Myrna opened the sheet of paper which she had carefully slipped between the pages of one of her newly purchased books. It had been fortuitous that she had taken the page out of her grandfather's journal at all. When Nathan had told her about the map, though, she had decided not to take any chances. If they wanted the money, they would have no choice but to include her. If they didn't, then she wouldn't give them the key to the translations. In the end, though, there had been no "they;" there had been only her.
She winced as she recalled the previous nights. No one was supposed to have gotten hurt, let alone killed. She had been sorry to hear about Nathan's and Julie's deaths, especially when it came to light that both of their deaths had been because of the map. Then seeing Tim take that blow to the head…well, it was probably as painful for her to see as it was for him to experience. She hadn't realized just how determined that hotel janitor had been to get that journal.
Green had been a mistake from the start, though. Even though she hadn't met him – at least not prior to being held by him at gunpoint – she'd gotten the idea that he was a loose cannon. His rash actions were proof of that. If he hadn't killed Nathan, they probably would have had no troubles. Even if Nathan had been apprehensive at first, Julie would have been able to convince him to continue with the plan eventually. Because of Green, though, NCIS had become involved and had almost ruined everything for them. Lucky thing the elder Pfc. Robinson had shown the map to Randy Veux as a work of fiction years ago. That tidbit of information had effectively stopped the investigation before it even began, giving her complete freedom to continue on with the plan.
The hardest part in all of this had been cutting ties with Tim. She had liked Tim a lot. She had hoped their relationship would go further. But that was before she had found out who – or rather what – he really was. As much as she liked him, she couldn't involve herself with a federal agent. It was too risky. She had to let him go, at least for the time being. Perhaps they could rekindle their relationship at a later time.
With the key on the table before her, Myrna removed the map she had managed to swipe from Lambard before Green had arrived and murdered the woman. She had dropped by prior to visiting the book store, feeling it was necessary to speak with Lambard about Green's murdering Robinson and how detrimental his actions had been to their plans. The women had agreed he had to go. Turns out, though, that Lambard was the one to go.
She placed the two of them side by side, her lips twitching into a smile. There it was. She had both the lock and the key and the two were now coming together, clicking open her chance to do away with crummy research papers and poorly made school projects. No more whining students and crappy pay. From now on, it would be smooth sailing.
She had to admit that the idea of splitting the treasure one way was far more appealing than splitting it four ways...
The End!
AN: A final thank you to all of my readers/reviewers! I hope you enjoyed the story!