending getting exposed now. This has to look like an accident, so it seems the two of you are going to take a little swim and allow the entire world to think the famous Alex Hunt and Sam Quinn died in action on an archaeological expedition. It’s perfect! It couldn’t have worked out more in my favor.”
Sam took Alex’s hand as they reached the edge of the quicksand and squeezed it tight. For the first time she didn’t cry. Though inside her chest her heart was being crushed, she felt immense pride to have come this far on their expedition.
“This has been quite an adventure, Alex Hunt.”
Chapter Seventeen
Alex and Sam’s parting moment was interrupted as Ollie’s voice cut through the air behind them.
“What the hell, you traitor?” Alex yelled. She had nothing to lose now. If she were to die here today, it might as well be after she told Ollie what a lowlife scumbag he was for deceiving them.
Ollie’s hunting rifle had been replaced by a machine gun which casually hung over his shoulder. Yeng-Pho’s audacious laughter was nauseating.
“Another surprise for you tonight, Miss Hunt. My dear friend, Oliver is on my payroll; in charge of my infiltration team, in fact. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without his inside track,” he said proudly.
“No surprise there, Yeng-Pho. I knew he was up to no good from the moment I lay eyes on him. You two suit each other. You’re despicable,” Alex spat at their feet to which Sam added,
“You were the last person on earth I thought capable of such loathsome acts, Ollie. They could have killed us. You certainly pulled the Aussie wool over my eyes.”
Yeng-Pho laughed out loud again, clutching the Buddha Amulet in his greedy paws. “‘Could have’? We are going to kill you, you idiot!”
He turned to Ollie, “Finish them off, Oliver. There’s money to be made.”
Ollie swung his firearm from his shoulder and aimed it at Alex and Sam.
Alex didn’t have any fight left in her. This was it. Tears ran down her cheeks as she drew in a deep shuddering breath. Her chest felt heavy under the weight of betrayal and knowing it was the last time she’d ever hunt a treasure with Sam hurt like hell. This is not how she wanted to die. Staring down the barrel of Ollie’s weapon, her body shook uncontrollably as Sam pulled her into his arms.
“You heard the man, Sheila. The night is full of surprises.” Ollie said as he turned his rifle away from Alex and Sam and aimed it at the Commissioner-General. “I think the time has finally come, Yeng-Pho. You’re under arrest.”
“FEDERAL POLICE! GET DOWN ON THE GROUND!”
Chaotic screams of armed forces ripped through the night air as they announced themselves. Sam pulled Alex to the ground and shielded her head. They watched the frenzy of red lasers and torchlights scatter everywhere as the police searched for more of Yeng-Pho’s men. Within seconds they had him in handcuffs and pinned to the ground. A helicopter roared loudly above their heads sending gusts of wind and dirt in their faces. With seasoned precision, Yeng-Pho was hoisted up into the helicopter and flown away.
“What the hell?” Sam shouted at Ollie who was talking on a sat phone.
“It’s all over, Mate. Operation Buddha was successful.”
Ollie extended his arm to help Sam and Alex up. “We could have never done this without you, Sheila. Thank you.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Who are you and what’s all this ‘Operation Buddha’ business?” Alex shouted at Ollie.
“Calm down, Sheila. Mission accomplished. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Matt Taylor. Special Agent Matt Taylor from the Australian Security Intelligence Organization. ASIO in short.”
“Matt? ’Special Agent’? What do you mean you’re a special agent?” A gobsmacked Alex tried to make sense of it all.
“Don’t look so surprised, Sheila. I’m not really the low-life you accused me of.” Matt joked. “I’m one of the good guys. Operation Buddha was an undercover sting operation to flush out the head of the snake. Or the tail of the scorpion, in actual fact. We’ve been after the Scorpions for years, and I’ve been undercover for the last five trying to catch this bastard in the act.”
Sam scratched his head. “Ollie, Matt or whoever you are, I’m usually a clever bloke, but you’re going to need to start at the beginning. We have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“It�
��s Matt. Ollie is my cover name, and the two of you were instrumental in helping us. The Scorpions are an international underground syndicate who smuggles stolen artifacts and sells them on the black market for top dollar. FBI, MI5, ASIO — the list goes on. We’ve all been tracking their corruption all over the world; always only catching the small guys, but we’ve never been able to find out who the mastermind behind the entire Scorpions syndicate was. Until we followed Intel here to Cambodia. I went undercover to flush him out, and the Golden Urn was the perfect bait.”
Alex still couldn’t believe her ears. “So wait. Where do Roshi and the monks fit in and how did you know about the Amulet?”
“Ah, Sheila. I told you. The monks and I go way back. They were approached by ASIO to help me infiltrate and protect my cover. In return, I promised to find them the Golden Urn and return it to its rightful place. That’s when they told me about Buddha’s Amulet. Quite a rare find, isn’t it?” Matt stopped and looked the pair up and down, “You both look like you could do with some food, and something tells me you’re not going to say no to my bear stew tonight, hey Sheila?”
The Royal Palace was as majestic as it sounded. Waiting in the large foyer, two security personnel flanked Alex and Sam as they patiently waited for the king and Prime Minister to arrive. When they finally got ushered to a formal sitting room, Sam looked at Alex and said,
“Out of all our expeditions together, this one, took the cake. I can’t recall Professor Keating ever saying torture and flushing out International Syndicates were part of the job description.”
Alex admired one of the paintings on the wall.
“You’re right. It’s not in the job description, but it seems the world isn’t quite what it used to be. It certainly has been an adventure, hasn’t it?” She smiled and turned to face him. “ I’m just glad you’re ok. I don’t think I could have survived this without you.”
Moments later a small party of security personnel entered the room followed by His Royal Majesty of Cambodia, the Prime Minister and none other than Roshi and the Great Senior Patriarch.
The king spoke in a gentle, warm voice as he stood before Sam and Alex.
“What an incredible honor to meet you both, Miss Hunt and Dr. Quinn. The Cambodian government owes you a great amount of gratitude for finding the Golden Urn, not to mention our venerable Buddha’s Amulet. To be honest, we all thought the Amulet was a legend. But to find it here on Cambodian soil is the greatest gift. Thank you.”
The king paused and somberly turned to Sam.
“Dr. Quinn, please accept our sincere apologies for the despicable manner in which you were treated here in our beautiful country. We are most happy you are still alive, and if there is ever anything we can do to compensate for the horrible experience you’ve had, please let me know.”
The Prime Minister went to stand next to him. “Miss Hunt, Dr. Quinn, we would very much like if you would both join us in the celebratory procession to the Temple. Would you care to accompany us, please?”
Alex looked across at the Senior monk who smiled and nodded with approval. To be invited by the king and his Royals to join them in such a big event was the most significant honor yet.
“But of course, your Highness. It would be our honor,” Alex swiftly accepted.
Outside the palace, the street was crowded with thousands of Cambodians as they waited for the king to lead the parade to the mountain shrine. Several citizens cheered as the king placed the Golden Urn in the float which resembled a giant golden swan built around a small car. Four Buddhist monks sat praying on each of the corners of the float as the procession moved through the streets on the forty kilometer journey to the Oudong shrine. Small groups of Buddhist monks walked prayerfully alongside the raft while the children joyfully decorated the way with colorful garlands of fresh flowers.
Directly behind the float, Alex and Sam proudly followed in the king and his Royal party’s vehicle.
“I guess this makes us famous,” Sam whispered jokingly next to Alex’s ear. “You need to work on your wave though.”
Alex elbowed him playfully and mimicked the Queen of England’s royal wave.
“Don’t get too used to this, Sam. Our next adventure might not be as glamorous.”
Afterword
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Acknowledgments
Buddhist Excerpts taken from "Eight Verses for Developing the Good Heart," written 1,000 years ago by Dorje Senge of Langri Tang
Facts compiled from Fox News, Daily Mail, Phnom Penh Post & NY Daily News
About the Author
An emerging author in Mystery Adventure Fiction, Urcelia's inspiration for her novels emanate from her keen interest in all things mysterious. From vanished civilizations, ancient relics, and lost treasures to UFO's, conspiracy theories and even Ghosts.
As a mother of three sons, she stands little to no chance not to be swept up in classics like Indiana Jones, National Treasure and The Mummy and often binge-watches Netflix mystery series with her husband. Expeditions often include deciphering they mystery of the missing socks or who left the toilet seat up!
As a child, the prospect of becoming an archaeologist and adventurer excited her, but regrettably was never to be.
Her novels are generally based on true-life historical legends, which she turns upside down into page-turning Action & Adventure Thrillers.
Her insatiable lust for Adventure regularly propels her and her family to take annual vacations to faraway places all around the world. Besides traveling, she loves solving mysteries and holds fast to the idea that Bigfoot is real and Elvis is still alive.
Boardgames are not really her thing, but will choose a game of Cluedo over Monopoly any day and vows she will solve any crime before anyone else.
Her passion for people leads to a commitment that she will answer emails and social media messages from her readers personally so as to get to know each one individually.
Though nowhere near the top of her craft, her stubborn determination will push for success as she continues to grow and deliver books her readers will love!
To know more, please visit her website or social media pages.
www.urcelia.com
[email protected]
Also by Urcelia Teixeira
ALEX HUNT and The Chase for Rhapta (Book #1 in the ALEX HUNT Adventure series)
ALEX HUNT and The Golden Urn_An Archaeological Adventure Thriller Page 17