When Daniel arrived at the spot, his mouth fell open. A flat stone with the lily insignia lay on the ground before him. His excitement turned to horror when he shifted his focus to what lay beside it. An empty alabaster urn and a gaping hole in the earth.
“S… s… somebody has taken the relic,” he quavered.
“Not somebody,” Hunt replied. “Him!” He pointed across the circle to the man peering at them from behind a megalith on the far side.
“Hey, you!” Hunt challenged.
“Don’t come any closer,” the man warned.
Despite the command, the newcomers stepped a few paces nearer. As the gap between them closed, Daniel understood why the man looked familiar. God in heaven! It was one of the Fallen from Karfi. A young blond man in his mid-twenties. It had been dark that night, but even at the time, Daniel had been struck by this handsome youth’s face. He tried to suppress his elation. He’d been right. They were alive after all! They hadn’t died underground. He felt a burden lift from his heart. His conscience was clear once more
Hunt squinted at the man in the distance. “I know you, boy?”
“You might say that,” the stranger replied.
“Mr. Hunt, he was one of the people at Karfi,” Daniel reminded him. “They were sealed in the tomb after the earthquake. Don’t you remember?”
Hunt stared at the stranger until recognition dawned. His face wore an exasperated expression. “How many times I gotta kill you, boy? Back in the day, when I shot somebody, they stayed dead. The world’s in a sorry mess if everybody just starts resurrectin’ themselves all willy nilly without permission.”
“Technically, you didn’t kill me,” the stranger retorted. “You were about to.”
“You say tomato,” Hunt grumbled. “Where’s the other two was with you that night?”
“They didn’t make it out alive,” the man answered.
“Well, that’s some comfort to a body, at least,” Leroy huffed.
While this conversation was transpiring, Ilhami looked from one face to the next, totally lost. Daniel didn’t feel inclined to enlighten him. The stranger’s last words were like a new dagger through his heart. His guilt hadn’t been expunged after all.
“Your friends didn’t survive?” he asked hesitantly.
“No, they didn’t thanks to you,” came the resentful response.
“I wouldn’t be all hang-dog if I was you, boy,” Hunt observed. “Seems to me you got the whole pie to yourself now. Don’t need to share it with nobody.”
“I would have if you hadn’t shown up to ruin things,” the man countered.
“So we did. Game’s over.” Hunt advanced a few paces.
“You take one step closer, and I swear I’ll throw it over the cliff,” the man warned. He held up his palm. He was holding a golden object. Daniel couldn’t get a close look at the shape of it, but he was sure it was the relic.
“That’s the artifact we’ve been seeking!” he exclaimed.
“Damn straight,” the stranger confirmed. “If I throw it over the edge of the plateau, it’s a straight drop down the side of the mountain and no way for you to get down there to search for it.”
Daniel put a restraining hand on Hunt’s arm. “Mr. Hunt, no.” He turned to address the young man. “Surely we can come to some agreement.”
“The agreement is this. I give you the relic, and you let me leave here alive.”
Hunt fumed in silence.
“That is acceptable to us,” Daniel assented readily.
“Oh, hell no, it ain’t!” Hunt countered. “You let him go, he’s gonna keep on huntin’ them doodads, and maybe next time we won’t be so lucky. Maybe he’ll get there first.”
“No, I won’t.” The stranger grinned impudently. “Scout’s honor. Cross my heart.”
“And hope to die.” Hunt drew out his pistol.
“Mr. Hunt, no!” Daniel screamed.
The stranger was still concealed behind the standing stone so Daniel couldn’t see what happened clearly, but he could hear it. He heard the scrape of gravel as the stranger took several paces back and lost his footing. He saw the stranger’s arms flailing. The gold object flew out of his hand and clattered to the ground in front of the megalith. Then he heard the scream as the stranger went over the side of the mountain.
All three men stood frozen for several seconds. No one had expected such a thing to happen and they didn’t react immediately. They were still fifty feet away from the spot where the thief had fallen. The trio scrambled forward. Hunt stopped short to scoop up the artifact first. Only then did they peer over the edge of the plateau.
The stranger had been right. It was a sheer drop over the edge of the cliff. Not a toe-hold anywhere to be seen. Two hundred feet below them, on a tiny ledge that was scarcely wide enough to support it, lay the body of the stranger, sprawled face down.
“We have to do something!” Daniel cried in anguish. “We can’t just leave him there.”
“Can and will,” Hunt replied decisively. “Ain’t no way to get down there even if I was inclined to try which I ain’t. The vultures’ll find him before anybody else thinks to look there. Let them clean up the carcass.”
Hunt stood up and dusted off his sleeve. He held out the golden object and dropped it into Daniel’s hand. “Congratulations, son. You got your first doodad. Your daddy’s gonna be right proud.”
Daniel stared at the exquisite golden bee. To his mind’s eye, it appeared to be covered in blood.
Chapter 39 – Installment Plan
Leroy Hunt stood on the balcony of Ilhami’s tiny apartment and surveyed the street below. Everything was dark and quiet. He figured it must be around three o’clock in the morning. Brother Hammy was sleeping under the stars tonight. He’d strung two of the folding chairs together into a makeshift bed. His head lolled over the back of one of the chairs, and he was snoring to beat the band. That boy sure liked his raki. Too bad
