Chapter Ten
McPhee was exactly where the truck was, and he was still huddled in the passenger seat. Tally walked around to the trailer and found Brunden, Larry and the tablet still inside, the last being in Larry's hands. "Is he gone?" Brunden whispered, peering at what he could see of the outside world through the open doors of the trailer.
"He left, for now," Tally replied. "Come on, we've gotta find him and send him back to where he came from."
"How're we gonna do that?" Larry asked.
"We gotta kill him."
Larry and Brunden exchanged glances but climbed out of the trailer nonetheless. McPhee had to be goaded out, or hauled out, as Tally successfully attempted, and deposited on the ground. "What was that for?" McPhee asked, getting to his feet and dusting himself off.
"Listen here, buster. We've got stuff to do, and I'm fairly sure we'll need your help to do it."
"My help? Hah."
"You listen here, stiff-" Al hissed before Tally elbowed him.
"Look, we may have nothing to gain, but we'll lose everything if we fail."
"Oh, well then."
"So, are you in?"
"I'll have to be."
"Great. Welcome aboard."
Brunden led Tally, Larry, McPhee, and a group of exhibits around to the back of one of the buildings, and together, they slipped through a back door/service entrance. Al and his goons took the lead, followed by Kahmunrah, then Ahkmenrah, and then the three guards. Even though the snake was nowhere to be found, the other exhibits had taken the liberty of clearing the building.
The group approached the circle from behind, or as close to behind as they could get, and found that a squadron of miniatures stood watch over it. The man Tally had punched in the face several minutes earlier stood at the edge, watching the miniatures. "Okay," Tally whispered. "See him?" The group around her gave her their general assent. "If anything goes wrong, he dies, okay?"
"Oh, yeah," Al said.
"I've wanted to do that my whole life," Ahkmenrah whispered.
"That's the best part," Kahmunrah added.
"Okay, are we all in agreement?"
"Well, I assume killing people is a necessity in times of war," Amelia managed.
"Look, we just do what we gotta do," Larry added.
"So let's do this," Brunden and Tally said at the same time.
"The tablet, if you don't mind," Tally said to Larry, who handed her the tablet and watched her walk out and take her place at the center of the circle. She held the tablet above her head and called out, "I know you want this."
"How, girl?"
"Don't ask me how. Just come and get it."
"Why should I trust you?"
"You don't need to trust me to steal from me."
Apep lunged for her, and Tally willed herself to go to Cecil, barely glimpsing Apep the snake as he followed her.