13

Tintin ran out to the front of the palace, where he saw a red car driving away with Sakharine inside. He could see the three scrolls in his grasp as they started to make their way down the hill.

The Sheik was still calling out to his guards as his guests fled from the palace, telling them to hurry and arrest them. One of the guards came running up to Tintin, carrying some heavy firearms and looked ready to use them. Before he had a chance to load the gun, Tintin ran over and hit him in the jaw, successfully knocking him down as he looked around for some kind of vehicle to help him go after Sakharine as Juliet and Haddock came up behind him.

"Tintin! Where are you going?!" Haddock said as he followed behind the young man. He wouldn't even look at the captain as he marched away, seeing a motorcycle parked just a little ways away.

"I'm going after Sakharine." He said.

"By yourself?!" Juliet asked as she walked quickly to match his pace.

"Yes." Tintin snapped as he went over to the bike. "Come on, Snowy!" The little terrier barked and went after his master. Juliet let out a frustrated sigh, turning to the captain, who shared a confused glance with her. She gestured for him to keep following as she went over to Tintin as he mounted the bike. When he put his hands on the handles, Juliet stopped him, placing her hand on top of his. He looked up at her and was surprised at the determined look in her eyes.

"If you think I'm letting you go after that devil of a man by yourself, you're wrong." She said, "I'm staying with you. Whether you like it or not."

Tintin stared at her for a moment, wondering if he would be able to convince her not to come with him, as the space in the sidecar was limited and he could see Captain Haddock making his way over to them, swinging a rocket launcher on his shoulder that smacked the head of the soldier Tintin had punched, making him fall to the ground again. He was bound to take that seat, and Tintin wasn't really in a position to stop him. He couldn't have it on his conscience if he let a man he knew was innocent of his accused crime get arrested for it. They were short on time if he wanted to catch up to Sakharine.

He sighed, "Fine. Get on." Juliet gave him a small, relieved smile and moved to sit behind him on the motorcycle as Haddock took a seat in the sidecar with Snowy jumping into his lap. He twisted the handles, hearing the bike's engine roar to life. Juliet moved her arms around his middle and pulled herself closer to him as the bike started up and they moved down the road from the palace, hearing Ben Salaad still shouting at his guards to catch them. Tintin tried to ignore the butterflies he got in his stomach when he felt her arms around him, and her front pressed against his back.

They rode further and faster down the hill. It didn't take them long to catch up to Sakharine, Allan, and Tom. They were right behind them and they saw Sakharine turn around, glaring at their vehicle as they rode closer and closer, "Lose them!" They heard him shout, "Get him off our tail!"

Allan reached into the seat beside him and pulled out a large automatic gun and started firing on them. Juliet ducked down behind Tintin's shoulder and Snowy whimpered as he sunk down lower into the side car. Tintin, not wanting to risk getting someone hurt, slowed down the bike to put some distance between them and the bullets. Thankfully, none had hit them, but they were farther behind. The captain, more than ready to retaliate against his backstabbing crew, pulled out the rocket launcher. He looked down the barrel of the weapon, aiming it at Sakharine's speeding car. Juliet looked up at the weapon, noticing how the small spyglass for aiming was opposite the side the captain was facing.

"Captain, are you sure that's the right way to hold it?" She asked over the sound of the bike engine. He didn't answer her as he pulled the trigger and a rocket went shooting out of the weapon. Instead of going towards the intended car, however, it went behind him and crashed into something on the wall of the dam next to Ben Salaad's palace.

"Did you hit anything?" Tintin asked as he sped the bike along, keeping his eyes on the curving road. The captain looked back worriedly, seeing some kind of device (He wasn't sure what it was) start falling apart and unraveling, the pulleys yanking something up, and since it was connected to the dam, he had a good idea just what it might have been.

"Oh, dear." He tossed the rocket launcher aside, letting it tumble on the road as they kept going down. Only a moment later, they saw a huge wave of water spring out from the dam's entrance, quickly flooding its way down the ravine.

Tintin and Juliet gasped at the sight of all the rushing water. "Faster! Tintin, go faster!" Juliet urged him on. He was more than willing to do so and it wasn't long until they caught up to Sakharine, riding just behind the car. Allan pulled out a gun to fire at them, but Snowy snarled, jumping up out of the sidecar and into their car, biting at Allan's arm, making him cry out and drop the gun.

"Oh, not again!" Tom shouted as he tried to keep the car driving the right way as Snowy came jumping up into the front seat.

"What the devil?!" Sakharine held the scrolls out away from the dog, holding them out over the side of the car. Tintin sped up and swiped the three papers from his hand.

"I'll have those, thank you!" He said, and twisted the handles again, speeding up the bike.

"Come on, Snowy!" Juliet held out her arms for the little dog, who jumped out of the car and into her grasp.

"No!" Sakharine shouted, before yelling at the men to go faster.

A high-pitched screech reached their ears and Haddock looked up to see Sakharine's falcon was gliding above them.

"Incoming falcon at four o' clock!" Haddock warned. Tintin looked up just as the bird made to swoop down and take the scrolls from his hand. He sped the bike, making a sharp turn into the streets of Bagghar over a small, steep hill. They took some air as they jumped over the hill, passing by a fountain just as water started to burst from it, showing that the ravine was full again. But because of the huge amount of water, it had flooded some of the town, and a building with the words 'Hotel Bagghar' written on it had been disturbed from its place on the ground and was being pushed forward, but not by the water. It seemed the Sheik's guards didn't give up their chase after them just because they had left the palace grounds. Inside the entrance of the small building was a tank that was moving straight for them. Tintin revved the engine again and they jolted forward, speeding down the road as the tank crashed some vendors' stands behind them.

"Tintin, faster!" The captain urged, which was something Tintin was glad to do. The roads of Bagghar were incredibly steep and bumpy from their placement in between a set of mountains, and with the bumps the barrel of the tank was able to hook underneath the captain's jacket and unintentionally pull him out of the sidecar. They went over a sharp bump and Tintin lost his grip on the scrolls. His eyes widened as he saw them flailing about in the air.

"No, the scrolls!" He tried to reach for them, but he couldn't do that and drive the bike at the same time. Juliet and Haddock reached up into the air as they flew around.

"I got one!" Haddock shouted as he grasped one paper tightly in his hand.

"Two!" Juliet cried as she grabbed the second one.

Snowy jumped up, catching one scroll in his jaw, "And three!" Tintin shouted. There was another sharp bump and the sidecar became disconnected from the bike as the tank started to slow down, veering off to the side of a hill. Snowy whimpered as he saw his master getting farther away, unable to control which way the sidecar moved, "Snowy!" He sped after his dog as the sidecar landed in the rushing ravine, making sure to keep on his tail.

The captain screamed as the tank slowed down, holding him out over a hill and he could feel his jacket sliding off of the barrel. He let out a cry as he fell forward into a line of laundry. He managed to slip through a large, pink, frilled dress that broke his fall, but because of that he lost his grip on the scroll. It flew up into the air, and he could see the falcon trying to swipe it, but it missed and the scroll continued to flutter above him.

"Oh, no! Not again!" The captain shouted, running over to where the scroll was slowly starting to flutter down just over the ravine's edge, within his arm's reach. "Come here, my beauty!" Just as the scroll was about to touch his fingers, the falcon flew down and grabbed the scroll in its beak, flying off. The captain gasped and glared at the bird, picking up the ends of the dress and holding it up to prevent him from tripping over it as he ran after it. Behind him, he didn't see Snowy in the water, or Tintin and Juliet riding behind him. "Oh, ten thousand thundering typhoons! Come here, you pilfering parakeet!"

Tintin had been so focused in trying to get Snowy to safety that he didn't see the captain in front of him, and actually ended up crashing into him, forcing him to ride on the handlebars as he sped on. The bird swooped over them, grabbing the scroll from Juliet's hand and she let out a scream when the talons scratched her hand. Tintin looked up, seeing the falcon had two of the scrolls on it. "Captain, the bird! Grab it!" He shouted. The captain looked at where the falcon was flying over the ravine, far out of his reach now.

Snowy caught up to the bird in the sidecar, slamming his paws down on its tail feathers, making it unable to get up and fly away. The bird flapped its wings futilely as it rode along in the rushing waters with the terrier. "Nice work, Snowy! Don't let him go!" Tintin shouted at the dog, who growled up at him, since he couldn't bark at him without releasing the scroll.

The captain, who wanted to make sure they caught the feathered beast, jumped up from the handle bars of the bike and dove into the ravine to try and grab it. He only succeeded in throwing Snowy and the bird out of the ravine and into the window of another building. Snowy growled as he hung onto the scroll in his mouth, while the falcon had grabbed the other end with its free talon. It screeched as it flew about the room, trying to get the dog off of him while Haddock came stumbling into the room.

"Blue blistering barnacles!" He cursed as he saw the bird flying around with Snowy, "Hang on, Snowy!" He reached for the nearest rope, seeing that it was a pulley for a weight system that went throughout the building and yanked on it. The dress got caught on a loose nail in the wooden beam next to him and it tore off as he jumped up into the air, flying forward to where the falcon was making its way out through a window, "Snowy, I'm coming!" He reached out, grabbing the dog by his hind leg and pulling him back to safety. Snowy was pulled back, but the scroll flew out of his mouth and it was fluttering in the air again. Snowy barked at it and the falcon squawked, quickly going down and snatching it up.

The bird flew down through the streets, flying over Sakharine's car.

"There he is! Stop!" He shouted at the men, getting the car to skid to a stop as the bird turned around to where Sakharine was holding out his gloved arm for it to land. "That's right. That's right. Come to daddy. Come to daddy." The bird flew closer and just before it had a chance to land on Sakharine's arm, Tintin and Juliet came bursting forward through a cloud of spices, Tintin reaching out to grab the bird by its leg.

"Gotcha!" Tintin shouted. The men were coughing as the spice entered their noses and they reached out, trying to grab the bird before Tintin managed to get the scrolls. The young man grabbed two, one from each talon but before he could grab the third, the falcon slipped from his grasp, "No!" He revved up the engine to go after the bird again and just as he sped off one of the men grabbed Juliet by her shoulders and yanked her off of the bike with a scream. Tintin looked back to see that Allan had grabbed her, "Juliet!" He was about to turn the bike around to help her when she shouted at him.

"It's getting away! Go!" He didn't like leaving her behind, but they couldn't afford to lose the last scroll. He moved the bike forward and rode after the falcon, grabbing it by its leg again.

After pulling Juliet into the car, Tom put the vehicle in reverse as Allan pulled out a gun, ready to shoot Tintin. Juliet reached up, punching him in the stomach to stop him from pulling the trigger, making him bend over, holding the spot she had hit. That didn't stop Tom and the car still moved on.

The captain, who had seen all that had happened, grabbed onto a rope from the tower and got Snowy onto his shoulder as he swung forward out of the building. "Geronimo!" He cried as he released the rope and fell onto the hood of the car just as Snowy jumped off his shoulder and into the car, snarling at Sakharine and his men.

"Captain?!" Juliet cried in surprise.

Haddock curled his hand into a tight fist and landed a hard hit to Tom's face, "You double-dealing, pilfering parasites!" He growled. The car rolled to a halt as both the captain and Juliet started to fight off their enemies, hitting them as hard as they could.

Meanwhile, Tintin still ran after the falcon, riding the motorcycle down the stairs after the bird. He lost his grip on it in the chase and the bird flew up high. Tintin revved the engine again and once he reached the bottom of the stairs he directed the wheels up a high, steep ramp that went into the building the bird had flown into. He crashed through a window, much to the surprise and distress of the women inside. They had been creating some kind of tapestry, and Tintin could see that the falcon had gotten tangled in the strings, "Excuse me! Pardon me!" He grunted as the motorcycle crashed into the other wall of the house, hearing something come undone and seeing cracks forming in the plaster of the walls, floors, and ceilings, "Sorry!" He reached out, grabbing the strings that were attached to the falcon as the building started to come undone and it fell out of its place in the construction site. The strings holding the falcon snapped as the huge piece of the building hit the ground and with a muttered curse Tintin continued going after the bird.

He rode the bike up a stone ramp, watching as other people jumped out of his way. He didn't realize the ramp ended and before he had a chance to stop the bike and find another way, he smashed through the only barrier that kept him from hitting the ground. After so much abuse in such a short amount of time, the motorcycle couldn't take any more and fell apart. Tintin still held onto the handles of the bike, which still had the front wheel attached, while everything else fell below him. The bike managed to get hooked on some wires that had been hung throughout the city, providing certain homes with electricity. He held onto the handles for dear life as he slid along the lines, high above the people and the street. He hit a wooden post and the wheel snapped off. He hit another one and the protector for the wheel was knocked off. He could see a third one coming and he knew he would lose the handles, too. When the post hit the metal bars out of his hands, he fell forward, reaching his arms out for something to land on and saw some large, teal colored lanterns that he was headed straight towards. He grabbed onto one and it started to slide, unused to having his weight on it. He looked up, seeing that the falcon was flying by him and he reached out, trying to grab it as the large lantern swung back and forth, avoiding the other lanterns and knocking them down once he had passed.

He looked up to see that the line he was riding was coming to an end and he jumped into the window of the nearest building. The falcon still glided past the windows and he ran through the building to a door that led out to a balcony, he jumped off of it, finally managing to grab the bird by its feet and bringing it down with him as he landed on his belly on a dock. He let out a grunt, but he didn't let the bird get away, struggling with it as he tried to get the scrolls from its talons. "Gotcha."

He was so focused in his task, he didn't notice Sakharine and his men coming up to the docks in their car. As Tintin tried to pull the scrolls away from the falcon, he brought the papers into the light, and he gasped, his eyes widening when he saw the markings he had seen on the first scroll were not exclusive to only that one, and they certainly weren't all the same symbols.

"The scrolls are lining up…" He muttered in awe, "These are hidden numbers." He couldn't see Sakharine storming out of the car, glaring fiercely at Tintin as he saw what he was doing. "What does it say?"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" Sakharine shouted, getting his attention. Tintin's eyes widened when he saw Juliet, her hands bound behind her with a long rope that attached her to his bound dog were held over the side of the docks, as well as a bound Captain Haddock, "Let the bird go." Tintin struggled with the falcon, determined not to release it as the men continued to hold his friends out over the water. Seeing that Tintin wasn't at all deterred by his threat, Sakharine spoke again, "What do you value more? Those scrolls or your friends' lives?"

"Don't listen to him!" Haddock shouted at Tintin. He turned to face Sakharine, "You'll never get away with this you sour-faced sassonack."

"I will kill them." Sakharine said strongly.

Snowy let out a bark at Tintin, squirming in the tight ropes on his legs.

"Don't worry, Tintin, we'll be fine!" Juliet said, and through his struggling Tintin could see how she was trembling as she was held over the water, "Sakharine doesn't have the guts for something like this!"

Sakharine noticed her trembling when she spoke up and could see the fear in her eyes as she looked down at the water, "Let the bird go now, or this girl dies!" He pushed the end of his cane against Juliet's chest, making it look like she was about to be pushed in and she let out a shriek.

"No, wait!" Tintin shouted up at him, still hanging onto the bird. He had to get the scrolls off the bird's talons, but if he didn't give them to Sakharine, Juliet would be pushed in, and there's no doubt that she would drown if she didn't get any help.

"You miserable coward." Juliet growled up at him, determined to show she wasn't afraid even though she was about to go down in the water, "You spineless, simpering, po-faced sap."

"Ooh, nice one." Haddock complimented her insult choice.

"I can't wait to see you rotting in a prison cell you greedy son of a bitch." Sakharine's eyes narrowed at the girl and he looked over at where Tintin still struggled with his bird.

"Perhaps we should put it to the test." He stepped back, smiling smugly at Juliet and Haddock, raising his hand to give them a mocking wave, "Here's mud in your eye."

The men released Juliet and she shrieked as she fell in, Haddock screamed "Fathead!" at Sakharine before he hit the water.

"No!" Tintin shouted, releasing the bird as he got up, diving in after his companions. The falcon, now free of Tintin's grasp flew up onto the waiting arms of his master, holding out the three scrolls in its beak. Sakharine gladly took them and they walked away from the docks, heading to where the Karaboudjan was waiting for them.

Meanwhile, Tintin swam down underneath. He could see Captain Haddock somehow making his way up to the water, but with a lot of difficulty. Tintin looked and saw Juliet was struggling greatly, her cheeks puffed out with her breath as she kicked around in the water. Tintin swam down to her first, going to her ropes and yanking on them, finding they hadn't been tied properly and they slipped off her wrists. Snowy had already slipped out and was making his way up to the surface. Tintin grabbed Juliet by her waist and swam up to the surface, where the captain had just broken through, his hands still bound behind him.

The young pair gasped as they broke through the surface and Juliet started coughing harshly, her arms on Tintin's shoulders, holding him in an iron grip. Tintin panted for breath as he swam over to the captain, reaching behind the man with one hand and pulling on the ropes, which came undone easily enough.

"Thanks, lad." The captain said.

Juliet had stopped coughing, but she still clung to Tintin, her body trembling violently. Tintin kept her close to him, moving one arm around her shoulders.

"It's alright, Juliet." He said softly, trying to soothe her, "I've got you. It's alright." She didn't say anything as she buried her head in his shoulder.

"Get me out of here." She said, her voice shaking almost as bad as she was. Tintin didn't say anything more as he and the captain swam over to the docks, where some bystanders were walking around, amazed by what they had just seen happen between the foreigners.

They helped them all out of the water and onto dry land. To her credit, Juliet didn't collapse like Tintin thought she might, but since she still hung onto him, he let one arm rest around her waist as they walked away from the docks and somewhere else to dry off.

They found a restaurant with a patio and they took their refuge there. Tintin helped Juliet to sit down in one chair, watching as she took some deep breaths to try and calm herself down while he took another seat beside her on another chair, a small table bearing a large umbrella between them. As they looked out, they could see the Karaboudjan starting to sail away.

They heard a rumbling sound and looked up, seeing Hotel Bagghar come sliding through the streets, stopping just short of the docks. The tank within it however, did not. The Sheik's soldier opened up the top of the tank just as it fell into the water with a loud splash. They couldn't see Thompson and Thomson at the top of the balcony letting out deep breaths of relief now that they had stopped.

"We're saved!" Thomson cried happily.

"Oh, I love the beach." Thompson said upon seeing where they had stopped.

"You said you wanted a holiday." Thomson said, nudging his partner with his elbow.

Thompson chuckled at his partner's words, "Very good."

Haddock looked out at the horizon with an angry glare as he watched his ship sailing away.

"Nobody takes my ship!" He growled as he paced in his frustration.

"They've already taken it." Tintin said.

"Nobody takes my ship twice!" He snarled, he let out a sigh, "We'll show them, eh, won't we, Tintin?" He clapped his hands together, turning to his companion, "Alright, then. What's the plan?" Juliet turned to face him, curious as to what Tintin had in mind.

"There is no plan." Tintin replied, a frown on his face, reaching down to pet a concerned Snowy.

Haddock laughed, "Of course there's a plan, you've always got a plan."

"Not this time." Tintin's words surprised them both as they looked over at him, "Sakharine has the scrolls. They'll lead him to the treasure. It could be anywhere in the world. We'll never see him again." He slouched back in his seat with a solemn expression, "It's over."

Juliet blinked curiously as she looked at him, "What, just like that? After how far we've come, and all we've done, it's just… over?"

"There's nothing more we can do." Tintin replied.

"I thought you were an optimist." Haddock said.

Snowy shook out the water from his white coat and Tintin stood up, wiping away some sea water that had landed on his face, "Well, you were wrong, weren't you?" He moved his hands behind his back, walking towards the captain, but not looking at him as he spoke, "I'm a realist."

Haddock scoffed, "That's just another name for a quitter."

"You can call me what you like." Tintin said evenly as he looked up at him, "Don't you get it? We failed."

The captain's cheery expression disappeared when he heard Tintin speak and he looked at him with a frown, "Failed?" He scowled at Tintin, putting his finger to Tintin's chest, "There are plenty of others willing to call you a failure. A fool, a loser. A hopeless souse." With each emphasized word, he poked Tintin's chest, making him take a step back towards the chair, "But don't you ever say it of yourself!" He pushed Tintin down into the chair and put his hands on his knees, bending down so his eyes were level with Tintin's. "You send out the wrong signal, that is what people pick up. Do you understand? You care about something, you fight for it. You hit a wall, you push through it. There's something you need to know about failure, Tintin." The captain pushed himself to stand and he turned around, looking at where his ship was slowly growing smaller and smaller on the horizon, "You can never let it defeat you."

Tintin thought over the captain's words, one of them sticking out to him and his eyes lit up as he heard it running through his mind. He pushed himself to stand up, looking up at the captain, "What did you just say?"

"You hit a wall, you push through it!" Haddock said, more than eager to repeat that particular phrase, after having gone through failure after failure that was his go-to phrase for encouragement when he needed it. At least, when a bottle of alcohol wasn't around.

"No, no, no." Tintin started to walk around the captain, his eyes focused on the ground as he tried to think, "You said something about sending out a signal…" Juliet looked up at Tintin, seeing the gears turning in his head as he focused on that phrase about signals. He looked out at the Karaboudjan as it sailed away, and his mind was struck with the memory of the radio room. Suddenly, he clapped his hands, "Of course!" He turned around with an excited smile, "Captain, I sent a radio message from the Karaboudjan. I know what frequency they're transmitting on!"

"How does that help us?" The captain asked, more than happy to see that Tintin had found something to help them out, even if he didn't know what it meant.

"All we have to do is send that information to Interpol. They can track the signals and figure out which way they're headed!" Tintin said excitedly.

"And here comes Interpol now." Juliet said, pointing behind Tintin where Thomson and Thompson were making their way over to him, waving their canes in the air to get his attention.

"Tintin!" They called.

Tintin smiled at the two men before turning back to his companions. "Any port they enter, we'll know at once." He said.

The captain's eyes caught something and he grinned widely, "And we can get there first!" He pointed to a lone plane resting in the waters of the docks.

Juliet smiled as she walked over to Tintin, "Glad to have you back to yourself, Tintin."

Tintin didn't say anything, only smiling at the young woman before he turned to face his two friends from Interpol.

Ta-da! Sorry about the lateness. And I got a special little treat planned for y'all in the next chapter. ;)