A Dubious Race: The Phoenician Stones (A Colton Banyon Mystery Book 14)

by Gerald J Kubicki

  “You’re drunk and not thinking straight,” Joey spat. “And you’ve never beaten me in a fight.”

  “I’ve learned a few things in prison,” Bobby retorted.

  “Like what, how to lose more often?”

  “Like this,” Bobby quickly reached down and grabbed a hand fully of sand. He threw it at Joey’s face. He then attacked.

  Joey threw up his hands to protect his eyes, but that left his mid-section open. Bobby stepped inside Joey’s defenses and threw a vicious punch into his belly. When Joey bent over in pain, Bobby hit him with an upper cut. Joey was stunned and went down on his rear end. Although he was dazed, Joey was not out. He waited for Bobby to close in for the knockout punch. When he did, Joey counter attacked.

  He swept Bobby’s legs out from under him with a scissor kick and agilely sprang to his feet. He kicked Bobby in the side as he sprawled on the ground, breaking a rib. He followed that by stomping his face with his boot. Blood immediately began to flow from Bobby’s broken nose.

  “Get up,” Joey screamed in rage. “Let’s finish this. I’ve had it with you Bobby. At the very least, you’re going to the hospital and back to prison.” His stress level was suddenly very high. Deep furrows formed on his forehead. His fingers started to tingle. “Oh, no, not now,” Joey gasped as his eyes rolled back and the premonition passed over him.

  Bobby stood up feeling like a broken man. He has lost once again to Joey. Blood rushed out of his nose and he had to keep a hand on his broken rib cage. But he noticed that something was wrong with Joey. He seemed frozen in place. Bobby didn’t hesitate. He attacked with the rock that he had picked up when he was down on the ground and bashed Joey across the head. His brother went down without making a sound.

  Bobby stared at his unconscious brother. “I finally beat you, Joey,” Bobby yelled at him. “Now it’s my turn to extract revenge for all those times you won in the past,” he screamed like a madman.

  Bobby looked to Kayah and back at Joey. A new plan began to formulate in his head. “I think I’ll slit your wrists brother. That way if anybody finds you, they’ll think that you committed suicide after you raped and killed the squaw.” Bobby emitted an evil roar like an Indian warrior about to scalp an enemy.

  He dropped to his knees and pulled out his knife. He rolled Joey onto his back and spread out his arms so that he could cut the artery which ran through his wrists.

  Chapter Sixty-Four

  Bobby was just about to make his first cut into his brother’s wrist when the knife suddenly flew out of his hand. A millisecond later he heard the shot. His mind couldn’t think fast enough. He had no idea what had just happened.

  “Oh, sorry, I guess that I missed,” he heard a woman say clearly. “I was aiming for your head.”

  When Bobby turned towards the voice he was shocked. Standing by the tunnel entrance was a tiny Asian woman dressed in a skimpy Indian squaw outfit. She wore a gun belt with two big guns. She had her legs spread apart in a classic firing stance and one of the guns was aimed at him.

  Loni had shadowed Joey through the tunnels and stepped out of the opening just in time to see the two brothers battling. She had quickly pressed her ear piece. “We’ve got intruders at the back entrance. Send help now,” she spoke quickly. She then drew her gun.

  “Who are you?” Bobby asked in wonderment.

  “I’m your worst nightmare,” Loni replied evenly. “Now get face down on the ground with your hands above your head,” she ordered. She immediately noticed the striking resemblance between the man and Joey Brownwater. She realized that they were identical twins, except the man facing her had much longer hair and a variety of poorly done tattoos on his bare arms. She knew they were prison tattoos.

  “You have to help my girlfriend over there,” the man pleaded innocently. “Joey attacked her and I tried to stop him,” he said sincerely.

  “Nice try, I saw the whole thing,” Loni said sarcastically. “You’re Joey’s brother Bobby, the criminal. Now I’m not going to ask you again,” Loni blustered in her best Clint Eastwood impression. “Get on the ground and get your hands over your head.”

  “Please, I’m hurt,” the man wailed like a baby. “I’ve got broken ribs and a busted nose. I need medical attention.”

  “Who is the girl?” Loni asked as she pointed her chin at Kayah. She didn’t know whether she was a friend of foe.

  “I must help her. Her name is Kayah,” the man said implying that she was with him. He looked in her direction. Loni heard a low moan and turned her eyes to look. It was just what Bobby wanted her to do.

  Bobby sprang at Loni. He knocked the gun from her hand. He was getting good at disarming people. He bull rushed the much smaller woman. If he hit her at full speed he believed he would flatten her like a pancake.

  But, Loni was on to his trick. She had seen it before and nimbly sidestepped his charge. She placed a karate chop on his neck as he passed. He landed face first in the sand and slid for a foot. She immediately went for her other gun only to find it wasn’t there. Bobby had grabbed it as he brushed by her.

  He slowly climbed to his feet with a lopsided, crazed, grin on his grimy face. He aimed the gun at her. He looked like a hunchback as he was bent over in pain with one arm holding his ribs. Loni’s karate chop had injured his neck as well. His head was crooked to the side. His clothes were filthy and his lank hair was filled with dirt “I’m pretty smart for an Indian, don’t you think?”

  “That one is not loaded,” Loni retorted as she pointed to the gun. She was bluffing and was just trying to buy some time until reinforcements got there.

  “Do you think I’m stupid?” Bobby screamed insanely. Spittle ran from his mouth. It was mixed with a little blood. “I’m going to mess you up real bad, squaw girl. When I’m done beating you, I’m going to rip off the dress and do what I please.”

  “You’re the sixth moron today who has threatened me,” Loni calmly replied. “Frankly, I’m getting tired of it. Why don’t you fight like a man? You want me, come and take me. Let’s see what you’ve got,” Loni egged him on. “Or are you afraid of a little woman like me?” She realized he was absorbed in a foggy haze of lust and violence. Sooner or later he would make a mistake. And he did, immediately.

  Bobby tossed the gun aside. His eyes were colored red and blazed with hatred. The macho-training he had experienced in prison taught him to not back down. When someone called you out — you fought.

  Bobby roared to intimidate her, brought up his fists and went to charge. But it was already too late. Loni was flying through the air with both feet extended. She hit him in the mid-section. He became airborne and slammed into the ground a few feet away. He lay stunned for a second and then rolled onto his knees. Strange guttural animal noises escaped his lips. The jailhouse bravado was gone. He just wanted to kill her. It had come down to survival for him, but he needed her to come close for that.

  Loni now closed in and kicked him in his exposed broken ribs. He welcomed the pain as it gave him time to pull his knife. He was just about to stab her in her leg when something solid grabbed his arm. He turned his head and saw a huge fist headed for his face just before it landed and put out his lights.

  ***

  “Are those guys all the intruders?” Tom asked as he stood back up after clocking the hunchback. He pointed to Kayah and Bobby. He and the three men who were sent to respond to Loni’s call were armed with assault rifles. The men took up positions around the opening to the tunnel as Loni and Tom talked. Once they were satisfied the attack was over, they came to help.

  “That piece of crap is Joey’s twin brother. His name is Bobby,” Loni said. “He just got out of prison. I don’t know who the girl is, but it looks like she was loading stuff in that wagon over there.”

  “What should we do with them?” Tom asked.

  “Put Bobby with the other prisoner, gag him and everything” Loni replied. “Take the girl for medical attention along with Joey, but make sure someone watches her, we don’
t know if she is a bad guy yet.”

  “Okay,” Tom responded.

  “It looks like Joey is coming around.” One of his men said. He was helped Joey get to his feet.

  “I need to find my guns.” Loni started looking around on the dark ground.

  “Got both of them,” one of Tom’s men sang out and brought them to her.

  “Thanks for putting him down Tom,” Loni said as two men picked up Bobby by the legs and arms.

  “Well, I think that you would have beaten him anyway. He looks pretty roughed up.”

  “But I would have gotten my outfit all dirty and ripped and I don’t have anything else to wear. Fighting can be embarrassing for a girl.” Loni said seriously.

  Tom didn’t respond. He picked up Kayah and slung her over his broad shoulder and headed back inside. Loni looked at the little red wagon. There was one stone in it. Was she stealing it? Loni walked over and grabbed the handle. She decided to put it next to the alcove where the other one still was located until this all got sorted out.

  She reached the entrance to the tunnel at the same time as Joey and the man helping him did. He looked at her with dazed eyes. “We need to get men on the roof,” he said.

  “What?” Loni said. She thought he must be delirious.

  “There’s a trap door to the roof in my bedroom. We need to get men on the roof after the missile attack or we all will die.” He said slurring his words.

  “Joey, did you have another premonition?” Loni quickly asked.

  “Yes.” It was all he answered.

  Chapter Sixty-Five

  By the time Loni made it back to the front room of the ranch, Bobby was sitting in a chair next to the prisoner they had plucked from the desert earlier in the day. He was trussed up just like the other man and still unconscious. Joey was reclining on a couch and had an ice pack against his head where he had been struck by the rock. He still looked dazed to her, but otherwise seemed unhurt.

  The young woman was laid out on the other couch. The paramedic was administering smelling salts. Loni could see that both of her cheeks were swollen and dried blood had clotted at the corners of her mouth. She had been slapped around pretty hard by somebody. Loni also noticed that the woman’s top had been ripped and the bra hung loosely underneath. Someone had attacked her. She didn’t know if it was Bobby or Joey.

  Kayah’s eyes flipped open. They were filled with terror. When she discovered that her arms and feet were restrained by plastic cuffs, she started to fight to get up. The bodyguard assigned to her quickly pushed her back down.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” he threatened.

  “Who are you people?” Kayah wailed indignantly. “Where am I?” Joey heard her and began to get up to move over to her.

  “Who attacked you?” Loni quickly wanted to know. “Was it Joey or Bobby? They both were fighting when I found them.”

  “It was that son-of-a-bitch Bobby,” Kayah responded in a hurt voice. “He wanted to rape and to kill me. He said he was going to kill Joey too,” Kayah said as tears began to form in her eyes. “I think Joey tried to stop him.”

  “Kayah, thank God you’re alright,” Joey uttered as he pushed his way to her. When he noticed the cuffs, he went ballistic. “Get those damn things off of her right now. She is my friend.”

  Banyon had slid into the area by then. “You can vouch for her?” He asked.

  “We have known each other since our childhood. We grew up together. I love her,” he croaked.

  “Oh, Joey, I love you too,” she replied through heavy tears as she lay tied up like an animal.

  “Take the cuffs off of her,” Banyon ordered the bodyguard. “Let’s find out what the hell is going on.”

  The bodyguard quickly cut her restraints and she was handed a bottle of water. She ignored the liquid and bounced off the couch grabbing Joey in a bear hug. “I knew you still loved me,” she said into his ear.

  “Who was stealing the stones?” Loni asked impatiently.

  “I wasn’t stealing them,” Kayah explained. “I was taking them to a safer place,” she responded. “I have the first stone in the trunk of my car. I came for the rest of them. Joey knew about it.”

  “I knew about it,” Joey admitted. “She sent me an email earlier today. I was waiting for another email and spotted hers.” A light bulb seemed to go off in Loni’s head. She immediately left the room.

  “And you’re okay with that?” Banyon wondered. “We came here to protect you and the stones. Why let Kayah here take them?”

  “Can we talk in private,” Joey pleaded, “just you, me, Kayah, and Professor Lange?” Lisa’s head shot up when she heard her name.

  “Let’s go outside,” Banyon offered.

  “I can’t let you do that. The Goblin people are due here any second,” Chase warned them and stood in the doorway.

  “They are still a few minutes away,” Joey replied as he looked at the sentinels. They had a slight glow at night and were about ten feet from the porch.

  ***

  Once they were outside Joey spoke. “Kayah has been sent by the elders back in Oklahoma. I have failed as an elder and haven’t protected the stones. Too many people now know about them. She was sent to collect them and bring them back to the reservation where they’ll be hidden again. It is the right thing to do for my people and I want the best for my tribe,” he said honorably.

  “Oh, Joey, I knew you would understand,” Kayah gushed.

  “But, why hide them?” Lisa asked. “The stones are one of the greatest records of history ever found.” Lisa could not possibly understand why they would not be made public. To her the stones belonged to all the people.

  “The information on the stones will definitely change history,” Kayah filled in. “The problem is that it’ll very likely destroy the Cherokees as a nation. In the end, we could be declared immigrants, just like everyone else who migrated to America — we could lose everything. There are many long-term secret groups in America that would welcome that event. We still face racism as Indians.”

  “We are just trying to protect all that we have,” Joey agreed. “Hiding the sacred stones is the only way.”

  “Now I think I understand,” Banyon said softly. “We are going to do our best to keep your secret.” Banyon noticed, out of the corner of his eye, that Lisa didn’t agree and was upset. She was definitely getting to be a problem.

  “So, you’ll let me go?” Kayah asked hopefully.

  Banyon ignored her. “How does your twin brother Bobby fit into all of this?”

  “I’m sure Bobby is working for Goblin,” Joey responded. “I know they visited him recently when he was still in prison. I think it’s just a coincidence that he showed up here tonight.”

  “That’s too much of a coincidence,” Banyon replied sagely. “Why would they send him here tonight? He could get killed in the attack.”

  “Maybe they wanted him to die too,” Kayah speculated. Joey had quickly told her about the imminent attack by Goblin.

  “That’s it,” Banyon exclaimed. “If both the Brownwater boys die, the land would eventually go to auction and Goblin could buy it at a fraction of the cost.”

  “I don’t care about the land anymore,” Joey threw out. The three other people stared at him in shock.

  “But, isn’t this sacred ground?” Banyon asked back. “It’s been in your family for over a hundred years.” He was stunned by Joey’s revelation.

  “The Indian burial ground is in the tunnels under the mountain and not on the actual land,” Joey replied. “Mining the land would not disturb the dead. And I need to get away from this land.”

  “So you’re going to sell the land?” Lisa piped up.

  “I’ll make a deal with Goblin tomorrow.” Joey seemed certain.

  “But they are attacking us in just a few minutes,” Lisa reminded him.

  “We will survive,” he shot back. “Assuming we get some men on the roof after the missile attack.”

  “How do you
know that?” Lisa asked.

  “It’s the premonitions, Lisa. I had one when fighting Bobby. That’s how he beat me. I saw men climbing up the side walls of the ranch and blowing a hole in the roof. We’ll all die unless we stop them.”

  “Oh, Joey, the damn premonitions are still with you. I’m so sorry,” Kayah moaned.

  “It has to do with this land and the rare earths,” Joey informed them. “They make my premonitions stronger and more frequent. It is making me crazy. I’m signing myself into a mental institution tomorrow. The people will pick me up in the morning.”

  “So, you won’t be coming back to Oklahoma with me?” Kayah asked and started to sob uncontrollably.

  “I want what’s best for you Kayah. You don’t want a crazy person like me. I’m sorry,” Joey said sadly. Kayah began crying in earnest now. She buried her head in his chest.

  “Wait a minute,” Banyon suddenly spoke. “Joey, we are here to help you. Are you aware that the people scheduled to pick you up tomorrow are from the NSA?

  “No,” he responded. “I thought they were friends of my doctor, why do you ask?”

  “The people coming to get you are the NSA. They will take you to a secret facility and keep you there to conduct experiments on you,” Banyon explained “They’ll never let you out again.”

  “How do you know that?” Joey asked with concern. “My doctor said it was the right thing to do. He has been my doctor since I was a little boy.”

  “And I bet he is connected to the NSA,” Banyon shot back. “Friends of mine have already run into them tonight,” Banyon explained. “They heard the NSA agents talking about picking you up tomorrow morning.”

  “Now that is a coincidence,” Kayah noted between sobs.

  “Not really,” Banyon replied. “The NSA agents were in Wisconsin digging up the jar with Vril in it. The one mentioned on the stones. My friends overheard their conversations. They were sent to pick up the Vril and then head here.”