Indiana Jones & the Peril at Delphi

'Would you mind doing me a favor?'

'I suppose,' Madelaine said. 'If it doesn't take too long, and if Brent doesn't mind.'

'Go to the hotel for me, and tell Nikos, the kid at the desk, that I'm going down into the crevice again and need my moly.'

'Your what?' she said.

'He knows what it is.'

'Of course. Moly. It's an archaeology thing,' Brent said knowingly. 'One of those digging tools or something. For boring holes, I think. I'm right, aren't I, Jonesy?'

'That's it. Please hurry. I need it real fast.'

'Do you want us to bring it back to you?' Madelaine asked.

'No. Nikos can handle it. I've got to go. Have a good trip.'

'See you in Paris, Indy.' She kissed him on the cheek, then hooked her arm in Brent's as they walked out of the hut and over to their horses.

Indy picked up the rifle and peered toward the mound. Dorian must have seen Madelaine and Brent, and decided to hide. He moved away from the hut, crossed the Sacred Way, and stopped at one of the pillars.

He set the rifle against it, and stepped out into view. 'Dorian, where are you?'

'Right behind you.'

Indy jumped at the sound of her voice. When he turned, she was standing by the pillar, one hand aiming her revolver at him, the other gripping the rifle.

'Surprise.'

She must have been watching from the other side of the pillar. But he guessed she was too far away to have heard their conversation.

'What did you tell your friends?'

'That I was busy, and wished them a good trip to Athens.'

She looked toward the road. 'Why are they heading back to the village?'

'To get their bags and a carriage, I suppose. They just rode out to say good-bye.'

She nodded, and watched him closely. 'You are on my side, aren't you?'

Indy looked at the rifle, then gave Dorian the most sincere look he could manage. 'Of course I am. I'd be dead if you hadn't saved us.'

'If your charming friends bring back soldiers we're all in trouble, you know.'

'They won't. And you don't have to point that gun at me, either.'

She jabbed the rifle lightly in his side. 'I'm not a fool, Indy. Where did you get this rifle?'

He told her about his encounter with the soldiers. 'If I hadn't stopped them, they would be here now looking for Mandraki.'

'Well, they wouldn't find him here.'

He didn't know what she meant. 'Where are Shannon

and Conrad?' he asked as they headed toward the mound.

'Jack and Ted?' She glanced toward the crevice. 'Let's go find them.'

So they were Jack and Ted now. This better not be a sick joke, he thought. If they were dead, he would... He didn't know what he would do, but it wouldn't be nice.

'Where are the bodies?'

'Gone,' she said blithely.

Gone, he thought, like Richard Farnsworth and who knows how many other old boyfriends. He waited for her to explain as they climbed the mound.

'Did you see Alex anywhere out there?' she asked as she reached the top of the mound.

'What?'

'Alex. Did you see him?'

She was mad, all right. 'Dorian. Remember, you killed Alex.'

'No, I didn't.' She smiled, then turned toward the crevice. 'It's okay, fellows. Everyone's gone, and Indy's back.'

Oh, Jesus. His stomach knotted. She must have shot them and dumped their bodies in the hole. She was denying everything, even that she'd killed Mandraki. It must be the vapors. Somehow, they had affected her mind, and he couldn't stop himself from telling her exactly what he was thinking.

'What did the vapors do to you, Dorian? I don't understand.'

She looked into his eyes, and laughed. 'You mean when I was Pythia? You don't know, do you, Indy?

You don't know what I felt in the vapors.'

'No, I don't.'

She took a step closer to him.

Careful. Watch her closely, Indy thought.

'I felt the same as you,' she said.

Indy frowned, shook his head. 'What do you mean? I don't understand.'

'There was no trance,' she said, curtly. 'I was faking all of it.'

'How could you? I mean you were babbling, and Panos was interpreting it.'

She shook her head. 'Panos wanted to believe so badly that he thought he was interpreting. But he was just following cues I had given him. I told him that the king was in danger the day before I faked the trance.

He knew that was what Pythia was supposed to tell him.'

God, she was even more devious than he'd given her credit for. 'Where are they, Dorian?' He spoke tersely. He wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her. 'Where is Jack? Where is Ted?'

She motioned Indy to walk around to the other side of the crevice. 'Over there.'

He moved away from her, sidling around the crevice to avoid turning his back on her. The mound on the other side was more like a pinnacle, narrow on top with steep sides, the crevice on one side, the gully on the other. Indy peered over the far edge and for a second didn't see anything. Then, he spotted the pair twenty feet below, squatting, backs against the dirt wall. 'Are you guys okay?'

'Just fine,' Shannon said.

'Pull them out with the rope,' Dorian ordered. 'And hurry, we've got work to do.'

He started to say he'd use his whip, but caught himself. So far she hadn't paid it any heed, and he was better keeping it that way.

He pulled Shannon out first as Conrad pushed from below. 'You had me worried, Jack,' he said as he grabbed him by the arm. 'Why didn't you answer?'

He tossed the line back down and Conrad quickly scaled the side of the gully.

'She knew where we were,' Shannon said offhandedly.

'She made us dump the bodies in the hole, then jump in

here.'

'Only two of the bodies,' Conrad said, brushing off his hands. 'Mandraki's still alive. She let him go.'

'What?'

'I told you I didn't kill him,' Dorian called from across the crevice. 'When I saw him stand up so bravely and hobble away, I couldn't do it. I let him go.'

'You know what else?' Shannon said. 'There was no blood where he'd been lying. Figure that out.'

Indy couldn't. But he had an ominous feeling they hadn't seen the last of Colonel Mandraki.

12

OMPHALOS

Indy descended into the darkness clutching a torch in one hand and the rope that was knotted around his waist in the other. In spite of what happened the last time he'd been lowered into this hole, he felt oddly safe. This time he knew he was in good hands. Shannon and Conrad were going to do their best to keep him alive.

They lowered him slowly and steadily, and it wasn't long before he spotted the place where the tablet had ripped away from the wall. Not much farther. He held the torch out, looking for the ledge. A little farther now. Not much more.

He stretched his arm out as far as he could and peered down. The torchlight flickered off the walls. Then he saw it, a rocky plateau jutting from the wall. But there was something else, too. Something he hadn't