Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
How had Phoenix not heard anyone approaching? Missing their scent, he could understand. It had been masked by the burning braziers, but his keen hearing somehow missed their arrival—distracted by Nadirah with her tempting lips.
It could possibly be a fatal mistake, as he and Nadirah faced a trio of hard-looking, armed men, the same ones he’d noticed when scouting the camp earlier that day.
The guy he’d taken to be the archeologist of the group smiled with the pleasantness of a shark about to bite. “Took you long enough to show up.” A worrisome statement, since no one knew they’d be coming.
“Who are you?” Phoenix eyed the older male, obviously not from the region with his perfect English.
“This isn’t a meet-and-greet. Hand over the tablet,” the man ordered, stretching out his hand.
Every fibre in Phoenix wanted to tell this guy to fuck off.
Finders, keepers. At the same time, given the way the other two fellows had their guns trained on him—with hard expressions that indicated they’d use them—did he really want to die over an old carving that might not even have any of the answers he sought?
“Want me to give him some incentive, Sarge?” asked the burly fellow with the patchy beard and mustache. Sarge, indicating military, as opposed to doctor, like an actual archeologist.
Sarge’s gaze remained fixed on Phoenix. “Are we doing this the easy or hard way?”
With evidence reluctance, Phoenix held out the artifact, and Sarge snatched it, exclaiming, “My bank account is about to get mighty fat.”
Another clue. Someone had hired him to steal from the ruin. “You know you could say thank you. Without us, you wouldn’t have found it.” Phoenix couldn’t help but sound salty.
“Thank you?” Sarge sneered. “You only got to it first because you stole the key before we could retrieve it.”
Phoenix didn’t make the connection, but Nadirah did and exclaimed, “You were responsible for what happened at the museum?”
“When the stolen artifacts from this ruin surfaced, our employer tasked us with retrieving them.”
“You destroyed the museum,” Nadirah accused.
“Because it was the easiest way to camouflage what we took. And what do you know, it worked. The news is blaming eco terrorists.”
“Who’s your employer?” Phoenix questioned, even as he feared he knew the answer.
“I don’t know who they are, other than someone very interested in all the items found in this ruin.
” Sarge paused to give Phoenix a slow smile.
“And that includes you. It must be my lucky day, since I not only get a hefty sum for retrieving the artifacts, but I’ll also be collecting the bounty on your head. ”
“What bounty?”
“Seems you’re a wanted man. Almost didn’t recognize you. The image posted with the bounty showed you with much shorter hair.”
Most likely because it had been his military headshot. Phoenix’s blood ran cold at the confirmation. “You work for General Davidson.”
“Is that his name?” Sarge shrugged. “I wouldn’t know.
Never met the person. Everything was done online, and it seemed simple enough.
Retrieve some artifacts at the museum, then scour this ruin for any that might have been missed.
Would have been days ago if we’d been able to access this temple, but we lacked the key. ”
Sarge reached around Phoenix and snared the box they’d used to unlock the doors and secret hatch.
With gritted teeth, Phoenix clenched his fists, lest he swing. While tempted to act, he remained very much aware of the guns trained on him.
A smirking Sarge waggled the key. “This is what we really went to the museum for. Our employer indicated it had been stolen when the ruin was first discovered.”
“How did you know that?” Nadirah softly asked.
“Because the archeologist who found the ruin took pictures of everything inside. The statues, the batik, the three dead bodies, one of which still clutched the key.”
“How did you know it was a key?” Again, Nadirah showed curiosity, and Sarge, being the boastful type, puffed out his chest.
“It just so happened I’d seen this kind of thing before on some dude’s YouTube channel. He likes to travel to old places and make the doctors with their degrees look stupid when he finds secret rooms.”
“Why bother with a key? If you knew about the hidden lower level, why not smash through the floor?” Phoenix’s turn for answers.
“We thought about it, but we couldn’t be sure it wouldn’t collapse the place. Supposedly these locking systems are sometimes attached to fail-safes.”
Something that wouldn’t have even occurred to Phoenix. “Do you even know what’s on the tablet that’s so important?”
The man shrugged. “I’m being paid enough I don’t really care.”
“Even more now, Sarge, since we’ve got the guy in the bounty, too,” stated patchy mustache.
Phoenix bit his tongue, lest he blurt out, Don’t be so sure of that.
“Time to head out, boys. I am tired of this fucking jungle. What do you say we get back to the city and enjoy the fruits of our labor?”
“Hell yeah,” exclaimed the younger guy, who’d said nothing to this point.
“Jenner, you take point,” Sarge ordered, and the young guy headed for the staircase. Sarge half turned and swept a hand. “Get moving.”
Phoenix followed Jenner, a scared-looking Nadirah by his side. There had to be a way out of this mess.
As if reading his mind, from behind, Sarge said, “Just so you know, if you try anything, I’ll shoot the woman.”
“Why not shoot me?” Phoenix grumbled, annoyed they’d spotted his weakness.
“Because the person who placed the bounty was very clear that you were to be unharmed. However, they didn’t say shit about her.”
A comment that didn’t bode well. Would they kill Nadirah if they thought her useless?
A distinct possibility, especially if they got him in restraints where he couldn’t act.
Even now he’d struggle to protect. The narrow staircase meant they had to move single file, and with Phoenix ahead of Nadirah, he’d be unable to shield her if those fuckers shot her in the back.
Could he do something to get them to shoot him despite their orders? A transformation would be handy right about now.
The climb up happened without the thrilling excitement of discovery they’d enjoyed during the descent.
It didn’t help that he knew once they exited the ruin, he’d face even greater odds, as his earlier count had seven men in total.
With three in here, that meant four more waiting.
He really needed to do something before his odds turned to absolute shit.
The chance to act came as they exited the stairwell into the first chamber. Phoenix ignored the command from Jenner to “Keep moving” and turned to offer Nadirah a hand.
As she stepped out, he saw Sarge a mere pace behind, holding a revolver, and farther back, the other gunman.
Annoyed that Phoenix disobeyed, Jenner grabbed Nadirah by the arm and yanked, barking, “Get outside.” With him concentrating on her, Phoenix saw his chance. As Sarge readied to step out of the stairwell, Phoenix shoved.
A startled Sarge—who’d mistakenly thought Phoenix cowed—accidentally fired his gun as he fell, the stray bullet spraying stone as it struck the ceiling. Phoenix ignored the damage to watch Sarge topple into the second guy, sending them both rolling down the stairs.
Two down.
Phoenix whirled and noticed Jenner, still holding Nadirah’s arm, gaping instead of reacting.
Before the other man could recover, Phoenix barreled into Jenner’s midsection.
The abrupt jolt of it led to Jenner releasing Nadirah.
Before the guy could recover and fight back, Phoenix grabbed his head and twisted hard.
Crack.
Three down—two of them possibly only temporarily. Four more outside.
Phoenix snared the gun of the man he’d killed before instructing Nadirah, “Stay behind me and hit the ground if you hear gunfire.”
While Phoenix worried Sarge would ambush, he still chose to take point. Firstly, because he had a weapon, and secondly, because if the other hired thugs fired, unless they were shit shots, they’d hit Phoenix, and then they’d really regret their life choices.
Phoenix took off at a run, and Nadirah kept close, huffing in fear but at least not frozen by it. As Phoenix neared the exit of the ruin, he raised the gun and almost reflexively fired because he heard a scream.
An anguished cry that came from outside the ruin.
The surprise of it almost stopped him dead in his tracks.
Should he go slow to evaluate what happened in the camp?
Stalling, though, might result in him getting pinched in a trap, seeing as how he could hear cursing from the pair he’d sent tumbling down the stairs. They sounded too close for his liking.
Best to take his chances with whatever caused the abrupt and short-lived scream. Maybe it would provide a distraction so he and Nadirah could get to the jungle with its many hiding spots.
The scent of blood flared his nostrils as he burst from the entrance.
So much blood, and as he scanned the area illuminated by the solar lamps, he saw at least two bodies, the upper part of those bodies shredded into ribbons.
A bloody trail that might have been for a third disappeared into the jungle.
“What happened to them?” Nadirah had emerged and clutched at his hand, her cold trembling fingers the only outward sign of her trepidation.
The answer appeared before he could state it. Two tigers stepped from the shadows to stand in front of them.
Not just any tigers—
“Harimau,” Nadirah whispered almost reverently, having obviously noticed the same thing as him: their human eyes.
The biggest of the pair, with hints of gray in its fur, lifted its head and snarled in warning. Not really needed since Phoenix heard the pair from within arriving with heavy steps and huffing breath.