Cassie walked toward the scion.
Erik grabbed her arm. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I made a deal.” She sighed, trying to look regretful. “Hunt helped me, and I promised him the relic.”
“You mean the—"
Cassie knew what Erik was about to say and she cut him short. “That’s right. The relic we nicked right before you guys got jumped. I hid it just like you told me to do.” She gave him a tiny warning shake of her head.
“Oh, yeah. Right.” He made a big show of irritation. “After all we went through to get that thing. Way to go, toots. Give away the grand prize!”
“Miss Cassie, if you don’t mind,” Hunt suggested delicately, tipping his head in Daniel’s direction.
The pythia bent down and untied Daniel’s hands.
The scion gazed at her with what seemed like rapt wonder. “You’re all alive.”
She was surprised that he didn’t seem more upset by their resurrection.
Daniel stood up. “I had a dream, you see. It told me you were all alive.”
“Got a little diviner blood in you after all,” Hunt observed. “Now what we gonna do with these Ayyy-rabs?”
“Tie ‘em up for now,” Erik said, taking the rope that formerly bound him and fastening it around one of his captors. He reached for another piece of rope and secured the other, forcing them both to sit down by the opposite wall while Hunt kept a gun trained on them the entire time.
“Who are these guys?” Cassie asked in puzzlement.
Hunt raised the lid of the wooden crate which had been forgotten in all the commotion. “Gun runners. This here case is full of assault rifles. Very popular item in this part of the world.”
“But why would a crate full of guns end up here?” Cassie was mystified. “They couldn’t even fit it through the entrance.”
“I’m guessing John was right about this cave,” Erik said. “It must be a tunnel that leads out somewhere in the desert which makes it a good transfer point for merchandise. Nobody in the vicinity would be able to figure out what was going down.”
Hunt nodded his head in agreement. “Yup, makes a heap of sense to me.”
“So, they’re using these weapons to kill each other in some kind of tribal war?” Cassie persisted. “I thought things were quiet in northern Sudan.”
“They are,” Erik agreed. “That’s what makes this country the perfect staging area. Weapons get flown into Khartoum or shipped into Port Sudan from Iran, and then some of the local Bedouins bury the merchandise in the desert. When they find a buyer, the weapons get smuggled into Gaza and into the hands of Arab extremists.”
“Lucky us,” Cassie murmured. “We stumbled right into the middle of a smuggling operation.”
“I understand a little of the language. The one in the camo gear is the seller, and the other guy is the buyer,” the paladin explained.
“What about the two gunmen? Who do they belong to?” Cassie asked.
“They’re with the seller,” Daniel replied. “I understand a bit of Arabic as well.”
“Speaking of the gunmen,” Griffin interjected. “What happened to those chaps?”
“Stunned,” the pythia replied. “You’ll find them napping right inside the cave entrance. Would you mind taking some rope and tying them up? I don’t know how much time we have left before they come out of it.”
Griffin retrieved a coil of rope lying by the crate and picked up one of the lanterns. “Right you are. I’ll be back shortly.”
After the smugglers were secured, Hunt lowered his rifle. Cassie did the same. Daniel came to stand beside his associate.
“Now for the rest of our deal, Miss Cassie,” Hunt urged. “Hand it over.”
Cassie feigned disappointment and annoyance. “Don’t remind me.” She didn’t want the cowboy to think she was parting with the relic happily. In reality, things couldn’t possibly have worked out better. There was no chance the Nephilim would fail to find the duplicate. She was about to place it in Daniel’s hands personally.
“Cassie!” Erik exclaimed. “Why did you have to promise him that?”
The pythia realized that her teammate was a fair actor himself. His voice held just the right note of outrage.
“If I hadn’t, dude, you might have been killed.”
“You best listen to the little lady. You got off cheap.” Hunt glared at the Arabs who had begun to whisper amongst themselves. They stopped instantly.
“I’ve got it right here.” Cassie removed her backpack and unzipped it. She reached inside and handed the alabaster box to Daniel.
“Some hidin’ place,” Hunt snorted.
“It had you fooled,” she countered.
Daniel took the container eagerly and pried off the lid. “Amazing,” he said, his eyes devouring the contents.
Hunt rested his rifle against the wall and looked over the scion’s shoulder. The cowboy studied the relic inside. He gave a low whistle of appreciation. “That’s gotta be worth a nice chunk of change.”
“A king’s ransom,” Daniel said simply.
“Well, your daddy’s bound to be tickled when he sees it.”
Now that Hunt wasn’t armed, Cassie relaxed her guard as well. She laid her rifle down on the ground.
Griffin returned smiling. “I must say you did a proper job, Cassie. Those gentlemen are still asleep.”
“What are we going to do about all four of them?” the pythia asked. “I mean we can’t just leave them here.”
“Why not?” The cowboy seemed bemused by the question.
“They could die!” she exclaimed in exasperation.
“Still not gettin’ your point, sugar.”
Cassie threw her hands up in disgust. “Somebody else try talking to him!”
“Once we’re clear of here, I’ll call in a tip to the local police,” Erik suggested. “I’m pretty sure they’d be interested to know about this operation.”
“Sounds like a plan,” the pythia agreed. Turning to Hunt and Daniel, she said, “I guess we’ll be going our separate ways now.”
“Thank you,” Daniel said simply. “I owe you my life.”
“You’re somethin’ else; you know that?” Hunt remarked caustically. “She ain’t the only one you should be thankin’.”
“Oh, yes of course. Thank you too,
