Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of The Lost World nor do I own the show, which I fell in love with years ago.
Warning! There are mentions of dark activities in this chapter.
Forgive for any Grammatical errors.
Chapter 4
Fear was entangled in John's voice.
"What do you mean she's gone?" Challenger asked rising from the table.
"I mean she's gone, she's not in her room."
"Well, maybe she went with the James and the men," Veronica implied.
"No, her things are still here."
"Well, with all the valuable rocks she's been gathering, she does not require easily replaceable things like clothes, Roxton."
He placed the coffee on the table and head to the gun rack. "Her weapon is still here; Marguerite knows better than to go into the jungle without her gun."
"Yeah, she knows a lot better," Veronica murmured sarcastically, she swiftly received a warning glare from the hunter. "I'm just saying Marguerite doesn't always make sensible decisions. She can act very rash at times."
"Well not when it comes to protecting herself," he argued.
"Your right, she does that very well," she spoke thoughtfully.
"Veronica, Marguerite is missing, and all you feel the need to do is accused and judge her." There was frustration in the hunter's voice.
"For all you know she could be off with those men, heading home, last time I check she no longer needs us or you." Veronica felt justified by her beliefs. She believed Marguerite will always looks out for herself, not considering who may be harmful or caught in the crossfire. She still believed she was selfish and only did things that benefit her and her survival. She would not be surprise if the woman went off with James. She mentally smiled, 'probably looking for her treasure, well she probably realized by now it wasn't there. She should be grateful, I saved her from a lifetime of torment.' She mentally commended herself.
"No, she would not do that."
"At least not without her precious rocks," Malone stated tersely.
Roxton hurried back into her room, turning up the room, searching for her most valuable rocks. He let out a relieved sigh when he found her several hiding places. He hurried back up the stairs. "From what I found; all her baubles are still here." He moved swiftly to the gun rack, grabbing his rifle, and making sure it was loaded.
The others exchange concerned looks. "Where are you going old boy?" Challenger inquired.
"To find her," he stated tersely as he grabbed his pack.
Challenger sighed tiredly. "Alright, I'm right behind you." Challenger could see there was no talking Roxton out of this. He had the determined stance.
Malone followed suit, while Veronica stood stubbornly rolling her eyes. "Fine! I think I know where she might be." She went into detail about her and Marguerite's confrontation about a treasure she'd brought back to the house. She explained how she told her to put it back because of the cursed rock, but she didn't trust her to do the right thing. Which, she was right to because she found her hiding it in different places. She then took it upon herself to retrieve and hide the treasure.
"So, you're telling me, Marguerite is out there in the bloody jungle because of a treasure that she hid?" Roxton questioned.
Veronica nodded. "And she won't find it."
"Why didn't you just tell her, Veronica. Damn it, you remember the last time you hid 'her' treasure the amount of trouble it caused."
"And that was my fault? Marguerite is a grown woman, she's not stupid, blinded by greed, but I won't put her in the same category as dumb."
Roxton refused to start a rebuttal. There were tendencies about Marguerite that were not very charming and her love for baubles was one of them. He sighed picking up on the obvious trail of the dark-haired woman and the three men had clearly taken. 'Why the hell would she go off with three men in the damn jungle. She should know better. In a civilized society, she would be labeled so quickly it would make your head spin.'
James's camp...
James and two of his men stood around the unlit fire pit conversing on their next steps. James stood a couple of feet from the pit, with a cigar between his fingers as he pondered on his next move. The sun was already advancing high in the sky, giving off its infernal heat. He hated this place. The heat, the savages, and the damn creatures. He was ready to head back to London, but he had a mission, well a couple missions. One, find riches and the other, well the other would be considered, presently at the moment, to have gone downhill. Marguerite was clearly not able to deliver.
"What are we going to do with her?" one of the men asked. He laced his fingers through his dark hair, he was already sweating from the heat of the morning.
"Well, I could definitely go for another round with the tramp," another man chuckled, his blue eyes dancing with mirth.
"By all means. She's worthless to me now, her value decreased when she neglected to pay her man's debt, now she's nothing but wasted space."
"We could sell her, I'm pretty sure we could meet up with those slavers. They might give us a sweet penny for her. It's better than going home to Alistar without her pay," the dark-haired man stated, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
James sighed. "That will not even cover half of what her old man owed. If Alistar didn't have blood already, he would demand it. Now I think he'd just want her blood on the top of what he already has." The men nodded. "Plus, I'm not for chasing down a group of uncivilized men to make next to nothing, it's less work killing her."
"Well, we can keep her for a while, then dispose of her," the blue-eyed man smiled.
James nodded, as he took a pull from his cigar. "She seemed very adamant about the treasure, and I don't see Marguerite playing with her daughter's life." He pondered out loud.
"So, you think the others maybe know where it is?" The dark-haired man asked.
"I'll bet my life on it, one of them has to know, take that blonde woman, she does not seem fund of Marguerite. What if she saw where Marguerite hid the treasure?"
"Or any of the men, but why would they do that?" The dark-haired man wondered.
"I feel like this is more in the women's department, it has emotions and spitefulness wrapped up in it," James stated taking another pull on his cigar. He looked over at the dark-haired woman, still tied to the tree, her face fallen to the side. He assumed she was asleep. She was exposed, unable to even push her skirt down with her hand-tied to her back. He shook his head. "What a disgrace, a beautiful woman caught up in the shit of her deceased husband. What a way to ruin a woman,' he chuckled.
"Did…did you tell her about her daughter and that woman?" The dark-haired man asked in a low voice.
"Yeah," the blue eyes man chuckled. "Does she know her daughter and the nanny are dead?" he laughed loudly.
James and the dark-haired man's eyes fell on him. James gave him a hard look. "Why the hell would I tell her that?"
"Well, I thought since she didn't come through, you know…you wanted to hurt her more," he spoke.
"Well, no. I didn't tell her shit. What was I, born yesterday? There is still potential to this situation, you idiot. What if one of her friends knows where the treasure is. We would need to use her daughter as leverage to get them to tell us."
"Oh, yeah, I didn't think of that?"
"Well, that's why I'm in charge, isn't it? If I wasn't, we probably won't have made it here?" He looked at the blue eyes man with disgust shaking his head.
"Should… should we even tell her?" The dark-haired man wondered out loud
James looked at him questioningly. "What?"
"Does she even need to know her daughter is dead?"
"Wow, heartless," James chortled. "So, we just kill her without telling her the heartbreaking story that her daughter died of tuberculosis and that we killed the nanny."
"Well, I mean…"
"Wait, unless you're not being heartless, and you want to spear her emotional pain. In fact, I noticed you were one of the men that didn't participate last night." James looked at him with great suspicion.
"No, no. I mean…I'm not into violating women, I…I have a wife and kid. I was just thinking…"
"Well, that's your problem there." He took a long pull of his cigar as he narrowed his eyes toward the man. "You're thinking about things that do not concern you. What I choose or not choose to tell her is my business. I'm the one who will be screwed if we don't deliver. And as far as I know, the treasure that wench spoke of is out there." He moved intimidatingly closer to the dark-haired man. "So, her daughter stays alive until I have that treasure in my possession and then I decide whether to unload the news or not. You got me?" He jabbed him in his chest, demanding an answer.
He nodded. "Sure, boss."
"Good, now both of you shut the hell up about her dead daughter. As of right now, she is alive."
They nodded in sync.
"How are we going to get her friends to tell us where the treasure is?" The blue-eyed man asked.
James fell into thought. He looked back at Marguerite. "We could get her to find out where the treasure is."
"How would we do that," the blue-eyed man chuckled nervously. "We already screwed her."
"And does she not have a daughter out there she wants to protect?" James gave him a pathetic look.
"Yes, but she's dead," he stated innocently.
James looked at him for a good few second, wondering if he was born stupid or became stupid later on in life. The dark-haired man dropped his head knowing what was about to be unleashed.
"Yes! But she doesn't know that!" James eyes widen in frustration. "Seriously. What the hell have I been talking about for the past five minutes. Why did JC and I have it out for?"
"Oh, yes, yes."
"Damn it, man. Stay in the game or I will seriously replace you." James's sighed losing his interest in the cigar. He threw it on the ground, stomping on it.
"So, what, we tell her our demands, threaten to kill her daughter, and let her go to find her friends and therefore finding out where the treasure is hid."
James looked at JC, the dark-haired man, for a second and then smile. "Yes. Perfect. We make sure she keeps her mouth shut about what happened here and get her to find that damn treasure."
"But boss, we beat her up pretty good. I mean I don't think she could even walk," Blue eyed man stated taking in the information that they wanted her to go back to the treehouse.
All eyes fell on Marguerite's still body, the rope still held her to the tree."
"We could say she was attacked by apes or something," JC jumped in, a guilty feeling tugged at his heartstrings. He was truly becoming close to the treehouse inhabitants. If they found out what happened to Marguerite, he knew for sure that chance he had would never occur.
"Yes, yes and you and I will go back with her, make sure she follows through, but we might need to say we stopped those ape things from taking her."
"Wait, won't her friends wonder why she's in dire need of the treasure?" JC asked. "And wouldn't she have to tell them that we're after her and are threatening to kill her daughter?"
"Well, if she's doesn't want her daughter to die, she will come up with a good story won't she," James stated.
JC had a terrible feeling about going back to the treehouse, knowing what had unfolded. Marguerite was surely unstable now. After what all those men had done to her, how could she even think straight? He just hoped her love for her daughter would overpower all the pain.
"What about me boss, would they not have expected me to come back with you guys?" Blue eyes asked.
"No, because you tragically died when the apes attacked."
"What, no I didn't, and what ape…"
…
Suddenly a shot rang out. The treehouse inhabitants jumped as the unexpected sound rang through the air. "Marguerite," John gasped. Roxton leaped into speedy action as he began to race towards the sound, the others at his heel.