by J. R. Rain
Before I could pose another question, Motumbo’s men grabbed the two of us and dragged us toward the dig site. I caught a glimpse of Marie watching us from our tent’s doorway, looking perturbed. I tried to motion for her to get back inside, but the guard pulling me wouldn’t let me turn around.
“Can you tell me anything about this, Nick Caine?” Motumbo asked, when we arrived. He motioned to the trail of blood that stopped abruptly, just beyond where we stood.
“No, I can’t,” I said, finding it hard to care about any new threats he might offer, or the fulfillment of older ones. “You’d be better off quizzing your men for an answer.”
Truly, it was an appropriate answer, since obviously his men had already combed the area, based on the waffled footprints around the site’s opening. Fresh ropes were staked along the sides, and the smaller trucks had left tracks fanning out in opposite directions in search of our missing friend.
Motumbo said nothing. He glared at me and grinned contemptuously at Ishi. But before the bandit leader could visit immediate harm to my little buddy, the first drops of rain descended upon us. A needed miracle, and almost on cue. Motumbo continued to fondle his scarab’s ivory handle, and didn’t give up the foreplay until a deluge of rain fell upon us.
The strange weather brought a reprieve, and the three of us were sentenced to our tents until further notice. At least we remained among the living, and the distraction of Akiiki’s whereabouts gave me a chance to formulate a plan.
Chapter Eleven
The rain and our break from tyranny lasted all of thirty minutes, if that.
The summons from Motumbo came. I figured it would be for me alone, and then if he didn’t get what he wanted, Marie and Ishi would follow. Not so. All three of us were brought before him.
The flaps to his tent were pulled back, and Motumbo stepped forward to greet us.
“Greetings, Nicholas Albert Caine, Marie Eloise Da Vinci, and their monkey, Ishi.” Motumbo announced, coldly.
He motioned for us to kneel before him. I damned near resisted, but every man in his band of miscreants had their weapons drawn. An escalation would likely mean a corpse or two, and since Motumbo needed my help, I’d be the one on my side left standing.
We knelt without incident.
“Your friend, Akiiki Mubarek, remains missing,” he said, his tone surprisingly mellow. “Somehow, the map I took from you the other day is also missing, Nick. I know Akiiki has it in his possession, so I am not blaming any of you for its disappearance, or even for his disappearance, either.”
He shot Ishi a smile that at first glance might’ve seemed forgiving. But my father taught me long ago to always look in a man’s eyes first—everything flows from there, not the other way around. Hatred, I saw, was burning as brightly as ever.
I prayed the others didn’t fall prey for his schtick, since the man was more dangerous right now than he’d been since making his acquaintance two days ago. He had lost a treasure, the map to that treasure, and the primary suspect had disappeared, too.
“Good. So I guess we’ll be on our way, then,” I said cheerily.
“Ah, no, Nick Caine. You won’t be going anywhere anytime soon,” he advised, his expression somewhere between amusement and annoyance. I had to be careful how I played this. “At least one of you—or perhaps even all of you—know where Akiiki has gone, no? If we had plenty of time, we could entertain ourselves with Marie and Ishi while torturing you, Nick, for days or even weeks, while waiting for him to return for Sekhmet’s treasure. However, like you, I have commitments to meet with others. Wealthy men in the Middle East who reward handsomely are waiting impatiently for their gold, and who might include a tidy sum for your troublesome head and a couple of slaves.”
“I imagine you’d sell your own mother and sister into slavery if the price was right, huh?”
A suicidal thought that escaped my mouth before I could stop it, or more honestly, cared to stop it. But at least it got the program rolling. He snapped his fingers, and his men moved to bind our hands behind our backs again. This time, when one of the assholes groped my gal, I lunged at him. Unfortunately, my face was an easy target for a fist—Motumbo’s.
“You will have to learn proper behavior, Nick,” he advised.
Motumbo moved behind me to assist with the bonds, pulling my hands high behind my back before tying them off. My cheek was split open after connecting with his ring that now dripped crimson down his fingers. A river of blood also coursed down the right side of my face. But the worse part was the dizziness from the shot. Dude must’ve been a refugee camp prize fighter in his youth.
“There, that should encourage better behavior, especially when your hands and forearms become numb.” He chuckled, and pulled out a familiar crate. One containing our emergency provisions. “And this will ensure your immediate cooperation, since...”
He paused to pull out the remaining water and Powerade reserves. With the assistance of his men, they poured them out into the sand before us.
“I will pour out the rest of your liquor, too,” he continued. “But first, I think we shall see how Marie likes taking it from real men. Maybe one of us will train her mouth while another explores regions I doubt you’ve ever explored, Nick.”
“Touch her again, and I swear to Christ, I’ll kill you!”
“Ha! You’ll do no such thing! Amsalu...Matek.”
He motioned to an unseen pair behind us, and the two bandits grabbed Marie while I was helpless to defend her. But before the bastards could tear her clothes off, a thunderous rumble moved through the earth beneath us, knocking everyone to the ground.
All eyes were drawn to the dig site, where the source of the disturbance originated. I assumed that’s where it came from, since the hole grew much bigger, taking the tattered scaffold with it. A plume of dark smoke rose into the air above the pit, spreading outward as it gained altitude. The color morphed into a deep purple hue, as if the cloud was suddenly laden with moisture.
Holy shit! Is that how we ended up with a rain cloud in the middle of the desert?
Unlike the previous cloud that greeted us at dawn, this one crackled with energy and lightning bursts within. I hobbled over to Marie, kicking one of her assailants lying nearby in the face with the heel of my boot. He hardly stirred from his prostrate position. An obvious Muslim in religious orientation, hypocrisy is the same—east or west—when faced with the terrifying unknown.
“Are you all right?” I asked her, knowing the answer couldn’t be good.
“They didn’t get a handful this time,” she said, shouting above the din. “What in the hell’s happening?”
“I don’t know. It must be coming from the pyramid,” I said, smiling that she was okay, but more than a little nervous about the trembling ground beneath us. “You need to hear this, since I might not get the opportunity again. I love you, Marie Da Vinci. I haven’t said those words to a woman in a very long time. In case I don’t get the chance to say it again, you heard it now.”
I didn’t give her a chance to respond. Her stunned expression was enough. It was time to go find the asshole who initiated the attack, and I wasn’t completely surprised that he cowered behind his makeshift desk.
The earth’s rumble intensified, though not nearly as dramatic as the initial jolt. More of Motumbo’s men fell prostrate. Only his personal guard remained standing, looking lost...like he suddenly wanted his mommy.
“Motumbo—you’ve obviously pissed off someone far greater than your dumb ass!” I yelled at him. “You owe us this: cut Marie’s bonds and Ishi’s, and then you’ll begin finding ways to make it up to Marie.”
He stood up, eyeing me warily. A battle raged within, revealed by uncertainty in his eyes. Yet, despite our dire circumstance, he almost rejected my request. Marie’s and Ishi’s furious looks had little affect on his decision to cut their bonds. The golden haze oozing out of the hole seemed to be the deciding factor—especially when it drifted in our direction.
“Yo
u are free to go,” he said to Marie and Ishi, as he sliced away their bonds.
But getting an apology didn’t happen, and from the look he gave me, it might never. His wickedness ran deep, and I shivered thinking what might’ve happened had the strange event in the pit not taken place...the strange even that was currently taking place. He shook his head, refusing to cut my bonds.
“What gives? You can’t win, Motumbo. Can’t you see that?” I motioned with my head to the haze thickening as it moved toward us. Nearly half of his little army disbanded, stumbling in the sand as they ran away.
“Then so be it,” said Motumbo. “No, you and I will go meet the demon queen in her lair. Real, or not, I’m not leaving here without what belongs to me. My gold.”
Chapter Twelve
Over the years, I’ve dealt with my share of insane people. Motumbo Kalabi takes the cake.
His entire band of thugs left him. Even so, he dragged me to the immense hole in the desert floor. Marie and Ishi insisted on coming along—which was just as insane, ignoring my orders to stay clear of all danger until I returned. They at least had the good sense to follow far enough back to give us space, or more accurately, to keep Motumbo from carrying out his threats to slit my throat and let the sand soak up my blood as it had Akiiki’s. A strong enough visual for me to play along, too.
“Now what?” I asked, once we reached the pit’s edge.
We almost took one step too many, as the haze didn’t thin to where we could make out our surroundings until we reached the hole’s outer rim. What once was a fifteen foot depth was now at least one hundred. Motumbo muttered similar calculations in meters. Either way, a fall from this distance could prove fatal, even if we managed to roll down the sides of the hole that bowed toward the center.
Enough sand had cleared to where we could officially ascertain what kind of pyramid this was. The square apex and roughly a dozen steps lay exposed. As expected, it resembled step pyramids located in the western side of the globe; as in, Mesoamerica. Even so, it bore unique qualities similar to the Egypt’s famed step pyramids, as well. I had never seen one this well preserved. It was almost as if the sand that buried the pyramid poured over the structure like the legendary flood of Gilgamesh poured water over much of the known world, as opposed to gradual sand erosion and burial from the winds of time.
“We go down and find my treasure!” exclaimed Motumbo, sounding like the madman that he was. He started to pull me over.
“The hell you say!” I jerked away, and almost fell head first into the chasm. He caught me, leering into my face. I said, “Either untie me, or let me die here. Then you can deal with whatever’s inside there on your own.”
For a moment, he looked as if he considered letting me fall to my death. But he pulled me back onto the ledge. Marie and Ishi had caught up to us, staring slack-jawed at the sight before them. The golden haze had retreated to draw attention to a much brighter golden glow emanating from the pyramid’s entrance.
Motumbo took the glow as an invitation, where in truth it could’ve just as easily been a warning to potential intruders to stay out. Still, a part of him must have sensed the potential danger. He sliced away my bonds and threw his knife across the chasm.
“I’ll make you a deal, Nick. You and I will split the gold we carry out of there, fifty-fifty. You can split yours with Marie and Ishi, and I can pay my employers their share. What do you say?”
Like I would ever trust him. The guy was a crook—and a violent one at that. Motumbo might’ve already killed me, raped my beloved, and eaten my best friend if fortune hadn’t worked out to our favor in that regard. And, I owed the guy a sucker punch—one where my college ring left a laceration matching mine.
But as I thought about it, I didn’t want to leave this place empty handed. Marie and Ishi wouldn’t want that fate either. Not to mention I still owed my buddy Mario a better effort to collect our treasure than I had put forth so far. I looked to Marie and Ishi, and once they nodded approvingly I told Motumbo yes.
“Good.” His smile widened to where it looked almost warm and friendly. “The four of us shall descend together. Follow me.”
“Why do they need to come along?” I nodded to my cohorts while massaging my arms, They felt worse than they did while bound. “The two of us should handle this alone.”
“The more hands available, the more gold we carry,” he replied, and began climbing down the hillside. “It means more for you and me this way, no?”
“You might as well let us come along, Nick,” said Marie, moving up to me. She smiled and her eyes were aglow...she had something to tell me. It would have to wait. “Otherwise, we’ll follow anyway.”
Ishi echoed the same message.
“Okay, I guess,” I said, shaking my head. I looked at the other two. “Stay close.”
Motumbo had scaled half the hillside before we scurried after him. He waited for us at the bottom, seemingly mesmerized by the surreal perspective of a youthful pyramid and it’s godlike essence pouring forth from the entrance ahead. Marie and Ishi kept watchful eyes on the sand that hadn’t settled yet. Any missteps could take us under, and without a rope attached to our waists there would be no way to rescue someone. I tried not to think about it, and released a low sigh when we made it to the steps. Motumbo shot me an amused look before running up to the entrance.
“Look, Boss!”
Ishi pointed beyond Motumbo. I looked up in time to see a shadowed figure disappear into the sunlike brightness. Sunlike, and yet easy on the eyes...a logical outlook became increasingly difficult to hang on to.
“I saw it, too!” said Marie.
Motumbo grunted at us, upon reaching the entrance, as if he now regretted his decision to bring us along. My own attention was drawn to the pristine pictograms on either side of the entrance. Despite their clarity when first discovered, something had changed since the other day. They appeared sharper in detail, and as I moved closer to study them, I was amazed to find the crazing—that is, small fissures—had been mended. It was as if the images had recently been painted, instead of four millennia ago.
As soon as Motumbo stepped through the entrance, the light dimmed and quickly receded into the pyramid, shrinking back through passages like a helium birthday balloon relieved of air. He gave chase and we kept up with him.
“This looks a lot bigger than before,” said Ishi, as we jogged behind Motumbo.
“You mean longer,” I said, just as surprised to find the tunnel clearly longer than I remembered it being. What the devil was going on?
“Must you always correct everybody?” chided Marie.
“Of course,” I grinned, despite the insane circumstances we’d found ourselves in. Just another day in the life of Nick Caine, adventurer, looter...lover.
My chuckle was short-lived. The tunnel forked—a feature that wasn’t there before. The light drifted toward the right fork, but not before we glimpsed piles of gold to the left.
“Oh my God, there it is!” Marie whispered in awe.
Motumbo was the only one with a flashlight, and he turned it on when the golden glow we followed disappeared, throwing us into impenetrable darkness for a moment.
“So, it is true,” he said, stepping inside the immense room filled with familiar gold artifacts from when we first ventured inside the pyramid. “Is this where you hid the gold from us?” He eyed me suspiciously.
“Yeah, I filled up a few wheelbarrows when I heard you were coming, and managed to move a hundred tons of this stuff before you got here.” Hey, what could he do to me now that he was unarmed? At least I assumed he was unarmed, suddenly remembering the gun I still carried. He could have a concealed weapon, too. “Be logical, man. There’s no way—”
Someone called my name. It wasn’t in this room or the tunnel attached to it. The voice sounded like it originated where the light had withdrawn to, down the other fork. Almost hollow sounding, the voice was female.
“There’s no way, what?” he asked, his eyes squinte
d as he studied me. I believe Motumbo said something else, too. But the other voice called me again, saying great danger was coming, and to be protected, I needed to come to where the voice called from.
“I need to check on something,” I said, feeling like an idiot for pursuing a phantom. If this turned out to be a terrible decision, I’d never forgive myself. “I just want to make sure this is the right room before getting too involved here. Marie and Ishi can help me ascertain this is the right room.”
“The right room? Do you not see all this gold around us?” Motumbo pointed the flashlight in every direction. Brimming with gold items, it was most definitely the right room. “You would leave me to remove all this gold by myself? Humpf! Go on then! If I bring out the gold myself, then I keep it myself. No split of fifty-fifty! Do you understand?”
“Yes,” I said, prepared for similar disdain from Marie and Ishi. Surprisingly, they both said they were ready to leave with me, empty handed. “We’ll be back.”
He shrugged and turned away, cradling gold items in his shirt.
The voice called again, and I led the way into the darkened tunnel with Motumbo laughing behind us. Marie held onto the back of my shirt, and my guess was Ishi held onto the back of hers. As if knowing we were on the way, the voice began singing in a lovely voice...although in a language that was unfamiliar. But at least the song gave me something to follow. We shuffled along while I worried about falling into a deep shaft nearly all pyramids are known for. Incredibly, no sooner than I entertained the thought, the golden glow reappeared, roughly thirty feet ahead of us. We ran to catch up to it.
“What in the hell is this all about?” Marie whispered to me, when we caught up to the mysterious light. “First I hear a woman singing, and then—”
“You heard it, too?”