Cameron acknowledged that he would go along with the deal, even though he was not entirely sure!
He wondered if the treasure was a fantasy scheme that one of them had come up with, and that they were the ones who had come up with searching there and not him, and that they had been so secretive with him to get him to go along with it! But he could not see why as all they were doing was wasting time there, and as soon as the military was sure the lion was not around anymore they would have to move away.
The problem he would eventually have to face was he did not know where he lived or anything. So when the soldiers were on leave where the hell did he go! He would be there the rest of his life wondering if he was being waited on by someone to arrive back! Hanks had a farm and he realized why he never minded the rural region! And he was sure that he had been living indoors somewhere! But where? Where?
Yet the military had to have information on him, and he wondered if he was married or something! Yet what if he never remembered the woman like he had with the three soldiers?
The soldier that had informed him that Malone wanted to see him later entered and walked right up to Cameron and stared straight his face, and moaned, “Malone wants to see you in his tent right now!”
Cameron realized he had to do something and grabbed a bottle of whisky from beside his bed and downed as much as he could, and gasped, and he shifted out the tent!
Chapter 7
The Well
When Cameron arrived at Malone’s tent he was told to enter and Lieutenant Waring jumped onto his feet and downed the last of his rum and rushed towards the entrance, examining Cameron’s face from the side of his eyes gasping, and stopped himself asking him something and rushed out the entrance.
“Sit down!” Malone ordered, clearly annoyed about something, which Cameron could not grasp.
He was sitting trying to contemplate some thought when the phone rang and he instantly grabbed at it and listened without hearing anything, and when someone spoke he launched into an argument with someone over not doing what he wanted and started thumping his desk with his fist, and shouted and hung up, and banged the phone down.
“Cameron!” he eventually forced himself to whisper. “What are you doing?”
He stared deep into his eyes, trying to penetrate into his mind, and saw his face and looked away, while trying to contemplate some thought.
“Nothing as far as I know!” he moaned, not knowing what to think or do, or what he meant.
“There has been a complaint about you already!” he announced loudly, seeing if he would react.
“About what?” he gasped, wondering who complained about soldiers and wondered what they would complain about.
“That’s it Cameron! People don’t like you! They complain everywhere and you just keep ignoring it! Don’t you?”
Cameron realized that there were people complaining about him everywhere and did not like it, and he wondered what they were complaining of and why they never liked him. Then he realized that Malone must have people complaining all the time with them being there, and he wondered what he was up to!
“You’re a born villain! You’re a menace to civilization! The people of this country could do without you!”
“Yeah! So why do most of the men get annoyed at you? Not me! At least I’ve not annoyed any soldiers ...!”
“You’ve not annoyed ...!” he stared deep into his eyes again, and looked away.
“Did you go to the golf club up at the moor?” Malone curiously asked, calming himself.
“Yes!” he joked, annoyed, and even more annoyed at their persistence in not telling him anything. “There were hundreds of people drunk all over the place, lying in bushes, and vomiting on the greens, and throwing beer cans! The whole place was totally covered with people drinking and making it with woman, and there were wild orgies everywhere!”
“Great! Remind me to visit there! What else was there? Was there any physical action?”
“Physical action! Yeah! There was this woman on the local golf course who hit her ball and it shot sideways and went into a foursome of men, putting at a green, and the ball hit one of the men in the crotch!”
“That sounds fun! What next?”
“She realized it was her new boss!”
“New boss! And what happened?”
“She rushed over to him and told him she was also a physical therapist and that she knew how to relieve the pain! So she gently took his hands away and loosened his pants and pulled them down to his knees and started massaging his sexual organs in the middle of the golf course!”
“Good god!” Malone gasped. “What will they think of next?”
“She continued on going, even in the middle of the green, with all the crowds and them watching, with reporters and cameras!”
“So what!” Malone shouted, furiously.
“He told her that the golf ball had hit his little finger, at his pocket, and that he had only put my hands between my legs to quench the pain!”
“Great! But what the hell has that to do with what I’m talking about ...!”
“Nothing!”
“Cameron pull yourself together! This country needs you to do your job! Not to hang about perverted golf clubs!”
“Why did you want to know if I was there for?”
“I was checking if you played golf! As I thought you may want to play with me and some of the lads here!”
“Thank you! I was there! I’ll think about it!”
“Wrong! The game’s cancelled! I was checking if you were there! There was a complaint about you! Someone said that they saw you at the golf course, and walking from there!”
“There’s not!”
“There is!”
“Where?”
“Apparently Cameron ... Everywhere!”
“That’s where you’re wrong! I’ve not been everywhere!”
“Yet! You don’t actually have to go everywhere! It can be done with the media!”
“I’ve been in the media? When?”
Malone bent over holding his head in his hands, and rested his head on the table, while moaning, and swiftly straightened, while Cameron realized he had heard something about him in the media.
“The whole country seems to know of you ...” Malone announced, and stopped himself.
“I can assure you that nothing really happened! That golf club has some strange people hanging around ...”
“We’re not talking about that! So you have lost your memory! Well, this time I have you! A complaint was made to the police about you!”
“While visiting the golf club?” he replied, astonished and confused. “Alright! I know I’m not a member ...”
“It’s nothing to do with your blasted golf club!” he screamed.
“Well then it is about time you told me!”
“I will! I’m coming to it!”
Cameron gasped, wondering if he could go to prison for the crime! Yet why did he not recall anything? If he had done something surely he would have noticed it? What was he talking about? Was it something he had done before he had been found in the pool of mud in the field? Was he actually a wanted criminal, and had the people of the media, in the wood, or on the golf course recognized him!
He could not have! He was sure he was not like that, and he could tell by all the people who knew him that he had not been!
How would he handle the police without a memory? They would think he was covering something or was insane!
Malone took his official pose and sat upright studying him, as though a judge about to sentence him for a serious crime, which he would regret for the rest of his life, and he wondered what he was up to when he never and just sat staring at his face with deep emotions of something!
Cameron wondered what the outcome of it all could be!
“You remember what you did after you left the golf course road, I presume?” Malone casually spoke.
“Yes! I kept walking and ...”
“Right! Where did yo
u go next?
Cameron stared blankly and shrugged.
“You went to a small roadside wood! Didn’t you?”
Cameron just pleaded guilty and wondered what he was being accused of!
“You were seen climbing down a well in the middle of the wood on Floors Road! You had no right to be there and the farmer complained of you digging a giant well on his property!”
“What! I’m to be charged for digging a well there?”
“No! I’m to warn you not to do it again, and tell you to go over there and cover it over! Someone’s dog could’ve fallen into it!”
Cameron realized someone must have left the cover and covering to hide it off and realized he saw it being covered over!
Chapter 8
The Agreement
Cameron could not believe he had not realized his own identity, and it was worse now as he could not see himself answering it, and he rested sulking on his bed.
It was incredible the soldiers in the tent kept getting him drinks and drunk, and had immediately handed him cans of beer as he had entered the tent.
“What was that all about?” the soldier that had taken him to Malone’s tent asked, sitting on the end of his bed, bouncing slightly, testing the springs, and Cameron gasped and decided just to say something.
“Someone reported me for digging a tunnel ...”
“Digging a tunnel! What to escape from here?”
“I don’t know!”
“I know this place is rainy at times ...”
“What is happening about that racehorse you’re going to buy?” he moaned over at Hanks.
“We’re going to go over and buy it ... Are you in?”
“I’m interested!”
Cameron thought it over for a few seconds, wondering why there was four of them in the deal, and why he needed them in the deal, and why he never just bought it himself and took the full profit! He was sure it was a gamble and Hanks would have to win on a horse that he had not ridden. How would he be able to check the horse out?
They all sat thinking about it on their beds, and Hanks eventually replied, “Do you know I recalled seeing you going to meet someone somewhere before you vanished! Just before you ended up in that pool of mud in that field!”
Cameron wondered why he had done that, trying to recall, and trying to work out why he would do such a thing!
“What the hell will I do?” he eventually moaned.
The soldier at the end of his bed looked over at him, and told him, “You’ll remember someday ... I’m sure!”
The soldier looked over at Hanks, and asked, “Have you any room for anyone else investing in that racehorse?”
Hanks nodded with satisfaction, and Cameron wondered what it was worth now and what the outcome of it would be!
Chapter 9
The Beast
Cameron was confused! They had been sitting in the bar for four hours and it was almost closing time, the bar was completely empty, and Hanks had not turned up!
He sat with the other three soldiers drinking and waiting for Hank’s arrival!
They had been unsuccessful in getting the horse! None of them had a horse available and they had wasted their time and he wondered if it was the horse merchants attempt to drive up the price! Yet he was sure none had much interest in selling anything!
Hanks knew someone who would sell one and they waited for him to turn up and give them information on what was happening!
It was incredible the amount they drank and had him drinking, for virtually most of the night, and by the time Hanks turned up they were drunk and lethargic.
Cameron was staring through hazed eyes, still wondering about everything, when the doors seemed to explode apart and something seemed to shift into his sight in an altered motion and he stared startled at it trying to wake up and realize what it was.
After a few minutes he heard a loud giggle burst out of Simpson’s lightly closed lips, breaking the intense atmosphere, and he turned to see the angry expression on Fogler’s face and he realized how deep it was and he followed his eyes back to the door and to Hanks standing, looking embarrassed, with a horse that looked like it had been crossed with a monster!
Yet on close examination he saw something was wrong with the horse, and had to have some medical condition. Something he couldn’t quite grasp, and he tried to wake himself to get it!
It was supposed to be a racehorse! But why was it abnormal?
He gawked confused and saw one of the locals look in a door startled and he followed his startled eyes to the horse’s eyes and saw danger! The horse looked extraordinarily strange! He was not even sure it was a horse at times, and he started thinking it was the drink and his memory problem.
It had eyes of some wild beast, and killer eyes that had a deep hate of what seemed to be humans! He could hardly believe a horse could have such a reaction to humans!
“What have you been doing to the thing?” Simpson moaned, glaring at the thing in disbelief as though it were not fully there and a figment of the imagination. “Look at it! Have you whipping it into shape or something?”
“Get stuffed!” Hanks grumbled loudly.
“So this is our amazing racehorse?”
“Guess!”
They all stared as Hanks walked right up to them with the beast, towering over them. What astonished Cameron was he could not get how they could control such a thing while riding! He could see why Hanks might have been whipping it and started trying to see any damage to the beast!
“Well?” Hanks moaned.
“Well what?” Simpson swiftly answered.
“Well what do you think of our racehorse? It was the best they had and I could get!”
“The best for the price then!” Simpson replied, and stood up and wandered around it, amazed by the incredible size of it in strange places, as if it had been trained doing something else, and how much a danger it looked, and he ultimately giggled at it.
Cameron had a hard time accepting the thing could win a race.
“It was bred to race!” Hanks announced, seeing his reaction. “Look at those muscles and the enthusiasm in those eyes!”
“Enthusiasm in those eyes!” Simpson replied. “The thing looks like it’s going to maul someone! It looks like it was bred and trained for a wild rodeo or circus act!”
What amazed Cameron was the barman had vanished and remained hidden away out of sight.
He wondered where the hell Hanks intended to keep the thing, as he had not suggested anything. He could just imagine Malone’s face and temper if he discovered the thing in one of the tents.
When the barman emerged Fogler left and arrived with some more drinks for them and insisted in giving Cameron the most alcoholic drink he could think of, and Cameron got annoyed and conclusively asked why.
“You know I read somewhere it can give people with memory loss their memory back!” he replied, with a laugh, looking sideways in small glances at the horse.
“Memory back!” he moaned back, confused. “I’ll be lucky to remember anything after all these!”
“Well, it may cause your brain to start functioning again!”
He started wondering what they were up to and why such drastic action. He was sure it was part of one of their schemes and that he would have to wait to find out what, like everything else.
Something strange about the horse grasped his imagination!
It was far too different! He also could not work out why he had brought it into the bar! The thing could easily smash the place to pieces, if it finally went crazy.
“Where the hell did you get that thing?” a pensioner gasped, rushing in the bar door, with his hair soaked and standing up, as he went to get an umbrella he had left behind.
“I bought it at an Ebay dealer!” Hanks moaned, and laughed drunkenly. “It’s marketed as a genetically improved racing horse!”
Everyone at the table seemed to look at Hanks at the one time, and Cameron, who was in the middle of gulping down his drink,
coughed simultaneously and it blasted up his nose, and he had to cough it out.
The pensioner gasped, and told them he was the last time he bought anything there again and rushed for the door!
“It was the only place I could get something worthwhile!” he explained. “If I hadn’t the deal would have been off!”
“As long as it runs good!” Simpson replied. “If not you’ll have to return the thing!”
Hanks nodded firmly in agreement, showing them he had control of the situation.
Cameron recovered from his cough and thought over what the hell he had bought, and after not thinking of anything he started ticking off things that it was not but ended up with the exact same!
Simpson downed his drink and jumped up and moved slowly over to the beast now tied near a wall by its rope! He examined it all over its body and they all moved over and joined in and remarked how fit it looked, but its abnormal looks astounded and confused them on whether it was capable of winning a race.
While they all turned around to go back to their seats and turned their backs on it Cameron was surprised that it gave a silent growl, like no horse he had ever heard, and it sounded like a wild cat or beast in the wilderness, and it made a shiver run up his spine and he never forgot it and the way it eyed them up like it was being held by its prey!
Cameron watched rain blast against a window and wondered why he never found a hotel instead of staying in the army camp.
They sat listening to Simpson and Fogler arguing over racing horses when they heard something crash to the floor and turned and saw the racehorse had knocked something over and Hanks marched over like a cowboy and calmed it down.
They all laughed when Hanks started explaining in detail how sad the horse had been and that he had just brought it into the bar to cheer it up, as it suffered from depression!
Cameron was surprised to hear Hanks bet them a hundred pounds that they could not cheer it up and Simpson and Fogler immediately agreed, and silently discussed it and how best to do it and they marched up to the horse and both of them kept whispering in its ear.
The Lost Treasure Map Series Page 61