Prologue

Samantha Jones kept the jeep rolling in line with the tracks of the other jeep that had rolled across the Utah desert, only a few moments before.

It was the summer that Samantha Jones (Sam or plain Mustang to her friends) turned 13. She was the only teenager in the entire town of Westown, who hadn't headed to help out with summer camp or gone off boozing with friends.

Mustang had no time for either, she was too busy with work to truly care about them. She was quietly staying out of trouble; with the quiet prayer that her father would take her with him on his next journey- which would surely end up with her beloved godfather Sallah being there.

Plus there was a special reason for Sam enjoying her fathers company.

She was the only child of Indiana Jones. Well… legitimate anyway. She was Indiana Jones' only child with his wife, Marion. Marion had died of Malaria when Mustang was barely 3. Since then she'd been steadily travelling with her dear father, with him training her in his way of 'Archaeology.'

She was although small in stature, only five feet four inches, she possessed atomboyish look withdevious darkbrown eyes and long untameabledark brown hair, but she had a free spirit like that of a wild mare…untameable. It was from this, she got her nickname Mustang.

She clambered out of the rocks and up to the cave catacombs. She cautiously walked to the entrance, and listened. Several voices could be heard coming from the cave on her left.

She moved quietly forward, and arrived at what seemed to be a hole in the ground. She quickly realised it was the same cave, her father had brought her to, to show where he had 1st grasped the Coronado Cross.

She watched as a woman (surprisingly) was clearly in charge. She was wearing a heavy leather waistcoat and was flinging a knife high in the air. The men were working (she quickly nicknamed them Baby face, Dark coat and Boots) and throwing stuff over their shoulders. Her eyes widened with shock when the youngest member of the men (baby face) suddenly screamed:

"I got it! I got it!" The woman strode over, and snatched the object off him. It was a glistening oval necklace, with a ruby imprinted in the centre.

In the same breath the two women in the room both said the same thing: 'The Necklace of Cordillera'

Suddenly a hand planted itself on Mustang's shoulder. Instantly, she opened her mouth to scream but the other assailants hand reached clasped around her mouth

"Mustang!" The voice snapped, and instantly she relaxed. She turned to face her assailant with a quirked eyebrow.

"Hello Short-Round- come for the late viewing have you?" she replied.

The young Chinese man frowned. He was Indiana's assistant and adoptive son… and Mustang's nearest thing to a brother. He was wearing an expression of pure worry.

"What are you doing?" He asked sharply yet quietly.

Mustang frowned, and pointed with fingers to her lips. Short Round scowled at the sight of the cross:

"They're stealing it?" He asked. Mustang nodded solemnly.

"It belongs in the museum…" She whispered, before looking at Short Round. 'What do we do Shorty?'

Short Round stood. 'I'll go get the sheriff- and don't you do anything risky!'

"As if I would- I mean look at it- there's four against one I wouldn't dream of it-" Mustang said, and Short Round tiptoed off. Mustang frowned. 'Not while you're around anyway!'

She stood, and studied the situation with a frown. Probably short round would take the jeep back, so no transport- unless she borrowed the looters car… she grinned at the very, thought.

There was a ladder going down to the small cave. She tenderly stepped down, and then reached for the Necklace. Mustang put the necklace around her neck, and then smirked as she climbed up the ladder.

It was only by chance, she reached out with her boot to finish her climb when suddenly she caught one of the brittle stones at the edge of ledge. It hit the knife woman. She spun on her heel, and watched in amazement as the small girl kicked the ladder away in a vicious manner and then ran.

Mustang fled down the catacombs, throwing stones down the various other catacombs or running in quickly then running back out in the hope of distracting the followers. She bounded out into the sunlight, and leapt into the abyss below her.

She landed knees bent, and winced as the pain surged up her legs. She looked up as the Knife ran out, with a grimace tight on her face. Mustang picked herself up, before bounding down to where she could see a motorbike.

"MY RIDE!" Screamed the woman, as Mustang quickly fried the wires and revved the engine up. She rode off, and in the distance she could hear the roar of a car. She winced at hearing this- there was no way she could outrun the car not in the open expanses anyway.

That was when it hit her.

She spun the motorbike around, and drove past 2 cars which were shooting towards her. She flashed a brazen smile at the men who were ogling her in surprise. She hunched low, and spun the motorbike into the bottoms of the catacombs again, before clambering up and onwards until she came to the catacombs entrance. She ran in full force.

She could hear the distant yells of the raiders, and she carried on running. She knew if she worked hard enough her plan would pan out. Unfortunately, she was so busy thinking of this, that she neglected to notice the abyss below the end of one catacomb.

She fell straight in.

For what seemed like an eternity she fell, screaming into the ground below. She landed heavily on her stomach- although something had softened her blow. She didn't know what, until there was the sudden feeling of tickling.

She suddenly realised when they started crawling all over her. Spiders. Millions and millions of spiders. She began to scream. She felt them crawl over her, and across her face. She'd never imagined dying because of spiders.

With a high pitched scream, she got up and rapidly began to shake her body free of the snakes. She heard the distant running of her pursuers, but she didn't care- not after that experience. She clambered up the rocks and ran back to the chamber where she had initially found the looters.

She found herself on the opposite ledge of the chamber. Glancing back behind her, at the approaching men- she knew she couldn't make the jump. Yet now, she could see a thin piece of rope hanging there in front of her. In the middle of the chamber… with a quick calculation, she ran back and leapt forward. She managed to catch the rope perfectly, and using her momentum as a drive she shoved herself forward, swinging straight into her original catacomb passage.

Yet as she released her grip, she found herself face-to-face with the Knife. The woman was looking at her in amusement.

The Knife took a step towards the teenager. 'Come on kid, there's no way out of this mess.'

Mustang, backed away slowly. Suddenly she realised the weight of the necklace wasn't still around her neck, and with a light yelp it was in the chamber. In her jump, it must've slipped from her neck.

She jumped back, and crashed into the floor. She reached for the necklace, and placed it tightly around her neck.

There was the sudden sound of a gun firing, and Mustang ducked instinctively- a shard of wood shot up and cut through her eyebrow. She looked look to see the shooter (Baby-face's) arm pinned to the wall. By the very knife she'd been admiring earlier. The woman looked at Mustang, and smirked.

She was letting her win slightly.

Mustang took off into another run, although her eyesight was blurred by blood. She continued to climb grasping at the necklace desperately.

She ran down the catacombs, with a smirk on her face as she came into the sunlight.

In the catacombs, the woman was running down to see a car driving off. 'GET IT!' she roared, and Baby-face ran to catch up as the car sped off.

Suddenly he stopped and turned and shouted up: 'NO ONES DRIVING IT!'

Then out of nowhere, came the motorbike shooting past him, with a defiant teen wearing it. For a moment, the woman was silent and the others cowered fearing her rage. Then she laughed.

Mustang didn't stop riding her newly acquired motorbike until she reached the house, with a quick glance over her shoulder to check no one was following her.

"DAD!" she screamed, running into the house. The sun was beating down on the lawn which led up to the house. She ran up yelling, feeling elated.

"DAD!" she yelled again, as she ran into the house slamming the door behind her. 'DAD!'

Her dog, a big Rottweiler, looked up and barked at her, as she ran upstairs towards her fathers study. She flung open the door with a smile. The study was filled with books, although today he was packing.

"DAD!"

"OUT!" her father ordered. 'And start packing. We're going to Cairo- we might even see Sallah.'

Ignoring her father, Mustang ripped at the necklace. 'Dad! It's important!'

"It can wait!" snapped Indy. He had feeling no sense of hurry toward his offspring.

"But Dad..."

"SAMANTHA!" Her father snapped, and Mustang stormed downstairs, only to be met by a sad looking Short round.

"I brought the sheriff." He said sadly.

The sheriff walked in, looking quietly pleased with himself. 'Have you got the necklace?'

"The necklace?" mustang ripped it off her neck. 'There you go... it's all good.'

"Good, because the owner of the necklace wont press charges about you thieving it. He's got five or six witnesses...'

All of them stepped forward from outside and the necklace- handed dutifully to baby face who gleefully ran outside with it.

For once in her short life, Mustang was speechless. She watched in horror, as the men walked out in single file chuckling about females, before being glared at by their boss. She looked appraisingly at the teenager who couldn't meet her eye.

"So kid-" She said with a small smile. 'You lost today's battle... but there'll be another one tomorrow.'

Before Mustang could reply, the woman tossed the keys to the motorbike in the air- then with a flash of silver she had pinned the keys to the wall with her knife.

"Not certain about everything in life-" The woman replied with a smirk. 'But I know one thing you'll learn to ride a bike- and do something with a knife.'